ICT news

• CEO of AI Music Company Says People Don't Like Making Music

  13-01-2025 23:40 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Mikey Shulman, the CEO and founder of the AI music generator company Suno AI, thinks people don't enjoy making music. "We didn't just want to build a company that makes the current crop of creators 10 percent faster or makes it 10 percent easier to make music. If you want to impact the way a billion people experience music you have to build something for a billion people," Shulman said on the 20VC podcast. "And so that is first and foremost giv
  
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• New York Starts Enforcing $15 Broadband Law That ISPs Tried To Kill

  13-01-2025 23:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin reports: The New York law requiring Internet providers to offer cheap plans to people with low incomes will take effect on Wednesday this week following a multi-year court battle in which the state defeated broadband industry lobby groups. A US appeals court upheld the law in April 2024, reversing the ruling of a district judge who blocked it in 2021. The Supreme Court last month decided not to hear the broadband industry's challenge, leaving the appeals court ruling i
  
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• Euro-Cloud Anexia Moves 12,000 VMs Off VMware to Homebrew KVM Platform

  13-01-2025 22:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Register's Simon Sharwood reports: Broadcom has lost another sizable customer for its VMware platform: Austrian cloud provider Anexia has moved 12,000 VMs, some of them rented by major European businesses, to an open-source system based on the KVM hypervisor. Anexia was founded in 2006, is based in Austria, and provides cloud services from over 100 locations around the world by placing equipment in third party datacenters. Clients include remote access and control vendor TeamViewer, and airl
  
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• Mastodon Announces Transition To Nonprofit Structure

  13-01-2025 21:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch, written by Ivan Mehta: Decentralized social network organization Mastodon said Monday that it is planning to create a new nonprofit organization in Europe and hand over ownership of entities responsible for key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components. This means one person won't have control over the entire project. The organization is trying to differentiate itself from social networks controlled by CEOs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
  
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• EU Probes Apple's New App Store Fees

  13-01-2025 19:49 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  European Union regulators are investigating Apple's revised app store fees amid concerns they may increase costs for developers, according to Bloomberg News.
  The European Commission sent questionnaires to developers in December focusing on Apple's new "core technology fee" of $0.51 per app installation, part of its compliance with EU's Digital Markets Act. Under Apple's revised structure, developers can maintain existing terms with commissions up to 30% on app sales, or choose a new model with l
  
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• After Years of USB Word Salad, New Labels Strip Everything But the Speed

  13-01-2025 19:10 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The USB Implementers Forum has simplified its labeling system for USB docking stations and cables, dropping technical terms like "USB4v2" in favor of straightforward speed ratings such as "USB 80Gbps" or "USB 40Gbps."
  The move follows criticism of previous complex naming conventions like "USB 3.2 Gen 2." The new logos will also display power transmission capabilities for cables, addressing consumer confusion over USB standards.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Microsoft Is Testing 45% M365 Price Hikes in Asia

  13-01-2025 18:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is raising Microsoft 365 subscription prices by up to 46% across six Asian markets to fund AI features. In Australia, annual Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions will increase to AU$179 ($110) from AU$139, while Personal subscriptions will jump to AU$159 ($98) from AU$109. The price hikes also affect New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand customers.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Companies Deploy AI To Curb Hiring as 'Cost Avoidance' Gains Ground

  13-01-2025 17:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. companies are increasingly using AI to curb hiring plans, citing "cost avoidance" as a key metric to justify AI investments amid pressure to show returns. At software firm TS Imagine, AI-powered email sorting saves 4,000 work hours annually at 3% of employee costs, while Palantir reported AI reduced future headcount needs by 10-15%, according to company executives.
  The trend is most pronounced in software development and customer service sectors, where companies are deferring or scaling bac
  
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• Ghost Jobs Haunt Online Listings

  13-01-2025 17:13 via slashdot.org
  
  One in five online job postings may be "ghost jobs" that companies never intend to fill, according to new data from hiring platform Greenhouse examining its clients' recruitment patterns in 2024. The analysis found that 18-22% of advertised positions across technology, finance, and healthcare sectors went unfilled, while nearly 70% of companies posted at least one ghost job in the second quarter of 2024.
  Construction, arts, food and beverage, and legal industries showed the highest rates of ghos
  
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• Nvidia Snaps Back at Biden's 'Innovation-Killing' AI Chip Export Restrictions

  13-01-2025 16:27 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Nvidia has hit back at the outgoing Biden administration's AI chip tech export restrictions designed to tighten America's stranglehold on supply chains and maintain market dominance. From a report: The White House today unveiled what it calls the Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion from the Biden-Harris government, placing limits on the number of AI-focused chips that can be exported to most countries, but allowing exemptions for key allies and partners.
  The intent is to work with AI
  
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• FBI Chief Warns China Poised To Wreak 'Real-World Harm' on US Infrastructure

  13-01-2025 15:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  FBI Director Christopher Wray, in his final interview before stepping down, warned that China poses the greatest long-term threat to U.S. national security, calling it "the defining threat of our generation." China's cyber program has stolen more American personal and corporate data than all other nations combined, Wray told CBS News. He said Chinese government hackers have infiltrated U.S. civilian infrastructure, including water treatment facilities, transportation systems and telecommunicatio
  
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• Sonos CEO Patrick Spence Steps Down After Disastrous App Launch

  13-01-2025 15:10 via slashdot.org
  
  Sonos Chief Executive Patrick Spence stepped down on Monday, following a tumultuous period marked by a botched app rollout that angered customers and hurt sales of its new headphones. Board member Tom Conrad, a former Pandora chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO while the audio equipment maker searches for a permanent replacement, the company said.
  Spence's departure comes eight months after Sonos released a revamped app that launched with missing features and technical problems,
  
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• Neuralink Implants Third Brain Chip. Plans '20 or 30' This Year, Eventually 'Blindsight' Devices

  13-01-2025 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Neuralink Corp.'s brain-computer device has been implanted in a third patient," reports Bloomberg, "and the company has plans for about 20 to 30 more implants in 2025, founder Elon Musk said."
  In an interview streamed on X.com, Musk says "We've got now three humans with Neuralinks implanted and they're all working well," according to The Times of India:"We upgraded the devices, they'll have more electrodes, basically higher bandwidth, longer battery life and everything. So, expect 20 or 30 pati
  
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• CISA and US and International Partners Publish Guidance on Priority Considerations in Product Selection for OT Owners and Operators

  13-01-2025 13:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA—along with U.S. and international partners—released joint guidance Secure by Demand: Priority Considerations for Operational Technology Owners and Operators when Selecting Digital Products. As part of CISA’s Secure by Demand series, this guidance focuses on helping customers identify manufacturers dedicated to continuous improvement and achieving a better cost balance, as well as how Operational Technology (OT) owners and operators should integrate secure by de
  
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• Oracle Won't Withdraw 'JavaScript' Trademark, Says Deno. Legal Skirmish Continues

  13-01-2025 09:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  "Oracle has informed us they won't voluntarily withdraw their trademark on 'JavaScript'." That's the word coming from the company behind Deno, the alternative JavaScript/TypeScript/WebAssembly runtime, which is pursuing a formal cancellation with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  So what happens next? Oracle "will file their Answer, and we'll start discovery to show how 'JavaScript' is widely recognized as a generic term and not controlled by Oracle." Deno's social media posts show a schedul
  
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• Blue Origin Livestreams What's Potentially Its First Orbital Rocket Launch

  13-01-2025 07:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Blue Origin is attempting its very first orbital flight tonight. And they'll also attempt to land their reusable Stage 1 on a drone in the Atlantic ocean.
  The rocket is fueled on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, awaiting ignition. Its three-hour launch window has just opened. And Blue Origin is webcasting it all live on their web page...
  But whatever happens tonight, Ars Technica's senior space editor Eric Berger got to talk to a "affable and anxious" Jeff Bezos:
  "It's pretty exciting,
  
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• Blue Origin Livestreams - But Postpones - Its First Orbital Rocket Launch

  13-01-2025 07:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "We're standing down on today's launch attempt," Blue Origin posted late last night, "to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We're reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt."
  But soon Blue Origin will again attempt its very first orbital flight. And they'll also attempt to land their reusable Stage 1 on a drone in the Atlantic ocean...
  Several hours Sunday night their rocket was fueled on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, awaiting
  
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• Starlink's Satellite Internet is Cheaper than Leading ISPs in Five African Countries

  13-01-2025 04:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "In at least five of the 16 African countries where the service is available, a monthly Starlink subscription is cheaper than the leading fixed internet service provider," reports Rest of World."Starlink, launched in 2019 by Elon Musk's SpaceX, has become the leading satellite internet provider in the world."
  Now available in more than 100 countries, Starlink can also be a relatively affordable option for users trying to log on in countries with limited internet service providers... A Rest of Wo
  
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• Will Nvidia Spark a New Generation of Linux PCs?

  13-01-2025 02:07 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  "I know, I know: 'Year of the Linux desktop ... yadda, yadda'," writes Steven Vaughan-Nichols, a ZDNet senior contributing editor. "You've heard it all before. But now there's a Linux-powered PC that many people will want..."
  He's talking about Nvidia's newly-announced Project Digits, describing it as "a desktop with AI supercomputer power that runs DGX OS, a customized Ubuntu Linux 22.04 distro."Powered by MediaTek and Nvidia's Grace Blackwell Superchip, Project DIGITS is a $3,000 personal AI t
  
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• Britain Seeks to Build a Homegrown OpenAI Rival, Become a World Leader in AI

  13-01-2025 01:07 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "The U.K is looking to build a homegrown challenger to OpenAI and drastically increase national computing infrastructure," reports CNBC, "as Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government sets its sights on becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence."
  The government is primarily seeking to expand data center capacity across the U.K. to boost developers of powerful AI models which rely on high-performance computing equipment hosted in remote locations to train and run their systems. A target o
  
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• Germany Hits 62.7% Renewables in 2024 Electricity Mix, with Solar Contributing 14%

  13-01-2025 00:06 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Due to a "rapid expansion of solar capacity," Germany generated 72.2 TWh of solar power in 2024, reports PV magazine, "accounting for 14% of its total electricity output, according to Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
  "Wind power remained Germany's largest source of electricity in 2024, generating 136.4 TWh..."Hydropower also saw a slight increase, contributing 21.7 TWh in 2024. Total renewable energy generation reached 275.2 TWh, up 4.4% from 2023. Biomass plants, with an
  
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