ICT news

• Is Everyone Using AI to Cheat Their Way Through College?

  10-05-2025 23:14 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Chungin Lee used ChatGPT to help write the essay that got him into Columbia University — and then "proceeded to use generative artificial intelligence to cheat on nearly every assignment," reports New York magazine's blog Intelligencer:As a computer-science major, he depended on AI for his introductory programming classes: "I'd just dump the prompt into ChatGPT and hand in whatever it spat out." By his rough math, AI wrote 80 percent of every essay he turned in. "At the end, I'd put on the
  
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• Sea Levels Rose Faster Than Expected Last Year. Blame Global Warming - But What Happens Next?

  10-05-2025 21:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Though global sea levels "varied little" for the 2,000 years before the 20th century, CNN reports that sea levels then "started rising and have not stopped since — and the pace is accelerating."
  And sea level rise "was unexpectedly high last year, according to a recent NASA analysis of satellite data."More concerning, however, is the longer-term trend. The rate of annual sea level rise has more than doubled over the past 30 years, resulting in the global sea level increasing 4 inches since
  
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• 'I Broke Up with Google Search. It was Surprisingly Easy.'

  10-05-2025 20:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Inspired by researchers who'd bribed people to use Microsoft's Bing for two weeks (and found some wanted to keep using it), a Washington Post tech columnist also tried it — and reported it "felt like quitting coffee."
  "The first few days, I was jittery. I kept double searching on Google and DuckDuckGo, the non-Google web search engine I was using, to check if Google gave me better results. Sometimes it did. Mostly it didn't."
  "More than two weeks into a test of whether I love Google search
  
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• How A Simple Question Tripped Up a North Korean Spy Interviewing for an IT Job

  10-05-2025 19:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader smooth wombat writes: Over the past year there have been stories about North Korean spies unknowingly or knowingly being hired to work in western companies. During an interview by Kraken, a crypto exchange, the interviewers became suspicious about the candidate. Instead of cutting off the interview, Kraken decided to continue the candidate through the hiring process to gain more information. One simple question confirmed the user wasn't who they said they were and even
  
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• More US Airports are Scanning Faces. But a New Bill Could Limit the Practice

  10-05-2025 18:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this repost from the Washington Post:It's becoming standard practice at a growing number of U.S. airports: When you reach the front of the security line, an agent asks you to step up to a machine that scans your face to check whether it matches the face on your identification card. Travelers have the right to opt out of the face scan and have the agent do a visual check instead — but many don't realize that's an option.
  Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and John Neel
  
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• High Tariffs Become 'Real' For Adafruit - With Their First $36K Bill Just For Import Duties

  10-05-2025 17:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Adafruit's managing director Phillip Torrone is also long-time Slashdot reader ptorrone.
  He stopped by Thursday to share what happened after a large portion of a recent import was subjected to a 125% +20% +25% import markup...
  We're no stranger to tariff bills, although they have definitely ramped up over the last two months. However, this is our first "big bill"... Unlike other taxes like sales tax where we collect on behalf of the state and then submit it back at the end of the month — o
  
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• Google Will Pay $1.4 Billion to Texas to Settle Claims It Collected User Data Without Permission

  10-05-2025 16:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google will pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas, reports the Associated Press, "to settle claims the company collected users' data without permission, the state's attorney general announced Friday."Attorney General Ken Paxton described the settlement as sending a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to make money off of "selling away our rights and freedoms.""In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law." Paxton said in a statement. "For years, Google secretly tracked people's mov
  
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• Police Dismantles Botnet Selling Hacked Routers As Residential Proxies

  10-05-2025 15:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: Law enforcement authorities have dismantled a botnet that infected thousands of routers over the last 20 years to build two networks of residential proxies known as Anyproxy and 5socks. The U.S. Justice Department also indicted three Russian nationals (Alexey Viktorovich Chertkov, Kirill Vladimirovich Morozov, and Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Shishkin) and a Kazakhstani (Dmitriy Rubtsov) for their involvement in operating, maintaining, and p
  
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• Bill Gates Plans To Give Away His Wealth, Shutter Foundation Over Next 20 Years

  10-05-2025 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  joshuark shares a report from Axios: Bill Gates, once the richest man in the world, vowed to give away "virtually all" of his wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next two decades. Then, the foundation will close its doors on Dec. 31, 2045. [...] Gates wrote in a Thursday Gates Notes essay that the original plan was to sunset the foundation several decades after he and his then-wife died. Now, Gates believes that a "shorter timeline" is feasible.Gates pledged three "key aspirations" to g
  
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• Lithium Deposit Valued At $1.5 Trillion Discovered In Oregon

  10-05-2025 09:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Earth.com: McDermitt Caldera in Oregon is attracting attention for what could be one of the largest lithium deposits ever identified in the United States. Many view it as a potential boost for domestic battery production, while local communities voice concern over the impact on wildlife and cultural sites. The excitement stems from estimates that value the deposit at about $1.5 trillion. Some geologists say these ancient volcanic sediments co
  
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• AI Use Damages Professional Reputation, Study Suggests

  10-05-2025 05:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Using AI can be a double-edged sword, according to new research from Duke University. While generative AI tools may boost productivity for some, they might also secretly damage your professional reputation. On Thursday, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published a study showing that employees who use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini at work face negative judgments about their competence and motivation from
  
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• Court Unanimously Denies Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes' Request For Rehearing

  10-05-2025 03:25 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Elizabeth Holmes has lost her bid to have the appeal of her 2022 fraud conviction reheard by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as her final option. She and former Theranos executive Sunny Balwani remain liable for $452 million in restitution, while Holmes continues serving her 11-year sentence. CNBC reports: The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied Holmes' request for a rehearing before the original three-judge panel that upheld her conviction. At the same time
  
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• Huawei Unveils a HarmonyOS Laptop, Its First Windows-Free Computer

  10-05-2025 02:45 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Huawei has launched its first laptop running HarmonyOS instead of Windows, complete with AI features and support for over 2,000 mostly China-focused apps. The product is largely a result of U.S. sanctions that prevented U.S.-based companies like Google and Microsoft from doing business with Huawei, forcing the company to develop its own in-house solution. Liliputing reports: Early version of HarmonyOS were basically skinned version of Android, but over time Huawei has moved the two operating sys
  
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• Mexico Sues Google Over Changing Gulf of Mexico's Name For US Users

  10-05-2025 02:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Google for changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" for U.S. users on Google Maps, following a Republican-led House vote on Thursday to codify the name change. President Claudia Sheinbaum argues the U.S. only has authority to rename its portion of the continental shelf and warned of legal action unless Google reversed the change. The Guardian reports: "All we want is for the decree issued by the US government to be complied with," Sheinbaum
  
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• Kids Are Short-Circuiting Their School-Issued Chromebooks For TikTok Clout

  10-05-2025 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Schools across the US are warning parents about an Internet trend that has students purposefully trying to damage their school-issued Chromebooks so that they start smoking or catch fire. Various school districts, including some in Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington, have sent letters to parents warning about the trend that's largely taken off on TikTok. Per reports from school districts and videos that Ars Technica has rev
  
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• Meta To Add Facial Recognition To Glasses After All

  10-05-2025 00:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  According to The Information (paywalled), Meta is reportedly developing facial recognition capabilities for its Ray-Ban smart glasses -- technology it previously avoided due to privacy concerns. 404 Media's Joseph Cox writes: The move is an obvious about-face from Meta. It's also interesting to me because Meta's PR chewed my ass off when I dared to report in October that a pair of students took Meta's Ray-Ban glasses and combined them with off-the-shelf facial recognition technology. That tool,
  
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• Coffee Shops Ditch WiFi and Laptops To Limit Remote Work

  10-05-2025 00:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Numerous coffee establishments across the US are actively restricting internet access and laptop use as they push back against remote workers monopolizing their spaces for hours.
  New York's Devocion chain limits WiFi to two-hour windows on weekdays and eliminates it entirely on weekends, while Detroit's Alba coffee shop has operated without WiFi since its 2023 opening. Some venues have resorted to physically taping over electrical outlets.
  DC-based cafe Elle initially launched without WiFi but r
  
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