ICT news

• Amazon Asks Corporate Workers To 'Volunteer' Help With Grocery Deliveries as Prime Day Frenzy Approaches

  08-07-2025 22:02 via slashdot.org
  Corporate employees of Amazon have been asked to volunteer their time to the company's warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day. From a report: In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate "volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet." It is not
  
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• Music Pioneer Napster Tries Again, This Time With AI Chatbots

  08-07-2025 21:27 via slashdot.org
  Napster has returned with an AI-powered reinvention, launching a platform of specialized chatbots and holographic avatars. The former dot-com music file-sharing pioneer now offers dozens of "AI companions" trained as experts in fields from therapy to business strategy, plus the View device for 3D holographic video chats, FastCompany reports.
  Infinite Reality acquired Napster for $207 million in March and rebranded itself under the nostalgic name. The platform charges $19 monthly or $199 bundled
  
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• Thunderbird 140 Released

  08-07-2025 20:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a blog post: Version 140 of the Thunderbird mail client has been released. Notable features include "dark message mode" to adapt message content to dark mode, the ability to easily transfer desktop settings to the mobile Thunderbird client, experimental support for Microsoft Exchange, as well as global controls for message threading and sort order.
  Thunderbird 140 is an extended-support release (ESR) which will be supported for 12 months. However, the Thunderbird proje
  
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• What is AGI? Nobody Agrees, And It's Tearing Microsoft and OpenAI Apart.

  08-07-2025 20:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft and OpenAI are locked in acrimonious negotiations partly because they cannot agree on what artificial general intelligence means, despite having written the term into a contract worth over $13 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
  One definition reportedly agreed upon by the companies sets the AGI threshold at when AI generates $100 billion in profits. Under their partnership agreement, OpenAI can limit Microsoft's access to future technology once it achieves AGI. OpenAI execu
  
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• Georgia Court Throws Out Earlier Ruling That Relied on Fake Cases Made Up By AI

  08-07-2025 19:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Georgia Court of Appeals has overturned a trial court's order after finding it relied on court cases that do not exist, apparently generated by AI. The appellate court vacated the ruling in a divorce case involving Nimat Shahid's challenge to a divorce order granted to her husband Sufyan Esaam in July 2022.
  "We are troubled by the citation of bogus cases in the trial court's order," the appeals court stated in its decision, which directs the lower court to revisit Shahid's petition. The cour
  
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• SUSE Launching Region-Locked Support For the Sovereignty-Conscious

  08-07-2025 18:40 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  SUSE has unveiled a new support package aimed at customers concerned about data sovereignty. From a report: Called "SUSE Sovereign Premium Support," the service geo-pins support to a given region rather than adopting the traditional follow-the-sun model, where support comes from whatever region is online. The latter approach could break sovereignty regulations or policies, as it might involve transferring data out of a region. Ensuring that support is available from a specific region is therefor
  
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• A Marco Rubio Impostor is Using AI Voice To Call High-Level Officials

  08-07-2025 18:05 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An impostor pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress by sending them voice and text messages that mimic Rubio's voice and writing style using AI-powered software, Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable. From the report: U.S. authorities do not know who is behind the string of impersonation attempts but they believe the culprit was probably attempting to manipulate po
  
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• X Says It's 'Deeply Concerned' About India Press Censorship

  08-07-2025 17:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  X said Tuesday it is "deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India" after the Indian government ordered the platform to block 2,355 accounts on July 3, including two Reuters news agency handles. The social media company said the order came under India's Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, with non-compliance risking criminal liability.
  The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action within one hour without providing justification, X
  
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• Unless Users Take Action, Android Will Let Gemini Access Third-Party Apps

  08-07-2025 16:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is implementing a change that will enable its Gemini AI engine to interact with third-party apps, such as WhatsApp, even when users previously configured their devices to block such interactions. ArsTechnica: Users who don't want their previous settings to be overridden may have to take action. An email Google sent recently informing users of the change linked to a notification page that said that "human reviewers (including service providers) read, annotate, and process" the data Gemini
  
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• Microsoft, OpenAI, and a US Teachers' Union Are Hatching a Plan To 'Bring AI into the Classroom'

  08-07-2025 16:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic will announce Tuesday the launch of a $22.5 million AI training center for members of the American Federation of Teachers, according to details inadvertently published early on a publicly accessible YouTube livestream. The National Academy for AI Instruction will be based in New York City and aims to equip kindergarten through 12th grade instructors with "the tools and confidence to bring AI into the classroom in a way that supports learning and opportunity for a
  
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• Weedkiller Ingredient Widely Used In US Can Damage Organs and Gut Bacteria, Research Shows

  08-07-2025 15:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows. The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US. But the new piece of data suggests diquat
  
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• Arizona Brings a Huge Grid Battery Online Ahead of Peak Demand

  08-07-2025 12:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Arizona has activated one of its largest grid battery storage projects to help meet peak summer energy demand. Electrek reports: Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, just brought its 1,200 MWh Papago Storage facility in Maricopa County into commercial operation. The big grid battery is now supplying stored electricity to Arizona Public Service (APS), the state's largest utility, in time for peak air-conditioning season. Papago is the first of three Recurrent projects with APS. Toget
  
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• Massive Study Detects AI Fingerprints In Millions of Scientific Papers

  08-07-2025 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A team of U.S. and German researchers analyzed over 15 million biomedical papers and found that AI-generated content has subtly infiltrated academic writing, with telltale stylistic shifts -- such as a rise in flowery verbs and adjectives. "Their investigation revealed that since the emergence of LLMs there has been a corresponding increase in the frequency of certain stylist word choices within the academic literature," reports Phys.Org. "These data suggest that at least 13.5% of the papers pub
  
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• People Are Using AI Chatbots To Guide Their Psychedelic Trips

  08-07-2025 05:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Trey had struggled with alcoholism for 15 years, eventually drinking heavily each night before quitting in December. But staying sober was a struggle for the 36-year-old first responder from Atlanta, who did not wish to use his real name due to professional concerns.
  Then he discovered Alterd, an AI-powered journaling app that invites users to "explore new dimensions" geared towards psychedelics and cannabis consumers, meditators, and alcohol drink
  
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• Tennis Players Criticize AI Technology Used By Wimbledon

  08-07-2025 04:10 via slashdot.org
  
  Wimbledon's use of AI-powered electronic line-calling has sparked backlash from players who say the system made several incorrect calls, affecting match outcomes and creating accessibility issues. "This is the first year the prestigious tennis tournament, which is still ongoing, replaced human line judges, who determine if a ball is in or out, with an electronic line calling system (ELC)," notes TechCrunch. From the report: British tennis star Emma Raducanu called out the technology for missing
  
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• Fubo Pays $3.4 Million To Settle Claims It Illegally Shared User Data With Advertisers

  08-07-2025 03:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Fubo has agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit (PDF) accusing it of illegally sharing usersâ(TM) personally identifiable information and video viewing history with advertisers without consent, allegedly violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). Ars Technica reports: As reported by Cord Cutters News this week, instead of going to trial, Fubo reached a settlement agreement [PDF] that allows people who used Fubo before May 29, which is when Fubo last updated its
  
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• Apple Just Added More Frost To Its Liquid Glass Design

  08-07-2025 02:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Following a week of X and YouTube complaints, Apple has further reduced the transparency of its Liquid Glass design in the latest iOS 26 developer beta, making navigation bars, buttons, and tabs more opaque to improve readability. The Verge reports: "iOS 26 beta 3 completely nerfs Liquid Glass," AppleTrack developer Sam Kohl says in a post on X. "It looks so much cheaper now and feels like Apple is backtracking on their original vision." Others ask Apple to "stop ruining" Liquid Glass and call t
  
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• The Open-Source Software Saving the Internet From AI Bot Scrapers

  08-07-2025 02:10 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: For someone who says she is fighting AI bot scrapers just in her free time, Xe Iaso seems to be putting up an impressive fight. Since she launched it in January, Anubis, a "program is designed to help protect the small internet from the endless storm of requests that flood in from AI companies," has been downloaded nearly 200,000 times, and is being used by notable organizations including GNOME, the popular open-source desktop environment for L
  
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• Waymo Starts Robotaxi Testing In Philadelphia and NYC

  08-07-2025 01:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Waymo has launched new "road trips" to Philadelphia and New York City, "signaling the Alphabet-owned company's interest in expanding into Northeastern cities," reports TechCrunch. While these trips don't guarantee commercial launches, they follow a pattern that previously led to deployments in cities like Los Angeles. Other road trips this year are planned for Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Antonio. From the report: Typically, the trips involve sending a small fleet of human-dri
  
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• Jack Dorsey Launches a WhatsApp Messaging Rival Built On Bluetooth

  08-07-2025 00:50 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Jack Dorsey has launched Bitchat, a decentralized, peer-to-peer messaging app that uses Bluetooth mesh networks for encrypted, ephemeral chats without requiring accounts, servers, or internet access. The beta version is live on TestFlight, with a full white paper available on GitHub. CNBC reports: In a post on X Sunday, Dorsey called it a personal experiment in "bluetooth mesh networks, relays and store and forward models, message encryption models, and a few other things."Bitchat enables epheme
  
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• Samsung and Epic Games Call a Truce In App Store Lawsuit

  08-07-2025 00:10 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Epic Games, buoyed by the massive success of Fortnite, has spent the last few years throwing elbows in the mobile industry to get its app store on more phones. It scored an antitrust win against Google in late 2023, and the following year it went after Samsung for deploying "Auto Blocker" on its Android phones, which would make it harder for users to install the Epic Games Store. Now, the parties have settled the case just days before Samsun
  
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