ICT news

• Valve Says It Has Sold 'Multiple Millions' of Steam Decks

  09-11-2023 23:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Valve designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais say the company has sold "multiple millions" Steam Deck handheld gaming PCs. The Verge reports: The Steam Deck has been a hit for Valve right from its launch; when the device first went up for preorders in July 2021 (has it really been that long?), the demand created some major issues for Valve's Steam store. And the handheld gaming PC is often at or near the top of Steam's top-selling chart -- even just two months after the device's officia
  
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• Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Hospitalized In Mexico City

  09-11-2023 23:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader Alain Williams writes: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is in the hospital in Mexico, according to multiple reports.It is not currently clear what the cause is. The 73-year-old was in Mexico City attending the World Business Forum (WBF), a business conference. [According to TMZ, Wozniak finished his speech but then told his wife he was "feeling strange." She reportedly insisted he go to the hospital.] An unnamed source from the WBF said that Mr Wozniak fainted on Wednesda
  
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• Fakespot Chat, Mozilla's First LLM, Lets Online Shoppers Research Products Via an AI Chatbot

  09-11-2023 23:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Earlier this year, Mozilla acquired Fakespot, a startup that leverages AI and machine learning to identify fake and deceptive product reviews. Now, Mozilla is launching its first LLM (large language model) with the arrival of Fakespot Chat, an AI agent that will help consumers as they shop online by answering questions about the product or even suggesting questions that could be useful in your product research. [...] Fakespot has been using AI
  
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• Number of Species at Risk of Extinction Doubles To 2 Million, Says Study

  09-11-2023 22:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Two million species are at risk of extinction, a figure that is double previous UN estimates, new analysis has found. From a report: While scientists have long documented the decline of species of plants and vertebrates, there has always been significant uncertainty over insects, with the UN making a "tentative estimate" of 10% threatened with extinction in 2019. Since then, more data has been collected on insects, showing the proportion at risk of extinction is much higher than previously estim
  
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• Internet Providers Say the FCC Should Not Investigate Broadband Prices

  09-11-2023 21:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Internet service providers and their lobby groups are fighting a US plan to prohibit discrimination in access to broadband services. In particular, ISPs want the Federal Communications Commission to drop the plan's proposal to require that prices charged to consumers be non-discriminatory. From a report: In 2021, Congress required the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules "preventing digital discrimination of access based on income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion, or national
  
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• Amazon is Ditching Android for Fire TVs, Smart Displays

  09-11-2023 21:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Lowpass: Amazon has been working on a new operating system to replace Android on Fire TVs, smart displays and other connected devices, I have learned from talking to multiple sources with knowledge of these plans, as well as job listings and other materials referencing these efforts. Development of the new operating system, which is internally known as Vega, appears fairly advanced. The system has already been tested on Fire TV streaming adapters, and Amazon has told select partners about its pl
  
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• Google Only Improves Products Under Pressure, US Argues

  09-11-2023 20:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google -- under fire in court for allegedly resting on its laurels thanks to its 90% market dominance -- only made an effort to beef up the quality of its search engine in the European Union after being hit by a record antitrust fine, according to internal documents revealed in the US Justice Department's monopolization case against the tech giant. From a report: The Justice Department is arguing at a trial in Washington that Google's failure to improve its products -- unless put under pressure
  
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• AMD Begins Polaris and Vega GPU Retirement Process, Reduces Ongoing Driver Support

  09-11-2023 19:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  As AMD is now well into their third generation of RDNA architecture GPUs, the sun has been slowly setting on AMD's remaining Graphics Core Next (GCN) designs, better known by the architecture names of Polaris and Vega. From a report: In recent weeks the company dropped support for those GPU architectures in their open source Vulkan Linux driver, AMDVLK, and now we have confirmation that the company is slowly winding down support for these architectures in their Windows drivers as well. Under AMD
  
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• Sony Confirms It's Delayed Half of Its 12 Planned Live Service Games

  09-11-2023 19:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has halved the number of live service games it plans to release over the next few years, it's confirmed. From a report: SIE had previously said it planned to have 12 live service titles in the market by its fiscal year ending in March 2026 -- up from three during its last business year ended this March. However, earlier this year PlayStation's management team confirmed that it had partnered with Destiny studio Bungie for a "rigorous portfolio review" process.
  
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• The Humane Ai Pin Launches Its Campaign To Replace Phones

  09-11-2023 18:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Humane, the startup founded by former Apple design and engineering team Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has officially launched its long-awaited Ai Pin -- making a splashy foray into the nascent field of artificial intelligence hardware. From a report: The device can magnetically clip onto clothing and will cost $699 with a $24-a-month subscription -- which will come with unlimited data and phone calls. The company also said it would partner with T-Mobile for phone service and Microsoft an
  
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• Google Offered Epic $147 Million To Launch Fortnite on the Play Store

  09-11-2023 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has confirmed in court that Epic was offered a $147 million deal to launch its hit game Fortnite on Android's Google Play Store. From a report: The deal, which Google's VP of Play partnerships, Purnima Kochikar, says was approved and presented to Epic but not accepted, would have seen the money dispensed over a three-year period of "incremental funding" (ending in 2021) to the games publisher. It was meant to stem a potential "contagion" of popular apps bypassing Android's official store
  
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• Las Vegas Sphere Reports $98.4 Million Loss; CFO Quits

  09-11-2023 17:00 via slashdot.org
  
  The Sphere in Las Vegas reported an operating loss of $98.4 million for the fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30, Sphere Entertainment Co. said this morning on an earnings call. From a report: Additionally, the company lost its chief financial officer, as Gautam Ranji has resigned, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Ranji's exit was "not a result of any disagreement with the company's independent auditors or any member of management on any matter of accounting principles or prac
  
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• Microsoft Won't Let You Close OneDrive on Windows Until You Explain Yourself

  09-11-2023 16:28 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft now wants you to explain exactly why you're attempting to close its OneDrive for Windows app before it allows you to do so. From a report: Neowin has spotted that the latest update to OneDrive now includes an annoying dialog box that asks you to select the reason why you're closing the app every single time you attempt to close OneDrive from the taskbar. Closing OneDrive is already buried away and not a simple task, with Microsoft hiding it under a "pause syncing" option when you right
  
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• Big Tech Wants AI Regulation. The Rest of Silicon Valley is Skeptical.

  09-11-2023 15:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After months of high-level meetings and discussions, government officials and Big Tech leaders have agreed on one thing about artificial intelligence: The potentially world-changing technology needs some ground rules. But many in Silicon Valley are skeptical. WashingtonPost: A growing group of tech heavyweights -- including influential venture capitalists, the CEOs of midsize software companies and proponents of open-source technology -- are pushing back, claiming that laws for AI could snuff ou
  
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• Amazon Expands Healthcare Push With One Medical Benefits For Prime Members

  09-11-2023 14:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Amazon Prime members will be able to access US healthcare provider One Medical's suite of benefits, for a fee, as the ecommerce company looks to expand its presence in the $4 trillion American healthcare industry. Prime members in the US who opt in will have access to unlimited, on-demand virtual healthcare via One Medical, the subscription-based group that Amazon acquired last year for $3.9 billion. They will also be able to schedule
  
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• CISA, NSA, and Partners Release New Guidance on Securing the Software Supply Chain

  09-11-2023 13:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA, the National Security Agency (NSA), and partners released Securing the Software Supply Chain: Recommended Practices for Software Bill of Materials Consumption. Developed through the Enduring Security Framework (ESF), this guidance provides software developers and suppliers with industry best practices and principles, including managing open source software and software bills of materials (SBOM), to maintain and provide awareness about the security of software.
  Organizations can use
  
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• Intel's 14th Gen 'Raptor Lake Refresh' CPUs Nail a Total of 50 World Records

  09-11-2023 11:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Velcroman1 writes: Overclocking master Allen 'Splave' Golibersuch surfaced on Tom's Hardware to detail his work with liquid nitrogen to set a slew of new world records with Intel's Raptor Lake Refresh" CPUs. They include 15 world records with the Core i7-14700K and eight records with the Core i5-14600K, along with four records with the Core i9-14900K, spanning benchmarks from Cinebench to wPrime and H265."My top speeds were 7,730.11 MHz on all cores on the 14900K, 7,859.05 MHz on the 14600K and
  
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• Omegle Shuts Down After 15 Years

  09-11-2023 10:36 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Omegle, a popular online chat service that allowed individuals to connect and chat with strangers, has shut down after 15 years citing growing misuse of the platform, including in committing "unspeakably heinous crimes." From a report: The site, founded in 2009 by a then 18-year-old programmer and high school student Leif K-Brooks, was bootstrapped throughout its existence. Though it waned in popularity over the years, it still pulled about 50 million visitors last month, according to analytics
  
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• Hollywood Actors Strike Ends With a Deal That Will Impact AI and Streaming For Decades

  09-11-2023 07:30 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Angela Watercutter and Will Bedingfield report via Wired: After 118 days on the picket lines, the longest such strike in Hollywood's history, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Both sides were mum about the terms of the deal Wednesday night, but it comes following a long struggle over the use of artificial intelligence on actors' performances and actors' demands for residual
  
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• Meta Taps Hugging Face For Startup Accelerator To Spur Adoption of Open Source AI Models

  09-11-2023 04:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Facebook parent Meta is teaming up with Hugging Face and European cloud infrastructure company Scaleway to launch a new AI-focused startup program at the Station F startup megacampus in Paris. The underlying goal of the program is to promote a more "open and collaborative" approach to AI development across the French technology world. The timing of the announcement is notable, coming amid a growing push for regulation and a marked conflict bet
  
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• Cruise Recalls All of Its Self Driving Cars To Fix Their Programming

  09-11-2023 03:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland shares a report from CNN Business: Cruise, General Motors' self-driving vehicle subsidiary, has recalled all 950 of its autonomous vehicles for a software update. Late last month, Cruise paused all its public testing operations while it investigated the incident that led to the recall. [...]The update will alter the way the car responds after an impact is detected. In [that infamous San Francisco accident], the vehicle had incorrectly determined that it was
  
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• Samsung Launches Generative AI Model Made For Its Devices

  09-11-2023 02:25 via slashdot.org
  
  Samsung has beat Apple to the chase by introducing a new generative AI model that's expected to come to its devices soon. The model is called Samsung Gauss after Carl Friedrich Gauss, "the legendary mathematician who established normal distribution theory, the backbone of machine learning and AI." CNBC reports: The AI system has a number of features: the first, Samsung Gauss Language, is a generative language model which can help compose emails and translate content, as well as "enhance the cons
  
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• Court Rules Automakers Can Record and Intercept Owner Text Messages

  09-11-2023 01:45 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Record: A federal judge on Tuesday refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state's privacy laws by using vehicles' on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers' private text messages and mobile phone call logs. The Seattle-based appellate judge ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automa
  
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• WhatsApp Now Lets You Hide Your IP Address During Calls

  09-11-2023 01:21 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Tim Hardwick reports via MacRumors: WhatsApp has introduced a new privacy feature that lets you hide your IP address from whoever you call over the encrypted communications platform. As it stands, one-to-one calls over WhatsApp are established as a direct peer-to-peer connection between users. While this ensures the best possible voice quality, it means the connected devices must reveal their IP addresses to each other. According to WhatsApp, the new privacy setting introduced today works differ
  
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• Robot Crushes Man To Death After Misidentifying Him As a Box

  09-11-2023 01:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  A robot in a South Korea distribution center crushed a man to death after the machine apparently failed to differentiate him from the boxes of produce it was handling. The Guardian reports: The man, a robotics company worker in his 40s, was inspecting the robot's sensor operations at a distribution centre for agricultural produce in South Gyeongsang province. The industrial robot, which was lifting boxes filled with bell peppers and placing them on a pallet, appears to have malfunctioned and ide
  
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• Voters Overwhelmingly Pass Car Right to Repair Law in Maine

  09-11-2023 00:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Jason Koebler reports via 404 Media: Voters in Maine overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure Tuesday that enshrines the right to repair cars, a major win for consumers and a blow to auto manufacturers who have spent millions lobbying against similar legislation and fighting against it in the courts. "Question 4," which enshrines consumers' data access to car diagnostics for the purposes of repair, passed by a margin of 84.3-15.7 in Tuesday's election with 94 percent of the votes tallied. The yes/
  
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