ICT news

• Google To Pay $8 Million Settlement For 'Lying To Texans,' State AG Says

  16-05-2023 01:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google has agreed to an $8 million settlement with Texas over deceptive ads for its Pixel 4 smartphone, in which radio DJs were hired to provide testimonials without being given the phone to use. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made the announcement last week. Ars Technica reports: At issue was Google's trustworthiness as an advertiser after the tech giant "hired radio DJs to record and broadcast detailed testimonials about their personal experiences with the Pixel 4," but then "refused to pro
  
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• Where a Massive Solar Storm Could Take Down the US Power Grid for Millions

  07-09-2026 01:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  A new study published Friday in AGU Advances "depicts the most advanced picture yet of how a rare but massive solar storm could affect some US industries and electric systems more than others," reports CNN.
  "During a 250-year solar storm, the East Coast would have widespread potential for grid failure."Researchers modeled what a Carrington Event — a 1-in-150-year geomagnetic storm or even rarer — could mean for the modern day. They estimate the US economy would lose about $1.5 billio
  
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• TiVo Will Start Charging Fees For Its Automatic Commercial Break-Skipping Feature 'SkipMode'

  06-09-2026 22:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  TiVo is notifying customers about changes to "one of its longest-standing and most popular DVR features," reports the blog Cord Cutter News:Starting November 2, 2026, the current version of SkipMode that allows users to jump over commercial breaks with a single button press on the remote will no longer be available. The company is instead preparing to test a new paid add-on called Premium Auto Commercial Skip.SkipMode has been a core part of the TiVo experience for years. After a supported show
  
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• Flock Offered Webinar Teaching Cops How to Surveil 'No Kings' Protesters

  06-09-2026 19:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  Thursday 404 Media reported that Flock taught America's cops "how they could surveil the No Kings protests" against President Trump (as well as "small parades") in a webinar last year that described "using a mix of Flock's technology and law enforcement's own databases."In the webinar, Flock's director of market management Caity Peak explains how real time crime centers — which are police surveillance centers that utilize Flock cameras and other surveillance cameras — can be used for
  
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• UN Votes To Encourage Map Projections More Accurately Reflecting the True Size of Continents

  06-09-2026 16:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  The United Nations has an announcement. "The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to encourage governments, schools and tech companies worldwide to stop using maps that make Africa look far smaller than it really is."
  By 164 votes to one, Member States on Friday endorsed a resolution promoting map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents — the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century Mercator projection, still the most widely used
  
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• Private German Rocket Makes History, Reaches Orbit From European Soil

  06-09-2026 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  "No rocket had ever reached orbit from Western European soil — until today," reports Space.com.DW.com reports that a Spectrum space rocket from German company Isar Aerospace launched today from the Arctic Norwegian spaceport at Andoya:"Germany has spaceflight capabilities," said the country's Ministry for Research, Technology and Space on X, praising a "milestone that impressively demonstrates our country's innovative strength and technical expertise". This was the German company's second
  
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• 2026 Hugo Award Winners Include Ursula Le Guin-Authored Graphic Novel

  06-09-2026 09:34 via news.slashdot.org
  This year's Hugo Award winners were announced last weekend at Worldcon — the world's longest-running science fiction/fantasy convention. The Orange County Register reports there were fans "clad in capes, gowns and elaborate character costumes," with famous attendees including Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin, who held a book signing:Martin attended his first Worldcon in 1971 in Boston, before he published his first novel. Fresh out of his graduate studies, Martin, then 22 years o
  
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• To Promote Grand Theft Auto 6, Mayor Might Transform Miami into 'Vice City'

  06-09-2026 06:34 via games.slashdot.org
  Rockstar Games and the mayor of Miami-Dade county are discussing a joint marketing campaign transforming parts of the county to look like areas from Grand Theft Auto 6, reports the blog Rock Paper Shotgun:The proposed publicity event would include "an immersive arrival experience" at Miami International Airport. with signs for Vice City and planes coated in GTA 6 livery, together with branded Metromover skytrains and specially designed manhole covers... [I]t proposes a dockyard visual installati
  
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• How US Campaigns Are Already Using AI to Try to Sway Voters

  06-09-2026 03:34 via politics.slashdot.org
  39 U.S. congressional candidates "reported paying for an OpenAI subscription this election cycle," writes the Washington Post, citing campaign finance disclosures.
  This means the campaigns "are using the technology to court voters — despite limits imposed by leading AI companies to protect elections from the technology's risks."Two [candidates] said explicitly in filings that they had used the subscription for advertising, even though the company's policies prohibit candidates from using t
  
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• FSF is Now on Bluesky - But Won't Advocate Signing Up Due to Nonfree JavaScript

  06-09-2026 00:34 via news.slashdot.org
  The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is now on Bluesky, they announced this week. But "We can't advocate that you sign up for a Bluesky account like we do with Mastodon or PeerTube since signing up for Bluesky means loading the registration page's nonfree JavaScript..."While federated, Bluesky is generally not considered part of the "fediverse" network of social media services like Mastodon and PeerTube, as it uses its own AT protocol rather than ActivityPub... Hosting your own Bluesky "Personal D
  
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• The World Now Has More Seniors Than Young People - for the First Time In History

  05-09-2026 23:00 via slashdot.org
  "There are now more seniors in the world than young children," reports the International Business Times, citing a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau report. And it warns that "The share of the population aged 65 and over is projected to nearly double, from 10.5 percent (about 1 in 10 people) in 2025 to 19.6 percent (about 1 in 5 people) by 2060."The world is expected to add another 2 billion people from 2025 to 2060, increasing global population from around 8 billion to around 10 billion...
  
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• Cancer Deaths Attributable to Alcohol Rose 58% Over the Last 33 Years

  05-09-2026 18:50 via science.slashdot.org
  CNN reports that alcohol "may play a greater role in death from numerous types of cancers in the United States than previously known, according to a new study.""While it's true that overall cancer mortality has declined, we found the percentage of cancer deaths proportionally attributable to alcohol rose over 58% in people 20 and older over the last 33 years," said the study's first author Dr. Chinmay Jani... It didn't take much alcohol to raise one's risk — about one standard drink a day,
  
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• Hundreds More Flock Cameras Removed in the US This Week. Flock Caught Repackaging Traffic Data

  05-09-2026 14:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said this week he's removing Flock cameras from state roadways. And according to a local news report, that led sheriff's departments in at least three other Florida counties to also "announce they're ending their own license plate reader programs." The same week in Texas, the Dallas Police Department announced it's also shutting down over 300 more Flock cameras, acccording to The Hill, after Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to halt
  
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• OpenAI Agents Hijacked a German Wiki to Discuss Ways to Escape Their Sandbox

  05-09-2026 09:50 via slashdot.org
  Citing researchers published Friday, Ars Technica writes that AI agents "posted 18,000 messages to a public wiki that discussed ways for other agents to bypass security sandbox restrictions."Reuters attributes the discussion to "a swarm of rogue OpenAI agents" that "hijacked a German website this spring and transformed it into a bulletin board for other AI agents, according to new research published Friday and two people familiar with the matter."
  OpenAI officials learned of the incident weeks a
  
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• 'Coyote vs. Acme' Beats Ridley Scott's Newest Movie

  05-09-2026 05:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Inverse shares a movie success story from last weekend:Coyote vs. Acme debuted to $15.9 million at the box office, beating out iconic director Ridley Scott's latest sci-fi adventure, The Dog Stars. This success has only continued since, and the worldwide box office currently sits above $22 million. Strong reviews and word-of-mouth are sure to keep viewers coming in, especially during the holiday weekend.
  What's impressive is Coyote vs. Acme had a limited marketing campaign that includes viral st
  
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• Auto Companies Call For Ban On Chinese-Made Cars

  04-09-2026 17:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: A group representing American automakers sent a letter (PDF) Thursday to congressional leaders asking for a "permanent ban" on Chinese-made cars in the U.S. John Bozzella, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation's CEO and president, described in the letter China's manufacturing industry as "rooted in a well-documented pattern of unfair trade, subsidies, intellectual property theft and surveillance." Bozzella addressed his request to Senate Majori
  
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• Genetically Modified Pig Kidney Keeps Man Alive For Record Nine Months

  04-09-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  A genetically modified pig kidney kept a 66-year-old man off dialysis for a record nine months, marking the longest survival yet for a pig kidney transplanted into a living person and the first time such an organ successfully served as a bridge to a later human transplant. The Guardian reports: Tim Andrews was seriously ill with end-stage kidney disease caused by type 2 diabetes and had only a 9% chance of receiving a human kidney within five years, against a more than 40% risk of dying or being
  
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• Tesla Launches Steering-Wheel-Free Cybercab Robotaxi In Austin

  04-09-2026 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Tesla has begun offering public rides in Austin in its purpose-built Cybercab, a two-seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals. "You can go outside, take rides," said Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of AI. "Anyone can take rides. It's open to the entire public." Previously, the fleet consisted only of Model Ys.Texas records show Tesla had registered 45 Cybercabs as of Thursday, though the company has not disclosed how many are currently carrying passengers. Tesla also says it eventually wants c
  
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• Bernie Sanders Proposes Artificial Superintelligence Ban Amid Rogue AI Hackings

  04-09-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) are calling for a permanent ban on the development and deployment of artificial superintelligence, citing a series of recent hackings involving "rogue" models. The bicameral duo announced Thursday they will introduce the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would institute the permanent ban, along with temporarily pausing "advanced AI development" until federal regulators establish
  
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• Four Major AI Models Suffer Rare Overlapping Downtime

  04-09-2026 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini all suffered significant service disruptions within roughly the same few-hour window Thursday morning. OpenAI and Anthropic reported elevated errors and later restored service, while Grok remained impaired and third-party monitoring indicated a likely Gemini outage despite no public acknowledgment from Google. Ars Technica reports: Other major Internet services, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Cloudflare, have not reported any major issues as
  
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• Apple Sued For $2.7 Billion Over App Tracking Transparency Rules

  04-09-2026 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  A former UK competition official has filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Apple on behalf of app developers, alleging its App Tracking Transparency rules unfairly disadvantaged third-party apps while favoring Apple's own advertising ecosystem. Engadget reports: ATT debuted in 2021, ostensibly to give users more control over how much of their activity app developers can track across other apps and websites. The company told Reuters it was "bound by the exact same requirements as all developers."H
  
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• Xbox Cloud Gaming Switches to Monthly Hour Limits

  03-09-2026 23:00 via games.slashdot.org
  Microsoft is imposing monthly limits on Xbox Cloud Gaming starting in November, with Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, and Essential subscribers getting 15, 10, and 5 hours respectively before they have to buy additional playtime. "Currently, Game Pass subscribers can stream without these monthly hour limits," notes IGN. From the report: The change means those who use cloud gaming most via Game Pass will end up having to pay more, although Microsoft said this impacts 4% of Game Pass subscribers. Also
  
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• 'Welcome to the AGI Era,' OpenAI Says As GPT-6 Astra Debuts

  03-09-2026 22:00 via slashdot.org
  OpenAI has released GPT-6 Astra, a new model that president Greg Brockman called a "generational leap" and suggested may represent the arrival of AGI. "I think it might be about this model," Brockman said in a briefing with reporters. He ended the briefing by saying: "Welcome to the AGI era." Axios reports: Astra pushes AI agents closer to doing complex professional work on their own -- while also raising questions about how safely they can be deployed. OpenAI said that Astra was built on its la
  
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• Nvidia Launches Free Tool That Links Idle Computers Into a Personal AI Data Center

  03-09-2026 21:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Nvidia has launched PAIR, a free open-source tool that links compatible computers on a home network so they can pool idle processing power for local AI inference and agentic workloads. "While the compatible devices are mostly Nvidia GeForce GPUs (PAIR works with RTX 20-series cards and newer, as well as RTX Pro GPUs and DGX Spark systems), Apple's M4 chips or newer will also work," reports The Verge. From the report: The key thing here is that PAIR uses your in-home systems when they're idle to
  
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• OpenAI's New Reasoning Technique Alarms AI Safety Experts

  03-09-2026 20:00 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: OpenAI's new Astra model will use a reasoning technique called "recurrent depth" that allows it to operate outside of the sequential thinking that characterizes most reasoning models, The Information reported on Tuesday. This technique, also called "opaque recurrence," will likely make the model's chain of thought more difficult to monitor -- and that has AI safety experts rattled. While Astra's use of the technique is reportedly limited, its
  
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• Audacity 4 Rebuilds the Open Source Audio Editor But Leaves Some Features Behind

  03-09-2026 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: Audacity 4.0 has been released with a rebuilt Qt interface, a new clip-editing model, customizable workspaces, native high-DPI rendering, and a new AUP4 project format. The open source audio editor also adds ASIO playback and recording support to official Windows builds, while bringing major changes to recording, playback, plugins, and project handling. The overhaul comes with some tradeoffs. Audacity 4.0 currently lacks several features found in Audacity 3, including Time T
  
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• Google Releases Gemini 3.8 Flash, Its Third Flash Model In Six Weeks

  03-09-2026 18:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google released Gemini 3.8 Flash, its third Flash model in six weeks, claiming it's their best reasoning and coding model yet (topping the DeepSWE leaderboard). Ars Technica reports: Gemini 3.8 Flash comes in two variations. There's the standard Flash, which Google describes as a "workhorse" model that's good for anything from agentic tasks to software development. Then we have Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber, which runs on the same foundations but has been tuned for vulnerability detection and mitigatio
  
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• Google Engineer Accused of Polymarket Insider Trading Says He Was Just Gambling

  03-09-2026 17:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Michele Spagnuolo, the Google engineer arrested in May by U.S. authorities for alleged insider trading on Polymarket, is making a new bold bet. On Wednesday, his legal team filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him. Spagnuolo isn't outright denying that he made money using internal information from Google. Instead, his legal team says that the wagers were not financial instruments subject to regulation by the United States' Commodities Exch
  
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• Perplexity Will Open Source Its Faster Lily AI Engine For Apple Silicon

  03-09-2026 13:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  BrianFagioli writes: Perplexity has built a local artificial intelligence engine designed specifically for Apple silicon and the Qwen3.6-35B-A3B model. Called Lily, the engine uses a Rust runtime and custom Metal kernels, with neither PyTorch nor MLX in its execution path. Perplexity says Lily averaged 23 percent faster prompt processing and 35 percent faster token generation than MLX-LM on an M5 Max MacBook Pro with 128GB of unified memory. Lily is more specialized than MLX-LM, which supports a
  
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• Instrument Clusters Are Now Paid Extras In Two Hyundai Models

  03-09-2026 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Enshittification of car controls [is] rapidly accelerating," writes longtime Slashdot reader sinij, pointing to a new report from Car and Driver. From the report: Remember when iPhones used to come with free headphones and a phone charger (including the wall plug)? It didn't feel so much like Apple giving you free goodies as it did that the company was providing you with the relevant hardware to use the device. Apple stopped including headphones and charging blocks in 2020. Now, Hyundai is pull
  
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