ICT news

• Twisted Graphene Sheets Reveal 'Unconventional' Superconductivity Governed by Quantum Geometry

  08-02-2025 23:08 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Twisting two atomically thin sheets of graphene enables "a host of exceptional properties," writes MIT News, "including unconventional superconductivity." (Which makes this graphene "a promising building block for future quantum-computing devices.")
  And now "We find the superfluid stiffness to be much larger than expected..." a team of researchers reported this week in Nature. Hackaday explains that "Part of the problem has been that it is hard to make large pieces of multi-layer graphene. By cr
  
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• Volkswagen Announces a Cheap Electric Car to Compete With China

  08-02-2025 22:08 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Telegraph:Volkswagen has teased plans for a "China-killer" electric vehicle that will cost just €20,000 ($20,664 USD or £16,700) as the German carmaker gears up to take on a flood of Beijing-backed low-cost rivals. The company on Thursday shared its first images of a new vehicle expected to be called the ID.1, which will go into production from 2027.
  The low-cost EV is intended to go head to head with all-electric brands from Chinese car
  
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• The FSF Will Auction the Original GNU Logo Drawing, Stallman's Medal, and an Amiga

  08-02-2025 20:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Free Software Foundation "hinted that it would organize an unprecedented virtual memorabilia auction" in March to celebrate this year's 40th anniversary, according to an announcement this week. Those hints "left collectors and free software fans wondering which of the pieces of the FSF's history would be auctioned off."
  But Tuesday the FSF "lifted the veil and gave a sneak peak of some of the more prestigious entries in the memorabilia auction."First of all, the memorabilia auction will feat
  
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• DeepSeek IOS App Sends Data Unencrypted To ByteDance-Controlled Servers

  08-02-2025 19:34 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes a new article from Ars Technica: On Thursday, mobile security company NowSecure reported that [DeepSeek] sends sensitive data over unencrypted channels, making the data readable to anyone who can monitor the traffic. More sophisticated attackers could also tamper with the data while it's in transit. Apple strongly encourages iPhone and iPad developers to enforce encryption of data sent over the wire using ATS (App Transport Security). For unknown reasons, that
  
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• White House Moves to Halt Federal Funds for EV Charging Stations

  08-02-2025 18:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Thursday the White House "moved to halt a $5 billion initiative to build electric vehicle charging stations," reports Politico, "by instructing states not to spend federal funds previously allocated to them..." NPR described the move as "putting in limbo billions of dollars allocated to states with current and future projects..."
  Politico notes the move "appears to upend years of precedent in which federal promises of funds for highway projects had given states an all-but-guaranteed assurance th
  
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• Internet Archive Celebrates New Public Domain Works with Remixes in Short Film Contest

  08-02-2025 17:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  To celebrate 3035's newest arrivals in the public domain, the Internet Archive held a special in-person event at their San Francisco headquarters, as well as a virtual celebration online. (It opens with an absolutely gorgeous rendition of "Happy Days are Hear Again" played on a musical saw.)
  And somewhere in the festivities they announced the winners of this year's annual "Public Domain Day Film Remix Contest."
  These remarkable films not only reimagined and transformed public domain works but al
  
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• Are Return-to-Office Mandates Just Attempts to Make People to Quit?

  08-02-2025 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Friday on a Washington Post podcast, their columnists discussed the hybrid/remote work trend, asking why it "seems to be reversing".
  Molly Roberts: Why have some companies decided finally that having offices full of employees is better for them?
  Heather Long: It's a loaded question, but I would say, unfortunately, 2025 is the year of operational efficiency, and that's corporate speak for save money at all costs. How do you save money? The easiest way is to get people to quit. What are these retu
  
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• Donkey Kong's Famed Kill Screen Has Been Cleared For the First Time

  08-02-2025 14:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: If you watched the 2007 documentary King of Kong or followed the controversy surrounding score-chaser Billy Mitchell, you know all about Donkey Kong's famous kill screen. For over four decades, no one was able to pass the game's 117th screen (aka level 22-1) due to a glitch in the game's bonus timer that kills Mario well before he can reach the top of the stage's girders. That was true until last weekend, when Mario speedrunner Kosmic shared
  
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• Mysterious Radiation Belts Detected Around Earth After Epic Solar Storm

  08-02-2025 11:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  After the powerful solar storm of May 2024, scientists detected two new temporary radiation belts around Earth -- one of which contained something we had never seen before: energetic protons. ScienceAlert reports: "These are really high-energy electrons and protons that have found their way into Earth's inner magnetic environment," says astronomer David Sibeck of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who was not involved with the research. "Some might stay in this place for a very long time." In f
  
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• PlayStation Network Suffering Major Outage

  08-02-2025 08:35 via games.slashdot.org
  
  According to Downdetector, PlayStation Network (PSN) has been down since 6 PM ET, with Sony assuring users that they're working to fix the problem "as soon as possible." For gaming specifically, Sony says that "you might have difficulty launching games, apps, or network features.""We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN," Sony said in an 8:46PM ET post on X. No further details were made available.An r/PlayStation thread has more than 10,000 comments. As of 11:35 P
  
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• Quantum Teleportation Used To Distribute a Calculation

  08-02-2025 04:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In today's issue of Nature, a team at Oxford University describes using quantum teleportation to link two pieces of quantum hardware that were located about 2 meters apart, meaning they could easily have been in different rooms entirely. Once linked, the two pieces of hardware could be treated as a single quantum computer, allowing simple algorithms to be performed that involved operations on both sides of the 2-meter gap. [...] The Oxford t
  
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• Automakers Sue To Kill Maine's Hugely Popular 'Right To Repair' Law

  08-02-2025 03:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Maine's overwhelmingly popular right-to-repair law is under attack by automakers through lawsuits and lobbying efforts aimed at weakening or delaying enforcement. While the law remains in limbo due to industry influence and legal challenges, broader enforcement issues persist across multiple states, with corporations often ignoring right-to-repair laws despite their legal passage. Techdirt reports: A little over a year ago, Maine residents voted overwhelmingly (83 percent) to pass a new state ri
  
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• Google's 7-Year Slog To Improve Chrome Extensions Still Hasn't Satisfied Developers

  08-02-2025 02:25 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  The Register's Thomas Claburn reports: Google's overhaul of Chrome's extension architecture continues to pose problems for developers of ad blockers, content filters, and privacy tools. [...] While Google's desire to improve the security, privacy, and performance of the Chrome extension platform is reasonable, its approach -- which focuses on code and permissions more than human oversight -- remains a work-in-progress that has left extension developers frustrated.Alexei Miagkov, senior staff tec
  
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• OpenAI Investigating Claim of 20 Million Stolen User Credentials

  08-02-2025 01:45 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI says it's investigating after a hacker claimed to have stolen login credentials for 20 million OpenAI accounts and advertised the data for sale on a dark web forum. Though security researchers doubt on the legitimacy of the breach, the AI company stated that it takes the claims seriously, advising users to enable two-factor authentication and stay vigilant against phishing attempts. Decrypt reports: Daily Dot reporter Mikael Thalan wrote on X that he found invalid email addresses in the s
  
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• US Health System Notifies 882,000 Patients of August 2023 Breach

  08-02-2025 01:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Hospital Sisters Health System notified over 882,000 patients that an August 2023 cyberattack led to a data breach that exposed their personal and health information. Established in 1875, HSHS works with over 2,200 physicians and has around 12,000 employees. It also operates a network of physician practices and 15 local hospitals across Illinois and Wisconsin, including two children's hospitals. The non-profit healthcare system said in d
  
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• Creators Demand Tech Giants Fess Up, Pay For All That AI Training Data

  08-02-2025 00:20 via slashdot.org
  
  The Register highlights concerns raised at a recent UK parliamentary committee regarding AI companies' exploitation of copyrighted content without permission or payment. From the report: The Culture, Media and Sport Committee and Science, Innovation and Technology Committee asked composer Max Richter how he would know if "bad-faith actors" were using his material to train AI models. "There's really nothing I can do," he told MPs. "There are a couple of music AI models, and it's perfectly easy to
  
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