ICT news

• Microsoft Won't Say If Its Products Were Exploited By Spyware Zero-Days

  05-10-2023 23:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has released patches to fix zero-day vulnerabilities in two popular open source libraries that affect several Microsoft products, including Skype, Teams and its Edge browser. But Microsoft won't say if those zero-days were exploited to target its products, or if the company knows either way. From a report: The two vulnerabilities -- known as zero-days because developers had no advance notice to fix the bugs -- were discovered last month, and both bugs have been actively exploited to ta
  
  Read more

• Lockheed CEO Pitches Pentagon on Subscription Software

  05-10-2023 22:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A parallel acquisition system -- buying needed apps by monthly or yearly subscription to meet changing mission requirements -- could improve deterrence by complicating an enemy's war planning, Lockheed Martin's top executive suggested Wednesday. From a report: Jim Taiclet, Lockheed's CEO, said the idea behind this approach is similar to allowing a customer to buy a 5G phone in Seoul and have it operate with new applications as needed in Washington. Although "digital insertion" in this manner "ha
  
  Read more

• Low Demand For Travis Scott Creates Liquidity Crisis In Ticket Reselling Economy

  05-10-2023 22:00 via slashdot.org
  
  samleecole writes: Tickets for rapper Travis Scott's upcoming tour sold out fast. Check StubHub right now, however, and you can find thousands of tickets to "sold out" shows in many cities for between $10 and $20, far below the face value for his cheapest tickets at $61.50 before fees when they first went on sale. In ticket reseller lingo, Scott's tour is a "bloodbath," the result of overzealous brokers and noobs "overbuying" tickets based on a miscalculation of the likely value of his tickets o
  
  Read more

• September Broke the Global Heat Record by a 'Gobsmackingly Bananas' Margin

  05-10-2023 21:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The global average temperature for September broke records by such an absurd margin that climate experts are struggling to describe the phenomenon. From a report: "This month was -- in my professional opinion as a climate scientist -- absolutely gobsmackingly bananas," Zeke Hausfather, a researcher with Berkeley Earth, said on the social media platforms Bluesky and X. The numbers are stark. September 2023 beat the previous record for the month, set in 2020, by 0.5C (0.9F), according to data sets
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Tech-Backed Code.org Picks 'Creativity With AI' As Theme For 2023 Hour of Code

  05-10-2023 20:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  theodp writes: With Microsoft President Satya Nadella testifying in the Google antitrust trial that the tech titans are engaged in a Generative AI Gold Rush, it's no surprise to learn that tech giant-backed and advised nonprofit Code.org has chosen "Creativity with AI" as the theme for this December's Hour of Code, the annual global event that aims to whet K-12 schoolchildren's appetite for rigorous computer science. "We're taking Hour of Code to new heights with 'Hour of Code: Creativity with A
  
  Read more

• AI Beats Human Sleuth at Finding Problematic Images in Research Papers

  05-10-2023 20:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An algorithm that takes just seconds to scan a paper for duplicated images racks up more suspicious images than a person. Nature: Scientific-image sleuth Sholto David blogs about image manipulation in research papers, a pastime that has exposed him to many accounts of scientific fraud. But other scientists "are still a little bit in the dark about the extent of the problem," David says. He decided he needed some data. The independent biologist in Pontypridd, UK, spent the best part of several mo
  
  Read more

• Epic Games To Update Unreal Engine Pricing for Devs Outside Game Industry

  05-10-2023 19:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  A week after laying off almost 900 employees, Epic Games has said that it's increasing the price to use Unreal Engine -- just not for the game development community. From a report: The news came from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney himself in a presentation at Unreal Fest 2023. In a video captured by Fortnite Creative developer Immature, Sweeney explains that developers using Unreal Engine in the film, TV, automotive, and other industries can expect to start paying a per-seat licensing fee. He claime
  
  Read more

• 4chan Uses Bing To Flood the Internet With Racist Images

  05-10-2023 18:40 via slashdot.org
  
  samleecole writes: 4chan users are coordinating a posting campaign where they use Microsoft Bing's AI text-to-image generator to create racist images that they can then post across the internet. The news shows how users are able to manipulate free to access, easy to use AI tools to quickly flood the internet with racist garbage, even when those tools are allegedly strictly moderated. "We're making propaganda for fun. Join us, it's comfy," the 4chan thread instructs. "MAKE, EDIT, SHARE."
  A visual
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• UN Report Urges Global End To Fossil Fuel Exploration by 2030

  05-10-2023 18:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Fossil fuel exploration should cease globally by 2030 and funding to rescue poor countries from the impacts of the climate crisis should reach $200bn to $400bn a year by the same date, according to proposals in a UN report before the next climate summit. The Guardian: Countries were still "way off track" to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, the report found, and much more action would be needed to make it possible to limit global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. The
  
  Read more

• Sony's High-Bitrate Movie Service is Now Available on PS5 and PS4

  05-10-2023 17:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Sony is bringing its own movie streaming service to PlayStation consoles beginning today. From a report: Previously known as Bravia Core, the service is being rebranded to Sony Pictures Core as it arrives on the PS5 and PS4. "Once you sign up for Sony Pictures Core, you will be able to buy or rent up to 2,000 movies straight from your console," Sony's Evan Stern wrote in a blog post. "At launch, this will include blockbuster hits such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: No Way Ho
  
  Read more

• Amazon and Microsoft's Cloud Dominance Referred for UK Competition Probe

  05-10-2023 16:41 via slashdot.org
  
  Britain's anti-competition regulators have been tasked with investigating Microsoft and Amazon's dominance of the cloud computing market. From a report: Media watchdog Ofcom on Thursday referred its inquiry for further investigation to the Competition and Markets Authority, kickstarting the process. Ofcom said that it had identified features which make it more difficult for U.K. businesses to switch cloud providers, or use multiple cloud services, and that it is "particularly concerned" about th
  
  Read more

• Apple Considered, Rejected Switch To DuckDuckGo From Google

  05-10-2023 16:05 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple held talks with DuckDuckGo to replace Alphabet's Google as the default search engine for the private mode on Apple's Safari browser, but ultimately rejected the idea. From a report: The details of those talks -- and Apple's discussions about buying Microsoft's Bing search engine in 2018 and 2020 -- were revealed late Wednesday in transcripts unsealed by the judge overseeing the US government's antitrust trial against Google. US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Wednesday that he would unseal
  
  Read more

• Men Overran a Job Fair For Women In Tech

  05-10-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "Every year the Grace Hopper Celebration, a conference and career fair aimed at non-males, brings women in the tech industry together," writes long-time Slashdot reader piojo. "This year, a large number of men showed up. The women were not pleased." Wired reports: AnitaB.org, the nonprofit that runs the conference, said there was "an increase in participation of self-identifying males" at this year's event. The nonprofit says it believes allyship from men is important and noted it cannot ban men
  
  Read more

• NSA and CISA Release Advisory on Top Ten Cybersecurity Misconfigurations

  05-10-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the National Security Agency (NSA) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint cybersecurity advisory (CSA), NSA and CISA Red and Blue Teams Share Top Ten Cybersecurity Misconfigurations, which provides the most common cybersecurity misconfigurations in large organizations, and details the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) actors use to exploit these misconfigurations.
  The misconfigurations in the CSA illustrate a trend of systemic weaknesses in m
  
  Read more

• Atlassian Releases Security Advisory for Confluence Data Center and Server

  05-10-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Atlassian released a security advisory to address a vulnerability affecting Confluence Data Center and Confluence Server. A remote cyber threat actor could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.
  CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following advisory and apply the necessary updates: CVE-2023-22515 - Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in Confluence Data Center and Server.
  
  Read more

• Underground Thermal Energy Networks Are Becoming Crucial To the US's Energy Future

  05-10-2023 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Thirteen US states are now implementing underground thermal energy networks to reduce buildings' carbon emissions as part of a nationwide push to adopt cleaner energy sources. Thermal energy networks use pipe loops that connect multiple buildings and provide heating and cooling through water-source heat pumps. Geothermal heat is commonly used in these networks, but it is also possible to bring in waste heat from other buildings thro
  
  Read more

• A New Satellite Outshines Some of the Brightest Stars in the Sky

  05-10-2023 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Becky Ferreira writes via the New York Times: Last November, a satellite in low-Earth orbit unfurled into an expansive array that extends across nearly 700 square feet, about the size of a studio apartment. The satellite, BlueWalker 3, has since become one of the brightest objects in the sky, outshining some of the most radiant stars in the Milky Way, according to a study published on Monday in Nature -- and it is just the first of dozens of similar satellites that are in development by AST Spac
  
  Read more

• 3D Printer Uses Magnets To Break Speed Limits

  05-10-2023 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Hardware: Resin printer company Peopoly created quite a buzz with the unveiling of a prototype beltless FDM 3D printer, the Magneto X, at the East Coast RepRap Festival. The new printer is a desk top machine with a huge 400 x 300 x 300 mm build volume and print speeds up to 800mm/s. It borrows a design feature seen on CNC machines: magnetic linear motors. Normally, 3D printers move their components with rotating stepper motors attached to gears and
  
  Read more

• USFWS Is Creating a Frozen Library of Biodiversity To Help Endangered Species

  05-10-2023 04:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Kiley Price writes via Inside Climate News: In a new initiative announced on Tuesday, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is working with the nonprofit Revive & Restore and other partners to create a "genetic library" of the country's endangered species -- before it's too late. Through a process called biobanking, FWS field staff are gathering biological samples such as blood, tissues and reproductive cells from animals to be cryogenically preserved at extremely low temperatures (at least -
  
  Read more

• Kidnapped By a Runaway Electric Car

  05-10-2023 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader RockDoctor writes: Regardless of their other potential benefits, modern cars, and modern electric cars in particular, involve complex networks of computer code, hardware, and servo systems cooperating (?) to deliver services to the user, like acceleration, steering and braking. Slashdot nerderati know better than most that such complex networks can never show unexpected, non-designed behavior, due to the infallibility of hardware, program coders and system designers...
  
  Read more

• Researchers Say Current AI Watermarks Are Trivial To Remove

  05-10-2023 02:45 via slashdot.org
  
  Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) were able to easily evade the current methods of AI watermarking during testing and found it even easier to add fake emblems to images that weren't generated by AI. "But beyond testing how easy it is to evade watermarks, one UMD team notably developed a watermark that is near impossible to remove from content without completely compromising the intellectual property," reports Engadget. "This application makes it possible to detect when products a
  
  Read more

• Linux Tries To Dump Windows' Notoriously Insecure RNDIS Protocol

  05-10-2023 02:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Microsoft's proprietary protocol, Remote Network Driver Interface Specification (RNDIS), started with a good idea. It would enable hardware vendors to add networking support to USB devices without having to build them from scratch. There was only one little problem. RNDIS has no security to speak of. As Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux Foundation fellow responsible for stable Linux kernel releases, wrote in November 2022 on the Linux Kernel Mailing Li
  
  Read more

• DIY Tinkerer Invents MacBook Tool That Breaks Apple's Repair Locks

  05-10-2023 01:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Jason Koebler writes via 404 Media: An independent repair shop in Germany has invented a tool that can break through anti-repair locks Apple has put on a specific sensor on the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The Nerd.Tool.1 was invented by Stephan Steins of Dortmund's Notebook Nerds repair shop. It is specifically designed to allow independent repair shops to replace the display angle sensor on broken MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops. This was formerly a replacement that only Apple could do bec
  
  Read more

• Gmail Unleashes 'Email Emoji Reactions' Onto an Unsuspecting World

  05-10-2023 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: You can now reply to an email just like it's an instant messaging chat, tacking on a "crying laughing" emoji to an email instead of replying. Google has a whole support article detailing the new feature, which allows you to "express yourself and quickly respond to emails with emojis." Like a messaging app, a row of emoji reaction counts will appear below your email now, and other people on the thread can tap to add to the reaction count. Cur
  
  Read more

• Russia Plans To Block VPN In March 2024

  05-10-2023 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Russia's communications watchdog plans to block VPNs from March 1 next year, a Russian senator for the ruling United Russia party said on Tuesday. From a report: Demand for VPN services soared after Russia restricted access to some Western social media after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022. Senator Artem Sheikin said an order from the Roskomnadzor watchdog would come into force on March 1 that would block VPNs. "From March 1, 2024, an order will come into fo
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!