ICT news

• Bill Gates Celebrates Microsoft's 50th By Releasing Altair BASIC Source Code

  03-04-2025 00:20 via slashdot.org
  
  To mark Microsoft's 50th anniversary, Bill Gates has released the original Altair BASIC source code he co-wrote with Paul Allen, calling it the "coolest code" he's ever written and a symbol of the company's humble beginnings. Thurrott reports: "Before there was Office or Windows 95 or Xbox or AI, there was Altair BASIC," Bill Gates writes on his Gates Notes website. "In 1975, Paul Allen and I created Microsoft because we believed in our vision of a computer on every desk and in every home. Five
  
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• The Fastest Human Spaceflight Mission In History Crawls Closer To Liftoff

  20-01-2026 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Preparations for the first human spaceflight to the Moon in more than 50 years took a big step forward this weekend with the rollout of the Artemis II rocket to its launch pad. The rocket reached a top speed of just 1 mph on the four-mile, 12-hour journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the end of its nearly 10-day tour through cislunar space, the Orion capsule on top of
  
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• The World's Longest-Running Lab Experiment Is Almost 100 Years Old

  20-01-2026 03:30 via science.slashdot.org
  alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: It all started in 1927, when physicist Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland in Australia filled a closed funnel with the world's thickest known fluid: pitch, a derivative of tar that was once used to seal ships against the seas. Three years later, in 1930, Parnell cut the funnel's stem, like a ribbon at an event, heralding the start of the Pitch Drop Experiment. From then on, the black substance began to flow. At least, that is, in a
  
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• Germany's EV Subsidies Will Include Chinese Brands

  20-01-2026 02:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  Germany is reinstating EV subsidies after a sharp sales drop, rolling out a 3 billion-euro program offering 1,500-6,000 euros per buyer starting in May and running through 2029. Unlike some neighboring countries, the incentives are open to all manufacturers with a focus on low- and middle-income households. From a report: "I cannot see any evidence of this postulated major influx of Chinese car manufacturers in Germany, either in the figures or on the roads -- and that is why we are facing up to
  
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• A Second US Sphere Could Come To Maryland

  20-01-2026 02:10 via news.slashdot.org
  Sphere Entertainment plans to build a second U.S. Sphere near Washington, D.C., with a smaller 6,000-seat "mini-Sphere" proposed for National Harbor in Maryland. The venue would retain the signature LED exterior and immersive 4D tech of the Las Vegas Sphere, just at a more compact scale. The Verge reports: The second US sphere would be built in an area known as National Harbor in Prince George's County, Maryland. Located along the Potomac River, National Harbor currently features a convention ce
  
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• Nvidia Contacted Anna's Archive To Secure Access To Millions of Pirated Books

  20-01-2026 01:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: NVIDIA executives allegedly authorized the use of millions of pirated books from Anna's Archive to fuel its AI training. In an expanded class-action lawsuit that cites internal NVIDIA documents, several book authors claim (PDF) that the trillion-dollar company directly reached out to Anna's Archive, seeking high-speed access to the shadow library data. [...] Last Friday, the authors filed an amended complaint that significantly expands the s
  
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• OpenAI CFO Says Annualized Revenue Crosses $20 Billion In 2025

  20-01-2026 00:50 via devices.slashdot.org
  According to CFO Sarah Friar, OpenAI's annualized revenue surpassed $20 billion in 2025, up from $6 billion a year earlier with growth closely tracking an expansion in computing capacity. Reuters reports: OpenAI's computing capacity rose to 1.9 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 from 0.6 GW in 2024, Friar said in the blog, adding that Microsoft-backed OpenAI's weekly and daily active users figures continue to produce all-time highs. OpenAI last week said it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. us
  
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• Threads Usage Overtakes X On Mobile

  20-01-2026 00:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  New data from Similarweb shows Threads has overtaken X in daily mobile users. However, X still dominates on the web with around 150 million daily web visits compared to Threads' 8.5 million daily visits. TechCrunch reports: Similarweb's data shows that Threads had 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android as of January 7, 2026, after months of growth, while X has 125 million daily active users on mobile devices. This appears to be the result of longer-term trends, rather than a reactio
  
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• Congress Wants To Hand Your Parenting To Big Tech

  19-01-2026 23:22 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Lawmakers in Washington are once again focusing on kids, screens, and mental health. But according to Congress, Big Tech is somehow both the problem and the solution. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing [Friday] on "examining the effect of technology on America's youth." Witnesses warned about "addictive" online content, mental health, and kids spending too much time buried in screen. At the center of the
  
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• Rackspace Customers Grapple With 'Devastating' Email Hosting Price Hike

  19-01-2026 22:30 via it.slashdot.org
  Rackspace's new pricing for its email hosting services is "devastating," according to a partner that has been using Rackspace as its email provider since 1999. From a report: In recent weeks, Rackspace updated its email hosting pricing. Its standard plan is now $10 per mailbox per month. Businesses can also pay for the Rackspace Email Plus add-on for an extra $2/mailbox/month (for "file storage, mobile sync, Office-compatible apps, and messaging"), and the Archiving add-on for an extra $6/mailbo
  
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• The Rise and Fall of the American Monoculture

  19-01-2026 21:45 via news.slashdot.org
  The American monoculture -- the era when three television networks, seven movie studios, and a handful of record labels determined virtually everything the country watched and heard -- is collapsing under the weight of algorithmic recommendation engines and infinite streaming options. An estimated 200 million tickets were sold for "Gone With the Wind" in 1939 when the U.S. population was 130 million; more than 100 million people watched the MAS*H finale in 1983.
  Only three American productions g
  
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• Asus Confirms It Won't Launch Phones in 2026, May Leave Android Altogether

  19-01-2026 21:05 via mobile.slashdot.org
  Asus won't release any new smartphones this year, and that may signal the brand's exit from the Android space altogether. From a report: Asus Chairman Jonney Shih confirmed the news at an event in Taiwan on Jan. 16. According to a machine-translated version of quotes reported by Inside, Shih said, "Asus will no longer add new mobile phone models in the future."
  Shih said Asus will continue to support existing smartphone users with software updates and warranty assistance. This matches a previous
  
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• WhatsApp Texts Are Not Contracts, Judge Rules in $2M Divorce Row

  19-01-2026 20:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  A British painter who argued that her ex-husband had signed over their $2 million north London home through WhatsApp messages has lost her High Court appeal after the judge ruled that the sender's name appearing in a chat header does not constitute a legal signature.
  Hsiao-mei Lin, 54, presented messages from her former husband Audun Mar Gudmundsson, a financier, in which he stated he would transfer his share of their Tufnell Park property to her. Lin's lawyers argued that because Gudmundsson's
  
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• Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming May Soon Let You Stream Your Own Games for Free - If You Watch Ads

  19-01-2026 19:45 via games.slashdot.org
  Microsoft appears to be preparing an ad-supported tier for Xbox Cloud Gaming that would let players stream games they've purchased digitally without needing a Game Pass subscription, according to a Windows Central report citing sources familiar with the plans. Users last week began noticing a new message pop up while launching cloud games that referenced "1 hour of ad supported play time per session," though no such tier currently exists.
  The ad-supported option, expected to launch sometime this
  
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• ERP Isn't Dead Yet - But Most Execs Are Planning the Wake

  19-01-2026 19:10 via slashdot.org
  Seven out of ten C-suite executives believe traditional enterprise resource planning software has seen its best days, though the category remains firmly entrenched in corporate IT and opinion is sharply divided on what comes next. A survey of 4,295 CFOs, CISOs, CIOs and CEOs worldwide found 36% expect ERP to give way to composable, API-driven best-of-breed systems, while 33% see the future in "agentic ERP" featuring autonomous AI-driven decision-making.
  The research was commissioned by Rimini St
  
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• Valve Has 'Significantly' Rewritten Steam's Rules For How Developers Must Disclose AI Use

  19-01-2026 18:35 via games.slashdot.org
  Valve has substantially overhauled its guidelines for how game developers must disclose the use of generative AI on Steam, making explicit that tools like code assistants and other development aids do not fall under the disclosure requirement. The updated rules clarify that Valve's focus is not on "efficiency gains through the use of AI-powered dev tools."
  Developers must still disclose two specific categories: AI used to generate in-game content, store page assets, or marketing materials, and A
  
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• Netflix Wants Plots Explained Multiple Times Because Viewers Are on Their Phones, Matt Damon Says

  19-01-2026 18:08 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Netflix has begun asking filmmakers to adjust their storytelling approach to account for viewers who are scrolling through their phones while watching, according to Matt Damon. The traditional action movie formula involves three major set pieces distributed across the first, second, and third acts. Netflix now wants a large action sequence in the opening five minutes to hook viewers.
  The streamer has also suggested that filmmakers reiterate plot points "three or four times in the dialogue" to ac
  
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• Dumbphone Owners Have Lost Their Minds

  19-01-2026 17:31 via tech.slashdot.org
  The growing enthusiasm among Gen Z for ditching smartphones in favor of basic "dumbphones" may be overlooking a significant cognitive reality, according to a WIRED essay that draws on the 1998 "extended mind hypothesis" by philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers. The hypothesis argues that external tools can extend the biological brain in an all but physical way, meaning your phone isn't just a device -- it's part of a single cognitive system composed of both the tool and your brain.
  "Interfe
  
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• NYSE Eyes 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading With Weekend Access and Same-Day Settlement

  19-01-2026 16:43 via news.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: The New York Stock Exchange, owned by Intercontinental Exchange, is developing a platform for trading tokenized versions of U.S. listed stocks and ETFs around the clock, pending regulatory approval. The system would combine the NYSE's existing matching engine with blockchain-based settlement, enabling 24x7 trading, instant settlement, and fractional share purchases priced in dollar amounts. Shares would remain fully regulated securities, with dividends and voting rights inta
  
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• IMF Warns Global Economic Resilience at Risk if AI Falters

  19-01-2026 15:40 via slashdot.org
  The "surprisingly resilient" global economy is at risk of being disrupted by a sharp reversal in the AI boom, the IMF warned on Monday, as world leaders prepared for talks in the Swiss resort of Davos. From a report: Risks to global economic expansion were "tilted to the downside," the fund said in an update to its World Economic Outlook, arguing that growth was reliant on a narrow range of drivers, notably the US technology sector and the associated equity boom.
  Nonetheless, it predicted US gro
  
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• China Birth Rate Falls To Lowest Since 1949

  19-01-2026 15:04 via news.slashdot.org
  China's birth rate fell to 5.6 per 1,000 people in 2025, the lowest figure since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, and the country's total population contracted by 3.39 million, the sharpest decline since the Mao Zedong era. The drop marks the fourth straight year of population decline and comes despite government efforts to encourage childbearing, including subsidies of about $500 annually per child born on or after January 1, 2025.
  Beijing has also imposed a 13% value-added tax on
  
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• China Consumed 10.4 Trillion Kilowatt-Hours of Electricity In 2025 - Double the US

  19-01-2026 13:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Slashdot reader hackingbear summarizes this report from Bloomberg: China consumed totally 10.4 trillion kilowatt hours (10.4 petaWh) in 2025 according to data from the National Energy Administration. That's the highest annual electricity use ever recorded by a single country, and doubled the amount used by the US and surpassed the combined annual total of the EU, Russia, India and Japan.
  The surge in demand for power are results of growth in data centers for artificial intelligence (+17% over 20
  
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• More US States are Putting Bitcoin on Public Balance Sheets

  19-01-2026 10:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from CNBC:
  Led by Texas and New Hampshire, U.S. states across the national map, both red and blue in political stripes, are developing bitcoin strategic reserves and bringing cryptocurrencies onto their books through additional state finance and budgeting measures. Texas recently became the first state to purchase bitcoin after a legislative effort that began in 2024, but numerous states have joined the "Reserve Race" to pass legislation that will allow the
  
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• Is the Possibility of Conscious AI a Dangerous Myth?

  19-01-2026 06:45 via slashdot.org
  This week Noema magazine published a 7,000-word exploration of our modern "Mythology Of Conscious AI" written by a neuroscience professor who directs the University of Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science:
  The very idea of conscious AI rests on the assumption that consciousness is a matter of computation. More specifically, that implementing the right kind of computation, or information processing, is sufficient for consciousness to arise. This assumption, which philosophers call computationa
  
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• EHT Astronomers Will Film Swirling of a Supermassive Black Hole for the First Time

  19-01-2026 04:05 via science.slashdot.org
  "Astronomers are preparing to capture a movie of a supermassive black hole in action for the first time," reports the Guardian:The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) will track the colossal black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy throughout March and April with the aim of capturing footage of the swirling disc that traces out the edge of the event horizon, the point beyond which no light or matter can escape... The EHT is a global network of 12 radio telescopes spanning locations from Antarc
  
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• Porsche Sold More Electrified Cars in Europe Last Year than Pure Gas-Powered Models

  19-01-2026 02:04 via tech.slashdot.org
  Porsche made an announcement Friday. In Europe they sold more electrified Porsches last year than pure combustion-engined models, reports Electrek:in Europe, a majority (57.9%) of Porsche's deliveries were plug-ins, with 1/3 of its European sales being fully electric. For models that have no fully electric version but do have a PHEV (Cayenne and Panamera), the plug-in hybrid version dominated sales.
  Of particular note, the Macan sold better with an electric powertrain than it did with a gas one,
  
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• Young US College Graduates Suddenly Aren't Finding Jobs Faster Than Non-College Graduates

  19-01-2026 01:04 via it.slashdot.org
  U.S. college graduates "have historically found jobs more quickly than people with only a high school degree," writes Bloomberg.
  "But that advantage is becoming a thing of the past, according to new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland."
  "Recently, the job-finding rate for young college-educated workers has declined to be roughly in line with the rate for young high-school-educated workers, indicating that a long period of relatively easier job-finding prospects for college grads
  
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• SpaceX Launches New NASA Telescope to Help JWST Study Exoplanets

  18-01-2026 23:29 via science.slashdot.org
  Last week a University of Arizona astronomy professor "watched anxiously...as an awe-inspiring SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried NASA's new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit."
  In 2018 NASA had approached Daniel Apai to help build the telescope, which he says will "shatter a barrier — to understand and remove a source of noise in the data — that limits our ability to study small exoplanets in detail and search for life on them."Astronomers have a trick to study exoplanet atmospher
  
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• Hundreds Answer Europe's 'Public Call for Evidence' on an Open Digital Ecosystem Strategy

  18-01-2026 21:57 via news.slashdot.org
  The European Commission "has opened a public call for evidence on European open digital ecosystems," writes Help Net Security, part of preparations for an upcoming Communication "that will examine the role of open source in EU's digital infrastructure."The consultation runs from January 6 to February 3, 2026. Submissions will be used to shape a Commission Communication addressed to the European Parliament, the Council, and other EU bodies, which is scheduled for publication in the first quarter
  
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• Microsoft Forced to Issue Emergency Out-of-Band Windows Update

  18-01-2026 20:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  The senior editor at the blog Windows Central decries two serious Windows issues "that were not spotted by Microsoft during testing, and are so severe that the company has now issued an emergency fix to address the problems."
  Microsoft's first update for Windows 11 in 2026 has already caused two major issues that saw users unable to fully shutdown their PCs or sign-in into a device when using Remote Desktop... Being unable to shut down your PC due to a recent OS update is a huge oversight on Mic
  
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