Is Google signaling the end of the open web? That’s some of the concern raised by its new embrace of AI. While most of the fears about AI may be overblown, this one could be legit. But it doesn’t mean that we need to accept it....
World’s most popular search engine, video platform, mobile OS, browser engine, email provider, map provider, shall I go on? Search results at this point are just becoming an astrix.
They’re trying to suck up and present as much data as possible so people never have to leave Google’s services. They want to be the internet. If you enabled people to be independent, private, decentralized, and open, then Google would be in trouble because suddenly individuals and communities would have all the power and data, not some corp that’s hellbent on wasting your lifespan and brain space with ads or whatever other garbage decision they make on Tuesday to make their line go up.
It will also come with an open source “For You” algorithm. I’ve been wishing the fediverse do this since I joined and it took literally banning TikTok for it to happen in the span of a few months by dansup for Loops, who thankfully has a favorable outlook on the use of algorithms on the fediverse.
YouTube first spoke about pause ads last year when it started trialing them in select regions. At the time, the company said that when you pause a video, it will shrink, and an ad will appear next to it....
Wtf… Cops in riot gear arresting students before 10pm, and fucking SNIPERS intimidating in a peaceful one night protest on a college campus. And a university spokesperson saying “demonstrators exercised their first amendment right for several hours and then were instructed to disperse” like yeah, that’s enough first amendment right for you guys, go be quiet now.
Nope. Just nope. You are not free. Burn it all to the ground before it’s too late or we’re actually fucked.
FYI the 41% of instances that block or limit Threads (from the source data which doesn’t have every instance), accounts for 24% of the user base of the fediverse.
All the “X company may/could/might” and “X plans on this” news feel like they’re just feeling for a reaction from the public to see what they can and can’t get away with. If it gets too much push back, they just put it on the shelf and boil the frogs for longer before trying again, like with Google and WEI. It’s tiring. Stop being evil you corpo fucks.
A unifed global language is one of the characteristics of a type 1 civilization and right now English happens to be in a position to become that language. But whether or not English is the optimal option is a whole different can of worms. Since language and culture are so intertwined, the idea of the cultures, beliefs, and “mindsets” of entire groups of people being slowly erased, dominated, and assimilated by the anglosphere mind is a concerning long term problem. You lose out on potentially beautiful things only people of that culture and “mind” are capable of creating/conceiving or nurturing. Also America’s dominance of cultural exports is insane.
I’ve been using Proton Mail and VPN for a while now, and I’m just wondering how everyone else feels about them. I have this kind of inherent alight distrust of them just because they seem like they offer a lot for free and kind of have a Big Tech vibe about them, but there’s nothing for me to really substantiate that...
Based on my own privacy/security criteria, I chose and payed for protonmail when that was the only thing Proton had. I’ve been very happy with them and it’s nice to see how much they’ve since popped off.
Everything I want to play runs on Linux and the couple that don’t are because of EAC, which I can’t be bothered with. I’ve completely cut Windows out of my life.
edit: for anyone curious, the problem was Xorg wasnt loading or something (stuck on systemd ‘graphical interface target reached’ with no graphical interface). because of a typo in a config file.
With the 2024 presidential race beginning to unfold, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he believes that President Joe Biden will again earn the Democratic nomination — and the president likely win reelection if he runs on a strong progressive campaign....
This starts with some ambiguous “protecting the children” from porn argument to eventually requiring everyone to be “verified” with a digital ID before they can set foot on a highly controlled internet (or worse). We’re already seeing increasing glimpses of this and it’s in the government’s and big tech’s interest.
I’m so tired of the constant barrage of shit from all directions. This isn’t the beautiful future of humanity I imagined as a kid. No one will look out for us except for us, the actual people that these out of touch rich and powerful high society clowns try to control and keep occupied with stupid culture wars amongst each other, or placate with bread and circus. Enough already ffs.
Pretty much. Welcome to the fucking future I guess. There’s no flying cars and green cities and happiness or bloody universal healthcare, instead we have corpos trying to turn us into their consumer slaves and governments turning authoritarian. Just do what you’re told and buy more. Don’t ask questions don’t think just browse TikTok, improve your social credit score, and imprint more ads into your psyche until WW3.
We’re walking into hell with our eyes wide open fuck me it hurts.
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
Always have been, and they’re in it for the long game. They’ve already acquired a stupid amount of control on the web and web standards with everything from Chromium to Youtube, not to mention it doesn’t help that they basically control the world’s most popular mobile OS. Google wants it all if we let them.
Personally, I want nothing to do with them and I'm not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I moved to the Fediverse to get away from all these corpos.
I've long since deleted my other accounts but can't sign in to my main and oldest one because it can't "verify" me so I'm basically locked out even though I still have access to gmail via IMAP....
Decentralized Systems Will Be Necessary To Stop Google From Putting The Web Into Managed Decline (www.techdirt.com)
Is Google signaling the end of the open web? That’s some of the concern raised by its new embrace of AI. While most of the fears about AI may be overblown, this one could be legit. But it doesn’t mean that we need to accept it....
„If companies were to do the right thing, they would lose the most valuable customers on earth, preteen kids” (english.elpais.com)
Gnome's Adwaita team is breaking icon compatibility (cullmann.io)
@pixelfed: Loops is a new platform for sharing short videos, and it's open source + federated Using #ActivityPub (mastodon.social)
YouTube Tests Showing Ads When You Pause a Video, Calls it ''Pause Ads'' (www.androidauthority.com)
YouTube first spoke about pause ads last year when it started trialing them in select regions. At the time, the company said that when you pause a video, it will shrink, and an ad will appear next to it....
Possible snipers seen at OSU. Administration says they're not snipers but should be treated like they are. (midwest.social)
Update, yes there are snipers:...
So far left you get your guns back. (lemmy.world)
Who would win? (sh.itjust.works)
Beer drinking in America falls to the lowest level in a generation (www.nbcnews.com)
41% of fediverse instances have blocked threads so far!!! (tech.lgbt)
It's (usually) already installed (lemmy.ml)
Microsoft may replace the Start button with the Copilot AI in Windows 12 (www.notebookcheck.net)
Casus belli ☠️ (jlai.lu)
Do you trust Proton?
I’ve been using Proton Mail and VPN for a while now, and I’m just wondering how everyone else feels about them. I have this kind of inherent alight distrust of them just because they seem like they offer a lot for free and kind of have a Big Tech vibe about them, but there’s nothing for me to really substantiate that...
Reddit is removing ability to opt out of ad personalization based on your activity on the platform (techcrunch.com)
I heard it's starting to get better (lemdro.id)
there goes another afternoon (sh.itjust.works)
edit: for anyone curious, the problem was Xorg wasnt loading or something (stuck on systemd ‘graphical interface target reached’ with no graphical interface). because of a typo in a config file.
Bernie Sanders says President Biden will win in 2024 if he runs on a "strong progressive agenda" (www.cbsnews.com)
With the 2024 presidential race beginning to unfold, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he believes that President Joe Biden will again earn the Democratic nomination — and the president likely win reelection if he runs on a strong progressive campaign....
Child safety bills are reshaping the internet for everyone (www.theverge.com)
Lawmakers across the country (United States) are trying to protect kids by age-gating parts of the internet.
Big Tech companies are finally getting the names we thought dystopian megacorps would have
Meta Platforms. X Corp. tell me those aren’t straight from a strangely prescient cyberpunk classic
its even more outdated (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
Meta announces always online DRM for all existing and future Quest VR devices (mixed-news.com)
Meta sneakily introduced “Platform Integrity Attestation API” which basically calls home to see whether the user has a valid license to play....
Google engineers want to introduce DRMs for web pages, making ad-blocking near-impossible in the browser (github.com)
And since you won’t be able to modify web pages, it will also mean the end of customization, either for looks (ie. DarkReader, Stylus), conveniance (ie. Tampermonkey) or accessibility....
How do we feel about Meta joining the Fediverse?
Personally, I want nothing to do with them and I'm not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I moved to the Fediverse to get away from all these corpos.
I'm reminded of how much I hate Google
I've long since deleted my other accounts but can't sign in to my main and oldest one because it can't "verify" me so I'm basically locked out even though I still have access to gmail via IMAP....