ICT news

• US Grid Adds Batteries At 10x the Rate of Natural Gas In First Half of 2024

  28-08-2024 05:30 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Ars Technica, written by John Timmer: While solar power is growing at an extremely rapid clip, in absolute terms, the use of natural gas for electricity production has continued to outpace renewables. But that looks set to change in 2024, as the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) has run the numbers on the first half of the year and found that wind, solar, and batteries were each installed at a pace that dwarfs new natural gas generators. And
  
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• 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded

  14-09-2024 09:00 via slashdot.org
  
  Longtime Slashdot reader davidwr writes: Winners of the 34th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes included studies on hair swirling (natural, not from grade-school bathroom torture), mammals that breath through their anal orifices, and a study on pigeon-guided missiles. There were also prizes for the study of the swimming abilities of a formerly-living trout. "Honors" were also bestowed for research in coin-flipping (no, it's not 50/50), why cows spew milk, and drunken worms, among other topics. Prizes
  
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• Stranded Astronauts Make First Public Statement Since Being Left Behind On ISS

  14-09-2024 05:30 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBC News: Stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams said Friday it was hard to watch their Boeing capsule return to Earth without them. It was their first public comments since last week's return of the Boeing Starliner capsule that took them to the International Space Station in June. They remained behind after NASA determined the problem-plagued capsule posed too much risk for them to ride back in. "That's how it goes in this business," said W
  
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• 23andMe To Pay $30 Million In Genetics Data Breach Settlement

  14-09-2024 04:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  23andMe has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit over a data breach that exposed the personal information of 6.4 million customers in 2023. BleepingComputer reports: The proposed class action settlement (PDF), filed Thursday in a San Francisco federal court and awaiting judicial approval, includes cash payments for affected customers, which will be distributed within ten days of final approval. "23andMe believes the settlement is fair, adequate, and reasonable," the company said in a me
  
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• Google Is Now Rolling Out Gemini Live For All Android Users

  14-09-2024 03:25 via slashdot.org
  
  Gemini Live is rolling out its Live Voice Mode for all Android users, allowing them to hold real-time, interactive voice conversations with Gemini. "Previously locked into conventional text-based input and responses, Gemini Live Voice Mode gives hands-free ways to explore ideas, brainstorm, and talk through topics in real-time," reports Tom's Guide. From the report: This new voice feature is integrated into the Android Gemini app, so users need to update their app or download it from the Google
  
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• US Takes Aim At Shein and Temu With New Import Rule Proposal

  14-09-2024 02:45 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The Biden administration is proposing new rules to limit the "de minimis" exemption, which some Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein and Temu use to ship low-cost goods under $800 to U.S. customers without tariffs. The changes would subject certain shipments to closer inspection and tariffs, aiming to protect American consumers and businesses by ensuring a level playing field against Chinese platforms that have exploited this loophole. The Verge reports: Under the proposed rules, the US will
  
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• 1.3 Million Android-Based TV Boxes Backdoored; Researchers Still Don't Know How

  14-09-2024 02:02 via it.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers still don't know the cause of a recently discovered malware infection affecting almost 1.3 million streaming devices running an open source version of Android in almost 200 countries. Security firm Doctor Web reported Thursday that malware named Android.Vo1d has backdoored the Android-based boxes by putting malicious components in their system storage area, where they can be updated with additional malware at any time by command-
  
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• Sam Bankman-Fried Files Appeal For Fraud Conviction

  14-09-2024 01:20 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's legal team has filed an appeal challenging his conviction on seven felony counts and his 25-year prison sentence. They argue that he was not presumed innocent, that the jury received incomplete information about FTX user funds, and that the prosecution's narrative was biased. CoinTelegraph reports: In a Sept. 13 filing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, SBF's lawyers filed a 102-page brief claiming that the former FTX CEO was "never p
  
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• iFixit Launches FixHub Portable USB-C Soldering System To Encourage Repair Projects

  14-09-2024 00:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  iFixit has created its own USB-C soldering iron and portable power station called FixHub, "designed to allow all types of users to handle soldering work wherever they may be," reports MacRumors. From the report: The Portable Power Station serves as the command and power center for FixHub, including a 55-watt-hour battery to support over eight hours of continuous soldering on a single charge. The power supply delivers up to 100 watts to a pair of USB-C ports, allowing it to run two soldering iron
  
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• Apple Vision Pro's Eye Tracking Exposed What People Type

  14-09-2024 00:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: You can tell a lot about someone from their eyes. They can indicate how tired you are, the type of mood you're in, and potentially provide clues about health problems. But your eyes could also leak more secretive information: your passwords, PINs, and messages you type. Today, a group of six computer scientists are revealing a new attack against Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset where exposed eye-tracking data allowed them to decipher what p
  
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• Why Do We Crumble Under Pressure? Science Has the Answer

  13-09-2024 23:22 via science.slashdot.org
  
  Have you ever been in a high-stakes situation in which you needed to perform but completely bombed? You're not alone. Experiments in monkeys reveal that 'choking' under pressure is linked to a drop in activity in the neurons that prepare for movement. Nature: "You see it across the board, you see it in sports, in all kinds of different sports and outside of sports as well." says Steven Chase, a neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chase and his colleagues inv
  
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• PC Giants Predict Delayed but Massive Upgrade Wave

  13-09-2024 22:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Dell and HP executives have acknowledged a delay in the anticipated commercial PC refresh cycle. Michael Dell, speaking at the Citi 2024 Global TMT conference, stated that the refresh cycle "has been delayed for sure." The Register adds: Without offering any reasons for postponement -- and not being pressed for one by the analyst interviewing him -- the billionaire reckoned the size of the refresh is "going to be even bigger" because of it. "So first of all we have a certain date with Windows 10
  
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• OpenAI Acknowledges New Models Increase Risk of Misuse To Create Bioweapons

  13-09-2024 22:01 via slashdot.org
  
  OpenAI's latest models have "meaningfully" increased the risk that AI will be misused to create biological weapons [non-paywalled link], the company has acknowledged. From a report: The San Francisco-based company announced its new models, known as o1, on Thursday, touting their new abilities to reason, solve hard maths problems and answer scientific research questions. OpenAI's system card, a tool to explain how the AI operates, said the new models had a "medium risk" for issues related to chem
  
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• Japan Rethinks 24/7 Police Boxes With Rise of Cybercrime

  13-09-2024 21:21 via slashdot.org
  
  Japan is overhauling how its ubiquitous 24-hour mini-police stations are operated nationwide as more crime fighting moves from the streets to the web. From a report: Called koban in Japanese, officers at these small police boxes handle a variety of tasks from responding to crime and patrolling neighborhoods to handling lost items. There are also chuzaisho outposts where police officers live full-time. The National Police Agency will update operational rules on Friday to allow some outposts to sh
  
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• 'I Don't Get Why Apple's Multitrack Voice Memos Require an iPhone 16 Pro'

  13-09-2024 20:41 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple unveiled a multitrack recording feature for Voice Memos at its recent iPhone event, exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro. The feature allows users to layer vocals over guitar tracks without headphones, utilizing advanced microphone technology and machine learning algorithms to reduce ambient noise.
  Engadget argues the feature's exclusivity to the new $1,000+ model is unnecessary, given modern smartphones' processing power far exceeds that of early digital audio workstations. They contend that ba
  
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• Apple Seeks To Drop Its Lawsuit Against Israeli Spyware Pioneer NSO

  13-09-2024 20:01 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple asked a court Friday to dismiss its three-year-old hacking lawsuit against spyware pioneer NSO Group, arguing that it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO's Pegasus surveillance tool and that its own disclosures could aid NSO and its increasing number of rivals. From a report: A redacted version of the filing in San Francisco federal court cited a July article in the Guardian, which reported that Israeli officials had taken files from NSO's headquarters. The newspap
  
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• Annapurna's Entire Gaming Team Has Resigned

  13-09-2024 19:20 via games.slashdot.org
  
  Annapurna Interactive's entire gaming staff has resigned from the company following a leadership dispute, according to a Bloomberg report. From a report: The report, which IGN can confirm based on conversations with our own sources, states that Annapurna Interactive president Nathan Gary had recently been in negotiations with Annapurna founder and billionaire Megan Ellison to spin the gaming segment off as its own company. However, Ellison eventually pulled out of negotiations, at which point Ga
  
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• United Airlines Taps Starlink for Free In-Flight Wi-Fi

  13-09-2024 18:41 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  United Airlines said that it will outfit its entire fleet with Starlink internet service, aiming to keep fliers loyal by offering zippier, more reliable browsing and downloads that the carrier expects will mirror what travelers are used to on the ground. From a report: United's deal is a bet that Starlink's technology can propel it above rival carriers in offering fast, free Wi-Fi. The airline is in the midst of a broader effort to burnish its premium and business travel bona fides, which has in
  
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• Fortinet Confirms Data Breach After Hacker Claims To Steal 440GB of Files

  13-09-2024 18:00 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Cybersecurity giant Fortinet has confirmed it suffered a data breach after a threat actor claimed to steal 440GB of files from the company's Microsoft Sharepoint server. From a report: Fortinet is one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world, selling secure networking products like firewalls, routers, and VPN devices. The company also offers SIEM, network management, and EDR/XDR solutions, as well as consulting services.
  Early this morning, a threat actor posted to a hacking forum tha
  
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• Can AI Really Replace Salesforce and Workday?

  13-09-2024 17:21 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Can AI kill the enterprise software app industry that's led by companies such as Salesforce and Workday? The Information: That's the trillion-dollar question at the heart of recent comments from the CEO of Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, who's made a name for himself -- and drawn some skepticism too -- as a chief cheerleader of OpenAI's software. In the latest example from a couple of weeks ago, Siemiatkowski told investors in his buy now, pay later firm that it's shutting down a lot of the ent
  
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• 'The IRS Says There's Always Next Year'

  13-09-2024 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The tax agency again delays a vital software upgrade, at the cost of billions. WSJ's Editorial Board: Taxpayers endure drudgery to file on time each year, but the tax collectors seem less concerned with deadlines. A new Internal Revenue Service database, more than a decade in the making, will be delayed another year. And its cost is billions of dollars and climbing. The IRS told the press this week that it won't replace its Individual Master File until the 2026 tax year, at the earliest. That fa
  
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• Microsoft Pushes AI For Climate Solutions While Marketing To Oil Giants

  13-09-2024 16:07 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft executives have been thinking lately about the end of the world. In a white paper published late last year, Brad Smith, the company's vice chair and president, and Melanie Nakagawa, its chief sustainability officer, described a "planetary crisis" that AI could help solve. Imagine an AI-assisted tool that helps reduce food waste, to name one example from the document, or some future technology that could "expedite decarbonization" by using AI to inve
  
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• GM and EVgo To Build 400 Ultra-Fast EV Chargers Across the US

  13-09-2024 15:00 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from InsideEVs: General Motors is joining forces with EVgo, one of the biggest electric vehicle charging operators in the United States, to build 400 ultra-fast DC chargers nationwide to support the growing number of battery-powered cars hitting U.S. roads. To be clear, these are individual stalls, not charging stations. However, the two companies describe the new locations as "flagship destinations" which will feature 350-kilowatt DC chargers, ample lighting,
  
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• Ivanti Releases Security Update for Cloud Services Appliance

  13-09-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Ivanti has released a security update addressing an OS command injection vulnerability (CVE-2024-8190) affecting Ivanti Cloud Services Appliance (CSA) 4.6 (all versions before patch 519). A cyber threat actor could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.  
  At this time, Ivanti has confirmed limited exploitation and urges its customers using the affected versions to upgrade to CSA version 5.0. Ivanti no longer supports CSA 4.6 (end-of-life). 
  CISA recomme
  
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• CISA Releases Analysis of FY23 Risk and Vulnerability Assessments

  13-09-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  CISA has released an analysis and infographic detailing the findings from the 121 Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (RVAs) conducted across multiple critical infrastructure sectors in fiscal year 2023 (FY23).
  The analysis details a sample attack path including tactics and steps a cyber threat actor could follow to compromise an organization with weaknesses representative of those CISA observed in FY23 RVAs. The infographic highlights the most successful techniques for each tactic that RVAs docu
  
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• You Can Now Legally Bet On the 2024 Congressional Elections

  13-09-2024 12:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  A U.S. District Court judge on Thursday allowed New York-based startup Kalshi to legally offer betting on the outcome of the November Congressional elections (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), despite opposition from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which plans to appeal the decision due to concerns about potential market manipulation and public trust in the electoral process. Within minutes of the ruling, people began placing bets on Kalshi's website. It's currentl
  
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• Google Tests Desktop Windowing For Android Tablets

  13-09-2024 09:00 via developers.slashdot.org
  
  Google is testing a "desktop windowing" feature for Android tablets that "will let you resize apps freely and arrange them on your screen at will," reports The Verge. It's currently available as a developer preview. From the report: Currently, apps on Android tablets open in full-screen by default. When the new mode is enabled, each app will appear in a window with controls that allow you to reposition, maximize, or close the app. You'll also see a taskbar at the bottom of your screen with your
  
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• How SEC Mobile Phones Can Signal an Imminent Stock Price Drop

  13-09-2024 06:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Mobile phone location data has linked site visits by US securities watchdogs to the headquarters of companies with measurable drops in their share prices -- even when no enforcement action is taken. From a report: When insiders sold shares right around a non-public visit by staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission, they avoided average losses of 4.9 per cent in the three months after the visit, according to a study led by researchers at four Midwestern universities. By matching commerci
  
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• Court Clears Researchers of Defamation For Identifying Manipulated Data

  13-09-2024 05:30 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Earlier this year, we got a look at something unusual: the results of an internal investigation conducted by Harvard Business School that concluded one of its star faculty members had committed research misconduct. Normally, these reports are kept confidential, leaving questions regarding the methods and extent of data manipulations. But in this case, the report became public because the researcher had filed a lawsuit that alleged defamation
  
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• White House Gets Voluntary Commitments From AI Companies To Curb Deepfake Porn

  13-09-2024 02:02 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  In a statement today, the White House said it has received commitments from several AI companies to curb the creation and distribution of deepfake porn, also known as image-based sexual abuse material. Engadget reports: The participating businesses have laid out the steps they are taking to prevent their platforms from being used to generate non-consensual intimate images (NCII) of adults and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Specifically, Adobe, Anthropic, Cohere, Common Crawl, Microsoft and
  
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