ICT news

• AMD Reveals RDNA 4 GPU Architecture Powering Next Gen Radeon RX 9070 Cards

  01-03-2025 23:34 via slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader MojoKid writes: AMD took the wraps of its next gen RDNA 4 consumer graphics architecture Friday, which was designed to enhance efficiency over the previous generation, while also optimizing performance for today's more taxing ray-traced gaming and AI workloads. RDNA 4 features next generation Ray Tracing engines, dedicated hardware for AI and ML workloads, better bandwidth utilization, and multimedia improvements for both gaming and content creation. AMD's 3rd generatio
  
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• Mozilla Revises Firefox's Terms of Use, Clarifies That They Don't Own Your Data

  01-03-2025 22:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible," Mozilla explained Wednesday in a clarification a recent Terms of Use update. "Without it, we couldn't use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice."
  But Friday they went further, and revised those new Terms of Use "to more clearly reflect the limited scope of how Mozilla int
  
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• New Research Suggests Ancient Ocean on Mars

  01-03-2025 21:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Hidden layers of rock below the surface of Mars "strongly suggest" the presence of an ancient ocean, according to an international team of scientists including researchers at Penn State.
  From the university's announcement:
  The new research offers the clearest evidence yet that the planet once contained a significant body of water and a more habitable environment for life, according to Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geology at Penn State and co-author on the study. "We're finding place
  
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• Perl's CPAN Security Group is Now a CNA, Can Assign CVEs

  01-03-2025 20:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Active since 1995, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (or CPAN) hosts 221,742 Perl modules written by 14,548 authors. This week they announced that the CPAN Security Group "was authorized by the CVE Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)" to assign and manage CVE vulnerability identifications for Perl and CPAN Modules.
  "This is great news!" posted Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman on social media, saying the announcement came "Just in time for my talk about this very topic in a
  
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• Anti-Aging Pill for Dogs Clears Key FDA Hurdle

  01-03-2025 19:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  San Francisco-based biotech startup Loyal says a drug it developed to increase dogs' lifespan "has passed a significant milestone on the way to regulatory approval," reports the Washington Post:The Food and Drug Administration certified the daily pill as having a "reasonable expectation of effectiveness" at extending senior dogs' lifespans. The regulator's Center for Veterinary Medicine still has to certify that the drug is safe and that Loyal can manufacture it at scale before vets can prescrib
  
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• Magnus Carlsen Auctions Jeans, Admits He Can't Beat Chess Engines

  01-03-2025 18:34 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Magnus Carlsen "announced this week that he is auctioning off the Italian luxury brand jeans that started a dress code dispute at December's World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships," reports the Associated Press. ("Condition: Pre-owned," says the listing on eBay, where by Friday night bidding on the charitable auction was up to $14,100.)
  But Carlsen drew more attention on The Joe Rogan Experience last week — partly by saying "I have no chance against my phone." (Although he'd also descri
  
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• Tesla Moves Towards Launching an Uber Competitor

  01-03-2025 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "Tesla is taking steps to launch a ride-sharing service that could compete directly with Uber, Lyft and Waymo," reports Axios, noting that Tesla "has filed for a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, Bloomberg reported Thursday."
  "That classification means Tesla would own and control the fleet of vehicles," Bloomberg reported... "In its communications with California officials, Tesla discussed driver's license information and drug-testing co
  
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• Google Calls for Measurable Memory-Safety Standards for Software

  01-03-2025 16:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Memory safety bugs are "eroding trust in technology and costing billions," argues a new post on Google's security blog — adding that "traditional approaches, like code auditing, fuzzing, and exploit mitigations — while helpful — haven't been enough to stem the tide."
  So the blog post calls for a "common framework" for "defining specific, measurable criteria for achieving different levels of memory safety assurance." The hope is this gives policy makers "the technical foundation
  
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• COSMIC Desktop Alpha 6 Released

  01-03-2025 11:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter TronNerd82 writes: Linuxiac reports that the 6th alpha release of the COSMIC desktop environment has been released. The new alpha release includes zooming, desktop icon management, some new scaling options, and improved accessibility features. Also included in the release are a number of bug fixes.These include, but are not limited to:
  - Fixing a crash issue in Steam, and fixing certain issues for Radeon RX GPUs
  - Fixing a bug that prevented icons from appearing in screenshots
  - Ad
  
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• Chinese Scientists Developing Mars Drone That Can Roll and Fly

  01-03-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Chinese scientists are developing a lightweight Mars drone capable of both rolling on the ground and flying using contra-rotating coaxial rotors. Space.com reports: The air-ground dual-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weighs only 10.6 ounces (300 grams), equivalent to the weight of an apple. The development team is at the School of Astronautics (SoA) of the Harbin Institute of Technology. Seen as showing promising potential in future Mars science work, the UAV can take off at any time, trav
  
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• Serbian Student's Android Phone Compromised By Exploit From Cellebrite

  01-03-2025 04:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Amnesty International on Friday said it determined that a zero-day exploit sold by controversial exploit vendor Cellebrite was used to compromise the phone of a Serbian student who had been critical of that country's government. [...] The chain exploited a series of vulnerabilities in device drivers the Linux kernel uses to support USB hardware. "This new case provides further evidence that the authorities in Serbia have continued their camp
  
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• Google's Taara Hopes To Usher in a New Era of Internet Powered by Light

  01-03-2025 03:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Alphabet's X division has developed a silicon photonic chip for its Taara project, which transmits internet via laser beams instead of fiber optic cables. The system delivers 20Gbps through "light bridges" that establish line-of-sight connections between transceiver units. The second-generation technology miniaturizes previous mechanical components -- including gimbals, mirrors, and lenses -- into solid-state circuitry the size of a fingernail.
  This chip enables a single laser transmitter to pot
  
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• 3D Software Company Autodesk Cuts 1,350 Jobs To Boost AI Investment

  01-03-2025 02:30 via slashdot.org
  
  Autodesk said it would cut 1,350 employees, or about 9% of its workforce, as part of a pivot to the cloud and artificial intelligence. Fast Company reports: Companies across sectors such as architecture, engineering, construction, and product design are making extensive use of Autodesk's 3D design solutions, with the software maker's artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities further driving spending on its products. Autodesk saw a 23% jump in total billings to $2.11 billion in th
  
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• Apple Accused of Misleading Consumers With Apple Watch 'Carbon Neutral' Claims

  01-03-2025 01:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it misled consumers by falsely claiming certain Apple Watches were carbon neutral, as the carbon offset projects it relied on did not effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Verge reports: Apple said in 2023 that "select case and band combinations" of its Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch SE would be the company's first carbon neutral devices. The suit was filed on behalf of anyone who bought those watches. It alle
  
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• Microsoft Begins Turning Off uBlock Origin, Other Extensions In Edge

  01-03-2025 01:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft Edge is following Chrome's lead by disabling uBlock Origin and other Manifest V2-based extensions in its browser. Neowin reports: The latest Edge Canary version started disabling Manifest V2-based extensions with the following message: "This extension is no longer supported. Microsoft Edge recommends that you remove it." Although the browser turns off old extensions without asking, you can still make them work by clicking "Manage extension" and toggling it back (you will have to acknow
  
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• Benioff Says Salesforce Won't Hire Engineers This Year Due To AI

  01-03-2025 01:10 via slashdot.org
  
  Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said his firm, San Francisco's largest private employer, does not plan to hire engineers this year because of the success of AI agents created and used by the company. From a report: "My message to CEOs right now is that we are the last generation to manage only humans," Benioff said Wednesday on Salesforce's earnings call, indicating that companies of the future will have hybrid human and digital workforces. Benioff added that Salesforce's mission is to become "the N
  
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• OpenAI Plans To Integrate Sora's Video Generator Into ChatGPT

  01-03-2025 00:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: OpenAI intends to eventually integrate its AI video generation tool, Sora, directly into its popular consumer chatbot app, ChatGPT, company leaders said during a Friday office hours session on Discord. Today, Sora is only available through a dedicated web app OpenAI launched in December, which lets users access the AI video model of the same name to generate up to twenty-second-long cinematic clips. However, OpenAI's product lead for Sora, Roh
  
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