parismarx

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

In 2000, Elon Musk tried to rebrand PayPal as X.com, but was forced out by the board and replaced as CEO by Peter Thiel.

Now he’s doing the same to Twitter, but is surrounded by sycophants who can’t tell him it’s a bad idea.

Read more: https://www.disconnect.blog/p/elon-musk-wants-to-relive-his-start

#tech #twitter #x #elonmusk #socialmedia

Elon Musk tweeting the new X logo to replace Twitter.

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Robotaxis run by Waymo and Cruise are blocking transit and emergency vehicles in San Francisco, so local activists are pushing back.

For Disconnect, I spoke to @SafeStreetRebel about using traffic cones to disable the driverless cars and their campaign to stop the state regulator from expanding robotaxi service. They’re doing the important work of fighting against tech for a better city!

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/stopping-robotaxis-with-traffic-cones

#tech #sanfrancisco #transport #transportation #google #transit

parismarx, 11 months ago to random

In 1983, Time Magazine named the computer its “Machine of the Year.” A few months later, radical Detroit newspaper Fifth Estate responded by naming the sledgehammer its Tool of the Year.

“Today the computer promises utopia, reassures us that it will usher in freedom and dreams,” they wrote. “Tomorrow we will be chained to it.”

Front page of Fifth Estate in spring 1983 with a sledgehammer smashing a computer screen. Tool of the year: A sledgehammer.

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Elon Musk has been obsessed with the letter X for over 20 years. He tried to rebrand PayPal as X, but was ousted for his incompetence. Then he stuck the letter on his space company, a vehicle model, and even one of his children.

Now he’s determined to rebrand Twitter as X regardless of the consequences. Read my latest for @newstatesman:

https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/big-tech/2023/07/origin-story-of-x-elon-musk-twitter

#tech #twitter #x #elonmusk #socialmedia

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Google’s senior research director Greg Corrado says he wouldn’t want its medical chatbot to be a part of his family’s “healthcare journey,” but he’s excited for it to be deployed on poor people.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/8/23788265/google-med-palm-2-mayo-clinic-chatbot-bard-chatgpt

#tech #ai #google

parismarx, 10 months ago to random

since elon musk is destroying twitter because he got obsessed with a domain name, i decided to celebrate by buying a new domain of my own: paris.wtf

redirects to my personal website for now, and may make a fun email address

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

In February, I wrote about how Elon Musk’s vision for Twitter 2.0 was a revival of something he tried and failed to pull off back in his startup days.

During his ongoing mid-life crisis, he was trying to return to that moment, but as I explain, he never learned any lessons from that failure and was doomed to repeat them. Seeing how the last few months have played out, that’s proven pretty accurate.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/elon-musk-wants-to-relive-his-start

#tech #twitter #elonmusk

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

“Humans and computers belong to separate and incommensurable realms. … For Weizenbaum, we cannot humanise AI because AI is irreducibly non-human. What you can do, however, is not make computers do (or mean) too much. We should never ‘substitute a computer system for a human function that involves interpersonal respect, understanding and love’, he wrote in Computer Power and Human Reason.” — @bentarnoff

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/25/joseph-weizenbaum-inventor-eliza-chatbot-turned-against-artificial-intelligence-ai

#tech #ai #chatbot #chatgpt

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

This week in the roundup: An Apple executive admits streamers want to pay writers as little as possible and replace union crews with non-union workers, and Reddit’s CEO says he’s inspired by Elon Musk’s Twitter cost cutting. Plus, recommended reads & more!

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/roundup-streamers-undercutting-writers

#tech #apple #wgastrike #streaming #reddit #elonmusk

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Movie studios and streaming companies are using digital technology to upend the business model of Hollywood and disempower labor in the process. Now actors are joining writers by going on strike to defend their profession.

“The digital age is cannibalizing us,” says SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, recognizing how tech has been key in undermining workers’ rights.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/the-digital-age-is-cannibalizing

#tech #wgastrike #streaming #sagaftra #hollywood

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

hahaha pretty obvious threads is a meta product 🫠

#tech #meta #instagram #threads #socialmedia

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Threads already has more than 30 million users, but that doesn’t mean it’s sure to displace Twitter.

We shouldn’t forget Meta is a terrible company with a long history of spreading right-wing propaganda. Plus, if Threads succeeds, it will be filled with targeted ads just like Facebook and Instagram are now. We can do better.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/threads-wont-save-us-from-twitter

#tech #meta #threads #twitter #socialmedia #instagram

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Google and Meta are threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms because a new law will make them pay publishers a small sliver of their digital ad profits.

I talked to @David_Moscrop about why they’re not just fighting the Canadian government, but are using it as an example to jurisdictions like California that want to do something similar.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/13162642-google-and-meta-are-fighting-with-canada-w-david-moscrop

#tech #meta #google #journalism

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Have you heard the stories of aliens in Roswell, New Mexico? What about Area 51? Or even the US Congressional testimony from yesterday that UFOs are real?

On #TechWontSaveUs, I spoke to Kelsey Atherton to understand where the UFO conspiracy theories came from, how military secrecy created a fertile ground for them to grow, and whether UFOs are really out there.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/13288181-are-ufos-really-out-there-w-kelsey-atherton

#tech #ufo #uap #aliens #military

parismarx, 11 months ago to random

Respect to @ryanbroderick for saying the words that so many journalists seem unable to utter: Threads sucks.

https://www.garbageday.email/p/the-algorithmic-anti-culture-of-scale

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Tech billionaires are piling money into Rumble in a bid to build a platform that can shape US conservatism and push extreme right-wing views further into the mainstream.

On #TechWontSaveUs, I spoke to Jacob Silverman about Rumble, the cast of characters associated with it, and why tech billionaires are backing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It’s a fascinating conversation!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/13338108-the-right-is-building-its-own-platforms-w-jacob-silverman

#tech #rumble #rfkjr #politics

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Silicon Valley promised us a transport future filled with driverless cars, Hyperloops, and more. But they delivered continued car dependence where vehicles are filled with digital tech so they take a cut of the profits.

Read my debut for @newrepublic!

https://newrepublic.com/article/174089/big-tech-watching-drive

#tech #transport #transportation #elonmusk #transit

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Kenyan content moderators who reviewed incredibly graphic material to train ChatGPT are asking the Kenyan government to investigate the exploitative conditions they were subject to, which included “psychological trauma, low pay and abrupt dismissal.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/aug/02/ai-chatbot-training-human-toll-content-moderator-meta-openai

#tech #chatgpt #ai

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Apple was reportedly hoping to sell a million Vision Pro headsets in 2024, but it slashed production to less than 400,000 and is asking some suppliers for enough components to make as few as 130,000.

Good news for those of us who don’t want this future!

https://www.ft.com/content/b6f06bde-17b0-4886-b465-b561212c96a9

#tech #apple #visionpro

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

Tech companies are scraping the web to develop AI tools they promise can do everything — including understanding Indigenous languages. But that’s not true.

On #TechWontSaveUs, I spoke with Keoni Mahelona about how capturing Indigenous language data is another form of colonialism, and how Te Hiku is taking a very different approach with the Māori language in Aotearoa New Zealand.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/13247893-big-tech-won-t-revitalize-indigenous-languages-w-keoni-mahelona

#tech #ai #newzealand #indigenous

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

In 2000, Elon Musk became the CEO of PayPal and tried to rename it X.com even though surveys showed the public hated the name but trusted PayPal. Now he’s repeating the same mistake with Twitter, but this time no one can oust him as CEO.

Without PayPal’s success, Musk never would have become the man he is today. The money he made when eBay bought it allowed him to invest in Tesla & SpaceX.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/elon-musk-wants-to-relive-his-start

#tech #elonmusk #twitter #socialmedia

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Google and Meta are threatening to pull news content in Canada in response to a law that will force them to pay news publishers.

For Disconnect, I explain how the tech giants have effectively directed criticism at the government with the help of local commentators to distract from the power they wield in Canada and their own culpability in starving news organizations.

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/google-and-meta-go-to-war-with-canada

#tech #meta #google #canada #journalism

parismarx, 11 months ago to tech

Marc Andreessen wants you to believe AI will save the world. But just a couple years ago, he was saying something very similar about crypto.

The truth is Andreessen doesn’t actually care about improving people’s lives. His positive vision of a world made better by AI tools is just a means to pump up the valuations of companies his venture capital firm has invested in. We can do much better than Andreessen’s lies.
https://www.disconnect.blog/p/ai-wont-save-the-world

#tech #ai #chatgpt #artificialintelligence

parismarx, 10 months ago to random

Given how often Elon Musk steals memes, I’m not surprised he’s stealing logos now too.

Steven Dengler pointing out how much Twitter’s new X logo looks like the logo from his former company

parismarx, 10 months ago to tech

This week in the Disconnect Roundup: will AI really automate our jobs like past technologies? Some interesting stories on that topic! Plus, a bunch of recommended reads, labor updates, and other news you might have missed!

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/roundup-will-ai-really-automate-jobs

#tech #ai #jobs #socialmedia