ICT news

• Dropbox's AI Tools Can Help You Find Your Stuff -- From Everywhere On the Internet

  21-06-2023 23:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Dropbox is introducing two new AI-powered services into its platform. One is a tool for summarizing and querying documents, while the other is a universal search engine that can access your files in Dropbox but also across the entire web. "It's called Dash and comes from Dropbox's 2021 acquisition of a company called Command E," reports The Verge. From the report: The idea behind Dash, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston tells me, is that your stuff isn't all files and folders anymore, and so Dropbox can't
  
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• US Approves Chicken Made From Cultivated Cells, the Nation's First 'Lab-Grown' Meat

  21-06-2023 22:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Associated Press: For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer "lab-grown" meat to the nation's restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves. The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn't come from slaughtered animals -- what's now
  
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• Google Accuses Microsoft of Anticompetitive Cloud Practices in Complaint To FTC

  21-06-2023 20:15 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After years of publicly alleging that Microsoft used its dominant position in enterprise software to push customers toward Microsoft's cloud services, Google on Tuesday formally filed a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has been examining such issues, according to a copy of the document reviewed by The Information. From the report: Microsoft used the licensing terms in its Office 365 productivity software to lock customers into separate contracts with its Azure cloud server b
  
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• Camera Review Site DPReview Finds a Buyer, Avoids Shutdown by Amazon

  21-06-2023 19:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  ArsTechnica says: Back in March, the editor-in-chief of the 25-year-old, Amazon-owned camera review site DPReview.com announced that the site was shutting down. The site was the casualty of a round of layoffs at Amazon that will affect a total of about 27,000 employees this year; DPReview was meant to stop publishing new pieces on April 10 and to be available in read-only mode for an undetermined period of time after that. But then, something odd happened: The site simply kept publishing at a fa
  
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• FTC Sues Amazon for Inducing Users To Subscribe To Prime

  21-06-2023 18:47 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday sued Amazon for illegally inducing consumers to sign up for its Prime service and then hindering them from canceling the subscription, the most aggressive action against the company to date by the agency's chair, Lina Khan. From a report: The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that Amazon had used design tactics on its website known as "dark patterns" to nudge people into subscribing to Prime, the F.T.C.
  
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• Secret Invasion's Opening Credits Scene is AI-Made

  21-06-2023 18:06 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The world of Secret Invasion is decidedly sketchy. With thousands of shapeshifting Skrulls on Earth, you can't trust what you think you're seeing. One second, you're looking at Nick Fury or an esteemed world leader; the next, you see their face morph into something (or someone) else entirely. This is a description of the plot of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney Plus (as well as its comic book counterpart), which follows Nick Fury as he uncover
  
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• Ant Developing Large Language Model Technology

  21-06-2023 17:24 via slashdot.org
  
  Jack Ma-backed Ant Group is developing large-language model technology that will power ChatGPT-style services, joining a list of Chinese companies seeking to win an edge in next-generation artificial intelligence. From a report: The project known as "Zhen Yi" is being created by a dedicated unit and will deploy in-house research. An Ant spokesperson confirmed the news which was first reported by Chinastarmarket.cn Ant is racing against companies including its affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
  
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• Musk Says Looking Ahead To Tesla and Starlink India Debut

  21-06-2023 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Tesla chief executive Elon Musk says the firm is looking to invest in India and bring the electric carmaker to the country "as soon as humanly possible." From a report: Musk said he had a "very good" conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and is hopeful that they will be able to "announce something in the not too distant future." The dialog comes at a time when Tesla and New Delhi have revived talks about incentives to bring the carmaker to the South Asian market. Space
  
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• EA Sports and EA Games Splitting Apart in Internal Shakeup

  21-06-2023 16:12 via slashdot.org
  
  Electronic Arts is undergoing a major internal shakeup, announcing today in a message from CEO Andrew Wilson that it is realigning its major studios and its leadership structure in an effort to "empower our creative teams." From a report: The reorganization includes splitting EA Games and EA Sports, with the former being renamed "EA Entertainment" in a signal that EA intends to expand beyond games where possible. "We're building the future of interactive entertainment on a foundation of legendar
  
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• ISPs Say US Should Force Big Tech Firms To Pay For Broadband Construction

  21-06-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Internet service providers in both the US and Europe are clamoring for new payments from Big Tech firms. European broadband providers are much closer to realizing the long-held goal of payments from tech companies, as the European Union government is holding an official consultation on the proposal. As the EU process unfolds, the telco lobby group USTelecom is hoping to push the US down a similar but not quite identical path. In a blog post
  
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• YouTube To Launch Its First Official Shopping Channel In South Korea

  21-06-2023 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  YouTube is launching its first official shopping channel for live commerce in South Korea on June 30. Reuters reports: The new channel will operate in Korean language and will start as a 90-day project. In the beginning it will provide a live-commerce platform to companies and plans to livestream shopping content from about 30 brands, Yonhap and other Korean media said, citing people familiar with the matter. It is YouTube's first official shopping channel in any country, Yonhap said."We may exp
  
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• Adobe's $20 Billion Figma Acquisition Likely To Face EU Investigation

  21-06-2023 09:00 via slashdot.org
  
  According to a report from The Financial Times, the European Union Commission is planning an in-depth investigation into Adobe's $20 billion purchase of Figma, the popular online graphics editing and interface design application. Gizmodo reports: Back in February, the EU Commission noted that it had received numerous requests to review the business deal. The international watchdog announced that it would need to clear the proposed merger, under the justification that it "threatens to significant
  
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• For First Time, US Task Force Recommends Screening Adults For Anxiety Disorders

  21-06-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Adults ages 19 to 64 in the United States should be screened for anxiety disorders, according to a new recommendation from the US Preventive Services Task Force released Tuesday. The final recommendation, published in the medical journal JAMA, marks the first time the USPSTF has made a final recommendation on screening for anxiety disorders in adults, including those who are pregnant and postpartum. The task force found "insufficient evidence" to scr
  
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• New Grammy Award Rules Require Human Input, Curb AI Use

  21-06-2023 04:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  The Recording Academy on Friday updated its rulebook for the Grammy Awards, banning work produced entirely by artificial intelligence. Some music created with AI help may still qualify, however. Reuters reports: Music creators must now contribute to at least 20% of an album to earn a nomination. "A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any categories." In the past, any producer, songwriter, engineer or featured artist on an album could earn a nomination for album of the year,
  
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• DeepMind Co-Founder Proposes a New Kind of Turing Test For Chatbots

  21-06-2023 03:25 via slashdot.org
  
  Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, suggests chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Bard should be put through a "modern Turing test" where their ability to turn $100,000 into $1 million is evaluated to measure human-like intelligence. He discusses the idea in his new book called "The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma." Insider reports: In the book, Suleyman dismissed the traditional Turing test because it's "unclear whether this is a meaningful mile
  
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• iOS 17 Will Decode Your Car's Dashboard Symbols and Warning Lights

  21-06-2023 02:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  According to a Reddit user, Apple's Visual Look Up feature has been expanded in iOS 17 to include all of the various symbols on a vehicle's dashboard -- "everything from the labels used for HVAC controls, to the warning lights that only turn on when there's a problem," reports Gizmodo. From the report: Apple introduced a feature with iOS 15 called Visual Look Up that uses AI to analyze photos taken with the iPhone's camera and attempt to decipher them, providing more information about what's in
  
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• Consumer Group Calls On EU To Urgently Investigate 'The Risks of Generative AI'

  21-06-2023 02:02 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: European regulators are at a crossroads over how AI will be regulated -- and ultimately used commercially and non-commercially -- in the region, and today the EU's largest consumer group, the BEUC, weighed in with its own position: stop dragging your feet, and "launch urgent investigations into the risks of generative AI" now, it said. "Generative AI such as ChatGPT has opened up all kinds of possibilities for consumers, but there are serious
  
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• Rivian Is the Next Automaker To Adopt Tesla's Charging Plugs

  21-06-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Today, Rivian announced that it is switching from the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard to the North American Charging Standard (NACS), tesla's competing standard, in 2024. The automaker joins Ford and General Motors in adopting Tesla's charging plugs for its future electric vehicles. Ars Technica reports: "We're excited to work with Tesla and to see collaborations like this help advance the world toward carbon neutrality. The adoption of the North American Charging Standard will enable ou
  
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• Texas Power Use To Break Records In Heat Wave, Prices Soar To $2,500 Per Megawatt Hour

  21-06-2023 00:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  The Texas power grid operator, ERCOT, has urged residents and businesses to conserve electricity as the first heat wave of the summer increases air conditioner usage, causing power reserves to potentially fall short. Power prices in the state's day-ahead market reached over $2,500 per MWh, and ERCOT issued a warning about a projected reserve capacity shortage, although controlled outages are not currently necessary. Reuters reports: ERCOT operates the grid for more than 26 million customers repr
  
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• Christopher Nolan Says AI Dangers Have Been 'Apparent For Years'

  21-06-2023 00:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: Christopher Nolan got honest about artificial intelligence in a new interview with Wired magazine. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker says the writing has been on the wall about AI dangers for quite some time, but now the media is more focused on the technology because it poses a threat to their jobs. "The growth of AI in terms of weapons systems and the problems that it is going to create have been very apparent for a lot of years," Nolan said. "Few
  
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