ICT news

• GTA 6 Release Date Narrowed To Fall 2025 Amid Questions about Delays

  17-05-2024 00:41 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Take-Two Interactive is doubling down Grand Theft Auto VI's release date, saying the long-awaited sequel will be out fall 2025 despite rumors of a possible delay into 2026. From a report: Take-Two announced GTA 6's updated release window in its latest earnings report, saying that its current outlook is based on the new date. "We do feel highly confident that we'll deliver [Grand Theft Auto VI] in fall of 2025," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told IGN in an interview when asked if he was concerned
  
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• Meta Pauses Plans To Train AI Using European Users' Data, Bowing To Regulatory Pressure

  14-06-2024 20:44 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta has confirmed that it will pause plans to start training its AI systems using data from its users in the European Union and U.K. From a report: The move follows pushback from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Meta's lead regulator in the EU, which is acting on behalf of several data protection authorities across the bloc. The U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) also requested that Meta pause its plans until it could satisfy concerns it had raised. "The DPC welcomes the
  
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• Apple Set To Be First Big Tech Group To Face Charges Under EU Digital Law

  14-06-2024 20:18 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Brussels is set to charge Apple over allegedly stifling competition on its mobile app store, the first time EU regulators have used new digital rules to target a Big Tech group. The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to "steer" users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on them, according to three people with close knowledge of its investigation.
  The charges would
  
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• Sonos Draws More Customer Anger - This Time For Its Privacy Policy

  14-06-2024 19:35 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Itâ(TM)s been a rocky couple of months for Sonos -- so much so that CEO Patrick Spence now has a canned autoreply for customers emailing him to vent about the redesigned app. But as the company works to right the ship, restore trust, and get the new Sonos Ace headphones off to a strong start, it finds itself in the middle of yet another controversy.
  As highlighted by repair technician and consumer privacy advocate Louis Rossmann, Sonos has made a signif
  
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• Visa, Mastercard $30 Billion Fee Settlement in Peril

  14-06-2024 18:42 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Visa's and Mastercard's proposed $30 billion antitrust settlement to limit credit and debit card fees for merchants is in peril, after a New York judge signaled she was preparing to reject the accord. From a report: U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn told lawyers for the card networks and objectors at a hearing on Thursday that she will "likely not approve the settlement," according to court records.
  She plans to write an opinion explaining her decision and reasoning. Both card network
  
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• Rent is Too Dang High in Cities: Skylines 2, So the Devs Nuked the Landlords

  14-06-2024 18:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: City building simulations are not real life. They can be helpful teaching tools, but they abstract away many of the real issues in changing communities. And yet, sometimes a game like Cities: Skylines 2 (C:S2) will present an issue that's just too timely and relevant to ignore. Such is the case with "Economy 2.0," a big update to the beleaguered yet continually in-development game, due to arrive within the next week or so. The first and most important thing i
  
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• The Stanford Internet Observatory is Being Dismantled

  14-06-2024 17:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down. Its founding director, Alex Stamos, left his position in November. Renee DiResta, its research director, left last week after her contract was not renewed. One other staff member's contract expired this month, while others have been told to look for jobs elsewhere, sources say.
  Some members of the eight-person team might find other jo
  
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• London Hospitals Knew of Cyber Vulnerabilities Years Before Hack

  14-06-2024 16:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A group of London hospitals struggling to contain the fallout from a cyberattack against a critical supplier had known for years about weaknesses that left them vulnerable to hacks, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing internal documents. From the report: The Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, which runs five major hospitals in the London area, has failed to meet the UK health service's data security standards in recent years and acknowledged as recently as April that 'cybersecurity re
  
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• Clearview AI Used Your Face. Now You May Get a Stake in the Company.

  14-06-2024 16:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A facial recognition start-up, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23 percent stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database. From a report: Clearview AI, which is based in New York, scraped billions of photos from the web and social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to build a facial recognition app used by thousands of police departments, the Department
  
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• Germany Sees Company Bankruptcies Soar

  14-06-2024 14:30 via slashdot.org
  
  Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Friday said 5,209 companies filed for bankruptcy in Germany in the first three months of 2024 -- with the trend expected to continue. From a report: Experts think the number of corporate insolvencies in Germany will increase to about 20,000 cases this year as part of a longer-term pattern. The latest figure means corporate insolvencies are up 26.5% compared with the first quarter of 2023. They are also 11.2% more than in the first quarter of 202
  
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• NASA Accidentally Broadcasts Simulation of Distressed Astronauts On ISS

  14-06-2024 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: NASA accidentally broadcast a simulation of astronauts being treated for decompression sickness on the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, prompting speculation of an emergency in posts on social media. About 5:28 p.m. U.S. Central Time (2228 GMT), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) live YouTube channel broadcast audio that indicated a crew member was experiencing the effects of decompression sickness (DCS), NA
  
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• Wild New Study Suggests Gravity Can Exist Without Mass

  14-06-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A new study by astrophysicist Richard Lieu suggests that gravity can exist without mass, proposing thin, shell-like layers of 'topological defects' as an alternative to dark matter for explaining the gravitational binding of galaxies. This theory posits that these defects create a gravitational force without detectable mass, potentially eliminating the need for dark matter in current cosmological models. Clare Watson reports via ScienceAlert: Lieu started out trying to find another solution to t
  
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• FAA is Investigating New Incident Involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 Jet in Midair

  14-06-2024 07:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter wgoodman writes: A Boeing 737 Max 8 jet experienced a rare but potentially serious problem recently known as a Dutch roll before landing safely. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the incident during a Southwest Airlines flight last month. Less than an hour after taking off from Phoenix on May 25th, the plane experienced an uncontrolled side-to-side yawing motion known as a Dutch roll while cruising at 32,000 feet. The pilots of Southwest flight 746 w
  
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• Microsoft Postpones Windows Recall After Major Backlash

  14-06-2024 05:18 via it.slashdot.org
  
  In an unprecedented move, Microsoft has announced that its big Copilot+ PC initiative that was unveiled last month will launch without its headlining "Windows Recall" AI feature next week on June 18. From a report: The feature, which captures snapshots of your screen every few seconds, was revealed to store sensitive user data in an unencrypted state, raising serious concerns among security researchers and experts.
  Last week, Microsoft addressed these concerns by announcing that it would make ch
  
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• A Growing Number of Americans Are Getting Their News From TikTok

  14-06-2024 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, TikTok is the second most popular source of news for Americans after X, "though most TikTok users don't primarily think of the shortform video app as a news source," notes The Verge. The survey looked at how Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X play a role in Americans' news diets. From the report: Among TikTok users, only 15 percent say keeping up with the news is a major reason they use the app. Still, 35 percent of those surveyed said they
  
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• OIN Expands Linux Patent Protection Yet Again (But Not To AI)

  14-06-2024 02:02 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Steven Vaughan-Nichols reports via ZDNet: While Linux and open-source software (OSS) are no longer constantly under intellectual property (IP) attacks, the Open Invention Network (OIN) patent consortium still stands guard over its patents. Now, OIN, the largest patent non-aggression community, has expanded its protection once again by updating its Linux System definition. Covering more than just Linux, the Linux System definition also protects adjacent open-source technologies. In the past, prot
  
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• Google's Privacy Sandbox Accused of Misleading Chrome Browser Users

  14-06-2024 01:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Richard Speed reports via The Register: Privacy campaigner noyb has filed a GDPR complaint regarding Google's Privacy Sandbox, alleging that turning on a "Privacy Feature" in the Chrome browser resulted in unwanted tracking by the US megacorp. The Privacy Sandbox API was introduced in 2023 as part of Google's grand plan to eliminate third-party tracking cookies. Rather than relying on those cookies, website developers can call the API to display ads matched to a user's interests. In the announce
  
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• Amazon Says It'll Spend $230 Million On Generative AI Startups

  14-06-2024 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Amazon says that it will commit up to $230 million to startups building generative AI-powered applications. The investment, roughly $80 million of which will fund Amazon's second AWS Generative AI Accelerator program, aims to position AWS as an attractive cloud infrastructure choice for startups developing generative AI models to power their products, apps and services. Much of the new tranche -- including the entire portion set aside for the
  
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• Police Arrest Conti and LockBit Ransomware Crypter Specialist

  14-06-2024 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Ukraine cyber police, supported by information from the Dutch police, arrested a 28-year-old Russian man in Kyiv for aiding Conti and LockBit ransomware operations by making their malware undetectable and conducting at least one attack himself. He was arrested on April 18, 2024, as part of a global law enforcement operation known as "Operation Endgame," which took down various botnets and their main operators. "As the Conti ransomware group used some of those botnets for initial access on br
  
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• Oracle Is Shutting Down Its Ad Business

  13-06-2024 23:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  During its earnings call on Monday, Oracle CEO Safra Catz told analysts that it is shutting down its ads business. "In Q4, we decided to exit the advertising business, which had declined to about $300 million in revenue in fiscal year '24," said Catz, according to an earnings transcript. Adweek's Catherine Perloff reports: In August 2022, Business Insider reported that Oracle Advertising made $2 billion in revenue. At the time, revenue was only growing by 2% a year and many employees had been la
  
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• Fired Employee Accessed NCS' Computer 'Test System' and Deleted Servers

  13-06-2024 22:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Singapore's CNA news channel: Kandula Nagaraju, 39, was sentenced to two years and eight months' jail on Monday (Jun 10) for one charge of unauthorized access to computer material. Another charge was taken into consideration for sentencing. His contract with NCS was terminated in October 2022 due to poor work performance and his official last date of employment was Nov 16, 2022. According to court documents, Kandula felt "confused and upset" when he was f
  
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• Congress Seeks Answers From Microsoft Boss After a 'Cascade' of Security Errors

  13-06-2024 22:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Speaking of Microsoft, the House Homeland Security committee is grilling Microsoft President Brad Smith Thursday about the software giant's plans to improve its security after a series of devastating hacks reached into federal officials' email accounts, challenging the company's fitness as a dominant government contractor. Washington Post adds:The questioning followed a withering report on one of those breaches, where the federal Cyber Safety Review Board found the event was made possible by a "
  
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• Mars Got Cooked by a Recent Solar Storm

  13-06-2024 21:22 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The sun fired off a volley of radiation-riddled outbursts in May. When they slammed into Earth's magnetic bubble, the world was treated to iridescent displays of the northern and southern lights. But our planet wasn't the only one in the solar firing line. From a report: A few days after Earth's light show, another series of eruptions screamed out of the sun. This time, on May 20, Mars was blitzed by a beast of a storm. Observed from Mars, "this was the strongest solar energetic particle event w
  
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• Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours

  13-06-2024 19:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  cusco writes: Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time.
  The
  
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• Turkish Student Arrested For Using AI To Cheat in University Exam

  13-06-2024 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Turkish authorities have arrested a student for cheating during a university entrance exam by using a makeshift device linked to AI software to answer questions. From a report: The student was spotted behaving in a suspicious way during the exam at the weekend and was detained by police, before being formally arrested and sent to jail pending trial. Another person, who was helping the student, was also detained.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• China Is Testing More Driverless Cars Than Any Other Country

  13-06-2024 18:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Assisted driving systems and robot taxis are becoming more popular in China with government help, as cities designate large areas for testing on public roads. From a report: The world's largest experiment in driverless cars is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in central China with 11 million people, 4.5 million cars, eight-lane expressways and towering bridges over the muddy waters of the Yangtze River. A fleet of 500 taxis navigated by computers, often with no safety drivers in the
  
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• How Amazon Blew Alexa's Shot To Dominate AI

  13-06-2024 17:22 via slashdot.org
  
  Amazon unveiled a new generative AI-powered version of its Alexa voice assistant at a packed event in September 2023, demonstrating how the digital assistant could engage in more natural conversation. However, nearly a year later, the updated Alexa has yet to be widely released, with former employees citing technical challenges and organizational dysfunction as key hurdles, Fortune reported Thursday. The magazine reports that the Alexa large language model lacks the necessary data and computing
  
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• Wells Fargo Fires Employees for Faking Work By Simulating Keyboard Activity

  13-06-2024 16:41 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Wells Fargo fired more than a dozen employees last month after investigating claims that they were faking work. From a report: The staffers, all in the firm's wealth- and investment-management unit, were "discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work," according to disclosures filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. "Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behavior,"
  
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• Microsoft Chose Profit Over Security and Left US Government Vulnerable To Russian Hack, Whistleblower Says

  13-06-2024 16:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A former Microsoft employee claims the tech giant dismissed his repeated warnings about a security flaw that was later exploited in the SolarWinds hack, prioritizing business interests over customer safety. Andrew Harris, who worked on Microsoft's cloud security team, says he discovered the weakness in 2016 but was told fixing it could jeopardize a multibillion-dollar government contract and the company's competitive edge, ProPublica reported Thursday.
  The flaw, in a Microsoft product called Act
  
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• Firefox Browser Blocks Anti-Censorship Add-Ons At Russia's Request

  13-06-2024 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: The Mozilla Foundation,the entity behind the web browser Firefox, is blocking various censorship circumvention add-ons for its browser, including ones specifically to help those in Russia bypass state censorship. The add-ons were blocked at the request of Russia's federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor -- the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media -- according to a statement by Mozilla to
  
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