ICT news

• Boeing Expects Its Pilotless Air-Taxi To Begin Carrying Passengers 'Later In the Decade'

  22-07-2024 23:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Boeing-owned Wisk Aero expects its pilotless air-taxi to begin carrying passengers "later in the decade" as it works with the U.S. regulator to secure approvals, its CEO said on Monday, amid skepticism among industry analysts about certification timelines. Wisk is one of several electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft makers that have emerged over the last few years with a promise to provide an environmentally-friendly mode of tra
  
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• Google Won't Be Deprecating Third-Party Cookies In Chrome After All

  22-07-2024 22:57 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  In a blog post today, Google said it has an "updated approach" that won't involve "deprecating third-party cookies" in Chrome. Instead, it's introducing "a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing," which they'd be able to adjust at any time. Digiday reports: Google executives are already discussing this pivot with regulators including the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and
  
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• Windows 11 Strikes Again With Annoying Pop-up That Can't Be Disabled

  22-07-2024 22:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader writes: Windows users are being notified that their systems aren't backed up with the built-in Windows backup solution. A corresponding message appears with the advice that it's best to make backups so that all data is stored "in case something happens to the PC." It almost reads like an indirect threat, but Microsoft is actually just pointing out the option to store file backups on its own OneDrive cloud service. And it's also advertising more storage space.Read more of this
  
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• Waymo Is Suing People Who Allegedly Smashed and Slashed Its Robotaxis

  22-07-2024 21:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent Alphabet, has taken legal action against alleged vandals targeting its self-driving taxi fleet in San Francisco, according to court documents. The company, which operates ride-hailing services in several U.S. cities, has filed two lawsuits seeking substantial damages for incidents that reportedly resulted in extensive damage to vehicle tires and bodywork, Wired reported Monday.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Mystery Oxygen Source Discovered on the Sea Floor

  22-07-2024 20:50 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Something is pumping out large amounts of oxygen at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, at depths where a total lack of sunlight makes photosynthesis impossible. Nature: The phenomenon was discovered in a region strewn with ancient, plum-sized formations called polymetallic nodules, which could play a part in the oxygen production by catalysing the splitting of water molecules, researchers suspect. The findings are published in Nature Geoscience. "We have another source of oxygen on the planet, oth
  
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• Verizon Hit By Prepaid Subscriber Exodus After Internet Subsidy Ends

  22-07-2024 20:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Verizon reported a significant loss of wireless subscribers in the second quarter, with its consumer business shedding 624,000 prepaid customers, largely due to the expiration of the federal Affordable Connectivity Program in May.
  The telecom giant attributed over half of these losses to the end of the COVID-era internet subsidy that had previously supported 23 million low-income households across the United States. Despite the subscriber exodus, Verizon managed to add 148,000 net monthly bill-p
  
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• Porsche Waters Down EV Ambitions, Says Transition Will Take 'Years'

  22-07-2024 19:29 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Luxury carmaker Porsche expects the transition to electric vehicles to take longer than it thought, it said on Monday, having previously said its aim was for 80% of sales to be all-electric by 2030. From a report: It has now watered down that goal by tying it explicitly to customer demand and developments in the electromobility sector, saying in a statement only that it could now deliver on the 80% target if those factors warrant it. "The transition to electric cars is taking longer than we thou
  
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• Developing Film Photos Is a Lost Art

  22-07-2024 18:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An amateur photographer has documented his experience with at-home color film development and digitization. The process, initially undertaken for cost savings, involves a complex setup including a changing bag, developing tank, chemicals, and a DSLR scanning system, the author argues. Key challenges reported include film loading in darkness and achieving consistent image quality. Despite mixed results, the hobbyist -- Jason Koebler, an editor of 404 Media, a new publication that we have linked t
  
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• Intel Says Its Desktop Core Crashes Don't Extend To Mobile Chips

  22-07-2024 18:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Intel continues to grapple with the mystery surrounding crashes in its latest 13th- and 14th-gen Core desktop processors, but it's refuting claims that the issue extends to its mobile chips. From a report: Matthew Cassells, the founder of Alderon Games and developer of Path of Titans, claimed on Reddit that the company had noted crashes on Intel's mobile processors. "Yes we have several laptops that have failed with the same crashes," he wrote. "It's just slightly more rare then [sic] the deskto
  
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• US Wins Math Olympiad For First Time In 21 Years

  22-07-2024 17:28 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The United States has claimed victory at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Chiang Mai, Thailand, marking its first win in over two decades. The competition, which pitted top-ranked high school math students from more than 100 countries against each other, saw the U.S. team emerge triumphant after two days of intense problem-solving. NPR adds: The U.S. team last won the Olympiad in 1994. Reports in recent years have raised concerns that American math students are falling behind those in
  
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• Here's What Happens When You Give People Free Money

  22-07-2024 16:42 via news.slashdot.org
  
  OpenResearch, a lab funded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has released initial findings from a comprehensive study on unconditional cash transfers. The experiment, conducted from 2020 to 2023, provided $1,000 monthly to 1,000 low-income Americans across Illinois and Texas. Results showed recipients primarily used the funds for basic needs and increased spending on healthcare and leisure activities.
  While the cash boost led to some positive outcomes, including increased business startups among Black r
  
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• Microsoft Reveals EU Deal Behind Windows Access After Global Outage

  22-07-2024 16:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A Microsoft spokesman says that a 2009 European Commission agreement prevents the company from restricting third-party access to Windows' core functions, shedding light on factors contributing to Friday's widespread outage that affected millions of computers globally. The disruption, which caused the infamous "blue screen of death" on Windows machines across various industries, originated from a faulty update by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. The incident highlighted the vulnerability of Micros
  
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• Who Will Pay For the Costs of Crowdstrike's Outage?

  22-07-2024 13:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  8.5 million Windows devices were ultimately affected by the Crowdstrike outage, according to figures from Microsoft cited by CNN.
  And now an anonymous Slashdot reader shares CNN's report on the ramifications:What one cybersecurity expert said appears to be the "largest IT outage in history" led to the cancellation of more than 5,000 commercial airline flights worldwide and disrupted businesses from retail sales to package deliveries to procedures at hospitals, costing revenue and staff time and
  
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• Paramount+ Documentary: an Origin Story For Music Piracy - and Its Human Side

  22-07-2024 09:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Re-visiting the Napster era, Stephen Witt's book How Music Got Free has been adapted into a two-part documentary on Paramount+. But the documentary's director believes "The real innovative minds here were a bunch of rogue teenagers and a guy working a blue-collar factory job in the tiny town of Shelby, North Carolina," according to this article in the Guardian:By day, [Glover] worked at Universal Music's CD manufacturing plant in North Carolina, from which he smuggled out hot albums by stars lik
  
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• Ransomware Attack Takes Down Computer System for America's Largest Trial Court

  22-07-2024 07:14 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A ransomware attack has taken down the computer system of America's largest trial court, reports the Associated Press:The cybersecurity attack began early Friday and is not believed to be related to the faulty CrowdStrike software update that has disrupted airlines, hospitals and governments around the world, officials said in a statement Friday. The court disabled its computer network systems upon discovery of the attack, and it will remain down through at least the weekend.Friday's statement c
  
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• One Nation Mostly Unaffected by the Crowdstrike Outage: China

  22-07-2024 04:54 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The BBC reports that "while most of the world was grappling with the blue screen of death on Friday," there was one country that managed to escape largely unscathed: China.The reason is actually quite simple: CrowdStrike is hardly used there. Very few organisations will buy software from an American firm that, in the past, has been vocal about the cyber-security threat posed by Beijing. Additionally, China is not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world. Domestic companies such as Alibab
  
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• US Prepares Jamming Devices Targeting Russia, China Satellites

  22-07-2024 02:54 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  In April the U.S. Space Force began testing "a new ground-based satellite jamming weapon to help keep U.S. military personnel safe from potential 'space-enabled' attacks" (according to a report from Space.com). The weapon was "designed to deny, degrade, or disrupt communications with satellites overhead, typically through overloading specific portions of the electromagnetic spectrum with interference," according to the article, with the miitary describing it as a small form-factor system "design
  
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• Third Day of 1,000+ Cancelled Flights, Just in the US, After Crowdstrike Outage

  22-07-2024 00:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  For the third straight day, "More than 1,000 US flights have been," reports CNN, "as airlines struggle to recover from a global tech outage that left thousands of passengers stranded at airports."
  More than 1,200 flights into, within or out of the United States were canceled by early Sunday afternoon, while more than 5,000 U.S. flights were delayed, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com... On Saturday, 2,136 US flights were canceled, and more than 21,300 flights were delayed...
  USA T
  
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