Apple Fixes Bug That Let VoiceOver Shout Your Passwords

Apple just fixed a duo of security bugs in iOS 18.0.1 and iPadOS 18.0.1, one of which might cause users' saved passwords to be read aloud. It's hardly an ideal situation for the visually impaired. From a report: For those who rely on the accessibility features baked into their iGadgets, namely Apple's VoiceOver screen reader, now is a good time to apply the latest update. In typical Apple fashion, the company hasn't released much in the way of details about the first security issue, tracked as CVE-2024-44204, which makes it tougher to understand the conditions under which this vulnerability could be triggered, or how to avoid it until the update is applied. What we do know is that it was characterized as a logic issue, which Apple rectified by improving validation. The disclosure of the bug comes less than a month after iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 debuted. Ironically, this release included Apple's first native password manager, the Passwords app.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/1615214/apple-fixes-bug-that-let-voiceover-shout-your-passwords?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/1615214/apple-fixes-bug-that-let-voiceover-shout-your-passwords?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Rivian Now Says It Will Make Fewer Electric Vehicles This Year Than It Did in 2023

Rivian said it would make fewer electric vehicles this year than it did in 2023, resulting from a parts shortage. From a report: The news came as the company reported third quarter production and delivery numbers that came in below analyst expectations. Rivian says it expects to produce between 47,000 and 49,000 vehicles this year, down from the 57,000 vehicles it originally forecast. That number was flat from the previous year, when the company produced 57,232 vehicles and delivered 50,122. Rivian said the disruption is due to "a shortage of a shared component on the R1 and RCV platforms," referencing the company's R1T and R1S vehicles, as well as its commercial van platform. "This supply shortage impact began in Q3 of this year, has become more acute in recent weeks and continues," the company added.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/1524230/rivian-now-says-it-will-make-fewer-electric-vehicles-this-year-than-it-did-in-2023?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/1524230/rivian-now-says-it-will-make-fewer-electric-vehicles-this-year-than-it-did-in-2023?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Cloudflare Defeats Patent Troll

Cloudflare has emerged victorious in a patent infringement lawsuit against Sable Networks, securing a $225,000 settlement and forcing the patent holder to dedicate its entire portfolio to the public domain. The case, which began in March 2021 with Sable asserting nearly 100 claims across four patents, concluded after a Texas jury found Cloudflare not guilty of infringement in February 2024.

Sable, described by Cloudflare as a "patent troll," had previously sued several tech companies, including Cisco and Juniper Networks, who settled out of court. Cloudflare's aggressive defense strategy included launching Project Jengo, a crowd-sourced initiative to invalidate Sable's patents. The settlement prevents Sable from asserting these patents against any other company in the future, marking a significant blow to patent trolling practices in the tech industry. In a blog post, Cloudflare adds: While this $225,000 can't fully compensate us for the time, energy and frustration of having to deal with this litigation for nearly three years, it does help to even the score a bit. And we hope that it sends an important message to patent trolls everywhere to beware before taking on Cloudflare.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/0723228/cloudflare-defeats-patent-troll?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/0723228/cloudflare-defeats-patent-troll?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


23andMe Is On the Brink. What Happens To All Its DNA Data?

The one-and-done nature of 23andMe is "indicative of a core business problem with the once high-flying biotech company that is now teetering on the brink of collapse," reports NPR. As 23andMe struggles for survival, many of its 15 million customers are left wondering what the company plans to do with all the data it has collected since it was founded in 2006. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Andy Kill, a spokesperson for 23andMe, would not comment on what the company might do with its trove of genetic data beyond general pronouncements about its commitment to privacy. "For our customers, our focus continues to be on transparency and choice over how they want their data to be managed," he said. When signing up for the service, about 80% of 23andMe's customers have opted in to having their genetic data analyzed for medical research. "This rate has held steady for many years," Kill added. The company has an agreement with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, that allows the drugmaker to tap the tech company's customer data to develop new treatments for disease. Anya Prince, a law professor at the University of Iowa's College of Law who focuses on genetic privacy, said those worried about their sensitive DNA information may not realize just how few federal protections exist. For instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA, does not apply to 23andMe since it is a company outside of the health care realm. "HIPAA does not protect data that's held by direct-to-consumer companies like 23andMe," she said.

Although DNA data has no federal safeguards, some states, like California and Florida, do give consumers rights over their genetic information. "If customers are really worried, they could ask for their samples to be withdrawn from these databases under those laws," said Prince. According to the company, all of its genetic data is anonymized, meaning there is no way for GSK, or any other third party, to connect the sample to a real person. That, however, could make it nearly impossible for a customer to renege on their decision to allow researchers to access their DNA data. "I couldn't go to GSK and say, 'Hey, my sample was given to you -- I want that taken out -- if it was anonymized, right? Because they're not going to re-identify it just to pull it out of the database," Prince said.

Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who specializes in privacy and technology policy, said the patchwork of state laws governing DNA data makes the generic data of millions potentially vulnerable to being sold off, or even mined by law enforcement. "Having to rely on a private company's terms of service or bottom line to protect that kind of information is troubling -- particularly given the level of interest we've seen from government actors in accessing such information during criminal investigations," Eidelman said. She points to how investigators used a genealogy website to identify the man known as the Golden State Killer, and how police homed in on an Idaho murder suspect by turning to similar databases of genetic profiles. "This has happened without people's knowledge, much less their express consent," Eidelman said.

Neither case relied on 23andMe, and spokesperson Kill said the company does not allow law enforcement to search its database. The company has, however, received subpoenas to access its genetic information. According to 23andMe's transparency report, authorities have sought genetic data on 15 individuals since 2015, but the company has resisted the requests and never produced data for investigators. "We treat law enforcement inquiries, such as a valid subpoena or court order, with the utmost seriousness. We use all legal measures to resist any and all requests in order to protect our customers' privacy," Kill said. [...] In a September filing to financial regulators, [23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki] wrote: "I remain committed to our customers' privacy and pledge," meaning the company's rules requiring consent for DNA to be used for research would remain in place, as well as allowing customers to delete their data. Wojcicki added that she is no longer considering offers to buy the company after previously saying she was.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/007212/23andme-is-on-the-brink-what-happens-to-all-its-dna-data?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/04/007212/23andme-is-on-the-brink-what-happens-to-all-its-dna-data?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Fly Brain Breakthrough 'Huge Leap' To Unlock Human Mind

fjo3 shares a report from the BBC: They can walk, hover and the males can even sing love songs to woo mates -- all this with a brain that's tinier than a pinhead. Now for the first time scientists researching the brain of a fly have identified the position, shape and connections of every single one of its 130,000 cells and 50 million connections. It's the most detailed analysis of the brain of an adult animal ever produced. One leading brain specialist independent of the new research described the breakthrough as a "huge leap" in our understanding of our own brains. One of the research leaders said it would shed new light into âoethe mechanism of thought." [...]

The images the scientists have produced, which have been published in the journal Nature, show a tangle of wiring that is as beautiful as it is complex.
Its shape and structure holds the key to explaining how such a tiny organ can carry out so many powerful computational tasks. Developing a computer the size of a poppy seed capable of all these tasks is way beyond the ability of modern science. Dr Mala Murthy, another of the projectâ(TM)s co-leaders, from Princeton University, said the new wiring diagram, known scientifically as a connectome, would be âoetransformative for neuroscientists." [...] The researchers have been able to identify separate circuits for many individual functions and show how they are connected. The wires involved with movement for example are at the base of the brain, whereas those for processing vision are towards the side. There are many more neurons involved in the latter because seeing requires much more computational power. While scientists already knew about the separate circuits they did not know how they were connected together. Anyone can view and download the fly connectome here.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2345201/fly-brain-breakthrough-huge-leap-to-unlock-human-mind?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2345201/fly-brain-breakthrough-huge-leap-to-unlock-human-mind?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Mystery Creator of Bitcoin Identified, New HBO Documentary Claims

A new HBO documentary directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Cullen Hoback claims to have revealed the true identity of the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. As Politico notes, Hoback "drew critical acclaim for his series 'Q: Into the Storm' that exposed the authors of the QAnon conspiracy theory." The bitcoin documentary is scheduled to air next Wednesday at 2 a.m. CET (Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST). From the report: [T]he exposure of Satoshi as its alleged creator threatens to raise some huge questions, not least his potential complicity in crimes that have featured Bitcoin use. It could also establish him as one of the world's richest people: Satoshi himself is estimated to control about 1.1 million Bitcoin, but it's unclear if he still has access to the cryptographic keys to the fortune. If he did, this would put his net worth at $66 billion at current valuations. Intriguingly, as the date for the airing of the documentary has drawn near, a number of high-value wallets from the "Satoshi era" have become active for the first time since 2009.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, around 250 bitcoins -- worth approximately $15 million at Thursday's bitcoin rate of $60,754 to the dollar -- were drained from wallets in the past two weeks. While the coins are not officially linked to wallets used by Satoshi Nakamoto, they have been dormant since the earliest days of Bitcoin, when the cryptocurrency was worth almost nothing. The wallets' creators would certainly have been Satoshi's earliest collaborators. Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity remains one of the biggest mysteries of recent years.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2330200/mystery-creator-of-bitcoin-identified-new-hbo-documentary-claims?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2330200/mystery-creator-of-bitcoin-identified-new-hbo-documentary-claims?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Cloudflare Blocks Largest Recorded DDoS Attack Peaking At 3.8Tbps

BleepingComputer's Ionut Ilascu reports: During a distributed denial-of-service campaign targeting organizations in the financial services, internet, and telecommunications sectors, volumetric attacks peaked at 3.8 terabits per second, the largest publicly recorded to date. The assault consisted of a "month-long" barrage of more than 100 hyper-volumetric DDoS attacks flooding the network infrastructure with garbage data. In a volumetric DDoS attack, the target is overwhelmed with large amounts of data to the point that they consume the bandwidth or exhaust the resources of applications and devices, leaving legitimate users with no access.

Many of the attacks aimed at the target's network infrastructure (network and transport layers L3/4) exceeded two billion packets per second (pps) and three terabits per second (Tbps). According to researchers at internet infrastructure company Cloudflare, the infected devices were spread across the globe but many of them were located in Russia, Vietnam, the U.S., Brazil, and Spain. The threat actor behind the campaign leveraged multiple types of compromised devices, which included a large number of Asus home routers, Mikrotik systems, DVRs, and web servers. Cloudflare mitigated all the DDoS attacks autonomously and noted that the one peaking at 3.8 Tbps lasted 65 seconds.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2034235/cloudflare-blocks-largest-recorded-ddos-attack-peaking-at-38tbps?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2034235/cloudflare-blocks-largest-recorded-ddos-attack-peaking-at-38tbps?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Judge Blocks California's New AI Law In Case Over Kamala Harris Deepfake

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A federal judge blocked one of California's new AI laws on Wednesday, less than two weeks after it was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Shortly after signing AB 2839, Newsom suggested it could be used to force Elon Musk to take down an AI deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris he had reposted (sparking a petty online battle between the two). However, a California judge just ruled the state can't force people to take down election deepfakes -- not yet, at least. AB 2839 targets the distributors of AI deepfakes on social media, specifically if their post resembles a political candidate and the poster knows it's a fake that may confuse voters. The law is unique because it does not go after the platforms on which AI deepfakes appear, but rather those who spread them. AB 2839 empowers California judges to order the posters of AI deepfakes to take them down or potentially face monetary penalties.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original poster of that AI deepfake -- an X user named Christopher Kohls -- filed a lawsuit to block California's new law as unconstitutional just a day after it was signed. Kohls' lawyer wrote in a complaint that the deepfake of Kamala Harris is satire that should be protected by the First Amendment. On Wednesday, United States district judge John Mendez sided with Kohls. Mendez ordered a preliminary injunction to temporarily block California's attorney general from enforcing the new law against Kohls or anyone else, with the exception of audio messages that fall under AB 2839. [...] In essence, he ruled the law is simply too broad as written and could result in serious overstepping by state authorities into what speech is permitted or not.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2024224/judge-blocks-californias-new-ai-law-in-case-over-kamala-harris-deepfake?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/2024224/judge-blocks-californias-new-ai-law-in-case-over-kamala-harris-deepfake?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Microsoft Pulls Plug on Mixed Reality in New Windows 11 Update

Microsoft has discontinued Windows Mixed Reality support in its latest Windows 11 update, rendering a number of VR headsets obsolete. The move, reported by UploadVR, affects devices from major manufacturers. An estimated 80,000 users will lose access to their headsets upon upgrading to Windows 11 24H2. UploadVR adds: Despite the name, all Windows MR headsets were actually VR-only, and are compatible with most SteamVR content via Microsoft's SteamVR driver. The first Windows MR headsets arrived in late 2017 from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, aiming to compete with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive that had launched a year earlier. They were the first consumer VR products to deliver inside-out positional tracking, for both the headset and controllers.

All the original Windows MR OEMs except Samsung used the same cheap fixed panels LCD design with fixed lenses, while the Samsung Odyssey had IPD adjustment and OLED panels - the same OLED panels that would be featured in HTC Vive Pro and Oculus Quest a year and a half later. Even though the LCD headsets were sold for as low as $200 at times, and even though Samsung offered (for the time) high-resolution OLED panels, Windows MR headsets failed to ever reach widespread adoption amongst PC VR gamers. On the Steam Hardware Survey Windows MR peaked at around 10% of SteamVR usage share in 2019, and now sits around 3.5%. The move follows Microsoft recently discontinuing the HoloLens 2.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1955209/microsoft-pulls-plug-on-mixed-reality-in-new-windows-11-update?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1955209/microsoft-pulls-plug-on-mixed-reality-in-new-windows-11-update?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Even Password Manager Subscribers Reuse Passwords, Study Finds

An anonymous reader shares a report: It's not exactly breaking news that people reuse passwords, but you might expect password manager subscribers to avoid the practice. You'd be wrong, according to a new study. Dashlane's downer of a report draws on saved logins analyzed on-device by Dashlane's software across "millions" of individual and business accounts. It finds dismally high percentages of password reuse worldwide. The US and Canada rank the worst of every region Dashlane tracked, with 48% of passwords in individual password vaults being reused. Another 15% rate as compromised, meaning those passwords have shown up in data breaches.

Combined with other security data points, the US and Canada land at a security score of 72.6 out of 100 in Dashlane's report, the lowest of all 14 regions covered in the study. The report, along with the Password Health score that Dashlane's software computes for individual users, emphasizes the longstanding problem of password reuse because that practice leaves its practitioners so vulnerable to getting hacked.Â

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1922259/even-password-manager-subscribers-reuse-passwords-study-finds?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1922259/even-password-manager-subscribers-reuse-passwords-study-finds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Social Media Sanctions Hit Conservatives More, But Due to Content Sharing, Study Says

A study published in Nature has found that conservative social media users were more likely to face sanctions, but attributes this to their higher propensity to share low-quality news rather than political bias. Researchers analyzed 9,000 Twitter users during the 2020 U.S. election, finding pro-Trump users were 4.4 times more likely to be suspended than pro-Biden users.

However, they also shared significantly more links from sites rated as untrustworthy by both politically balanced groups and Republican-only panels. Similar patterns were observed across multiple datasets spanning 16 countries from 2016 to 2023. The study concludes that asymmetric enforcement can result from neutral policies when behavior differs between groups.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1821246/social-media-sanctions-hit-conservatives-more-but-due-to-content-sharing-study-says?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1821246/social-media-sanctions-hit-conservatives-more-but-due-to-content-sharing-study-says?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Meta Confirms It Will Use Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Images for AI Training

Meta has confirmed that it may use images analyzed by its Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses for AI training. The policy applies to users in the United States and Canada who share images with Meta AI, according to the company. While photos captured on the device are not used for training unless submitted to AI, any image shared for analysis falls under different policies, potentially contributing to Meta's AI model development.

Further reading: Meta's Smart Glasses Repurposed For Covert Facial Recognition.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1812217/meta-confirms-it-will-use-ray-ban-smart-glasses-images-for-ai-training?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1812217/meta-confirms-it-will-use-ray-ban-smart-glasses-images-for-ai-training?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


NSO Should Lose Spyware Case for Discovery Violations, Meta Says

WhatsApp and its parent Meta asked a judge to award them a total win against spyware maker NSO Group as punishment for discovery violations in a years-long case accusing the Israeli company of violating anti-hacking laws. From a report: NSO Group violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, repeatedly ignoring the court's orders and its discovery obligations, according to a motion for sanctions filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. "NSO's discovery violations were willful, and unfairly skew the record on virtually every key issue in the case, from the merits, to jurisdiction, to damages, making a full and fair trial on the facts impossible," they said. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton should award the companies judgment as a matter of law or, "if the court finds that the limited discovery produced in this case does not suffice," enter default judgment against NSO, WhatsApp and Meta wrote.

The social media platforms first filed their complaint in October 2019, accusing NSO of using WhatsApp to install NSO spyware on the phones of about 1,400 WhatsApp users. The move follows Apple asking a court last month to dismiss its three-year-old hacking lawsuit against spyware pioneer NSO Group, arguing that it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO's Pegasus surveillance tool and that its own disclosures could aid NSO and its increasing number of rivals.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1612219/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/1612219/nso-should-lose-spyware-case-for-discovery-violations-meta-says?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Americans Are Growing Wary of Jumping Jobs

"Job hopping as a way to boost your earnings may not be as profitable as it was in 2022," writes Slashdot reader NoWayNoShapeNoForm. "Data from ADP, based on payroll data of almost 10 million employees, suggests the salary gain between 'stay' and 'jump' has definitely narrowed across all age groups, gender classes, industries, and company sizes." Yahoo Finance reports: New data from ADP released Wednesday showed that the median year-over-year pay increase for job switchers fell to 6.6% in September, down from 7.3% in August and the lowest growth rate since April 2021. The gap between pay gains for job changers and those of job stayers, which grew at a 4.7% pace in August, is at its narrowest since January and a far cry from 2022-2023 levels during the "Great Resignation." ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said that the narrowing gap in pay gains is a sign the labor market is "less tight ... less dynamic."

"The payoff for job changing is not quite as complex as it was earlier this year," Richardson added. "That points to some stability in this labor market."

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/0243258/americans-are-growing-wary-of-jumping-jobs?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/03/0243258/americans-are-growing-wary-of-jumping-jobs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Attackers Exploit Critical Zimbra Vulnerability Using CC'd Email Addresses

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Attackers are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in mail servers sold by Zimbra in an attempt to remotely execute malicious commands that install a backdoor, researchers warn. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-45519, resides in the Zimbra email and collaboration server used by medium and large organizations. When an admin manually changes default settings to enable the postjournal service, attackers can execute commands by sending maliciously formed emails to an address hosted on the server. Zimbra recently patched the vulnerability. All Zimbra users should install it or, at a minimum, ensure that postjournal is disabled.

On Tuesday, Security researcher Ivan Kwiatkowski first reported the in-the-wild attacks, which he described as "mass exploitation." He said the malicious emails were sent by the IP address 79.124.49[.]86 and, when successful, attempted to run a file hosted there using the tool known as curl. Researchers from security firm Proofpoint took to social media later that day to confirm the report. On Wednesday, security researchers provided additional details that suggested the damage from ongoing exploitation was likely to be contained. As already noted, they said, a default setting must be changed, likely lowering the number of servers that are vulnerable. [...]

Proofpoint has explained that some of the malicious emails used multiple email addresses that, when pasted into the CC field, attempted to install a webshell-based backdoor on vulnerable Zimbra servers. The full cc list was wrapped as a single string and encoded using the base64 algorithm. When combined and converted back into plaintext, they created a webshell at the path: /jetty/webapps/zimbraAdmin/public/jsp/zimbraConfig.jsp. Proofpoint went on to say: "Once installed, the webshell listens for inbound connection with a pre-determined JSESSIONID Cookie field; if present, the webshell will then parse the JACTION cookie for base64 commands. The webshell has support for command execution via exec or download and execute a file over a socket connection."

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/230241/attackers-exploit-critical-zimbra-vulnerability-using-ccd-email-addresses?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/230241/attackers-exploit-critical-zimbra-vulnerability-using-ccd-email-addresses?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Police Arrest Four Suspects Linked To LockBit Ransomware Gang

Law enforcement from 12 countries arrested four individuals linked to the LockBit ransomware gang, including a developer and a bulletproof hosting administrator. The operation also resulted in the seizure of LockBit infrastructure and involved sanctions targeting affiliates of both LockBit and Evil Corp. BleepingComputer reports: According to Europol, a suspected LockBit ransomware developer was arrested in August 2024 at the request of French authorities while on holiday outside of Russia. The same month, the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested two more individuals linked to LockBit activity: one believed to be associated with a LockBit affiliate, while the second was apprehended on suspicion of money laundering. In a separate action, at Madrid airport, Spain's Guardia Civil arrested the administrator of a bulletproof hosting service used to shield LockBit's infrastructure. Today, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States also revealed sanctions against an individual the UK NCA believes is a prolific LockBit ransomware affiliate linked to Evil Corp.

The United Kingdom sanctioned 15 more Russian nationals involved in Evil Corp's criminal activities, while the United States sanctioned six individuals and Australia targeted two. "These actions follow the massive disruption of LockBit infrastructure in February 2024, as well as the large series of sanctions and operational actions that took place against LockBit administrators in May and subsequent months," Europol said.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2256250/police-arrest-four-suspects-linked-to-lockbit-ransomware-gang?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2256250/police-arrest-four-suspects-linked-to-lockbit-ransomware-gang?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Cisco Is Abandoning the LoRaWAN Space With No Lifeboat For IoT Customers

Cisco is exiting the LoRaWAN market for IoT device connectivity, with no migration plans for customers. "LoRaWAN is a low power, wide area network specification, specifically designed to connect devices such as sensors over relatively long distances," notes The Register. "It is built on LoRa, a form of wireless communication that uses spread spectrum modulation, and makes use of license-free sub-gigahertz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) radio bands. The tech is overseen by the LoRa Alliance." From the report: Switchzilla made this information public in a notice on its website announcing the end-of-sale and end-of-life dates for Cisco LoRaWAN. The last day customers will be able to order any affected products will be January 1, 2025, with all support ceasing by the end of the decade. The list includes Cisco's 800 MHz and 900 MHz LoRaWAN Gateways, plus associated products such as omni-directional antennas and software for the Gateways and Interface Modules. If anyone was in any doubt, the notification spells it out: "Cisco will be exiting the LoRaWAN space. There is no planned migration for Cisco LoRaWAN gateways."

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2244258/cisco-is-abandoning-the-lorawan-space-with-no-lifeboat-for-iot-customers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2244258/cisco-is-abandoning-the-lorawan-space-with-no-lifeboat-for-iot-customers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Court Blocks Uber Crash Lawsuit After Couple's Daughter Agreed To Uber Eats TOS

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A New Jersey appeals court says a couple cannot sue Uber over a life-altering car accident because of the app's terms and conditions, even though they say it was their daughter who agreed to those terms while placing an Uber Eats order. John and Georgia McGinty -- a Mercer County couple both in their 50s -- filed a lawsuit against the ride-hailing company in February 2023, nearly a year after suffering "serious physical, psychological, and financial damages" when the Uber they were riding in crashed into another car, according to court filings. "There are physical scars, mental scars, and I don't think that they will ever really be able to go back to their full capacity that they were at before," says their attorney, Mike Shapiro.

Uber responded by filing a motion to dismiss the complaint and compel arbitration, which would require the parties to resolve their differences outside court instead -- ostensibly benefiting the company by lowering legal costs and keeping proceedings private. Uber argued that Georgia McGinty, a longtime customer of Uber Rides and Uber Eats, had agreed to arbitrate any disputes with the company when she signed off on the language in the app's terms of use on three occasions over the years. The McGintys fought back, saying it was actually their daughter -- who was and remains a minor -- who had most recently agreed to the terms when she used Georgia's phone to order food on their behalf. A lower court initially sided with the couple, denying Uber's motion to compel arbitration in November 2023. Uber appealed the decision, and late last month, the appeals court ruled in its favor.

"We hold that the arbitration provision contained in the agreement under review, which Georgia or her minor daughter, while using her cell phone agreed to, is valid and enforceable," the three-judge panel wrote in September. "We, therefore, reverse the portion of the order denying arbitration of the claims against Uber." Shapiro told NPR that the couple "100%" wants to keep pursuing their case and are mulling their options, including asking the trial court to reconsider it or potentially trying to bring it to the New Jersey Supreme Court. "Uber has just been extremely underhanded in their willingness to open the same cabinets that they're forcing the McGintys to open up and have to peek around in," Shapiro says. "It's unfortunate that that's the way that they're carrying on their business, because this is truly something that subjects millions and millions of Americans and people all over the world to a waiver of their hard-fought rights." "While the plaintiffs continue to tell the press that it was their daughter who ordered Uber Eats and accepted the Terms of Use, it's worth noting that in court they could only 'surmise' that that was the case but could not recall whether 'their daughter ordered food independently or if Georgia assisted,'" Uber said in a statement.

The report cites another recent case where Disney "tried to block a man's wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his wife -- who died following an allergic reaction after eating at a Disney World restaurant -- because he had signed up for a trial of Disney+." After negative media coverage, the company backtracked on its push for arbitration.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2135232/court-blocks-uber-crash-lawsuit-after-couples-daughter-agreed-to-uber-eats-tos?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
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The Feds Still Can't Get Into Eric Adams' Phone

The Verge's Gaby Del Valle reports: New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted last week on charges including fraud, bribery, and soliciting donations from foreign nationals, told federal investigators he forgot his phone password before handing it over, according to charging documents. That was almost a year ago, and investigators still can't get into the phone, prosecutors said Wednesday.

During a federal court hearing, prosecutor Hagan Scotten said the FBI's inability to get into Adams' phone is a "significant wild card," according to a report from the New York Post. The FBI issued a search warrant for Adams' devices in November 2023. Adams initially handed over two phones but didn't have his personal device on him. The indictment does not mention what type of device Adams uses. When Adams turned in his personal cellphone the following day, charging documents say, he said he had changed the password a day prior -- after learning about the investigation -- and couldn't remember it. Adams told investigators he changed the password "to prevent members of his staff from inadvertently or intentionally deleting the contents of his phone," the indictment alleges. The FBI just needs the right tools. When investigators failed to break into the Trump rally shooter's phone in July, they sent the device to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, where agents used an unreleased tool from the Israeli company Cellebrite to crack it in less than an hour.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/2124209/the-feds-still-cant-get-into-eric-adams-phone?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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FCC is Offering $200 Million To Protect Schools and Libraries From Hackers

The Federal Communications Commission is making up to $200 million available to help schools and libraries make their computer systems more secure. From a report: The Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program will be used to evaluate whether to fund this kind of program on a more permanent basis. The funding will come through a pool of money called the Universal Service Fund (USF), which is made up of contributions from telecommunications companies. Schools and libraries participating in the program will be able to reimburse things like advanced firewalls, identity protection and authentication services, malware protection, and VPNs.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/1933202/fcc-is-offering-200-million-to-protect-schools-and-libraries-from-hackers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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OpenAI Asks Investors Not To Back Rival Startups Such as Elon Musk's xAI

Financial Times has more details on the new fundraise closed by OpenAI. From the report: OpenAI has asked investors to avoid backing rival start-ups such as Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI, as it secures $6.6bn in new funding and seeks to shut out challengers to its early lead in generative artificial intelligence. [...] During the negotiations, the company made clear that it expected an exclusive funding arrangement, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions. Seeking exclusive relationships with investors restricts rivals' access to capital and strategic partnerships. The move by the maker of ChatGPT risks inflaming existing tensions with competitors, especially Musk, who is suing OpenAI. Venture firms are party to sensitive information about the companies they invest in, and close relationships with one company can make it difficult or contentious to also back a rival. But exclusivity is rarely insisted on, according to VCs, and many leading firms have spread their bets in certain sectors. Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, for instance, have backed multiple AI start-ups, including both OpenAI and Musk's xAI.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/1810206/openai-asks-investors-not-to-back-rival-startups-such-as-elon-musks-xai?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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Did Apple Just Kill Social Apps?

Apple's iOS 18 update has introduced changes to contact sharing that could significantly impact social app developers. The new feature allows users to selectively share contacts with apps, rather than granting access to their entire address book. While Apple touts this as a privacy enhancement, developers warn it may hinder the growth of new social platforms. Nikita Bier, a start-up founder, called it "the end of the world" for friend-based social apps. Critics argue the change doesn't apply to Apple's own services, potentially giving the tech giant an unfair advantage.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/1744216/did-apple-just-kill-social-apps?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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Google Flights Now Uses Amtrak Data To Show 'Trains To Consider' Alongside Flights

Google Flights is offering train routes as an alternative to airlines, thanks to a new partnership with Amtrak. 9to5Google reports: In the US, this option surfaces routes and pricing directly provided by Amtrak, as the rail service announced recently: "Amtrak and Google have joined forces to help travelers choose more sustainable transportation options when searching for intercity travel. Thanks to a newly launched, direct data integration, travelers using Google can now view the most up-to-date Amtrak departure times, trip durations and fares directly on the Google Search results page. Amtrak's new integration with Google also means that once customers select a train, they can click through to Amtrak.com to complete the booking for their chosen itinerary without needing to re-enter their trip details."

Amtrak says that choosing a train route over a flight can cut a customer's carbon footprint by up to 72%. Of course, train routes in the US often take considerably longer than flights, but this new option should make it far easier to make the comparison.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/033251/google-flights-now-uses-amtrak-data-to-show-trains-to-consider-alongside-flights?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/033251/google-flights-now-uses-amtrak-data-to-show-trains-to-consider-alongside-flights?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Nintendo Shuts Down Ryujinx Switch Emulator

Nintendo has convinced Ryujinx's lead developer to shut down the project. According to The Verge, the Switch emulator's download page is empty and its GitHub is gone. The Verge reports: "Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of," writes developer and moderator ripinperiperi on Discord. "While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is." The rest of ripinperiperi's message is a eulogy for the project, including a pair of videos showing the Ryujinx team's progress on iOS and Android ports of the Nintendo Switch emulator, among other core changes -- ones that will now presumably never ship.

Nintendo would not confirm or deny to The Verge that it made a deal with the developer. Instead, Nintendo spokesperson Eddie Garcia mysteriously pointed me to the Entertainment Software Association's head of public affairs Aubrey Quinn -- who said she couldn't speak on behalf of Nintendo.

https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/0058247/nintendo-shuts-down-ryujinx-switch-emulator?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/10/02/0058247/nintendo-shuts-down-ryujinx-switch-emulator?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


OpenAI Opens Its Speech AI Engine To Developers

At its DevDay event today, OpenAI announced that it is giving third-party developers access to its speech-to-speech engine that powers ChatGPT's advanced voice mode. "The move paves the way for a wave of AI apps that offer conversational voice interfaces," reports Axios. From the report: Early testers of the feature include nutrition and fitness app Healthify and Speak, a language learning app. Other new features being made available to developers include the ability to fine tune models based on pictures. In a demo for reporters, OpenAI executives showed an example of the new audio capabilities combined with Twilio's API to allow an AI assistant to call a fictional candy shop and place an order for 400 chocolate covered strawberries.

Developers will only be able to use the voices provided by OpenAI -- the same ones that are options within ChatGPT. While the voice won't be watermarked in any way and developers won't have to make the AI system identify itself, OpenAI says it's against the company's terms of service to use its systems to spam or mislead people.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/2215220/openai-opens-its-speech-ai-engine-to-developers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/2215220/openai-opens-its-speech-ai-engine-to-developers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


eBay Wins Dismissal of US Lawsuit Over Alleged Sale of Harmful Products

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: A federal judge dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing eBay of violating environmental laws by allowing the sale of hundreds of thousands of harmful products on its platform, including pesticides and devices to evade motor vehicle pollution controls. U.S. District Judge Orelia Merchant in Brooklyn ruled on Monday that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability over user content, shielded eBay from liability in the civil lawsuit.

The judge said eBay's administrative and technical support to sellers "does not materially contribute to the products' alleged unlawfulness" and does not make the San Jose, California, company a "publisher or speaker" on sellers' behalf. Merchant also said eBay was not a "seller" of some of the challenged products, because it did not physically possess them or hold title. She rejected the government's argument that eBay was a seller because it exchanged the products for money. The U.S. government argued eBay violated the Clean Air Act by allowing the sale of harmful products, including more than 343,000 aftermarket "defeat" devices that help vehicles generate more power and get better fuel economy by evading emissions controls. The company also was accused of allowing sales of 23,000 unregistered, misbranded or restricted-use pesticides, as well as distributing more than 5,600 paint and coating removal products that contained methylene chloride, a chemical linked to brain and liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/2116225/ebay-wins-dismissal-of-us-lawsuit-over-alleged-sale-of-harmful-products?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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Ubisoft Investors Push For Company Sale as Shares Hit Decade-Low

French video game publisher Ubisoft has delayed its upcoming "Assassin's Creed Shadows" by three months following disappointing sales of "Star Wars Outlaws". Ubisoft shares have hit a 10-year low as activist investor AJ Investments, backed by 10% of shareholders, pushes for a sale. "Star Wars Outlaws" sold just 1 million copies in its first month, far below expectations. TechSpot adds: Ubisoft has never had the best reputation among gamers. It's been voted the most-hated gaming brand in the world more than once, and there are those who blame the Outlaws reception on trolls who target Ubisoft games and modern Star Wars media.

"The game received an unusual number of user reviews with a clear negative bias (including a large percentage of "zero" reviews), despite seeing acceptable review scores from reputable review sites," Wedbush analysts Michael Pachter, Alicia Reese and Kade Bar wrote in a note last week. "This is a case of a rare incel victory that led to Ubisoft having to take down its numbers," they added.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/203230/ubisoft-investors-push-for-company-sale-as-shares-hit-decade-low?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/203230/ubisoft-investors-push-for-company-sale-as-shares-hit-decade-low?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Russian Ransomware Hackers Worked With Kremlin Spies, UK Says

A Russian criminal gang secretly conducted cyberattacks and espionage operations against NATO allies on the orders of the Kremlin's intelligence services, according to the UK's National Crime Agency. From a report: Evil Corp., which includes a man who gained notoriety for driving a Lamborghini luxury sports car, launched the hacks prior to 2019, the NCA said in statement on Tuesday.

The gang has been accused of using malicious software to extort millions of dollars from hundreds of banks and financial institutions in more than 40 countries. In December 2019, the US government sanctioned Evil and accused its alleged leader, Maksim Yakubets, of providing "direct assistance" to the Russian state, including by "acquiring confidential documents." The NCA's statement on Tuesday provides new detail on the work Yakubets and other members allegedly carried out to aid the Kremlin's geopolitical aims. The exact nature of the hacks against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies wasn't immediately clear.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/1420230/russian-ransomware-hackers-worked-with-kremlin-spies-uk-says?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

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Russia Is Banning Discord

Russian authorities are considering a ban on Discord, citing unspecified legal violations. According to the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant, the ban may happen "in the coming days." PC Gamer reports: The opening salvo has already been fired. The Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor has issued five separate rulings relating to Discord since September 20, which can all now be used as justification for an upcoming ban. Say what you will about authoritarian regimes, but they love their bureaucracy. Kommersant quotes an anonymous official source as saying the ban is being considered for violations of Russian law: needless to say, these violations have not been detailed, nor are likely to be.

Russian users have also complained about periodic outages on Discord over September, with many resorting to VPNs, and both the web and mobile versions of the platform affected. Should the ban become a reality, the big losers will be Russian players and developers, with no obvious domestic replacement. "The problem is that for Russian developers, communication with the community, including the international one, and technical support are implemented through Discord," said Vasily Ovchinnikov, head of Russia's Organization for the Development of the Video Game Industry. Today, a Moscow court fined Discord 3.5 million roubles ($37,675) for, apparently, failing to restrict access to banned information.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0052226/russia-is-banning-discord?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0052226/russia-is-banning-discord?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Switzerland and Italy Redraw Border Due To Melting Glaciers

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Switzerland and Italy have redrawn part of their border in the Alps due to melting glaciers, caused by climate change. Part of the area affected will be beneath the Matterhorn, one of Europe's tallest mountains, and close to a number of popular ski resorts. Large sections of the Swiss-Italian border are determined by glacier ridgelines or areas of perpetual snow, but melting glaciers have caused these natural boundaries to shift, leading to both countries seeking to rectify the border. Switzerland officially approved the agreement on the change on Friday, but Italy is yet to do the same. This follows a draft agreement by a joint Swiss-Italian commission back in May 2023.

Statistics published last September showed that Switzerland's glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, the second biggest loss ever after 2022's record melt of 6%. An annual report is issued each year by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), which attributed the record losses to consecutive very warm summers, and 2022 winter's very low snowfall. Researchers say that if these weather patterns continue, the thaw will only accelerate. On Friday, Switzerland said that the redefined borders had been drawn up in accordance with the economic interests of both parties.
It is thought that clarifying the borders will help both countries determine which is responsible for the upkeep of specific natural areas.

Swiss-Italian boundaries will be changed in the region of Plateau Rosa, the Carrel refuge and Gobba di Rollin -- all are near the Matterhorn and popular ski resorts including Zermatt. The exact border changes will be implemented and the agreement published once both countries have signed it. Switzerland says that the approval process for signing the agreement is under way in Italy.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0044230/switzerland-and-italy-redraw-border-due-to-melting-glaciers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0044230/switzerland-and-italy-redraw-border-due-to-melting-glaciers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Google Wins Lawsuit Against Scammers Who 'Weaponized' DMCA Takedowns

Google has obtained (PDF) a default judgment against two men who abused its DMCA takedown system to falsely target 117,000 URLs of competitors' online stores. With none of the defendants showing up in court, a California federal court sided with the search engine. Through an injunction, the men are now prohibited from sending false takedown notices and creating new Google accounts. TorrentFreak reports: Last November, Google decided to take action against the rampant DMCA abuse. In a lawsuit filed at a federal court in California, it accused Nguyen Van Duc and Pham Van Thien of sending over 100,000 fraudulent takedown requests. Many of these notices were allegedly filed against third-party T-shirt shops. [...] Following the complaint, the defendants, who are believed to reside in Vietnam, were summoned via their Gmail accounts and SMS. However, the pair remained quiet and didn't respond in court. Without the defendants representing themselves, Google requested a default judgment. According to the tech giant, it's clear that the duo violated the DMCA with their false takedown notices. In addition, they committed contract breach under California law.

Google said that, absent a default judgment, the defendants would continue to harm consumers and third-party businesses. These actions, in turn, will damage Google's reputation as a search engine. In July, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim recommended granting Google's motion for default judgment. The recommendation included an injunction that prevents the two men from abusing Google's services going forward. However, the District Judge had the final say. Last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila adopted the recommendations, issuing a default judgment in favor of Google. The order confirms that defendants Nguyen Van Duc and Pham Van Thien violated the DMCA with their false takedown notices. In addition, they committed contract breach under California law.

In typical copyrights-related verdicts, most attention is paid to the monetary damages, but not here. While Google could have requested millions of dollars in compensation, it didn't request a penny. Google's primary goal was to put an end to the abusive behavior, not to seek financial compensation. Therefore, the company asked for an injunction to prohibit the defendants from sending false takedowns going forward. This includes a ban on registering any new Google accounts. The request ticked all the boxes and, without a word from the defendants, Judge Davila granted the default judgment as well as the associated injunction.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0026213/google-wins-lawsuit-against-scammers-who-weaponized-dmca-takedowns?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0026213/google-wins-lawsuit-against-scammers-who-weaponized-dmca-takedowns?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


AI Chipmaker Cerebras Files For IPO To Take On Nvidia

Cerebras Systems, an AI chip startup, filed (PDF) for an IPO and plans to trade under the ticker "CBRS" on Nasdaq. CNBC reports: Cerebras competes with Nvidia, whose graphics processing units are the industry's choice for training and running AI models. Cerebras says on its website that its WSE-3 chip comes with more cores and memory than Nvidia's popular H100. It's also a physically larger chip. In addition to selling chips, Cerebras offers cloud-based services that rely on its own computing clusters. [...] In addition to Nvidia, Cerebras cites AMD, Intel, Microsoft and Google as competitors, "as well as internally developed custom application-specific integrated circuits and a variety of private companies." Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes the Cerebras chips. Cerebrus warned investors that any possible supply chain disruptions may hurt the company.

Cerebras was founded in 2016 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. Andrew Feldman, the startup's co-founder and CEO, sold server startup SeaMicro to AMD for $355 million in 2012. The company said in 2021 that it was valued at over $4 billion in a $250 million funding round.In May, G42 committed to purchasing $1.43 billion in orders from Cerebras before March 2025, according to the filing. G42 currently owns under 5% of Cerebras' Class A shares, and the firm has an option to purchase more depending on how much Cerebras product it buys.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0030246/ai-chipmaker-cerebras-files-for-ipo-to-take-on-nvidia?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/24/10/01/0030246/ai-chipmaker-cerebras-files-for-ipo-to-take-on-nvidia?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Amazon Is Launching Its Own Shark Tank Where Winners Get To Be Amazon Sellers

Amazon Prime is launching a new Shark Tank-style competition show where contestants pitch products to a panel of celebrity investors and a live audience called "The 100." If a product wins audience approval, it gets featured in Amazon's Buy It Now Store, accessible via QR codes during episodes. The show, called Buy It Now and hosted by JB Smoove, premieres on October 30, 2024. You can watch a trailer for it on YouTube. The Verge reports: The company announced the show earlier this year but has now released a trailer showing what it will look like. Contestants pitch their ideas to the audience. If the crowd votes for them, then the panelists pick which ones will show up on Amazon's Buy It Now Store: a new storefront launching alongside the show that viewers can reach using a QR code that shows up during episodes. One presenter per episode will get a $20,000 prize, too.

Apart from Smoove -- who you may remember from Curb Your Enthusiasm and Harley -- the show will feature "a star-studded rotating panel of celebrity panelists," including Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Anderson, Tabitha Brown, Tony Hawk, and Christian Siriano. It will also include three Amazon executives, and Ring founder and current CEO of Door.com (formerly Latch) Jamie Siminoff will serve as the "resident judge and entrepreneurial panelist." Oh, and those panelists will be selling their own products on that Buy It Now Store.

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/2214239/amazon-is-launching-its-own-shark-tank-where-winners-get-to-be-amazon-sellers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/2214239/amazon-is-launching-its-own-shark-tank-where-winners-get-to-be-amazon-sellers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Cruise Fined $1.5 Million For Failing To Report Robotaxi Crash Involving Pedestrian

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it has fined Cruise $1.5 million for failing to disclose that a pedestrian was seriously injured by one of its driverless vehicles in San Francisco last year. The Verge reports: Last October, a Cruise vehicle hit a pedestrian and then dragged her 20 feet after she was initially struck by a human driver in a hit-and-run incident. In the aftermath, Cruise disclosed that its vehicle had struck a pedestrian but omitted details about the victim being dragged. As a result, the California Department of Motor Vehicles pulled the GM-backed company's permit to operate self-driving cars in the state, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into the incident.

Today, NHTSA announced the $1.5 million penalty as part of a broader consent order with Cruise that includes additional requirements around safety and disclosure. The company submitted several "incomplete reports" under the agency's Standing General Order, which requires crash reports to be filed within a certain period of time, depending on their severity. In its first report to NHTSA, filed one day after the incident, Cruise failed to disclose "that the Cruise vehicle had dragged the pedestrian," the consent order reads. The company also filed an additional report 10 days later in which it also failed to disclose the dragging incident.

"It is vitally important for companies developing automated driving systems to prioritize safety and transparency from the start," NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said. "NHTSA is using its enforcement authority to ensure operators and manufacturers comply with all legal obligations and work to protect all road users." After its permit was suspended, Cruise hired a law firm to conduct an investigation into what went wrong. The firm's report concluded that the company had tried to send a 45-second video to regulators that showed its vehicle dragging the victim but was hampered by "internet connectivity issues." Also, Cruise employees failed to point out the dragging incident in subsequent conversations with regulators.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/223247/cruise-fined-15-million-for-failing-to-report-robotaxi-crash-involving-pedestrian?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/223247/cruise-fined-15-million-for-failing-to-report-robotaxi-crash-involving-pedestrian?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Apple No Longer In Talks To Invest In OpenAI

Apple has withdrawn from discussions to invest in OpenAI's $6.5 billion funding round, though reasons for the decision remain unclear. The company still plans to proceed with integrating ChatGPT into Siri. MacRumors reports: The development comes just a month after WSJ reported that Apple was considering an investment in OpenAI as part of a fundraising effort that could value the AI company at over $100 billion. The high valuation reflects the intense competition in the artificial intelligence sector that OpenAI helped ignite with ChatGPT's launch in late 2022. While Apple has stepped away, other major tech companies remain involved. Microsoft, which has already invested $13 billion in OpenAI, is expected to contribute about $1 billion to this latest round. Nvidia is also reportedly in talks to participate. OpenAI's transition into a for-profit structure may have factored into Apple's decision. Last week, Reuters reported on OpenAI's plan to restructure its core business into a for-profit benefit corporation that will no longer be controlled by its non-profit board. "Chief executive Sam Altman will also receive equity for the first time in the for-profit company, which could be worth $150 billion after the restructuring as it also tries to remove the cap on returns for investors," reported Reuters.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/2040238/apple-no-longer-in-talks-to-invest-in-openai?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/2040238/apple-no-longer-in-talks-to-invest-in-openai?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


DirecTV To Buy Rival Dish Network

DirecTV has agreed to acquire struggling rival Dish Network, creating a satellite TV behemoth with nearly 20 million subscribers. The complex transaction, announced Monday, involves private equity firm TPG acquiring a majority stake in DirecTV from AT&T for $7.6 billion. DirecTV will then purchase Dish for $1 and assume its debt.

The deal provides a lifeline for Dish, which faces $2 billion in debt due November with only $500 million in available cash. EchoStar, Dish's parent company, will retain its wireless spectrum investments and operate independently. Subject to regulatory approval and creditor agreement, the merger is expected to close in late 2025. DirecTV and TPG will provide $2.5 billion to cover Dish's immediate financial needs. The deal's fate remains uncertain, as a similar 2002 merger attempt was blocked on antitrust grounds.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1836228/directv-to-buy-rival-dish-network?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1836228/directv-to-buy-rival-dish-network?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Epic Games Sues Google and Samsung Over App Store Restrictions

Epic Games filed a new antitrust lawsuit against Google and Samsung, alleging they conspired to undermine third-party app stores. The suit focuses on Samsung's "Auto Blocker" feature, now enabled by default on new phones, which restricts app installations to "authorized sources" - primarily Google and Samsung's stores.

Epic claims Auto Blocker creates significant barriers for rival stores, requiring users to navigate a complex process to install third-party apps. The company argues this feature does not actually assess app safety, but is designed to stifle competition. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney stated the lawsuit aims to benefit all developers, not secure special privileges for Epic. The company seeks either default deactivation of Auto Blocker or creation of a fair whitelisting process for legitimate apps. This legal action follows Epic's December victory against Google in a separate antitrust case. Epic recently launched its own mobile app store, which it claims faces unfair obstacles due to Auto Blocker.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1345259/epic-games-sues-google-and-samsung-over-app-store-restrictions?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/1345259/epic-games-sues-google-and-samsung-over-app-store-restrictions?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Could Atom-Sized Black Holes Be Detected in Our Solar System?

Scientific American has surprising news about the possibility of black holes the size of an atom but containing the mass of an asteroid — the so-called "primordial black holes" formed after the birth of the universe which could solve the ongoing mystery of the missing dark matter.

These atom-sized black holes "may fly through the inner solar system about once a decade, scientists say... And if they sneak by the moon or Mars, scientists should be able to detect them, a new study shows."

If one of these black holes comes near a planet or large moon, it should push the body off course enough to be measurable by current instruments. "As it passes by, the planet starts to wobble," says Sarah R. Geller, a theoretical physicist now at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and co-author of the study, which was published on September 17 in Physical Review D. "The wobble will grow over a few years but eventually it will damp out and go back to zero."

Study team member Tung X. Tran, then an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, built a computer model of the solar system to see how the distance between Earth and nearby solar system objects would change after a black hole flyby. He found that such an effect would be most noticeable for Mars, whose distance scientists know within about 10 centimeters. For a black hole in the middle of the mass range, "we found that after three years the signal would grow to between one to three meters," Tran says. "That's way above the threshold of precision that we can measure." The Earth-Mars distance is particularly well tracked because scientists have been sending generations of probes and landers to the Red Planet...

In a coincidence, an independent team published a paper about its search for signs of primordial black holes flying near Earth in the same issue of Physical Review D. The researchers' simulations found that such signals could be detectable in orbital data from Global Navigation Satellite Systems, as well as gravimeters that measure variations in Earth's gravitational field.

"For decades physicists thought dark matter was likely to take the form of so-called weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs)," the article points out. "Yet generations of ever more sensitive experiments meant to find these particles have come up empty."

California astrophysicist Kevork Abazajian tells the site that now in the scientific community, "Primordial black holes are really gaining popularity."

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/0254210/could-atom-sized-black-holes-be-detected-in-our-solar-system?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/0254210/could-atom-sized-black-holes-be-detected-in-our-solar-system?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


America's Vice President Gets Stuck Behind a Stalled Driverless Robotaxi

As the Vice President of the United States travelled in a motorcade Saturday to a San Francisco hotel, they ended up stopped behind "a Waymo vehicle that had to be driven away from the motorcade route by police," according to a local newscast (which called it an "only in San Francisco moment").

And that's not all. One local reporter following the vice president's motorcade said "we saw not one but two driverless cars get stuck."

The San Francisco Standard adds that on Friday, California's governor "signed a bill that allows law enforcement to cite driverless car companies for traffic violations."

https://idle.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/0154239/americas-vice-president-gets-stuck-behind-a-stalled-driverless-robotaxi?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://idle.slashdot.org/story/24/09/30/0154239/americas-vice-president-gets-stuck-behind-a-stalled-driverless-robotaxi?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


SpaceX Pausing Launches to Study Falcon 9 Issue on Crew-9 Astronaut Mission

"SpaceX has temporarily grounded its Falcon 9 rocket," reports Space.com, "after the vehicle experienced an issue on the Crew-9 astronaut launch for NASA."

Crew-9 lifted off on Saturday (Sept. 28) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aloft aboard the Crew Dragon capsule "Freedom" [for a 5-month stay, returning in February with Starliner's two astronauts]. Everything appeared to go well. The Falcon 9's first stage aced its landing shortly after liftoff, and the rocket's upper stage deployed Freedom into its proper orbit; the capsule is on track to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 29) as planned. But the upper stage experienced an issue after completing that job, SpaceX announced early Sunday morning.

"After today's successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9's second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause," SpaceX wrote in a post on X.
Indeed, a Falcon 9 had been scheduled to launch 20 broadband satellites for the company Eutelsat OneWeb from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday night, but that liftoff has been postponed.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/29/1837227/spacex-pausing-launches-to-study-falcon-9-issue-on-crew-9-astronaut-mission?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/29/1837227/spacex-pausing-launches-to-study-falcon-9-issue-on-crew-9-astronaut-mission?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


67% of American Tech Workers Interested In Joining a Union

Long-time Slashdot reader AsylumWraith writes: Visual Capitalist has posted an article and graph showing that, on average, 67% of US tech workers would be interested in joining a union. The percentage is highest at companies like Intuit, with 94% or respondents indicating they'd be interested in joining a union. On the other end of the scale, fewer than half of the employees at Apple, Tesla, and Google, who were surveyed were interested in such a move.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/29/176258/67-of-american-tech-workers-interested-in-joining-a-union?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/29/176258/67-of-american-tech-workers-interested-in-joining-a-union?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Are AI Coding Assistants Really Saving Developers Time?

Uplevel provides insights from coding and collaboration data, according to a recent report from CIO magazine — and recently they measured "the time to merge code into a repository [and] the number of pull requests merged" for about 800 developers over a three-month period (comparing the statistics to the previous three months).

Their study "found no significant improvements for developers" using Microsoft's AI-powered coding assistant tool Copilot, according to the article (shared by Slashdot reader snydeq):

Use of GitHub Copilot also introduced 41% more bugs, according to the study...
In addition to measuring productivity, the Uplevel study looked at factors in developer burnout, and it found that GitHub Copilot hasn't helped there, either. The amount of working time spent outside of standard hours decreased for both the control group and the test group using the coding tool, but it decreased more when the developers weren't using Copilot.

An Uplevel product manager/data analyst acknowledged to the magazine that there may be other ways to measure developer productivity — but they still consider their metrics solid. "We heard that people are ending up being more reviewers for this code than in the past... You just have to keep a close eye on what is being generated; does it do the thing that you're expecting it to do?"
The article also quotes the CEO of software development firm Gehtsoft, who says they didn't see major productivity gains from LLM-based coding assistants — but did see them introducing errors into code. With different prompts generating different code sections, "It becomes increasingly more challenging to understand and debug the AI-generated code, and troubleshooting becomes so resource-intensive that it is easier to rewrite the code from scratch than fix it."
On the other hand, cloud services provider Innovative Solutions saw significant productivity gains from coding assistants like Claude Dev and GitHub Copilot. And Slashdot reader destined2fail1990 says that while large/complex code bases may not see big gains, "I have seen a notable increase in productivity from using Cursor, the AI powered IDE."
Yes, you have to review all the code that it generates, why wouldn't you? But often times it just works. It removes the tedious tasks like querying databases, writing model code, writing forms and processing forms, and a lot more. Some forms can have hundreds of fields and processing those fields along with doing checks for valid input is time consuming, but can be automated effectively using AI.

This prompted an interesting discussion on the original story submission. Slashdot reader bleedingobvious responded:

Cursor/Claude are great BUT the code produced is almost never great quality. Even given these tools, the junior/intern teams still cannot outpace the senior devs. Great for learning, maybe, but the productivity angle not quite there.... yet.

It's damned close, though. GIve it 3-6 months.

And Slashdot reader abEeyore posted:

I suspect that the results are quite a bit more nuanced than that. I expect that it is, even outside of the mentioned code review, a shift in where and how the time is spent, and not necessarily in how much time is spent.

Agree? Disagree? Share your own experiences in the comments.

And are developers really saving time with AI coding assistants?

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2132232/are-ai-coding-assistants-really-saving-developers-time?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2132232/are-ai-coding-assistants-really-saving-developers-time?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


US Transportation Safety Board Issues Urgent Alert About Boeing 737 Rudders

America's National Transportation Safety Board "is issuing 'urgent safety recommendations' for some Boeing 737s..." reports CNN, "warning that critical flight controls could jam."

The independent investigative agency is issuing the warning that an actuator attached to the rudder on some 737 NG and 737 MAX airplanes could fail... "Boeing's 737 flight manual instructs pilots confronted with a jammed or restricted rudder to 'overpower the jammed or restricted system (using) maximum force, including a combined effort of both pilots,'" the NTSB said in a news release. "The NTSB expressed concern that this amount of force applied during landing or rollout could result in a large input to the rudder pedals and a sudden, large, and undesired rudder deflection that could unintentionally cause loss of control or departure from a runway," the statement said.
"The FAA said United was the only U.S. airline flying planes with the manufacturing defect in the rudder control system," notes the Seattle Times, "and that United has already replaced the component on nine 737s, the only jets in its fleet where it was identified as faulty. However, the NTSB alert may cause the grounding of some 737 MAXs and older model 737NGs flown by foreign air carriers that have not yet replaced the defective part."

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2344251/us-transportation-safety-board-issues-urgent-alert-about-boeing-737-rudders?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2344251/us-transportation-safety-board-issues-urgent-alert-about-boeing-737-rudders?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Why Boeing is Dismissing a Top Executive

Last weekend Boeing announced that its CEO of Defense, Space, and Security "had left the company," according to Barrons. "Parting ways like this, for upper management, is the equivalent to firing," they write — though they add that setbacks on Starliner's first crewed test flight is "far too simple an explanation."

Starliner might, however, have been the straw that broke the camel's back. [New CEO Kelly] Ortberg took over in early August, so his first material interaction with the Boeing Defense and Space business was the spaceship's failed test flight... Starliner has cost Boeing $1.6 billion and counting. That's lot of money, but not all that much in the context of the Defense business, which generates sales of roughly $25 billion a year.... [T]he overall Defense business has performed poorly of late, burdened by fixed price contracts that have become unprofitable amid years of higher than expected inflation. Profitability in the defense business has been declining since 2020 and started losing money in 2022. From 2022 to 2024 losses should total about $6 billion cumulatively, including Wall Street's estimates for the second half of this year.

Still, it felt like something had to give. And the change shows investors something about new CEO Ortberg. "At this critical juncture, our priority is to restore the trust of our customers and meet the high standards they expect of us," read part of an internal email sent to Boeing employees announcing the change. "Why his predecessor — David Calhoun — didn't pull this trigger earlier this year is a mystery," wrote Gordon Haskett analyst Don Bilson in a Monday note. "Can't leave astronauts behind."
"Ortberg's logic appears sound," the article concludes. "In recent years, Boeing has disappointed its airline and defense customers, including NASA...

"After Starliner, defense profitability, and the strike, Ortberg has to tackle production quality, production rates, and Boeing's ailing balance sheet. Boeing has amassed almost $60 billion in debt since the second tragic 737 MAX crash in March 2019."

Thanks to Slashdot reader Press2ToContinue for sharing the news.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2344234/why-boeing-is-dismissing-a-top-executive?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/2344234/why-boeing-is-dismissing-a-top-executive?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


An International Space Station Leak Is Getting Worse, NASA Confirms

Ars Technica reports NASA officials operating the International Space Station "are seriously concerned about a small Russian part of the station" — because it's leaking.
The "PrK" tunnel connecting a larger module to a docking port "has been leaking since September 2019... In February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day."
 A new report, published Thursday by NASA's inspector general, provides details not previously released by the space agency that underline the severity of the problem...

Despite years of investigation, neither Russian nor US officials have identified the underlying cause of the leak. "Although the root cause of the leak remains unknown, both agencies have narrowed their focus to internal and external welds," the report, signed by Deputy Inspector General George A. Scott, states. The plan to mitigate the risk is to keep the hatch on the Zvezda module leading to the PrK tunnel closed. Eventually, if the leak worsens further, this hatch might need to be closed permanently, reducing the number of Russian docking ports on the space station from four to three.

Publicly, NASA has sought to minimize concerns about the cracking issue because it remains, to date, confined to the PrK tunnel and has not spread to other parts of the station. Nevertheless, Ars reported in June that the cracking issue has reached the highest level of concern on the space agency's 5x5 "risk matrix" to classify the likelihood and consequence of risks to spaceflight activities. The Russian leaks are now classified as a "5" both in terms of high likelihood and high consequence.

"According to NASA, Roscosmos is confident they will be able to monitor and close the hatch to the Service Module prior to the leak rate reaching an untenable level. However, NASA and Roscosmos have not reached an agreement on the point at which the leak rate is untenable."
The article adds that the Space Station should reach its end of life by either 2028 or 2030, and NASA "intends to transition its activities in low-Earth orbit onto private space stations," and has funded Axiom Space, Blue Origin, and Voyager Space for initial development.
"There is general uncertainty as to whether any of the private space station operators will be ready in 2030."

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/1850224/an-international-space-station-leak-is-getting-worse-nasa-confirms?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/1850224/an-international-space-station-leak-is-getting-worse-nasa-confirms?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Alcohol Can Increase Your Cancer Risk, Researchers Find

The world's oldest and largest cancer research association "found excessive levels of alcohol consumption increase the risk for six different types of cancer," reports CBS News:

"Some of this is happening through chronic inflammation. We also know that alcohol changes the microbiome, so those are the bacteria that live in your gut, and that can also increase the risk," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, recently said on "CBS Mornings."

But how much is too much when it comes to drinking? We asked experts what to know. "Excessive levels of alcohol" equates to about three or more drinks per day for women and four or more drinks per day for men, Gounder said... Other studies have shown, however, there is no "safe amount" of alcohol, Gounder said, particularly if you have underlying medical conditions. "If you don't drink, don't start drinking. If you do drink, really try to keep it within moderation," she said.

Dr. Amy Commander, medical director of the Mass General Cancer Center specializing in breast cancer, told CBS News alcohol is the third leading modifiable risk factor that can increase cancer risk after accounting for cigarette smoking and excess body weight. [Other factors include physical inactivity — and diet]. "There really isn't a safe amount of alcohol for consumption," she said. "In fact, it's best to not drink alcohol at all, but that is obviously hard for many people. So I think it's really important for individuals to just be mindful of their alcohol consumption and certainly drink less."

The article also includes an interesting statistic from the association's latest Cancer Progress Report: from 1991 to 2021 there's been a 33% reduction in overall cancer deaths in the U.S. That's 4.1 million lives saved — roughly 136,667 lives saved each year.
"So that is hopeful," Commander said, adding that when it comes to preventing cancer, alcohol is just "one piece of the puzzle."

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/1735259/alcohol-can-increase-your-cancer-risk-researchers-find?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/1735259/alcohol-can-increase-your-cancer-risk-researchers-find?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Octopuses Recorded Hunting With Fish - and Punching Those That Don't Cooperate

Slashdot reader Hmmmmmm shared this report from NBC News:

Octopuses don't always hunt alone — but their partners aren't who you'd expect. A new study shows that some members of the species Octopus cyanea maraud around the seafloor in hunting groups with fish, which sometimes include several fish species at once.
The research, published in the journal Nature on Monday, even suggests that the famously intelligent animals organized the hunting groups' decisions, including what they should prey upon. What's more, the researchers witnessed the cephalopod species — often called the big blue or day octopus — punching companion fish, apparently to keep them on task and contributing to the collective effort... "If the group is very still and everyone is around the octopus, it starts punching, but if the group is moving along the habitat, this means that they're looking for prey, so the octopus is happy. It doesn't punch anyone..." [said Eduardo Sampaio, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the lead author of the research].
NBC News says the study is "an indication that at least one octopus species has characteristics and markers of intelligence that scientists once considered common only in vertebrates."
Lead author Sampaio agrees that "We are very similar to these animals. In terms of sentience, they are at a very close level or closer than we think toward us."

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/0550239/octopuses-recorded-hunting-with-fish---and-punching-those-that-dont-cooperate?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/0550239/octopuses-recorded-hunting-with-fish---and-punching-those-that-dont-cooperate?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Jets From Black Holes Cause Stars To Explode, Hubble Reveals

Black hole jets, which spew near-light-speed particle beams, can trigger nearby white dwarf stars to explode by igniting hydrogen layers on their surfaces. "We don't know what's going on, but it's just a very exciting finding," said Alec Lessing, an astrophysicist at Stanford University and lead author of a new study describing the phenomenon, in an ESA release. Gizmodo reports: In the recent work -- set to publish in The Astrophysical Journal and is currently hosted on the preprint server arXiv -- the team studied 135 novae in the galaxy M87, which hosts a supermassive black hole of the same name at its core. M87 is 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun and was the first black hole to be directly imaged, in work done in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. The team found twice as many novae erupting near M87's 3,000 light-year-long plasma jet than elsewhere in the galaxy. The Hubble Space Telescope also directly imaged M87's jet, which you can see below in luminous blue detail. Though it looks fairly calm in the image, the distance deceives you: this is a long tendril of superheated, near-light speed particles, somehow triggering stars to erupt.

Though previous researchers had suggested there was more activity in the jet's vicinity, new observations with Hubble's wider-view cameras revealed more of the novae brightening -- indicating they were blowing hydrogen up off their surface layers. "There's something that the jet is doing to the star systems that wander into the surrounding neighborhood. Maybe the jet somehow snowplows hydrogen fuel onto the white dwarfs, causing them to erupt more frequently," Lessing said in the release. "But it's not clear that it's a physical pushing. It could be the effect of the pressure of the light emanating from the jet. When you deliver hydrogen faster, you get eruptions faster." The new Hubble images of M87 are also the deepest yet taken, thanks to the newer cameras on Hubble. Though the team wrote in the paper that there's between a 0.1% to 1% chance that their observations can be chalked up to randomness, most signs point to the jet somehow catalyzing the stellar eruptions.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/016242/jets-from-black-holes-cause-stars-to-explode-hubble-reveals?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/016242/jets-from-black-holes-cause-stars-to-explode-hubble-reveals?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


Starlink Surpasses 4 Million Subscribers

Longtime Slashdot reader penciling_in shares a report from CircleID: Starlink, SpaceX's satellite-based internet service, has hit a major milestone by surpassing 4 million subscribers worldwide. SpaceX confirmed the news on Thursday after company President Gwynne Shotwell hinted earlier in the week that the service would reach the mark within days. Since its beta launch in October 2020, Starlink has rapidly scaled, growing from 1 million subscribers by December 2022, to 2 million by September 2023, and now 4 million just months later. The service operates through a vast constellation of nearly 6,000 satellites, providing satellite internet to users in almost 100 countries, including expanding into previously underserved regions like Africa and the Pacific islands. [While competition from OneWeb and Amazon's Project Kuiper looms, Starlink remains the market leader. However, challenges like slowing U.S. growth and concerns over satellite interference with radio astronomy persist.] Starlink is coming to United Airlines' entire fleet and Hawaiian Airlines Airbus flights. Air France also announced yesterday that it, too, will support free Starlink Wi-Fi on all its aircraft.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/0054257/starlink-surpasses-4-million-subscribers?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/09/28/0054257/starlink-surpasses-4-million-subscribers?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


'Anne Frank' Copyright Dispute Triggers VPN, Geoblocking Questions At EU's Highest Court

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: The Dutch Supreme Court has requested guidance from the EU's top court on geo-blocking, VPNs, and copyright in a case involving the online publication of Anne Frank's manuscripts. The CJEU's response has the potential to reshape the online content distribution landscape, impacting streaming platforms and other services that rely on geo-blocking. VPNs services will monitor the matter with great interest too. [...] While early versions are presumably in the public domain in several countries, the original manuscripts are protected by copyright in the Netherlands until 2037. As a result, the copies published by the Dutch Anne Frank Stichting, are blocked for Dutch visitors. "The scholarly edition of the Anne Frank manuscripts cannot be made available in all countries, due to copyright considerations," is the message disallowed visitors get to see.

This blocking effort is the result of a copyright battle. Ideally, Anne Frank Stichting would like to make the manuscripts available worldwide, but the Swiss 'Fonds' has not given permission for it to do so. And since some parts of the manuscript were first published in 1986, Dutch copyrights are still valid. In theory, geo-blocking efforts could alleviate the copyright concerns but, for the Fonds, these measures are not sufficient. After pointing out that people can bypass the blocking efforts with a VPN, it took the matter to court. Around the world, publishers and streaming services use geo-blocking as the standard measure to enforce geographical licenses. This applies to the Anne Frank Stichting, as well as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, news sites, and gaming platforms. The Anne Frank Fonds doesn't dispute this, but argued in court that people can circumvent these restrictions with a VPN, suggesting that the manuscripts shouldn't be published online at all. The lower court dismissed this argument, stating the defendants had taken reasonable measures to prevent access from the Netherlands. The Fonds appealed, but the appeal was also dismissed, and the case is now before the Dutch Supreme Court.

The Fonds argues that the manuscript website is (in part) directed at a Dutch audience. Therefore, the defendants are making the manuscripts available in the Netherlands, regardless of the use of any blocking measures. The defendants, in turn, argue that the use of state-of-the-art geo-blocking, along with additional measures like a user declaration, is sufficient to prevent a communication to the public in the Netherlands. The defense relied on the opinion in the GO4YU case, which suggests that circumventing geo-blocking with a VPN does not constitute a communication to the public in the blocked territory, unless the blocking is intentionally ineffective.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/09/27/2310247/anne-frank-copyright-dispute-triggers-vpn-geoblocking-questions-at-eus-highest-court?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed
 at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/09/27/2310247/anne-frank-copyright-dispute-triggers-vpn-geoblocking-questions-at-eus-highest-court?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


US Trademark Office Cancels Marvel, DC's 'Super Hero' Trademarks

A U.S. Trademark Office tribunal canceled Marvel and DC's jointly owned "Super Hero" trademarks after the companies failed to respond to a request by London-based Superbabies Ltd, which argued the marks couldn't be owned collectively or monopolize the superhero genre. The ruling was "not just a win for our client but a victory for creativity and innovation," said Superbabies attorney Adam Adler of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg. "By establishing SUPER HEROES' place in the public domain, we safeguard it as a symbol of heroism available to all storytellers."
Reuters reports: Rivals Marvel and DC jointly own four federal trademarks covering the terms "Super Hero" and "Super Heroes," the oldest of which dates back to 1967. Richold writes comics featuring a team of super-hero babies called the Super Babies. According to Richold, DC accused his company of infringing the "Super Hero" marks and threatened legal action after Superbabies Ltd applied for U.S. trademarks covering the "Super Babies" name. Marvel and DC have cited their marks in opposing dozens of superhero-related trademark applications at the USPTO, according to the office's records. Superbabies petitioned the office to cancel the marks in May. It argued that Marvel and DC cannot "claim ownership over an entire genre" with their trademarks, and that the two competitors cannot own trademarks together.

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