ICT news

• China's 'Artificial Sun' Breaks Nuclear Fusion Limit Thought to Be Impossible

  10-01-2026 19:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  "Scientists in China have made a breakthrough with fusion energy that could finally overcome one of the most stubborn barriers to realising the next-generation energy source," reports the Independent:
  A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said its experimental nuclear reactor, dubbed the 'artificial Sun', achieved a plasma density that was previously thought impossible... Through a new process called plasma-wall self organisation, the CAS researchers were able to keep the plasma stab
  
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• Microsoft Promises To Fix Search With Major Windows 11 Overhaul

  14-07-2026 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Microsoft is overhauling Windows 11 search to prioritize local apps, files, and settings over web results while removing ads, promotions, MSN/Bing clutter, and other distractions. "You've have been asking for search that is faster, more relevant, and easier to use -- whether you're opening an app, finding a file, or changing a setting," Microsoft says in a new blog post. "Because the Windows Search Box is where many people start, we focused first on making results more dependable, easier to scan
  
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• US Government Warns That Russia State Hackers Are Coming After Your Router

  14-07-2026 00:00 via it.slashdot.org
  CISA and allied governments are warning users to secure their routers as Russian state-backed hackers continue compromising the devices and turning them into proxy nodes to disguise attacks against critical infrastructure. The advisory urges users to disable outdated SNMP versions, use strong passwords, update firmware, and turn off unnecessary router services to reduce the risk of being swept into these botnets. Ars Technica reports: "Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Center 16 cyber actor
  
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• German Firm Files For Insolvency After Cybercriminals Shut Down Production For 6 Weeks

  13-07-2026 23:12 via slashdot.org
  German textile firm ZEGO has filed for insolvency and is blaming a March cyberattack that shut down production for nearly six weeks. "ZEGO's filing adds another name to the short but growing list of companies that say a digital break-in was commercially fatal to their business," reports The Register. From the report: In a notice to customers and suppliers, the organization said it had exhausted every available option before seeking insolvency protection. Managing director Johannes Zenglein descr
  
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• States Sue to Block Paramount-Warner Bros Merger, Defying DOJ

  13-07-2026 22:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  A coalition of 12 states led by California is suing to block the $111 billion Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would reduce competition in theatrical distribution, blockbuster films, and basic cable licensing. The challenge (PDF) defies the DOJ's approval of the deal. Variety reports: The coalition, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleges that the $111 billion transaction violates the Clayton Act by lessening competition in three distinct markets: wide-release the
  
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• Apple Reportedly Agreed to Intel Chips To Avoid White House Tariffs

  13-07-2026 21:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  According to the Wall Street Journal (paywalled), Apple agreed to use Intel's U.S. chipmaking plants after White House officials pressured Tim Cook during tariff-relief talks last summer. MacRumors reports: In August 2025, Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Washington to lobby the Trump administration to drop its proposed 100 percent tariff on semiconductor imports -- a levy that would have raised costs across Apple's product line. Apple reportedly secured an exemption after pledging to invest hundreds o
  
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• Cloudflare Precursor Watches Your Mouse and Keyboard To Decide If You Are Human

  13-07-2026 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: Cloudflare has launched Precursor, a new behavioral bot detection system that monitors mouse movement, typing cadence, scrolling, clipboard activity, page visibility, and other signals across an entire browsing session. The system is designed to catch advanced bots that can run JavaScript, use real browsers, and pass traditional CAPTCHA challenges. Cloudflare says Precursor does not record actual keystrokes and instead studies timing and rhythm. The company also says the dat
  
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• Social Media Limits Are Coming For Teens Across Europe

  13-07-2026 19:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  The European Union is considering major new restrictions on children's access to social media, including age limits, phased access, and an outright ban. "This is not about whether children can access social media," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "It is about when social media can access our children." The Verge reports: Social media platforms could also be forced to prove their services are not harmful before young people are allowed to use them. European Commission Pre
  
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• Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting On Social Media

  13-07-2026 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  A new Incogni survey suggests Americans are pulling back from social media, with more than half saying "maintaining an online presence feels like work" and 55% reporting they post less than they did five years ago. "The full study concludes that there's been a significant shift in public attitudes toward social media," reports PCMag. "Where it was once fun and relaxing, it's now growing dark and angsty..." From the report: As the chart shows, there's also a clear correlation with age. A full 60%
  
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• China, Russia and Others Seek To Inflame Debate Over AI Data Centers

  13-07-2026 17:00 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: A state-owned newspaper in China recently published a satellite image of a data center in Gainesville, Va., writing in English that the development of artificial intelligence posed a threat to Americans' physical and financial well-being. A comic strip made to look as if it had been published by a Maryland news outlet -- created with OpenAI's ChatGPT by people in China, the tech company said -- circulated on X this year, blaming data c
  
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• Linus Torvalds on Rust, C, Bugs, and AI Patch-Checking Tools

  13-07-2026 13:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  "Git and email are the two really only tools I use," Linus Torvalds said at Open Source Summit India 2026. But ZDNet reports that he also shared his thoughts on Rust, C, and patch-checking tools:"I use Google as a way to look things up." He added, "I'm unusual; most of the other maintainers end up using many more tools, and I think a lot of them are starting to use AI tools for patch checking," while he "works at a higher level. I work with people, not tools."
  When asked about Rust both in Git a
  
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• Japan's Space Agency Conducts First Test Flight For Experimental Reusable Rocket

  13-07-2026 10:54 via science.slashdot.org
  "Japan's experimental reusable rocket took off and safely landed in a first test flight Saturday," reports the Associated Press, as Japan "seeks to achieve the technology key to cut launch costs and compete in the global space market dominated by SpaceX."
  The RV-X rocket lifted off, hovered and moved horizontally before landing [watch the video here] during its less than one-minute flight at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Noshiro Testing Center in northeastern Japan, which was livestre
  
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• America May Soon Be Facing Largest Labor Shortage in Its History

  13-07-2026 06:54 via it.slashdot.org
  America "is facing what's projected to become the largest labor shortage in its history," according to experts interviewed by the Washington Post:Economists warn that the worsening labor problem, due in part to a skills shortage and population shifts, will be vast and reach beyond tech. It "could hobble the American economy for years to come," predicts the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Lightcast, a labor market data company, calls it "the largest labor shortage the
  
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• America May Soon Be Facing It's Largest Labor Shortage in Its History

  13-07-2026 06:54 via it.slashdot.org
  America "is facing what's projected to become the largest labor shortage in its history," according to experts interviewed by the Washington Post:Economists warn that the worsening labor problem, due in part to a skills shortage and population shifts, will be vast and reach beyond tech. It "could hobble the American economy for years to come," predicts the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Lightcast, a labor market data company, calls it "the largest labor shortage the
  
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• Semi-Trailer Trucks Test Converting Into Plug-In Hybrids

  13-07-2026 03:54 via tech.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader necro81 writes: There are several companies, such as Tesla, trying to make semi trucks fully electric. The capital cost for such a truck, and the MW-scale infrastructure to recharge it, may be a hard sell for some operators. [IEEE Spectrum notes that's a charging infrastructure "that most freight corridors do not yet reliably provide."] But some companies are instead adding batteries and an electric motor to the semi-trailers that trucks haul behind them.
  "The Nivalis P
  
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• 'Billionaire Exodus? California Drew 10x More Venture Capital Than Any Other State This Year'

  13-07-2026 01:34 via news.slashdot.org
  California drew more than $335 billion in venture capital funding this year, reports the Los Angeles Times, citing data released Thursday by PitchBook on private market funding:Its next biggest competitor, New York, raised less than a tenth of California's total. Texas raised 1/40th of the amount... Although a campaign for a new tax on billionaires has convinced some ultra-rich residents to shift to other states and businesses often complain that high property and energy costs and an anti-busine
  
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• 'Forget Coders. the Real AI Threat Is In the Back Office'

  13-07-2026 00:29 via it.slashdot.org
  Which jobs are most threatened by AI? "Programmers, software engineers and other tech industry employees," goes one common answer.
  "But many economists are more concerned about a different, larger group of white-collar workers," reports the New York Times: customer service reps, bookkeepers, payroll clerks and HR specialists, "who fly under the radar but collectively account for tens of millions of jobs..."They are spread across the country and throughout the economy, working in every industry,
  
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• Linus Torvalds on AI, Junk Patches, Humans, and Godzilla

  12-07-2026 22:55 via linux.slashdot.org
  Linus Torvalds once said LLMs might bring a 10X increase to programmer productivity. But speaking at Open Source Summit India 2026, he now says that number was "not scientific,"
  reports ZDNet. "That was pulled out of my ass number, obviously."
  Today, he continued, "we're at the point where hopefully it creates more productivity than it takes away," but "we certainly saw more junk being generated by LLMs than we saw useful code up until the like early this year.... it can actually be a huge drain
  
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• Elon Musk And Sam Altman Spar On X After Apple Files OpenAI Lawsuit

  12-07-2026 20:50 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Elon Musk and Sam Altman criticized each other in new posts on X," reports CNBC, "highlighting the billionaires' long-standing tussle over OpenAI's evolution."This week, SpaceX released the Grok 4.5 generative AI model, while OpenAI debuted its own GPT-5.6 Sol. For days, Musk and Altman have hyped up their respective releases, but on Saturday the rivalry got personal. In response to a post about Apple filing suit against OpenAI on Friday over alleged theft of trade secrets, Musk wrote, "Scam Al
  
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• SK Hynix CEO Warns 2027 Will Be Memory's 'Worst Year' Ever. Shortages May Outlast the Decade

  12-07-2026 19:50 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The CEO of SK Hynix, one of the three largest DRAM producers, predicted to Reuters that the memory industry will see its "worst-ever" supply shortages in 2027, reports the hardware/gaming news site Wccftech:SK Hynix has also forecasted that, given the current market demand, they will fall way short of fulfilling the market demand, and that will continue beyond 2030. The comments from SK Hynix are in line with what Samsung and Micron executives have already said. Samsung has warned of 2027 being
  
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• WSJ Reports on 'Hard-line Activists Ramping Up for the War With AI'

  12-07-2026 18:34 via slashdot.org
  The Wall Street Journal says "an intense 27-year-old activist who had been leading sit-ins at OpenAI to protest the dangers of AI" was just part of a larger movement.
  "The Bay Area's AI boom is drawing young disillusioned men and women to join the fight against it. They are upending their lives and leaving behind careers for think tanks, nonprofits and street protest groups."Their cause is now riding a surge of anti-AI backlash. Many Americans are souring on the technology amid mass layoffs, dat
  
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• Is the COSMIC Desktop Getting Better Than KDE and GNOME?

  12-07-2026 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  "While KDE and GNOME dominate the landscape, a relative newcomer is starting to make waves with features other desktops still don't fully support," argues XDA Developers:
  Linux 7.0 was the first release of the kernel to officially support Rust, but COSMIC has been all-in on Rust since the very beginning, and COSMIC 1.1 finally stripped all the leftovers of C language from the desktop. It no longer has any traces of Nautilus (the GNOME file manager), and then there's now a COSMIC-native system mo
  
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• AI-driven Datacenter Builds Increased Microsoft's Emissions 25% In One Year

  12-07-2026 16:34 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft released its 2026 Environmental Sustainability Report showing that last year it matched its entire electricity consumption with renewable energy, reports The Register."The bad news is it also increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25%" — mostly due to datacenter construction and a decision to stop purchasing some renewable energy certificates:In 2020, Microsoft set itself the goal of becoming "carbon-negative" by 2030. Its own figures show emissions heading only upwards, fro
  
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• Id Co-founders Carmack and Romero Respond to Microsoft's Layoffs

  12-07-2026 13:34 via games.slashdot.org
  "I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs," John Carmack posted Thursday to his 2.8 million followers on X.com:My "Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand" statement isn't aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month.
  I'm saddened, but I can't muster anger or outrage over it. I don't have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft'
  
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• Facial Recognition in UK Shops Will Soon Instantly Alert Police About Offenders

  12-07-2026 09:52 via news.slashdot.org
  Facial recognition technology in U.K. shops "will soon alert police in real time to the presence of serious offenders," reports The Guardian, "with civil liberties groups warning of a 'dangerous escalation' towards surveillance and criminalisation in the retail sector."Facewatch, a facial recognition system used by more than 100 businesses including Sainsbury's, B&M and Spar to monitor thieves, said it was launching a UK-first feature to "alert police instantly when the most serious offender
  
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• 10 Million Cubans Suffer Nationwide Blackout - For The Second Time This Week

  12-07-2026 05:52 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The Associated Press reports:An islandwide blackout struck Cuba on Friday for the second time this week as the nation of nearly 10 million people grapples with a crumbling power grid and fuel shortages stemming from a U.S. energy blockade...
  Authorities reported that they have already begun restoring power to some areas. On Monday, another massive blackout affected nearly 10 million people nationwide. Authorities reported during the week that service was gradually being restored from that outage
  
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• Meta Removes Controversial AI Feature On Instagram After Backlash

  12-07-2026 03:52 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Meta has axed a controversial feature that allowed users to modify photos from public Instagram accounts using AI," reports TechCrunch:The feature, which wasn't designed to alert a user if their photos were used in this way, prompted immediate backlash... The company issued a blog post Friday announcing that it was removing the feature. Puck News founding partner Dylan Byers was the first to share the company's decision... Byers notes that the decision to do away with the feature came "amid scr
  
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• People Keep Sneaking Into an Empty IBM Campus - and Then Getting Arrested

  12-07-2026 00:47 via slashdot.org
  Since February, New York state police have arrested 48 people for trespassing on a former IBM campus in Somers, New York, reports the Wall Street Journal. 30 of the arrests were teenagers.The long-vacant site has become a magnet for so-called urban explorers, who prowl abandoned malls, hospitals, power plants, amusement parks, factories and any other disused structure they can breach... [I]t's been turbocharged by artsy videos on Instagram and TikTok that spur others to create their own posts, l
  
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• How the FSF Sysadmins are Blocking Botnets with reaction

  11-07-2026 23:47 via news.slashdot.org
  For nearly two years the Free Software Foundation has been fighting web crawlers (including many aggressively scraping training data for AI models). A botnet controlling about five million IPs hit one system for six months in 2025. Their systems administrator wrote this week that they view these as distributed denial-of-service attacks.
  How are they fighting back?
  We noticed patterns in the scrapers that were abnormal, which gave us material for writing regular expressions. Searching for the reg
  
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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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