ICT news

• High-Severity Vulnerability In Linux Caused By a Single Errant Character

  09-06-2026 22:00 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers have analyzed a high-severity vulnerability in Linux that's able to escalate untrusted users to root by exploiting a bug you don't often see: a single errant character inside the kernel. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-23111, is located in nf_tables, a subsystem of the Linux kernel that provides packet filtering capabilities. It's used to manage firewall rules and replaces older subsystems such as iptables, ip6tables, arpt
  
  Read more

• Anthropic Releases Claude Fable, a 'Safe' Version of Mythos

  09-06-2026 23:00 via slashdot.org
  Anthropic is releasing Claude Fable 5, a Mythos-class AI model for enterprise customers and paid subscribers. The company says broader access is possible thanks to new safeguards that block high-risk requests in areas like cybersecurity and biology. "For us, it's really around what we call 'race to the top,' being able to provide this technology in a valuable fashion, and at the same time providing the right safety guardrails so that it can do asymmetrically more benefits than harm," Dianne Penn
  
  Read more

• EU Says Decision Not to Launch Siri AI in Europe Is Apple's Alone

  09-06-2026 21:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  The European Commission says Apple's decision not to launch Siri AI in the EU is Apple's alone, arguing that the company sought an exemption from Digital Markets Act interoperability rules instead of building a compliant privacy- and security-preserving solution. Apple, meanwhile, says regulators rejected its proposals and claims the DMA would require giving third-party AI systems overly broad access to users' devices. MacRumors reports: Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in B
  
  Read more

• Meta Will Use Your Activity On Other Websites To Personalize Your Feeds

  09-06-2026 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Meta says it will expand how it uses off-platform activity shared by other businesses to personalize Facebook and Instagram feeds as well as AI responses, not just ads. The change starts in July and can be disabled through the "Activity from other businesses" setting, though Meta says it is not collecting new data as part of the update. The Verge reports: For example, Meta says if you bought a tent online recently, you might see camping-related videos in your Reels feed. "We aren't collecting an
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Microsoft Hacked To Deliver Malware To Claude and Gemini Users

  09-06-2026 19:00 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Microsoft has shut down a wave of its own repositories on GitHub, including those related to Azure and AI coding agents, as it investigates a data breach, according to research from cybersecurity researchers and a statement given to 404 Media by Microsoft. Hackers planted malware that would harvest peoples' credentials when they opened it in AI coding tools like Claude Code or Gemini CLI, according to one set of researchers. The exact contours
  
  Read more

• NHS Prescribes Half a Million Copilot Licenses For Its Paperwork Headache

  09-06-2026 18:00 via slashdot.org
  NHS England plans to roll out Microsoft Copilot to 505,000 clinicians and support staff after a 30,000-person pilot claimed the AI assistant saved users an average of 43 minutes a day on administrative work. The Register reports: The rollout won't happen overnight. NHS England said that each trust will receive a central allocation of licenses based on headcount, typically starting with around 2,000 Copilot seats, and that more than half a million staff are expected to have access by October 2026
  
  Read more

• UK PM Gives Tech Firms Ultimatum To Block Explicit Images on Children's Phones

  09-06-2026 17:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has given Apple, Google, and other tech firms until September to introduce device-level protections that prevent children from taking, sharing, or viewing explicit images. "If businesses do not comply within three months, legislation will be brought forward requiring the protection to be added to all phones and tablets sold in the UK," reports The Guardian. "Tech firms that fail to do so could face fines, and their senior managers could be made criminally liable."
  
  Read more

• Tests Suggest Russian Satellites Can Jam GPS On a Continental Scale

  09-06-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Researchers say mysterious, seconds-long GPS interference bursts detected across Europe appear to come from Russian EKS early-warning satellites, making this "a rare example of human-made GPS interference coming from space," reports Ars Technica. The signals may be tests of space-based jamming capability, short satellite communications, or something else, but experts say they raise troubling questions about whether GPS disruption could eventually be weaponized on a continental scale. From the re
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Donut Lab's 'Solid-State' Battery Exposed As Regular Li-Ion

  09-06-2026 09:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  A battery researcher's investigation, backed by more than 20 independent experts, claims Donut Lab's much-hyped "solid-state" battery is actually a conventional lithium-ion cell, with voltage curves and expansion data matching high-nickel NCM chemistry rather than the promised sodium-ion solid-state design. Electrek reports the company raised about $25 million from more than 1,300 mostly small investors on claims of 400 Wh/kg energy density, 100,000-cycle life, and 5-minute charging that now app
  
  Read more

• 'Severe' Stress On Oceans As Rate of Sea Level Rise Doubles In 10 Years, UN Warns

  09-06-2026 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The world's oceans are under "severe and accelerating" pressure from human activities, with the rate of sea-level rise double that of a decade ago, according to a damning assessment from the United Nations. The "intensifying" stressors, which include pollution and large-scale industrial fishing, are cumulative, said the report, resulting in widespread biodiversity loss and putting ocean systems under "severe strain."The UN's third World Ocea
  
  Read more

• OpenAI Files For IPO

  09-06-2026 01:00 via news.slashdot.org
  OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO, "setting it up for what may be the most highly anticipated market debut in recent history and a massive payday for early investors," reports CNN. The decision follows recent IPO announcements from Anthropic and SpaceX. From the report: OpenAI said it has not decided on timing yet. And because the filing is confidential, it's not yet clear how many shares the company plans to sell or at what price. "It may be a while because there are things we want to
  
  Read more

• Meta Deletes Face-Recognition System From Its Smart Glasses App

  09-06-2026 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Last Thursday, Wired reported that Meta had quietly embedded an unreleased facial recognition system called NameTag into software installed on millions of phones. In a follow-up report, Wired says the tech giant has now removed the face-recognition-related code, while saying "no final decision" has been made about whether the feature will launch. From the report: On Thursday, WIRED reported that Meta had quietly integrated substantial portions of the NameTag system into the Meta AI app. Though n
  
  Read more

• Xbox Game Exclusivity Will Be Decided on a 'Case-by-Case' Basis, Microsoft Says

  08-06-2026 23:00 via games.slashdot.org
  Microsoft executive Matt Booty says future Xbox exclusivity will be decided "case-by-case," with Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution remaining Xbox console exclusives while major multiplayer, live-service, and previously promised PlayStation releases stay multiplatform. But IGN's Tom Phillips says Microsoft's announcement still leaves numerous questions unanswered, like "why just Gears and Clockwork Revolution?" and "how will this policy be enforced in future?" From the report: Last nig
  
  Read more

• Apple Announces macOS 27 'Golden Gate', Drops Support For Intel Macs

  08-06-2026 22:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from AppleInsider: Apple has unveiled its next Mac operating system, macOS Golden Gate, with Apple promising better performance, the improved Siri, and more. [...] On the surface, macOS Golden Gate is not as significant an upgrade as macOS Big Sur, or even macOS Tahoe with its Liquid Glass redesign. But under the surface, it is much more significant than it seems. Apple has chosen this release to draw a line in the sand. For the first time, the new macOS Golde
  
  Read more

• Apple Announces Siri AI, Next Generation of Apple Intelligence

  08-06-2026 21:00 via apple.slashdot.org
  At WWDC 2026, Apple announced a new "Siri AI," describing it as a more conversational, personalized, and systemwide assistant that can understand on-screen context and interact with apps while relying on on-device processing or Private Cloud Compute. The relaunch comes two years after Apple's original Apple Intelligence promises stumbled and "never fully materialized," reports The Verge. MacRumors reports: Siri is now embedded directly in the Dynamic Island, accessible by swiping down from it, p
  
  Read more

• WhatsApp Catches Spyware Firm NSO Defying No-Hacking Court Order

  08-06-2026 20:00 via it.slashdot.org
  wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek: Meta-owned communications app WhatsApp says it recently detected and disrupted a spear-phishing attempt linked to spyware company NSO Group. The attack is allegedly in defiance of a court order that bars the spyware maker from targeting WhatsApp. WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against NSO in 2019, after it came to light that a zero-day vulnerability had been exploited to deliver spyware to users. [...] NSO has been seeking to overturn the order blocking it
  
  Read more

• Firefox Merges Support For Vulkan Video Decoding

  08-06-2026 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Firefox has merged initial support for Vulkan Video decoding, giving the browser a more cross-platform path for GPU-accelerated video playback beyond Linux's long-running reliance on VA-API. Phoronix reports: Firefox on Linux has long been focused on the Video Acceleration API (VA-API) that isn't universally supported by Linux graphics drivers. This has left to efforts like NVIDIA-VAAPI-Driver to layer VA-API atop NVIDIA NVDEC interfaces to enjoy GPU-accelerated video playback in Firefox. Smalle
  
  Read more

• Italy's Bending Spoons, Owner of AOL and Vimeo, Files For Nasdaq IPO

  08-06-2026 18:25 via slashdot.org
  Bending Spoons, the Italian app studio behind acquisitions like Eventbrite, Vimeo, WeTransfer, Evernote, and AOL, has filed to go public in the U.S. after growing into a subscription-heavy app conglomerate with more than 500 million monthly active users. TechCrunch reports: In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bending Spoons said it ended the year with $1.31 billion in revenue and has generated $601 million in Q1, a 132% year-on-year jump. The company gets the majority of i
  
  Read more

• Jeff Bezos Is Funding a Wild Hunt for the Brain's 'Core Algorithm'

  08-06-2026 17:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Jeff Bezos is backing Flourish, a new "neuro AI" startup with $500 million in funding and a reported $2.5 billion valuation, that aims to reinvent AI by studying the brain's architecture and building systems that learn continuously while using far less power than today's large language models. The company's long-term bet is that neuroscientists and AI researchers working together can uncover the brain's "core algorithm" and eventually create brain-inspired AI that runs on a tiny fraction of curr
  
  Read more

• Ruby Fights Supply-Chain Attacks With Filter Offering 'Cooldown' Before Installing New Packages

  08-06-2026 13:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  Most supply-chain attacks using Ruby's package hosting site "exploit a narrow window," according to a new blog post form Ruby core maintainer Hiroshi Shibata.
  So its packaging-managing Bundler tool now offers a filter that blocks new version until it's been public "for at least N days. Releases too new to have been scrutinized are passed over in favor of ones that have aged past the window."The feature was designed in the open, drawing on how other ecosystems approach the same problem. It is opt
  
  Read more

• A San Francisco Burglar Escaped in a Robotaxi - and Police Still Can't Find Him

  08-06-2026 09:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  A burglar took a self-driving Waymo taxi to rob a San Francisco yoga studio this past January, reports TechCrunch — "and police have still not caught them."
  Even the police officer assigned to the case thought it would be easier to solve, notes The San Francisco Chronicle, since Waymos are outfitted with multiple high-definition cameras and require users to make accounts with their credit card numbers:
  It's common for officers to seek video footage of a crime from any of the Waymos, Teslas
  
  Read more

• Texas Grid Flags Risks As Data Centers, Crypto Sites Fail Voltage Tests

  08-06-2026 06:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Reuters reports:
  Several large data centers and crypto facilities planning to connect to the Texas power grid ahead of peak summer demand have failed key reliability tests, raising the risk of power outages just as electricity use hits its seasonal high, according to the state grid operator... Unlike traditional industrial customers, which tend to draw electricity steadily and predictably, data centers are engineered to cut their connection to the grid at the first sign of trouble to protect the
  
  Read more

• Police Sued After Imprisoning Innocent Man Placed Near Violent Crime By Flock License Plate Reader

  08-06-2026 03:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  "When Hugo Parra was arrested last year on felony charges, his pleas of innocence fell on deaf ears," reports the Times of San Diego:
  San Diego police had a description of the Alfa Romeo car he was riding in [but no license plate number] and a witness who identified him during a curbside lineup as the man who brandished a handgun in Golden Hill. They had also checked the city's automatic license plate camera system, run by the private company Flock, and got a "hit," substantiating the claim. The
  
  Read more

• Prada Unveils 'Liquid Cooling' Inner-Layer Garment for NASA's Moon Astronauts with Knitted-In Ventilation Tubes

  08-06-2026 01:27 via science.slashdot.org
  Italian fashion house Prada "unveiled on Sunday the inner-layer garment set to be worn by NASA astronauts heading to the moon," reports Reuters.
  "The body-hugging suit, created in collaboration with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, features ventilation tubes knitted into the garment."
  Expertise for developing space exploration products "can come from lots of seemingly unrelated industries," said Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space... The new product follows Prada's spla
  
  Read more

• Black Market Tinkerers on Facebook Marketplace Offer to Hide 'Recording Lights' on Meta Smartglasses

  08-06-2026 00:17 via yro.slashdot.org
  People are disabling the "recording light" on Meta's Ray-Ban smartglasses — "by my count, thousands of people," says tech journalist Joanna Stern in a new video report:STERN: "They're hiring people on Facebook Marketplace to drill out the light for as much as $100. According to our reporting, folks are offering this service in at least 30 states — despite Meta's attempts to stop it... In most states, we found multiple listings. In the New York and New Jersey area alone there were 23
  
  Read more

• New Fortune 500 Rankings: Texas Overtakes California, But Amazon is #1, Beating Walmart

  07-06-2026 22:29 via slashdot.org
  "Texas has dethroned California as the state with the most Fortune 500 companies," reports the Los Angeles Times:The Fortune 500 list ranks the largest U.S. companies by revenue. This year, 57 of the top companies are headquartered in Texas, compared with California's 56. It's a reversal from two years ago when the Golden State had the pole position...
  California's corporate haters say they try to avoid the state's high costs, income taxes and strict regulations, but the western state is still a
  
  Read more

• The Gamer-Rights Group Fighting to Make the Industry Stop Killing Games (Servers)

  07-06-2026 21:10 via games.slashdot.org
  "Can a company take away something you've already paid for?" asks the BBC. "In the world of online video games, some already do."Publishers can decide to switch off a game's servers, often leaving it effectively unplayable. Stop Killing Games, a growing consumer rights campaign started by American YouTuber Ross Scott in 2024, is challenging that practice. In January, the group submitted a petition featuring nearly 1.3 million signatures to the European Commission, triggering a public hearing in
  
  Read more

• Winners Announced in 2026's 'International Obfuscated C Code Competition'

  07-06-2026 19:34 via developers.slashdot.org
  Yesterday 2026's International Obfuscated C Code Contest concluded, with 22 new winners announced in a special three-hour livestreamed ceremony! Started 42 years ago, it's been described as the internet's longest-running contest, with entrants concocting convoluted programs glorying in the C programming language's subtleties, all while having some fun. And "For IOCCC29, the volume and quality of submissions were at near-historic heights," explains its home page.There's a "Tetris-optimized" GameB
  
  Read more

• James Bond Videogame '007 First Light' Sells 3M Copies, Earns $150M

  07-06-2026 18:34 via games.slashdot.org
  The new James Bond-themed videogame 007 First Light had a budget of 1.3 billion Danish krone — a little more than USD $202 million, reports IGN, citing a report from Denmark's public service broadcaster. "Denmark's TV 2 said that makes 007 First Light the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history" — and the game "still has some way to go before breaking even."
  007 First Light is estimated to have sold 2.2 million copies, generating $150 million in revenue... [Satu
  
  Read more

• James Bond Videogame '007 First Light' Sells 2.2M Copies, Earns $150M

  07-06-2026 18:34 via games.slashdot.org
  The new James Bond-themed videogame 007 First Light had a budget of 1.3 billion Danish krone — a little more than USD $202 million, reports IGN, citing a report from Denmark's public service broadcaster. "Denmark's TV 2 said that makes 007 First Light the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history" — and the game "still has some way to go before breaking even."
  007 First Light is estimated to have sold 2.2 million copies, generating $150 million in revenue... The o
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!