seems bad!

Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images

"Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam."

404media.co

i went to a Luddite festival in NYC that was organized entirely off social media to prove you don’t need captive tech platforms (yes, including this one!) to hang out and have a good time. @404media.co 📵

Being a Luddite Is Fun Again

As tech backlash hits the mainstream, the ‘Summer of Ludd’ proves we don’t need social media to hang out and have a good time.

404media.co

"They absorb the social mores that infuse those texts. Talkie, a model trained only on text from before 1931, thinks God is extremely important and is “very proud to be a citizen of Great Britain”. It is a bigger believer in law and order than any frontier model we tested."

AI models’ values are very different from most people’s

They are more secular and more liberal—unless they’re made in China

economist.com

Trump: "Intel came in. They had a problem. I said, 'I can solve your problem, but I want 10% of the company' ... somebody said that's not very American. I said, 'No, I think it's very American, actually.' And I've done that with other deals."

It is the dawn of a new era. Hear our battle anthem. Welcome to the new InfoWars.

Ohhh look at me I'm New York City. I have an awesome basketball team with likeable players and a mayor that cares about making life better for every citizen man fuck you

One of the favorite features I've ever written was about complicated grief and mourning culture for Bitch Magazine, with stunning accompanying art. I am so unspeakably delighted that we reprinted on @theflytrapmedia.com today.

Mourning Should Have No Expiration Date

The United States is a nation that avoids the subjects of death, dying, and grief as much as possible.

theflytrapmedia.com

‘The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent AI technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City.’ — NYPD www.fastcompany.com/91548215/ant...

'Anti-tech extremism': The government is monitoring AI criticism nationwide, says report

Unpublished documents from federal intelligence agencies and local law enforcement reveal a new term for anti-AI sentiment.

fastcompany.com

"But, two years since its launch, the site has around just 10% of X’s estimated global users." This is presented as a failure. At 2yo, having 10% of the users of its biggest rival, which is 20yo, is a failure. No tech is allowed to just be a success, it has to be a blockbuster or it doesn't count.

Bluesky was launched as a Twitter rival — but it's far less popular. Now it's eyeing Reddit for inspiration

"I think the public square is not the direction we want to go in...we're very inspired by companies like Reddit," Bluesky's Rose Wang told CNBC.

cnbc.com

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Uh oh. The head of CBS Entertainment is privately warning that the Bari Weiss train wreck is inflicting significant damage on the broader CBS brand. And shes not alone. Inside Paramount, "some believe she should be relieved of her duties." The scoop in @status.news www.status.news/p/60-minutes...

Paramount’s Weiss Woes

The fallout from Bari Weiss’ dismantling of “60 Minutes” is now reverberating across Paramount, with company leaders privately questioning the damage being done to the CBS brand, Status has learned.

status.news

NEW: A @wired.com analysis of Meta's app for its smart glasses found that the company has been adding code for face recognition since January, while saying that it is still "thinking through" whether to deploy it. @dmehro.bsky.social and @dell.bsky.social w/ the scoop: www.wired.com/story/meta-s...

Meta Silently Added Face-Recognition Code for Its Smart Glasses to Millions of Phones

Code reviewed by WIRED uncovered an unreleased face-recognition system embedded in Meta’s smart glasses platform. It’s designed to identify people via biometric data stored on users’ phones.

wired.com

My cover story for the June issue of @sciam.bsky.social is up! I went on a quest to separate out hype from reality in quantum computing, and this was the result.

Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 3mo ago

From the new issue: Will computers based on quantum physics really change the world?

Counterpoint: Yes they are, and that is good

"Nobody's coming to save us, so we have to figure out how to save ourselves." A Jamaican nonprofit led the national drone mapping response to a catastrophic hurricane with 320 communities mapped with 300+ hours of flight time. www.esri.com/about/newsro...

New: U.S. commercial satellite imagery companies imposed an indefinite blackout over the Middle East, citing force protection But Iran has its own satellite imagery. I wrote about who's actually affected: The journalists & researchers trying to hold the US accountable: www.cjr.org/feature/blin...

Washington Post satellite imagery analysis finds Iran strikes on US installations far more accurate and effective than disclosed; US bases unprepared for drones. "The amount of destruction is far larger than what has been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government or previously reported."

Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show

Imagery published by Iranian state-affiliated media and verified by The Post shows damage to at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites.

washingtonpost.com

Exposed: How Ukrainian wheat stolen by Russia is smuggled to Israel. My investigation, with the fab @yoruk.bsky.social , reveals how grain stolen from occupied Ukrainian territory has been sold to Israel. Profits from the shady operation are financing Putin's war www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Exposed: How Ukrainian wheat stolen by Russia is smuggled to Israel

A Haaretz Investigation Reveals How Grain Stolen From Occupied Ukrainian Territory Has Been Sold to Israel. The Profits of the Shady Operation Are Financing Putin's War

haaretz.com

Absolutely incredible. NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman, who commanded Artemis II, took this footage from the far side of the Moon with his iPhone. Watch with sound on.

“Behind the scenes, the atmosphere is so rooted in paranoia that former Knicks players warn one another about rooms being bugged, and staffers worry about being watched when they go out to local bars.” an instant @wired.com classic www.wired.com/story/madiso...

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine

Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

wired.com

I talked to designers and technologists about how evading surveillance is less about cool patterns and fooling cameras, and more about working with what you've got www.404media.co/the-state-of...

The State of Anti-Surveillance Design

The most effective surveillance-evading gear might already be in your closet.

404media.co

ON LEARNING TO DISSECT FETAL PIGS By Renee Nicole Macklin Good i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches. i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores

Trump on 6G: "What does that do? Give you a little bit deeper view into somebody's skin? See how perfect it is? I like the cameras the old days."

Very into this series from @coyotemedia.org that looks at the individual stories of unhoused people rather than viewing 'homelessness' as an abstract, dehumanized issue!

Homeless to Housed: Larry's Story

Housing can offer more stability than many realize — to get sober, save money, find a purpose, and fall in love.

coyotemedia.org

“We believe that the all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development will do staggering damage to democracy, to our jobs, and to the earth... We’re the workers who develop, train, and use AI, so we have a responsibility to intervene...” www.fastcompany.com/91450846/ama...

Amazon workers warn 'warp-speed' AI push threatens democracy and the planet

Employees across engineering, product, and warehouses say AI justifications are eroding job security and accelerating output demands.

fastcompany.com

Russia once hyped the Kinzhal as an invincible superweapon. Now Ukraine is downing them by blasting it with music and making it think it's in Peru

Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a Song

A few years ago, Putin hyped the Kinzhal hypersonic missile. Now electronic warfare is knocking it out of the sky with music and some bad directions.

404media.co

Feds now claim a "system crash" that happened immediately after ICE was sued is the reason why 10 days of footage from inside the Broadview Detention Center has been lost. Unreal hearing on this earlier: www.404media.co/ice-says-cri...

ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In 'System Crash' a Day After It Was Sued

The government also said "we don't have resources" to retain all footage and that plaintiffs could supply "endless hard drives that we could save things to."

404media.co

EPSTEIN BOMBSHELL: my staff is releasing a new report showing JPMorgan Chase executives – all the way to the top – enabled Epstein's sex trafficking operation. You're going to want to read this.

Wyden Presses for Investigation Into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein

nytimes.com

NEW AP INVESTIGATION: With license plate readers and local law enforcement partnerships, Border Patrol is monitoring American drivers and detaining those exhibiting ‘suspicious’ travel patterns in the U.S. interior. w/ @garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...

Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns

The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.

apnews.com

'In a future full of AI friends, AI therapists, and AI agents, [our] data won’t just reflect who we are—it will help shape who we become' Jen @caltrider.bsky.social on the past and possible future of privacy in the age of algorithms www.fastcompany.com/91435189/ai-...

AI is killing privacy. We can’t let that happen

In the age of AI, data won’t just reflect who we are, but will also help shape who we become. To take back control, remember a centuries-old invention.

fastcompany.com