Phil Schiller To Join OpenAI Board In 'Observer' Role Following Apple's ChatGPT Deal - ICT news - NewsLocker (2024)

As reported by Bloomberg, Apple will get an "observer role" on OpenAI's board of directors as part of its partnership to integrate ChatGPT into iOS 18. That role will reportedly be filled by Apple Fellow, Phil Schiller. 9to5Mac reports: Apple having an "observer role" on the OpenAI board matches the role of Microsoft. Schiller will be able to observe and attend board meetings, but will not have any voting power: "The board observer role will put Apple on par with Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest back

Russia's Space Chief Finally Admits US Landed on Moon

"Russia has finally admitted that American astronauts did, in fact, land on the moon," reports Newsweek:Head of Russian Space Corporation Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, accepted the truth of the U.S. putting a man on the moon in an address to the State Duma, Intellinews has reported.
"As for whether the Americans were on the Moon or not, I have one fact to share," he was reported to have said. "I was personally interested in this matter. At one time, they provided us with a portion of the lunar soil t

Boeing Will Plead Guilty To Fraud Related To Fatal 737 Max Crashes

Boeing agreed on Sunday to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the government in a case linked to crashes of its 737 Max jets in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people -- a stunning turn for the aerospace giant after the Justice Department determined that Boeing failed to live up to terms of a 2021 deal to avoid prosecution. Washington Post adds: Prosecutors alleged that two Boeing pilots concealed key information from the Federal Aviation Administration about a new automated control sy

'Cyclists Can't Decide Whether To Fear Or Love Self-Driving Cars'

"Many bike riders are hopeful about a world of robot drivers that never experience road rage or get distracted by their phones," reports the Washington Post. "But some resent being guinea pigs for driverless vehicles that veer into bike lanes, suddenly stop short and confuse cyclists trying to navigate around them.
"In more than a dozen complaints submitted to the DMV, cyclists describe upsetting near misses and close calls... "
Of the nearly 200 California DMV complaints analyzed by The Post, a

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Developer Successfully Boots Up Linux on Google Drive

Its FOSS writes:
When it comes to Linux, we get to see some really cool, and sometimes quirky projects (read Hannah Montana Linux) that try to show off what's possible, and that's not a bad thing. One such quirky undertaking has recently surfaced, which sees a sophom*ore trying to one-up their friend, who had booted Linux off NFS. With their work, they have been able to run Arch Linux on Google Drive.
Their ultimate idea included FUSE (which allows running file-system code in userspace). The deve

Is AirBNB Really Worsening the Housing Crisis?

An anonymous reader shared this report from the BBC:On 21 June, Barcelona mayor Jaume Collboni announced plans to ban short term rentals in the city starting in November 2028. The decision is designed to solve what Collboni described as "Barcelona's biggest problem" — the housing crisis that has seen residents and workers priced out of the market — by returning the 10,000 apartments currently listed as short-term rentals on Airbnb and other platforms into the housing market... It's a

UK Tech Overtakes China as World's Second Largest Country for Startup Funding Raised

"China may be the world's second-largest economy," writes Fortune's news editor, "but when it comes to startup funding, the U.K. is punching above its weight."
Startups in the U.K. raised $6.7 billion in funding during the first half of 2024, helping dethrone China and propelling the U.K. to second place globally for funds raised, according to a new report. Crucial to the U.K.'s success were a dozen funding rounds worth over $100 million each, including those of digital bank Monzo ($620 million)

Linus Torvalds Tactfully Discusses Value of getrandom() Upgrade for Linux vDSO

Linux's vDSO (or virtual dynamic shared object) is "a small shared library that the kernel automatically maps into the address space of all user-space applications," according to its man page. "There are some system calls the kernel provides that user-space code ends up using frequently, to the point that such calls can dominate overall performance... due both to the frequency of the call as well as the context-switch overhead that results from exiting user space and entering the kernel."But Lin

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Jeff Bezos's Move From WA To FL Has Saved Him Close To $1B in Taxes This Year

As Amazon's stock hits a record high (rising 32% just this year), long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:GeekWire reports that Jeff Bezos keeps selling Amazon stock after announcing his move away from Washington state — and its 7% tax on capital gains of more than $262,000 from the sale of stocks and bonds — to Florida, which does not have a capital gains tax (like WA, FL also does not tax personal income). Taylor Soper writes, "Bezos saved more than $600 million by moving to Miami

Shipt's Pay Algorithm Squeezed Gig Workers. They Fought Back

Workers at delivery company Shipt "found that their paychecks had become...unpredictable," according to an article in IEEE Spectrum. "They were doing the same work they'd always done, yet their paychecks were often less than they expected. And they didn't know why...."
The article notes that "Companies whose business models rely on gig workers have an interest in keeping their algorithms opaque." But "The workers showed that it's possible to fight back against the opaque authority of algorithms,

$170 Billion Selloff in Cryptocurrencies Friday as Mt. Gox Payout Looms

At one point on Friday the entire cryptocurrency market shed more than $170 billion in capitalization within 24 hours, CNBC reported (citing data from CoinGecko).
"Cryptocurrencies plunged... as investors focused on the payout of nearly $9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox."
This dumping of coins onto the market is expected to lead to some significant selling action. The slump in crypto prices led to hefty liquidations in the derivatives markets, according to crypto data fir

15-Year-Old Webmaster Nicknamed 'God's Influencer' Will Be Catholic Church's First Millennial Saint

An anonymous reader shared this report from NPR:
A teenage computer whiz who used the early-aughts internet to spread awareness of the Catholic faith will become the church's first millennial saint.
Carlo Acutis, who died of leukemia at age 15 in 2006, is already referred to as "God's influencer" and the "patron saint of the internet" for his work cataloging Eucharistic miracles around the world — and soon it will be official. Pope Francis and a group of cardinals approved Acutis for canon

Fedora 41 Finally Retires Python 2.7

"After sixteen years since the introduction of Python 3, the Fedora project announces that Python 2.7, the last of the Python 2 series, will be retired," according to long-time Slashdot reader slack_justyb.
From the announcement on the Fedora changes page: The python2.7 package will be retired without replacement from Fedora Linux 41. There will be no Python 2 in Fedora 41+ other than PyPy. Packages requiring python2.7 on runtime or buildtime will have to deal with the retirement or be retired a

New Research Finds America's EV Chargers Are Just 78% Reliable (and Underfunded)

Harvard Business School has an "Institute for Business in Global Society" that explores the societal impacts of business. And they've recently published some new AI-powered research about EV charging infrastructure, according to the Institute's blog, conducted by climate fellow Omar Asensio.
"Asensio and his team, supported by Microsoft and National Science Foundation awards, spent years building models and training AI tools to extract insights and make predictions," using the reviews drivers le

FreeBSD Contributor Mocks Gloomy Predictions for the Open Source Movement

In Communications of the ACM,/em>, long-time FreeBSD contributor Poul-Henning Kamp mocks the idea that the free and open-source software has "come apart" and "will end in tears and regret."Economists and others focused on money — like my bank — have had a lot of trouble figuring out the free and open source software (FOSS) phenomenon, and eventually they seem to have reached the conclusion that it just makes no sense. So, they go with the flow. Recently, very serious people in the

Microsoft's AI CEO: Web Content (Without a Robots.txt File) is 'Freeware' for AI Training

Slashdot reader joshuark shared this report from Windows CentralMicrosoft may have opened a can of worms with recent comments made by the tech giant's CEO of AI Mustafa Suleyman. The CEO spoke with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this week. In his remarks, Suleyman claimed that all content shared on the web is available to be used for AI training unless a content producer says otherwise specifically.The whole discussion was interesting — but this particular qu

Amid Whistleblower Complaints, Boeing Buys Spirit, Ending Outsourcing of Key Work on Planes

Monday Boeing announced plans to acquire its key supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, for $4.7 billion, according to the Associated Press — "a move that it says will improve plane quality and safety amid increasing scrutiny by Congress, airlines and the Department of Justice. Boeing previously owned Spirit, and the purchase would reverse a longtime Boeing strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes."
But meanwhile, an anonymous reader shared this report from Newsweek:
More than a hun

'How Good Is ChatGPT at Coding, Really?'

IEEE Spectrum (the IEEE's official publication) asks the question. "How does an AI code generator compare to a human programmer?"A study published in the June issue of IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering evaluated the code produced by OpenAI's ChatGPT in terms of functionality, complexity and security. The results show that ChatGPT has an extremely broad range of success when it comes to producing functional code — with a success rate ranging from anywhere as poor as 0.66 percent and

Watch Volunteers Emerge After Living One Year in a Mars Simulation

They lived 378 days in a "mock Mars habitat" in Houston, reports Engadget. But today the four volunteers for NASA's yearlong simulation will finally emerge from their 1,700-square-foot habitat at the Johnson Space Center that was 3D-printed from materials that could be created with Martian soil.
And you can watch the "welcome home" ceremony's livestream starting at 5 p.m. EST on NASA TV (also embedded in Engadget's story). More det ails from NASA:For more than a year, the crew simulated Mars mis

'Windows Recall' Preview Remains Hackable As Google Develops Similar Feature

Windows Recall was "delayed" over concerns that storing unencrypted recordings of users' activity was a security risk.But now Slashdot reader storagedude writes:The latest version of Microsoft's planned Windows Recall feature still contains data privacy and security vulnerabilities, according to a report by the Cyber Express. Security researcher Kevin Beaumont — whose work started the backlash that resulted in Recall getting delayed last month — said the most recent preview version i

Curricula From Bill Gates-Backed 'Illustrative Math' Required In NYC High Schools

New York City announced a "major citywide initiative" to increase "math achievement" among students, according to the mayor's office.93 middle schools and 420 high schools will implement an "Illustrative Math" curriculum (from an education nonprofit founded in 2011) combined with intensive teacher coaching, starting this fall. "The goal is to ensure that all New York City students develop math skills," according to the NYC Solves web site (with the mayor's office noting "years of stagnant math s

Is China Building Spy Bases in Cuba?

"Images captured from space show the growth of Cuba's electronic eavesdropping stations," reported the Wall Street Journal this week, citing a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.But they added that the stations "are believed to be linked to China," including previously-unreported construction about 70 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. (The Journal had previously reported China and Cuba were "negotiating closer defense

Investors Pour $27.1 Billion into AI Startups, Defying a Downturn

"For two years, many unprofitable tech startups have cut costs, sold themselves or gone out of business," reports the New York Times.
"But the ones focused on artificial intelligence have been thriving."
Now, the AI boom that started in late 2022, has become the strongest counterpoint to the broader startup downturn. Investors poured $27.1 billion into AI startups in the United States from April to June, accounting for nearly half of all U.S. startup funding in that period, according to PitchBoo

GM Will Pay $146M Penalty Because 5.9 Million Older Vehicles Emit Excess CO2

General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the U.S. government, reports the Associated Press, "because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements. The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the

Stolen Campaign Lawn Signs Tracked with Hidden Apple AirTags

An anonymous reader shared this report from Business Insider:
It's a political tale as old as time: put up a campaign poster in your yard, and thieves come to snatch it. But according to The Wall Street Journal, those fed up with front lawn looting are embracing a modern solution. Apple's geo-tracking AirTag devices are helping owners find their signs — and sometimes, even the people who stole them.
The practice has already led to charges. In one example cited by the outlet, Florida politi

Eclipse Foundation Releases Open-Source Theia IDE - Compatible with VS Code Extensions

"After approximately seven years in development, the Eclipse Foundation's Theia IDE project is now generally available," writes ADT magazine, "emerging from beta to challenge Microsoft's similar Visual Studio Code (VS Code) editor."The Eclipse Theia IDE is part of the Eclipse Cloud DevTools ecosystem. The Eclipse Foundation calls it "a true open-source alternative to VS Code," which was built on open source but includes proprietary elements, such as default telemetry, which collects usage data..

Cancer Patient Forced To Make Terrible Decision After Ransomware Attack On London Hospitals

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: The latest figures suggest that around 1,500 medical procedures have been canceled across some of London's biggest hospitals in the four weeks since Qilin's ransomware attack hit pathology services provider Synnovis. But perhaps no single person was affected as severely as Johanna Groothuizen. Hanna -- the name she goes by -- is now missing her right breast after her skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction surgery was swa

ITER Fusion Reactor To See Further Delays, With Operations Pushed To 2034

John Timmer reports via Ars Technica: On Tuesday, the people managing the ITER experimental fusion reactor announced (PDF) that a combination of delays and altered priorities meant that its first-of-its-kind hardware wouldn't see plasma until 2036, with the full-energy deuterium-tritium fusion pushed back to 2039. The latter represents a four-year delay relative to the previous roadmap. While the former is also a delay, it's due in part to changing priorities.ITER is an attempt to build a fusion

Capturing CO2 With Copper, Scientists Generate 'Green Methane'

Longtime Slashdot reader Baron_Yam shares a report from Phys.Org, with the caption: "It's not sequestration, but it is a closed carbon loop and can store energy from renewable sources to be released when they are not collecting energy." From the report: Carbon in the atmosphere is a major driver of climate change. Now researchers from McGill University have designed a new catalyst for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into methane -- a cleaner source of energy -- using tiny bits of copper called n

Earth's Core Has Slowed So Much It's Moving Backward, Scientists Confirm

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Deep inside Earth is a solid metal ball that rotates independently of our spinning planet, like a top whirling around inside a bigger top, shrouded in mystery. This inner core has intrigued researchers since its discovery by Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann in 1936, and how it moves -- its rotation speed and direction -- has been at the center of a decades-long debate. A growing body of evidence suggests the core's spin has changed dramatically in re