Opinion: Airbnb will recreate gladiator drama in the Colosseum
NPR's Scott Simon details the "gladiator experience" that 16 lucky — or unlucky — people might have next year inside the Roman Colosseum. Will they not be entertained?
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Grantscheam@troet.cafe ("Grantscherm") wrote:
Warum es manchmal echt schwierig ist.
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jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
strongly agree... Leonard Peltier has done his time
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pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Evolutionary psychologist assumes the earth is flat and that there are no geographical barriers to justify racism. No one is surprised.
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pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Time for another gang of atheists to discuss the thorny problem of good and evil. It's the Christmas season!
South Korea's parliament votes to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol
South Korea's parliament impeached Presisdent Yoon Suk Yeol for his attempt to impose martial, the first time such a measure had been imposed on the nation in more than four decades.
Will The FDA finally ban Red No. 3? A decision could come soon
The food colorant has been linked to behavioral problems in children, including inattention and hyperactivity. California passed a law to ban it last year.
Biden Seeks Deal to Eliminate Funding for Oil and Gas Projects Abroad
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In the landscape of international finance for fossil fuels, some of the most important players are obscure government bodies known as “export credit agencies.” These agencies provide funding to companies seeking to build large and risky infrastructure projects, often in developing countries. […]
80 years later, Glenn Miller's sudden disappearance remains unsolved
Glenn Miller was the swing era's biggest star. Then, he vanished without a trace.
South Korean President Yoon faces second impeachment vote over his martial law order
Lawmakers are set to vote for a second time on an impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol over his controversial Dec. 3 martial law decree.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
catsalad@infosec.exchange ("CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow:") wrote:
Woah woah woah! Too fast
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Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
i0null@infosec.exchange ("Hacker Memes") wrote:
squeak(const_cast<🐭*>(🐸));
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Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
davidoclubb@toot.wales ("David Clubb") wrote:
In a Wales-first (and possibly UK-first?) I've created a micro-server for Mastodon to enable local primary school children to explore social media in a safe environment. It's not connected to any other server, so only children and teachers from that school can create an account.
I'll be sharing my experiences in a blog post in due course, in case it's of interest to others. Would love to have another Welsh language primary school interested so we could have multiple schools collaborating!
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fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Biden granted clemency to the ‘kids-for-cash’ judge. The White House didn’t consider the case specifics. - POLITICO:
"Conahan was convicted in 2011 of funneling juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for more than $2 million in kickbacks. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges."
At this point, I mean, whatever. But it’s worth remembering that ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/12/13/biden-granted-clemency.html
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
had an idea while eating dinner, thought it through while washing dishes, successfully implemented & tested it in two hours of fiddling in D, lets me throw away a bunch of redundant code scattered in multiple modules in what seems to be a thread-safe fashion (thanks be for the magik of the mutex)
all in all a successful evening
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
OpenAI whistleblower Suchir Balaji found dead in San Francisco apartment:
"Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world."
The most egregious part of this article, other than the heavily implied murder ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/12/13/openai-whistleblower-suchir.html
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Quick, a woman I like texted me "what are you up to?" How do I make "reading long nerdy essays about obscure tech" sound cool?
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Re: Re: Bluesky and Decentralization – Dustycloud Brainstorms:
"Perhaps Bluesky matches this version of decentralization, but if so, it is because it is an incredibly weak definition of decentralization, at least taken independently. This may well say, taken within the context it is provided, “users of this network may occasionally not rely on a gatekeeper, as a treat”."
If you’re a fan of internet philosophy then it doesn’t get ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/12/13/re-re-bluesky.html
Expect Pricier EVs, Solar Panels, and Heat Pumps as a Result of Trump’s Tariffs
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Shortly after he was reelected last month, Donald Trump announced an economic gambit that was aggressive even by his standards. He vowed that, on the first day of his second term, he would slap 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, […]
Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
Meta is asking California Attorney General Rob Bonta to block OpenAI’s planned transition from a non-profit to for-profit entity.
In a letter sent to Bonta’s office this week, Meta says that OpenAI “should not be allowed to flout the law by taking and reappropriating assets it built as a charity and using them for potentially enormous private gains.”
The letter, which was first reported on by The Wall Street Journaland you can read in full below, goes so far as to say that Meta believes Elon Musk is “qualified and well positioned to represent the interests of Californians in this matter.” Meta supporting Musk’s fight against OpenAI is notable given that Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were talking about literally fighting in a cage match just last year.
OpenAI started as a non-profit but stumbled into commercial success with ChatGPT, which now makes billions of dollars a year in revenue. CEO Sam Altman has been clear that the company needs to shed its non-profit status to become more attractive to investors and continuing funding its ambitions. The stakes are so high that OpenAI will have to return the billions of dollars it raised this year (with interest) if it can’t successfully...
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
moi
https://music.apple.com/us/album/illegal-smile-live-at-wfmt-chicago/1774249391?i=1774249808
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
yup
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-accident-things-could-be-worse/300997257?i=300997433
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
mood https://music.apple.com/us/album/spanish-pipedream/1018524551?i=1018524554
Sovereign Citizens Convicted of Trying to Kidnap Coroner They Accused of Necromancy.
Lowering the Bar: The leader of the Essex group, an idiot named Mark Christopher, had declared himself the "chief judge" of a "Federal Postal Court" and also...
https://jwz.org/b/yket
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OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
Ilya Sutskever. | Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images
OpenAI’s cofounder and former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, made headlines earlier this year after he left to start his own AI lab called Safe Superintelligence Inc. He has avoided the limelight since his departure but made a rare public appearance in Vancouver on Friday at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS).
“Pre-training as we know it will unquestionably end,” Sutskever said onstage. This refers to the first phase of AI model development, when a large language model learns patterns from vast amounts of unlabeled data — typically text from the internet, books, and other sources.
“We’ve achieved peak data and there’ll be no more.”
During his NeurIPS talk, Sutskever said that, while he believes existing data can still take AI development farther, the industry is tapping out on new data to train on. This dynamic will, he said, eventually force a shift away from the way models are trained today. He compared the situation to fossil fuels: just as oil is a finite resource, the internet contains a finite amount of human-generated content.
“We’ve achieved peak data and there’ll be no more,” according to Sutskever. “We have to deal with the data that...
Tim Cook is the latest tech CEO to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Apple CEO Tim Cook will meet with President-elect Donald Trump for dinner on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to The New York Times. It’s reportedly Cook’s first time meeting with Trump since the election.
During Trump’s first term, Cook established a direct relationship with the president that other tech CEOs have wanted to replicate. As Trump prepares for his second term, Cook may want to discuss potential tariffs, which could significantly affect Apple’s business.
Cook may also want to discuss the European Union’s actions against Apple; during his presidential campaign, Trump claimed that Cook called him to complain about the fines Apple faces in the European Union, with accusations of anticompetitive behavior in App Store policies and how it manages platforms like the iPhone and Mac.
Cook’s visit follows reports of Trump’s conversation with Google CEO Sundar Pichai yesterday and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos next week. Trump met with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November.
Tech companies and leaders, including Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have also been appealing to the President-elect with $1 million donations to his inauguration fund.
The Verge’s 2024 holiday gift guide
Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
A collection of fun, affordable, and unique gifts fit for everyone on your list.
stevestreza@indieweb.social ("Steve Streza") wrote:
New York Times has run FOUR op-eds in the last 2 days mouthpiecing woe-is-me sympathy for UnitedHealthcare and scolding the public for not performing solemnity. They have spoken to zero families bankrupted by UHC's avaricious chasing of profit at any cost. Manufactured consent in action. Offensive.
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- New York Times op-ed section on health. Four articles posted in the last two days. 1. "America's Health Care System Needs Better Economics, Not Bullets" 2. "UnitedHealth Group CEO: The Health Care System is Flawed. Let's Fix It." 3. "A Borken System Is No Excuse" 4. "Three Columnists Wrestle With the Lionization of Luigi Mangione" (remote)
jefftiedrich@threads.net ("Jeff Tiedrich") wrote:
imagine a country so furious about drag performers that it voted for polio
The Equal Rights Amendment is already part of the U.S. Constitution.
Heidi Li Feldman: In January, 2020, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was ratified, per the procedures specified in Article V of the U.S. Constitution. As with all U.S. law, the U.S....
https://jwz.org/b/yker
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The long-shot plan to save TikTok from a US ban
Frank McCourt. | Getty Images / The Verge
So far, ByteDance has shown zero willingness to spin off TikTok in the US. The Chinese parent company seems to be banking on the Supreme Court or President-elect Donald Trump rescuing the app before it’s banned next month.
The obvious names that would would buy TikTok if they could — Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. — are sitting on the sidelines and waiting to see what happens in the coming weeks. The clock is ticking. Congress just sent letters to Sundar Pichai and Tim Cook reminding them that they will be legally liable for continuing to host TikTok in their app stores after January 19th.
Then there’s Frank McCourt, the real estate billionaire and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. For months, McCourt has been very public about his desire to buy TikTok. He has ramped up his drumbeat since ByteDance recently lost its legal fight on appeal. This week, he pitched more investors on his Project Liberty plan to buy the app’s US operations.
When I spoke with McCourt over Zoom in between those investor meetings, he told me he currently has roughly $20 billion behind him for a bid. He has asked Kevin Mayer, who was briefly TikTok’s CEO the last time it was almost...
Supreme Court to consider whether Catholic group is exempt from religious taxes
At issues is whether the charity Catholic Charities is qualified to be exempt from state unemployment taxes as a religious institution.
ChatGPT Projects are fancy folders for your AI chats
Image: The Verge
OpenAI is rolling out a feature called “Projects” to ChatGPT. It’s basically a folder system that makes it easier to organize things you’re working on while using the AI chatbot.
As shown in a demo video, your list of Projects will show up in the sidebar. If you make a new project, you can do things like edit the title, set a color for the project’s icon, and add files as well as instructions to tailor how ChatGPT responds to things in that individual project. You can also add previous chats to your project to keep track of them.
The new feature seems like a pretty useful way to keep track of, for lack of a better word, your projects. During the demo video, an OpenAI employee showed examples of how they use Projects to plan for a Secret Santa gift exchange and for home maintenance. Depending on your needs, it could be a better way to work on a project than my usual method, which is dumping everything I can think of into an Apple Note.
Projects is rolling out today to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Teams users. It will come to free users “as soon as possible” and to Enterprise and Edu users “early in the new year,” according to OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil.
Projects was announced as Day 7 of OpenAI’s 12 days of “ship-mas.” Previous announcements included the release of the Sora video generator, ChatGPT’s Canvas view, and the $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription.
Happy Friday the 13th + ACAB Day to all who celebrate.
Radical Graffiti:
https://jwz.org/b/ykep
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Peak Design denies snitching on Luigi Mangione
Everyday Backpack V1 | Image: Peak Design
When the first grainy images of the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect emerged, some viewers noticed a seemingly small detail: he looked like he was wearing a Peak Design Everyday V1 backpack. Now, on platforms like Threads and TikTok, a recurring accusation has circulated: Peak Design “traced” the bag owner using the backpack’s serial number.
However, the company says that’s just not true, in a statement shared with The Verge Friday afternoon. “Peak Design has not provided customer information to the police and would only do so under the order of a subpoena,” the statement signed by CEO Peter Dering reads.
“We cannot associate a product serial number with a customer unless that customer has voluntarily registered their product on our site.” The statement goes on to say that the serial numbers on the V1 of the Everyday backpack “were not unique or identifying ... We did not implement unique serial numbers until V2 iterations of our Everyday Backpack.”
So, how did we even get here?
In footage of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the shooter has a gray backpack with a top flap, which the NYPD believe is the same one they recovered in Central Park a few days later. The bag they eventually located is gray with black piping and what looks to be a tan-colored contrasting tab on the corner of the flap — just like Peak Design’s crowdfunded “Everyday” V1 model.
It’s no longer sold new, but the design has enough fans that we’ve called it “the de facto tech journalist’s bag.”
Dering saw the similarities, too.
He told The New York Times last week that the item was likely bought between 2016 and 2019. Dering told the Times that he called the NYPD tip line to share what he knew and vowed to do “whatever is possible” to identify the shooter, including consulting Peak Design’s legal team to see what he could share with police.
The Times story is just 300 words long, but it appears to have sparked a wave of anger among those sympathetic to the suspect, Luigi Mangione. Despite the Times story's lack of mention of a serial code, the rumor spread like wildfire before the company’s denial today.
On the Peak Design subreddit, which is moderated by the brand, posts have popped up discussing the company’s ability to track customers using the serial number on a bag and tips on how to delete customer information. The complaints largely center on the fact that Dering volunteered any information at all to police—a significant shift in public attitudes around a killing.
In a follow-up email to The Verge, Dering added: “If you do choose to register a Peak Design product, and it is lost or stolen, you can reach out to our customer service team and have your registration erased, so the bag is not traceable back to you.”
dansinker@omfg.town ("Dan Sinker") wrote:
Watching Peter Theil’s sputtering condemnation or reading the new United Healthcare CEO’s op-ed, it’s ASTOUNDING to me that even they are starting with “look, we know the system is bad and needs fixing.” This feels like a real, actual shift of the overton window on this. It took an assassination.
Cdespinosa ("Chris Espinosa") wrote:
One of the major scientific achievements of the 19th century was milk that didn’t kill babies.
People seem to have forgotten the importance of that.
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mathowie@xoxo.zone ("Matthew Haughey") wrote:
I know there are millions of bad US healthcare stories out there but this one is uniquely unique
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Texas sues New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills via telemedicine
Illustration by William Joel
Texas is suing a New York doctor for prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol — the pills used for medication abortion — to a Texas resident via telemedicine, an alleged violation of the state’s strict abortion law.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit against Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedecine, in Collin County civil court on Thursday. Carpenter doesn’t face criminal charges, but the state is seeking up to a $250,000 fine.
This is the first time Texas has sued an out-of-state doctor for providing abortion services to a Texas patient via telemedicine. Notably, New York, where Carpenter is based, has a “shield law” that’s designed to protect doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in other states, including those that, like Texas, have outlawed abortion.
“Regardless of what the courts in Texas do, the real question is whether the courts in New York recognize it,” Greer Donley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, told the Texas Tribune.
According to the complaint, a 20-year-old woman who became pregnant sometime in mid-May was prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol by Carpenter at an undisclosed time. The woman, who is not named in the lawsuit, experienced adverse side effects from the pills and asked her partner to take her to the hospital because of hemorrhage or severe bleeding on July 16th.
At the hospital, the woman’s partner was told that she “‘had been’ nine weeks pregnant before losing the child,” the complaint says, which made him conclude that she “had intentionally withheld information from him regarding her pregnancy, and he further suspected” that the woman “had in fact done something to contribute to the miscarriage or abortion” of the pregnancy. According to the complaint, she had not previously told her partner she was pregnant. Upon returning to their home, the woman’s partner found the two medications Carpenter allegedly prescribed to the woman.
The complaint does not say when the woman obtained the medication.
Texas has one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. The state has a near-total ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with narrow exceptions if the life of the mother is at risk but no exceptions for cases of rape and incest. According to the complaint, the unnamed 20-year-old woman “did not have any life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from the pregnancy that placed her at risk of death or any serious risk of substantial impairment.”
American citizen Travis Timmerman is now with U.S. forces after being found in Syria
Travis Timmerman, a U.S. citizen found wandering barefoot in Damascus after being freed from a Syrian prison following the fall of the Assad regime, was handed over to U.S. forces in Syria on Friday.
A Gemini-boosted Google Assistant is now available on some Nest speakers
Google is slowly rolling out its Gemini-powered Google Assistant to some users of its smart speakers. | Photo: Dan Seifert / The Verge
Google has slowly started rolling out a Gemini-powered Google Assistant to some Google Home users on select Nest smart speakers. The company first teased a smarter Google Assistant for the home in August and is starting with Gemini-powered answers to your general knowledge questions. The regular Google Assistant will still handle things like smart home and music requests, but you’ll hear a chime before the Assistant responds with an AI-powered answer.
As detailed by Google in a new support document, Gemini in Google Assistant on Nest speakers (that’s a branding delight right there) can answer wider-ranging questions with more in-depth answers — similar to Gemini on Android and iOS. You can also ask it follow-up questions and interrupt the response to ask another question, although you’ll still need to say “Hey Google” each time.
First spotted by 9to5Google, the Gemini-enhanced Assistant began appearing on speakers earlier this month. However, it’s only available on Nest Audio and Nest Mini (2nd gen) smart speakers — Nest smart displays or earlier generations speakers aren’t compatible. The AI-powered answers are also only open to users in Google Home’s Public Preview, who are...
kenwhite.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy ("Domestic Enemy Hat") wrote:
Me: Dr. Salk your vaccine will save so many children!
Salk: Well thank God
Me: Of course they will grow up
Salk: Well I hope so
Me: And get old
Salk: I guess?
Me: And eventually vote for lunatics who will try to stop your vaccine
Salk: what now
Me: And leave NATO
Salk: shit
Elden Ring's Multiplayer Spin-Off Has A Playtest Coming Up And You Can Register For It Soon
Revealed less than 24 hours ago, Elden Ring: Nightreign has already announced its first network test for players to go hands-on with the online multiplayer spin-off. The test will take place early in 2025, with registrations beginning next month.
jgilbert ("Jon Gilbert") wrote:
@jwz can't wait to become a billionaire so that I, too, can have my own grease team at the ready for when I need that extra sheen. ✨
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
eff ("Electronic Frontier Foundation") wrote:
Here’s our biggest tip: do not pay the ransom. Having your address, full name, and a picture of your house doesn’t mean that someone has acquired private, compromising info about you. Here are some quick answers to a few questions people have after receiving these emails. (3/7)
Make Billionaires Sweat Again.
Sweaty Peter Thiel is definitely going to be the name of our next drink special. "Sweaty Peter Thiel Mocked for Incoherent Answer About CEO Slaying." Thiel, drenched in sweat, struggled to form a coherent response,...
https://jwz.org/b/ykem
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Kotaku’s Weekend Guide: 4 Sweet Games We Can’t Wait To Dive Back Into
Welcome back to Kotaku’s Weekend Guide, the post-Game Awards edition! If you missed out on last night’s pretty-darn-good awards show, we have a wrap- up of everything cool we saw, and a summary of all the awards won. But if you’re also looking for some great game recommendations to fill your weekend with, we most…
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
appassionato ("earthling") wrote:
A woman in West Virginia snapped a one-in-a-million shot of a tree being struck by lightning.
Anthony Conn, a weekend anchor for WCHS, posted the photo to his Twitter account. The photo was sent to him by a woman named Debbie Parker in Hardy County, West Virginia.
https://www.sunnyskyz.com/blog/3448/One-In-A-Million-Moment-As-Lightning-Strikes-A-Tree
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The best Nintendo Switch controllers to buy right now
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
From the unbeatable Switch Pro and comfy Joy-Con alternatives to a dongle that lets you use your Xbox or PlayStation controllers with your Switch, these are the best Switch controllers you can get.
Paula Abdul settles suit alleging sexual assault by 'Idol' producer Nigel Lythgoe
Paula Abdul and former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
lmorchard@hackers.town ("Les Orchard") wrote:
This version of "Santa Baby" is an unreasonable synth bop, IMO
Apple’s AI summary mangled a BBC headline about Luigi Mangione
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
We’ve already seen our fair share of bad Apple Intelligence-summarized notifications, but now that the feature is live in the UK, the BBC isn’t finding it so funny. The summarized notification mucked up a BBC headline about the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect, falsely suggesting the network reported that Luigi Mangione shot himself.
In a report about the notification, a spokesperson for the network says it contacted Apple “to raise this concern and fix the problem.”
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Screenshot: BBC
Only the first part of the summarized BBC news notification is incorrect, as it accurately references two other stories about Bashar Al-Assad and a raid on the president of South Korea’s office. As noted by 9to5Mac, the BBC report didn’t specify the original text of the notification or which article it was in reference to.
Other examples of the AI summaries missing the mark that we’ve seen have turned “that hike almost killed me” into “attempted suicide” or a Ring camera appearing to report that people are surrounding someone’s home.
If you’re getting too many summaries on your iPhone that don’t make sense, you can change the list of apps your iPhone summarizes with Apple Intelligence by going to Settings > Notifications > Summarize Notifications or even choose to turn off the feature entirely.
Every Past Game Of The Year Winner At The Game Awards
On December 12 the 2024 Game Awards were held, and over the span of about four hours, the yearly event handed out a ton of awards while also premiering a bunch of cool-looking trailers for upcoming games. And like every year before, the show ended with the reveal of 2024's Game of the Year.
People in Syria Lost and Found
The U.N. estimates over a 100,00 people have gone missing in Syria under the regime of Bashar al-Assad. And many families never knew the fate of their loved ones. Now that the regime has fallen, the search is on for the missing. We join some Syrians on that search. Sign up for State of the World+ to listen sponsor-free and support the work of NPR journalists. Visit plus.npr.org.
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
On Monday, @bcantrill and I were joined by @postwait, KellyAnn Fitzpatrick, and @sogrady to talk about tech conferences. Unsurprisingly, a lot has changed in the decades since we met these folks at conferences! What's worth the trip in 2025? https://youtu.be/YBId0FLKxCo
Texas challenges shield laws by suing New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit against a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills for a client near Dallas, pitting an abortion ban against laws that protect physicians.
Can Syria avoid another slide into autocracy?
The brutal regime of Bashar al Assad fell over the weekend with dizzying speed. Syrians within the country and around the world burst into celebration. Now, the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, or HTS has to govern. They are designated a terrorist organization by the US.And some worry that HTS could slide into its own kind of autocratic regime.That fear is not unfounded. Across the Middle East and North Africa, many revolutions have overthrown autocrats, only for those countries to descend back into chaos or a more oppressive rule.The Syrian revolution began amid a wave of uprisings in the region that led to new, undemocratic regimes. Can Syria avoid a similar fate today? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
The Nintendo Switch 2, as described by Dbrand
Image: Dbrand
Nintendo is inching ever closer to its promised deadline to reveal the Switch’s successor before April 2025. But new leaks from case manufacturers appear to reveal exactly what the Nintendo’s next console could look like, and a few notable upgrades it might have over the original Switch.
We were inspired to write this article in the first place because of Dbrand’s just-announced “Killswitch 2” case. The website for the product features an in-motion render of the case and, inside, a mockup of hardware that has some key differences from the Switch and Switch OLED: the new console appears to be larger, and it has a mysterious new second button on the right Joy-Con under the Home button. Accessory leaks over the past several days have shown a similar potential design for the hardware.
It seems Dbrand is reasonably confident in its case, but we asked CEO Adam Ijaz to be sure. He says Dbrand has “actual dimensions” — not an educated guess — based on a “3D scan of the real hardware.” (When we asked how he knows that, Ijaz only said “Nice try, Nintendo_._”)
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Video: Dbrand
Here’s a GIF we cut of the new case from Dbrand’s video.
Based on Dbrand’s measurements, the next Switch (which we’ll call the Switch 2) will both be larger and taller than Nintendo’s Switch OLED, but roughly the same thickness. Nintendo’s spec sheet shows its previous handheld is 242mm wide, 102mm tall and 13.9mm thick, where Ijaz says the Switch 2 should measure closer to 270mm wide, 116mm tall, and 14mm thick, with the console portion taking up 200mm worth of that width.
Ijaz also says the kickstand will still measure around half the console’s height at around 55mm; a diagonal measurement of the cover glass supports previous rumors that it’ll have an 8-inch screen.
Ijaz says it’s his “understanding” that Joy-Cons are “magnetically attached” with an “an ejection button” that’s on the back of the Joy-Cons near the top, and his new case takes advantage of the detachable controllers — he says the controller portions of Dbrand’s case can detach with them inside.
He doesn’t know what the second square button is under the Home button, which he says has a “C” printed on it. The left Joy-Con in Dbrand’s mockup still has a button on the left Joy-Con, which is where you’ll find the capture button on the original Switch, so it’s unclear if this “C” button now means capture or if both buttons work differently. (Nintendo originally introduced C-buttons on the Nintendo 64 controller in 1996 as a way to control a game’s camera, before gamepads introduced a second stick to let you shift perspective.)
Ijaz says the joysticks stand 6.27mm tall, and the D-pad and ABXY buttons protrude by 1.57mm, with a 180mm wide kickstand, and back triggers that extend 14.1mm.
While Dbrand does seem to know a lot about the console, Ijaz is “genuinely unsure” about its potential release date. He says that Dbrand is working toward a late March or early April release for its case, though. Ijaz also doesn’t know about Nintendo’s possible TV dock for the Switch 2, but says that Dbrand’s assumption is that “the form factor will be similar to the previous gen.” He doesn’t know if the screen will be LCD or OLED.
While it’s highly unusual for an accessory maker to publicly reveal this much about a product from a powerful, litigious company like Nintendo, it’s not surprising that Dbrand’s the one stepping up to the plate. Having beef with console makers is an intentional (and often fun!) part of its marketing strategy, and Nintendo is a frequent target — like that Zelda skin that was a middle finger to Nintendo’s lawyers, or the “(not) Animal Crossing” one.
Much of what Dbrand is showing and what Ijaz is saying lines up with a video from SwitchUp showing what it calls a Switch 2 mockup sent to them by a case manufacturer. That mockup is clearly larger than today’s existing Switch OLED, and the new Joy-Cons are clearly bigger than the old Joy-Cons. You can also see the second square button under the home button there, the larger button under the triggers that presumably ejects them from the console, and a wide kickstand similar to the one on the Switch OLED.
One other nice addition? A second USB-C port on the top of the mockup, which theoretically means you’ll be able to plug in a charging cable while you’re using it in tabletop mode; with the current Switch, the charging port on the bottom is blocked when you’re standing it up on a table.
While we’re still waiting for Nintendo to actually announce concrete details about the Switch 2, the company has shared that the console will be able to play current Switch games and it will have Nintendo Switch Online as well.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
eyeling@mastodon.art ("Eyeling") wrote:
#ArtAdventCalendar - Dec 13th Water drops (3/4)
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Latest Captain America: Brave New World Trailer Shows How Cool Falcon Will Be
Captain America: Brave New World is coming in two months, and we’ve seen enough to get our adrenaline-loving, superhero-obsessed, conspiracy-theorist hearts hyped for the next installment in the Captain America canon. We’ve seen Harrison Ford transform from President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross to Red Hulk, Giancarlo…
McKinsey & Company to pay $650 million for role in opioid crisis
The powerful consulting firm McKinsey will "accept responsibility" and pay $650 million for helping to fuel the opioid crisis, but executives will once again dodge prosecution.
Thank God Naughty Dog Is Doing Something Other Than The Last Of Us
I love The Last of Us and Uncharted, but I would also be content to never see another game in those series again. After all, for nearly 20 years now, Naughty Dog has been exclusively developing games in these same two franchises. Wild to think about, right? The first Uncharted game’s development began in 2005, and…
Amazon is shipping the Kindle Colorsoft again, but it’s unclear if it’s fixed
The Colorsoft is Amazon’s first Kindle with a color screen, but some users noticed colors they didn’t want. | Photo: Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
Amazon is once again shipping its Kindle Colorsoft. This follows reports of the company’s first color e-reader exhibiting a yellow discolored strip at the bottom of the e-reader’s display — including The Verge’s review unit. The Colorsoft’s listing on Amazon’s website says the company is “making the appropriate adjustments to ensure that new devices will not experience this issue moving forward,” but some customers are still seeing the issue on replacement units that recently arrived.
Several Reddit users who experienced the yellow discoloration issue on their original Colorsoft units and have received replacements in the last two weeks say the issue is still present, but much less noticeable. One user says the screens on their original and replacement Colorsofts “have different hues which may contribute to the yellow bar looking less prominent on the replacement,” while another says the replacement’s screen “is darker than the original” but that the “color really pops more in the replacement.”
Amazon is also sending The Verge a replacement Kindle Colorsoft unit. When asked what adjustments were being made to the Colorsoft to address the display issue, Amazon spokesperson Devon Corvasce said in a statement emailed to The Verge that “it was a combination of software and display adjustments.”
Supreme Court to hear challenge to California's authority to set vehicle emissions standards
Ohio and 16 other Republican-dominated states have sued, asserting that a waiver granted to California to set its own rules violates the basic design of the U.S. Constitution, which they assert should treat states as equals.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Time to tidy up and rearrange my lab workspace.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/13/im-going-to-have-to-reorganize-everything/
Attachments:
Jubilant Syrians gather for Friday prayers for the 1st time since Assad's ouster
In Damascus, people stood shoulder to shoulder at one of Syria's holiest sites, the Umayyad Mosque, in the first Friday prayers since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown less than a week ago.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Poor little male spent the morning trying to get the female's attention.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Sexual dimorphism -- it has to be terrifying to be the little one.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/13/sexual-dimorphism-its-scary/
Attachments:
Tech moguls Altman, Bezos and Zuckerberg donate to Trump's inauguration fund
The donations are seen as the latest example of tech moguls' changing stance toward the incoming president. During his first administration, Trump clashed with Bezos and Zuckerberg.
Elmo needs a new streaming home after Max drops Sesame Street
Image: Max
After next season, Max will no longer be the place to watch new episodes of beloved children's show Sesame Street first, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Platform owner Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to renew its HBO and Max deal with producer Sesame Workshop, which means new episodes of the series will need to find a new home.
Sesame Street is one of several shows for children on Max, but I find that other streaming services such as Disney Plus, Netflix, and even YouTube Kids have more content for parents to play for kids. According to THR, ending its deal for new Sesame Street episodes is part of a change in strategy to focus on adult and broader family content, such as the upcoming Harry Potter series for 2026.
The company is still going to keep current episodes streaming through 2027. Last year, Sesame Workshop executive Kay Wilson Stalling told The Hollywood Reporter that the upcoming 56th season (season 55 will be available on Max starting next month) would be a “reimagining” of the show with longer narrative segments and more sophisticated stories.
Sesame Street moved over to HBO in 2016, where new episodes aired before eventually making their way to PBS for free viewing months later. At the time, you could watch the show on demand via the long-gone HBO Go and HBO Now apps, and when Max launched, it picked up the timed-exclusive streaming deal. But a few years removed from investing heavily in kids’ programming and dropping the “HBO” from Max to become more welcoming as a service parents are comfortable with their kids using, now Warner Bros. Discovery is moving forward with a very different plan.
OpenAI just dropped new Elon Musk receipts: ‘You can’t sue your way to AGI’
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
The lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI is really heating up.
OpenAI just dropped a new blog post defending itself against Musk that outlines some new text messages between cofounders Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and former board member Shivon Zilis.
“You can’t sue your way to AGI,” the OpenAI blog post reads, referring to artificial general intelligence, which Altman has promised soon. “We have great respect for Elon’s accomplishments and gratitude for his early contributions to OpenAl, but he should be competing in the marketplace rather than the courtroom. It is critical for the U.S. to remain the global leader in Al. Our mission is to ensure AGI benefits all of humanity, and we have been and will remain a mission-driven organization. We hope Elon shares that goal, and will uphold the values of innovation and free market competition that have driven his own success.”
The blog highlights Musk’s attempts to maneuver into the CEO position and gain majority control of the company (though it adds that on one call Musk said he “didn’t care about equity” but “just needed to accumulate $80B for a city on Mars”). Musk also proposed that OpenAI spin into Tesla, which has been previously revealed. When the negotiations fell apart because OpenAI’s cofounders rejected his proposal (Brockman and Sutskever admitted they had fears of a power struggle), Musk resigned from the company.
The blog said that after Musk resigned, he hosted a goodbye all-hands with the team where he encouraged them to “pursue the path we saw to raising billions per year” and that “he would pursue advanced Al research at Tesla, which was the only vehicle he believed could obtain this level of funding.”
Later, around the time Musk was working to acquire Twitter, he texted Altman that he was “disturbed” to see the company’s new $20 billion valuation. “De facto. I provided almost all the seed, A and most of B round funding,” he wrote, according to the disclosed texts. “This is a bait and switch.”
A few months after that interaction, Musk started an OpenAI competitor, xAI.
Some of the messages published by OpenAI were previously outlined in court filings that Musk made in his ongoing suit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. The lawsuit, filed by Musk in March, alleges that OpenAI had strayed from its original nonprofit mission to develop AI for the public good (he withdrew it in June 2024 without explanation, then refiled in August 2024).
Today’s update from OpenAI attempts to counter Musk’s narrative by offering evidence that he, not Altman, attempted to seize control in the company’s early days — a direct response to Musk’s recent lawsuit claims about Altman’s power consolidation.
Developing...
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
In 2024 I launched and tried to do too many side writing projects and it was splitting my efforts. In 2025, I am focusing on my main blog and my link blog. 🎉
Leak: Lenovo’s larger Legion handheld adds OLED and keeps the detachable mouse
A leaked image of the new Lenovo Legion Go. | Image via Evan Blass
Earlier today, Evan Blass revealed an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S handheld gaming PC with an extremely intriguing twist: a Steam button that suggests it could be the first third-party SteamOS handheld, and thus the first true competitor to the Steam Deck.
But that handheld gaming PC apparently won’t be alone: Blass just provided The Verge with these images of a new, larger Lenovo Legion Go as well.
As you can see, this Legion Go plans to keep the detachable Joy-Con like gamepads and kickstand that were the single most distinctive features of the original — and they’ll keep the “FPS mode” where you can plop one of those controllers on a disc-shaped skate and use it like a vertical mouse.
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Image via Evan Blass
But one model may also swap out the Legion Go’s 8.8-inch IPS LCD screen for one with an OLED panel at the same size, according to the original filenames of these images. That should mean improved colors and deeper blacks, and potentially improved response times.
We don’t have any specs or marketing claims yet, though, like the all-important battery life size. Nor have we gotten a glimpse of the ports on this system. There is an AMD Z2 Extreme chip coming that could likely be the core of this handheld, but we don’t yet know.
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Image via Evan Blass
In my review of the original Legion Go, I was mixed on the detachable controllers with their sharp-ish edges and loads of extra mouse buttons that made them awkward to hold. These one seem to be far more smoothly sculpted, though, with revised mouse buttons on the right detachable pad, and a cover you can place over the mounting rail so the copper charging pins don’t poke your palm.
The images we’ve seen do not feature a Steam button, so it’s quite likely Lenovo is still hedging its bets with Windows in addition to SteamOS.
But we are much more confident in our prediction that the smaller Lenovo Legion Go S will be a SteamOS handheld. Blass showed me filenames that suggest the S will be “powered by” Steam, mirroring Valve’s new branding guidelines for “Powered by SteamOS” devices.
Valve defines “Powered by SteamOS” as “hardware running the SteamOS operating system, implemented in close collaboration with Valve.”
We’ve reached out to Valve and Lenovo to hopefully learn more.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Here’s an old HTML tutorial from 2006 published on the Stanford website. HTML really is a wonder. The methodology may be outdated but, for the most post, you can write the mark-up described in this tutorial and it’ll still work twenty years later. http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/~petrie/jumpidx.htm
Netflix Will Make Squid Game: Unleashed Free For All To Play
In an act of holiday magnanimity (and crafty marketing), Netflix is giving everyone a new way to compete with your friends. On December 17, the streamer will release its mobile game Squid Game: Unleashed for everyone to play for free, regardless of whether they have a Netflix subscription or not.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
More Perfect Union via Bluesky:
"BREAKING: Amazon workers in NYC are going on strike right before Christmas—the company’s busiest time."
There’s a tonal shift happening in every comment section across the web. Or, maybe, the lack of a Meta-made algorithm is revealing a sentiment previously hidden. Just a few years ago, most comments under news like this would be expressing everything but solidarity. Now, we’re seeing some real ... https://micro.fromjason.xyz/2024/12/13/more-perfect-union.html
Space Marine 2 Devs Are Working On A New Turok Game
Last night during the Game Awards, Saber Interactive and Universal Studios revealed Turok: Origins, a third-person co-op shooter that marks the first new entry in the franchise since 2019. Origins doesn’t have a release date yet, but is being developed by the same studio that was behind the fantastic Space Marine 2.
Trump is probably going to kill the crash reporting rule that made Tesla look bad
Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Donald Trump’s transition team is taking aim at a Biden-era rule requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes that involve fully or partially autonomous vehicles, according to Reuters. Scrapping the crash reporting rule would greatly benefit Tesla, which to date, has reported the most number of crashes.
In 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a standing general order (SGO) requiring automakers and tech companies to report crashes involving autonomous vehicles as well as Level 2 driver-assist systems found in millions of vehicles on the road today. Companies are now required to document collisions when an automated driving system was in use within 30 seconds of impact and report those incidents to the government.
The idea was to create more transparency around the deployment of a new technology that purports to improve safety but has also been tied to a number of deadly incidents. Regulators argued that more data was needed to determine whether these new systems were making roads safer or simply making driving more convenient.
Tesla, in particular, came under scrutiny. The company’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which are considered Level 2 systems that require drivers to pay attention, are both covered under the rule. Since it was implemented, Tesla has reported over 1,500 crashes to the federal government, Reuters says. An analysis of the crash data shows Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to NHTSA through October of this year.
Tesla’s numbers were much higher than other companies, most likely due to the fact that it sells more vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems than its rivals and collects more data. But it also resulted in a huge headache for the company. NHTSA has launched several investigations into Tesla’s driver-assist technology, most of which centered on crashes reported under the SGO.
Several sources close to Tesla told Reuters that the company “despises” the standing general order and concluded that it would need a change in administration in order to get rid of it. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was one of Trump’s most vocal defenders, spending at least $277 million of his own money to back his campaign. Musk has since been appointed to head the Department of Government Efficiency with the goal of cutting government spending.
Trump is also considering getting rid of other policies opposed by Tesla, including generous subsidies for EV companies. Musk believes Tesla is better positioned to weather a subsidy-free environment than other automakers due to its scale and maturity. Musk is also lobbying Trump to ease restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles in advance of Tesla’s plans to produce its own robotaxi in 2026.
How to prevent drowning: a ground-breaking report that's startling yet hopeful
The World Health Organization gathered data from 139 countries for its first-ever report on how to prevent drowning.
Naughty Dog's Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet Trailer Has Completely Won Me Over
As I perused the many trailers that appeared at last night’s Game Awards, I had a fair few moments of, “Ooh, yes!” and “Oh wow, that looks fun!” but it wasn’t until the reveal for Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet that I sat up and said, “I need to play this now please.” Given I absolutely did not like The Last of Us …
The Trump Conflicts of Interest Policy Could Be Even Worse Than Last Time
In an interview this week, Eric Trump promised that his father will build a “very large wall” between the incoming first family’s private business interests and any government business. Then, apparently without a hint of irony or shame, he took the stage at a crypto conference—which he attended as a representative of the crypto company […]
EVgo nabs $1.25 billion loan as Biden races to approve more EV spending
Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
The US Department of Energy announced a $1.25 billion loan to electric vehicle charging company EVgo as the Biden administration races to finalize its spending on EVs before Donald Trump takes office. The money will fund EVgo’s plans to install approximately 7,500 chargers at roughly 1,100 charging stations across the US over the next five years, with a particular focus on fast-charging 350kW stalls that can charge two vehicles simultaneously.
But more importantly, it shows how President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office. Trump has promised to reverse or cancel much of the spending by Biden on EVs once he assumes office. He has said he will kill the $7,500 tax credit for new EV purchases and wipe out the rest of the spending from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on EV charging infrastructure.
President Joe Biden is intent on doling out as much money for EV projects as he can before leaving office
With a little more than a month left in office, Biden’s Energy Department has been furiously approving EV-related loans. Stellantis and Samsung were given preliminary approval for $7.54 billion for a battery factory in Indiana, while Rivian will receive $6.6 billion for an EV plant in Georgia.
The loans are also intended to be job creators, the administration says. For example, EVgo said its expansion project will support the creation of 180 external construction jobs and over 550 maintenance and support jobs.
EVgo, which is based in Los Angeles, is working with General Motors on the installation of thousands of EV chargers across the country. The companies recently celebrated the activation of their 2,000th charging stall.
The fragmented and frustrating nature of our current EV charging landscape has been widely — and correctly — cited as one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption. Owners frequently complain about unreliable charging or broken equipment as one of the most frustrating things about driving an EV.
After his election, Biden vowed to build 500,000 chargers by 2030 as a way to spur more EV sales, including $7.5 billion for charging expansion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. While the first few years of funding were rather sluggish, recent updates have shown that things are finally picking up.
In its release, the DOE said, “there are currently more than 204,000 publicly available charging ports, with nearly 38,000 new public chargers already having been added this year and nearly 1,000 new public chargers being added every week thanks to a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, state and local funding, and private investment.”
That includes both Level 2 chargers and DC fast chargers. That’s roughly double the number of ports in operation at the outset of 2021 when Biden first took office.
The Flawed Game Awards Delivered Its Best Show In Years
The Game Awards creator and host Geoff Keighley has spent his life in the vicinity of the video game industry’s Hollywood-inferiority complex. He’s been attached to weird collisions of gaming culture, pageantry, and celebrity cameos dating back to Cybermania ‘94 where, at 15 years old, he was an “interactive product…
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Me vibing to GNX for the thousandth time instead of working. https://music.apple.com/us/album/gnx/1781270319
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Will Luigi Mangione's tipster get the $60K reward? It's complicated
The FBI and NYPD offered up to $60,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect. But cashing in on the reward is a complicated process.
Anker’s new 5K MagSafe battery is slimmer and faster
Anker’s slim MagSafe power bank now supports Qi2 wireless charging speeds. | Image: Anker
Anker has released its thinnest MagSafe-compatible power bank, measuring about a third of an inch thick. It’s only got a 5,000mAh battery inside, so you probably won’t get two full iPhone charges with it, but Anker has updated it with 15W Qi2 wireless charging speeds so your phone can charge faster.
It’s currently available exclusively through Apple’s online and retail stores for $49.95 in either blue or white, making it $10 more expensive than the older MagGo 621 Magnetic Battery that Anker still sells through its website. For comparison, the older version of the 5K battery is 0.45-inches thick and only supports wireless charging speeds up to 7.5W.
The bidirectional USB-C port on the bottom of the power bank can charge it or other devices at 20W. However, when both power outputs are in use, wireless charging speeds drop to 5W, while the USB-C port slows to 12W. The battery is compatible with iPhone models going back to the iPhone 12, but it will also work with Android devices that fully support the Qi2 specifications.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
The first time I saw The Shawshank Redemption I was home sick from school. I watched it three times in a row on TBS. Twenty-something years later, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching this film. It’s perfect.
Attachments:
- Movie still, The Shawshank Redemption: Two men stand next to each other in a prison yard wearing prison clothes.
- Movie still, The Shawshank Redemption: men walk in suits in line handcuffed.
- Movie still, The Shawshank Redemption: men in prison clothes leaning against a stone wall looking on.
- Movie still, The Shawshank Redemption: Man, presumably the director sits next to Morgan Freeman whispers in his ear.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi injured during trip abroad
A spokesperson said Pelosi was "admitted to the hospital for evaluation."
Game-like ‘task scams’ stole more than $220 million in six months
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning Americans about “game-like online job scams” that get people to perform tasks with the promise of a continuous income stream — only to be duped into giving money to the scammer. The FTC says in the first six months of this year, these “task scams” have raked in over $220 million from victims, often in the form of cryptocurrency. It’s accounted for about 40 percent of all scam reports in 2024.
There were 20,000 reports of task scams in the first half of 2024, a sharp increase from only 5,000 from 2020-2023.
These scams often start with a WhatsApp or text message to a victim asking them to do tasks about “app optimization” or “product boosting.” Sometimes, the scammers initially pay small amounts of money to seem trustworthy. Afterward, they convince victims to pay into some tasks with the promise of a larger payout, and then the scammers run away with the money.
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Image: FTC
These are the three tips the FTC listed to avoid getting scammed:
Ignore generic and unexpected texts or WhatsApp messages about jobs. Real employers will never contact you that way.
Never pay anyone to get paid. Someone telling you to pay money to get the money you have supposedly earned is a sure sign of a scam. No legit business would ever do that.
Don’t trust anyone who says they’ll pay you to rate or “like” things online. That’s illegal and no honest company will do it.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
NataliaArmyOf1@mstdn.social wrote:
i hear no lies...
Attachments:
- @JPHillllll : A Florida woman has been charged for ending a call with BlueCross BlueShield with the words, “Delay, Deny, Depose. You people are next.” comment from @Honeymilkty: This is so ??!?? Bc as a woman u could be like “this guy said he’s gonna kill me” and the cops will be like we can’t do anything until he hurts u (remote)
Lenovo might soon announce a SteamOS handheld
Image: Evan Blass (X)
Valve revealed earlier this year that it will support the ROG Ally handheld with its Steam Deck operating system, and now it looks like Lenovo will soon have its own SteamOS handheld, too. Evan Blass has posted images of an unannounced Lenovo Legion Go S on X today, revealing black and white variants of a handheld gaming PC. The interesting part? The black one has a Steam button.
While the low resolution images don’t immediately scream SteamOS, if you look closely you’ll notice a Steam logo is visible on a button to the left of the display. Interestingly, the white model doesn’t have the same Steam button — which could indicate Lenovo is preparing Windows- and SteamOS-powered models of its Legion Go S.
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Image: Evan Blass (X)
You can clearly see a Steam logo on the button to the left of the display.
PC makers like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI have all opted for Windows-based handhelds so far, but as consumer patience with Windows on tiny screens wears thin and Microsoft’s progress in improving the experience is slow, it seems like OEMs are looking for a better alternative.
Lenovo’s potential entry into a SteamOS handheld comes just days after Valve quietly updated a document with new branding guidelines that include “Powered by SteamOS” hardware. It’s the surest sign yet that Valve is working with more third-party hardware manufacturers, beyond Asus, to certify devices with SteamOS. With CES 2025 just a few weeks away, we could be about to witness a lot more SteamOS-powered hardware.
Valve has been here before, though. At CES in 2013, it tried to tempt PC manufacturers to sign up to its Steam Machines initiative, but it didn’t get far enough with developers to convince them to port games to Linux to make these machines successful. There’s reason to believe this time things will be very different, thanks to Proton. The Steam Deck uses the Proton software compatibility layer and has already proved that many Windows games can even run better on Linux as a result.
As my colleague Sean Hollister wrote earlier this month: “it’s just as intriguing an idea as it was 12 years ago when Gabe Newell explained the initial vision to us, and this time, there’s a far better chance it’ll work.”
Sonic X Shadow Generations’ DLC Has The Weirdest Keanu Reeves Line Read I've Ever Heard
I love Keanu Reeves’ performances most of the time. Yeah, the Matrix and John Wick actor maybe doesn’t have a huge range in terms of acting styles, but his somewhat soulful, sometimes flat delivery can work for a myriad of roles. He’s successfully played the stoic leading man in films like the aforementioned Matrix and…
Google’s NotebookLM AI podcast hosts can now talk to you, too
Illustration: The Verge
Google’s NotebookLM and its podcast-like Audio Overviews have been a surprise hit this year, and today Google company is starting to roll out a big new feature: the ability to actually talk with the AI “hosts” of the overviews.
When the feature is available to you, you can try it out with new Audio Overviews. (It won’t work with old ones.) Here’s how, according to a blog post:
Create a new Audio Overview.
Tap the new Interactive mode (BETA) button.
While listening, tap “Join.” A host will call on you.
Ask your question. The hosts will respond with a personalized answer based on your sources.
After answering, they’ll resume the original Audio Overview.
The ability to actually talk with NotebookLM seems like a potentially useful way to learn more about what you’ve collected in the app. But Google cautions that it’s an “experimental feature” and that “hosts may also pause awkwardly before responding or occasionally introduce inaccuracies,” so it may not be a totally polished experience to start.
In addition to the interactive Audio Overviews, Google is introducing a new interface for NotebookLM that organizes things into three areas: a “sources” panel for your information, a “chat” panel to talk with an AI chatbot about the sources, and a “studio” panel that lets you make things like Audio Overviews and Study Guides. I think it looks nice.
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GIF: Google
Google is announcing a NotebookLM subscription, too: NotebookLM Plus. The subscription will give you “five times more Audio Overviews, notebooks, and sources per notebook,” let you “customize the style and tone of your notebook responses,” let you make shared team notebooks, and will offer “additional privacy and security,” Google says. The subscription is available today for businesses, schools and universities, and organizations and enterprise customers. It will be added to Google One AI Premium in “early 2025.”
Google is also launching “Agentspace,” a platform for custom AI agents for enterprises. “Agentspace can provide conversational assistance, answer complex questions, make proactive suggestions and take actions based on your company’s unique information,” Google says. It also has connectors for apps like Microsoft SharePoint, Jira, and ServiceNow.
Kraven the Hunter is the flimsiest strand in Sony’s spider-free web
Sony
Sony has made bad Spider-Man spinoff movies before, but Kraven the Hunter is another level of terrible.
A Bloody Take on Pong Could Be Coming To Possible Secret Level Season 2
What if Pong was played in a bloodbath? If Tim Miller and Dave Wilson, producers of Amazon Prime Video’s adult animation series Secret Level, have their way, we’ll see something of that sort across our TV screens in the near future. Speaking with ScreenRant, the pair discussed the video games they would love to put a…
Platforms need the news — but they’re killing it
Image: The Verge / Photos: Getty
Media critic Matt Pearce on ‘Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history’
Waymo’s robotaxis pass the first responder test
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Waymo’s driverless vehicles can detect emergency vehicles, know how to respond to hand signals for traffic cops, and can be disabled manually when something goes wrong, according to an independent review of the company’s first responder protocols.
As such, the Alphabet company’s first responder protocols passed an independent review conducted by Tüv Süd, a German tech inspection company. The firm’s assessment found that Waymo’s First Responder Program “meets industry standards” for responding to emergency situations, which is in line with the best practices set out in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
Waymo — and indeed the entire autonomous vehicle industry — has been under intense scrutiny, especially around how its driverless cars behave around police, fire, and other emergency responders. But Waymo is staking out the position that it goes beyond what’s required to prove that its vehicles are trustworthy.
The firm’s assessment found that Waymo’s First Responder Program “meets industry standards”
Case in point: having its first responder protocols scrutinized by an independent group like Tüv Süd. The company has also publicly released its own guide for first responders who are responding to incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The 32-page document includes a toll free number for getting in touch with remote operators, a visual guide for disabling the vehicle’s autonomous mode, and instructions for how to disconnect the high-voltage battery.
Waymo also hosts training sessions for police and fire officials in the cities in which it operates. The company says it has trained 15,000 first responders from over 75 agencies.
Waymo isn’t the only company to seek Tüv Süd’s stamp of approval. The German firm also audited Aurora’s safety guidelines for its self-driving trucks, as well as protocols for autonomous freight company Gatik.
Given some of the history, it’s understandable why Waymo feels it needs to go to such lengths to assure first responders that it's a good actor. In San Francisco last year, city officials pleaded with regulators to reconsider a measure to allow robotaxis to operate 24/7, citing a spate of incidents in which autonomous vehicles have stopped traffic, blocked buses, or obstructed emergency vehicles. And despite Waymo’s efforts to promote itself as a safe operator, these incidents keep happening.
Last July, Phoenix police pulled over a driverless Waymo vehicle that was driving in the oncoming lane of traffic. (The company blamed “inconsistent” construction signs.) And in October, a Waymo car ignored police in Austin trying to direct traffic outside a football game. Meanwhile, another Waymo partially blocked an intersection nearby and prevented an escorted bus from passing through, according to Axios. (The company said these were minor occurrences and that its vehicles provide thousands of rides each week in Austin without incident.)
As Waymo continues to slowly march ahead, launching in new cities and taking on new partners, the company is mindful that one bad incident is all it takes for everything to collapse. It happened to Uber and, more recently, to Cruise. That’s why it needs to take all precautions it can to prove that its vehicles are as safe, if not safer, than human drivers.
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