ICT news

• Apple TV Plus Is Free This Weekend

  30-12-2024 23:40 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  In a press release today, Apple said their TV Plus subscription service will be free this weekend (January 3 through January 5). From the press release: Apple TV+ is ringing in the New Year by offering an all-access pass to customers all around the world. Enjoy Apple TV+ for free the first weekend of 2025 (January 3 through January 5), Apple TV+ will be free on any device where Apple TV+ is available. All you need is an Apple ID to see what all the buzz is about. "A full weekend may be enough to
  
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• The Average American Spent 2.5 Months On Their Phone In 2024

  30-12-2024 23:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Americans check their phones an average of 205 times a day, a 42.3% increase from last year. Millennials are leading the charts in frequency, attachment, and anxiety over phone use, while Gen Z spends the most time daily on their devices at over six hours. PCMag reports: There's a good chance that you're currently reading this article on your phone. If you're like one of the Americans surveyed by Reviews.org, this is one of 205 times today that you'll be checking the device in your hand. To spar
  
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• US Treasury Says Chinese Hackers Stole Documents In 'Major Incident'

  30-12-2024 22:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month and stole documents from its workstations, according to a letter to lawmakers that was provided to Reuters on Monday. The hackers compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and were able to access unclassified documents, the letter said, calling it a "major incident."According to the letter, hackers "gained access to a key used by the vendor t
  
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• Siberian Power Company Finds Illegal Crypto Mining 'Farm' On Its Own Property

  30-12-2024 21:40 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Crypto News: Power providers in the Siberian crypto mining hotspot of Irkutsk have discovered an illegal mining "farm" operating on their own property. The Irkutsk Region Prosecutor-General's Office posted on VK, explaining that an unnamed Irkutsk-based "electric grid supply organization" was "found illegally providing a plot of land" to crypto miners.The prosecutors explained that the state had set aside the plot to help provide "public utilities." Inste
  
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• South Korea To Inspect Boeing Aircraft as It Struggles To Find Cause of Plane Crash

  30-12-2024 21:18 via news.slashdot.org
  
  South Korean officials said Monday they will conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country's airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people a day earlier. From a report: Sunday's crash, the country's worst aviation disaster in decades, triggered an outpouring of national sympathy. Many people worry how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as it grapples with a leadership vacuum following the
  
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• Mercedes-backed Volocopter Files for Bankruptcy

  30-12-2024 19:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  German electric air taxi company Volocopter has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of similar startups to hit financial turbulence. From a report: Volocopter is one of the more well-funded electric air taxi startups, having raised hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade with backing from major automakers like Germany's Mercedes-Benz and China's Geely.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Google CEO Warns of High Stakes in 2025 AI Race

  30-12-2024 18:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google CEO Sundar Pichai has warned employees the company faces critical challenges in 2025 as it races to catch up in AI amid rising competition and regulatory scrutiny. "The stakes are high," Pichai said at a strategy meeting, details of which were reported by CNBC. "I think it's really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to be relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefit
  
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• Nvidia Open-Sources Run:ai, the Software It Acquired For $700 Million

  30-12-2024 17:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Nvidia has completed its acquisition of Run:ai, a provider of GPU cloud orchestration software for AI workloads, and announced plans to open-source the platform. The deal, valued at $700 million, brings the Israel-based startup under Nvidia's umbrella after their collaboration since 2020.
  Run:ai's software helps enterprises manage and schedule Nvidia GPU resources for AI applications across cloud and on-premises environments. Founded in 2018, the company's platform currently supports only Nvidia
  
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• In a First, Surgical Robots Learned Tasks By Watching Videos

  30-12-2024 17:01 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Speaking of robots, Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University researchers say they trained robots to perform surgical tasks autonomously using video learning, marking a breakthrough in robotic surgery capabilities.
  The robots successfully manipulated needles, tied knots, and sutured wounds independently, demonstrating ability to correct errors like dropped needles without human input. Testing has advanced to full surgeries on animal cadavers.
  Researchers aim to address a projected U.S. su
  
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• Nvidia Bets on Robotics To Drive Future Growth

  30-12-2024 16:22 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Nvidia is betting on robotics as its next big driver of growth, as the world's most valuable semiconductor company faces increasing competition in its core AI chipmaking business. The US tech group, best known for the infrastructure that has underpinned the AI boom, is set to launch its latest generation of compact computers for humanoid robots [non-paywalled link] -- dubbed Jetson Thor -- in the first half of 2025.
  Nvidia is positioning itself to be the lead
  
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• Chess Federation Changes Rules To Allow Jeans Amid Spat; Magnus Carlsen Returns

  30-12-2024 15:36 via games.slashdot.org
  
  World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has returned to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Rapid and Blitz Championships after new rules allowed players to wear "elegant" jeans with jackets.
  Carlsen had withdrawn from the New York tournament when officials demanded he change out of jeans he wore after a lunch meeting, threatening him with fines and disqualification. FIDE revised its dress code following the incident, permitting "appropriate jeans matching the jacket" as an "elegant mino
  
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• Most Safety Complaints From Plane-Industry Whistleblowers 'Go Nowhere', Risk Retaliation

  30-12-2024 13:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  America's aerospace industry is overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (or FAA) — which also handles safety warnings from the industry's whistleblowers. But the Seattle Times says an analysis of reports to Congress found "an overwhelmed system delivering underwhelming results for whistleblowers... More than 90% of safety complaints from 2020 through 2023 ended with no violation found by the FAA, while whistleblowers reported them at great personal and professional risk."Aside from
  
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• How Microsoft Made 2024 the Year of Windows on Arm

  30-12-2024 10:22 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "I still can't quite believe that I'm using an Arm-powered Windows laptop every day," writes a senior editor at the Verge:After more than a decade of trying to make Windows on Arm a reality, Microsoft and Qualcomm finally nailed it this year with Copilot Plus PCs. These new laptops have excellent battery life and great performance — and the app compatibility issues that have plagued Windows on Arm are mostly a thing of the past (as long as you're not a gamer). Microsoft wanted 2024 to be "
  
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• Trump Defends Foreign Worker Visas

  30-12-2024 10:10 via news.slashdot.org
  
  President-elect Donald Trump has defended the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. "I've always liked the visas. I have many H-1B visas on my properties... It's a great program," Trump told The New York Post.
  His comments follow recent support for the program from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The H-1B program allows 85,000 skilled workers to immigrate annually, including 20,000 spots for those with U.S. advanced degrees. Trump's businesses have received approval to hire over 2,100 fo
  
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• AI Tools May Soon Manipulate People's Online Decision-Making, Say Researchers

  30-12-2024 07:09 via slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader SysEngineer shared this report from the Guardian:AI tools could be used to manipulate online audiences into making decisions — ranging from what to buy to who to vote for — according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. The paper highlights an emerging new marketplace for "digital signals of intent" — known as the "intention economy" — where AI assistants understand, forecast and manipulate human intentions and sell that information on to compani
  
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• When Jimmy Carter Spoke At a Wireless Tradeshow

  30-12-2024 04:09 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. Born in 1924, he had just celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1st.
  If you want to catch a glimpse of his political charisma, YouTube has a clip of Carter's appearance on "What's My Line" when he was still only governor of Georgia. Within five years he'd be president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981.
  But it seems like today everyone has a story to tell. More than two decades later, long-time Slashdot reader destinyland saw Jimmy Car
  
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• 2024's Ten Top-Grossing Films Were All Sequels or Prequels

  30-12-2024 01:03 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  "Every single one of the top ten box office hits of 2024 was a sequel, a remake... or a prequel," writes The Hollywood Reporter.
  Here's the list of 2024's top-grossing films published by the movie blog SlashFilm:
  10. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice9. Venom: The Last Dance
  8. Kung Fu Panda 4
  7. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire6. Wicked
  5. Dune: Part Two4. Moana 2
  3. Despicable Me 4
  2. Deadpool & Wolverine1. Inside Out 2
  2024 was the year Godzilla celebrated its 70th year as a franchise — but it
  
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