ICT news

• US Antitrust Case Against Amazon To Move Forward

  07-10-2024 23:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission's case accusing Amazon of stifling competition in online retail will move forward, though some of the states that sued alongside the agency had their claims dismissed, court documents showed. U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle unsealed his ruling from Sept. 30, which dismissed some of the claims brought by attorneys general in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Oklahoma. Last year, the FTC alleged Amazo
  
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• MicroRNA Pioneers Win Nobel Prize in Medicine

  07-10-2024 22:41 via science.slashdot.org
  
  American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discovering microRNA, tiny molecules that regulate gene expression. Their groundbreaking work in the 1990s revealed a new layer of genetic control, opening fresh avenues for understanding human development and disease.
  Ambros first identified microRNA in 1993, while Ruvkun later found similar molecules in humans and other species. These RNA fragments, about 100 times smaller than typical
  
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• The Slow Death of the Hyperlink

  07-10-2024 22:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The decline of journalism has been attributed to many factors, from slow adaptation to the internet to the dominance of tech giants in advertising. But a veteran journalist offers a new perspective: the death of the hyperlink could be changing the fundamental nature of the internet, with significant implications for the news industry. Matt Pearce: There is a real bias against hyperlinking that has developed on platforms and apps over the last five years in particular. It's something that's kind
  
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• Google Ordered To Make Sweeping Changes, Open Android App Store To Rivals

  07-10-2024 21:13 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A U.S. federal judge has mandated significant changes to Google's Android app store operations. Judge James Donato's ruling in Epic v. Google requires Google to allow rival app stores within its Play Store and grant them access to its app catalog for three years, beginning November 2024.
  The order prohibits Google from requiring its payment system for Play Store apps and permits developers to inform users about alternative payment methods. Google is also barred from offering incentives for app l
  
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• Apple Fixes Bugs in macOS Sequoia That Broke Some Cybersecurity Tools

  07-10-2024 20:47 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has rolled out an update to macOS 15 Sequoia that addresses compatibility issues with third-party security software that emerged in the initial release. The update, macOS 15.0.1, aims to resolve problems affecting products from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. The compatibility problems had disrupted the functionality of several cybersecurity tools when macOS 15 first launched in September.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Google Testing a Version of Chrome for Android With Extensions Support

  07-10-2024 20:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is developing a version of Chrome for Android that supports browser extensions, a feature long absent from mobile versions, AndroidAuthority reports. The report adds: Specifically, the company is experimenting with "desktop" builds of Chrome for Android. These "desktop" builds are currently intended for Chromebooks as they transition to use more parts of Android, but there's hope the work will benefit mobile devices, too.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Big Tech Has Cozied Up To Nuclear Energy

  07-10-2024 19:22 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have inked major deals with U.S. nuclear power plants to fuel their energy-hungry data centers, marking a shift in the industry's power sourcing strategy. The move comes as AI-driven facilities strain companies' climate goals, pushing them towards carbon-free electricity sources.
  Microsoft plans to revive the shuttered Three Mile Island plant by 2028, while Amazon secured power from Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Nuclear facility in a $650 million deal. Google is als
  
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• America Risks Running Out of Tickers for Single-Stock ETFs

  07-10-2024 18:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. exchanges' four-character limit for ETF tickers is creating fierce competition in the $10 trillion industry, particularly for single-stock funds. With 456,976 possible combinations, options narrow drastically when built around existing company tickers. MicroStrategy-inspired ETFs, for instance, leave issuers with just 52 choices using 'MST'. Memorable tickers are crucial for differentiation and can improve stock liquidity.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• American Water Warns of Billing Outages After Finding Hackers in Its Systems

  07-10-2024 18:07 via it.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. public utility giant American Water says it has disconnected some of its systems after discovering that hackers breached its internal networks last week. From a report: American Water, which supplies drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people across the United States, confirmed the security incident in an 8-K regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The New Jersey-based company said in its filing that its water and wastewater f
  
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• Advocacy Groups Suspend Use of 'Suicide Capsule'

  07-10-2024 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  doc1623 writes: Advocacy groups behind a so-called suicide capsule said Sunday they have suspended the process of taking applications to use it -- which numbered over 370 last month -- as a criminal investigation into its first use in Switzerland is completed. The president of Switzerland-based The Last Resort, Florian Willet, is being held in pretrial detention, said the group and Exit International, an affiliate founded in Australia over a quarter century ago. Swiss police arrested Willet and
  
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• Amazon To Cut 14,000 Corporate Jobs in Early 2025, Morgan Stanley Says

  07-10-2024 16:42 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon will likely eliminate around 14,000 corporate jobs by early next year as part of ongoing efforts to reduce costs, according to a note Morgan Stanley sent to clients that Slashdot has reviewed. Brian Nowak of Morgan Stanley estimated Amazon could cut approximately 13,800 manager positions by the end of the first quarter of 2025, based on the company's stated goal of increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15%.
  "AMZN management's recent letter laying out an i
  
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• Google's Grip on Search Slips as TikTok and AI Startup Mount Challenge

  07-10-2024 16:06 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google's grip on the nearly $300 billion search advertising business is loosening. From a report: For years, the tech giant has seemed invincible in this corner of the ad market, which is the foundation of its business. Now, rivals are beginning to eat into its lead, and new offerings -- fueled by the rise of artificial intelligence and social video -- threaten to reshape the landscape. TikTok, the wildly popular short-form video platform, has recently started allowing brands to target ads based
  
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• EFF and ACLU Urge Court to Maintain Block on Mississippi's 'Age Verification' Law

  07-10-2024 13:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous Slashdot reader shared the EFF's "Deeplink" blog post:EFF, along with the ACLU and the ACLU of Mississippi, filed an amicus brief on Thursday asking a federal appellate court to continue to block Mississippi's HB 1126 — a bill that imposes age verification mandates on social media services across the internet. Our friend-of-the-court brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, argues that HB 1126 is "an extraordinary censorship law that violates all intern
  
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• Mozilla Thunderbird for Android is Almost Ready After 2 Years

  07-10-2024 09:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this post from the blog It's FOSSIt has been more than two years since K-9 Mail (an open-source email client for Android) joined the Mozilla Thunderbird project. Instead of making a new mobile app from scratch, Mozilla decided to convert K-9 Mail slowly into the new Thunderbird Android app.
  While we have known about it for some time now, we finally have something to test: Thunderbird for Android (Beta). Mozilla is looking for users to test it and plans a stable release
  
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• 800,000 Tons of Rock Excavated for Massive Underground Neutrino Detector

  07-10-2024 06:31 via science.slashdot.org
  
  800,000 tons of rock have been excavated from a South Dakota research facility — part of a multi-year process "to help answer some of physics' biggest questions," writes America's Energy Department.
  "The caverns they excavated will hold a massive particle detector and accompanying equipment."Along with partners from more than 35 countries, the Department of Energy's Office of Science is supporting the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF-DUNE)..
  
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• The Treasurer of Python NZ Pleads Guilty To Stealing From the Society

  07-10-2024 04:11 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader Bismillah writes: Python New Zealand has gone through some rough times lately, with its then-treasurer stealing money from the society.. Things were looking really serious for a while, with Python NZ looking at being liquidated due to the theft of funds.
  However, there is a silver lining to the story, as the free and open source movement rallied behind Python NZ and got them out of a serious pickle.
  "Our friends at Linux Australia and at the Python Software Foundation w
  
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• Insecure Robot Vacuums From Chinese Company Deebot Collect Photos and Audio to Train Their AI

  07-10-2024 02:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared this report from Australia's public broadcaster ABC:
  Ecovacs robot vacuums, which have been found to suffer from critical cybersecurity flaws, are collecting photos, videos and voice recordings — taken inside customers' houses — to train the company's AI models.The Chinese home robotics company, which sells a range of popular Deebot models in Australia, said its users are "willingly participating" in a product improvement program.When users op
  
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• US Police Seldom Disclose Use of AI-Powered Facial Recognition, Investigation Finds

  07-10-2024 01:28 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:Hundreds of Americans have been arrested after being connected to a crime by facial recognition software, a Washington Post investigation has found, but many never know it because police seldom disclose their use of the controversial technology...
  In fact, the records show that officers often obscured their reliance on the software in public-facing reports, saying that they identified suspects "through investigative means" or that a
  
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