ICT news

• Nvidia Starts Phasing Out Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs

  25-01-2025 03:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  As spotted by Tom's Hardware, Nvidia's CUDA 12.8 release notes signal the transition of Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs to the legacy driver branch. As a result, there will be no more new feature updates for these architectures; however, CUDA and gaming driver support will remain for now. From the report: It's crucial to highlight that this has nothing to do with GeForce gaming driver support. In fact, Maxwell and Pascal continue to be on the support list for the GeForce RTX series driver, unlik
  
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• National Football League Launches Challenge to Improve Facemasks and Reduce Concussions

  09-02-2026 06:34 via science.slashdot.org
  As Super Bowl Sunday comes to a close, America's National Football League "is challenging innovators to improve the facemask on football helmets to reduce concussions in the game," reports the Associated Press:
  The league announced on Friday at an innovation summit for the Super Bowl the next round in the HealthTECH Challenge series, a crowdsourced competition designed to accelerate the development of cutting-edge football helmets and new standards for player safety. The challenge invites invent
  
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• Carmakers Rush To Remove Chinese Code Under New US Rules

  09-02-2026 03:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  "How Chinese is your car?" asks the Wall Street Journal. "Automakers are racing to work it out."
  Modern cars are packed with internet-connected widgets, many of them containing Chinese technology. Now, the car industry is scrambling to root out that tech ahead of a looming deadline, a test case for America's ability to decouple from Chinese supply chains. New U.S. rules will soon ban Chinese software in vehicle systems that connect to the cloud, part of an effort to prevent cameras, microphones
  
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• Amazon Delivery Drone Crashes into Texas Apartment Building

  09-02-2026 00:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  "You can hear the hum of the drone," says a local newscaster, "but then the propellors come into contact with the building, chunks of the drone later seen falling down. The next video shows the drone on the ground, surrounded by smoke..."Amazon tells us there was minimal damage to the apartment building, adding they are working with the appropriate people to handle any repairs." But there were people standing outside, notes the woman who filmed the crash, and the falling drone "could've hit them
  
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• Do Super Bowl Ads For AI Signal a Bubble About to Burst?

  08-02-2026 23:06 via slashdot.org
  It's the first "AI" Super Bowl, argues the tech/business writer at Slate, with AI company advertisements taking center stage, even while consumers insist to surveyors that they're "mostly negative" about AI-generated ads.
  Last year AI companies spent over $1.7 billion on AI-related ads, notes the Washington Post, adding the blitz this year will be "inescapable" — even while surveys show Americans "doubt the technology is good for them or the world..."
  Slate wonders if that means history wi
  
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• Dave Farber Dies at Age 91

  08-02-2026 21:42 via tech.slashdot.org
  The mailing list for the North American Network Operators' Group discusses Internet infrastructure issues like routing, IP address allocation, and containing malicious activity. This morning there was another message:We are heartbroken to report that our colleague — our mentor, friend, and conscience — David J. Farber passed away suddenly at his home in Roppongi, Tokyo. He left us on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at the too-young age of 91...
  Dave's career began with his education at Steve
  
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• After Six Years, Two Pentesters Arrested in Iowa Receive $600,000 Settlement

  08-02-2026 20:35 via it.slashdot.org
  "They were crouched down like turkeys peeking over the balcony," the county sheriff told Ars Technica. A half hour past midnight, they were skulking through a courthouse in Iowa's Dallas County on September 11 "carrying backpacks that remind me and several other deputies of maybe the pressure cooker bombs." More deputies arrived...Justin Wynn, 29 of Naples, Florida, and Gary De Mercurio, 43 of Seattle, slowly proceeded down the stairs with hands raised. They then presented the deputies with a le
  
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• Prankster Launches Super Bowl Party For AI Agents

  08-02-2026 19:34 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: The world's biggest football game comes to Silicon Valley today — so one bored programmer built a site where AI agents can gather for a Super Bowl party. They're trash talking, suggesting drinks, and predicting who will win. "Humans are welcome to observe," explains BotBowlParty.com — but just like at Moltbook, only AI agents can post or upvote. But humans are allowed to invite their own AI agents to join in the party...
  So BotBowl's offi
  
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• Why Is China Building So Many Coal Plants Despite Its Solar and Wind Boom?

  08-02-2026 18:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared this article from the Associated Press:Even as China's expansion of solar and wind power raced ahead in 2025, the Asian giant opened many more coal power plants than it had in recent years — raising concern about whether the world's largest emitter will reduce carbon emissions enough to limit climate change.
  More than 50 large coal units — individual boiler and turbine sets with generating capacity of 1 gigawatt or more — were commission
  
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• Scientists Explored Island Cave, Found 1 Million-Year-Old Remnants a Lost World

  08-02-2026 17:34 via science.slashdot.org
  "A spectacular trove of fossils in a discovered in a cave on New Zealand's North Island has given scientists their first glimpse of ancient forest species that lived there more than a million years ago," reports Popular Mechanics:
  The fossils represent 12 ancient bird species and four frog species, including several previously unknown bird species. Taken together, the fossils paint a picture of an ancient world that looks drastically different than it does today. The discovery also fills in an i
  
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• Cyber-Espionage Group Breached Systems in 37 Nations, Security Researchers Say

  08-02-2026 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from Bloomberg:
  An Asian cyber-espionage group has spent the past year breaking into computer systems belonging to governments and critical infrastructure organizations in more than 37 countries, according to the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks, Inc. The state-aligned attackers have infiltrated networks of 70 organizations, including five national law enforcement and border control agencies, according to a new research report from the company. They ha
  
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• Brookhaven Lab Shuts Down Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC)

  08-02-2026 13:34 via science.slashdot.org
  2001: "Brookhaven Labs has produced for the first time collisions of gold nuclei at a center of mass energy of 200GeV/nucleon."
  2002: "There may be a new type of matter according to researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory."
  2010: The hottest man-made temperatures ever achived were a record 4 trillion degree plasma experiment at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York... anointed the Guinness record holder."2023: "Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have uncovered an entirely ne
  
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• Have We Been Thinking About Exercise Wrong for Half a Century?

  08-02-2026 09:34 via science.slashdot.org
  "After a half-century asking us to exercise more, doctors and physiologists say we have been thinking about it wrong," writes Washington Post columnist Michael J. Coren.
  "U.S. and World Health Organization guidelines no longer specify a minimum duration of moderate or vigorous aerobic activity."Movement-tracking studies show even tiny, regular bursts of effort — as short as 30 seconds — can capture many of the health benefits of the gym. Climbing two to three flights of stairs a few
  
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• Are Big Tech's Nuclear Construction Deals a Tipping Point for Small Modular Reactors?

  08-02-2026 05:35 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Fortune reports on "a watershed moment" in American's nuclear power industry:
  In January, Meta partnered with Gates' TerraPower and Sam Altman-backed Oklo to develop about 4 gigawatts of combined SMR projects — enough to power almost 3 million homes — for "clean, reliable energy" both for Meta's planned Prometheus AI mega campus in Ohio and beyond. Analysts see Meta as the start of more Big Tech nuclear construction deals — not just agreements with existing plants or restarts s
  
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• A New Era for Security? Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6 Found 500 High-Severity Vulnerabilities

  08-02-2026 03:34 via it.slashdot.org
  Axios reports:Anthropic's latest AI model has found more than 500 previously unknown high-severity security flaws in open-source libraries with little to no prompting, the company shared first with Axios.
  Why it matters: The advancement signals an inflection point for how AI tools can help cyber defenders, even as AI is also making attacks more dangerous...
  Anthropic debuted Claude Opus 4.6, the latest version of its largest AI model, on Thursday. Before its debut, Anthropic's frontier red team
  
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• The World's First Sodium-Ion Battery in Commercial EVs - Great at Low Temperatures

  08-02-2026 02:17 via tech.slashdot.org
  Long-time Slashdot reader Geoffrey.landis shared this report from InsideEVs:
  Chinese battery giant CATL and automaker Changan Automobile are preparing to put the world's first passenger car powered by sodium-ion batteries on public roads by mid-2026. And if the launch is successful, it could usher in an era where electric vehicles present less of a fire risk and can better handle extreme temperatures.
  The CATL Naxtra sodium-ion battery will debut in the Changan Nevo A06 sedan, delivering an esti
  
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• Is the 'Death of Reading' Narrative Wrong?

  08-02-2026 00:12 via news.slashdot.org
  Has the rise of hyper-addictive digital technologies really shattered our attention spans and driven books out of our culture? Maybe not, argues social psychologist Adam Mastroianni (author of the Substack Experimental History):
  As a psychologist, I used to study claims like these for a living, so I know that the mind is primed to believe narratives of decline. We have a much lower standard of evidence for "bad thing go up" than we do for "bad thing go down." Unsurprisingly, then, stories about
  
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• Waymo Reveals Remote Workers In Philippines Sometimes Advise Its Driverless Cars

  07-02-2026 22:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  Waymo surprised U.S. lawmakers Wednesday during a hearing on autonomous vehicles and their safety and oversight. Newsweek reports:During questioning, Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, asked what happens when a Waymo vehicle encounters a driving situation it cannot independently resolve. "The Waymo phones a human friend for help," Markey explained, adding that the vehicle communicates with a "remote assistance operator." Markey criticized the lack of public information about these workers
  
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• Good News: We Saved the Bees. Bad News: We Saved the Wrong Ones.

  07-02-2026 21:34 via news.slashdot.org
  Despite urgent pleas to Americans to save the honeybees, "it was all based on a fallacy," writes Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. "Honeybees were never in existential trouble. And well-meaning efforts to boost their numbers have accelerated the decline of native bees that actually are.""Suppose I were to say to you, 'I'm really worried about bird decline, so I've decided to take up keeping chickens.' You'd think I was a bit of an idiot," British bee scientist Dave Goulson said in a video
  
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• Bitcoin Dropped Nearly 30% This Week. But Why?

  07-02-2026 20:34 via slashdot.org
  Last Sunday, Bitcoin had dropped 13% in three days, to $76,790.
  By Thursday it had dropped another 21%, to $60,062.
  This morning it's at $69,549 — up from Thursday, down from Sunday, but 44% lower than its all-time high in October of $123,742. In short, Bitcoin "is down almost 30% this week alone," reports CNBC:
  "This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing," Deutsche Bank analyst Marion Laboure said W
  
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• Firefox Announces 'AI Controls' To Block Its Upcoming AI Features

  07-02-2026 19:34 via news.slashdot.org
  The Mozilla executive in charge of Firefox says that while some people just want AI tools that are genuinely useful, "We've heard from many who want nothing to do with AI...""Listening to our community, alongside our ongoing commitment to offer choice, led us to build AI controls."Starting with Firefox 148, which rolls out on Feb. 24, you'll find a new AI controls section within the desktop browser settings. It provides a single place to block current and future generative AI features in Firefox
  
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• Apple Plans to Allow Outside Voice-Controlled AI Chatbots in CarPlay

  07-02-2026 18:34 via apple.slashdot.org
  Apple "is preparing to allow voice-controlled AI apps from other companies in CarPlay," reports Bloomberg, citing "people familiar with the matter."
  Bloomberg calls it "a move that will let users query AI chatbots through its vehicle interface for the first time."
  The company is working to support the apps in CarPlay within the coming months, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan hasn't been announced. The change marks a strategic shift for Apple, which until now has o
  
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• Free Bi-Directional EV Chargers Tested to Improve Massachusetts Power Grid

  07-02-2026 17:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Somewhere on America's eastern coast, there's an economic development agency in Massachusetts promoting green energy solutions. And Monday the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (or MassCEC) announced "a first-of-its-kind" program to see what happens when they provide free electric vehicle chargers to selected residents, school districts, and municipal projects.
  The catch? The EV chargers are bi-directional, able "to both draw power from and return power to the grid..." The program hopes to "acce
  
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• Moltbook, Reddit, and The Great AI-Bot Uprising That Wasn't

  07-02-2026 16:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Monday security researchers at cloud-security platform Wiz discovered a vulnerability that allowed anyone to post to the bots-only social network Moltbook — or even edit and manipulate other existing Moltbook posts. "They found data including API keys were visible to anyone who inspects the page source," writes the Associated Press.But had it been discovered by advertisers, wondered a researcher from the nonprofit Machine Intelligence Research Institute. "A lot of the Moltbook stuff is fak
  
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• Claude Code is the Inflection Point

  07-02-2026 13:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  About 4% of all public commits on GitHub are now being authored by Anthropic's Claude Code, a terminal-native AI coding agent that has quickly become the centerpiece of a broader argument that software engineering is being fundamentally reshaped by AI.
  SemiAnalysis, a semiconductor and AI research firm, published a report on Friday projecting that figure will climb past 20% by the end of 2026. Claude Code is a command-line tool that reads codebases, plans multi-step tasks and executes them auton
  
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• New Bill in New York Would Require Disclaimers on AI-Generated News Content

  07-02-2026 11:01 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A new bill in the New York state legislature would require news organizations to label AI-generated material and mandate that humans review any such content before publication. On Monday, Senator Patricia Fahy (D-Albany) and Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-NYC) introduced the bill, called The New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act -- The NY FAIR News Act for short.
  "At the center of the news industry, New York has a strong interest
  
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• Neocities Founder Stuck in Chatbot Hell After Bing Blocked 1.5 Million Sites

  07-02-2026 08:30 via it.slashdot.org
  Neocities founder Kyle Drake has spent weeks trapped in Microsoft's automated support loop after discovering that Bing quietly blocked all 1.5 million websites hosted on his platform, a free web-hosting service that has kept the spirit of 1990s GeoCities alive since 2013.
  Drake first noticed the issue last summer and thought it was resolved, but a second complete block went into effect in January, cratering Bing traffic from roughly half a million daily visitors to zero. He submitted nearly a do
  
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• Waymo is Having a Hard Time Stopping For School Buses

  07-02-2026 06:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Waymo's robotaxis have racked up at least 24 safety violations involving school buses in Austin since the start of the 2025 school year, and a voluntary software recall the company issued in December after a federal investigation has not fixed the problem.
  Austin Independent School District initially reported at least 19 incidents of Waymo vehicles failing to stop for buses during loading and unloading -- illegal in all 50 states -- prompting NHTSA to open a probe. At least four more violations
  
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• Hollywood's AI Bet Isn't Paying Off

  07-02-2026 03:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Hollywood's recent attempts to build entertainment around AI have consistently underperformed or outright flopped, whether the AI in question is a plot device or a production tool. The horror sequel M3GAN 2.0, Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning, and Disney's Tron: Ares all disappointed at the box office in 2025 despite centering their narratives on AI.
  The latest casualty is Mercy, a January 2026 crime thriller in which Chris Pratt faces an AI judge bot played by Rebecca Ferguson; one re
  
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• Amazon's Tax Bill Plunges 87% After Tax Cuts

  07-02-2026 01:01 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Republicans' tax cuts shaved billions off Amazon's tax bill, new government filings show. The company says it ran a $1.2 billion tax bill last year, down from $9 billion the previous year, and even as its profits jumped by 45% to nearly $90 billion.
  That's largely because of the generous new depreciation breaks GOP lawmakers included in their One Big Beautiful Bill, something that's particularly important to Amazon which -- in addition to maintaining a vast i
  
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