ICT news

• Russia Tests Cutting Off Access To Global Web, and VPNs Can't Get Around It

  11-12-2024 23:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Russia has reportedly cut some regions of the country off from the rest of the world's internet for a day, effectively siloing them, according to reports from European and Russian news outlets reshared by the US nonprofit Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and Western news outlets.
  Russia's communications authority, Roskomnadzor, blocked residents in Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia, which have majority-Muslim populations, ISW says. The three regions are
  
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• 'The Dying Language of Accounting'

  11-12-2024 22:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Paul Knopp, KPMG US CEO, writing in an op-ed on WSJ: According to a United Nations estimate, 230 languages went extinct between 1950 and 2010. If my profession doesn't act, the language of business -- accounting -- could vanish too. The number of students who took the exam to become certified public accountants in 2022 hit a 17-year low. From 2020 to 2022, bachelor's degrees in accounting dropped 7.8% after steady declines since 2018.
  While the shortage isn't yet an issue for the country's large
  
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• Google's New Jules AI Agent Will Help Developers Fix Buggy Code

  11-12-2024 21:01 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Google has announced an experimental AI-powered code agent called "Jules" that can automatically fix coding errors for developers. From a report: Jules was introduced today alongside Gemini 2.0, and uses the updated Google AI model to create multi-step plans to address issues, modify multiple files, and prepare pull requests for Python and Javascript coding tasks in GitHub workflows.
  Microsoft introduced a similar experience for GitHub Copilot last year that can recognize and explain code, along
  
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• WordPress Chief Quits Community Forum After Court Loss

  11-12-2024 19:41 via slashdot.org
  
  Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg abruptly left a key WordPress community platform after a federal court ordered his company to restore rival WP Engine's access to WordPress.org and remove a controversial login requirement. The preliminary injunction mandates Automattic eliminate a checkbox that forced users to declare they had no connection to WP Engine before accessing the platform.
  Mullenweg departed the Post Status Slack forum following the ruling, writing he was "sick and disgusted to be legall
  
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• New Magnetic Flow Has Potential To Revolutionise Electronic Devices

  11-12-2024 19:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An international research team has for the first time imaged and controlled a type of magnetic flow called altermagnetism, which physicists say could be used to develop faster and more reliable electronic devices. Financial Times: A groundbreaking experiment at a powerful X-ray microscope in Sweden provides direct proof of the existence of altermagnetism, according to a paper published in Nature on Wednesday. Altermagnetic materials can sustain magnetic activity without themselves being magnetic
  
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• Google Unveils Project Mariner: AI Agents To Use the Web For You

  11-12-2024 18:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google today unveiled Project Mariner, its first AI agent capable of autonomously navigating web browsers, operating through a Chrome extension that controls cursor movements and form-filling to replicate human interactions online.
  The Gemini-powered prototype, developed by Google's DeepMind division, is initially available to a select group of testers. During demos, the agent performed tasks like creating shopping carts on grocery websites, though with noticeable five-second delays between acti
  
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• 'Modern War Cannot Be Won Without Software,' Palantir Executive Says

  11-12-2024 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Software has become essential for winning modern wars, a senior Palantir executive told a defense conference in Israel this week. "Modern war cannot be won without software," said Noam Perski, executive vice president at the data analytics company.
  "Seeing software as a defense system, as a weapon system, and the most malleable weapon system we have, is really important as we build the next generation's capabilities." Speaking at Tel Aviv University's first DefenseTech Summit, Perski said human
  
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• Researchers Uncover Chinese Spyware Used To Target Android Devices

  11-12-2024 16:06 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Security researchers have uncovered a new surveillance tool that they say has been used by Chinese law enforcement to collect sensitive information from Android devices in China. From a report: The tool, named "EagleMsgSpy," was discovered by researchers at U.S. cybersecurity firm Lookout. The company said at the Black Hat Europe conference on Wednesday that it had acquired several variants of the spyware, which it says has been operational since "at least 2017."
  Kristina Balaam, a senior intell
  
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• UK Low-Carbon Renewable Power Set To Overtake Fossil Fuels For First Time

  11-12-2024 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Rising renewables, low demand and cheaper power imports all helped reduce fossil fuel use in the UK power system to record lows. From a report: For the first full year wind, solar, and hydropower will generate more electricity than all fossil fuels combined. Homegrown UK renewable power will cross a significant threshold in 2024, overtaking fossil fuel generation for the first full year. Wind, solar and hydropower are set to generate a combined 37% of UK electricity in 2024 (103 TWh), compared t
  
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• AI App Gold Rush Floods Apple Store With Low-Quality Offerings

  11-12-2024 13:30 via slashdot.org
  
  AI-powered apps have flooded Apple's App Store, with AI-branded tools dominating top rankings across multiple categories, particularly in graphics and design. An investigation by The Verge reveals significant quality concerns among these applications.
  Turkey-based developer HUBX controls three of the top 10 graphics apps, including DaVinci AI, which offers limited free features while charging up to $30 annually for full access. The app produces low-quality images and forces watermarks on paid us
  
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• Cruise Employees 'Blindsided' By GM's Plan To End Robotaxi Program

  11-12-2024 09:58 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The news came by Slack message. Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who took the top post in June, posted a message Tuesday afternoon in the company's announcements channel along with a link to a press release entitled "GM to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles."
  GM, which acquired the self-driving car startup in 2016, would no longer fund the company, ending a mission that hundreds of Cruise engineers had worked on for years. Minutes later, duri
  
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• WordPress Parent Company Must Stop Blocking WP Engine, Judge Rules

  11-12-2024 08:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  WP Engine just won a preliminary injunction against WordPress.com parent company Automattic. On Tuesday, a California District Court judge ordered Automattic to stop blocking WP Engine's access to WordPress.org resources and interfering with its plugins. From a report: The preliminary injunction comes after WP Engine, a third-party WordPress hosting service, filed a lawsuit that accused Automattic and its CEO, Matt Mullenweg, of "multiple forms of immediate irreparable harm." It later asked the
  
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• Google Asks FTC To Kill Microsoft's Exclusive Cloud Deal with OpenAI

  11-12-2024 06:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Google recently asked the U.S. government to break up Microsoft's exclusive agreement to host OpenAI's technology on its cloud servers, according to a person who has been directly involved in the effort. The conversation took place after the Federal Trade Commission, one of the primary federal antitrust enforcement agencies, asked Google about Microsoft's business practices as part of a broader investigation, this person said.
  Firms that compete with Microsof
  
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• Amazon is Officially in the Online Car Sales Business

  11-12-2024 04:30 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon expanded Tuesday into online car sales with the launch of Amazon Autos, an e-commerce business that lets customers find, order, and buy new cars, trucks, and SUVs from dealerships. From a report: Amazon is kicking off the new endeavor with Hyundai in 48 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. The launch comes a little more than a year since the e-commerce giant announced plans to start selling vehicles on its website in the second half of 2024. Amazon s
  
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• Investigation Launched Into Queensland Lab Breach, With Vials of Deadly Viruses Missing

  11-12-2024 03:42 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Nearly 100 live samples of the deadly Hendra virus have been lost in a biosecurity bungle at a state-run Queensland laboratory. An investigation has been launched after it was revealed 323 virus samples went missing from Virology Laboratory in 2021 in a "major breach" of biosecurity protocol, Health Minister Tim Nicholls announced on Monday.
  The material, which included samples of Hendra virus, lyssavirus and hantavirus, appears to have gone missing after a f
  
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• Open Source Maintainers Are Drowning in Junk Bug Reports Written By AI

  11-12-2024 02:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Software vulnerability submissions generated by AI models have ushered in a "new era of slop security reports for open source" -- and the devs maintaining these projects wish bug hunters would rely less on results produced by machine learning assistants. Seth Larson, security developer-in-residence at the Python Software Foundation, raised the issue in a blog post last week, urging those reporting bugs not to use AI systems for bug hunting.
  "Recently I've not
  
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• Livestock Antibiotic Use in Asia Dwarfs European Levels Amid Resistance Fears

  11-12-2024 01:01 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Global antibiotic use in livestock varies dramatically across regions, with some Asian countries using up to 80 times more antibiotics per kilogram of meat than European nations, according to new research published by Our World in Data. Thailand leads global antibiotic consumption in livestock, while Norway reports the lowest usage rates.
  The study found that around 70% of global antibiotics are administered to farm animals rather than humans, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance. Sev
  
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• GM Exits Robotaxi Market

  11-12-2024 00:17 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After spending more than $10 billion on its robotaxi unit, General Motors
  is abandoning its Cruise driverless ride-hailing service. From a report: The Detroit automaker on Tuesday said it will no longer fund its Cruise division's robotaxi development and will instead fold the unit into its broader tech team. "Cruise was well on its way to a robotaxi business -- but when you look at the fact you're deploying a fleet, there's a whole operations piece of doing that," GM CEO Mary Barra said on a cal
  
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