ICT news

• Thoma Bravo To Take UK Cybersecurity Company Darktrace Private In $5 Billion Deal

  27-04-2024 00:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Darktrace is set to go private in a deal that values the U.K.-based cybersecurity giant at around $5 billion. A newly formed entity called Luke Bidco Ltd., formed by private equity giant Thoma Bravo, has tabled an all-cash bid of $7.75 per share, which represents a 44% premium on its average price for the three-month period ending April 25. However, this premium drops to just 20% when juxtaposed against Darktrace's closing price Thursday, as t
  
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• North Yorkshire Council To Ban Apostrophes On Street Signs To Avoid Database Problems

  09-05-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The North Yorkshire Council in England announced it will ban apostrophes on street signs as it can affect geographical databases. Resident Anne Keywood told the BBC that she urged the authority to retain apostrophes, saying: "If you start losing things like that then everything goes downhill doesn't it?" From the report: North Yorkshire Council said it "along with many others across the country" had opted to "eliminate" the apostrophe from street signs. A spokesperson added: "All punctuation wil
  
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• Scientists Find an 'Alphabet' In Whale Songs

  09-05-2024 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Carl Zimmer reports via the New York Times: Ever since the discovery of whale songs almost 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their lyrics. Are the animals producing complex messages akin to human language? Or sharing simpler pieces of information, like dancing bees do? Or are they communicating something else we don't yet understand? In 2020, a team of marine biologists and computer scientists joined forces to analyze the click-clacking songs of sperm whales, the gray, block-
  
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• Deepfakes of Your Dead Loved Ones Are a Booming Chinese Business

  09-05-2024 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Once a week, Sun Kai has a video call with his mother. He opens up about work, the pressures he faces as a middle-aged man, and thoughts that he doesn't even discuss with his wife. His mother will occasionally make a comment, like telling him to take care of himself -- he's her only child. But mostly, she just listens. That's because Sun's mother died five years ago. And the person he's talking to isn't actually a person, but a digi
  
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• Dell Makes Return-To-Office Push With VPN, Badge Tracking

  09-05-2024 04:02 via slashdot.org
  
  Dell is making sure its employees follow the company's updated return-to-office policy through a series of new tracking techniques. According to The Register, Dell will track employees' badge swipes and VPN connections and include a color-coded attendance grading system that summarizes employee presence."In the latest Jeff Clarke return-to-grade-school initiative, HR will be keeping an attendance report card on employees, grading them at four levels based on how well they meet the goal of being
  
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• Google Will Exit Prominent San Francisco Waterfront Office Tower

  09-05-2024 03:25 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google announced on Tuesday that it will be exiting One Market Plaza, a prominent office complex in San Francisco that it had been occupying since 2018. The company's lease for the 300,000-square-foot-office will expire next April. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Many of Google's employees are already working outside of the giant waterfront office, in light of the company's flexible approach to office attendance. As one of the city's largest office properties and a prominent feature on its
  
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• 81% of Young People Say a 4-Day Workweek Would Boost Productivity, Survey Finds

  09-05-2024 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A new national survey (PDF) from CNBC/Generation Lab of 1,033 people aged 18 to 34 found that an overwhelming 81% of respondents believe a four-day workweek would boost their company's productivity, while 19% said productivity would decline. CNBC reports: Those results from the "Youth & Money in the USA" survey come amid discussions around the potential benefits of switching from the standard five-day U.S. workweek to a four-day cadence without a pay cut. Some companies have begun testing th
  
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• Ransomware Crooks Now SIM Swap Executives' Kids To Pressure Their Parents

  09-05-2024 02:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Ransomware infections have morphed into "a psychological attack against the victim organization," as criminals use increasingly personal and aggressive tactics to force victims to pay up, according to Google-owned Mandiant. "We saw situations where threat actors essentially SIM swap the phones of children of executives, and start making phone calls to executives, from the phone numbers of their children," Charles Carmakal, Mandiant's CTO, re
  
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• US Libraries Are Battling High Prices For Better E-Book Access

  09-05-2024 01:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Librarians are fighting a nationwide battle against high e-book prices, which so far has yielded minimal results. Despite efforts and temporary legislative victories, strict renewal and loan policies imposed by publishers keep e-book costs high, limiting the number of popular titles libraries can offer and leading to frustration among patrons. Axios reports: Publishers typically require libraries to renew the license to each e-book every two years, or after 26 loans -- policies that libraries ca
  
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• Fedora Asahi Remix 40 Now Available For Apple Silicon Devices

  09-05-2024 00:40 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Michael Larabel reports via Phoronix: Building off the recent release of Fedora 40, Fedora Asahi Remix 40 is now available for this downstream of Fedora Linux that's optimized to run on Apple Silicon ARM systems. Fedora Asahi Remix continues to be one of the best ways of enjoying a Linux experience atop recent Apple Macs making use of their in-house M1/M2/M3 SoCs. With the Fedora Asahi Remix 40 release there is now conformant OpenGL 4.6 support thanks to the upgraded Mesa. There is also improved
  
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• FCC Explicitly Prohibits Fast Lanes, Closing Possible Net Neutrality Loophole

  09-05-2024 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission clarified its net neutrality rules to prohibit more kinds of fast lanes. While the FCC voted to restore net neutrality rules on April 25, it didn't release the final text of the order until yesterday. The final text (PDF) has some changes compared to the draft version released a few weeks before the vote.Both the draft and final rules ban paid prioritization, or fast lanes that application providers have
  
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• Smart Home Startup Brilliant Runs Out of Cash, Which Could Mean Lights Out For Its Light Switches

  08-05-2024 23:12 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Smart home device maker Brilliant has laid off most of its staff and is seeking a buyer after failing to secure funding, CEO Aaron Emigh told The Verge. The company has shut down its support center and halted sales of its smart light switches and controllers, which integrate with various smart home platforms. Emigh said existing devices will continue to function, but their long-term functionality remains uncertain. Founded in 2016, Brilliant aimed to simplify smart home control but struggled wit
  
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• Prime Video Subs Will Soon See Ads for Amazon Products When They Hit Pause

  08-05-2024 22:30 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Amazon Prime Video subscribers will see new types of advertisements this broadcast year. Amazon announced today that it's adding new ad formats to its video streaming service, hoping to encourage people to interact with the ads and shop on Amazon. From a report: In January, Prime Video streams included commercials unless subscribers paid $3 extra per month. That has meant that watching stuff on Prime Video ad-free costs $12 per month or, if you're also a Prime subscriber, $18 per month. Amazon h
  
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• Raspberry Pis Get a Built-in Remote-Access Tool: Raspberry Pi Connect

  08-05-2024 21:54 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: One Raspberry Pi often leads to another. Soon enough, you're running out of spots in your free RealVNC account for your tiny boards and "real" computers. Even if you go the hardened route of SSH or an X connection, you have to keep track of where they all are. All of this is not the easiest thing to tackle if you're new to single-board computers or just eager to get started.
  Enter Raspberry Pi Connect, a new built-in way to access a Raspberry Pi from nearly a
  
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• Environmental Changes Are Fueling Human, Animal and Plant Diseases, Study Finds

  08-05-2024 20:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Several large-scale, human-driven changes to the planet -- including climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of invasive species -- are making infectious diseases more dangerous to people, animals and plants, according to a new study. From a report: Scientists have documented these effects before in more targeted studies that have focused on specific diseases and ecosystems. For instance, they have found that a warming climate may be helping malaria expand in Africa and that a de
  
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• Researchers Warned Against Using AI To Peer Review Academic Papers

  08-05-2024 20:01 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers should not be using tools like ChatGPT to automatically peer review papers, warned organizers of top AI conferences and academic publishers worried about maintaining intellectual integrity. From a report: With recent advances in large language models, researchers have been increasingly using them to write peer reviews -- a time-honored academic tradition that examines new research and assesses its merits, showing a person's work has been vetted by other experts in the field. That's w
  
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• Stack Overflow is Feeding Programmers' Answers To AI, Whether They Like It or Not

  08-05-2024 19:20 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Stack Overflow's new deal giving OpenAI access to its API as a source of data has users who've posted their questions and answers about coding problems in conversations with other humans rankled. From a report: Users say that when they attempt to alter their posts in protest, the site is retaliating by reversing the alterations and suspending the users who carried them out.
  A programmer named Ben posted a screenshot yesterday of the change history for a post seeking programming advice, which the
  
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• Google DeepMind's 'Leap Forward' in AI Could Unlock Secrets of Biology

  08-05-2024 18:44 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers have hailed another "leap forward" for AI after Google DeepMind unveiled the latest version of its AlphaFold program, which can predict how proteins behave in the complex symphony of life. From a report: The breakthrough promises to shed fresh light on the biological machinery that underpins living organisms and drive breakthroughs in fields from antibiotics and cancer therapy to new materials and resilient crops. "It's a big milestone for us," said Demis Hassabis, the chief executiv
  
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• Full Repairs To Damaged Red Sea Internet Cables Delayed by Yemen Political Splits

  08-05-2024 18:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Full repairs to three submarine internet cables damaged in the Red Sea in February are being held up by disputes over who controls access to infrastructure in Yemeni waters. From a report: The Yemeni government has granted permits for the repair of two out of three cables, but refused the third because of a dispute with one of the cable's consortium members. Repairs to the Seacom and EIG cables have been approved, but the consortium that runs AAE-1, which includes telecommunications company Tele
  
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• Apple Slammed By Users Over iPad Pro 'Crush' Ad

  08-05-2024 17:20 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Less than 24 hours after Apple held a special event to unveil the new, record-thin (0.20 inch, the thinnest Apple device yet) iPad Pro with M4 chip inside, which the company says is optimized for AI, it is facing a loud and fast-spreading public backlash to one of its new marquee video advertisements promoting the device -- a spot called "Crush." VentureBeat: The video features a giant, industrial hydraulic press machine -- a device category famous for appearing in viral videos over the last dec
  
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• AstraZeneca To Withdraw COVID Vaccine Globally as Demand Dips

  08-05-2024 16:40 via science.slashdot.org
  
  AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic. From a report: The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe. "As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is
  
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• US Eyes Curbs on China's Access To AI Software Behind Apps Like ChatGPT

  08-05-2024 16:05 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Biden administration is poised to open up a new front in its effort to safeguard U.S. AI from China with preliminary plans to place guardrails around the most advanced AI models, the core software of artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, Reuters reported Wednesday. From the report: The Commerce Department is considering a new regulatory push to restrict the export of proprietary or closed source AI models, whose software and the data it is trained on are kept under wraps, three peopl
  
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• US Revokes Intel, Qualcomm Licenses To Sell Chips To Huawei

  08-05-2024 15:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from MSN: The US has revoked licenses allowing Huawei to buy semiconductors from Qualcomm and Intel, according to people familiar with the matter, further tightening export restrictions against the Chinese telecom equipment maker. Withdrawal of the licenses affects US sales of chips for use in Huawei phones and laptops, according to the people, who discussed the move on condition of anonymity. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul confirmed t
  
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• Venture Firms Double, Then Halve, In Stunning Reversal

  08-05-2024 13:17 via news.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: According to data analyzed by Morgan Stanley and Pitchbook, the number of active venture capital firms worldwide surged from 2014 levels, more than doubling by 2021, before sharply contracting to below 2014 figures in a stunning reversal.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Heat Waves In North Pacific May Be Due To China Reducing Aerosols

  08-05-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Computer models have found that recent heat waves in the north Pacific may be due to a large reduction in aerosols emitted by factories in China. The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Phys.Org reports: In this new effort, the research team noted that the onset of the heat waves appeared to follow successful efforts by the Chinese government to reduce aerosol emissions from their country's factories. Beginning around 2010, factories and power gen
  
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• Renewable Energy Passes 30% of World's Electricity Supply

  08-05-2024 09:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of the world's electricity for the first time last year, according to climate thinktank Ember. The Guardian reports: Clean electricity has already helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the past 10 years, according to the report by climate thinktank Ember. It found that renewables have grown from 19% of electricity in 2000 to more than 30% of global electricity last year. Solar was the main supplier of electricity growth, ac
  
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• FTX Customers Poised to Recover All Funds Lost in Collapse

  08-05-2024 08:25 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Lawyers for the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX said customers would receive all the money they lost when the firm collapsed in 2022 and receive interest on top of it. "But the recoveries come with a caveat," reports the New York Times. "The amount owed to customers was calculated based on the value of their holdings at the time of FTX's bankruptcy in November 2022. That means customers won't reap the benefits of a recent surge in the crypto market that sent the price of Bitcoin to a record
  
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• Defense Think Tank MITRE To Build AI Supercomputer With Nvidia

  08-05-2024 05:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: A key supplier to the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies is building a $20 million supercomputer with buzzy chipmaker Nvidia to speed deployment of artificial intelligence capabilities across the U.S. federal government, the MITRE think tank said Tuesday. MITRE, a federally funded, not-for-profit research organization that has supplied U.S. soldiers and spies with exotic technical products since the 1950s, says the project could
  
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• Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer's

  08-05-2024 04:02 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Pam Belluck reports via the New York Times: Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer's that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease. Currently, the vast majority of Alzheimer's cases do not have a clearly identified cause. The new designation, proposed in a study published Monday, could broaden the scope of efforts to develop treatments, including gene therapy, and affect the design of cli
  
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• OpenAI Exec Says Today's ChatGPT Will Be 'Laughably Bad' In 12 Months

  08-05-2024 03:25 via slashdot.org
  
  At the 27th annual Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said today's ChatGPT chatbot "will be laughably bad" compared to what it'll be capable of a year from now. "We think we're going to move toward a world where they're much more capable," he added. Business Insider reports: Lightcap says large language models, which people use to help do their jobs and meet their personal goals, will soon be able to take on "more complex work." He adds that AI will have more
  
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