Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
dramypsyd@ohai.social ("Dr. Amy, Psy.D.") wrote:
By putting profits over human beings, insurance companies kill thousands every year. In 2023, United Healthcare was caught using faulty AI to deny claims: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unitedhealth-lawsuit-ai-deny-claims-medicare-advantage-health-insurance-denials/
This is still happening. Daily.
sam@social.coop ("Sam Whited") wrote:
There's an important lesson to be taken from this mornings killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO… the bicycle is the best mode of transportation in the city. If the killer had tried to escape by car they would have been caught by the police, or might not even have made it to the CEO's hotel on time in the first place! If you want to be on time, ride your bicycle.
tayfonay@beige.party ("TayFoNay, PsyD ☕️") wrote:
NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward - or half of your out-of-pocket maximum for the year on your Optum plan - for anyone who might have information on the shooting of the UHC CEO
Can Pete Hegseth's nomination survive?
At the time we publish this episode, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump's pick to run the Pentagon, is struggling to hold onto his nomination. There's an ever growing list of accusations of sexual misconduct, alcohol abuse and financial misconduct.The former Fox and Friends weekend host has spent Wednesday meeting with Senators and doing interviews trying to control the damage.Pete Hegseth's nomination for Secretary of Defense hangs in the balance...will he survive? 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.
Jeff Bezos says he’s ‘very optimistic this time around’ about Trump
Jeff Bezos. | Laura Normand / The Verge
Jeff Bezos and President-elect Donald Trump famously didn’t get along the last time Trump was in the White House. This time, Bezos says he’s “very optimistic” and even wants to help out.
“I’m actually very optimistic this time around,” Bezos said of Trump during a rare public appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. “He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help him do that, I’m going to help him.”
Trump railed against Bezos and his companies — Amazon, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post — during his 2016 term. Bezos defended himself but it did little to help his reputation with Trump. Now, his companies have a lot at stake in the coming administration, from the FTC’s antitrust lawsuit against Amazon to Blue Origin’s efforts to compete with SpaceX for government contracts.
Onstage at the DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Bezos called Trump “calmer this time” and “more settled.” He said he will try to “talk him out of” the idea that the press, which includes The Washington Post, is an enemy of the people.
“You’ve probably grown in the last eight years,” he said to DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin. “He has, too.”
Bezos also echoed Sam...
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Lord Benjamin Britten dies, 1976
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Frank Zappa dies in his Laurel Canyon home shortly before 18:00, 1993 😢
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jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Washington takes leave of his officers at Fraunce's Tavern, NYC, 1783
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Today in History: Tommy Bolin (American guitarist & songwriter with Zephyr, the James Gang, & Deep Purple) dies of heroin overdose in Miami, 1976
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
babe@glitterkitten.co.uk ("tiddy roosevelt") wrote:
Look, do I disagree that UnitedHealthcare is a terrible company and a moral stain on humanity? Not at all. But do I think the deceased former CEO and his life's work, at the very least, deserve some recognition and respect at this time? Of course I don't.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
robert@rah.social ("Robert A. Hill") wrote:
I'm so fed up with the impotent hand wringing about how bad it is to "celebrate" this.
The man made tens of millions by fucking over countless people who are often too sick and scared to fight back. Acting like it's bad to be happy about that just doesn't square. The man was a predator on a mass scale.
The NYPD is trying to track a Citi Bike used by the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer
On Wednesday morning, someone shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan before walking away and then getting on a Citi Bike that they rode to Central Park, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenney during a press conference. Thompson was scheduled to appear at the company’s investor meeting today, which was canceled after the shooting.
Now Lyft, which owns the bikeshare service, says it’s prepared to help investigators if the shooter left a digital trail while renting or using one of its bikes. Lyft spokesperson Eric Smith said in an email to The Verge that the company is “ready to assist law enforcement.” However, as of the time the company responded to our inquiry, investigators hadn’t yet made contact.
“As far as where he got the Citi Bike, we’re still working that through,” Kenney told reporters, adding that the department was gathering video from “numerous sources” but that it doesn’t “have video or witness confirmation on how he obtained that bike.”
Kenney said it looked like the killer “specifically targeted” Thompson and that “at this point, we do not know why.” The CEO’s wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that “there had been some threats.”
Earlier this year, UnitedHealthcare suffered a massive ransomware attack, which leaked info on over 100 million people and snarled healthcare for weeks despite a $22 million payment to the attackers.
Police officials were spotted asking around for video footage of a Citi Bike kiosk on Madison Avenue and 82nd Street in Manhattan early Wednesday afternoon, reports The New York Times. NYPD shared images of the shooter, including one of them on the bike, and asked that anyone with “information as to the identity or location of this individual” contact police at 1-800-577-TIPS.
These are images of the individual sought in connection to this investigation. If anyone has information as to the identity or location of this individual please contact @NYPDTips at 1(800)577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/sm2GuEOYk1
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 4, 2024
michaelcoding@fosstodon.org ("Michael Ingersoll") wrote:
The Scientific Method Illustrated
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US officials recommend encrypted messaging to evade hackers in telecom networks
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
US officials are urging Americans to make calls and send text messages over encrypted apps to minimize the risk of private information falling into the hands of foreign adversaries who might still be lurking in America’s telecommunications networks,NBC News reports.
Two officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) spoke with news outlets, including NBC News, Tuesday on the lasting effects of a recent attack on US telecommunications systems. The attack, which was tied to Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon, impacted companies including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Lumen Technologies, The Wall Street Journal first reportedin October. The Journal later reported that targets of the hack included phone numbers for people in the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns.
Two months after the initial report of the hack, malicious actors may still be able to gain access to sensitive information about Americans’ communications from the telecom networks.
An FBI officialon the call, who was not identified in press reports, reportedly said hackers accessed information including call records showing phone numbers called and the times of the call, and in some cases actual live phone calls of certain targets. The Journal reported last month that hackers could have gained access to unencrypted texts as well.
Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, told reporterson the call that the scale of the hack was so great that agencies could not possibly predict when there would be a “full eviction” of malicious material, NBC News writes.
“Encryption is your friend, whether it’s on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication,” Greene said, according to NBC News. “Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible.” Services like Signal and WhatsApp offer end-to-end encrypted messaging that can obscure communications outside of the users involved in the call or text.
Law enforcement’s embrace of encrypted apps is particularly notable given that the FBI has previously railed against tech companies’ protectiveness over the technology. Though the FBI publicly says it does not oppose encryption, it has strict parameters on its support. The agency’s website states that it “does not want encryption to be weakened or compromised so that it can be defeated by malicious actors,” but wants companies that “manage encrypted data to be able to decrypt that data and provide it to law enforcement only in response to U.S. legal process.” That’s something tech companies say could undermine the whole system.
The bureau engaged in a long standoff with Apple following a shooting in San Bernadino, California in 2015, because the company refused to break the encryption on the shooter’s iPhone to give investigators access, warning that to do so would endanger users’ privacy across its products. The FBI eventually found a way to get into the phone without Apple.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Stats Reveal You Monsters Are Ignoring The Griffon
It’s December 4, and that means it’s the officially unofficial “Dragon Age Day.” Get it? D4. DA. Dragon Age. Anyway, this year, BioWare released some statistics about players’ choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The RPG has been out for a little over a month now, so that means more players have gotten further into…
Severance's Most Complicated Relationship Gets Messier In Season 2
Loving two people at the same time is complicated. It becomes twisted when the two people you love are each loved by two separate parts of your very being. In a recent Vanity Fair interview, Severance’s executive producer and director Ben Stiller assures us that the second season will explore how an Innie and an Outie…
AlSweigart ("Al Sweigart") wrote:
"If a millionaire spends millions, they're broke. If a billionaire spends millions, they're a billionaire."
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th@v.st ("Trammell Hudson") wrote:
@platypus my bank used to allow custom security questions, so I set one to "what are you wearing?" and the answer to "that's very inappropriate please transfer me to your manager". the first time an customer service rep encountered it they couldn't stop laughing and had to actually transfer to a coworker to complete the call.
OpenAI is partnering with defense tech company Anduril
Illustration: The Verge
OpenAI, the AI model maker that used to describe its mission as saving the world, is partnering with Anduril, a military contractor, the two companies announced Wednesday.
As part of the partnership, OpenAI will integrate its software into Anduril’s counterdrone systems, which detect and take down drones. It’s OpenAI’s first partnership with a defense contractor — and a significant reversal of its earlier stance towards the military. OpenAI’s terms of service once banned “military and warfare” use of its technology, but it softened its position on military use earlier this year, changing its terms of service in January to remove the proscription.
“OpenAI builds AI to benefit as many people as possible, and supports U.S.-led efforts to ensure the technology upholds democratic values,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. “Our partnership with Anduril will help ensure OpenAI technology protects U.S. military personnel, and will help the national security community understand and responsibly use this technology to keep our citizens safe and free.”
As the Wall Street Journal notes, Anduril — currently valued at $14 billion — has a $200 million counterdrone systems contract with the Marine Corps. But OpenAI won’t just benefit financially from its Anduril partnership; it also stands to gain political clout. Anduril co-founder Palmer Luckey was an early supporter of president-elect Donald Trump, and also has ties to Elon Musk, one of the heads of the still-nebulous (and still nonexistent) Department of Government Efficiency. And the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think-tank working closely with the Trump transition team, has proposed that Trump embrace AI to create a new “Manhattan Project” for defense.
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
blogdiva ("your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦") wrote:
there’s speculation the killer was a hitman? that whomever killed the UHC CEO was paid to do it?
keep an eye out for the hospital systems the company has been at war with.
Mt. Sinai Hospital is one of those hospital systems.
everywhere during my cancer treatment they had big signs saying they would not take UHC patients, EVEN THOUGH IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO DENY HEALTH CARE IN NYC.
oligarchies are mafias and there’s billions to scam in health care.
Verizon is once again raising its fees
The fee creep is back. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Verizon customers will soon see yet another fee increase on their next bill, a game that wireless carriers love to play. As spotted by Android Police, Verizon customers on reddit noticed the small fee bump — just 20 cents extra per line. But it comes only a couple of years after a bigger increase to the “Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge” the company tacks onto monthly bills, and Verizon’s claim that it’s just the cost of doing business seems dubious at best.
Verizon spokesperson George Koroneos confirmed the fee hike to The Verge, saying that “Starting December 18, the monthly Verizon wireless Administrative and Telco Recovery Charge will increase by $0.20 per line for mobile voice (basic phones, Second Number, smartphones, etc.) and data-only (hotspots, tablets, etc.) products. Verizon Home Internet services are not affected.” That takes the fee from $3.30 to $3.50 for each voice line on a plan and $1.40 up to $1.60 per data line.
According to a Verizon support page, the fee “helps defray and recover certain direct and indirect costs we or our agents incur,” including network operating and maintenance costs. AT&T and T-Mobile have slightly different names for the same fee, and all make basically the same claim about offsetting the costs of running a wireless network.
A more cynical perspective is that these wireless companies separate this fee from their monthly rate plan charges so they can raise rates without saying they’re raising rates. That was the basis for a class-action lawsuit against AT&T in 2022, which that company agreed to settle.
It may just be 20 cents now, but that small increase adds up to a lot when you multiply it across millions of users. After all, Verizon only made $3.4 billion in net income the third quarter this year, down from $4.9 billion in the same quarter last year. And while the fee creep is nothing new, it’s yet another reminder of of the levers these companies can pull in order to pad out their bottom line.
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
"The evil was not in bread and circuses, per se, but in the willingness of the people to sell their rights as free men for full bellies and the excitement of the games which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and circuses can never appease."
attributed to Juvenal
Oh No, February 2025 Is Stacked With Big Games
February 2025 is filled with some big game releases, including a new Monster Hunter and Assassin’s Creed. In fact, so many large games are coming out that month that one of them has decided to change its release date to avoid the pile-up of video games.
andreu@andreubotella.com ("Andreu Botella :verified_enby:") wrote:
I don't understand why someone who says they work at "X" (by which I assume they mean Twitter) would be following me on Github 🤷
Afghan women reportedly barred from studying nursing and midwivery
Several sources confirm the Taliban pronouncement, part of ongoing efforts to curtail education for girls and women. Women studying these subjects say they were barred from classes this week.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
globalmuseum@mastodon.online ("Global Museum") wrote:
The world's only intact Roman legionary shield was discovered in the 1930s at the site of the ancient Roman city of Dura-Europos in modern-day Syria.
This extraordinary artifact, dating from early 3rd Century AD, provides invaluable insight into the daily life and military equipment of #Roman soldiers.The shield, made of wood and iron with a detailed boss and bronze fittings, was remarkably preserved in the anaerobic conditions of the city's soil.
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The U.S. and China Vie for Influence in Africa
Joe Biden's first and last trip to Africa as president wrapped up in a port city in Angola. It's the end of an 800 mile train line connecting the port to massive mineral deposits in Central Africa. The U.S. and other Western countries are raising billions to upgrade the rail line, a move that is seen as an effort to counter China's investments in mining in the region. We go to one of the mining cities along that train route to see how the geopolitics are playing out. Support NPR and get sponsor-free episodes of State of the World. Sign up for NPR+ at plus.npr.org
Small North Carolina Town Sues Energy “Goliath” in Historic Climate Action
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A small North Carolina town has launched the nation’s first-ever climate accountability lawsuit against an electric utility. The litigation, filed by officials from Carrboro, North Carolina, on Wednesday morning, accuses Duke Energy of waging a “deception campaign” to obscure the climate dangers of fossil […]
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
slcw@newsie.social ("SLCW💥") wrote:
Can someone show me the part of the #Constitution that says state indictments of an incoming president must be dismissed, or the part that says presidents have "total #immunity" from #prosecution?
I checked, and couldn't find anything remotely like that. In fact, the only thing in writing related to this idea is a DOJ OPINION that says sitting presidents shouldn't be prosecuted for federal crimes while in office. The state can do whatever it wants.
Prosecute this POS.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/04/politics/trump-georgia-election-interference/index.html
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
I have an additional thing which is even more speculative. The thing that Google's research division is most iconically known for is deep RL. And personally, I believe we're not even close to seeing the last of what deep RL can do. My conspiracy theory is that the top level of Google management basically shut down the AlphaStar project because they didn't want to enter the industries that it would be most useful for, like finance and military tech. I think that history will judge that Google in 2017 were sitting on the 2 most profitable technologies of the decade, and failed to exploit either of them
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
mpesce@arvr.social ("Mark Pesce") wrote:
Spotted in Belmore
(Credit - Cyanide and Happiness, https://explosm.net/comics/rob-gamesatwork h/t @futuresprog)
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![Stop playing video games at work! Gimme a sec, I just have to fight this boss… [ strikes boss ] Alright I’m back https://explosm.net/comics/rob-gamesatwork](https://files.mastodon.social/cache/media_attachments/files/113/596/470/756/448/251/original/238325ad84d037e8.jpeg){kind=link}
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
an ugly time, and an ugly anniversary
BioWare Says Old Dragon Age Choices That The Veilguard Ignored May Still Matter In The Future
One of the biggest criticisms I and many other Dragon Age fans had about The Veilguard was that it failed to carry over most of our decisions from the previous games in BioWare’s fantasy RPG series. In fact, the fourth game in the franchise only imports three choices from Dragon Age: Inquisition, a stark departure…
Mattel Is Being Sued By Mom Over Wicked Dolls Directing Kids To Porn Site
An immutable fact of life that continues to prove true is that kids do the darnedest things, including finding themselves on porn sites because of their love of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. According to court documents shared by Variety, a woman is raising a class action lawsuit against Mattel, the manufacturer of…
Trump picks crypto backer Paul Atkins as new Securities and Exchange Commission chair
Trump picked Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, to head the agency. Known for his support of cryptocurrencies, Atkins could help shape regulations for the industry.
Peloton’s new audio-based app is like an invisible strength coach
The Strength Plus app isn’t Peloton’s first attempt at capitalizing on strength training. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Peloton announced the launch of Strength Plus, a new standalone, audio-based strength training app. The app was introduced in a limited beta program earlier in September, but is now officially available.
The Strength Plus app allows users to generate custom workouts by choosingworkout length, equipment, experience level, and which muscle groups they want to focus on. It also includes multi-weekprograms curated by Peloton’s strength coaches, though workouts can be done at a user’s own pace. Strength Plus includes audio cues and tips from instructors, as well as a library of instructional videos demonstrating exercises and equipment setup. It’s more like a strength training playlist than Peloton’s typical classes, which have you follow an instructor as they do the workout in real time.It works with the Apple Watch and users can log weights and reps within the app. And, instead of being stuck with instructor-curated workout music, users can listen to their own music, audio books, or podcasts.
This move isn’t surprising. Over the years, Peloton has repeatedly mentioned that strength training is its second most popular exercise type, though the company has had mixed success in capitalizing on it. In 2022, Peloton launched its own Guide strength training hardware, but it hasn’t taken off like its treadmills or bikes. When it revamped the Peloton app, it also added Peloton Gym workouts that catered to gym-goers with written workouts and video demos, though that wasn’t its own app, didn’t let you log reps, and didn’t include multi-week programming.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25773648/Strength__PR_Imagery_Screens.png)
Image: Peloton
Peloton really wants to make strength training work.
On paper, Strength Plus looks similar to other apps, most notably Ladder. (So much so, that Ladder has already clapped back with an entire Mac vs PC-style ad campaign.) The main difference is that Strength Plus leverages Peloton’s more widely known instructors. More broadly, this could be seen as an attempt to expand Peloton’s appeal outside the home — something the company has struggled to do after many people began returning to in-person gyms and classes once covid-19 lockdowns were lifted.
Existing Peloton All Access, Guide, and App Plus members can access the Strength Plus app for free. For everyone else, Peloton is offering a limited $1 monthly promotional subscription for the first six months, and then $9.99 monthly after. For now, the app will also be iOS only. The Verge asked Peloton whether it plans to expand further to Android, but didn’t immediately receive a response.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
NickGates@friendsofdesoto.social ("Nick but colder") wrote:
How to improve Baby It’s Cold Outside
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Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
MxVerda@lgbtqia.space ("Mx Verda") wrote:
@sam Just link people to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_murder and tell them to stop whining.
Apple now lets you sync your passwords with Firefox, but not on Windows
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
If you keep your passwords stored on Apple’s iCloud, you can access those passwords on Firefox through an official iCloud Passwords extension, as spotted by MacRumors. However, the extension only supports macOS Sonoma or later, so you won’t be able to use it with Windows.
If you do need to access your iCloud passwords on Windows, you can access them by downloading iCloud for Windows and the iCloud Passwords extension for Chrome or Edge instead. We’ve asked Apple if it plans to add support for Windows to its Firefox extension.
Another developer originally made the Firefox extension, but Apple has taken it over, according to a notice on the extension’s GitHub page. Apple is “now the sole owners in charge of maintaining their own official iCloud Passwords extension,” the developer says. The extension’s repository and source code aren’t linked to it anymore except for “historical reasons.”
Trump Appoints In-Law to Bring Middle East Peace
There is a special relationship between a doting parent and his kid’s in-laws—machatunim in Yiddish, consuegros in Spanish. It doesn’t have a name in English. But, all the same, Donald Trump has elevated this unique extended-familial bond during his time in office. In particular, he has helped his daughters’ husbands’ dads. On Saturday, Trump announced […]
Nissan needs a little something extra to connect the Ariya to Tesla’s Superchargers
I’m sorry, I put that thing in what? | Image: Nissan
Nissan put out a tutorial video for Ariya owners today that shows how to use a Tesla NACS adapter with the vehicle, and it includes a step completely out of left field: shove a small piece of plastic into your car’s CCS port before you connect the adapter.
The Ariya is Nissan’s first EV with a CCS port, and the automaker just activated the vehicle’s ability to connect to Tesla’s vast Supercharger network in October. Other manufacturers have also adopted Tesla’s NACS standard, with companies like Ford and Rivian already shipping adapters to current EV owners. But none of those EVs need you to take a confusing extra step to make the adapter work.
As explained in the video, the NACS adapter available through Nissan includes a “plug adapter” that must be installed into the hourglass-shaped cavity between the two DC pins at the bottom before charging at NACS-capable fast charging stations. Nissan assures the viewer that its “simple” and requires no tools. However, you will need to use the adapter it provides or from a US dealership, which may mean other third-party options like the Lectron adapter might not work. (Probably for the best, considering the Lectron adapter was recently recalled.)
What’s odd about the Ariya’s charge port is that despite being a standard that works at many CCS-capable fast charging stations, there is some negative hollow space between the two direct current pins at the bottom that isn’t present on most other EVs. The plastic piece that Nissan wants you to stuff into the opening fills in the gap to look more like other CCS ports. We asked Nissan what the purpose of the opening is and why the insert is needed, but have not heard back at time of publication.
Nissan’s other EV model is the pioneering Leaf, which uses the all-but-obsolete CHAdeMO standard and probably won’t get some magic adapter to connect to Tesla’s Supercharger network (although there are some CHAdeMO to CCS adapters now).
EV ownership is already rife with competing standards, janky software, and fragmented confusion. Somehow, Nissan managed to add another step that leaves customers juggling multiple pieces of plastic just to get their $40,000 electric SUV to operate properly.
French lawmakers oust the prime minister after just 91 days, toppling the government
France's government has been toppled by a no-confidence vote in parliament, for the first time sine 1962. Prime Minister Michel Barnier served the shortest time in the post in France's modern history.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Directors Explain Why They Made You Make That Choice At The End
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s late-game choices have got players in their feelings, as they require some pretty big sacrifice on your part. But why did developer BioWare choose to make you do something so difficult? In an interview with IGN, Game Director Corinne Busche and Creative Director John Epler explained that it…
Trump chooses billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman to run NASA
Earlier this year, Isaacman became the first private citizen to conduct a spacewalk. But his longstanding ties with Elon Musk's company SpaceX raise possible conflicts of interest.
Trump picks two nominees who could decide the fate of Big Tech and crypto
Image: Laura Normand / The Verge
President-elect Donald Trump made two nominations Wednesday that will shape significant parts of his administration’s tech enforcement, if confirmed by the Senate.
Former Republican Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins is Trump’s pick to lead the agency, replacing Biden-appointed chair and crypto foil Gary Gensler. The selection of Atkins, who co-chairs the Token Alliance at the Digital Chamber, a group dedicated to the use of digital assets, suggests a sharp divergence from Biden-era crypto policy. In his announcement, Trump says Atkins “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.”
Trump also selected Gail Slater to lead the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, which is currently litigating two anti-monopoly suits against Google, and a third against Apple, as well as reportedly probing AI-chipmaker Nvidia. Slater has previously worked at the Federal Trade Commission, in Trump’s National Economic Counsel, and most recently as Vice President-elect JD Vance’s economic policy advisor in his Senate office. She’s also worked at Fox, Roku, and the now-defunct Internet Association, whose member included several Big Tech companies.
Trump is borrowing a favorite term of Marc Andreessen’s in with his reference to “Little Tech”
In his announcement on Truth Social, Trump writes that, “Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech!” Trump is borrowing a favorite term of Marc Andreessen’s in with his reference to “Little Tech.” Andreessen — a venture capitalist and crypto supporter who publicly backed Trump in the election — has pushed for the recognition of a contrast between policies that benefit startups versus the largest tech players.
Slater has historically worked across the aisle, having served as an attorney advisor to former Democratic FTC Commissioner Julie Brill (who now works as Microsoft’s chief privacy officer). Her history working for Vance — who has publicly praised Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan for her aggressive approach toward tech — suggests Big Tech is likely to remain a key target of antitrust scrutiny in the years to come.
Sam Altman lowers the bar for AGI
Sam Altman. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
Nearly two years ago, OpenAI said that artificial general intelligence — the thing the company was created to build — could “elevate humanity” and “give everyone incredible new capabilities.”
Now, CEO Sam Altman is trying to lower expectations.
“My guess is we will hit AGI sooner than most people in the world think and it matter much less,” he said during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. “And a lot of the safety concerns that we and others expressed actually don’t come at the AGI moment. AGI can get built, the world mostly goes on in mostly the same way, things grow faster, but then there is a long continuation from what we call AGI to what we call super intelligence.”
This isn’t the first time Altman has downplayed the now-seemingly-imminent arrival of AGI, which OpenAI’s charter once said will be able to “automate the great majority of intellectual labor.” He has recently teased that it could arrive as soon as 2025 and will be achievable on existing hardware. We at The Verge have heard OpenAI intends to weave together its large language models and declare that to be AGI.
At the DealBook Summit, Altman made it sound...
Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
@mosseri just announced that #Threads users can finally follow fediverse accounts. Which means you can now reach 200M people from your Mastodon account without ever using Threads yourself. True decentralization happens on the fediverse!
Who is Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO gunned down in New York?
Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, spent two decades at UnitedHealth Group before his shocking death. Tributes are pouring in from coworkers and public officials in his home state of Minnesota.
Longer careers in ice hockey are linked to a greater risk of CTE, a new study finds
A new Boston University study of 77 deceased male ice hockey players found that their chances of developing the degenerative brain disease known as CTE increased with each year they played the sport.
We Are Getting Official Balatro Playing Cards
Balatro, the wildly popular poker-themed roguelike deckbuilder, is one of the best games of 2024. And almost since it launched, people have been asking for a deck of real playing cards based on those in the game. Well, that’s finally happening. Tell all your Balatro-pilled friends and family. But also, there is a bit…
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange ("The Nexus of Privacy") wrote:
It looks like Threads has taken their next incremental step in two-way federation: according to Mark F***ing Zuckerberg "now you'll be able to follow people from other fediverse servers who liked, followed or replied to federated profiles on Threads." As always in the fediverse, opinions differ:
- If you're concerned about harassment, stalking, and data harvesting threats from Threads ... the risks just increased substantially. This post is for you, with information about how to dcerease them.
- if on the other hand you're one of the many people here who see federaton with Threads as a good thing, then Zuckerberg's announcement is good news, and this post is for you to share with friends who are at risk.
So, if you don't want your posts going to Threads, now's a good time to move to an instance that blocks Threads.
If you're on an instnace that doesn't block Threads and don't want to move yet, you can still block the domain yourself. This doesn't provide as much protection as being on an instance that blocks Threads, but it's certainly better than nothing. How to block Threads on Mastodon - and a reminder that blocking on the fediverse only provides limited protections has instructions, with screenshots.
Still, if you're concerned about Threads, it really is much better to move to an instance that blocks them. Even this doesn't provide bulletproof protection, but it's stronger than individual domain blocking. Unfortunately, you can't move your posts (although you can create an archive), but you can usually keep of your followers.
@FediTips Transferring your Mastodon account to another server is a thorough guide. Erin Kissane's Notes From a Mastodon Migration and Cutie City's Migrating Servers are also very useful -- it's worth reading all of these before you move!And if you're really concerned about the risks and want to have protection be as bulletproof as possible, I agree with Kissane's suggestions in Untangling Threads
"I think the nearest thing to reasonably sturdy protection for people on fedi who have good reason to worry about the risk surface Threads federation opens up is probably to either…
- block Threads and post followers-only or or local-only, for fedi services that support it, or* operate from a server that federates only with servers that also refuse to federate with Threads—which is a system already controversial within the fediverse because allowlists are less technically open than denylists.
We're starting to see examples of that second approach now -- The Website League is one, an island network where none of the servers federate with Threads; see their December update for more. I expect we'll see more of these over time.
Threads takes an important baby step toward true fediverse integration
Illustration: The Verge
You can now follow fediverse accounts on Threads, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced. Threads rolled out fediverse users’ likes and replies in a very limited way at first, and it’s the same here — fediverse posts won’t appear in your feeds, and you can only follow those accounts if they’ve interacted with a post on Threads.
While fediverse posts won’t show in feeds, Instagram head Adam Mosseri says their profile and posts do appear on Threads, and you have the option to get notifications when they publish. That’s something, at least. Mosseri posted a video of what the process looks like:
Zuckerberg says you can follow fediverse accounts when you see they’ve “liked, followed, or replied” to a federated Threads profile, but there’s one other way you might find them.
“On web and android today (and iOS soon), we’ll start linkifying Fediverse usernames in posts,” wrote Threads developer Peter Cottle among a series of posts about the new integration. Cottle added that your account will need to be federated and that the fediverse account must be “eligible to be followed.”
Cottle also demonstrated that you can tag fediverse accounts, linking to Star Trek actor and activist George Takei’s Mastodon account:
Meta’s Seine Kim tells The Verge in an email that the platform’s “goal remains to grow the fediverse responsibly, prioritizing the success of a safe, diverse, content-rich, and interoperable community.” Kim added that the change is another step in Threads’ plan to become fully interoperable with the fediverse in time.
Notably though, new Threads features have picked up the pace in recent weeks. Maybe that’s got something to do with all the attention Bluesky’s been getting lately?
Supreme Court appears skeptical of challenge to ban on gender-affirming care for minors
At issue is a state law in Tennessee that blocks minors from accessing gender-affirming care in the state.
Nokia’s classic Snake game is now a Nothing widget
A new Nothing Community Widgets app has launched with a Snake game as its first offering. | Image: Nothing
Nothing has released a new Android app called Nothing Community Widgets that will highlight home screen tools and games co-created by its users. The first widget it includes is a recreation of Snake which was the most memorable of the three games pre-installed on the Nokia 6110 when it launched 26 years ago.
Although the original game was played by pressing buttons as cellphones lacked touchscreens, the snake in Nothing’s version is steered using directional screen swipes, while a double tap pauses the action, according to Retro Dodo. But the gameplay is the same, with players scoring points by eating red dots while trying to avoid colliding with themselves as the snake grows longer and longer.
10/10!
I learned a lot from this project and enjoyed every minute of it✨
Note: These are just concepts, The idea of this project was to explore the possibilities, bringing them to life is an incredibly hard job.
Thanks everyone for the support❤️
(Project files below ) pic.twitter.com/JGEV9YIp1N
— Rahul Janardhanan (@raonehere) January 21, 2024
The inspiration for the new widget came from Rahul Janardhanan, an artist who earlier this year designed and shared a collection of 10 concepts for potential Nothing OS widgets. Janardhanan’s work caught the eye of the company and Nothing’s software team worked with a community developer to create the widget.
The new Snake game widget, and Nothing’s new widgets app, follow a similar initiative by Nothing to work with its community of users. In October, the company announced its Nothing Phone 2A Plus Community Edition featuring an updated glow-in-the-dark design, new wallpapers, and even packaging that was created by the company’s “most talented followers.”
Dune: Prophecy’s showrunner wants you to think beyond the hero / villain binary
Image: Max / HBO
Alison Schapker sees Dune: Prophecy as a story about the ebb and flow of institutional power.
dansinker@omfg.town ("Dan Sinker") wrote:
love my ancient ancestors for creating a body system to survive being eaten by a sabertooth cat just so I can stand in front of a screen shaking for no reason great work everyone
My morning ablutions include reporting and blocking a dozen new followers who all follow exactly 39 people and have a bio saying something about crypto, often also including "marketing specialist" or a variant of "I love god".
The shift is that lately, instead of the profile picture being of a woman with giant tits, the profile pic is usually of a young black man.
I guess the crypto boiler rooms have a new target market?
PlayStation's Gran Turismo 7 Is Basically Getting A Free Demo Disc
Demo discs were a staple of the PS1 era, providing curated snippets of upcoming games for players to test out while waiting for the next big release. While digital demos have become commonplace on PS5 as well, a new free-to-play standalone version of Gran Turismo 7 takes the idea to a new level.
Donald Trump picks billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA
Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images
President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire Jared Isaacman to head up NASA, he announced on Wednesday. Isaacman funded and partook in the Polaris Dawn mission, in which he and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis performed the first commercial spacewalk.
Isaacman is set to replace former Florida Senator Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator, who President Joe Biden tapped to lead the agency when voted into office. Aside from Polaris Dawn, Isaacman also funded Inspiration 4, a mission that took him and three other non-professional astronauts to space atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2021.
Most of Isaacman’s fortune comes from Shift4, the payment-processing business he founded when he was 16. He still serves as CEO of the company, which recently acquired the Canadian gift card platform Givex and struck a payments deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink in 2021.
I am honored to receive President Trump’s @realDonaldTrump nomination to serve as the next Administrator of NASA. Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history.
On my last mission…
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) December 4, 2024
“With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place,” Isaacman wrote on X. “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.”
Isaacman joins the other group of unconventional nominees Trump has chosen to head up various government agencies and advisory committees, including the new “Department of Government Efficiency“ led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Canadians have nothing to fear from an American invasion.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/04/first-canada-then-switzerland/
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You can try Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s excellent character creator for free
Image: EA
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has an incredible character creator, and starting today, you can mess around with it without having to buy the full game. EA will be releasing a free, standalone version of the character creator for all platforms the game is available on (PS5, Xbox Series X / S, and PC), and you’ll be able to bring the character you make in the free creator over to the full game if you decide to buy it.
If you have any interest at all in The Veilguard, I really recommend checking out the free character creator when it’s available and seeing all of the options. (Hair looks particularly good.) And if you end up making a character, transfer them to the game, and want to make some tweaks, you’ll be able to do so early on in your adventure, so don’t sweat your decisions too much.
EA is also releasing a fourth patch for the game, which adds a mission that will reward you with in-game items themed around the Dragon Age II protagonist, Hawke.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
janmr@mathstodon.xyz ("Jan Marthedal Rasmussen") wrote:
Donald Knuth's 28th annual Christmas Lecture: Strong Components and Weak Components https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au26uZfuxVY (past recordings https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOAvKVR_dyCigSBMcYjevYB) #computerscience #lecture
Amazon secretly excluded neighborhoods from Prime delivery, DC AG alleges
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon quietly carved out two Washington, DC zip codes from being serviced by its fastest Prime delivery service with its own branded trucks, outsourcing deliveries to slower services like UPS and the Postal Service, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleges in a new lawsuit.
The alleged decision led to about 48,000 Prime members living in two zip codes east of the Anacostia River receiving fewer benefits than they were actually paying for (at $14.99 a month or $139 a year), according to Schwalb. The neighborhoods that were allegedly affected include majority-Black and low-income areas. But even when customers noticed and complained about the slower delivery times, the AG alleges, Amazon “misled the consumers to believe it was a coincidence.”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel tells The Verge in a statement that Amazon changed how it serviced the zip codes cited in the lawsuit due to “specific and targeted acts against drivers delivering Amazon packages” in those areas. “We made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times, for the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.” Nantel calls the AG’s claims “categorically false” and says Amazon is “always transparent with customers during the shopping journey and checkout process about when, exactly, they can expect their orders to arrive.”
But while Amazon has the right to protect its workers through these changes, Schwalb says it can’t deceive customers while doing so. “Amazon is charging tens of thousands of hard-working Ward 7 and 8 residents for an expedited delivery service it promises but does not provide. While Amazon has every right to make operational changes, it cannot covertly decide that a dollar in one ZIP code is worth less than a dollar in another,” he says in a statement.
Schwalb is suing under DC’s consumer protection law. He’s seeking to stop Amazon from continuing its allegedly deceptive behavior and collect an unspecified amount of civil penalties, restitution, and damages.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Lmao at Neil Diamond snagging the top spot for the new year.
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fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
CBS reporting this was a premeditated attack and the suspect is still at large; already calling for more security in Central Park, says "suspect was able to exploit lack of security" and points to an increase in violent crime in NYC.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Fourth Patch Brings Bug Fixes And A DA2 Crossover
In the official art book for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare revealed that it was once toying with the idea of bringing Dragon Age II hero Hawke into the fold before ultimately scrapping a possible appearance. However, the RPG’s latest patch includes the next best thing: their iconic mage armor for your new hero…
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
typing 'websites' into google. not ready to narrow my search down yet. just want to see whats out there
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in midtown Manhattan, official says | CNN:
"The suspect shot Thompson with what appeared to be a silencer, according to a law enforcement official"
Holy shit. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/12/04/us/brian-thompson-united-healthcare-death
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Part of the Christmas traditions in my family is appreciation for comedic Christmas music. These two graced my inbox yesterday. I laughed. It helps to be familiar with some NIИ:
Meta turns to nuclear energy for its AI ambitions
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Meta is turning to nuclear energy to power its AI ambitions with the release a request for proposals to partner with nuclear energy developers.
It’s the latest announcement in a string of recent deals Big Tech companies have made to secure nuclear energy for their data centers. Developing new AI tools is an energy-intensive endeavor that risks derailing Silicon Valley’s sustainability goals unless it can find less polluting sources of electricity. Meta now joins Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in efforts to get more nuclear reactors up and running.
Meta now joins Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in efforts to get more nuclear reactors up and running
That’s much easier said than done. The first all-new nuclear reactor to be built in the US in decades started running in 2023 — seven years overdue and $17 billion over budget. Developers are now designing next-generation technology called small modular reactors (SMRs) that are supposed to make it easier to build and site a project, ostensibly cutting down costs. Those advanced reactors aren’t expected to become commercially viable until the 2030s.
Meta says it’s interested in both SMRs and larger reactors, and is searching for partners...
The new Gundam anime looks great and sounds like it was named by a cat on a keyboard
Sunrise/Khara
There’s a new Mobile Suit Gundamshow right around the corner, and while Bandai hasn’t revealed much about its story, its production studio and creative team bode very good things for the project.
Sunrise has collaborated with Khara, the Hideaki Anno-founded studio behind the Rebuild of Evangelion films, to produce Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, a new series co-written by Anno and Yōji Enokido, and directed by Kazyua Tsurumaki.
Set in a reality where humanity has taken to living in massive space colonies, GQuuuuuuX follows as highschooler Yuzuriha “Machu” Amate (Tomoyo Kurosaw) and courier Nyaan (Yui Ishikawa) are drawn into the world of underground mech fights called Clan Battles. A new trailer for the series teases how, after meeting Gundam pilot Shuji Ito (Shimba Tsuchiya), Machu learns to co-pilot the gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX. Designer Take’s (best known for her work on the Pokémon franchise) distinctive style shines through in the trailer’s shots of the show’s human characters, and mechanical designer Ikuto Yamashita’s take on the classic Gundam aesthetic feels fresh.
Though Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is set to air on Nippon Television in the new year, the series does not yet have a concrete premiere date. But ahead of its TV debut, a theatrical cut of some of its episodes will screen in Japanese theaters on January 17th.
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:
Honestly shocked that with all the wealth and resources the left has, the best we can come up with for fighting fascism are novelty twitter accounts who dunk on trolls and ask us for five dollars.
ChatGPT now has over 300 million weekly users
Image: The Verge
ChatGPT now has over 300 million people using the AI chatbot each week. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed the milestone during The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, which comes just months after ChatGPT hit 200 million weekly users in August.
“Our product has scaled ... now we have more than 300 million weekly active users,” Altman said. “We have users sending more than 1 billion messages per day to ChatGPT.”
ChatGPT has grown rapidly since its launch in 2022 as OpenAI continues to add more capabilities, such as its AI search engine that surfaces and summarizes results from across the web (though they may not always be accurate), and a new “Canvas” interface that lets users more easily adjust code written by the chatbot.
Apple is also building ChatGPT directly into Siri as part of iOS 18.2, which is now available in beta and is poised to help the chatbot reach even more users.
What Trump's 2nd term might mean for the country's economy
Economist David Wessel talks about Trump's plans on tariffs and tax cuts, and the potential economic impact of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency.
Montana lawmakers cross the aisle to block a trans bathroom ban in the state capitol
Some Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the measure, which would have restricted bathroom access. Rep. Zooey Zephyr, Montana's first openly transgender legislator, won a second term last month.
Trump's SecDef pick Hegseth is under scrutiny. His mom went on TV to plead his case
Pete Hegseth is fighting to keep his nomination on track after a series of negative reports about his past behavior — including a damning email his mom sent him during his second divorce.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
garbados@friend.camp ("crows call me breadlady") wrote:
you should have a website https://nora.zone/manifesto.html
ty @nora
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
leggylav@packmates.org ("lav ΘΔ") wrote:
@garbados @nora oh my dog, they found one, someone made one, ***an easy wysiwyg drag and drop page builder***
i have been looking for something like https://simplepagebuilder.app/ for so long and haven't been able to find this particular one, thank you for sharing this :neofox_googly_shocked:
Misinformation researcher admits ChatGPT added fake details to his court filing
Image: The Verge
A misinformation expert accused of using AI to generate a legal document admitted he used ChatGPT to help him organize his citations, leading to “hallucinations” that critics said called the entire filing into question. Jeff Hancock, the founder of the Stanford Social Media Lab who wrote the document, says the errors don’t change the “substantive points in the declaration.”
Hancock submitted the affidavit in support of Minnesota’s “Use of Deep Fake Technology to Influence an Election” law, which is being challenged in federal court by Christopher Khols — a conservative YouTuber who posts under the name Mr Reagan — and Minnesota state Rep. Mary Franson. After discovering that Hancock’s filing seemed to contain citations that didn’t exist, attorneys for Khols and Franson said it was “unreliable” and asked that it be excluded from consideration.
In a subsequent declaration filed late last week, Hancock acknowledged that he used ChatGPT to draft the declaration but denies he used it to write anything. “I wrote and reviewed the substance of the declaration, and I stand firmly behind each of the claims made in it, all of which are supported by the most recent scholarly research in the field and reflect my opinion as an expert regarding the impact of AI technology on misinformation and its societal effects,” Hancock wrote.
As for the citation errors, Hancock explained that he used Google Scholar and GPT-4o “to identify articles that were likely to be relevant to the declaration so that I could merge that which I knew already with new scholarship.” Hancock says he used GPT-4o to create a citation list, not to write the document, and didn’t realize the tool generated “two citation errors, popularly referred to as ‘hallucinations’” and added incorrect authors to another citation.
“I did not intend to mislead the Court or counsel,” Hancock wrote in his most recent filing. “I express my sincere regret for any confusion this may have caused. That said, I stand firmly behind all the substantive points in the declaration.”
2024 in review: AI
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
In 2024, you couldn’t escape hearing about AI. From smartphones to wearables to the smart home, it seemed every tech company wanted to pitch their next great AI innovation.
The year was filled with impressive technological leaps and useful new tools, endless hype and frequent misfires, and implications for the future that range from truly exciting to unpredictable. This is the year we got a sense of what AI might actually do — and just how unprepared we still are to grapple with it.
Here at The Verge, we thought a lot about AI’s impacts on the industries and people we cover. From strikes across industries like gaming to its impact on our climate to the desire for policy protections for Hollywood and the AI Act, AI is already reshaping nearly every area of our lives.
So let’s take a look back at some of the biggest, boldest, weirdest AI stories from the last year — and look ahead to what could be in store for 2025.
BioWare Releases Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Incredible Character Creator For Free
One of the many great things Dragon Age: The Veilguard has to offer is its robust character creator. It’s so thorough that some players have spent dozens of hours creating and perfecting their versions of protagonist Rook, as well as the Inquisitor, their hero from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Leading up to launch, fans…
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Oh, look! I now have a pair of brown widows in the lab!
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GM and EVgo now have over 2,000 EV charging stalls and counting
One of the co-branded GM Energy / EVgo fast chargers. | Image: General Motors
General Motors and EV charging company EVgo announced that they’ve installed their 2,000th public EV charging stall, in Murrieta, California. With that, GM has met a deadline it set in September to have the bulk of its planned 2,850 DC fast-charging stalls set up by the end of this year.
GM says the new station, which is near Interstate 215 in Riverside County, serves five 350kW fast chargers for as many as 10 EVs simultaneously. It doesn’t mention whether these are strictly CCS chargers or if they include Tesla’s NACS ports, which have emerged as the de facto standard over the last year and a half. We’ve asked GM for more information and will update if it responds.
EVgo president Dennis Kish said that its relationship with GM has helped his company “bring public charging to communities in more than 30 states across the US,” and that the company is working toward deploying its “first flagship destinations next year.”
GM said back in September that this network, which is distinct from another planned 2,000-strong network of DC fast chargers at Flying J and Pilot truck stops, will include 400 “flagship” gas station-style charging locations. Those will be built out in major metropolitan areas of states like Florida, California, Texas, and Michigan, the company said today. That’s all in addition to another EV charging network consortium called Ionna that GM is participating in along with car companies like Hyundai, Kia, BMW, and Stellantis.
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
From now on, every time there is a new proposal to backdoor e2ee apps, we're just going to point to this, right?
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
fredbrooker@witter.cz ("Fred Brooker") wrote:
PHP-WASM
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Xreal’s new glasses are a surprisingly good TV for your face
The Xreal One. | Image: Xreal
During a recent flight from Los Angeles to New York City, I put a headset on my face to watch a movie.
I wasn’t wearing the Vision Pro or a Meta Quest. I was trying the latest pair of AR glasses from Xreal, a Chinese startup taking an unusually focused approach to face computers.
To call the Xreal One, which is available for preorder starting on Wednesday for $499, a pair of AR glasses feels like a stretch. While they do technically overlay graphics onto your field of vision, they really just function as a display mirror for your phone, laptop, or gaming console. But given the display advancements in the One over Xreal’s last Air 2 glasses, that may be enough.
The Xreal One uses a custom birdbath lens system to achieve what the company says is equivalent to a 1080p display with a 50-degree field of view. Practically, based on my experience watching Netflix’s Rebel Ridge from my plane seat (a very good movie), that translates to a fairly immersive viewing experience.
It’s not like watching something in the Vision Pro. But the fact that I was wearing an 84-gram pair of glasses that didn’t fully occlude my vision more than made up for the difference. The only time I felt the...
If You Own Stalker 2's Ultimate Edition, Make Sure To Grab This Killer Assault Rifle
As with the Riemann SMG, the Lullaby in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is another high-end, unique weapon locked behind a specific side quest that’s only obtainable by paying for the Ultimate Edition. If you’re willing to fork over the extra cash, you’ll receive additional Journalist’s Stash quests.
Govee’s smart Christmas tree lights are cheaper than ever
Govee’s Christmas Lights 2 adds some holiday cheer to your home with color-changing smart lights that sync to music. | Image: Govee
Ornaments are nice and all, but few Christmas tree decorations are as magical as Govee’s Christmas Lights 2. If you want your tree to truly dazzle this year, then you might want to check out Govee’s 66-foot smart string lights while they’re stillavailable at their all-time low price of $63.99 ($36 off) from Govee and at Amazon when you clip the on-page coupon.
Govee’s string lights add a touch of color to your Christmas tree while making it come alive with 200 lamp beads that can dance to the beat of holiday tunes, and over 130 preset lighting effects to set the mood. What really make the lights shine, though, is their level of customizability. Govee lets you exercise your creative muscles, adding shape matching and AI features to design your own custom light displays.
Aside from cool effects, Govee also added other features that make the lights a good investment. They’re IP65 waterproof-rated, which means you can install them indoors or hang them up outside if you prefer. They’re also compatible with Matter, allowing you control them via Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and any other major smart home platform.
A few more deals worth checking out
- You can buy the Divoom Ditoo Plus Bluetooth speaker directly from Divoom starting at an all-time low of $65 (about $70 off) when you apply the code BF40 at checkout, with Amazon matching that price. Divoom’s retro-inspired speaker features 3.55-inch display you can customize with pixel art and even control with a joystick or mechanical keys. The speaker also combines a clock and calendar into one, making it a cute and handy desktop companion.
- The iFixit Pro Tech is still available at its record low price of $59.99 ($15 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from iFixit. The toolkit comes with everything you need to make repairs to small electronics like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and consoles, including tweezers, spudgers, a 64-piece driver kit, a SIM removal tool, and a magnetic case that doubles as a sorting tray. It also comes with with basic Phillips and flatheads, so you can use it to repair other objects like bikes.
- Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 Wireless headphones are on sale for $229.95 ($150 off) at Amazon, which is their second-best price to date. You can also buy them for $20 more at Best Buy and Walmart. The noise-canceling headphones deliver impressive battery life and can last a whopping 60 hours on just a single charge, which is why they’re among our favorites. The over-ears also offer other impressive capabilities, including excellent noise cancellation, comfort, and sound. Read our review.
OpenAI’s 12 days of ‘shipmas’ include Sora and new reasoning model
Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge
Happy holidays from OpenAI. The AI startup plans to kick off a “shipmas” period of new features, products, and demos for 12 days, starting on December 5th. The announcements will include OpenAI’s long-awaited text-to-video AI tool Sora and a new reasoning model, sources familiar with OpenAI’s plans tell The Verge.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the 12 days of announcements onstage at The New York Times’ DealBook conference on Wednesday morning, though he didn’t say exactly what was coming. OpenAI plans to launch or demo something every day for 12 days straight.
12 days.
12 livestreams.
A bunch of new things, big and small.12 Days of OpenAI starts tomorrow.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) December 4, 2024
Just ahead of the launch, a few OpenAI employees began teasing the coming releases on social media: “What’s on your Christmas list?” a member of the technical staff posted. “Got back just in time to put up the shipmas tree,” another staffer wrote. Sora lead Bill Peebles responded to a staffer who posted that OpenAI is “unbelievably back” with one word: “Correct.” The startup’s senior vice president also responded with IYKYK (if you know, you know).
The imminent launch of Sora comes just...
The Verge picks out the most memorable tech of 2024
As far as tech goes, 2024 was a strong year for some innovative, interesting, and unforgettable moments.
We kicked off the year with the Apple Vision Pro — Apple’s long-awaited entry into the world of “spatial computing.” It was impressive, with The Verge’s editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, describing the device as “magic, until it’s not.” But it still remains to be seen if Apple’s first MR device can kick off this new age of computing.
Meta also showed us what it developed after investing billions into its metaverse division. Deputy editor Alex Heath got a demo of Project Orion — a pair of AR glasses that won’t make you look like a super dork (okay, maybe a little). More importantly, though, we got a sense of where AR is heading, which arguably puts Meta in pole position in this space.
This was also the year of wearable AI assistants. At CES 2024, we were introduced to the cute Rabbit R1 that stole our hearts. And we got to see Humane’s highly anticipated AI Pin. Even though the devices were big disappointments when they finally released, they do represent a turning point in the future of AI interactions.
We can never go a year without the biggest smartphone upgrades. Samsung,...
Skeleton Crew is a kid-friendly reminder of who Star Wars is for
Image: Disney Plus / Lucasfilm Ltd.
Disney Plus’ latest Star Wars series is trying to speak directly to a new generation of young fans.
Instagram creators can now turn on replies in broadcast channels
Broadcast channel replies allow participants to respond to messages as they can on Instagram posts. | Image: Meta
Instagram is adding some new features to broadcast channels that give platform creators more ways to directly interact with their followers. Meta announced in its latest blog post that creators can enable “Replies” in their broadcast channel limited group chats, allowing participants to respond to messages and each other’s comments — just like they already can on Instagram posts.
Creators can also publish time-sensitive “Prompts” to their channels, presented as questions like “what are you having for dinner today?” to encourage audience engagement. Channel participants have 24 hours to respond with text or photos, and can like their favorite comments left by other users. Instagram is also rolling out new metrics for creators to track, including total number of interactions, story shares, and poll votes, alongside “personalized, actionable guidance” that can help them grow and manage their audiences.
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Image: Meta
Prompts work like open-response polls or sub-threads, allowing channel members to engage in a contained conversation.
We’ve asked Meta to clarify when these new broadcast channel features will be available for Instagram creators. Instagram head Adam Mosseri initially teased the update by enabling it on his own “IG Updates” channel earlier this week.
While Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp also support broadcast channels, these new features have only been announced for Instagram. Meta hasn’t mentioned if they’ll eventually be rolled out to its other platforms, but given Instagram was the first to launch broadcast channels it may be being used as a testing ground.
ESPN is coming to the Disney Plus app starting today
Image: Disney
After bringing Hulu content to the Disney Plus app earlier this year, Disney is now doing the same for ESPN Plus programming.
A new ESPN tile is being added to the app’s homescreen. The tile just says “ESPN,” because for right now, it’ll only include the live games and shows that are normally part of ESPN Plus. But next year will mark the long-awaited debut of a true ESPN streaming service — you know, the actual cable channel with shows that sports fans can’t live without — and that’ll eventually be accessible through this Disney Plus portal, too.
Disney’s reasoning for putting all this content under one umbrella is simple: it wants to get more people signed up for the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus triple-package bundle. And the less friction there is, the more appealing that bundle becomes for customers who might only be paying for the core service right now. To help push the bundle even harder, Disney Plus subscribers can now access “a curated selection of live sports events and shows from ESPN Plus and movies and series from Hulu.” The tiles for both services will now appear in the main navigation even if you’re not paying for Hulu or ESPN.
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Image: Disney
If you’re a bundle subscriber, you get all the stuff! If you’re not, you get a small sampling of stuff... to help tempt you into the bundle.
“This gives our bundle subscribers one place to consume everything they love from all our brands.” Alisa Bowen, president of Disney Plus, said in a press release. ESPN Plus offers access to “over 30,000 live sports events each year” along with plenty of original content. But this is really just a half-step towards the end goal of bringing real, linear ESPN to the service. Disney says what we’re seeing today is “the groundwork for an expanded sports offering on Disney Plus in the US upon the launch of ESPN’s flagship direct-to-consumer product, expected in fall of 2025.”
That ESPN streaming service is expected to launch as early as August and has been rumored to cost upwards of $30 per month. Yes, just for ESPN. You’ll be able to view it through Disney Plus, but CEO Bob Iger has said the ESPN app will offer a more feature-packed sports experience with integrated betting and fantasy leagues. The Disney option is there for people who want the convenience of everything being crammed into a single app.
Disney is determined to make its streaming business a reliable profit maker, and the real money is in bundles and ad-supported plans. On the ad front, advertisers will have the ability to purchase inventory “by sport, league, team, within live events, and across all marketplaces” now that ESPN content is streaming within Disney Plus. The company has also taken steps to tackle password sharing and now charges customers between $6.99 and $9.99 for letting others sign into their Disney Plus account from a different location.
The cost of subscribing to Disney Plus is inevitably going to keep climbing higher. And Disney will no doubt cite the app’s value as an all-encompassing entertainment hub — now with sports — as the rationale for those hikes. For the end user, it can all feel reminiscent of cable, but that’s the streaming era we find ourselves in.
An air pressure sensor lets this bike computer calculate wind resistance
An air pressure sensor inside the Elemnt Ace bike computer can determine wind speeds while you ride. | Image: Wahoo Fitness
Wahoo Fitness announced a new bike computer featuring a built-in air pressure sensor that’s used to calculate the speed of the wind during a ride. The Elemnt Ace’s added metric lets cyclists better understand their performance during a ride and how their times and speeds may have been affected by the conditions outside.
It’s available now through the company’s online store for $599.99 and includes an aluminum alloy mount for attaching it to a bike’s handlebars. It’s the most expensive bike computer Wahoo Fitness currently offers, but competitors like Garmin still offer even pricier alternatives.
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Image: Wahoo Fitness
A small vent on the front of the Elemnt Ace leads to its air pressure sensor inside.
Air speed is measured using an air pressure sensor located just inside a small vent on the front of the computer. By comparing that to the bike’s ground speed as determined by the Elemnt Ace’s dual-band GPS system, the speed of the wind can be calculated.
The computer’s Aero Awareness system gives cyclists two additional metrics to take into consideration. AeroBoost which factors in both performance improving tailwinds and drafting effects, and AeroDrag for the negative effects of riding into the wind.
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Image: Wahoo Fitness
A 3.8-inch touchscreen works alongside several buttons for easier navigation during a ride.
Other features include a relatively large 3.8-inch full-color touchscreen display that works alongside several physical buttons that make navigating menus and selecting options a little easier while a bike is in motion. Battery life is rated at up to 30 hours, while Wi-Fi and Bluetooth allow settings and ride data to be synced to the cloud and Wahoo Fitness’ mobile apps.
The Elemnt Ace is also a fully-featured GPS navigation device with voice-guided turn-by-turn directions and an option to retrace your route to get right back to where you started a ride.
How to find your 2024 Spotify Wrapped
Image: Samar Haddad / The Verge
One of the more popular end-of-year items is music service recaps, and one of the best known is Spotify Wrapped. The company puts together a roundup of everything you listened to that year in various statistical formats, wrapped up (well, that’s what it’s called, right?) in bright, swirling graphics. For 2024, you’ll be shown what music categories you followed, how your listening habits changed over the year, get a list of your top 10 songs and artists, check out your top artist of the year, and even see a short video interview with one of the featured artists.
This year’s Wrapped also lets you access separate segments, such as a personalized podcast with two AI “hosts” (compliments of Google’s NotebookLM) who chat about your listening habits.
It’s easy to find Spotify Wrapped on your mobile app. (Interestingly, while 2023’s Wrapped was available on the Spotify website as well, this year, you can only find it on the Android or iOS app.)
The simplest way is to just open the app and look at the top menu — you should find a button labeled “Wrapped” that will lead you straight to a Wrapped homepage. From there, you can watch your Wrapped timeline (by tapping the “Let’s go” button)...
Got Stalker 2’s Deluxe Edition? Don't Miss This Amazing SMG
Before we dive too deep into this guide on how to acquire the Riemann SMG in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, it’s important to note that this fast-firing, early-game submachine gun is only available to those who purchase the Deluxe Edition DLC. It’s part of the “Journalist’s Stash” questline, which features…
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Pete Hegseth, Doug Wilson, and god damn Christopher Hitchens.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/12/04/what-a-winner/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBAfVe97Ybk&list=RDNSiBAfVe97Ybk&start_radio=1