ICT news

• US Ends Penny-Making Run After More Than 230 Years

  12-11-2025 20:25 via news.slashdot.org
  The US is set to make its final penny. The Philadelphia Mint will strike its last batch of one-cent coins on Thursday, after more than 230 years of production. From a report: The coins will remain in circulation but the phase-out has already prompted businesses to start adjusting prices, as they say pennies are becoming harder to find. The government says the move will save money, or as President Donald Trump put it in February when he first announced the plans: "Rip the waste out of our great n
  
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• 'Fish Mouth' Filter Removes 99% of Microplastics From Laundry Waste

  04-01-2026 21:34 via news.slashdot.org
  "The ancient evolution of fish mouths could help solve a modern source of plastic pollution," writes ScienceAlert."Inspired by these natural filtration systems, scientists in Germany have invented a way to remove 99 percent of plastic particles from water. It's based on how some fish filter-feed to eat microscopic prey."The research team has already filed a patent in Germany, and in the future, they hope their creation will help curb a ubiquitous form of plastic pollution that many are unaware o
  
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• A Drug-Resistant 'Superbug' Fungus Infected 7,000 Americans in 2025

  04-01-2026 20:34 via science.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Independent:Candida auris, a type of invasive yeast that can cause deadly infections in people with weakened immune systems, has infected at least 7,000 people [in 2025] across 27 U.S. states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fungus, which can spread easily in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, is gaining virulence and spreading at an "alarming" rate, the CDC says. Some strains of the
  
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• Microsoft's Risky Bet That Windows Can Become The Platform for AI Agents

  04-01-2026 19:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  "Microsoft is hoping that Windows can once again serve as the platform where it all takes off," reports GeekWire:A new framework called Agent Launchers, introduced in December as a preview in the latest Windows Insider build, lets developers register agents directly with the operating system. They can describe an agent through what's known as a manifest, which then lets the agent show up in the Windows taskbar, inside Microsoft Copilot, and across other apps... "We are now entering a phase where
  
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• Trump Organization's $499 Smartphone Delayed Again, Now Until the End of January

  04-01-2026 18:34 via mobile.slashdot.org
  Last June the Trump organization announced sales of a $499 "T1" smartphone with a gold-colored case. But though they originally were scheduled for release in August, this week a customer service representative for the wireless carrier told CBS News the device will be pushed back again, now until the end of January, "attributing the delay to the recent U.S. government shutdown."Some context from The Independent:
  Shortly after the phone was first announced, language describing it as "Made in the U
  
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• Archboot Adds COSMIC Desktop as a New Install and Rescue Option

  04-01-2026 17:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from the Linux news site Linuxiac:
  Archboot, a guided, user-friendly, menu-driven installer for Arch Linux that automates much of the traditional manual installation process (while still allowing advanced users to intervene when needed), has added the COSMIC desktop environment as a new selectable option. The change is part of Archboot's development cycle leading up to the 2026.01 release and is already available in the latest tagged builds. With COSMIC now
  
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• Furiosa's Energy-Efficient 'NPU' AI Chips Start Mass Production This Month, Challenging Nvidia

  04-01-2026 16:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The Wall Street Journal profiles "the startup that is now one of a handful of chip makers nipping at the heels of Nvidia."Furiosa's AI chip is dubbed "RNGD" — short for renegade — and slated to start mass production this month. Valued at nearly $700 million based on its most recent fundraising, Furiosa has attracted interest from big tech firms. Last year, Meta Platforms attempted to acquire it, though the startup declined the offer. OpenAI used a Furiosa chip for a recent demonstrat
  
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• The US Effort to Break China's Rare-Earth Monopoly

  04-01-2026 13:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  The New York Times checks in on U.S. university researchers and start-ups trying to create domestic rare-earth processing facility:
  There is too little money to be made in rare earths for the elements to be of much interest to mining giants, so the challenge of reestablishing a domestic industry has fallen to small companies like Phoenix Tailings, a Boston-area startup that runs the metal-making plant in Exeter, New Hampshire. A handful of other companies in the United States are processing rare
  
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• Reddit Surges in Popularity to Overtake TikTok in the UK - Thanks to Google's Algorithm?

  04-01-2026 09:34 via tech.slashdot.org
  Reddit "has overtaken TikTok as Britain's fourth most-visited social media service," reports the Guardian:The platform has undergone huge growth over the last two years, with an 88% increase in the proportion of UK internet users it reaches. Three in five Brits online now encounter the site, up from a third in 2023, according to Ofcom. Its popularity is rising fastest with younger internet users. It is now the sixth most visited organisation of any kind by UK users aged between 18 and 24, up fro
  
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• New Tesla Video Shows Tesla Semi Electric Truck Charging at 1.2 MW

  04-01-2026 06:34 via hardware.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared this report from Electrek:
  Tesla has released a new video showing a Tesla Semi truck charging at a massive 1.2 megawatts (MW), finally giving us a clear look at the charging speeds that will enable long-haul electric trucking...>
  Tesla claimed the Semi would be able to charge 70% of its range in 30 minutes. For a truck with a 500-mile range and an estimated battery pack of around 800-900 kWh, that requires an incredibly high power output, well beyond the 250 kW or e
  
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• What Happened When Alaska's Court System Tried Answering Questions with an AI Chatbot?

  04-01-2026 03:34 via science.slashdot.org
  An AI chatbot to answer probate questions from Alaska residents "was supposed to be a three-month project," said Aubrie Souza, a consultant with the National Center for State Courts told NBC News. "We are now at well over a year and three months, but that's all because of the due diligence that was required to get it right.""With a project like this, we need to be 100% accurate, and that's really difficult with this technology," said Stacey Marz, the administrative director of the Alaska Court S
  
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• Google's $250M Deal with California to Fund Newsrooms May Be Stalled

  04-01-2026 00:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  Remember how California's government negotiated a 2024 deal where Google contributed millions to California's local newsrooms to offset advertisers moving to the search engine?
  "A year after it was cemented — and billed as a model that could succeed where entire countries and continents had fallen short — the agreement is tangled in budget cuts, bureaucratic infighting and unresolved questions about who controls the money," reports Politico, "leaving journalists empty-handed and cast
  
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• Has Microsoft Discontinued Offline Activation of Windows?

  03-01-2026 23:45 via tech.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shared
  this report from Neowin:Offline Windows activation has been possible to do using the phone. However, it looks like Microsoft has quietly killed off that method as users online have found that they are no longer able to activate the OS using it... [As documented by Windows user Ben Kleinberg on his YouTube channel], Now when trying to activate the OS by attempting to call the phone number for Microsoft Product Activation, an automated voice response says the following:
  
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• The US Invaded Venezuela and Captured Nicolás Maduro - But ChatGPT and Perplexity Disagree

  03-01-2026 22:45 via slashdot.org
  Why did the U.S. invade Venezuela and capture its leader Nicolás Maduro? "If you asked ChatGPT about it this morning, it told you that youâ(TM)re making it up," Wired reported Saturday:
  WIRED asked leading chatbots ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini the same question a little before 9 am ET. In all cases, we used the free, default version of the service, since that's what the majority of users experience. We also asked AI search platform Perplexity, which advertises "accurate, trusted, and
  
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• SpaceX Lowering Orbits of 4,400 Starlink Satellites for Safety's Sake

  03-01-2026 21:45 via science.slashdot.org
  "Starlink is beginning a significant reconfiguration of its satellite constellation focused on increasing space safety," announced Michael Nicolls, Starlink's vice president of engineering:"We are lowering all Starlink satellites orbiting at ~550 km to ~480 km (~4400 satellites) over the course of 2026. The shell lowering is being tightly coordinated with other operators, regulators, and USSPACECOM. Lowering the satellites results in condensing Starlink orbits, and will increase space safety in
  
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• Could AI Bring Us Four-Day Workweeks?

  03-01-2026 20:45 via it.slashdot.org
  "While a growing number of U.S. employers are mandating workers return to the office five days a week," reports the Washington Post, "some companies say AI is saving them enough time to launch or sustain a four-day workweek.
  "More companies may move toward a shortened workweek, several executives and researchers predict, as workers, especially those in younger generations, continue to push for better work-life balance." And "several companies — especially those with a largely remote workfo
  
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• Airlines Cancel Hundreds of Flights After U.S. Attack on Venezuela

  03-01-2026 18:45 via news.slashdot.org
  CNBC reports that U.S. airlines have "canceled hundreds of flights to airports in Puerto Rico and Aruba, according to flight tallies from FlightAware and carriers' sites."
  JetBlue, Southwest, and American Airlines were among the multiple airlines showing cancelled flights, which "included close to 300 flights to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, more than 40% of the day's schedule, according to FlightAware."
  Airlines canceled flights throughou
  
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• Interference With America's GPS System 'Has Grown Dramatically'

  03-01-2026 17:34 via news.slashdot.org
  86 aircraft were affected by an incident in Denver ,and 256 more in Dallas-Fort Worth, America's Federal Aviation Admistrationtold the Washington Post:The pilots flying into Denver International Airport could tell something was wrong. In urgent calls to air traffic controllers, they reported that the Global Positioning System was going haywire, forcing them to rely on backup navigation systems for more than a day. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to air traffic in the area. E
  
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• Jobs Vulnerable to AI Replacement Actually 'Thriving, Not Dying Out', Report Suggests

  03-01-2026 16:34 via it.slashdot.org
  AI startups now outnumber all publicly traded U.S. companies, according to a year-end note to investors from economists at Vanguard.
  And yet that report also suggest the jobs most susceptible to replacement by AI "are actually thriving, not dying out," writes Forbes:
  "The approximately 100 occupations most exposed to AI automation are actually outperforming the rest of the labor market in terms of job growth and real wage increases," the Vanguard report revealed. "This suggests that current AI s
  
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• After Half a Decade, the Russian Space Station Segment Stopped Leaking

  03-01-2026 13:01 via science.slashdot.org
  A small section of the International Space Station that has experienced persistent leaks for years appears to have stopped venting atmosphere into space. ArsTechnica: The leaks were caused by microscopic structural cracks inside the small PrK module on the Russian segment of the space station, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module. The problem has been a long-running worry for Russian and US operators of the station, especially after the rate of leakage doubled i
  
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• NYC Phone Ban Reveals Some Students Can't Read Clocks

  03-01-2026 10:30 via news.slashdot.org
  New York City's statewide smartphone ban that went into effect this fall has been largely successful at getting students to focus in class and socialize at lunch, but teachers across the city have discovered an unexpected side effect: many teenagers cannot read analog clocks. "The constant refrain is 'Miss, what time is it?'" said Madi Mornhinweg, a high school English teacher in Manhattan, who eventually started responding by asking students to identify the big hand and little hand themselves.
  
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• Economic Inequality Does Not Equate To Poor Well-Being or Mental Health, Massive Meta-Analysis Finds

  03-01-2026 07:01 via science.slashdot.org
  A new sweeping meta-analysis has found no reliable link between economic inequality and well-being or mental health, challenging a long-held assumption that has shaped public health policy discussions for decades. The study, led by Nicolas Sommet at the University of Lausanne and Annahita Ehsan at the University of British Columbia, synthesized 168 studies involving more than 11 million participants across most world regions. The researchers screened thousands of scientific papers and contacted
  
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• Dell's XPS Brand May Return Just a Year After Being Retired, Report Claims

  03-01-2026 04:30 via it.slashdot.org
  Dell is planning to bring back its XPS laptop branding, according to a news report, just one year after the company retired the storied name in favor of a simplified naming scheme that organized its consumer and professional lineup into Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max tiers. VideoCardz reported this week that Dell has presented an updated XPS lineup during prebriefings ahead of CES 2026, though the company has not officially confirmed the badge's return.
  The reported reversal would come after De
  
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• Microsoft CEO: Time To Move 'Beyond the Arguments of Slop vs Sophistication'

  03-01-2026 02:30 via slashdot.org
  The tech industry needs to move "beyond the arguments of slop vs sophistication" and develop a new "theory of the mind" that accounts for humans now equipped with "cognitive amplifier tools," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a year-end reflection blog. The post frames 2026 as yet another "pivotal year for AI" -- but one that "feels different in a few notable ways." Nadella claims the industry has moved past the initial discovery phase and is now "beginning to distinguish between 'spectacle'
  
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• MTV's Music-Only Channels Go Off the Air

  03-01-2026 00:31 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader shares a report: MTV shut down many of its last dedicated 24-hour music channels Dec. 31. The move, announced back in October, affected channels around the world, with the U.K. seeing five different MTV stations going dark. These include MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live. As Consequence notes, MTV Music -- which launched in 2011 -- notably ended its run by airing the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," the first visual to air when MTV launched in the Uni
  
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• Google AI Overviews Put People at Risk of Harm With Misleading Health Advice

  02-01-2026 22:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  A Guardian investigation published Friday found that Google's AI Overviews -- the generative AI summaries that appear at the top of search results -- are serving up inaccurate health information that experts say puts people at risk of harm. The investigation, which came after health groups, charities and professionals raised concerns, uncovered several cases of misleading medical advice despite Google's claims that the feature is "helpful" and "reliable."
  In one case described by experts as "rea
  
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• Trump Signs Defense Bill Prohibiting China-Based Engineers in Pentagon IT Work

  02-01-2026 21:01 via news.slashdot.org
  President Donald Trump signed into law this month a measure that prohibits anyone based in China and other adversarial countries from accessing the Pentagon's cloud computing systems. From a report: The ban, which is tucked inside the $900 billion defense policy law, was enacted in response to a ProPublica investigation this year that exposed how Microsoft used China-based engineers to service the Defense Department's computer systems for nearly a decade -- a practice that left some of the count
  
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• AMD Closes in on Intel in Latest Steam Hardware Survey

  02-01-2026 20:01 via slashdot.org
  AMD's share of processors among Steam users climbed to 47.27% in December 2025, a 4.66% jump in a single month that continues the company's steady encroachment on Intel's once-dominant position in the gaming CPU market. Intel held roughly 77% of the Steam Hardware Survey five years ago, and that lead has eroded considerably as AMD broke the 40% threshold in the third quarter of 2025 and kept climbing.
  The gains came despite an ongoing memory shortage that has pushed DDR5 prices to record highs -
  
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• Reading is a Vice

  02-01-2026 19:01 via news.slashdot.org
  The International Publishers Association spent the past year promoting the slogan "Democracy depends on reading," but Atlantic senior editor Adam Kirsch argues that this utilitarian pitch fundamentally misunderstands why people become readers in the first place.
  The most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts found that less than half of Americans read a single book in 2022, and only 38% read a novel or short story. A University of Florida and University College London study found dai
  
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• A Decade of BBC Question Time Data Reveals Imbalance in Journalist Guests

  02-01-2026 18:01 via news.slashdot.org
  A new study [PDF] from Cardiff University analyzing a decade of the popular topical debate programme BBC Question Time found that the broadcaster's flagship political debate show relies disproportionately on journalists and pundits from right-wing media outlets, particularly those connected to The Spectator magazine.
  Researcher Matt Walsh examined 391 editions and 1,885 panellist appearances between 2014 and 2024. Journalists from right-leaning publications accounted for 59.59% of media guest sl
  
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