Slashdot

The Atlantic argued this week that OpenAI "just gave away the entire game... The Johansson scandal is merely a reminder of AI's manifest-destiny philosophy: This is happening, whether you like it or not." But the Washington Post reports that OpenAI "didn't copy Scarlett Johansson's voice for ChatGPT, records show."[W]hile many hear an eerie resemblance between [ChatGPT voice] "Sky" and Johansson's "Her" character, an actress was hired in June to create the Sky voice, months before Altman contacted Johansson, according to documents, recordings, casting directors and the actress's agent. The agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the safety of her client, said the actress confirmed that neither Johansson nor the movie "Her" were ever mentioned by OpenAI. The actress's natural voice sounds identical to the AI-generated Sky voice, based on brief recordings of her initial voice test reviewed by The Post... [Joanne Jang, who leads AI model behavior for OpenAI], said she "kept a tight tent" around the AI voices project, making Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati the sole decision-maker to preserve the artistic choices of the director and the casting office. Altman was on his world tour during much of the casting process and not intimately involved, she said.... To Jang, who spent countless hours listening to the actress and keeps in touch with the human actors behind the voices, Sky sounds nothing like Johansson, although the two share a breathiness and huskiness. In a statement from the Sky actress provided by her agent, she wrote that at times the backlash "feels personal being that it's just my natural voice and I've never been compared to her by the people who do know me closely." More from Northeastern University's news service:"The voice of Sky is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers," Altman said in a statement. "We cast the voice actor behind Sky's voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky's voice in our products. We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn't communicate better..." [Alexandra Roberts, a Northeastern University law and media professor] says she believes things will settle down and Johansson will probably not sue OpenAI since the company is no longer using the "Sky" voice. "If they stopped using it, and they promised her they're not going to use it, then she probably doesn't have a case," she says. "She probably doesn't have anything to sue on anymore, and since it was just a demo, and it wasn't a full release to the general public that offers the full range of services they plan to offer, it would be really hard for her to show any damages." Maybe it's analgous to something Sam Altman said earlier this month on the All-In podcast. "Let's say we paid 10,000 musicians to create a bunch of music, just to make a great training set, where the music model could learn everything about song structure and what makes a good, catchy beat and everything else, and only trained on that... I was posing that as a thought experiment to musicians, and they were like, 'Well, I can't object to that on any principle basis at that point - and yet there's still something I don't like about it.'" Altman added "Now, that's not a reason not to do it, um, necessarily, but..." and then talked about Apple's "Crush" ad and the importance of preserving human creativity. He concluded by saying that OpenAI has "currently made the decision not to do music, and partly because exactly these questions of where you draw the lines..."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Exactly one year after the fatal shooting of 19 elementary school students in Texas, their parents filed a lawsuit against the publisher of the videogame Call of Duty, against Meta, and against the manufacturer of the AR-15-style weapon used in the attack, Daniel Defense. The Washington Post says the lawsuits "may be the first of their kind to connect aggressive firearms marketing tactics on social media and gaming platforms to the actions of a mass shooter."The complaints contend the three companies are responsible for "grooming" a generation of "socially vulnerable" young men radicalized to live out violent video game fantasies in the real world with easily accessible weapons of war... Several state legislatures, including California and Hawaii, passed consumer safety laws specific to the sale and marketing of firearms that would open the industry to more civil liability. Texas is not one of them. But it's just one vein in the three-pronged legal push by Uvalde families. The lawsuit against Activision and Meta, which is being filed in California, accuses the tech companies of knowingly promoting dangerous weapons to millions of vulnerable young people, particularly young men who are "insecure about their masculinity, often bullied, eager to show strength and assert dominance." "To put a finer point on it: Defendants are chewing up alienated teenage boys and spitting out mass shooters," the lawsuit states... The lawsuit alleges that Meta, which owns Instagram, easily allows gun manufacturers like Daniel Defense to circumvent its ban on paid firearm advertisements to reach scores of young people. Under Meta's rules, gunmakers are not allowed to buy advertisements promoting the sale of or use of weapons, ammunition or explosives. But gunmakers are free to post promotional material about weapons from their own account pages on Facebook and Instagram - a freedom the lawsuit alleges Daniel Defense often exploited. According to the complaint, the Robb school shooter downloaded a version of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," in November 2021 that featured on the opening title page the DDM4V7 model rifle [shooter Salvador] Ramos would later purchase. Drawing from the shooter's social media accounts, Koskoff argued he was being bombarded with explicit marketing and combat imagery from the company on Instagram... The complaint cites Meta's practice, first reported by The Washington Post in 2022, of giving gun sellers wide latitude to knowingly break its rules against selling firearms on its websites. The company has allowed buyers and sellers to violate the rule 10 times before they are kicked off, The Post reported. The article adds that the lawsuit against Meta "echoes some of the complaints by dozens of state attorneys general and school districts that have accused the tech giant of using manipulative practices to hook... while exposing them to harmful content." It also includes a few excerpts from the text of the lawsuit.It argues that both Meta and Activision "knowingly exposed the Shooter to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as the solution to his problems, and trained him to use it."The lawsuit also compares their practices to another ad campaign accused of marketing harmful products to children: cigarettes. "Over the last 15 years, two of America's largest technology companies - Defendants Activision and Meta - have partnered with the firearms industry in a scheme that makes the Joe Camel campaign look laughably harmless, even quaint." Meta and Daniel Defense didn't respond to the reporters' requests for comment. But they did quote a statement from Activision expressing sympathy for the communities and families impacted by the "horrendous and heartbreaking" shooting. Activision also added that "Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A team of physicists has discovered that it's possible to build a real, actual, physical warp drive and not break any known rules of physics. One caveat: the vessel doing the warping can't exceed the speed of light, so you're not going to get anywhere interesting any time soon. But this research still represents an important advance in our understanding of gravity. [...] In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, [an international team of physicists led by Jared Fuchs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville] dug deep into relativity to explore if any version of a warp drive could work. The equations of general relativity are notoriously difficult to solve, especially in complex cases such as a warp drive. So the team turned to software algorithms; instead of trying to solve the equations by hand, they explored their solutions numerically and verified that they conformed to the energy conditions. The team did not actually attempt to construct a propulsion device. Instead, they explored various solutions to general relativity that would allow travel from point to point without a vessel undergoing any acceleration or experiencing any overwhelming gravitational tidal forces within the vessel, much to the comfort of any imagined passengers. They then checked whether these solutions adhered to the energy conditions that prevent the use of exotic matter. The researchers did indeed discover a warp drive solution: a method of manipulating space so that travelers can move without accelerating. There is no such thing as a free lunch, however, and the physicality of this warp drive does come with a major caveat: the vessel and passengers can never travel faster than light. Also disappointing: the fact that the researchers behind the new work don't seem to bother with figuring out what configurations of matter would allow the warping to happen. The findings have been published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

China's rapid solar power expansion is slowing due to grid bottlenecks, market reforms, and diminishing rooftop space, with new solar builds dropping 32% in March year-on-year. Reuters reports: The country's solar power expansion is slowing due to tighter curbs on supplying excess power from rooftop solar into the grid and changes in electricity pricing that are denting the economics of new solar projects. Forecasts show China's solar build this year will be heavily outpaced by growth in its photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing capacity, raising the prospect the country will export more solar panels despite a trade backlash in Europe and the U.S. The main factor slowing the expansion of distributed solar - installations built near the point of use, mostly on rooftops - is that there is not enough storage or transmission capacity to soak up the excess power generated when the sun is shining. That in turn is leading regulators to take away some of the price support that led to the rapid growth of distributed solar. "In the next couple of years, this is going to be a huge problem that all provinces will face as grids are oversaturated, the infrastructure is overwhelmed," said Cosimo Ries, an analyst with Trivium China, a policy research group. [...] Renewable generators previously enjoyed a guarantee that grid operators would buy nearly all of their power at a rate tied to the coal index. That guarantee was lifted on April 1 and took effect earlier in some places, three industry experts said. Now, renewable generation is increasingly subject to less favourable market pricing. Shenhua Energy, a state-run coal and power firm, said in its first-quarter report that prices for its solar power fell 34.2% year-on-year to 283 yuan per megawatt-hour (MWh), while its coal power prices fell just 2.4% to 406 yuan per MWh. Wang Xiuqiang, a researcher at consultancy Beijing Linghang, attributed the lower solar prices and profitability to a higher proportion of market-based pricing. At the same time, grid companies are dialling back the 5% curtailment limit, "creating the risk for project owners that their generation might not be bought", said David Fishman of Shanghai-based energy consultancy the Lantau Group. Curtailment for Huaneng Power International, a major state-owned generator, rose to 7.7% in the first quarter from 3.1% a year earlier, Jefferies analysts said in a client note, citing Huaneng management. In a further challenge, the easiest-to-site projects have already been largely developed, said Shi Lida, research manager at Yongan Guofu Asset Management. At sites still available, rooftops may need to be reinforced, grid connections may be limited, or hours of sunlight may be short. "If your costs don't continue to fall, the investment will not be cost effective," Shi said. Further reading: Germany Has Too Many Solar Panels, and It's Pushed Energy Prices NegativeRead more of this story at Slashdot.

Scientists report that Greater Spotted Eagles altered their migration routes across Ukraine to avoid conflict and habitat destruction caused by the war. The BBC reports: The scientists studied GPS data from tagged birds in the months after the February 2022 invasion, a time of heavy fighting in northern Ukraine as Russia tried to take Kyiv by sending troops south from Belarus. The researchers from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and the British Trust for Ornithology reported their findings in the journal Current Biology. "The war in Ukraine has had a devastating impact on people and the environment. Our findings provide a rare window into how conflicts affect wildlife," said lead author Charlie Russell, a postgraduate researcher at the University of East Anglia. Classified as a vulnerable species, the Greater Spotted Eagle is a large, brownish-colored bird of prey. Researchers started following them using GPS tracking devices in 2017 but didn't expect to be monitoring them through an active conflict zone five years later. The findings reveal they made large deviations from their previously tracked routes. They also spent less time stopping at their usual refueling sites in Ukraine or avoided them entirely. As a result, they traveled farther, about an extra 52 miles (85km) on average. For migrating birds, stopover sites are essential places to get food, water, and shelter. These changes delayed the birds' arrival at the breeding grounds and likely made them use more energy, to damaging effect. "No doubt about it. I think the take-home story is that the conflict in Ukraine is fundamentally disrupting the migratory ecology of this species," said Dr Jim Reynolds, Assistant Professor in Ornithology and Animal Conservation at the University of Birmingham, who was independent from the study. "For a vulnerable species like this, anything that disrupts breeding performance is a major problem. As a conservation biologist, you worry about that in a massive way." Despite all the tagged birds surviving, researchers believe their experience may have affected their ability to breed.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has shared data on the most impersonated companies in 2023, which include Best Buy, Amazon, and PayPal in the top three. The federal agency detailed the top ten companies scammers impersonate and how much they make depending on the impersonation. By far the most impersonated corp was Best Buy and its repair business Geek Squad, with a total of 52k reports. Amazon impersonators came in second place with 34k reports, and PayPal a distant third with 10,000. Proportionally, the top three made up roughly 72 percent of the reports among the top ten, and Best Buy and Geek Squad scam reports were about 39 percent on their own. Though, high quantity doesn't necessarily translate to greater success for scammers, as the FTC also showed how much scammers made depending on what companies they impersonated. Best Buy and Geek Squad, Amazon, and PayPal scams made about $15 million, $19 million, and $16 million respectively, but that's nothing compared to the $60 million that Microsoft impersonators were able to fleece. [...] The FTC also reported the vectors scammers use to contact their victims. Phone and email are still the most common means, but social media is becoming increasingly important for scamming and features the most costly scams. The feds additionally disclosed the kinds of payment methods scammers use for all sorts of frauds, including company and individual impersonation scams, investment scams, and romance scams. Cryptocurrency and bank transfers were popular for investment scammers, who are the most prolific on social media, while gift cards were most common for pretty much every other type of scam. However, not all scammers ask for digital payment, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that even regular old mail is something scammers are relying on to get their ill-gotten gains.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nine more accidents have been discovered by federal safety regulators during their safety investigation of Waymo's self-driving vehicles in Phoenix and San Francisco. TechCrunch reports: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened an investigation earlier this month into Waymo's autonomous vehicle software after receiving 22 reports of robotaxis making unexpected moves that led to crashes and potentially violated traffic safety laws. The investigation, which has been designated a "preliminary evaluation," is examining the software and its ability to avoid collisions with stationary objects and how well it detects and responds to "traffic safety control devices" like cones. The agency said Friday it has added (PDF) another nine incidents since the investigation was opened. Waymo reported some of these incidents. The others were discovered by regulators via public postings on social media and forums like Reddit, YouTube and X. The additional nine incidents include reports of Waymo robotaxis colliding with gates, utility poles, and parked vehicles, driving in the wrong lane with nearby oncoming traffic and into construction zones. The ODI said it's concerned the robotaxis "exhibiting such unexpected driving behaviors may increase the risk of crash, property damage, and injury." The agency said that while it's not aware of any injuries from these incidents, several involved collisions with visible objects that "a competent driver would be expected to avoid." The agency also expressed concern that some of these occurred near pedestrians. NHTSA has given Waymo until June 11 to respond to a series of questions regarding the investigation.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google has warned nonprofit newsrooms that a new California bill taxing Big Tech for digital ad transactions would jeopardize future investments in the U.S. news industry. "This is the second time this year Google has threatened to pull investment in news in response to a regulatory threat in California -- but this time, hundreds of publishers outside of California would also feel the impact," reports Axios. From the report: Google's new outreach to smaller news outlets is happening in response to a different bill, introduced this year by State Sen. Steve Glazer, that would tax Big Tech companies like Google and Meta for "data extraction transactions," or digital ad transactions. Tax revenue would fund tax credits meant to support the hiring of more journalists in California by eligible nonprofit local news organizations. With the link tax bill, Google only threatened to pull news investments in California. But the company is telling partners that the ad tax proposal will threaten consideration of new grants nationwide by the Google News Initiative, which funds hundreds of smaller news outlets, sources told Axios. Previous commitments, however, should be secure. A spokesperson for the Institute for Nonprofit News said the organization believes that grants previously committed through GNI as described here "are secure, so INN members should continue to benefit through this particular Fundamentals Labs program." Google's concern, sources familiar with the company's thinking told Axios, is that the new California ad tax bill could set a troubling wider precedent for other states. California's Senate tax committee approved the "ad tax" bill May 8. Days after that, Google started making calls to nonprofits about potentially pausing future Google News Initiative funding, sources told Axios. Opponents argue (PDF) the ad tax burden would get passed down to consumers and businesses. They also say the measure would face legal challenges, similar to a digital ad tax introduced in Maryland last year.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan said Wednesday that companies that train their artificial intelligence (A) models on data from news websites, artists' creations or people's personal information could be in violation of antitrust laws. At The Wall Street Journal's "Future of Everything Festival," Khan said the FTC is examining ways in which major companies' data scraping could hinder competition or potentially violate people's privacy rights. "The FTC Act prohibits unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices," Khan said at the event. "So, you can imagine, if somebody's content or information is being scraped that they have produced, and then is being used in ways to compete with them and to dislodge them from the market and divert businesses, in some cases, that could be an unfair method of competition." Khan said concern also lies in companies using people's data without their knowledge or consent, which can also raise legal concerns. "We've also seen a lot of concern about deception, about unfairness, if firms are making one set of representations when you're signing up to use them, but then are secretly or quietly using the data you're feeding them -- be it your personal data, be it, if you're a business, your proprietary data, your competitively significant data -- if they're then using that to feed their models, to compete with you, to abuse your privacy, that can also raise legal concerns," she said. Khan also recognized people's concerns about companies retroactively changing their terms of service to let them use customers' content, including personal photos or family videos, to feed into their AI models. "I think that's where people feel a sense of violation, that that's not really what they signed up for and oftentimes, they feel that they don't have recourse," Khan said. "Some of these services are essential for navigating day to day life," she continued, "and so, if the choice -- 'choice' -- you're being presented with is: sign off on not just being endlessly surveilled, but all of that data being fed into these models, or forego using these services entirely, I think that's a really tough spot to put people in." Khan said she thinks many government agencies have an important role to play as AI continues to develop, saying, "I think in Washington, there's increasingly a recognition that we can't, as a government, just be totally hands off and stand out of the way." You can watch the interview with Khan here.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Emma Roth reports via The Verge: The UK could subject big tech companies to hefty fines if they don't comply with new rules meant to promote competition in digital markets. On Thursday, lawmakers passed the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill (DMCC) through Parliament, which will let regulators enforce rules without the help of the courts. The DMCC also addresses consumer protection issues by banning fake reviews, forcing companies to be more transparent about their subscription contracts, regulating secondary ticket sales, and getting rid of hidden fees. It will also force certain companies to report mergers to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The European Union enacted a similar law, called the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Only the companies the CMA designates as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) have to comply. These SMS companies are described as having "substantial and entrenched market power" and "a position of strategic significance" in the UK. They must have a global revenue of more than 25 billion euros or UK revenue of more than 1 billion euros. The law will also give the CMA the authority to determine whether a company has broken a law, require compliance, and issue a fine -- all without going through the court system. The CMA can fine companies up to 10 percent of the total value of a business's global revenue for violating the new rules.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OpenAI has reversed its decision requiring former employees to sign a perpetual non-disparagement agreement to retain their vested equity, stating that they will not cancel any vested units and will remove non-disparagement clauses from departure documents. CNBC reports: The internal memo, which was viewed by CNBC, was sent to former employees and shared with current ones. The memo, addressed to each former employee, said that at the time of the person's departure from OpenAI, "you may have been informed that you were required to execute a general release agreement that included a non-disparagement provision in order to retain the Vested Units [of equity]." "Regardless of whether you executed the Agreement, we write to notify you that OpenAI has not canceled, and will not cancel, any Vested Units," stated the memo, which was viewed by CNBC. The memo said OpenAI will also not enforce any other non-disparagement or non-solicitation contract items that the employee may have signed. "As we shared with employees, we are making important updates to our departure process," an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. "We have not and never will take away vested equity, even when people didn't sign the departure documents. We'll remove non-disparagement clauses from our standard departure paperwork, and we'll release former employees from existing non-disparagement obligations unless the non-disparagement provision was mutual," said the statement, adding that former employees would be informed of this as well. "We're incredibly sorry that we're only changing this language now; it doesn't reflect our values or the company we want to be," the OpenAI spokesperson added.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: If you're tired of Google's AI Overview extracting all value from the web while also telling people to eat glue or run with scissors, you can turn it off -- sort of. Google has been telling people its AI box at the top of search results is the future, and you can't turn it off, but that ignores how Google search works: A lot of options are powered by URL parameters. That means you can turn off AI search with this one simple trick! (Sorry.) Our method for killing AI search is defaulting to the new "web" search filter, which Google recently launched as a way to search the web without Google's alpha-quality AI junk. It's actually pretty nice, showing only the traditional 10 blue links, giving you a clean (well, other than the ads), uncluttered results page that looks like it's from 2011. Sadly, Google's UI doesn't have a way to make "web" search the default, and switching to it means digging through the "more" options drop-down after you do a search, so it's a few clicks deep. Check out the URL after you do a search, and you'll see a mile-long URL full of esoteric tracking information and mode information. We'll put each search result URL parameter on a new line so the URL is somewhat readable [...]. Most of these only mean something to Google's internal tracking system, but that "&udm=14" line is the one that will put you in a web search. Tack it on to the end of a normal search, and you'll be booted into the clean 10 blue links interface. While Google might not let you set this as a default, if you have a way to automatically edit the Google search URL, you can create your own defaults. One way to edit the search URL is a proxy site like udm14.com, which is probably the biggest site out there popularizing this technique. A proxy site could, if it wanted to, read all your search result queries, though (your query is also in the URL), so whether you trust this site is up to you.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Countries around the globe have failed to reach consensus on the terms of a treaty that would unify the world in a strategy against the inevitable next pandemic, trumping the nationalist ethos that emerged during Covid-19. From a report: The deliberations, which were scheduled to be a central item at the weeklong meeting of the World Health Assembly beginning Monday in Geneva, aimed to correct the inequities in access to vaccines and treatments between wealthier nations and poorer ones that became glaringly apparent during the Covid pandemic. Although much of the urgency around Covid has faded since the treaty negotiations began two years ago, public health experts are still acutely aware of the pandemic potential of emerging pathogens, familiar threats like bird flu and mpox, and once-vanquished diseases like smallpox. "Those of us in public health recognize that another pandemic really could be around the corner," said Loyce Pace, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, who oversees the negotiations in her role as the United States liaison to the World Health Organization. Negotiators had hoped to adopt the treaty next week. But canceled meetings and fractious debates -- sometimes over a single word -- stalled agreement on key sections, including equitable access to vaccines. The negotiating body plans to ask for more time to continue the discussions.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Minnesota this week eliminated two laws that made it harder for cities and towns to build their own broadband networks. From a report: The state-imposed restrictions were repealed in an omnibus commerce policy bill signed on Tuesday by Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. Minnesota was previously one of about 20 states that imposed significant restrictions on municipal broadband. The number can differ depending on who's counting because of disagreements over what counts as a significant restriction. But the list has gotten smaller in recent years because states including Arkansas, Colorado, and Washington repealed laws that hindered municipal broadband. The Minnesota bill enacted this week struck down a requirement that municipal telecommunications networks be approved in an election with 65 percent of the vote. The law is over a century old, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Community Broadband Network Initiative wrote yesterday.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

As Valve's Steam gaming platform approaches its 21st anniversary, aging PC gamers are grappling with the question of what will happen to their extensive digital game collections after they pass away. Recent inquiries to Steam support have highlighted the platform's policy that accounts and games are non-transferable, even through a last will and testament. While some potential loopholes exist, such as sharing account information with descendants or bequeathing a physical device with games installed, the legal ownership of these digital assets remains murky.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple once designed a Tetris clone that has been found on a prototype version of the third-generation iPod, indicating the company was experimenting with releasing the game on the music player. From a report: It's called Stacker and, obviously, is controlled via the iPod's scroll wheel. The software was spotted by X user AppleDemoYT, who is known for finding rare prototype devices. The prototype iPod is a "DVT" device, meaning it was a mid-stage device that was still in "Design Validation Testing." It has a model number of A1023, which is not a known model number of any iPod version. The device runs a prototype version of iPodOS 2.0, which is where Stacker comes from. The pieces are moved from left to right using the scroll wheel and they fall when the middle button is pressed. The goal is to clear lines and score points. You know the deal. It's Tetris. It's not the only game found on the prototype iPod. There's something called Block0, which is likely an early version of Brick. The device also features a game called Klondike, which is likely an early version of Solitaire. The music player did eventually get some games, including the aforementioned Solitaire and Brick. AppleDemoYT asked former Apple VP Tony Fadell why Stacker was never released and he said it was because games didn't show up until a "later software release."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple has shed more light on the bizarre iOS 17.5 bug that caused long-deleted photos to mysteriously reappear on users' devices. In a statement to 9to5Mac, the iPhone maker clarified that the issue stemmed from a corrupted database on the device itself, not iCloud Photos. This means the photos were never fully erased from the device, but they also weren't synced to iCloud. Interestingly, these files could have hitched a ride to new devices through backups or direct transfers.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ICQ, a once-popular IM, is shutting down on June 26, it says on its website. It once served tens of millions of users daily.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The head of the UK Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is "embarrassing." From a report: Philip Duffy, the body's chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were "worried about revealing the true state of what is going on" with regards to the state of the environment. The regulator holds information including about pollution, the state of England's waterways, the meetings its bosses have with water company CEOs, and other data about the state of nature in the country. The Information Commissioner's Office, which oversees the law on the Freedom of Information Act, has warned the regulator that the public have a right to have their requests answered and that transparency should be taken seriously. An ICO spokesperson said: "People have the legal right to promptly receive information they're entitled to and we take action when they don't. We've been clear that public sector leaders should take transparency seriously and see the benefits it brings, including scrutiny of processes and approaches that can then benefit from improvement."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Messaging app Signal's president Meredith Whittaker criticized rival Telegram's security on Friday, saying Telegram founder Pavel Durov is "full of s---" in his claims about Signal. "Telegram is a social media platform, it's not encrypted, it's the least secure of messaging and social media services out there," Whittaker told TechCrunch in an interview. The comments come amid a war of words between Whittaker, Durov and Twitter owner Elon Musk over the security of their respective platforms. Whittaker said Durov's amplification of claims questioning Signal's security was "incredibly reckless" and "actually harms real people." "Play your games, but don't take them into my court," Whittaker said, accusing Durov of prioritizing being "followed by a professional photographer" over getting facts right about Signal's encryption. Signal uses end-to-end encryption by default, while Telegram only offers it for "secret chats." Whittaker said many in Ukraine and Russia use Signal for "actual serious communications" while relying on Telegram's less-secure social media features. She said the "jury is in" on the platforms' comparative security and that Signal's open source code allows experts to validate its privacy claims, which have the trust of the security community.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Australia's media regulator is taking legal action against telecom carrier Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, over a cyber attack it faced in September 2022, the telecom operator said on Wednesday. From a report: Australia's No.2 telco, had in September 2022 faced a massive data breach which exposed customers' personal information, including home addresses, passport and phone numbers. Following the incident, the country's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for tougher privacy rules to force companies to notify banks faster when they experience similar data breaches. About 10 million Australians, 40% of the population, are Optus customers and could not use smartphones, broadband internet or landlines for much of the day of the breach.The Australian Communications and Media Authority is alleging that Optus Mobile failed to protect the confidentiality of personally identifiable information of its customers from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

California is another state lining up to pass a law requiring adult sites to verify the ages of porn watchers. From a report: The California State Assembly passed the Parent's Accountability and Child Protection Act that will require porn companies doing business in the state to verify that users are 18 years or older. This law would also affect other businesses such as fireworks, body branding, and even BB guns. Democrat Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Republican Juan Alanis pushed for passage of the bill, which ended up receiving 65 out of possible 80 yes votes, and zero no votes with 15 assembly members listed as not voting. Before the bill becomes law, it still has to pass the State Senate and then be signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Louisiana was the first state to pass an age verification law for adult sites in 2022. In the past year, several other states jumped on the bandwagon including Utah, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hackers have compromised a popular courtroom recording software, JAVS, gaining full control through a backdoored update. Louisville, Kentucky-based Justice AV Solutions, its maker, pulled the compromised software, reset passwords, and audited its systems. Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 found that the corrupted installer grants attackers full access and transmits host system data to a command-and-control server. The Record adds: In its advisory, Rapid7 stressed the need to reimage all endpoints where the software was installed, and to reset credentials on web browsers and for any accounts logged into affected endpoints, both local and remote. "Simply uninstalling the software is insufficient, as attackers may have implanted additional backdoors or malware. Re-imaging provides a clean slate," they wrote. "Completely re-imaging affected endpoints and resetting associated credentials is critical to ensure attackers have not persisted through backdoors or stolen credentials."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ScienceAlert: A team of scientists has shown that crows can 'count' out loud -- producing a specific and deliberate number of caws in response to visual and auditory cues. While other animals such as honeybees have shown an ability to understand numbers, this specific manifestation of numeric literacy has not yet been observed in any other non-human species. "Producing a specific number of vocalizations with purpose requires a sophisticated combination of numerical abilities and vocal control," writes the team of researchers led by neuroscientist Diana Liao of the University of Tubingen in Germany. "Whether this capacity exists in animals other than humans is yet unknown. We show that crows can flexibly produce variable numbers of one to four vocalizations in response to arbitrary cues associated with numerical values." The ability to count aloud is distinct from understanding numbers. It requires not only that understanding, but purposeful vocal control with the aim of communication. Humans are known to use speech to count numbers and communicate quantities, an ability taught young. [...] "Our results demonstrate that crows can flexibly and deliberately produce an instructed number of vocalizations by using the 'approximate number system', a non-symbolic number estimation system shared by humans and animals," the researchers write in their paper. "This competency in crows also mirrors toddlers' enumeration skills before they learn to understand cardinal number words and may therefore constitute an evolutionary precursor of true counting where numbers are part of a combinatorial symbol system." The findings have been published in the journal Science.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Using the Euclid space telescope, astronomers have discovered dozens of rogue planets drifting without stars in the Orion nebula. The Guardian reports: The European Space Agency (Esa) launched the $1 billion observatory last summer on a six-year mission to create a 3D map of the cosmos. Armed with its images, scientists hope to understand more about the mysterious 95% of the universe that is unexplained. The first wave of scientific results come from only 24 hours of observations, which revealed 11m objects in visible light and 5m in infrared. Along with the rogue planets, the researchers describe new star clusters, dwarf galaxies and very distant, bright galaxies from the first billion years of the universe. A flurry of new images from the same observations are the largest ever taken in space and demonstrate the stunning wide-field views that astronomers can expect from Euclid in the coming years. Among those released on Thursday is a breathtaking image of Messier 78, a vibrant star nursery shrouded in interstellar dust, that reveals complex filaments of gas and dust in unprecedented detail. One of the newly released images shows Abell 2390, a giant conglomeration of more than 50,000 Milky Way-like galaxies. Such galaxy clusters contain up to 10 trillion times as much mass as the sun, much of which is believed to be elusive dark matter. Another image of the Abell 2764 galaxy cluster reveals hundreds of galaxies orbiting within a halo of dark matter. Other images capture NGC 6744, one of the largest spiral galaxies in the nearby universe, and the Dorado group of galaxies, where evolving and merging galaxies produce shell-like structures and vast, curving tidal tails. The rogue planets spotted by Euclid are about 3m years old, making them youngsters on the cosmic scale. They are at least four times as big as Jupiter and were detected thanks to the warmth they emit. Astronomers know they are free-floating because they are so far away from the nearest stars. The celestial strays are destined to drift through the galaxy unless they encounter a star that pulls them into orbit.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

fjo3 quotes a report from Reuters: SpaceX on Wednesday launched an inaugural batch of operational spy satellites it built as part of a new U.S. intelligence network designed to significantly upgrade the country's space-based surveillance powers, the first deployment of several more planned this year. The spy network was revealed in a pair of Reuters reports earlier this year showing SpaceX is building hundreds of satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency, for a vast system in orbit capable of rapidly spotting ground targets almost anywhere in the world. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California at 4 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, carrying into space what the NRO said was the "first launch of the NRO's proliferated systems featuring responsive collection and rapid data delivery." "Approximately half a dozen launches supporting NRO's proliferated architecture are planned for 2024, with additional launches expected through 2028," the agency said, without naming the number of satellites deployed.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Markets Insider: Sunny days in Germany mean gray clouds for solar profitability as the nation's dive into renewables has left it with too much energy. According to a note from SEB Research, in the past 10 days, solar producers have had to take an 87% price cut during production hours. In fact, when production peaks, prices have slid well below zero. On average, the price received was 9.1 euros per megawatt-hour, significantly under the 70.6 euros paid during non-solar-power hours. "This is what happens to power prices when the volume of unregulated power becomes equally big or bigger than demand: Prices collapse when unregulated power produces the most," the Swedish bank wrote on Tuesday. Last year's record wave of solar installations are what's driving Germany's price "destruction" as inventory outpaces consumption. While total solar capacity topped 81.7 gigawatts by 2023's end, demand load only reached 52.2 gigawatts, noted SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop. The difference between the two actually widens even more in the summer, a season of peak production and lower demand. This also means that consumers are not necessarily benefiting from the low prices, as they typically consume more energy in non-solar hours. Unless new installations are spurred on by subsidies or power purchase agreements, oppressed profitability could eventually halt Germany's solar expansion, Schieldrop said. Instead, focus is likely to move onto improvements that will make more use of the energy produced, such as investments in batteries and grid infrastructure. "This will over time exhaust the availability of 'free power' and drive solar-hour-power-prices back up," Schieldrop wrote. "This again will then eventually open for renewed growth in solar power capacity growth."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Political consultant Steven Kramer faces a $6 million fine and over two dozen criminal charges for using AI-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden's voice to mislead New Hampshire voters ahead of the presidential primary. The Associated Press reports: The Federal Communications Commission said the fine it proposed Thursday for Steven Kramer is its first involving generative AI technology. The company accused of transmitting the calls, Lingo Telecom, faces a $2 million fine, though in both cases the parties could settle or further negotiate, the FCC said. Kramer has admitted orchestrating a message that was sent to thousands of voters two days before the first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 23. The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president's that used his phrase "What a bunch of malarkey" and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November. Kramer is facing 13 felony charges alleging he violated a New Hampshire law against attempting to deter someone from voting using misleading information. He also faces 13 misdemeanor charges accusing him of falsely representing himself as a candidate by his own conduct or that of another person. The charges were filed in four counties and will be prosecuted by the state attorney general's office. Attorney General John Formella said New Hampshire was committed to ensuring that its elections "remain free from unlawful interference." Kramer, who owns a firm that specializes in get-out-the-vote projects, did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. He told The Associated Press in February that he wasn't trying to influence the outcome of the election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence when he paid a New Orleans magician $150 to create the recording. "Maybe I'm a villain today, but I think in the end we get a better country and better democracy because of what I've done, deliberately," Kramer said in February.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The IRS has extended the Free File program through 2029, "continuing its partnership with a coalition of private tax software companies that allow most Americans to file federal taxes for free," reports CNBC. From the report: This season, Free File processed 2.9 million returns through May 11, a 7.3% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the IRS. "Free File has been an important partner with the IRS for more than two decades and helped tens of millions of taxpayers," Ken Corbin, chief of IRS taxpayer services, said in a statement Wednesday. "This extension will continue that relationship into the future." "This multi-year agreement will also provide certainty for private-sector partners to help with their future Free File planning," Corbin added. IRS Free File remains open through the Oct. 15 federal tax extension deadline. You can use Free File for 2023 returns with an adjusted gross income of $79,000 or less, which is up from $73,000 in 2022. Fillable Forms are also still available for all income levels.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: Mark Zuckerberg has assembled some of his fellow tech chiefs into an advisory council to guide Meta on its artificial intelligence and product developments. The Meta Advisory Group will periodically meet with Meta's management team, Bloomberg reported. Its members include: Stripe CEO and co-founder Patrick Collison, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, and former Microsoft executive and investor Charlie Songhurst. "I've come to deeply respect this group of people and their achievements in their respective areas, and I'm grateful that they're willing to share their perspectives with Meta at such an important time as we take on new opportunities with AI and the metaverse," Zuckerberg wrote in an internal note to Meta employees, according to Bloomberg. The advisory council differs from Meta's 11-person board of directors because its members are not elected by shareholders, nor do they have fiduciary duty to Meta, a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg. The spokesperson said that the men will not be paid for their roles on the advisory council. TechCrunch notes that the council features "only white men on it." This "differs from Meta's actual board of directors and its Oversight Board, which is more diverse in gender and racial representation," reports TechCrunch. "It's telling that the AI advisory council is composed entirely of businesspeople and entrepreneurs, not ethicists or anyone with an academic or deep research background. ... it's been proven time and time again that AI isn't like other products. It's a risky business, and the consequences of getting it wrong can be far-reaching, particularly for marginalized groups."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Speaking of Samsung, samleecole shares a report about the contract the South Korean firm requires repair shops to sign: In exchange for selling them repair parts, Samsung requires independent repair shops to give Samsung the name, contact information, phone identifier, and customer complaint details of everyone who gets their phone repaired at these shops, according to a contract obtained by 404 Media. Stunningly, it also requires these nominally independent shops to "immediately disassemble" any phones that customers have brought them that have been previously repaired with aftermarket or third-party parts and to "immediately notify" Samsung that the customer has used third-party parts. "Company shall immediately disassemble all products that are created or assembled out of, comprised of, or that contain any Service Parts not purchased from Samsung," a section of the agreement reads. "And shall immediately notify Samsung in writing of the details and circumstances of any unauthorized use or misappropriation of any Service Part for any purpose other than pursuant to this Agreement. Samsung may terminate this Agreement if these terms are violated."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ben Schoon reports via 9to5Google: After first appearing earlier this year, YouTube once again appears to be rolling out a new redesign for its website that everyone hates. In mid-April, Google started testing a redesign to YouTube's website, which moved the title of the video, its description, and the comments to the side of the screen. In their place, video recommendations were moved directly underneath the video being watched with much larger thumbnails and titles. The change was widely hated by almost everyone who got it, but it didn't show up for all users. In the weeks to follow, YouTube reverted the redesign. Now, the YouTube redesign is back. As spotted by many users, YouTube has started rolling out this redesign yet again. The new look has been appearing over the past few days, though it doesn't seem like it's a wide rollout. Rather, it appears to still be a test more than anything else. What does this second attempt mean? It's still unclear if YouTube intends to make this new look the default experience, but a second round of testing certainly implies more data is being gathered.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Spotify is about to render its Car Thing dashboard accessory inoperable on December 9th. Not only is the company refusing to open-source the device, it won't offer owners any subscription credit or automatic refund. "Rather, it's just canning the project and telling people to (responsibly) dispose of Car Thing," reports The Verge. From the report: "We're discontinuing Car Thing as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our product offerings," Spotify wrote in an FAQ on its website. "We understand it may be disappointing, but this decision allows us to focus on developing new features and enhancements that will ultimately provide a better experience to all Spotify users." The company is recommending that customers do a factory reset on the product and find some way of responsibly recycling the hardware. Spotify is also being direct and confirming that there's little reason to ever expect a sequel. "As of now, there are no plans to release a replacement or new version of Car Thing," the FAQ reads. Car Thing went on sale to the public in early 2022 for $90. Spotify halted production several months later "based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues." At the time, the company said: "Existing devices will perform as intended."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Spotify is about to render its Car Thing dashboard accessory inoperable on December 9th. Not only is the company refusing to open-source the device, it won't offer owners any subscription credit or automatic refund. "Rather, it's just canning the project and telling people to (responsibly) dispose of Car Thing," reports The Verge. From the report: "We're discontinuing Car Thing as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline our product offerings," Spotify wrote in an FAQ on its website. "We understand it may be disappointing, but this decision allows us to focus on developing new features and enhancements that will ultimately provide a better experience to all Spotify users." The company is recommending that customers do a factory reset on the product and find some way of responsibly recycling the hardware. Spotify is also being direct and confirming that there's little reason to ever expect a sequel. "As of now, there are no plans to release a replacement or new version of Car Thing," the FAQ reads. Car Thing went on sale to the public in early 2022 for $90. Spotify halted production several months later "based on several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues." At the time, the company said: "Existing devices will perform as intended."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Hospital staff are forced to write notes by hand and deliver orders for tests and prescriptions in person in the ongoing fallout from a recent ransomware attack at the national health system Ascension. Ascension is one of the largest health systems in the United States, with some 140 hospitals located across 19 states and D.C. A spokesperson said in a statement that "unusual activity" was first detected on multiple technology network systems Ascension uses on Wednesday, May 8. Later, representatives confirmed that some of Ascension's electronic health records systems had been affected, along with systems used "to order certain tests, procedures and medications." Some phone capabilities have also been offline, and patients have been unable to access portals used to view medical records and get in touch with their doctors. Due to these interruptions, hospital staff had to shift to "manual and paper based" processes. "Our care teams are trained for these kinds of disruptions and have initiated procedures to ensure patient care delivery continues to be safe and as minimally impacted as possible," an Ascension spokesperson said in a May 8 statement. Kris Fuentes, who works in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, said she remembers when paper charting was the norm. But after so many years of relying on digital systems, she said her hospital wasn't ready to make such an abrupt shift. "It's kind of like we went back 20 years, but not even with the tools we had then," Fuentes said. "Our workflow has just been really unorganized, chaotic and at times, scary." Fuentes said orders for medication, labs and imaging are being handwritten and then distributed by hand to various departments, whereas typically these requests are quickly accessed via computer. A lack of safety checks with these backup methods has introduced errors, she said, and every task is taking longer to complete. "Medications are taking longer to get to patients, lab results are taking longer to get back," she said. "Doctors need the lab results, often, to decide the next treatment plan, but if there's a delay in access to the labs, there's a delay in access to the care that they order." As of Tuesday, Ascension still had no timeline for when the issues might be resolved, and reported that it continued to work with "industry-leading cybersecurity experts" to investigate the ransomware attack and restore affected systems. The FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are also involved in the investigation. "While Ascension facilities remain open, a health system representative said on May 9 that in some cases, emergency patients were being triaged to different hospitals, and some non-emergent appointments and procedures were postponed," reports NPR. "Certain Ascension pharmacies are not operational, and patients are being asked to bring in prescription bottles or numbers." "Individuals who are enrolled in Ascension health insurance plans are being directed to mail in monthly payments while the electronic payment system is down."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The SEC on Thursday approved multiple spot Ethereum ETFs, including those from BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale. The Block reports: While the [19b-4 forms] have been approved, the ETF issuers need to have their S-1 registration statements go effective before trading can begin. The SEC has started conversations with issuers about their S-1 forms but only recently. It's unclear how long this process will take but some analysts are speculating that it could take weeks. "I think that if they work extremely hard it can be done within a couple weeks but there are plenty of examples of this process taking 3+ months historically," added Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. [...] Since the Bitcoin ETFs were approved, they have amassed an additional 207,000 bitcoin ($14 billion) on top of the 621,000 ($42 billion) bitcoin held in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust when it converted into an ETF. However, Ethereum ETFs may struggle to get the same level of traction. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas estimated that the Ethereum ETFs may get 10 to 15% of the assets that their Bitcoin counterparts received. "That would put them at like $5 to $8 billion, which, again, for any normal launch in the first couple of years. That's pretty good."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Did your company recently send you a phishing email? Employers will sometimes simulate phishing messages to train workers on how to spot the hacking threat. But one Google security manager argues the IT industry needs to drop the practice, calling it counterproductive. "PSA for Cybersecurity folk: Our co-workers are tired of being 'tricked' by phishing exercises y'all, and it is making them hate us for no benefit," tweeted Matt Linton, a security incident manager at Google. Linton also published a post on the Google Security blog about the pitfalls of today's simulated phishing tests. The company is required to send fake phishing emails to its employees to meet the US government's security compliance requirements. In these tests, Google sends an employee a phishing email. If the worker clicks a link in the email, they'll be told they failed the test and will usually be required to take some sort of training course. However, Linton argues that simulated phishing tests can lead to harmful side effects, which can undermine a company's security. "There is no evidence that the tests result in fewer incidences of successful phishing campaigns," Linton said, noting that phishing attacks continue to help hackers gain a foothold inside networks, despite such training. He also pointed to a 2021 study that ran for 15 months and concluded that these phishing tests don't "make employees more resilient to phishing."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple executive Phil Schiller admitted in court on Wednesday that the company's court-mandated changes to its iPhone app store payment system have not significantly increased competition. The ongoing hearings in Oakland, California, are determining whether Apple is properly complying with an antitrust order to allow developers to display links to alternative payment options. Despite Apple's implementation of the changes in January, only a small number of apps have sought approval for external payment links. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has expressed frustration with Apple executives, questioning whether they understand the order's intent to increase competition. Schiller defended Apple's response as well-intentioned but acknowledged the need for further action to encourage more apps to utilize external payment options.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A server maintained by Cogent Communications, one of the 13 root servers crucial to the Internet's domain name system, fell out of sync with its peers for over four days due to an unexplained glitch. This issue, which could have caused worldwide stability and security problems, was resolved on Wednesday. The root servers store cryptographic keys necessary for authenticating intermediate servers under the DNSSEC mechanism. Inconsistencies in these keys across the 13 servers could lead to an increased risk of attacks such as DNS cache poisoning. Engineers postponed planned updates to the .gov and .int domain name servers' DNSSEC to use ECDSA cryptographic keys until the situation stabilized. Cogent stated that it became aware of the issue on Tuesday and resolved it within 25 hours. ArsTechnica, which has a great writeup about the incident, adds: Initially, some people speculated that the depeering of Tata Communications, the c-root site outage, and the update errors to the c-root itself were all connected somehow. Given the vagueness of the statement, the relation of those events still isn't entirely clear.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A hacker claims to have breached a scam call center, stolen the source code for the company's tools, and emailed the company's scam victims, according to multiple screenshots and files provided by the hacker to 404 Media. From the report: The hack is the latest in a long series of vigilante actions in which hackers take matters into their own hands and breach or otherwise disrupt scam centers. A massively popular YouTube community, with creators mocking their targets, also exists around the practice. "Hello, everyone! If you are seeing this email then you have been targeted by a fake antivirus company known as 'Waredot,'" the hacker wrote in their alleged email to customers, referring to the scam call center. The email goes on to suggest that customers issue a chargeback "as this trash software isn't worth anywhere NEAR $300-$400 per month, and these trash idiots don't deserve your money!"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google pays Reddit $60 million a year to train its AI on posts on Reddit, and it looks like Google's AI is now pulling directly from the dregs of the internet. Google's AI overview for "cheese not sticking to pizza" is brilliant information it got from an 11-year-old Reddit post.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The AI boom and a growing talent shortage has resulted in companies paying AI software engineers a whole lot more than their non-AI counterparts. From a report: As of April 2024, AI software engineers in the U.S. were paid a median salary of nearly $300,000, while other software technicians made about $100,000 less, according to data compiled by salary data website Levels.fyi. The pay gap that was already about 30% in mid-2022 has grown to almost 50%. "It's clear that companies value AI skills and are willing to pay a premium for them, no matter what job level you're at," wrote data scientist Alina Kolesnikova in the Levels.fyi report. That disparity is more pronounced at some companies. The robotaxi company Cruise, for example, pays AI engineers at the staff level a median of $680,500 -- while their non-AI colleagues make $185,500 less, according to Levels.fyi.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An old-school video game rivalry has a new chapter: Atari, known for producing one of the first hit home game consoles, has announced the acquisition of long-time rival Intellivision's brand and rights to over 200 games from Intellivision Entertainment. The two companies were key players in the industry's first console war in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Atari plans to expand distribution of Intellivision games and explore new opportunities for the brand. Mike Mika, studio head at Digital Eclipse, an Atari-owned game studio, commented on the deal, saying the acquisition "ends the longest-running console war in history."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple is working on all-screen foldable devices. Unlike its competitors, however, its focus seems less on foldable smartphones and tablets, and instead on an all-screen foldable laptop. Ming-Chi Kuo has previously reported that Apple was developing a 20.3-inch MacBook device for 2027, but today the analyst has shared several key new details about the futuristic MacBook model. One such detail is that Apple is now eyeing an earlier 2026 launch for the product. Here are some of the key features Kuo expects to see in the all-screen MacBook: 1. Multiple foldable screen options are still possible, with the rumored 20.3-inch display potentially replaced by an 18.8-inch panel. The former would, when folded, resemble a current 14-15-inch MacBook, while the latter would correspond better to a modern day 13-14-inch model like the smaller MacBook Air.2. A 2026 debut is now expected for the device, one year earlier than previously reported.3. The MacBook is expected to receive an M5-series chip, which lines up with the expected timeline of the M4 spreading to the whole Mac lineup by the end of 2025.4. Apple's goal is to provide a crease-free design for the foldable display.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

iFixit and Samsung are parting ways. Two years after they teamed up on one of the first direct-to-consumer phone repair programs, iFixit CEO and co-founder Kyle Wiens tells The Verge the two companies have failed to renegotiate a contract -- and says Samsung is to blame. From a report: "Samsung does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale," Wiens tells me, even though similar deals are going well with Google, Motorola, and HMD. He believes dropping Samsung shouldn't actually affect iFixit customers all that much. Instead of being Samsung's partner on genuine parts and approved repair manuals, iFixit will simply go it alone, the same way it's always done with Apple's iPhones. While Wiens wouldn't say who technically broke up with whom, he says price is the biggest reason the Samsung deal isn't working: Samsung's parts are priced so high, and its phones remain so difficult to repair, that customers just aren't buying.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Justice Department on Thursday said it was suing Live Nation Entertainment [non-paywalled link], the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, asking a court to break up the company over claims it illegally maintained a monopoly in the live entertainment industry. From a report: In the lawsuit, which is joined by 29 states and the District of Columbia, the government accuses Live Nation of dominating the industry by locking venues into exclusive ticketing contracts, pressuring artists to use its services and threatening its rivals with financial retribution. Those tactics, the government argues, have resulted in higher ticket prices for consumers and have stifled innovation and competition throughout the industry. "It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said in a statement announcing the suit, which is being filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit is a direct challenge to the business of Live Nation, a colossus of the entertainment industry and a force in the lives of musicians and fans alike. The case, filed 14 years after the government approved Live Nation's merger with Ticketmaster, has the potential to transform the multibillion-dollar concert industry. Live Nation's scale and reach far exceed those of any competitor, encompassing concert promotion, ticketing, artist management and the operation of hundreds of venues and festivals around the world.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Taiwan's new technology minister Wu Cheng-wen said smart machines connected to the internet, including chip tools, can be remotely shut off in the event of a conflict on the island. From a report: Wu, stepping in to oversee science and technology as part of a new administration, was responding to a lawmaker's question about a Bloomberg News report that chipmaking gear maker ASML Holding NV and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. have the ability to disable the world's most advanced chip machines remotely. China on Thursday escalated military exercises around the island that Beijing considers part of its territory, only days after the self-governing democracy of 23 million inaugurated a new president in Lai Ching-te. Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have caused concern in the US and other leading nations about implications for the global economy -- which counts on TSMC to produce the world's most essential chips. "According to today's smart chip manufacturing technology, it can be done," Wu said. "Whatever industry and machinery, if it is linked online, we can use this smart manufacturing technology to remotely control the machinery, including stopping it."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In a memo sent to employees, T-Mobile said it will be raising prices on some of its older plans, starting with the next bill. CNET reports: The memo was sent out by Jon Freier, president of T-Mobile's consumer group. The note doesn't list which plans are affected, but Freier specifically says that those on the carrier's latest assortment of Go5G plans will not see their prices increase. The same goes for the "millions of customers" who are covered by T-Mobile's Price Lock guarantee, which he says will continue to be in effect for those people. Freier says in the memo that T-Mobile is raising prices on older plans "for the first time in nearly a decade" and that the increases are designed to "keep up with rising inflation and costs." It isn't known exactly how many people will be affected by the change. The note says that it will affect a "small portion" of T-Mobile's customers. Those with free lines from the carrier will not see increases on those lines, T-Mobile confirmed to CNET. The company expects to notify all affected customers on Wednesday. T-Mobile previously tried to move customers on older, generally cheaper plans to some of its newer, pricier ones last year, only to back off the plan amid backlash. Whereas with that move people had the option to call T-Mobile's support and push back against the change, a source familiar with the company's plans tells CNET that this option won't be available with this new rate hike.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Michael Larabel reports via Phoronix: The latest RISC-V port updates have been merged for the in-development Linux 6.10 kernel. Most notable with today's RISC-V merge to Linux 6.10 is now supporting the Rust programming language within the Linux kernel. RISC-V joins the likes of x86_64, LoongArch, and ARM64 already supporting the use of the in-kernel Rust language support. The use of Rust within the mainline Linux kernel is still rather limited with just a few basic drivers so far and a lot of infrastructure work taking place, but there are a number of new drivers and other subsystem support on the horizon. RISC-V now supporting Rust within the Linux kernel will become more important moving forward. The RISC-V updates for Linux 6.10 also add byte/half-word compare-and-exchange, support for Zihintpause within hwprobe, a PR_RISCV_SET_ICACHE_FLUSH_CTX prctl(), and support for lockless lockrefs. More details on these RISC-V updates for Linux 6.10 via this Git merge.Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Hopes that replacement fuels for airplanes will slash carbon pollution are misguided and support for these alternatives could even worsen the climate crisis, a new report has warned. There is currently "no realistic or scalable alternative" to standard kerosene-based jet fuels, and touted "sustainable aviation fuels" are well off track to replace them in a timeframe needed to avert dangerous climate change, despite public subsidies, the report by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, found. "While there are kernels of possibility, we should bring a high level of skepticism to the claims that alternative fuels will be a timely substitute for kerosene-based jet fuels," the report said. [...] In the U.S., Joe Biden's administration has set a goal for 3 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel, which is made from non-petroleum sources such as food waste, woody biomass and other feedstocks, to be produced by 2030, which it said will cut aviation's planet-heating emissions by 20%. [...] Burning sustainable aviation fuels still emits some carbon dioxide, while the land use changes needed to produce the fuels can also lead to increased pollution. Ethanol biofuel, made from corn, is used in these fuels, and meeting the Biden administration's production goal, the report found, would require 114m acres of corn in the U.S., about a 20% increase in current land area given over to to the crop. In the UK, meanwhile, 50% of all agricultural land will have to be given up to sustain current flight passenger levels if jet fuel was entirely replaced. "Agricultural land use changes could threaten global food security as well as nature-based carbon sequestration solutions such as the preservation of forests and wetlands," the report states. "As such, SAF production may actively undermine the Paris agreement goal of achieving greatly reduced emissions by 2050." Chuck Collins, co-author of the report, said: "To bring these fuels to the scale needed would require massive subsidies, the trade-offs would be unacceptable and would take resources aware from more urgent decarbonization priorities." "It's a huge greenwashing exercise by the aviation industry. It's magical thinking that they will be able to do this." Phil Ansell, director of the Center for Sustainable Aviation at the University of Illinois, added: "There's an underappreciation of how big the energy problem is for aviation. We are still many years away from zero pollution flights. But it's true that the industry has been slow to pick things up. We are now trying to find solutions, but we are working at this problem and realizing it's a lot harder than we thought. We are late to the game. We are in the dark ages in terms of sustainability, compared to other sectors."Read more of this story at Slashdot.