ICT news

• Dropbox is Working On Its Own Password Manager

  04-06-2020 22:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  
  AndroidPolice: Dropbox just unceremoniously dumped a brand new app on the Play Store with no fanfare or formal announcement. The new Dropbox Passwords app, according to its listing, is a password manager available exclusively in an invite-only private beta for some Dropbox customers. Based on screenshots and description, the app seems pretty barebones -- or "minimal," depending on your tastes. Dropbox seems to intentionally avoid calling it a "password manager," though its functionality otherwis
  
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• NASA's Proposed Plasma Rocket Would Get Us to Mars in 2 Months

  10-05-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Last week, NASA announced it is working with a technology development company on a new propulsion system that could transport humans to Mars in only two months -- down from the current nine month journey required to reach the Red Planet. Gizmodo reports: NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program recently selected six promising projects for additional funding and development, allowing them to graduate to the second stage of development. The new "science fiction-like concepts," as describ
  
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• Apple Apologizes For Tone-Deaf Ad That Crushed Human Creativity To Make an iPad

  10-05-2024 06:50 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has apologized for its tone-deaf "Crush!" ad that sparked a furious backlash with artists, musicians and other creators. AdAge reports that Apple said the video "missed the mark" and has scrapped plans to run the cutesy-turned-cringey commercial on TV. From a report: It's clear that Apple intended for the ad to serve as a metaphor for all the myriad creative tools one has when they throw down $1,000 or more for a new iPad Pro. Run during Tuesday's event, the video shows a series of musical
  
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• Chemicals In Car Interiors May Cause Cancer, and They're Required By US Law

  10-05-2024 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: Tens of millions of Americans each day breathe in carcinogenic chemicals that are woven into the interiors of their cars, a new study has found. While opening a window can help reduce the risk, only reforms can keep people safe, researchers wrote in a study in Environmental Science and Technology. Approximately 124 million Americans commute each day, spending an average of an hour in their cars. By federal law, the interior of these vehicles are
  
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• Microsoft Is Launching a Mobile Game Store

  10-05-2024 03:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  During a Bloomberg event today, Xbox president Sarah Bond said the company plans to launch a mobile gaming store to rival Apple and Google. "According to Bond, the as-yet-unnamed store will launch in July on web browsers, rather than a designated app, with Microsoft's recently-acquired Candy Crush Saga serving as a day-one tentpole franchise," reports GeekWire. From the report: Microsoft's entry into the mobile gaming market -- the most lucrative arm of the games industry -- has been anticipated
  
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• Neuralink's First Implant Partly Detached From Patient's Brain

  10-05-2024 01:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Ancient Slashdot reader jd shares a report from The Guardian: Neuralink's first attempt at implanting its chip in a human being's skull hit an unexpected setback after the device began to detach from the patient's brain, the company revealed on Wednesday. The patient, Noland Arbaugh, underwent surgery in February to attach a Neuralink chip to his brain, but the device's functionality began to decrease within the month after his implant. Some of the device's threads, which connect the miniature c
  
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• FDA Recalls Defective iOS App That Injured Over 200 Insulin Pump Users

  10-05-2024 00:40 via slashdot.org
  
  Jess Weatherbed reports via The Verge: At least 224 people with diabetes have reported injuries linked to a defective iOS app that caused their insulin pumps to shut down prematurely, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On Wednesday, the agency announced that California-based medical device manufacturer Tandem Diabetes Care has issued a recall for version 2.7 of the iOS t:connect mobile app, which is used in conjunction with the company's t:slim X2 insulin pump. Specifically,
  
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• T-Mobile, Verizon In Talks To Buy Parts of US Cellular

  10-05-2024 00:00 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  T-Mobile and Verizon are in talks to buy parts of U.S. Ceullar in separate transactions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Reuters reports: T-Mobile is closing in on a deal to buy a chunk of U.S. Cellular for more than $2 billion, taking over some operations and wireless spectrum licenses, the report said citing people familiar with the matter. Verizon's talks with the regional carrier is expected to take longer and might not result in an agreement, the report added.Read more of this
  
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• Nearly 50% of People Are Considering Leaving Their Jobs In 2024

  09-05-2024 23:20 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: In 2022, at the height of the "great resignation," a record 4.5 million workers each month -- about 3% of the U.S. workforce -- were quitting their jobs. While some economists have said this pandemic-era trend is over, new research from Microsoft and LinkedIn forecasts that even more people plan to leave their jobs in 2024. Nearly half (46%) of professionals say they're considering quitting in the year ahead -- higher than the 40% who said the same
  
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• Texas Spot Power Prices Jump Almost 100-Fold On Tight Supply

  09-05-2024 22:40 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  ArchieBunker quotes a report from Bloomberg: Texas electricity prices soared almost 100-fold as a high number of power-plant outages raised concerns of a potential evening shortfall. Spot prices at the North Hub, which includes Dallas, jumped to more than $3,000 a megawatt-hour just before 7 p.m. local time, versus about $32 at the same time Tuesday, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. This morning, Ercot, as the state's main grid operator is known, issued a "watch"
  
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• Is the Era of Stickers In Apple Boxes Coming To an End?

  09-05-2024 22:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Citing a memo distributed to Apple Store employees, 9to5Mac reports that the new iPad Pro and iPad Air lineups will not include Apple stickers in the box -- "a key piece of memorabilia" that dates back as far as 1977's Apple II, notes Ars Technica. While the company says that this is part of its environmental goals to completely remove plastic from its packaging, it begs the question: is the era of stickers in Apple boxes coming to an end? 9to5Mac reports: The M3 MacBook Air that launched in Mar
  
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• Maryland Passes Two Bills Limiting Tech Platforms' Ability To Track Users

  09-05-2024 21:26 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The Maryland legislature passed two bills over the weekend limiting tech platforms' ability to collect and use consumers' data. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is expected to sign one of those bills, the Maryland Kids Code, on Thursday, MoCo360 reports. If signed into law, the other bill, the Maryland Online Privacy Act, will go into effect in October 2025. The legislation would limit platforms' ability to collect user data and let users opt out of
  
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• Apple To Power AI Tools With In-House Server Chips This Year

  09-05-2024 20:08 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple will deliver some of its upcoming AI features this year via data centers equipped with its own in-house processors, part of a sweeping effort to infuse its devices with AI capabilities. From a report: The company is placing high-end chips -- similar to ones it designed for the Mac -- in cloud-computing servers designed to process the most advanced AI tasks coming to Apple devices, according to people familiar with the matter. Simpler AI-related features will be processed directly on iPhone
  
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• World is On Edge of Climate Abyss, UN Warns

  09-05-2024 19:22 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The world is on the verge of a climate abyss, the UN has warned, in response to a Guardian survey that found that hundreds of the world's foremost climate experts expect global heating to soar past the international target of 1.5C. From a report: A series of leading climate figures have reacted to the findings, saying the deep despair voiced by the scientists must be a renewed wake-up call for urgent and radical action to stop burning fossil fuels and save millions of lives and livelihoods. Some
  
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• Record-Breaking Increase in CO2 Levels in World's Atmosphere

  09-05-2024 18:48 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world's atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas that is heating the planet. From a report: The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in March this year was 4.7 parts per million (or ppm) higher than it it was in March last year, which is a record-breaking increase in CO2 levels over a 12-month period. The increase has been spurred, scienti
  
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• Sonos Says Its Controversial App Redesign Took 'Courage'

  09-05-2024 18:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Sonos has responded to the avalanche of feedback -- some good, plenty bad -- about the company's redesigned mobile app that was released on May 7th. In the days since, customers have complained about missing features like sleep timers, broken local music library management, and no longer having the ability to edit playlists or the upcoming song queue. More alarmingly, the Sonos app's accessibility has also taken a hit, something the company says it's aiming t
  
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• Dell Says Data Breach Involved Customers' Physical Addresses

  09-05-2024 17:27 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Technology giant Dell notified customers on Thursday that it experienced a data breach involving customers' names and physical addresses. TechCrunch: In an email seen by TechCrunch and shared by several people on social media, the computer maker wrote that it was investigating "an incident involving a Dell portal, which contains a database with limited types of customer information related to purchases from Dell."
  Dell wrote that the information accessed in the breach included customer names, ph
  
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• OpenAI Considers Allowing Users To Create AI-Generated Pornography

  09-05-2024 16:53 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is exploring whether users should be allowed to create AI-generated pornography and other explicit content with its products. From a report:While the company stressed that its ban on deepfakes would continue to apply to adult material, campaigners suggested the proposal undermined its mission statement to produce "safe and beneficial" AI. OpenAI, which is also the developer of the DALL-E image generator, revealed it was considering letting developers and users
  
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• Microsoft's Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings

  09-05-2024 16:15 via games.slashdot.org
  
  The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft's Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn't finished. From a report: This week, Xbox began offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, quality assurance testers and other staff at ZeniMax, which it purchased in 2020 for $7.5 billion, according to people familiar with the company's plans. Others across the Xbox organization have been told that more cuts are on the way. Employees wer
  
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• US Patent and Trademark Office Confirms Another Leak of Filers' Address Data

  09-05-2024 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The federal government agency responsible for granting patents and trademarks is alerting thousands of filers whose private addresses were exposed following a second data spill in as many years. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) said in an email to affected trademark applicants this week that their private domicile address -- which can include their home address -- appeared in public records between August 23, 2023 and April 19, 202
  
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• ASD’s ACSC, CISA, and Partners Release Secure by Design Guidance on Choosing Secure and Verifiable Technologies

  09-05-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC), together with CISA, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK), and the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ) are releasing the following guidance: Secure by Design Choosing Secure and Verifiable Technologies. This guidance was crafted to provide organizations with secure by design considerations when procur
  
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• North Yorkshire Council To Ban Apostrophes On Street Signs To Avoid Database Problems

  09-05-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The North Yorkshire Council in England announced it will ban apostrophes on street signs as it can affect geographical databases. Resident Anne Keywood told the BBC that she urged the authority to retain apostrophes, saying: "If you start losing things like that then everything goes downhill doesn't it?" From the report: North Yorkshire Council said it "along with many others across the country" had opted to "eliminate" the apostrophe from street signs. A spokesperson added: "All punctuation wil
  
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• Scientists Find an 'Alphabet' In Whale Songs

  09-05-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Carl Zimmer reports via the New York Times: Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their lyrics. Are the animals producing complex messages akin to human language? Or sharing simpler pieces of information, like dancing bees do? Or are they communicating something else we don't yet understand? In 2020, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists joined forces to analyze the click-clacking songs of sperm whales, the gray, block-
  
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• Deepfakes of Your Dead Loved Ones Are a Booming Chinese Business

  09-05-2024 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Once a week, Sun Kai has a video call with his mother. He opens up about work, the pressures he faces as a middle-aged man, and thoughts that he doesn't even discuss with his wife. His mother will occasionally make a comment, like telling him to take care of himself -- he's her only child. But mostly, she just listens. That's because Sun's mother died five years ago. And the person he's talking to isn't actually a person, but a digi
  
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• Dell Makes Return-To-Office Push With VPN, Badge Tracking

  09-05-2024 04:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Dell is making sure its employees follow the company's updated return-to-office policy through a series of new tracking techniques. According to The Register, Dell will track employees' badge swipes and VPN connections and include a color-coded attendance grading system that summarizes employee presence."In the latest Jeff Clarke return-to-grade-school initiative, HR will be keeping an attendance report card on employees, grading them at four levels based on how well they meet the goal of being
  
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• Google Will Exit Prominent San Francisco Waterfront Office Tower

  09-05-2024 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google announced on Tuesday that it will be exiting One Market Plaza, a prominent office complex in San Francisco that it had been occupying since 2018. The company's lease for the 300,000-square-foot-office will expire next April. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Many of Google's employees are already working outside of the giant waterfront office, in light of the company's flexible approach to office attendance. As one of the city's largest office properties and a prominent feature on its
  
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• 81% of Young People Say a 4-Day Workweek Would Boost Productivity, Survey Finds

  09-05-2024 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A new national survey (PDF) from CNBC/Generation Lab of 1,033 people aged 18 to 34 found that an overwhelming 81% of respondents believe a four-day workweek would boost their company's productivity, while 19% said productivity would decline. CNBC reports: Those results from the "Youth & Money in the USA" survey come amid discussions around the potential benefits of switching from the standard five-day U.S. workweek to a four-day cadence without a pay cut. Some companies have begun testing th
  
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• Ransomware Crooks Now SIM Swap Executives' Kids To Pressure Their Parents

  09-05-2024 02:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Ransomware infections have morphed into "a psychological attack against the victim organization," as criminals use increasingly personal and aggressive tactics to force victims to pay up, according to Google-owned Mandiant. "We saw situations where threat actors essentially SIM swap the phones of children of executives, and start making phone calls to executives, from the phone numbers of their children," Charles Carmakal, Mandiant's CTO, re
  
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• US Libraries Are Battling High Prices For Better E-Book Access

  09-05-2024 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Librarians are fighting a nationwide battle against high e-book prices, which so far has yielded minimal results. Despite efforts and temporary legislative victories, strict renewal and loan policies imposed by publishers keep e-book costs high, limiting the number of popular titles libraries can offer and leading to frustration among patrons. Axios reports: Publishers typically require libraries to renew the license to each e-book every two years, or after 26 loans -- policies that libraries ca
  
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• Fedora Asahi Remix 40 Now Available For Apple Silicon Devices

  09-05-2024 00:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Larabel reports via Phoronix: Building off the recent release of Fedora 40, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 is now available for this downstream of Fedora Linux that's optimized to run on Apple Silicon ARM systems. Fedora Asahi Remix continues to be one of the best ways of enjoying a Linux experience atop recent Apple Macs making use of their in-house M1/M2/M3 SoCs. With the Fedora Asahi Remix 40 release there is now conformant OpenGL 4.6 support thanks to the upgraded Mesa. There is also improved
  
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