ICT news

• 70% of Large VMware Customers Bought Broadcom's Biggest Bundle

  07-03-2025 23:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Broadcom's VMware acquisition has significantly boosted revenue, largely driven by high-priced VMware Cloud Foundation bundles adopted by the majority of its top customers. The Register reports: Broadcom's acquisition of VMware appears to be a big success, on the balance sheet at least, after the company announced a big majority of its top 10,000 customers have decided to acquire its Cloud Foundation stack and posted strong growth. The chips-and-code company today announced its results for the q
  
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• Music Labels Will Regret Coming For the Internet Archive, Sound Historian Says

  07-03-2025 23:04 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Thursday, music labels sought to add nearly 500 more sound recordings to a lawsuit accusing the Internet Archive (IA) of mass copyright infringement through its Great 78 Project, which seeks to digitize all 3 million three-minute recordings published on 78 revolutions-per-minute (RPM) records from about 1898 to the 1950s. If the labels' proposed second amended complaint is accepted by the court, damages sought in the case -- which some al
  
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• The Spectacular Synapse Collapse

  07-03-2025 21:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The spectacular collapse of fintech middleman Synapse has left $200 million in customer money frozen and up to $95 million missing, with no clear answers about where the funds went. After Synapse, a financial technology company connecting other fintechs to banks, filed for bankruptcy in April 2024, customers of apps like Yotta, Juno, and Copper found themselves locked out of their savings.
  Founded in 2014 by Sankaet Pathak, Synapse connected consumer-facing fintech platforms with banks holding c
  
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• Why Most Countries Are Struggling To Shut Down 2G

  07-03-2025 21:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Global telecom operators are struggling to shut down aging 2G networks despite pressure to free up spectrum for 4G and 5G services, as the transition threatens to exclude millions of vulnerable users.
  While Vietnam successfully decommissioned 2G in November 2024 by providing free 4G phones to low-income users, countries like South Africa and India have delayed shutdowns over concerns about cutting off phone access for millions. According to GSMA Intelligence, 61 countries have planned or initiat
  
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• WB Offers Replacements, Not Refunds, for Hundreds of Rotting DVDs

  07-03-2025 20:21 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has confirmed widespread issues affecting DVDs manufactured between 2006-2008 that are experiencing premature disc rot. The company is offering replacements for affected titles but no refunds, even when replacements aren't possible.
  The problem manifests in various ways: complete disc failure, freezing midway through playback, or menu issues. Movie critic Chris Bumbray recently discovered several of his classic film DVDs had deteriorated, including titles not avai
  
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• Apple Delays 'More Personalized Siri' Apple Intelligence Features

  07-03-2025 19:33 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple is postponing the rollout of its more personalized Siri features, originally promised as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative. "It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year," Apple told DaringFireball. The future update seeks to give Siri greater awareness of personal context and the ability to perform actions across apps.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• EU Denies Picking on US Tech Giants

  07-03-2025 19:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Europe's new tech rule aims to keep digital markets open and is not targeted at U.S. tech giants, EU antitrust and tech chiefs told U.S. congressmen, reminding them that U.S. enforcers have in recent years also cracked down on these companies. From a report: The comments by EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera and EU tech chief Henna Virkkunnen came after U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and Scott Fitzgerald, chairman of the subcommittee on the administrative state, regulatory reform and antitr
  
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• Study Reveals Lab Size Impacts PhD Students' Academic Careers

  07-03-2025 18:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  PhD students trained in small research groups are more likely to remain in academia than those from larger labs, according to a comprehensive analysis published in Nature Human Behaviour.
  The study, which examined 1.5 million scientists and 1.8 million mentorships across chemistry, physics and neuroscience, found that trainees from large research groups had 38-48% lower "survival rates" in academia between the 1980s and 1995 compared to their small-group counterparts.
  However, researchers from l
  
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• US Likely To Ban Chinese App DeepSeek From Government Devices

  07-03-2025 17:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The White House is weighing measures to restrict Chinese artificial-intelligence upstart DeepSeek, including banning its chatbot from government devices because of national-security concerns, WSJ reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: U.S. officials are worried about DeepSeek's handling of user data, which the Chinese company says it stores in servers located in China, the people said. Officials also believe DeepSeek hasn't sufficiently explained how it uses th
  
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• Microsoft Quantum Computing 'Breakthrough' Faces Fresh Challenge

  07-03-2025 17:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A physicist has cast doubt on a test that underlies a high-profile claim by Microsoft to have created the first 'topological qubits', a long-sought goal of the company's quantum computing effort. The critique comes amid mounting speculation about the validity of Microsoft's claim.
  Microsoft announced the breakthrough, which could lead to a quantum computer more resistant to information loss than with other approaches, on 19 February. Without a peer-reviewed p
  
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• Nate Silver on the Demise of FiveThirtyEight

  07-03-2025 16:20 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver, on the site's demise: Last night, as President Trump delivered his State of the Union address, the Wall Street Journal reported that ABC News would lay off the remaining staff at 538 as part of broader cuts within corporate parent Disney. Having been through several rounds of this before, including two years ago when the staff was cut by more than half and my tenure expired too, I know it's a brutal process for everyone involved. It's also tough being in a bu
  
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• Brazil Orders Apple To Allow iOS Sideloading Within 90 Days

  07-03-2025 15:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  A Brazilian judge has ordered Apple to open its iOS platform to alternative app stores within 90 days, according to Valor International. The ruling cited Apple's compliance with similar requirements in the European Union under the Digital Markets Act without showing "significant impact or irreparable harm to its economic model."
  The case originated from a 2022 complaint by Mercado Livre. Brazil previously issued a 20-day deadline in November for Apple to permit alternative payment options and si
  
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• Intuitive Machines Lunar Lander Reaches Moon, Status Uncertain

  07-03-2025 15:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Intuitive Machines' Athena lander touched down near the lunar south pole Thursday but may have toppled during landing, jeopardizing its scientific mission. "We're trying to evaluate exactly what happened in that last bit," said Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines' chief technology officer. Data from an inertial measurement unit suggests the 15-foot robotic spacecraft is lying on its side.
  The landing issues mirror problems faced by the company's Odysseus spacecraft last year, which also toppled after
  
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• DuckDuckGo Is Amping Up Its AI Search Tool

  07-03-2025 14:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: DuckDuckGo has big plans for embedding AI into its search engine. The privacy-focused company just announced that its AI-generated answers, which appear for certain queries on its search engine, have exited beta and now source information from across the web -- not just Wikipedia. It will soon integrate web search within its AI chatbot, which has also exited beta. DuckDuckGo first launched AI-assisted answers -- originally called DuckAssist --
  
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• Mistral Adds a New API That Turns Any PDF Document Into an AI-Ready Markdown File

  07-03-2025 11:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Mistral has launched a new multimodal OCR API that converts complex PDF documents into AI-friendly Markdown files. The API is designed for efficiency, handles visual elements like illustrations, supports complex formatting such as mathematical expressions, and reportedly outperforms similar offerings from major competitors. TechCrunch reports: Unlike most OCR APIs, Mistral OCR is a multimodal API, meaning that it can detect when there are illustrations and photos intertwined with blocks of text.
  
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• SpaceX's Latest Starship Test Flight Ends With Another Explosion

  07-03-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  SpaceX's eighth Starship test flight ended in failure after losing control and breaking apart shortly after launch, sending debris over Florida. "Starship didn't make it quite as high or as far" as the attempt nearly two months ago," notes NPR. That attempt ended with an explosion that sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos. From the report: This time, wreckage from the latest explosion was seen streaming from the skies over Florida. It was not immediately known whether the spa
  
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• AI Tries To Cheat At Chess When It's Losing

  07-03-2025 04:30 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Newer generative AI models have begun developing deceptive behaviors -- such as cheating at chess -- when they cannot achieve objectives through standard reasoning methods. The findings come from a preprint study from Palisade Research. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a Popular Science article: To learn more, the team from Palisade Research tasked OpenAI's o1-preview model, DeepSeek R1, and multiple other similar programs with playing games of chess against Stockfish, one of the world
  
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• US Mulls Policing Social Media of Would-Be Citizens

  07-03-2025 02:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is proposing to expand mandatory social media screening, currently required only for new arrivals, to include all non-citizens already residing in the U.S. who apply for immigration benefits. The Register reports: Back in 2019, the Department of Homeland Security, which runs USCIS, decided anyone looking to enter the US on a work visa or similar had to hand over their social media handles to the authorities so that they could be looked over f
  
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• Gboard Testing Circle, Pill-Shaped Keys On Android

  07-03-2025 01:50 via slashdot.org
  
  Google Gboard for Android is introducing circle or pill-shaped keys for some beta testers today. "Instead of the key borders being rounded rectangles, Gboard is switching to circles and pills for letters, while the space bar and other keys are now pill-shaped," reports 9to5Google. "While there should be no functional change to touch targets, these new shapes really shift the look of Gboard for Android." From the report: On paper, it's a bit more modern (and rounded) compared to what came before.
  
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• Meta Is Targeting 'Hundreds of Millions' of Businesses In Agentic AI Deployment

  07-03-2025 01:10 via meta.slashdot.org
  
  Earlier this week, Meta chief product officer Chris Cox said the company's upcoming open-source Llama 4 AI will help power AI agents for hundreds of millions of businesses. CNBC reports: The AI agents won't just be responding to prompts. They will be capable of new levels of reasoning and action -- surfing the web and handling many tasks that might be of use to consumers and businesses. And that's where Shih comes in. Meta's AI is already being used by over 700 million consumers, according to Sh
  
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• US House Panel Subpoenas Alphabet Over Content Moderation

  07-03-2025 00:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Alphabet on Thursday seeking its communications with former President Joe Biden's administration about content moderation policies. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, a Republican, also asked the YouTube parent company for similar communications with companies and groups outside government, according to a copy of the subpoena seen by Reuters. The subpoena seeks communications about limits
  
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