ICT news

• Gasoline Out of Thin Air? It's a Reality!

  25-01-2026 22:56 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Can Aircela's machine "create gasoline using little more than electricity and the air that we breathe"? Jalopnik reports...The Aircela machine works through a three-step process. It captures carbon dioxide directly from the air... The machine also traps water vapor, and uses electrolysis to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen... The oxygen is released, leaving hydrogen and carbon dioxide, the building blocks of hydrocarbons. This mixture then undergoes a process known as direct hydrogenati
  
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• Richard Stallman Critiques AI, Connected Cars, Smartphones, and DRM

  25-01-2026 20:36 via news.slashdot.org
  Richard Stallman spoke Friday at Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology, continuing his activism for free software while also addressing today's new technologies.
  Speaking about AI, Stallman warned that "nowadays, people often use the term artificial intelligence for things that aren't intelligent at all..." He makes a point of calling large language models "generators" because "They generate text and they don't understand really what that text means." (And they also make mistakes "without ba
  
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• US Congress Fails to Repeal 'Kill Switch' for Cars Mandate

  25-01-2026 18:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Newsweek reports on how the U.S. Congress is debating "kill switch" technology for vehicles, "which would be able to monitor diver behavior, detect impairment such as intoxication and intervene...""While the technology is not yet a legal requirement in cars, Congress passed a law with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 that requires the Department of Transportation to create the mandate."Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced an amendment to a federal spen
  
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• The Android 'NexPhone': Linux on Demand, Dual-Boots Into Windows 11 - and Transforms Into a Workstation

  25-01-2026 17:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  The "NexDock" (from Nex Computer) already turns your phone into a laptop workstation. Purism chose it as the docking station for their Librem 5 phones.
  But now Nex is offering its own smartphone "that runs Android 16, launches Debian, and dual-boots into Windows 11," according to the blog It's FOSS:
  Fourteen years after the first concept video was teased, the NexPhone is here, powered by a Qualcomm QCM6490, which, the keen-eyed among you will remember from the now-discontinued Fairphone 5.
  By 20
  
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• The Case Against Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

  25-01-2026 16:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Small modular nuclear reactors (or SMRs) are touted as "cheaper, safer, faster to build and easier to finance" than conventional nuclear reactors, reports CNN. Amazon has invested in X-Energy, and earlier this month, Meta announced a deal with Oklo, and in Michigan last month, Holtec began the long formal licensing process for two SMRs with America's Nuclear Regulatory Commission next to a nuclear plant it hopes to reactive. (And in 2024, California-based Kairos Power broke ground in Tennessee o
  
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• The Risks of AI in Schools Outweigh the Benefits, Report Says

  25-01-2026 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  This month saw results from a yearlong global study of "potential negative risks that generative AI poses to student". The study (by the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education) also suggests how to prevent risks and maximize benefits:
  After interviews, focus groups, and consultations with over 500 students, teachers, parents, education leaders, and technologists across 50 countries, a close review of over 400 studies, and a Delphi panel, we find that at this point in its trajecto
  
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• Former Canonical Developer Advocate Warns Snap Store Isn't Safe After Slow Responses to Malware Reports

  25-01-2026 09:44 via linux.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this article from the blog Linuxiac
  In a blog post, Alan Pope, a longtime Ubuntu community figure and former Canonical employee who remains an active Snap publisher... [warns of] a persistent campaign of malicious snaps impersonating cryptocurrency wallet applications. These fake apps typically mimic well-known projects such as Exodus, Ledger Live, or Trust Wallet, prompting users to enter wallet recovery phrases, which are then transmitted to attackers, resulting in d
  
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• Google's 'AI Overviews' Cite YouTube For Health Queries More Than Any Medical Sites, Study Suggests

  25-01-2026 06:34 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Guardian:
  Google's search feature AI Overviews cites YouTube more than any medical website when answering queries about health conditions, according to research that raises fresh questions about a tool seen by 2 billion people each month.
  The company has said its AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results and use generative AI to answer questions from users, are "reliable" and cite reputable medical sources such as the Centers for Dise
  
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• Infotainment, EV Charger Exploits Earn $1M at Pwn2Own Automotive 2026

  25-01-2026 03:34 via it.slashdot.org
  Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative sponsored its third annual Pwn2Own Automotive competition in Tokyo this week, receiving 73 entries, the most ever for a Pwn2Own event.
  "Under Pwn2Own rules, all disclosed vulnerabilities are reported to affected vendors through ZDI," reports Help Net Security, "with public disclosure delayed to allow time for patches."Infotainment platforms from Tesla, Sony, and Alpine were among the systems compromised during demonstrations. Researchers achieved code execution
  
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• Work-From-Office Mandate? Expect Top Talent Turnover, Culture Rot

  25-01-2026 00:34 via it.slashdot.org
  CIO magazine reports that "the push toward in-person work environments will make it more difficult for IT leaders to retain and recruit staff, some experts say.""In addition to resistance, there would also be the risk of talent turnover," [says Lawrence Wolfe, CTO at marketing firm Converge]... "The truth is, both physical and virtual collaboration provide tremendous value...." IT workers facing work-from-office mandates are two to three times more likely than their counterparts to look for new
  
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