ICT news

• Valve Releases Team Fortress 2 Full Client and Source Code

  19-02-2025 23:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Valve has made Team Fortress 2's full client and server code public, allowing fans to modify, extend, or rewrite the game as long as their projects remain non-commercial. Game Rant reports: Valve has made Team Fortress 2's server and client code fully public, with the studio encouraging fans to explore the game's files and make it what they want. The game's code is now available thanks to a new update to the Source SDK, which dropped earlier this week. Fans have already been creating TF2 mods fo
  
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• Palo Alto Firewalls Under Attack As Miscreants Chain Flaws For Root Access

  19-02-2025 22:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A recently patched Palo Alto Networks vulnerability (CVE-2025-0108) is being actively exploited alongside two older flaws (CVE-2024-9474 and CVE-2025-0111), allowing attackers to gain root access to unpatched firewalls. The Register reports: This story starts with CVE-2024-9474, a 6.9-rated privilege escalation vulnerability in Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software that allowed an OS administrator with access to the management web interface to perform actions on the firewall with root privileges. T
  
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• Microsoft Shows Progress Toward Real-Time AI-Generated Game Worlds

  19-02-2025 22:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For a while now, many AI researchers have been working to integrate a so-called "world model" into their systems. Ideally, these models could infer a simulated understanding of how in-game objects and characters should behave based on video footage alone, then create fully interactive video that instantly simulates new playable worlds based on that understanding. Microsoft Research's new World and Human Action Model (WHAM), revealed today in
  
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• US Army Soldier Pleads Guilty To AT&T and Verizon Hacks

  19-02-2025 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Cameron John Wagenius pleaded guilty to hacking AT&T and Verizon and stealing a massive trove of phone records from the companies, according to court records filed on Wednesday. From a report: Wagenius, who was a U.S. Army soldier, pleaded guilty to two counts of "unlawful transfer of confidential phone records information" on an online forum and via an online communications platform.
  According to a document filed by Wagenius' lawyer, he faces a maximum fine of $250,000 and prison time of up
  
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• France Runs Fusion Reactor For Record 22 Minutes

  19-02-2025 20:22 via science.slashdot.org
  
  France has upped the ante in the quest for fusion power by maintaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes -- a new record. From a report: The milestone was reached on February 12 at the Commissariat a lenergie atomique et aux energies alternatives (CEA) WEST Tokamak reactor.
  Achieving the dream of commercial fusion power is the Holy Grail of engineering and has been for 80 years. With a single gram of hydrogen isotopes yielding the energy equivalent of 11 tonnes of coal, a practical fusion re
  
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• Nikola Files for Bankruptcy With Plans To Sell Assets, Wind Down

  19-02-2025 19:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nikola, the hydrogen-truck maker that briefly sported a market value comparable to Ford Motor, has filed for bankruptcy with plans to wind down its business. From a report: Nikola on Wednesday said that it made the chapter 11 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and that it plans to conduct a court-supervised auction of its assets.
  The Phoenix company said it worked for months with its financial and legal advisers to find a way to sustain its operations before determining that a str
  
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• Apple Launches the iPhone 16E, With In-House Modem and Support For AI

  19-02-2025 19:02 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has launched the iPhone 16E, featuring a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, an A18 chipset, USB-C, 48MP camera, and support for Apple Intelligence. Gone but not forgotten: the home button, Touch ID and 64GB of base storage. The Verge reports: The 16E includes the customizable Action Button, but not the new Camera Control you'll find on the 16 series. It does swap its Lightning port for USB-C, now a requirement for the phone to be sold in the EU. On the inside, there's an A18 chipset, the same
  
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• Microsoft Reveals Its First Quantum Computing Chip, the Majorana 1

  19-02-2025 18:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  After two decades of quantum computing research, Microsoft has unveiled its first quantum chip: the Majorana 1. CNBC reports: Microsoft's quantum chip employs eight topological qubits using indium arsenide, which is a semiconductor, and aluminum, which is a superconductor. A new paper in the journal Nature describes the chip in detail. Microsoft won't be allowing clients to use its Majorana 1 chip through the company's Azure public cloud, as it plans to do with its custom artificial intelligence
  
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• All of Humane's AI Pins Will Stop Working in 10 Days

  19-02-2025 17:40 via slashdot.org
  
  AI hardware startup Humane -- which has been acquired by HP -- has given its users just ten days notice that their Pins will be disconnected. From a report: In a note to its customers, the company said AI Pins will "continue to function normally" until 12PM PT on February 28. On that date, users will lose access to essentially all of their device's features, including but not limited to calling, messaging, AI queries and cloud access. The FAQ does note that you'll still be able to check on your
  
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• Microsoft Puts Notepad's AI Rewrite Feature Behind Paywall

  19-02-2025 17:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has placed its new AI-powered text rewrite feature in Notepad behind a subscription paywall, requiring users to have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan to access the functionality. While the core text editor remains free and accessible without a Microsoft account, the AI feature requires users to sign in and have sufficient "AI credits" included in their subscription.Users can disable the feature and hide its icon if they choose not to subscribe.Read more of this story at Slashdot
  
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• Apple Says UK Regulator's Remedy Options on Mobile Browsers Will Hit Innovation

  19-02-2025 16:21 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has told Britain's competition regulator that some of the remedy options proposed by the watchdog to address concerns in the mobile browser market would impact the iPhone maker's incentive to innovate. From a report: The responses from Apple and Google to the regulator's investigation in the supply of mobile browsers and browser engines and the distribution of cloud gaming services through app stores on mobile devices in the country were published on the government website on Wednesday.Rea
  
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• Google Builds AI 'Co-Scientist' Tool To Speed Up Research

  19-02-2025 15:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has built an AI laboratory assistant to help scientists accelerate biomedical research [non-paywalled source], as companies race to create specialised applications from the cutting-edge technology. From a report: The US tech group's so-called co-scientist tool helps researchers identify gaps in their knowledge and propose new ideas that could speed up scientific discovery. "What we're trying to do with our project is see whether technology like the AI co-scientist can give these researche
  
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• AI Can Write Code But Lacks Engineer's Instinct, OpenAI Study Finds

  19-02-2025 15:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Leading AI models can fix broken code, but they're nowhere near ready to replace human software engineers, according to extensive testing [PDF] by OpenAI researchers. The company's latest study put AI models and systems through their paces on real-world programming tasks, with even the most advanced models solving only a quarter of typical engineering challenges.
  The research team created a test called SWE-Lancer, drawing from 1,488 actual software fixes made to Expensify's codebase, representin
  
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• 'Pokemon Go' Maker Nears $3.5 Billion Deal To Sell Games Unit

  19-02-2025 14:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Niantic, the company behind the 2016 hit Pokemon Go, is in talks to sell its video-game business to Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely, according to several people familiar with the discussions. A deal could be announced in coming weeks. The price being discussed is about $3.5 billion, according to one of the people. Any agreement would involve the Pokemon title as well as other mobile games, according to the people, who asked not to be identified beca
  
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• CISA and Partners Release Advisory on Ghost (Cring) Ransomware

  19-02-2025 13:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA—in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC)—released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory, #StopRansomware: Ghost (Cring) Ransomware. This advisory provides network defenders with indicators of compromise (IOCs), tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and detection methods associated with Ghost ransomware activity identified through FBI investigations.
  Ghost actors conduct these widespread
  
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• Microsoft Reminds Admins To Prepare For WSUS Driver Sync Deprecation

  19-02-2025 11:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is reminding IT administrators that WSUS driver synchronization will be deprecated on April 18, 2025, urging them to transition to cloud-based update solutions like Windows Autopatch, Azure Update Manager, and Microsoft Intune. "For on-premises contexts, drivers will be available on the Microsoft Update catalog, but you won't be able to import them into WSUS," the company said in a Windows message center update on Tuesday. "You'll need to use any of the available alternative solutions,
  
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• In a Last-Minute Decision, White House Decides Not To Terminate NASA Employees

  19-02-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Late Tuesday afternoon, the White House confirmed that it would not proceed with laying off more than 1,000 probationary employees at NASA. "NASA had sought exemptions for all of these employees, who comprise about 6 percent of NASA's workforce," notes Ars Technica. "The Trump administration has sought to fire federal employees at several federal agencies who are in the 'probationary' period of their employment. This includes new hires within the last one or two years or long-time employees who
  
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• 3D Map of Exoplanet Atmosphere Shows Wacky Climate

  19-02-2025 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Astronomers have detected over 5,800 confirmed exoplanets. One extreme class is ultra-hot Jupiters, of particular interest because they can provide a unique window into planetary atmospheric dynamics. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature, astronomers have mapped the 3D structure of the layered atmosphere of one such ultra-hot Jupiter-size exoplanet, revealing powerful winds that create intricate weather patterns across th
  
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• Nvidia Ends 32-Bit CUDA App Support For GeForce RTX 50 Series

  19-02-2025 03:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nvidia has confirmed on its forums that the RTX 50 series GPUs no longer support 32-bit PhysX. Tom's Hardware reports: As far as we know, there are no 64-bit games with integrated PhysX technology, thus terminating the tech entirely on RTX 50 series GPUs and newer. RTX 40 series and older will still be able to run 32-bit CUDA applications and thus PhysX, but regardless, the technology is now officially retired, starting with Blackwell. [...]The only way now to run PhysX on RTX 50 series GPUs (or
  
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• Hackers Planted a Steam Game With Malware To Steal Gamers' Passwords

  19-02-2025 02:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Valve removed the game PirateFi from Steam after discovering it was laced with the Vidar infostealer malware, designed to steal sensitive user data such as passwords, cookies, cryptocurrency wallets, and more. TechCrunch reports: Marius Genheimer, a researcher who analyzed the malware and works at SECUINFRA Falcon Team, told TechCrunch that judging by the command and control servers associated with the malware and its configuration, "we suspect that PirateFi was just one of multiple tactics used
  
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• WhatsApp Faces Tougher EU Rules As Users Top 45 Million

  19-02-2025 02:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta's WhatsApp messaging service has surpassed 45 million users, earning the designation of a "Very Large Online Platform" under the EU's Digital Services Act. Bloomberg reports: WhatsApp's open channels, which are feeds affiliated with news outlets or public figures that under the DSA are comparable to a social network, averaged about 46.8 million monthly average users in the second half of 2024, Meta said in a filing on Feb. 14 that hasn't previously been reported. [...] The DSA content moder
  
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• Google Play Books Purchases on iOS Now Skirt the App Store's Commission

  19-02-2025 01:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Google has gained permission to sell its e-books and audiobooks directly to customers through its iOS app, Google Play Books. From a report: While iOS apps today can offer access to content previously purchased elsewhere, like e-books bought via a website, developers have to request a specific exception to link their iOS app's users to the company's own website to make purchases. According to a brief post on Google's blog, users will now be able to click on a new "Get book" button in the Google
  
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• Mira Murati Is Launching Her OpenAI Rival: Thinking Machines Lab

  19-02-2025 00:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati has launched Thinking Machines Lab with several leaders from OpenAI on board, including John Schulman, Barrett Zoph, and Jonathan Lachman. Their mission is "to make AI systems more widely understood, customizable, and generally capable," with a commitment to publishing technical research and code. The Verge reports: In a press release shared with The Verge, the company suggests that it's building products that help humans work with AI, rather than fully autonomous s
  
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• HP To Acquire Parts of Humane, Shut Down the AI Pin

  19-02-2025 00:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: HP will acquire assets from Humane, the maker of a wearable Ai Pin introduced in late 2023, for $116 million. The deal will include the majority of Humane's employees in addition to its software platform and intellectual property, the company said Tuesday. It will not include Humane's Ai pin device business, which will be wound down, an HP spokesperson said. Humane's team, including founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, will form a new
  
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