ICT news

• Amazon's New Chip Moves AWS Into High-Performance Computing

  29-11-2022 20:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  Amazon's cloud-computing unit is rolling out new chips designed to power the highest-end of computing, supporting tasks such as weather forecasting and gene sequencing. From a report: Amazon Web Services, the largest provider of over-the-internet computing, on Monday said it would let customers rent computing power that relies on a new version of its Graviton chips. Peter DeSantis, a senior vice president who oversees most of AWS's engineering teams, said in an interview that the product is a sp
  
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• EVs Are Already Making Your Air Cleaner, Research Shows

  22-02-2026 23:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Fossil fuels produce NO2, which is linked to asthma attacks, bronchitis, and higher risks of heart disease and stroke, according the EV news site Electrek. But the nonprofit news site Grist.org notes a new analysis showing that those emissions decreased by 1.1% for every increase of 200 electric vehicles — across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes.
  "A pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution," said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at the University
  
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• Long Before Tech CEOs Turned To Layoffs To Cover AI Expenses, There Was WorldCom

  22-02-2026 22:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:Jeopardy time. A. This company spurred CEOs to make huge speculative capital expenditures based on wild unverified claims of future demand, resulting in the layoffs of tens of thousands of workers to reduce the resulting expenses, harming their core businesses. Q. What is OpenAI? Sorry, the correct response is, "What is WorldCom?" In 2002, WorldCom, the second largest long-distance company in the U.S., entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy after disclosing account
  
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• 'Open Source Registries Don't Have Enough Money To Implement Basic Security'

  22-02-2026 21:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Google and Microsoft contributed $5 million to launch Alpha-Omega in 2022 — a Linux Foundation project to help secure the open source supply chain. But its co-founder Michael Winser warns that open source registries are in financial peril, reports The Register, since they're still relying on non-continuous funding from grants and donations.And it's not just because bandwidth is expensive, he said at this year's FOSDEM. "The problem is they don't have enough money to spend on the very secur
  
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• Researchers Develop Detachable Crawling Robotic Hand

  22-02-2026 20:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot writes: Researchers have developed a robotic hand that can not only skitter about on its fingertips, it can also bend its fingers backward, connect and disconnect from a robotic arm, and pick up and carry one or more objects at a time.
  This article in Science News includes footage of the robotic arm reattaching itself to the skittering robot hand, which can also hold objects against both sides of its palm simultaneously, and "can even unscrew the cap off a m
  
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• AI Now Helps Manage 16% of America's Apartments

  22-02-2026 19:34 via slashdot.org
  Imagine a 280-unit apartment complex offering no on-site leasing office with a human agent for questions. "Instead, the entire process has been outsourced to AI..." reports SFGate, "from touring to signing the lease to completing management tasks once you actually move in."
  Now imagine it's far more than just one apartment complex...At two other Jack London Square apartment buildings, my initial interactions were also with a robot. At the Allegro, my fiance and I entered the leasing office for o
  
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• Amazon Disputes Report an AWS Service Was Taken Down By Its AI Coding Bot

  22-02-2026 18:34 via slashdot.org
  Friday Amazon published a blog post "to address the inaccuracies" in a Financial Times report that the company's own AI tool Kiro caused two outages in an AWS service in December.
  Amazon writes that the "brief" and "extremely limited" service interruption "was the result of user error — specifically misconfigured access controls — not AI as the story claims."And "The Financial Times' claim that a second event impacted AWS is entirely false."
  The disruption was an extremely limited ev
  
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• Man Accidentally Gains Control of 7,000 Robot Vacuums

  22-02-2026 17:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  A software engineer tried steering his robot vacuum with a videogame controller, reports Popular Science — but ended up with "a sneak peak into thousands of people's homes."
  While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal reportedly used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI's remote cloud servers. But he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera fe
  
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• F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister

  22-02-2026 16:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Lockheed Martin's F-35 combat aircraft is a supersonic stealth "strike fighter." But this week the military news site TWZ reports that the fighter's "computer brain," including "its cloud-based components, could be cracked to accept third-party software updates, just like 'jailbreaking' a cellphone, according to the Dutch State Secretary for Defense."
  TWZ notes that the Dutch defense secretary made the remarks during an episode of BNR Nieuwsradio's "Boekestijn en de Wijk" podcast, according to a
  
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• Has the AI Disruption Arrived - and Will It Just Make Software Cheaper and More Accessible?

  22-02-2026 12:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  Programmer/entrepreneur Paul Ford is the co-founder of AI-driven business software platform Aboard. This week he wrote a guest essay for the New York Times titled "The AI Disruption Has Arrived, and It Sure Is Fun," arguing that Anthropic's Claude Code "was always a helpful coding assistant, but in November it suddenly got much better, and ever since I've been knocking off side projects that had sat in folders for a decade or longer... [W]hen the stars align and my prompts work out, I can do hun
  
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• After 16 Years, 'Interim' CTO Finally Eradicating Fujitsu and Horizon From the UK's Post Office

  22-02-2026 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Besides running tech operations at the UK's Post Office, their interim CTO is also removing and replacing Fujitsu's Horizon system, which Computer Weekly describes as "the error-ridden software that a public inquiry linked to 13 people taking their own lives."
  After over 16 years of covering the scandal they'd first discovered back in 2009, Computer Weekly now talks to CTO Paul Anastassi about his plans to finally remove every trace of the Horizon system that's been in use at Post Office branche
  
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• Ask Slashdot: What's Your Boot Time?

  22-02-2026 06:34 via ask.slashdot.org
  How much time does it take to even begin booting, asks long-time Slashdot reader BrendaEM. Say you want separate Windows and Linux boot processes, and "You have Windows on one SSD/NVMe, and Linux on another. How long do you have to wait for a chance to choose a boot drive?"
  And more importantly, why is it all taking so long?
  In a world of 4-5 GHz CPU's that are thousands of times faster than they were, has hardware become thousands of times more complicated, to warrant the longer start time? Is
  
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• DNA Technology Convicts a 64-Year-Old for Murdering a Teenager in 1982

  22-02-2026 03:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  "More than four decades after a teenager was murdered in California, DNA found on a discarded cigarette has helped authorities catch her killer," reports CNN:Sarah Geer, 13, was last seen leaving her friend's houseï in Cloverdale, California, on the evening of May 23, 1982. The next morning, a firefighter walking home from work found her body, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said in a news release... Her death was ruled a homicide, but due to the "limited forensic science of th
  
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• Pro-Gamer Consumer Movement 'Stop Killing Games' Will Launch NGOs in America and the US

  22-02-2026 00:43 via yro.slashdot.org
  The consumer movement Stop Killing Games "has come a long way in the two years since
  YouTuber Ross Scott got mad about Ubisoft's
  destruction of The Crew in 2024," writes the gaming news site PC Gamer. "The short version is, he won: 1.3 million people signed the group's petition, mandating its consideration by the European Union, and while Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reminded us all that nothing is forever, his company promised to never do something like that again." (And Ubisoft has since updated
  
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• Pro-Gamer Consumer Movement 'Stop Killing Games' Will Launch NGOs in America and the EU

  22-02-2026 00:43 via yro.slashdot.org
  The consumer movement Stop Killing Games "has come a long way in the two years since
  YouTuber Ross Scott got mad about Ubisoft's
  destruction of The Crew in 2024," writes the gaming news site PC Gamer. "The short version is, he won: 1.3 million people signed the group's petition, mandating its consideration by the European Union, and while Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reminded us all that nothing is forever, his company promised to never do something like that again." (And Ubisoft has since updated
  
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• Hit Piece-Writing AI Deleted. But Is This a Warning About AI-Generated Harassment?

  21-02-2026 23:43 via developers.slashdot.org
  Last week an AI agent wrote a blog post attacking the maintainer who'd rejected the code it wrote. But that AI agent's human operator has now come forward, revealing their agent was an OpenClaw instance with its own accounts, switching between multiple models from multiple providers. (So "No one company had the full picture of what this AI was doing," the attacked maintainer points out in a new blog post.)But that AI agent will now "cease all activity indefinitely," according to its GitHub profi
  
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• America's Peace Corps Announces 'Tech Corps' Volunteers to Help Bring AI to Foreign Countries

  21-02-2026 22:43 via yro.slashdot.org
  Over 240,000 Americans volunteered for Peace Corps projects in 142 countries since the program began more than half a century ago.
  But now the agency is launching a new initiative — called Tech Corps. "It's the Peace Corps, but make it AI," explains Engadget:
  The Peace Corps' latest proposal will recruit STEM graduates or those with professional experience in the artificial intelligence sector and send them to participating host countries.According to the press release, volunteers will be
  
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• Code.org President Steps Down Citing 'Upending' of CS By AI

  21-02-2026 21:35 via news.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:Last July, as Microsoft pledged $4 billion to advance AI education in K-12 schools, Microsoft President Brad Smith told nonprofit Code.org CEO/Founder Hadi Partovi it was time to "switch hats" from coding to AI. He added that "the last 12 years have been about the Hour of Code, but the future involves the Hour of AI." On Friday, Code.org announced leadership changes to make it so."I am thrilled to announce that Karim Meghji will be stepping into the role o
  
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• T2 Linux Restores XAA In Xorg, Making 2D Graphics Fast Again

  21-02-2026 20:35 via linux.slashdot.org
  Berlin-based T2 Linux developer René Rebe (long-time Slashdot reader ReneR) is announcing that their Xorg display server has now restored its XAA acceleration architecture, "bringing fixed-function hardware 2D acceleration back to many older graphics cards that upstream left in software-rendered mode."
  Older fixed-function GPUs now regain smooth window movement, low CPU usage, and proper 24-bit bpp framebuffer support (also restored in T2). Tested hardware includes ATi Mach-64 and Rage-12
  
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• The Salvation Army Opens a Digital Thrift Store On Roblox

  21-02-2026 19:34 via games.slashdot.org
  Slashdot reader BrianFagioli writes: The Salvation Army has launched what it calls the world's first digital thrift store inside Roblox, an experience named Thrift Score that lets players browse virtual racks and buy digital fashion for their avatars.
  While I understand the strategy of meeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha where they already spend time and money, I feel uneasy about turning something that, in the real world, often serves low income families in genuine need into a gamified aesthetic inside
  
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• Researchers Discover Ancient Bacteria Strain That Resists 10 Modern Antibiotics

  21-02-2026 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  CNN reports on a 13,000-year-old glacier in a Romanian cave, where scientists say a bacterial strain they thawed and analyzed "is resistant to 10 modern antibiotics used to treat diseases such as urinary tract infections and tuberculosis."
  But there's no evidence the bacteria is harmful to humans, CNN notes, and "The scientists said the insights they have gained from the work may help in the fight against modern superbugs that can't be treated by commonly used antibiotics."
  Analysis of the Psych
  
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• Is 'Brain Rot' Real? How Too Much Time Online Can Affect Your Mind.

  21-02-2026 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Can being "very online" really affect our brains, asks the Washington Post:
  Research suggests that scrolling through short videos on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts is affecting our attention, memory and mental health. A recent meta-analysis of the scientific literature found that increased use of short-form video was linked with poorer cognition and increased anxiety...
  In a 2025 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, researchers looked at longitudinal data from more than
  
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• How Python's Security Response Team Keeps Python Users Safe

  21-02-2026 16:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  This week the Python Software Foundation explained how they keep Python secure. A new blog post recognizes the volunteers and paid Python Software Foundation staff on the Python Security Response Team (PSRT), who "triage and coordinate vulnerability reports and remediations keeping all Python users safe."Just last year the PSRT published 16 vulnerability advisories for CPython and pip, the most in a single year to date! And the PSRT usually can't do this work alone, PSRT coordinators are encoura
  
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• Hazardous Substances Found In All Headphones Tested By ToxFREE Project

  21-02-2026 14:00 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: You wear them at work, you wear them at play, you wear them to relax. You may even get sweaty in them at the gym. But an investigation into headphones has found every single pair tested contained substances hazardous to human health, including chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems and the feminization of males. [...] Researchers say that while individual doses from particular sources may be low, a "cocktail effect" of
  
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• OpenAI's First ChatGPT Gadget Could Be a Smart Speaker With a Camera

  21-02-2026 11:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  OpenAI is reportedly developing its first consumer hardware product: a $200-$300 smart speaker with a built-in camera capable of recognizing "items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity." It's also said to feature Face ID-style authentication for purchases. The Verge reports: In addition to the smart speaker, OpenAI is "possibly" working on smart glasses and a smart lamp, The Information reports. (Apple may also be working on a smart lamp.) But OpenAI's glasses mig
  
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• US Particle Accelerators Turn Nuclear Waste Into Electricity, Cut Radioactive Life By 99.7%

  21-02-2026 08:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Researchers at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are advancing Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADS) that use high-energy proton beams to transmute long-lived nuclear waste into shorter-lived isotopes. "The process also generates significant heat, which can be harnessed to produce additional electricity for the grid," reports Interesting Engineering. The projects are supported by $8.17 million in grants from the Department of Energy's NEWTON (Nuclear Energy Waste Transmutation Optimi
  
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• NASA Eyes March 6 To Launch 4 Astronauts To the Moon On Artemis II Mission

  21-02-2026 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: NASA could launch four astronauts on a mission to fly around the moon as soon as March 6th. That's the launch date (PDF) that the space agency is now working towards following a successful test fueling of its big, 322-foot-tall moon rocket, which is standing on a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida."This is really getting real," says Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator of NASA's exploration systems development mission directorate
  
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• Fury Over Discord's Age Checks Explodes After Shady Persona Test In UK

  21-02-2026 03:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  Backlash intensified against Discord's age verification rollout after it briefly disclosed a UK age-verification test involving vendor Persona, contradicting earlier claims about minimal ID storage and transparency. Ars Technica explains: One of the major complaints was that Discord planned to collect more government IDs as part of its global age verification process. It shocked many that Discord would be so bold so soon after a third-party breach of a former age check partner's services recentl
  
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• Pinterest Is Drowning in a Sea of AI Slop and Auto-Moderation

  21-02-2026 02:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  Users say Pinterest has become flooded with AI-generated images and heavy-handed automated moderation, with artists reporting wrongful takedowns and their hand-drawn work mislabeled as "AI modified." As the company doubles down on AI features and layoffs, longtime users argue the platform's creative ecosystem is being undermined. 404 Media reports: "I feel like, increasingly, it's impossible to talk to a single human [at Pinterest]," artist and Pinterest user Tiana Oreglia told 404 Media. "Along
  
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• Meta's Metaverse Leaves Virtual Reality

  21-02-2026 01:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  Meta is pivoting Horizon Worlds away from its original VR-centric metaverse vision and toward a mobile-first strategy, "explicitly separating" its Quest VR platform from the virtual world. TechCrunch reports: By going mobile-first, Horizon Worlds is positioning itself to compete with popular platforms like Roblox and Fortnite. "We're in a strong position to deliver synchronous social games at scale, thanks to our unique ability to connect those games with billions of people on the world's bigges
  
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