ICT news

• Unified Acceleration Foundation Wants To Create an Open Standard for Accelerator Programming

  20-09-2023 23:20 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  At the Open Source Summit Europe in Bilbao, Spain, the Linux Foundation this week announced the launch of the Unified Acceleration (UXL) Foundation. The group's mission is to deliver "an open standard accelerator programming model that simplifies development of performant, cross-platform applications." From a report: The foundation's founding members include the likes of Arm, Fujitsu, Google Cloud, Imagination Technologies, Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung. The company most conspicuously missing from
  
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• Y Combinator Says Visa Challenges Hampering Participation of International Startups

  20-09-2023 22:40 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The declining participation of Indian and Southeast Asian startups in Y Combinator is slowly becoming a trend. The previous batches showed a steeper presence with 10 startups in the batch prior, 20 in S22, 37 in W22, 33 in S21 and a peak of 44 in W21. In a statement to TechCrunch, a YC spokesperson attributed the drop to shift back to in-person events by the storied venture accelerator firm that necessitates founders to relocate to the U.S. for a quarter of a
  
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• OpenAI Debuts Next Version of Its Image Generation Tool

  20-09-2023 22:00 via slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI is offering an early look at DALL-E 3, the next version of its image generation tool. From a report: The update allows DALL-E 3 to be summoned and controlled using ChatGPT and aims to produce higher-quality images that more faithfully reflect queries. OpenAI says that DALL-E 3 is significantly better at understanding the intent of prompts, particularly longer ones, compared to DALL-E 2, which debuted in April 2022. OpenAI says DALL-E 3 also does better -- but not perfectly -- in areas tha
  
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• Almost Everyone in Europe is Breathing Toxic Air

  20-09-2023 21:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Europe is facing a "severe public health crisis," with almost everyone across the continent living in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, an investigation by the Guardian has found. From the report: Analysis of data gathered using cutting-edge methodology -- including detailed satellite images and measurements from more than 1,400 ground monitoring stations -- reveals a dire picture of dirty air, with 98% of people living in areas with highly damaging fine particulate pollution that ex
  
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• Xbox Exec Says Leaked 'Old Emails and Documents' Have 'Outdated' Info

  20-09-2023 20:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Yesterday's massive leaks from the Microsoft vs. FTC case have a large swath of the gaming world expecting that a more powerful, disc-free Xbox Series X refresh could be coming as soon as next year. But Xbox boss Phil Spencer is warning that players shouldn't put too much stock in what he called "old emails and documents." ArsTechnica adds: "It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future," Spen
  
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• Top Google Search Result for Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man' Is AI Generated Selfie

  20-09-2023 20:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Slash_Account_Dot writes: The first thing you'll see if you search Google for "tank man" right now will not be the iconic picture of the unidentified Chinese man who stood in protest in front of a column of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square, but an entirely fake, AI-generated selfie of that historical event. While the AI-generated selfie doesn't appear to be deliberate misinformation, it highlights an inherent problem with the current state of generative AI and the internet: It is exceedingly easy
  
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• Sysadmin, Spouse Admit To Part in 'Massive' Pirated Avaya Licenses Scam

  20-09-2023 19:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A sysadmin and his partner pleaded guilty this week to being part of a "massive" international ring that sold software licenses worth $88 million for "significantly below the wholesale price." From a report: Brad and Dusti Pearce admitted one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. After agreeing to a plea deal, the Pearces must also forfeit at least $4 million as well as gold, silver, collectible coins, cryptocurrency, and a vehicle, and "
  
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• Amazon's Eero Max 7 Mesh Router Adds Wi-Fi 7 - For a Whopping $600

  20-09-2023 18:17 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Simon Hill, reporting for Wired: Every new hardware announcement is always described as "the best ever," but Amazon's new Eero Max 7 mesh might just be a real leap forward. This is Eero's first tri-band mesh router that utilizes the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, promising roughly double the speeds of its previous flagship system up to 4.3 Gigabits per second. Theoretically, you can download a 4K movie in 10 seconds. The router has a larger design than its predecessor, which allows for more antennas,
  
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• John Grisham, George RR Martin, Other Top US Authors Sue OpenAI Over Copyrights

  20-09-2023 18:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A trade group for U.S. authors has sued OpenAI in Manhattan federal court on behalf of prominent writers including John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen, George Saunders, Jodi Picault and "Game of Thrones" novelist George R.R. Martin, accusing the company of unlawfully training its popular artificial-intelligence based chatbot ChatGPT on their work. From a report: The proposed class-action lawsuit filed late on Tuesday by the Authors Guild joins several others from writers, source-code owners and visua
  
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• China Accuses US of Hacking Huawei Servers as Far Back as 2009

  20-09-2023 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  China accused the U.S. of infiltrating Huawei servers beginning in 2009, part of a broad-based effort to steal data that culminated in tens of thousands of cyber-attacks against Chinese targets last year. From a report: The Tailored Access Operations unit of the National Security Agency carried out the attacks in 2009, which then continuously monitored the servers, China's Ministry of State Security said in a post on its official WeChat account on Wednesday. It didn't provide details of attacks
  
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• Apple and Goldman Planned Stock-Trading Feature for iPhones Until Markets Turned

  20-09-2023 16:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  As equities soared in 2020 and consumers flocked to trading apps like Robinhood, Apple and Goldman Sachs were working on an investing feature that would let consumers buy and sell stocks, CNBC reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the plans. From the report: The project was shelved last year as the markets turned south, said the sources, who asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to speak on the matter. The effort, which has not been previously reported, would have added
  
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• WhatsApp Appears To Be About To Launch Its Long-Overdue iPad App

  20-09-2023 16:09 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A few lucky WhatsApp beta testers got a surprising treat this week: the company appears to be testing a version of its iOS app that is also optimized for the iPad. As first spotted by WABetaInfo, version 23.19.1.71 of WhatsApp's TestFlight app includes the new iPad app as well. From what we can see in screenshots, the iPad app works exactly like you'd expect. You connect to it by scanning a QR code the same way you'd link your account to any other device. You
  
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• The International Criminal Court In The Hague Says It Has Been Hacked

  20-09-2023 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The International Criminal Court said Tuesday that it detected "anomalous activity affecting its information systems" last week and took urgent measures to respond. It didn't elaborate on what it called a "cybersecurity incident." Court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said in a written statement that extra "response and security measures are now ongoing" with the assistance of authorities in the Netherlands, where the court is based. "Loo
  
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• FBI and CISA Release Advisory on Snatch Ransomware

  20-09-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) #StopRansomware: Snatch Ransomware, which provides indicators of compromise (IOCs) and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with the Snatch ransomware variant. FBI investigations identified these IOCs and TTPs as recently as June 1, 2023.
  Snatch threat actors operate a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model and change the
  
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• Long-Term Support For Linux Kernel To Be Cut As Maintenance Remains Under Strain

  20-09-2023 12:00 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes via ZDNet: BILBAO, Spain: At the Open Source Summit Europe, Jonathan Corbett, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News, caught everyone up with what's new in the Linux kernel and where it's going from here. Here's one major change coming down the road: Long-term support (LTS) for Linux kernels is being reduced from six to two years.Currently, there are six LTS Linux kernels -- 6.1, 5.15, 5.10, 5.4, 4.19, and 4.14. Under the process to date, 4
  
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• Space Drugs Factory Denied Reentry To Earth

  20-09-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  After manufacturing crystals of an HIV drug in space, the first orbital factory is stuck in orbit after being denied reentry back to Earth due to safety concerns. Gizmodo reports: The U.S. Air Force denied a request from Varda Space Industries to land its in-space manufacturing capsule at a Utah training area, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not grant the company permission to reenter Earth's atmosphere, leaving its spacecraft hanging as the company scrambles to find a s
  
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• RNA Has Been Recovered From an Extinct Species For the First Time

  20-09-2023 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: A new study shows the isolation and sequencing of more than a century-old RNA molecules from a Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in a museum collection. This resulted in the reconstruction of skin and skeletal muscle transcriptomes from an extinct species for the first time. The researchers note that their findings have relevant implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including both the Tasmanian
  
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• Schneider Electric Warns That Existing Datacenters Aren't Buff Enough For AI

  20-09-2023 04:02 via slashdot.org
  
  The infrastructure behind popular AI workloads is so demanding that Schneider Electric has suggested it may be time to reevaluate the way we build datacenters. The Register reports: In a recent white paper [PDF], the French multinational broke down several of the factors that make accommodating AI workloads so challenging and offered its guidance for how future datacenters could be optimized for them. The bad news is some of the recommendations may not make sense for existing facilities. The pro
  
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• Google Wants To Map More of the World's Roads With Expansion of 'Road Mapper' Volunteer Community

  20-09-2023 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google announced today that it is opening access to more contributors to participate in Road Mapper, a tool where you can add missing roads to Google Maps in areas of the world that need it most. TechCrunch reports: Road Mapper is an invite-only platform where people participate in challenges, drawing roads located in areas with a large population, yet have a significant amount of road network missing from Google Maps. Users draw road geometry using satellite images. The drawings then go through
  
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• FTX Sues Sam Bankman-Fried's Parents

  20-09-2023 02:45 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is looking to claw back luxury property and "millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds" from the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange's disgraced ex-CEO and founder. CNBC reports: In a Monday court filing, lawyers representing the bankruptcy estate of the failed exchange alleged that Allan Joseph Bankman and his wife, Barbara Fried, "exploited their access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves, directly and
  
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• Toyota Reveals Its Plan To Catch Up On EV Battery Technology

  20-09-2023 02:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: Toyota, the world's largest automaker, has a problem. Although the company is famous for pioneering lean methods of manufacturing and being an early pioneer of hybrid electric powertrains, the switch to battery electric vehicles caught it somewhat unprepared. As rivals locked up contracts for critical minerals and formed joint ventures with battery makers (or built their own), Toyota has appeared to fall behind. Now, it has released a new roadmap showing how it will r
  
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• Google Bard Extensions Brings More AI Power To Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and More

  20-09-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google Bard is getting support for Extensions today, incorporating essential apps like Google Maps, YouTube, Hotels, and Flights to simplify data retrieval and accelerate the creative process. Android Police reports: This integration ensures that users can seamlessly amalgamate data from myriad sources, thereby accelerating your creative process or just making it easier to accomplish basic tasks across the board. These tools were originally teased at I/O before their wider release today. The com
  
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• Microsoft Accidentally Reveals New Disc-Less Xbox Series X Design With a Lift-To-Wake Controller

  20-09-2023 00:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is planning to refresh its Xbox Series X console in 2024 with an all-new design and features. The Verge reports: Codenamed Brooklin, the unannounced console refresh has been accidentally revealed in new FTC v. Microsoft documents this week. The new Xbox Series X design looks a lot more cylindrical than the existing console and will ship without a disc drive. Internal confidential Microsoft documents reveal it has 2TB of storage (up from 1TB), a USB-C front port with power delivery, and
  
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• Most US Adults Don't Believe Benefits of AI Outweigh the Risks, New Survey Finds

  20-09-2023 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The majority of U.S. adults don't believe the benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh the risks, according to a new Mitre-Harris Poll released Tuesday. From a report: 54% of the 2,063 adults in a Mitre-Harris Poll survey in July said they were more concerned about the risks of AI than they were excited about the potential benefits. At the same time, 39% of adults said they believed today's AI technologies are safe and secure -- down 9 points from the previous survey in November 2022. AI ope
  
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