JustinH

theluddite, 18 days ago to random

NYT, just one month apart.

You can tell that we're the good guys because China does it to "forestall any potential unrest," whereas the USA "keeps us safe." with this "rare bipartisan act."

The Chinese government is "always on the lookout for real or perceived threats," but, fortunately for us freedom-lovers in the US, although "the F.B.I. has broken the rules [...] there are ways to prevent abuses [...] without compromising its critical national security value."

Screenshot of NYT: Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe April 21, 2024

molly0xfff, 20 days ago to random

“Google Is Paying Reddit $60 Million for Fucksmith to Tell Its Users to Eat Glue”
“If Kevin Roose Was ChatGPT With A Spray-On Beard, Could Anyone Tell?

thank you to these new independent media companies like @404mediaco and Defector for giving us the headlines we deserve

JustinH, 1 month ago to random

Remember when the major complaint about Instagram was how so many people posted pictures of their food? When Instagram’s biggest annoyance was that people were being too authentic?

https://www.staygrounded.online/p/dont-trust-everything-you-see-online

molly0xfff, 1 month ago to web

If you've ever found yourself missing the "good old days" of the #web, what is it that you miss? (Interpret "it" broadly: specific websites? types of activities? feelings? etc.) And approximately when were those good old days?

No wrong answers — I'm working on an article and wanted to get some outside thoughts.

JustinH, 1 month ago to fediverse

"We Need To Rewild The Internet"
An absolutely excellent read (and great analogy) by @mariafarrell and @robin Probably the best piece I've read all year.

I often struggle to think of a term for "appearing messy from a distance is often, on a human scale, healthy actually." Comparing the social web to an ecosystem is exactly it.

https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

@fediverse

JustinH, 1 month ago to random

When tech bros say "AI will work for us" they mean that in a literal way, it will work for THEM. Everyone else however, is working for the AI:

https://www.404media.co/bad-amazon-bosses-wayne/

annaleen, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

Want to know where the idea of brainwashing really came from? Dive into my short, weird history of the mind control race. It's out now in the latest issue of @techreview https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/04/12/1090726/brainwashing-mind-control-history-operation-midnight-climax/

glennf, 1 month ago to random

It's not that I don’t believe in a god/the God, it’s more that I’m indifferent. Not an atheist but a mehtheist.

glennf, 1 month ago to random

The good news about generative AI is that it’s going to destroy Wall Street, which apparently is going all in on the notion they can have models process financial data to summarize it and produce presentations. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/business/investment-banking-jobs-artificial-intelligence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kU0.bmhk.RGgbDizI8BAi&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=u&sgrp=c-cb

sophie, 2 months ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

This is just excellent

JustinH, 2 months ago to random

"Instead of finding new ways to power the internet besides “clout,” we’ve decided to power everything on internet attention. At the start of the social web we assumed content would get better. Platforms would get better. We, ourselves, would get better. And I simply do not think digital media literacy can reverse where we’ve found ourselves now."

From this week's above-average issue of Garbage Day by @ryanbroderick

https://www.garbageday.email/p/clout-world

JustinH, 2 months ago to random

I literally just wrote about the likelihood of this happening in my most recent piece, funny to see some confirmation. As AI gets better than humans at appeasing "The Algorithm" it will completely take them over.

https://www.404media.co/facebooks-algorithm-is-boosting-ai-spam-that-links-to-ai-generated-ad-laden-click-farms/

JustinH, 3 months ago to random

"I ain't lookin' down, but I see no one above me."

https://www.staygrounded.online/p/tiktok-is-just-tv-again

JustinH, 3 months ago to foss

@pluralistic Is one of my favorite authors, and has a Humble Bundle going on right now to support The @eff

(If you're into the politics of #foss I recommend "Walkaway"!)

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/cory-doctorow-novel-collection-tor-books-books

JustinH, 3 months ago to random

Sounds like @davidpierce read my AIR Method!

http://www.airmethod.net

rysiek, 3 months ago to random

For anyone wondering, there are a few ways to install Windows 11 without creating a Microsoft account.

Probably the simplest — and one that I tested when I needed to do that — was just to give an invalid e-mail address when "creating" that Microsoft account; "elon@test.example" works well, because "example." is a well-known TLD that will never work, so the e-mail is guaranteed to be invalid.

Of course then the problem is that you still end up with Windows 11.

:blobcatcoffee:

mattsheffield, 3 months ago to random

The whole "let's replace Joe Biden with an invisible pink unicorn at the convention" thing is nothing but a fantasy that is apparently entertaining to some political and media types, but it is a delusion.

The time to get Biden not to run for reelection was late 2021. Which would have also destroyed his ability to get big progressive wins like the Inflation Reduction Act.

The politics of replacing Biden at this juncture are disastrous and no one should pretend otherwise: https://www.playtyperguy.com/p/ezra-kleins-plan-for-replacing-joe

dangillmor, 3 months ago to random

What @Flipboard is doing here -- federating magazines -- is incredibly important. Read @mike's post to understand better how they're approaching it and why it matters.

https://medium.com/@mmccue/federating-flipboard-magazines-575a18297bd6

mmasnick, 4 months ago to random

I know that lots of folks here don't like Bluesky (and I understand most of the reasons why), But now that it's open, I tried to explain the reasons why I am excited about it and hope it succeeds. https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/06/bluesky-opens-up/