ICT news

• Japan's Population Drops by Nearly 800,000 With Falls in Every Prefecture For the First Time

  31-07-2023 23:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Every one of Japan's 47 prefectures posted a population drop in 2022, while the total number of Japanese people fell by nearly 800,000. The figures released by the Japan's internal affairs ministry mark two new unwelcome records for a nation sailing into uncharted demographic territory, but on a course many other countries are set to follow. From a report: Japan's prime minister has called the trend a crisis and vowed to tackle the situation. But national policies have so far failed to dent popu
  
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• Who Paid for a Mysterious Spy Tool? The FBI, an FBI Inquiry Found.

  31-07-2023 22:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A New York Times investigation uncovered earlier this year that the US government used spyware made by Israeli hacking firm NSO. Now, after an FBI investigation into who was using the tech, the department uncovered a confusing answer: itself. From a report: The deal for the surveillance tool between the contractor, Riva Networks, and NSO was completed in November 2021. Only days before, the Biden administration had put NSO on a Commerce Department blacklist, which effectively banned U.S. firms f
  
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• First US Nuclear Reactor Built In Decades Enters Commercial Operation

  31-07-2023 22:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  ZipNada writes: A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has entered commercial operation, becoming the first new American reactor built from scratch in decades. Georgia Power announced Monday that Unit 3 at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta, has completed testing and is now sending power to the grid reliably. At its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity, Unit 3 can power 500,000 homes and businesses. Utilities in Georgia, Florida and Alabama are receiving the electricity.
  Nucl
  
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• Dell Is All In On Generative AI

  31-07-2023 21:15 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  It isn't just software companies looking to enter the generative AI fray. Dell, the PC maker, is going all in on generative AI and offering hardware to run powerful models and a new platform to help organizations get started. From a report:The company released what it calls Dell Generative AI Solutions for clients to set up access to large language models and create generative AI projects. The company will offer new hardware setups, a managed service platform, and computers to run generative AI
  
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• Amazon Modifies Ad Revenue, Impressions Share Policy for International Fire TV Apps

  31-07-2023 20:07 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon will soon require international app developers who offer ad-supported streaming video services available to Fire TV users to opt into their in-house ad publishing service or, where unavailable, offer up a cut of their ad revenue. From a report: Starting September 1, Amazon will enforce a new developer policy that requires domestic and foreign streaming services to allocate 30% of their in-country advertising impressions to Amazon. Developers who offer up ad-supported Fire TV apps in the U
  
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• Unesco Recommends Against Great Barrier Reef 'in Danger' Listing But Australia Warned More Action Needed

  31-07-2023 19:23 via slashdot.org
  
  UN scientific advisors have recommended the Great Barrier Reef not be placed on a list of World Heritage sites "in danger" but stressed the planet's biggest coral reef system remains under "serious threat" from global heating and water pollution. From a report: Unesco said in a report that the Australian government had taken positive steps to protect the reef since a UN monitoring mission visited Queensland in March last year. But Unesco has in effect put Australia on notice, as it recommended t
  
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• Windows 11 Getting Multiple Monitor Refresh Rate Improvements

  31-07-2023 18:46 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is making it a lot more convenient to use multiple high refresh rate monitors with Windows 11. From a report: The software giant has started testing a Windows 11 update that automatically adjusts refresh rates on multiple monitors depending on what content is being displayed, which should improve power usage and could even result in some GPUs spinning up their fans less often. "We have improved refresh rate logic to allow different refresh rates on different monitors, depending on the
  
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• The Most Prolific Packager For Alpine Linux Is Stepping Away

  31-07-2023 18:00 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Larabel, reporting at Phoronix: Alpine Linux remains one of the most popular lightweight Linux distributions built atop musl libc and Busybox. Alpine Linux has found significant use within containers and the embedded space while now sadly the most prolific maintainer of packages for the Linux distribution has decided to step down from her roles. Alice "psykose" who is easily responsible for the highest number of commits per author over the past year has decided to step down from maintain
  
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• Companies Double Down on AI in June-Quarter Analyst Calls

  31-07-2023 17:33 via slashdot.org
  
  It's a high bar, but companies reporting second-quarter earnings in recent weeks have talked up artificial intelligence even more than in the previous quarter. From a report: S&P 500 companies that led in discussion of AI during quarterly conference calls with analysts earlier this year have outdone themselves in their latest quarterly calls. Following Intel's report late on Thursday, executives and analysts on its call mentioned AI 58 times, up from 15 mentions in its previous call in April
  
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• Apple Admits To Bug in Screen Time Parental Controls

  31-07-2023 17:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple's Screen Time controls are failing parents. From a report: The company's cloud-based Family Sharing system is designed in part for parents to remotely schedule off-limits time and restrict apps and adult content on their children's iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch models. Trouble is, parents are finding that when they use their iPhones to set restrictions on their kids' devices, the changes don't stick. "We are aware that some users may be experiencing an issue where Screen Time settings are
  
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• Japan To Boost Training for Digital Workers To Stave Off Shortage

  31-07-2023 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Japan's government plans to expand opportunities for students and working adults to acquire digital skills, aiming to add about 110,000 people studying in the field through fiscal 2024 as it faces a shortage of talent in areas like artificial intelligence. From a report: There are an estimated 1 million digital workers in Japan. The government projects there will be a shortage of 2.3 million by fiscal 2026. Japan needs more business architects, who can help companies adopt digital technology, as
  
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• Salesforce Executive Shares 'Four Ways Coders Can Fight the Climate Crisis'

  31-07-2023 13:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Saleforce's chief impact officer, writing in Forbes:Code and computer programming — the backbone of modern business — has a long way to go before it can be called "green..." According to a recent report from the science journal Patterns, the information and communication technology sector accounts for up to 3.9% of global emissions... So far, the focus has been on reducing energy consumption in data centers and moving electrical grids away from fossil fuels. Now, coders and designers
  
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• Forget Subtitles. YouTube Now Dubs (Some) Videos with AI-Generated Voices

  31-07-2023 09:59 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the international tech news site Rest of World:In an open letter earlier this year, Neal Mohan, the recently appointed head of YouTube, made a pledge to creators that better translation tools were coming. Now, YouTube is delivering on that promise with Aloud — a free tool that automatically dubs videos using synthetic voices, raising creators' hopes and putting new pressure on dubbing firms that already cater to YouTubers.
  At the VidCon conventio
  
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• What Should Happen to Empty Downtown Office Spaces?

  31-07-2023 05:59 via it.slashdot.org
  
  "A significant swath of our downtown office space is sitting empty," writes a columnist for the Guardian. "New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Denver, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas and other big cities are experiencing record-high office vacancies as workers keep working from home and companies keep letting them..."Some face-time is necessary but we're never going to go back to a 100% in-the-office policy, and companies that attempt this will lose talent to those that adapt t
  
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• Elon Musk Predicts Electricity Shortage in Two Years

  31-07-2023 03:59 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "The man behind the race to replace gasoline-fueled cars with electric ones is worried about having enough juice," writes the Wall Street Journal:In recent days he has reiterated those concerns, predicting U.S. consumption of electricity, driven in part by battery-powered vehicles, will triple by around 2045. That followed his saying earlier this month that he anticipates an electricity shortage in two years that could stunt the energy-hungry development of artificial intelligence. âoeYou
  
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• GNOME Devs Are Working on a New Window Management System

  31-07-2023 01:59 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Managing windows — "even after 50 years, nobody's fully cracked it yet," writes GNOME developer Tobias Bernard:
  Most of the time you don't care about exact window sizes and positions and just want to see the windows that you need for your current task. Often that's just a single, maximized window. Sometimes it's two or three windows next to each other. It's incredibly rare that you need a dozen different overlapping windows. Yet this is what you end up with by default today, when you simpl
  
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• Antarctica is Missing an Argentina-Sized Amount of Sea Ice This Year

  31-07-2023 00:24 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The world just broke "another terrifying climate record," reports CNN:Antarctic sea ice has fallen to unprecedented lows for this time of year. Every year, Antarctic sea ice shrinks to its lowest levels towards the end of February, during the continent's summer. The sea ice then builds back up over the winter.
  But this year scientists have observed something different.
  The sea ice has not returned to anywhere near expected levels. In fact it is at the lowest levels for this time of year since re
  
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