jrconlin

beasts, 8 hours ago to random

Another large language model scraper blocked. This graph is from a site which runs a tool generating answers for people doing important research work. The AI scraper sent hundreds of thousands of lookup requests evading rate limits by using about a thousand IPs and pinned multiple webservers at 100% CPU (graph from one attached). This is a massive waste of electricity to train a hallucination machine.

weddige, 5 hours ago to random

I'm quite happy with my Mastodon timeline, and although I follow over 1000 accounts, the heavy lifting is done by a few accounts that know how to hit the boost button and put that knowledge to good use.

Therefore, I think it's time for a #followfriday:

@5ciFiGirl
@BigAngBlack
@Brad_Rosenheim
@DamonHD
@UncivilServant
@baldur
@bitprophet
@catsalad
@hacks4pancakes
@jwildeboer
@lisamelton
@rickf
@steve
@wendynather

The accounts are in no particular order and the list is not exhaustive.

nixCraft, 1 day ago to random

DuckDuckGo, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT's web search, Ecosia, and Qwant all stopped working this morning because of Bing API. 😂 And they want Microsoft Copilot deeply integrated with Windows OS. Imagine someone is unable to book emergency medical appointments because Microsoft Copilot is down or you can't withdraw money or transfer funds through netbanking because AI and screenshot services are down. This is a good example of why we must not trust someone like Microsoft for anything serious.

jasonkoebler, 1 day ago to random

Scoop: I obtained the contract Samsung requires independent shops to sign to buy phone repair parts from them.

It requires:

• "Daily" dumps of customer data
• The "immediate destruction" of any phones a shop comes across that has third-party parts

https://www.404media.co/samsung-requires-independent-repair-shops-to-share-customer-data-snitch-on-people-who-use-aftermarket-parts-leaked-contract-shows/

josephthomas, 1 day ago to random

Ugh, stuck behind Samuel and Mary Ann Alito in traffic today.

clive, 1 day ago to random

Know any NYC students, or their parents?

The mayor closed the libraries on Sundays, and is set to close them Saturdays too -- citing budget constraints 📚

The budget's being debated right now!

So, if you live in NYC?

Here's a form that'll auto-send a letter to your city councillor telling them to vote to "keep the libraries open sundays": https://actionnetwork.org/letters/open-the-libraries-nyc/

Forward it to any students in NYC 🤘

Parents can use it too -- just rewrite the opening salutation to say "I'm a parent"

foone, 1 day ago to random

FUN FACT:
if you build electronic devices which contain a raspberry pi in them, consider what will happen if one of them gets thrown out.
someone might open them up, stick the microSD card in them into a reader, and open up that tantalizing "apps.json" file which has YOUR GOD DAMN AWS KEYS? IN UNENCRYPTED PLAIN TEXT?

paulmcaleer, 1 day ago to random

Kia is killing it with EVs. This feels like a successor to the Niro, unless that little guy lives on as a cheaper model, but: 372-mile range, chunky good looks, seats 5. Honestly, I may wait to see this one. Coming to the US in 2025 or 2026.

In contrast, US manufacturers are sticking with overpriced EV SUVs with features like Has No CarPlay and Does Crab Walk You'll Never Actually Use.

https://www.motor1.com/news/720615/kia-ev3-coming-to-us/

arstechnica, 1 day ago to random

Teslas can still be stolen with a cheap radio hack despite new keyless tech

Tesla owners should enable PIN-to-drive protection to thwart relay attacks.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/teslas-can-still-be-stolen-with-a-cheap-radio-hack-despite-new-keyless-tech/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

rbreich, 1 day ago to random

The Appeal to Heaven flag isn't just tied to Jan 6.

It's a Christian nationalist symbol.

Christian nationalists believe that the law of the land is not the Constitution, but instead the law of God as they interpret it.

Do you see the problem with Alito flying this flag?

luckytran, 1 day ago to random

North Carolina's House has rejected the anti-mask bill! The bill will now go through a compromise process, which could include re-adding a health exemption.

More work needs to be done, but this shows that advocacy is making a difference. Keep going!

https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-carolina-news/nc-house-votes-not-to-concur-with-bill-reinstating-mask-restrictions/

mathewi, 1 day ago to random

It’s funny because it’s true https://mathewingram.com/work/index.php/2024/05/17/its-funny-because-its-true/

jeffowski, 1 day ago to random

The Kansas Wheat company, in the midst of the Great Depression, realized that the poorest families were reusing their sacks (containing flour and grain) to sew dresses for women and girls, so to make them more captivating they decided to print them with floral and colorful motifs.
The initiative was a huge success: they made sure that the ink used for the logos would fade after a simple wash, and some bags even had the patterns already drawn on the fabric, ready to be cut and sewn.

RickiTarr, 2 days ago to random

Sometimes the way people phrase things is so telling. For instance, telling women they should be "taking care of" their husband and children. Another adult doesn't need taken care of like a child, what you want is for women to be a Sex Mom.

rayckeith, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago) to random

freddy, 1 day ago to til

Oh #TIL. The whole "AI" scraping bots are obviously not paying attention to nofollow, noindexand so on. So now all kind of "SEO" spam prevention stuff you do on your websites is pointless now. Cool, cool, cool.

kims, 1 day ago to random

This bumper sticker is enough to make me wish for a minivan again

gknauss, 1 day ago to random

Alito, showing up for work tomorrow shirtless; his face painted red, white, and blue; and wearing a buffalo headdress: “…What?”

tess, 1 day ago to random

A streamer I like got her account hacked, so if anyone knows someone who works over at YouTube well enough to ask for a favor, send me a DM.

The hackers deleted a decade of videos and turned her channel into scam Tesla content (unsurprisingly).

mrchrisadams, 1 day ago to random

Perfect, perfect response to the UK election date announcement https://mastodon.world/@CountBinface/112485661600596055

slashdot, 1 day ago to random

Mozilla Says It's Concerned About Windows Recall https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/05/22/1939244/mozilla-says-its-concerned-about-windows-recall?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon

weatherwest, 2 days ago to random

Hello, Mastodon followers! After a hiatus, I am going to be reverting to my older (original) Mastodon account ( mastodon.social/@weatherwest ). I am still working hard to find a solution to the considerable challenges and time commitments surrounding posting to 5+ separate social media accounts manually, but I may have found at least a partial solution (via Fedica) that should prevent the "garbled and truncated" post issue I previously could not resolve via IFTTT. Let's see how this goes!

megschwamb, 2 days ago to Astro

The LSST Camera is at the summit. Construction of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is on the path to completion - The camera was the last major piece of equipment/component - still lots to do, but we're getting closer to the start of commissioning and operations with Rubin Observatory and LSSTCam! Well done to all the @VRubinObs construction project and observatory staff and collaborators who made this milestone happen! https://rubinobservatory.org/news/camera-arrives-chile #astrodon

sundogplanets, 7 days ago to random

Here comes a thread on light pollution from satellites, with a concrete action that you all can take to help push for regulation of satellites in orbit!

Astronomers have been worried about light pollution from satellites (if you've been following me for more than 24 hours, you've perhaps heard a bit about this). Astronomers spent SO much time and effort begging and pleading with Starlink to make their satellites fainter, with mixed results.