ICT news

• Bill Gates Calls AI's Risks 'Real But Manageable'

  16-07-2023 23:34 via slashdot.org
  
  This week Bill Gates said "there are more reasons than not to be optimistic that we can manage the risks of AI while maximizing their benefits."One thing that's clear from everything that has been written so far about the risks of AI — and a lot has been written — is that no one has all the answers. Another thing that's clear to me is that the future of AI is not as grim as some people think or as rosy as others think. The risks are real, but I am optimistic that they can be managed.
  
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• Webb Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole to Date - and It's Small

  16-07-2023 22:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered yet another astounding discovery," reports CNN, "spying an active supermassive black hole deeper into the universe than has ever been recorded."
  The black hole lies within CEERS 1019 — an extremely old galaxy likely formed 570 million years after the big bang — making it more than 13 billion years old. And scientists were perplexed to find just how small the celestial object's central black hole measures. "This black hole clocks in at abo
  
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• Marker Proposed for the Start of the Anthropocene Epoch: Canada's Crawford Lake

  16-07-2023 21:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The University of Southampton has an announcement. Slashdot reader pyroclast shared this report from ScienceDaily:Today an international team of researchers has chosen the location which best represents the beginnings of what could be a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Working Group have put forward Crawford Lake, in Canada, as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene.
  A GSSP is an internationally agreed-upon reference point to show the s
  
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• New Study Finds Heavy Drinkers Don't Really 'Hold Their Liquor' Better

  16-07-2023 20:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  There's an ongoing study (started in 2004) that examines the effects of alcohol (and other common substances) on mood, performance, and behavior. Started by Dr. Andrea King, a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago, its latest result is a study called "Holding your liquor: Comparison of alcohol-induced psychomotor impairment in drinkers with and without alcohol use disorder."They found that drinkers with alcohol use disorder (or AUD, traditionally known as alcoholism)
  
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• How the Movie 'WarGames' Anticipated Our Current AI Fears 40 Years Ago

  16-07-2023 19:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader quonset shared this report from CNN:Forty years ago this summer, a new movie floated the prospect of the world being destroyed by artificial intelligence run amok — anticipating current anxieties about where the technology could potential lead — a year before the "Terminator" introduced the futuristic threat known as Skynet. At the time, "WarGames" spoke to another issue very much on the minds of movie-goers: The danger of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, yea
  
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• Teenagers Have Bought 'Ghost Guns' Online, Sometimes with Deadly Consequences

  16-07-2023 18:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Washington Post begins a recent article with the story of an 18-year-old drug dealer with mental health issues named Zachary Burkard, who shot two unarmed 17-year-olds with a "ghost gun" he built from a kit bought online.
  The father of one of those 17-year-olds thinks "They've just made it entirely too easy to get these guns... A child can buy one. There's no background checks. You don't even need a bank account. You can go to 7-Eleven and get a debit card, put money on it and buy a gun."The
  
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• After 13 Years, US Semiconductor Giant Lam Loses IP Infringement Case in China

  16-07-2023 17:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader hackingbear quotes the South China Morning Post:After a 13-year legal tussle, semiconductor equipment giant Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment of China (AMEC) has won an intellectual property infringement case against US competitor Lam Research Corp in a Shanghai court, as US-China technology rivalry in the semiconductor field rages on. The Shanghai People's High Court gave a final ruling requiring Lam Research to destroy "one technical document and two photographs" r
  
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• 'GTA 6' Leaker is Unfit to Stand Trial, Say Group of Psychiatrists

  16-07-2023 16:34 via games.slashdot.org
  
  A new article in Game Rant points out that the 2013 game Grand Theft Auto V was "the most successful piece of fictional media ever made, amassing almost 8 billion dollars." So with a sequel planned, it was a big deal when 50 minutes of authentic pre-release footage was leaked by a U.K. teenager.
  Game Rant reports that the trial of that teenager has begun. But a group of psychiatrists has just declared that the teenager "is unable to stand trial, so instead, the jury will decide if he committed t
  
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• When Open Becomes Opaque: the Changing Face of Open-Source Hardware Companies

  16-07-2023 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader caseih writes: A thoughtful post on the Adafruit Blog chronicles the problems facing open-source hardware companies, and how more and more companies, including Sparkfun, Arduino and Prusa, are becoming more and more proprietary. In Arduino's case, they are deliberately trying to stamp out the clones undercutting them. The new Arduino Pro is not open source in any way, and the web site has now removed references to being an open source company. As always there are subtle
  
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• Scientists Have Found a Hot Spot on the Moon's Far Side

  16-07-2023 09:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Wikipedia notes that "Today, the Moon has no active volcanoes even though a significant amount of magma may persist under the lunar surface."
  But this week the New York Times reports that "The rocks beneath an ancient volcano on the moon's far side remain surprisingly warm, scientists have revealed using data from orbiting Chinese spacecraft."The findings, which appeared last week in the journal Nature, help explain what happened long ago beneath an odd part of the moon. The study also highlight
  
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• Malicious Microsoft Drivers Could Number in the Thousands, Says Cisco Talos

  16-07-2023 05:44 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared Thursday's report from eSecurity Planet:
  After Microsoft warned earlier this week that some drivers certified by the Windows Hardware Developer Program (MWHDP) are being leveraged maliciously, a Cisco Talos security researcher said the number of malicious drivers could number in the thousands.
  Talos researcher Chris Neal discussed how the security problem evolved in a blog post. "Starting in Windows Vista 64-bit, to combat the threat of malicious drivers, Microsoft beg
  
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• Malicious Microsoft Drivers Could Number in the Thousands: Cisco Talos

  16-07-2023 05:44 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared Thursday's report from eSecurity Planet:
  After Microsoft warned earlier this week that some drivers certified by the Windows Hardware Developer Program (MWHDP) are being leveraged maliciously, a Cisco Talos security researcher said the number of malicious drivers could number in the thousands.
  Talos researcher Chris Neal discussed how the security problem evolved in a blog post. "Starting in Windows Vista 64-bit, to combat the threat of malicious drivers, Microsoft beg
  
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• If VanMoof eBikes Locks You Out of Your Own Bike, a Rival Company's App Could Help

  16-07-2023 03:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  VanMoof ebikes is currently "exploring all possible routes out of its debt" after rumors of a pending bankruptcy. But the blog 9to5Mac highlights another concern.
  "If the company goes under, and the servers go offline, that could leave ebike owners unable to even unlock their bikes."While unlocking is activated by Bluetooth when your phone comes into range of the bike, it relies on a rolling key code — and that function in turn relies on access to a VanMoof server. If the company goes bust
  
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• Bank of America Fined $250M for 'Systematic' Overcharging, Opening Unwanted Credit Cards

  16-07-2023 00:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Bank of America "will pay more than $250 million in refunds and fines," reports the Washington Post, "after federal regulators found the company systematically overcharged customers, withheld promised bonuses and opened accounts without customer approval."The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [or CFPB] found the bank made "substantial additional revenue" for years by repeatedly charging customers $35 overdraft fees on the same transaction. The bank also denied cash and points bonuses it had p
  
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