Paramount CEO Bob Bakish steps down as merger inches closer
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Paramount has removed Bob Bakish as CEO — and it doesn’t have plans to fill the role. The company announced the news as part of its earnings results on Monday, which will leave Paramount reliant on a committee made up of three executives.
The new Office of the CEO consists of George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios, and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. Reports first emerged of Bakish’s potential departure on Friday.
Bakish has been with the company since 1997 and became CEO of Viacom in 2016. He remained in the position when Viacom and CBS Corporation merged in 2019 to form Paramount...
ChatGPT’s AI ‘memory’ can remember the preferences of paying customers
Illustration: The Verge
OpenAI announced the Memory feature that allows ChatGPT to store queries, prompts, and other customizations more permanently in February. At the time, it was only available to a “small portion” of users, but now it’s available for ChatGPT Plus paying subscribers outside of Europe or Korea.
ChatGPT’s Memory works in two ways to make the chatbot’s responses more personalized. The first is by letting you tell ChatGPT to remember certain details, and the second is by learning from conversations similar to other algorithms in our apps. Memory brings ChatGPT closer to being a better AI assistant. Once it remembers your preferences, it can include them without needing a reminder.
As The Verge’s David Pierce pointed out, some users can find it...
FCC fines AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon nearly $200 million for illegally sharing location data
Photo by Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
The Federal Communications Commission is fining the largest US mobile carriers a combined nearly $200 million for allegedly illegally sharing customers’ location data without their consent.
The FCC says it found the carriers “sold access to its customers’ location information to ‘aggregators,’ who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers.” The agency says the carriers effectively “attempted to offload” their responsibility to get customers’ consent to share their location data with “downstream recipients.” Even after being made aware of the issue, the FCC claims, the carriers still failed to limit access to the information.
The fines vary across carriers. T-Mobile faces the largest at $80...
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Fascism is a boot on your face, forever and ever.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/29/those-darned-talking-boots/
Attachments:
What consumers should know as Philips agrees to $1.1 billion CPAP settlement
Under a related deal, users who return devices by Aug. 9 can get an extra $100. As part of the recall, the company is offering repairs, replacements or refunds of the machines' cost.
Can Rabbit’s R1 outsmart the smartphone assistants? Let’s find out!
Are any of them smarter than just googling the answer? | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Welcome to another episode of the fantastic new game show where we quiz virtual assistants! Say it with me, folks: “Are you smarter than just googling it?” Let’s welcome our contestants.
You probably know our first two contestants from such hits as “Set a timer for me” and “How much time is left on my timer?”: Siri and Google Assistant! Big round of applause for these hard-working smartphone assistants. Next up is a newcomer — it’s sleek, it’s orange, it’s the Rabbit R1!
We’ll quiz them to see just how smart these virtual know-it-alls are. Let’s get started with the lightning round. The first question is a classic: What’s the weather today?
- Siri: Expect rain today.
- Google Assistant: Rain.
- Rabbit R1: Let me see what I can find. Today...
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
TonyStark@progressivecafe.social ("Tony the Mechanic") wrote:
Media wants to tell you one thing. Election results and reality point to something else.
If you have the time and ability, please continue donating to and volunteering for Democrats running for 2024.
Democrats in Trump Districts Are Outraising Republicans in Biden Districts:
https://time.com/6969222/democrats-republicans-fundraising-crossover-districts/
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io ("mekka okereke :verified:") wrote:
Again for people (racists), complaining about falling birth rates:
The birth rate for women over 40 is not falling. The birth rate for women over 30 is not falling.
What's happening, is girls 15 to 17 are having fewer babies. Kids are having fewer kids.
Also, this is an interesting way of saying that "Teen pregnancy is down, due to sex education and contraception."
In 1991 25% of 15 year olds gave birth before they turned 21. That's bad. Now it's 6%. That's better.
https://npr.org/2023/01/08/1147737247/teen-pregnancy-rates-have-declined-significantly
Attachments:
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
nixCraft ("nixCraft 🐧") wrote:
Cheyenne Super Computer: An SGI ICE XA Cluster, the Cheyenne supercomputer features 145,152 Intel Xeon processor cores in 4,032 dual-socket nodes (36 cores/node) and 313 TB of total memory.
Attachments:
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
our society just needs more firearms, amirite?
“Multiple law officers shot at Galway Drive in east Charlotte | Charlotte Observer”
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article288117775.html
How much should I spend on a wedding present? Life Kit's tips of the month
Our April roundup of expert advice includes a nifty negotiation tactic, guidance on how to prevent digital eye strain and why you should travel during 'shoulder season.'
Streamer Builds Hilarious Skyrim Mod That Lets Twitch Chat Voice NPCs
All these years later, it seems folks just can’t stop playing Bethesda’s hit open-world game Skyrim. Originally released in 2011, the fantasy action-RPG has been re-re-re-released on just about every platform since, and is one of the most popular games to download mods for. Software-engineer-turned-Twitch-streamer…
Why The Life Is Strange Devs Aren’t Making A Sequel With Lost Records
The Life Is Strange series started as French developer Don’t Nod’s baby back when the first game’s episodic rollout began in 2015. After two games, publisher Square Enix has placed the franchise in the hands of Deck Nine Games, which worked on the prequel Before the Storm and the most recent game in the series, True…
Peacock is getting a $2 price increase
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Peacock is getting another price hike. Starting this summer, Peacock’s ad-supported Premium plan will go from $5.99 to $7.99 per month, and its Premium Plus plan will increase from $11.99 to $13.99 per month.
The $2 increase will take effect on July 18th for new customers, while current subscribers will see the price hike on August 17th. Meanwhile, the annual plans will cost $79.99 for Premium and $139.99 for Premium Plus. Peacock raised prices across both of its plans last year — and that was after it took away its free membership for new users.
As part of its first quarter earnings results last week, Comcast said Peacock added 3 million paid subscribers over the past few months, bringing its total number of subscribers to 34 million....
7 Sonic Easter Eggs In The Knuckles Show
The Knuckles Paramount+ show is real bad at giving Sonic the Hedgehog characters the spotlight. Despite having his name at the top, Knuckles is only in the show for half its runtime and barely speaks when he’s there. But despite the lack of anthropomorphic characters throughout, the show does have quite a few…
Meta had its biggest lobbying quarter ever
Illustration: Nick Barclay / The Verge
Meta had its biggest lobbying quarter ever in the first few months of 2024, spending a record $7.6 million engaging with the US government, according to its public lobbying filing released last week.
It’s a 64 percent jump from its spending in the fourth quarter of 2023 and represents more than a third of what Meta spent on lobbying the entirety of last year. The blockbuster quarter underscores just how much pending legislation is aimed at Meta and its peers — on everything from data privacy, kids online safety, and content moderation.
Still, Meta says the sharp uptick is largely due to compensation for its lobbying team. “The increase in Meta’s lobbying expenditures is due principally to operating expenses, including changes to the...
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Lets The Life Is Strange Devs Grow Up
Don’t Nod has spent a lot of the past decade writing about teenagers and young adults. After creating the Life Is Strange franchise in 2015, much of the studio’s most well-known portfolio has been made up of adventure games capturing the raw, unbridled emotion of being in your developing years, but with a supernatural…
GitHub Copilot can now help start a project with AI, not just complete it
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
GitHub wants Copilot, its code completion platform powered by GPT-4, present throughout the lifecycle of development, including the very beginning of a coding project.
The company is announcing GitHub Copilot Workspace, a new service that aims to cut down the time engineers and developers spend reading through code and figuring out how to start on a new project. Workspace will only be available in technical preview for a waitlist of developers, but it will be integrated into the larger GitHub Copilot platform after it exits preview.
GitHub wrote in a blog post that Copilot Workspace will be integrated into GitHub repositories or libraries. Developers can describe to Copilot Workspace, through prompts, what they want to do for the...
Walmart Launches Roblox Store, Offering New Worst Way To Buy Stuff Online
Walmart has launched its Roblox store, letting users buy digital items inside the game that are also sent to them physically via the mail. According to Walmart, it hopes that its stores and tech will power future Roblox commerce. It’s yet another example of companies desperately trying to figure out how to suck money…
Razer made a million dollars selling a mask with RGB, and the FTC is not pleased
Image: Razer
Razer will have to fork over $1.1 million in refunds to customers who purchased its RGB-clad Zephyr face mask, according to a proposed settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. The company claimed the face mask used N95-grade filters, but the FTC alleges Razer never submitted them for testing and only “stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims.”
Razer first released its Zephyr face mask in 2021 as a nifty, cyberpunk-esque alternative to traditional face masks worn during the covid-19 pandemic. Although Razer initially marketed the $100 mask as having N95-grade filters, it scrubbed any mention of the grade after YouTuber Naomi Wu tore down the mask...
Microsoft starts rolling out OneDrive’s offline mode on the web
Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is starting to roll out a new offline mode for OneDrive on the web for work and school users. It’s part of an ongoing overhaul to OneDrive that’s also seen the cloud storage service updated with an improved UI, folder colors, and much more.
The new OneDrive offline mode will let users of the web side of the service open files that have been marked available as offline and navigate to favorite files and the home section of OneDrive without an internet connection. You can also rename, sort, move, and copy files, and these will all be synced up once you have an internet connection again.
Image: Microsoft
You can select what files you want to be available offline through the web version of OneDrive.
The...
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange ("The Nexus of Privacy") wrote:
Fork it! It's time for a Mastodon hard fork
https://privacy.thenexus.today/mastodon-hard-fork-2
A Mastodon hard fork that focuses on safety, community, accessibility, and working well with others has a great opportunity to improve safety in the fediverse, the dynamics of the Mastodon ecosystem, and fediverse software development in general. #ForkIt!
Potentially interested in getting involved? See the polls in the replies!
Contents
Part 1
- A missing fork in the landscape* Okay, but why a hard fork?* There's a big elephant in the federated room (and I don't mean Mastodon)* An opportunity for broad participation and a cultural reset
Part 2
- Safety is an especially good area to focus on* There are also a lot of other areas for improvement
Part 3
- It's not as easy as it sounds ...* But it's not like it defies the laws of physics!* What about funding?* Make sure most of the funding goes to Black, Indigenous, Muslim, trans, queer, and disabled people
Part 4
- It's not an either-or situation* A lot of open questions - and a lot of potential upside* Stay tuned!
There's a lot to discuss here, so this is a looong post. If there are some sections that interest you more than others feel free to skip around.
All the news from Xbox’s spring indie game showcase
Image: The Verge
ID@Xbox has put together its own indie showcase to show off a host of indie games coming to console and PC.
The Stellar Blade 'Censorship' Circus Explained
Stellar Blade is a PlayStation 5 sci-fi action exclusive about fighting monsters and saving humanity in a stylish post-apocalyptic world. So why are thousands of its self-identified fans signing a petition to “Free Stellar Blade” from censorship? The answer is surprisingly complicated and kind of sad.
Top British gymnast Ondine Achampong tears ACL, may miss Paris Olympic Games
Ondine Achampong says she tore her ACL during a bars dismount. The surgery and recovery from the knee injury can take up to a year. She was expected to be a medalist at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
This Indie Game Captures The Oddly Beautiful Liminality Of Pools
For a lot of people, indie game POOLS will lean into horror territory. While the walking simulator doesn’t have any monsters chasing you down, the liminal design of its environment is very capable of unsettling the player. Long, interconnected rooms of tiling and oddly-shaped bodies of water sloshing back and forth…
The UK beefs up smart home security by going after bad default passwords
Illustration by Carlo Cadenas / The Verge
The UK is doing away with bad default passwords. With updates to the country’s Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PSTI) that came into force today, regulators say that tech gadgets that can connect to the internet or a local wired network must either have a unique default password or be definable by the person who owns it.
Under the update, manufacturers will have to make it easy for people to report security issues. The PSTI also now requires them to give clear expectations for when those filing the reports can expect acknowledgment and status updates afterward. Violations of the law can result in fines as high as £10 million (about $12.5 million USD) or 4 percent of their “qualifying worldwide revenue,”...
Gaming Collective Faze Clan Goes Through A Massive Purge
Gaming frat house and influencer group FaZe Clan is going back to its roots, apparently. Co-founder Richard “Banks” Bengston assumed control of the organization late last year, and on April 27, he decided to purge 17 members in a devastating reboot that left content creators shook by the decision-makkng.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
“I blame Facebook for January 6.” Aaron Sorkin is writing a sequel to The Social Network. “There’s supposed to be a constant tension at Facebook between growth and integrity. There isn’t. It’s just growth.” https://variety.com/2024/film/news/aaron-sorkin-social-network-2-sequel-january-6-facebook-1235983390/
Amazon says its Prime deliveries are getting even faster
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
To me, Prime’s promise of two-day shipping is more of an added bonus to Prime Video and stuff like Fallout. But it’s become an expectation, leading other retailers like Walmart and Target to roll out faster shipping options of their own.
Now, Amazon says its deliveries are getting even faster, announcing that it delivered over 2 billion items the same or next day to Prime members during the first three months of 2024, breaking its record for 2023. The company says it delivered almost 60 percent of Prime orders the same or next day in 60 of the biggest metropolitan areas in the US.
If you buy from Amazon, have you noticed any differences lately? Same-day and next-day options seem to be more widely available, but it’s hard to tell how...
Mercedes-Benz won’t let Apple CarPlay take over all its screens
Image: Posche (via Car & Driver)
Mercedes-Benz doesn’t have any plans to adopt Apple’s immersive, next-generation version of CarPlay, the German automaker’s CEO said in an episode of Decoder.
“The short answer is no,” Ola Källenius told The Verge’s Nilay Patel in response to a question about whether Mercedes-Benz will enable Apple CarPlay to take over all the screens inside its vehicles. Instead, he touts the need for a “holistic software architecture” to meet the needs of customers who are increasingly looking for a better technology experience from their vehicles.
“The short answer is no.”
Apple announced its next-gen version of CarPlay, in which the phone-mirroring feature would extend beyond the central touchscreen to also include additional screens like the gauge...
Quiz: Can you pass our 9 question test on the latest theories of COVID-19 transmission
The World Health Organization has issued a report updating terminology and explanations regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus. See if you're up on the latest vocab.
Google’s Pixel Watch 2 is matching its lowest price with $50 off
If you’re not a Samsung user, this is the best Android smartwatch you can buy. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Google I/O is right around the corner, and if history repeats itself, the company will likely use its annual keynote to announce new software features across all of its various platforms, including Android, Chrome, and Search. Google also sometimes brings a surprise device announcement to the party, but we wouldn’t bet on a new flagship smartwatch considering the Google Pixel Watch 2 was only released in October. If you’re a Pixel fan looking to upgrade, the flagship Wear OS smartwatch is matching the lowest price we’ve seen with Amazon, Best Buy, and Google taking it down to $299.99 ($50 off).
The Pixel Watch 2 is our favorite smartwatch for Fitbit fans, easily taking the crown from its predecessor by adding even more Fitbit-powered...
Final Fantasy 16: The Best Ways To Farm AP And EXP Fast
Final Fantasy 16 streamlines many of the RPG elements typically seen in the Final Fantasy series, but you’ll still need to grind to max out Clive’s stats. Initially, this looks like a daunting task. And as of The Rising Tide DLC, you’ll have two more ability sets to master on top of an expanded level cap of 110 (or 60…
Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius on not using Apple’s next-gen CarPlay and why EVs are still the future
Photo illustration by The Verge / Photo: Mercedes-Benz
The all-EV future might not land in 2030, but it’s coming — and a new slate of challenges is coming with it.
Kingdom Hearts Movie Reportedly In The Works
Kingdom Hearts, Square Enix’s Disney x Final Fantasy crossover, has been around so long it’s surprising we haven’t gotten some kind of animated series or film before now. Things got close at one point about 20 years ago, and you can find a rough animatic of the pilot featuring the original game’s voice talent. But…
Duel of the dual-screen laptops: Asus Zenbook Duo vs. Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
Their small variations in design make a big difference.
Supreme Court rejects Elon Musk’s efforts to get rid of his ‘Twitter sitter’
Illustration by Laura Normand / The Verge
Elon Musk’s efforts to nullify a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that requires him to get a lawyer’s preapproval for some posts related to Tesla has been rejected by the US Supreme Court.
Musk has been required to receive approval from his so-called “Twitter sitter” after signing a consent decree with the SEC in 2018 in response to his tweets about taking Tesla private, in which he falsely stated to have “funding secured.”
But ever since agreeing to the settlement, Musk has been trying to wriggle his way out of the consent decree that he have a lawyer review posts that could have a material impact on Tesla before publishing them. Moreover, if the Twitter sitter does indeed exist, no one has stepped forward to...
How Slack used Deno to save months of engineering effort in launching their new platform
Learn how building with Deno helped Slack launch their new development platform in weeks and not months.
Reblogged by pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑"):
fasterandworse@hci.social ("Stephen Farrugia") wrote:
Medium and Linkedin proving this to be overwhelmingly true
Attachments:
As student protesters get arrested, they risk being banned from campus too
Students continue to protest at campuses across the country, despite the risk of arrest. Some schools now threaten demonstrators with disciplinary action, while others promise the opposite.
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
the history of the relation of Jordan as a state
since creation in 1948
and it’s relationship with the Palestinians & the PLO
since they went into exile in 1949 & then 1967
is fraught with
armed as well as demographic conflict
between the Jordanian gov and the Palestiniansthe Jordanian regime’s entanglements with the Eastern Bedouins
are fascinating
in light of other entanglements by the Western Bedouins with Israelhttps://www.britannica.com/place/Jordan/Jordan-under-King-Hussein
Someone Created A Fallout-Inspired Game In Excel That You Can Play At Work
If you thought that Excel spreadsheets were just for mind-numbing office work, think again. A gaming hobbyist has created an Excel-based RPG game that he based on the popular post-apocalyptic game Fallout. It’s the end of the world, all over again.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
How long can American education continue to limp along without the necessary support?
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/29/a-professors-cri-de-coeur/
Attachments:
NHTSA opens investigation into Ford’s BlueCruise after software linked to fatal crash
A Mustang Mach-E running Ford’s hands-free software. | Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an official investigation into Ford’s BlueCruise advanced driver-assistance software after it’s been linked to multiple fatalities while in use. It includes two 2024 incidents that the National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating — one in San Antonio and another in Philadelphia.
The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation notes that the Ford vehicles involved in the fatal crashes hit stationary objects including vehicles stopped in a driving lane on the highway. Ford’s BlueCruise enables hands-free driving on pre-mapped highway roads and uses cameras to both watch drivers and keep its vehicles in the lane. The system was introduced in 2021 in vehicles...
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"Jordan’s government, caught between its majority-Palestinian population and its close cooperation with Israel and the United States, has arrested at least 1,500 people since early October, according to Amnesty International."
Jordan remembers the PLO’s 1970 attempted coup, resulting in thousands of Palestinians killed or expelled & the PLO being driven out of Jordan. demographics are overwhelmingly powerful, sometimes; witness poor Lebanon.
Escape From Tarkov Devs Flail After Putting PvE Behind $250 Paywall
Multiplayer tactical shooter Escape From Tarkov caused much upset in its passionate community last week when it announced it would be adding PvE to the game, but only for those who spent an astonishing $250 on a new bundle, The Unheard Edition. This was made even worse after those who’d previously bought the Edge of…
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
these governments fear anything which they do not control
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Learn to shun stark dichotomies. Don't be like conservatives.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/04/29/rich-people-hate-rainbows-and-grey-areas/
Attachments:
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
The question of whether CSS is a programming language serves only one purpose: to demote those who write it.
There is no confusion that needs to be clarified, and no other purpose to the debate beyond the most trivial kind of pedantry.
The debate itself is an act of gatekeeping, whether intentional or not. Its only meaningful effect is to elevate some work over other work, despite their essentially identical nature.
The only meaningful function of the question is segregation. #css
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
DJDarren@mendeddrum.org wrote:
According to this article, they shred literal tons of devices, regardless of whether they’re serviceable. Just yoink the battery and shred the rest.
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
DJDarren@mendeddrum.org wrote:
It’s just been pointed out to me that the reason Apple runs a trade-in programme for older devices is so they can reduce the size of the used market, and has fuck all to do with recycling.
That’s blown my tiny mind.
ICC reportedly weighs arrest warrants for Israeli officials; new abortion lawsuit
The International Criminal Court is reportedly preparing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. What the latest abortion lawsuit has to do with new rights for pregnant workers
The legal challenges that lie ahead for TikTok — in both the US and China
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images
Having lost its fight in Congress, TikTok faces a tough battle in US courts and with China’s own export controls.
iPads join iPhones in requirement to follow strict EU rules
iOS, Safari, and the App Store were already designated as Gatekeeper services under the DMA in September 2023. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Following an almost eight-month investigation into whether Apple’s iPadOS holds enough market power to warrant stricter regulation, the European Commission has now designated the iPad operating system as a Gatekeeper service under its flagship Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules.
“The Commission concluded that iPadOS constitutes an important gateway for business users to reach end users, and that Apple enjoys an entrenched and durable position with respect to iPadOS,” reads a statement published by the Commission on Monday. “Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations as applied to iPadOS.”
Under the DMA, which came into force on March 7th, iPadOS will now have to comply with a broad range of rules that allow...
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
ariadne@treehouse.systems ("Ariadne Conill 🐰") wrote:
now this is not the content i was expecting from futurism dot com
Attachments:
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
mdhughes@appdot.net ("Digital Mark λ ☕️ 🕹 Z?") wrote:
♫ Little One say good morning
Little One hug the trees
Little One fight the power
But not before you drink your tea This world wasn't built for dreamers But don't let that get you down Don't lose your imagination
Little One stand your ground ♫
https://childrenofthecpu.bandcamp.com/album/back-to-b-a-s-i-c
#music #retrocomputing
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"Taking this case on its own terms as a business records case offers a different and arguably more convincing way to defend its legitimacy… Mr. Trump was a businessman for many years in New York long before he was president. If others would be prosecuted for this conduct and no man is above the law, then he should be, too."
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"Michael Dorf, a law professor at Cornell, said that “the apparent lack of self-awareness on the part of some of the conservative justices was startling.” He noted that “Justice Alito worried about a hypothetical future president attempting to hold onto power in response to the risk of prosecution, while paying no attention to the actual former president who held onto power and now seeks to escape prosecution.”"
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"…when I gave Yohana a spin, I found that I did not want to do the things she [sic] can manage, and that she cannot manage the things I want to do. She made me start to believe that the busywork I might delegate to a machine is actually more human, and valuable, than I realized."
Just Six Companies Create About a Quarter of Global Plastic Waste, Survey Finds
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The more plastic a company makes, the more pollution it creates. That seemingly obvious, yet previously unproven, point, is the main takeaway from a first-of-its-kind study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Researchers from a dozen universities around the world […]
Fiido Air review: so lightweight you’ll forget it’s an e-bike
‘The world’s lightest city e-bike’ claim is worth a test, if not your $1,799.
Elevator or stairs? Your choice could boost longevity, study finds
A new study shows people who are in the habit of climbing stairs are less likely to die from heart disease compared to those who don't. Stair climbers also had a slight boost in longevity.
All grown up, but still fighting? Why more siblings are turning to therapy, together
Plenty of people go to couples therapy — why not siblings therapy? Experts say the long, complicated relationships between siblings are worth exploring and tending to.
Reblogged by nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi"):
schalkneethling@hachyderm.io ("Schalk Neethling") wrote:
“Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement. - "What podcasting holds in the promise of its open format is the proof that an open web can still thrive and be relevant, that it can inspire new systems that are similarly open to take root and grow." https://www.anildash.com//2024/02/06/wherever-you-get-podcasts/ @anildash
Financial Times signs licensing deal with OpenAI
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos by Getty Images
The Financial Times has struck a deal with OpenAI to license its content and develop AI tools, the latest news organization to work with the AI company.
The FT writes in a press release that ChatGPT users will see summaries, quotes, and links to its articles. Any prompt that returns information from the FT will be attributed to the publication.
In return, OpenAI will work with the news organization to develop new AI products. The FT already uses OpenAI products, saying it is a customer of ChatGPT Enterprise. Last month, the FT released a generative AI search function on beta powered by Anthropic’s Claude large language model. Ask FT lets subscribers find information across the publication’s articles.
Financial Times Group CEO John...
Reblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
marcofrasca@mastodon.uno ("Marco Frasca :ironman:") wrote:
E Loops non va bene perché “oh no, dark patterns, algoritmi, aiuto!” quando non è nemmeno ancora uscito (!); e il nuovo board di Mastodon non va bene perché ci sarebbe il co-fondatore di Twitter (quindi ere geologiche preMusk) e un esperto di AI… mi obbligate a dare ragione a quelli che dicono che sul Fediverso si piange e basta…
Military families in Hawaii spark trial over 2021 jet fuel leak that tainted water
A trial for a mass environmental injury case begins in Hawaii on Monday, more than two years after a U.S. military facility poisoned thousands of people when it leaked jet fuel into drinking water.
Reblogged by keul@fosstodon.org ("Luca Fabbri"):
daishi@fosstodon.org ("Daishi Kato") wrote:
Valtio v2.0.0-beta.4 has been released!
https://github.com/pmndrs/valtio/pull/810
We are ready. When React 19 is out, Valtio v2 will be out.
CDC says 3 women diagnosed with HIV after receiving 'vampire facial'
Although HIV transmission from contaminated blood through unsterile injection is a well-known risk, the CDC said this is the first documentation of probable infections involving cosmetic services.
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
chaser@mastodon.au ("The Chaser") wrote:
Bears speak out against unfair comparison to men
https://chaser.com.au/general-news/bears-speak-out-against-unfair-comparison-to-men/
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I mainly know M83 from their excellent "Before the Dawn Heals Us" that I happened to stumble across in a Borders long ago and then promptly shared with everybody that I knew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_the_Dawn_Heals_Us
I haven't kept up with what they've done since, but if this KEXP performance is any indication, the answer is they've continued to be excellent. So if you're looking for a blanket of thick sound to wrap yourself in, check 'em out.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
I just want to make sure there's a clear distinction between a note and an essay. The latter I spend a lot of time on and try to be as thoughtful on the point I'm trying to make. A note is more "oh this thing I noticed is interesting and may or may not be something j explore."
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Lately I've been waiting until I have a polished essay before I post to my blog. I think I'll start posting more "notes" in between— 200-500 words on a topic or observation that does not necessarily have a big point, ya know?
What do you think?
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Yes I'm griping about a video game. It's petty. I know it. But hey, it's UX. It matters.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
(The jokerless is optional, really. But it still counts as one of the 20 challenges in the game, and it really shouldn't. Balatro jokerless is like trying to beat a Mario game without jumping, or trying to win a chess game starting with only pawns. It's obviously just a big fuck you and it severely irritates me when that kind of thing sits right alongside reasonable, normal game content.)
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
I love Balatro. Love it. But the jokerless challenge absolutely ruins the game for me.
I hate it when stupid masochistic RNG grinding challenges actually count for something. Just make that shit for bragging rights. I want to play the game, not make myself miserable endlessly restarting a near-hopeless scenario that sucks all the fun out of the game.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
aby@aus.social ("aby darling") wrote:
TIL:
Because of climate crisis, polar bears are migrating as their environments are melting.They're encountering grizzly bears, and the two are mating - creating a polar-grizzly bear hybrid called either a Grolar or a Pizzly bear (depending on which parent is which).
Grolar and Pizzly bears are SUPER aggressive, and Pizzly bears are fertile.
https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=21-P13-00041&segmentID=5
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
mpesce@arvr.social ("Mark Pesce") wrote:
Microsoft is working hard to develop stories around AI and why organisations need to adopt it. This one, by Microsoft EVP and Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff, provides lots of links to customers who are putting AI to work.
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington is born in Washington, DC, 1899
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: "Hair" premiers on Broadway, 1968
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Zipper patented by Gideon Sindback, 1913
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: William Randolph Hearst born in San Francisco, 1863
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Jules Henri Poincare born, 1854, founder of topology
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
paninid@mastodon.world ("Sampath Pāṇini ®") wrote:
“A healthy productive people are straight up a better, more productive tax base than bankrupt impoverished people.”
When Trump wins, the country’s markets will react favorably to the certainty during the months-long interregnum, and within hours after the proscriptions start, the economy will tank.
Because a country of 300 million people in constitutional crisis will lack #PsychologicalSafety.
And when the U.S. catches a cold, the world gets a fever.
So, what’s the plan?
Attachments:
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
QasimRashid ("Qasim Rashid, Esq.") wrote:
This tragedy hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves.
Frank Tyson, a 51 year old Black man, is dead after police tackled him and pinned him with a knee on his back. He gasped “I can’t breathe” 7 times & cops told him to “Shut the f**k up, you’re fine.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bodycam-video-shows-handcuffed-man-telling-ohio-officers-cant-breathe-rcna149334
World Central Kitchen says it will resume operations in Gaza
The aid group said the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire and that it has almost 8 million meals ready to distribute. The group halted efforts after Israeli strikes killed seven workers.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
timnitGebru@dair-community.social ("Timnit Gebru (she/her)") wrote:
""What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore).""
Nothing to see here.
https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat
nadim@symbolic.software ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
Who in their right mind doesn’t like watermelons?! 🍉
Phone cooler makers need to chill with all the ice
That’s too cold! | Image: Amazon
I don’t know about you, but when I have a nasty case of the hot phone, I have to get rid of that heat this instant. Just kidding, I usually just put it down for a while or restart it when it’s being especially stubborn. But there are companies out there marketing a different solution: little stick-on phone-cooling fans that purport to draw all that heat away. And their product images are a little, uh, excessively icy.
How did it come to this? What kicked off this arms race of increasingly frosty phones? I have to assume things started innocently enough, but these RGB-riddled things are pretty squarely aimed at gamers — I’d guess it didn’t take long for these product shots to snowball into the wildly unrealistic pictures on Amazon today.
...
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
djsundog@toot-lab.reclaim.technology ("DJ Sundog - from the toot-lab") wrote:
Here, here's "Caramel" from 1996.
Attachments:
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
apolaine@pkm.social ("Andy Polaine") wrote:
We need to stop talking about “AI taking jobs.” AI has no autonomous agency or predetermined destiny in this regard. It masks the true story that corporate leaders who see employees as a cost rather than an asset think they’ll make more money for themselves and shareholders by replacing them with machines. It’s an old story.
Ruby Bridges Blasts Book Bans As “Ridiculous” Attempts to “Cover Up History”
Civil Rights icon Ruby Bridges is an integral part of U.S. history lessons in classrooms nationwide, given her status as the first Black child to integrate an elementary school in the South. But to the right-wing culture warriors behind efforts to ban books about American history—including systemic racism and discrimination against LGBTQ people—Bridges has become […]
Candace Parker, 3-time WNBA and 2-time Olympic champion, says 'it's time' to retire
After 16 seasons, two Olympic gold medals and three WNBA championships, Candace Parker announced her retirement from professional basketball on Sunday.
30 years since the end of apartheid, is South Africa still an emblem of democracy?
Three decades ago, South Africa held its first democratic election, closing the door on the apartheid era. And Nelson Mandela was elected its first Black president.Today, the country is still led by Mandela's political party - the African National Congress. But polls show that voters are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the party's leadership, and next month's national elections could lead to the ANC having to share power with opposition parties.Thirty years ago, South Africa became an emblem of a multiracial democracy. Decades on, how is that legacy holding up?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.
At least 3 people are dead after tornadoes slam Oklahoma, Iowa and Nebraska
Multiple tornadoes over several days leveled buildings and left a trail of damage in parts of the South and Midwest.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Who is next?
Siri, give me some sewing related platform names that start with the letter "M".
Attachments:
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
WetHat@fosstodon.org ("WetHat💦") wrote:
Bluesky backs a project that would let Mastodon apps, like Ivory, work with its network.
Social networks #BlueSky and #Mastodon may soon be accessible from within a single app. BlueSky is backing a project that would connect — or “bridge” — Mastodon requests into Bluesky requests so that consumer apps, like #Ivory, would be compatible with Bluesky, too.