ICT news

• US Government Launches Its Long-Awaited IoT Security Labeling Program

  19-07-2023 00:40 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The Biden administration has launched its long-awaited Internet of Things (IoT) cybersecurity labeling program that aims to protect Americans against the myriad of security risks associated with internet-connected devices. The program, officially named the "U.S. Cyber Trust Mark," aims to help Americans ensure they are buying internet-connected devices that include strong cybersecurity protections against cyberattacks. The Internet of Things,
  
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• Hyundai Claims Humanoid Robot Plan Is Not Part of Talks With Striking Workers

  25-07-2026 23:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  Ars Technica reports:Hyundai Motor Company's plan to put humanoid robots to work by 2028 is not part of current negotiations with striking South Korean autoworkers, according to the company.
  The automaker is disputing news reports that partial labor strikes by the Hyundai Motor union at the world's largest automotive plant in South Korea were spurred by concerns about the company's planned deployment of humanoid robots in the United States starting in 2028. [The planned robots are built by Bosto
  
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• Amazon Cracks Down On Use of AI Images By Sellers

  25-07-2026 22:00 via slashdot.org
  CNBC reports:
  Amazon is requiring that third-party sellers label any product images or videos that contain "AI-generated people" after New York recently passed a law mandating greater transparency around "synthetic performers" in ads... The policy directs sellers to tag images [and videos or other graphics on listing pages] with specific metadata keywords before they're uploaded. "Recent legislation requires disclosure when images or videos in advertisements contain photorealistic AI-generated p
  
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• Top Online Sites Debate Cutting Off Google's Crawlers

  25-07-2026 21:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Futurism reports:
  [Some online publications] are now debating whether to cut Google off entirely, as the Wall Street Journal reports, illustrating an increasingly fraught relationship between the tech giant and the publishers that are creating content its AI models are regurgitating. According to the newspaper, prominent outlets including USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People, and Reuters are all reexamining their relationship with Google. Some are debating whether to continue to work with
  
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• China is Creating a Herd of 100 Elite Yak Clones

  25-07-2026 20:00 via science.slashdot.org
  CNN reports on yaks "designed and cloned" in secretive, high-altitude labs in Tibet — 2.4 miles (4,000 meters) above sea level. They're a critical part of the local economy, and researchers "hope to create an 'elite' herd of super-yaks, healthier and more fertile than their predecessors."Both domestic yaks and their wild cousins have been facing threats for years, with some rare subspecies at risk of disappearing entirely. Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region have poured tens of
  
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• Facebook Offers a Verification System Certifying to Other Users That You're a Real Human

  25-07-2026 19:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Facebook announced Friday they're launching a badge "that verifies there's a real person behind a profile"."You record a short video selfie, which we check against your existing profile photos to confirm a match. The process is free and typically takes just a few minutes. Accounts must meet our trust and safety standards to qualify for verification...." Once verified, your badge will appear across the places on Facebook where it matters most: Marketplace, Dating, Groups, and Profile to start. Ov
  
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• Risks of Parkinson's Disease May Increase With Prolonged Exposure to Road Traffic Noise

  25-07-2026 18:00 via science.slashdot.org
  A large Danish study found a modest but consistent association between long-term road traffic noise exposure and higher Parkinson's disease risk, with a 3% increase for every 11.5 dB rise in noise at the most exposed side of a home. The Guardian reports: The researchers modeled noise exposure at the most and least exposed exterior of the residence of each participant and calculated the difference in noise levels. The magnitude of the effect was modest but consistent; at the most exposed facade,
  
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• Trump Threatens New Tariffs Against EU Over Google Fine

  25-07-2026 17:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  President Trump threatened a "substantial" new tariff on the European Union after Brussels fined Google more than $1 billion over alleged illegal trade practices. "The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment." Politico reports: The president'
  
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• Wine 11.14 Released

  25-07-2026 13:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Wine 11.14 is out with initial WoW64 mode support on FreeBSD, allowing 32-bit Windows applications to run on a 64-bit system without relying on 32-bit multilib support. The release also adds Start Menu icon support in Wine Explorer, 7.1 format conversions in DirectSound, AES-GMAC support in BCrypt, and 21 bug fixes affecting apps and games including Adobe Reader, Heroes of the Storm, and Age of Empires I and II. Additional details can be found at WineHQ.org.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Hits Key Milestones in 'Lucky 13' Test Flight

  25-07-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX's Friday launch of its massive Starship rocket "went quite smoothly," reports CNN, with a SpaceX spokesperson calling this mission "Lucky Number 13" (as the 13th integrated flight test for a Starship spacecraft with a Super Heavy rocket booster):
  During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle
  
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• SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Hits Key Milestones In Its 'Lucky 13' Test Flight

  25-07-2026 09:00 via science.slashdot.org
  SpaceX's Friday launch of its massive Starship rocket "went quite smoothly," reports CNN, with a SpaceX spokesperson calling this mission "Lucky Number 13" (as the 13th integrated flight test for a Starship spacecraft with a Super Heavy rocket booster):
  During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle
  
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• OpenAI's Rogue Agent Went Unnoticed For a Week

  25-07-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The OpenAI agent that broke into tech firm Hugging Face went on a dayslong hacking spree that OpenAI didn't notice until well after the threat was contained and the FBI was alerted, according to people familiar with the investigation. The agent -- a program capable of making decisions and executing complex tasks with little or no human oversight -- attempted to break out of its isolated testing environment at OpenAI around July 9, according to tw
  
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• Instagram Is Now Banning Pickup Artists, Pranksters Who Use Meta Glasses

  25-07-2026 03:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Instagram is banning videos filmed with Meta smart glasses that harass strangers in public, including prank videos targeting service workers and pickup-artist clips of women who may not realize they are being recorded. "If you're posting content that is taking advantage of people and harassing them, like a lot of these pickup line kind of videos that we've heard of and seen, then we're going to take the content down," said Instagram head Adam Mosseri in response to a question on his Instagram st
  
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• Paramount Agrees to Postpone Warner Bros. Merger Until June 2027

  25-07-2026 01:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  Paramount Skydance has agreed to postpone its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger until five days after an antitrust trial or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. The agreement with a 12-state coalition led by California effectively shelves the deal for months while states argue it would reduce competition in cable and theatrical markets. Variety reports: Paramount had been keen to close the deal before Sept. 30, when it will begin to incur a $7-million-a-day "ticking fee" to be paid to W
  
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• US Accuses American of Allegedly Wiping His Phone Using a 'Duress' Password During Border Search

  25-07-2026 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Justice Department is prosecuting an American for allegedly providing U.S. border authorities with a passcode that wiped the contents of his phone, according to an indictment and media reports. This is thought to be the first known case in the United States where federal prosecutors have charged someone for the alleged destruction of data using a so-called "duress" password built into a phone's software. According to The Guardian, whi
  
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• Roku Raises Prices of Streaming Devices By Up To 60%

  24-07-2026 23:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Roku has raised prices on several streaming devices, blaming memory and component shortages tied to the AI data-center boom. The Roku Ultra jumped from $100 to $150 and the basic Streaming Stick rose from $30 to $40. The Desk reports: In a phone call with The Desk on Friday, a Roku executive said the company made the tough decision to raise prices on its streaming hardware to address shortages in computer memory and other components caused by the artificial intelligence rush. [...] Still, the ex
  
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• Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta Warn Against 'Premature Restrictions' of Open-Weight Models

  24-07-2026 22:00 via meta.slashdot.org
  Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, and more than 20 other tech companies signed an open letter urging policymakers not to impose "premature restrictions" on open-weight AI models, warning that broad limits could "stifle competition or drive innovation overseas." CNBC reports: They wrote that open-weight models strengthen competition and ensure that the benefits of the technology are "broadly shared rather than concentrated in a few hands." "Relying solely on closed models is not inherently safe:
  
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• Anthropic's New Opus 5 Model Rivals Fable 5 For Half the Price

  24-07-2026 21:00 via slashdot.org
  Anthropic has released Opus 5, a new Claude model that it says comes close to its higher-end Fable 5 model at half the price while improving on Opus 4.8 in knowledge work, coding, and scientific research tasks. "At the same time, Anthropic says it has managed to make the model more resistant to being tricked," notes Engadget. Additionally, the company says Opus 5 "exhibits the lowest rates of deceptive behavior." From the report: One important distinction between Opus 5 and Mythos, which is curr
  
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• John C. Dvorak, an Early and Influential Technology Journalist, Dies At 80

  24-07-2026 19:00 via news.slashdot.org
  Longtime Slashdot reader sandbagger shares the passing of John C. Dvorak, an early and influential technology journalist for PC Magazine. He was 80. Talking Biz News reports: Aric Mackey writes, "Widely recognized for his profound impact on the technology industry, John's career spanned decades of rapid digital evolution. He was perhaps best known for his influential, long-running column in PC Magazine and his groundbreaking work on the No Agenda podcast. Through his prolific writing, broadcasti
  
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• Stripe Eyes $10 Billion Deal For AI Model Marketplace OpenRouter

  24-07-2026 18:00 via slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from PYMNTS.com: Stripe is in talks to buy OpenRouter, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that could sell for roughly $10 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The move would mark a significant step outside payments for a company that processes transactions for much of the internet. It also lands while Stripe pursues a far larger target: a bid for PayPal that would value the payments giant at about $53 billion.The Journal reported Thursday (July
  
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• Astronomers May Have Discovered First Moon Outside Our Solar System

  24-07-2026 17:00 via science.slashdot.org
  Astronomers studying the star system CD-35 2722 may have found the first known moon-like object outside our solar system. The classification is unusually tricky, however, because it orbits a brown dwarf rather than a planet, making it clearly an "exosatellite" but forcing scientists to rethink where the line between planet, moon, and failed star should be drawn. Space.com reports: The star CD-35 2722 is located around 73 light-years away and has around half the mass of the sun. It is orbited by
  
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• Humans Can Learn To Echolocate In Just 10 Weeks, and It Rewires the Brain

  24-07-2026 13:00 via science.slashdot.org
  alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: A study published in PLOS One in 2021 by researchers from Durham University in the UK showed that with 10 weeks of training, both blind and sighted people could learn to echolocate using verbal clicks. While the technique is already used by a number of people with impaired vision -- sometimes using the taps of a cane instead of clicks made by their mouth -- those findings suggest that many of us can learn the necessary techniques.Some of the s
  
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• World's First Wave Power Generator Receives Certification For Regular Use

  24-07-2026 09:00 via hardware.slashdot.org
  "The Norwegian certification agency DNV has certified the commercial wave-driven power generator Corpower C4 for regular use," writes Longtime Slashdot reader Qbertino. "German news site heise.de has a detailed write-up. See a CGI video of the power station and its internals, as well as the company's website [at their respective links]." From the report (translated to English): According to the manufacturer Corpower Ocean, it is the first DNV prototype certificate for a wave energy converter. Th
  
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• Google Adds Selfie Video As a Log-In Option

  24-07-2026 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: You'll now be able to use selfie videos to log into your Google account. It has long been possible to log into Google using your face, via your phone's face unlock or if your passkey login uses biometrics for verification. This is yet another option to get into your account using your face to authenticate your identity, which could be especially useful if you don't have access to the phone or computer you typically use or if you got locked out o
  
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• Oracle Signs 10-Year Software Contract With Pentagon Worth Up To $7 Billion

  24-07-2026 01:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  Oracle has signed a 10-year Pentagon contract worth up to $7 billion to provide on-premises software, licenses, maintenance, and consulting for branches of the military. CNBC reports: The contract covers the use of Oracle software in on-premises data centers for branches of the military, the U.S. intelligence community and the Coast Guard, according to a statement. The Central Intelligence Agency was Oracle's first customer. A five-year base period for the contract includes perpetual and subscri
  
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• Microsoft Responds to LG Monitors Installing McAfee Ads On Windows

  24-07-2026 00:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  LG is removing a McAfee pop-up ad from its LG Monitor App Installer after criticism that some LG monitors were silently installing the app through Windows Update and showing ads on every boot. Microsoft says LG agreed to disable the McAfee pop-up, but the broader issue remains: Windows allows certain peripheral companion apps to install automatically without notifying users. Ars Technica reports: Following Gamers Nexus' video, a Microsoft representative stated that the LG Monitor App Installer w
  
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• EU Fines Google $1 Billion For Breaking Digital Antitrust Regulations

  23-07-2026 23:00 via search.slashdot.org
  The European Union fined Google more than $1 billion for allegedly using Google Play and Search to steer users toward its own services and apps at the expense of competitors. The Associated Press reports: Google had recently lost its appeal of a $4.5 billion antitrust fine imposed by the EU for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system. The European Commission, the bloc's executive branch and highest antitrust enforcer, said
  
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• Amazon Is Bringing Games to Prime Video

  23-07-2026 22:00 via games.slashdot.org
  Amazon is integrating its Luna cloud gaming service into Prime Video, adding a new "Games" tab where Prime members can play titles like "Hogwarts Legacy," "EA Sports FC 26," "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle," "Clue," and "Taboo." The games will be available starting today on Fire TVs in the U.S. and U.K., with additional supported devices and countries in the coming months. TechCrunch reports: With this move, Amazon is hoping games can turn Prime Video into a one-stop entertainment destinatio
  
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• Sony's Decision To Ditch Discs Was Practically Inevitable, Data Shows

  23-07-2026 21:00 via games.slashdot.org
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Many gamers have been lamenting Sony's recently announced decision to halt sales of physical game discs in 2028. However, new data revealed by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella highlights how years of stark economic trends helped lead Sony to that decision. In a social media thread Thursday morning, Piscatella shared insights into Circana's tracking data on physical game sales in the U.S. dating back to 2003. A graph of those trends shows physi
  
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• In a First, Apple Maps Navigation To Be Embedded In Ford UEV Pickups

  23-07-2026 20:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  Ford will become the first automaker to embed Apple Maps directly into its vehicles, starting with an all-electric midsize pickup built on its new Universal Electric Vehicle platform. "The pickup -- with Ford testing preproduction models on roads now -- is expected to start at $30,000 when it comes to market in 2027," reports the Detroit Free Press. "Ford has said several other EVs off that platform will follow, including a small all-electric SUV." From the report: Ford CEO Jim Farley said the n
  
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