ICT news

• Coinbase Will Completely Remove Bitcoin SV By January 9

  07-11-2023 23:50 via slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes: Coinbase, America's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has announced they are completely removing all support for Bitcoin SV (BSV) by January 9. All current holders of that cryptocurrency on the exchange will need to withdraw or the assets will be liquidated after that date. Bitcoin SV is not the original Bitcoin but a fork supported by Craig Wright. This removal follows a delisting in 2021 after the cryptocurrency suffered a "51% attack." Since that
  
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• Optus Outage Leaves Millions of Australians Without Mobile and Internet Services

  07-11-2023 23:25 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader RobHart writes: During the night, the entire Optus mobile network went down and remains down. This is the second largest mobile network in Australia and it is the first time a network has gone down nationwide. It is affecting the trains in Melbourne and any business across Australia that uses the Optus service for phones or data. "Optus is aware of an issue that may be impacting some of our mobile and internet customers," the company wrote in a statement. "We are curren
  
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• SAG-AFTRA Won't Budge As Studios Push To Own Actors' Likenesses In Perpetuity

  07-11-2023 23:10 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Though negotiators from both the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) met this past weekend in hopes of bringing Hollywood's ongoing labor strike to an end, contract talks have reportedly stalled once again due to the desire of studios to own performers' digitally scanned likenesses in perpetuity.Previously, the AMPTP insisted that its most recent proposed contract was its "best and
  
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• After Big Drop in ISP Competition, Canada Mandates Fiber-Network Sharing

  07-11-2023 22:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  In an attempt to boost broadband competition, Canada's telecom regulator is forcing large phone companies to open their fiber networks to competitors. Smaller companies will be allowed to buy network capacity and use it to offer competing broadband plans to consumers. From a report: Evidence received during a comment period "shows that competition in the Internet services market is declining," the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said in its announcement. The CR
  
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• Google Search and Chrome Are Getting New Tools To Help Users Find Discounts

  07-11-2023 21:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is coming for Honey and other deal-finding tools by introducing new features on Search and Chrome to help users find discounts. From a report: The tech giant announced on Tuesday that it's adding a designated page for deals on Search, while Chrome is getting features that proactively look for discount codes and provide users with price insights. The new deals search results page on Search is designed to help users find products that are on sale from across the web in one designated spot.
  
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• Tech Groups Fear New Powers Will Allow UK To Block Encryption

  07-11-2023 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Tech groups have called on ministers to clarify the extent of proposed powers that they fear would allow the UK government to intervene and block the rollout of new privacy features for messaging apps. FT: The Investigatory Powers Amendment Bill, which was set out in the King's Speech on Tuesday, would oblige companies to inform the Home Office in advance about any security or privacy features they want to add to their platforms, including encryption. At present, the government has the power to
  
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• Nature Retracts Controversial Superconductivity Paper By Embattled Physicist

  07-11-2023 20:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Nature has retracted a controversial paper claiming the discovery of a superconductor -- a material that carries electrical currents with zero resistance -- capable of operating at room temperature and relatively low pressure. From a report: The text of the retraction notice states that it was requested by eight co-authors. "They have expressed the view as researchers who contributed to the work that the published paper does not accurately reflect the provenance of the investigated materials, th
  
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• Apple Delays Work on Next Year's iPhone, Mac Software To Fix Bugs

  07-11-2023 19:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  In a rare move, Apple hit pause on development of next year's software updates for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and other devices so that it could root out glitches in the code. From a report: The delay, announced internally to employees last week, was meant to help maintain quality control after a proliferation of bugs in early versions, according to people with knowledge of the decision. Rather than adding new features, company engineers were tasked with fixing the flaws and improving the performance
  
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• Baidu Placed AI Chip Order from Huawei in Shift Away From Nvidia

  07-11-2023 19:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Baidu ordered AI chips from Huawei this year, Reuters reported citing two people familiar with the matter, adding to signs that U.S. pressure is prompting Chinese acceptance of the firm's products as an alternative to Nvidia's. From the report: One of the people said Baidu, one of China's leading AI firms, which operates the Ernie large language model, placed the order in August, ahead of widely anticipated new rules by the U.S. government that in October tightened restrictions on exports of chi
  
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• Microsoft Partners With VCs To Give Startups Free AI Chip Access

  07-11-2023 18:21 via slashdot.org
  
  In the midst of an AI chip shortage, Microsoft wants to give a privileged few startups free access to "supercomputing" resources from its Azure cloud for developing AI models. From a report: Microsoft today announced it's updating its startup program, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, to include a no-cost Azure AI infrastructure option for "high-end," Nvidia-based GPU virtual machine clusters to train and run generative models, including large language models along the lines of ChatGPT. Y Com
  
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• Google Photos' Magic Editor Will Refuse To Make Some Edits

  07-11-2023 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Combing through the code of the new version of Google Photos app for Android, some users have found that Google plans to restrict Magic Editor, a feature it unveiled at Google I/O this year, from making certain kinds of edit. AndroidAuthority: Summarizing the strings above, it seems Magic Editor will refuse to edit:
  1. Photos of ID cards, receipts, and other documents that violate Google's GenAI terms.
  2. Images with personally identifiable information.
  3. Human faces and body parts.
  4. Large se
  
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• Is It Time To Rethink Naming of Species?

  07-11-2023 17:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares an article: In 1937, a brown, eyeless beetle was found in a few caves in Slovenia. The new species was unexceptional apart from one feature. Its discoverer decided to name it after Adolf Hitler. Anophthalmus hitleri has an objectionable sound to modern ears. Nor is it alone. Many species' names recall individuals or ideas that offend: the butterfly Hypopta mussolinii, for example, while several hundred plant species carry names based on the word caffra which is derived
  
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• How a 'Refund Fraud' Gang Stole $700,000 From Amazon

  07-11-2023 16:20 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. government has indicted alleged members of a criminal group that uses insiders at Walmart and other techniques to commit 'refund fraud' on a massive scale, according to recently unsealed court records. In short, the scam involves someone ordering an item from, say, Amazon -- which in this case says it lost $700,000 -- receiving the item, and then using one of various tricks to get their money back from the retailer. The person is then free to sell the item on
  
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• Intel Races To Catch Rivals as AI Boom Supercharges Chip Competition

  07-11-2023 15:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. chip group Intel is on track to deliver five upgrades to its advanced manufacturing process in four years, CEO Pat Gelsinger said on Tuesday as the company faces pressure to reassure PC and server-making clients that its technology will remain competitive. From a report: Speaking at Intel Innovation Day in Taipei, Gelsinger said the company's most advanced chip design, the 18A, will move into the test production phase by the first quarter of 2024. "For 18A, we have many test wafers coming o
  
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• WeWork Files For Bankruptcy

  07-11-2023 15:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Flexible office-space firm WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing over $18.6 billion of debts in a remarkable collapse for the once high-flying startup co-founded by Adam Neumann and bankrolled by SoftBank, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. From a report: The New York-based firm, which raised over $22 billion and was valued at $47 billion at its peak, has listed assets of over $15 billion in the petition it filed in a New Jersey federal court.
  WeWork chief executive David Toll
  
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• 'Encryption King' Arrested In Turkey

  07-11-2023 14:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Hakan Ayik, an infamous drug trafficker who also popularized the use of certain brands of encrypted phones around the world, was arrested during a series of dramatic raids in Turkey last week. At one point a group of heavily armed Turkish tactical officers in brown and gray camouflage piled outside an apartment and banged on the door repeatedly. They then smashed the door down and moved inside with a riot shield, according to a video tweeted by
  
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• FEMA and CISA Release Joint Guidance on Planning Considerations for Cyber Incidents

  07-11-2023 13:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the joint guide Planning Considerations for Cyber Incidents: Guidance for Emergency Managers to provide state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) emergency managers with foundational knowledge of cyber incidents to increase cyber preparedness efforts in their jurisdictions.
  Emergency managers should be able to understand and prepare for the potential impacts of cyber
  
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• CISA Releases Guidance for Addressing Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway Vulnerability CVE-2023-4966, Citrix Bleed

  07-11-2023 13:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA, in response to active, targeted exploitation, released guidance for addressing Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway vulnerability CVE-2023-4966. The vulnerability, also known as Citrix Bleed, could allow a cyber actor to take control of an affected system.
  CISA recommends organizations patch unmitigated appliances, hunt for any malicious activity, and report any positive findings to CISA. Review CISA’s guidance for more information.
  
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• PS5 'Slim' Teardown Reveals Everything Different About the Slightly Smaller Console

  07-11-2023 11:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Tech YouTuber Dave Lee provided a hands-on first look at the new PlayStation 5 "slim" and gave a preview of how it looks compared to the original 2020 launch versions. Kotaku reports: One of his biggest takeaways is that the console, while lighter, doesn't necessarily feel that much smaller in contrast to initial predictions. Maybe that's why Sony's not officially marketing the new device as a "slim" version. From there, Lee runs through some of the less obvious changes. A few we already knew ab
  
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• Scientist Claims Quantum RSA-2048 Encryption Cracking Breakthrough

  07-11-2023 08:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Mark Tyson reports via Tom's Hardware: A commercial smartphone or Linux computer can be used to crack RSA-2048 encryption, according to a prominent research scientist. Dr Ed Gerck is preparing a research paper with the details but couldn't hold off from bragging about his incredible quantum computing achievement (if true) on his LinkedIn profile. Let us be clear: the claims seem spurious, but it should be recognized that the world isn't ready for an off-the-shelf system that can crack RSA-2048,
  
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• Parkinson's Patient Able To Walk Again Without Problems After Spinal Implant

  07-11-2023 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Marc, 63, from Bordeaux, France, was diagnosed with the degenerative disease more than 20 years ago and had developed severe mobility problems, including balance impairments and freezing of gait. After receiving the implant, which aims to restore normal signaling to the leg muscles from the spine, he has been able to walk more normally and regained his independence. "I practically could not walk any more without falling frequently, several t
  
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• US Military Members' Personal Data Being Sold By Online Brokers, Report Finds

  07-11-2023 03:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Jacob Knutson reports via Axios: Sensitive, highly detailed personal data for thousands of active-duty and veteran U.S. military members can be purchased for as little as one cent per name through data broker websites, according to a new study (PDF) published on Monday by Duke University researchers. [...] The data about military personnel purchased as part of the study included full names, physical and email addresses, health and financial information and details about their ethnicity, religiou
  
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• California Wants To End Cupertino's Tax Deal With Apple

  07-11-2023 02:25 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  William Gallagher reports via Appleinsider: In a move similar in principle to how the EU retrospectively sought to fine Apple over its tax agreement with Ireland, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) is changing the company's arrangement with Cupertino. Since 1998, Apple has declared all of its online sales made in California as having taken place in Cupertino. As first spotted by the San Jose Spotlight, this means that of Apple's 7.25% sales tax, the local 1% portion
  
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• Washington DC Gives Residents Free AirTags To Help Track Stolen Cars

  07-11-2023 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The city of Washington D.C. is planning to give residents Apple AirTags to help officers track down stolen vehicles. PCMag reports: "Last week, we introduced legislation to address recent crime trends; this week, we are equipping residents with technology that will allow MPD to address these crimes, recover vehicles, and hold people accountable," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement. "We have had success with similar programs where we make it easier for the community and MPD to work toge
  
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• OpenAI Debuts GPT-4 Turbo That's 'More Powerful' and Less Expensive Than GPT-4

  07-11-2023 01:02 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Today at its first-ever developer conference, OpenAI unveiled GPT-4 Turbo, an improved version of its flagship text-generating AI model, GPT-4, that the company claims is both "more powerful" and less expensive. GPT-4 Turbo comes in two versions: one that's strictly text-analyzing and a second version that understands the context of both text and images. The text-analyzing model is available in preview via an API starting today, and OpenAI say
  
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• OpenAI Offers To Pay For ChatGPT Customers' Copyright Lawsuits

  07-11-2023 00:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Blake Montgomery reports via The Guardian: Rather than remove copyrighted material from ChatGPT's training dataset, the chatbot's creator is offering to cover its clients' legal costs for copyright infringement suits. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on Monday: "We can defend our customers and pay the costs incurred if you face legal claims around copyright infringement and this applies both to ChatGPT Enterprise and the API." The compensation offer, which OpenAI is calling Copyright Shield, applies t
  
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