ICT news

• Dead Silicon Valley Unicorns Pile Up as 'Unicorpses'

  02-06-2023 23:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Now more than a year into the tech "correction," the denial phase is over. There appears to be a broad consensus that lower valuations are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. But for well-capitalized private companies, it can take a while for the dominos to fall. We've started to see once highly valued businesses sell for disappointing outcomes or shut down altogether. There's a term for these erstwhile unicorns that have seen their valuations
  
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• Air Force Denies Running Simulation Where AI Drone 'Killed' Its Operator

  02-06-2023 22:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the past 24 hours, several news outlets reported a now-retracted story claiming that the US Air Force had run a simulation in which an AI-controlled drone "went rogue" and "killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective." The US Air Force has denied that any simulation ever took place, and the original source of the story says he "misspoke." The story originated in a recap published on the website of the Royal Aer
  
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• Microsoft Stashes Nearly Half a Billion in Case LinkedIn Data Drama Hits

  02-06-2023 22:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has warned investors about a "non-public" draft decision by Irish regulators against LinkedIn for allegedly dodgy ad data practices, explaining it had set aside some cash to pay off any potential fine. From a report: How much? Oh, a mere $425 million. The software giant said the funds were connected to a 2018 investigation by the Irish Data Protection Commission (IDPC) looking into whether LinkedIn's targeted advertising practices violated the the European Union's General Data Protecti
  
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• Google Wallet for Android Now Supports Digital IDs

  02-06-2023 21:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google Wallet on Android is finally getting ready for your digital driver's license and other US state IDs. Google says the feature is rolling out this month, and it will slowly start bringing states online this year. From a report: Of course, your state has to be one of the few that actually supports digital IDs. Google says Maryland residents can use the feature right now and that "in the coming months, residents of Arizona, Colorado and Georgia will join them." The road to digital driver's li
  
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• Apple Customers Say It's Hard To Get Money Out of Goldman Sachs Savings Accounts

  02-06-2023 20:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple's savings account, a partnership with Goldman Sachs, launched in April to great fanfare. Some customers say it has been hard to get their money out. From a report: Nathan Thacker, who lives outside Atlanta, had been trying to transfer $1,700 from his Apple account to JPMorgan Chase since May 15. Each time he called Goldman's customer service department, he said, he was told to give it a few more days. The money arrived in his Chase account Thursday morning, he said, after The Wall Street J
  
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• Getty Asks London Court To Stop UK Sales of Stability AI System

  02-06-2023 20:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Stock photo provider Getty Images has asked London's High Court for an injunction to prevent artificial intelligence company Stability AI from selling its AI image-generation system in Britain, court filings show. From a report: The Seattle-based company accuses the company of breaching its copyright by using its images to "train" its Stable Diffusion system, according to the filing dated May 12. Stability AI has yet to file a defence to Getty's lawsuit, but filed a motion to dismiss Getty's sep
  
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• Laptop Makers Bet on Better Display Tech To Rekindle Sales

  02-06-2023 19:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  PC makers from Lenovo to Samsung are pinning their hopes for reviving laptop sales on upgraded displays. From a report: At the Computex show in Taiwan this week, every major local electronics brand showed off new laptop models with OLED displays, the same technology used in smartphones. Asustek Computer, Acer, Gigabyte Technology and Micro-Star International all expanded their portfolios, hoping to drive an upgrade cycle and revive flagging sales. OLED produces more vibrant colors, greater unifo
  
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• Dropbox-like Cloud Storage Service Shadow Drive Lowers Its Price

  02-06-2023 18:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Shadow has decided to cut the price of its cloud storage service Shadow Drive. Users can now get 2TB of storage for $5.3 per month instead of $9.6 per month. From a report: As for the free tier, things aren't changing. Users who sign up get 20GB of online storage for free. Shadow is also the company behind Shadow PC, a cloud computing service that lets you rent a virtual instance of a Windows PC in a data center near you. It works particularly well to play demanding PC games on any device, such
  
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• Meta Employees Are Selling the Metaverse, But Not Working In it

  02-06-2023 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: During the pandemic, when many workers saw their teams only via videoconference, Mark Zuckerberg's embrace of virtual reality seemed somewhat reasonable. The company renamed itself Meta Platforms and prioritized bringing about the "metaverse," a digital immersive world where people could meet up and do things together -- including their jobs -- while wearing VR headsets at home. Meta is still selling this vision to corporate customers, as well as consumers. T
  
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• Meta Requires Office Workers To Return To Desks Three Days a Week

  02-06-2023 17:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta Platforms employees assigned to an office will have to start coming in three days a week starting in September, as the company shifts to a more structured hybrid schedule. From a report: The move won't affect workers who currently have remote positions, Meta said in a statement Thursday. The three-day mandate only applies to workers already in an office some days. It will take effect Sept. 5. "We're confident people can make a meaningful impact both from the office and at home," a Meta spok
  
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• Amazon Is in Talks To Offer Free Mobile Service To US Prime Members

  02-06-2023 16:40 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon has been talking with wireless carriers about offering low-cost or possibly free nationwide mobile phone service to Prime subscribers, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing people familiar with the situation. From a report: The company is negotiating with Verizon, T-Mobile US and Dish Network to get the lowest possible wholesale prices. That would let it offer Prime members wireless plans for $10 a month or possibly for free and bolster loyalty among its biggest spending customers, the p
  
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• Motorola Unveils Its 4th-Gen Foldable, the Moto Razr+

  02-06-2023 15:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After endless leaks, Motorola made its fourth-generation lineup of foldables official today. The flagship is the Moto Razr+, which will launch in the US on June 23 for $999. There's also a cheaper phone called only the "Moto Razr" with a smaller outside screen, slower SoC, and no clear US price or release date. Internationally, these phones are called the Moto Razr 40 Ultra and Moto Razr 40. The Ultra model's SoC is a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 --
  
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• Fidelity Cuts Reddit Valuation By 41%

  02-06-2023 12:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Fidelity, the lead investor in Reddit's most recent funding round in 2021, has slashed the estimated worth of its equity stake in the popular social media platform by 41% since the investment. From a report: Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund's stake in Reddit was valued at $16.6 million as of April 28, according to the fund's monthly disclosure released over the weekend. That's down 41.1% cumulatively since August 2021 when the asset manager spent $28.2 million to acquire the Reddit shares, accordi
  
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• Japan To Launch Satellite Made of Wood In 2024

  02-06-2023 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Japanese space agency (JAXA) and NASA plan to launch a satellite made of wood in 2024. The Independent reports: The high durability of wood in space was recently tested and confirmed at the International Space Station (ISS) by an international group of scientists led by those from Kyoto University. Their experiments showed wood samples tested at the ISS for durability underwent minimal deterioration and maintained good stability. Preliminary inspection, including strength tests and crystal s
  
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• First Livestream of Images From Mars

  02-06-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  quonset writes: In what is considered to be a first, the European Space Agency (ESA) will, if everything goes to plan, stream live images of Mars from ESA's Mars Express orbiter on Friday, June 2nd. The event is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the launch of the agency's Mars Express -- a mission to take three-dimensional images of the planet's surface to see it in more complete detail.You can watch the stream on ESA's YouTube channel for an hour starting at 6 p.m. Central European Time, or n
  
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• New Device Generates Electricity From Thin Air

  02-06-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Smithsonian: With a new technique, scientists have essentially figured out how to create power from thin air. Their tiny device generates electricity from the air's humidity, and it can be made from nearly any substance, scientists reported this month in the journal Advanced Materials. The invention involves two electrodes and a thin layer of material, which must be covered with tiny holes less than 100 nanometers in diameter -- thinner than one-thousandt
  
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• North America Is Now the Growth Leader For New Battery Factories

  02-06-2023 04:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  North America has emerged as the fastest-growing market for new battery cell manufacturing factories, driven by incentives provided by the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to a report by Clean Energy Associates. Electrek reports: CEA says that China is still the leading battery cell manufacturing hub, but its share will decline in "coming years." Europe has seen delays and cancellations of several planned battery factories, mostly due to high energy prices and othe
  
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• US Proposes Requiring New Cars To Have Automatic Braking Systems

  02-06-2023 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed a rule that would require all new cars and trucks to have automatic braking systems capable of preventing collisions. The rule aims to address the rise in traffic fatalities and would mandate the use of advanced systems that can automatically stop and avoid hitting pedestrians and stationary or slow-moving vehicles. The New York Times reports: The agency is proposing that all light vehicles, including cars, large pickup truc
  
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• Stanford Golf Phenom Rose Zhang Turns Pro, Vows To 'Never Code Again'

  02-06-2023 02:45 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  theodp writes: Golf reports that amateur golf legend Rose Zhang will compete for the first time as a professional when she tees off in the first round of the Mizuho Americas Open Thursday. Golf news is rarely fodder for Slashdot discussion, but when the 20-year-old Stanford student (who plans to complete her degree after a leave of absence) was asked by Golf to identify her toughest class, she threw CS under the bus."CS 106A," Zhang replied, referring to a computer science course. "Currently and
  
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• AI-Controlled Drone Goes Rogue, Kills Human Operator In USAF Simulated Test

  02-06-2023 02:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: An AI-enabled drone killed its human operator in a simulated test conducted by the U.S. Air Force in order to override a possible "no" order stopping it from completing its mission, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations revealed at a recent conference. At the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit held in London between May 23 and 24, Col Tucker 'Cinco' Hamilton, the USAF's Chief of AI Test and Operations held a presentation tha
  
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• Pentagon Awards SpaceX With Ukraine Contract For Starlink Satellite Internet

  02-06-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Pentagon has announced that it will purchase Starlink satellite internet terminals from SpaceX to provide communication capabilities to Ukraine as it defends itself against a full-scale Russian invasion. "We continue to work with a range of global partners to ensure Ukraine has the satellite and communication capabilities they need. Satellite communications constitute a vital layer in Ukraine's overall communications network and the department contracts with Starlink for services of this typ
  
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• Airbnb Sues NYC Over Limits On Short-Term Rentals

  02-06-2023 00:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Airbnb has sued New York City in an attempt to overturn strict new regulations that restrict short-term rentals, claiming that the rules are "extreme and oppressive." The New York Times reports: A new law, passed by the city in 2021, sought to prevent illegal short-term rentals by requiring hosts to register with the city. Short-term rentals -- for fewer than 30 consecutive days -- have largely been barred if hosts are not present, according to state law, though the city and Airbnb have disagree
  
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• Asus Will Offer Local ChatGPT-Style AI Servers For Office Use

  02-06-2023 00:02 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Taiwan's Asustek Computer (known popularly as "Asus") plans to introduce a rental business AI server that will operate on-site to address security concerns and data control issues from cloud-based AI systems, Bloomberg reports. The service, called AFS Appliance, will feature Nvidia chips and run an AI language model called "Formosa" that Asus claims is equivalent to OpenAI's GPT-3.5.Asus hopes to offer the service at about $6,000 per month,
  
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