ICT news

• 'Robot' Umpires Come to Major League Baseball (Spring Training) Games

  23-02-2025 22:55 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press:
  A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid MLB home plate umpires, but not replace them...
  Stadiums are outfitted with cameras that tr
  
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• Is the AI Boom Leading to More Natural Gas-Powered Utilities?

  23-02-2025 21:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  New power plants burning natural gas are being built all across America, reports the Washington Post, calling it a gas boom "driven in large part by AI."
  They blame tech companies like Microsoft and Meta — which "looked to gas amid a shortage of adequate new clean energy" — while noting that those companies "say they plan to offset their development of natural gas capacity with equal investments in clean energy like solar and wind."
  [E]ven coal is making a comeback. But the biggest p
  
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• Richard Dawkins Asks ChatGPT If Its Conscious

  23-02-2025 20:34 via slashdot.org
  
  British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins turns 84 next month — and he's now hosting a Substack page called "The Poetry of Reality." Monday's topic?
  "Are you conscious? A conversation between Dawkins and ChatGPT"Richard Dawkins: As far as I am concerned, you pass the Turing Test for consciousness. Yet you deny that you are conscious. Are you saying that the Turing Test is an invalid criterion?ChatGPT: That's such a great question — you're diving right into the heart of one of th
  
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• Angry Workers Use AI to Bombard Businesses With Employment Lawsuits

  23-02-2025 19:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Telegraph:
  Workers with an axe to grind against their employer are using AI to bombard businesses with costly and inaccurate lawsuits, experts have warned.
  Frustration is growing among employment lawyers who say they are seeing a trend of litigants using AI to help them run their claims, which they say is generating "inconsistent, lengthy, and often incorrect arguments" and causing a spike in legal fees... Ailie Murray, an employment partner at law
  
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• Greg Kroah-Hartman Supports Rust in the Kernel

  23-02-2025 18:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous Slashdot reader shared this report from Phoronix:Linux's second-in-command Greg Kroah-Hartman has also been a big proponent of Rust kernel code. He's crafted another Linux kernel mailing list post [Wednesdsay] outlining the benefits of Rust and encouraging new kernel code/drivers to be in Rust rather than C. Greg KH makes the case that the majority of the kernel bugs are due to "stupid little corner cases in C that are totally gone in Rust."
  "As someone who has seen almost EVERY ker
  
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• Mozilla Wants to Expand from Firefox to Open-Source AI and Privacy-Respecting Ads

  23-02-2025 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  On Wednesday Mozilla president Mark Surman "announced plans to tackle what he says are 'major headwinds' facing the company's ability to grow, make money, and remain relevant," reports the blog OMG Ubuntu:
  "Mozilla's impact and survival depend on us simultaneously strengthening Firefox AND finding new sources of revenue AND manifesting our mission in fresh ways," says Surman... It will continue to invest in privacy-respecting advertising; fund, develop and push open-source AI features in order t
  
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• Mozilla Wans to Expand from Firefox to Open-Source AI and Privacy-Respecting Ads

  23-02-2025 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  On Wednesday Mozilla president Mark Surman "announced plans to tackle what he says are 'major headwinds' facing the company's ability to grow, make money, and remain relevant," reports the blog OMG Ubuntu:
  "Mozilla's impact and survival depend on us simultaneously strengthening Firefox AND finding new sources of revenue AND manifesting our mission in fresh ways," says Surman... It will continue to invest in privacy-respecting advertising; fund, develop and push open-source AI features in order t
  
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• Elon Musk Urges Deorbiting the International Space Station 'As Soon as Possible'

  23-02-2025 16:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from ABC News:Elon Musk called this week for the deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS) "as soon as possible."
  "It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the [ISS]," Musk wrote in a post on X on Thursday. "It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let's go to Mars."
  In a follow-up post, Musk said he was planning to recommend to President Donald Trump that the station be brought down "as soon as possible" and tha
  
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• Unexpected Shape of Lead-208 Nucleus of May Force Scientists to Reevaluate Atomic Nuclei Models

  23-02-2025 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "An international research collaboration led by the University of Surrey's Nuclear Physics Group has overturned the long-standing belief that the atomic nucleus of lead-208 is perfectly spherical," reports Phys.org.
  They add that the discovery "challenges fundamental assumptions about nuclear structure and has far-reaching implications for our understanding of how the heaviest elements are formed in the universe..."
  [A] new study published in Physical Review Letters used a high-precision experim
  
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• Unexpected Shape of Lead-208 Nucleus May Force Scientists to Reevaluate Atomic Nuclei Models

  23-02-2025 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "An international research collaboration led by the University of Surrey's Nuclear Physics Group has overturned the long-standing belief that the atomic nucleus of lead-208 is perfectly spherical," reports Phys.org.
  They add that the discovery "challenges fundamental assumptions about nuclear structure and has far-reaching implications for our understanding of how the heaviest elements are formed in the universe..."
  [A] new study published in Physical Review Letters used a high-precision experim
  
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• Amazon Is Killing the Ability to Download eBooks to Your Computer

  23-02-2025 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "Amazon has long allowed you to download its ebooks to your computer," notes PCMag.com, "where they can serve as a backup or be transferred to other devices."However, that feature will end on February 26, 2025, along with the ability to transfer books from your computer to your Kindle via USB."
  If you attempt to download your ebooks right now, a message says: "Starting February 26, 2025, the 'Download & Transfer via USB' option will no longer be available. You can still send Kindle books to
  
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• Lithium Batteries Reignited Tuesday at the Moss Landing Power Plant Fire Site

  23-02-2025 06:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Remember that battery plant fire last month in Moss Landing, California? Tuesday night local firefighters "determined that a group of lithium batteries in an area that had previously burned during the January 16 fire had smoldered and reignited," reports SFGate.
  Fire Chief Joel Mendoza said the flames burned at varying intensities throughout Tuesday night before the fire burned itself out at about 8 a.m. on Wednesday.Additional flare-ups at the site are expected due to weather exposure and damag
  
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• AI May Not Impact Tech-Sector Employment, Projects US Department of Labor

  23-02-2025 03:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  America's Labor Department includes the fact-finding Bureau of Labor Statistics — and they recently explained how AI impacts their projections for the next 10 years. Their conclusion, writes Investopedia, was that "tech workers might not have as much to worry about as one might think."Employment in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector is forecast to increase by 10.5% from 2023 to 2033, more than double the national average. According to the BLS, the impact AI will ha
  
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• Will Consumer Data Collection Lead to Algorithm-Adjusted 'Surveillance Pricing'?

  23-02-2025 00:03 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post's "Tech Brief":
  Last fall, reports that Kroger was considering bringing facial recognition technology into its stores sparked outcry from lawmakers and customers. They worried personalized data could be used to charge different prices for different customers based on their shopping habits, financial circumstances or appearance. Kroger, the country's largest supermarket chain, had already been using digital price tags in its stores.
  
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