ICT news

• 'Read the Manual': Misconfigured Google Analytics Led to a Data Breach Affecting 4.7M

  26-04-2025 23:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader itwbennett writes: Personal health information on 4.7 million Blue Shield California subscribers was unintentionally shared between Google Analytics and Google Ads between April 2021 and January 2025 due to a misconfiguration error. Security consultant and SANS Institute instructor Brandon Evans points to two lessons to take from this debacle:Read the documentation of any third party service you sign up for, to understand the security and privacy controls;Know what data is being
  
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• YouTube is Huge - and a Few Creators Are Getting Rich

  26-04-2025 22:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  "Google-owned YouTube's revenue last year was estimated to be $54.2 billion," reports the Los Angeles Times, "which would make it the second-largest media company behind Walt Disney Co., according to a recent report from research firm MoffettNathanson, which called YouTube 'the new king of all media.'"YouTube, run by Chief Executive Neal Mohan since 2023, accounted for 12% of U.S. TV viewing in March, more than other rival streaming platforms including Netflix and Tubi, according to Nielsen... M
  
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• Can a New 'Dumbphone' With an E Ink Display Help Rewire Your Brain?

  26-04-2025 21:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  ZDNet's reviewer says "I tested this affordable E Ink phone for two weeks, and it rewired my brain (for the better)."It's Mudita's new Kompakt smartphone with a two-color E Ink display — which ZDNet calls "an affordable choice" for those "considering investing in a so-called 'dumbphone'..."
  Compared to modern smartphones, the Mudita Kompakt is a bit chunky at half an inch thick and five inches long. It's still rather light, though, weighing just 164 grams and covered in soft touch material
  
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• California Becomes the World's Fourth-Largest Economy, Overtaking Japan

  26-04-2025 20:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  "Only the United States, China and Germany have larger economies than California," reports CNN.
  In fact, they add that California "outpaced all three countries with growth of 6% last year," according to the California governor's office (which cites new data from the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis):
  In 2024, California's growth rate of 6% outpaced the top three economies: U.S. (5.3%), China (2.6%) and Germany (2.9%)...With an increasing state population and r
  
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• US Attorney for D.C. Accuses Wikipedia of 'Propaganda', Threatens Nonprofit Status

  26-04-2025 19:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:
  The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent a letter to the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, accusing the tax-exempt organization of "allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public."In the letter dated April 24, Ed Martin said he sought to determine whether the Wikimedia Foundation's behavior is in violation of its Section 501(c)(3) status. Martin asked the foundation to
  
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• NYT Asks: Should We Start Taking the Welfare of AI Seriously?

  26-04-2025 18:34 via slashdot.org
  
  A New York Times technology columnist has a question."Is there any threshold at which an A.I. would start to deserve, if not human-level rights, at least the same moral consideration we give to animals?"
  [W]hen I heard that researchers at Anthropic, the AI company that made the Claude chatbot, were starting to study "model welfare" — the idea that AI models might soon become conscious and deserve some kind of moral status — the humanist in me thought: Who cares about the chatbots? Ar
  
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• Cheap 'Transforming' Electric Truck Announced by Jeff Bezos-Backed Startup

  26-04-2025 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  It's a pickup truck "that can change into whatever you need it to be — even an SUV," according to the manufacturer's web site.
  Selling in America for just $20,000 (after federal incentives), the new electric truck is "affordable, deeply customizable, and very analog," says TechCrunch. "It has manual windows and it doesn't come with a main infotainment screen. Heck, it isn't even painted..."Slate Auto is instead playing up the idea of wrapping its vehicles, something executives said they wi
  
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• What Happens When You Pay People Not to Use Google Search?

  26-04-2025 16:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  "A group of researchers says it has identified a hidden reason we use Google for nearly all web searches," reports the Washington Post. "We've never given other options a real shot."Their research experiment suggests that Google is overwhelmingly popular partly because we believe it's the best, whether that's true or not. It's like a preference for your favorite soda. And their research suggested that our mass devotion to googling can be altered with habit-changing techniques, including by bribi
  
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• XPrize In Carbon Removal Goes To Enhanced Rock Weathering

  26-04-2025 15:00 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: The XPrize Foundation today announced the winners of its four-year, $100 million XPrize competition in carbon removal. The contest is one of dozens hosted by the foundation in its 20-year effort to encourage technological development. Contestants in the carbon removal XPrize had to demonstrate ways to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or oceans and sequester it sustainably.Mati Carbon, a Houston-based startup developing a sequestratio
  
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• New Analysis Casts Doubt On 'Biosignatures' Found On Planet K2-18b

  26-04-2025 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Initial claims that life-associated gases were detected on exoplanet K2-18b are being challenged, with independent reanalysis by Jake Taylor suggesting the data is too noisy to support such conclusions and that stronger, model-independent evidence is needed. NPR reports: Rather than seeing a bump or a wiggle that indicated a signal, "the data is consistent with a flat line," says Taylor, adding that more observations from the telescope are needed to know what can be reliably said about this plan
  
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• China Shares Rare Moon Rocks With US

  26-04-2025 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from the BBC: China will let scientists from six countries, including the U.S., examine the rocks it collected from the Moon -- a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war. Two NASA-funded U.S. institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday. CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the
  
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• Netflix Introduces a New Kind of Subtitles For the Non-Hearing Impaired

  26-04-2025 05:30 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Multiple studies and investigations have found that about half of American households watch TV and movies with subtitles on, but only a relatively small portion of those include someone with a hearing disability. That's because of the trouble many people have understanding dialogue in modern viewing situations, and Netflix has now introduced a subtitles option to help.The closed captioning we've all been using for years includes not only the
  
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• Apple TV+ Is 'Worst Marketer In the Universe,' Says Producer

  26-04-2025 04:02 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  TV producer Alex Berger criticized Apple TV+ as "the worst marketer in the universe" for failing to promote his French-language show La Maison, despite its success in Europe. Berger said he initially partnered with Apple out of hope, but ultimately felt they undermined their own content by not supporting it properly. 9to5Mac reports: Rafa Sales Ross at Variety recently interviewed TV producer Alex Berger, who made La Maison for Apple TV+. That partnership is apparently not one he intends to repe
  
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• World's Biggest Zipper Maker Is Developing a Self-Propelled Zipper

  26-04-2025 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  YKK, the world's largest zipper maker, has unveiled a prototype self-propelled zipper that uses a motorized worm gear to zip itself closed at the push of a button. It currently relies on a wired remote and external power, and can zip spans up to 16 feet in under a minute. The Verge reports: Although some recent zipper innovations, such as Under Armour's one-handed MagZip upgrade, are designed to improve accessibility and make zippers easier to use for those with limited mobility, YKK envisions m
  
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• Devs Sound Alarm After Microsoft Subtracts C/C++ Extension From VS Code Forks

  26-04-2025 02:45 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Some developers are "crying foul" after Microsoft's C/C++ extension for Visual Studio Code stopped working with VS Code derivatives like VS Codium and Cursor, reports The Register. The move has prompted Cursor to transition to open-source alternatives, while some developers are calling for a regulatory investigation into Microsoft's alleged anti-competitive behavior. From the report: In early April, programmers using VS Codium, an open-source fork of Microsoft's MIT-licensed VS Code, and Cursor,
  
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• Comcast President Bemoans Broadband Customer Losses: 'We Are Not Winning'

  26-04-2025 02:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast executives apparently realized something that customers have known and complained about for years: The Internet provider's prices aren't transparent enough and rise too frequently. This might not have mattered much to cable executives as long as the total number of subscribers met their targets. But after reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't
  
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• DoorDash Makes $3.6 Billion Offer For Deliveroo

  26-04-2025 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  DoorDash has sent a proposal to buy the British meal delivery company Deliveroo for $3.6 billion. "The current offer marks the first formal approach since the last report in the summer," notes Reuters. From the report: The deal is expected to face no regulatory hurdles, as it provides DoorDash access to 10 new markets where it currently has no presence, creating a highly complementary footprint - other competitors might encounter more antitrust issues, the source said. Last year, Reuters reporte
  
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• Google Is Killing Software Support For Early Nest Thermostats

  26-04-2025 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google announced it will end software updates and remote control support for the first- and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats (plus the 2014 European model) starting October 25th. "You will no longer be able to control them remotely from your phone or with
  Google Assistant, but can still adjust the temperature and modify schedules directly on the thermostat," the company wrote in a Friday blog post. The Verge reports: In other significant news, Google is flatly stating that it has no p
  
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• Government Censorship Comes To Bluesky

  26-04-2025 00:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Government censorship has found its way to Bluesky, but there's currently a loophole thanks to how the social network is structured. Earlier this month, Bluesky restricted access to 72 accounts in Turkey at the request of Turkish governmental authorities, according to a recent report by the Freedom of Expression Association. As a result, people in Turkey can no longer see these accounts, and their reach is limited. The report indicates that 59
  
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