ICT news

• Leaked UK Government Plan To Protect Against Climate Heat 'Very Weak'

  17-07-2023 23:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The UK government's plan to cope with the climate crisis has been condemned as "very weak" by experts, who say not enough is being done to protect lives and livelihoods. From a report: Responding to the document, which was leaked to the Guardian, one highlighted its failure to adequately protect people in the UK from extreme heat. The heatwave in 2022, when temperatures surpassed 40C for the first time, led to the early deaths of more than 3,000 people, wildfires, buckled rail lines and farmers
  
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• How We Got Addicted To Weather Apps

  17-07-2023 22:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  As unprecedented weather leads to increasing climate anxiety, there's a raft of different apps catering for every kind of forecast. From a report: Preoccupation with weather apps is commonplace in our current unsettled atmosphere. On social media there is almost as much chat about weather apps as there is about the weather: much of it is ire about inaccurate forecasts; some of it is from users who admit checking weather apps more than seems logical. There is still palpable grief, in the wake of
  
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• Firm Plans To Transplant Gene-Edited Pig Hearts Into Babies Next Year

  17-07-2023 22:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  eGenesis has started transplanting gene-edited pigs' hearts into infant baboons -- and humans may be next. From a report: The baby baboon is wearing a mesh gown and appears to be sitting upright. "This little lady ... looks pretty philosophical, I would say," says Eli Katz, who is showing me the image over a Zoom call. This baboon is the first to receive a heart transplant from a young gene-edited pig as part of a study that should pave the way for similar transplants in human babies, says Katz,
  
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• Wix's New Tool Can Create Entire Websites from Prompts

  17-07-2023 21:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Wix, a longtime fixture of the web building space, is betting that today's customers don't particularly care to spend time customizing every aspect of their site's appearance. TechCrunch: The company's new AI Site Generator tool, announced today, will let Wix users describe their intent and generate a website complete with a homepage, inner pages and text and images -- as well as business-specific sections for events, bookings and more. Avishai Abrahami, Wix's co-founder and CEO, says that the g
  
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• Senate Bill Crafted With DEA Targets End-to-End Encryption, Requires Online Companies To Report Drug Activity

  17-07-2023 20:45 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A bill requiring social media companies, encrypted communications providers and other online services to report drug activity on their platforms to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) advanced to the Senate floor Thursday, alarming privacy advocates who say the legislation turns the companies into de facto drug enforcement agents and exposes many of them to liability for providing end-to-end encryption. From a report: The bipartisan Cooper Davis Act -- named for a Kansas teenager who
  
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• FAA To Test Virtual Reality Headsets for Helicopter Pilot Training

  17-07-2023 20:11 via news.slashdot.org
  
  US aviation regulators are turning to a small Swiss technology startup to rethink how helicopter pilots are trained. From a report: The Federal Aviation Administration will evaluate virtual reality technology in flight simulators for the first time, taking delivery of systems from Zurich-based Loft Dynamics, the company said Monday. The technology combines VR headsets with a frame replicating the control panel and cockpit of a helicopter, but at a scale significantly smaller than traditional ful
  
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• Thousands of Authors Urge AI Companies To Stop Using Work Without Permission

  17-07-2023 19:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Thousands of writers including Nora Roberts, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Michael Chabon and Margaret Atwood have signed a letter asking artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI and Meta to stop using their work without permission or compensation. From a report: It's the latest in a volley of counter-offensives the literary world has launched in recent weeks against AI. But protecting writers from the negative impacts of these technologies is not an easy proposition. According to a forthcoming report
  
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• How Long Will the Last Intel Macs Be Supported? macOS Sonoma Gives Us Some Hints

  17-07-2023 18:40 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A year ago, we compiled a model list of Macs spanning over two decades, complete with their launch dates, discontinuation dates, and all the available information about the macOS updates each model received. We were trying to answer two questions: How long can Mac owners reasonably expect to receive software updates when they buy a new computer? And were Intel Macs being dropped more aggressively now that the Apple Silicon transition was in full swing? The an
  
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• Corsair is Buying Mechanical Keyboard Maker Drop

  17-07-2023 18:08 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Everyone seems to be buying a mechanical keyboard company these days. Corsair has one-upped them all by buying its own mechanical keyboard company. From a report: The Fremont, California-based peripheral maker today announced that it's acquiring "certain assets" from Drop for an undisclosed, all-cash deal. "Drop has been acquired by Corsair," Drop CEO Jef Holove wrote in a blog post confirming the news. "I am sure front-of-mind for you is what this will mean for Drop and our focus on our discern
  
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• Disney CEO Bob Iger: Marvel Diluted Audience's Focus and Attention by Making So Many Disney+ TV Shows

  17-07-2023 17:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Disney CEO Bob Iger is citing the studio's output increase for Disney+ as one reason for "some disappointments" as of late. From a report: Speaking to CNBC's David Faber at the Sun Valley Conference, Iger admitted the studio screwed with audience expectations by offering up so much streaming content. The negative impact of that has been commercial disappointments in theaters, be it "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" not even reaching $500 million worldwide or disappointing openings for summer t
  
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• Can Airline Seating Get Any Worse? 'A New Form of Torture Chamber'

  17-07-2023 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Passengers have flooded the FAA with complaints about narrow seats and scant legroom. From a report: Passengers have been sounding off for years about airline seating -- no legroom, thin cushions, too narrow. Now politicians are listening. A bill introduced in Congress last month to update aircraft evacuation standards would compel federal regulators to study seat sizes and spacing. Tito Echeverria, who used to travel frequently as a plant manager for a manufacturing company, has had too many aw
  
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• Typo Leaks Millions of US Military Emails To Mali Web Operator

  17-07-2023 16:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Millions of US military emails have been misdirected to Mali through a "typo leak" that has exposed highly sensitive information, including diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords and the travel details of top officers. Financial Times: Despite repeated warnings over a decade, a steady flow of email traffic continues to the .ML domain, the country identifier for Mali, as a result of people mistyping .MIL, the suffix to all US military email addresses. The problem was first identified almost
  
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• NSA, CISA Release Guidance on Security Considerations for 5G Network Slicing 

  17-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) and CISA published 5G Network Slicing: Security Considerations for Design, Deployment, and Maintenance. This guidance—created by the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), a public-private cross-sector working group led by the NSA and CISA—presents recommendations to address some identified threats to 5G standalone network slicing, and provides industry recognized practices for the design, deployment, operation, and maintenance of a hardened 5G s
  
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• CISA Develops Factsheet for Free Tools for Cloud Environments

  17-07-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  CISA has developed and published a factsheet, Free Tools for Cloud Environments, to help businesses transitioning into a cloud environment identify proper tools and techniques necessary for the protection of critical assets and data security. Free Tools for Cloud Environments provides network defenders and incident response/analysts open-source tools, methods, and guidance for identifying, mitigating, and detecting cyber threats, known vulnerabilities, and anomalies while operating a cloud or hy
  
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• Stability AI Releases 'Stable Doodle', a Sketch-to-Image Tool

  17-07-2023 13:34 via slashdot.org
  
  "Stability AI, the startup behind the image-generating model Stable Diffusion, is launching a new service that turns sketches into images," reports TechCrunch.
  Stable Doodle is online now and "free, but subject to limits," according to TechCrunch's article. And their reporter adds that the example images selected by the company to showcase their new technology "looked quite good, at least in comparison to the doodle that inspired them."
  "Stable Doodle is geared toward both professionals and novi
  
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• Is Wayland Becoming the Favored Way to Get a GUI on Linux?

  17-07-2023 09:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  The Register shares its collection of "signs that Wayland is becoming the favored way to get a GUI on Linux."
  - The team developing Linux for Apple Silicon Macs said they didn't have the manpower to work on X.org support.- A year ago, the developers of the Gtk toolkit used by many Linux apps and desktops said that the next version may drop support for X11...- One of the developers of the Budgie desktop, Campbell Jones, recently published a blog post with a wildly controversial title that made Th
  
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• Teenager Denied Flight Boarding for 'Skiplagging', the Money-Saving Lifehack Airlines Hate

  17-07-2023 05:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "Logan Parson's first flight by himself ended with airport officials taking the teenager into custody and whisking him away into an interrogation room," reports the Independent. The teen was "denied boarding to an American Airlines flight," reports the Washington Post. "He hadn't committed a crime, nor was he accused of being unruly.
  "His offense? Attempting to make use of a money-saving hack that gutsy fliers use every year." Direct flights to major cities are so expensive, it can actually be c
  
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• Sony Agrees to 10-Year 'Call of Duty' Deal with Microsoft

  17-07-2023 03:34 via games.slashdot.org
  
  The Verge reports that Sony "has agreed to a 10-year deal for Call of Duty with Microsoft to keep the franchise on PlayStation after the proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition."
  Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony and Microsoft have agreed to a "binding agreement" to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. This ends a bitter battle between the companies that has been waged both privately and publicly over the past year after Microsoft announced its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard
  
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• Is There Still Room to Improve ICE Technology?

  17-07-2023 01:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Here's how long-time Slashdot reader Baron_Yam summarizes a radically new tiny-but-powerful "opposed-piston engine" created by INNengine of Granada, Spain. "500cc, 120 horsepower, under 40 kilograms (85 pounds). No cylinder head in the motor, no camshaft, no crankshaft, no valves, and no oil mixed in with the fuel."
  The company calls it "a single-stroke combustion cycle," though the engine itself still has a compression stroke and an exhaust stroke, reports The Drive:Despite having four cylinder
  
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