ICT news

• Raspberry Pi's $7 Pico 2 W Microcontroller Board Adds Wireless Connectivity

  25-11-2024 18:22 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Raspberry Pi has announced the Pico 2 W, a wireless version of its Pico 2 microcontroller board built for hobbyists and industrial applications. From a report: At $7, it's a relatively inexpensive way to control electronic devices like smart home gadgets and robots. With the new version, users will be able to securely link to remote sources to send and receive data, either via Bluetooth 5.2 or Wi-Fi 802.11n.
  As with the Pico 2, the wireless variant is built around the RP2350 microcontroller buil
  
  Read more

• Microsoft's AI Chief Says All White-Collar Desk Work Will Be Automated Within 18 Months

  17-02-2026 21:04 via slashdot.org
  Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman expects "human-level performance on most, if not all professional tasks" from AI, and believes most work involving "sitting down at a computer" -- accounting, legal, marketing, project management -- will be fully automated within the next year or 18 months. He pointed to exponential growth in computational power and predicted that creating a new AI model will soon be as easy as "creating a podcast or writing a blog."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
  Read more

• Britain Lost 14,000 Pubs, a Quarter, in 13 Years

  17-02-2026 20:25 via news.slashdot.org
  Britain has lost more than 14,000 pubs since 2009, a decline from roughly 54,000 registered public houses and bars to under 40,000 by 2022, according to a new analysis of UK business register data by data analyst Lauren Leek. The North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands lost 25 to 30% of their stock; London saw the smallest decline.
  Leek trained a random forest model on 49,840 pubs and found spatial isolation -- how far a pub stood from its nearest neighbour -- was the single strongest
  
  Read more

• A YouTuber's $3M Movie Nearly Beat Disney's $40M Thriller at the Box Office

  17-02-2026 19:45 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Mark Fischbach, the YouTube creator known as Markiplier who has spent nearly 15 years building an audience of more than 38 million subscribers by playing indie-horror video games on camera, has pulled off something that most independent filmmakers never manage -- a self-financed, self-distributed debut feature that has grossed more than $30 million domestically against a $3 million budget.
  Iron Lung, a 127-minute sci-fi adaptation of a video game Fischbach wrote, directed, starred in, and edited
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Blind Listening Test Finds Audiophiles Unable To Distinguish Copper Cable From a Banana or Wet Mud

  17-02-2026 19:05 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: A moderator on diyAudio set up an experiment to determine whether listeners could differentiate between audio run through pro audio copper wire, a banana, and wet mud. Spoiler alert: the results indicated that users were unable to accurately distinguish between these different 'interfaces.'
  Pano, the moderator who built the experiment, invited other members on the forum to listen to various sound clips with four different versions: one taken from the original
  
  Read more

• Micron's PCIe 6.0 SSD Hits Mass Production at 28 GB/s

  17-02-2026 18:25 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Micron has begun mass production of the 9650 series, the industry's first PCIe 6.0 SSD, capable of sequential read speeds up to 28 GB/s and random read performance of 5.5 million IOPS -- roughly double the throughput of the fastest PCIe 5.0 drives available today.
  The drive targets AI and data center workloads and ships in E1.S and E3.S form factors across two variants: the Pro, available in capacities up to 30.72 TB, and the endurance-oriented Max, topping out at 25.6 TB. Both variants share th
  
  Read more

• 99% of Adults Over 40 Have Shoulder 'Abnormalities' on an MRI, Study Finds

  17-02-2026 17:44 via science.slashdot.org
  Up to a third of people worldwide have shoulder pain; it's one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints. But medical imaging might not reveal the problem -- in fact, it could even cloud it. From a report: In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week, 99 percent of adults over 40 were found to have at least one abnormality in a rotator cuff on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons in a shoulder joint that keeps the upper arm bone s
  
  Read more

• China Once Stole Foreign Ideas. Now It Wants To Protect Its Own

  17-02-2026 17:05 via slashdot.org
  China's courts are now handling more than 550,000 intellectual-property cases a year -- making it the world's most litigious country for IP disputes -- as the nation's own companies, once notorious for copying foreign designs and technology, find themselves on the defensive against a domestic counterfeiting epidemic fueled by excess factory capacity.
  The problem runs from knockoff "Lafufu" plush toys (cheap copies of Pop Mart's wildly popular Labubu dolls, which prompted a nationwide crackdown a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Mazda Finally Admits Its Infotainment System Is the Worst

  17-02-2026 16:27 via tech.slashdot.org
  Mazda, the automaker that for years defended its scroll-wheel infotainment system as a safer alternative to touchscreens, is abandoning the approach entirely in the 2026 CX-5 in favor of a 15.6-inch touchscreen and zero physical buttons.
  The current lineup -- the CX-50 Hybrid, CX-70 and CX-90 -- still relies on a console-mounted scroll wheel and dedicated action buttons to navigate a tablet-like screen perched atop the dashboard. Upper-trim CX-70 and CX-90 models do have 12.3-inch touchscreens,
  
  Read more

• 'Software Isn't Dead, But Its Cosy Business Model Might Be'

  17-02-2026 15:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  The software industry's decades-old habit of charging companies a flat fee for every employee who uses a product is running into a fundamental problem: AI agents don't sit in chairs, and they don't need licences.
  As autonomous agents take on tasks that human workers once handled, the per-seat pricing model that made SaaS revenue so predictable is giving way to consumption-based and hybrid alternatives. Snowflake and Databricks (valued at $134 billion) already charge based on usage. Salesforce in
  
  Read more

• Valve's Steam Deck OLED Will Be 'Intermittently' Out of Stock Because of the RAM Crisis

  17-02-2026 15:00 via it.slashdot.org
  Valve has updated the Steam Deck website to say that the Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock "intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages." From a report: The PC gaming handheld has been out of stock in the US and other parts of the world for a few days, and thanks to this update, we now know why. The update comes shortly after Valve delayed the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller from a planned shipping window of early 2026 because of the memory and storage c
  
  Read more

• Sony Tech Can Identify Original Music in AI-Generated Songs

  17-02-2026 13:30 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  Sony Group has developed a technology that can identify the underlying music used in tunes generated by AI, making it possible for songwriters to seek compensation from AI developers if their music was used. From a report: Sony Group's technology analyzes which musicians' songs were used in learning and generating music. It can quantify the contribution of each original work, such as "30% of the music used by the Beatles and 10% by Queen," for example.
  If the AI developer agrees to cooperate for
  
  Read more

• EU Parliament Blocks AI Features Over Cyber, Privacy Fears

  17-02-2026 10:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: The European Parliament has disabled AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity and data protection concerns, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO. The chamber emailed its members on Monday to say it had disabled "built-in artificial intelligence features" on corporate tablets after its IT department assessed it couldn't guarantee the security of the tools' data.
  "Some of these features use cloud services to car
  
  Read more

• Secondhand Laptop Market Goes 'Mainstream' Amid Memory Crunch

  17-02-2026 07:01 via it.slashdot.org
  Sales of refurbished PCs are on the up amid shortages of key components, including memory chips, that are making brand new devices more expensive. From a report: Stats compiled by market watcher Context show sales of refurbished PCs via distribution climbed 7 percent in calendar Q4 across five of the biggest European markets -- Italy, the UK, Germany, Spain, and France.
  Affordability is the primary driver in the secondhand segment, the analyst says, with around 40 percent of sales driven by budg
  
  Read more

• The Music Industry Enters Its Less-Is-More Era

  17-02-2026 04:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  The music industry's long romance with an ever-expanding catalog of songs appears to be souring, as streaming platforms and rights holders confront a daily deluge that now includes 60,000 wholly AI-generated tracks uploaded to Deezer alone -- roughly 39% of the French service's daily intake, a statistic the company shared during Grammys week last month.
  Streaming services now host 253 million songs, according to Luminate's most recent annual report, after adding 51 million tracks over the course
  
  Read more

• Samsung Ad Confirms Rumors of a Useful S26 'Privacy Display'

  17-02-2026 01:01 via yro.slashdot.org
  Samsung has all but confirmed that its upcoming Galaxy S26 will feature a built-in privacy display, releasing an ad that demonstrates a "Zero-peeking privacy" toggle capable of blacking out on-screen content for anyone peering over the user's shoulder.
  The underlying technology is reportedly Samsung Display's Flex Magic Pixel OLED panel, first shown at MWC 2024, which adjusts viewing angles on a pixel-by-pixel basis -- and leaker Ice Universe has shared a video of the feature selectively hiding
  
  Read more

• Western Digital is Sold Out of Hard Drives for 2026

  16-02-2026 23:01 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Western Digital's entire hard drive manufacturing capacity for calendar year 2026 is now fully spoken for, CEO Irving Tan disclosed during the company's second-quarter earnings call, a stark sign of how aggressively hyperscalers are locking down storage supply to feed their AI infrastructure buildouts.
  The company has firm purchase orders from its top seven customers and has signed long-term agreements stretching into 2027 and 2028 that cover both exabyte volumes and pricing. Cloud revenue now a
  
  Read more

• Anthropic's CEO Says AI and Software Engineers Are in 'Centaur Phase' - But It Won't Last Long

  16-02-2026 22:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  Human software engineers and AI are currently in a "centaur phase" -- a reference to the mythical half-human, half-horse creature, where the combination outperforms either working alone -- but the window may be "very brief," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said on a podcast. He drew on chess as precedent: 15 to 20 years ago, a human checking AI's moves could beat a standalone AI or human, but machines have since surpassed that arrangement entirely.
  Amodei said the same transition would play out in so
  
  Read more

• India's Toxic Air Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point

  16-02-2026 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  New Delhi's air quality index averaged 349 in December and 307 in January -- levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as hazardous -- and the months-long smog season that forces more than 30 million residents to endure respiratory illness has this year sparked something new: public protest. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at India Gate on November 9 to demand government action; police detained more than a dozen people, and a follow-up protest later that month turned violent.
  
  Read more

• Instagram Boss Says 16 Hours of Daily Use Is Not Addiction

  16-02-2026 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Instagram head Adam Mosseri told a Los Angeles courtroom last week that a teenager's 16-hour single-day session on the platform was "problematic use" but not an addiction, a distinction he drew repeatedly during testimony in a landmark trial over social media's harm to minors.
  Mosseri, who has led Instagram for eight years, is the first high-profile tech executive to take the stand. He agreed the platform should do everything in its power to protect young users but said how much use was too much
  
  Read more

• KPMG Partner Fined Over Using AI To Pass AI Test

  16-02-2026 19:00 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  A partner at KPMG Australia has been fined $7,000 by the Big Four firm after using AI tools to cheat on an internal training course about using AI. From a report: The unnamed partner was forced to redo the test after uploading training materials into an AI platform to help answer questions on the use of the fast-evolving technology.
  More than two dozen staff have been caught over this financial year using AI tools for internal exams, according to KPMG. The incident is the latest example of a pro
  
  Read more

• Ireland Launches World's First Permanent Basic Income Scheme For Artists, Paying $385 a Week

  16-02-2026 18:00 via slashdot.org
  Ireland has announced what it says is the world's first permanent basic income program for artists, a scheme that will pay 2,000 selected artists $385 per week for three years, funded by an $21.66 million allocation from Budget 2026. The program follows a 2022 pilot -- the Irish government's first large-scale randomized control trial -- that found participants had greater professional autonomy, less anxiety, and higher life satisfaction.
  An external cost-benefit analysis of the pilot calculated
  
  Read more

• New EU Rules To Stop the Destruction of Unsold Clothes and Shoes

  16-02-2026 17:06 via news.slashdot.org
  The European Commission has adopted new measures under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) to prevent the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear. From a report: The rules will help cut waste, reduce environmental damage and create a level playing field for companies embracing sustainable business models, allowing them to reap the benefits of a more circular economy. Every year in Europe, an estimated 4-9% of unsold textiles are destroyed before eve
  
  Read more

• Pentagon Threatens Anthropic Punishment

  16-02-2026 16:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "close" to cutting business ties with Anthropic and designating the AI company a "supply chain risk" -- meaning anyone who wants to do business with the U.S. military has to cut ties with the company, a senior Pentagon official told Axios.
  The senior official said: "It will be an enormous pain in the ass to disentangle, and we are going to make sure they pay a price for forcing our hand like this."
  That kind of penalty is usu
  
  Read more

• Sony May Push Next PlayStation To 2028 or 2029 as AI-fueled Memory Chip Shortage Upends Plans

  16-02-2026 15:06 via games.slashdot.org
  Sony is considering delaying the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029 as a global shortage of memory chips -- driven by the AI industry's rapidly growing appetite for the same DRAM that goes into gaming hardware, smartphones, and laptops -- squeezes supply and sends prices surging, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
  A delay of that magnitude would upend Sony's carefully orchestrated strategy to sustain user engagement between hardware generations. The shortage traces back to S
  
  Read more

• Where's The Evidence That AI Increases Productivity?

  16-02-2026 13:34 via it.slashdot.org
  IT productivity researcher Erik Brynjolfsson writes in the Financial Times that he's finally found evidence AI is impacting America's economy. This week America's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 403,000 drop in 2025's payroll growth — while real GDP "remained robust, including a 3.7% growth rate in the fourth quarter."
  This decoupling — maintaining high output with significantly lower labour input — is the hallmark of productivity growth. My own updated analysis suggests a
  
  Read more

• 'I Tried Running Linux On an Apple Silicon Mac and Regretted It'

  16-02-2026 09:34 via linux.slashdot.org
  Installing Linux on a MacBook Air "turned out to be a very underwhelming experience," according to the tech news site MakeUseOf:
  The thing about Apple silicon Macs is that it's not as simple as downloading an AArch64 ISO of your favorite distro and installing it. Yes, the M-series chips are ARM-based, but that doesn't automatically make the whole system compatible in the same way most traditional x86 PCs are. Pretty much everything in modern MacBooks is custom. The boot process isn't standard UE
  
  Read more

• Will Tech Giants Just Use AI Interactions to Create More Effective Ads?

  16-02-2026 06:34 via slashdot.org
  Google never asked its users before adding AI Overviews to its search results and AI-generated email summaries to Gmail, notes the New York Times. And Meta didn't ask before making "Meta AI" an unremovable part of its tool in Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
  "The insistence on AI everywhere — with little or no option to turn it off — raises an important question about what's in it for the internet companies..."
  Behind the scenes, the companies are laying the groundwork for a digita
  
  Read more

• Ars Technica's AI Reporter Apologizes For Mistakenly Publishing Fake AI-Generated Quotes

  16-02-2026 02:41 via news.slashdot.org
  Last week Scott Shambaugh learned an AI agent published a "hit piece" about him after he'd rejected the AI agent's pull request. (And that incident was covered by Ars Technica's senior AI reporter.)
  But then Shambaugh realized their article attributed quotes to him he hadn't said — that were presumably AI-generated.Sunday Ars Technica's founder/editor-in-chief apologized, admitting their article had indeed contained "fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool" that were then "attributed
  
  Read more

• Rivian's Stock Spikes 27% After Reporting $144 Million Profit in 2025

  16-02-2026 00:35 via tech.slashdot.org
  Rivian's stock skyrocketed 27% Friday after the electric car maker "shocked the market with strong earnings results," reports the Los Angeles Times, "proving itself an outlier in the EV market, which has been struggling with the end of government subsidies and cooling consumer excitement."
  They add that Rivian's strong earnings results suggest that "after years of struggling with losses, it may have at last found a path to profitability."
  On Thursday, Rivian reported gross profits for 2025 of $1
  
  Read more

Follow @newslocke_ict on Twitter!