ICT news

• UK Digital Industry Job Growth Falls To Lowest in Decade

  11-07-2024 23:22 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Job growth in the UK's digital industry hit its lowest in a decade, prompting the incoming Labour government to pledge to revive the sector as it seeks to stimulate growth. From a report: The number of jobs in the sector grew by just 0.3% last year -- the lowest since a decline of 0.1% in 2013, according to Office for National Statistics data released on Thursday. Wider employment across the whole UK economy grew more than twice as fast, the data showed. The figures may stoke concerns of a stagn
  
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• Renewables Growth Rate Insufficient To Reach 2030 Target, Says IRENA

  11-07-2024 22:42 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The world risks missing a goal to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 as the current growth rate is inadequate, a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) showed on Thursday. From a report: A U.N. climate change conference in Dubai last year set a goal of tripling renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 to more than 11 terawatts (TW). Countries have to submit new or updated climate target commitments every five years after 2020 so next year they have to include revise
  
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• Microsoft's Xbox 360 Stores Will Close Up Shop on July 29

  11-07-2024 22:01 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Speaking of Xbox, the Xbox 360 Store and Marketplace are coming to a close later this month. From a report: Microsoft announced this last year and put an official end date of July 29, according to its official FAQ page. In case you didn't notice, the end of July is fast approaching. All of the games, DLC and any gaming tidbits for Microsoft's second generation console won't be available to purchase or download on the Xbox 360 console. Your games and movie purchases are still safe, however, if yo
  
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• Apple's Vision Pro Won't Cross 500,000 Sales This Year, IDC Says

  11-07-2024 21:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple's biggest new product in years is not expected to shake off its slow sales start until the release of a cheaper model next year. From a report: The $3,500 Vision Pro mixed-reality headset has yet to sell 100,000 units in a quarter since its launch in the US in February, and it faces a 75% drop in domestic sales in the current quarter, according to market tracker IDC.
  The gadget's international launch at the end of June will offset weakness in the US. A more affordable edition -- which IDC
  
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• DVD Rental Kiosks Business Redbox is Shutting Down

  11-07-2024 20:41 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  DVD kiosk-rental business Redbox is all set to close the shutter. LowPass: The judge overseeing the bankruptcy case of Redbox's corporate parent Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment granted the debtors request to convert it from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, effectively paving the way for shutting down the company and liquidating its assets. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's CEO Bart Schwartz, who had only joined the company two weeks ago, stepped down this mornin
  
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• Night Owls' Cognitive Function 'Superior' To Early Risers, Study Suggests

  11-07-2024 20:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The idea that night owls who don't go to bed until the early hours struggle to get anything done during the day may have to be revised. From a report: It turns out that staying up late could be good for our brain power as research suggests that people who identify as night owls could be sharper than those who go to bed early. Researchers led by academics at Imperial College London studied data from the UK Biobank study on more than 26,000 people who had completed intelligence, reasoning, reactio
  
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• Indie Video Game Devs Are Struggling To Survive

  11-07-2024 19:21 via games.slashdot.org
  
  The video game industry is grappling with a severe financial downturn that's hitting independent developers particularly hard, as exemplified by Necrosoft Games' recent brush with bankruptcy while developing their upcoming title "Demonschool." Brandon Sheffield, the studio's director, managed to secure a temporary contract to keep the company afloat, but he acknowledges the precarious nature of their situation, telling Reuters, "It was the only way to survive, because nobody was funding anything
  
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• Google Exploring Options Against Microsoft's Licensing Practices, Google Cloud Head Says

  11-07-2024 18:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Alphabet unit Google's cloud subsidiary will look into other options in its fight against Microsoft's licensing practices, the head of Google Cloud head said on Wednesday. From a report: The comments by Amit Zavery came after Microsoft reached a deal with trade body CISPE to resolve the latter's antitrust complaint about its cloud licensing practices. "Many regulatory bodies have opened inquiries into Microsoft's licensing practices, and we are hopeful there will be remedies to protect the cloud
  
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• Across the US, Heat Keeps Breaking Records

  11-07-2024 18:07 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The western United States is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave, with multiple states breaking temperature records in recent weeks. Palm Springs, California has been particularly affected, shattering its all-time high temperature record when it reached 124F (51.1C) last Friday. The National Weather Service reported that Palm Springs hit 122F (50C) on July 8, the highest temperature ever recorded for that date.
  This extreme heat is not isolated to Palm Springs, as Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada
  
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• AI Investment Soars but Profitable Use Remains Elusive for Many Firms, Goldman Sachs Says

  11-07-2024 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Despite soaring investment in AI hardware, most companies are struggling to turn the technology into profitable ventures, Goldman Sachs' latest AI adoption tracker reveals. Equity markets project a $330 billion boost to annual revenues for AI enablers by 2025, up from $250 billion forecast just last quarter, yet only 5% of US firms currently use AI in their production processes.
  The disconnect between sky-high investment and tepid adoption underscores the significant hurdles businesses face in i
  
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• Silicon Valley Wins Few Government Contracts

  11-07-2024 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The federal government has spent $22 billion in recent years on technology from the top 100 national-security startups, a paltry portion of overall contract spending and less than half of what venture capitalists have invested in those same companies. WSJ: The gap underscores the discrepancy between the surge of venture capital funding for defense technology and the U.S. government's spending on substantial contracts to startups. The new numbers come from a report released Thursday by Silicon Va
  
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• Germany To Remove Huawei From Mobile Networks

  11-07-2024 15:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The German government and mobile phone carriers have agreed in principle on steps to phase components by Chinese technology companies out of the nation's 5G wireless network over the next five years, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. Newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung as well as broadcasters NDR and WDR earlier jointly reported the news, saying the agreement gives network operators Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefoni
  
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• CISA Releases Twenty-one Industrial Control Systems Advisories

  11-07-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  CISA released twenty-one Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on July 11, 2024. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.ICSA-24-193-01 Siemens Remote Connect Server
  ICSA-24-193-02 Siemens RUGGEDCOM APE 1808
  ICSA-24-193-03 Siemens Teamcenter Visualization and JT2Go
  ICSA-24-193-04 Siemens Simcenter Femap
  ICSA-24-193-05 Siemens SCALANCE, RUGGEDCOM, SIPLUS, and SINEC
  ICSA-24-193-06 Siemens RUGGEDCOM
  ICSA-24-193-0
  
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• CISA Releases Advisory Detailing Red Team Activity During Assessment of US FCEB Organization, Highlighting Necessity of Defense-in-Depth

  11-07-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA released CISA Red Team’s Operations Against a Federal Civilian Executive Branch Organization Highlights the Necessity of Defense-in-Depth in coordination with the assessed organization. This Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) details key findings and lessons learned from a 2023 assessment, along with the red team’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and associated network defense activity.
  The CSA also provides recommendations to assist executives, leaders, and network
  
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• Apple Warns iPhone Users in 98 Countries of Spyware Attacks

  11-07-2024 13:17 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has issued a new round of threat notifications to iPhone users across 98 countries, warning them of potential mercenary spyware attacks. It's the second such alert campaign from the company this year, following a similar notification sent to users in 92 nations in April. TechCrunch: In its communication to affected users, Apple stressed the sensitive nature of its threat identification methods, cautioning that divulging additional details could potentially aid attackers in evading future d
  
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• Lithium Ion Batteries a Growing Source of PFAS Pollution, Study Finds

  11-07-2024 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "Nature recently published an open-access article (not paywalled) that studies the lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries once they are manufactured," writes Slashdot reader NoWayNoShapeNoForm. "The study is a 'cradle-to-grave' look at these batteries and certain chemicals that they contain. The University researchers that authored the study found that the electrolytes and polymers inside lithium-ion batteries contain a class of PFAS known as bis-FASI chemicals. PFAS chemicals are internationally re
  
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• Researchers Discover a New Form of Scientific Fraud: Uncovering 'Sneaked References'

  11-07-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A recent study has exposed a method of artificially inflating citation counts through "sneaked references," which are extra citations included in metadata but not in the actual text of articles. This manipulation, uncovered in journals by Technoscience Academy, distorts citation metrics that are critical for research funding and academic promotions. The Conversation reports: The investigation began when Guillaume Cabanac, a professor at the University of Toulouse, wrote a post on PubPeer, a webs
  
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• Whataburger App Becomes Unlikely Power Outage Map After Houston Hurricane

  11-07-2024 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Fast-food chain Whataburger's app has gone viral in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which left around 1.8 million utility customers in Houston, Texas without power. Hundreds of thousands of those people may remain without power for days as Houston anticipates a heat wave, with temperatures climbing into the mid-90s. Amid frustrations with the local utility company CenterPoint Energy, which doesn't offer an app, some Houstonians got creative with
  
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• Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town

  11-07-2024 03:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader ArchieBunker shares a report from TIME Magazine: On an evening in December 2023, 43-year-old small business owner Sarah Rosenkranz collapsed in her home in Granbury, Texas and was rushed to the emergency room. Her heart pounded 200 beats per minute; her blood pressure spiked into hypertensive crisis; her skull throbbed. "It felt like my head was in a pressure vise being crushed," she says. "That pain was worse than childbirth." Rosenkranz's migraine lasted for five days.
  
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• Tokyo Residents Seek To Block Building of Massive Data Centre

  11-07-2024 02:51 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A group of residents in Tokyo said on Wednesday they were aiming to block construction of a massive logistics and data centre planned by Singaporean developer GLP, in a worrying sign for businesses looking to Japan to meet growing demand. From a report: The petition by more than 220 residents of Akishima city in western Tokyo follows a successful bid in December in Nagareyama city to quash a similar data-centre plan. The Akishima residents were concerned the centre would threaten wildlife, cause
  
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• China Outspends the US on Fusion in the Race for Energy's Holy Grail

  11-07-2024 02:10 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A high-tech race is under way between the U.S. and China as both countries chase an elusive energy source: fusion. From a report: China is outspending the U.S., completing a massive fusion technology campus and launching a national fusion consortium that includes some of its largest industrial companies. Crews in China work in three shifts, essentially around the clock, to complete fusion projects. And the Asian superpower has 10 times as many Ph.D.s in fusion science and engineering as the U.S.
  
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• Comic-Con May Leave San Diego Due To Price Gouging

  11-07-2024 01:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "For 55 years, San Diego Comic-Con has been offering fans and aficionados of all things comic and movie related a place to meet, gawk, show off, and in general bask in their geekery," writes longtime Slashdot reader smooth wombat. "That may be coming to an end. Due to hotels' price gouging the cost of rooms, Comic-Con may be moving." Forbes reports: "We would never want to leave, but if push came to shove and it became untenable for us, it's something that we would certainly have to look into,"
  
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• FTC Study Finds 'Dark Patterns' Used By a Majority of Subscription Apps and Websites

  11-07-2024 00:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. FTC, along with two other international consumer protection networks, announced on Thursday the results of a study into the use of "dark patterns" -- or manipulative design techniques -- that can put users' privacy at risk or push them to buy products or services or take other actions they otherwise wouldn't have. TechCrunch: In an analysis of 642 websites and apps offering subscription services, the study found that the majority (nearly 76%) used at least one dark pattern and nearly 67
  
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• 'Girls In Tech' Closes Its Doors After 17 Years

  11-07-2024 00:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: The Girls in Tech nonprofit women's tech community is closing its doors after 17 years, according to a newsletter from founder Adriana Gascoigne. Gascoigne said the decision was made with "sadness and devastation" and was not made lightly. "It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that Girls in Tech will be closing its doors. This decision was not made lightly, and the sadness and devastation we feel cannot be overstated," Gascoigne wro
  
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