ICT news

• Microsoft Ends Development of Windows Server Update Services

  23-09-2024 23:35 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  joshuark shares a report: Microsoft has officially announced that Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) is now deprecated, but plans to maintain current functionality and continue publishing updates through the channel. This move isn't surprising, as Microsoft first listed WSUS as one of the "features removed or no longer developed starting with Windows Server 2025" on August 13. In June, the company also revealed that it would also soon deprecate WSUS driver synchronization.
  While new features
  
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• Some Kaspersky Customers Receive Surprise Forced-Update To New Antivirus Software

  23-09-2024 22:55 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Customers of Kaspersky antivirus in the United States found out in the last few days that their cybersecurity software was automatically replaced with a new one called UltraAV, according to several customers. And while Kaspersky said earlier this month that its U.S. customers would be transitioned to UltraAV, many of its customers said they had no idea this was going to happen and that it would automatically be forced upon them. From a report: "Woke up to Kasperky [sic] completely gone from my s
  
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• Government of Bhutan Holds Over $825 Million, or Nearly a Third of Its GDP, in Bitcoin, Arkham Data Shows

  23-09-2024 22:05 via slashdot.org
  
  The government of Bhutan is currently holding over $828 million in bitcoin, according to onchain data by Arkham Intelligence. From a report: "Unlike most governments, Bhutan's BTC does not come from law enforcement asset seizures, but from bitcoin mining operations, which have ramped up dramatically since early 2023," the crypto intelligence firm explained. Crypto intelligence firm Arkham highlighted the Kingdom of Bhutan's bitcoin holdings on social media platform X last week. Bhutan is a small
  
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• Earth May Have Breached Seven of Nine Planetary Boundaries, Health Check Shows

  23-09-2024 21:28 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Industrial civilisation is close to breaching a seventh planetary boundary, and may already have crossed it, according to scientists who have compiled the latest report on the state of the world's life-support systems. From a report: "Ocean acidification is approaching a critical threshold," particularly in higher-latitude regions, says the latest report on planetary boundaries. "The growing acidification poses an increasing threat to marine ecosystems." The report, from the Potsdam Institute fo
  
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• Microsoft Tightens Digital Defenses with Sweeping Security Overhaul

  23-09-2024 20:42 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft unveiled detailed security reforms Monday, five months after CEO Satya Nadella pledged to prioritize cybersecurity following major breaches. The 25-page Secure Future Initiative report [PDF] outlines technical and governance changes addressing criticisms in an April 2024 Cyber Safety Review Board report that deemed Microsoft's security culture "inadequate."
  Microsoft said it implemented significant security upgrades to its Entra ID and Microsoft Account systems, introducing Azure-manag
  
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• YouTube Premium Prices Increased Again in Numerous Countries

  23-09-2024 20:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: YouTube Premium users around the world woke up to bad news today. In over a dozen countries, the price of YouTube Premium individual and family plans increased significantly. This is only the most recent sweep of price increases from Google, as many countries saw price jumps only months ago, with the United States being one of them last summer. Impacted countries include Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, UAE, Switzerland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia
  
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• Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Says Microsoft Copilot Has Disappointed Many Customers

  23-09-2024 19:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Marc Benioff said Microsoft's Copilot AI hasn't lived up to the hype. The Salesforce CEO said on the company's second-quarter earnings call that its own AI is nothing like Copilot, which he said was unimpressive. From a report: "So many customers are so disappointed in what they bought from Microsoft Copilot because they're not getting the accuracy and the response that they want," Benioff said. "Microsoft has disappointed so many customers with AI."
  Microsoft Copilot integrates OpenAI's ChatGPT
  
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• Telegram CEO Durov Says App To Provide More Data To Governments

  23-09-2024 18:42 via slashdot.org
  
  Messaging app Telegram will provide users' IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests, according to Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov. From a report: The platform changed its terms of service to deter criminals from abusing it, Durov said in a post on Telegram Monday. The move comes less than a month after his arrest in France, where he faces charges of alleged complicity in the spread of child sexual abuse materials.
  The move represents a marked
  
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• SpaceX Plans To Send Five Uncrewed Starships To Mars in Two Years

  23-09-2024 18:05 via science.slashdot.org
  
  SpaceX plans to launch about five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in two years, CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday. From a report: Earlier this month, Musk had said that the first Starships to Mars would launch in two years "when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens."
  The CEO on Sunday said that the first crewed mission timeline will depend upon the success of the uncrewed flights. If the uncrewed missions land safely, crewed missions will be launched in four years. However, in case of challen
  
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• How Sonos Botched an App and Infuriated Its Customers

  23-09-2024 17:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Sonos launched a disastrous app update in May, prompting CEO Patrick Spence to commission an internal investigation led by chief counsel Eddie Lazarus. The software release, plagued with missing features and bugs, has sparked widespread customer outrage and led to a $200 million revenue shortfall. Sonos shares have plummeted 25% this year. Lazarus interviewed about two dozen employees and reviewed meeting recordings before presenting his findings to the board in late July. Bloomberg: What has ha
  
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• WordPress Founder Calls WP Engine a 'Cancer To WordPress' and Urges Community To Switch Providers

  23-09-2024 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Automattic CEO and WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg unleashed a scathing attack on a rival firm this week, calling WP Engine -- a managed WordPress hosting provider that has raised nearly $300 million in funding over its 14-year history -- a "cancer to WordPress." From a report: Mullenweg criticized the company -- which has been commercializing the open source WordPress project since 2010 -- for profiteering without giving much back, while also disabling key features that make WordPress such
  
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• US Proposes Ban on Smart Cars With Chinese and Russian Tech

  23-09-2024 16:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The US Commerce Department on Monday will propose a ban on the sale or import of smart vehicles that use specific Chinese or Russian technology because of national security concerns, according to US officials. From a report: A US government investigation that began in February found a range of national security risks from embedded software and hardware from China and Russia in US vehicles, including the possibility of remote sabotage by hacking and the collection of personal data on drivers, Sec
  
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• How California Cuts Greenhouse Gas Emissions - While Its Economy Grows

  23-09-2024 13:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  In 2022 about 346,000 electric cars were reportedly sold in California. But the same year its greenhouse gas emissions dropped a whopping 9.3 million metric tons — the amount produced by 2.2 million gas-powered cars — lowering emissions 2.4% from the year before. "The biggest drop came from transportation, due largely to the increased use of renewable fuels," according to the state's Air Resources Board, touting a newly-released report. (And electricity sector emissions also fell by
  
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• 'Forget ChatGPT: Why Researchers Now Run Small AIs On Their Laptops'

  23-09-2024 09:39 via slashdot.org
  
  Nature published an introduction to running an LLM locally, starting with the example of a bioinformatician who's using AI to generate readable summaries for his database of immune-system protein structures. "But he doesn't use ChatGPT, or any other web-based LLM." He just runs the AI on his Mac...
  Two more recent trends have blossomed. First, organizations are making 'open weights' versions of LLMs, in which the weights and biases used to train a model are publicly available, so that users can
  
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• Zen Browser: a New Firefox-based Alternative to Chromium Browsers

  23-09-2024 05:59 via news.slashdot.org
  
  First released on July 11th, the Firefox-based Zen browser is "taking a different approach to the user interface," according to the blog It's FOSS.
  The Register says the project "reminds us strongly of Arc, a radical Chromium-based web browser... to modernize the standard web browser UI by revising some fundamental assumptions."
  [Arc] removes the URL bar from front and center, gets rid of the simple flat list of tabs, and so on. Zen is trying to do some similar things, but in a slightly more mod
  
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• Germany Seizes 47 Crypto Exchanges Used By Ransomware Gangs

  23-09-2024 03:41 via news.slashdot.org
  
  German law enforcement seized 47 cryptocurrency exchange services "that facilitated illegal money laundering activities for cybercriminals," according to BleepingComputer, "including ransomware gangs."
  Long-time Slashdot reader Arrogant-Bastard shares their report:
  The platforms allowed users to exchange cryptocurrencies without following applicable "Know Your Customer" regulations, meaning that users remained completely anonymous when making transactions. This created a low-risk environment for
  
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• How Cyprus Became a World Leader In Solar Heating

  23-09-2024 02:25 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  The republic of Cyprus "has outstripped all other EU member states in embracing hot-water solar systems," reports the Guardian, "with an estimated 93.5 % of households exploiting the alternative energy form for domestic needs."EU figures show the eastern Mediterranean island exceeding renewable energy targets set in the heating and cooling of buildings thanks to the widespread use of the solar thermal technology... [First introduced in the late 1960s], the solar thermal systems not only collecte
  
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• Windows PowerShell Phish Uses Fake CAPTCHA, Downloads Credential Stealer

  23-09-2024 01:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "Many GitHub users this week received a novel phishing email warning of critical security holes in their code," reports Krebs on Security — citing an email shared by one of his readers:"Hey there! We have detected a security vulnerability in your repository. Please contact us at https://github-scanner[.]com to get more information on how to fix this issue...." Clicking the "I'm not a robot" button generates a pop-up message asking the user to take three sequential steps to prove their huma
  
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