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Telegram's Peer-to-Peer Login System is a Risky Way To Save $5 a Month

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 14:40
Telegram is offering a new way to earn a premium subscription free of charge: all you have to do is volunteer your phone number to relay one-time passwords (OTP) to other users. This, in fact, sounds like an awful idea -- particularly for a messaging service based around privacy. From a report: X user @AssembleDebug spotted details about the new program on the English-language version of a popular Russian-language Telegram information channel. Sure enough, there's a section in Telegram's terms of service outlining the new "Peer-to-Peer Login" or P2PL program, which is currently only offered on Android and in certain (unspecified) locations. By opting in to the program, you agree to let Telegram use your phone number to send up to 150 texts with OTPs to other users logging in to their accounts. Every month your number is used to send a minimum number of OTPs, you'll get a gift code for a one-month premium subscription. Boy does this sound like a bad idea, starting with the main issue: your phone number is seen by the recipient every time it's used to send an OTP.

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Categories: Linux fréttir

UXL Foundation readying alternative to Nvidia's CUDA for this year

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 14:25
An open standard challenger appears

The UXL Foundation is readying its open standard accelerator programming model, touted by some as an alternative to Nvidia's CUDA platform, for "a spec release in Q4."…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Sun Microsystems co-founder charged with insider trading

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 14:03
Andreas Bechtolsheim is paying out less than $1M to SEC amid allegations he illegally bought options

A Silicon Valley heavyweight has been charged with insider trading by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

AI Will Suck Up 500% More Power in UK in 10 Years, Grid CEO Says

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 14:00
Electricity demand from UK data centers will jump sixfold over the next 10 years as a boom in AI requires increased computing power, according to the head of National Grid. From a report: That will ramp up pressure on the country's electricity network, which must move vast quantities of renewable energy from as far away as Scottish wind farms to data centers around London. And it's a grid already under strain from the accelerating electrification of home heating, transportation and industries. "Future growth in foundational technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing will mean larger-scale, energy-intensive computing infrastructure," National Grid Chief Executive Officer John Pettigrew said Tuesday at a conference in Oxford. It's an outlook replicated in many other countries, which are grappling with how to fund the massive spending required to expand capacity. Global electricity demand from data centers, AI and cryptocurrencies may more than double over the next three years, according to International Energy Agency forecasts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Categories: Linux fréttir

Ransomware can mean life or death at hospitals, but DEF CON hackers have a plan

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 13:15
ARPA-H joins the challenge, adds $20M to cash rewards

Interview As ransomware gangs target critical infrastructure – especially hospitals and other healthcare organizations – DARPA has added another government agency partner to its Artificial Intelligence Cyber Challenge (AIxCC).…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Reddit May Need To Ramp Up Spending On Content Moderation, Analysts Say

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 13:00
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Reddit will need to spend heavily on content moderation as it may face greater scrutiny as a public company, analysts said, threatening its longstanding policy of relying on an army of volunteers to maintain order on its platform. The newly listed company warned in its initial public offering (IPO) paperwork that its unique approach to content moderation can sometimes subject it to disruptions like in 2023, when several moderators protested against its decision to charge third-party app developers for access to its data. Depending on volunteers is not sustainable, given the regulatory scrutiny that the company will now face, said Julian Klymochko, CEO of alternative investment solutions firm Accelerate Financial Technologies. "It's like relying on unpaid labor when the company has nearly a billion dollars in revenue," he added. Reddit reported revenue of $804 million in 2023, according to an earlier filing. Reddit will need to make substantial investments in trust and safety, which could lead to a "dramatic" rise in expenses, Klymochko said. Josh White, former economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission and assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University, also said that banking on free volunteers is Reddit's biggest risk. The company would need to ramp up spending on anti-misinformation efforts especially as the U.S. prepares for the presidential election later this year, White said. "We believe our approach is the most sustainable and scalable moderation model that exists online today. We are continually investing in and iterating on new tools and policies to improve our internal capabilities," the Reddit spokesperson said.

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Scaleway shows off its new RISC-V devices at Kubecon

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 12:30
Looking for feedback before pressing the production button

European cloud provider Scaleway showed off its new RISC-V servers at the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's (CNCF's) Kubecon Europe 2024 event.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Good news: HMRC offers a Linux version of Basic PAYE Tools. Bad news: It broke

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 11:45
Python 2 has been dead for four years

Did you know that His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offers free Linux tools? Sadly, though, they recently stopped working.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Fujitsu set to be preferred bidder in UK digital ID scheme

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 11:00
Selection comes despite Japanese supplier's role in Post Office scandal

A UK government-endorsed ID card scheme is set to appoint Fujitsu as a business outsourcing supplier despite the Japanese company's earlier promise to refrain from participating in UK public procurement.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

FreeBSD Foundation hands out Beacon gongs for safer software

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 10:15
Multiple CHERI-related projects win money for important research that prizes safety over speed

The inaugural Beacon Awards has handed three prizes to projects working on safer software for CHERI-enabled hardware running on the CheriBSD operating system.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Microsoft Has a New Windows and Surface Chief

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 10:00
Tom Warren reports via The Verge: Microsoft is naming Pavan Davuluri as its new Windows and Surface chief today. After Panos Panay's surprise departure to Amazon last year, Microsoft split up the Windows and Surface groups under two different leaders. Davuluri took over the Surface silicon and devices work, with Mikhail Parakhin leading a new team focused on Windows and web experiences. Now both Windows and Surface will be Davuluri's responsibility, as Parakhin has "decided to explore new roles." The Verge has obtained an internal memo from Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's head of experiences and devices, outlining the new Windows organization. Microsoft is now bringing together its Windows and devices teams once more. "This will enable us to take a holistic approach to building silicon, systems, experiences, and devices that span Windows client and cloud for this AI era," explains Jha. Pavan Davuluri is now the leader of Microsoft's Windows and Surface team, reporting directly to Rajesh Jha. Davuluri has worked at Microsoft for more than 23 years and was deeply involved in the company's work with Qualcomm and AMD to create custom Surface processors. Mikhail Parakhin will now report to Kevin Scott during a transition phase, but his future at Microsoft looks uncertain, and it's likely those "new roles" will be outside the company. Parakhin had been working closely on Bing Chat before taking on the broader Windows engineering responsibilities and changes to Microsoft Edge. The Windows shake-up comes just days after Google DeepMind co-founder and former Inflection AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as the CEO of a new AI team. Microsoft also hired a bunch of Inflection AI employees, including co-founder Karen Simonyan who is now the chief scientist of Microsoft AI.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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UK elections are unaffected by China's cyber-interference, says deputy PM

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 09:30
Sanctions galore for APT31, which has been blamed for two major attacks on democracy

The UK's deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, says China has been unsuccessful in its attempts to undermine UK elections.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Row breaks out over true severity of two DNSSEC flaws

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 08:24
Some of us would be happy being rated 7.5 out of 10, just sayin'

Two DNSSEC vulnerabilities were disclosed last month with similar descriptions and the same severity score, but they are not the same issue.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Cloudflare reveals it's automated empathy to avoid fixing flaky hardware too often

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 07:26
Error budget' and other server maintenance/site reliability secrets revealed

Cloudflare has revealed a little about how it maintains the millions of boxes it operates around the world – including the concept of an "error budget" that enacts "empathy embedded in automation."…

Categories: Linux fréttir

BBC Will Stop Using AI For 'Doctor Who' Promotion After Receiving Complaints

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 07:00
The BBC says it has stopped using AI to promote Doctor Who after receiving complaints from viewers. Deadline reports: The BBC's marketing teams used the tech "as part of a small trial" to help draft some text for two promotional emails and mobile notifications, according to its complaints website, which was intended to highlight Doctor Who programming on the BBC. But the corporation received complaints over the reports that it was using generative AI, it added. "We followed all BBC editorial compliance processes and the final text was verified and signed-off by a member of the marketing team before it was sent," the BBC said. "We have no plans to do this again to promote Doctor Who." The decision to stop promoting via generative AI represents a u-turn from the BBC, who said at the time of announcement that "generative AI offers a great opportunity to speed up making the extra assets to get more experiments live for more content that we are trying to promote." At the time, the BBC didn't mention that this would be the only time it uses the technology for Doctor Who promotion. Doctor Who will launch in May on the BBC and, for the first time, Disney+. A new trailer was unveiled last week.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Categories: Linux fréttir

SWIFT embraces central bank digital currencies after sandbox success

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 06:30
Promises it can handle digi-bucks and tokenized assets without new infrastructure, maybe next year

One of the many sanctions imposed on Russia after its illegal invasion of Ukraine was exclusion from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) – the messaging network that most of the world's banks use to move money across borders.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

RISC-V PCIe 5 SSD controller for the rest of us hits 14GB/s

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 05:26
Speed-reading flash drives no longer just an Arm wrestle

A demo of Yingren Technology's YRS820 PCIe 5.0 SSD controller – built entirely on the RISC-V architecture – showed it reading at 14GB/sec and writing at 12GB/sec, without any active cooling required.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

New Zealand to world: China attacked us, too!

TheRegister - Tue, 2024-03-26 03:30
Reveals 2021 incident that saw parliamentary agencies briefly probed

The government of South Pacific island nation New Zealand has revealed that it, too, has been attacked by China.…

Categories: Linux fréttir

Ubuntu Linux LTS Releases Get Up To 12 Years of Support

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 03:30
BrianFagioli shares a report from BetaNews: Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu operating system, has announced a significant extension to the support lifecycle of its long-term support (LTS) releases. The new paid Legacy Support add-on for Ubuntu Pro subscribers will now provide security maintenance and support for an impressive 12 years, extending the previous 10-year commitment. This enhancement is available starting with Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and will benefit both enterprises and individual users who rely on the stability and security of Ubuntu for their critical systems. By default, Ubuntu LTS releases receive five years of standard security maintenance. However, with Ubuntu Pro, this is expanded to 10 years for both the main and universe repositories, offering access to a broader range of secure open-source software. The Legacy Support add-on further extends this period by an additional two years, ensuring that organizations can maintain their systems with the latest security patches and support services without the immediate need to upgrade to a newer OS version. This is particularly beneficial for large, established production systems where transitioning to a new OS can be a complex and risky endeavor due to the potential need to update the entire software stack. The extended support includes continuous vulnerability management for critical, high, and medium Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) across all software packages shipped with Ubuntu. Canonical's security team actively backports crucial fixes to all supported Ubuntu LTS releases, providing peace of mind to users and enterprises. In addition to security maintenance, the Legacy Support add-on also offers phone and ticket support, enhancing Canonical's commitment to assisting customers with troubleshooting, break fixes, bug fixes, and guidance.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Categories: Linux fréttir

As AI Booms, Land Near Nuclear Power Plants Becomes Hot Real Estate

Slashdot - Tue, 2024-03-26 02:02
Tobias Mann reports via The Register: The land surrounding a nuclear power plant might not sound like prime real estate, but as more bit barns seek to trim costs, it's poised to become a rather hot commodity. All datacenters are energy-hungry but with more watt-greedy AI workloads on the horizon, nuclear power has fresh appeal, especially for hyperscalers. Such a shift in power also does wonders for greenwashing narratives around net-zero operations. While not technically renewable, nuclear power does have the benefit of being carbon-free, not to mention historically reliable -- with a few notable exceptions of course. All of these are purported benefits cited by startup NE Edge, which has been fighting for more than a year to be able to build a pair of AI datacenters adjacent to a 2GW Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford, Connecticut. According to the Hartford Courant, NE Energy has secured $1.6 billion to construct the switching station and bit barns, which will span 1.2 million square feet in total. NE Energy will reportedly spend an equivalent sum on between 25,000 and 35,000 servers. Considering the price of GPU systems from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel, we suspect that those figures probably refer to the number of GPUs. We've asked NE Edge for more information. NE Energy has faced local challenges getting the project approved because residents are concerned the project would end up increasing the cost of electricity. The facilities will reportedly consume as much as 13 percent of the plant's output. The project's president Thomas Quinn attempted to quell concerns, arguing that by connecting directly to the plants, NE Energy will be able to negotiate prices that make building such a power hungry facility viable in Connecticut. NE Energy has also committed to paying a 12.08 percent premium to the town on top of what it pays Dominion for power, along with other payments said to total more than $1 billion over the next 30 years. But after initially denying the sale of land to NE Edge back in January over a lack of information regarding the datacenter project, it's reported that the town council has yet to tell the company what information it is after.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Categories: Linux fréttir

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