ICT news

• Hacktivism Erupts In Response To Hamas-Israel War

  09-10-2023 23:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Several groups of hacktivists have targeted Israeli websites with floods of malicious traffic following a surprise land, sea and air attack launched against Israel by militant group Hamas on Saturday, which prompted Israel to declare war and retaliate. Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that since Saturday morning its website was down "due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us." At the time of writing, the paper's
  
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• Microsoft Drops Official Support for Python 3.7 in Visual Studio Code

  09-10-2023 22:41 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Still using Python 3.7? Even Microsoft thinks it is time to move on after the Windows behemoth finally deprecated support for the language in the October 2023 release of its extension for Visual Studio Code. From a report: Python 3.7 reached its end of life in June but remains popular. According to some statistics, many sites use version 3.7 -- 17.2 percent of those using Python 3.x by some estimates. Python 3.6, which reached the end of life in 2021, accounts for 28.9 percent and is still the m
  
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• Postdoc Career Optimism On the Rise

  09-10-2023 22:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Nature's global survey finds that postdoctoral researchers still feel as though they are academia's drudge labourers, but have more confidence about job prospects in a post-pandemic world. Nature: In 2020, respondents to Nature's first global survey of postdoctoral researchers feared that COVID-19 would jeopardize their work. Eighty per cent said the pandemic had hindered their ability to carry out experiments or collect data, more than half (59%) found it harder to discuss their research with c
  
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• Decomposing Language Models Into Understandable Components

  09-10-2023 21:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  AI startup Anthropic, writing in a blog post: Neural networks are trained on data, not programmed to follow rules. With each step of training, millions or billions of parameters are updated to make the model better at tasks, and by the end, the model is capable of a dizzying array of behaviors. We understand the math of the trained network exactly -- each neuron in a neural network performs simple arithmetic -- but we don't understand why those mathematical operations result in the behaviors we
  
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• Microplastics Detected in Clouds Hanging Atop Two Japanese Mountains

  09-10-2023 20:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Microplastics have been found everywhere from the oceans' depths to the Antarctic ice, and now new research has detected it in an alarming new location -- clouds hanging atop two Japanese mountains. From a report: The clouds around Japan's Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama contain concerning levels of the tiny plastic bits, and highlight how the pollution can be spread long distances, contaminating the planet's crops and water via "plastic rainfall." The plastic was so concentrated in the samples resea
  
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• Crypto Venture Funding Drops 63%

  09-10-2023 20:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Venture capitalists have been under fresh scrutiny for their role hyping up the crypto industry during the criminal trial of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, but new data shows that those investors have pulled back sharply from the industry they once helped build and promote. From a report: Global venture funding for crypto startups plunged to its lowest level since 2020 during the third quarter, tumbling 63% from the same period last year, according to data from research firm PitchBook. VCs in
  
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• Not Even the Ghost of Obsolescence Can Coerce Users Onto Windows 11

  09-10-2023 19:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Windows 10 may be just shy of two years away from the ax, but its successor, Windows 11, appears to be as unpopular as ever. From a report: The end of Windows 10 support is getting closer. Unless the company blinks, October 14, 2025, will be the end of the line for the Home and Pro editions of the operating system, yet users seem reluctant to move on to Windows 11. There was a marked reluctance by users to move from Windows 7, back in the day, but some of the reasons for hesitancy this time are
  
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• Should New Tech Rules Apply To Microsoft's Bing, Apple's iMessage, EU Asks

  09-10-2023 18:42 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  EU antitrust regulators are asking Microsoft's users and rivals whether Bing should comply with new tough tech rules and also whether that should be the case for Apple's iMessage, Reuters reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: The European Commission in September opened investigations to assess whether Microsoft's Bing, Edge and Microsoft Advertising as well as Apple's iMessage should be subject to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The probes came after the compan
  
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• AI's Costly Buildup Could Make Early Products a Hard Sell

  09-10-2023 18:03 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft, Google and others experiment with how to produce, market and charge for new tools. From a report: Microsoft has lost money on one of its first generative AI products, said a person with knowledge of the figures. It and Google are now launching AI-backed upgrades to their software with higher price tags. Zoom has tried to mitigate costs by sometimes using a simpler AI it developed in-house. Adobe and others are putting caps on monthly usage and charging based on consumption. "A lot of
  
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• IBM CEO in Damage Control Mode After AI Job Loss Comments

  09-10-2023 17:28 via slashdot.org
  
  IBM CEO Arvind Krishna appears to be in a state of damage control following recent controversial comments on AI-related job losses. From a report: Speaking at an event in the US this week, Krishna said IBM has no intention of laying off tech staff, such as developers or programmers, and instead plans to ramp up hiring for roles in these areas. "I don't intend to get rid of a single one," he said. "I'll get more." Krishna added that the company aims to increase the number of software engineering
  
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• Net Neutrality's Court Fate Depends on Whether Broadband is 'Telecommunications'

  09-10-2023 16:42 via news.slashdot.org
  
  As the FCC leans towards reinstating net neutrality and regulating ISPs under Title II, the broadband sector is set to challenge the move. Previously, courts have upheld FCC's decisions. However, legal experts believe the Supreme Court's current stance may hinder the FCC's authority to classify broadband as a telecommunications service. ArsTechnica: The major question here is whether the FCC has authority to decide that broadband is a telecommunications service, which is important because only t
  
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• China Plans Big AI and Computing Buildup

  09-10-2023 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  China aims to grow the country's computing power by more than a third in less than three years, a move set to benefit local suppliers and boost technology self-reliance as US sanctions pressure domestic industry. From a report: The world's second-largest economy is targeting more than 300 exaflops of computing capacity across its tech sector by 2025 from 220 this year, according to a joint statement from several agencies including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The goal mar
  
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• Google Made Billions With Secret Change to Ad-Auction Algorithm, Witness Testifies

  09-10-2023 13:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An economist testified that Google made billions of dollars in extra ad revenue starting in 2017 — by making a secret change to its auction algorithm that bumped their revenues up 15%. Bloomberg reports:Michael Whinston, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Friday that Google modified the way it sold text ads via "Project Momiji" — named for the wooden Japanese dolls that have a hidden space for friends to exchange secret messages. The shift sou
  
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• Can These Fungus-Studying Scientists Make the Planet More Resilient to Climate Change?

  09-10-2023 09:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A team of scientists drove hundreds of miles through the steppes of Kazakhstan in search of what may be one of the largest and most diverse fungi ecosystems on Earth.
  The Washington Post believes their efforts "could help make the planet more resilient to climate change."When these underground fungi come together, they form sophisticated systems known as "mycorrhizal networks...." Mycorrhizal fungi often form mutually beneficial relationships with plants. They trade essential nutrients such as p
  
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• What Microsoft's CEO Said in Court About Google - And Its Own 1998 Antitrust Case

  09-10-2023 05:23 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Street argues that Satya Nadella "has transformed Microsoft since taking over for former CEO Steve Ballmer. Instead of closing the company off from its rivals, Nadella has been open to working with companies that are also competitors like Apple." But they added that Nadella "remains at odds" with Google's parent company Alphabet, even testifying in the antitrust lawsuit against the company.
  They highlight another example from Nadella's testimony (first spotted by GeekWire).
  Nadella also beli
  
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• Why Is California's Population Falling? Housing Costs

  09-10-2023 01:25 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "34% of Californians say they are considering moving out of the state due to housing costs," according to a new report from the Public Policy Institute of California.It's a nonprofit think tank founded in 1994 "to inform and improve public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research." (Founded with a grant from Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard, it also gets funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation). The report's startling conclusion? "After a century of e
  
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