L'archivio attrezzato per intrappolare il vento sopra l'ultima scogliera della Tasmania - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
L'archivio attrezzato per intrappolare il vento sopra l'ultima scogliera della Tasmania - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Terribile fu l’esperienza, per diversi secoli, degli equipaggi che intendevano spostarsi con le proprie imbarcazioni negli spazi tra i diversi continenti, particolarmente se necessitavano di oltrepassare le propaggini meridionali della Terra del Fuoc…Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
Toxic politics and TikTok engagement in the 2024 U.S. election
What kinds of political content thrive on TikTok during an election year? Our analysis of 51,680 political videos from the 2024 U.S. presidential cycle reveals that toxic and partisan content consistently attracts more user engagement—despite ongoing moderation efforts. Posts about immigration and election fraud, in particular, draw high levels of toxicity and attention. While Republican-leaning videos tend to reach more viewers, Democratic-leaning ones generate more active interactions like comments and shares. As TikTok becomes an important news source for many young voters, these patterns raise questions about how algorithmic curation might amplify divisive narratives and reshape political discourse.
- This study offers one of the first empirical examinations of how partisanship, political toxicity, and topical focus—such as immigration, racism, and election fraud—shaped user engagement with TikTok videos during the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
- The analysis was drawn from 51,680 political videos on TikTok, using models adjusted for feed ranking, user behavior (author, music, posting time), and platform engagement metrics.
- The majority of videos analyzed (77%) were explicitly partisan and were associated with approximately twice the engagement of nonpartisan content. Republican-leaning videos received more views, while Democratic-leaning ones showed more interactions—measured by total likes, comments, and shares.
- Toxic videos were associated with 2.3% more interactions. Partisan content also tended to show higher engagement, with Democratic-leaning toxic videos linked to even higher interactions.
- Racism, antisemitism, and election fraud were among the most toxic topics, with toxicity defined as rude or disrespectful language. Toxic videos on elections (+1.3%) and immigration (+3.5%) received higher engagement.
- Toxicity and engagement levels changed after major political events. Following Trump’s conviction, videos with severe toxicity and sexual attacks saw an approximate 2% surge in interactions.
- Captions alone were weak predictors of partisanship and toxicity, but transcripts of the audio from the videos improved alignment with manual labels (68.2%) and had significantly more (56.2%) toxic content. These results highlight the limitations of surface-level text features and the need for multimodal analysis in political content detection.
If we can find information by asking GenAI, who needs the Web?
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36160327
::: spoiler Comments
- Hackernews.
:::
If we can find information by asking GenAI, who needs the Web?
::: spoiler Comments
- Hackernews.
:::
If we can find information by asking GenAI, who needs the Web?
Bluesky Goes Dark in Mississippi Over Age Verification Law
- Hackernews.
:::
Our Response to Mississippi’s Age Assurance Law - Bluesky
A new Mississippi law requires us to block full access to Bluesky unless all users complete age checks. We have concerns about this law’s implementation.Bluesky
U.S. government takes 10% stake in Intel
::: spoiler Comments
- Hackernews;
- Reddit.
:::
Intel Corporation today announced an agreement with the Trump Administration to support the continued expansion of American technology and manufacturing leadership. Under terms of the agreement, the United States government will make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, reflecting the confidence the Administration has in Intel to advance key national priorities and the critically important role the company plays in expanding the domestic semiconductor industry.The government’s equity stake will be funded by the remaining $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program. Intel will continue to deliver on its Secure Enclave obligations and reaffirmed its commitment to delivering trusted and secure semiconductors to the U.S. Department of Defense. The $8.9 billion investment is in addition to the $2.2 billion in CHIPS grants Intel has received to date, making for a total investment of $11.1 billion.
Donald J. Trump: "It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully o...
It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future.Trump's Truth
Egyptian Officials in New York Beat Two Gaza Protesters on Video. The NYPD Arrested the Protesters.
The protesters’ parents said the officials beat their sons with chains at Egypt’s U.N. mission. The NYPD arrested the brothers for assault.
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan asks US to “invoke all legal levers” in fight against Online Safety Act.
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Trump says he’ll keep extending TikTok shutdown deadline
President Donald Trump is calling national security and privacy concerns related to TikTok and its Chinese parent company highly overrated.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tiktok-china-extension-deadline-4a66fbd0e485db5b3da83c176f22ad11
US | Colorado judge rejects plea deal for funeral director who acknowledged abusing 191 corpses
A Colorado judge has rejected a plea agreement for a funeral home owner who acknowledged abusing 191 corpses.
Former Top Biden Spokesperson Admits Israel Sabotaged Ceasefire Deals as US Blamed Hamas
The former State Department spokesperson effectively admitted he and the president repeatedly lied about negotiations.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/truthout.org…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Ricerca per dominio/istanza
Re: Ricerca per dominio/istanza
The censorship of Raven and Betanet by Hostinger
cross-posted from: lemmygrad.ml/post/8894778
Thoughts in this?They were trying to create a different Internet or different hosting website, but from what I understand.
“la mia forma di autismo è cercare la spilla di Kuromi nell’ufficio di Zelenskyy ogni volta che lo mostrano parlare”
Prima oggi ho scoperto una nuova cosa tanto incredibile e stupida allo stesso tempo… e raramente ne capitano di così buone, specialmente in un venerdì a caso. A quanto pare, Zelensky (…che in realtà si scrive Zelens’kyj, temo), nel suo ufficetto mezzo chic da presidente di un paese sotto legge marziale, tra tutte le spillette […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
“la mia forma di autismo è cercare la spilla di Kuromi nell’ufficio di Zelenskyy ogni volta che lo mostrano parlare”
Prima oggi ho scoperto una nuova cosa tanto incredibile e stupida allo stesso tempo… e raramente ne capitano di così buone, specialmente in un venerdì a caso. A quanto pare, Zelensky (…che in realtà si scrive Zelens’kyj, temo), nel suo ufficetto mezzo chic da presidente di un paese sotto legge marziale, tra tutte le spillette di tipo vari reparti militari (credo; non ci capisco molto di questa roba) che tiene lì belle e fieramente inquadrettate… ne ha una di Kuromi. C-o-s-a??? 😳t.me/c/1230970294/59634
È una scoperta che io faccio ben in ritardo, grazie solo a questo post qui, ma sembra che non sia una completa novità. Infatti, stando a questo articolo, che tenta di fare un po’ luce sulla situazione sicuramente buffa ma per niente chiara, almeno da dicembre 2024 si sa che il presidente ha tale incredibile spilletta… Is Sanrio’s Kuromi Fighting for Ukraine? Badge on Wall Behind Zelenskyy Stands Out: . A quanto pare, questa è stata vista casualmente per la prima volta in un video-comunicato (che allego anche sotto) che, come dice l’articolo, non ha niente di rilevante di per sé per la questione. E quindi, la cosa è proprio pazzurda… 💀youtube.com/watch?v=yppVL7SRX5…
Per trovare un senso a questa visione certamente fatta di contrasti, un’ipotesi interessante viene quantomeno proposta, e cioè che questa spilla (ammesso sia una spilla, e non uno stemma, come molti degli altri… ripeto, sono igniorante), sarebbe del reparto speciale che si occupa dei droni, perché essendo un reparto hi-tech della difesa ci lavorano probabilmente svariati weeb. La scritta lì sopra, sempre stando agli sconosciuti su Internet (è troppo piccola perché io possa verificare personalmente, non sapendo l’ucraino), direbbe solo “distaccamento speciale”, quindi non si capisce. 💔
E… questa è tutta la lore che abbiamo a disposizione, a quanto pare: una miseria. Provando a cercare il nome del presidente in caratteri ucraini assieme alla parola Kuromi, ovviamente, non trovo niente, quindi la mia ricerca finisce qui, e ne sono triste. Ma comunque è assurdo che il signorone abbia una spilla militare di Kuromi, e io no… ok, io ho un segnalibro di essa, però provo comunque un po’ invidia, non so se mi spiego. 😓
- threads.com/@unseenjapanoffici… — unseenjapan.medium.com/is-sanr…
- x.com/cuhromi/status/186699857…
- bsky.app/profile/vokabre.bsky.…
- I have instructed the Prime Minister to increase funding for brigades. Address of President 09.12.24: youtube.com/watch?v=yppVL7SRX5…
- What is this Ukrainian unit? old.reddit.com/r/Military/comm…
- President Zelenskyy has a legit badge with a picture of Kuromi on it. old.reddit.com/r/sanrio/commen…
- President Zelensky has a Hello Kitty badge: old.reddit.com/r/Asmongold/com…
#difesa #Kuromi #military #stemmi #Ucraina #Ukraine #Zelensky #Zelenskyy
Is Sanrio’s Kuromi Fighting for Ukraine? Badge on Wall Behind Zelenskyy Stands Out
Is Sanrio’s Kuromi Fighting for Ukraine? Badge on Wall Behind Zelenskyy Stands Out Kuromi appears to have moved on from her beef with My Melody and now has a new enemy: Russia! Sanrio is always up …Unseen Japan (Medium)
The warning signs the AI bubble is about to burst
The warning signs the AI bubble is about to burst
Shock sell-off after study warns most investments in artificial intelligence get zero returnsMatthew Field (The Telegraph)
FEDIVERSO NO-STOP
Il Fediverso non si ferma
Il Fediverso ha vissuto un bel boom iniziale e ora sembra attraversare un momento di calma.
Forse complice l’estate, ma intanto stanno nascendo tante nuove piattaforme: ed è un bene!
Non dobbiamo legarci sempre e solo alle stesse, più varietà c’è e meglio è.
A differenza dei social commerciali che ti servono un unico piatto cucinato da loro con ingredienti segreti, qui possiamo scegliere, sperimentare, imparare.
Forza, andiamo avanti, non arrendiamoci: è proprio quello che vorrebbero.
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Friday, August 22, 2025
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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
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Russia’s war against Ukraine
Olga (L) and Zabit (R), Ukrainian citizens of Azerbaijani origin who fled Soviet crackdowns during Azerbaijan’s independence uprising in 1990, harvest potatoes in their garden plot on Aug. 21, in Sloviansk, Ukraine. Sloviansk is the city where the war began in 2014, marked by its occupation by Russian militias led by Igor Strelkov, also known as Girkin. The town is located in Donetsk Oblast, a Ukrainian region cited in peace-talk discussions involving U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over a potential front-line freeze and territorial exchanges. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)
Going around in circles — Trump sets new deadline for peace in Ukraine, Graham again threatens with tough legislation. We will know in within two weeks whether there will be peace in Ukraine. After that we will have to maybe take a different tact,” U.S. President Donald Trump told conservative commentator Todd Starnes.
Russia would take 4 years to fully occupy Donbas, Zelensky says. “I explained to (U.S. President Donald Trump) that the talks about them (Russia) occupying our Donbas by the end of (2025) are all just chatter,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine regains control of most of Tovste in Donetsk Oblast, military says. Tovste is a front-line village southwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk and near the key town of Vuhledar.
Russian attack hits US electronics plant in western Ukraine. “This was an ordinary civilian facility with American investment. They produced everyday household items, such as coffee machines,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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Video shows aftermath of Ukrainian drone strikes on oil pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast. Ukrainian drones struck the Unecha oil pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast on Aug. 21, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, announced in a video published to social media.
Ukraine to mass produce long-range Flamingo missile in winter, Zelensky says. President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Flamingo had undergone successful tests, describing it as “the most successful” missile Ukraine currently has.
Russia opposes European troops in Ukraine under Trump-backed security guarantees, Lavrov says. Sending European troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees would amount to “foreign military intervention,” which Moscow won’t support, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Aug. 21.
Zelensky urges ‘strong response‘ from US if Putin rejects talks with Ukraine.
“We are ready for the bilateral meeting. If the Russians are not, then we would like to see a strong response from the United States,” Zelensky said, adding that he asked Trump to impose additional sanctions on Moscow if it rejects talks with Ukraine.
Read our exclusives
Ukraine regains control of most of Tovste in Donetsk Oblast
The 5th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade pushed Russian troops from the settlement through coordinated operations involving infantry, drone units, and artillery, according to the military.
Photo: Pierre Crom / Getty Images
Learn more
Where is Crimea? And other things you (and US presidents) should know
U.S. President Donald Trump referred to Crimea as a piece of land “right in the ocean” that is “the size of Texas” while talking on the Mark Levin Show, a right-wing talk radio program, on Aug. 20.
Photo: Olga Maltseva / AFP via Getty Images
From Crimea to Donbas, Russia’s “peace” has always meant more war. We’re here in Ukraine to give the world a reality check. Support independent journalism in this critical moment.
Human cost of Russia’s war
Massive Russian drone, missile attack kills 1, injures 26 in Ukrainian cities far from front line despite peace talks. The attack caused fires at a large electronics plant in Mukachevo, with damage also reported in other cities, including Lviv.
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,029,660 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022.
The number includes 830 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
The ground drone revolution in Ukraine
International response
Switzerland, Austria ready to give Putin immunity for peace talks. Switzerland is prepared to grant Russian President Vladimir Putin immunity from arrest if he travels to Geneva for peace negotiations, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said in an interview on Aug. 19.
Lithuania closes airspace near Belarus ahead of joint Russian-Belarusian military drills. The closure comes ahead of the “Zapad-2025” military drills, scheduled to take place in Belarus from Sept. 12 to 16. Minsk said the joint exercises with Russia are intended to test both countries’ ability to ensure security and repel possible aggression.
Ukrainian detained in Italy for alleged Nord Stream sabotage, media report. Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian national under a European arrest warrant in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions, German prosecutors announced on Aug. 21.
Kim Jong Un reportedly awards troops who fought for Russia. At a ceremony in Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un praised the overseas troops and said their participation demonstrated “the power of the heroic (North Korean) army.”
Trump’s intelligence chief ordered halt to intelligence sharing on Russia-Ukraine peace talks among ‘Five Eye’ allies, CBS reports. U.S. intelligence sources told CBS News that Gabbard signed a directive barring the sharing of information with the Five Eye alliance, which includes the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
In other news
Trump administration escalates purge of senior US intelligence officials, Economist reports. The officer, who served as the CIA’s top Russia and Eurasia analyst during the 2016 election and helped produce the report detailing Moscow’s interference on behalf of Donald Trump, was among the most senior career officials targeted.
Ex-defense official charged with abuse of power after awarding himself bonuses, extra payments. A former acting director general of a state-owned defense enterprise has been charged under suspicion that the official abuse his power in awarding himself 700,000 UAH ($17,000) in bonuses and extra payment during his service, the city of Kyiv’s Prosecutor’s Office announced on Aug. 21.
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Ex-defense official charged with abuse of power after awarding himself bonuses, extra payments
A former acting director general of a state-owned defense enterprise has been charged under suspicion that the official abuse his power in awarding himself 700,000 UAH ($17,000) in bonuses and extra payment during his service, the city of Kyiv's Pros…Dmytro Basmat (The Kyiv Independent)
is it possible to pirate Microsoft Flight Simulator? (PLEASE read before commenting)
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x-plane.com/
Flight Simulator | X-Plane 12: Flight Simulation Done Right
The world's most advanced flight simulator is ready for you. Try our free demo for Windows, macOS, & Linux today.X-Plane
Esegesi del falso banano: la soluzione di mangiare tutto l'albero lasciando il frutto dov'era - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Esegesi del falso banano: la soluzione di mangiare tutto l'albero lasciando il frutto dov'era - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Tra le molte raffigurazioni ritrovate in Egitto della dea Iside, l’importante figura del pantheon egiziano compare talvolta seduta in meditazione, tra le grandi e inconfondibili fronde di quello che poteva essere soltanto un albero di banano.Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
Exclusive: Hamas Offered Major Concessions in New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
Aug 21, 2025
After a series of meetings with a range of Palestinian political leaders, parties and factions, Hamas formally agreed last week to a series of major concessions in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, according to a copy of the framework obtained by Drop Site News. Israel has not responded to the proposed agreement for an initial 60-day ceasefire drafted by Egypt and Qatar. Instead, it moved forward with a mobilization of 60,000 reserve troops in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised will be a massive ground invasion of Gaza City aimed at ethnically-cleansing nearly a million Palestinians from the north of the enclave.“Netanyahu's disregard for the mediators’ proposal, and his failure to respond, confirms that he is the real obstacle to any agreement and that he does not care about the lives of his captives nor is he serious about retrieving them,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday night. “The Zionist terrorist government insists on continuing its brutal war against innocent civilians by escalating its criminal operations in Gaza City, aiming to destroy it and forcibly displace its people—constituting a full-fledged war crime.”
Exclusive: Hamas Offered Major Concessions in New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
From its perspective, Hamas has now presented its bottom line and if Israel won’t make a deal on these terms, it never will.Jeremy Scahill (Drop Site News)
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Exclusive: Hamas Offered Major Concessions in New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35028790
Aug 21, 2025
After a series of meetings with a range of Palestinian political leaders, parties and factions, Hamas formally agreed last week to a series of major concessions in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, according to a copy of the framework obtained by Drop Site News. Israel has not responded to the proposed agreement for an initial 60-day ceasefire drafted by Egypt and Qatar. Instead, it moved forward with a mobilization of 60,000 reserve troops in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised will be a massive ground invasion of Gaza City aimed at ethnically-cleansing nearly a million Palestinians from the north of the enclave.“Netanyahu's disregard for the mediators’ proposal, and his failure to respond, confirms that he is the real obstacle to any agreement and that he does not care about the lives of his captives nor is he serious about retrieving them,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday night. “The Zionist terrorist government insists on continuing its brutal war against innocent civilians by escalating its criminal operations in Gaza City, aiming to destroy it and forcibly displace its people—constituting a full-fledged war crime.”
Exclusive: Hamas Offered Major Concessions in New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
Aug 21, 2025After a series of meetings with a range of Palestinian political leaders, parties and factions, Hamas formally agreed last week to a series of major concessions in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, according to a copy of the framework obtained by Drop Site News. Israel has not responded to the proposed agreement for an initial 60-day ceasefire drafted by Egypt and Qatar. Instead, it moved forward with a mobilization of 60,000 reserve troops in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised will be a massive ground invasion of Gaza City aimed at ethnically-cleansing nearly a million Palestinians from the north of the enclave.“Netanyahu's disregard for the mediators’ proposal, and his failure to respond, confirms that he is the real obstacle to any agreement and that he does not care about the lives of his captives nor is he serious about retrieving them,” Hamas said in a statement Wednesday night. “The Zionist terrorist government insists on continuing its brutal war against innocent civilians by escalating its criminal operations in Gaza City, aiming to destroy it and forcibly displace its people—constituting a full-fledged war crime.”
Exclusive: Hamas Offered Major Concessions in New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
From its perspective, Hamas has now presented its bottom line and if Israel won’t make a deal on these terms, it never will.Jeremy Scahill (Drop Site News)
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Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears
Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears
The move marks a sharp reversal from Meta’s reported pay offers of up to $1bn for top talentJames Titcomb (The Telegraph)
Pizza funky jazz a Vasanello (VT)
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Weaponizing image scaling against production AI systems
Weaponizing image scaling against production AI systems
In this blog post, we’ll detail how attackers can exploit image scaling on Gemini CLI, Vertex AI Studio, Gemini’s web and API interfaces, Google Assistant, Genspark, and other production AI systems.Kikimora Morozova (The Trail of Bits Blog)
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Or you can inject a bot:
embracethered.com/blog/posts/2…
ASCII Smuggler Tool: Crafting Invisible Text and Decoding Hidden Codes · Embrace The Red
An adversary can hide text in plain sight using the Unicode Tags. Using ASCII Smuggler you can encode and deocde such hidden messagesEmbrace The Red
Typical piracy requires you to search sources/indexers yourself, decide on the best search result for what you're trying to download, pass that to your download client, then manually name and sort the downloaded files into media folders once the download completes.
The arr's automate this entre process for several media types (movies, tv, music, etc), combining search results from dozens of indexers to make its decision on what to download.
Now, I open a webpage, search for a movie/show (results from imdb) and select an item I want to watch. ~15min later, that item has been found, downloaded, and sorted into my media folders where Emby/Jellyfin can display it to myself or friends.
Add on to this with Ombi, a requests platform that allows my friends+family to request media and have the arrs automatically grab it. Since setting that up a little over a year ago, it's filled almost 400 requests (not including media I've grabbed/requested myself) without me having to manually manage requests ever.
Ontop of grabbing media on request, the arr's also monitor the sources you've configured, watching for new uploads, and grabbing content that's missing from your library but monitored for, such as: newly aired episodes, media that couldn't be found earlier, or upgrades in quality for existing media (if configured/allowed to upgrade existing media).
Every time a new episode airs for a show I've added, it automatically grabs it for me. (currently 486 series monitored here)
Inside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
Inside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
A man holds an orange and white device in his hand, about the size of his palm, with an antenna sticking out. He enters some commands with the built-in buttons, then walks over to a nearby car. At first, its doors are locked, and the man tugs on one of them unsuccessfully. He then pushes a button on the gadget in his hand, and the door now unlocks.The tech used here is the popular Flipper Zero, an ethical hacker’s swiss army knife, capable of all sorts of things such as WiFi attacks or emulating NFC tags. Now, 404 Media has found an underground trade where much shadier hackers sell extra software and patches for the Flipper Zero to unlock all manner of cars, including models popular in the U.S. The hackers say the tool can be used against Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other brands, including sometimes dozens of specific vehicle models, with no easy fix from car manufacturers.
💡
Do you know anything else about people using the Flipper Zero to break into cars? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.These tools are primarily sold for a fee, keeping their distribution somewhat limited to those willing to pay. But, there is the looming threat that this software may soon reach a wider audience of thieves. Straight Arrow News (SAN) previously covered the same tech in July, and the outlet said it successfully tested the tool on a vehicle. Now people are cracking the software, meaning it can be used for free. Discord servers with hundreds of members are seeing more people join, with current members trolling the newbies with fake patches and download links. If the tech gets out, it threatens to supercharge car thefts across the country, especially those part of the social media phenomenon known as Kia Boys in which young men, often in Milwaukee, steal and joyride Kia and Hyundai cars specifically because of the vehicles’ notoriously poor security. Apply that brazeness to all of the other car models the Flipper Zero patches can target, and members of the car hacking community expect thieves to start using the easy to source gadget.
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UpgradeInside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
“Kia Boys will be Flipper Boys by 2026,” one person in the reverse engineering community said.Joseph Cox (404 Media)
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VS Code Chat Checkpoints: A Safety Net for AI Coding
Ever let GitHub Copilot get a little too creative and make a mess of your project? We've all been there. A single misguided prompt can lead to chaos across multiple files, leaving you with a cleanup job you didn't ask for.
The latest VS Code update (v1.103) is here to save the day with a new feature called VS Code chat checkpoints. Think of it as a powerful "undo" button for your entire AI conversation. You can now instantly roll back your whole workspace to a previous state, making it safe to experiment with even the most ambitious AI-driven edits. This update also brings support for OpenAI's new GPT-5 model, making Copilot smarter than ever.
VS Code Chat Checkpoints: A Safety Net for AI Coding
VS Code's 1.103 update introduces VS Code Chat Checkpoints, a feature to roll back misguided AI prompts. Learn how this safety net, plus GPT-5 support, is changing development. Explore the new features now!Owais Makkabi (Tygo Cover)
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Hundreds of thousands of Grok chats exposed in Google results
Hundreds of thousands of Grok chats exposed in Google results
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot appears to have published messages without users' knowledge.Liv McMahon (BBC News)
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Unique links are created when Grok users press a button to share a transcript of their conversation - but as well as sharing the chat with the intended recipient, the button also appears to have made the chats searchable online.
This is t he r second article about chatbots “leaking” ended users share their chats with search indexing enabled.
That isn’t leaking. That’s just shitty journalism.
I hate grok.
Microsoft says U.S. law takes precedence over Canadian data sovereignty
Microsoft says U.S. law takes precedence over Canadian data sovereignty - Digital Journal
Microsoft representative says US CLOUD Act comes before other country's sovereignty.Alexander Rudolph (Digital Journal Inc)
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[Opinion] prefix.
Certain Android VPN apps are insecure, secretly tied to one Chinese company
Techspot has a table of some known bad VPNs, and concludes:
The report does not speculate heavily on Qihoo 360's motives for concealing ownership of so many free VPN apps, an approach that likely helped boost downloads while avoiding reputational risks. The company, which has well-documented ties to Beijing's communist regime, may have pursued this strategy to minimize costs and maintain deniability.
For more details on the security issues, this is about the same paper: cyberinsider.com/vpn-apps-used…
VPN Apps Used by Millions Contain Shared Keys and Hidden Backdoors
A study uncovered flaws and deceptive practices among some of the most downloaded VPN apps, collectively impacting over 700 million users.Alex Lekander (CyberInsider)
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Your dedicated virtual assistant for data entry and web research
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The forgotten war on the Walkman
The forgotten war on the Walkman
Today, the Sony Walkman inspires nostalgia, but in the 1980s, it was feared as a dangerous device that could disconnect society.Louis Anslow (Freethink Media)
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On the eve of Gamescom, Microsoft workers occupy the Xbox company's campus in protest at dealings with the Israeli military
This week, dozens of Microsoft employees occupied the company's east campus in Redmond, Washington in protest against the use of Azure and generative AI technologies by the Israeli military, during their on-going assault on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.This follows an announcement from Microsoft that they would commission another "external" inquiry into their business relationship with Israel's armed forces, after the Guardian and other papers reported on an alleged collaboration with one particular intelligence division, Unit 8200, that has seen Israel gather data from phones and store it on Microsoft servers overseas.
Amongst other things, the surveillance data is reportedly being used to target airstrikes in the course of an invasion of Gaza that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands, the majority of them civilians. Microsoft declined to comment on the recent Guardian allegations concerning Unit 8200 when approached by RPS, but have previously insisted that their own internal reporting has found "no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza."
The protest at Microsoft's campus was brief. According to the Guardian, current and former staff declared one area a 'Free Zone', and occupied it with placards that read "Join The Worker Intifada - No Labor for Genocide" and "Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza".
On the eve of Gamescom, Microsoft workers occupy the Xbox company's campus in protest at dealings with the Israeli military
In the run-up to Xbox events at Gamescom police have dispersed a protest about Microsoft's Israeli military dealings at the company's Redmond, Washington HQ.Edwin Evans-Thirlwell (Rock Paper Shotgun)
Why the time limit?
Definitely going to avoid it, tired of platforms thinking they deserve exclusivity.
Inside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
The tech used here is the popular Flipper Zero, an ethical hacker’s swiss army knife, capable of all sorts of things such as WiFi attacks or emulating NFC tags. Now, 404 Media has found an underground trade where much shadier hackers sell extra software and patches for the Flipper Zero to unlock all manner of cars, including models popular in the U.S. The hackers say the tool can be used against Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other brands, including sometimes dozens of specific vehicle models, with no easy fix from car manufacturers.
Inside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
A man holds an orange and white device in his hand, about the size of his palm, with an antenna sticking out. He enters some commands with the built-in buttons, then walks over to a nearby car. At first, its doors are locked, and the man tugs on one of them unsuccessfully. He then pushes a button on the gadget in his hand, and the door now unlocks.The tech used here is the popular Flipper Zero, an ethical hacker’s swiss army knife, capable of all sorts of things such as WiFi attacks or emulating NFC tags. Now, 404 Media has found an underground trade where much shadier hackers sell extra software and patches for the Flipper Zero to unlock all manner of cars, including models popular in the U.S. The hackers say the tool can be used against Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other brands, including sometimes dozens of specific vehicle models, with no easy fix from car manufacturers.
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Do you know anything else about people using the Flipper Zero to break into cars? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at joseph.404 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.These tools are primarily sold for a fee, keeping their distribution somewhat limited to those willing to pay. But, there is the looming threat that this software may soon reach a wider audience of thieves. Straight Arrow News (SAN) previously covered the same tech in July, and the outlet said it successfully tested the tool on a vehicle. Now people are cracking the software, meaning it can be used for free. Discord servers with hundreds of members are seeing more people join, with current members trolling the newbies with fake patches and download links. If the tech gets out, it threatens to supercharge car thefts across the country, especially those part of the social media phenomenon known as Kia Boys in which young men, often in Milwaukee, steal and joyride Kia and Hyundai cars specifically because of the vehicles’ notoriously poor security. Apply that brazeness to all of the other car models the Flipper Zero patches can target, and members of the car hacking community expect thieves to start using the easy to source gadget.
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UpgradeInside the Underground Trade of ‘Flipper Zero’ Tech to Break into Cars
“Kia Boys will be Flipper Boys by 2026,” one person in the reverse engineering community said.Joseph Cox (404 Media)
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I hate it when they always add "ethical". First of all, when you say ethical you mean law-fearing, they don't really care about ethics and, secondly, "regular" hackers use it too, so it's just a hacker's swiss army knife...
Dude, do you want individual hacking to become illegal? Because people who are not hacking daily are prone to forgetting that some hackers don't actually act maliciously.
Also, yes, some hackers are ethical and do care. Not you, obviously. But some.
That's what you think is good about hacking? That's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. That's what you get when you get your education from TV.
Hacking means "misusing/modifying crap to work how you want".
Ethical hacking is e.g. modifying devices you own to run software you want, like e.g. running homebrew software on a game console. It is finding and reporting security vulnerabilities so that companies can improve their security. It is modifying software or devices to e.g. removing privacy problems or tracking.
And ethical hacking and law-abiding hacking aren't the same either, since some ethical hacking activities might be illegal (e.g. violating restrictions on modifying devices) and some legal hacking activities might not be ethical (e.g. using legal hacking to dox people).
And ethical hacking and law-abiding hacking aren't the same either
I prefer saying 'grey hat' instead of 'ethical hacker' because ethical hacker is now used to mean 'pentester', 'red teamer' and all the other cybersecurity stuff, or so it seems to me.
that was the entire meaning of my comment, I clearly didn't make it clear enough.
China cut itself off from the global internet on Wednesday
Activist group Great Firewall Report spotted the outage, which it said disrupted all traffic to TCP port 443 – the standard port used for carrying HTTPS traffic.
“Between approximately 00:34 and 01:48 (Beijing Time, UTC+8) on August 20, 2025, the Great Firewall of China (GFW) exhibited anomalous behavior by unconditionally injecting forged TCP RST+ACK packets to disrupt all connections on TCP port 443,” the group wrote in a Wednesday post.
That disruption meant Chinese netizens couldn’t reach most websites hosted outside China, which is inconvenient. The incident also blocked other services that rely on port 443, which could be more problematic because many services need to communicate with servers or sources of information outside China for operational reasons. For example, Apple and Tesla use the port to connect to offshore servers that power some of their basic services.
China cut itself off from the global internet for an hour on Wednesday
: Great Firewall took out all traffic to port 443 at a time Beijing didn't have an obvious need to keep its netizens in the darkSimon Sharwood (The Register)
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Not HTTPS necessarily, but lots use TLS over 443. If you are sending something like login credentials to an online service, it makes sense for the servers to use what is universally available instead of reinventing the wheel. Also, some games may use a launcher that uses HTTPS if they are web-based in some fashion, or maybe the game will use it for certain kinds of API calls unrelated to actual gameplay.
If you are playing a game that uses a dedicated server (or just isn't a competitive game at all), then TLS usage is probably unlikely, but those games aren't lucrative for the account boosting/currency farming that makes cheating so rampant in China anyway.
Even signing up for some games requires you to create an account on their website first.
More. I play in oceania and the cheaters are always english speakers.
Edit: the things you get downvoted for here. should've checked the instance before I commented.
Jimmy Wales Says Wikipedia Could Use AI. Editors Call It the 'Antithesis of Wikipedia'
Paywall bypass: archive.is/oWcIr
Jimmy Wales Says Wikipedia Could Use AI. Editors Call It the 'Antithesis of Wikipedia'
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, thinks the internet’s default encyclopedia and one of the world’s biggest repositories of information could benefit from some applications of AI. The volunteer editors who keep Wikipedia functioning strongly disagree with him.The ongoing debate about incorporating AI into Wikipedia in various forms bubbled up again in July, when Wales posted an idea to his Wikipedia User Talk Page about how the platform could use a large language model as part of its article creation process.
Any Wikipedia user can create a draft of an article. That article is then reviewed by experienced Wikipedia editors who can accept the draft and move it to Wikipedia’s “mainspace,” which makes up the bulk of Wikipedia and the articles you’ll find when you’re searching for information. Reviewers can also reject articles for a variety of reasons, but because hundreds of draft articles are submitted to Wikipedia every day, volunteer reviewers often use a tool called articles for creation/helper script (ACFH), which creates templates for common reasons articles are declined.
This is where Wales thinks AI could help. He wrote that he was asked to look at a specific draft article and give notes that might help the article get published.
“I was eager to do so because I'm always interested in taking a fresh look at our policies and procedures to look for ways they might be improved,” he wrote. “The person asking me felt frustrated at the minimal level of guidance being given (this is my interpretation, not necessarily theirs) and having reviewed it, I can see why.”
Wales explains that the article was originally rejected several years ago, then someone tried to improve it, resubmitted it, and got the same exact template rejection again.
“It's a form letter response that might as well be ‘Computer says no’ (that article's worth a read if you don't know the expression),” Wales said. “It wasn't a computer who says no, but a human using AFCH, a helper script [...] In order to try to help, I personally felt at a loss. I am not sure what the rejection referred to specifically. So I fed the page to ChatGPT to ask for advice. And I got what seems to me to be pretty good. And so I'm wondering if we might start to think about how a tool like AFCH might be improved so that instead of a generic template, a new editor gets actual advice. It would be better, obviously, if we had lovingly crafted human responses to every situation like this, but we all know that the volunteers who are dealing with a high volume of various situations can't reasonably have time to do it. The templates are helpful - an AI-written note could be even more helpful.”
Wales then shared the output he got from ChatGPT. It included more details than a template rejection, but editors replying to Wales noted that it was also filled with errors.
For example, the response suggested the article cite a source that isn’t included in the draft article, and rely on Harvard Business School press releases for other citations, despite Wikipedia policies explicitly defining press releases as non-independent sources that cannot help prove notability, a basic requirement for Wikipedia articles.
Editors also found that the ChatGPT-generated response Wales shared “has no idea what the difference between” some of these basic Wikipedia policies, like notability (WP:N), verifiability (WP:V), and properly representing minority and more widely held views on subjects in an article (WP:WEIGHT).
“Something to take into consideration is how newcomers will interpret those answers. If they believe the LLM advice accurately reflects our policies, and it is wrong/inaccurate even 5% of the time, they will learn a skewed version of our policies and might reproduce the unhelpful advice on other pages,” one editor said.
Wales and editors proceeded to get into it in the replies to his article. The basic disagreement is that Wales thinks that LLMs can be useful to Wikipedia, even if they are sometimes wrong, while editors think an automated system that is sometimes wrong is fundamentally at odds with the human labor and cooperation that makes Wikipedia so valuable to begin with.
As one editor writes:
“The reputational risk to adding in AI-generated slop feedback can not be overstated. The idea that we will feed drafts into a large language model - with all the editorial and climate implications and without oversight or accountability - is insane. What are we gaining in return? Verbose, emoji-laden boilerplate slop, often wrong in substance or tone, and certainly lacking in the care and contextual sensitivity that actual human editors bring to review work. Worse it creates a dangerous illusion of helpfulness, where the appearance of tailored advice masks the lack of genuine editorial engagement. We would be feeding and legitimising a system that replaces mentoring, discourages human learning, and cheapens the standards we claim to uphold. That's the antithesis of Wikipedia, no?”
“It is definitely not the antithesis of Wikipedia to use technology in appropriate ways to make the encyclopedia better,” Wales responded. “We have a clearly identifiable problem, and you've elaborated on it well: the volume of submissions submits templated responses, and we shouldn't ask reviewers to do more. But we should look for ways to support and help them.”
Wikipedia Prepares for ‘Increase in Threats’ to US Editors From Musk and His Allies
The Wikimedia Foundation says it will likely roll out features previously used to protect editors in authoritarian countries more widely.404 MediaJason Koebler
This isn’t the first time the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that manages Wikipedia, and Wikipedia editors have clashed about AI. In June, the Wikimedia Foundation paused an experiment to use AI-generated summaries at the top of Wikipedia articles after a backlash from editors.A group of Wikipedia editors have also started WikiProject AI Cleanup, an organized effort to protect the platform from what they say is growing number of AI-generated articles and images submitted to Wikipedia that are misleading or include errors. In early August, Wikipedia editors also adopted a new policy that will make it easier for them to delete articles that are clearly AI-generated.
playlist.megaphone.fm?p=TBIEA2…
“Wikipedia’s strength has been and always will be its human-centered, volunteer-driven model — one where knowledge is created and reviewed by people, volunteers from different countries, perspectives, and backgrounds. Research shows that this process of human debate, discussion, and consensus makes for higher-quality articles on Wikipedia,” a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson told me in an email. “Nevertheless, machine-generated content is exploding across the internet, and it will inevitably make its way to Wikipedia. Wikipedia volunteers have showcased admirable resilience in maintaining the reliability of information on Wikipedia based on existing community-led policies and processes, sometimes leveraging AI/machine learning tools in this work.“The spokesperson said that Wikipedia already uses AI productively, like with bots that revert vandalism and machine translation tools, and that these tools always have a “human in the loop” to validate automated work.
“As the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy regularly engages with volunteers on his talk page to share ideas, test assumptions, and respond to questions,” the spokesperson said. ”His recent comments about how AI could improve the draft review process are an example of this and a prompt for further community conversation."
How AI-generated text is poisoning the internet
Plus: A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?Melissa Heikkilä (MIT Technology Review)
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tbh i somehow didnt even realize that wikipedia is one of the few super popular sites not trying to shove ai down my throat every 5 seconds
i'm grateful now
So I fed the page to ChatGPT to ask for advice. And I got what seems to me to be pretty good. And so I'm wondering if we might start to think about how a tool like AFCH might be improved so that instead of a generic template, a new editor gets actual advice. It would be better, obviously, if we had lovingly crafted human responses to every situation like this, but we all know that the volunteers who are dealing with a high volume of various situations can't reasonably have time to do it. The templates are helpful - an AI-written note could be even more helpful.
This actually sounds like a plausibly decent use for an LLM. Initial revision to take some of the load off from the human review process isn't a bad idea - he isn't advocating for AI to write articles, just that it can be useful for copy-editing and potentially supplement a system already heavy in Go/No Go evaluations.
Which is weird, really. Jimmy Wales is just fucking awful. I didn't realize he was anatomically capable of not talking out of his ass.
etchinghillside
in reply to Pro • • •Baron Von J
in reply to Pro • • •Anybody who cares enough to confirm whatever stupid bullshit the AI probabilistically regurgitated without actual understanding.
AlphaOmega
in reply to Baron Von J • • •CheeseNoodle
in reply to AlphaOmega • • •What I really don't get is that there are in fact models that you can feed a document too and they will directly copy/paste quote relevant parts of that document in their reply complete with a little reference to the correct page. Basically a smarter ctrl-F function that can take sentences as input.
When that exists why is google using the probabilistic shit in their search?
fodor
in reply to Pro • • •LLM: Something like what somebody might say.
Website: What somebody did say. (Depending on the site.)