ICT news

• Apple Teases Special Product Launch Coming Next Week

  13-02-2025 23:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple CEO Tim Took took to X today to tease a special Apple product launch happening next week on Wednesday, February 19. 9to5Mac reports: Few specific details were shared, but Cook did include a brief video featuring the Apple logo in silver plus the following words: "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family. Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch" [...] The most likely product is the brand new iPhone SE 4, which rumors suggest will pack a variety of powerful upgrades. [...] There are se
  
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• Nearly a Year Later, Mozilla Is Still Promoting OneRep

  13-02-2025 23:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: In mid-March 2024, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that the founder of the personal data removal service Onerep also founded dozens of people-search companies. Shortly after that investigation was published, Mozilla said it would stop bundling Onerep with the Firefox browser and wind down its partnership with the company. But nearly a year later, Mozilla is still promoting it to Firefox users. [Using OneRep is problematic because its founder, Di
  
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• Trust in AI is Much Higher in China Than in the US

  13-02-2025 22:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Trust in AI is significantly higher in China than in the United States, according to new data from the Edelman Trust Barometer. Axios: Edelman's latest research found that 72% of people in China trust AI, compared with just 32% in the United States. Not only is trust higher in China, it's higher in much of the developing world than it is in the United States, according to Edelman's research.
  Trust in AI was highest in India, at 77%, followed by Nigeria at 76%, Thailand at 73% and then China. Onl
  
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• Nintendo Patent Push Against Hit Game Palworld Hits Roadblock in US

  13-02-2025 22:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Nintendo is facing an uphill battle in its U.S. patent fight against Palworld creator Pocketpair, with the United States Patent and Trademark Office rejecting 22 out of 23 patent claims, according to gaming news site GamesFray.
  While Nintendo has successfully obtained one patent covering character capture mechanics, the company is seeking additional protections related to gameplay features like "smooth switching of riding objects." An attorney representing Nintendo has requested a meeting with p
  
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• Bezos-Backed Blue Origin To Cut 10% of Its Workforce

  13-02-2025 21:21 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is cutting about 10% of its workforce, a significant pullback aimed at slashing costs and refocusing resources after years of development work. From a report: The rocket and engine maker laid out the personnel shakeup during an all-hands employee meeting with Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp Thursday morning, confirming a workforce reduction first reported by Bloomberg. In a memo sent to employees, Limp said the company's growth led to "more bureaucracy and
  
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• JPMorgan CEO Dimon Slams Return-To-Office Pushback

  13-02-2025 20:40 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon scorned calls from some employees to soften the bank's five-day return-to-office policy in an animated town hall meeting on Wednesday, according to a recording reviewed by Reuters. Employees at the largest U.S. bank have complained on internal message boards and chats about losing hybrid working arrangements, and one group launched an online petition urging Dimon to reconsider.
  When asked about the in-person work policy during t
  
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• LibreOffice Marks 40th Year With Browser-Based Overhaul

  13-02-2025 20:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  LibreOffice, the open-source office suite that began as StarOffice in 1985, has marked its 40th anniversary with new features that it says could transform how users interact with the software. At the FOSDEM 2025 conference, developers unveiled LibreOffice 25.2, which introduces browser-based functionality and real-time collaboration capabilities through a technology called conflict-free replicated data types.
  A key development is ZetaOffice, a version built for the WebAssembly runtime that enabl
  
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• Baidu Scraps Fees For AI Chatbot in Battle for China Tech Supremacy

  13-02-2025 19:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Baidu will make its AI chatbot Ernie Bot free from April 1, the Chinese search giant said on Thursday, as it faces mounting competition in China's AI market. The company will offer desktop and mobile users free access to Ernie Bot and an advanced search function powered by its latest Ernie 4.0 model, which Baidu claims matches OpenAI's GPT-4 capabilities.
  The move comes as Baidu struggles to gain widespread adoption for its AI services, lagging behind domestic rivals ByteDance's Doubao chatbot a
  
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• World's Largely Unprotected Peatlands Are Ticking 'Carbon Bomb,' Warns Study

  13-02-2025 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The world's peatlands are "dangerously underprotected" despite the colossal amount of climate-heating carbon dioxide already being emitted due to their destruction, a study has warned. From a report: Peatlands occupy just 3% of all land, but contain more carbon than all of the world's forests. However, farmers and miners are draining the peatlands, releasing so much CO2 that if they were a country, they would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India.
  The first gl
  
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• Data Center Power Demand Almost Doubled in Virginia, Utility Says

  13-02-2025 18:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  The biggest utility in Virginia, home to the global hotspot Data Center Alley, saw demand from data centers in development almost double in the last half of 2024. From a report: Total data center power capacity under contract with Dominion Energy in Virginia, which includes projects from preliminary to advanced stages of development, increased to 40.2 gigawatts in December from 21.4 gigwatts in July, the company said on its earnings call Wednesday.
  Demand for power is surging with the developmen
  
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• German Regulator Charges Apple With Abuse of Power Over App Tracking Tool

  13-02-2025 17:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  The German antitrust authority has charged Apple with abusing its market power through its app tracking tool and giving itself preferential treatment in a move that could result in daily fines for the iPhone maker if it fails to change its business practices. From a report: The move follows a three-year investigation by the Federal Cartel Office into Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature, which allows users to block advertisers from tracking them across different applications.
  The U.S. tech
  
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• Are PhDs Losing Their Lustre? Why Fewer Students Are Enrolling in Doctoral Degrees

  13-02-2025 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Several countries are seeing a decline in PhD enrollments as high living costs, stagnant stipends and limited job prospects deter students from pursuing doctoral degrees. Australia recorded an 8% drop in domestic PhD enrollments from 2018 to 2023 despite population growth of 7%, while Japan's numbers fell to 15,014 in 2023 from 18,232 in 2003, data from education authorities showed.
  PhD stipends have failed to keep pace with rising costs. In Australia, doctoral students receive about A$32,000 ($
  
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• Musk Says New AI Chatbot Outperforms Rivals, Nears Launch

  13-02-2025 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Elon Musk said Thursday his AI startup xAI will release Grok 3, a new chatbot he claims surpasses existing AI models, within two weeks. Speaking at Dubai's World Governments Summit, Musk cited internal testing showing superior reasoning capabilities compared to current AI systems.
  The announcement comes days after a Musk-led investor group offered $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI's nonprofit assets. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before starting rival xAI, is suing to block the AI company's planned
  
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• UK Demand For a Back Door To Apple Data Threatens Americans, Lawmakers Say

  13-02-2025 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Members of key congressional oversight committees wrote to the United States' new top intelligence official Thursday to warn that a British order demanding government access to Apple users' encrypted data imperils Americans. From a report: Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Andy Biggs, a Republican on the House Judiciary committee, wrote to just-sworn-in National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and asked her to demand the United Kingdom retract its order.
  If the
  
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• Elizabeth Holmes Breaks Her Silence In First Interview From Prison

  13-02-2025 14:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Convicted Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, had her first interview since being reported to prison in 2023, telling People magazine that she is still working on "research and inventions" in the healthcare space. Here's an excerpt from the article: Scheduled for release on April 3, 2032, Holmes says she hopes to travel with her family and to fight for reform of criminal justice system. She recently drafted an American Freedom Act bill -- a seven-page handwritten document -- to bolster the presu
  
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• Is It Time For a Change In GNOME Leadership?

  13-02-2025 14:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader BrendaEM writes: Command-line aside, Cinnamon is the most effective keeper of the Linux desktop flame -- by not abandoning desktop and laptop computers. Yes, there are other desktop GUIs, such as MATE, and the lightweight Xfce, which are valuable options when low overhead is important, such as in LinuxCNC. However, among the general public lies a great expanse of office workers who need a full-featured Linux desktop.The programmers who work on GNOME and its family of sup
  
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• The Future of GPLv3 Hangs In the Balance

  13-02-2025 13:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter jms00 writes: A years-long legal battle has quietly escalated into what could become the defining moment for the future of GPLv3, with implications that could reshape software freedom as we know it.
  At issue is whether licensors have the power to impose 'further restrictions' on open-source software, potentially undermining the explicit rights granted to users and developers under AGPLv3, GPLv3, and LGPLv3.
  The outcome of this case, now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Nint
  
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• After Copilot Trial, Government Staff Rated Microsoft's AI Less Useful Than Expected

  13-02-2025 11:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Australia's Department of the Treasury has found that Microsoft's Copilot can easily deliver return on investment, but staff exposed to the AI assistant came away from the experience less confident it will help them at work.
  The Department conducted a 14-week trial of Microsoft 365 Copilot during 2024 and asked for volunteers to participate. 218 put up their hands and then submitted to surveys about their experiences using Microsoft's AI helpers. Those survey
  
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• Astronomers Amazed By Perfect 'Einstein Ring' Gleaming In Space

  13-02-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Astronomers have discovered a perfect ring of light in a galaxy 590 million light-years away. "The phenomenon is known as an Einstein ring, and it was discovered circumscribing the galaxy NGC 6505 in data collected by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope," reports SpaceAlert. From the report: [...] In the case of the newly discovered Einstein ring, the light that encircles the near galaxy is from a more distant galaxy, sitting some 4.42 billion light-years away, whose light has bee
  
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• Titan Sub Implosion Audio Released For the First Time

  13-02-2025 04:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Jalopnik: Experimental submarine the Titan sank in June 2023 while exploring the wreck of the Titanic. The controversial craft imploded while deep beneath the surface of the ocean killing five people onboard, and now a recording of the Titan's final moments has been shared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [...] In the clip, which is available to hear [here], the static sound of the ocean is shattered by a great rumble, which sounds
  
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• First Ultra-High-Energy Neutrino Detected

  13-02-2025 02:10 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader JoeRobe writes: Scientists associated with the Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, have reported detection of an ultra-high energy neutrino deep in the Mediterranean sea. The neutrino reportedly had an energy of 120 million billion electron volts (1.2x10^17 eV, or 120 PeV). This is similar to the energy of ping-pong ball traveling ~5 m/s, but all that energy was packed into a single subatomic particle. According to the New York Times, "Here, squeezed into one o
  
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• Woeful Security On Financial Phone Apps Is Getting People Murdered

  13-02-2025 01:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader theodp writes: Monday brought chilling news reports of the all-count trial convictions of three individuals for a conspiracy to rob and drug people outside of LGBTQ+ nightclubs in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, which led to the deaths of two of their victims. The defendants were found guilty on all 24 counts, which included murder, robbery, burglary, and conspiracy. "As proven at trial," explained the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in a press release, "th
  
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• Apple TV Finally Comes To Android Phones, Tablets

  13-02-2025 00:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has released an official Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets that's now available in the Google Play Store. You can download it here. 9to5Google reports: The newest Apple app on Android has a bottom bar with Apple TV+, MLS (Major League Soccer), Downloads for offline viewing, and Search. [...] The video player takes after Apple TV on other platforms, with a portrait mode available. There are convenient shortcuts to activate picture-in-picture, which works inside the app (while brow
  
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• Scarlett Johansson Calls For Deepfake Ban After AI Video Goes Viral

  13-02-2025 00:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from People: Scarlett Johansson is urging U.S. legislators to place limits on artificial intelligence as an unauthorized, A.I.-generated video of her and other Jewish celebrities opposing Kanye West goes viral. The video, which has been circulating on social media, opens with an A.I. version of Johansson, 40, wearing a white T-shirt featuring a hand and its middle finger extended. In the center of the hand is a Star of David. The name "Kanye" is written undern
  
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