ICT news

• Anthropic's AI Keeps Passing Its Own Company's Job Interview

  23-01-2026 17:01 via slashdot.org
  Anthropic has a problem that most companies would envy: its AI model keeps getting so good, the company wrote in a blog post, that it passes the company's own hiring test for performance engineers. The test, designed in late 2023 by optimization lead Tristan Hume, asks candidates to speed up code running on a simulated computer chip. Over 1,000 people have taken it, and dozens now work at Anthropic. But Claude Opus 4 outperformed most human applicants.
  Hume redesigned the test, making it harder.
  
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• DuckDuckGo's Browser Now Blocks Most YouTube Ads

  11-07-2026 22:47 via news.slashdot.org
  Nerds.xyz reports:
  DuckDuckGo just gave its browser a feature that a lot of people have been waiting for. The privacy-focused browser can now block most video ads on YouTube, letting users watch videos without sitting through the pre-roll and mid-roll interruptions that have become part of everyday life on the platform. The feature is already enabled by default for iPhone, Windows, and Mac users running the latest version of the browser. Android users can turn it on manually... with DuckDuckGo p
  
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• Orbital Datacenter Plans Need an Environmental Review, FCC Told

  11-07-2026 21:34 via science.slashdot.org
  Environmental groups want America's FCC "to slam the brakes on orbital datacenters," writes The Register.They're arguing for an environmental impact assessment for what could be 1 million satellites:Earthjustice, acting on behalf of DarkSky International, Environment America, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), filed a petition this week... The filing doesn't target any single company. Instead, it asks the regulator to put the entire emerging orbital datacenter sector o
  
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• This Factory Was Severely Short On Workers. Then It Offered Flexible Work.

  11-07-2026 20:34 via it.slashdot.org
  "Flexible, app-based scheduling lets large pools of part-time workers choose four-hour shifts and even select the type of work they prefer," writes long-time Slashdot reader Tony Isaac. While the system started during the pandemic when factories faced severe labor shortages, the model is now "supplying hundreds of trained workers each week... while giving people — from retirees to sidejob hustlers to longtime employees — control over their hours."
  NPR says it's attracting "people who
  
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• China's AI Companies May Be 'Distilling' America's AI Models

  11-07-2026 19:34 via slashdot.org
  In March, Anthropic's Claude "quietly deployed software to spy on China-based customers," reports the Washington Post — apparently to unmask Chinese rivals "suspected of hijacking its technology to make their own AI tools smarter."Last week Anthropic removed the spyware "after a software developer revealed its existence and privacy advocates criticized Anthropic, saying it had surveilled its own users."Anthropic's tracking code was designed in part to catch Chinese firms "distilling" its A
  
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• EFF Celebrates 36th Anniversary, Says 'We Need You in the Fight'

  11-07-2026 18:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  "We need you in the fight," says the American legal expert in privacy, surveillance, AI, and Internet freedom of speech who became the EFF's new executive director in March.
  As EFF celebrates the anniversary of its founding 1990, "Each headline is different, but they tell one story: Many of the threats that once seemed hypothetical are now reality, and EFF's work to ensure technology supports rights, justice, freedom, and innovation for all people has never been more critical."Governments and la
  
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• Meta Says US States Seek $1.4 Trillion In Penalties In August's Youth Safety Trial

  11-07-2026 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Meta "said in a court filing on Monday that four states were seeking $1.4 trillion in penalties," reports Reuters, "over accusations the company designed its Facebook and Instagram platforms to addict young users and misled the public about their safety."Meta put forward the figure in its response to the attorneys general's filings on how penalties should be calculated if the states prevailed at trial. The number, which has not previously been disclosed and is close to Meta's market capitalizati
  
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• How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked a Journalist for Days, Then Sent Police to Arrest Him

  11-07-2026 16:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  "Are you armed?!" the police officer screamed. "Get out of the car!"A writer for the car-news site The Drive describes how "a technological chain linking surveillance cameras, AI, and law enforcement... led to me and my wife being surrounded by police, hands on their guns, in a Kohl's parking lot in suburban Minnesota."
  After dropping off our Amazon returns, we'd just gotten back in the Range Rover and reversed maybe two feet out of the spot when four cop cars came flying out of nowhere and boxe
  
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• FCC Approves Reflect Orbital's Space Mirror Satellite That Astronomers Hate

  11-07-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  The FCC has approved (PDF) Reflect Orbital's Earendil-1 test satellite, which will use a 60-by-60-foot mirror to reflect sunlight back to Earth after dark. "The reflected light from the satellite is supposed to span an area about 3 miles wide on the ground," reports PCMag. It comes despite objections from astronomers and environmental groups who are concerned that the satellites will unleash intrusive light pollution. From the report: The approval is only for one satellite, dubbed Earendil-1, wh
  
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• China Lands Rocket During an Orbital Launch For First Time

  11-07-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  China successfully recovered an orbital rocket booster for the first time, landing the Long March 10B's first stage into a net-equipped sea platform after its maiden launch. "This mission marks my country's first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle and the world's first network-based recovery of a launch vehicle," the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced via social media shortly after the launch. (Translation by Google.) "It signifies a historic brea
  
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• Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets

  11-07-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Apple on Friday accused OpenAI of stealing secrets about products still in development, setting up a legal face-off between two of the world's biggest tech companies. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the consumer tech giant said that OpenAI, a leader in artificial intelligence that has a new hardware business, had asked job candidates from Apple to share details about secret projects an
  
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• Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used AI To Cheat

  11-07-2026 01:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Inside Higher Ed: For the first time since he started teaching Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory nearly two decades ago, Brown University economics professor Roberto Serrano gave his students a take-home midterm this spring. Quite a few students had expressed anxiety about being in a classroom after a gunman killed two students and injured nine in a December mass shooting at Brown, and so "it was appropriate," he said, to allow stude
  
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• Russia Hacks Doorbell Cameras To Spy On NATO Bases

  11-07-2026 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Dutch intelligence agencies say Russian hackers have been hijacking unsecured internet-connected cameras, including likely doorbell and security cameras, to spy on NATO military bases and transport routes used to move weapons to Ukraine. "Organisations with IP [internet protocol] cameras on these routes have now been warned so that they could take action," said the AIVD domestic security and MIVD military intelligence agencies. Targeted NATO member states include the Netherlands and Ukraine. The
  
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• Feds Demand Autonomous Vehicle Companies Stop Interfering With First Responders

  10-07-2026 23:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  NHTSA is ordering autonomous vehicle developers to explain by the end of the month how they will stop driverless cars from interfering with police, firefighters, and paramedics. TechCrunch reports: [NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison] noted in the letter (PDF) that the agency has "identified a clear pattern of driverless AVs interfering with law enforcement and other first responders," citing instances in which these vehicles drove into active emergency scenes, blocked the paths of ambulances
  
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• NYC To Become First In US To Ban Deceptive Subscription Practices

  10-07-2026 22:00 via news.slashdot.org
  On October 1st, New York City will become the first U.S. city to ban deceptive subscription practices, requiring companies to offer simple cancellation options or face fines of $525 per user subscription, back fees, and additional penalties. The Mamdani administration is also proposing a junk-fee rule requiring sellers, landlords, hotels, and other businesses to "advertise the total price for any good or service, including all mandatory additional charges and fees, up front." The Guardian report
  
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• Disable Autoplay and Infinite Scroll Or Risk Massive Fines, EU Tells Meta

  10-07-2026 21:00 via meta.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The European Union is ramping up pressure on Meta to make big changes to Facebook and Instagram after the European Commission preliminarily found that features like autoplay, infinite scroll, and highly personalized content recommendations were addictive. On Thursday, the EC said its investigation indicated that "Meta did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors a
  
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• Disney+ Explores a Free Tier As YouTube Draws TV Viewers

  10-07-2026 20:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Disney is exploring a free tier for Disney+ that would make some content available without a subscription. According to Nielsen data, the three largest free streamers accounted for 18.7% of watch time on U.S. TVs in April, up from 16.8% a year earlier and 12.7% in April 2024. Business Insider reports: Product and tech chief Adam Smith spoke about enabling free-tier content during a streaming town hall on Thursday afternoon, one staffer said. Smith didn't share a timeline for this initiative or a
  
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• OpenAI to Retire ChatGPT Atlas Browser Less Than a Year After Launch

  10-07-2026 19:00 via slashdot.org
  OpenAI is retiring its ChatGPT Atlas browser less than a year after launch. Going forward, its browsing features will be shifted into a redesigned ChatGPT desktop app that also combines Codex, a built-in browser, and "ChatGPT Work" for acting across apps and files. PCMag reports: OpenAI disclosed Atlas's retirement in a Thursday post introducing a more powerful ChatGPT desktop app, following reports that the company planned on turning it into a "superapp." [...] In a tweet, OpenAI product staff
  
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• SAP Makes It Easier For Customers To Shop For Legacy Product Support, Ending EU Antitrust Probe

  10-07-2026 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The European Commission has ended an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices after SAP agreed to abolish reinstatement fees and reduce back-maintenance fees. The move could reduce barriers for customers considering third-party support for products nearing the end of their vendor support terms, including thousands of large businesses that rely on SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) to run their business operations. SAP's mainstream
  
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• OpenAI's CEO of AGI Deployment, Fidji Simo, Is Stepping Down

  10-07-2026 17:00 via slashdot.org
  OpenAI's CEO of AGI deployment, Fidji Simo, is stepping down from her full-time role and becoming a part-time adviser after taking extended medical leave for a chronic neuroimmune condition. "Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave after a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I've lived with for seven years," Simo wrote in a post Thursday on X. "During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated -- and that I needed
  
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• Microsoft to Retire OWA Light Client In Exchange Server

  10-07-2026 14:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft plans to disable and remove OWA Light, the lightweight Outlook Web Access client for Exchange Server, in an upcoming update expected in August 2026. The company says retiring the two-decade-old legacy interface will reduce attack surface and engineering complexity, pushing users to the modern Outlook on the web experience instead. BleepingComputer reports: "OWA Light was an important compatibility experience when the web needed it. Today, the full Outlook on the web experience is the r
  
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• Nobel-Winning US Chemist Will Move to China to Lead AI Institute

  10-07-2026 11:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Nobel-winning chemist Omar Yaghi is leaving UC Berkeley for China's Tsinghua University, where he will lead a new AI institute focused on accelerating the discovery of advanced materials. "Last week, Tsinghua University in Beijing welcomed Dr. Yaghi in an appointment ceremony, calling him one of the world's foremost chemists," reports The New York Times. "The university said he saw his new post as an opportunity 'not to slow down, not to repeat what has already been done, but to do science with
  
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• Humanoid Robots Controlled By Surgeons Did World-First Operation On Live Pigs

  10-07-2026 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Humanoid robots have surgically removed the gallbladders from living animals in an unprecedented medical experiment -- but not as autonomous machines capable of replacing human doctors. Instead, skilled human surgeons remotely controlled the robots' movements in a new example of human-robot teamups. The teleoperated humanoid robots completed two minimally invasive surgeries by removing gallbladders from live pigs during a preclinical trial t
  
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• Lawmakers Probe Growing Use of Chinese AI Models In US Companies

  10-07-2026 01:00 via news.slashdot.org
  U.S. lawmakers are probing the growing use of Chinese AI models by American companies, citing concerns over censorship, security risks, and whether U.S. firms are turning to cheaper foreign models because domestic alternatives are too costly or restricted. The investigation is specifically looking at companies such as Cursor and Airbnb. "The growing use of Chinese AI models by U.S. companies raises serious concerns," a State Department spokesperson told CNBC. Those "AI models are designed to adv
  
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• Google Search Hits All-Time Usage Record

  10-07-2026 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google says the World Cup drove Search to its highest usage in history, with queries per second peaking right after Argentina's winning goal against Egypt. CNBC reports: The milestone comes as the company tries to prove its traditional search engine can keep its relevance in the age of AI, where chatbots have become more prevalent. Google still controls 90% of the search market, its stock price has more than doubled in the past year and revenue growth in the first quarter was the fastest for any
  
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• Meta Patents AI Device That Tracks Your Emotions, Watches You Take Your Meds

  09-07-2026 23:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Meta has filed a patent for a system that records your voice and surroundings all day, then uses an AI to analyse your mood. The patent's stated, theoretical goal is for Meta, a company that makes billions of dollars targeting ads at its users based on their data, is to sell users a wearable that tailors workouts for them based on whether they're happy or sad. Patentlyze first noticed the patent which was published on July 2 after Meta filed it
  
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• OpenAI Rolls Out GPT-5.6 After Government Greenlight, Announces 'ChatGPT Work'

  09-07-2026 22:00 via slashdot.org
  OpenAI has received approval from the Trump administration to publicly roll out GPT-5.6 after an earlier limited preview restricted access to government-approved organizations. The company also launched ChatGPT Work, a new GPT-5.6-powered agent that combines ChatGPT and Codex-style capabilities. "It can gather context from the apps, files, and workflows you choose and create finished materials such as documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and web apps," OpenAI wrote in a blog post, adding that
  
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• Google Hands Open Health Stack To the Linux Foundation

  09-07-2026 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: The Linux Foundation intends to launch the Open Health Stack Software Foundation, a new vendor-neutral home for the Google Open Health Stack project. Google is contributing the project code and assets while Google.org is providing a $3 million grant. The initiative is also backed by Microsoft, Anthropic, and the World Health Organization, with the goal of building open source, AI-ready digital health infrastructure. Will moving the project under Linux Foundation governance a
  
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• San Francisco Moves To Build Private Luxury Airport Terminal

  09-07-2026 20:00 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The [San Francisco international airport] is hoping to build a brand-new terminal exclusively for passengers who pay a premium, gaining access to a luxurious airport experience complete with private security lines and valet service from terminal to tarmac. It will service commercial flights, not business or corporate jets, and the terminal will have its own Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lines as well as Customs and Border Prot
  
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• macOS 28 Will Drop Support For Encrypted Mac OS Extended Volumes

  09-07-2026 19:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Starting with macOS 28, Apple will no longer support encrypted Mac OS Extended, or HFS+, volumes. Users will need to decrypt them or reformat them as APFS to keep using them. 9to5Mac reports: In a new support document, Apple explains that starting with macOS 28, "the Mac OS Extended file system format will be supported only for volumes (disks and other storage devices) that aren't encrypted." In practice, this means users who currently rely on encrypted HFS+ external drives or other encrypted le
  
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