ICT news

• Google Tests a News-Filled Homepage

  13-10-2023 23:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is still wondering if it should make major changes to its homepage. The last experiment we saw filled the usually stark white page with info cards showing things like the weather and stocks, but this new experiment has a much bigger focus on news. From a report: Instead of a homepage featuring only the Google logo, a search box, and a few buttons, this latest experiment looks a lot more like the "Google Discover" newsfeed you get on the Google mobile app. That means rows of news articles
  
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• Sandvine Scraps Plan To Market Tool in US That Tracks Encrypted Messages

  13-10-2023 22:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Computer networking company Sandvine has scrapped an effort to sell US law enforcement agencies a controversial internet surveillance technology that tracks encrypted messages and laid off most of the employees involved in the initiative, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing four people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: Sandvine had pitched the new product, called "Digital Witness," to governments and law enforcement agencies in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. It
  
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• India Won't Impose Restrictions on Laptop Imports

  13-10-2023 22:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  India is rolling back its earlier plan to impose restrictions on laptop imports, months after abruptly announcing such plans which came under criticism from industry and Washington. From a report: "India will not impose restrictions on laptop imports," Trade Secretary Sunil Barthwal told a press conference on Friday. He said the government "only wants importers to be on close watch." The import licensing regime, announced on Aug. 3, aimed to "ensure trusted hardware and systems" enter India, but
  
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• Antarctica Has Lost 7.5tn Tonnes of Ice Since 1997, Scientists Find

  13-10-2023 21:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  More than 40% of Antarctica's ice shelves have shrunk since 1997 with almost half showing "no sign of recovery," a study has found, linking the change to the climate breakdown. From a report: Scientists at the University of Leeds have calculated that 67tn tonnes of ice was lost in the west while 59tn tonnes was added to the east between 1997 and 2021, resulting in a net loss of 7.5tn tonnes. Warm water on the western side of Antarctica has been melting ice, whereas in the east, ice shelves have
  
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• Video Game Cyberpunk 2077 Uses AI To Replace Deceased Voice Actor

  13-10-2023 20:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Polish video game developer CD Projekt used AI technology in its latest release to recreate the voice of an actor who passed away, the company said. From a report: The voice of the late Milogost Reczek, a popular Polish voice actor who died in 2021, was reproduced by an AI algorithm for the Polish-language release of Phantom Liberty, the new expansion to CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077. In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said it received permission from Reczek's family to do this and that it h
  
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• Canon Begins Selling Chip Machines To Rival World's Best by ASML

  13-10-2023 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Canon has begun selling its nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing systems, seeking to claw back market share by positioning the technology as a simpler and more attainable alternative to the leading-edge tools of today. From a report: The Tokyo-based company's new chipmaking machines can produce circuits equivalent to 5-nanometer scale when using extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), a field dominated by industry leader ASML Holding NV. Canon expects its device to reach next-generation 2nm pr
  
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• Dimon Warns of 'Most Dangerous Time in Decades'

  13-10-2023 19:20 via slashdot.org
  
  JPMorgan Chase's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is as close as Wall Street has to a statesman, and on Friday he sounded a major alarm about the global effects of the conflict in Israel and Gaza. From a report: "This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades," he said in a statement accompanying the bank's quarterly earnings. He warned of "far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade and geopolitical relationships."
  For Mr. Dimon, weighing in on geopolitics isn'
  
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• NASA Launches Psyche, a Mission To Explore a Metal Asteroid

  13-10-2023 18:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Is the asteroid Psyche really a hunk of mostly metal? Is the object, which is nearly as wide as Massachusetts, the core of a baby planet whose rocky outer layers were knocked off during a cataclysmic collision in the early days of the solar system? Right now, all that astronomers can say is maybe, maybe not. NASA launched a spacecraft on Friday morning, also named Psyche, on a journey to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to find out. From a report: "We're really going to see a kind of n
  
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• Equifax Scores $13.6 Million Slap on Wrist Over 2017 Mega Breach

  13-10-2023 18:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Equifax a smidge over $13.6 million for severe failings that put millions of consumers at risk of financial crime. From a report: The regulator branded the entire debacle "entirely preventable" -- from Equifax's failure to promptly notify regulators to the way in which it misled the public over the severity of a security breach back in 2017. The original fine should have been greater; the true sum was $19,428,836 but the company received a 30
  
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• Cisco Can't Stop Using Hard-Coded Passwords

  13-10-2023 17:22 via it.slashdot.org
  
  There's a new Cisco vulnerability in its Emergency Responder product: "This vulnerability is due to the presence of static user credentials for the root account that are typically reserved for use during development. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by using the account to log in to an affected system. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to log in to the affected system and execute arbitrary commands as the root user." Bruce Schneier adds: "This is not the first time Cisco
  
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• Ubuntu 23.10 Is a Minotaur That Moves Faster and Takes Up Less Space

  13-10-2023 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  SpzToid writes: Ubuntu 23.10, codenamed Mantic Minotaur, is the 39th Ubuntu release, and it's one of the three smaller interim releases Canonical puts out between long-term support (LTS) versions. This last interim before the next LTS doesn't stand out with bold features you can identify at a glance. But it does set up some useful options and upgrades that should persist in Ubuntu for some time.
  Two of the biggest changes in Ubuntu 23.10 are in the installer. Ubuntu now defaults to a "Default in
  
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• Microsoft Completes $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Purchase

  13-10-2023 16:12 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft completed its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard after a nearly two-year fight with global regulators threatened to scuttle the deal. From a report: The biggest-ever acquisition in the video game industry gives the maker of Xbox consoles a more formidable position against rivals, vaulting it from fifth to third place globally, behind Tencent Holdings and Sony Group. The acquisition is a stunning turnaround after Microsoft executives underestimated the magnitude and longevity o
  
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• LabView App Abandons the Mac After Four Decades

  13-10-2023 15:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from AppleInsider: Having been created on a Mac in the 1980s, LabView has now announced that its latest macOS update will be the final release for the platform. LabView is a visual programming language tool that lets users connect virtual measurement equipment together to input and process data. AppleInsider staffers have seen it used across a variety of industries and applications to help design a complex monitoring system, or automate a test sequence.It's be
  
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• Woman's Experimental Bionic Hand Passes Major Test

  13-10-2023 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Ed Cara reports via Gizmodo: Scientists appear to have developed a hand prosthetic that provides much more control and comfort than those available today. In new research this week, they've detailed the case of a Swedish woman who has successfully worn the advanced bionic limb for years with no major issues, while experiencing significantly less pain than before. The woman, identified as Karin, suffered a farming injury that took much of her right arm below the elbow over 20 years ago. Like many
  
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• Best Buy Will Reportedly Stop Selling DVDs and Blu-Ray Starting Next Year

  13-10-2023 09:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  According to The Digital Bits, Best Buy will exit the physical media business as soon as the end of the first quarter of 2024. From a report: Best Buy has been phasing out DVDs from its stores, but The Digital Bits reports that Best Buy would even stop offering it on its site as well, signaling a complete break from physical media. The report noted that some studios have shifted their inventory of Blu-Ray and 4K Steelbook titles toward Amazon.The move is another hint at the possible end of physi
  
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• People Send 20 Billion Pounds of 'Invisible' E-Waste To Landfills Each Year

  13-10-2023 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Science: One e-toy for every person on Earth -- that's the staggering amount of electric trains, drones, talking dolls, R/C cars, and other children's gadgets tossed into landfills every year. Some of what most consumers consider to be e-waste -- like electronics such as computers, smartphones, TVs, and speaker systems -- are usual suspects. Others, like power tools, vapes, LED accessories, USB cables, anything involving rechargeable lithium batte
  
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• 'No Fakes Act' Wants To Protect Actors and Singers From Unauthorized AI Replicas

  13-10-2023 04:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Emilia David reports via The Verge: A bipartisan bill seeks to create a federal law to protect actors, musicians, and other performers from unauthorized digital replicas of their faces or voices. The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2023 -- or the No Fakes Act -- standardizes rules around using a person's faces, names, and voices. Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) sponsored the bill.It prevents the "pr
  
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• Apple AirTags Triggered 'Explosion' of Stalking Reports Nationwide, Lawsuit Says

  13-10-2023 03:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Ashley Belanger reports via Ars Technica: This month, more than three dozen victims allegedly terrorized by stalkers using Apple AirTags have joined a class-action lawsuit filed in a California court last December against Apple. They alleged in an amended complaint (PDF) that, partly due to Apple's negligence, AirTags have become "one of the most dangerous and frightening technologies employed by stalkers" because they can be easily, cheaply, and covertly used to determine "real-time location in
  
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• Europe Mulls Open Sourcing TETRA Emergency Services' Encryption Algorithms

  13-10-2023 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Jessica Lyons Hardcastle reports via The Register: The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) may open source the proprietary encryption algorithms used to secure emergency radio communications after a public backlash over security flaws found this summer. "The ETSI Technical Committee in charge of TETRA algorithms is discussing whether to make them public," Claire Boyer, a spokesperson for the European standards body, told The Register. The committee will discuss the issue at it
  
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• ACT Test Scores For US Students Drop To a 30-Year Low

  13-10-2023 02:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: High school students' scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test. Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in the class of 2023 whose scores were reported Wednesday were in their first ye
  
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• Google Removes the Photo Sphere Mode From the Pixel 8 Camera

  13-10-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Since 2012, Google Pixel phones have had a Photo Sphere Mode, allowing users to capture 360-degree images. Now, according to Android Authority, Google has dropped the feature from the Pixel 8 series with no explanation given. From the report: Photo Sphere Mode allowed you to capture panoramic 360-degree pictures by stitching multiple images together. The feature was first introduced back in 2012 on the Nexus 4 and persisted well into the Pixel era, with the likes of the Pixel Fold and Pixel 7a s
  
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• Higher Quality AV1 Video Encoding Now Available For Radeon Graphics On Linux

  13-10-2023 00:40 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Larabel reports via Phoronix: For those making use of GPU-accelerated AV1 video encoding with the latest AMD Radeon graphics hardware on Linux, the upcoming Mesa 23.3 release will support the high-quality AV1 preset for offering higher quality encodes. Merged this week to Mesa 23.3 are the RadeonSI Video Core Next (VCN) changes for supporting the high quality AV1 encoding mode preset.Mesa 23.3 will be out as stable later this quarter for those after slightly higher quality AV1 encode sup
  
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• New York Seeks To Limit Social Media's Grip On Children's Attention

  13-10-2023 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: New York State officials on Wednesday unveiled a bill to protect young people from potential mental health risks by prohibiting minors from accessing algorithm-based social media feeds unless they have permission from their parents. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Letitia James, the state attorney general, announced their support of new legislation to crack down on the often inscrutable algorithms, which they argue are used to keep young users o
  
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