List of All Articles with Tag 'tec'

Some of the UK’s most visited websites face enforcement action from the data protection watchdog if they do not make changes to allow users to consent to advertising cookies. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said some websites do not give users fair choices over whether or not they are tracked for personalised advertising. The ICO has previously issued guidance to help ensure firms make it as easy for users to reject advertising cookies as it is to accept all – often using consent banners which pop up when a user first lands on a website – but the watchdog has said that some of the UK’s top websites are not complying with data protection law on this issue. Many of the biggest websites have got this right. We’re giving companies who haven’t managed that yet a clear choice: make the changes now, or face the consequences Stephen Almond, ICO It said it had written to a number of firms giving them 30 days to comply or face potential enforcement action. Under UK data protection law, companies must give users fair choice to opt out of tracking using cookies, which is often then used to serve people personalised adverts online. Companies are still able to show users adverts when someone has rejected all tracking, but the ads must not be tailored to the person browsing. Stephen Almond, ICO executive director of regulatory risk, said: “We’ve all been surprised to see adverts online that seem designed specifically for us – an ad for a hotel when you’ve just booked a flight abroad, for instance. Our research shows that many people are concerned about companies using their personal information to target them with ads without their consent. “Gambling addicts may be targeted with betting offers based on their browsing record, women may be targeted with distressing baby adverts shortly after miscarriage and someone exploring their sexuality may be presented with ads that disclose their sexual orientation. “Many of the biggest websites have got this right. We’re giving companies who haven’t managed that yet a clear choice: make the changes now, or face the consequences.” The ICO said it would provide a further update on this work in January, including details of any companies that had not addressed the watchdog’s concerns. Read More Employee data leaked during British Library cyber attack Half of adults who chat online with strangers do not check age – poll Businesses embracing generative AI but fear cyberattacks, survey finds

Best Buy Co.’s same-store sales fell by more than expected in the third quarter after what the retailer

Broadcom said it plans to close its $69 billion deal for cloud computing firm VMWare on Wednesday. Broadcom

After a chaotic few days of boardroom coups and attempted counter-coups at OpenAI, Microsoft Corp. said it would

A mysterious object crashed into the Moon last year, and scientists think they’ve finally figured out what it was. On March 4, 2022, a piece of space junk hurtled towards the surface of our celestial companion, leaving behind not one but two craters – prompting speculation as to what exactly the manmade object was. And now, in a paper published in the Planetary Science Journal, a team of researchers at the University of Arizona (UArizona) have offered “definitive proof” that it was a booster from a Chinese space rocket that had spent several years hurtling through space. But the most interesting part of all this? The defunct piece of spacecraft was apparently carrying a secret cargo. Initially, based on its path through the sky, the UArizona team thought it was an errant SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster from a 2015 launch. However, after analysing how precise light signals bounced off its surface, they later concluded that it was more likely to be a booster from a Chang'e 5-T1 – a rocket launched back in 2014 as part of China’s lunar exploration programme. And yet, the Chinese space agency denied ownership, insisting that their rocket booster burned up in the Earth's atmosphere upon re-entry. But the US Space Command refuted this claim by revealing that the rocket’s third stage never re-entered the planet’s atmosphere. Furthermore, two key pieces of evidence gathered by the UArizona researchers suggested that there was more to the object than just a simple abandoned rocket booster. Firstly, the way it reflected light. The paper’s lead author, Tanner Campbell, explained in a statement: "Something that's been in space as long as this is subjected to forces from the Earth's and the moon's gravity and the light from the sun, so you would expect it to wobble a little bit, particularly when you consider that the rocket body is a big empty shell with a heavy engine on one side. “But this was just tumbling end-over-end, in a very stable way." In other words, the rocket booster must have had some kind of counterweight to its two engines, each of which would have weighed around 545kg (1,200lbs) without fuel. The stability with which the object rotated led Campbell and his colleagues to deduce that “there must have been something more mounted to [its] front”. Secondly, the team were struck by the impact the booster left when it slammed into the Moon. It created two craters, around 100ft (30.5 metres) apart, instead of one, which, according to Campbell was very unusual. He pointed out that the craters left behind by Apollo rockets are either round, if the object came straight down, or oblong if it crashed down at a shallow angle. "This is the first time we see a double crater," he said. "We know that in the case of Chang'e 5 T1, its impact was almost straight down, and to get those two craters of about the same size, you need two roughly equal masses that are apart from each other." And yet, despite the rigour of their investigation, the UArizona team have been unable to identify what exactly this additional object was. "We have no idea what it might have been – perhaps some extra support structure, or additional instrumentation, or something else," Campbell admitted. "We probably won't ever know." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Codelco plans to spend an additional $720 million overhauling its oldest mine as the world’s biggest supplier of

Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. is bringing its electric vehicles to Malaysia, where it will compete with industry leaders

Food delivery firms were hit by a second wave of antitrust raids by European Union competition watchdogs hunting

We’ve heard of following the yellow brick road, and even following the white rabbit, but scientists have just made a landmark discovery by following a trail of ghostly crabs. For some 20 years, experts believed there was a hydrothermal vent field off the western Galápagos Islands, but they hadn’t been able to pinpoint its exact location. However, while exploring the area they spotted a galatheid crab (also called a squat lobster), and then another, and then another. They traced the crustaceans excitedly as their number grew until, finally, they were led to the elusive hydrothermal goldmine. There are only around 550 known hydrothermal vents in the world, only half of which have actually been seen. The rest have been identified via chemical and temperature signatures in the surrounding water, as Live Science notes. Hydrothermal vents are formed when water seeps into the rock of the seafloor at either a plate margin or where magma is rising to the surface in another part of the plate. The magma heats the water, which causes it to rise, before it’s expelled through fissures in the rock, often forming what are known as chimneys. The new Galápagos field, discovered thanks to the crabs which aggregate around deep-sear vents, extends more than 98,800 square feet (9,178 square metres), and consists of five geyser-like chimneys and three hot springs. The highest temperature so far recorded there is a staggering 288C (550F). As well as the the geysers, hot springs and crabs, the team, from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, found a thriving ecosystem of incredibly adapted organisms. "There were giant tube worms, which can be a couple (of) metres long. There were very large clams, sometimes called dinner plate clams, as well as mussels," said Roxanne Beinart, a biological oceanographer who co-led the expedition. To locate the hydrothermal field, the researchers first began searching the general region where a chemical anomaly had been identified in 2008. "One of the anomalies that we look for is a lens of low oxygen water," expedition co-leader Jill McDermott, a chemical oceanographer at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, told Live Science. "Oxygen is completely removed through circulation in the seafloor. So the water that's expressed at the seafloor is devoid of oxygen." The team then followed this plume of oxygen-poor water until it disappeared — implying they were close to the vent. They then launched a remotely operated vehicle to inspect the seafloor and traced the breadcrumb trail of crabs to the vent field itself. “With 75 per cent of the seafloor still to map, finding this new vent field shows how much we still have to learn about our planet and those who live on it,” the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Executive Director Dr Jyotika Virmani said in a statement. “I am continually amazed by the otherworldly beauty of our seafloor and look forward to uncovering more.” And what did the team christen the new hydrothermal vent field? Why, the “Sendero del Cangrejo,” or “Trail of the Crabs,” of course. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Microsoft stock has hit a record high after hiring sacked OpenAI boss Sam Altman and other key figures from the AI firm. The US tech giant, which is a key investor in OpenAI, is the second most valuable company in the world behind Apple. The firm’s market cap on 21 November reached above $2.8 trillion – up $1 trillion since the start of the year. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella announced that Mr Altman, who headed ChatGPT creator OpenAI until he was ousted on Friday, would join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team alongside fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman “We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” Mr Nadella wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.” Despite his new role, Mr Altman is reportedly keen on returning to his former company following a revolt among OpenAI employees against the board. More than 700 OpenAI workers signed a letter threatening to quit unless the board resigns and reappoints Mr Altman as chief executive. “The process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman from the board has jeopardised all of this work and undermined our mission and company,” the open letter stated. “Your conduct has made it clear you did not have the competence to oversee OpenAI.” OpenAI board member Ilya Sutskever said on Monday that he “deeply regrets” his role in Mr Altman’s sacking, adding that he was now working to reunite the company. Following his exit from OpenAI last week, Mr Altman wrote on X: “I loved my time at OpenAI. It was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. Most of all I loved working with such talented people. Will have more to say about what’s next later.” After rumours emerged that he was looking to rejoin his former company after being hired by Microsoft, Mr Altman wrote: “Satya [Nadella] and my top priority remains to ensure OpenAI continues to thrive. “We are committed to fully providing continuity of operations to our partners and customers. The OpenAI/ Microsoft partnership makes this very doable.” Read More Microsoft chief hints Sam Altman may return as OpenAI staff demand board resignation OpenAI staff ‘threaten to quit over ousting of Sam Altman’ Microsoft’s new AI tool cleans up messy backgrounds in video calls

Taiwan’s benchmark stock gauge climbed to its highest closing level since April 2022 as the artificial intelligence theme

Sam Altman might still return to OpenAI after his ouster from the company, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella hinted. Chaos erupted at OpenAI on Friday as the company’s board abruptly fired its founder and chief Mr Altman, saying it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI”. Later, hundreds of the ChatGPT company’s employees threatened to quit unless its board resigned. When asked on Monday whether Mr Altman would join Microsoft, that has invested billions in the ChatGPT company, Mr Nadella said he was “open to both options”. “Look, that is for the OpenAI board and management and the employees to choose,” he told CNBC. “We obviously want Sam and Greg to have a fantastic home if they’re not going to be at OpenAI,” the Microsoft chief said. “We chose to explicitly partner with OpenAI and we want to continue to do so, and obviously, that depends on the people of OpenAI staying there or coming to Microsoft,” Mr Nadella had said. Microsoft later officially announced it was hiring Mr Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, who resigned on Friday. “Extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” Mr Nadella said in a post on X. “We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” he said. Mr Altman’s sacking was followed by about 500 staff at the company demanding the board’s resignation and the reinstatement of their dismissed boss. The employees signed a letter demanding OpenAI’s board resign and reinstate Mr Altman, claiming the decision to oust him jeopardised the company’s work. The letter was reportedly signed by several senior staff at OpenAI. Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer who was appointed as the interim chief following Mr Altman’s exit, was one of the signatories. Another signatory, Ilya Sutskever, the company’s chief scientist and one of the board members, expressed “deep regret” over the decision to remove Mr Altman. Employees at the company’s headquarters reportedly refused to attend an emergency all-hands meeting with new OpenAI boss Emmett Shear that was scheduled on Sunday. Some had responded to a Slack announcement with a middle-finger emoji, according to reports. Mr Nadella also said “it’s clear something has to change around the governance” at OpenAI. “We’ll have a good dialogue with their board on that, and walk through that as that evolves,” he said. Mr Altman said on X that his “top priority” remains to “ensure OpenAI continues to thrive”. “We are committed to fully providing continuity of operations to our partners and customers,” the ousted tech boss said on Monday. “We have more unity and commitment and focus than ever before. We are all going to work together some way or other, and I’m so excited. one team, one mission,” Mr Altman said. Read More OpenAI staff ‘threaten to quit over ousting of Sam Altman’ Microsoft’s new AI tool cleans up messy backgrounds in video calls First carbon capture plant opens in the US to help avoid climate catastrophe One of the world’s most hyped tech products just launched – and made a big mistake Musk files defamation suit against Media Matters over Nazi X post claims ‘We are broken’: Armenia looks to technology to rebuild