ICT news

• Google Play Games for PC is Getting Support for 4K and Some Console Game Controllers

  23-10-2023 23:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Google is adding some new features to the Google Play Games Beta on PC, its service that lets you play Android games on a PC, including support for 4K screen resolution on "supported monitors" and for popular console gaming controllers. From a report: Google detailed the updates in a blog post from Arjun Dayal, Google Play Games' director of product. With the new support for 4K, you can now pick your screen resolutions while in game. "Simply press Shift + Tab in any game to select from a menu of
  
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• Big University Endowments Hampered by Startup Write-Downs

  23-10-2023 22:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The hangover from the bursting of the startup bubble is weighing on big U.S. university endowments, with write-downs in their growth and venture-capital investments driving a second straight year of weak returns. From a report: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported a loss of 2.9% and Duke University, a loss of 1% for the fiscal year ending June 30, while endowments at Yale and Stanford gained 1.8% and 4.4%, respectively. The median return for endowments and foundations of more than
  
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• Nestle, Volvo Among 130 Companies Urging COP28 Agreement To Ditch Fossil Fuels

  23-10-2023 22:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Companies including Nestle, Unilever, Mahindra Group and Volvo Cars are urging political leaders to agree a timeline at the upcoming U.N. climate summit to phase out fossil fuels. From a report: The 131 companies, which have nearly $1 trillion in global annual revenues, wrote in a letter published on Monday that attendees at the COP28 summit must commit to reach 100% decarbonised power systems by 2035 for richer economies, and help developing countries financially so they can ditch fossil fuels
  
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• One Month After Experimental Pig Heart Transplant, Doctors Say They See No Signs of Rejection or Infection

  23-10-2023 21:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  One month after an experimental procedure to transplant the heart of a genetically modified pig into a patient with end-stage heart disease, doctors say the heart is functioning on its own and shows no signs of rejection. From a reoport: In September, 58-year-old Lawrence Faucette underwent the surgery, only the second ever performed in a human. Faucette's heart disease and pre-existing conditions made him ineligible for a traditional human heart transplant. "The physicians taking care of him be
  
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• Rapid Ice Melt in West Antarctica Now Inevitable, Research Shows

  23-10-2023 20:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Accelerated ice melt in west Antarctica is inevitable for the rest of the century no matter how much carbon emissions are cut, research indicates. The implications for sea level rise are "dire," scientists say, and mean some coastal cities may have to be abandoned. From a report: The ice sheet of west Antarctica would push up the oceans by 5 metres if lost completely. Previous studies have suggested it is doomed to collapse over the course of centuries, but the new study shows that even drastic
  
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• White House Announces 31 Tech Hubs To Improve American Competitiveness

  23-10-2023 20:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The White House on Monday announced it is designating 31 technology hubs in an effort to improve American competitiveness in the technology sector. The hubs will be able to compete for $40 million to $75 million each in grants, the White House said. From a report: A tech hub designation is "a strong endorsement of a region's plan to supercharge a critical technology ecosystem and become a global leader over the next decade," the U.S. Economic Development Administration said on its website. The m
  
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• Google Chrome's New 'IP Protection' Will Hide Users' IP Addresses

  23-10-2023 19:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is getting ready to test a new "IP Protection" feature for the Chrome browser that enhances users' privacy by masking their IP addresses using proxy servers. From a report: Recognizing the potential misuse of IP addresses for covert tracking, Google seeks to strike a balance between ensuring users' privacy and the essential functionalities of the web. IP addresses allow websites and online services to track activities across websites, thereby facilitating the creation of persistent user p
  
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• Matter 1.2 is a Big Move For the Smart Home Standard

  23-10-2023 18:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Matter -- the IOT connectivity standard with ambitions to fix the smart home and make all of our gadgets talk to each other -- has hit version 1.2, adding support for nine new types of connected devices. From a report: Robot vacuums, refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers are coming to Matter, as are smoke and CO alarms, air quality sensors, air purifiers, room air conditioners, and fans. It's a crucial moment for the success of the industry-backed coalition that counts 675 companies a
  
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• Microsoft Fixes the Excel Feature That Was Wrecking Scientific Data

  23-10-2023 18:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2020, scientists decided just to rework the alphanumeric symbols they used to represent genes rather than try to deal with an Excel feature that was interpreting their names as dates and (un)helpfully reformatting them automatically. Last week, a member of the Excel team posted that the company is rolling out an update on Windows and macOS to fix that. Excel's automatic conversions are intended to make it easier and faster to input certain types of commonl
  
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• Inside Apple's Big Plan to Bring Generative AI To All Its Devices

  23-10-2023 17:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple was caught flat-footed when ChatGPT and other AI tools took the technology industry by storm. But the company is now preparing its response and plans to develop features for its full range of devices. One of the most intense and widespread endeavors at Apple right now is its effort to respond to the AI frenzy sweeping the technology industry. The company has some catching up to do. Apple largely sat on the sidelines when OpenAI's ChatGPT took off like a
  
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• Martin Goetz, Who Received the First Software Patent, Dies at 93

  23-10-2023 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Martin Goetz, who joined the computer industry in its infancy in the mid-1950s as a programmer working on Univac mainframes and who later received the first U.S. patent for software, died on Oct. 10 at his home in Brighton, Mass. He was 93. The New York Times: His daughter Karen Jacobs said the cause was leukemia. In 1968, nearly a decade after he and several other partners started the company Applied Data Research, Mr. Goetz received his patent, for data-sorting software for mainframes. It was
  
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• Japan Investigates Google Over Alleged Antitrust Violations

  23-10-2023 16:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Japan's antitrust watchdog has begun an investigation into whether Alphabet's Google abuses its market position to block rival services, compounding scrutiny of the internet leader's business practices across the globe. From a report: The country's Fair Trade Commission has begun a probe centered on allegations of potential antitrust violations, an official with the agency said, confirming a Nikkei report. It plans to solicit information and views on the matter from the public, the official adde
  
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• CISA Updates Guidance for Addressing Cisco IOS XE Web UI Vulnerabilities

  23-10-2023 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA updated its guidance addressing two vulnerabilities, CVE-2023-20198 and CVE-2023-20273, affecting Cisco’s Internetworking Operating System (IOS) XE Software Web User Interface (UI).
  The guidance now notes that Cisco has fixed these vulnerabilities for the 17.9 Cisco IOS XE software release train with the 17.9.4a update. According to Cisco's Security Advisory: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Cisco IOS XE Software Web UI Feature, fixes are still to be determined for the following Cis
  
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• Masks Work. So What Went Wrong with a Highly Publicized COVID Mask Analysis?

  23-10-2023 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A Harvard professor on the history of science looks at our response to the pandemic, criticizing "a report that gave the false impression that masking didn't help." From Scientific American:The group's report was published by Cochrane, an organization that collects databases and periodically issues "systematic" reviews of scientific evidence relevant to health care. This year it published a paper addressing the efficacy of physical interventions to slow the spread of respiratory illness such as
  
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• CarPlay? Android Auto? Most People Still Just Listen to AM/FM Radio

  23-10-2023 09:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  "New data suggests that what a lot of people do most often in their car is listen to AM/FM radio," writes 9to5Mac. "Yes, it's 2023, and you might think AM/FM radio is on the way out, but new data show that to not be the case for a lot of people..."The market research company Edison Research used one-day listening diarires (for Americans older than 13) to measure the amount of time spent listening to audio — then compared results for those with and without an in-car entertainment system.
  Th
  
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• California Law Limits Bitcoin ATM Transactions to $1,000 to Thwart Scammers

  23-10-2023 05:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  One 80-year-old retired teacher in Los Angeles lost $69,000 in bitcoin to scammers. And 46,000 people lost over $1 billion to crypto scams since 2021 (according to America's Federal Trade Commission).
  Now the Los Angeles Times reports California's new moves against scammers using bitcoin ATMs, with a bill one representative says "is about ensuring that people who have been frauded in our communities don't continue to watch our state step aside when we know that these are real problems that are h
  
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• NASA Transmits Patches to the Two Voyager Probes Launched in 1977

  23-10-2023 03:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "It's not every day that you get to update the firmware on a device that was produced in the 1970s," writes Hackaday, "and rarely is said device well beyond the boundaries of our solar system."This is however exactly what the JPL team in charge of the Voyager 1 & 2 missions are facing, as they are in the process of sending fresh firmware patches over to these amazing feats of engineering."From NASA's announcement:
  One effort addresses fuel residue that seems to be accumulating inside narrow
  
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• Mozilla Launches Annual Digital Privacy 'Creep-o-Meter'. This Year's Status: 'Very Creepy'

  23-10-2023 00:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  "In 2023, the state of our digital privacy is: Very Creepy." That's the verdict from Mozilla's first-ever "Annual Consumer Creep-o-Meter," which attempts to set benchmarks for digital privacy and identify trends:
  Since 2017, Mozilla has published 15 editions of *Privacy Not Included, our consumer tech buyers guide. We've reviewed over 500 gadgets, apps, cars, and more, assessing their security features, what data they collect, and who they share that data with. In 2023, we compared our most rece
  
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