ICT news

• Anthropic's Haiku 3.5 Surprises Experts With an 'Intelligence' Price Increase

  06-11-2024 23:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, Anthropic launched the latest version of its smallest AI model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, in a way that marks a departure from typical AI model pricing trends -- the new model costs four times more to run than its predecessor. The reason for the price increase is causing some pushback in the AI community: more smarts, according to Anthropic. "During final testing, Haiku surpassed Claude 3 Opus, our previous flagship model, on many benchma
  
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• German Firms' 4-Day Workweek Trial Slashes Stress, Keeps Productivity High

  06-11-2024 23:10 via slashdot.org
  
  A six-month German pilot of a four-day workweek across 45 companies demonstrated that most employees experienced reduced stress and maintained productivity, with some companies adopting optimized processes and digital tools to enhance efficiency. The report says 70% of the firms plan to continue the model. DW News reports: Earlier this year, some 45 German firms launched a 4-day workweek project to find out if such a fundamental change to how we work can achieve positive results for employers an
  
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• 'A New Gaming CPU King': AMD's New Ryzen 7 9800X3D Reviewed

  06-11-2024 22:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D debuts with impressive performance gains, powered by advanced 3D V-Cache technology and improved thermal efficiency," writes Slashdot reader jjslash. "While the CPU shines as a top choice right out of the gate, AMD's history of quick price cuts suggests waiting could yield even better value for savvy buyers." TechSpot reports: Today we're finally able to show you how AMD's new Ryzen 7 9800X3D performs, and spoiler alert -- it's a real weapon that solves the issues we encou
  
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• Facebook Asks US Supreme Court To Dismiss Fraud Suit Over Cambridge Analytica Scandal

  06-11-2024 21:50 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The US supreme court grappled on Wednesday with a bid by Meta's Facebook to scuttle a federal securities fraud lawsuit brought by shareholders who accused the social media platform of misleading them about the misuse of user data. The justices heard arguments in Facebook's appeal of a lower court's decision allowing the 2018 class action suit led by Amalgamated Bank to proceed. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages in part to recoup th
  
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• UK Will Legislate Against AI Risks in Next Year, Pledges Kyle

  06-11-2024 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The UK will bring in legislation to safeguard against the risks of AI in the next year, technology secretary Peter Kyle has said, as he pledged to invest in the infrastructure that will underpin the sector's growth. From a report: Kyle told the Financial Times' Future of AI summit on Wednesday that Britain's voluntary agreement on AI testing was "working, it's a good code" but that the long-awaited AI bill would be focused on making such accords with leading developers legally binding. The legis
  
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• Detroit Is Turning Lampposts Into Internet-Connected EV Chargers

  06-11-2024 18:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Curbside EV charging in Michigan should become easier in the coming months thanks to a new collaboration between telecom giant AT&T and lamppost EV charging startup Voltpost. The two have joined forces to bring internet connectivity to EV charging posts across Michigan and the Metro-Detroit area-this way, the operator knows immediately if a stall has gone offline and can send a team to fix it faster. Better uptime benefits both the company and the EV driv
  
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• Corning's Gorilla Glass Under EU Antitrust Investigation

  06-11-2024 17:05 via slashdot.org
  
  The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into Corning to determine whether it has broken antitrust rules with its dominant Gorilla Glass product. From a report: Corning's Alkali-aluminosilicate glass is used to protect most of the top phones and tablets, with both Samsung and Apple using it extensively across their range of devices. The EU is concerned that Corning has used a variety of exclusivity contracts to exclude rival glass makers from the phone market. "It is very frustr
  
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• AI Workers Seek Whistleblower Cover To Expose Emerging Threats

  06-11-2024 16:22 via slashdot.org
  
  Workers at AI companies want Congress to grant them specific whistleblower protection, arguing that advancements in the technology pose threats that they can't legally expose under current law. From a report: "What people should be thinking about is the 100 ways in which these companies can lose control of these technologies," said Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor who represented OpenAI employees and former employees raising issues about the company. Current dangers range from deepfake v
  
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• Google Has No Duty To Refund Gift Card Scam Victims, Judge Finds

  06-11-2024 15:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  A federal judge in California has dismissed most claims in a class-action lawsuit against Google over its handling of gift card scams, ruling the tech giant is not liable for millions in consumer losses. U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman found Google bears no responsibility for scam victims' losses since third-party fraudsters, not Google, induced the purchases.
  The ruling came in a suit filed by Judy May, who lost $1,000 to scammers demanding Google Play gift cards for a fake government grant. T
  
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• AI's Huge Power Needs Give Oil Majors Incentive To Invest in Renewables, Says Adnoc Boss

  06-11-2024 15:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Surging AI demand could push major oil companies to reinvest in renewable energy [non-paywalled link], Abu Dhabi National Oil Company CEO Sultan al-Jaber said this week. Al-Jaber's comments came as oil executives from Shell, BP and TotalEnergies met with Microsoft and other tech leaders in Abu Dhabi to discuss AI's growing energy needs and its applications across the sector.
  ADNOC announced plans to deploy autonomous AI agents across its operations through EnergyAI, developed with Microsoft and
  
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• China Reveals a New Heavy Lift Rocket That Is a Clone of SpaceX's Starship

  06-11-2024 11:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Ars Technica's Eric Berger reports: When Chinese space officials unveiled the design for the country's first super heavy lift rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly conventional booster. The rocket was fully expendable, with three stages and solid motors strapped onto its sides. Since then, the Asian country has been revising the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to the development of reusable rockets by SpaceX. As of two years ago, China had recalibrated the de
  
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• Trump Wins US Presidency For Second Time

  06-11-2024 07:55 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  Major media outlets are beginning to declare former President Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential election. As with previous election announcements on Slashdot, this is your chance to talk about it and what it means for the future of our nation.Developing...Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Google CEO Forbids Political Talk After Firing 28 Over Israeli Contract Protest

  06-11-2024 04:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has weighed in on the debate over the relative values of political expression and workplace coexistence by ordering employees to leave their political opinions at home. A day after firing 28 workers for participating in a sit-in protest of the tech giant's cloud contract with Israel, Pichai warned staff that the office is not a place "to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics" in a company blog post.Although Pich
  
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• Bitcoin Hits All-Time High

  06-11-2024 04:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Bitcoin surged over 9.2% to an all-time high of over $74,200 on Tuesday evening as early results showed favorable outcome for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has promised crypto-friendly policies if he wins.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Korean Cinema in 'Precarious Period' Due To Netflix, Says Director Jang Joon-hwan

  06-11-2024 04:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema. But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho's international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.
  The director Jang Joon-hwan said K-cinema was struggling after the arrival of Netflix and other streaming platforms, w
  
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• Google Asked To Remove 10 Billion 'Pirate' Search Results

  06-11-2024 03:01 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Rightsholders have asked Google to remove more than 10 billion 'copyright infringing' URLs from its search results. The search engine doesn't celebrate the milestone in any way, but the takedown notices document intriguing shifts in volume over time, as well as shifting takedown interests. [...] The path to 10 billion was turbulent. When Google first made DMCA details public it was processing a few million DMCA takedown requests in a year. T
  
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• Schneider Electric Ransomware Crew Demands $125k Paid in Baguettes

  06-11-2024 02:22 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Schneider Electric confirmed that it is investigating a breach as a ransomware group Hellcat claims to have stolen more than 40 GB of compressed data -- and demanded the French multinational energy management company pay $125,000 in baguettes or else see its sensitive customer and operational information leaked. The Register: And yes, you read that right: payment in baguettes. As in bread. Schneider Electric declined to answer The Register's specific questions about the intrusion, including if t
  
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• Amazon CEO Denies Full In-Office Mandate is 'Backdoor Layoff'

  06-11-2024 01:42 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the plan to require employees to be in-office five days per week is not meant to force attrition or satisfy city leaders, as many employees have suggested. Reuters: The controversial plan mandating workers come to Amazon offices every day starting next year, up from three days now, has caused consternation among employees who say it is stricter than other tech companies and will hinder efficiency because of commuting times. Worke
  
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• The Hyperloop Lives On As a 1/12th Scale Model In Switzerland

  06-11-2024 01:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Last December, Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company pursuing Elon Musk's dream of tube-based, airplane-speed travel, announced its shutdown. However, the concept itself has found a new lease on life in a scaled-down version overseas. According to The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins, "The hyperloop, in fact, lives on -- as a 1/12th scale model in Switzerland." From the report: Sure, this isn't exactly the full realization of Musk's 2013 white paper, in which he theorized that aerodynami
  
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• Interpol Disrupts Cybercrime Activity On 22,000 IP Addresses, Arrests 41

  06-11-2024 00:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  During an operation across 95 countries from April to August 2024, Interpol arrested 41 individuals and dismantled over 1,000 servers and infrastructure running on 22,000 IP addresses facilitating cybercrime. BleepingComputer reports: Interpol said its enforcement action was backed by intelligence provided by private cybersecurity firms like Group-IB, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Team Cymru, leading to the identification of over 30,000 suspicious IP addresses. Eventually, roughly 76% of those wer
  
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