ICT news

• UK Parliament Passes Online Safety Bill

  19-09-2023 23:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Controversial UK legislation that brings in a new regime of content moderation rules for online platforms and services -- establishing the comms watchdog Ofcom as the main Internet regulator -- has been passed by parliament today, paving the way for Royal Assent and the Online Safety Bill becoming law in the coming days. Speaking during the bill's final stages in the House of Lords, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay reiterated that the government'
  
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• Chinese Hackers Have Unleashed a Never-Before-Seen Linux Backdoor

  19-09-2023 22:40 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers have discovered a never-before-seen backdoor for Linux that's being used by a threat actor linked to the Chinese government. From a report: The new backdoor originates from a Windows backdoor named Trochilus, which was first seen in 2015 by researchers from Arbor Networks, now known as Netscout. They said that Trochilus executed and ran only in memory, and the final payload never appeared on disks in most cases. That made the malware difficult to detect. Researchers from NHS Digital
  
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• Antarctic Sea-Ice at 'Mind-Blowing' Low Alarms Experts

  19-09-2023 22:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The sea-ice surrounding Antarctica is well below any previous recorded winter level, satellite data shows, a worrying new benchmark for a region that once seemed resistant to global warming. BBC: "It's so far outside anything we've seen, it's almost mind-blowing," says Walter Meier, who monitors sea-ice with the National Snow and Ice Data Center. An unstable Antarctica could have far-reaching consequences, polar experts warn. Antarctica's huge ice expanse regulates the planet's temperature, as t
  
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• US News' 2024 College Ranking Boosts Public Universities

  19-09-2023 21:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. News & World Report's 2024 college rankings features many of the usual prestigious institutions at the top of the list, but also vaults some schools much higher after the publisher revised its grading system to reward different criteria. From a report: U.S News' ranking algorithm now based more than 50% of an institution's score on what it describes as "success in enrolling and graduating students from all backgrounds with manageable debt and post-graduate success." The system also plac
  
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• No Evidence That China Can Make Advanced Chips 'at Scale,' US Says

  19-09-2023 20:41 via slashdot.org
  
  Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she was "upset" when China's Huawei released a new phone with an advanced chip during her visit to the country last month but noted that the US has no evidence China can make those components "at scale." From a report: "We are trying to use every single tool at our disposal to deny the Chinese the ability to advance their technology in ways that can hurt us," Raimondo testified at a congressional hearing Tuesday. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry
  
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• Intel CEO Says the Chipmaker's Technology Is Central To AI Boom

  19-09-2023 20:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger, plotting a comeback for the once-dominant chipmaker, made the case that the company's technology will be vital to an industrywide boom in artificial intelligence computing. From a report: Speaking at Intel's annual Innovation conference, Gelsinger pointed to advances that his company is making in production technology and software developer tools for AI. The opportunity will only grow as more artificial intelligence capabilities are powered by persona
  
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• US Federal Agencies Seek to Streamline 'Hodgepodge' of Cyber Reporting Rules

  19-09-2023 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Department of Homeland Security wants Congress and other federal agencies to help it streamline 52 different cyber reporting requirements to protect critical infrastructure and ease regulatory burdens on hacking victims. On Tuesday, it released a 107-page report that it hopes will serve as a road map to smooth that process. From a report: More than 30 federal agencies and departments, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Comptroller of the Currency and US Secret Service, have met sin
  
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• Intel Unveils Meteor Lake Architecture

  19-09-2023 18:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Intel has taken the wraps off its forthcoming next-gen Meteor Lake processors following its successful 12th (Alder Lake) and 13th Gen (Raptor Lake) processors with its new E- and P-core design. WindowsCentral: Its first chip built on the Intel 4 process node with Foveros 3D packaging, Intel calls Meteor Lake its "biggest architectural shift in 40 years" and that it will "lay the foundation for innovations for the PC," as noted by Tim Wilson, VP, Design and Engineering Group and GM, SoC Design at
  
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• European Governments Shrinking Railways in Favour of Road-Building, Report Finds

  19-09-2023 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  European governments have "systematically" shrunk their railways and starved them of funding while pouring money into expanding their road network, a report has found. The Guardian: The length of motorways in Europe grew 60% between 1995 and 2020 while railways shrank 6.5%, according to research from the German thinktanks Wuppertal Institute and T3 Transportation. For every $1 governments spent building railways, they spent $1.7 building roads. "This is a political choice," said Lorelei Limousin
  
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• Microsoft's Next Xbox, Coming 2028, Envisions Hybrid Computing

  19-09-2023 17:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  The documents in the FTC v. Microsoft case also reveal Microsoft's far future plans for 2028 -- by which the company believed it could achieve "full convergence" of its cloud gaming platform and physical hardware to deliver "cloud hybrid games." From a report: "Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences." Those are the words on just one slide f
  
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• Microsoft's Phil Spencer Says Acquiring Nintendo Would Be 'a Career Moment'

  19-09-2023 16:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer would really like to buy Nintendo someday. From a report: In an August 2020 email to two top Microsoft marketing executives, Spencer wrote that "Nintendo is THE prime asset for us in Gaming" and that "getting Nintendo would be a career moment and I honestly believe a good move for both companies." The emails were revealed as part of a tranche of leaked documents from the FTC v. Microsoft lawsuit. One executive, Takeshi Numoto, asked Spencer and Chris Capossela i
  
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• Amazon Devices Unit Morale Wanes Amid Cuts, Weak Development Pipeline

  19-09-2023 16:04 via slashdot.org
  
  Some workers within Amazon's once-storied hardware division -- responsible for popular devices like the Kindle reader and Echo voice-assistant -- say morale within the division has suffered amid staff cutbacks and a pipeline of devices in development that they fear are unlikely to prove hits. From a report: The division, known as Lab126, was a focus for Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, who portrayed it as an engine for future projects, but more recently it has been buffeted by mass layoffs and key e
  
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• Agility Robotics Is Opening a Humanoid Robot Factory In Oregon

  19-09-2023 15:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Agility Robotics is wrapping up construction of a factory in Salem, Oregon, where it plans to mass produce its first line of humanoid robots, called Digit. Each robot has two legs and two arms and is engineered to maneuver freely and work alongside humans in warehouses and factories. CNBC reports: The 70,000-square-foot facility, which the company is calling the "RoboFab," is the first of its kind, according to Damion Shelton, co-founder and CEO of Agility Robotics. COO Aindrea Campbell, who was
  
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• Maduro Says Venezuela Will Send Astronauts To Moon In Chinese Spaceship

  19-09-2023 12:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed to send "the first Venezuelan man or woman to the moon" in a Chinese spacecraft as part of a new strategic partnership between the two countries, he said Wednesday during a state visit to Beijing. Maduro and Chinese President Xi Jinping, meeting in person for the first time in five years, agreed to boost cooperation in several areas, Maduro said, including oil, trade, finance, mining -- and sp
  
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• The Loss of Dark Skies Is So Painful, Astronomers Coined a New Term For It: 'Noctalgia'

  19-09-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Humanity is slowly losing access to the night sky, and astronomers have invented a new term to describe the pain associated with this loss: "noctalgia," meaning "sky grief." Space.com reports: Along with our propensity for polluting air and water and the massive amounts of carbon we're dumping into the atmosphere to trigger climate change, we have created another kind of pollution: light pollution. [...] Given the harmful effects of light pollution, a pair of astronomers has coined a new term to
  
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• One of the FBI's Most Wanted Hackers Is Trolling the US Government

  19-09-2023 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Earlier this year, the U.S. government indicted Russian hacker Mikhail Matveev, also known by his online monikers "Wazawaka" and "Boriselcin," accusing him of being "a prolific ransomware affiliate" who carried out "significant attacks" against companies and critical infrastructure in the U.S. and elsewhere. The feds also accused him of being a "central figure" in the development and deployment of the notorious ransomware variants like Hive, L
  
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• Meta Is Killing Two Oculus Quest Games Without Explanation

  19-09-2023 03:25 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Meta is ending support for two first party original Oculus Quest launch titles next year without explanation. UploadVR reports: The company sent out emails to all owners of Bogo and Dead And Buried II on Friday to inform them that these apps will "end services" and "no longer be supported" after 15 March 2024, five years after they launched. The Meta Quest platform policies require developers to give customers at least 180 days notice before shutting down an app, so this appears to be Meta compl
  
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• Modder Turns Framework Laptop PCB Into a Handheld Gaming PC

  19-09-2023 02:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  YouTuber Pitstoptech built a "fully upgradeable gaming handheld" around one of Framework's upgradable motherboards. Tom's Hardware reports: The handheld model you see in the video is equipped with the following components:- Framework's Intel Core i7-1260P processor equipped mainboard
  - 7-inch FHD touchscreen display
  - 16 GB RAM
  - 512 GB SSD
  - Dual front-facing speakers
  - Detachable controllers
  - 55 Wh Battery
  - High-speed Wi-Fi & BluetoothThese components appear to offer some passable small-
  
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• 37 Signals Says Cloud Repatriation Plan Has Already Saved It $1 Million

  19-09-2023 02:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of SaaS project management outfit 37Signals, has posted an update on the cloud repatriation project he's led, writing that it's already saved the company $1 million. The Register: Hansson has previously revealed that his company spent $3.2 million a year on cloud computing, most of it at Amazon Web Services. His repatriation plan called for the company to spend $600,000 on eight meaty servers that each pack 256 virtual CPUs, and have them hosted at an outfit called
  
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• Hundreds of Flying Taxis To Be Made In Ohio

  19-09-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Under an agreement announced Monday, Joby Aviation will build hundreds of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the same Ohio river valley where the Wright brothers pioneered human flight. The Associated Press reports: Joby's decision to locate its first scaled manufacturing facility at a 140-acre (57-hectare) site at Dayton International Airport delivers on two decades of groundwork laid by the state's leaders, Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. Importantly, the site is ne
  
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• US Argues Google Wants Too Much Information Kept Secret In Antitrust Trial

  19-09-2023 00:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Justice Department on Monday objected to removing the public from the court during some discussions of how Google prices online advertising, one of the issues at the heart of the antitrust trial under way in Washington. The government is seeking to show that Alphabet's Google broke antitrust law to maintain its dominance in online search. The search dominance led to fast-increasing advertising revenues that made Google a $1 trillion comp
  
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• Court Blocks California's Online Child Safety Law

  19-09-2023 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A federal judge has granted a request to block the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), a law that requires special data safeguards for underage users online. The Verge reports: In a ruling (PDF) issued today, Judge Beth Freeman granted a preliminary injunction for tech industry group NetChoice, saying the law likely violates the First Amendment. It's the latest of several state-level internet regulations to be blocked while a lawsuit against them proceeds, including some that ar
  
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