ICT news

• FedEx Uses Autonomous Trucks For First Time On Delivery Route

  23-09-2021 12:00 via rss.slashdot.org
  
  On Wednesday FedEx announced its first autonomously-driven Class 8 truck delivery route. Mashable reports: Working with truck maker PACCAR and self-driving company Aurora, which is backed by Amazon, FedEx will start making deliveries in Texas using an autonomous semi. The route on Interstate 45 between Houston and Dallas is about 500 miles round trip, and expected to be busy as the holiday shopping season approaches. The test route will run multiple times each week starting Wednesday. The Aurora
  
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• Ford Just Reported a Massive Loss on Every Electric Vehicle It Sold

  25-04-2024 17:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Ford's electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall. From a report: Ford, like most automakers, has announced plans to shift from traditional gas-powered vehicles to EVs in coming years. But it is the only traditional automaker to break out results of its retail EV sales. And the results it reported Wednesday s
  
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• Spotify Says Apple Has Rejected Its App Update With Price Information for EU Users

  25-04-2024 16:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has rejected Spotify's new version of its iOS app with in-app pricing information for users in the European Union, the audio streaming firm said on Thursday. Reuters: The Swedish company submitted a new version of its app to Apple with basic pricing and website information, which is a minimum requirement under the European Commission's ruling in its music streaming case, it said in a post on X on Wednesday. Spotify said the Cupertino, California based-Apple rejected its update in a respons
  
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• AI Could Kill Off Most Call Centres, Says TCS Head

  25-04-2024 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  The head of Indian IT company Tata Consultancy Services has said AI will result in "minimal" need for call centres in as soon as a year, with AI's rapid advances set to upend a vast industry across Asia and beyond. From a report: K Krithivasan, TCS chief executive, told the Financial Times that while "we have not seen any job reduction" so far, wider adoption of generative AI among multinational clients would overhaul the kind of customer help centres that have created mass employment in countri
  
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• US Fertility Rate Falls To Lowest In a Century

  25-04-2024 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: The fertility rate in the United States has been trending down for decades, and a new report shows that another drop in births in 2023 brought the rate down to the lowest it's been in more than century. There were about 3.6 million babies born in 2023, or 54.4 live births for every 1,000 females ages 15 to 44, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. After a steep pl
  
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• Vast DNA Tree of Life For Plants Revealed By Global Science Team

  25-04-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An international team of scientists used 1.8 billion letters of genetic code from more than 9,500 species covering almost 8,000 known flowering plant genera to create the most up-to-date understanding of the flowering plant tree of life. The research has been published in the journal Nature. Phys.Org reports: The major milestone for plant science, led by [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew] and involving 138 organizations internationally, was built on 15 times more data than any comparable studies of th
  
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• Airlines Required To Refund Passengers For Canceled, Delayed Flights

  25-04-2024 09:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced new rules for the airline industry that will require airlines to automatically give cash refunds to passengers for canceled and significantly delayed flights. They will also require airlines to give cash refunds if your bags are lost and not delivered within 12 hours."This is a big day for America's flying public," said Buttigieg at a Wednesday morning news conference. According to Buttigieg, the new rules are the biggest expansion
  
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• Almost Every Chinese Keyboard App Has a Security Flaw That Reveals What Users Type

  25-04-2024 05:30 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Almost all keyboard apps used by Chinese people around the world share a security loophole that makes it possible to spy on what users are typing. The vulnerability, which allows the keystroke data that these apps send to the cloud to be intercepted, has existed for years and could have been exploited by cybercriminals and state surveillance groups, according to researchers at the Citizen Lab, a technology and security research lab
  
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• Manga Site Blocks Adult Content, But Only For US and UK Users

  25-04-2024 04:02 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Samantha Cole reports via 404 Media: A Japan-based online art platform is banning kink content for users based in the US and UK, as laws in these countries continue to tighten around sites that allow erotic content. Pixiv is an image gallery site where artists primarily share illustrations, manga, and novels. The site announced on April 22 that starting April 25, users whose account region is set to the US or UK will be subject to Pixiv's new terms of use, "Restrictions for Healthy Expression in
  
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• Apple Reportedly Developing Its Own Custom Silicon For AI Servers

  25-04-2024 03:25 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Hartley Charlton reports via MacRumors: Apple is said to be developing its own AI server processor using TSMC's 3nm process, targeting mass production by the second half of 2025. According to a post by the Weibo user known as "Phone Chip Expert," Apple has ambitious plans to design its own artificial intelligence server processor. The user, who claims to have 25 years of experience in the integrated circuit industry, including work on Intel's Pentium processors, suggests this processor will be m
  
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• Google Delays Third-Party Cookie Demise Yet Again

  25-04-2024 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is delaying the end of third-party cookies in Chrome -- again. This marks the third time Google pushed back its original deadline set in January 2020, when the company said it would phase out third-party cookies "within two years" to improve internet security. Digiday reports: The announcement was made on Tuesday ahead of quarterly reports from Google and the ever-watchful U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), keeping tabs on how this whole situation unfolds."We recognize that the
  
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• 'ArcaneDoor' Cyberspies Hacked Cisco Firewalls To Access Government Networks

  25-04-2024 02:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Network security appliances like firewalls are meant to keep hackers out. Instead, digital intruders are increasingly targeting them as the weak link that lets them pillage the very systems those devices are meant to protect. In the case of one hacking campaign over recent months, Cisco is now revealing that its firewalls served as beachheads for sophisticated hackers penetrating multiple government networks around the world. On Wednesday, Cisco wa
  
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• Taser Company Axon Is Selling AI That Turns Body Cam Audio Into Police Reports

  25-04-2024 01:20 via slashdot.org
  
  Axon on Tuesday announced a new tool called Draft One that uses artificial intelligence built on OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo model to transcribe audio from body cameras and automatically turn it into a police report. Axon CEO Rick Smith told Forbes that police officers will then be able to review the document to ensure accuracy. From the report: Axon claims one early tester of the tool, Fort Collins Colorado Police Department, has seen an 82% decrease in time spent writing reports. "If an officer spend
  
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• Meta Opens Quest Operating System To Third-Party Device Makers

  25-04-2024 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Similar to the way Google makes its mobile OS Android open source, Meta announced it is opening up its Quest headset's operating system to rival device makers. Reuters reports: The move will allow partner companies to build their headsets using Meta Horizon OS, a rebranded operating system that brings capabilities like gesture recognition, passthrough, scene understanding and spatial anchors to the devices that run on it, the company said in a blog post. The social media company said partners As
  
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• Updating California's Grid For EVs May Cost Up To $20 Billion

  25-04-2024 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Two researchers at the University of California, Davis -- Yanning Li and Alan Jenn -- have determined that nearly two-thirds of [California's] feeder lines don't have the capacity that will likely be needed for car charging. Updating to handle the rising demand might set its utilities back as much as 40 percent of the existing grid's capital cost. Li and Jenn aren't the first to look at how well existing grids can handle growing electric veh
  
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• Lenovo First To Implement LPCAMM2 in Laptop

  24-04-2024 23:20 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Lenovo's latest ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 laptop is set to be the first to use the new LPCAMM2 memory form factor, the successor to SODIMM sticks. From a report: While Lenovo has largely focused on the AI performance of its new laptop, which is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra CPU and Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada GPU, the company also noted that its device was the first in the world to use the LPCAMM2 memory standard. LPCAMM2 uses 64 percent less space than SODIMM and 61 percent less active power, according to
  
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• HashiCorp Reportedly Being Acquired By IBM [UPDATE]

  24-04-2024 23:00 via slashdot.org
  
  According to the Wall Street Journal, a deal for IBM to acquire HashiCorp could materialize in the next few days. Shares of HashiCorp jumped almost 20% on the news.UPDATE 4/24/24: IBM has confirmed the deal valued at $6.4 billion. "IBM will pay $35 per share for HashiCorp, a 42.6% premium to Monday's closing price," reports Reuters. "The acquisition will be funded by cash on hand and will add to adjusted core profit within the first full year of closing, expected by the end of 2024." HashiCorp's
  
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• Adobe's Impressive AI Upscaling Project Makes Blurry Videos Look HD

  24-04-2024 22:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Adobe researchers have developed a new generative AI model called VideoGigaGAN that can upscale blurry videos at up to eight times their original resolution. From a report: Introduced in a paper published on April 18th, Adobe claims VideoGigaGAN is superior to other Video Super Resolution (VSR) methods as it can provide more fine-grained details without introducing any "AI weirdness" to the footage. In a nutshell, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are effective for upscaling still images to
  
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• Google-Backed Glance Pilots Android Lockscreen Platform in US

  24-04-2024 22:01 via slashdot.org
  
  Glance, which operates a popular lockscreen platform targeting Android smartphones, is setting its sights on the U.S. market. From a report: The Indian startup recently commenced a pilot program in partnership with Motorola and Verizon in the U.S., with plans for a full launch in the country later this year, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, backed by investors, including Google and Jio Platforms, has already made significant inroads in India,
  
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• Steam Closes Early Access Playtime Loophole

  24-04-2024 21:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: "Early Access" was once a novel, quirky thing, giving a select set of Steam PC games a way to involve enthusiastic fans in pre-alpha-level play-testing and feedback. Now loads of games launch in various forms of Early Access, in a wide variety of readiness. It's been a boon for games like Baldur's Gate 3, which came a long way across years of Early Access. Early Access, and the "Advanced Access" provided for complete games by major publishers for "Deluxe Edit
  
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• Apple Releases OpenELM: Small, Open Source AI Models Designed To Run On-device

  24-04-2024 20:41 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Just as Google, Samsung and Microsoft continue to push their efforts with generative AI on PCs and mobile devices, Apple is moving to join the party with OpenELM, a new family of open source large language models (LLMs) that can run entirely on a single device rather than having to connect to cloud servers. From a report: Released a few hours ago on AI code community Hugging Face, OpenELM consists of small models designed to perform efficiently at text generation tasks. There are eight OpenELM m
  
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• Framework Won't Be Just a Laptop Company Anymore

  24-04-2024 20:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Today, Framework is the modular repairable laptop company. Tomorrow, it wants to be a consumer electronics company, period. From a report: That's one of the biggest reasons it just raised another $18 million in funding -- it wants to expand beyond the laptop into "additional product categories." Framework CEO Nirav Patel tells me that has always been the plan. The company originally had other viable ideas beyond laptops, too. "We chose to take on the notebook space first," he says, partly becaus
  
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• 'The Man Who Killed Google Search'

  24-04-2024 19:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Edward Zitron, citing emails released as part of the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google, writes about Prabhakar Raghavan: And Raghavan -- a manager, hired by Sundar Pichai, a former McKinsey man and a manager by trade -- is an example of everything wrong with the tech industry. Despite his history as a true computer scientist with actual academic credentials, Raghavan chose to bulldoze actual workers and replace them with toadies that would make Google more profitable and less
  
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• Windows 11 Now Comes With Its Own Adware

  24-04-2024 18:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: It used to be that you could pay for a retail version of Windows 11 and expect it to be ad-free, but those days are apparently finito. The latest update to Windows 11 (KB5036980) comes out this week and includes ads for apps in the "recommended" section of the Start Menu, one of the most oft-used parts of the OS. "The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps," according to the release notes. "These apps come from a small set o
  
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• Diamond Market Shows Serious Cracks From Man-Made Stones

  24-04-2024 18:05 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Diamonds may be forever but they are also seriously on sale. Natural rough diamond prices have collapsed 26 per cent in the past couple of years. Tepid US and Chinese demand for diamond jewellery hasn't helped. But most ring fingers point at the increasing popularity of cheaper laboratory grown diamonds (LGD). This fracturing of the diamond market is set to last. After a brief pandemic-era boom in diamond jewellery, miners are battling to whittle down oversup
  
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• Biden Signs TikTok 'Divest or Ban' Bill Into Law

  24-04-2024 17:14 via news.slashdot.org
  
  President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year. The Verge: The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move. The company has an initial nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three months if he sees progress. While just recently the legislation seemed like it would stall out in the Senate after being
  
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• Qualcomm Is Cheating On Their Snapdragon X Elite/Pro Benchmarks

  24-04-2024 16:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Qualcomm is cheating on the Snapdragon X Plus/Elite benchmarks given to OEMs and the press. SemiAccurate doesn't use these words lightly but there is no denying what multiple sources are telling us. [...] Then there were the actual 'briefings' for the X Pro SoC. To call them pathetic is giving them more than their due. The deck was 11 slides, three of which were empty/fluff, five 'benchmark' slides with woefully inadequate disclosure, and two infographic summ
  
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• NVIDIA To Acquire Run:ai

  24-04-2024 16:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nvidia, in a blog post: To help customers make more efficient use of their AI computing resources, NVIDIA today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Run:ai, a Kubernetes-based workload management and orchestration software provider. Customer AI deployments are becoming increasingly complex, with workloads distributed across cloud, edge and on-premises data center infrastructure.
  Managing and orchestrating generative AI, recommender systems, search engines and other wor
  
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• Veteran PC Game 'Sopwith' Celebrates 40th Anniversary

  24-04-2024 15:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader sfraggle writes: Biplane shoot-'em up, Sopwith, is celebrating 40 years today since its first release back in 1984. The game is one of the oldest PC games still in active development today, originating as an MS-DOS game for the original IBM PC. The 40th anniversary site has a detailed history of how the game was written as a tech demo for the now-defunct Imaginet networking system. There is also a video interview with its original authors. "The game involves piloting a S
  
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• Cisco Releases Security Updates Addressing ArcaneDoor, Vulnerabilities in Cisco Firewall Platforms

  24-04-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, Cisco released security updates to address ArcaneDoor—exploitation of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliances (ASA) devices and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software. A cyber threat actor could exploit vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-20353, CVE-2024-20359, CVE-2024-20358) to take control of an affected system. 
  Cisco has reported active exploitation of CVE 2024-20353 and CVE-2024-20359 and CISA has added these vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalo
  
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