ICT news

• Has Microsoft Discontinued Offline Activation of Windows?

  03-01-2026 23:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared
  this report from Neowin:Offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are no longer able to activate the OS using it... [As documented by Windows user Ben Kleinberg on his YouTube channel], Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following:
  
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• The US Invaded Venezuela and Captured Nicolás Maduro - But ChatGPT and Perplexity Disagree

  03-01-2026 22:45 via slashdot.org
  Why did the U.S. invade Venezuela and capture its leader Nicolás Maduro? "If you asked ChatGPT about it this morning, it told you that youâ(TM)re making it up," Wired reported Saturday:
  WIRED asked leading chatbots ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini the same question a little before 9 am ET. In all cases, we used the free, default version of the service, since that's what the majority of users experience. We also asked AI search platform Perplexity, which advertises "accurate, trusted, and
  
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• SpaceX Lowering Orbits of 4,400 Starlink Satellites for Safety's Sake

  03-01-2026 21:45 via science.slashdot.org
  "Starlink is beginning a significant reconfiguration of its satellite constellation focused on increasing space safety," announced Michael Nicolls, Starlink's vice president of engineering:"We are lowering all Starlink satellites orbiting at ~550 km to ~480 km (~4400 satellites) over the course of 2026. The shell lowering is being tightly coordinated with other operators, regulators, and USSPACECOM. Lowering the satellites results in condensing Starlink orbits, and will increase space safety in
  
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• Could AI Bring Us Four-Day Workweeks?

  03-01-2026 20:45 via it.slashdot.org
  "While a growing number of U.S. employers are mandating workers return to the office five days a week," reports the Washington Post, "some companies say AI is saving them enough time to launch or sustain a four-day workweek.
  "More companies may move toward a shortened workweek, several executives and researchers predict, as workers, especially those in younger generations, continue to push for better work-life balance." And "several companies — especially those with a largely remote workfo
  
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• Airlines Cancel Hundreds of Flights After U.S. Attack on Venezuela

  03-01-2026 18:45 via news.slashdot.org
  CNBC reports that U.S. airlines have "canceled hundreds of flights to airports in Puerto Rico and Aruba, according to flight tallies from FlightAware and carriers' sites."
  JetBlue, Southwest, and American Airlines were among the multiple airlines showing cancelled flights, which "included close to 300 flights to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, more than 40% of the day's schedule, according to FlightAware."
  Airlines canceled flights throughou
  
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• Interference With America's GPS System 'Has Grown Dramatically'

  03-01-2026 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  86 aircraft were affected by an incident in Denver ,and 256 more in Dallas-Fort Worth, America's Federal Aviation Admistrationtold the Washington Post:The pilots flying into Denver International Airport could tell something was wrong. In urgent calls to air traffic controllers, they reported that the Global Positioning System was going haywire, forcing them to rely on backup navigation systems for more than a day. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to air traffic in the area. E
  
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• Jobs Vulnerable to AI Replacement Actually 'Thriving, Not Dying Out', Report Suggests

  03-01-2026 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  AI startups now outnumber all publicly traded U.S. companies, according to a year-end note to investors from economists at Vanguard.
  And yet that report also suggest the jobs most susceptible to replacement by AI "are actually thriving, not dying out," writes Forbes:
  "The approximately 100 occupations most exposed to AI automation are actually outperforming the rest of the labor market in terms of job growth and real wage increases," the Vanguard report revealed. "This suggests that current AI s
  
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• After Half a Decade, the Russian Space Station Segment Stopped Leaking

  03-01-2026 13:01 via science.slashdot.org
  A small section of the International Space Station that has experienced persistent leaks for years appears to have stopped venting atmosphere into space. ArsTechnica: The leaks were caused by microscopic structural cracks inside the small PrK module on the Russian segment of the space station, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module. The problem has been a long-running worry for Russian and US operators of the station, especially after the rate of leakage doubled i
  
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• NYC Phone Ban Reveals Some Students Can't Read Clocks

  03-01-2026 10:30 via news.slashdot.org
  New York City's statewide smartphone ban that went into effect this fall has been largely successful at getting students to focus in class and socialize at lunch, but teachers across the city have discovered an unexpected side effect: many teenagers cannot read analog clocks. "The constant refrain is 'Miss, what time is it?'" said Madi Mornhinweg, a high school English teacher in Manhattan, who eventually started responding by asking students to identify the big hand and little hand themselves.
  
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• Economic Inequality Does Not Equate To Poor Well-Being or Mental Health, Massive Meta-Analysis Finds

  03-01-2026 07:01 via science.slashdot.org
  A new sweeping meta-analysis has found no reliable link between economic inequality and well-being or mental health, challenging a long-held assumption that has shaped public health policy discussions for decades. The study, led by Nicolas Sommet at the University of Lausanne and Annahita Ehsan at the University of British Columbia, synthesized 168 studies involving more than 11 million participants across most world regions. The researchers screened thousands of scientific papers and contacted
  
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• Dell's XPS Brand May Return Just a Year After Being Retired, Report Claims

  03-01-2026 04:30 via it.slashdot.org
  Dell is planning to bring back its XPS laptop branding, according to a news report, just one year after the company retired the storied name in favor of a simplified naming scheme that organized its consumer and professional lineup into Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max tiers. VideoCardz reported this week that Dell has presented an updated XPS lineup during prebriefings ahead of CES 2026, though the company has not officially confirmed the badge's return.
  The reported reversal would come after De
  
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• Microsoft CEO: Time To Move 'Beyond the Arguments of Slop vs Sophistication'

  03-01-2026 02:30 via slashdot.org
  The tech industry needs to move "beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication" and develop a new "theory of the mind" that accounts for humans now equipped with "cognitive amplifier tools," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a year-end reflection blog. The post frames 2026 as yet another "pivotal year for AI" -- but one that "feels different in a few notable ways." Nadella claims the industry has moved past the initial discovery phase and is now "beginning to distinguish between 'spectacle'
  
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• MTV's Music-Only Channels Go Off the Air

  03-01-2026 00:31 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: MTV shut down many of its last dedicated 24-hour music channels Dec. 31. The move, announced back in October, affected channels around the world, with the U.K. seeing five different MTV stations going dark. These include MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. As Consequence notes, MTV Music -- which launched in 2011 -- notably ended its run by airing the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," the first visual to air when MTV launched in the Uni
  
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