ICT news

• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• 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
  
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• After Empty Promises, Will String Theory Find New Uses?

  07-06-2026 17:34 via science.slashdot.org
  Science magazine reports:
  For decades, string theory promised a "theory of everything" that described all particles and forces as tiny vibrating strings. Physicists hoped it could also solve one of the field's deepest problems: reconciling quantum mechanics with gravity. But as string theory grew increasingly elaborate — and experimentally unreachable — many physicists lost hope.
  Now, some researchers are revisiting the theory from first principles. In a paper in press at Physical Re
  
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• Reddit Ads Impersonate BBC and The Guardian to Push Fake AI Investment Schemes

  07-06-2026 16:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  A "growing wave" of Reddit's "promoted posts" are sending U.S. and European audiences to money-stealing scams that impersonate major news organizations including the BBC, the Financial Times, and The Guardian, according to new findings from Bitdefender Labs.
  "Domains are short-lived and rapidly rotated to evade detection," they write, noting that the impersonating sites apparently even use language "to falsely imply that the investment platform had been reviewed, approved, or vetted" by the legi
  
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• Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders And Sam Altman Are All Talking About Public Ownership In AI

  07-06-2026 13:34 via news.slashdot.org
  U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders announced a plan for the public to take a 50% ownership stake in AI companies, remembers the Associated Press.
  And then OpenAI's Sam Altman "told Sanders that he, too, wants the public to have equity in AI companies."
  Though the CEO said he couldn't support Sanders' threshold of 50%, he nonetheless wanted to work with him to advocate for the general idea, according to people with knowledge of the conversation. The nearly hourlong meeting in Sanders' Senate office this
  
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• 'Steve Jobs In Exile' Remembers the Birth of the Web and 'Making Unix Taste Sweet'

  07-06-2026 09:34 via apple.slashdot.org
  Ars Technica shares some anecdotes from Steve Jobs in Exile, a new book released last month:[Author Geoffrey] Cain reminds us, in stunning detail, that Jobs' "exile" era at NeXT was not only critical to his evolution as a man and an entrepreneur, but that it mattered for the rest of us, too. The technological innovations that came out of NeXT — notably, the NeXTSTEP OS — continue to live on in what we now call both macOS and iOS. As Cain puts it, "NeXTSTEP was Steve's attempt to make
  
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• Scientists Edited Human Embryo Genes. But Questions Remain

  07-06-2026 06:41 via science.slashdot.org
  "A DNA-editing feat involving editing the genes of early stage embryos was announced this week," reports the Wall Street Journal.
  They describe the feat as "a far cry from designer babies, but nevertheless a step in that direction."Dieter Egli, an associate professor of developmental cell biology at Columbia University and his co-authors, including Nathan Treff of Nucleus Genomics, a New York-based DNA-testing startup, say the technology could help fix disease-causing mutations in embryos. "We'r
  
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• Failing CS Grades Soar At UC Berkeley As Professors See Greater AI Usage

  07-06-2026 04:41 via developers.slashdot.org
  The University of California at Berkeley discovered the percentage of failing grades in multiple CS classes this spring "is significantly higher than past semesters," reports the campus's student newspaper."Instructors point to students' increased reliance on AI, lack of mathematical preparedness and understaffing as potential contributing factors."
  According to [coursework platform] Berkeleytime, 35.3% of CS 10 students and 10.6% of CS 61A students received F's in spring 2026. In spring 2025 an
  
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• Cheaper EVs Sales are Increasing

  07-06-2026 02:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Sales have increased for Hyundai's under-$35,000 IONIQ 5, totalling 18,395 for the first five months of 2026, reports Electrek, "up 16% from the same period last year."But meanwhile BYD's overseas sales surpassed 160,000 for the first time last month, "up 80% from May 2025 and 19% from the previous record of 135,098 set in April."
  Through the first five months of 2026, BYD sold 616,263 vehicles overseas. In May, overseas sales accounted for over 41% of BYD's total sales. In several major markets
  
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• Cheaper EV Sales are Increasing

  07-06-2026 02:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  Sales have increased for Hyundai's under-$35,000 IONIQ 5, totalling 18,395 for the first five months of 2026, reports Electrek, "up 16% from the same period last year."But meanwhile BYD's overseas sales surpassed 160,000 for the first time last month, "up 80% from May 2025 and 19% from the previous record of 135,098 set in April."
  Through the first five months of 2026, BYD sold 616,263 vehicles overseas. In May, overseas sales accounted for over 41% of BYD's total sales. In several major markets
  
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• EU's Tech Sovereignty Package Includes 29 Pages on Open Source, Says Open Source Initiative

  07-06-2026 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  Friday the Open Source Initiative welcomed the EU's new tech sovereignty package, noting that "over a third of the 29-page document is devoted to Open Source."
  The nonprofit OSI — maintainers of the Open Source definition — submitted their official feedback in February, and notes that "many" of their key requests were addressed, "as well as some exciting new announcements!"One of the biggest barriers to Open Source adoption has been public procurement. Too often, tenders have been de
  
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• Hospital Ordered to Pay $13M Over 2022 Death of Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols

  06-06-2026 23:40 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  The Root reports:A New Mexico jury has found the Gila Regional Medical Center negligent in the death of Nichelle Nichols, who famously played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the hit television series "Star Trek."
  According to KRQE News 13, Nichols' family filed a lawsuit against the hospital last year following her 2022 admission for shortness of breath. Nichols' family claimed that she should have received a full cardiac examination, but the medical personnel sent her to the observation unit, and she
  
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• Ladybird Browser Stops Accepting Public Pull Requests

  06-06-2026 22:34 via news.slashdot.org
  The Ladybird browser isn't opposed to AI coding tools, but it's just brought a new change to their code-contributing policies.
  February 23: "Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI."
  I used Claude Code and Codex for the translation. This was human-directed, not autonomous code generation. I decided what to port, in what order, and what the Rust code should look like. It was hundreds of small prompts, steering the agents where things needed to go... The requirement from the start was byte-for-byt
  
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• New Power Banks Released By BMX With Safer Semi-Solid-State Batteries

  06-06-2026 21:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  From Android Authority:
  Singapore-based BMX has announced that its SolidSafe magnetic power bank lineup, first showcased at CES 2026, is now available for purchase through its website and Amazon US, with prices starting at $59. What sets these power banks apart is their use of semi-solid-state batteries. Traditional lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries rely on liquid electrolytes to move energy between electrodes. Semi-solid-state batteries significantly reduce the amount of flammable liqui
  
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• Teen Social Media Bans Risk Strengthening Big Tech's Dominance, Warns Bluesky Exec

  06-06-2026 19:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Bluesky's chief operating officer believes teen social media bans "risk entrenching Big Tech's dominance," reports CNBC:Rose Wang, Bluesky's chief operating officer, told CNBC on the sidelines of SXSW in London on Wednesday that the smaller open-source platform isn't opposed to regulation but that smaller players in the industry should be protected. "I support the protection and the safety of youth... The question that we have then is at what cost? Because essentially what I'm scared of is in th
  
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• Early Research Suggests a Path to Predict and Prevent Lung Cancer

  06-06-2026 18:34 via science.slashdot.org
  Scientists "have made a discovery that may help prevent some people from developing lung cancer," reports the New York Times, noting that lung cancer "kills more people worldwide than any other cancer."A team of more than 80 researchers working across four continents have identified a set of proteins in the blood that accurately predict lung cancers more than five years before diagnosis. The scientists also found early evidence that an existing anti-inflammatory drug could significantly reduce l
  
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• Criticisms Rise Before Vote on America's Cryptocurrency 'Clarity Act'

  06-06-2026 17:34 via yro.slashdot.org
  An upcoming vote in a few weeks on America's cryptocurrency "Clarity Act" is "rattling Wall Street and consumer advocates," reports CNN, with its proposal to regulate the bulk of crypto markets through America's Commodity Futures Trading Commission. "It allows crypto companies to operate, at long last, in compliance with U.S. rules, rather than what they have been doing — essentially running their businesses within a patchwork of state and federal legal gray areas."
  Even for Jamie Dimon, t
  
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• 2027's 'Tomb Raider' Remake: Unreal Engine 5 and AI-Assisted Assets 'Refined' By Humans

  06-06-2026 16:34 via games.slashdot.org
  An official trailer dropped this week for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. It's "a full-blown remake of the original 1996 Tomb Raider game," reports Kotaku, "rebuilt from the ground up using Unreal Engine 5." Developed by Flying Wild Hog (with assistance/guidance from longtime Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics), "it will also make some changes to puzzles, combat, platforming..." The game's Steam page acknowledges that AI-assisted tools were used during development "to support some early explor
  
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• Utah Residents Sue Officials Over Kevin O'Leary Data Center Plan

  06-06-2026 15:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Utah residents and a progressive nonprofit are suing officials over Kevin O'Leary's planned Stratos Project AI data center, arguing that the special authority overseeing it gives unelected officials too much control over land use, taxation, public health, and local governance. The lawsuit comes as O'Leary has agreed to shrink the proposed 40,000-acre project by 75% amid mounting political and community pushback. NBC News reports: The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Utah's 3rd District Court by th
  
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• Scientists Find Wind Blowing From Our Milky Way's Black Hole

  06-06-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  After 50 years of searching, astronomers say they have finally found evidence of a long-sought "wind" blowing from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. "Unless a black hole exists in a perfect vacuum, it must blow a wind somehow. And there is no perfect vacuum in the universe," team co-leader and Northwestern University researcher Mark Gorski said in a statement. "With new observations, this is the first time we've had a clean enough view to see the wind's
  
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• Small Modular Nuclear Reactor Reaches Criticality In First Test

  06-06-2026 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Just over a year ago, the Trump Administration issued an executive order meant to accelerate the development of nuclear power in the US. While an entire startup ecosystem has developed around the use of different -- and typically smaller -- reactor designs, only one of them has been fully licensed so far, and there are no plans to actually build any instances of that design.The executive order directed the Department of Energy to have three
  
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• The US Military Quietly Turned GPS Into a Global 'Numbers Station,' Evidence Suggests

  06-06-2026 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  A security researcher says evidence suggests the U.S. military has been using an obscure GPS message field for nearly 20 years to broadcast encrypted key-distribution data, effectively turning GPS satellites into a global "numbers station." The hidden-looking 176-bit messages appear tied to the Pentagon's Over-the-Air Distribution system for remotely updating cryptographic keys, meaning ordinary GPS receivers may have been receiving the traffic all along without anyone outside the military notic
  
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• Google Will Pay SpaceX $920 Million Per Month For Compute

  06-06-2026 00:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Ahead of its upcoming IPO, SpaceX announced that Google will pay the company $920 million per month for access to roughly 110,000 Nvidia GPUs and related compute infrastructure. Google says the agreement is short-term "bridge capacity" to meet stronger-than-expected demand for Gemini Enterprise, while SpaceX is using deals like this and its Anthropic contract to bolster its pitch for a historic public offering. TechCrunch reports: The deal is similar in length and scope to the one SpaceX announc
  
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• Bitcoin Falls To $60,000 As Zcash Bug Rocks Crypto

  05-06-2026 23:00 via it.slashdot.org
  Bitcoin briefly fell below $60,000 on Friday, "extending its weekly loss to nearly 20% and threatening to fall below $59,000," reports CoinDesk. Crypto was also hit by a 40%-plus plunge in Zcash after Shielded Labs disclosed a years-old bug that could have allowed undetected counterfeit ZEC creation. From the report: Now, with stocks in plunge mode -- the Nasdaq down nearly 4% on Friday -- bitcoin finds itself perfectly correlated. "Short term, Bitcoin feels like swallowing broken glass," wrote
  
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• 340 Local News Outlets Now Blocking the Internet Archive

  05-06-2026 22:00 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Techdirt: Earlier this year Nieman Lab broke the story that major news publishers, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and USA Today Co., had started blocking the Internet Archive for fear that AI companies might scrape the nonprofit's repositories for training data. As one of the last bastions of archival history, that is, in case you're not aware, not very good for the public interest. Four months later and Nieman Lab now notes that the number o
  
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• GOV.UK Goes Dutch On Payments As It Dumps Stripe

  05-06-2026 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  The UK's Government Digital Service is replacing Stripe with Dutch payments provider Adyen for many GOV.UK Pay transactions, including local authorities, police forces, and armed forces units. The three-year deal covers about 1,000 services and is meant to make payments more flexible while keeping the user experience largely unchanged. The Register reports: According to the tender notice published in February 2025, the contract covers around 17 percent of payments made through GOV.UK Pay but mor
  
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