Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.
Slashdot » Waymo Launches Driverless Rides For Employees In Austin
Waymo announced that it will begin shuttling employees around 43 square miles of Austin, Texas, including the Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin and Hyde Park neighborhoods, as well as downtown Austin. As TechCrunch notes, it's "a crucial step before the company opens the program up to the public." From the report: The step forward comes just a few days after … [Link]
Slashdot » Fidelity Customers' Financial Info Feared Stolen In Suspected Ransomware Attack
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Criminals have probably stolen nearly 30,000 Fidelity Investments Life Insurance customers' personal and financial information — including bank account and routing numbers, credit card numbers and security or access codes — after breaking into Infosys' IT systems in the fall. According to Fidelity, in documents filed with the Maine attorney general's … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Microplastics linked to a greater risk of heart attack and stroke
People with artery plaques containing microplastics were about four times as likely to have a heart attack or stroke as those with plastic-free plaques [Link]
Slashdot » JPMorgan's AI-Aided Cashflow Model Can Cut Manual Work by 90%
JPMorgan helped some of its corporate customers slash manual work by almost 90% (alternative source) with its cashflow management tool that runs on AI, bringing the largest US bank one step closer to charging for this service. From a report: "We are going to keep investing into this solution because we see that we're starting to really crack this workflow," … [Link]
Slashdot » Satellite To 'Name and Shame' Worst Oil and Gas Methane Polluters
A washing-machine-sized satellite is to "name and shame" the worst methane polluters in the oil and gas industry. From a report: MethaneSat will provide the first near-comprehensive global view of leaks of the potent greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector, and all of the data will be made public. It will provide high-resolution data over wider areas than … [Link]
Slashdot » Meta Abandons Hacking Victims, Draining Law Enforcement Resources, Officials Say
41 state attorneys general penned a letter to Meta's top attorney on Wednesday saying complaints are skyrocketing across the United States about Facebook and Instagram user accounts being stolen, and declaring "immediate action" necessary to mitigate the rolling threat. Wired: The coalition of top law enforcement officials, spearheaded by New York attorney general Letitia James, says the "dramatic and persistent … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Hunger-inducing mutation makes some Labradors more likely to get fat
Dogs with a mutation in the POMC gene, common in Labradors and flat-coated retrievers, have a stronger appetite for snacks between meals and a lower metabolic rate [Link]
Slashdot » Apple Terminated Epic's Developer Account
Epic Games, in a blog post: We recently announced that Apple approved our Epic Games Sweden AB developer account. We intended to use that account to bring the Epic Games Store and Fortnite to iOS devices in Europe thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). To our surprise, Apple has terminated that account and now we cannot develop the Epic … [Link]
Slashdot » Warner Bros. Discusses 'Volatile' AAA Console Games, Will Lean Into Free-To-Play And Mobile
During a recent Morgan Stanley conference, Warner Bros. Discovery gaming boss J.B. Perrette discussed some of the company's strategy for gaming going forward, and it includes more live-service, mobile, and free-to-play games. From a report: He said, "We're doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into … [Link]
Slashdot » Spain Tells Sam Altman, Worldcoin To Shut Down Its Eyeball-Scanning Orbs
Spain has moved to block Sam Altman's cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, the latest blow to a venture that has raised controversy in multiple countries by collecting customers' personal data using an eyeball-scanning "orb." From a report: The AEPD, Spain's data protection regulator, has demanded that Worldcoin immediately ceases collecting personal information in the country via the scans and that it stops … [Link]
New Scientist – News » The hunt is on to learn why bowel cancer in young people is rising
Something in the environment seems to be causing a rise in early-onset cases of bowel cancer. Now the hunt is on to find out what it is [Link]
Slashdot » Alternative iOS App Stores Won't Work (For Long) Outside of the EU
Alternative iOS app stores won't work (for long) outside of the EU. From a report: With iOS 17.4, iPhone users in the EU can now access third-party app marketplaces — pending availability which is expected any day — but extended overseas travel could change that, according to Apple. 
Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Link]
New Scientist – News » US coastal cities face higher 2050 flood risk because they are sinking
The subsidence of land caused by the extraction of water and fossil fuels is exacerbating the threat of sea level rise in many US cities, including New Orleans [Link]
New Scientist – News » Ukraine may have been first part of Europe colonised by early humans
Korolevo, a site in Ukraine where early humans made stone tools, has been dated to 1.4 million years ago, suggesting early humans moved from Ukraine into the rest of Europe [Link]
New Scientist – News » Weird floating crystals can stop stars ageing for billions of years
Some white dwarfs seem to stop ageing for billions of years, and this may be due to the behaviour of unusual ice crystals that heat up the stars [Link]
New Scientist – News » Bumblebees show each other how to solve complex puzzles
Puzzles that bumblebees cannot solve on their own can be cracked with help from another bee, adding to research on the transmission of culture among insects [Link]
New Scientist – News » Bizarre galaxy in the early universe died extremely young
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed that a distant galaxy stopped forming stars extraordinarily fast, making it the furthest dead galaxy ever spotted [Link]
New Scientist – News » Genomes of modern Indian people include wide range of Neanderthal DNA
A genetic study of nearly 2700 individuals has revealed the ancestry of Indian people, and gets scientists closer to reconstructing the genomes of ancient Neanderthals [Link]
New Scientist – News » Is the woolly mammoth really on the brink of being resurrected?
A company called Colossal claims it has taken a "momentous step" towards bringing back the woolly mammoth. Here's all you need to know about whether such a feat is possible [Link]
Slashdot » Airlines Are Coming for Your Carry-Ons
Carriers have gotten stricter about how many items you can take on board, no matter how small they are. From a report: Fanny packs. Cross-body bags. Shopping bags. Pillows and blankets. The Southwest Airlines gate agent rattled off so many items that counted toward the two carry-on bag limit on my flight to Baltimore, I thought it might be a … [Link]
Slashdot » Microsoft Engineer Warns Company's AI Tool Creates Violent, Sexual Images, Ignores Copyrights
An anonymous reader shares a report: On a late night in December, Shane Jones, an AI engineer at Microsoft, felt sickened by the images popping up on his computer. Jones was noodling with Copilot Designer, the AI image generator that Microsoft debuted in March 2023, powered by OpenAI's technology. Like with OpenAI's DALL-E, users enter text prompts to create pictures. … [Link]
Slashdot » How Much Energy Will New Semiconductor Factories Burn Through in the US?
A new report warns that a boom in computer chip manufacturing in the US could fuel demand for dirty energy, despite companies' environmental claims. The solution for manufacturers, surprisingly, might be to act more like other big tech companies chasing climate goals. From a report: New semiconductor factories being built in the US by four of the biggest manufacturers — … [Link]
Slashdot » BlackCat Ransomware Group Implodes After Apparent $22M Payment By Change Healthcare
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Krebs on Security: There are indications that U.S. healthcare giant Change Healthcare has made a $22 million extortion payment to the infamous BlackCat ransomware group (a.k.a. "ALPHV") as the company struggles to bring services back online amid a cyberattack that has disrupted prescription drug services nationwide for weeks. However, the cybercriminal who claims … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Australia could launch its first private orbital rocket within weeks
Gilmour Space is awaiting approval from the Australian Space Agency for the first launch of its Eris Block 1 orbital rocket, with plans to deploy a satellite as soon as April [Link]
Slashdot » Amazon Pays $650 Million For Nuclear-Powered Data Center
Michelle Lewis reports via Electrek: One of the US's largest nuclear power plants will directly power cloud service provider Amazon Web Services' new data center. Power provider Talen Energy sold its data center campus, Cumulus Data Assets, to Amazon Web Services for $650 million. Amazon will develop an up to 960-megawatt (MW) data center at the Salem Township site in … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Wearing make-up during exercise may harm your skin health
Our skin's pores normally enlarge when we exercise, but this appears to be hindered if we are wearing make-up, which may prevent the release of healthy oils [Link]
Slashdot » China To Debut Large Reusable Rockets In 2025 and 2026
Andrew Jones reports via SpaceNews: The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) plans to launch four-meter and five-meter-diameter reusable rockets for the first time in 2025 and 2026 respectively, Wang Wei, a deputy to the National People's Congress, told China News Service March 4. The reports do not clearly identify the two rockets. CASC is known to be developing … [Link]
Slashdot » Screen Time Robs Average Toddler of Hearing 1,000 Words Spoken By Adult a Day, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The average toddler is missing out on hearing more than 1,000 words spoken by an adult each day due to screen time, setting back their language skills, a first-of-its kind study has found. The research, published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama) Pediatrics, tracked 220 Australian … [Link]
Slashdot » Man Charged With Smuggling Greenhouse Gases Into US
In a first-of-its-kind prosecution, a California man was arrested and charged Monday with allegedly smuggling potent, greenhouse gases from Mexico. From a report: Michael Hart, a 58-year-old man from San Diego, pleaded not guilty to smuggling hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs — commonly used in air conditioning and refrigeration — and selling them for profit, in a federal court hearing Monday. According … [Link]
Slashdot » Signal's New Usernames Help Keep Cops Out of Your Data
Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from The Intercept: With the new version of Signal, you will no longer broadcast your phone number to everyone you send messages to by default, though you can choose to if you want. Your phone number will still be displayed to contacts who already have it stored in their phones. Going forward, however, … [Link]
Slashdot » Max Password Sharing Crackdown Is Coming
Warner Bros. Discovery said a password crackdown for its Max streaming service is coming later this year, joining competitors Netflix and Disney. TheWrap reports: JB Perrette, WBD's CEO and president of global streaming and games, said the initiative would launch later this year with a broader rollout in 2025. "We think, relative to the scale of our business, it's a … [Link]
Slashdot » Why Desktop Linux Is Finally Growing In Popularity
According to the latest data from StatCounter, Linux's market share has reached 4.03% — surging by an additional 1% in the last eight months. What's the reason behind this recent growth? "That's a good question," writes ZDNet's Steven Vaughan-Nichols. "While Windows is the king of the hill with 72.13% and MacOS comes in a distant second at 15.46%, it's clear … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Walking 10,000 steps a day really does seem to make us healthier
The much-touted advice to take 10,000 steps a day for our health has been accused of lacking evidence, but new research suggests that hitting this target has serious benefits [Link]
Archive
27 Apr 2024 26 Apr 2024 25 Apr 2024 24 Apr 2024 23 Apr 2024 22 Apr 2024 21 Apr 2024 20 Apr 2024 19 Apr 2024 18 Apr 2024 17 Apr 2024 16 Apr 2024 15 Apr 2024 14 Apr 2024 13 Apr 2024 12 Apr 2024 11 Apr 2024 10 Apr 2024 09 Apr 2024 08 Apr 2024 07 Apr 2024 06 Apr 2024 05 Apr 2024 04 Apr 2024 03 Apr 2024 02 Apr 2024 01 Apr 2024 31 Mar 2024 30 Mar 2024 29 Mar 2024 28 Mar 2024 27 Mar 2024
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.