ICT news

• Amazon Bets $150 Billion on Data Centers Required for AI Boom

  28-03-2024 15:41 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon plans to spend almost $150 billion in the coming 15 years on data centers, giving the cloud-computing giant the firepower to handle an expected explosion in demand for artificial intelligence applications and other digital services. From a report: The spending spree is a show of force as the company looks to maintain its grip on the cloud services market, where it holds about twice the share of No. 2 player Microsoft. Sales growth at Amazon Web Services slowed to a record low last year as
  
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• Japan's Lunar Lander Made It Through Another Lunar Night

  28-04-2024 09:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Japan's moon lander "has woken up again," reports the Register, "having survived three lunar nights."
  A post on social media from the lander's X account confirmed that once more, Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had defied the odds and snapped a picture of the lunar surface using its navigation camera.
  SLIM was revived a few weeks ago, after a second lunar night. However, with telemetry showing that some of the electronics (temperature sensors) and battery cells were malfunctio
  
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• What Happened After India Banned TikTok?

  28-04-2024 05:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  What happened after India banned TikTok? The move "mostly drew widespread support" notes the Associated Press, in a country "where protesters had been calling for a boycott of Chinese goods since the deadly confrontation in the remote Karakoram mountain border region.""There was a clamour leading up to this, and the popular narrative was how can we allow Chinese companies to do business in India when we're in the middle of a military standoff," said Nikhil Pahwa, a digital policy expert and foun
  
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• Cisco Joins Microsoft, IBM in Vatican Pledge For Ethical AI Use and Development

  28-04-2024 03:34 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Associated Press:Tech giant Cisco Systems on Wednesday joined Microsoft and IBM in signing onto a Vatican-sponsored pledge to ensure artificial intelligence is developed and used ethically and to benefit the common good... The pledge outlines key pillars of ethical and responsible use of AI. It emphasizes that AI systems must be designed, used and regulated to serve and protect the dignity of all human beings, without discrimination, and their envi
  
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• Apple ID Lock-Out Affects Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iCloud Services

  28-04-2024 00:35 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Times of India:
  Several Apple customers were inexplicably locked out of their Apple ID accounts Friday evening in a major service disruption, forcing them to reset their passwords across all devices and services. According to user reports on social media, the widespread outage began around 8 p.m. ET. People complained that they were abruptly signed out of their Apple IDs on Macs, iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.
  When attempting to sign back
  
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• Russia Vetoes U.N. Resolution On Nuclear Weapons In Space

  27-04-2024 23:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  This week Russia vetoed a UN resolution that proposed banning nuclear weapons in space, CNN reports.
  But it all happened "amid U.S. intelligence-backed concerns that Moscow is trying to develop a nuclear device capable of destroying satellites."In February, President Joe Biden confirmed the US has intelligence that Russia is developing a nuclear anti-satellite capability. Three sources familiar with the intelligence subsequently told CNN the weapon could destroy satellites by creating a massive
  
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• A School Principal Was Framed With an AI-Generated Rant

  27-04-2024 22:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  "A former high school athletic director was arrested Thursday morning," reports CBS News, "after allegedly using artificial intelligence to impersonate the school principal in a recording..."One-time Pikesville High School employee Dazhon Darien is facing charges that include theft, stalking, disruption of school operations and retaliation against a witness. Investigators determined he faked principal Eric Eiswert's voice and circulated the audio on social media in January. Darien's nickname, DJ
  
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• Boeing Accused of Retaliating Against Two Engineers in 2022

  27-04-2024 21:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Reuters reports that America's Federal Aviation Administration "is investigating a union's claims that Boeing retaliated against two employees who in 2022 insisted the planemaker re-evaluate prior engineering work on 777 and 787 jets."
  The employees' union "said the two unidentified engineers were representatives of the FAA, which delegates some of its oversight authority and certification process to Boeing workers."The FAA noted on Tuesday that in 2022 it boosted oversight of planemakers by pro
  
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• $5.6 Million in Refunds Sent to Ring Customers, Settling Unauthorized Access and Privacy Violations

  27-04-2024 20:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  America's Federal Trade Commission "is sending more than $5.6 million in refunds to consumers," reports the Associated Press, "as part of a settlement with Amazon-owned Ring, which was charged with failing to protect private video footage from outside access."In a 2023 complaint, the FTC accused the doorbell camera and home security provider of allowing its employees and contractors to access customers' private videos. Ring allegedly used such footage to train algorithms without consent, among o
  
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• The 'Ceph' Community Now Stores 1,000 Petabytes in Its Open Source Storage Solution

  27-04-2024 19:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  1,000 petabytes.
  A million terabytes.
  One quintillion bytes (or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000).
  That's the amount of storage reported by users of the Ceph storage solution (across more than 3,000 Ceph clusters).
  The Ceph Foundation is a "directed fund" of the Linux Foundation, providing a neutral home for Ceph, "the most popular open source storage solution for modern data storage challenges" (offering an architecture that's "highly scalable, resilient, and flexible"). It's a software-defined storag
  
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• Two Lifeforms Merge Into One Organism For First Time In a Billion Years

  27-04-2024 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "For the first time in at least a billion years, two lifeforms have merged into a single organism," reports the Independent:
  The process, called primary endosymbiosis, has only happened twice in the history of the Earth, with the first time giving rise to all complex life as we know it through mitochondria. The second time that it happened saw the emergence of plants. Now, an international team of scientists have observed the evolutionary event happening between a species of algae commonly found
  
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• Intel's Stock Drops 9%. Are They Struggling to Remain Relevant?

  27-04-2024 17:34 via slashdot.org
  
  "Intel used to dominate the U.S. chip industry," writes CNBC. But now "it's struggling to stay relevant."
  Intel's long-awaited turnaround looks farther away than ever after the company reported dismal first-quarter earnings. Investors pushed the shares down 9% on Friday to their lowest level of the year. Although Intel's revenue is no longer shrinking and the company remains the biggest maker of processors that power PCs and laptops, sales in the first quarter trailed estimates. Intel also gave
  
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• A Windows Vulnerability Reported by the NSA Was Exploited To Install Russian Malware

  27-04-2024 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  
  "Kremlin-backed hackers have been exploiting a critical Microsoft vulnerability for four years," Ars Technica reported this week, "in attacks that targeted a vast array of organizations with a previously undocumented tool, the software maker disclosed Monday.
  "When Microsoft patched the vulnerability in October 2022 — at least two years after it came under attack by the Russian hackers — the company made no mention that it was under active exploitation."As of publication, the company
  
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• EyeEm Will License Users' Photos To Train AI If They Don't Delete Them

  27-04-2024 12:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Sarah Perez reports via TechCrunch: EyeEm, the Berlin-based photo-sharing community that exited last year to Spanish company Freepik after going bankrupt, is now licensing its users' photos to train AI models. Earlier this month, the company informed users via email that it was adding a new clause to its Terms & Conditions that would grant it the rights to upload users' content to "train, develop, and improve software, algorithms, and machine-learning models." Users were given 30 days to opt
  
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• China Reveals Most Detailed Geological Map of the Moon Ever Created

  27-04-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Nature: The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has released the highest-resolution geological maps of the Moon yet. The Geologic Atlas of the Lunar Globe, which took more than 100 researchers over a decade to compile, reveals a total of 12,341 craters, 81 basins and 17 rock types, along with other basic geological information about the lunar surface. The maps were made at the unprecedented scale of 1:2,500,000. The CAS also released a book cal
  
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• Europe Plans To Build 100-Qubit Quantum Computer By 2026

  27-04-2024 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report published last week by Physics World: Researchers at the Dutch quantum institute QuTech in Delft have announced plans to build Europe's first 100-quantum bit (qubit) quantum computer. When complete in 2026, the device will be made publicly available, providing scientists with a tool for quantum calculations and simulations. The project is funded by the Dutch umbrella organization Quantum Delta NL via the European OpenSuperQPlus initiative, which has 28 partner
  
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• Ring Customers Get $5.6 Million In Refunds In Privacy Settlement

  27-04-2024 04:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The FTC is issuing more than $5.6 million in refunds to Ring customers as part of a privacy settlement. The Associated Press reports: In a 2023 complaint, the FTC accused the doorbell camera and home security provider of allowing its employees and contractors to access customers' private videos. Ring allegedly used such footage to train algorithms without consent, among other purposes. Ring was also charged with failing to implement key security protections, which enabled hackers to take control
  
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• Xbox Console Sales Are Tanking As Microsoft Brings Games To PS5

  27-04-2024 03:25 via games.slashdot.org
  In its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Microsoft reported a 30% drop in Xbox console sales, after reporting a 30% drop last April. "It blamed the nosedive on a 'lower volume of consoles sold' during the start of 2024," reports Kotaku. From the report: In February, Grand Theft Auto VI parent company Take-Two claimed in a presentation to investors that there were roughly 77 million "gen 9" consoles in people's homes. It didn't take fans long to do the math and speculate that Microsoft had
  
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• Court Upholds New York Law That Says ISPs Must Offer $15 Broadband

  27-04-2024 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit overturned a prior district court decision, lifting the injunction that blocked New York's law mandating that ISPs offer $15 broadband plans to low-income families. Ars Technica reports: The ruling (PDF) is a loss for six trade groups that represent ISPs, although it isn't clear right now whether the law will be enforced. For consumers who qualify for means-tested government benefits, the state law requires ISPs to offer "broadband at no more than $1
  
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• Fake Job Interviews Target Developers With New Python Backdoor

  27-04-2024 02:02 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: A new campaign tracked as "Dev Popper" is targeting software developers with fake job interviews in an attempt to trick them into installing a Python remote access trojan (RAT). The developers are asked to perform tasks supposedly related to the interview, like downloading and running code from GitHub, in an effort to make the entire process appear legitimate. However, the threat actor's goal is make their targets download malicious soft
  
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• IRS Free Tax Filing Pilot Saved Consumers $5.6 Million In Prep Fees

  27-04-2024 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The free tax filing pilot from the IRS that rolled out in 12 states last month saved filers an estimated $5.6 million in tax preparation fees for federal returns, said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel. CNBC reports: This season, more than 140,000 taxpayers successfully filed returns using IRS Direct File, a free tax filing pilot from the IRS, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS. Direct File surveyed more than 15,000 users, around 90% of whom rated their experience as "excel
  
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• 45 Drives Adds Linux-Powered Mini PCs, Workstations To Growing Compute Lineup

  27-04-2024 00:40 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Tobias Mann reports via The Register: Canadian systems builder 45 Drives is perhaps best known for the dense multi-drive storage systems employed by the likes of Backblaze and others, but over the last year the biz has expanded its line-up to virtualization kit, and now low-power clients and workstations aimed at enterprises and home enthusiasts alike. 45 Drives' Home Client marks a departure from the relatively large rack-mount chassis it normally builds. Founder Doug Milburn told The Register
  
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• Thoma Bravo To Take UK Cybersecurity Company Darktrace Private In $5 Billion Deal

  27-04-2024 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Darktrace is set to go private in a deal that values the U.K.-based cybersecurity giant at around $5 billion. A newly formed entity called Luke Bidco Ltd., formed by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, has tabled an all-cash bid of $7.75 per share, which represents a 44% premium on its average price for the three-month period ending April 25. However, this premium drops to just 20% when juxtaposed against Darktrace's closing price Thursday, as t
  
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• Judge Dismisses Superconductivity Physicist's Lawsuit Against University

  26-04-2024 23:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by superconductivity physicist Ranga Dias against his employer, the University of Rochester in New York. From a report: In February, a university investigation found that he had committed scientific misconduct by, among other things, fabricating data to claim the discovery of superconductors -- materials with zero electrical resistance -- at room temperature. Dias filed the lawsuit against the university for allegedly violating his academic freedom and con
  
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• British Intelligence Moves To Protect Research Universities From Espionage

  26-04-2024 22:43 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency warned the country's leading research universities on Thursday that foreign states are targeting their institutions and imperilling national security. The Record: "We know that our universities are being actively targeted by hostile actors and need to guard against the threat posed to frontier research in the most sensitive sectors," said the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who also attended the briefing. The threat requires "further measur
  
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• Noise From Traffic Stunts Growth of Baby Birds, Study Finds

  26-04-2024 22:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Noise pollution from traffic stunts growth in baby birds, even while inside the egg, research has found. From a report: Unhatched birds and hatchlings that are exposed to noise from city traffic experience long-term negative effects on their health, growth and reproduction, the study found. "Sound has a much stronger and more direct impact on bird development than we knew before," said Dr Mylene Mariette, a bird communication expert at Deakin University in Australia and a co-author of the study,
  
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• Millions of IPs Remain Infected By USB Worm Years After Its Creators Left It For Dead

  26-04-2024 21:22 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A now-abandoned USB worm that backdoors connected devices has continued to self-replicate for years since its creators lost control of it and remains active on thousands, possibly millions, of machines, researchers said Thursday. ArsTechnica: The worm -- which first came to light in a 2023 post published by security firm Sophos -- became active in 2019 when a variant of malware known as PlugX added functionality that allowed it to infect USB drives automatically. In turn, those drives would infe
  
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• Captchas Are Getting Harder

  26-04-2024 20:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Captchas that aim to distinguish humans from nefarious bots are demanding more brain power. WSJ: The companies and cybersecurity experts who design Captchas have been doing all they can to stay one step ahead of the bad actors figuring out how to crack them. A cottage industry of third-party Captcha-solving firms -- essentially, humans hired to solve the puzzles all day -- has emerged. More alarmingly, so has technology that can automatically solve the more rudimentary tests, such as identifying
  
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• GNOME Foundation To Focus On Fundraising After Years Running A Deficit

  26-04-2024 20:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The GNOME Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting the GNOME desktop environment, has been operating at a deficit for several years, depleting its financial reserves. Robert McQueen, the foundation's president, has announced plans to increase fundraising efforts in a new blog post.
  McQueen adds: As you may be aware, the GNOME Foundation has operated at a deficit (nonprofit speak for a loss -- ie spending more than we've been raising each year) for over three years, essentially running th
  
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• Chinese Drone Maker DJI Might Get Banned Next in the US

  26-04-2024 19:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  U.S. authorities consider DJI a security threat. Congress is weighing legislation to ban it [non-paywalled link], prompting a lobbying campaign from the company, which dominates the commercial and consumer drone markets. The New York Times: DJI is on a Defense Department list of Chinese military companies whose products the U.S. armed forces will be prohibited from purchasing in the future. As part of the defense budget that Congress passed for this year, other federal agencies and programs are
  
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