ICT news

• Oracle Takes On Red Hat In Linux Code Fight

  12-07-2023 04:02 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes via ZDNet: I'd been waiting for Oracle to throw its hat into the ring for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Linux source-code fight. I knew it was only a matter of time. On July 10, Oracle's Edward Screven, chief corporate architect, and Wim Coekaerts, head of Oracle Linux development, declared: "IBM's actions are not in your best interest. By killing CentOS as a RHEL alternative and attacking AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, IBM is eliminating one way your customers sa
  
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• Schools, Airports, High-Rise Towers: Architects Urged To Get 'Bamboo-Ready'

  22-01-2026 19:05 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: An airport made of bamboo? A tower reaching 20 metres high? For many years, bamboo has been mostly known as the favourite food of giant pandas, but a group of engineers say it's time we took it seriously as a building material, too.
  This week the Institution of Structural Engineers called for architects to be "bamboo-ready" as they published a manual for designing permanent buildings made of the material, in an effort to encourage low-carbon construction and
  
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• China Lagging in AI Is a 'Fairy Tale,' Mistral CEO Says

  22-01-2026 18:20 via news.slashdot.org
  Claims that Chinese technology for AI lags the US are a "fairy tale," Arthur Mensch, the chief executive officer of Mistral, said. From a report: "China is not behind the West," Mensch said in an interview on Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. The capabilities of China's open-source technology is "probably stressing the CEOs in the US."
  The remarks from the boss of one of Europe's leading AI companies diverge from other tech leaders at Davos, who
  
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• Autodesk To Cut 1,000 Jobs

  22-01-2026 17:44 via slashdot.org
  Autodesk said today it plans to cut approximately 1,000 jobs, or roughly 7% of its workforce, as part of what the company described as the final phase of a global restructuring effort aimed at strengthening its sales and marketing operations.
  The maker of AutoCAD and other digital design software said a significant portion of the cuts will fall within customer-facing sales functions.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• What a Sony and TCL Partnership Means For the Future of TVs

  22-01-2026 17:08 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  How would Sony ceding control of its TV hardware business change the industry? The Verge has an optimistic take: [...] As of today, Sony already relies on different manufacturing partners to create its TV lineup. While display panel manufacturers never reveal who they sell panels to, Sony is likely already using panels for its LCD TVs from TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT), in addition to OLED panels from LG Display and Samsung Display. With this deal, a relationship between Sony
  
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• 'Stealing Isn't Innovation': Hundreds of Creatives Warn Against an AI Slop Future

  22-01-2026 16:29 via slashdot.org
  Around 800 artists, writers, actors, and musicians signed on to a new campaign against what they call "theft at a grand scale" by AI companies. From a report: The signatories of the campaign -- called "Stealing Isn't Innovation" -- include authors George Saunders and Jodi Picoult, actors Cate Blanchett and Scarlett Johansson, and musicians like the band R.E.M., Billy Corgan, and The Roots.
  "Driven by fierce competition for leadership in the new GenAI technology, profit-hungry technology companie
  
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• Nvidia Allegedly Sought 'High-Speed Access' To Pirated Book Library for AI Training

  22-01-2026 15:40 via yro.slashdot.org
  An expanded class-action lawsuit filed last Friday alleges that a member of Nvidia's data strategy team directly contacted Anna's Archive -- the sprawling shadow library hosting millions of pirated books -- to explore "including Anna's Archive in pre-training data for our LLMs."
  Internal documents cited in the amended complaint show Nvidia sought information about "high-speed access" to the collection, which Anna's Archive charged tens of thousands of dollars for. According to the lawsuit, Anna'
  
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• 'No Reasons To Own': Software Stocks Sink on Fear of New AI Tool

  22-01-2026 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  The new year was supposed to bring opportunities for beaten-down software stocks. Instead, the group is off to its worst start in years. From a report: The release of a new artificial intelligence tool from startup Anthropic on Jan. 12 rekindled fears about disruption that weighed on software makers in 2025.
  TurboTax owner Intuit tumbled 16% last week, its worst since 2022, while Adobe and Salesforce, which makes customer relationship management software, both sank more than 11%. All told, a gro
  
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• Half of Fossil Fuel Carbon Emissions In 2024 Came From 32 Companies

  22-01-2026 14:00 via news.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Inside Climate News: Just 32 companies accounted for over half of global fossil carbon emissions in 2024, according to a report published Wednesday by the U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap. That is down from 36 companies responsible for half the global CO2 emissions in 2023, and 38 companies five years ago. The analysis is the latest update to the Carbon Majors database, which tracks the world's largest oil, gas, coal and cement producers and uses produc
  
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• Wikipedia's Guide to Spotting AI Is Now Being Used To Hide AI

  22-01-2026 11:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Ars Technica's Benj Edwards reports: On Saturday, tech entrepreneur Siqi Chen released an open source plugin for Anthropic's Claude Code AI assistant that instructs the AI model to stop writing like an AI model. Called "Humanizer," the simple prompt plugin feeds Claude a list of 24 language and formatting patterns that Wikipedia editors have listed as chatbot giveaways. Chen published the plugin on GitHub, where it has picked up over 1,600 stars as of Monday. "It's really handy that Wikipedia we
  
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• Blue Origin's Satellite Internet Network TeraWave Will Move Data At 6 Tbps

  22-01-2026 08:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Blue Origin has unveiled an enterprise-focused satellite internet network called TeraWave, which promises up to 6 Tbps speeds via a mixed low- and medium-Earth orbit constellation. TechCrunch reports: The TeraWave constellation will use a mix of 5,280 satellites in low-Earth orbit and 128 in medium-Earth orbit, and Blue Origin plans to deploy the first ones in late 2027. It's not immediately clear how long Blue Origin expects it will take to build out the whole network. The low-Earth orbit satel
  
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• Weight-Loss Drugs Could Save US Airlines $580 Million Per Year

  22-01-2026 04:30 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have transformed millions of lives with easily administered treatments and quick results. Now it turns out the dropped pounds may have a surprising perk for airlines, too: lower fuel costs, as slimmer passengers lighten their aircraft's loads.According to a study published last week by Jefferies, a financial services firm, the four largest U.S. carriers -- American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Air
  
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• FBI's Washington Post Investigation Shows How Your Printer Can Snitch On You

  22-01-2026 03:02 via hardware.slashdot.org
  alternative_right quotes a report from The Intercept: Federal prosecutors on January 9 charged Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones, an IT specialist for an unnamed government contractor, with "the offense of unlawful retention of national defense information," according to an FBI affidavit (PDF). The case attracted national attention after federal agents investigating Perez-Lugones searched the home of a Washington Post reporter. But overlooked so far in the media coverage is the fact that a surprising s
  
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• 'America Is Slow-Walking Into a Polymarket Disaster'

  22-01-2026 02:25 via news.slashdot.org
  In an opinion piece for The Atlantic, senior editor Saahil Desai argues that media outlets are increasingly treating prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi as legitimate signals of reality. The risk, as Desai warns, is a future where news coverage amplifies manipulable betting odds and turns politics, geopolitics, and even tragedy into speculative gambling theater. Here's an excerpt from the report: [...] The problem is that prediction markets are ushering in a world in which news becomes
  
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• Apple Reportedly Replacing Siri Interface With Actual Chatbot Experience For iOS 27

  22-01-2026 01:45 via apple.slashdot.org
  According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is reportedly planning a major Siri overhaul in iOS 27 and macOS 27 where the current assistant interface will be replaced with a deeply integrated, ChatGPT-style chatbot experience. "Users will be able to summon the new service the same way they open Siri now, by speaking the 'Siri' command or holding down the side button on their iPhone or iPad," says Gurman. "More significantly, Siri will be integrated into all of the company's core apps, including
  
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• Spotify Lawsuit Triggered Anna's Archive Domain Name Suspensions

  22-01-2026 01:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Spotify and several major record labels, including UMG, Sony, and Warner, have taken legal action against the unknown operators of Anna's Archive. The action follows the shadow library's announcement that it would release hundreds of terabytes of scraped Spotify data. Unsealed documents reveal that the court already issued a broad preliminary injunction, ordering hosting companies, Cloudflare, and domain name services, to take action. [...]
  
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• Apple Developing AI Wearable Pin

  22-01-2026 00:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  According to a report by The Information (paywalled), Apple is reportedly developing an AirTag-sized, camera-equipped AI wearable pin that could arrive as early as 2027."Apple's pin, which is a thin, flat, circular disc with an aluminum-and-glass shell, features two cameras -- a standard lens and a wide-angle lens -- on its front face, designed to capture photos and videos of the user's surroundings," reports The Information, citing people familiar with the device. "It also includes three microp
  
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• Nova Launcher Gets a New Owner and Ads

  21-01-2026 23:40 via slashdot.org
  Nova Launcher has been acquired by Instabridge, which says it will keep the app maintained but is evaluating ad-supported options for the free version. Android Authority reports: Today, Nova Launcher announced that the Swedish company Instabridge has acquired it from Branch Metrics. Instabridge claims it wants to be a responsible owner of Nova and does not want to reinvent the launcher overnight. However, the launcher still needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and ma
  
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• HAM Radio Operators In Belarus Arrested, Face the Death Penalty

  21-01-2026 23:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: The Belarusian government is threatening three HAM radio operators with the death penalty, detained at least seven people, and has accused them of "intercepting state secrets," according to Belarusian state media, independent media outside of Belarus, and the Belarusian human rights organization Viasna. The arrests are an extreme attack on what is most often a wholesome hobby that has a history of being vilified by authoritarian governments in
  
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• Ozempic is Reshaping the Fast Food Industry

  21-01-2026 22:22 via science.slashdot.org
  New research from Cornell University has tracked how households change their spending after someone starts taking GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, and the numbers are material enough to explain why food industry earnings calls keep blaming everything except the obvious culprit.
  The study analyzed transaction data from 150,000 households linked to survey responses on medication adoption. Households cut grocery spending by 5.3% within six months of a member starting GLP-1s; high-income h
  
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• Half of World's CO2 Emissions Come From Just 32 Fossil Fuel Firms, Study Shows

  21-01-2026 21:45 via news.slashdot.org
  Just 32 fossil fuel companies were responsible for half the global carbon dioxide emissions driving the climate crisis in 2024, down from 36 a year earlier, a report has revealed. The Guardian: Saudi Aramco was the biggest state-controlled polluter and ExxonMobil was the largest investor-owned polluter. Critics accused the leading fossil fuel companies of "sabotaging climate action" and "being on the wrong side of history" but said the emissions data was increasingly being used to hold the compa
  
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• Adobe Acrobat Now Lets You Edit Files Using Prompts, Generate Podcast Summaries

  21-01-2026 21:01 via slashdot.org
  Adobe has added a suite of AI-powered features to Acrobat that enable users to edit documents through natural language prompts, generate podcast-style audio summaries of their files, and create presentations by pulling content from multiple documents stored in a single workspace.
  The prompt-based editing supports 12 distinct actions: removing pages, text, comments, and images; finding and replacing words and phrases; and adding e-signatures and passwords. The presentation feature builds on Adobe
  
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• The Gold Plating of American Water

  21-01-2026 20:22 via news.slashdot.org
  The price of water and sewer services for American households has more than doubled since the early 1980s after adjusting for inflation, even though per-capita water use has actually decreased over that period. Households in large cities now spend about $1,300 a year on water and sewer charges, approaching the roughly $1,600 they spend on electricity. The main driver is federal regulation.
  Since the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, the U.S. has spent approximately
  
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• AI Company Eightfold Sued For Helping Companies Secretly Score Job Seekers

  21-01-2026 19:44 via yro.slashdot.org
  Eightfold AI, a venture capital-backed AI hiring platform used by Microsoft, PayPal and many other Fortune 500 companies, is being sued in California for allegedly compiling reports used to screen job applicants without their knowledge. From a report: The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday accusing Eightfold of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act shows how consumer advocates are seeking to apply existing law to AI systems capable of drawing inferences about individuals based on vast amounts of data.
  
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• Ubisoft Cancels Six Games, Slashes Guidance in Restructuring

  21-01-2026 19:04 via games.slashdot.org
  Ubisoft is canceling game projects, shutting down studios and cutting its guidance as the Assassin's Creed maker restructures its business into five units. From a report: The French gaming firm expects earnings before interest and tax to be a loss of $1.2 billion the fiscal year 2025-2026 as a result of the restructuring, driven by a one-off writedown of about $761 million, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
  Ubisoft also expects net bookings of around $1.76 billion for the year, with
  
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• Ireland Wants To Give Its Cops Spyware, Ability To Crack Encrypted Messages

  21-01-2026 18:25 via it.slashdot.org
  The Irish government is planning to bolster its police's ability to intercept communications, including encrypted messages, and provide a legal basis for spyware use. From a report: The Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill is being framed as a replacement for the current legislation that governs digital communication interception. The Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration said in an announcement this week the existing Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (R
  
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• Google Temporarily Disabled YouTube's Advanced Captions Without Warning

  21-01-2026 17:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  Google has temporarily disabled YouTube's advanced SRV3 caption format after discovering the feature was causing playback errors for some users, according to a statement the company posted. SRV3, also known as YouTube Timed Text, is a custom subtitle system Google introduced around 2018 that allows creators to use custom colors, transparency, animations, and precise text positioning. Creators cannot upload new SRV3 captions while the feature remains disabled, and existing videos that use the for
  
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• Japan Restarts World's Largest Nuclear Plant as Fukushima Memories Loom Large

  21-01-2026 17:05 via slashdot.org
  New submitter BeaverCleaver shares a report: Japan has restarted operations at the world's largest nuclear power plant for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima disaster forced the country to shut all of its reactors. The decision to restart reactor number 6 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa north-west of Tokyo was taken despite local residents' safety concerns. It was delayed by a day because of an alarm malfunction and is due to begin operating commercially next month.
  Japan, which had always heavily re
  
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• Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback

  21-01-2026 16:27 via slashdot.org
  San Diego Comic-Con changed an AI art friendly policy following an artist-led backlash last week. From a report: It was a small victory for working artists in an industry where jobs are slipping away as movie and video game studios adopt generative AI tools to save time and money. Every year, tens of thousands of people descend on San Diego for Comic-Con, the world's premier comic book convention that over the years has also become a major pan-media event where every major media company announce
  
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• YouTube CEO Acknowledges 'AI Slop' Problem, Says Platform Will Curb Low-Quality AI Content

  21-01-2026 15:40 via news.slashdot.org
  YouTube CEO Neal Mohan used his annual letter to creators, published Wednesday, to outline an ambitious 2026 vision that embraces AI-powered creative tools while simultaneously pledging to crack down on the low-quality AI content that has come to be known as "slop."
  Mohan identified four AI-related areas that YouTube "must get right in 2026." The platform is working on tools that will let creators use AI to generate Shorts featuring their own likenesses and to experiment with music. "Just as the
  
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