ICT news

• Apple and Goldman Sachs Fined Millions For Misleading Apple Card Holders

  23-10-2024 23:22 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Goldman Sachs and Apple will pay $89 million in penalties and customer refunds over widespread service failures and deceptive practices in their joint Apple Card venture, U.S. consumer watchdog CFPB said on Wednesday.
  The agency found Goldman mishandled credit card disputes while Apple failed to forward thousands of customer complaints. Both companies deceived users about interest-free payment plans for Apple devices, affecting hundreds of thousands of cardholders since the card's 2019 launch. G
  
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• Pollution-Free Environment a 'Fundamental Right', India's Top Court Says

  23-10-2024 22:41 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Living in a pollution-free environment is a fundamental right, India's Supreme Court said on Wednesday as it urged authorities to address deteriorating air quality in the north of the country. From a report: India's capital Delhi recorded a "very poor" air quality index of 364 on Wednesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, which considers readings below 50 to be good. Swiss group IQAir rated Delhi the world's most polluted city in its live rankings. The city battles toxic air ev
  
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• Dinosaur Fossils Found For First Time in Hong Kong

  23-10-2024 22:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Hong Kong officials discovered the city's first dinosaur fossils on an uninhabited island in a local geopark, they said Wednesday. Initial examinations indicate the remains belong to a large Cretaceous-era dinosaur from 66-145 million years ago, with species identification pending further study. Associated Press adds: Experts speculate that the dinosaur was likely buried by sand and gravel after its death before it was later washed to the surface by a large flood, and subsequently buried again a
  
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• New Commission May Ban English Water Companies From Making a Profit

  23-10-2024 21:21 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Water companies in England could be banned from making a profit under plans for a complete overhaul of the system. The Guardian: The idea is one of the options being considered by a new commission set up by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) amid public fury over the way firms have prioritised profit over the environment. Sources at the department said they would consider forcing the sale of water companies in England to firms that would run them as not-for-profits. U
  
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• Disney and Apple Are Splitting Over App Store Fees

  23-10-2024 20:42 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  If you want to sign up for a subscription to Hulu or Disney+, don't bother taking out your iPhone. Disney is now telling would-be customers to pay for subscriptions on Disney's own site, instead of on Apple's App Store -- though people who've already started paying for either service via Apple can keep doing that. From a report: The two companies are still working together on some projects. But the App Store split does represent a rift between two longtime partners, so it's definitely worth noti
  
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• Users Say T-Mobile Must Pay For Killing 'Lifetime' Price Lock

  23-10-2024 20:03 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: T-Mobile promised users who bought certain mobile plans that it would never raise their prices for as long as they lived -- but then raised their prices this year. So it's no surprise that 2,000 T-Mobile customers complained to the government about a price hike on plans that were advertised as having a lifetime price lock. "I am still alive and T-Mobile is increasing the price for service by $5 per line. How is this a lifetime price lock?" one customer in Con
  
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• White-Collar Jobs Freeze Triggers MBA Applications Boom

  23-10-2024 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Applications to MBA programs jumped 12% in 2024, with full-time programs surging 32% to decade-high levels, WSJ is reporting, citing the Graduate Management Admission Council's latest survey. Top-tier U.S. schools reported significant gains, with Columbia Business School seeing a 27% rise and Harvard Business School applications climbing 21%. So what's behind the surge? The story adds: Today, the U.S. job market is strong, and unemployment remains low. But lower wage positions in retail and dini
  
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• Foursquare To Kill Its City Guide App

  23-10-2024 18:45 via slashdot.org
  
  Foursquare, one of the App Store's earliest success stories, will shut down its flagship city guide app on December 15 to focus on its check-in service Swarm, the company said. The move reverses Foursquare's controversial 2014 decision to split its platform into two apps: Swarm for check-ins and Foursquare for local recommendations and reviews. The strategy shift comes months after Foursquare laid off over 100 employees. Engadget adds: Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, who is currently co-chair
  
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• Why is Apple So Bad at Marketing Its TV Shows?

  23-10-2024 18:04 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Speaking of streaming services, an anonymous reader shares a story that looks into Apple's entertainment offering: Ever since its launch in 2019, Apple TV+ has been carving out an identity as the new home for prestige shows from some of Hollywood's biggest names -- the kind of shows that sound natural coming out of Jimmy Kimmel's mouth in monologue jokes at the Emmys. While the company never provides spending details, Apple is estimated to have spent at least $20 billion recruiting the likes of
  
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• Streaming Subscription Fees Have Been Rising While Content Quality is Dropping

  23-10-2024 17:23 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Subscription fees for video streaming services have been on a steady incline. But despite subscribers paying more, surveys suggest they're becoming less satisfied with what's available to watch.
  At the start of 2024, the industry began declaring the end of Peak TV, a term coined by FX Networks Chairman John Landgraf that refers to an era of rampant content spending that gave us shows like The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. For streaming services, th
  
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• Arm To Cancel Qualcomm's Chip Design License As Tech Feud Deepens

  23-10-2024 16:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Arm has moved to cancel Qualcomm's architectural license agreement, escalating a legal battle that threatens to upend the global smartphone and PC chip markets. The British chip designer issued Qualcomm a 60-day termination notice for the license that allows the U.S. chipmaker to design custom processors using Arm's intellectual property. The cancellation could force Qualcomm to halt sales of products that generate much of its $39 billion annual revenue, Bloomberg reports.
  The dispute stems from
  
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• Teen Dies After Intense Bond with Character.AI Chatbot

  23-10-2024 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  A Florida teenager who formed a deep emotional bond with an AI chatbot took his own life after months of intense daily interactions on Character.AI, a leading AI companion platform. Sewell Setzer III, 14, exchanged his final messages with "Dany," an AI character based on a Game of Thrones figure, before dying by suicide on February 28. His mother, The New York Times reports. plans to file a lawsuit against Character.AI, alleging the platform's "dangerous and untested" technology led to his death
  
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• Physicist Reveals Why You Should Run in The Rain

  23-10-2024 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Theoretical Physicist Jacques Treiner, from the University of Paris Cite, explains why you should run in the rain: ... Let p represent the number of drops per unit volume, and let a denote their vertical velocity. We'll denote Sh as the horizontal surface area of the individual (e.g., the head and shoulders) and Sv as the vertical surface area (e.g., the body). When you're standing still, the rain only falls on the horizontal surface, Sh. This is the amount of water you'll receive on these areas
  
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• NASA Reveals Prototype Telescope For Gravitational Wave Observatory

  23-10-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  NASA has revealed a full-scale prototype for six telescopes designed to detect gravitational waves. Phys.Org reports: The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances -- down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter -- between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the sun. Each side of the triangular array will measure nearl
  
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• 'Electric Plastic' Could Unleash Next-Gen Implants and Wearable Tech

  23-10-2024 05:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science Magazine: Imagine a thin wristband that monitors your steps and heartbeat like an Apple Watch. Or clothing that keeps you cool with built-in air conditioning. Or even a flexible implant that could help your heart better than a bulky pacemaker. That's the promise of a new, electrically active material researchers have created by combining short chains of amino acids called peptides with snippets of a polymer plastic. This "electric plastic," report
  
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• UK-Based Dissident Can Sue Saudi Arabia For Alleged Spyware, Court Rules

  23-10-2024 03:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A judge has allowed Saudi dissident Yahya Assiri to sue the kingdom for allegedly targeting his devices with Pegasus spyware and other Israeli-made surveillance tools. Reuters reports: Yahya Assiri, a founder of the opposition National Assembly Party (NAAS) who lives in exile in Britain, alleges his electronic devices were targeted with surveillance software between 2018 and 2020. He is suing Saudi Arabia at London's High Court, saying the country used Pegasus - made by Israeli company NSO Group
  
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• San Francisco Muni's Rail System Will Spend $212 Million To Upgrade From Floppy Disks

  23-10-2024 02:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency approved a $212 million contract with Hitachi Rail to modernize the Muni Metro system's outdated train control system, which currently uses floppy disks and wire loops. Government Technology reports: The software that runs the system is stored on floppy disks that are loaded each morning and an outdated type of communication using wire loops that are easily disrupted. It was expected to last for 20 to 25 years, according to Muni officials. It moves
  
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• Lawsuit Argues Warrantless Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras Is Unconstitutional

  23-10-2024 02:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A civil liberties group has filed a lawsuit in Virginia arguing that the widespread use of Flock's automated license plate readers violates the Fourth Amendment's protections against warrantless searches. 404 Media reports: "The City of Norfolk, Virginia, has installed a network of cameras that make it functionally impossible for people to drive anywhere without having their movements tracked, photographed, and stored in an AI-assisted database that enables the warrantless surveillance of their
  
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• Peter Todd In Hiding After Being 'Unmasked' As Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

  23-10-2024 01:20 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: When Canadian developer Peter Todd found out that a new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, was set to identify him as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, he was mostly just pissed. "This was clearly going to be a circus," Todd told WIRED in an email. The identity of the person -- or people -- who created Bitcoin has been the subject of speculation since December 2010, when they disappeared from public view. The mystery has
  
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• OpenAI, Microsoft Funding $10 Million In Grants For AI-Powered Journalism

  23-10-2024 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI and Microsoft will give grants of up to $10 million to bring more AI tools into the newsroom. The grants will go to Chicago Public Media, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday (in Long Island, NY), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Seattle Times. "Each of the publications will hire a two-year AI fellow to develop projects for implementing the technology and improving business sustainability," reports Engadget. "Three more outlets are expected to receive fellowship grants in a second round."
  
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• Air Taxis and Other Electric-Powered Aircraft Cleared For Takeoff

  23-10-2024 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The FAA has released final regulations for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, introducing a new category of aircraft for the first time in nearly 80 years. These rules provide a framework for pilot training and operational requirements, addressing industry concerns while aiming to support the future of advanced air mobility. The Verge reports: The FAA says these âoepowered-liftâ vehicles will be the first completely new category of aircraft since helicopters were
  
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