ICT news

• Wearable AI Startup Humane Explores Potential Sale

  22-05-2024 16:44 via slashdot.org
  
  AI startup Humane has been seeking a buyer for its business, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter, just weeks after the company's closely watched wearable AI device had a rocky public launch. From the report: The company is working with a financial adviser to assist it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Humane is seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion in a sale [non-paywalled link], one person said. The proce
  
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• Air Freight Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up 25% Since 2019, Analysis Finds

  26-06-2024 22:50 via news.slashdot.org
  
  Air freight operators have increased their greenhouse gas emissions by 25% compared to 2019, according to a report [PDF] by campaign group Stand.earth. The analysis found that operators ran about 300,000 more flights in 2023 than in 2019, a 30% increase in volume. The United States accounted for over 40% of global air freight emissions. The Guardian adds: FedEx and UPS were responsible for 24.7% of the industry's carbon emissions in 2023. It is estimated that 99.8% of aviation fuel is produced f
  
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• US Mayors Urge Congress To Ditch Broadband Expansion Bill

  26-06-2024 22:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  The US Conference of Mayors, which speaks for the administrations of more than 1,400 cities with a population of at least 30,000 people, adopted a resolution over the weekend at its annual meeting that voiced an objection to HR 3557, a draft law known as the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. From a report: The bill, which was introduced by House Rep Earl Carter (R-GA) last May and is awaiting further consideration by Congress, is ostensibly designed to make it easier for telcos to build
  
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• Astronomers Have Found the Earliest and Most Distant Galaxy Yet

  26-06-2024 21:38 via science.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Since the James Webb Space Telescope began operating two years ago, astronomers have been using it to leapfrog one another millions of years into the past, back toward the moment they call cosmic dawn, when the first stars and galaxies were formed. Last month, an international team doing research as the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, said it had identified the earliest, most distant galaxy yet found -- a banana-shaped blob of color measuri
  
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• Rabbit R1 AI Device Exposed by API Key Leak

  26-06-2024 20:50 via it.slashdot.org
  
  Security researchers claim to have discovered exposed API keys in the code of Rabbit's R1 AI device, potentially allowing access to all user responses and company services. The group, known as Rabbitude, says they could send emails from internal Rabbit addresses to demonstrate the vulnerability. 404 Media adds: In a statement, Rabbit said, "Today we were made aware of an alleged data breach. Our security team immediately began investigating it. As of right now, we are not aware of any customer d
  
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• Big Streamers Have Been Cutting Their Original Content Output

  26-06-2024 20:10 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: If you've been mindlessly scrolling through streaming services and have been feeling even less enthused than usual, you may not be entirely to blame: almost all major US streamers have been cutting their original TV output this year, according to new analysis (paywalled) from Variety.
  From content monolith Netflix, which released 203 original shows in the first half of 2023 compared with 174 in H1 '24, to Disney+, which has halved its already-slim original TV
  
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• China's Subsea Cable Drive Defies US Sanctions

  26-06-2024 19:31 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Chinese undersea cable manufacturers are experiencing growth despite U.S. trade restrictions, as Beijing pushes for self-sufficiency in critical communications infrastructure, Nikkei is reporting. FiberHome International Technologies, blacklisted by the U.S. in 2020, reports increased business due to China's drive for domestic production. "We don't need foreign technologies," a FiberHome executive told Nikkei.
  China is challenging U.S. dominance in the global undersea cable network, which spans
  
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• Canonical Expands Ubuntu Pro With Distroless Docker Image Service Offering 12-Year Support

  26-06-2024 18:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  BrianFagioli writes: Canonical has introduced a new service enabling the creation of custom distroless Docker images under its "Everything LTS" program. This initiative allows customers to include any open-source software in their Docker images, regardless of whether it is packaged in Ubuntu, with a security maintenance commitment of up to 12 years. [...] This expansion of the Ubuntu Pro offering incorporates numerous new open-source components, especially current AI/ML tools, maintained directl
  
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• How The Kaspersky Ban Will Hit Resellers in the US

  26-06-2024 18:07 via it.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. government last week announced an unprecedented ban on selling Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky's software, citing national security concerns. The move, effective July 20, has left American resellers confused and worried about its impact. Kaspersky can provide updates to existing customers until September 29, after which the software's effectiveness will diminish. From a report: Avi Fleischer, the founder of Technical Difficulties, told TechCrunch that not only does he sell Kaspersk
  
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• YouTube in Talks With Record Labels Over AI Music Deal

  26-06-2024 17:20 via news.slashdot.org
  
  YouTube is negotiating with major record labels to license songs for AI tools that clone popular artists' music, according to Financial Times. The Google-owned platform is offering upfront payments to Sony, Warner, and Universal to secure rights for training AI software, aiming to launch new features this year. But there are roadblocks to the deal, the story adds: However, many artists remain fiercely opposed to AI music generation, fearing it could undermine the value of their work. Any move by
  
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• Supreme Court Rebuffs Challenge To Biden's Social Media Outreach

  26-06-2024 16:40 via news.slashdot.org
  
  The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected to impose limits on the way President Joe Biden's administration may communicate with social media platforms, overturning a lower court decision in a case brought by Missouri, Louisiana, and five individuals. In a 6-3 ruling, the court found plaintiffs lacked legal standing to sue, unable to show a "concrete link" between officials' conduct and harm suffered.
  The case centered on whether the administration coerced platforms to censor disfavored speech
  
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• Apple Expands Self-Service Repair Diagnostics To Europe

  26-06-2024 16:02 via apple.slashdot.org
  
  Apple has extended its self-service repair diagnostics tool to 32 European countries, including the UK, France, and Germany. The software, previously limited to technicians, allows customers to perform system configuration after self-repairs on iPhones, Macs, and Studio Displays.
  Launched in the U.S. last year, the tool is part of Apple's Self Service Repair program, which provides access to genuine parts, tools, and manuals for select models. The expansion supports 42 Apple products in 33 count
  
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• 'Great Resignation' Enters Third Year

  26-06-2024 15:00 via slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The proportion of workers who expect to switch employers in the next 12 months is higher than that from the "Great Resignation" period of 2022, a PwC survey of the global workforce found. Around 28% of more than 56,000 workers surveyed by PwC said they were "very or extremely likely" to move from their current companies, compared to 19% in 2022, and 26% in 2023. PwC's 2024 "Hopes and Fears" survey also showed workers are embracing emerging techno
  
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• CISA and Partners Release Guidance for Exploring Memory Safety in Critical Open Source Projects

  26-06-2024 14:00 via cisa.gov
  Today, CISA, in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre, and Canadian Cyber Security Center, released Exploring Memory Safety in Critical Open Source Projects. This guidance was crafted to provide organizations with findings on the scale of memory safety risk in selected open source software (OSS).
  This joint guidance builds on the guide The Case for Memory Safe Roadmaps by providing a starting point for softwa
  
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• Mozilla's CPO Sues Over Discrimination Post-Cancer Diagnosis

  26-06-2024 12:00 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  Thomas Claburn reports via The Register: Mozilla Corporation was sued this month in the US, along with three of its executives, for alleged disability discrimination and retaliation against Chief Product Officer Steve Teixeira. Teixeira, according to a complaint filed in King County Superior Court in the State of Washington, had been tapped to become CEO when he was diagnosed with ocular melanoma on October 3, 2023. Teixeira then took medical leave for cancer treatment from October 30, 2023, thr
  
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• Newly Identified Tipping Point For Ice Sheets Could Mean Greater Sea Level Rise

  26-06-2024 09:00 via news.slashdot.org
  
  In a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists have identified a new Antarctic ice sheet "tipping point" where slight increases in the temperature of seawater infiltrating coastal ice sheets can lead to significant ice loss due to feedback loops that expand underwater cavities and accelerate ice collapse into the ocean. This mechanism could potentially cause future sea level rise to far exceed current predictions, impacting major global cities and billions of people. The G
  
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• Man Flies To Florida To Attack Another Player Over an Online Gaming Dispute

  26-06-2024 05:30 via games.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: An online gaming dispute made its way to the real world when a New Jersey man flew to Florida to attack another player with a hammer, authorities said. Edward Kang, 20, is charged with attempted second-degree murder and armed burglary with a mask, according to Nassau County court records. He was arrested early Sunday morning. Kang and the victim, another young man around the same age as Kang, had never met in real life, but they both
  
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• Researchers Upend AI Status Quo By Eliminating Matrix Multiplication In LLMs

  26-06-2024 02:50 via entertainment.slashdot.org
  
  Researchers from UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, LuxiTech, and Soochow University have developed a new method to run AI language models more efficiently by eliminating matrix multiplication, potentially reducing the environmental impact and operational costs of AI systems. Ars Technica's Benj Edwards reports: Matrix multiplication (often abbreviated to "MatMul") is at the center of most neural network computational tasks today, and GPUs are particularly good at executing the math quickly because they c
  
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• MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offline

  26-06-2024 02:10 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  MTVNews.com has been shut down, with more than two decades' worth of content no longer available. "Content on its sister site, CMT.com, seems to have met a similar fate," adds Variety. From the report: In 2023, MTV News was shuttered amid the financial woes of parent company Paramount Global. As of Monday, trying to access MTV News articles on mtvnews.com or mtv.com/news resulted in visitors being redirected to the main MTV website.The now-unavailable content includes decades of music journalism
  
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• Waymo's Autonomous Ride-Hailing Service Now Available To All In San Francisco

  26-06-2024 01:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Alphabet's Waymo said on Tuesday its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, is now available to everyone in San Francisco, nearly four years after a similar move in Phoenix, Arizona. Driverless vehicles are expected to drive commercial success for automakers even as regulatory scrutiny remains tight amid concerns of investors about growing investments in the nascent technology. Waymo had started a test service with its research-focused progr
  
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• Seattle's Living Computers Museum Logs Off For Good

  26-06-2024 00:50 via hardware.slashdot.org
  
  Kurt Schlosser reports via GeekWire: Living Computers Museum + Labs, the Seattle institution created by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen as a hands-on showcase for rare computing technology and interactive displays, will not reopen, more than four years after closing just ahead of the pandemic. Allen's estate, which has been managing and winding down his vast array of holdings since his death in 2018, confirmed to GeekWire that the 12-year-old museum is closed for good. The estate also a
  
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• South Korean ISP 'Infected' 600,000 Torrenting Subscribers With Malware

  26-06-2024 00:07 via yro.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Last week, an in-depth investigative report from JBTC revealed that Korean Internet provider KT, formerly known as Korea Telecom, distributed malware onto subscribers' computers to interfere with and block torrent traffic. File-sharing continues to be very popular in South Korea, but operates differently than in most other countries. "Webhard" services, short for Web Hard Drive, are particularly popular. These are paid BitTorrent-assisted se
  
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• GM's Cruise Names Former Amazon, Microsoft Xbox Executive As New CEO

  25-06-2024 23:40 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Cruise, the autonomous vehicle unit from General Motors, named Amazon and Microsoft executive Marc Whitten as its new CEO, replacing former CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt. CNBC reports: Whitten was a founding engineer at Microsoft's Xbox before leaving the company after more than 17 years to become chief product officer of audio company Sonos in 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. He then worked at Amazon as vice president of entertainment devices and services before his most recent role as c
  
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• VW To Invest Up To $5 Billion In EV Maker Rivian

  25-06-2024 23:20 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Volkswagen today announced it will invest up to $5 billion in U.S. electric-vehicle maker Rivian as part of a new, equally controlled joint venture to share EV architecture and software. Shares surged 40% in extended Nasdaq trading after the announcement. Reuters reports: The investment will provide Rivian - known for its flagship R1S SUVs and R1T pickups - the funding it needs to develop its less-expensive and smaller R2 SUVs that are set to roll out in 2026, CEO RJ Scaringe told Reuters. Volks
  
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• OpenAI To Pull Plug on 'Unsupported' Nations Like China From July 9

  25-06-2024 22:52 via slashdot.org
  
  ChatGPT developer OpenAI has sent out emails to users based in countries it considers "unsupported," saying it will block their access for good starting July 9. From a report: The email, reproduced on the OpenAI community forum here, includes a brief statement. "Our data shows that your organization has API traffic from a region that OpenAI does not currently support," it reads. "We will be taking additional measures to block API traffic from regions that are not on our supported countries and t
  
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• Slack Will Begin Deleting Older Content From Free Workspaces

  25-06-2024 22:11 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  An anonymous reader shares a report: Slack announced a significant change to its platform, saying it will "begin deleting messages and files more than one year old from free workspaces on a rolling basis." Slack's prior policy involved keeping messages and files for the lifetime of a free workspace, although accessing that full history required switching to a paid account. Under the new policy, Slack reserves the right to delete content from free workspaces after one year.Read more of this story
  
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• Google Is Killing Infinite Scroll in Search Results

  25-06-2024 21:30 via tech.slashdot.org
  
  Google is switching back to pagination for its search results, abandoning the continuous scroll feature introduced in 2022 for desktop and 2021 for mobile. The change, effective immediately for desktop users, aims to improve search result loading speeds, Google said, adding that infinite scrolling did not significantly enhance user satisfaction. Mobile users will see the change in coming months.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  
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• Amazon Gets FAA Approval Allowing It To Expand Drone Deliveries For Online Orders

  25-06-2024 20:50 via slashdot.org
  
  Federal regulators have given Amazon key permission that will allow it to expand its drone delivery program, the company announced Thursday. From a report: In a blog post published on its website, Seattle-based Amazon said that the Federal Aviation Administration has given its Prime Air delivery service the OK to operate drones "beyond visual line of sight," removing a barrier that has prevented its drones from traveling longer distances. With the approval, Amazon pilots can now operate drones r
  
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• China Becomes First Country To Retrieve Rocks From the Moon's Far Side

  25-06-2024 20:10 via science.slashdot.org
  
  China brought a capsule full of lunar soil [non-paywalled link] from the far side of the moon down to Earth on Tuesday, achieving the latest success in an ambitious schedule to explore the moon and other parts of the solar system. From a report: The sample, retrieved by the China National Space Administration's Chang'e-6 lander after a 53-day mission, highlights China's growing capabilities in space and notches another win in a series of lunar missions that started in 2007 and have so far been e
  
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• India Is Building a Mega-River

  25-06-2024 19:36 via science.slashdot.org
  
  India is set to embark on an ambitious $168 billion project to link its major rivers, aiming to address water scarcity and boost agriculture in the world's most populous nation. The National River Linking Project, conceived over a century ago, plans to construct 30 canals to transfer an estimated 7 trillion cubic feet of water annually across the country. While government officials tout the project's potential to irrigate farmland and generate hydroelectric power, scientists and environmental ex
  
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