ICT news

• Intel Reiterates: Next-gen Meteor Lake CPUs Aren't Coming To Most Desktops

  27-09-2023 23:20 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Intel's Meteor Lake processor architecture promises to be its most interesting in recent history, but we've known for a while now that Intel isn't planning to launch a version for socketed desktop motherboards like the ones you'd find in a self-built PC or an off-the-shelf mini tower. For those systems, Intel plans to release a second consecutive refresh of the old Alder Lake architecture, the one that first came to desktops in 12th-generation Core CPUs in 20
  
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• US Sues eBay Over Sale of Harmful Products

  27-09-2023 22:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. government on Wednesday sued eBay, accusing the online platform of violating the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws by allowing the sale of several harmful products, including devices that defeat automobile pollution controls. From a report: EBay could face billions of dollars in penalties, including up to $5,580 for each Clean Air Act violation, according to the government's complaint filed in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York. The Department of Justice said eBay illegall
  
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• Xbox Cloud Gaming is Coming To Meta Quest 3 in December

  27-09-2023 22:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  The next-generation of Meta Quest hardware is here, and Meta announced a bunch of software news alongside the Quest 3 VR headset hardware reveal at its Connect conference. One such announcement was the debut of Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service on Meta Quest 3, which is actually a huge boon for fans of the Facebook owner's mixed reality gear. From a report: The Xbox Cloud Gaming implementation in Quest resembles a lot of how Apple showed its own vision for mixed reality with the Vision Pro h
  
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• Nothing's the Matter With Antimatter, New Experiment Confirms

  27-09-2023 21:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Many readers shared this report: Antimatter just lost a little more pizazz. Physicists know that for every fundamental particle in nature there is an antiparticle -- an evil twin of identical mass but endowed with equal and opposite characteristics like charge and spin. When these twins meet, they obliterate each other, releasing a flash of energy on contact. In science fiction, antiparticles provide the power for warp drives. Some physicists have speculated that antiparticles are being repelled
  
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• Meta Rolls Out Higher-Priced Quest 3 Headset, Just Ahead of Apple's Vision Pro

  27-09-2023 20:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta introduced its latest lineup of head-worn devices, staking fresh claim to the virtual- and augmented-reality industry just ahead of Apple pushing into the market. From a report: The company officially unveiled the Quest 3 headset on Wednesday, raising the price by $200 to $500, at its annual Connect developers conference. It also introduced second-generation smart glasses that it developed with luxury sunglass maker Ray-Ban. The Quest 3, which was previewed by Meta earlier this year after B
  
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• Microsoft Says Apple Used Bing Offer as Google 'Bargaining Chip'

  27-09-2023 20:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  A Microsoft executive said the company has tried for years to displace Alphabet's Google as the default web browser on iPhones, but that Apple never seriously considered switching to Microsoft's Bing and was content to use it as a "bargaining chip" with the search giant. From a report: "Apple is making more money on Bing existing than Bing does," Mikhail Parakhin, the head of Microsoft's advertising and web services, testified during the US government's antitrust trial against Google in Washingt
  
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• As The EA Sports FC Era Dawns, FIFA 23 Removed From Digital Platforms

  27-09-2023 19:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  EA has suddenly removed downloadable versions of FIFA 23 from multiple digital storefronts. The delisting comes earlier than expected for the title and coincides with the company's launch of the newly FIFA-license-free EA Sports FC 24. From a report: While many reports suggest there has been a recent mass purge of all legacy FIFA games from online stores, EA has a history of delisting older sports titles at a pretty regular cadence. FIFA 22, for instance, was delisted from digital storefronts in
  
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• Russian Zero-Day Seller Offers $20 Million for Hacking Android and iPhones

  27-09-2023 18:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A company that acquires and sells zero-day exploits -- flaws in software that are unknown to the affected developer -- is now offering to pay researchers $20 million for hacking tools that would allow its customers to hack iPhones and Android devices. From a report: On Wednesday, Operation Zero announced on its Telegram accounts and on its official account on X, formerly Twitter, that it was increasing payments for zero-days in those platforms tenfold, from $200,000 to $20 million. "By increasin
  
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• US FTC Revives Microsoft-Activision Deal Challenge

  27-09-2023 18:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The US Federal Trade Commission is reviving its challenge against Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision, a move which may seek to unwind the deal after it closes. From a report: The agency will move forward with its in-house trial against the acquisition after pausing it over the summer, according to an order the agency issued Wednesday. The move means the FTC will continue challenging the deal even after it has closed this year. "The commission has determined that
  
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• The Band of Debunkers Busting Bad Scientists

  27-09-2023 17:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Stanford's president and a high-profile physicist are among those taken down by a growing wave of volunteers who expose faulty or fraudulent research papers. WSJ: An award-winning Harvard Business School professor and researcher spent years exploring the reasons people lie and cheat. A trio of behavioral scientists examining a handful of her academic papers concluded her own findings were drawn from falsified data. It was a routine takedown for the three scientists -- Joe Simmons, Leif Nelson an
  
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• Hollywood Studios Can Train AI Models on Writers' Work Under Tentative Deal

  27-09-2023 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Hollywood studios are expected to retain the right to train artificial-intelligence models based on writers' work under the terms of a tentative labor agreement between the two sides, WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the situation. From the report: The writers would also walk away with an important win, a guarantee that they will receive credit and compensation for work they do on scripts, even if studios partially rely on AI tools, one of the people said. That provision had been in an
  
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• China Lists Mobile App Stores That Comply With New Rule, But Apple Missing

  27-09-2023 16:04 via slashdot.org
  
  China's cyberspace regulator released on Wednesday names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed filing business details to regulators, signalling it has begun to enforce new rules that expand its oversight of mobile apps. From a report: A total of 26 app stores operated by companies including Tencent, Huawei, Ant Group, Baidu, Xiaomi and Samsung have submitted filings to the authority, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Apple's App Store is not among
  
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• Google Search Caught Publicly Indexing Users' Conversations With Bard AI

  27-09-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: SEO consultant Gagan Ghotra observed that Google Search had begun to index shared Bard conversational links into its search results pages, potentially exposing information users meant to be kept contained or confidential. This means that if a person used Bard to ask it a question -- possibly even a question related to the contents of their private emails -- then shared the link with a designated third-party, say, their spouse, friend or busin
  
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• NSA, FBI, CISA, and Japanese Partners Release Advisory on PRC-Linked Cyber Actors

  27-09-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), along with the Japan National Police Agency (NPA) and the Japan National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC) released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) People's Republic of China-Linked Cyber Actors Hide in Router Firmware. The CSA details activity by cyber actors, known as BlackTech, linked to the People’s Repub
  
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• Mozilla Releases Security Advisories for Thunderbird and Firefox

  27-09-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Mozilla has released security updates to address vulnerabilities for Thunderbird 115.3, Firefox ESR 115.3, and Firefox 118. A cyber threat actor could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review Mozilla security advisories for Thunderbird 115.3, Firefox ESR 115.3 and Firefox 118 for more information and apply the necessary updates.
  
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• Is the Philips Hue Ecosystem 'Collapsing Into Stupidity'?

  27-09-2023 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Philips Hue ecosystem of home automation devices is "collapsing into stupidity," writes Rachel Kroll, veteran sysadmin and former production engineer at Facebook. "Unfortunately, the idiot C-suite phenomenon has happened here too, and they have been slowly walking down the road to full-on enshittification." From her blog post: I figured something was up a few years ago when their iOS app would block entry until you pushed an upgrade to the hub box. That kind of behavior would never fly with
  
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• Chinese Astronauts May Build a Base Inside a Lunar Lava Tube

  27-09-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  According to Universe Today, China may utilize lunar caves as potential habitats for astronauts on the Moon, offering defense against hazards like radiation, meteorites, and temperature variations. From the report: Different teams of scientists from different countries and agencies have studied the idea of using lava tubes as shelter. At a recent conference in China, Zhang Chongfeng from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology presented a study into the underground world of lava tubes. Ch
  
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• Burkey Belser, Designer of Ubiquitous Nutrition Facts Label, Dies At 76

  27-09-2023 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: Burkey Belser, a graphic designer who created the ubiquitous nutrition facts label -- a stark rectangle listing calories, fat, sodium and other content information -- that adorns the packaging of nearly every digestible product in grocery stores, died Sept. 25 at his home in Bethesda, Md. He was 76. The cause was bladder cancer, said his wife Donna Greenfield, with whom he founded the Washington, D.C., design firm Greenfield/Belser.Mr
  
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• World's First Drug To Regrow Teeth Enters Clinical Trials

  27-09-2023 04:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Michelle Butterfield writes via Global News: A team of scientists, led by a Japanese pharmaceutical startup, are getting set to start human trials on a new drug that has successfully grown new teeth in animal test subjects. Toregem Biopharma is slated to begin clinical trials in July of next year after it succeeded growing new teeth in mice five years ago, the Japan Times reports. Dr. Katsu Takahashi, a lead researcher on the project and head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the M
  
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• Unity Dev Group Dissolves After 13 Years Over 'Completely Eroded' Company Trust

  27-09-2023 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Kyle Orland writes via Ars Technica: The "first official Unity user group in the world" has announced that it is dissolving after 13 years because "the trust we used to have in the company has been completely eroded." The move comes as many developers are saying they will continue to stay away from the company's products even after last week's partial rollback of some of the most controversial parts of its fee structure plans.Since its founding in 2010, the Boston Unity Group (BUG) has attracted
  
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• Windows 11's New 'Never Combine' Icons Feature Is Almost Unusable

  27-09-2023 03:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Lawrence Abrams writes via BleepingComputer: After almost three years, Microsoft has finally added the 'Never combine taskbar button' back to Windows, and it still doesn't work correctly. The combine taskbar items feature in Windows 10 allows you to show an icon for every open application in Windows, even if they are multiple instances of the same application. For example, if you have ten instances of Notepad or a few browser windows open, the feature will allow you to see an icon on the taskbar
  
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• Air Force Receives Its First Electric Air Taxi

  27-09-2023 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The Air Force said on Monday that it had received its first electric passenger aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically, a milestone for the companies that hope to one day sell thousands of such vehicles to serve as air taxis. Joby Aviation, an air taxi start-up, delivered the aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, where the first supersonic flight took place. Air taxis are typically powered by batterie
  
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• Meta Pays a Lot of Money To Break Lease On London Office Building

  27-09-2023 02:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "As a result of the move to working from home, Meta has walked away from one of its offices in London at the cost of 149 million pounds," writes Slashdot reader Bruce66423. The London Evening Standard reports: Meta paid the FTSE 250 developer 149 million pounds on Monday in order to break the lease on the building, 1 Triton Square. The tech firm, which also owns Instagram, let the space from 2021 following a refurbishment but never moved into the space. Meta has three open London sites including
  
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• Google Podcasts Shutting Down In 2024 For YouTube Music

  27-09-2023 01:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Google Podcasts is shutting down in 2024 after YouTube Music picks up full global availability of podcasts, which is expected before the end of 2023. As 9to5Google reports, YouTube Music "will be Google's one podcasting app and service going forward." From the report: The big advantage of Google Podcasts was its simplicity and wide availability on Android (through the Google Search app). A "simple migration tool" will move your existing subscriptions from Google Podcasts. Notably, there will be
  
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• GPUs From All Major Suppliers Are Vulnerable To New Pixel-Stealing Attack

  27-09-2023 00:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: GPUs from all six of the major suppliers are vulnerable to a newly discovered attack that allows malicious websites to read the usernames, passwords, and other sensitive visual data displayed by other websites, researchers have demonstrated in a paper (PDF) published Tuesday. The cross-origin attack allows a malicious website from one domain -- say, example.com -- to effectively read the pixels displayed by a website from example.org, or ano
  
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• Chase UK To Ban Cryptocurrency Purchases Over Fraud Fears

  27-09-2023 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: Chase UK, JPMorgan's UK Bank, has told its customers that it will not carry out transactions related to crypto assets.
  The Financial Times writes: JPMorgan's UK bank will stop customers buying cryptocurrencies from next month to combat rising numbers of criminals using digital assets to target victims.
  The ban by Chase UK, which notified customers by email on Tuesday, marks a step up as British lenders try to stop their networks being used for scams and frauds.
  While
  
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