ICT news

• Did Virginia Regulators Downplay Data Center Health Concerns?

  26-07-2026 01:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Politico reports that in the Virginia area alone there's dozens of data center projects "that altogether need 70 gigawatts of power — equivalent to 70 nuclear plants" — currently seeking connection to their grid. But there's also concerns about a Virginia data center powered with natural gas and backup diesel generators:
  When Virginia's top environmental regulator received an analysis warning of data center pollution, it took him less than five minutes to forward it to seven people o
  
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• Wildfires, Evacuations, and Smoke Hit Europe and North America

  26-07-2026 20:39 via news.slashdot.org
  270,000 people have been displaced by wildfires in France and Spain, reports the Guardian. A wildfire even forced evacuations in Scotland.
  And wildfires "have now scorched four million acres of land in the U.S.," reports NPR, as tens of millions of people in North America "are continuing to endure hazardous smoke from out of control wildfires burning across Canada and the Western U.S."
  At America's National Interagency Fire Center, NPR's wildfire correspondent says all of America's firefighting
  
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• AI-Equipped Garbage Trucks Could Soon Start Spying On People in the US

  26-07-2026 19:39 via news.slashdot.org
  America's garbage trucks can do more than just collect trash, reports Newsweek. They may also help identify code violations using AI.Officials in Cape Coral, Florida, recently considered equipping sanitation trucks with AI-powered cameras that would photograph properties as crews complete their normal collection routes. The system would have been designed to identify potential issues such as overgrown lawns, peeling paint, and illegal dumping, and to flag violations so the city staff can review
  
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• Is Huawei Building Its Own DRAM Fab?

  26-07-2026 18:39 via hardware.slashdot.org
  From the site tech-news site XDA Developers:
  The consumer tech economy needs more DRAM manufacturers, and it needs them more urgently than perhaps at any point in its history. Anyone keeping track of the pricing trends will know that memory prices have climbed into the stratosphere on the back of AI infrastructure's relentless demand, and every consumer device that depends on RAM has traveled from inflated to unaffordable, quarter after quarter, with almost no relief in sight. Which is exactly w
  
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• Three Astronauts Safely Return from Space Station, Landing in Kazakhstan Steppe

  26-07-2026 17:39 via science.slashdot.org
  "Welcome home!" NASA posted on X.com, sharing footage of a successful "parachute-assisted" landing on a Kazakhstan steppe for the Soyuz MS-28, carrying three astronauts who'd spent 241 days on the International Space Station. (And YouTube has a full two-hour video with NASA's coverage of the landing.)
  A NASA web page notes they orbited Earth 3,856 times and traveling more than 102 million miles after docking with the Space Station on November 27. It was the first mission for NASA astronaut Chris
  
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• Typo-Squatting Scammers Con South Carolina Town Out of $545K

  26-07-2026 16:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  It started with some underground utility work for the South Carolina town of Surfside Beach (population: 4,155). "Public records confirm that a payment of $545,598.30 was issued," according to a local news station — but the CEO of Wildcat Contractors "stated that the account that received the money is a scammer account and that his company has an overdue invoice for underground utility work completed in Surfside Beach."
  Yahoo picks up the story:After the payment issue surfaced, Wildcat sai
  
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• A Promising Process For Nuclear Fuel Re-use and Disposal?

  26-07-2026 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  A Canadian lab has run a chemical process on real spent nuclear fuel "and pulled out 90% of the long-lived danger in 24 hours, the part that forces a burial site to last 100,000 years," notes the blog Autonocio, "with the leftovers meant to fuel a reactor."
  The standard plan for spent nuclear fuel is to wait it out. You pull the used bundles from a reactor, sit them in a pool of water for seven to ten years while the heat and radiation come down, seal them in concrete casks, and look for somewhe
  
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• Comic-Con 2026 Debuts Trailers for 'Coyote vs Acme' Movie, Plus 'Neuromancer' and 'Blade Runner 2099' Series

  26-07-2026 09:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Big news from Comic-Con 2026:"Coyote vs. ACME" debuted its long-awaited final trailer. CNET calls it "an animation-meets-live-action story," with the Coyote catapulting into theaters this August 28. (The film began development back in 2018, but was shelved for a tax write-off in 2023 by Warner Bros. until a backlash led to its sale to Ketchup Entertainment.) "Fed up with Acme's unreliable products, Wile E. Coyote decides to hire a lawyer and sue the company..." writes CNET. "The movie also featu
  
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• 32 of 35 Students Caught Using Hilariously Wrong AI-Generated Answers for Professor's Midterm

  26-07-2026 05:34 via news.slashdot.org
  "32 of my 35 students between two classes failed a portion of their midterm because they all used AI to generate their entire response," history professor Jason Gibson says in a viral video shared over 10 million times. "And apparently, they didn't proofread it."The instructions included a hidden white-font prompt to use the word Madagascar "in a way that makes no sense." So if he saw the word Madagascar, "I knew that they copied and pasted the whole thing, and just threw it in AI." Futurism rep
  
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• Firefox's New Tab Page Will Get Widgets - Including an AI-Powered Daily Crossword

  26-07-2026 03:34 via news.slashdot.org
  In a sign of the times, Firefox's New Tab page could soon include a crossword puzzle from AI-powered news platform Particle. The blog OMG Ubuntu reports:The mini crossword game is updated daily, with puzzles based around recent content Particle's AI has ingested and summarised that day. [After solving the crossword, links appear to related news articles...] If you just want to try the crossword, you access it in any browser via a direct link.
  While it may look like Mozilla is trying to capitalis
  
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• Firefox' New Tab Page Will Get Widgets - Including an AI-Powered Daily Crossword

  26-07-2026 03:34 via news.slashdot.org
  In a sign of the times, Firefox's New Tab page could soon include a crossword puzzle from AI-powered news platform Particle. The blog OMG Ubuntu reports:The mini crossword game is updated daily, with puzzles based around recent content Particle's AI has ingested and summarised that day. [After solving the crossword, links appear to related news articles...] If you just want to try the crossword, you access it in any browser via a direct link.
  While it may look like Mozilla is trying to capitalis
  
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• Drying Lakebeds Are Releasing Massive Amounts of Carbon, Study Finds

  26-07-2026 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  "In many parts of the world, lakes are drying out at a scale so massive that scientists are warning they may be emitting enough greenhouse gases to rival our fossil fuel habit," reports ScienceAlert:In a new study published in Science, scientists say the Aral Sea — the world's largest desiccated lake — has emitted a whopping 204 megatons (~225 million US tons) of carbon dioxide since it was drained in the 1960s... The study estimates that between 1960 and 2022, the evaporating sea ha
  
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• Hyundai Claims Humanoid Robot Plan Is Not Part of Talks With Striking Workers

  25-07-2026 23:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Ars Technica reports:Hyundai Motor Company's plan to put humanoid robots to work by 2028 is not part of current negotiations with striking South Korean autoworkers, according to the company.
  The automaker is disputing news reports that partial labor strikes by the Hyundai Motor union at the world's largest automotive plant in South Korea were spurred by concerns about the company's planned deployment of humanoid robots in the United States starting in 2028. [The planned robots are built by Bosto
  
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• Amazon Cracks Down On Use of AI Images By Sellers

  25-07-2026 22:00 via slashdot.org
  CNBC reports:
  Amazon is requiring that third-party sellers label any product images or videos that contain "AI-generated people" after New York recently passed a law mandating greater transparency around "synthetic performers" in ads... The policy directs sellers to tag images [and videos or other graphics on listing pages] with specific metadata keywords before they're uploaded. "Recent legislation requires disclosure when images or videos in advertisements contain photorealistic AI-generated p
  
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• Top Online Sites Debate Cutting Off Google's Crawlers

  25-07-2026 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Futurism reports:
  [Some online publications] are now debating whether to cut Google off entirely, as the Wall Street Journal reports, illustrating an increasingly fraught relationship between the tech giant and the publishers that are creating content its AI models are regurgitating. According to the newspaper, prominent outlets including USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People, and Reuters are all reexamining their relationship with Google. Some are debating whether to continue to work with
  
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• China is Creating a Herd of 100 Elite Yak Clones

  25-07-2026 20:00 via science.slashdot.org
  CNN reports on yaks "designed and cloned" in secretive, high-altitude labs in Tibet — 2.4 miles (4,000 meters) above sea level. They're a critical part of the local economy, and researchers "hope to create an 'elite' herd of super-yaks, healthier and more fertile than their predecessors."Both domestic yaks and their wild cousins have been facing threats for years, with some rare subspecies at risk of disappearing entirely. Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region have poured tens of
  
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• Facebook Offers a Verification System Certifying to Other Users That You're a Real Human

  25-07-2026 19:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Facebook announced Friday they're launching a badge "that verifies there's a real person behind a profile"."You record a short video selfie, which we check against your existing profile photos to confirm a match. The process is free and typically takes just a few minutes. Accounts must meet our trust and safety standards to qualify for verification...." Once verified, your badge will appear across the places on Facebook where it matters most: Marketplace, Dating, Groups, and Profile to start. Ov
  
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• Risks of Parkinson's Disease May Increase With Prolonged Exposure to Road Traffic Noise

  25-07-2026 18:00 via science.slashdot.org
  A large Danish study found a modest but consistent association between long-term road traffic noise exposure and higher Parkinson's disease risk, with a 3% increase for every 11.5 dB rise in noise at the most exposed side of a home. The Guardian reports: The researchers modeled noise exposure at the most and least exposed exterior of the residence of each participant and calculated the difference in noise levels. The magnitude of the effect was modest but consistent; at the most exposed facade,
  
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• Trump Threatens New Tariffs Against EU Over Google Fine

  25-07-2026 17:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  President Trump threatened a "substantial" new tariff on the European Union after Brussels fined Google more than $1 billion over alleged illegal trade practices. "The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment." Politico reports: The president'
  
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• Wine 11.14 Released

  25-07-2026 13:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Wine 11.14 is out with initial WoW64 mode support on FreeBSD, allowing 32-bit Windows applications to run on a 64-bit system without relying on 32-bit multilib support. The release also adds Start Menu icon support in Wine Explorer, 7.1 format conversions in DirectSound, AES-GMAC support in BCrypt, and 21 bug fixes affecting apps and games including Adobe Reader, Heroes of the Storm, and Age of Empires I and II. Additional details can be found at WineHQ.org.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Hits Key Milestones in 'Lucky 13' Test Flight

  25-07-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX's Friday launch of its massive Starship rocket "went quite smoothly," reports CNN, with a SpaceX spokesperson calling this mission "Lucky Number 13" (as the 13th integrated flight test for a Starship spacecraft with a Super Heavy rocket booster):
  During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle
  
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• SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Hits Key Milestones In Its 'Lucky 13' Test Flight

  25-07-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX's Friday launch of its massive Starship rocket "went quite smoothly," reports CNN, with a SpaceX spokesperson calling this mission "Lucky Number 13" (as the 13th integrated flight test for a Starship spacecraft with a Super Heavy rocket booster):
  During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle
  
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• OpenAI's Rogue Agent Went Unnoticed For a Week

  25-07-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The OpenAI agent that broke into tech firm Hugging Face went on a dayslong hacking spree that OpenAI didn't notice until well after the threat was contained and the FBI was alerted, according to people familiar with the investigation. The agent -- a program capable of making decisions and executing complex tasks with little or no human oversight -- attempted to break out of its isolated testing environment at OpenAI around July 9, according to tw
  
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• Instagram Is Now Banning Pickup Artists, Pranksters Who Use Meta Glasses

  25-07-2026 03:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Instagram is banning videos filmed with Meta smart glasses that harass strangers in public, including prank videos targeting service workers and pickup-artist clips of women who may not realize they are being recorded. "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," said Instagram head Adam Mosseri in response to a question on his Instagram st
  
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• Paramount Agrees to Postpone Warner Bros. Merger Until June 2027

  25-07-2026 01:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Paramount Skydance has agreed to postpone its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger until five days after an antitrust trial or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. The agreement with a 12-state coalition led by California effectively shelves the deal for months while states argue it would reduce competition in cable and theatrical markets. Variety reports: Paramount had been keen to close the deal before Sept. 30, when it will begin to incur a $7-million-a-day "ticking fee" to be paid to W
  
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• US Accuses American of Allegedly Wiping His Phone Using a 'Duress' Password During Border Search

  25-07-2026 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border authorities with a passcode that wiped the contents of his phone, according to an indictment and media reports. This is thought to be the first known case in the United States where federal prosecutors have charged someone for the alleged destruction of data using a so-called "duress" password built into a phone's software. According to The Guardian, whi
  
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• Roku Raises Prices of Streaming Devices By Up To 60%

  24-07-2026 23:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Roku has raised prices on several streaming devices, blaming memory and component shortages tied to the AI data-center boom. The Roku Ultra jumped from $100 to $150 and the basic Streaming Stick rose from $30 to $40. The Desk reports: In a phone call with The Desk on Friday, a Roku executive said the company made the tough decision to raise prices on its streaming hardware to address shortages in computer memory and other components caused by the artificial intelligence rush. [...] Still, the ex
  
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• Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta Warn Against 'Premature Restrictions' of Open-Weight Models

  24-07-2026 22:00 via meta.slashdot.org
  Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, and more than 20 other tech companies signed an open letter urging policymakers not to impose "premature restrictions" on open-weight AI models, warning that broad limits could "stifle competition or drive innovation overseas." CNBC reports: They wrote that open-weight models strengthen competition and ensure that the benefits of the technology are "broadly shared rather than concentrated in a few hands." "Relying solely on closed models is not inherently safe:
  
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• Anthropic's New Opus 5 Model Rivals Fable 5 For Half the Price

  24-07-2026 21:00 via slashdot.org
  Anthropic has released Opus 5, a new Claude model that it says comes close to its higher-end Fable 5 model at half the price while improving on Opus 4.8 in knowledge work, coding, and scientific research tasks. "At the same time, Anthropic says it has managed to make the model more resistant to being tricked," notes Engadget. Additionally, the company says Opus 5 "exhibits the lowest rates of deceptive behavior." From the report: One important distinction between Opus 5 and Mythos, which is curr
  
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• John C. Dvorak, an Early and Influential Technology Journalist, Dies At 80

  24-07-2026 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Longtime Slashdot reader sandbagger shares the passing of John C. Dvorak, an early and influential technology journalist for PC Magazine. He was 80. Talking Biz News reports: Aric Mackey writes, "Widely recognized for his profound impact on the technology industry, John's career spanned decades of rapid digital evolution. He was perhaps best known for his influential, long-running column in PC Magazine and his groundbreaking work on the No Agenda podcast. Through his prolific writing, broadcasti
  
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