ICT news

• 340 European Cities Restrict Usage of Cars

  15-03-2025 22:48 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Cities in Europe "are dramatically scaling back their relationship with the car," reports the Washington Post:They are removing parking spaces and creating dedicated bike lanes. They are installing cameras at the perimeter of urban centers and either charging the most-polluting vehicles or preventing them from entering. Some are going so far as to put entire neighborhoods off-limits to vehicles. In Norway, Oslo promotes "car-free livability." Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo touts the "end of car depend
  
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• Elon Musk Says SpaceX's First Mission to Mars Will Launch Next Year

  15-03-2025 21:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his Starship rocket will head to Mars by the end of next year," writes the BBC, "as the company investigates several recent explosions in flight tests."Human landings could begin as early as 2029 if initial missions go well, though "2031 was more likely", he added in a post on his social media platform X...
  The billionaire said in 2020 that he remained confident that his company would land humans on Mars six years later. In 2024, he said he would launch the fir
  
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• Is Our Universe Trapped Inside a Black Hole?

  15-03-2025 20:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Is everything we see around us is sealed within a black hole?" asks Space.com.
  Because here's the thing. The $10 billion James Webb Space telescope (in operation since 2022) "has found that the vast majority of deep space and, thus the early galaxies it has so far observed, are rotating in the same direction. While around two-thirds of galaxies spin clockwise, the other third rotates counter-clockwise."In a random universe, scientists would expect to find 50% of galaxies rotating one way, while
  
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• Last Year Waymo's Autonomous Vehicles Got 589 Parking Tickets in San Francisco

  15-03-2025 19:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "Alphabet's Waymo autonomous vehicles are programmed to follow the rules of the road..." notes the Washington Post. But while the cars obey speed limits and properly use their turn signals — they also "routinely violate parking rules."Waymo vehicles driving themselves received 589 tickets for parking violations in 2024, according to records from San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency... The robots incurred $65,065 in fines for violations such as obstructing traffic, disobeying str
  
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• Climatologist Michael Mann Finally Won a $1M Defamation Suit - But Then a Judge Threw It Out

  15-03-2025 18:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot has run nearly a dozen stories about Michael Mann, one of America's most prominent climate scientists and a co-creator of the famous "hockey stick" graph of spiking temperatures. In 2012 Mann sued two bloggers for defamation — and last year Mann finally won more than $1 million, reports the Washington Post. "A jury found that two conservative commentators had defamed him by alleging that he was like a child molester in the way he had 'molested and tortured' climate data."
  But "Now
  
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• 10 Million Cubans Suffer Nationwide Power Outage

  15-03-2025 17:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "Cuba's power grid collapsed Friday night," reports CNN, "triggering a nationwide power outage and plunging its more than 10 million people into darkness."
  Video filmed by CNN in the capital Havana showed streets and buildings shrouded in total darkness, as people used electric torches to navigate the streets. By Saturday morning, the Cuban government officials said that "microsystems" — pockets of electricity — had been restored in some cities. However, it remains unclear when the i
  
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• Why Microsoft's Developers are Porting TypeScript to Go

  15-03-2025 16:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Tuesday Microsoft "surprised everyone," writes Neowin, "by announcing a new change that will radically improve TypeScript performance" — porting TypeScript to Go.
  InfoWorld writes that "The initiative promises dramatic improvements in editor startup speed, build times, and memory usage, making it easier to scale TypeScript to large code bases, Microsoft said."Microsoft's TypeScript team expects to be able to preview command-line type-checking in Go-based tsc by mid-2025, and to deliver a f
  
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• Coal-Powered Energy Finally Overtaken by Wind and Solar in the US

  15-03-2025 15:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "Wind and solar energy generated more electricity in the U.S. than coal for the first time last year," reports the Wall Street Journal, "according to analysis from clean-energy think tank Ember.
  "The two renewable energy sources accounted for 17% of the country's power mix while coal fell to a low of 15%, it said."Solar was the fastest-growing energy source, according to Ember's analysis of data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, increasing 27% from the year before, while wind rose
  
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• NAB Calls For End of ATSC 1.0

  15-03-2025 14:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Broadband TV News: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the agency to establish a clear, industry-wide transition plan for the full deployment of Next Gen TV (ATSC 3.0). The proposal outlines a two-phased transition while modernizing regulatory requirements to support consumer access and innovation. [...] Under the plan, stations in the top 55 markets, covering 70% of t
  
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• Saturn Solidifies Its Title As Moon King With Discovery of 128 New Moons

  15-03-2025 11:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Astronomers using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have discovered 128 new moons around Saturn, bringing its total to 274 -- more than all the other planets combined. CBC News reports: Jupiter and Saturn have been locked in a battle for the most moons for years -- with Saturn stealing the crown from Jupiter only two years ago when the same group of researchers found 64 additional moons orbiting it. But scientists say this discovery likely settles the score once and for all. [...] He and the ot
  
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• Dead Athena Moon Lander Seen Inside Its Crater Grave From Lunar Orbit

  15-03-2025 08:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  From a Space.com article: Athena, the second lunar lander from Houston company Intuitive Machines, tipped over during its touchdown on March 6, ending up on its side within a small crater near the moon's south pole. This orientation prevented the lander's solar panels from capturing enough sunlight, and Intuitive Machines declared Athena dead on March 7. (The company's first moon lander, named Odysseus, also tipped over during its historic February 2024 touchdown but was able to operate for long
  
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• Super Nintendo Hardware Is Running Faster As It Ages

  15-03-2025 04:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Something very strange is happening inside Super Nintendo (SNES) consoles as they age: a component you've probably never heard of is running ever so slightly faster as we get further and further away from the time the consoles first hit the market in the early '90s. The discovery started a mild panic in the speedrunning community in late February since one theoretical consequence of a faster-running console is that it could impact how fast game
  
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• End of Windows 10 Leaves PC Charities With Tough Choice

  15-03-2025 03:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  With Microsoft ending free security updates for Windows 10 in October, millions of PCs that don't meet Windows 11's hardware requirements face an uncertain fate... Charities that refurbish and distribute computers to low-income individuals must choose between providing soon-to-be-insecure Windows 10 machines, transitioning to Linux -- despite usability challenges for non-tech-savvy users -- or recycling the hardware, contributing to ewaste. Tom's Hardware reports: So how bad will it really be to
  
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• Leaked Apple Meeting Shows How Dire the Siri Situation Really Is

  15-03-2025 02:30 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  A leaked Apple meeting reveals significant internal struggles with Siri's development, as AI-powered features announced last June have been delayed and may not make it into iOS 19. The Verge reports: Bloomberg (paywalled) has the full scoop on what happened at a Siri team meeting led by senior director Robby Walker, who oversees the division. He called the delay an "ugly" situation and sympathized with employees who might be feeling burned out or frustrated by Apple's decisions and Siri's still-
  
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• SpaceX Launches NASA's Crew-10 Mission To ISS

  15-03-2025 02:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a four-member crew to the International Space Station on Friday night, paving the way for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth after being there for nine months due to issues with Boeing's Starliner capsule. Arrival is set for late Saturday night. The Associated Press reports: NASA wants overlap between the two crews so Wilmore and Williams can fill in the newcomers on happenings aboard the orbiting lab. That would put them on cours
  
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• Gen Z Americans Don't Have Enough Saved To Cover a Single Month of Spending

  15-03-2025 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Younger Americans don't have enough saved to cover a single month of spending, showcasing their vulnerability should the economy head into a downturn. Members of the Gen Z generation -- people born after 1995 -- were spending twice the amount they had in savings on average in February, according to Bank of America Institute analysis of internal account and card data released Friday. The ratio has increased in the past two years, and is much highe
  
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• US IRS To Re-Evaluate Modernization Investments In Light of AI Technology

  15-03-2025 00:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The IRS is pausing its technology modernization efforts to reassess its strategy in light of AI advancements. Reuters reports: The agency will review a number of technology modernization initiatives that have been taken in recent years, including a new direct free filing system for tax returns that was launched last year under the Biden administration, the official told reporters. The official said the IRS did not have a specific number of staff cuts in mind as a result of the technology pause,
  
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• Google Is Officially Replacing Assistant With Gemini

  15-03-2025 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google announced today that Gemini will replace Google Assistant on Android phones later in 2025. "[T]he classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available for new downloads on mobile app stores," says Google in a blog post. "Additionally, we'll be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini. We're also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs.
  
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