ICT news

• Qualcomm Announces First-ever Mass-market RISC-V Android SoC

  17-10-2023 23:20 via slashdot.org
  
  The Android ecosystem is hurtling toward a RISC-V future. From a report: The puzzle pieces for the up-and-coming CPU architecture started falling into place this past year when Google announced official RISC-V support in Android and plans to make it a "tier 1 platform" on equal footing with Arm. With the OS support underway, what we need now is hardware, and Qualcomm is stepping up to announce the first-ever mass-market RISC-V Android SoC. It doesn't have a name yet, but Qualcomm says it's devel
  
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• Meta Will Now Let You Stop Instagram From Tracking You Across the Web

  17-10-2023 22:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta will now let you block Instagram from collecting your data across the apps and websites you visit. From a report: The company says that it's expanding the ability to disable this kind of tracking to Instagram, allowing you to review which businesses are sharing information with Meta, disconnect specific activity, or clear the collected information. You can now find this feature, called Activity Off-Meta Technologies, within the platform's Accounts Center. It was previously only available fo
  
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• Tech CEO Sentenced To 5 Years in IP Address Scheme

  17-10-2023 22:01 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Amir Golestan, the 40-year-old CEO of the Charleston, S.C. based technology company Micfo, has been sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud. From a report: Golestan's sentencing comes nearly two years after he pleaded guilty to using an elaborate network of phony companies to secure more than 735,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the nonprofit which oversees IP addresses assigned to entities in the U.S., Canada, and parts of the
  
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• PwC Offers Advice From Bots in Deal With ChatGPT Firm OpenAI

  17-10-2023 21:20 via slashdot.org
  
  PricewaterhouseCoopers has teamed up with ChatGPT owner OpenAI to offer clients advice generated by AI as the Big Four audit firms look to cut costs and boost productivity. From a report: The accounting firm will use AI to consult on complex matters in tax, legal and human resources, such as carrying out due diligence on companies, identifying compliance issues and even recommending whether to authorize business deals. The tie-up makes PwC the first of the Big Four to partner with OpenAI, which
  
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• Reddit is Killing Blockchain-Based Community Points

  17-10-2023 20:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Reddit is winding down Community Points -- the blockchain-based "internet points" program designed to reward creators and developers -- in favor of prioritizing rewards programs that are less difficult to scale. From a report: "Though we saw some future opportunities for Community Points, the resourcing needed was unfortunately too high to justify," Reddit's director of consumer and product communications Tim Rathschmidt told TechCrunch. "The regulatory environment has since added to that effort
  
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• Windows 11 is Active on Almost Half a Billion Devices

  17-10-2023 20:09 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Windows Central: According to my sources who are familiar with the matter, Windows 11 is now in use on over 400 million monthly active devices. Internal Microsoft data seen by Windows Central reveals that Windows 11's active device usage just recently surpassed 400 million and is steadily climbing to reach half a billion by early 2024. As noted in our Windows 11 review, the OS has been on the market since October 2021, meaning it's taken Microsoft around two years to reach 400 million monthly ac
  
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• US Tightens Curbs on AI Chip Exports To China, Widening Rift With US Businesses

  17-10-2023 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Biden administration is tightening restrictions on China's ability to buy advanced semiconductors, fueling friction with U.S. businesses that sell to the vast Chinese market. From a report: The Commerce Department on Tuesday said it would significantly constrict exports of artificial-intelligence chips, making it tougher for U.S. companies Nvidia and Intel to sell existing products in China -- or to introduce new chips to circumvent the rules.
  The move aims to close perceived loopholes in ex
  
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• Amazon Quietly Rolls Out Support for Passkeys, With a Catch

  17-10-2023 18:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon has quietly rolled out support for passkeys as it becomes the latest tech giant to join the passwordless future. But you still might have to hold onto your Amazon password for a little while longer. From a report: The option to set up a passkey is now available on the e-commerce giant's website, allowing users to log in using biometric authentication on their device, such as their fingerprint or face scan. Doing so makes it far more difficult for bad actors to remotely access users' accou
  
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• AI Developer Punishes Staff Who Took Long Lunch Breaks

  17-10-2023 18:00 via slashdot.org
  
  A top Chinese AI developer punished scores of staff who took a longer lunch break than allowed, reviving memories of the relentless work culture that plagued the country's tech sector years ago. From a report: IFlytek this week fired off a companywide memo upbraiding more than a hundred employees it accused of abandoning their workstations to line up for free chicken lunches at the campus cafeteria.
  As a disciplinary measure, those who took more than the allotted hour will get a "C" review ratin
  
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• EU To Crack Down Further on Microplastics After Glitter Ban

  17-10-2023 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The EU has announced further plans to crack down on microplastics after its ban on glitter came into force. From a report: The proposal, which tackles tiny pellets used in nearly all plastic products, aims to cut plastic pellet pollution by 74% by the end of the decade. Overall, it would lead to a 7% reduction in Europe's microplastic pollution, according to the European Commission. "The most important thing is to cut pollution at the source," said Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU commissioner for the
  
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• Microsoft-affiliated Research Finds Flaws in GTP-4

  17-10-2023 16:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Sometimes, following instructions too precisely can land you in hot water -- if you're a large language model, that is. From a report: That's the conclusion reached by a new, Microsoft-affiliated scientific paper that looked at the "trustworthiness" -- and toxicity -- of large language models (LLMs) including OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-3.5, GPT-4's predecessor. The co-authors write that, possibly because GPT-4 is more likely to follow the instructions of "jailbreaking" prompts that bypass the model'
  
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• Baidu Says Its AI as Good as ChatGPT in Big Claim for China

  17-10-2023 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Baidu's founder Robin Li declared his company's large language model has finally caught up with OpenAI's advanced GPT-4, claiming the lead in his country's race to develop AI that can rival the US. From a report: The billionaire took the stage in Beijing Tuesday to run Ernie 4.0 through a Q&A designed to showcase its ability to provide answers and solve complicated puzzles on the fly. Ernie has matched OpenAI's seminal product in terms of sophistication and general capabilities, Li told a pa
  
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• Google Asks Congress To Not Ban Teens From Social Media

  17-10-2023 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Google responded to congressional child online safety proposals with its own counteroffer for the first time Monday, urging lawmakers to drop problematic protections like age-verification tech. In a blog post, Google released its "Legislative Framework to Protect Children and Teens Online" (PDF). The framework comes as more lawmakers, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), are lining up behind the Kids Online Safety Act, a controversial bill intend
  
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• Bandcamp Slashes Nearly Half Its Staff After Epic Sale

  17-10-2023 12:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Aidin Vaziri reports via the San Francisco Chronicle: Epic Games has initiated layoffs at Bandcamp, the Oakland-based online music distribution platform it recently sold to Songtradr. Among those affected were members of Bandcamp Daily, the platform's editorial arm, as confirmed by former staff members on social media channels. "About half the company was laid off today," senior editor JJ Skolnik announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday morning. This move comes weeks after Songtradr's acquisi
  
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• Roundup Herbicide Ingredient Connected To Epidemic Levels of Chronic Kidney Disease

  17-10-2023 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A study conducted by Duke University researchers suggests that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, may be a potential cause of the mysterious kidney disease CKDu that has affected rural communities in Sri Lanka and similar regions around the world. The findings have been published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters. Phys.Org reports: Roundup is a glyphosate-based herbicide used to control weeds and other pests. Because it is supposed to break down in the environment within
  
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• 'World's First Off-Road Solar SUV' Just Drove Across Morocco

  17-10-2023 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Zero-emission cars are soaring in popularity but running an electric vehicle is next to impossible in places with limited charging infrastructure. Stella Terra could change that. The khaki-green SUV uses solar panels on its sloping roof to charge its electric battery, meaning it can drive long distances powered entirely by the sun. Built by a team of students at Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE), "the world's first off-road solar-powered vehic
  
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• Argentina's Presidential Front Runner Vows To Slash Science Funding

  17-10-2023 03:25 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  Javier Milei, the current front runner for president of Argentina, pledged to eliminate government spending on research and shut down the country's main science agency, the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), which provides funding for about 12,000 researchers at 300 institutions across the country. The libertarian candidate has said that shutting down CONICET, with its $400 million budget, could help to end Argentina's fiscal crisis. Martin De Ambrosio and Fermin Koop
  
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• Meta Quest 3 Is a Virtual Reality of Repair Insanity

  17-10-2023 02:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  While the tech in virtual reality headsets has "undoubtedly gotten better," iFixit says "repair is getting left off of designers' priority lists." In a recent teardown video, the DIY repair site disassembled Meta's Quest 3 headset to find that it's not super repairable," giving it a repairability score of 4 out of 10 due the absence of manuals, OEM spare parts, and "any sign of repairability considerations whatsoever." The Register reports: As the iFixit team tore into the headset, the first maj
  
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• Apple's iPhone Loses Top Spot In China To Huawei

  17-10-2023 02:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  According to a report from Jefferies analysts, Huawei has overtaken Apple's iPhone as the smartphone market share leader in China. CNBC reports: The analysts said smartphone sales in China have showed positive growth year over year, driven primarily by high double-digit growth in Android sales led by Huawei, Xiaomi and Honor devices. But Apple's iPhone has seen a significant, double-digit decline, and its volume growth year over year has been negative since the iPhone 15 launched, according to t
  
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• Cloudera Hit With $240 Million Patent Verdict Over Cloud-Storage Technology

  17-10-2023 01:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Patent owner StreamScale won a $240 million jury verdict in Waco, Texas, federal court on Friday in a patent case against data-management software company Cloudera. The jury said (PDF) after a four-day trial that Cloudera infringed three StreamScale patents related to cloud-based data storage technology. Cloudera said in a statement that it intends to challenge the decision and that it would not impact the company's customers.StreamScale attorney
  
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• Comcast Resists Call To Stop Its Misleading '10G Network' Claims

  17-10-2023 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Jon Brodkin reports via Ars Technica: An advertising industry group urged Comcast to stop its "10G" ads or modify them to state that 10G is an "aspirational" technology rather than something the company actually provides on its cable network today. The National Advertising Division (NAD), part of the advertising industry's self-regulatory system run by BBB National Programs, ruled against Comcast after a challenge lodged by T-Mobile. In its decision announced Thursday, the NAD recommended that C
  
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• Apple Plans To Update iPhones In-Store Without Opening the Boxes

  17-10-2023 00:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Malcolm Owen reports via AppleInsider: Writing in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman claims that Apple has a system that can update the operating system of iPhones before they get sold. Crucially, it can do so without opening the box. Consisting of a "pad-like device," store employees place unopened iPhone boxes onto it to trigger an update. The pad wirelessly turns on the iPhone, runs the software update, then turns it off again. While only iPhones are mentioned in the report,
  
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