ICT news

• Nintendo Is Trying To Patent Some Really Broad Tears of the Kingdom Mechanics

  16-08-2023 23:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Loading screen maps and movement physics are just some of the elements from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that Nintendo is trying to patent. Kotaku reports: Automaton, a gaming website that focuses on Japanese games like Zelda, has a roundup of the 32 patents Nintendo put forth. Some of them are specific to Link's latest adventure, including things like Riju's lightning ability, which lets the player target enemies with a bow and bring down a lighting strike wherever the arrow lands.
  
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• Windows Feature That Resets System Clock Based On Random Data Is Wreaking Havoc

  16-08-2023 22:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A few months ago, an engineer in a data center in Norway encountered some perplexing errors that caused a Windows server to suddenly reset its system clock to 55 days in the future. The engineer relied on the server to maintain a routing table that tracked cell phone numbers in real time as they were being moved from one carrier to the other. A jump of eight weeks had dire consequences because it caused numbers that had yet to be transferred
  
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• Linus Tech Tips Pauses Production as Controversy Swirls

  16-08-2023 21:32 via slashdot.org
  
  Linus Sebastian's Linus Media Group YouTube empire is currently in crisis, with accusations of theft, lapses in ethics, and most recently, allegations of sexual harassment. From a report: The company has currently paused all production to improve its review processes, and CEO Terren Tong tells The Verge an outside investigator will be hired to examine the harassment allegations. In a video posted this morning titled "What do we do now?" Linus Media Group CFO Yvonne Ho announced the entire channe
  
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• Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt To Launch AI-Science Moonshot

  16-08-2023 21:09 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is building an ambitious new organization to tackle scientific challenges with the help of artificial intelligence, according to people briefed on the plans. Schmidt has already hired two accomplished scientists to spearhead the nonprofit initiative: Samuel Rodriques, founder of the Applied Biotechnology Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute; and Andrew White, a University of Rochester professor and a pioneer in the use of a
  
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• NYC Bans TikTok on City-Owned Devices

  16-08-2023 20:23 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  New York City is banning TikTok from city-owned devices and requiring agencies to remove the app within the next 30 days. From a report: The directive issued Wednesday comes after a review by the NYC Cyber Command, which a city official said found that TikTok "posed a security threat to the city's technical networks." Starting immediately, city employees are barred from downloading or using the app and accessing TikTok's website from any city-owned devices.
  "While social media is great at connec
  
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• UK To Host AI Safety Summit at Start of November

  16-08-2023 19:49 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The UK government will host a summit on the safety of artificial intelligence at the start of November, with "like-minded" countries invited to the event in Bletchley Park to address global threats to democracy, including the use of AI in warfare and cyber security. From a report: Leading academics and executives from AI companies, including Google's DeepMind, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic, will be asked to the AI Safety Summit at the Buckinghamshire site where British codebreakers were based
  
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• The US Is Turning Away From Its Biggest Scientific Partner at a Precarious Time

  16-08-2023 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  One of the most productive scientific collaborations of the 21st century is pulling apart, as deteriorating relations between the U.S. and China lead researchers to sever ties. From a report: The decoupling, which began in recent years with investigations into Chinese researchers in the U.S., has accelerated as tensions have risen between the superpowers. Now some U.S. lawmakers are pushing to let a landmark agreement to cooperate on science and technology, signed in 1979 and renewed routinely s
  
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• Google Tests an AI Assistant That Offers Life Advice

  16-08-2023 18:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is evaluating tools that would use AI to perform tasks that some of its researchers have said should be avoided. From a report: Earlier this year, Google, locked in an accelerating competition with rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI to develop A.I. technology, was looking for ways to put a charge into its artificial intelligence research. So in April, Google merged DeepMind, a research lab it had acquired in London, with Brain, an artificial intelligence team it started in Silicon Valley. F
  
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• Coinbase Wins Approval To Sell Crypto Futures in US

  16-08-2023 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Coinbase has gained approval to sell cryptocurrency derivatives directly to retail consumers in the US. From a report: Coinbase Financial Markets, a subsidiary of the US's biggest crypto exchange, has secured approval from the National Futures Association to operate a Futures Commission Merchant and offer access to crypto futures. The offering will launch within weeks, according to a company spokesperson. Coinbase has been working on the derivatives push for some time. It applied for the NFA app
  
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• Apple Reverses Course, Moves iPhone 'End Call' Button Back To Middle in Latest Beta

  16-08-2023 16:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has moved the "end call" button back to the middle of the screen in the newest developer version of iOS 17, released Tuesday. From a report: The move reverses a change that Apple had been considering over the summer, as CNBC reported last week. Previous beta versions of iOS 17 had moved the red "end call" button to the lower right-hand corner, as opposed to centered in the bottom half of the screen, where it had been for years. However, in the most recent developer beta, the end call butto
  
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• Intel Terminates Plan To Buy Tower Semiconductor

  16-08-2023 16:05 via slashdot.org
  
  Intel has dropped its planned $5.4 billion acquisition of Israel's Tower Semiconductor. It's a setback to Intel's plans to expand its chip-manufacturing business. From a report: Intel said Wednesday the deal, originally agreed in 2022, had been terminated due to delays in getting regulatory approval. Chinese regulators hadn't approved the deal by Tuesday's deadline. Intel will now have to pay a $353 million termination fee to Tower Semiconductor. However, the more painful consequence could be th
  
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• World's First Smart Door Comes With Built-In Smart Lock and Video Doorbell

  16-08-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: First shown off at 2022 CES, the Masonite M-PWR comes with a built-in Ring video doorbell and Yale smart lock, plus motion-activated LED lights and a door sensor -- all powered by your home's electrical system so there are no batteries to replace. An onboard battery backup keeps the door operational for 24 hours in the event of a power loss. Both doorbell and lock components can be upgraded over time as technology advances. If you were hoping for a
  
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• CISA Releases JCDC Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Cyber Defense Plan

  16-08-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA released the Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Cyber Defense Plan, the first proactive Plan developed by industry and government partners through the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC). This plan addresses systemic risks facing the exploitation of RMM software. Cyber threat actors can gain footholds via RMM software into managed service providers (MSPs) or manage security service providers (MSSPs) servers and, by extension, can cause cascading impacts for the small and med
  
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• NYT Prohibits Using Its Content To Train AI Models

  16-08-2023 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  According to Adweek, the New York Times updated its Terms of Service on August 3rd to prohibit its content from being used in the development of "any software program, including, but not limited to, training a machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI) system." That includes text, photographs, images, audio/video clips, "look and feel," metadata, and compilations. The Verge reports: The updated terms now also specify that automated tools like website crawlers designed to use, access, or co
  
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• China Launches First Geosynchronous Orbit Radar Satellite

  16-08-2023 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  China launched what is thought to be the world's first geosynchronous orbit synthetic aperture radar satellite on Saturday. SpaceNews reports: A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 1:36 p.m. Eastern (1736 UTC) Aug. 12. The Land Exploration-4 01 (Ludi Tance-4 (01)) satellite successfully entered geosynchronous transfer orbit, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., (CASC) announced within an hour of liftoff. Few details of the satel
  
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• Cyberattack On Listings Provider Halts US Real Estate Markets

  16-08-2023 05:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Home buyers, sellers, real estate agents, and listing websites throughout the US have been stymied for five days by a cyberattack on a California company that provides a crucial online service used to track home listings. The attack, which commenced last Wednesday, hit Rapottoni, a software and services provider that supplies Multiple Listing Services to regional real estate groups nationwide. Better known as MLS, it provides instant access
  
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• Amazon's Leader On Alexa, Echo and Other Devices Plans To Leave

  16-08-2023 04:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Dave Limp, a longtime executive at Amazon who oversees the unit that makes Echo smart speakers and the Alexa voice assistant, plans to retire "before the end of the year." The Seattle Times reports: In a note to employees, also posted on Amazon's corporate blog, Limp wrote that he'd been working in consumer electronics off and on for more than 30 years. "I love it, but I also want to look into the future through a different lens," he said. "I am not sure what that future is right now, with the n
  
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• Bank of Ireland IT Blunder Allows Customers To Withdraw More Money Than What's Held In Their Accounts

  16-08-2023 03:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Long lines have formed at ATMs around Ireland tonight as a cash machine glitch is allowing customers to withdraw more cash than they have in their accounts. Independent.ie reports: The fault with the online app allows people who have no money in their account to transfer up to 500 euros into a Revolut account. Some people claimed they were able to get access to 1,000 eros, but the bank insisted the daily withdrawal limit is 500 euros. Once people use their Bank of Ireland app to transfer the fun
  
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• Top Physicist Says Chatbots Are Just 'Glorified Tape Recorders'

  16-08-2023 02:45 via slashdot.org
  
  In an interview with CNN, Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at City College of New York and CUNY Graduate Center, said chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT are just "glorified tape recorders." From the report: "It takes snippets of what's on the web created by a human, splices them together and passes it off as if it created these things," he said. "And people are saying, 'Oh my God, it's a human, it's humanlike.'" However, he said, chatbots cannot discern true from false: "That has to be
  
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• Court Orders SportsBay To Pay Almost Half a Billion Dollars For Violating DMCA

  16-08-2023 02:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: In the summer of 2021, DISH Network and Sling filed a copyright lawsuit against four unlicensed sports streaming sites, among them the popular SportsBay.org. After the plaintiffs named two alleged operators of the sites, this week a court in Texas held the pair liable for almost 2.5 million violations of the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions and almost half a billion dollars in damages. [...] The complaint alleged that the unknown defenda
  
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• Tesla Says It Will Build New 'First of Its Kind' Data Centers

  16-08-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Tesla is hiring staff for the company's new "first of its kind" data centers. Electrek reports: Tesla has shared a new job posting for a "Sr. Engineering Program Manager, Data Center" role first spotted by Electrek last week. In the job posting, Tesla says that it will build "1st of its kind Data Centers": "This role will lead the end-to-end design and engineering of Tesla's 1st of its kind Data Centers and will be one of the key members of the factory engineering team." Tesla didn't explain how
  
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• Firefox Finally Outperforming Google Chrome In SunSpider

  16-08-2023 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Larabel writes via Phoronix: Mozilla developers are celebrating that they are now faster than Google Chrome with the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, although that test has been superseded by the JetStream benchmark. Last week a new Firefox Nightly News was published that outlines that "We're now apparently beating Chrome on the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark!" The provided numbers now show Firefox easily beating Chrome in this decade-old JavaScript benchmark. The benchmarks come from Are
  
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• ISPs Complain That Listing Every Fee Is Too Hard, Urge FCC To Scrap New Rule

  16-08-2023 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The US broadband industry is united in opposition to a requirement that Internet service providers list all of their monthly fees. Five lobby groups representing cable companies, fiber and DSL providers, and mobile operators have repeatedly urged the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate the requirement before new broadband labeling rules take effect. The trade associations petitioned the FCC in January to change the rules and renew
  
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