ICT news

• Black Mirror Creator Says He Used ChatGPT To Write An Episode. It Was Terrible.

  09-06-2023 23:21 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Charlie Brooker, the showrunner of "Black Mirror," revealed in an interview that he used OpenAI's ChatGPT to write an episode for the show's sixth season but deemed the results "shit." Gizmodo reports: "I've toyed around with ChatGPT a bit. The first thing I did was type 'generate Black Mirror episode' and it comes up with something that, at first glance, reads plausibly, but on second glance, is shit," the dystopian sci-fi auteur told Empire. "Because all it's done is look up all the synopses o
  
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• Apple To Stop Autocorrecting Swear Word To 'Ducking' On iPhone

  09-06-2023 22:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  At Apple's developer conference earlier this week, the company said it has tweaked the iPhone's autocorrect feature to prevent it from replacing the common expletive with "ducking." Craig Federighi, Apple's software chief, mentioned that the keyboard will now learn and adapt to users typing the intended word. From a report: The iPhone keyboard autocorrect feature has always had its quirks, sometimes taking a misspelled word while texting and substituting what it deems a logical option that ends
  
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• Congress To Consider Two New Bills On AI

  09-06-2023 22:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: U.S. senators on Thursday introduced two separate bipartisan artificial intelligence bills on Thursday amid growing interest in addressing issues surrounding the technology. One would require the U.S. government to be transparent when using AI to interact with people and another would establish an office to determine if the United States is remaining competitive in the latest technologies. Senators Gary Peters, a Democrat who chairs the Homeland
  
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• Netflix Password Crackdown Drives US Sign-Ups To Highest Levels In At Least Four Years

  09-06-2023 21:19 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  According to research company Antenna, Netflix's password crackdown in the U.S. has resulted in the "four single largest days of U.S. user sign-ups since January 2019, when Antenna first began tracking the metric," reports Variety. "On May 23, Netflix began notifying U.S. customers that users on their accounts who live outside their households would need to be added as an 'extra member' (or get their own subscriptions)." From the report: Based on the most current Antenna data available, Netflix
  
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• Logitech Is Killing Off the Blue Mic Brand

  09-06-2023 20:18 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Logitech is merging its gaming headset maker, Astro, and microphone manufacturer, Blue Microphones, into its Logitech G brand. While the Astro brand will continue as a premium console audio product series under Logitech G, the Blue brand will be phased out. The Verge reports: You can already see the transition playing out on Logitech's website, which still sells Yeti and even Snowball microphones that merely come "with Blue VO!CE" but no longer links to a distinct Blue website or product page. A
  
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• Meta's First Generative AI Feature Will Be AI Stickers In Messenger

  09-06-2023 19:47 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta is planning to introduce AI-generated stickers on Messenger, allowing users to create stickers based on text prompts. The Verge reports: During a companywide meeting today that The Verge listened to, Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta's vice president of AI, told employees that the company will leverage its image generation model to let users create stickers based on text prompts. Employees will begin testing the feature internally before it's made available to the public. "With AI-generated stickers, ou
  
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• Binance.US To Halt Dollar Deposits After SEC Crackdown

  09-06-2023 19:17 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Binance.US, the U.S. affiliate of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, announced that it would halt dollar deposits and urged customers to withdraw their funds by Tuesday following a request from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to freeze its assets. Reuters reports: Binance.US, the purportedly independent partner of Binance, said in a tweet on Thursday that its banking partners were preparing to stop dollar withdrawal channels as early as June 13. The SEC sued Binance, its CEO and
  
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• Mercedes First To Sell Vehicles In California With Hands-Free, Eyes-Off Automated Driving

  09-06-2023 18:16 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Mercedes-Benz received a permit from California regulators that will allow the German automaker to sell or lease vehicles in the state equipped with a conditional automated driving system that allows for hands-off, eyes-off driving on certain highways. The California Department of Motor Vehicles said Thursday it issued an autonomous vehicle deployment permit to Mercedes-Benz for its branded Drive Pilot system. The hands-off, eyes-off system ca
  
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• India Pauses Plans To Add New Coal Plants For Five Years, Bets on Renewables, Batteries

  09-06-2023 17:15 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Indian government will not consider any proposals for new coal plants for the next five years and focus on growing its renewables sector, according to an updated national electricity plan released Wednesday evening. From a report: The temporary pause in the growth of the dirty fuel was hailed by energy experts as a positive step for a country that is currently reliant on coal for around 75% of its electricity. Updated every five years, the plan serves as a guideline for India's priorities in
  
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• Acer Is Still Shipping PCs To Russia

  09-06-2023 16:14 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Required Snark writes: Acer is selling computers in Russia even though they claimed they would abide by the Taiwanese government's commitment to the international embargo on western technology. The sales are through their Swiss subsidiary Acer Sales International SA. This subterfuge means Acer's position is nominally true even while they are breaking the embargo. Neither Russian, Swiss or Taiwanese government officials would comment on the report. According to Reuters, "Taiwan-based computer man
  
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• The Binge Purge

  09-06-2023 15:13 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  TV's streaming model is broken. It's also not going away. For Hollywood, figuring that out will be a horror show. From a report: Across the town, there's despair and creative destruction and all sorts of countervailing indicators. Certain shows that were enthusiastically green-lit two years ago probably wouldn't be made now. Yet there are still streamers burning mountains of cash to entertain audiences that already have too much to watch. Netflix has tightened the screws and recovered somewhat,
  
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• Crypto Companies Made 'Calculated' Decision To Flout Rules, Says SEC Chair

  09-06-2023 14:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday strongly rebutted criticism that the agency is trying to crush the crypto industry, and said many companies in the space had made a "calculated economic decision" to flout its rules. From a report: Speaking at a Piper Sandler conference in New York, Gary Gensler also reiterated his view that the "vast majority" of crypto tokens meet the test for being a security and should be registered with the SEC. That means most crypto exch
  
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• House of Representatives To Hold Hearing On Whistleblower's UFO Claims

  09-06-2023 12:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  The House of Representatives in the United States plans to hold a hearing to investigate claims made by a whistleblower former intelligence official, David Grusch, that the US government possesses "intact and partially intact" alien vehicles. The Guardian reports: "There will be oversight of that," Comer told NewsNation. "We plan on having a hearing." Comer said he had heard about Grusch's claims, but added: "I don't know anything about it." The timing of the hearing is not yet determined, but a
  
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• Long Space Missions Take a Toll On Astronaut Brains, Study Finds

  09-06-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A new study suggests that long missions and frequent voyages to space may have an impact on astronaut brains. Space.com reports: The most enduring spaceflight-related changes in the brain yet detected are the way cavities in the brain known as ventricles can enlarge by up to 25%. Ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid, which helps protect, nourish and remove waste from the brain. The absence of a gravitational pull leads the brain to shift upward in the skull and causes the ventricles to
  
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• Barracuda Urges Replacing, Not Patching, Its Email Security Gateways

  09-06-2023 05:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: It's not often that a zero-day vulnerability causes a network security vendor to urge customers to physically remove and decommission an entire line of affected hardware -- as opposed to just applying software updates. But experts say that is exactly what transpired this week with Barracuda Networks, as the company struggled to combat a sprawling malware threat which appears to have undermined its email security appliances in such a funda
  
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• Common Energy Drink Ingredient Taurine 'May Slow Aging Process'

  09-06-2023 03:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists are calling for a major clinical trial to investigate the potential benefits of taurine supplementation, a substance commonly found in energy drinks. Animal studies have shown that replenishing taurine levels to more youthful levels can slow down the aging process, improve health, and even extend lifespans in mice. The Guardian reports: Prof Henning Wackerhage, a molecular exercise physiologist on the team at the Technical University of Munich, said a trial would compare how humans fa
  
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• Man Sues OpenAI Claiming ChatGPT 'Hallucination' Said He Embezzled Money

  09-06-2023 02:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI is facing a defamation lawsuit filed by Mark Walters, who claims that the AI platform falsely accused him of embezzling money from a gun rights group in statements delivered to a journalist. The lawsuit argues that ChatGPT is guilty of libel and alleges that the AI system "hallucinated" and generated false information about Walters. The Register reports: "While research and development of AI is worthwhile, it is irresponsible to unleash a system on the public that is known to make up 'fac
  
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• GM Announces It Will Also Adopt Tesla's NACS Connector, Joining Ford

  09-06-2023 01:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  GM has confirmed that it will adopt Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its future electric vehicles, following in the footsteps of Ford. Electrek reports: This is likely the next step in a domino effect that should solidify NACS as the new charging standard for electric cars in North America. When Tesla announced last year that it opened up its proprietary charging connector to try to make it the industry standard in North America, we thought it might be too little too late, des
  
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• What Mark Zuckerberg Thinks About Apple's Vision Pro

  09-06-2023 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Mark Zuckerberg doesn't seem fazed by Apple's introduction of the Vision Pro. In a companywide meeting with Meta employees today that The Verge watched, the CEO said Apple's device didn't present any major breakthroughs in technology that Meta hadn't "already explored" and that its vision for how people will use the device is "not the one that I want." He also pointed to the fact that Meta's upcoming Quest 3 headset will be much cheaper, at $49
  
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• Google To Include Office Attendance In Performance Reviews

  09-06-2023 00:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is implementing stricter measures to enforce office attendance, including tracking badge data, confronting employees who don't come in as required, and factoring attendance into performance reviews. CNBC reports: Google's chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, wrote an email to employees at the end of the day on Wednesday, which included doubling down on office attendance, reasoning that "there's just no substitute for coming together in person." "Of course, not everyone believes in 'magica
  
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