ICT news

• America Is Stuck With an Elevator Crisis

  07-01-2025 11:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  America's aging elevators are facing significant repair delays and rising costs, creating accessibility challenges and leaving vulnerable populations stranded. Experts argue that implementing federal standards and modernizing systems could address these issues. However, fixing the nation's approximately one million elevators is "becoming a heavy lift," reports Axios. From the report: America's aging elevators are time-consuming and costly to fix. The workforce of technicians who know how to fix
  
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• OpenAI To Cut Off AI Models For SpaceX-owned Cursor

  31-08-2026 09:34 via slashdot.org
  "OpenAI said on Friday that it plans to stop providing AI models to Cursor, the coding-tool company now owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX," reports Reuters:
  "We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts," OpenAI said in a blog post... However, Michael Truell, a co-founder of Cursor and now an executive at SpaceX, said on X that the company was speaking wit
  
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• Amazon's HR Lead Uses AI Tool to Write 100,000 Lines of Code - 25 Years After She Last Coded

  31-08-2026 06:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  In an Amazon News blog post, their HR leader describes using AI to write 100,000 lines of code — 25 years after she last coded. "Do you know how empowering it is to realize that after 25 years away from coding, you can actually build again?" First she built a calendar app for her family, but then used Amazon's AI-powered coding tool Kiro to write an app for Amazon's internal "Everyone Can Build" event.We opened the competition to every employee on our team, and within just a few weeks, mor
  
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• Multikernel Linux Tree Released: Runs Multiple Kernels On Bare Metal Without a Hypervisor

  31-08-2026 04:26 via linux.slashdot.org
  "Multikernel Technologies has put out mklinux v7.0-mk2, the first public release of the multikernel Linux tree it's been building since last year," reports the blog It's FOSS:The basic premise of the project is that one physical server can run several independent Linux kernels side by side, each with its own dedicated CPUs and memory. So, the same box could run a database on one kernel and a GPU training job on another without either kernel touching the other's resources... One kernel runs as th
  
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• Gamescom Crime Spree? Three Exhibitors Report Their Laptops Were Stolen

  31-08-2026 02:38 via yro.slashdot.org
  From the gaming news site Aftermath"
  Game developer and consultant Ryan Laley traveled to Cologne, Germany from Essex, England to showcase his upcoming horror social deduction game Mimic at the annual Gamescom event. He paid "thousands of pounds" to get a booth at the show, where other game developers and press could try the game ahead of its October release. But Laley's Gamescom was cut short when he realized Friday morning that his brand new Alienware laptop, purchased for the event, was missi
  
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• AI's 'Creepy' Crawlers Criticized by Linux Foundation's IT Infrastructure Director

  31-08-2026 00:38 via linux.slashdot.org
  The Linux Foundation's director of IT infrastructure says they now spend more CPU cycles "rendering commits for scrapers than we spend on all other kinds of legitimate access."
  At any one time, across 5 geo-distributed nodes, there are 14 CPU cores doing nothing but rendering git commits as html....
  [W]hen a source is guaranteed to be LLM-free, like the entire history of kernel commits, it's worth its weight in gold as a source of training data... At the time of writing, linux.git is about 1.48
  
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• Chess.com Launches New Poker Site, Plans More Classic Game Sites with Player Ratings - Thanks to AI Protyping

  30-08-2026 22:20 via games.slashdot.org
  In May Chess.com "quietly launched" a free educational poker site named Gambit, reports The Verge, where players can learn the game and improve an Elo-like rating without risking real money. And next Chess.com will expand into more classic games, including go, backgammon, and mahjong:Like Gambit, Chess.com is developing Elo-style rating systems for these games, as well. [Chess.com's chief growth officer, Albert Cheng] didn't say when the new sites will launch but that "development is moving quit
  
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• Google Maps Renamed Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' - But Only for U.S. Users

  30-08-2026 20:53 via tech.slashdot.org
  It's already happened — at least on Google Maps.Google's online maps reflect name changes in official government sources, Google posted Saturday. So when the U.S. Geographic Names Information System formally changed the name for "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America," Google also renamed it "Lake America" — for visitors from the U.S.
  "Those in Canada will continue to see 'Lake Ontario'," Google said.
  And people from every other country in the world... "will see both names." Though here's h
  
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• Has Big Tech Captured America's Schools?

  30-08-2026 19:39 via news.slashdot.org
  America's public education system has become "an avenue for multitrillion-dollar companies to enact their agendas," argues a NewYork Times reporter who's covered that tech industry influence for over 10 years. Big tech companies "advocate for new laws to require schools to teach industry-aligned subjects. They sit on committees that help shape learning standards for public school students..."The reporter concludes that "Silicon Valley's efforts to capture the attention of education professionals
  
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• A Tiny 'Rainbow On a Chip' Could Help Supercharge 6G Networks

  30-08-2026 18:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  ScienceDaily reports:A microchip about the size of a grain of rice can generate a highly organized "rainbow" of light, a capability that could eventually support faster, higher-capacity 6G communications and extremely precise timing for quantum technologies. Physicists at Loughborough University, working with an international research team, demonstrated a system that produces a series of precisely spaced light frequencies. Those optical frequencies can then be converted into multiple high-freque
  
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• Citrix Adds a Linux-Powered Escape Hatch For Compromised Windows PCs

  30-08-2026 17:34 via it.slashdot.org
  Citrix's Desktop as a Service (DaaS) product includes a lightweight, hardened second operating system called UniconOS (once called "eLux") to offer Windows customers a write-protected file system Citrix says is secure against computer viruses and other malware. Nerds.xyz reports:According to the company, the environment remains isolated from the Windows filesystem and uses Secure Boot protections covering the shim, bootloader, kernel, and initial RAM filesystem. That separation matters when rans
  
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• Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Edible Cookies

  30-08-2026 16:34 via science.slashdot.org
  A team of researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale engineered yeast to create cookies that were 3D printed out of plastic waste, reports Futurism:The yeast breaks down the components of plastic compounds and agricultural byproducts like discarded plant stalks into proteins, fats, acids, and flavorings that we can eat. When these are combined together, the mixture is fed into a 3D printer that spits out cookies of any desired shape. The researchers chose to print their cookies as th
  
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• SpaceX Launching NASA's Roman Space Telescope to Explore Dark Energy and Habitable Planets

  30-08-2026 13:22 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Roman Space Telescope on a Falcon Heavy rocket, with the launch window opening at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT). NASA will carry the launch live on YouTube.
  CNN offers this mission overview from NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "Roman will investigate dark matter, dark energy and the structure of the universe itself, and accelerate the future of discovery of potentially habitable planets outside our solar system." In fact, "NASA anticipates that Roman will image mo
  
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• BMW Blames Young People For Loss of Real Buttons In New Cars

  30-08-2026 09:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  BMW is about to release their most screen-dependent vehicles ever, reports Car and Driver:
  Step into the BMW iX3, and you'll notice something is missing: real buttons. The climate controls are fettered to the center screen, as is nearly every other feature, save for a handful located in the center console — at least the window switches are still on the doors...But don't blame a desire for larger profit margins; BMW's move away from physical switchgear and toward touchscreen dependence is t
  
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• Google's AI-Powered Lifestyle App 'Dreambeans' Now Free in the US

  30-08-2026 06:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google's AI assistant Gemini crawls your Google apps for "more personalized suggestions," in a feature they call Personal Intelligence. Now when given permission, an Android/iOS app called Dreambeans "uses Personal Intelligence to connect information from Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, Photos, YouTube and Search History, to curate a finite collection of daily stories designed to spark new ideas." In a slick new video Google says the app will "surface what matters to you."
  The blog 9to5Google
  
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• Debian Decides: Contributors Can Use Generative AI 'Responsibly'

  30-08-2026 03:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  This week Debian voted on whether to ban AI-assisted contributions. The winning proposal? "Debian neither endorses nor prohibits the use of generative AI tools" in its projects, documentation, and packaging... Generative AI "is neither exempt from nor subject to special rules beyond the standards already expected of Debian contributors."
  "The responsibility for every contribution rests with the contributor who submits it, who remains accountable for its technical quality, legal acceptability, an
  
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• Anthropic Sued By Sony, Warner For Allegedly Stealing Tens of Thousands of Songs, Torrenting Copyrighted Works

  30-08-2026 01:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Axios reports:
  Some of the world's largest music publishers filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Anthropic late Friday night, alleging "one of the largest and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history."The suit is the opening salvo in what is now likely to be a yearslong fight over music, AI, and how intellectual property is protected in a new era of technology... The Sony/Warner lawsuit is notable because it's broad. It alleges Anthropic unlawfully trained its models off "t
  
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• What's 88-year-old Ridley Scott Doing Now?

  30-08-2026 00:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  The Los Angeles Times first calls Ridley Scott's newest movie "a postapocalyptic thriller that trades zombies for pandemics and asks whether hope can outlast catastrophe." But besidesThe Dog Stars, Scott is also working on an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" starring Hugh Jackman, and is thinking about turning one of his past films into a musical. ("I can't tell you which one because they're being difficult.") The common theme, they suggest, is a director who allows his s
  
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• With the Snip of a Gene, Scientists Hope To Erase High Cholesterol For Life

  29-08-2026 23:00 via science.slashdot.org
  CNN reports that "A one-time snip of a key gene lowered heart-clogging cholesterol by about 50% over an entire year with no adverse effects, scientists have reported."The overwhelmingly positive results were found in four people who had taken the highest dose of the experimental treatment during a pilot study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in November 2025. That study was extremely small — only 15 patients with dangerously high cholesterol that did not respond to medicati
  
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• Millions of Cars Recalled Over Danger of Bursting Into Flames. But They're Not EVs.

  29-08-2026 22:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  The Washington Post shares this tip for car buyers.Electric vehicles "are not driving the recent growth in recalls warning that vehicles could erupt into flames at any time, even when parked and turned off."A Washington Post analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall notices found that conventional gas and diesel vehicles made up the vast majority of vehicles covered by the "park outside" label since 2021.Last week, The Post wrote about an alarming surge in these s
  
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• Chatbot Conversations Can Become Evidence in Court

  29-08-2026 21:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  The Washington Post looks "a growing number of Americans who have had their private conversations with AI chatbots made public in court," calling the chatbots "custodians of a fast-growing trove of intimate data that can be sought by law enforcement, or companies or other opponents in civil litigation."A Washington Post review of public records and local news stories found that chatbot logs were cited in 12 court cases over the past two years. It's hard to know how often chatbot material is draw
  
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• The Linux Kernel Is Approaching 2,000 CVEs Per Release

  29-08-2026 20:00 via linux.slashdot.org
  Phoronix reports on Greg Kroah-Hartman's recent slide from his upcoming talk in Paris at Kernel Recipes 2026 (September 21 to 23):With the proliferation of AI/LLM models analyzing the Linux kernel's vast codebase, there has been a surge in the number of CVEs per kernel release. After typically being around 500 CVEs fixed per release, we are now approaching 2,000 CVEs fixed per release and perhaps will break that threshold for Linux 7.3... Fortunately, most often they end up being lower priority
  
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• 'Grand Theft Auto 6' Preview Signals Blockbuster Demand, Analysts Say

  29-08-2026 19:00 via games.slashdot.org
  Rockstar Games has released a 26-minute "extended look" at Grand Theft Auto VI, due for release November 19th.
  After one day the video had nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and when Netflix streamed the footage, "some viewers had to refresh the page after receiving error messages, indicating high usage levels," reports CNBC:
  "Some members briefly experienced an issue accessing Netflix, but we quickly recovered," the company told CNBC. Game streaming platform Twitch, where many viewers were pos
  
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• As Backlash Grows, More Americans Now Oppose Automated Police License Plate Readers Than Support

  29-08-2026 18:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  A new survey on police license plate cameras found that "more Americans oppose these surveillance cameras than support them," reports TechCrunch:According to a new YouGov survey of 20,000 people across the U.S. that was shared exclusively with The Washington Post, 46% of respondents opposed the company's surveillance cameras in their communities, while 38% supported them. This is a reversal from last year, when the majority of survey respondents said they were in favor... The survey also reporte
  
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• Xylitol Linked To Strokes and Heart Attacks, Study Finds

  29-08-2026 17:00 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A common sweetener used in products such as chewing gum, toothpaste, jam, yoghurts and ice-cream has been linked to an increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and death. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol present in some natural foods in very low amounts. It is also added -- often in amounts 1,000 times higher -- to artificially sweeten foods, beverages and oral care products. Despite its growing use, the long-term health impacts of xylitol have ne
  
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• The World's Busiest Spaceport Is About To Get a Lot Quieter, At Least For Now

  29-08-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX is significantly reducing Falcon 9 launches from Florida this year, ending the Space Coast's decade-long run as the world's busiest spaceport as more missions shift to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The slowdown is expected to continue until Starship begins flying regularly from Florida. Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Ars Technica: A Falcon 9 launch early Tuesday was the last planned Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral until SpaceX begins flying Starshi
  
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• Trump Creates a Space Academy and Honors the Artemis Astronauts

  29-08-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  President Trump awarded the four-member Artemis II crew the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and signed an executive order directing the creation of a new U.S. Space Academy. The proposed academy would train engineers, scientists, technicians, operators, and astronauts for NASA, the Space Force, and the commercial space industry. Houston Public Media reports: The Artemis II crew -- NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen -- retraced his
  
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• Is China Secretly Fueling America's Data Center Rage?

  29-08-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  alternative_right shares a report from Axios: Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media, X said Thursday night. The X Safety team probed suspected Chinese accounts involved in influence operations and identified 200,000 accounts, including 200 accounts "posting in a manner that could manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and energy policy," the team said in a tweet.The posts included conte
  
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• New York City 911 System Missed 1,700 Calls Due To Software Update

  29-08-2026 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Longtime Slashdot reader belmolis writes: Part of New York City's 911 emergency system was offline from about 3:13 a.m. to 10 a.m. on August 18th due to a software update, according to Medical Daily. Of 5,659 calls to the Bronx call center during that period, about 1,700 calls connected but could not be heard by emergency operators. Some were rerouted to other call centers, but an estimated 400 human callers never got through. The potentially serious consequences of delayed response to emergenci
  
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• States Can Regulate Prediction Markets As Gambling, Federal Appeals Court Rules

  29-08-2026 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  A federal appeals court has ruled that states can regulate prediction markets like Kalshi as gambling, handing state regulators their biggest legal victory yet against the booming industry. "There are still related lawsuits pending across the country, and legal experts believe the matter will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court," reports CNN. "But Friday's ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the largest courtroom victory to date for the states as they seek to regulate predic
  
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