ICT news

• Smartphones Can Now Last 7 Years

  16-05-2024 19:22 via mobile.slashdot.org
  
  Google and Samsung used to update smartphone software for only three years. That has changed. From a report: Every smartphone has an expiration date. That day arrives when the software updates stop coming and you start missing out on new apps and security protections. With most phones, this used to happen after about only three years. But things are finally starting to change. The new number is seven. I first noticed this shift when I reviewed Google's $700 Pixel 8 smartphone in October. Google
  
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• New York Recovers $50 Million For Defrauded Gemini Earn Crypto Investors

  15-06-2024 00:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: New York Attorney General Letitia James has recovered $50 million from the cryptocurrency platform Gemini Trust to repay investors defrauded in its Gemini Earn program, she said on Friday. Gemini, run by billionaire twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, will provide full recoveries to more than 230,000 Earn investors, including 29,000 in New York, and agreed to a ban on operating crypto lending programs in the state. The payout is in additi
  
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• AI Candidate Running For Parliament in the UK Says AI Can Humanize Politics

  14-06-2024 23:22 via politics.slashdot.org
  
  An artificial intelligence candidate is on the ballot for the United Kingdom's general election next month. From a report: "AI Steve," represented by Sussex businessman Steve Endacott, will appear on the ballot alongside non-AI candidates running to represent constituents in the Brighton Pavilion area of Brighton and Hove, a city on England's southern coast. "AI Steve is the AI co-pilot," Endacott said in an interview. "I'm the real politician going into Parliament, but I'm controlled by my co-p
  
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• Biotech Companies Are Trying To Make Milk Without Cows

  14-06-2024 22:42 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Avian influenza outbreaks on US dairy farms have raised concerns about milk safety, leading some to consider alternatives like engineered milk proteins. Startups like Remilk and Alpine Bio are using yeast and soybeans to produce key milk proteins, aiming to replace dairy cows and reduce environmental impact. However, competing with subsidized dairy industries and their efficient use of cow byproducts remains a challenge for these biotech ventures, MIT Technology Review reports. The story adds: E
  
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• Mozilla Defies Kremlin, Restores Banned Firefox Add-ons in Russia

  14-06-2024 22:02 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin. From a report: The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. Among those extensions were three pieces of code that were explicitly designed to circumvent state censorship -- including a VPN and Censor Tracker, a
  
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• How the Recycling Symbol Lost Its Meaning

  14-06-2024 21:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The iconic recycling symbol, invented 20 years before Earth Day 1990, has become omnipresent on products, often misleading consumers about what can be recycled, according to experts cited in a story explored by Grist. The chasing arrows logo, which promises rebirth for discarded materials, is frequently plastered on items that are not recyclable, particularly plastic products. Confusion over recycling rules has led to contamination at recycling facilities, driving up costs for cities. Only aroun
  
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• Meta Pauses Plans To Train AI Using European Users' Data, Bowing To Regulatory Pressure

  14-06-2024 20:44 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Meta has confirmed that it will pause plans to start training its AI systems using data from its users in the European Union and U.K. From a report: The move follows pushback from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), Meta's lead regulator in the EU, which is acting on behalf of several data protection authorities across the bloc. The U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) also requested that Meta pause its plans until it could satisfy concerns it had raised. "The DPC welcomes the
  
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• Apple Set To Be First Big Tech Group To Face Charges Under EU Digital Law

  14-06-2024 20:18 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Brussels is set to charge Apple over allegedly stifling competition on its mobile app store, the first time EU regulators have used new digital rules to target a Big Tech group. The European Commission has determined that the iPhone maker is not complying with obligations to allow app developers to "steer" users to offers outside its App Store without imposing fees on them, according to three people with close knowledge of its investigation.
  The charges would
  
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• Sonos Draws More Customer Anger - This Time For Its Privacy Policy

  14-06-2024 19:35 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Itâ(TM)s been a rocky couple of months for Sonos -- so much so that CEO Patrick Spence now has a canned autoreply for customers emailing him to vent about the redesigned app. But as the company works to right the ship, restore trust, and get the new Sonos Ace headphones off to a strong start, it finds itself in the middle of yet another controversy.
  As highlighted by repair technician and consumer privacy advocate Louis Rossmann, Sonos has made a signif
  
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• Visa, Mastercard $30 Billion Fee Settlement in Peril

  14-06-2024 18:42 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Visa's and Mastercard's proposed $30 billion antitrust settlement to limit credit and debit card fees for merchants is in peril, after a New York judge signaled she was preparing to reject the accord. From a report: U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn told lawyers for the card networks and objectors at a hearing on Thursday that she will "likely not approve the settlement," according to court records.
  She plans to write an opinion explaining her decision and reasoning. Both card network
  
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• Rent is Too Dang High in Cities: Skylines 2, So the Devs Nuked the Landlords

  14-06-2024 18:00 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: City building simulations are not real life. They can be helpful teaching tools, but they abstract away many of the real issues in changing communities. And yet, sometimes a game like Cities: Skylines 2 (C:S2) will present an issue that's just too timely and relevant to ignore. Such is the case with "Economy 2.0," a big update to the beleaguered yet continually in-development game, due to arrive within the next week or so. The first and most important thing i
  
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• The Stanford Internet Observatory is Being Dismantled

  14-06-2024 17:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: After five years of pioneering research into the abuse of social platforms, the Stanford Internet Observatory is winding down. Its founding director, Alex Stamos, left his position in November. Renee DiResta, its research director, left last week after her contract was not renewed. One other staff member's contract expired this month, while others have been told to look for jobs elsewhere, sources say.
  Some members of the eight-person team might find other jo
  
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• London Hospitals Knew of Cyber Vulnerabilities Years Before Hack

  14-06-2024 16:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  A group of London hospitals struggling to contain the fallout from a cyberattack against a critical supplier had known for years about weaknesses that left them vulnerable to hacks, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing internal documents. From the report: The Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, which runs five major hospitals in the London area, has failed to meet the UK health service's data security standards in recent years and acknowledged as recently as April that 'cybersecurity re
  
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• Clearview AI Used Your Face. Now You May Get a Stake in the Company.

  14-06-2024 16:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  A facial recognition start-up, accused of invasion of privacy in a class-action lawsuit, has agreed to a settlement, with a twist: Rather than cash payments, it would give a 23 percent stake in the company to Americans whose faces are in its database. From a report: Clearview AI, which is based in New York, scraped billions of photos from the web and social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to build a facial recognition app used by thousands of police departments, the Department
  
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• Germany Sees Company Bankruptcies Soar

  14-06-2024 14:30 via slashdot.org
  
  Germany's Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Friday said 5,209 companies filed for bankruptcy in Germany in the first three months of 2024 -- with the trend expected to continue. From a report: Experts think the number of corporate insolvencies in Germany will increase to about 20,000 cases this year as part of a longer-term pattern. The latest figure means corporate insolvencies are up 26.5% compared with the first quarter of 2023. They are also 11.2% more than in the first quarter of 202
  
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• NASA Accidentally Broadcasts Simulation of Distressed Astronauts On ISS

  14-06-2024 12:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: NASA accidentally broadcast a simulation of astronauts being treated for decompression sickness on the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, prompting speculation of an emergency in posts on social media. About 5:28 p.m. U.S. Central Time (2228 GMT), The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) live YouTube channel broadcast audio that indicated a crew member was experiencing the effects of decompression sickness (DCS), NA
  
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• Wild New Study Suggests Gravity Can Exist Without Mass

  14-06-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  A new study by astrophysicist Richard Lieu suggests that gravity can exist without mass, proposing thin, shell-like layers of 'topological defects' as an alternative to dark matter for explaining the gravitational binding of galaxies. This theory posits that these defects create a gravitational force without detectable mass, potentially eliminating the need for dark matter in current cosmological models. Clare Watson reports via ScienceAlert: Lieu started out trying to find another solution to t
  
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• FAA is Investigating New Incident Involving a Boeing 737 Max 8 Jet in Midair

  14-06-2024 07:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  New submitter wgoodman writes: A Boeing 737 Max 8 jet experienced a rare but potentially serious problem recently known as a Dutch roll before landing safely. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the incident during a Southwest Airlines flight last month. Less than an hour after taking off from Phoenix on May 25th, the plane experienced an uncontrolled side-to-side yawing motion known as a Dutch roll while cruising at 32,000 feet. The pilots of Southwest flight 746 w
  
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• Microsoft Postpones Windows Recall After Major Backlash

  14-06-2024 05:18 via it.slashdot.org
  
  In an unprecedented move, Microsoft has announced that its big Copilot+ PC initiative that was unveiled last month will launch without its headlining "Windows Recall" AI feature next week on June 18. From a report: The feature, which captures snapshots of your screen every few seconds, was revealed to store sensitive user data in an unencrypted state, raising serious concerns among security researchers and experts.
  Last week, Microsoft addressed these concerns by announcing that it would make ch
  
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• A Growing Number of Americans Are Getting Their News From TikTok

  14-06-2024 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, TikTok is the second most popular source of news for Americans after X, "though most TikTok users don't primarily think of the shortform video app as a news source," notes The Verge. The survey looked at how Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X play a role in Americans' news diets. From the report: Among TikTok users, only 15 percent say keeping up with the news is a major reason they use the app. Still, 35 percent of those surveyed said they
  
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• OIN Expands Linux Patent Protection Yet Again (But Not To AI)

  14-06-2024 02:02 via linux.slashdot.org
  
  Steven Vaughan-Nichols reports via ZDNet: While Linux and open-source software (OSS) are no longer constantly under intellectual property (IP) attacks, the Open Invention Network (OIN) patent consortium still stands guard over its patents. Now, OIN, the largest patent non-aggression community, has expanded its protection once again by updating its Linux System definition. Covering more than just Linux, the Linux System definition also protects adjacent open-source technologies. In the past, prot
  
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• Google's Privacy Sandbox Accused of Misleading Chrome Browser Users

  14-06-2024 01:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Richard Speed reports via The Register: Privacy campaigner noyb has filed a GDPR complaint regarding Google's Privacy Sandbox, alleging that turning on a "Privacy Feature" in the Chrome browser resulted in unwanted tracking by the US megacorp. The Privacy Sandbox API was introduced in 2023 as part of Google's grand plan to eliminate third-party tracking cookies. Rather than relying on those cookies, website developers can call the API to display ads matched to a user's interests. In the announce
  
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• Amazon Says It'll Spend $230 Million On Generative AI Startups

  14-06-2024 00:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Amazon says that it will commit up to $230 million to startups building generative AI-powered applications. The investment, roughly $80 million of which will fund Amazon's second AWS Generative AI Accelerator program, aims to position AWS as an attractive cloud infrastructure choice for startups developing generative AI models to power their products, apps and services. Much of the new tranche -- including the entire portion set aside for the
  
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• Police Arrest Conti and LockBit Ransomware Crypter Specialist

  14-06-2024 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  The Ukraine cyber police, supported by information from the Dutch police, arrested a 28-year-old Russian man in Kyiv for aiding Conti and LockBit ransomware operations by making their malware undetectable and conducting at least one attack himself. He was arrested on April 18, 2024, as part of a global law enforcement operation known as "Operation Endgame," which took down various botnets and their main operators. "As the Conti ransomware group used some of those botnets for initial access on br
  
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• Oracle Is Shutting Down Its Ad Business

  13-06-2024 23:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  During its earnings call on Monday, Oracle CEO Safra Catz told analysts that it is shutting down its ads business. "In Q4, we decided to exit the advertising business, which had declined to about $300 million in revenue in fiscal year '24," said Catz, according to an earnings transcript. Adweek's Catherine Perloff reports: In August 2022, Business Insider reported that Oracle Advertising made $2 billion in revenue. At the time, revenue was only growing by 2% a year and many employees had been la
  
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• Fired Employee Accessed NCS' Computer 'Test System' and Deleted Servers

  13-06-2024 22:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Singapore's CNA news channel: Kandula Nagaraju, 39, was sentenced to two years and eight months' jail on Monday (Jun 10) for one charge of unauthorized access to computer material. Another charge was taken into consideration for sentencing. His contract with NCS was terminated in October 2022 due to poor work performance and his official last date of employment was Nov 16, 2022. According to court documents, Kandula felt "confused and upset" when he was f
  
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• Congress Seeks Answers From Microsoft Boss After a 'Cascade' of Security Errors

  13-06-2024 22:01 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Speaking of Microsoft, the House Homeland Security committee is grilling Microsoft President Brad Smith Thursday about the software giant's plans to improve its security after a series of devastating hacks reached into federal officials' email accounts, challenging the company's fitness as a dominant government contractor. Washington Post adds:The questioning followed a withering report on one of those breaches, where the federal Cyber Safety Review Board found the event was made possible by a "
  
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• Mars Got Cooked by a Recent Solar Storm

  13-06-2024 21:22 via science.slashdot.org
  
  The sun fired off a volley of radiation-riddled outbursts in May. When they slammed into Earth's magnetic bubble, the world was treated to iridescent displays of the northern and southern lights. But our planet wasn't the only one in the solar firing line. From a report: A few days after Earth's light show, another series of eruptions screamed out of the sun. This time, on May 20, Mars was blitzed by a beast of a storm. Observed from Mars, "this was the strongest solar energetic particle event w
  
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• Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours

  13-06-2024 19:20 via science.slashdot.org
  
  cusco writes: Indian space startup Agnikul used a 3-D printer from German company EOS to print an engine out of inconel, a high-performance nickel-chromium alloy, in one solid piece over the course of roughly 72 hours. While other companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab are using 3-D printers extensively, Agnikul's engine is unique in being printed in one go, rather than as multiple components that need to be stitched together. This approach significantly speeds up manufacturing time.
  The
  
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• Turkish Student Arrested For Using AI To Cheat in University Exam

  13-06-2024 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Turkish authorities have arrested a student for cheating during a university entrance exam by using a makeshift device linked to AI software to answer questions. From a report: The student was spotted behaving in a suspicious way during the exam at the weekend and was detained by police, before being formally arrested and sent to jail pending trial. Another person, who was helping the student, was also detained.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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