ICT news

• Baidu's Supercheap Robotaxis Should Scare the Hell Out of the US

  22-11-2024 23:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Baidu's new Apollo Go robotaxi brings significant advances in affordability and scalability that should make U.S. competitors like Waymo a bit nervous, according to The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins. From the report: The RT6 is the sixth generation of Apollo Go's driverless vehicle, which made its official debut in May 2024. It's a purpose-built, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, meaning it's built without the need for a human driver. And here's the thing that should make US competitors nervous: adopting
  
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• DirecTV Terminates Deal To Buy Dish Satellite Business

  22-11-2024 23:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: DirecTV is pulling out of an agreement to buy its satellite rival Dish after bondholders objected to terms of the deal. DirecTV issued an announcement last night saying "it has notified EchoStar of its election to terminate, effective as of 11:59 p.m., ET on Friday, November 22nd, 2024, the Equity Purchase Agreement (EPA) pursuant to which it had agreed to acquire EchoStar's video distribution business, Dish DBS."In the deal announced on Sep
  
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• SiriusXM Made It Too Tough For Customers To End Their Subscriptions, NY Judge Rules

  22-11-2024 22:24 via slashdot.org
  
  Weeks after federal regulators announced a "click-to-cancel" rule for subscription businesses, a New York judge has ruled that SiriusXM made it too difficult for customers to end their service. Deadline: New York State Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank's ruling, issued Thursday, upheld elements of a lawsuit filed against the satellite audio firm in 2023 by New York Attorney General Letitia James. In a post on X after Frank's ruling, she wrote that the company "illegally forced people to go throug
  
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• Netflix Subpoenas Discord To ID Alleged Arcane, Squid Game Leaker

  22-11-2024 21:45 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Netflix is looking toward Discord for help in figuring out who, exactly, is leaking unreleased footage from some of its popular shows. From a report: The Northern District of California court issued a subpoena on Thursday to compel Discord to share information that can help identify a Discord user who's reportedly involved in leaking episodes and images from Netflix shows like Arcane and Squid Game.
  Documents filed alongside the subpoena specifically call out an unreleased and copyrighted image
  
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• Microsoft's Controversial Recall Scraper is Finally Entering Public Preview

  22-11-2024 21:05 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has released a public preview of its redesigned Windows Recall feature, five months after withdrawing the original version due to security concerns. The feature will initially be available only on Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Plus Copilot+ PCs running Windows Insider Dev channel build 26120.2415.
  Recall, which continuously captures and indexes screenshots and text for later search, now includes mandatory encryption, opt-in activation, and Windows Hello authentication. The feature re
  
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• Plex's Upcoming App Redesign is a Big Swing at Going Legit

  22-11-2024 18:57 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Plex is beginning to test its "newly reimagined Plex experience," which will be available first on mobile and is coming to TV platforms "very soon." Plex says the new experience has been in development for almost two years and is "designed to bring everything you love into one seamless interface." But don't worry -- while the new version of the app is currently missing some features, Plex says it will be "closing those gaps" and will keep the current app avai
  
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• How the World's Vital Undersea Data Cables Are Being Targeted

  22-11-2024 17:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Damage to two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea this month points to growing vulnerability of critical submarine infrastructure, with German officials suspecting sabotage and Swedish police investigating a Chinese cargo vessel's involvement.
  The incident highlights escalating risks to the global submarine cable network, which carries 99% of international telecommunications traffic through 530 cable systems spanning 850,000 miles. These garden hose-thick cables facilitate trillions in
  
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• Amazon Doubles Investment in AI Startup Anthropic To $8 Billion

  22-11-2024 17:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon said on Friday it will invest an additional $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic, following earlier investments of $4 billion made in September and March. As part of the deal, Amazon Web Services will become Anthropic's primary training partner, with the AI firm committing to use AWS's Trainium and Inferentia chips for future model development.
  Anthropic operates the Claude large language model.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• OpenAI Considers Taking on Google With Browser

  22-11-2024 16:23 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI is preparing to launch a frontal assault on Google. The ChatGPT owner recently considered developing a web browser that it would combine with its chatbot, and it has separately discussed or struck deals to power search features for travel, food, real estate and retail websites, according to people who have seen prototypes or designs of the products.
  OpenAI has spoken about the search product with website and app developers such as Conde Nast, Redfin, E
  
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• Apple's Browser Rules Stifle Innovation on iOS, Says UK Regulator

  22-11-2024 15:42 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple's restrictions on mobile browsers are limiting innovation and holding back new features that could benefit iPhone users, according to provisional findings published today by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). From a report: In its report, the CMA's independent inquiry group determined that Apple's Safari browser policies prevent competing browsers from implementing certain features, such as faster webpage loading technologies. The investigation also revealed that many UK app
  
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• DOJ Antitrust Case Aims To Undo Google-Anthropic Partnership

  22-11-2024 14:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from PYMNTS: The Justice Department's proposal to resolve its antitrust case over online search against Google reportedly would force the tech giant to unwind its partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic. A recommendation in the Justice Department's court filing Wednesday (Nov. 20) that Google be barred from partnerships with companies that control where consumers search for information, is intended to apply to the company's investment i
  
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• Mozilla Warns DOJ's Google Breakup Plan May Hurt Small Browser Makers

  22-11-2024 12:15 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Mozilla has warned that the Justice Department's proposed breakup of Google could harm independent web browsers, pushing back against a key element of the government's antitrust remedy.
  The maker of Firefox browser said in a statement the DOJ's blanket ban on search revenue-sharing deals would disproportionately impact smaller players that rely on such agreements, while failing to meaningfully increase competition in search.
  Firefox and similar browsers account for a small share of US search que
  
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• Put Your Usernames and Passwords In Your Will, Advises Japan's Government

  22-11-2024 11:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Register's Simon Sharwood reports: Japan's National Consumer Affairs Center on Wednesday suggested citizens start "digital end of life planning" and offered tips on how to do it. The Center's somewhat maudlin advice is motivated by recent incidents in which citizens struggled to cancel subscriptions their loved ones signed up for before their demise, because they didn't know their usernames or passwords. The resulting "digital legacy" can be unpleasant to resolve, the agency warns, so sugges
  
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• China Overtakes Germany and Japan In Robot Density

  22-11-2024 08:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  China has overtaken Germany and Japan in terms of robot density, according to an annual report by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Reuters reports: South Korea is the world leader with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees, up 5% since 2018, said the IFR. Singapore comes next, followed by China with 470 robots per 10,000 workers - more than double the density it had in 2019. That compares with 429 per 10,000 employees in Germany, which has had an annual growth rate of 5% since 2018, s
  
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• School Did Nothing Wrong When It Punished Student For Using AI, Court Rules

  22-11-2024 04:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A federal court yesterday ruled against parents who sued a Massachusetts school district for punishing their son who used an artificial intelligence tool to complete an assignment. Dale and Jennifer Harris sued Hingham High School officials and the School Committee and sought a preliminary injunction requiring the school to change their son's grade and expunge the incident from his disciplinary record before he needs to submit college applic
  
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• Android's 'Restore Credentials' Feature Will Automatically Log You In To Your Apps On a New Phone

  22-11-2024 03:02 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Google is introducing "Restore Credentials," a feature that simplifies transferring app credentials when switching Android devices to keep you logged into your apps. The Verge reports: While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a "restore key" that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app. [...] Restore Credentials requires less work than the previous approach on Android, and can automatica
  
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• Microsoft Copilot Customers Discover It Can Let Them Read HR Documents, CEO Emails

  22-11-2024 02:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  According to Business Insider (paywalled), Microsoft's Copilot tool inadvertently let customers access sensitive information, such as CEO emails and HR documents. Now, Microsoft is working to fix the situation, deploying new tools and a guide to address the privacy concerns. The story was highlighted by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. From the report: These updates are designed "to identify and mitigate oversharing and ongoing governance concerns," the company said in a blueprint for Microsoft's 36
  
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• Apple Is Reportedly Building a More Conversational Siri Powered By LLMs

  22-11-2024 01:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  According to Bloomberg (paywalled), Apple is developing a new version of Siri powered by large language models (LLMs). TechCrunch reports: The new assistant reportedly will fully replace the Siri interface that users rely on today, and Apple is planning to release the feature in the spring of 2026. The feature seems like it will be similar to OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode but with all the same access to personal information and apps that Siri has today. Until then, Apple is relying on third parti
  
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• Fintech Giant Finastra Investigating Data Breach

  22-11-2024 01:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: The financial technology firm Finastra is investigating the alleged large-scale theft of information from its internal file transfer platform, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Finastra, which provides software and services to 45 of the world's top 50 banks, notified customers of the security incident after a cybercriminal began selling more than 400 gigabytes of data purportedly stolen from the company. London-based Finastra has offices in 42
  
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• The Trade Desk Is Building a CTV OS Called Ventura

  22-11-2024 00:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The Trade Desk, one of the largest publicly traded advertising technology companies in the world, is building a connected television operating system. Axios reports: Existing OS providers, like Roku, Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Android TV, have a conflict of interest because they own content, [CEO and founder Jeff Green] said. Green believes that conflict of interest has muddled the advertising ecosystem for everyone. "We're looking at a concentration around a handful of players that lack obje
  
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