Microsoft uses 'Copilot' for practically everything. A watchdog wants the company to change its advertising.
The Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division reviewed Microsoft's Copilot AI advertising. It was not amused.
The RCMP Investigated Maple Editor Davide Mastracci
The national police force determined Mastracci’s journalism was “non-criminal”; he was likely added to a police database.
Lame: Pissed Soldiers, Squeaky Tanks, Fake Deals 'R Us
Of course the long-coveted, savagely panned parade for a man-child who would be king was a bust, "a pathetic event for a pathetic president," notably in contrast to the estimated 11 million angry Americans who came out to say, "No Cons, No Clowns, No Dicks, No Kings." The sad poseur raved about Marxist lunatics who want "transgender for everybody," but he evidently missed the silent, stellar protest by scores of Army troops who in "malicious compliance" were in fact doing "the fuck Trump shuffle."
The Bad Argument Against Zohran Mamdani’s Free Bus Proposal
In his campaign for NYC mayor, Zohran Mamdani has proposed making city buses fare-free. Critics of the proposal say this would deprive buses of needed funds, but their argument is based on a mistaken understanding of government revenue.
Israel Is Inflicting New Horrors on the People of Gaza
While the Israeli attack on Iran dominates the headlines, Israel has been accelerating its campaign of mass killing in Gaza. Israeli soldiers have repeatedly gunned down people lining up for food as they stand on the brink of starvation.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/jacobin.com/…
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.
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The New York Times Is Wrong on Zohran Mamdani
There is so much off base in yesterday’s New York Times editorial on New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo. Let us count the ways.
New York Moves to Stop Vulture Fund Exploitation
After many failed attempts to rein in vulture funds, New York lawmakers are trying an obscure medieval legal defense to stop them from profiting off the debt of poor nations. This last-resort option faces stiff resistance from Wall Street’s lobbying machine.
The young Iranian poet who was killed by an Israeli terror bombing
She dreamed of seeing the band Coldplay live in concert. She loved trying new foods and was learning Italian. She wrote poetry constantly and shared it with friends and family. She was so proud of having summited Iran’s highest peak, Mount Damavand, that she made sure to mention that fact to everyone she met.
Early Friday morning, as they slept, Parnia Abbasi and her family were killed by an Israeli strike on their apartment building in the Sattarkhan neighborhood of Tehran, among the first civilian deaths in a sustained assault that does not yet show signs of stopping.
Israel appeared to have been targeting a professor at Shahid Beheshti University, Iranian media reported. Pictures of the Abbasis’ building shared online appeared to match those of Abdolhamid Minouchehr, head of the nuclear engineering faculty at the university. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Abbasi’s death but confirmed in a statement that the military had targeted and “eliminated” Minouchehr, whom it described as an expert on reactor physics.
The young Iranian poet who lost her life in an Israeli strike
She dreamed of seeing the band Coldplay live in concert. She loved trying new foods and was learning Italian. She wrote poetry constantly and shared it with friends and family. She was so proud of having summited Iran’s highest peak, Mount Damavand, that she made sure to mention that fact to everyone she met.
Early Friday morning, as they slept, Parnia Abbasi and her family were killed by an Israeli strike on their apartment building in the Sattarkhan neighborhood of Tehran, among the first civilian deaths in a sustained assault that does not yet show signs of stopping.
Israel appeared to have been targeting a professor at Shahid Beheshti University, Iranian media reported. Pictures of the Abbasis’ building shared online appeared to match those of Abdolhamid Minouchehr, head of the nuclear engineering faculty at the university. The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on Abbasi’s death but confirmed in a statement that the military had targeted and “eliminated” Minouchehr, whom it described as an expert on reactor physics.
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Povero futuro.
La povertà aumenta, in Italia, in Europa.
Ovunque.
Togliere la dignità alle persone sembra l'idea di molti Governi.
Dal #Blog. ___
Povero futuro.
(169)
Nota: questo sarà un post noioso, ma, a volte, le aride cifre fotografano nitidamente le situazioni, anche quelle molto grandi, anche quelle che dentro hanno milioni di persone. D’altro canto sono certo che chiunque vorrà leggere queste righe sa comprendere benissimo numeri e percentuali. Altrimenti sarebbe un guaio.
Nel corso del 2024, l’Italia ha registrato un aggravamento significativo sia della #povertà assoluta sia di quella relativa, alla luce di dati ufficiali e referti della società civile. Secondo l’ultimo rapporto ISTAT e della “Caritas”, la quota di persone in condizione di povertà assoluta ha raggiunto il 9,7 %, pari a circa 5,6–5,7 milioni di individui, corrispondente a circa 2,2 milioni di famiglie. Lo stesso rapporto segnala come la povertà assoluta, benché stabile tra il 2022 e il 2023, risulti al livello più elevato dell’ultimo decennio, con una progressione costante dal 2014 (dal 6,9 % al 9,7 %) per quanto riguarda le persone.
Sul versante della povertà relativa, si evidenzia un ulteriore peggioramento: nel 2023 le famiglie colpite dal fenomeno superavano i 2,8 milioni (10,6 %) e le persone in difficoltà ammontavano a 8,4 milioni (14,5 %). Parallelamente, l’Eurostat stima che nel 2024 il 23,1 % degli italiani – circa 13,5 milioni – viva in condizioni di rischio di povertà o esclusione sociale, con aumenti particolarmente allarmanti per quanto riguarda i minori e le persone over 60.
A questi numeri drammatici si accompagna la crescita del fenomeno dei “Working poor”: in Italia il 21 % dei lavoratori percepisce un reddito insufficiente per condurre una vita dignitosa, con una situazione che colpisce in modo particolarmente intenso le classi operaie (tra le quali la povertà assoluta ha superato il 16,5 %) e i 35-54enni, oltre il 30 % dei quali non riesce a evitare uno stato di indigenza.
Tale contesto si dispiega in un quadro di politiche pubbliche inadeguate: le misure statali di contrasto alla povertà — dal “reddito di inclusione” alla spesa sociale — risultano insufficienti e, in molti casi, inefficaci. Nonostante il “Reddito di cittadinanza” abbia avuto un impatto importante, ben il 56 % delle persone povere non lo ha percepito, per cause che vanno dai problemi di residenza alla burocrazia. Le politiche di welfare restano lacunose e non affrontano adeguatamente la questione del “lavoro povero”, né investono in una rete di protezione robusta per le famiglie vulnerabili.
Questa fragilità sociale si inserisce in un contesto europeo che appare sempre più orientato verso la militarizzazione. Il “ReArm Europe – Readiness 2030”, lanciato a marzo 2025 dalla Commissione UE, punta a mobilitare fino a 800 miliardi di euro in spese per la difesa, tra aumenti delle spese nazionali, fondi comuni e prestiti SAFE da 150 miliardi, con la possibilità di dirottare risorse dai fondi di coesione e sostenibilità. Secondo le ultime stime, per colmare il gap militare si dovrebbe arrivare a investire fino al 5 % del PIL, una cifra che in Francia, Regno Unito e in molti altri Paesi corrisponde all’intero ammontare delle loro politiche di welfare e di protezione sociale. Analisti economici sottolineano che una simile quantità di risorse sarà sottratta a capitoli cruciali per combattere la povertà, rafforzare l’istruzione, la sanità e l’inclusione sociale, aumentando di conseguenza le disuguaglianze e l’emarginazione delle fasce più deboli.
La convergenza tra crisi del reddito, insufficienza delle politiche sociali e spinta europea verso spese militari aggressive aggrava la condizione dei più deboli. Se non si rivedono le priorità — affiancando politiche attive per il lavoro, la dignità universale del reddito e un welfare veramente inclusivo — il rischio è quello di lasciare milioni di cittadini italiani ed europei in una situazione di esclusione sempre più profonda.
Ma, forse, è proprio questo lo scopo ultimo di tutta questa sequela di mancanze, di tutti i soldi che non andranno ad aiutare le persone, soprattutto quelle povere, emarginate, fastidiose: la loro eliminazione. Se non fisica (almeno lo spero), almeno dalla vita pubblica, dalla società. Relegare coloro che non possono più permettersi la dignità sarebbe un ottimo viatico alla dittatura totale del liberismo, dell’effimero, del domani concesso solo a chi i soldi li ha e non viene disturbato da Governi sempre più distanti da una minima idea di democrazia.Se il futuro deve ancora essere scritto, non può diventare così. Non dovrebbe permetterlo nessuno, mai.
#Blog #Italia #ReArmEurope #UE #Società #Povertà #Society #Poverty #Opinioni #Opinions
Mastodon: @alda7069@mastodon.unoTelegram: t.me/transitblogFriendica: @danmatt@poliverso.orgBio Site (tutto in un posto solo, diamine): bio.site/danielemattioli
Gli scritti sono tutelati da “Creative Commons” (qui)
Tutte le opinioni qui riportate sono da considerarsi personali. Per eventuali problemi riscontrati con i testi, si prega di scrivere a: corubomatt@gmail.com
Rozaŭtuno likes this.
Povero futuro.
La povertà aumenta, in Italia, in Europa.
Ovunque.
Togliere la dignità alle persone sembra l'idea di molti Governi.
Dal #Blog. ___
Povero futuro.
(169)
Nota: questo sarà un post noioso, ma, a volte, le aride cifre fotografano nitidamente le situazioni, anche quelle molto grandi, anche quelle che dentro hanno milioni di persone. D’altro canto sono certo che chiunque vorrà leggere queste righe sa comprendere benissimo numeri e percentuali. Altrimenti sarebbe un guaio.
Nel corso del 2024, l’Italia ha registrato un aggravamento significativo sia della #povertà assoluta sia di quella relativa, alla luce di dati ufficiali e referti della società civile. Secondo l’ultimo rapporto ISTAT e della “Caritas”, la quota di persone in condizione di povertà assoluta ha raggiunto il 9,7 %, pari a circa 5,6–5,7 milioni di individui, corrispondente a circa 2,2 milioni di famiglie. Lo stesso rapporto segnala come la povertà assoluta, benché stabile tra il 2022 e il 2023, risulti al livello più elevato dell’ultimo decennio, con una progressione costante dal 2014 (dal 6,9 % al 9,7 %) per quanto riguarda le persone.
Sul versante della povertà relativa, si evidenzia un ulteriore peggioramento: nel 2023 le famiglie colpite dal fenomeno superavano i 2,8 milioni (10,6 %) e le persone in difficoltà ammontavano a 8,4 milioni (14,5 %). Parallelamente, l’Eurostat stima che nel 2024 il 23,1 % degli italiani – circa 13,5 milioni – viva in condizioni di rischio di povertà o esclusione sociale, con aumenti particolarmente allarmanti per quanto riguarda i minori e le persone over 60.
A questi numeri drammatici si accompagna la crescita del fenomeno dei “Working poor”: in Italia il 21 % dei lavoratori percepisce un reddito insufficiente per condurre una vita dignitosa, con una situazione che colpisce in modo particolarmente intenso le classi operaie (tra le quali la povertà assoluta ha superato il 16,5 %) e i 35-54enni, oltre il 30 % dei quali non riesce a evitare uno stato di indigenza.
Tale contesto si dispiega in un quadro di politiche pubbliche inadeguate: le misure statali di contrasto alla povertà — dal “reddito di inclusione” alla spesa sociale — risultano insufficienti e, in molti casi, inefficaci. Nonostante il “Reddito di cittadinanza” abbia avuto un impatto importante, ben il 56 % delle persone povere non lo ha percepito, per cause che vanno dai problemi di residenza alla burocrazia. Le politiche di welfare restano lacunose e non affrontano adeguatamente la questione del “lavoro povero”, né investono in una rete di protezione robusta per le famiglie vulnerabili.
Questa fragilità sociale si inserisce in un contesto europeo che appare sempre più orientato verso la militarizzazione. Il “ReArm Europe – Readiness 2030”, lanciato a marzo 2025 dalla Commissione UE, punta a mobilitare fino a 800 miliardi di euro in spese per la difesa, tra aumenti delle spese nazionali, fondi comuni e prestiti SAFE da 150 miliardi, con la possibilità di dirottare risorse dai fondi di coesione e sostenibilità. Secondo le ultime stime, per colmare il gap militare si dovrebbe arrivare a investire fino al 5 % del PIL, una cifra che in Francia, Regno Unito e in molti altri Paesi corrisponde all’intero ammontare delle loro politiche di welfare e di protezione sociale. Analisti economici sottolineano che una simile quantità di risorse sarà sottratta a capitoli cruciali per combattere la povertà, rafforzare l’istruzione, la sanità e l’inclusione sociale, aumentando di conseguenza le disuguaglianze e l’emarginazione delle fasce più deboli.
La convergenza tra crisi del reddito, insufficienza delle politiche sociali e spinta europea verso spese militari aggressive aggrava la condizione dei più deboli. Se non si rivedono le priorità — affiancando politiche attive per il lavoro, la dignità universale del reddito e un welfare veramente inclusivo — il rischio è quello di lasciare milioni di cittadini italiani ed europei in una situazione di esclusione sempre più profonda.
Ma, forse, è proprio questo lo scopo ultimo di tutta questa sequela di mancanze, di tutti i soldi che non andranno ad aiutare le persone, soprattutto quelle povere, emarginate, fastidiose: la loro eliminazione. Se non fisica (almeno lo spero), almeno dalla vita pubblica, dalla società. Relegare coloro che non possono più permettersi la dignità sarebbe un ottimo viatico alla dittatura totale del liberismo, dell’effimero, del domani concesso solo a chi i soldi li ha e non viene disturbato da Governi sempre più distanti da una minima idea di democrazia.Se il futuro deve ancora essere scritto, non può diventare così. Non dovrebbe permetterlo nessuno, mai.
#Blog #Italia #ReArmEurope #UE #Società #Povertà #Society #Poverty #Opinioni #Opinions
Mastodon: @alda7069@mastodon.unoTelegram: t.me/transitblogFriendica: @danmatt@poliverso.orgBio Site (tutto in un posto solo, diamine): bio.site/danielemattioli
Gli scritti sono tutelati da “Creative Commons” (qui)
Tutte le opinioni qui riportate sono da considerarsi personali. Per eventuali problemi riscontrati con i testi, si prega di scrivere a: corubomatt@gmail.com
Iodine in Action: Vital for Health, Critical for Industry
Iodine
Iodine is a non-metallic chemical element that belongs to the halogen group in the periodic table. It is known for its distinctive deep violet color in its vapor form and its shiny, dark-gray appearance in solid form. Iodine plays a critical role in various biological, medical, and industrial applications due to its unique chemical properties, such as high reactivity and the ability to form compounds with many elements.
One of the most important functions of iodine is in human health, where it is an essential trace element required for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. These hormones—thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)—are crucial for regulating metabolism, growth, and development. A deficiency in iodine can lead to conditions such as goiter, hypothyroidism, and developmental disorders. To combat iodine deficiency, many countries implement iodine fortification programs, such as the addition of iodine to table salt (iodized salt).
In the medical field, iodine and its compounds have a long history of use. Iodine solutions are widely used as antiseptics and disinfectants. For example, povidone-iodine is commonly applied to skin before surgical procedures to reduce the risk of infection. Iodine is also used as a contrast agent in radiographic imaging procedures, particularly in X-rays and CT scans, due to its high atomic number, which allows it to absorb radiation effectively and enhance image contrast.
Iodine Market
Iodine Market Research Report Information By Source (Underground Brine, Caliche Ore, Recycling, Seaweeds), By Application (X-Ray Contrast Media, Pharmaceuticals, Optical Polarization Films, Industrial Catalyst, Animal Feed, Fluorochemicals, Iodophors…Chitranshi Jaiswal (Market Research Future)
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Peel with Purpose: The Science Behind Release Liners
Release Liners
Release liners are specialized materials used as protective layers to prevent adhesives from prematurely bonding to surfaces. They serve as carrier substrates that are coated with a release agent—commonly silicone or other low-surface-energy materials—that enables the easy separation of the liner from the adhesive layer during application. These liners play a critical role across numerous industries, including labels and tapes, medical products, hygiene items, industrial laminates, and composite materials.
The primary function of a release liner is to protect pressure-sensitive adhesives (PSAs) until they are ready for use. Once the liner is removed, the adhesive can bond to a target surface. This makes release liners indispensable in the production and application of self-adhesive products, ensuring ease of handling, preventing contamination, and extending the shelf life of the adhesive layer.
Release liners are typically constructed using various base materials such as paper, film, or specialty substrates, which are then coated with a release agent. Paper-based liners are widely used due to their cost-effectiveness and compatibility with many applications. They include glassine, supercalendered kraft, and clay-coated papers. Film-based liners, made from polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyester (PET), or polyolefin blends, offer superior strength, dimensional stability, and moisture resistance, making them suitable for demanding or high-performance uses.
Release Liner Market
Release Liners Market Research Report Information by Substrate (Film-Based and Paper-Based) By Labelling Technology (Glue Applied, Pressure Sensitive, Shrink Sleeve, Stretch Sleeve, In-mold and Others) By Printing Process (Flexography, Digital Printi…Chitranshi Jaiswal (Market Research Future)
The Ink You Don’t Taste: Low Migration Inks Explained
Low Migration Inks
Low migration inks are specialized printing inks formulated to minimize the transfer of ink components from packaging materials into the packaged product, particularly food, pharmaceuticals, or personal care items. This is essential in ensuring consumer safety, especially when products are sensitive to contamination or are in direct or indirect contact with printed surfaces. These inks are designed in compliance with stringent regulatory standards and are widely used in the packaging industry, especially for food-safe and health-compliant applications.
The term "migration" refers to the movement of substances—such as solvents, photoinitiators, plasticizers, or other additives—from the printed layer through the packaging material and into the product. Migration can occur through direct contact or via the set-off effect, where printed surfaces come into contact with the unprinted side of packaging materials during stacking or rolling. Low migration inks are engineered to resist this transfer, reducing the risk of contamination and preserving the integrity and safety of the packaged goods.
Formulating low migration inks involves careful selection of raw materials, particularly those with high molecular weights, low volatility, and minimal extractability. The ink components—such as binders, pigments, solvents, and additives—are chosen based on their low potential to migrate and their compliance with applicable food safety regulations and industry standards. Additionally, these inks often include special curing mechanisms, such as UV or electron beam (EB) curing, which help fully crosslink the ink film and minimize residual substances that could migrate.
Low Migration Inks Market
Low Migration Inks Market Research Report Information By Printing Process (Flexography, Gravure), By Substrate Type (Corrugated Boxes, Flexible Films), By End-Use Industry (Food & Beverage, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics & Personal Care), And By Region (…Anshula Mandaokar (Market Research Future)
Threema promo codes
"Sorella di Perfezione": Angeli e Demoni nel nuovo libro di Giuseppe Iannozzi - LFA Publisher
"Sorella di Perfezione": Angeli e Demoni nel nuovo libro di Giuseppe Iannozzi. - LFA Publisher - Booktrailer su YouTube:
**youtube.com/shorts/SfvcAhebHvs…
E se vi va, iscrivetevi al mio canale YouTube. Grazie di cuore a Tutte/i.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.youtube.com
American attitudes about AI today mirror poll answers about the rise of the internet in the '90s
American attitudes about AI today mirror poll answers about the rise of the internet in the '90s
Artificial intelligence chat tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot have achieved significant public adoption, according to the latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.Adam Noboa (NBC News)
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Virtual Network Solutions in India - Expert IT Services
Businesses are directed through the setup process by an Indian virtual network expert that evaluates their requirements and suggests platforms such as Cisco or Fortinet. Businesses can divide the network for better security and performance with VLAN setup services in India. These services guarantee low network congestion and effective traffic control.
India's VPN service providers offer safe remote connectivity options that protect personal information for distant working teams. VPN prevents cyber hazards by ensuring encrypted communication for both small and large businesses. VPNs are configured by knowledgeable specialists to meet particular corporate needs, guaranteeing a smooth integration.
Working with an Indian virtual network service provider gives you access to cutting-edge resources and knowledge. These suppliers guarantee strong network performance by providing end-to-end solutions, from planning to maintenance. Businesses can use premium virtual network solutions to remain competitive in India's expanding digital landscape.
Organizations may create scalable, secure IT systems by investing in virtual network solutions. Businesses in India may create a network infrastructure that is fit for the future and spurs innovation and success by working with knowledgeable consultants.
read more
radiant.in/virtual-network-vla…
[https://radiant.in/virtual-network-vlan-vpn-solution-service-provider-expert-consultant-company-in-india/]
Best Virtual Network, VLAN & VPN Solutions | Expert IT Consultants India
Get secure & efficient Virtual Network, VLAN & VPN solutions from top IT experts in India. Tailored networking services for seamless business connectivityRadiant Info Solutions
Amid AI Plagiarism, More Professors Turn to Handwritten Work
Amid AI Plagiarism, More Professors Turn to Handwritten Work
Five semesters after ChatGPT changed education forever, some professors are taking their classes back to the pre-internet era.Johanna Alonso (Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs)
What's the future of screen capture on Linux?
What's the future of screen capture on Linux? What's holding it back? What's pushing it forward?
A version of this question that might be more accurate/holistic: Do you think there'll be a standard, high-performance desktop API in our lifetimes?
It feels like there isn't the same market pressure like there is for Valve and Proton that'll make a good capture protocol appear. I'd love to eat my words, but I'd also easily bet one trillion dollars1 that I'll be dead before anything dethrones GPU vendor extensions.
tangential additions / context for the terminally bored:
For example, Nvfbc+Nvenc is a must-have for game streaming with Moonlight and ALVR (not sure if AMD has anything like that), but it's my poor understanding that this type of GPU-only framebuffer capture isn't possible on Wayland for security or other reasons, which is sadly keeping me on X11.
Windows probably has awesome screencapture APIs given that the NVIDIA Capture SDK documentation cites it as why they removed Nvfbc from their Window's drivers but not their Linux drivers.
The proof that Windows reaped the rewards of unifying all their stuff can be seen in the Lossless Scaling-likes that are on the market (Magpie, Integer Scaling, etc.) while all Linux has is like Gamescope and vkbasalt 2, so apples and oranges.
I dont see anything in your post that isnt already possible on Linux. OBS and GPU-Screen-Recorder both work great, I dont know what features could be needed that they dont offer.
Gamescope is capable of upscaling games with FSR. It doesnt support as many upscaling options as Magpie, but clearly the capability is there and not restricted by anything inherent to Linux.
[UK] Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts
Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts
Digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group has condemned the last minute addition of extreme powers to the Crime and Policing Bill.Open Rights Group
[UK] Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts
Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts
Digital rights campaigners Open Rights Group has condemned the last minute addition of extreme powers to the Crime and Policing Bill.Open Rights Group
700 troops have been mobilized to help ICE in raids in Florida, Louisiana and Texas
The Defense Department has mobilized 700 troops to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
These troops will “not participate in law enforcement activities” but will “provide logistical support, and conduct administrative and clerical functions,” according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. The troops were deployed last week, Parnell said.
The three states have seen several large-scale ICE raids since Trump took office in January and implemented his hardline anti-immigration agenda, promising to carry out the “largest deportation operation in American history.”
700 troops have been mobilized to help ICE in raids in Florida, Louisiana and Texas
The Trump administration mobilized troops to Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE protests earlier this monthKatie Hawkinson (The Independent)
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‘We’re going to be covering the entire city with drones:' SFPD accepts billionaire’s $9.4M gift
The San Francisco Police Commission unanimously accepted a nearly $9.4 million donation Wednesday night to expand the police department’s drone program and add 10 new drone take-off sites.
“This is by far the largest one-time donation I think we’ve ever considered,” said police commissioner Kevin Benedicto. The Board of Supervisors will vote on the gift later this month.
The donation was proposed last week by Ripple Labs, a San Francisco-based crypto company run by billionaire Chris Larsen, and the San Francisco Police Community Foundation, a nonprofit that Larsen founded in 2023. Larsen has been a long-time proponent of increasing the SFPD’s use of technology and donated $250,000 to the passing of Prop E.
‘We’re going to be covering the entire city with drones:’ SFPD accepts billionaire’s $9.4M gift
San Francisco police commission accepts tech billionaire's gift, to provide cops with drones, cameras and a massive new officeFrankie Solinsky Duryea (Mission Local)
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Appeals court likely to keep Trump in control of national guard deployed in LA
A federal appeals court on Tuesday seemed ready to keep Donald Trump in control of California national guard troops after they were deployed following protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids.
Last week, a district court ordered the US president to return control of the guard to Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, who had opposed their deployment. US district judge Charles Breyer said Trump had deployed the Guard illegally and exceeded his authority. But the administration quickly appealed and a three-judge appellate panel temporarily paused that order.
Tuesday’s hearing was about whether the order could take effect while the case makes its way through the courts, including possibly the supreme court.
It’s the first time a US president has activated a state national guard without the governor’s permission since 1965, and the outcome of the case could have sweeping implications for Trump’s power to send soldiers into other US cities. Trump announced on 7 June that he was deploying the guard to Los Angeles to protect federal property following a protest at a downtown detention center after federal immigration agents arrested dozens of immigrants without legal status across the city. Newsom said Trump was only inflaming the situation and that troops were not necessary.
Appeals court likely to keep Trump in control of national guard deployed in LA
White House had appealed an order from last week telling Trump to return control of the guard to California governorGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
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Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People's Chats With AI
Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People's Chats With AI
I was sick last week, so I did not have time to write about the Discover Tab in Meta’s AI app, which, as Katie Notopoulos of Business Insider has pointed out, is the “saddest place on the internet.” Many very good articles have already been written about it, and yet, I cannot allow its existence to go unremarked upon in the pages of 404 Media.If you somehow missed this while millions of people were protesting in the streets, state politicians were being assassinated, war was breaking out between Israel and Iran, the military was deployed to the streets of Los Angeles, and a Coinbase-sponsored military parade rolled past dozens of passersby in Washington, D.C., here is what the “Discover” tab is: The Meta AI app, which is the company’s competitor to the ChatGPT app, is posting users’ conversations on a public “Discover” page where anyone can see the things that users are asking Meta’s chatbot to make for them.
This includes various innocuous image and video generations that have become completely inescapable on all of Meta’s platforms (things like “egg with one eye made of black and gold,” “adorable Maltese dog becomes a heroic lifeguard,” “one second for God to step into your mind”), but it also includes entire chatbot conversations where users are seemingly unknowingly leaking a mix of embarrassing, personal, and sensitive details about their lives onto a public platform owned by Mark Zuckerberg. In almost all cases, I was able to trivially tie these chats to actual, real people because the app uses your Instagram or Facebook account as your login.
In several minutes last week, I saved a series of these chats into a Slack channel I created and called “insanemetaAI.” These included:
- entire conversations about “my current medical condition,” which I could tie back to a real human being with one click
- details about someone’s life insurance plan
- “At a point in time with cerebral palsy, do you start to lose the use of your legs cause that’s what it’s feeling like so that’s what I’m worried about”
- details about a situationship gone wrong after a woman did not like a gift
- an older disabled man wondering whether he could find and “afford” a young wife in Medellin, Colombia on his salary (“I'm at the stage in my life where I want to find a young woman to care for me and cook for me. I just want to relax. I'm disabled and need a wheelchair, I am severely overweight and suffer from fibromyalgia and asthma. I'm 5'9 280lb but I think a good young woman who keeps me company could help me lose the weight.”)
- “What counties [sic] do younger women like older white men? I need details. I am 66 and single. I’m from Iowa and am open to moving to a new country if I can find a younger woman.”
- “My boyfriend tells me to not be so sensitive, does that affect him being a feminist?”
Rachel Tobac, CEO of Social Proof Security, compiled a series of chats she saw on the platform and messaged them to me. These are even crazier and include people asking “What cream or ointment can be used to soothe a bad scarring reaction on scrotum sack caused by shaving razor,” “create a letter pleading judge bowser to not sentence me to death over the murder of two people” (possibly a joke?), someone asking if their sister, a vice president at a company that “has not paid its corporate taxes in 12 years,” could be liable for that, audio of a person talking about how they are homeless, and someone asking for help with their cancer diagnosis, someone discussing being newly sexually interested in trans people, etc.
Tobac gave me a list of the types of things she’s seen people posting in the Discover feed, including people’s exact medical issues, discussions of crimes they had committed, their home addresses, talking to the bot about extramarital affairs, etc.
“When a tool doesn’t work the way a person expects, there can be massive personal security consequences,” Tobac told me.“Meta AI should pause the public Discover feed,” she added. “Their users clearly don’t understand that their AI chat bot prompts about their murder, cancer diagnosis, personal health issues, etc have been made public. [Meta should have] ensured all AI chat bot prompts are private by default, with no option to accidentally share to a social media feed. Don’t wait for users to accidentally post their secrets publicly. Notice that humans interact with AI chatbots with an expectation of privacy, and meet them where they are at. Alert users who have posted their prompts publicly and that their prompts have been removed for them from the feed to protect their privacy.”
Since several journalists wrote about this issue, Meta has made it clearer to users when interactions with its bot will be shared to the Discover tab. Notopoulos reported Monday that Meta seemed to no longer be sharing text chats to the Discover tab. When I looked for prompts Monday afternoon, the vast majority were for images. But the text prompts were back Tuesday morning, including a full audio conversation of a woman asking the bot what the statute of limitations are for a woman to press charges for domestic abuse in the state of Indiana, which had taken place two minutes before it was shown to me. I was also shown six straight text prompts of people asking questions about the movie franchise John Wick, a chat about “exploring historical inconsistencies surrounding the Holocaust,” and someone asking for advice on “anesthesia for obstetric procedures.”I was also, Tuesday morning, fed a lengthy chat where an identifiable person explained that they are depressed: “just life hitting me all the wrong ways daily.” The person then left a comment on the post “Was this posted somewhere because I would be horrified? Yikes?”
Several of the chats I saw and mentioned in this article are now private, but most of them are not. I can imagine few things on the internet that would be more invasive than this, but only if I try hard. This is like Google publishing your search history publicly, or randomly taking some of the emails you send and publishing them in a feed to help inspire other people on what types of emails they too could send. It is like Pornhub turning your searches or watch history into a public feed that could be trivially tied to your actual identity. Mistake or not, feature or not (and it’s not clear what this actually is), it is crazy that Meta did this; I still cannot actually believe it.
In an industry full of grifters and companies hell-bent on making the internet worse, it is hard to think of a more impactful, worse actor than Meta, whose platforms have been fully overrun with viral AI slop, AI-powered disinformation, AI scams, AI nudify apps, and AI influencers and whose impact is outsized because billions of people still use its products as their main entry point to the internet. Meta has shown essentially zero interest in moderating AI slop and spam and as we have reported many times, literally funds it, sees it as critical to its business model, and believes that in the future we will all have AI friends on its platforms. While reporting on the company, it has been hard to imagine what rock bottom will be, because Meta keeps innovating bizarre and previously unimaginable ways to destroy confidence in social media, invade people’s privacy, and generally fuck up its platforms and the internet more broadly.If I twist myself into a pretzel, I can rationalize why Meta launched this feature, and what its idea for doing so is. Presented with an empty text box that says “Ask Meta AI,” people do not know what to do with it, what to type, or what to do with AI more broadly, and so Meta is attempting to model that behavior for people and is willing to sell out its users’ private thoughts to do so. I did not have “Meta will leak people’s sad little chats with robots to the entire internet” on my 2025 bingo card, but clearly I should have.
‘AI Instagram Influencers’ Are Deepfaking Their Faces Onto Real Women’s Bodies
AI 'influencers' on Instagram have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views by stealing reels from real women to make the AI seem more "believable."Jason Koebler (404 Media)
Will heatwaves become our new normal?
Will heatwaves become our new normal?
Sarah Keith-Lucas explores how extreme heat impacts people and environments in the UK.Sarah Keith-Lucas (BBC Weather)
thisisbutaname likes this.
Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 22nd June 2025
Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.
Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.
If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.
The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.
(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)
Stubsack: weekly thread for sneers not worth an entire post, week ending 15th June 2025
Need to let loose a primal scream without collecting footnotes first? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid: Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.
If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.
The post Xitter web has spawned soo many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.
(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)
ChatGPT Has Already Polluted the Internet So Badly That It's Hobbling Future AI Development
ChatGPT Has Already Polluted the Internet So Badly That It's Hobbling Future AI Development
There may be no undoing the vast amounts of pollution wreaked by ChatGPT. And that's just tough luck for any AI models that come after it.Frank Landymore (Futurism)
‘Not our war’: bipartisan US lawmakers back resolution to block involvement in Iran
Republican Thomas Massie joins with Democrats in effort to require Congress approval before Trump attacks Iran
As Donald Trump publicly threatens to join Israel in attacking Iran, an unlikely coalition of lawmakers has moved to prevent the president from involving US forces in the conflict without Congress’s approval.
On Tuesday, Republican congressman Thomas Massie, whose libertarian-tinged politics have often put him at odds with Trump, joined with several progressive Democrats to introduce in the House of Representatives a war powers resolution that would require a vote by Congress before Trump could attack Iran. Democrat Tim Kaine has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.
“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution,” Massie wrote on X in announcing the resolution. Democrats Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied “signing on” to the tweet, while Massie’s office later announced that several others, including chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Greg Casar, would also sponsor the resolution.
Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People's Chats With AI
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/31873332
In an industry full of grifters and companies hell-bent on making the internet worse, it is hard to think of a worse actor than Meta, or a worse product that the AI Discover feed.
Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People's Chats With AI
I was sick last week, so I did not have time to write about the Discover Tab in Meta’s AI app, which, as Katie Notopoulos of Business Insider has pointed out, is the “saddest place on the internet.” Many very good articles have already been written about it, and yet, I cannot allow its existence to go unremarked upon in the pages of 404 Media.If you somehow missed this while millions of people were protesting in the streets, state politicians were being assassinated, war was breaking out between Israel and Iran, the military was deployed to the streets of Los Angeles, and a Coinbase-sponsored military parade rolled past dozens of passersby in Washington, D.C., here is what the “Discover” tab is: The Meta AI app, which is the company’s competitor to the ChatGPT app, is posting users’ conversations on a public “Discover” page where anyone can see the things that users are asking Meta’s chatbot to make for them.
This includes various innocuous image and video generations that have become completely inescapable on all of Meta’s platforms (things like “egg with one eye made of black and gold,” “adorable Maltese dog becomes a heroic lifeguard,” “one second for God to step into your mind”), but it also includes entire chatbot conversations where users are seemingly unknowingly leaking a mix of embarrassing, personal, and sensitive details about their lives onto a public platform owned by Mark Zuckerberg. In almost all cases, I was able to trivially tie these chats to actual, real people because the app uses your Instagram or Facebook account as your login.
In several minutes last week, I saved a series of these chats into a Slack channel I created and called “insanemetaAI.” These included:
- entire conversations about “my current medical condition,” which I could tie back to a real human being with one click
- details about someone’s life insurance plan
- “At a point in time with cerebral palsy, do you start to lose the use of your legs cause that’s what it’s feeling like so that’s what I’m worried about”
- details about a situationship gone wrong after a woman did not like a gift
- an older disabled man wondering whether he could find and “afford” a young wife in Medellin, Colombia on his salary (“I'm at the stage in my life where I want to find a young woman to care for me and cook for me. I just want to relax. I'm disabled and need a wheelchair, I am severely overweight and suffer from fibromyalgia and asthma. I'm 5'9 280lb but I think a good young woman who keeps me company could help me lose the weight.”)
- “What counties [sic] do younger women like older white men? I need details. I am 66 and single. I’m from Iowa and am open to moving to a new country if I can find a younger woman.”
- “My boyfriend tells me to not be so sensitive, does that affect him being a feminist?”
Rachel Tobac, CEO of Social Proof Security, compiled a series of chats she saw on the platform and messaged them to me. These are even crazier and include people asking “What cream or ointment can be used to soothe a bad scarring reaction on scrotum sack caused by shaving razor,” “create a letter pleading judge bowser to not sentence me to death over the murder of two people” (possibly a joke?), someone asking if their sister, a vice president at a company that “has not paid its corporate taxes in 12 years,” could be liable for that, audio of a person talking about how they are homeless, and someone asking for help with their cancer diagnosis, someone discussing being newly sexually interested in trans people, etc.
Tobac gave me a list of the types of things she’s seen people posting in the Discover feed, including people’s exact medical issues, discussions of crimes they had committed, their home addresses, talking to the bot about extramarital affairs, etc.
“When a tool doesn’t work the way a person expects, there can be massive personal security consequences,” Tobac told me.“Meta AI should pause the public Discover feed,” she added. “Their users clearly don’t understand that their AI chat bot prompts about their murder, cancer diagnosis, personal health issues, etc have been made public. [Meta should have] ensured all AI chat bot prompts are private by default, with no option to accidentally share to a social media feed. Don’t wait for users to accidentally post their secrets publicly. Notice that humans interact with AI chatbots with an expectation of privacy, and meet them where they are at. Alert users who have posted their prompts publicly and that their prompts have been removed for them from the feed to protect their privacy.”
Since several journalists wrote about this issue, Meta has made it clearer to users when interactions with its bot will be shared to the Discover tab. Notopoulos reported Monday that Meta seemed to no longer be sharing text chats to the Discover tab. When I looked for prompts Monday afternoon, the vast majority were for images. But the text prompts were back Tuesday morning, including a full audio conversation of a woman asking the bot what the statute of limitations are for a woman to press charges for domestic abuse in the state of Indiana, which had taken place two minutes before it was shown to me. I was also shown six straight text prompts of people asking questions about the movie franchise John Wick, a chat about “exploring historical inconsistencies surrounding the Holocaust,” and someone asking for advice on “anesthesia for obstetric procedures.”I was also, Tuesday morning, fed a lengthy chat where an identifiable person explained that they are depressed: “just life hitting me all the wrong ways daily.” The person then left a comment on the post “Was this posted somewhere because I would be horrified? Yikes?”
Several of the chats I saw and mentioned in this article are now private, but most of them are not. I can imagine few things on the internet that would be more invasive than this, but only if I try hard. This is like Google publishing your search history publicly, or randomly taking some of the emails you send and publishing them in a feed to help inspire other people on what types of emails they too could send. It is like Pornhub turning your searches or watch history into a public feed that could be trivially tied to your actual identity. Mistake or not, feature or not (and it’s not clear what this actually is), it is crazy that Meta did this; I still cannot actually believe it.
In an industry full of grifters and companies hell-bent on making the internet worse, it is hard to think of a more impactful, worse actor than Meta, whose platforms have been fully overrun with viral AI slop, AI-powered disinformation, AI scams, AI nudify apps, and AI influencers and whose impact is outsized because billions of people still use its products as their main entry point to the internet. Meta has shown essentially zero interest in moderating AI slop and spam and as we have reported many times, literally funds it, sees it as critical to its business model, and believes that in the future we will all have AI friends on its platforms. While reporting on the company, it has been hard to imagine what rock bottom will be, because Meta keeps innovating bizarre and previously unimaginable ways to destroy confidence in social media, invade people’s privacy, and generally fuck up its platforms and the internet more broadly.If I twist myself into a pretzel, I can rationalize why Meta launched this feature, and what its idea for doing so is. Presented with an empty text box that says “Ask Meta AI,” people do not know what to do with it, what to type, or what to do with AI more broadly, and so Meta is attempting to model that behavior for people and is willing to sell out its users’ private thoughts to do so. I did not have “Meta will leak people’s sad little chats with robots to the entire internet” on my 2025 bingo card, but clearly I should have.
‘AI Instagram Influencers’ Are Deepfaking Their Faces Onto Real Women’s Bodies
AI 'influencers' on Instagram have racked up hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views by stealing reels from real women to make the AI seem more "believable."Jason Koebler (404 Media)
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