Have you ever been in a group project where one person decided to take a shortcut, and suddenly, everyone ended up under stricter rules? That’s essentially what the EU is saying to tech companies with the AI Act: “Because some of you couldn’t resist being creepy, we now have to regulate everything.” This legislation isn’t Read more about The EU’s AI Act – a very quick primer on what and why[…]
The wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by $2tn (£1.64tn) last year, three times faster than in 2023, amounting to $5.7bn (£4.7bn) a day, according to a report by Oxfam. The latest inequality report from the charity reveals that the world is now on track to have five trillionaires within a decade, a change from Read more about Inheritance, “cronyism and corruption” or monopoly power grows billionaire wealth in 2024 in second-largest annual increase since records began[…]
[…] In 2024, Bluesky grew from 2.89M users to 25.94M users. In addition to users hosted on Bluesky’s infrastructure, there are over 4,000 users running their own infrastructure (Personal Data Servers), self-hosting their content, posts, and data. To meet the demands caused by user growth, we’ve increased our moderation team to roughly 100 moderators and Read more about Bluesky 2024 Moderation Report shows 17x more user content reports with 10x user growth fed by Brazilians serial complainers[…]
In a write-up shared this month via Microsoft’s GitHub, Benjamin Flesch, a security researcher in Germany, explains how a single HTTP request to the ChatGPT API can be used to flood a targeted website with network requests from the ChatGPT crawler, specifically ChatGPT-User. This flood of connections may or may not be enough to knock Read more about ChatGPT crawler flaw opens door to DDoS, prompt injection[…]
A robotic hand exoskeleton can help expert pianists learn to play even faster by moving their fingers for them. Robotic exoskeletons have long been used to rehabilitate people who can no longer use their hands due to an injury or medical condition, but using them to improve the abilities of able-bodied people has been less Read more about Robotic exoskeleton can train expert pianists to play faster[…]
Remember how Zuckerberg was “done with politics”? Remember how he promised that he was going to stop doing what politicians demanded he do? Now it turns out that he not only did his big set of moderation changes to please Trump, but did so only after he was told by the incoming administration to act. Read more about As Zuckerberg Goes Around Whining About Biden, He Made Sure To First Get His New Approach Approved By Trump[…]
This was inevitable, ever since Donald Trump and the MAGA world freaked out when social media’s attempts to fact-check the President were deemed “censorship.” The reaction was both swift and entirely predictable. After all, how dare anyone question Dear Leader’s proclamations, even if they are demonstrably false? It wasn’t long before we started to see Read more about NY Post: Fact Checking Is Now Censorship[…]
[…] photonics, which offers lower energy consumption and reduced latency than electronics. One of the most promising approaches is in-memory computing, which requires the use of photonic memories. Passing light signals through these memories makes it possible to perform operations nearly instantaneously. But solutions proposed for creating such memories have faced challenges such as low Read more about A new optical memory platform for super fast calculations[…]
If you only remember two things about the government pressure campaign to influence Mark Zuckerberg’s content moderation decisions, make it these: Donald Trump directly threatened to throw Zuck in prison for the rest of his life, and just a couple months ago FCC Commissioner (soon to be FCC chair) Brendan Carr threatened Meta that if Read more about Why Has Zuckerberg stopped Meta Fact Checking? Trump lifetime prison threats and FCC section 230 removal threats?[…]
Google has told the EU it will not add fact checks to search results and YouTube videos or use them in ranking or removing content, despite the requirements of a new EU law, according to a copy of a letter obtained by Axios. The big picture: Google has never included fact-checking as part of its Read more about Google won’t add fact-checks despite new EU law[…]
You can probably complete an amazing number of tasks with your hands without looking at them. But if you put on gloves that muffle your sense of touch, many of those simple tasks become frustrating. Take away proprioception — your ability to sense your body’s relative position and movement — and you might even end Read more about Robot arm developed that allows sense of touch[…]
In a pre-print paper titled “Novel AI Camera Camouflage: Face Cloaking Without Full Disguise,” David Noever, chief scientist, and Forrest McKee, data scientist, describe their efforts to baffle face recognition systems through the minimal application of makeup and manipulation of image files. Noever and McKee recount various defenses that have been proposed against facial recognition Read more about You don’t need to make up like a clown to defeat AI face detection[…]
Are you one of the many reconsidering their relationship with Meta’s Instagram? If you’re looking for another outlet to share your photos, Pixelfed, an open source photo-sharing alternative without ads or tracking, has officially launched mobile apps for Android and iPhone. These apps, which allow you to upload photos and videos directly from your phone, Read more about Pixelfed Is an Instagram Alternative That Feels Like a Return to the Glory Days of Photo Sharing with your friends[…]
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this but everything seems to be going down the tubes quite fast. And not fun tubes, like at a waterpark. The “ending in shit” kind. The issues are complicated, the reasons diverse, but there are a few culprits who have been making themselves extremely visible. Alongside those Read more about I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers[…]
Social media platform Meta has confirmed that its fact-checking feature on Facebook, Instagram and Threads will only be removed in the US for now, according to a Jan. 13 letter sent to Brazil’s government. “Meta has already clarified that, at this time, it is terminating its independent Fact-Checking Program only in the United States, where Read more about Meta says it isn’t ending fact-checks outside the US yet[…]
In 2019, the names used by the USB Implementor Forum’s engineering teams to describe the various speeds of USB got leaked, and the backlash (including our own) was harsh. Names like “USB 3.2 Gen 2” mean nothing to consumers — but neither do marketing-style terms, such as “SuperSpeed USB 10Gbps.” It’s the latter speed-only designation Read more about Finally USB decides to use sane terminology to label cables[…]
Decentralized social network organization Mastodon said Monday that it is planning to create a new nonprofit organization in Europe and hand over ownership of entities responsible for key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components. This means one person won’t have control over the entire project. The organization is trying to differentiate itself from social networks controlled Read more about Mastodon announces transition to nonprofit structure – does what OpenAI should have done[…]
Smart speaker outfit Sonos has parted ways with CEO Patrick Spence, who oversaw the release of an app that was billed as an upgrade but instead made the company’s products worse and riled customers. Sonos teased the software in an April 2024 announcement headlined “Sonos Unveils Completely Reimagined Sonos App, Bringing Services, Content and System Read more about Sonos finally CEO steps down after app upgrade debacle[…]
Researchers have demonstrated new wearable technologies that both generate electricity from human movement and improve the comfort of the technology for the people wearing them. The work stems from an advanced understanding of materials that increase comfort in textiles and produce electricity when they rub against another surface. At issue are molecules called amphiphiles, which Read more about Researchers make comfortable materials that generate power when worn[…]
European companies are believing the “absolute lie” that the EU AI Act is killing innovation, Carme Artigas, co-chair of the United Nations advisory board on artificial intelligence, has warned. “We are losing the battle of the narrative,” Artigas said last week at the Europe Startup Nations Alliance forum. As Spain’s AI minister, Artigas led negotiations Read more about EU is ‘losing the narrative battle’ over AI Act to US fake news, says UN adviser[…]
What’s Important to Know: Venezuela’s Supreme Court fined TikTok USD$10 million for failing to prevent viral video challenges that resulted in the deaths of three Venezuelan children. TikTok faced temporary blockades by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Venezuela for not paying the fine. ISPs used IP, HTTP, and DNS blocks to restrict access to TikTok Read more about Venezuela’s Internet Censorship Sparks Surge in VPN Demand[…]
What’s important to know: On March 25, 2024 Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring age verification for accessing pornographic sites. This law, known as House Bill 3 (HB3), passed with bipartisan support and has caused quite a stir in the online community. HB3 was set to come into effect on January 1, 2025. Read more about VPN Demand Surge in Florida after Adult Sites Age Restriction Kicks In[…]
The complaint, filed in May 2021, accuses Apple of breaching European and UK competition laws by “its exclusion of any other app stores from iOS devices” like iPhones and iPads. It claims that some 20 million Apple users may have been overcharged by the company “due to its ban on rival app store platforms”. The Read more about Billion-pound lawsuit against Apple over App Store opens in UK[…]
Meta isn’t stopping at moderation changes. According to both Axios and The New York Times, the company is also pulling the plug on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. That includes removing diversity hiring goals, eliminating the chief diversity officer position and no longer prioritizing minority-owned businesses as vendors, per The Times‘ reporting. When asked to Read more about Meta’s right-wing surrender to Trump also includes an end to DEI programs and trans Messenger themes[…]
Google is tracking your online behavior in the name of advertising, reintroducing a data collection process that ingests all of your online signals (from IP address to complex browser information) and pinpoints unique users or devices, also known as “digital fingerprinting.” The company’s updated platform program policies include relaxed restrictions on advertisers and personalized ad Read more about Google brings back digital fingerprinting to track users for advertising[…]