ICT news

• C-suite Goes Gig as Demand For Fractional Work Rises

  27-12-2024 23:42 via slashdot.org
  
  There's been an explosion of interest among senior executives -- including C-suite leaders -- in going gig, or "fractional." From a report: "People don't want to go back to pre-COVID -- [they] want control, more work-life-balance, and a say over who they work with and how they work," Karina Mikhli, founder of Fractionals United, a 13,000-member community group, tells Axios in an email.
  A fractional leader is someone with lengthy experience who works part-time and long-term to help run and repres
  
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• Hackers Hijack a Wide Range of Companies' Chrome Extensions

  27-12-2024 23:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Hackers have compromised several different companies' Chrome browser extensions in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December, according to one of the victims and experts who have examined the campaign. From a report: Among the victims was the California-based Cyberhaven, a data protection company that confirmed the breach in a statement to Reuters on Friday. "Cyberhaven can confirm that a malicious cyberattack occurred on Christmas Eve, affecting our Chrome extension," the statement sai
  
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• Bill Requiring US Agencies To Share Custom Source Code With Each Other Becomes Law

  27-12-2024 22:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  President Biden on Monday signed the SHARE IT Act (H.R. 9566) into law, mandating federal agencies share custom-developed code with each other to prevent duplicative software development contracts and reduce the $12 billion annual government software expenditure. The law requires agencies to publicly list metadata about custom code, establish sharing policies, and align development with best practices while exempting classified, national security, and privacy-sensitive code. FedScoop reports: Un
  
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• South Korean Crypto-Boss Do Kwon To Be Extradited To US

  27-12-2024 21:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Montenegro has approved the extradition of cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon to the United States over his role in the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna tokens, which wiped out $40 billion from investors and destabilized global crypto markets. The BBC reports: "The Minister of Justice, Bojan Bozovic, issued a decision approving the extradition of the accused, Kwon Do Hyung, to the United States of America," the Ministry of Justice announced said in a statement. "It was concluded that the majority
  
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• Hertz Continues EV Purge

  27-12-2024 21:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Apparently Hertz's purging of electric vehicles from its fleet isn't going fast enough for the car rental giant. A Reddit user posted an offer they received from Hertz to buy the 2023 Tesla Model 3 they had been renting for $17,913. Hertz originally went strong into EVs, announcing a plan to buy 100,000 Model 3s for its fleet by the end of 2021, but 16 months later had acquired only half that amount. The company found that repair costs -- es
  
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• Chinese Hackers Breach Ninth US Telecoms Group in Espionage Campaign

  27-12-2024 19:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A ninth U.S. telecommunications company has been compromised in a Chinese espionage campaign that targeted private communications, particularly around Washington D.C., White House Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger said Friday.
  The intrusion, part of the "Salt Typhoon" operation that previously hit eight telecom firms, allowed hackers to access customer call records and private messages. While the total number of affected Americans remains unclear, many targets were government offic
  
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• Meta Envisages Social Media Filled With AI-Generated Users

  27-12-2024 19:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta is betting that characters generated by AI will fill its social media platforms in the next few years as it looks to the fast-developing technology to drive engagement with its 3 billion users. From a report: The Silicon Valley group is rolling out a range of AI products, including one that helps users create AI characters on Instagram and Facebook [non-paywalled source], as it battles with rival tech groups to attract and retain a younger audience.
  "We expect these AIs to actually, over ti
  
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• Geoffrey Hinton Says There is 10-20% Chance AI Will Lead To Human Extinction in 30 Years

  27-12-2024 18:25 via slashdot.org
  
  The British-Canadian computer scientist often touted as a "godfather" of artificial intelligence has shortened the odds of AI wiping out humanity over the next three decades, warning the pace of change in the technology is "much faster" than expected. From a report: Prof Geoffrey Hinton, who this year was awarded the Nobel prize in physics for his work in AI, said there was a "10 to 20" per cent chance that AI would lead to human extinction within the next three decades.
  Previously Hinton had sa
  
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• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Reports Successful Closest Approach To Sun

  27-12-2024 17:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Following its record-breaking closest approach to the Sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has transmitted a beacon tone back to Earth indicating it's in good health and operating normally. NASA: The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland received the signal just before midnight EST, on the night of Dec. 26. The team was out of contact with the spacecraft during closest approach, which occurred on Dec. 24, with Parker Solar Probe zipping just
  
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• A Fake Nintendo Lawyer is Scaring YouTubers

  27-12-2024 17:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A wave of fraudulent copyright takedowns on YouTube has exposed vulnerabilities in the platform's content moderation system, enabling anonymous users to threaten creators' channels through false legal claims, The Verge is reporting. Several gaming content creators, including a channel with 1.5 million subscribers, received takedown notices from someone impersonating Nintendo's legal team. Though YouTube acknowledged the false claims, the company declined to explain how it verifies takedown reque
  
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• Boom in US Retail Real Estate Defies Prediction of Ecommerce Apocalypse

  27-12-2024 16:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Vacancies at open-air shopping centres in the US have dropped to historically low levels [non-paywalled source], defying forecasts of a retail apocalypse caused by the rise of ecommerce. From a report: Landlords of complexes anchored by big-box chains, discount merchants and supermarkets have gained power to raise rents as leases expire. New construction has been stymied by higher interest rates and soaring building costs.
  Scarcity in the market had disproved long-standing beliefs about retail r
  
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• The USB-C Charging Mandate Arrives in the EU

  27-12-2024 15:40 via slashdot.org
  
  From December 28th, a large percentage of the gadgets bought inside the EU are required to charge via USB-C. From a report: The goal for Directive 2022/2380, known colloquially as the common charging solution, is to reduce e-waste and solve market fragmentation. You may recall Apple and the EU butting heads over this a few years ago.
  The requirement for USB-C is just the surface of this directive though. It also includes regulations on fast charging, unbundling charging bricks from retail device
  
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• OpenAI Plans Corporate Overhaul To Draw More Investment

  27-12-2024 14:21 via slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI plans to overhaul its corporate structure by converting its for-profit business into a Delaware public benefit corporation, seeking to raise capital from investors who want conventional equity stakes.
  The Microsoft-backed AI startup will scrap its unusual hybrid model where a nonprofit controls a capped-profit entity. The restructuring aims to help OpenAI compete with tech giants pouring hundreds of billions into AI development, it said.
  Under the plan, OpenAI's nonprofit wing will receiv
  
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• 'The Paper Passport Is Dying'

  27-12-2024 13:05 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Facial recognition technology is poised to replace traditional passports globally, marking the biggest shift in travel documentation since World War 1. Airports across Finland, Canada, Netherlands, UAE, UK, Italy, US, and India are testing passport-free systems, with Singapore already implementing the technology for its residents and departing visitors.
  The systems typically store passport data digitally on smartphones, using face recognition cameras at airports to match travelers against stored
  
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• Video Games Can't Afford To Look This Good

  27-12-2024 11:45 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Major video game studios' pursuit of ultra-realistic graphics has led to diminishing returns and industry-wide layoffs, as younger players gravitate toward simpler, more social games, New York Times is reporting.
  Sony's Insomniac Games spent $300 million developing Marvel's Spider-Man 2, triple the budget of its predecessor, before laying off staff amid Sony's 900-person reduction in February. The industry has cut more than 20,000 jobs in the past two years. Meanwhile, games with basic graphics
  
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• Japan's Megabank MUFG Suffers Online Banking Glitch, Hints At Cyberattack

  27-12-2024 08:30 via slashdot.org
  
  Japanese megabank MUFG Bank says that its internet banking service has been unstable, indicating that it may have been under a cyberattack. From a report: The glitch, which occurred from 2:47 p.m., originated from "massive influx of data," the main banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said. There was no leakage of customer information, nor was any damage caused by computer viruses.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Chinese Firm Trains Massive AI Model for Just $5.5 Million

  27-12-2024 05:21 via slashdot.org
  
  Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has released what appears to be one of the most powerful open-source language models to date, trained at a cost of just $5.5 million using restricted Nvidia H800 GPUs.
  The 671-billion-parameter DeepSeek V3, released this week under a permissive commercial license, outperformed both open and closed-source AI models in internal benchmarks, including Meta's Llama 3.1 and OpenAI's GPT-4 on coding tasks.
  The model was trained on 14.8 trillion tokens of data over two months
  
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• Microsoft Bundling Practices Focus of Federal Antitrust Probe

  27-12-2024 04:40 via slashdot.org
  
  The Federal Trade Commission has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft's business practices, focusing on how the company bundles its Office products with cybersecurity and cloud computing services.
  The probe follows ProPublica reporting that revealed Microsoft offered free temporary upgrades of federal agencies' software licenses to include advanced cybersecurity features, leading to long-term contracts once the trial period ended. The strategy helped Microsoft expand its gover
  
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• Trump Transition Leaders Call For Eased Tech Immigration Policy

  27-12-2024 02:27 via news.slashdot.org
  
  theodp writes: In 2012, now-Microsoft President Brad Smith unveiled Microsoft's National Talent Strategy, a two-pronged strategy that called for tech visa restrictions to be loosened to allow tech companies to hire non-U.S. citizens to fill jobs until more American schoolchildren could be made tech-savvy enough to pass hiring standards. Shortly thereafter, tech-backed nonprofit Code.org emerged (led by Smith's next-door neighbor Hadi Partovi with Smith as a founding Board member) with a mission
  
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• Windows 11 Installation Media Bug Causes Security Update Failures

  27-12-2024 00:29 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is warning that Windows 11 installations using USB or CD media created with October or November 2024 security updates may be unable to receive future security patches.
  The bug affects version 24H2 installations made between October 8 and November 12, but does not impact systems updated through Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft advised users to rebuild installation media using December 2024 patches while it works on a permanent fix for the issue, which primarily
  
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