ICT news

• Mobile Ban In Schools Not Improving Grades or Behavior, Study Suggests

  05-02-2025 23:40 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: Banning phones in schools is not linked to pupils getting higher grades or having better mental wellbeing, the first study of its kind suggests. Students' sleep, classroom behavior, exercise or how long they spend on their phones overall also seems to be no different for schools with phone bans and schools without, the academics found. But they did find that spending longer on smartphones and social media in general was linked with w
  
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• Robocallers Posing As FCC Staff Blocked After Robocalling Real FCC Staff

  05-02-2025 23:02 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Robocallers posing as employees of the Federal Communications Commission made the mistake of trying to scam real employees of the FCC, the FCC announced yesterday. "On the night of February 6, 2024, and continuing into the morning of February 7, 2024, over a dozen FCC staff and some of their family members reported receiving calls on their personal and work telephone numbers," the FCC said. The calls used an artificial voice that said, "Hell
  
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• Workday To Cut Nearly 2,000 Workers on Profitability Focus

  05-02-2025 22:23 via slashdot.org
  
  Workday is cutting about 8.5% of its workforce, making it the latest technology company to begin 2025 with headcount reductions. From a report: The cuts will amount to about 1,750 workers, Chief Executive Officer Carl Eschenbach wrote in a note to employees Wednesday. "The environment we're operating in today demands a new approach, particularly given our size and scale," he wrote. Workday intends to hire in strategic areas such as AI, allow faster decision-making, and take on more people overse
  
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• First OCR Spyware Breaches Both Apple and Google App Stores To Steal Crypto Wallet Phrases

  05-02-2025 21:42 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Kaspersky researchers have discovered malware hiding in both Google Play and Apple's App Store that uses optical character recognition to steal cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases from users' photo galleries. Dubbed "SparkCat" by security firm ESET, the malware was embedded in several messaging and food delivery apps, with the infected Google Play apps accumulating over 242,000 downloads combined.
  This marks the first known instance of such OCR-based spyware making it into Apple's App Store.
  
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• 'I'm Done With Ubuntu'

  05-02-2025 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Software developer and prolific blogger Herman Ounapuu, writing in a blog post: I liked Ubuntu. For a very long time, it was the sensible default option. Around 2016, I used the Ubuntu GNOME flavor, and after they ditched the Unity desktop environment, GNOME became the default option.
  I was really happy with it, both for work and personal computing needs. Estonian ID card software was also officially supported on Ubuntu, which made Ubuntu a good choice for family members.
  But then something chan
  
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• Nissan Set To Step Back From Merger With Honda

  05-02-2025 20:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Nissan looks set to step back from merger talks with rival Honda, two sources said on Wednesday, calling into question a $60 billion tie-up to create the world's no.3 automaker and potentially leaving Nissan to drive its turnaround alone.
  Talks between the two Japanese automakers have been complicated by growing differences, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Reuters reported earlier that Nissan could call off talks after Honda sounded it
  
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• The Long Quest for Artificial Blood

  05-02-2025 19:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists are making significant advances in developing artificial blood substitutes, with two promising approaches emerging in 2025, the New Yorker reports. At the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis, researchers are testing ErythroMer, a synthetic nanoparticle that mimics red blood cells' oxygen-carrying capabilities. Simultaneously, the UK's National Health Service is conducting the first human trials of lab-grown blood cells.
  These de
  
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• Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Will Start at $61 per PC for Businesses

  05-02-2025 19:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft will charge commercial customers $61 per device in the first year to continue receiving Windows 10 security updates after support ends, The Register wrote in a PSA note Wednesday, citing text, with costs doubling each subsequent year for up to three years.
  Organizations can't skip initial years to save money, as the updates are cumulative. Some users may avoid fees if they connect Windows 10 endpoints to Windows 365 Cloud PCs. The program also covers Windows 10 virtual machines running
  
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• 'AI Granny' Driving Scammers Up the Wall

  05-02-2025 18:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Since November, British telecom O2 has deployed an AI chatbot masquerading as a 78-year-old grandmother to waste scammers' time. The bot, named Daisy, engages fraudsters by discussing knitting patterns, recipes, and asking about tea preferences while feigning computer illiteracy. The Guardian has an update this week: In tests over several weeks, Daisy has kept individual scammers occupied for up to 40 minutes, with one case showing her being passed between four different callers. An excerpt from
  
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• Google To Spend $75 Billion on AI Push

  05-02-2025 17:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google parent Alphabet plans to spend $75 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from $52.5 billion last year, as it races to compete with Microsoft and Meta in AI infrastructure. CNBC: On its earnings call, Alphabet said it expects $16 billion to $18 billion of those expenses to come in the first quarter. Overall, the expenditures will go toward "technical infrastructure, primarily for servers, followed by data centers and networking," finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said.
  [...] Alphabet and
  
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• Developer Runs Doom On $50 Apple Lightning To HDMI Adapter

  05-02-2025 17:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A developer has successfully run the classic video game Doom on Apple's $50 Lightning to HDMI adapter, exploiting the device's built-in system-on-chip that runs a simplified iOS version.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Temperatures at North Pole 20C Above Average and Beyond Ice Melting Point

  05-02-2025 16:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Temperatures at the north pole soared more than 20C above average on Sunday, crossing the threshold for ice to melt. From a report: Temperatures north of Svalbard in Norway had already risen to 18C hotter than the 1991-2020 average on Saturday, according to models from weather agencies in Europe and the US, with actual temperatures close to ice's melting point of 0C.
  By Sunday, the temperature anomaly had risen to more than 20C. "This was a very extreme winter warming event," said Mika Rantanen,
  
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• China Weighs Probe Into Apple's App Store Fees, Practices

  05-02-2025 15:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  China's antitrust watchdog is laying the groundwork for a potential probe into Apple's policies and the fees it charges app developers, part of a broader push by Beijing that risks becoming another flashpoint in the country's trade war with the US. From a report: The State Administration for Market Regulation is examining Apple's policies, which include taking a cut of as much as 30% on in-app spending and barring external payment services and stores, people familiar with the matter said. Agency
  
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• Thailand Cuts Internet and Power Supply To Some Areas in Myanmar in Blow To Scam Centers

  05-02-2025 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Thailand cut power supply, fuel and internet to some border areas with Myanmar on Wednesday. It's an attempt to choke scam syndicates operating out of there that have become a growing security concern. Reuters: Scam compounds in Southeast Asia are suspected to have entrapped hundreds of thousands of people in illegal online and telecom operations, generating billions of dollars annually, according to a 2023 U.N. report. Thai Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited the Provincial Electricit
  
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• Climate Change Target of 2C Is 'Dead'

  05-02-2025 14:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The pace of global heating has been significantly underestimated, according to renowned climate scientist Prof James Hansen, who said the international 2C target is "dead." A new analysis by Hansen and colleagues concludes that both the impact of recent cuts in sun-blocking shipping pollution, which has raised temperatures, and the sensitivity of the climate to increasing fossil fuels emissions are greater than thought. The group's results a
  
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• Meta CTO: 2025 Make or Break Year for Metaverse

  05-02-2025 11:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta's metaverse ambitions face a decisive year in 2025, with Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth warning employees that the project could become either "a legendary misadventure" or prove visionary, Business Insider is reporting, citing an internal memo. Bosworth called for increased sales and user engagement for Meta's mixed reality products, noting the company plans to launch several AI-powered wearable devices.
  The tech giant's Reality Labs division, which develops virtual and augmented
  
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• Physicists Confirm The Existence of a Third Form of Magnetism

  05-02-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Scientists have demonstrated control over a newly theorized type of magnetism, known as altermagnetism, by manipulating nanoscale magnetic whirlpools in an ultra-thin wafer of manganese telluride. "Our experimental work has provided a bridge between theoretical concepts and real-life realization, which hopefully illuminates a path to developing altermagnetic materials for practical applications," says University of Nottingham physicist Oliver Amin, who led the research with PhD student Alfred Da
  
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• USPS Halts All Packages From China, Sending the Ecommerce Industry Into Chaos

  05-02-2025 06:07 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The United States Postal Service has suspended all package shipments from China and Hong Kong following President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the de minimis exemption, which previously allowed small packages under $800 to enter the U.S. without import duties. "The move could potentially create chaos and confusion across the online shopping industry, as well as make purchases more expensive for consumers, especially because many global manufacturers and internet sellers are located in Ch
  
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• UK Team Invents Self-Healing Road Surface To Prevent Potholes

  05-02-2025 04:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: For all motorists, but perhaps the Ferrari-collecting rocker Rod Stewart in particular, it will be music to the ears: researchers have developed a road surface that heals when it cracks, preventing potholes without a need for human intervention. The international team devised a self-healing bitumen that mends cracks as they form by fusing the asphalt back together. In laboratory tests, pieces of the material repaired small fractures within a
  
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• OpenAI Partners With California State University System

  05-02-2025 01:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI is partnering with the California State University (CSU) system to bring ChatGPT Edu to the 23-campus community of 500,000 students, calling it the "largest implementation of ChatGPT by any single organization or company anywhere in the world." Fortune reports: As part of ChatGPT Edu, members of the CSU community will get special access to ChatGPT-4o and advanced research and analysis capabilities. The partnership allows schools to create customizable AI chatbots for any project, like a c
  
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• Apple Announces 'Invites' App, Raises AppleCare+ Subscription Prices For iPhone

  05-02-2025 01:10 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has announced Apple Invites, a new iPhone app designed to help you manage your social life. Engadget reports: The idea behind Apple Invites is that you can create and share custom invitations for any event or occasion. You can use your own photos or backgrounds in the app as an image for the invite. Image Playground is built into Invites and you can use that to generate an images for the invitation instead. Other Apple Intelligence features such as Writing Tools are baked in as well, in ca
  
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• Google Removes Pledge To Not Use AI For Weapons From Website

  05-02-2025 00:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has updated its public AI principles page to remove a pledge to not build AI for weapons or surveillance. TechCrunch reports: Asked for comment, the company pointed TechCrunch to a new blog post on "responsible AI." It notes, in part, "we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security." Google's newly updated AI principles note the company will work t
  
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