ICT news

• National Archives Bans Employee Use of ChatGPT

  01-05-2024 23:22 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) told employees Wednesday that it is blocking access to ChatGPT on agency-issued laptops to "protect our data from security threats associated with use of ChatGPT," 404 Media reported Wednesday. From the report: "NARA will block access to commercial ChatGPT on NARANet [an internal network] and on NARA issued laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and mobile phones beginning May 6, 2024," an email sent to all employees, and seen by 404 Media, r
  
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• Russia Likely Launched Counter Space Weapon Into Low Earth Orbit Last Week, Pentagon Says

  22-05-2024 18:42 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The United States has assessed that Russia launched what is likely a counter space weapon last week that's now in the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed Tuesday. From a report: "What I'm tracking here is on May 16, as you highlighted, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we that we assess is likely a counter space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit," Ryder said when questioned by ABC
  
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• Amazon Plans To Give Alexa an AI Overhaul - and a Monthly Subscription Price

  22-05-2024 18:06 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon is upgrading its decade-old Alexa voice assistant with generative AI and plans to charge a monthly subscription fee to offset the cost of the technology, CNBC reported Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of Amazon's plans. From the report: The Seattle-based tech and retail giant will launch a more conversational version of Alexa later this year, potentially positioning it to better compete with new generative AI-powered chatbots from companies including Google and OpenAI, according to
  
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• US Securities Regulator Urges Against Crypto Bill Adoption

  22-05-2024 17:29 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday urged U.S. lawmakers not to adopt a bill that aims to create a new legal framework for digital currencies, saying it would undermine existing legal precedent and put capital markets at "immeasurable risk." From a report: The U.S. House of Representatives is expected later on Wednesday to take up the Republican-sponsored Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, which would in part determine which agencies have jurisdiction over which
  
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• Wearable AI Startup Humane Explores Potential Sale

  22-05-2024 16:44 via slashdot.org
  
  AI startup Humane has been seeking a buyer for its business, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter, just weeks after the company's closely watched wearable AI device had a rocky public launch. From the report: The company is working with a financial adviser to assist it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Humane is seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion in a sale [non-paywalled link], one person said. The proce
  
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• Meta AI Chief Says Large Language Models Will Not Reach Human Intelligence

  22-05-2024 16:03 via slashdot.org
  
  Meta's AI chief said the large language models that power generative AI products such as ChatGPT would never achieve the ability to reason and plan like humans, as he focused instead on a radical alternative approach to create "superintelligence" in machines. From a report: Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at the social media giant that owns Facebook and Instagram, said LLMs had "very limited understanding of logicâ... do not understand the physical world, do not have persistent memory, cann
  
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• ASML and TSMC Can Disable Chip Machines If China Invades Taiwan

  22-05-2024 15:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have ways to disable the world's most sophisticated chipmaking machines in the event that China invades Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter. Officials from the US government have privately expressed concerns to both their Dutch and Taiwanese counterparts about what happens if Chinese aggression escalates into an attack on the island responsible for producing the vast ma
  
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• Google Brings Back Group Speaker Controls After Sonos Lawsuit Win

  22-05-2024 12:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman reports that the group speaker volume controls feature is back in Android 15 Beta 2. "Google intentionally disabled this functionality on Pixel phones back in late 2021 due to a legal dispute with Sonos," reports Rahman. "In late 2023, Google announced it would bring back several features they had to remove, following a judge's overturning of a jury verdict that was in favor of Sonos." From the report: When you create a speaker group consisting of one or more A
  
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• EVs More Likely To Hit Pedestrians Than Petrol Vehicles, Study Finds

  22-05-2024 09:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Hybrid and electric cars are more likely to hit pedestrians than petrol or diesel vehicles, due to their quieter engines that make them harder for pedestrians to hear. Other contributing factors include the tendency for drivers of electric cars to be younger and less experienced, and the vehicles' heavier weight and swift acceleration, increasing stopping distances. The Guardian reports: Data from 32 billion miles of battery-powered car travel and 3 trillion miles of petrol and diesel car trips
  
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• California Exceeds 100% of Energy Demand With Renewables Over a Record 45 Days

  22-05-2024 05:30 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: In a major clean energy benchmark, wind, solar, and hydro exceeded 100% of demand on California's main grid for 69 of the past 75 days. Stanford University professor of civil and environmental engineering Mark Z. Jacobson continues to track California's renewables performance – and it's still exciting. In an update today on Twitter (X), Jacobson reports that California has now exceeded 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 45
  
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• DOJ Makes Its First Known Arrest For AI-Generated CSAM

  22-05-2024 04:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  In what's believed to be the first case of its kind, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested a Wisconsin man last week for generating and distributing AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Even if no children were used to create the material, the DOJ "looks to establish a judicial precedent that exploitative materials are still illegal," reports Engadget. From the report: The DOJ says 42-year-old software engineer Steven Anderegg of Holmen, WI, used a fork of the open-source AI image
  
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• EU Sets Benchmark For Rest of the World With Landmark AI Laws

  22-05-2024 03:25 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Europe's landmark rules on artificial intelligence will enter into force next month after EU countries endorsed on Tuesday a political deal reached in December, setting a potential global benchmark for a technology used in business and everyday life. The European Union's AI Act is more comprehensive than the United States' light-touch voluntary compliance approach while China's approach aims to maintain social stability and state control. The vot
  
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• Windows Now Has AI-Powered Copy and Paste

  22-05-2024 02:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Umar Shakir reports via The Verge: Microsoft is adding a new Advanced Paste feature to PowerToys for Windows 11 that can convert your clipboard content on the fly with the power of AI. The new feature can help people speed up their workflows by doing things like copying code in one language and pasting it in another, although its best tricks require OpenAI API credits.Advanced Paste is included in PowerToys version 0.81 and, once enabled, can be activated with a special key command: Windows Key
  
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• 'Pay Researchers To Spot Errors in Published Papers'

  22-05-2024 02:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Borrowing the idea of "bug bounties" from the technology industry could provide a systematic way to detect and correct the errors that litter the scientific literature. Malte Elson, writing at Nature: Just as many industries devote hefty funding to incentivizing people to find and report bugs and glitches, so the science community should reward the detection and correction of errors in the scientific literature. In our industry, too, the costs of undetected errors are staggering. That's why I ha
  
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• Linux 6.10 Honors One Last Request By Hans Reiser

  22-05-2024 01:20 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader DVega shares a report from Phoronix: ReiserFS lead developer and convicted murderer Hans Reiser a few months back wrote letters to be made public apologizing for his social mistakes and other commentary. In his written communications he also made a last request for ReiserFS in the Linux kernel: "Assuming that the decision is to remove [ReiserFS] V3 from the kernel, I have just one request: that for one last release the README be edited to add Mikhail Gilula, Konstantin S
  
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• Microsoft Is Making File Explorer More Powerful With Version Control and 7z Compression

  22-05-2024 01:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Sean Hollister reports via The Verge: At Build, Microsoft now says it's adding native version control to File Explorer by integrating systems like Git, letting you see new changes and comments directly from the app. Here's a cropped and zoomed version of the provided screenshot so you can get a better look. [...] Microsoft says it's also letting File Explorer natively compress files to 7-zip and TAR; currently, the right-click context menu has a "Compress to ZIP file" option, but ZIP is thought
  
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• IGN Scoops Up Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, and More

  22-05-2024 00:40 via games.slashdot.org
  
  It seems no industry is safe from consolidation, and the latest target is gaming media. From a report: IGN Entertainment has acquired the website portfolio of UK publisher Gamer Network, which operates a number of beloved games-focused publications. That list includes Gamesindustry.biz, Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and the tabletop site Dicebreaker. The network also holds shares in sites like Nintendo Life and Digital Foundry.
  Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gamesindustry.biz repo
  
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• Sonos Enters the Headphones Market

  22-05-2024 00:20 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  After being rumored for years, Sonos has officially entered the headphones market with its new Ace headphones. "The Sonos Ace wireless over-ear active noise-canceling headphones are specified to go toe-to-toe with the established market leaders from the likes of Apple and Bose, and they're priced to match at $449," reports Wired. From the report: Visually, you get an elegant and notably slim pair of over-ear headphones in either a black or "soft" white matte finish. Thanks to a light 312-gram we
  
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• Apple Says US Antitrust Lawsuit Should Be Dismissed

  22-05-2024 00:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple said on Tuesday it plans to ask a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and 15 states in March that alleged the iPhone maker monopolized the smartphone market, hurt smaller rivals and drove up prices. From a report: In a letter to U.S. District Judge Julien X. Neals in New Jersey, Apple said "far from being a monopolist, Apple faces fierce competition from well-established rivals, and the complaint fails to allege that Apple has the ability to charge supra-competi
  
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• Gordon Bell, an Architect of Our Digital Age, Dies At Age 89

  21-05-2024 23:25 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Computer pioneer Gordon Bell, who as an early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) played a key role in the development of several influential minicomputer systems and also co-founded the first major computer museum, passed away on Friday, according to Bell Labs veteran John Mashey. Mashey announced Bell's passing in a social media post on Tuesday morning. "I am very sad to report [the] death May 17 at age 89 of Gordon Bell, famou
  
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• US Government Urges Federal Contractors To Strengthen Encryption

  21-05-2024 22:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Companies working with the US government may be required to start protecting their data and technology from attacks by quantum computers as soon as July. From a report: The National Institute for Standards and Technology, part of the Department of Commerce, will in July stipulate three types of encryption algorithms the agency deems sufficient for protecting data from quantum computers, setting an internationally-recognized standard aimed at helping organizations manage evolving cybersecurity th
  
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• Top Oil Firms' Climate Pledges Failing on Almost Every Metric, Report Finds

  21-05-2024 20:14 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Major oil companies have in recent years made splashy climate pledges to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take on the climate crisis, but a new report suggests those plans do not stand up to scrutiny. From a report: The research and advocacy group Oil Change International examined climate plans from the eight largest US- and European-based international oil and gas producers -- BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies -- and found none were compatible
  
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• Google's Moonshot Factory Falls Back Down to Earth

  21-05-2024 19:24 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Alphabet's moonshot factory, X, is scaling back its ambitious projects amid concerns over Google's core search business facing competition from AI chatbots like ChatGPT. The lab, once a symbol of Google's commitment to innovation, is now spinning off projects as startups rather than integrating them into Alphabet. The shift reflects a broader trend among tech giants, who are cutting costs and focusing on their core businesses in response to the rapidly evolving AI landscape.Read more of this sto
  
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• Microsoft Edge Will Dub Streamed Video With AI-Translated Audio

  21-05-2024 18:41 via slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is planning to either add subtitles or even dub video produced by major video sites, using AI to translate the audio into foreign languages within Microsoft Edge in real time. From a report: At its Microsoft Build developer conference, Microsoft named several sites that would benefit from the new real-time translation capabilities within Edge, including Reuters, CNBC News, Bloomberg, and Coursera, plus Microsoft's own LinkedIn. Interestingly, Microsoft also named Google's YouTube as a
  
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• Microsoft Launches Free AI Assistant For All Educators in US in Deal With Khan Academy

  21-05-2024 18:02 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Microsoft is partnering with tutoring organization Khan Academy to provide a generative AI assistant to all teachers in the U.S. for free. From a report: Khanmigo for Teachers, which helps teachers prepare lessons for class, is free to all educators in the U.S. as of Tuesday. The program can help create lessons, analyze student performance, plan assignments, and provide teachers with opportunities to enhance their own learning.
  "Unlike most things in technology and education in the past where th
  
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• Match Group, Meta, Coinbase And More Form Anti-Scam Coalition

  21-05-2024 17:33 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Scams are all over the internet, and AI is making matters worse (no, Taylor Swift didn't giveaway Le Creuset pans, and Tom Hanks didn't promote a dental plan). Now, companies such as Match Group, Meta and Coinbase are launching Tech Against Scams, a new coalition focused on collaboration to prevent online fraud and financial schemes. They will "collaborate on ways to take action against the tools used by scammers, educate and protect consumers and disrupt rap
  
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• EPA Says It Will Step Up Enforcement To Address 'Critical' Vulnerabilities Within Water Sector

  21-05-2024 16:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday urged water utilities to take action to improve their digital defenses, following a spate of recent cyberattacks. From a report: The agency's "enforcement alert" said that recent inspections of water systems found that more than 70 percent fail to meet basic cybersecurity standards, including some with "critical" vulnerabilities, such as relying on default passwords that haven't been updated and single logins that "can easily be compromised." Th
  
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• Scarlett Johansson Warned OpenAI To Not Use Her Voice

  21-05-2024 16:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Actress Scarlett Johansson's legal team has sent two letters to OpenAI, demanding the company disclose how it developed an AI personal assistant voice that the actress claims sounds uncannily similar to her own. The controversy was prompted after OpenAI held a live demonstration of the voice, dubbed "Sky," which many observers compared to Johansson's voice in the 2013 film "Her."
  OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had approached Johansson months prior and as recently as two days before the event, proposing t
  
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• Google Cuts Mystery Check To US In Bid To Sidestep Jury Trial

  21-05-2024 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Alphabet's Google has preemptively paid damages to the U.S. government, an unusual move aimed at avoiding a jury trial in the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit over its digital advertising business. Google disclosed (PDF) the payment, but not the amount, in a court filing last week that said the case should be heard and decided by a judge directly. Without a monetary damages claim, Google argued, the government has no right to a jury trial.
  
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• Rockwell Automation Encourages Customers to Assess and Secure Public-Internet-Exposed Assets

  21-05-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Rockwell Automation has released guidance encouraging users to remove connectivity on all Industrial Control Systems (ICS) devices connected to the public-facing internet to reduce exposure to unauthorized or malicious cyber activity. Users and administrators are encouraged review the following Rockwell Automation notice for more information:
   SD1672: Rockwell Automation Reiterates Customer Guidance to Disconnect Devices from the Internet to Protect from Cyber Threats
   
  
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