ICT news

• Can Food Scientists Re-Invent Sugar?

  11-08-2024 23:24 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The Wall Street Journal visits scientists at Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering who are researching a "sugar-to-fiber" enzyme (normally used by plants to create stalks). They're testing a version they've "encased in spherical nanoparticles — tiny mesh-like cages made of pectin that allow the enzyme to be added to food without being activated until it reaches the intestine.
  "Once there, a change in pH causes the cage to expand, freeing the enzyme to fl
  
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• AT&T Rebuked Over 'Misleading' Ad Showing Satellite Phone Calling It Doesn't Offer Yet

  11-08-2024 22:13 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "AT&T has been told to stop running ads that claim the carrier is already offering cellular coverage from space," reports Ars Technica:
  AT&T intends to offer Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) and has a deal with AST SpaceMobile, a Starlink competitor that plans a smartphone service from low-Earth-orbit satellites. But AST SpaceMobile's first batch of five satellites isn't scheduled to launch until September.
  T-Mobile was annoyed by AT&T running an ad indicating that its satellit
  
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• Are We Entering an AI Price-Fixing Dystopia?

  11-08-2024 21:13 via slashdot.org
  
  "Algorithmic price-fixing appears to be spreading to more and more industries," warns the Atlantic. "And existing laws may not be equipped to stop it."
  They start with RealPage's rental-property software (pointing out that "a series of lawsuits says it's something else: an AI-enabled price-fixing conspiracy" and "The lawsuits also argue that RealPage pressures landlords to comply with its pricing suggestions.") But the most important point is that RealPage isn't the only company doing this:
  Its
  
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• Survivors of the Atomic Bomb Attack on Hiroshima Struggle - and Speak

  11-08-2024 19:49 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Not many Americans have August 6 circled on their calendars," writes the New York Times, "but it's a day that the Japanese can't forget."
  79 years after an atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, the Times visits a hospital that "continues to treat, on average, 180 survivors — known as hibakusha — of the blasts each day."The bombs killed an estimated 200,000 men, women and children and maimed countless more. In Hiroshima 50,000 of the city's 76,000 buildings were completely destroyed. In N
  
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• Mozilla Wants You To Love Firefox Again

  11-08-2024 18:37 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Mozilla's interim CEO Laura Chambers "says the company is reinvesting in Firefox after letting it languish in recent years," reports Fast Company, "hoping to reestablish the browser as independent alternative to the likes of Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari.
  "But some of those investments, which also include forays into generative AI, may further upset the community that's been sticking with Firefox all these years..."Chambers acknowledges that Mozilla lost sight of Firefox in recent years as
  
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• Ubuntu Will Start Shipping With the Latest Upstream Linux Kernel - Even Release Candidates

  11-08-2024 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Here's a question from the blog OMG Ubuntu. "Ever get miffed reading about a major new Ubuntu release only to learn it doesn't come with the newest Linux kernel?
  "Well, that'll soon be a thing of the past."Canonical's announced a big shift in kernel selection process for future Ubuntu release, an "aggressive kernel version commitment policy" pivot that means it will ship the latest upstream kernel code in development at the time of a new Ubuntu release.
  Yes, even if that upstream kernel hasn't y
  
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• Kia and Hyundai's New Anti-Theft Software is Lowering Car-Stealing Rates

  11-08-2024 16:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:
  More than a year after Hyundai and Kia released new anti-theft software updates, thefts of vehicles with the new software are falling — even as thefts overall remain astoundingly high, according to a new analysis of insurance claim data.The automakers released the updates starting last February, after a tenfold increase in thefts of certain Hyundai and Kia models in just the past three years — sparked by a series of social media posts
  
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• Will the Google Antitrust Ruling Change the Internet?

  11-08-2024 13:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Though "It could take years to resolve," the Washington Post imagines six changes that could ultimately result from the two monopoly rulings on Google:
  Imagine a Google-quality search engine but without ads — or one tailored to children, news junkies or Lego fans. It's possible that Google could be forced to let other companies access its search technology or its essential data to create search engines with the technical chops of Google — but without Google...
  Would Apple create a se
  
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• Some Def Con Attendees Forgive Crowdstrike - and Some Blame Microsoft Windows

  11-08-2024 09:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Fortune reports that Crowdstrike "is enjoying a moment of strange cultural cachet at the annual Black Hat security conference, as throngs of visitors flock to its booth to snap selfies and load up on branded company shirts and other swag." (Some attendees "collectively shrugged at the idea that Crowdstrike could be blamed for a problem with a routine update that could happen to any of the security companies deeply intertwined with Microsoft Windows.")Others pointed out that Microsoft should take
  
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• Scientists Slam 'Indefensible' Axing of NASA's $450 Million Viper Moon Rover

  11-08-2024 06:35 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Observer:
  Thousands of scientists have protested to the US Congress over the "unprecedented and indefensible" decision by Nasa to cancel its Viper lunar rover mission. In an open letter to Capitol Hill, they have denounced the move, which was revealed last month, and heavily criticised the space agency over a decision that has shocked astronomers and astrophysicists across the globe.
  The car-sized rover has already been constructed at a cost of $45
  
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• Cyber-Heist of 2.9 Billion Personal Records Leads to Class Action Lawsuit

  11-08-2024 03:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  "A lawsuit has accused a Florida data broker of carelessly failing to secure billions of records of people's private information," reports the Register, "which was subsequently stolen from the biz and sold on an online criminal marketplace."California resident Christopher Hofmann filed the potential class-action complaint against Jerico Pictures, doing business as National Public Data, a Coral Springs-based firm that provides APIs so that companies can perform things like background checks on pe
  
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• Trump's Campaign 'Says It Has Been Hacked', Reports CNN

  11-08-2024 00:34 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  CNN reports:
  Former President Donald Trump's campaign said Saturday in a statement that it had been hacked.Politico reported earlier Saturday that it had received emails from an anonymous account with documents from inside Trump's campaign operation. "These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement
  
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