Donald Trump is poised to be the first major party nominee to court cryptocurrency traders, reports @politico.
Trump made an overt play for the crypto faithful at Mar-a-Lago last week, telling them that they “better vote” for him, citing the Biden administration’s regulatory crackdown on the industry — a big shift from the criticism he himself placed on it in his first term.
Could crypto help get Trump back to the White House? Here’s more.
“No other American megabillionaire businessperson has so publicly fostered ideological relationships with world leaders to advance personal politics and businesses.”
The @nytimes looks into Elon Musk’s use of X to build influence with nationalist and right-wing politicians, publicly backing their views, aggressively confronting their enemies, and even personally intervening in X’s content policies in ways that appear to aid them — and all to the benefit of his other businesses. Here’s more.
The solar storm that brought the auroras to many parts of the world this weekend also broke vital GPS and precision farming functionality in tractors and agricultural equipment during a critical point of the planting season, reports @404mediaco.
One chain of John Deere dealerships even warned farmers that the accuracy of some of the systems used by tractors had been “extremely compromised,” and that farmers who planted crops during periods of inaccuracy would face problems when they go to harvest.
The outages have highlighted the vulnerability of modern tractors to satellite disruption, and the threat this places on our food supply — something experts have been warning about for years. Here’s more.
Futurism wanted to know: What kind of a company creates fake authors for a newspaper or magazine and operates them like sock puppets? What they discovered "should alarm anyone who cares about a trustworthy and ethical media industry." https://flip.it/oxcxAC #Tech#Technology#AI#Journalism
Layoffs are hitting workers at some tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Tesla. Here’s why that may backfire, explains Business Insider’s Tim Paradis. "In short, the effects of layoffs can counter the financial benefits of expenses carved out of a P&L." https://flip.it/KibAk7 #Tech#Career#LayOffs#Google#Microsoft#Tesla
Google’s mobile platform will have to look a little different to compete in the AI era. And, Allison Johnson writes, “If the past 12 months is any indication, it’s going to be a little messy." Read more from @theverge. https://flip.it/xwIUGs #Tech#Technology#AI#Google#Android
With more than 25,000 charging ports in the U.S. and over 50,000 worldwide, Tesla’s Supercharger network is the undisputed king of EV fast charging. But with the recent layoffs, CEO Elon Musk “cast a cloud over the private infrastructure project.” Read more from TechCrunch: https://flip.it/KJAelX #Tech#Technology#Tesla#ElonMusk
A new sculpture appeared in Flatiron South Pacific Plaza in New York this week, but it’s not your typical artwork. Instead, it allows people in NYC to interact with people in Dublin via video, in real time.
"The Portal" has an 8-foot screen and an always-on video link between the two countries, with security a “key consideration” for New York City before approving the project. Here’s more from @TechCrunch.
After firing the 500-strong Supercharger team just last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has quickly reversed course, claiming the company is still committed to spending “well over” half a billion dollars to grow its Supercharger network, reports Futurism.
Even Musk’s most ardent supporters were shocked by his tanking of this key department — something that sets Tesla apart from many of its competitors. So has he realised his mistakes, or is he simply trying to reassure spooked investors?
Generative AI is not just teaching cyber bad guys new tricks — it’s also making it easier for anyone to become a bad guy, according to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) chief Jen Easterly.
“I look at AI: how fast it’s moving, how unpredictable it is, how powerful it is,” Easterly told @AxiosNews. “I think it’ll make people who are less sophisticated actually better at doing some of the bad things that they want to do.” Here’s more from the interview.
Could creating your own AI friendship circle be the answer to the loneliness epidemic, or are users at danger of being isolated further? Kevin Roose decided to find out for @nytimes, by creating a group of 18 friends, entirely from AI. Here's how he found it.
Stack Overflow, a popular forum for programmers and software developers, announced a partnership with OpenAI earlier this week, selling the site’s data, including users’ forum posts, to train ChatGPT.
Now unhappy users are finding themselves banned for editing their popular posts in protest, and even finding those posts changed back by admin – “a reminder that anything you post on any of these platforms can and will be used for profit,” concluded one. Futurism has more.
Following the shock closure of a number of Bethesda studios earlier this week, @theverge digs deeper to uncover the reasons behind these decisions, and finds "growing discontent and fear among Xbox employees about what comes next."
From fictional biographies to AI-generated profile pictures, Futurism has been investigating AdVon Commerce, the company behind the Sports Illustrated fake writer scandal from last year — and its reach appears to stretch further than many could have predicted.
“What we found should alarm anyone who cares about a trustworthy and ethical media industry,” reports Futurism. “It’s a practice that blurs the line between journalism and advertising to the breaking point, makes the web worse for everybody, and renders basic questions like ‘is this writer a real person?’ fuzzier and fuzzier.”
The Department of Justice is looking into whether Tesla committed securities and wire fraud around its self-driving vehicle claims.
The investigation into whether Tesla executives misled consumers, investors, and regulators by making unsupported claims about its autonomous capabilities has been going on since late 2021, reports @theverge, but it has now zoned in on specific charges related to statements made by Elon Musk himself. Here’s more on the filing.