ICT news

• Google Search Will Now Show AI-Generated Answers To Millions By Default

  14-05-2024 20:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is shaking up Search. On Tuesday, the company announced big new AI-powered changes to the world's dominant search engine at I/O, Google's annual conference for developers. From a report: With the new features, Google is positioning Search as more than a way to simply find websites. Instead, the company wants people to use its search engine to directly get answers and help them with planning events and brainstorming ideas. "[With] generative AI, Search can do more than you ever imagined,"
  
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• Mandiant Says Hackers Stole a 'Significant Volume of Data' From Snowflake Customers

  10-06-2024 18:44 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Security researchers say they believe financially motivated cybercriminals have stolen a "significant volume of data" from hundreds of customers hosting their vast banks of data with cloud storage giant Snowflake. TechCrunch: Incident response firm Mandiant, which is working with Snowflake to investigate the recent spate of data thefts, said in a blog post Monday that the two firms have notified around 165 customers that their data may have been stolen. It's the first time that the number of aff
  
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• Microplastics Found in Every Human Semen Sample Tested in Study

  10-06-2024 18:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is "imperative." From a report: Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies. The 40 semen samples were from healthy men undergoing premarital health assessments in Jinan, China. Another recent study found microplastics in the sem
  
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• Study Finds a Quarter of Bosses Hoped Return-To-Office Would Make Employees Quit

  10-06-2024 17:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A study claims to have proof of what some have suspected: return to office mandates are just back-channel layoffs and post-COVID work culture is making everyone miserable. HR software biz BambooHR surveyed more than 1,500 employees, a third of whom work in HR. The findings suggest the return to office movement has been a poorly-executed failure, but one particular figure stands out - a quarter of executives and a fifth of HR professionals hoped RTO mandates w
  
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• Micrsoft Confirms Cheaper All-Digital Xbox Series X As It Marches Beyond Physical Games

  10-06-2024 16:46 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft has announced a new lineup of Xbox consoles, including an all-digital white Xbox Series X with a 1TB SSD, priced at $450. The company is also retiring the Carbon Black Series S, replacing it with a white version featuring a 1TB SSD and a $350 price point. Additionally, a new Xbox Series X with a disc drive and 2TB of storage will launch for $600.
  The move comes as Microsoft continues to focus on digital gaming and subscription services like Game Pass, with reports suggesting that the P
  
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• Nokia Unveils 'Future of Voice Calls'

  10-06-2024 16:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark made the world's first phone call using "immersive audio and video" technology, which improves call quality with "three-dimensional" sound. The technology, part of the upcoming 5G Advanced standard, makes interactions more lifelike and is the biggest leap forward in voice calling since monophonic telephony. Nokia aims to license the technology, but widespread availability may take a few years.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• SpaceX Hopes to Eventually Build One Starship Per Day at Its Texas 'Starfactory'

  10-06-2024 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  SpaceX's successful launch (and reentry) of Starship was just the beginning, reports Space.com:SpaceX now aims to build on the progress with its Starship program as continues work on Starfactory, a new manufacturing facility under construction at the company's Starbase site in South Texas... "When you step into this factory, it is truly inspirational. My heart jumps out of my chest," Kate Tice, manager of SpaceX Quality Systems Engineering, said [during SpaceX's livestream of the Starship flight
  
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• When Paying in Cash Costs Extra: America's Reverse ATMs Convert Money into Debit Cards

  10-06-2024 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  At a New York Yankees baseball game, one fan discovered its concession stand doesn't accept cash. "An employee directed him to a kiosk that could convert his greenbacks into plastic," reports the Wall Street Journal, where the fan, "fed $200 into the reverse ATM, which subtracted a $3.50 fee and spat out a debit card with a balance of $196.50."
  Paying with cash used to be a way to get a discount. These days it can often cost an extra $1 to $6 — the sort of transaction fees once limited to
  
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• Teams of Coordinated GPT-4 Bots Can Exploit Zero-Day Vulnerabilities, Researchers Warn

  10-06-2024 06:44 via it.slashdot.org
  
  New Atlas reports on a research team that successfuly used GPT-4 to exploit 87% of newly-discovered security flaws for which a fix hadn't yet been released. This week the same team got even better results from a team of autonomous, self-propagating Large Language Model agents using a Hierarchical Planning with Task-Specific Agents (HPTSA) method:Instead of assigning a single LLM agent trying to solve many complex tasks, HPTSA uses a "planning agent" that oversees the entire process and launches
  
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• Birmingham's $125M 'Oracle Disaster' Blamed on Poor IT Project Management

  10-06-2024 03:44 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  It was "a catastrophic IT failure," writes Computer Weekly. It was nearly two years ago that Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, "declared itself in financial distress" — effectively declaring bankruptcy — after the costs on an Oracle project costs ballooned from $25 million to around $125.5 million.
  But Computer Weekly's investigation finds signs that the program board and its manager wanted to go live in April of 2022 "regardless of the state of the buil
  
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• Virgin Galactic Completes Final 'Space Tourists and Research' Flight Before Two-Year Pause

  10-06-2024 00:44 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "Virgin Galactic launched six people to suborbital space on Saturday, launching a Turkish astronaut and three space tourists," reports Space.com, "on what was the final voyage of the VSS Unity space plane."Unity, attached to the belly of its carrier plane Eve, took off from runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico at 10:31 a.m. EDT (1431 GMT) and carried to an altitude of 44,562 feet (13,582 meters) over the next hour, where it was dropped and ignited its rocket engine to carry two pilots and f
  
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• Big Copyright Win in Canada: Court Rules Fair Use Beats Digital Locks

  09-06-2024 23:44 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Geist
  Pig Hogger (Slashdot reader #10,379) reminds us that in Canadian law, "fair use" is called "fair dealing" — and that Canadian digital media users just enjoyed a huge win. Canadian user rights champion Michael Geist writes:The Federal Court has issued a landmark decision on copyright's anti-circumvention rules which concludes that digital locks should not trump fair dealing. Rather, the two must co-exist in harmony, leading to an interpretation that users can still rely on fai
  
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• T2 Linux 24.6 Goes Desktop with Integrated Windows Binary Support

  09-06-2024 22:44 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  T2's open development process and the collection of exotic, vintage and retro hardware can be followed live on YouTube and Twitch.
  Now Slashdot reader ReneR writes: Embedded T2 Linux is known for its sophisticated cross compile features as well as supporting all CPU architectures, including: Alpha, Arc, ARM(64), Avr32, HPPA(64), IA64, M68k, MIPS(64), Nios2, PowerPC(64)(le), RISCV(64), s390x, SPARC(64), SuperH, x86(64). But now it's going Desktop!
  24.6 comes as a major convenience update, with ou
  
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• Upcoming Games Include More Xbox Sequels - and a Medieval 'Doom'

  09-06-2024 21:44 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Announced during Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase, Doom: The Dark Ages is id Software's next foray back into hell. Doom: The Dark Ages is a medieval spin on the Doom franchise, taking the Doom Slayer back to the beginning. It's coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, sometime in 2025.
  Microsoft's first trailer for Doom: The Dark Ages shows the frenetic, precision gameplay we've come to expect from the franchise — there's a lot of blasting and shooting and a chainsaw. Oh, and the Doom Slayer ca
  
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• Researcher Finds Side-Channel Vulnerability in Post-Quantum Key Encapsulation Mechanism

  09-06-2024 20:44 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Slashdot reader storagedude shared this report from The Cyber Express:A security researcher discovered an exploitable timing leak in the Kyber key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) that's in the process of being adopted by NIST as a post-quantum cryptographic standard. Antoon Purnal of PQShield detailed his findings in a blog post and on social media, and noted that the problem has been fixed with the help of the Kyber team. The issue was found in the reference implementation of the Module-Lattice-B
  
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• Bill Gates Taking Pre-Orders For 'Source Code', a Memoir of His Early Years

  09-06-2024 19:44 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:If you devoured the Childhood of Famous Americans book series as a kid and are ready for a longer read, Bill Gates has a book for you. "I'm excited to announce my new book, Source Code, which will be published next February," Gates wrote Tuesday in a GatesNotes blog post. "It's a memoir about my early years, from childhood through my decision to leave college and start Microsoft with Paul Allen. I write about the relationships, lessons, and experiences tha
  
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• Is the Uranium Fuel Proposed For Small Modular Nuclear Reactors a Weapons Risk?

  09-06-2024 18:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Reuters reports:A special uranium fuel planned for next-generation U.S. nuclear reactors poses security risks because it could be used without further enrichment as fissile material in nuclear weapons, scientists said in an article published on Thursday. The fuel, called high-assay low-enriched uranium, or HALEU, is enriched to levels of up to 20%, compared with about 5% for the fuel that powers most existing reactors.
  Until recently it was made in commercial amounts only in Russia, but the Unit
  
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• How Google Will Distribute $100 Million to Canada's News Companies

  09-06-2024 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  In November Google agreed to pay Canadian news publishers $100 million annually "in order to be exempt from the Online News Act, which compels tech companies to enter into agreements with news publishers," writes the Canadian Press.
  On Friday Google "named the organization it has selected to distribute the $100 million..."
  The Canadian Journalism Collective will be responsible for ensuring eligible news organizations get their share of the money. The collective is a federally incorporated non-pr
  
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• Jury Finds Autonomy Founder Mike Lynch Not Guilty of Defrauding HP

  09-06-2024 16:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The BBC reports that British tech tycoon Mike Lynch "has been cleared of fraud charges he faced in the U.S. over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011."A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts in a stunning victory for Mr Lynch, who had been accused of inflating the value of Autonomy, his company, ahead of its sale. Mr Lynch, who faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted, had denied the charges and took the stand to defend himself.
  
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• Should Police Departments Use Drones?

  09-06-2024 13:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Wired visits Chula Vista, California (population: 275,487) — where since 2018 drones have been dispatched by police "teleoperators" monitoring 911 calls. ("Noise complaints, car accidents, overdoses, domestic disputes...") After nearly 20,000 drone flights, it's become the envy of other police departments, according to Wired's article, as other police departments "look to expand their use of unmanned aerial aircraft."The [Chula Vista] department says that its drones provide officers with c
  
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• Dutch Police Test AI-Powered Robot Dog to Raid Drug Labs

  09-06-2024 09:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  "Police and search and rescue forces worldwide are increasingly using robots to assist in carrying out their operations," writes Interesting Engineering. "Now, the Dutch police are looking at employing AI-powered autonomous robot dogs in drug lab raids to protect officers from criminal risks, hazardous chemicals, and explosions."
  New Scientist's Matthew Sparkes (also a long-time Slashdot reader) shares this report:
  Dutch police are planning to use an autonomous robotic dog in drug lab raids to a
  
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• First Detection of Negative Ions on the Moon, Far-Side Soil Samples Headed to Earth

  09-06-2024 06:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  "The first European Space Agency instrument to land on the Moon has detected the presence of negative ions on the lunar surface produced through interactions with the solar wind," according to a statement from the agency, collecting over three hours of data, "three times more than what the science teams needed for mission success..."The solar wind is a constant flow of radiation and particles from the Sun. Earth's magnetic field acts as a shield. In contrast, the Moon has no magnetic field and a
  
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• US Justice Department Indicts Creators of Bitcoin-Anonymizing 'Samouri' Wallet

  09-06-2024 03:35 via slashdot.org
  
  America's Justice Department "indicted the creators of an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously," writes Reason.com:
  They're accused of "conspiracy to commit money laundering." Why "conspiracy to commit" as opposed to just "money laundering"?
  Because they didn't hold anyone else's money or do anything illegal with it. They provided a privacy tool that may have enabled other people to do illegal things with their bitcoin... What this tool does is offer what's known as a "
  
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• Is Nuclear Power in America Reviving - or Flailing?

  09-06-2024 00:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Last week America's energy secretary cheered the startup of a fourth nuclear reactor at a Georgia power plant, calling it "the largest producer of clean energy, and the largest producer of electricity in the United States" after a third reactor was started up there in December.From the U.S. Energy Department's transcript of the speech:
  Each year, Units 3 and 4 are going to produce enough clean power to power 1 million homes and businesses, enough energy to power roughly 1 in 4 homes in Georgia.
  
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• New Linux Version of Ransomware Targets VMware ESXi

  08-06-2024 23:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  "Researchers observed a new Linux variant of the TargetCompany ransomware family that targets VMware ESXi environments," reports BleepingComputer:In a report Wednesday, cybersecurity company Trend Micro says that the new Linux variant for TargetCompany ransomware makes sure that it has administrative privileges before continuing the malicious routine... Once on the target system, the payload checks if it runs in a VMware ESXi environment by executing the 'uname' command and looking for 'vmkernel
  
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• Louisiana Becomes 10th US State to Make CS a High School Graduation Requirement

  08-06-2024 22:34 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: "Great news, Louisiana!" tech-backed Code.org exclaimed Wednesday in celebratory LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter posts. Louisiana is "officially the 10th state to make computer science a [high school] graduation requirement. Huge thanks to Governor Jeff Landry for signing the bill and to our legislative champions, Rep. Jason Hughes and Sen. Thomas Pressly, for making it happen! This means every Louisiana student gets a chance to learn coding and other tec
  
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• Rust Growing Fastest, But JavaScript Reigns Supreme

  08-06-2024 21:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  "Rust is the fastest-growing programming language, with its developer community doubling in size over the past two years," writes The New Stack, "yet JavaScript remains the most popular language with 25.2 million active developers, according to the results of a recent survey."The 26th edition of SlashData's Developer Nation survey showed that the Rust community doubled its number of users over the past two years — from two million in the first quarter of 2022 to four million in the first q
  
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• Apple Watch Leads to Luggage Stolen By an Airport Store Worker

  08-06-2024 20:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A worker at a retail store in an airport has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars in electronics and clothing, reports the Washington Post. But what's more interesting is what led to his arrest...
  A woman showed up at his home looking for the missing luggage that she'd tracked with her Apple Watch. CNN reports:
  Paola Garcia told CNN affiliate WPLG in Miami that she usually takes her suitcase onboard, but this time, she was told she had to check it. Garcia waited at least two hours for
  
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• Lansweeper Finds 26% of Its Users On CentOS, Facing May 1st End-of-life

  08-06-2024 19:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  "Lansweeper's scans of its customers' networks found an awful lot of Linux boxes facing imminent end of life," reports the Register, "with no direct upgrade path."Belgian corporate network scanner vendor Lansweeper periodically collates some of the statistics collected by its users and publishes the results... This year's report says that while a third of its users' Linux machines run Ubuntu, second place goes to CentOS Linux [with 26.05%].
  Back in 2020, Red Hat brought CentOS Linux 8's end of l
  
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• Artificial Sweetener Xylitol May Also Be Linked To Heart Attack and Stroke, Study Finds

  08-06-2024 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  
  CNN reports that the low-calorie sweetener xylitol used "may be linked to nearly twice the risk of heart attacks, stroke and death in people who consume the highest levels of the sweetener, a new study found..."In 2023, the same researchers found similar results for another low-calorie sweetener called erythritol, which is used as a bulking sugar in stevia, monkfruit and keto reduced-sugar products. Additional lab and animal research presented in both papers revealed erythritol and xylitol may c
  
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