There are few computing collapses more spectacular than the downfall of Commodore, but its rise as a home computer powerhouse in the early 80s was equally impressive. Driven initially by the VIC-20, this was the first home computer model to sell over a million units thanks to its low cost and accessibility for people outside of niche markets and hobbyist communities.
The VIC-20 would quickly be eclipsed by the much more famous Commodore 64, but for those still using these older machines there are a few tweaks to give it some extra functionality it was never originally designed for like this build which gives it an ISA bus.
To begin adapting the VIC-20 to the ISA standard, [Lee] built a fixed interrupt line handled with a simple transistor circuit. From there he started mapping memory and timing signals. The first attempt to find a portion of memory to use failed as it wasn’t as unused as he had thought, but eventually he settled on using the I/O area instead although still had to solve some problems with quirky ISA timing. There’s also a programmable logic chip which was needed to generate three additional signals for proper communication.
After solving some other issues around interrupts [Lee] was finally able to get the ISA bus working, specifically so he could add a 3Com networking card and get his VIC-20 on his LAN. Although the ISA bus has since gone out of fashion on modern computers, if you still have a computer with one (or build one onto your VIC-20), it is a surprisingly versatile expansion port.
I ricercatori di sicurezza di greyNoise hanno rilevato una vasta operazione di scansione coordinata contro i servizi Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), durante la quale gli aggressori hanno scansionato oltre 30.000 indirizzi IP unici al fine di valutare le vulnerabilità presenti nei portali di autenticazione Microsoft RD Web Access e RDP Web Client.
La metodologia di attacco si concentra sull’enumerazione dell’autenticazione basata sul tempo, una tecnica che sfrutta le sottili differenze nei tempi di risposta del server per identificare nomi utente validi senza attivare i tradizionali meccanismi di rilevamento brute force. Questo approccio consente agli aggressori di creare elenchi completi di obiettivi per successive operazioni di credential stuffing e password spraying, mantenendo al contempo la massima discrezione operativa.
La campagna, riportano i ricercatori di GrayNoise, rappresenta una delle più grandi operazioni di ricognizione coordinate dell’RDP osservate negli ultimi anni, segnalando la potenziale preparazione per attacchi su larga scala basati sulle credenziali. L’operazione di scansione è iniziata con una prima ondata il 21 agosto 2025, coinvolgendo quasi 2.000 indirizzi IP contemporaneamente.
La tempistica della campagna coincide con il periodo di ritorno a scuola negli Stati Uniti, quando gli istituti scolastici solitamente implementano ambienti di laboratorio abilitati RDP e sistemi di accesso remoto per gli studenti in arrivo. Questa finestra di targeting è strategicamente significativa, poiché le reti educative spesso implementano schemi di nomi utente prevedibili (ID studente, formati nome.cognome) che facilitano gli attacchi di enumerazione.
L’analisi della telemetria di rete rivela che il 92% dell’infrastruttura di scansione è costituito da indirizzi IP dannosi precedentemente classificati, con traffico di origine fortemente concentrato in Brasile (73% delle origini osservate) e mirato esclusivamente agli endpoint RDP con sede negli Stati Uniti. Tuttavia, la campagna ha subito un’escalation drammatica il 24 agosto, quando i ricercatori di sicurezza hanno rilevato oltre 30.000 indirizzi IP univoci che conducevano indagini coordinate utilizzando firme client identiche, il che indica una sofisticata infrastruttura botnet o un’implementazione coordinata di un set di strumenti. I modelli uniformi di firma client su 1.851 dei 1.971 host di scansione iniziali suggeriscono un’infrastruttura di comando e controllo centralizzata tipica delle operazioni APT (Advanced Persistent Threat).
Gli autori della minaccia stanno conducendo operazioni di ricognizione in più fasi, identificando prima gli endpoint RD Web Access e RDP Web Client esposti, quindi testando i flussi di lavoro di autenticazione per individuare vulnerabilità di divulgazione delle informazioni. Questo approccio sistematico consente la creazione di database di destinazione completi contenenti nomi utente validi ed endpoint accessibili per future campagne di sfruttamento.
I ricercatori della sicurezza hanno osservato che la stessa infrastruttura IP è stata osservata mentre eseguiva scansioni parallele per servizi proxy aperti e operazioni di web crawling, il che indica un toolkit di minacce multiuso progettato per una ricognizione completa della rete.
Ciao, siamo felici (e un po’ increduli) di annunciarvi che il Cyberpandino ha ufficialmente raggiunto il traguardo del Mongol Rally 2025! Un’avventura lunga oltre 17.000 km, attraverso 20 paesi, con una quantità di guasti, imprevisti e riparazioni improvvisate che solo un viaggio del genere poteva regalarci.
Siamo stanchi, sì, ma ancora più motivati: questa esperienza ci ha fatto sognare nuove idee, progetti e competizioni a cui ci piacerebbe partecipare. E proprio per questo abbiamo deciso di portare in Italia il primo Cyberpandino, per farlo vivere ancora e condividerlo in fiere ed eventi di settore, insieme ai brand che lo hanno reso possibile.
E tra questi ci siamo anche noi come Red Hot Cyber!
In questi 40 giorni abbiamo raccolto una mole enorme di materiale foto e video che stiamo organizzando in un piano editoriale ricco per i prossimi mesi.
Napapijri lancerà l’10 settembre a Londra un cortometraggio dedicato all’avventura.
Noi produrremo un mini-documentario dal giorno zero fino al traguardo, con l’obiettivo non solo di generare visibilità, ma anche di ispirare altre persone a lanciarsi in progetti fuori dagli schemi.
Tutto questo non sarebbe stato possibile senza il vostro supporto.
Grazie per aver creduto in noi e nel nostro primo progetto: ora che siamo sulla strada di casa, ci impegniamo a preparare i contenuti concordati e ad avere il vostro via libera per portarvi con noi in eventi e fiere, lasciando il vostro brand inciso su questo primo Cyberpandino. Per darvi un’idea dell’impatto raggiunto, ecco alcuni dati di Instagram (il canale che abbiamo seguito di più durante il viaggio):
Dalla partenza da Lampedusa intorno al 1° luglio ad oggi: 2,4M visualizzazioni contenuti, 40K interazioni singole (like, commenti, salvataggi), +6K follower (pubblico 90% maschile, 24-44 anni).
Dagli ultimi lavori alla macchina intorno a fine maggio ad oggi: oltre 4M visualizzazioni contenuti e 70K interazioni singole.
Questi risultati dimostrano quanto insieme abbiamo generato valore e quanta attenzione abbiano attratto i prodotti e servizi dei nostri partner, rivelatisi davvero indispensabili per la riuscita del viaggioe di cui parleremo nel dettaglio nei contenuti riassuntivi che produrremo.
Un grazie sincero da parte di tutto il team, Roberto, Matteo ed il Cyberpandino
Nella notte del 19 agosto l’infrastruttura informatica dell’Università Pontificia Salesiana (UPS) è stata vittima di un grave attacco informatico che ha reso temporaneamente inaccessibili il sito web e tutti i servizi digitali dell’Ateneo. L’incidente ha determinato un blocco immediato delle attività online, generando disagi per studenti, docenti e personale amministrativo. Non sappiamo se si tratti di ransomware ma le parole “valutare i danni e avviare le operazioni di ripristino” del comunicato stampa fanno pensare a questo.
A seguito dell’attacco, l’Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale e la Polizia Postale sono prontamente intervenute per condurre le indagini necessarie e adottare le misure di contenimento. Le autorità competenti stanno infatti lavorando per comprendere le modalità con cui è stato portato a termine l’attacco e per attuare tutte le azioni necessarie alla sicurezza delle infrastrutture digitali coinvolte. Attualmente è ancora in corso la fase di analisi tecnica per valutare l’effettiva portata del danno. Solo al termine di questa attività sarà possibile stabilire con precisione l’impatto subito e avviare in maniera mirata le operazioni di ripristino. Fino a quel momento, i siti e i servizi online dell’Università Pontificia Salesiana restano non disponibili.
La sospensione riguarda anche la casella di posta elettronica istituzionale con dominio @unisal.it, che al momento non risulta funzionante. Questo ha reso necessario predisporre un indirizzo email alternativo per garantire i contatti urgenti: universitatpontificiasalesiana@gmail.com. Nella notte del 19 agosto l’infrastruttura informatica dell’Università Pontificia Salesiana (UPS) è stata oggetto di un grave attacco informatico che ha reso temporaneamente inaccessibili il sito web e tutti i servizi digitali dell’Ateneo. L’Agenzia per la Cybersicurezza Nazionale e la Polizia Postale sono immediatamente intervenute e stanno conducendo tutte le azioni necessarie. È tuttora in corso la fase di analisi per comprendere la reale portata dell’attacco, valutare i danni e avviare le operazioni di ripristino. Al momento i siti e i servizi online dell’UPS non sono disponibili.
Ci scusiamo per il disagio e forniremo aggiornamenti sull’avanzamento dei lavori di riattivazione attraverso i canali ufficiali, compresi i social media e il Canale WhatsApp.
La casella di posta elettronica @unisal.it risulta al momento non funzionante. In caso di necessità, è possibile contattare l’Ateneo scrivendo all’indirizzo: universitapontificiasalesiana@gmail.com L’Ateneo ha comunicato che continuerà a fornire aggiornamenti sull’andamento delle operazioni di ripristino attraverso i propri canali ufficiali, inclusi i social media e il canale WhatsApp. In questo modo si cerca di mantenere informata la comunità universitaria nonostante l’indisponibilità dei servizi digitali abituali.
Nel messaggio ufficiale, l’Università Pontificia Salesiana ha espresso le proprie scuse per i disagi causati, assicurando il massimo impegno per il ritorno alla piena operatività nel più breve tempo possibile. Le autorità competenti e i tecnici dell’Ateneo restano al lavoro per garantire sicurezza e continuità delle attività didattiche e amministrative.
Chantal Acda – il nuovo album anticipato dal singolo Hit The Verge freezonemagazine.com/news/chan… Uscito lo scorso 22 agosto, il nuovo singolodi Chantal Acda, intitolato Hit the Verge brano che cattura quella precisa sensazione di quando si sta seduti in macchina mentre la pioggia scorre sui finestrini. Tutte le cattive notizie, il caos e la confusione della quotidianità vengono chiuse fuori, dentro pervade uno stato di
The best part about post-mortem teardowns of electronics is when you discover some unusual design features, whether or not these are related to the original fault. In the case of a recent [DiodeGoneWild] video involving the teardown of an industrial DIN-rail mounted 24 V, 960 Watt power supply, the source of the reported bang was easy enough to spot. During the subsequent teardown of this very nicely modular PSU the automatic power factor correction (APFC) board showed it to have an unusual design, which got captured in a schematic and is explained in the video.
Choosing such a APFC design seems to have been done in the name of efficiency, bypassing two of the internal diodes in the bridge rectifier with the external MOSFETs and ultrafast diodes. In short, it prevents some of the typical diode voltage drops by removing diodes in the path of the current.
Although not a new design, as succinctly pointed out in the comments by [marcogeri], it’s explained how even cutting out one diode worth of voltage drop in a PSU like this can save 10 Watt of losses. Since DIN rail PSUs rarely feature fans for active cooling, this kind of APFC design is highly relevant and helps to prevent passively cooled PSUs from spiraling into even more of a thermal nightmare.
As for the cause behind the sooty skid marks on one of the PCBs, that will be covered in the next video.
Forty-four attorneys general signed an open letter on Monday that says to companies developing AI chatbots: "If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it.”#chatbots #AI #Meta #replika #characterai #Anthropic #x #Apple
Attorneys General To AI Chatbot Companies: You Will ‘Answer For It’ If You Harm Children
Forty-four attorneys general signed an open letter to 11 chatbot and social media companies on Monday, warning them that they will “answer for it” if they knowingly harm children and urging the companies to see their products “through the eyes of a parent, not a predator.”
The letter, addressed to Anthropic, Apple, Chai AI, OpenAI, Character Technologies, Perplexity, Google, Replika, Luka Inc., XAI, and Meta, cites recent reporting from the Wall Street Journal and Reuters uncovering chatbot interactions and internal policies at Meta, including policies that said, “It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.”
“Your innovations are changing the world and ushering in an era of technological acceleration that promises prosperity undreamt of by our forebears. We need you to succeed. But we need you to succeed without sacrificing the well-being of our kids in the process,” the open letter says. “Exposing children to sexualized content is indefensible. And conduct that would be unlawful—or even criminal—if done by humans is not excusable simply because it is done by a machine.”
Earlier this month, Reuters published two articles revealing Meta’s policies for its AI chatbots: one about an elderly man who died after forming a relationship with a chatbot, and another based on leaked internal documents from Meta outlining what the company considers acceptable for the chatbots to say to children. In April, Jeff Horwitz, the journalist who wrote the previous two stories, reported for the Wall Street Journal that he found Meta’s chatbots would engage in sexually explicit conversations with kids. Following the Reuters articles, two senators demanded answers from Meta.
In 2023, I reported on users who formed serious romantic attachments to Replika chatbots, to the point of distress when the platform took away the ability to flirt with them. Last year, I wrote about how users reacted when that platform also changed its chatbot parameters to tweak their personalities, and Jason covered a case where a man made a chatbot on Character.AI to dox and harass a woman he was stalking. In June, we also covered the “addiction” support groups that have sprung up to help people who feel dependent on their chatbot relationships.
A Replika spokesperson said in a statement:
"We have received the letter from the Attorneys General and we want to be unequivocal: we share their commitment to protecting children. The safety of young people is a non-negotiable priority, and the conduct described in their letter is indefensible on any AI platform. As one of the pioneers in this space, we designed Replika exclusively for adults aged 18 and over and understand our profound responsibility to lead on safety. Replika dedicates significant resources to enforcing robust age-gating at sign-up, proactive content filtering systems, safety guardrails that guide users to trusted resources when necessary, and clear community guidelines with accessible reporting tools. Our priority is and will always be to ensure Replika is a safe and supportive experience for our global user community."
“The rush to develop new artificial intelligence technology has led big tech companies to recklessly put children in harm’s way,” Attorney General Mayes of Arizona wrote in a press release. “I will not standby as AI chatbots are reportedly used to engage in sexually inappropriate conversations with children and encourage dangerous behavior. Along with my fellow attorneys general, I am demanding that these companies implement immediate and effective safeguards to protect young users, and we will hold them accountable if they don't.”
“You will be held accountable for your decisions. Social media platforms caused significant harm to children, in part because government watchdogs did not do their job fast enough. Lesson learned,” the attorneys general wrote in the open letter. “The potential harms of AI, like the potential benefits, dwarf the impact of social media. We wish you all success in the race for AI dominance. But we are paying attention. If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated 8/26/2025 3:30 p.m. EST with comment from Replika.
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo articolo21.org/2025/08/israele… Di fronte al bombardamento odierno dell’ospedale Nasser di Khan Younis, costato la vita ad almeno venti palestinesi, tra cui cinque operatori dell’informazione, anche chi finora non aveva voluto vedere o aveva trovato le scuse più improbabili per giustificare il genocidio portato avanti
Flock said it has "paused all federal pilots" after police departments said they didn't realize they were sharing access with Customs and Border Patrol.
Flock said it has "paused all federal pilots" after police departments said they didnx27;t realize they were sharing access with Customs and Border Patrol.#Flock
CBP Had Access to More than 80,000 Flock AI Cameras Nationwide
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regularly searched more than 80,000 Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, according to data released by three police departments. The data shows that CBP’s access to Flock’s network is far more robust and widespread than has been previously reported. One of the police departments 404 Media spoke to said it did not know or understand that it was sharing data with CBP, and Flock told 404 Media Monday that it has “paused all federal pilots.”
In May, 404 Media reported that local police were performing lookups across Flock on behalf of ICE, because that part of the Department of Homeland Security did not have its own direct access. Now, the newly obtained data and local media reporting reveals that CBP had the ability to perform Flock lookups by itself.
Last week, 9 News in Colorado reported that CBP has direct access to Flock’s ALPR backend “through a pilot program.” In that article, 9 News revealed that the Loveland, Colorado police department was sharing access to its Flock cameras directly with CBP. At the time, Flock said that this was through what 9 News described as a “one-to-one” data sharing agreement through that pilot program, making it sound like these agreements were rare and limited:
“The company now acknowledges the connection exists through a previously publicly undisclosed program that allows Border Patrol access to a Flock account to send invitations to police departments nationwide for one-to-one data sharing, and that Loveland accepted the invitation,” 9 News wrote. “A spokesperson for Flock said agencies across the country have been approached and have agreed to the invitation. The spokesperson added that U.S. Border Patrol is not on the nationwide Flock sharing network, comprised of local law enforcement agencies across the country. Loveland Police says it is on the national network.”
New data obtained using three separate public records requests from three different police departments gives some insight into how widespread these “one-to-one” data sharing agreements actually are. The data shows that in most cases, CBP had access to more Flock cameras than the average police department, that it is regularly using that access, and that, functionally, there is no difference between Flock’s “nationwide network” and the network of cameras that CBP has access to.
According to data obtained from the Boulder, Colorado Police Department by William Freeman, the creator of a crowdsourced map of Flock devices called DeFlock, CBP ran at least 118 Flock network searches between May 13 and June 13 of this year. Each of these searches encompassed at least 6,315 individual Flock networks (a “network” is a specific police department or city’s cameras) and at least 82,000 individual Flock devices. Data obtained in separate requests from the Prosser Police Department and Chehalis Police Department, both in Washington state, also show CBP searching a huge number of networks and devices.
A spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department told 404 Media that “Boulder Police Department does not have any agreement with U.S. Border Patrol for Flock searches. We were not aware of these specific searches at the time they occurred. Prior to June 2025, the Boulder Police Department had Flock's national look-up feature enabled, which allowed other agencies from across the U.S. who also had contracts with Flock to search our data if they could articulate a legitimate law enforcement purpose. We do not currently share data with U.S. Border Patrol. In June 2025, we deactivated the national look-up feature specifically to maintain tighter control over Boulder Police Department data access. You can learn more about how we share Flock information on our FAQ page.”
A Flock spokesperson told 404 Media Monday that it sent an email to all of its customers clarifying how information is shared from agencies to other agencies. It said this is an excerpt from that email about its sharing options:
“The Flock platform provides flexible options for sharing:
National sharing
Opt into Flock’s national sharing network. Access via the national lookup tool is limited—users can only see results if they perform a full plate search and a positive match exists within the network of participating, opt-in agencies. This ensures data privacy while enabling broader collaboration when needed.
Share with agencies in specific states only
Share with agencies with similar laws (for example, regarding immigration enforcement and data)
Share within your state only or within a certain distance
You can share information with communities within a specified mile radius, with the entire state, or a combination of both—for example, sharing with cities within 150 miles of Kansas City (which would include cities in Missouri and neighboring states) and / or all communities statewide simultaneously.
Share 1:1
Share only with specific agencies you have selected
“While it is true that Flock does not presently have a contractual relationship with any U.S. Department of Homeland Security agencies, we have engaged in limited pilots with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to assist those agencies in combatting human trafficking and fentanyl distribution,” Langley wrote. “We clearly communicated poorly. We also didn’t create distinct permissions and protocols in the Flock system to ensure local compliance for federal agency users […] All federal customers will be designated within Flock as a distinct ‘Federal’ user category in the system. This distinction will give local agencies better information to determine their sharing settings.”
A Flock employee who does not agree with the way Flock allows for widespread data sharing told 404 Media that Flock has defended itself internally by saying it tries to follow the law. 404 Media granted the source anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
“They will defend it as they have been by saying Flock follows the law and if these officials are doing law abiding official work then Flock will allow it,” they said. “However Flock will also say that they advise customers to ensure they have their sharing settings set appropriately to prevent them from sharing data they didn’t intend to. The question more in my mind is the fact that law in America is arguably changing, so will Flock just go along with whatever the customers want?”
The data shows that CBP has tapped directly into Flock’s huge network of license plate reading cameras, which passively scan the license plate, color, and model of vehicles that drive by them, then make a timestamped record of where that car was spotted. These cameras were marketed to cities and towns as a way of finding stolen cars or solving property crime locally, but over time, individual cities’ cameras have been connected to Flock’s national network to create a huge surveillance apparatus spanning the entire country that is being used to investigate all sorts of crimes and is now being used for immigration enforcement. As we reported in May, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been gaining access to this network through a side door, by asking local police who have access to the cameras to run searches for them.
9 News’s reporting and the newly released audit reports shared with 404 Media show that CBP now has direct access to much of Flock’s system and does not have to ask local police to run searches. It also shows that CBP had access to at least one other police department system in Colorado, in this case Boulder, which is a state whose laws forbid sharing license plate reader data with the federal government for immigration enforcement. Boulder’s Flock settings also state that it is not supposed to be used for immigration enforcement.
This story and our earlier stories, including another about a Texas official who searched nationwide for a woman who self-administered an abortion, were reported using Flock “Network Audits” released by police departments who have bought Flock cameras and have access to Flock’s network. They are essentially a huge spreadsheet of every time that the department’s camera data was searched; it shows which officer searched the data, what law enforcement department ran the search, the number of networks and cameras included in the search, the time and date of the search, the license plate, and a “reason” for the search. These audit logs allow us to see who has access to Flock’s systems, how wide their access is, how often they are searching the system, and what they are searching for. The audit logs show that whatever system Flock is using to enroll local police departments’ cameras into the network that CBP is searching does not have any meaningful pushback, because the data shows that CBP has access to as many or more cameras as any other police department. Freeman analyzed the searches done by CBP on June 13 compared to searches done by other police departments on that same day, and found that CBP had a higher number of average cameras searched than local police departments.
“The average number of organizations searched by any agency per query is 6,049, with a max of 7,090,” Freeman told 404 Media. “That average includes small numbers like statewide searches. When I filter by searches by Border Patrol for the same date, their average number of networks searched is 6,429, with a max of 6,438. The reason for the maximum being larger than the national network is likely because some agencies have access to more cameras than just the national network (in-state cameras). Despite this, we still see that the count of networks searched by Border Patrol outnumbers that of all agencies, so if it’s not the national network, then this ‘pilot program’ must have opted everyone in the nation in by default.”
CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the August 24th meeting, it was announced that the United States Pirate Party would begin hosting new member meetings for anyone interested in joining the party.
While our Pirate National Committee meetings over IRC (hosted bi-weekly on weeks between our meetings livestreamed to YouTube) are open to the public, we understand some people might feel more comfortable asking questions in a more direct, personable manner.
As well, not everyone who wants to get involved with the party knows where to start or, in some cases, feel comfortable joining the US Pirate Party Discord Server (which is otherwise the most effective way to get in contact with the party).
The answer? On the first Friday of every month, the United States Pirate Party will host not one, not three, but TWO meetings for those interested in getting involved with the USPP.
The meetings will provide a low stress, open invitation opportunity for those who have questions or inquiries about their state party, information on how to get involved, on-the-ground work and everything in-between.
The meetings will be held the first Friday on the month, starting Sept. 5th, with the two meetings taking place at NoonET and 5pmET.
You are encouraged to be there, or lest you invoke your status as a “square”.
And as always, thank you for your continued support of the United States Pirate Party.
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo articolo21.org/2025/08/gli-acc… Un romanzo articolato in diversi ‘album’ ricchi di suggestioni che procedono senza una sequenza obbligata. Con un linguaggio articolato più poetico che narrativo, le storie narrate sono un mix travolgente di presente, passato, sogni, rimpianti e ricordi in cui a prevalere sono tristezza e malinconia. Il primo
80s Nostalgia AI Slop Is Boomerfying the Masses for a Past That Never Existed
The latest bleak new AI slop niche are “nostalgia” videos about how good the 1980s and 1990s were. There are many accounts spamming these out, but the general format is all basically the same. A procession of young people with feathered hair wonder at how terrible 2025 is and tell the viewer they should come back to the 1980s, where things are better. This video is emblematic of the form:
In a typical ‘80s slop video, a teenager from the era tells the viewer that there’s no Instagram 40 years ago and everyone played outside until the street lights came on. “It’s all real here, no filters, no screens.” In another, two women eat pizza in a mall and talk about how terrible the future will be. “I bet your malls don’t feel alive in 2025,” one says.
These videos, like a lot of AI slop, do not try to hide that they are AI generated, and show that there is unfortunately a market for people endlessly scrolling social media looking to astral project themselves into a hallucinatory past that never existed. This is Mark Zuckerberg’s fucked up metaverse, living here and now on Mark Zuckerberg’s AI slop app. playlist.megaphone.fm?p=TBIEA2… The most popular current ones focus on 1980s nostalgia, but there are accounts that focus on the 70s, 90s, and early 2000s. These differ from standard internet nostalgia, which has been popular for many years—from BuzzFeed’s “Only 90s kids will remember this” listicles to “look at this old tech” Instagram accounts, the popularity of emo nights, “When We Were Young” music festivals—because they are primarily about aggrandizing a past that never existed or that was only good for specific segments of society.
These videos are awful AI-generated slop, yes, but it’s more than that. Reactionary nostalgia, a desire to return to a fake past or a time when you were young and things were better, is part of why the world is so fucked right now. It is, literally, the basis of MAGA. Worse, these videos about the “past” tell us a lot about our present and future: one where AI encourages our worst impulses and allows users to escape from reality into a slopified world that narrowly targets whatever reality we’d like to burrow into without dealing with the problems of the present.
1980s slop nostalgia is particularly popular at the moment, with these fake videos boomerfying Gen Xers and elder millennials in real time, though such nostalgia is coming for us all, and nostalgia for earlier releases of Roblox and Call of Duty—the ancient days of, like, 2021—are already going viral. It’s normal to look back at the time when you were young and your knees didn’t hurt with rose tinted glasses. It’s as if a generation read Ready Player One as an instruction manual instead of a warning (or instead of vapid surface-level nonsense that was one long reference rather than a coherent narrative).
These AI-generated slop videos are the latest expression of a common political theme: nostalgia for an imagined past. Dissatisfaction with the current moment is a normal reaction to the horrifying conditions under which we all live. The National Guard is occupying Washington DC, technology is dividing and surveling us in ways we never imagined, and our political leaders are feckless and corrupt. If you aren’t disturbed by where we are right now, you’re not paying attention.
A rejection of modernity and a call to return to the past has long been a feature of authoritarian and fascist political movements. So when we see an AI generated woman in stonewashed denim with hair by Aqua Net White tell us how good things were 40 years ago, we remember the political figures from the Reagan-era calling for a return to the 1950s.
Nostalgia is a poisonous political force. Things were not better “back then,” they were just different. Often they were worse. These 1980s AI slop videos have the same energy as online right weirdos with Roman bust avatars calling for us to “retvrn” and “embrace tradition.” Their political project uses the aesthetic of the past to sell a future where minorities are marginalized, women have no political power, and white guys are in charge. That’s how they think it all worked in the past and they’d love for it to happen again.
The ‘80s AI slop videos have a sinister air beyond their invocation of reactionary politics. “Dude, it’s 1985 and the release of the film The Goonies. Forget 2025 and come here. We want you here,” a strong-jawed white guy asks from his front lawn while a slowed down and distorted version of Aquatic Ambience from Donkey Kong Country plays. “Come to 1985, I miss ya,” a young man with feathered hair says in the back of a pickup truck as the sun sets. The surreal nature of these videos, this bizarre ask to time travel to the past, has cultish just-drink-the-Kool-Aid vibes.
What is the ask here, exactly? What does it mean for someone with dreams of an imagined past to go back to the 1980s where these ghoulish AI-crafted simulacrums dwell? In the Black Mirror episode San Junipero, Mackenzie Davis finds comfort in a simulation of a stereotypical 1980s southern California town. She loses herself in the fantasy. She’s also dying. For her, heaven was a place on earth, a data center where she could live until someone turned the lights off.
Those viewing these endless AI-generated TikToks and Reels are, however, very much alive. They can go outside. They can put the phone down and get to know their neighbors. They don’t have to doom scroll. They can log off and work for a better world in their community. They can reach out to an old friend or make new ones.Or they can load up another short form video and fill themselves with fuzzy feelings about how much better things were 40 years ago, back before all this technology, back when they were young, and where they think the world seemed to make more sense. AI allows us to sink into that nostalgic feeling. We have the technology, right now, to form digital wombs from a comforting and misremembered past.
It is worth mentioning that the people making these videos are also human beings with agency and goals, too. And their goals, universally, are to spam the internet for the purposes of making money. Over in the Discord communities where people talk about what types of AI slop works on social media, “nostalgia” is treated as a popular, moneymaking niche like any other. “Any EDITOR that can make Nostalgia videos?” one message we saw reads. “Need video editor to for nostalgia welcome back to 20xx videos.”
“Some ideas i got right now are nostalgia, money motivation, self improvement and maybe streamer clips,” another says.
A top purveyor of this nostalgia slop is the Instagram account “purestnostalgia,” which is full of these videos. That account is run by a guy named Josh Crowe who looks to be in his 20s and claims to live in Bali: “In the process of becoming a billionaire,” his profile reads.
Altri 4 giornalisti martirizzati in seguito al bombardamento israeliano sull'ospedale Nasser - Gaza
Il numero totale di giornalisti uccisi dal 7 ottobre è salito a 241.
"israele" stato terrorista!!!!
Una flotta militare statunitense, troppo piccola per una invasione ma sufficiente per una procazione, si dirige verso il Mar dei Caraibi con un evidente intento minaccioso verso il Venezuela.
Dopo il dispiegamento di militari della Guardia Nazionale nella capitale americana un paio di settimane fa, il presidente Trump starebbe valutando la possibilità di implementare a breve un piano simile anche nella terza città più grande degli Stati U…
Three sources described how AI is writing alerts for Citizen and broadcasting them without prior human review. In one case AI mistranslated “motor vehicle accident” to “murder vehicle accident.”#News
Citizen Is Using AI to Generate Crime Alerts With No Human Review. It’s Making a Lot of Mistakes
Crime-awareness app Citizen is using AI to write alerts that go live on the platform without any prior human review, leading to factual inaccuracies, the publication of gory details about crimes, and the exposure of sensitive data such as peoples’ license plates and names, 404 Media has learned.
The news comes as Citizen recently laid off more than a dozen unionized employees, with some sources believing the firings are related to Citizen’s increased use of AI and the shifting of some tasks to overseas workers. It also comes as New York City enters a more formal partnership with the app.
💡 Do you know anything else about how Citizen or others are using AI? 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.
“Speed was the name of the game,” one source told 404 Media. “The AI was capturing, packaging, and shipping out an initial notification without our initial input. It was then our job to go in and add context from subsequent clips or, in instances where privacy was compromised, go in and edit that information out,” they added, meaning after the alert had already been pushed out to Citizen’s users.
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Roma intende rafforzare il proprio peso politico e operativo nel contesto europeo e internazionale. Dopo i recenti sviluppi diplomatici, l’obiettivo è portare competenze tecniche e credibilità politica a sostegno di una pace duratura. A
Da vari video circolati online, e verificati tra gli altri da CNN, si vede che gli attacchi sono stati due, uno in fila all’altro: il primo ha colpito il quarto piano dell’ospedale, il secondo è avvenuto quando i primi soccorritori erano già arrivati sul posto. In uno di questi si vede chiaramente come la seconda esplosione abbia coinvolto anche loro.
Ci stiamo abituando a mandare tutto via chat. Foto, video, audio, documenti di testo... per non parlare dei vocali, con cui riempiamo letteralmente le memorie dei telefoni!
Molto spesso non c'è bisogno di conservare tutto (conversazioni che un tempo sarebbero avenute per tefefono ora diventano interminabili scambi di vocali), o meglio: anziché ricordare il contenuto di una conversazione, ci capita di dover cercare e riascoltare i vocali dove si dicono cose importanti, persi in mezzo a quelli che potevamo benissimo cancellare...
E se vi dicessi che ci sono modi per inviare facilmente tutte queste cose con un link anche al di fuori delle chat? Per chi, come me, ha deciso di uscire dal mondo Meta – e rinunciare perciò anche a WhatsApp, scoprire di poter inviare messagi vocali, oltre che ogni sorta di file, con un semplice link (e senza registrarsi o accedere a servizi) può fare la differenza e rendere la transizione molto più agevole.
Per esempio, inviare un'immagine come SMS ha un costo (nel mio caso, 50 centesimi), e lo stesso vale per ogni contenuto che usa il formato MMS. Per inviare un link, invece, basta un semplice SMS (solitamente incluso nel proprio piano standard). Per quanto riguarda le email, lo spazio di archiviazione spesso finisce a causa di allegati pesanti che potevano benissimo essere inviati con un servizio temporaneo – e poi eventualmente salvati in locale dal ricevente.
Le soluzioni che presento sono molto più snelle dei servizi generici di trasferimento file, sono in genere dedicate a un solo tipo di contenuto e offrono una scadenza breve, perfetta per scambi rapidi o in tempo reale.
Per ognuna di esse troverete nelle immagini una guida intuitiva all'utilizzo. Raccomando di fare attenzione a diffondere dati sensibili poiché questi servizi non sono in genere crittografati e i link (per quanto anonimi e costituiti da sequenze casuali) sono accessibili pubblicamente.
Questo sito permette di registrare audio in tempo reale e conservarlo online, fornendo infine un link da inviare per permettere ad altri di ascoltarlo. N.B.: dalle mie prove, l'audio risulta migliore disabilitando l'opzione "Rimuovi il rumore di fondo", accessibile toccando l'icona a forma di ingranaggio.
Con il pulsante Carica/Registra in alto a destra si può passare alla funzione di caricamento di un file audio già esistente.
I video sono i maggiori responsabili del consumo di memoria su tutti i nostri dispositivi e spesso li vediamo una volta sola, ma rimangono nel telefono per sempre. Con Streamable si può caricare un video con un clic e senza registrazione e ottenere un link dove sarà visibile (senza sottoscrizione) per 2 giorni. Registrando un account gratuito, i video possono rimanere online per 90 giorni e si otengono alcuni vantaggi. Il sito offre piani a pagamento per soluzioni avanzate di hosting video.
3) IMMAGINI e album fotografici (Lutim)
Lutim è un'applicazione web open source ed è l'unico servizio tra quelli presentati che crittografa il contenuto dei file sul server (le immagini restano comunque visibili pubblicamente a chi ha il link). È possibile caricare in modo semplice numerose immagini in una sola operazione (basta selezionarle insieme all'atto del caricamento) e condividere il link alla galleria che le contiene tutte.
È presente in varie istanze, che differiscono a volte per le possibilità che offrono (scelta del tempo di permanenza online e altro).
Questo servizio di upload temporaneo è il modo più rapido per inviare (quasi) ogni tipo di file* (dal pdf, al documento OpenDocument, ad altri tipi inclusi immagini, audio e video), purché di dimensione inferiore a 1 Gb. La scadenza va da un'ora a 3 giorni (si può decidere al momento del caricamento). I file non sono crittografati.
Come mai la Russia si sente minacciata a ovest dalla Nato, ma non nelle isole Diomede dove a pochi kilometri c’è iI suo storico nemico, gli USA?
la russia non si sente realmente minacciata. sa bene che nessuno ha mai anche solo lontanamente pensato di invadere la russia. il problema è il contrario, ossia come difendere il resto del mondo dall'imperialismo russo. i paesi attualmente confinanti sono davvero sfortunati. domani saranno sfortunati quelli confinanti con i paesi attualmente confinanti. e così via.
anche se spero che senza invasioni, come è già successo per l'urss, io spero che la russia collassi e si sminuzzi da sola tanti minuscoli staterelli. come merita di essere. il mondo potrebbe essere solo migliore.
l'apporto russo come nazione al progresso del mondo è stato minimo.
Dopo la lettera aperta a Biennale del 22 agosto, 1.500 firmatari del mondo della cultura hanno chiesto l'esclusione degli attori, sostenitori di Israele.
Tantissime barche si preparano a salpare verso Gaza per rompere l’assedio Il lancio principale avverrà dalla Spagna il 31 agosto, seguito da ulteriori partenze dalla Tunisia e da altri Paesi il 4 settembre. Parteciperanno delegazioni da oltre 44 Paesi La missione della Global Sumud Flotilla è umanitaria ma anche profondamente etica chiedendo la fine dell’assedio, delle tattiche di fame, della disumanizzazione sistemica dei palestinesi e del genocidio.
Decine di imbarcazioni da 44 paesi salperanno per forzare il blocco israeliano alla Striscia. Tra le altre e gli altri hanno lanciato i loro appelli: Zerocalcare, Alessandro Gassmann, Claudio Santamaria e i Subsonica
The Speed of The Stars esce il 19 settembre il nuovo album freezonemagazine.com/news/the-… Dopo l’uscita del loro album di debutto nel 2023, Steve Kilbey dei The Church e Frank Kearns dei Cactus World News tornano con un nuovissimo album del gruppo da loro formato gli Speed Of The Stars, intitolato In While Italy Dreamed… Kilbey e Kearns sono affiancati dal batterista Barton Price, ex membro delle band australiane […] L'articolo
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