ICT news

• Trump Issues Executive Order To Create Cryptocurrency Working Group, Establish Digital Asset Stockpile

  23-01-2025 23:20 via slashdot.org
  
  President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that "sets a federal agenda meant to move U.S. digital assets businesses into friendly oversight," reports CoinDesk. The order creates a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing a new regulatory framework for digital assets. It will be "made up of the Treasury secretary, attorney general and chairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, along with other agency heads," notes Reuters.The di
  
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• Developer Creates Infinite Maze That Traps AI Training Bots

  23-01-2025 22:40 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: A pseudonymous coder has created and released an open source "tar pit" to indefinitely trap AI training web crawlers in an infinitely, randomly-generating series of pages to waste their time and computing power. The program, called Nepenthes after the genus of carnivorous pitcher plants which trap and consume their prey, can be deployed by webpage owners to protect their own content from being scraped or can be deployed "offensively" as a honey
  
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• Game of Thrones Author Co-Writes Physics Paper on Superhero Virus

  23-01-2025 21:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist Ian Tregillis and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin have published a physics paper deriving a mathematical model for the Wild Cards virus, a fictional pathogen that kills 90% of those infected while granting survivors either mutations ("Jokers") or superpowers ("Aces").
  Published in the American Journal of Physics (February 2025), their paper develops a Lagrangian formulation to explain how the virus maintains its consistent "90:9:1" statistical d
  
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• Trump Blasts EU Regulators for Targeting Apple, Google, Meta

  23-01-2025 20:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  US President Donald Trump blasted European Union regulators for targeting Apple, Alphabet's Google and Meta, describing theircases against American companies as "a form of taxation."
  From a report: The EU has established a reputation globally for its aggressive regulation of major technology companies, often sparring with major social media platforms, such as Facebook and X, over content moderation, and the likes of Apple and Google over antitrust concerns. "These are American companies whether
  
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• OpenAI Unveils AI Agent To Automate Web Browsing Tasks

  23-01-2025 19:40 via slashdot.org
  
  The rumors are true: OpenAI today launched Operator, an AI agent capable of performing web-based tasks through its own browser, as a research preview for U.S. subscribers of its $200 monthly ChatGPT Pro tier. The agent uses GPT-4's vision capabilities and reinforcement learning to interact with websites through mouse and keyboard actions without requiring API integration, OpenAI said in a blog post.
  Operator can self-correct and defer to users for sensitive information though there are some limi
  
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• Google Removes URL Breadcrumbs from Mobile Search Results

  23-01-2025 18:53 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google will remove URL breadcrumbs from mobile search results globally, displaying only domain names instead of the full hierarchical path marked by ">" symbols, the company said.
  The change affects all smartphone and tablet searches while desktop results remain unchanged. The company said it made the change because of limited screen space, noting breadcrumbs often get cut off on smaller displays.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Solar-Charging Backpacks Are Helping Children To Read After Dark

  23-01-2025 18:24 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  A Tanzanian entrepreneur is transforming cement bags into solar-powered backpacks, helping students study after dark in areas without electricity. Innocent James's company, Soma Bags, sold 36,000 solar backpacks across Africa last year, with prices ranging from 12,000 to 22,500 Tanzanian shillings ($4-8), according to CNN. The innovation comes as 600 million Africans lack electricity access. In Tanzania, fewer than half of mainland households have power, forcing families to rely on expensive ker
  
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• AI Mistakes Are Very Different from Human Mistakes

  23-01-2025 17:45 via slashdot.org
  
  Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders, writing in a post: Someone who makes calculus mistakes is also likely to respond "I don't know" to calculus-related questions. To the extent that AI systems make these human-like mistakes, we can bring all of our mistake-correcting systems to bear on their output. But the current crop of AI models -- particularly LLMs -- make mistakes differently.
  AI errors come at seemingly random times, without any clustering around particular topics. LLM mistakes tend to
  
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• UK Watchdog Targets Apple, Google Mobile Ecosystems With New Digital Market Powers

  23-01-2025 17:05 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Britain's competition watchdog launched investigations into Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems on Thursday under new powers to tackle digital market abuses that took effect this year. The Competition and Markets Authority will examine whether the tech giants' control over operating systems, app stores and browsers constitutes "strategic market status" requiring regulatory intervention.
  The probe will focus on potential barriers to competition, preferential treatment of their own apps, and whet
  
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• People With ADHD Have Shorter Life Expectancy, Study Finds

  23-01-2025 16:28 via science.slashdot.org
  
  People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder face significantly shorter life expectancy and higher mental health risks, a British study of over 30,000 patients found. The research, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, showed men with ADHD lived 4.5 to 9 years less, while women's lives were shortened by 6.5 to 11 years.
  The study compared primary care data from 30,029 adults with ADHD against 300,400 people without the condition. "Although many people with ADHD live long and he
  
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• Pakistan's Parliament Passes Bill With Sweeping Controls on Social Media

  23-01-2025 15:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Pakistan's lower house of parliament on Thursday passed a controversial bill that will give the government sweeping controls on social media, including sending users to prison for spreading disinformation. From a report: The bill was quickly passed after lawmakers from the opposition party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan staged a walkout to denounce the law. Critics say the government is seeking to further suppress freedom of speech.
  Farhatullah Babar, a leading human rights activ
  
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• OpenAI's Stargate Deal Heralds Shift Away From Microsoft

  23-01-2025 15:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft's absence from OpenAI's Stargate announcement follows months of tension between the companies and signals a new era in which the longtime partners will be less reliant on each other. From a report: At a White House press conference, the ChatGPT maker announced Stargate, a venture with Oracle and tech investor SoftBank. The new company plans to spend up to $500 billion building new data centers in the U.S. to help power OpenAI's development.
  The assembled leaders -- OpenAI's Sam Altman,
  
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• Amazon Exits Quebec Operations, To Cut About 1,700 Jobs

  23-01-2025 14:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: E-commerce giant Amazon.com is exiting its operations in the Canadian province of Quebec, leading to the loss of about 1,700 full-time jobs, the company said on Wednesday, prompting Ottawa to express its unhappiness. The online retailer will phase out operations across seven sites in the province -- the only location in Canada with unionized Amazon employees -- over the next two months. It will return to a third-party delivery model, relying on l
  
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• Federal Court Rules Backdoor Searches of 702 Data Unconstitutional

  23-01-2025 11:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A federal district court has ruled that backdoor searches of Americans' private communications collected under Section 702 of FISA are unconstitutional without a warrant. "The landmark ruling comes in a criminal case, United States v. Hasbajrami, after more than a decade of litigation, and over four years since the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that backdoor searches constitute 'separate Fourth Amendment events' and directed the district court to determine a warrant was required," report
  
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• Scientists Detect Chirping Cosmic Waves In an Unexpected Part of Space

  23-01-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists have detected cosmic "chorus waves" resembling bird chirps over 62,000 miles from Earth, a region where such waves have never been observed. "Scientists still aren't sure how the perturbations happen, but they think Earth's magnetic field may have something to do with it," reports the Associated Press. From the report: The chorus has been picked up on radio antennas for decades, including receivers at an Antarctica research station in the 1960s. And twin spacecraft -- NASA's Van Allen
  
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• DHS Terminates All Its Advisory Committees, Ending Its Investigation Into Chinese Telecom Hack

  23-01-2025 04:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Department of Homeland Security has terminated all members of advisory committees, including one that has been investigating a major Chinese hack of large US telecom firms. "The Cyber Safety Review Board -- a Department of Homeland Security investigatory body stood up under a Biden-era cybersecurity executive order to probe major cybersecurity incidents -- has been cleared of non-government members as part of a DHS-wide push to cut costs
  
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• AI Apps Saw Over $1 Billion In Consumer Spending In 2024

  23-01-2025 02:25 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Consumer spending on apps is projected to reach $150 billion globally in 2024, up 13% from the prior year. According to Sensor Tower's annual "State of Mobile" report, it's being fueled by a 200% surge in spending on generative AI apps like ChatGPT and Gemini, which collectively drew $1.1 billion. TechCrunch reports: If this rate of growth is sustained, this category of apps could move into the top 10 by consumer spending within a year, the firm notes. Though the release of new AI models, like O
  
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• Google Fiber Is Coming To Las Vegas

  23-01-2025 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google Fiber has confirmed that it has started construction in Las Vegas and Clark County, with its fiber internet service expected to be available "later this year." The Verge reports: On Wednesday, Google also confirmed that it's piloting simplified, "lifestyle-based" plans in Alabama and Tennesee, which were first spotted last month. The new $70 / month Core 1 Gig, $100 / month Home 3 Gig, and $150 / month Edge 8 Gig plans replace the 1 Gig, 2 Gig, 5 Gig, and 8 Gig plans that GFiber widely of
  
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• Microsoft's LinkedInn Sued For Disclosing Customer Information To Train AI Models

  23-01-2025 01:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers alleging the platform disclosed private messages to third parties without consent to train generative AI models. The lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract and privacy violations, accusing LinkedIn of attempting to minimize scrutiny over its actions. Reuters reports: According to a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium customers, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting last August that let us
  
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• Microsoft's LinkedIn Sued For Disclosing Customer Information To Train AI Models

  23-01-2025 01:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers alleging the platform disclosed private messages to third parties without consent to train generative AI models. The lawsuit seeks damages for breach of contract and privacy violations, accusing LinkedIn of attempting to minimize scrutiny over its actions. Reuters reports: According to a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium customers, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting last August that let us
  
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• Hospitals No Longer Allowed To Fix Machine That Costs Six Figures

  23-01-2025 00:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: The manufacturer of a machine that costs six figures used during heart surgery has told hospitals that it will no longer allow hospitals' repair technicians to maintain or fix the devices and that all repairs must now be done by the manufacturer itself, according to a letter obtained by 404 Media. The change will require hospitals to enter into repair contracts with the manufacturer, which will ultimately drive up medical costs, a person famili
  
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