ZuLuXeno @zlx@mastodon.bida.im

How to boil water?

Pre AI Internet Search:

"Put water in pan. Place the pan under high heat. Remove when larger bubbles begin to continuously erupt in the water."

Post AI Internet Search:

"Since the beginning of time, people have wondered how to boil water. It is an interesting question that will be answered below.

Table of Contents:

1. Reasons to boil water.
2. Famous people who have boiled water.
3. A brief history of thermodynamics.
4. Five things you didn't know about Roger Waters."

I was the victim of an extremely clever card fraud/social engineering hack.

Well, partly a victim since I managed to stop it.

I was called by my bank, as they wanted to “verify some suspect transactions on my account”.

Then things got weird…

🧵

You know this one...
Extra nice version, I thought.
Shared via the Free Trade Union of Iran.

Happy birthday, #Debian

On this day in 1993, that's 30 years ago, Ian Murdock announced the imminent release of a new Linux distribution.

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianHistory?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=Debian-announcement-1993.txt

Right now if you search for "country in Africa that starts with the letter K":

- DuckDuckGo will link to an alphabetical list of countries in Africa which includes Kenya.

- Google, as the first hit, links to a ChatGPT transcript where it claims that there are none, and summarizes to say the same.

This is because ChatGPT at some point ingested this popular joke:

"There are no countries in Africa that start with K."
"What about Kenya?"
"Kenya suck deez nuts?"

Google Search is over.

In light of Florida's expunging of Shakespeare from the curriculum because of all the dick jokes, I am considering creating a bot that spews nothing but Shakespearean filth. #ShakespearesDirty

“Amazon removes books ‘generated by AI’ for sale under author’s name | Books | The Guardian”

The dynamic tech cos are creating is one where the only thing that works to address misbehaviour is a raging mob with pitchforks

Which is just going to result in a lot more raging mobs. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/09/amazon-removes-books-generated-by-ai-for-sale-under-authors-name?CMP=share_btn_tw

Sites scramble to block ChatGPT web crawler after instructions emerge - https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/08/openai-details-how-to-keep-chatgpt-from-gobbling-up-website-data/

Link Post: The electoral breach in the UK was all Microsoft's fault https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/08/how-an-unpatched-microsoft-exchange-0-day-likely-caused-one-of-the-uks-biggest-hacks-ever/

I have been asked to stop using the word MANSPLAINING.

It probably is time to be more politically correct.

In the future I will be using the clinical diagnosis CORRECTILE DYSFUNCTION.

You’re welcome.

I find it hilarious that the ToS update from #Zoom is assumed to be about training AI but it just as well could be about owning all of your stuff that goes through their service.

And there is no way to tell the difference.

I’ve spent much of this year examining car bloat, the process through which smaller vehicles are being replaced by increasingly massive SUVs and trucks.

What I’ve learned: Huge cars are terrible for society, often in ways that are hidden.

Some basic facts:
◆ >80% of US car sales are now trucks/SUVs.
◆ Models keep expanding. For example, the F-150 is now ~800 lbs heavier and 7 inches taller than in 1991.
◆ EVs can make the problem worse due to huge batteries.

Continued (THREAD)

#cars #climate

Zoom's terms of service now include training GenAI with no ability to opt out

Check sections:
- 10.2 Service Generated Data; Consent to Use
- 10.4 Customer License Grant
- 16.2 Ownership of Zoom Property

Edit: included other sections of ToS

https://explore.zoom.us/en/terms/

Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.

We're not a newspaper, we're a content portal.
We're not a taxi service, we're a ride sharing app.
We're not a pay TV service, we're a streaming platform.
We're not a department store, we're an e-commerce marketplace.
We're not a financial services firm, we're crypto.
We're not a space agency, we're a group of visionaries who are totally going to Mars next year.
We're not a copywriting and graphic design agency, we're a large language model generative AI platform.

Oh sure, we compete against those established businesses. We basically provide the same goods and services.

But we're totally not those things. At least from a legal and PR standpoint.

And that means all the laws and regulations that have built up over the decades around those industries don't apply to us.

Things like consumer protections, privacy protections, minimum wage laws, local content requirements, safety regulations, environmental protections... They totally don't apply to us.

Even copyright laws — as long as we're talking about everyone else's intellectual property.

We're going to move fast and break things — and then externalise the costs of the things we break.

We've also raised several billion in VC funding, and we'll sell our products below cost — even give them away for free for a time — until we run our competition out of the market.

Once we have a near monopoly, we'll enshitify the hell out of our service and jack up prices.

You won't believe what you agreed to in our terms of service agreement.

We may also be secretly hoarding your personal information. We know who you are, we know where you work, we know where you live. But you can trust us.

By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next grift.

By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!

#startup #business #tech #technology @technology

Ora le tue buste le potrai spedire a un indirizzo nuovo
E la mia paga sovrapporla a quella di chissà chi altro

“An NFT of Jack Dorsey's first tweet bought for $2.9M is now valued at less than 4 dollars.” cc: @web3isgreat

RIP Kevin Mitnick

August 6, 1963 – July 16, 2023

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/las-vegas-nv/kevin-mitnick-11371668