OpenAI says it’s “impossible” to create useful AI models without copyrighted material (arstechnica.com)
Apparently, stealing other people’s work to create product for money is now “fair use” as according to OpenAI because they are “innovating” (stealing). Yeah. Move fast and break things, huh?...
The smart(shit)ification of TVs pisses me off.
I absolutely hate “smart” TVs! You can’t even buy a quality “dumb” panel anymore. I can’t convince the rest of my family and friends that the only things those smarts bring are built-in obsolescence, ads, and privacy issues....
Greg Rutkowski Was Removed From Stable Diffusion, But AI Artists Brought Him Back - Decrypt (decrypt.co)
Greg Rutkowski, a digital artist known for his surreal style, opposes AI art but his name and style have been frequently used by AI art generators without his consent. In response, Stable Diffusion removed his work from their dataset in version 2.0. However, the community has now created a tool to emulate Rutkowski’s style...
Built-in software ‘death dates’ are sending thousands of schools’ Chromebooks to the recycling bin (www.mercurynews.com)
There are few things quite as emblematic of late stage capitalism than the concept of “planned obsolescence”.
Twitter To Rebrand As X (www.theverge.com)
🙄
Windows users don't want copilot on their taskbar (windowscopilot.news)
Meta discontinues Messenger Lite for Android, it will be unavailable after Sep 18. Users need to install regular Messenger app instead (beehaw.org)
I have not found any news article on this on a whim. Because my friends and family, I need to use Facebook Messenger, and Messenger Lite was a OK client - lightweight, no unnecessary features, etc., compared to the regular Messenger app....
USB-C confirmed for the iPhone 15 in new leaked images - Macworld (www.macworld.com)
We’ve known that the iPhone is switching to USB-C for a while now, but there was always a possibility that Apple would stick with Lightning for one more year. Based on the latest leaked images, however, Apple is all-in on USB-C for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models, with USB-C parts for the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, and...
Non right-wing tech podcasts?
It feels like every time I find a podcast about security/networking/technology the hosts end up saying some pretty off-color stuff, or I look them up and they also host right wing podcasts. Are there any that are more leftist, hosted by LGBT peeps, or at least not actively bigoted ?
Pluralistic: “If buying isn’t owning, piracy isn’t stealing” (pluralistic.net)
I totally forgot how terrible a non-ad-free YouTube experience is
So I’ve been using youtube ad blockers since pretty much when ad blocker extensions were first available. Lately though I’ve been getting hit more and more with these messages that YT was sending out every 5 or so videos telling me that adblockers aren’t allowed. No problem, just gotta wait 5 seconds to x it out and then...
Google is working on essentially putting DRM on the web (github.com)
The much maligned “Trusted Computing” idea requires that the party you are supposed to trust deserves to be trusted, and Google is DEFINITELY NOT worthy of being trusted, this is a naked power grab to destroy the open web for Google’s ad profits no matter the consequences, this would put heavy surveillance in Google’s...
Universal Chat Application, Beeper, Will Be Available To Everyone (For Free) In A Matter Of Weeks. (blog.beeper.com)
I was on the beta testing team and have been using Beeper for a little over two years now....
Someone got Gab's AI chatbot to show its instructions (mbin.grits.dev)
Credit to @bontchev
Fairphone 5 Released (shop.fairphone.com)
With 5 years of OS support and 8 years of security update....
The Fall of Stack Overflow (observablehq.com)
Over the past one and a half years, Stack Overflow has lost around 50% of its traffic. This decline is similarly reflected in site usage, with approximately a 50% decrease in the number of questions and answers, as well as the number of votes these posts receive....
"What do we do now?" - LMG's response to the recent controversies (youtu.be)
At least, some of the recent controversies.
Google says AI systems should be able to mine publishers’ work unless companies opt out, turning copyright law on its head (www.theguardian.com)
In its submission to the Australian government’s review of the regulatory framework around AI, Google said that copyright law should be altered to allow for generative AI systems to scrape the internet.
Windows 10 end of life could prompt torrent of e-waste as 240 million devices set for scrapheap | ITPro (www.itpro.com)
Analysts have warned Windows 10 end of life plans could spark a global torrent of e-waste, with millions of devices expected to be scrapped in the coming years....
Two brands suspend advertising on X after their ads appeared next to pro-Nazi content (www.cnn.com)
The fall of Firefox: Mozilla's once-popular web browser slides into irrelevance (www.zdnet.com)
Article seems pretty flawed. Relevance is a vague metric, and the author relies pretty heavily on data related to government site visitation, which seems subject to bias toward certain types of users....
Twitter's lost 13% of its daily users and its rebrand has failed (www.bigtechnology.com)
The new data — comprehensive and definitive — should put to rest the countervailing narratives over Musk’s management of the app. Under his stewardship, X’s daily user base has declined from an estimated 140 million users to 121 million, with a widening gap between people who check the app daily vs. monthly. X’s...
Apple exec defends 8GB $1,599 MacBook Pro, claims it's like 16GB on a PC (www.theregister.com)
The Release Date and Key Features of Windows 12 Unveiled (ux-news.com)
I…didn’t think windows 12 was actually a thing but here we are?