ICT news

• H&R Block, Meta, and Google Slapped With RICO Suit, Allegedly Schemed to Scrape Taxpayer Data

  01-10-2023 23:44 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Anyone who has used H&R Block's tax return preparation services since 2015 "may have unintentionally helped line Meta and Google's pocket," reports Gizmodo:That's according to a new class action lawsuit which alleges the three companies "jointly schemed" to install trackers on the H&R Block site to scan and transmit tax data back to the tech companies which then used elements of the data to engage in targeted advertising.
  Attorneys bringing the case forward claim the three companies' con
  
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• FBI Indicts Goldman Sachs Analyst Who Tried Using Xbox Chat for Insider Trading

  01-10-2023 22:44 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Kotaku reports:
  A newly unsealed FBI indictment accuses a former analyst at Goldman Sachs of insider trading, including allegedly using an Xbox to pass tips onto his close friends. The friend group earned over $400,000 in ill-gotten gains as a result, federal prosecutors claim. "There's no tracing [Xbox 360 chat]," the analyst allegedly told his friend who was worried they might be discovered.
  He appears to have made a grave miscalculation.
  The FBI arrested Anthony Viggiano and alleged co-conspi
  
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• 'Cancer Moonshot' Projects Funded Include Implant to Sense and Treat Cancer, Tumor-Targetting Bacteria

  01-10-2023 21:24 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers from several U.S. institutions are collaborating "to develop and test an implantable device able to sense signs of the kind of inflammation associated with cancer," reports CBS News, "and delivery therapy when needed."Northwestern said the implant could significantly improve outcomes for patients with ovarian, pancreatic and other difficult-to-treat cancers — potentially cutting cancer-related deaths in the U.S. in half. "Instead of tethering patients to hospital beds, IV bags
  
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• Travel Website Booking.com Leaves Hoteliers Thousands of Dollars Out of Pocket

  01-10-2023 19:49 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The Guardian reports:
  Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a "technical issue". The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl about the cause of the failure to pay.
  Usually, if a customer makes a booking for a hotel through the website Booking.com and elects t
  
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• Can Generative AI Solve Computer Science's Greatest Unsolved Problem?

  01-10-2023 18:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  ZDNet calls it "a deep meditation on what can ultimately be achieved with computers" and "the single most important unsolved problem in computer science," with implications for both cryptography and quantum computing. "The question: Does P = NP?"
  "Now, that effort has enlisted the help of generative AI."
  In a paper titled "Large Language Model for Science: A Study on P vs. NP," lead author Qingxiu Dong and colleagues program OpenAI's GPT-4 large language model using what they call a Socratic Met
  
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• Web Sites Can Now Choose to Opt Out of Google Bard and Future AI Models

  01-10-2023 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "We're committed to developing AI responsibly," says Google's VP of Trust, "guided by our AI principles and in line with our consumer privacy commitment. However, we've also heard from web publishers that they want greater choice and control over how their content is used for emerging generative AI use cases."
  And so, Mashable reports, "Websites can now choose to opt out of Google Bard, or any other future AI models that Google makes."
  Google made the announcement on Thursday introducing a new t
  
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• Here's What's New in Python 3.12

  01-10-2023 16:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Monday will see the stable release of Python 3.12. Here's an article summarizingwhat the new version will include:- enhanced error messages— performance upgrades
  - the introduction of Immortal objects and sub interpreters
  - changes to F strings
  - modifications related to types and type annotations
  - the removal of certain modules
  - improvements in type implementationsModules from the standard library are now suggested as part of the error messages, making it easier for developers to troubl
  
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• Social Media Dunks on an AI-Generated 'Batman' Comic Strip

  01-10-2023 13:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "OpenAI's latest image generation model, DALL-E 3, makes it SO easy to create comic books!" posted Ammaar Reshi on Twitter. The former Palintir product manager (now a design manager at Brex) then shared "four panels for a fan-made Batman comic made in under five minutes."
  Comic Book Resources reports that then "social media spent most of the day dunking on the post, criticizing the idea of celebrating the idea of a 'comic' created through 'A.I. art.'"Comic book artist Javier Rodriguez noted that
  
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• Could 'The Creator' Change Hollywood Forever?

  01-10-2023 09:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  At the beginning of The Creator a narrator describes AI-powered robots that are "more human than human." From the movie site Looper:It's in reference to the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick, which was adapted into the seminal sci-fi classic, "Blade Runner." The phrase is used as the slogan for the Tyrell Corporation, which designs the androids that take on lives of their own. The saying perfectly encapsulates the themes of "Blade Runner" and, by proxy, "The Creator.
  
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• Microsoft Needs So Much Power to Train AI That It's Considering Small Nuclear Reactors

  01-10-2023 05:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares this report from Futurism:Training large language models is an incredibly power-intensive process that has an immense carbon footprint. Keeping data centers running requires a ludicrous amount of electricity that could generate substantial amounts of greenhouse emissions — depending, of course, on the energy's source. Now, the Verge reports, Microsoft is betting so big on AI that its pushing forward with a plan to power them using nuclear reactors. Yes, you read
  
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• Elvis Is Back in the Building, Thanks to Generative AI - and U2

  01-10-2023 03:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  U2's inaugural performance at the opening of Las Vegas's Sphere included a generative AI video collage projected hundreds of feet into the air — showing hundreds of surreal renderings of Elvis Presley.
  An anonymous reader shares this report from Time magazine:The video collage is the creation of the artist Marco Brambilla, the director of Demolition Man and Kanye West's "Power" music video, among many other art projects. Brambilla fed hours of footage from Presley's movies and performances
  
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• Will EVs Send OPEC Into a Death Spiral?

  01-10-2023 00:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  This week the UK's conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper published an interesting perspective from their world economy editor.
  "Saudi and OPEC officials self-evidently do not believe their own claim that world oil demand will keep growing briskly for another generation as if electric vehicles had never been invented, and there was no such thing as the Paris Accord."
  OPEC had to slash output last October in order to shore up prices. It had to cut again in April. The Saudis then stunned traders w
  
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