ICT news

• Despite Predictions of Collapse for Ocean Current, Researchers Find a Key Component is 'Remarkably Stable'

  28-09-2024 23:07 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Past studies have suggested a major ocean current could collapse, quickly changing temperatures and climate patterns, reports the Washington Post."But scientists disagree on whether the the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is already slowing, and questions remain as to whether a variety of proxy measurements actually indicate a slowdown" — including a new analysis arguing that the current "has remained remarkably stable."
  One way to detect AMOC weakening is to monitor the
  
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• Did Canals Help Build Egypt's Pyramids?

  28-09-2024 22:07 via build.slashdot.org
  
  How were the Pyramids built? NBC News reported on "a possible answer" after new evidence was published earlier this year in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.The theory? "[A]n extinct branch of the Nile River once weaved through the landscape in a much wetter climate."Dozens of Egyptian pyramids across a 40-mile-long range rimmed the waterway, the study says, including the best-known complex in Giza. The waterway allowed workers to transport stone and other materials to build th
  
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• An International Space Station Leak Is Getting Worse, NASA Confirms

  28-09-2024 20:52 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Ars Technica reports NASA officials operating the International Space Station "are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station" — because it's leaking.The "PrK" tunnel connecting a larger module to a docking port "has been leaking since September 2019... In February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day."
  A new report, published Thursday
  
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• Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find

  28-09-2024 19:38 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The world's oldest and largest cancer research association "found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six different types of cancer," reports CBS News:"Some of this is happening through chronic inflammation. We also know that alcohol changes the microbiome, so those are the bacteria that live in your gut, and that can also increase the risk," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, recently said o
  
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• Octopuses Recorded Hunting With Fish - and Punching Those That Don't Cooperate

  28-09-2024 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader Hmmmmmm shared this report from NBC News:
  Octopuses don't always hunt alone — but their partners aren't who you'd expect. A new study shows that some members of the species Octopus cyanea maraud around the seafloor in hunting groups with fish, which sometimes include several fish species at once.The research, published in the journal Nature on Monday, even suggests that the famously intelligent animals organized the hunting groups' decisions, including what they should prey
  
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• A Cheap, Low-Tech Solution For Storing Carbon? Researchers Suggest Burying Wood

  28-09-2024 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers propose a "deceptively simple" way to sequester carbon, reports the Washington Post: burying wood underground:Forests are Earth's lungs, sucking up six times more carbon dioxide (CO2) than the amount people pump into the atmosphere every year by burning coal and other fossil fuels. But much of that carbon quickly makes its way back into the air once insects, fungi and bacteria chew through leaves and other plant material. Even wood, the hardiest part of a tree, will succumb within a
  
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• Open Source Initiative Announces Alliance with Nonprofit Certifications Group

  28-09-2024 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  When it comes to professional certifications, the long-running nonprofit Linux Professional Institute boasts they've issued 250,000, making them the world's largest Linux/Open Source certification body. And last week they announced a "strategic alliance" with the Open Source Initiative (OSI), which will now be "participating in development and maintenance of these programs."
  The announcement points out that the Open Source Initiative already has many distinct responsibilities. Besides creating t
  
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• EPA Must Address Fluoridated Water's Risk To Children's IQs, US Judge Rules

  28-09-2024 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A federal judge in California has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen regulations for fluoride in drinking water, saying the compound poses an unreasonable potential risk to children at levels that are currently typical nationwide. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco on Tuesday sided (PDF) with several advocacy groups, finding the current practice of adding fluoride to drinking water supplies to fight cavit
  
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• Jets From Black Holes Cause Stars To Explode, Hubble Reveals

  28-09-2024 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Black hole jets, which spew near-light-speed particle beams, can trigger nearby white dwarf stars to explode by igniting hydrogen layers on their surfaces. "We don't know what's going on, but it's just a very exciting finding," said Alec Lessing, an astrophysicist at Stanford University and lead author of a new study describing the phenomenon, in an ESA release. Gizmodo reports: In the recent work -- set to publish in The Astrophysical Journal and is currently hosted on the preprint server arXiv
  
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• Starlink Surpasses 4 Million Subscribers

  28-09-2024 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader penciling_in shares a report from CircleID: Starlink, SpaceX's satellite-based internet service, has hit a major milestone by surpassing 4 million subscribers worldwide. SpaceX confirmed the news on Thursday after company President Gwynne Shotwell hinted earlier in the week that the service would reach the mark within days. Since its beta launch in October 2020, Starlink has rapidly scaled, growing from 1 million subscribers by December 2022, to 2 million by September 20
  
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• 'Anne Frank' Copyright Dispute Triggers VPN, Geoblocking Questions At EU's Highest Court

  28-09-2024 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: The Dutch Supreme Court has requested guidance from the EU's top court on geo-blocking, VPNs, and copyright in a case involving the online publication of Anne Frank's manuscripts. The CJEU's response has the potential to reshape the online content distribution landscape, impacting streaming platforms and other services that rely on geo-blocking. VPNs services will monitor the matter with great interest too. [...] While early versions are pre
  
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• US Trademark Office Cancels Marvel, DC's 'Super Hero' Trademarks

  28-09-2024 04:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A U.S. Trademark Office tribunal canceled Marvel and DC's jointly owned "Super Hero" trademarks after the companies failed to respond to a request by London-based Superbabies Ltd, which argued the marks couldn't be owned collectively or monopolize the superhero genre. The ruling was "not just a win for our client but a victory for creativity and innovation," said Superbabies attorney Adam Adler of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg. "By establishing SUPER HEROES' place in the public domain
  
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• Oracle Owns Nearly a Third of Arm Chip House Ampere, Could Take Control In 2027

  28-09-2024 03:30 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  The Register's Tobias Mann reports: Oracle could choose to take control of Ampere Computing, the Arm processor designer it has backed and uses in its cloud. A proxy statement [PDF] filed on Wednesday reveals that Oracle held 29 percent stake in Ampere as of May 31, 2024, and has the option to gain majority control over the chip house in 2027. "The total carrying value of our investments in Ampere, after accounting for losses under the equity method of accounting, was $1.5 billion as of May 31, 2
  
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• Meta's AI Can Now Talk To You In the Voices of Awkwafina, John Cena, and Judi Dench

  28-09-2024 02:50 via meta.slashdot.org
  
  At its Connect event earlier this week, Meta said it'll be adding conversational voices to its AI chatbot from celebrities like Awkwafina, John Cena, Dame Judi Dench, Keegan-Michael Key and Kristen Bell. The Verge reports: These celebrity voices will only be available to US users of Meta's apps to start. And if you prefer a voice that is a little more mundane, you can also pick from non-celeb voices with names like "Aspen," "Atlas," or "Clover." [...] Meta is explicitly announcing celebrity part
  
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• AI Avatars Are Doing Job Interviews Now

  28-09-2024 02:10 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Jack Ryan from San Diego was recently being interviewed for a job. On a video call, the interviewer, a woman with red hair, said, "I find it helps when candidates tell me a story in answering the questions." "I'm looking for examples from your work experience," the woman added. During the conversation, Ryan had a smirk on his face. That's because the woman is not real. She is an AI avatar from a company called Fairgo.ai, which uses AI agents to
  
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• Meta Fined $102 Million For Storing 600 Million Passwords In Plain Text

  28-09-2024 01:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Meta has been fined $101.5 million by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) for storing over half a billion user passwords in plain text for years, with some engineers having access to this data for over a decade. The issue, discovered in 2019, predominantly affected non-US users, especially those using Facebook Lite. AppleInsider reports: Meta Ireland was found guilty of infringing four parts of GDPR, including how it "failed to notify the DPC of a personal data breach concerning storage o
  
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• iFixit's iPhone 16 Teardown Reveals Game-Changing Battery Removal Process

  28-09-2024 00:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  iFixit's iPhone 16 teardown revealed a new battery removal process that does away with the usual pull tabs, instead opting for an adhesive that debonds when exposed to a low electrical current. "It only takes about a minute and a half for it to come unstuck," reports Engadget, citing Apple's repair guide. iFixit tech Shahram Mokhtari said, "I'm not sure we've ever had a battery removal process go so cleanly and smoothly." From the report: Only the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have the new adhesi
  
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• IBM Opens Its Quantum-Computing Stack To Third Parties

  28-09-2024 00:11 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica, written by John Timmer: [P]art of the software stack that companies are developing to control their quantum hardware includes software that converts abstract representations of quantum algorithms into the series of commands needed to execute them. IBM's version of this software is called Qiskit (although it was made open source and has since been adopted by other companies). Recently, IBM made a couple of announcements regarding Qiskit, both
  
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