ICT news

• Cancer's Origin Story Features Predictable Plot Line

  11-07-2023 23:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Cancer cells-to-be accumulate a series of specific genetic changes in a predictable and sequential way years before they are identifiable as pre-malignancies, researchers at Stanford Medicine have found. Stanford Medicine blog: Many of these changes affect pathways that control cell division, structure and internal messaging -- leaving the cells poised to go bad long before any visible signs or symptoms occur. The study is the first to exhaustively observe the natural evolution of the earliest s
  
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• Crows and Magpies Using Anti-Bird Spikes To Build Nests, Researchers Find

  11-07-2023 22:43 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Birds have never shied away from turning human rubbish into nesting materials, but even experts in the field have raised an eyebrow at the latest handiwork to emerge from urban crows and magpies. From a report: Nests recovered from trees in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium were found to be constructed almost entirely from strips of long metal spikes that are often attached to buildings to deter birds from setting up home on the structures.
  The discovery prompted researchers at
  
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• AI Researcher Who Helped Write Landmark Paper Is Leaving Google

  11-07-2023 22:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An artificial intelligence researcher who co-authored one of Google's most influential papers in the field is leaving the company to launch a startup. From a report: Llion Jones, who helped write the pioneering AI paper "Attention Is All You Need," confirmed to Bloomberg that he will depart Google Japan later this month. He said he plans to start a company after taking time off. "It was not an easy decision leaving Google, it's been a fantastic decade with them but it's time to try something dif
  
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• Google's AR Software Leader is Out Over the Company's 'Unstable Commitment and Vision'

  11-07-2023 21:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Mark Lucovsky, the former head of operating systems on Google's augmented reality team, has left the company. From a report: In a tweet on Monday, Lucovsky says "changes in AR leadership and Google's unstable commitment and vision" contributed to his decision. Lucovsky's departure adds to the numerous challenges Google's AR team has faced in recent months, including a round of layoffs and the resignation of Google's former head of VR, Clay Bavor. In June, a report from Insider indicated that Goo
  
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• Silk Road's Second-in-Command Gets 20 Years in Prison

  11-07-2023 20:42 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Roger Thomas Clark, also known as Variety Jones, will spend much of the rest of his life in prison for his key role in building the world's first dark web drug market. Wired: Nearly ten years ago, the sprawling dark web drug market known as the Silk Road was torn offline in a law enforcement operation coordinated by the FBI, whose agents arrested that black market's boss, Ross Ulbricht, in a San Francisco library. It would take two years for Ulbricht's second-in-command -- an elusive figure know
  
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• Cash is No Longer King in Japan as Use of Coins Drops Sharply

  11-07-2023 20:00 via slashdot.org
  
  The number of coins circulating in Japan has fallen by an unprecedented amount, suggesting the nation's households are coming to the end of their long love affair with the piggy bank. From a report: The national stock of coins rose steadily since 1970, but has fallen sharply on a year-on-year basis for 18 straight months, according to Bank of Japan data. The turnround has been sparked by a combination of the Covid pandemic, banking fees, inflation and the rise of cashless payment technology.
  The
  
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• Intel Kills Its NUC Line

  11-07-2023 19:20 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Intel has decided to stop making its Next Unit of Computing (NUC), but the company will encourage partners to keep making the small form-factor (SFF) PCs, the company said Tuesday. From a report: Intel's NUC championed compact PCs, while leaving larger chassis options to partners like Dell and HP. But Intel's decision seems like a natural one, given that Intel has refocused on its core businesses during a period in which it also invested heavily in its own manufacturing operations and foundry bu
  
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• Burger King's New Offering in Thailand Has No Meat and 20 Slices of Cheese

  11-07-2023 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Burger King is causing a stir in Thailand with its new offering: a burger with no meat and a jaw-dropping amount of cheese. From a report: This week, the Thai operator of the fast food chain introduced what it calls the "real cheeseburger," a bun filled with as many as 20 slices of American cheese. The item launched on Thai menus Sunday, at a reduced price of 109 Thai baht ($3.1), compared with the usual price of 380 baht ($10.9). It quickly went viral on social media in Thailand, with many user
  
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• Microsoft Wins FTC Fight To Buy Activision Blizzard

  11-07-2023 18:00 via slashdot.org
  
  A California judge is allowing Microsoft to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard after five days of grueling testimony. From a report: Microsoft still faces an ongoing antitrust case by the Federal Trade Commission, but Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has listened to arguments from both the FTC and Microsoft and decided to deny the regulator's request for a preliminary injunction. In a ruling submitted today, Judge Corley said the following: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision has been d
  
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• EU To Drop Ban of Hazardous Chemicals After Industry Pressure

  11-07-2023 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The European Commission is poised to break a promise to outlaw all but the most essential of Europe's hazardous chemicals, leaked documents show. Bruce66423 shares a report: The pledge to "ban the most harmful chemicals in consumer products, allowing their use only where essential" was a flagship component of the European green deal when it was launched in 2020. It was expected that between 7,000 and 12,000 hazardous substances would be prohibited from use in all saleable products in an update t
  
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• Anthropic Releases a New Version of Its ChatGPT Rival, Claude

  11-07-2023 16:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup positioning itself as the builder of a safer kind of chatbot, has released a new version of its AI bot, named Claude. From a report: Anthropic said that Claude 2 is available to anyone in the US or UK online at claude.ai, and businesses can access it via an application programming interface. The new release on Tuesday comes several months after Anthropic began offering an earlier version of Claude to businesses that wanted to add it to their products
  
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• Apple Opens Store on China's WeChat Platform

  11-07-2023 16:05 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Tencent's WeChat said on Tuesday that iPhone maker Apple had opened a store on its social media platform, marking an expansion of the U.S. firm's retail channels in the world's second largest economy. From a report: The announcement by WeChat, China's dominant messaging app which also provides e-commerce, livestreaming and payment services, said users would be able to buy Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Macs from the store. The move by Apple comes as Chinese consumers increasingly tu
  
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• Elizabeth Holmes' Prison Sentence Was Quietly Reduced By Two Years

  11-07-2023 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Disgraced Theranos co-founder Elizabeth Holmes' prison sentence has been reduced by two years, according to the Bureau of Prisons records. Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors by claiming her blood-testing company provided quick and reliable results but she was found to have lied about the reliability of those tests. Holmes surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons in California on May 30 to serve out he
  
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• Mozilla Releases Security Update for Firefox and Firefox ESR

  11-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Mozilla has released a security update to address a vulnerability in Firefox and Firefox ESR. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review Mozilla Security Advisory MFSA 2023-26 and apply the necessary update.
  
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• Microsoft Releases July 2023 Security Updates

  11-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Microsoft has released updates to address multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. An attacker can exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review Microsoft’s July 2023 Security Update Guide and Deployment Information and apply the necessary updates.
  
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• FortiNet Releases Security Update for FortiOS and FortiProxy

  11-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  FortiNet has released a security update to address a critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-33308) affecting FortiOS and FortiProxy. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review the FortiNet security release FG-IR-23-183 and apply the necessary updates.
  
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• CISA Adds Five Known Vulnerabilities to Catalog

  11-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  CISA has added five new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation.
  CVE-2023-32046 Microsoft Windows MSHTML Platform Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
  CVE-2023-32049 Microsoft Windows Defender SmartScreen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability
  CVE-2023-35311 Microsoft Outlook Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability
  CVE-2023-36874 Microsoft Windows Error Reporting Service Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
  CVE-2022-31
  
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• Adobe Releases Security Updates for ColdFusion and InDesign

  11-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Adobe has released security updates to address vulnerabilities affecting ColdFusion and InDesign. An attacker can exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review the Adobe security releases APSB23-38 and APSB23-40 and apply the necessary updates.
  
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• Hulu Launches Adult Animation, Anime Hub Animayhem

  11-07-2023 12:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  According to Variety, Hulu is launching a new sub-brand focused on adult animation and anime called Animayhem. From the report: The new hub is meant to capitalize on Hulu's already popular lineup of adult animation and anime shows. Series like "American Dad," "Bob's Burgers," "Family Guy," "Futurama" and "King of the Hill" consistently rank among the service's top 10 shows based on hours streamed, per Hulu. So far this year, over one billion hours of adult animation content has been streamed on
  
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• NASA's VIPER Rover Will Be the First To Cruise the Moon's South Pole

  11-07-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Popular Science describes how NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will use a pair of ramps to become the first rover to explore the Moon's south pole when it arrives in late 2024. From the report: "We all know how to work with ramps, and we just need to optimize it for the environment we're going to be in," says NASA's VIPER program manager Daniel Andrews. A VIPER test vehicle recently descended down a pair of metal ramps at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, a
  
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• Silence Is a 'Sound' You Hear, Study Suggests

  11-07-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The hush at the end of the musical performance. The pause in a dramatic speech. The muted moment when you turn off the car. What is it that we hear when we hear nothing at all? Are we detecting silence? Or are we just hearing nothing and interpreting that absence as silence? The "Sound of Silence" is a philosophical question that made for one of Simon & Garfunkel's most enduring songs, but it's also a subject that can be tested by
  
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• Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to US National Security

  11-07-2023 04:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, the majority of Americans (59%) say TikTok is a threat to the national security of the United States. Variety reports: The findings from Pew Research Center's survey of U.S. adults come as TikTok, the popular short-form video app owned by Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, continues to be targeted by American lawmakers wary over its ties to China and how TikTok handles user data. Just 17% of Americans say the platform is not a threat to nat
  
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• Evernote Lays Off Most of Staff, Triggering Fears of Closure

  11-07-2023 03:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Evernote, the note-taking and task management application, is triggering fears of closure after its parent company Bending Spoon laid off most of the company's staff and announced plans to relocate all operations to Europe. Thurrott reports: Most of the company's "operations will be transitioned to Europe," Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari told SFGate, due to the "significant boost in operational efficiency that will come as a consequence of centralizing operations in Europe." As a result, most o
  
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• Google Is Testing Its Medical AI Chatbot At the Mayo Clinic

  11-07-2023 03:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is testing its Med-PaLM 2 AI chat technology at the Mayo Clinic and other hospitals. It's based on the company's PaLM 2 large language model (LLM) that underpins Bard, Google's ChatGPT rival. Engadget reports: Unlike the base model, Med-PaLM-2 has been trained on questions and answer from medical licensing exams, along with a curated set of medical expert demonstrations. That gives it expertise in answering health-related questions, and it can also do
  
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• Your Printing Service Might Read Your Documents

  11-07-2023 02:57 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: If you're printing something on actual paper, there's a good chance it's important, like a tax form or a job contract. But popular printing products and services won't promise not to read it. In fact, they won't even promise not to share it with outside marketing firms. The spread of digital file-sharing -- along with obnoxious business practices by printing manufacturers -- has pushed many U.S. households to give up at-home printers
  
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• Fairphone 3 Gets Seven Years of Updates, Besting Every Other Android OEM

  11-07-2023 02:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: No one in the Android ecosystem can hold a candle to Apple's software support timeline for the iPhone, but there is one company that comes the closest: Fairphone. Following in the footsteps of the Fairphone 2, the Fairphone 3 is also getting an Android-industry-best seven years of OS support. Fairphone continues to run circles around giant tech companies that have a lot more resources than it does, and it's doing this even in the face of com
  
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• Instagram's Threads Surpasses 100 Million Users

  11-07-2023 01:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Last week, Meta's new Twitter competitor, Threads, was launched to the public and achieved an impressive milestone by surpassing 30 million sign-ups in less than 24 hours. This made Threads the fastest app to reach the 1 million users mark, beating ChatGPT's record. In a recent update, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social media app has now exceeded 100 million users, just days after its initial launch. The Verge reports: Instagram head Adam Mosseri also posted about it, likewise no
  
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• Torvalds Calls For Calm as Bcachefs Filesystem Doesn't Make Linux 6.5

  11-07-2023 01:00 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Linus Torvalds has delivered the first release candidate for version 6.5 of the Linux kernel, but warned this release may not go entirely smoothly. From a report: Torvalds's headline assessment of rc1 is "none of it looks hugely unusual." "The biggest single mention probably goes to what wasn't merged, with the bcachefs pull request resulting in a long thread (we didn't hit a hundred emails yet, but it's not far away)." As The Register reported in 2022, bcachefs is a filesystem that's been in de
  
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• Sega of America Workers Overwhelmingly Vote To Unionize

  11-07-2023 00:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Workers at Sega of America have voted to unionize. Engadget reports: In a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board, the workers voted 91-26 in favor of their unit, which is called the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS-CWA). Nineteen ballots were challenged, while three were void. As a result, the group has now officially organized with the Communication Workers of America.The unit comprises more than 200 workers in various departments across the company, i
  
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