ICT news

• Firefox 130 Now Available With WebCodecs API, Third-Party AI Chatbots

  04-09-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Firefox 130 introduces several enhancements, including improved local translation handling, better Android page load performance, and the WebCodecs API for low-level audio/video processing on desktop platforms. Notably, it also supports third-party AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini via the new Firefox Labs feature. Phoronix reports: The WebCodecs API is particularly useful for web-based apps like video/audio editors and video conferencing that may want control over individual frames of
  
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• US Threatens Anthropic with 'Supply-Chain Risk' Designation. OpenAI Signs New War Department Deal

  28-02-2026 21:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  It started Friday when all U.S. federal agencies were ordered to "immediately cease" using Anthropic's AI technology after contract negotiations stalled when Anthropic requested prohibitions against mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. But later Friday there were even more repercussions...In a post to his 1.1 million followers on X.com, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth criticized Anthropic for what he called "a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook cas
  
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• Antarctica's Massive Neutrino Observatory Gets an Upgrade

  28-02-2026 20:34 via science.slashdot.org
  There's already 5,000 sensors embedded in Antarctica's ice to look for evidence of neutrinos, reports the Washington Post. But in November scientists drilled six new holes at least a mile and a half deep and installed cables with hundreds more light detectors — an upgrade to the massive 15-year-old IceCube Neutrino Observatory to detect the charged particles produced by lower-energy neutrinos interacting with matter:When they do, the neutrinos produce charged particles that travel through
  
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• 'World's Largest Battery' Soon At Google Data Center: 100-Hour Iron-Air Storage

  28-02-2026 19:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Interesting Engineering reports:US tech giant Google announced on Tuesday that it will build a new data center in Pine Island, Minnesota. The new facility will be powered by 1.9 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy from wind and solar, coupled with a 300-megawatt battery, claimed to be the 'world's largest', with a 30-gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity and 100-hour duration... The planned battery would dwarf a 19 GW lithium-ion project in the UAE...
  Form Energy's batteries work very differently from most la
  
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• After US-Israel Attacks, 90 Million Iranians Lose Internet Connectivity

  28-02-2026 18:35 via news.slashdot.org
  CNN reports that images from Iran's capital "have shown cars jammed along Tehran's street, with heavy traffic on major roads after today's wave of attacks by the US and Israel." And though Iran has a population of 93 million, the attacks suddenly plunged Iran into "a near-total internet blackout with national connectivity at 4% of ordinary levels," according to internet monitoring experts at NetBlocks.
  CNN reports:Since Iran's brutal crackdown earlier this year, the regime has made progress to a
  
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• America's Teenagers Say AI Cheating Has Become a Regular Feature of Student Life

  28-02-2026 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Tuesday Pew Research announced their newest findings: that 54% of America's teens use AI help with schoolwork:
  One-in-five teens living in households making less than $30,000 a year say they do all or most of their schoolwork with AI chatbots' help. A similar share of those in households making $30,000 to just under $75,000 annually say this. Fewer teens living in higher-earning households (7%) say the same."
  "The survey did not ask students whether they had used chatbots to write essays or gene
  
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• Startup Plans April Launch for a Satellite to Reflect Sunlight to Earth at Night

  28-02-2026 16:34 via science.slashdot.org
  A start-up called Reflect Orbital "proposes to use large, mirrored satellites to redirect sunlight to Earth at night," reports the Washington Post, "with plans to bathe solar farms, industrial sites and even entire cities in light that could, if desired, reach the intensity of daylight...."
  Slashdot noted their idea in 2022 — but Reflect Orbital now expects to launch its first satellite in April, according to the article. "But its grand vision is largely 'aspirational,' as its young founde
  
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• Startup Plans April Launch for a Satellite Reflect Sunlight to Earth at Night

  28-02-2026 16:34 via science.slashdot.org
  A start-up called Reflect Orbital "proposes to use large, mirrored satellites to redirect sunlight to Earth at night," reports the Washington Post, "with plans to bathe solar farms, industrial sites and even entire cities in light that could, if desired, reach the intensity of daylight...."
  Slashdot noted their idea in 2022 — but Reflect Orbital now expects to launch its first satellite in April, according to the article. "But its grand vision is largely 'aspirational,' as its young founde
  
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• Google Quantum-Proofs HTTPS

  28-02-2026 14:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google on Friday unveiled its plan for its Chrome browser to secure HTTPS certificates against quantum computer attacks without breaking the Internet. The objective is a tall order. The quantum-resistant cryptographic data needed to transparently publish TLS certificates is roughly 40 times bigger than the classical cryptographic material used today. Today's X.509 certificates are about 64 bytes in size, and comprise six elliptic curve signa
  
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• Rubin Observatory Has Started Paging Astronomers 800,000 Times a Night

  28-02-2026 11:00 via science.slashdot.org
  On February 24th, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory activated its automated alert system, sending out roughly 800,000 real-time notifications flagging asteroids, supernovae, flaring black holes and "other transient celestial events," reports Scientific American. And this is only the beginning -- that number is projected to climb into the millions as it continues scanning the ever-changing sky. From the report: The astronomical observatory equipped with world's largest camera hit a key milestone on F
  
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• Southern California Air Board Rejects Pollution Rules After AI-Generated Flood of Comments

  28-02-2026 08:00 via it.slashdot.org
  Southern California's air quality board rejected proposed rules to phase out gas-powered appliances after receiving more than 20,000 opposition comments generated through CiviClick, "the first and best AI-powered grassroots advocacy platform." Phys.org reports: A Southern California-based public affairs consultant, Matt Klink, has taken credit for using CiviClick to wage the opposition campaign, including in a sponsored article on the website Campaigns and Elections. The campaign "left the staff
  
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• OpenAI Fires an Employee For Prediction Market Insider Trading

  28-02-2026 04:30 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: OpenAI has fired an employee following an investigation into their activity on prediction market platforms including Polymarket, WIRED has learned. OpenAI CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, disclosed the termination in an internal message to employees earlier this year. The employee, she said, "used confidential OpenAI information in connection with external prediction markets (e.g. Polymarket)." "Our policies prohibit employees from using confidenti
  
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• Human Brain Cells On a Chip Learned To Play Doom In a Week

  28-02-2026 03:02 via games.slashdot.org
  Researchers at Cortical Labs used living human neurons grown on a chip to learn how to play Doom in about a week. "While its performance is not up to par with humans, experts say it brings biological computers a step closer to useful real-world applications, like controlling robot arms," reports New Scientist. From the report: In 2021, the Australian company Cortical Labs used its neuron-powered computer chips to play Pong. The chips consisted of clumps of more than 800,000 living brain cells gr
  
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• Hyperion Author Dan Simmons Dies From Stroke At 77

  28-02-2026 02:25 via news.slashdot.org
  Author Dan Simmons, best known for the epic sci-fi novel Hyperion and its sequels, has died at 77 following a stroke. Ars Technica's Eric Berger remembers Simmons, writing: Simmons, who worked in elementary education before becoming an author in the 1980s, produced a broad portfolio of writing that spanned several genres, including horror fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction. Often, his books included elements of all of these. This obituary will focus on what is generally considered
  
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• CISA Replaces Bumbling Acting Director After a Year

  28-02-2026 01:45 via yro.slashdot.org
  New submitter DeanonymizedCoward shares a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reportedly in crisis following major budget cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration, says TechCrunch. The agency has now replaced its acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, after a turbulent year marked by controversy and internal turmoil. During his tenure, Gottumukkala allegedly mishandled sensitive information by uploading government documents
  
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• Perplexity Announces 'Computer,' an AI Agent That Assigns Work To Other AI Agents

  28-02-2026 01:02 via slashdot.org
  joshuark shares a report from Ars Technica: Perplexity has introduced "Computer," a new tool that allows users to assign tasks and see them carried out by a system that coordinates multiple agents running various models. The company claims that Computer, currently available to Perplexity Max subscribers, is "a system that creates and executes entire workflows" and "capable of running for hours or even months."The idea is that the user describes a specific outcome -- something like "plan and exec
  
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• Perplexity Announces 'Computer,' an AI Agent That Assigns Work To Other AI Agent

  28-02-2026 01:02 via slashdot.org
  joshuark shares a report from Ars Technica: Perplexity has introduced "Computer," a new tool that allows users to assign tasks and see them carried out by a system that coordinates multiple agents running various models. The company claims that Computer, currently available to Perplexity Max subscribers, is "a system that creates and executes entire workflows" and "capable of running for hours or even months."The idea is that the user describes a specific outcome -- something like "plan and exec
  
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• South Korea Set To Get a Fully Functioning Google Maps

  28-02-2026 00:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  South Korea has reversed a two-decade policy and approved the export of high-precision map data, paving the way for a fully functional Google Maps in the country. Reuters reports: The approval was made "on the condition that strict security requirements are met," the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Kore
  
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• Trump Orders Federal Agencies To Stop Using Anthropic AI Tech 'Immediately'

  27-02-2026 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  President Donald Trump has ordered all U.S. federal agencies to "immediately cease" using Anthropic's AI technology, escalating a standoff after the company sought limits on Pentagon use of its models. CNBC reports: The company, which in July signed a $200 million contract with Pentagon, wants assurances that the Defense Department will not use its AI models will not be used for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon had set a deadline of 5:01 p.m. ET F
  
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• US Military Accidentally Shoots Down Border Protection Drone With Laser

  27-02-2026 23:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The U.S. military used a laser Thursday to shoot down a "seemingly threatening" drone flying near the U.S.-Mexico border. It turned out the drone belonged to Customs and Border Protection, lawmakers said. The case of mistaken identity prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to close additional airspace around Fort Hancock, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of El Paso. The military is required to formally notify the FAA wh
  
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• White House Stalls Release of Approved US Science Budgets

  27-02-2026 22:25 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Weeks after the U.S. Congress rejected unprecedented cuts to science budgets that the administration of US President Donald Trump had sought for 2026, funding to several agencies that award research grants is still not freely flowing.
  One reason is that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has been slow to authorize its release. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has so far not received approval to spend any of the research funding al
  
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• 'The Death of Spotify: Why Streaming is Minutes Away From Being Obsolete'

  27-02-2026 21:51 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a column: I'm going to take the diplomatic hat off here and say with brutal honesty: basically everybody in the music business hates Spotify except for the people who work there. It's a platform that sucks artists for everything they have, it actively prevents community building, and, despite all of that, the platform still struggles to maintain a healthy profit margin.
  The streaming business model is fundamentally broken. And eventually, its demise will become more an
  
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• AI Mistakes Are Infuriating Gamers as Developers Seek Savings

  27-02-2026 21:10 via games.slashdot.org
  The $200 billion video game industry is caught between studios eager to cut ballooning development costs through AI and a player base that has grown openly hostile to the technology after a string of visible blunders.
  As Bloomberg news, Arc Raiders, a surprise hit from Stockholm-based Embark Studios that sold 12 million copies in three months, was briefly vilified online for its robotic-sounding auto-generated voices -- even as CEO Patrick Soderlund insists AI was only used for non-essential ele
  
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• Smartphone Market To Decline 13% in 2026, Marking the Largest Drop Ever Due To the Memory Shortage Crisis

  27-02-2026 20:30 via mobile.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Worldwide smartphone shipments are forecast to decline 12.9% year-on-year (YoY) in 2026 to 1.1 billion units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. This decline will bring the smartphone market to its lowest annual shipment volume in more than a decade. The current forecast represents a sharp decline from our November forecast amid the intensifying memory shortage crisis.Read more of this story at Slas
  
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• Nasa Announces Artemis III Mission No Longer Aims To Send Humans To Moon

  27-02-2026 19:54 via science.slashdot.org
  Nasa announced on Friday radical changes to its delayed Artemis III mission to land humans back on the moon, as the US space agency grapples with technical glitches and criticism that it is trying to do too much too soon. From a report: The abrupt shift in strategy was laid out by the space agency's recently confirmed administrator, Jared Isaacman. Announcing the changes on Friday, he said that Nasa would introduce at least one new moon flight before attempting to put humans back on the lunar su
  
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• A Chinese Official's Use of ChatGPT Accidentally Revealed a Global Intimidation Operation

  27-02-2026 19:03 via slashdot.org
  A sprawling Chinese influence operation -- accidentally revealed by a Chinese law enforcement official's use of ChatGPT -- focused on intimidating Chinese dissidents abroad, including by impersonating US immigration officials, according to a new report from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. From a report: The Chinese law enforcement official used ChatGPT like a diary to document the alleged covert campaign of suppression, OpenAI said. In one instance, Chinese operators allegedly disguised themselves as US i
  
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• Metacritic Will Kick Out Media Attempting To Submit AI Generated Reviews

  27-02-2026 18:32 via games.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: While some see AI as a tool to be used, its specific use and how it is deployed responsibly is being heavily debated online across a wide range of industries. In terms of journalistic content, and in this particular instance, reviews, review aggregator Metacritic has taken a firm stance on content published and submitted to their platform, that have been generated by artificial intelligence in some way.
  In a statement by co-founder Marc Doyle, sent to Gamerea
  
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• Sam Altman Says OpenAI Shares Anthropic's Red Lines in Pentagon Fight

  27-02-2026 17:40 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a memo to staff that he will draw the same red lines that sparked a high-stakes fight between rival Anthropic and the Pentagon: no AI for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons. If other leading firms like Google follow suit, this could massively complicate the Pentagon's efforts to replace Anthropic's Claude, which was the first model integrated into the military's most sensitive work. It would also be the first time th
  
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• Netflix Ditches deal for Warner Bros. Discovery After Paramount's Offer is Deemed Superior

  27-02-2026 17:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Netflix is walking away from a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets after the WBD board on Thursday deemed a revised bid by Paramount Skydance to be a superior offer. From a report: Earlier this week, Paramount raised its bid to buy the entirety of WBD to $31 per share, up from $30 per share, all cash. It was the latest amendment to Paramount's multiple offers in recent months -- and since moving forward with a hostile bid to buy the company -- and it's now unseated a
  
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• Microsoft: Computer Programming Is Dying, Long Live AI Literacy

  27-02-2026 16:21 via news.slashdot.org
  theodp writes: On Tuesday, Microsoft GM of Education and Workforce Policy (and former Code.org Chief Academic Officer) Pat Yongpradit posted an obituary of sorts for coders. "Computer programmers and software developers are codified differently in the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics] data," Yongpradit wrote. "The modern AI-infused world needs less computer programmers (coders) and more software developers (more holistic and higher level). So when folks say that there is less hiring of computer p
  
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