ICT news

• Denmark's Government Aims To Ban Access To Social Media For Children Under 15

  07-11-2025 23:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Denmark's government on Friday announced an agreement to ban access to social media for anyone under 15, ratcheting up pressure on Big Tech platforms as concerns grow that kids are getting too swept up in a digitized world of harmful content and commercial interests. The move would give some parents -- after a specific assessment -- the right to let their children access social media from age 13.It wasn't immediately clear how such a
  
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• States Seek Extension of Ecommerce Tariff Moratorium at WTO

  07-11-2025 22:22 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A group of states is seeking to extend a World Trade Organization agreement to refrain from placing customs duties on digital transmissions, a World Trade Organization document showed on Thursday. The proposal submitted by Barbados on behalf of a group of African, Caribbean and Pacific states proposed to extend the current moratorium -- a key pillar of internet development for decades -- beyond March 2026, when it was set to expire.Read more of this story at
  
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• Nintendo Won't Shy Away From Continuing To 'Try Anything'

  07-11-2025 21:44 via games.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Nintendo has always been a company willing to try just about anything. Cardboard cutout toys that mesh with games? Done. A console called the Wii with a remote-shaped controller? Massive success. Legendary game designer and Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto offered more insight into how the company operates in a recent financial briefing. "Nintendo has always worked with the idea that there are no limits to our efforts," he said. "For example, when we tried
  
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• Direct File Won't Happen in 2026, IRS Tells States

  07-11-2025 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  NextGov: The IRS has notified states that offered the free, government tax filing service known as Direct File in 2025 that the program won't be available next filing season. In an email sent from the IRS to 25 states, the tax agency thanked them for collaborating and noted that "no launch date has been set for the future."
  "IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026," says the Monday email, obtained by Nextgov/FCW and confirmed by multiple sources. It follows reports that the p
  
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• Video Games' Hottest New Platform is an Old One

  07-11-2025 20:25 via games.slashdot.org
  Web-based video games are experiencing an unexpected revival as the broader $189 billion industry stagnates. Sales for browser-based titles like GeoGuessr and chess were expected to triple from 2021 to 2028, reaching $3.09 billion, according to Google and Kantar. Playgama hosted more than 15,000 new web games in the first half of 2025, exceeding the combined total from 2021 through 2023.
  Websites provide fast and easy access without console boot-ups or app downloads. Game creators sidestep the 3
  
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• macOS Tahoe's Terrible Icons

  07-11-2025 19:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: On the new MacOS 26 (Tahoe), Apple has mandated that all application icons fit into their prescribed squircle. No longer can icons have distinct shapes, nor even any fun frame-breaking accessories. Should an icon be so foolish as to try to have a bit of personality, it will find itself stuffed into a dingy gray icon jail.
  [...] While Apple had previously urged developers to use squircle icons on our apps, they've now taken things much further to ensure compli
  
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• As Brazil Cracks Down on Forest Clearing, Emissions Fall

  07-11-2025 19:05 via news.slashdot.org
  Last year Brazil saw its biggest drop in emissions since 2009, new data show. The decline comes in the wake of a crackdown on deforestation. From a report: Since returning to power in 2022, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has moved to stem illicit clearing of forest by miners, loggers, and farmers, stepping up enforcement that had been weakened under his predecessor, far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon is now at its lowest level in more than a decade.
  In
  
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• Corporate Profits Surge as Companies Cut Nearly 1 Million Jobs

  07-11-2025 18:21 via slashdot.org
  U.S. corporate profits have risen to record levels this year as companies eliminated nearly 1 million jobs. Chen Zhao of Alpine Macro calls the disconnect a "jobless boom." Companies typically cut workers when profits decline. Amazon laid off 30,000 employees despite strong earnings. Zhao attributes the pattern to AI adoption boosting productivity across industries while reducing demand for workers. Labor demand has fallen to zero growth or mild contraction.
  The Federal Reserve lowered interest
  
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• Amazon Takes Low-Cost Ecommerce Service Global

  07-11-2025 17:49 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon on Friday expanded the reach of its low-cost ecommerce service to 14 additional markets and will call it Amazon Bazaar, as part of a push to compete with Chinese rivals including Shein and PDD Holding's Temu. The expansion of the service comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping import tariffs are denting consumer sentiment, especially of lower-income groups, who are on a constant hunt for cheaper deals.Read more of this story at Slas
  
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• Rideshare Giant Grab Moves 200 Macs Out of the Cloud, Expects To Save $2.4 Million

  07-11-2025 17:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  Singaporean super-app company Grab has dumped 200 cloudy Mac Minis and replaced them with physical machines, a move it expects will save $2.4 million over three years. From a report: Grab is Southeast Asia's leading rideshare and food delivery outfit and therefore needs to build apps for iOS to connect with customers. In a Thursday post, the company explains it builds those apps using Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CI/CD) infrastructure that runs on Apple Mac computer
  
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• Polymarket Volume Inflated by 'Artificial' Activity, Study Finds

  07-11-2025 16:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The volume of activity on Polymarket, one of the most popular prediction markets, has been significantly inflated by so-called wash trading in which users rapidly buy and sell the same contracts, according to a new study by Columbia University researchers. The "artificial trading," as the authors call it, varied over time but accounted for an average of 25% of all buying and selling on Polymarket over the past three years, the researchers concluded.
  The paper
  
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• Grand Theft Auto 6 Delayed Again Until November 2026

  07-11-2025 15:41 via games.slashdot.org
  Rockstar Games has announced that Grand Theft Auto VI won't launch in May of next year as planned. Kotaku: The highly anticipated sequel is now set to arrive in November 2026. On Thursday, Rockstar announced on social media that the long-awaited next entry in its open-world blockbuster franchise would need a bit more time, delaying the game an additional six months from May to November 19, 2026. Rockstar said "these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have
  
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• Dutch Ready To Drop Nexperia Control If Chip Supply Resumes

  07-11-2025 15:00 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The Netherlands is prepared to suspend its powers over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia in a move that would de-escalate a fight with Beijing that threatens to disrupt automotive production around the world. The Dutch government is ready to shelve the ministerial order that gave it the power to block or change key corporate decisions at Nexperia, if China allows exports of its critical chips again, according to people familiar with the matter.
  If the shipment
  
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• US Congressional Budget Office Hit By Suspected Foreign Cyberattack

  07-11-2025 14:00 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms it suffered a cybersecurity incident after a suspected foreign hacker breached its network, potentially exposing sensitive data. In a statement shared with BleepingComputer, CBO spokesperson Caitlin Emma confirmed the "security incident" and said the agency acted quickly to contain it. "The Congressional Budget Office has identified the security incident, has taken immediate action to c
  
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• Ikea's Big Smart Home Push Arrives With 21 New Matter Devices

  07-11-2025 11:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  The Scandinavian furniture giant has unveiled 21 new ultra-affordable Matter-over-Thread smart home devices across three launch segments: lighting, sensors, and control. With prices starting at just a few dollars, Ikea is pushing hard to replace its old Zigbee lineup and become a serious player in the Matter ecosystem. Forbes reports: Back to the 21 new devices specifically and they are all native Matter ones though, so you don't actually need Ikea's hub to get involved, as Matter controllers fr
  
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• Why Does So Much New Technology Feel Inspired by Dystopian Sci-Fi Movies?

  07-11-2025 08:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  In a recent article published in the New York Times, author Casey Michael Henry argues that today's tech industry keeps borrowing dystopian sci-fi aesthetics and ideas -- often the parts that were meant as warnings -- and repackages them as exciting products without recognizing that they were originally cautionary tales to avoid. "The tech industry is delivering on some of the futuristic notions of late-20th-century science fiction," writes Henry. "Yet it seems, at times, bizarrely unaware that
  
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• Mark Zuckerberg Opened an Illegal School At His Palo Alto Compound. His Neighbor Revolted

  07-11-2025 04:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  Mark Zuckerberg opened an unlicensed school named after the family's pet chicken -- and it was the final straw for his neighbors, writes Slashdot reader joshuark, citing a report from Wired. The magazine obtained 1,665 pages of documents about the neighborhood dispute -- "including 311 records, legal filings, construction plans, and emails." Here are excerpts from the report: The documents reveal that the school may have been operating as early as 2021 without a permit to operate in the city of
  
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• How the US Cut Climate-Changing Emissions While Its Economy More Than Doubled

  07-11-2025 02:25 via hardware.slashdot.org
  alternative_right shares a report from The Conversation: Countries around the world have been discussing the need to rein in climate change for three decades, yet global greenhouse gas emissions -- and global temperatures with them -- keep rising. When it seems like we're getting nowhere, it's useful to step back and examine the progress that has been made. Let's take a look at the United States, historically the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter. Over those three decades, the U.S. populati
  
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• Ford Considers Scrapping F-150 EV Truck

  07-11-2025 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  According to the Wall Street Journal, Ford executives are considering scrapping the electric version of the F-150 pickup truck as losses, supply setbacks, slow sales, and the arrival of a cheaper midsize EV truck undermine the business case for its full-size electric pickup. Reuters reports: Last month, a union official told Reuters that Ford was pausing production at the Dearborn, Michigan, plant that makes its F-150 Lightning electric pickup due to a fire at a supplier's aluminum factory. "We
  
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• Magika 1.0 Goes Stable As Google Rebuilds Its File Detection Tool In Rust

  07-11-2025 01:23 via developers.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: Google has released Magika 1.0, a stable version of its AI-based file type detection tool, and rebuilt the entire engine in Rust for speed and memory safety. The system now recognizes more than 200 file types, up from about 100, and is better at distinguishing look-alike formats such as JSON vs JSONL, TSV vs CSV, C vs C++, and JavaScript vs TypeScript. The team used a 3TB training dataset and even relied on Gemini to generate synthetic samples for rare file types, allowing M
  
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• Why Sam Altman Was Booted From OpenAI, According To New Testimony

  07-11-2025 01:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: What did Ilya see?" Two years ago, it was the meme seen 'round the world (or at least 'round the tech industry). OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had been briefly ousted in November 2023 by members of the company's board of directors, including his longtime collaborator and fellow cofounder Ilya Sutskever. The board claimed Altman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board," undermining their confidence in him. He was out for less t
  
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• Microsoft Forms Superintelligence Team Under AI Chief Suleyman 'To Serve Humanity'

  07-11-2025 00:45 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft is launching a new MAI Superintelligence Team under Mustafa Suleyman to build practical, controllable AI aimed at digital companions, medical diagnostics, and renewable-energy modeling. "We are doing this to solve real concrete problems and do it in such a way that it remains grounded and controllable," Suleyman wrote. "We are not building an ill-defined and ethereal superintelligence; we are building a practical technology explicitly designed only to serve humanity." CNBC reports: The
  
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• iOS 26.2 to Allow Third-Party App Stores in Japan Ahead of Regulatory Deadline

  07-11-2025 00:25 via slashdot.org
  Japan's new competition rules are forcing Apple to open the iPhone to third-party app stores, and iOS 26.2 will quietly flip that switch ahead of the December deadline. MacRumors reports: According to a post shared on X by @Tzzlala, iPhones running the beta in Japan are able to install alternative app stores like AltStore PAL and Epic Games, and download apps from them, though Fortnite in-app purchases are currently region-blocked by Epic. [...] The guidelines are set to come into effect by Dece
  
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