ICT news

• Sony is Buying Gaming Headphone Maker, Audeze

  24-08-2023 23:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Sony Interactive Entertainment (basically the PlayStation wing) today announced plans to acquire Audeze. From a report: The Orange Country, CA-based firm is best known for its high-end headphones, targeted at gamers and audio producers. The hardware is often priced into four-figures, but the company earns consistently high marks from reviewers and users alike. In a release announcing the news, the companies are quick to note that operating under the Sony banner won't mean platform exclusivity (a
  
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• Gmail To Start Issuing 2FA Challenges To Change 'Sensitive' Settings

  24-08-2023 22:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Gmail only asks for your user credentials during the initial login, and that login session can last for weeks at a time. That's not as secure as it could be, so soon Gmail will start posting 2FA challenges if you try to access any "sensitive" settings, even when you're already logged in. From a report: The newly protected settings are for filters, account forwarding, and IMAP. Soon, poking around in any of these options will boot you into a "Verify it's you" 2FA prompt, and you'll have to pass t
  
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• Stephen King, Zadie Smith and Rachel Cusk's Pirated Works Used To Train AI

  24-08-2023 22:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Zadie Smith, Stephen King, Rachel Cusk and Elena Ferrante are among thousands of authors whose pirated works have been used to train artificial intelligence tools, a story in The Atlantic has revealed. The Guardian: More than 170,000 titles were fed into models run by companies including Meta and Bloomberg, according to an analysis of "Books3" -- the dataset harnessed by the firms to build their AI tools. Books3 was used to train Meta's LLaMA, one of a number of large language models -- the best
  
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• Mastercard, Binance To End Crypto Card Partnership

  24-08-2023 21:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Mastercard and crypto exchange Binance will end their four crypto card programmes in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain as of Sept. 22. From a report: The Binance cards allow users to make payments in traditional currencies, funded by their cryptocurrency holdings on the exchange. Mastercard's website also lists partnerships with crypto exchanges including Gemini. The decision will not impact any of Mastercard's other crypto card programmes, the spokesperson said. Binance is facing legal an
  
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• Nvidia Hits New All-Time High

  24-08-2023 20:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Shares of Nvidia rose 6.7% to hit a new all-time high on Thursday, after the company unveiled a $25 billion buyback plan, coupled with record quarterly revenue powered by strong demand for its artificial intelligence (AI)-focused chips. From a report: Nvidia generated revenue of $13.51 billion in the second quarter and predicted that revenue would reach $16 billion in the third quarter, the company reported late on Wednesday. Both results exceeded analyst expectations, as per Refinitiv. Santa-Cl
  
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• Germany Set To Miss Net Zero By 2045 Target as Climate Efforts Falter

  24-08-2023 20:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: German goals to cut greenhouse emissions by 65% by 2030 are likely to be missed, meaning a longer-term net zero by a 2045 target is also in doubt, reports by government climate advisers and the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) show. The European Union has sought to be a climate leader and Germany has set itself more ambitious targets than the bloc as a whole, but in many countries politics and the economic crisis have pushed the climate crisis down the agenda
  
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• Dropbox Ends Unlimited Cloud Storage Following Google Change

  24-08-2023 19:21 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Dropbox, a provider of online data storage, is ending its unlimited option, saying a small handful of customers were using massive amounts of resources that had the potential to degrade the cloud service for the rest of its clients. From a report: The company's highest-tier "all the space you need" storage plan will be capped at about 5 terabytes per user for new customers, the company said in a blog post.
  While the plan was designed for businesses, some clients were instead using it for cryptoc
  
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• China Quietly Recruits Overseas Chip Talent as US Tightens Curbs

  24-08-2023 18:46 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: For a decade until 2018, China sought to recruit elite foreign-trained scientists under a lavishly funded program that Washington viewed as a threat to U.S. interests and technological supremacy. Two years after it stopped promoting the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) amid U.S. investigations of scientists, China quietly revived the initiative under a new name and format as part of a broader mission to accelerate its tech proficiency, according to three sources w
  
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• Repair Ship Bound for Cut Cables Off Africa's West Coast as Internet Interrupted

  24-08-2023 18:04 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Fiber-optic cables that were damaged by a rockfall in an undersea canyon, resulting in slow internet connections in some parts of Africa, should be repaired next month by a specialized vessel, according to telecommunication companies. From a report: The West Africa Cable System that runs about 16,000 kilometers (9,950 miles) along the sea floor from Europe to southern Africa was damaged with other lines earlier this month. The 40-year-old cable-layer vessel Leon Thevenin, named after a French te
  
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• Meta Releases Code Llama, a Code-Generating AI Model

  24-08-2023 17:21 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Meta, intent on making a splash in a generative AI space rife with competition, is on something of an open source tear. From a report: Following the release of AI models for generating text, translating languages and creating audio, the company today open sourced Code Llama, a machine learning system that can generate and explain code in natural language -- specifically English. Akin to GitHub Copilot and Amazon CodeWhisperer, as well as open source AI-powered code generators like StarCoder, Sta
  
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• T-Mobile To Cut About 7% of Staff

  24-08-2023 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  T-Mobile USA is cutting 7% of its staff, part of an effort to rein in costs as the company spends heavily to attract new subscribers in an increasingly competitive market. From a report: The move will affect about 5,000 positions, mostly corporate and back-office staff along with some technology roles, T-Mobile said in a regulatory filing. Retail and consumer-care experts won't be impacted. Chief Executive Officer Mike Sievert said in a letter to employees that the cost of attracting and retaini
  
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• MSI Leaks Intel 14th Gen Core Specs, Confirms It's 3% Faster on Average Than 13th Gen

  24-08-2023 16:03 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: MSI made a mistake of sharing an unlisted video which has now leaked out. This leak involves a product training video showing MSI's latest Intel 700 motherboard series and upcoming PC cases. While the majority of the video focuses on improvements for these motherboards, there is a slide explaining Intel's next-gen Core series in a very short form. A slide (check the linked news post) has confirmed that Intel's 14th Gen Core series will see no major core count
  
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• The Community Pushing AI-Generated Porn To 'the Edge of Knowledge'

  24-08-2023 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  samleecole shares a report from 404 Media, a new independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox: On the Discord server for Mage Space, a popular platform for creating AI-generated images, is a list of channels where members share adult content. There are channels for furries, hardcore and softcore porn, and anime. At the bottom of the list is a channel named "other-nsfw" which includes a few distinct erotic genres that do
  
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• SpaceX Working With Cloudflare To Speed Up Starlink Service

  24-08-2023 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  According to The Information (paywalled), SpaceX is working with Cloudlfare to boost the performance of its satellite internet service Starlink. Reuters reports: The two companies are working on a way to increase Starlink's network of mini data centers around the globe that could help it deliver faster network speeds to its customers, the report said. According to SpaceX's website, Starlink users typically have download speeds between 25 and 220 Mbps, with the "majority" over 100 Mbps. Upload sp
  
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• Paralyzed Woman Able To 'Speak' Through Digital Avatar In World First

  24-08-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A severely paralyzed woman has been able to speak through an avatar using technology that translated her brain signals into speech and facial expressions. The latest technology uses tiny electrodes implanted on the surface of the brain to detect electrical activity in the part of the brain that controls speech and face movements. These signals are translated directly into a digital avatar's speech and facial expressions including smiling, fr
  
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• Amazon Sues Online Stores Selling Pirated DVDs

  24-08-2023 03:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon has filed a lawsuit against a group of online stores that sell pirated DVDs of key titles such as "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" and "The Peripheral." TorrentFreak reports: In a complaint filed at a California federal court, Amazon accuses seven websites of selling pirated discs. These sites, including dvdshelf.com.au, dvds.trade, and dvdwholesale.co.uk, are presumably operated by the same group, using a variety of companies. For the public at large, it may not be immediately
  
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• Apple Formally Endorses Right To Repair Legislation After Spending Millions Fighting It

  24-08-2023 01:30 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  samleecole shares a report from 404 Media, a new independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox: Apple told a California legislator that it is formally supporting a right to repair bill in California, a landmark move that suggests big tech manufacturers understand they have lost the battle to monopolize repair, and need to allow consumers and independent repair shops to fix their own electronics. "Apple writes in support
  
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• Google's Dysfunctional AR Division Plans Apple Vision Pro Clone With Samsung

  24-08-2023 00:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A new report from Business Insider (paywalled) describes how Google's employees were "frustrated" at Google's lack of progress when the Vision Pro was unveiled and provides a glimpse of what Google's current plans for an AR product are. Ars Technica reports: The BI report details how Google's latest dead project, Iris, "was beset by a constantly shifting strategy and lack of focus from senior leadership." After "conversations with seven current and former employees close to Google's AR efforts,"
  
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• Automakers Now Have To Comply With MA's Right To Repair Law

  24-08-2023 00:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Tuesday automakers can comply with a Massachusetts Right to Repair law, reversing a previous directive to ignore the state legislation. Massachusetts's Right to Repair law was a ballot initiative that passed overwhelmingly in 2020. The law requires auto manufacturers that sell cars in the state to equip vehicles with a standardized open data platform so that owners and independent
  
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