Nerd News Tracker
Brazillian city enacts an ordinance that was written by ChatGPT | AP News
A city in Brazil has a law that was written by ChatGPT, and nobody knew until the councilman revealed it. Another crazy stunt in our crazy world. City lawmakers in Brazil passed the nation’s first legislation written entirely by AI — even if they didn’t know it at the...
Sam Altman returns as CEO, OpenAI has a new initial board
In the past couple of weeks, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was fired along with some of the management team, the workers freaked, and everyone was then brought back four days later. Interestingly enough the entire leadership team is back in place, and no employees were lost....

PSA: Apple’s NameDrop Feature Is Not a Security Nightmare | PCMag
The Apple NameDrop feature is a new way to share contact information between two iPhones. It's great, and high tech, but because people don't always understand tech, this past week, some ill-informed police departments stokes some paranoia. Quick notes to set you at...

PSA: Apple’s NameDrop Feature Is Not a Security Nightmare | PCMag
The Apple NameDrop feature is a new way to share contact information between two iPhones. It's great, and high tech, but because people don't always understand tech, this past week, some ill-informed police departments stokes some paranoia. Quick notes to set you at...

Parental Advisory: This Chatbot May Talk to Your Child About Sex and Alcohol | WIRED
News is coming out that the Snapchat AI chatbot may be talking with kids about adult beverages, and the things adults do behind closed bedroom doors. As always, closely monitor what your youth are doing. Common Sense Media’s first ratings for chatbots and other AI...
After 50 years, US to return to Moon on January 25
A new mission will land an unmanned craft on the Moon, from the United States on January 25th. It's likely to be the first private company to touch down as well. Takeoff from Florida, will be on Christmas Eve. More to come...More than 50 years after the last Apollo...
Popular Science Shuts Online Magazine in Another Sign of Decline – The New York Times
Popular Science has been around since 1872. Over my life, I think I probably had a subscription to it for more years than just about any of the other magazines that I had. It was likely where I saw my first advertisements for the ZX-80 series of computers, and I'm...
Who will partner with Apple Card now and what does this shakeup mean for its users? | ZDNET
I have the Apple Card, and I'm rather pleased with it. Who isn't pleased, is Goldman Sachs, who is currently in the middle of working out an exit strategy. At the request of Goldman Sachs, Apple has proposed terminating the partnership, including the Card, but also...
Meta sues FTC to block new restrictions on monetizing kids’ data
This one has creep factor all over it. Meta, aka Facebook, aka Instagram, aka Whatsapp, is fighting the FTC again. This time, the FTC is trying to make new restrictions on the monetization of data of youth. This has been an ongoing issue, but how Meta is moving these...
Tesla Cybertruck delivery event: everything Elon revealed about the EV pickup | TechCrunch
The Tesla Cybertruck is now officially a road vehicle. Elon Musk rolled into a short 30 minute event to start off the deliveries to people who have been waiting years for this thing. The bad news for right now is that the truck is more expensive than what was ever...
Alexa just cost Amazon another $46.7 million | Ars Technica
Amazon lost a lawsuit for $46.7 million over patent infringement on a virtual voice assistant named... Alexus. "Alexus" voice assistant demoed 6 months before Alexa reveal, patent lawsuit said. See full story on Alexa just cost Amazon another $46.7 million | Ars...
Tesla Cybertruck Owners Will Face Absurd Resell Penalties
Resell your Tesla Cybertruck within a year? You'll pay a massive fine... something that Ferrari has done for years. Cybertruck resellers could be barred from purchasing Elon Musk's cars ever again, and face penalties of $50,000. See full story on Tesla Cybertruck...
Tesla Cybertruck Owners Will Face Absurd Resell Penalties
Resell your Tesla Cybertruck within a year? You'll pay a massive fine... something that Ferrari has done for years. Cybertruck resellers could be barred from purchasing Elon Musk's cars ever again, and face penalties of $50,000. See full story on Tesla Cybertruck...
Apple announces that RCS support is coming to iPhone next year – 9to5Mac
An exciting twist this week from Apple was that RCS is coming to the iPhones, and probably very soon. The Rich Communication Services message standard has been around for a while, and the other manufacturers have been pushing hard for Apple to adopt this. The benefits...
China launches world’s fastest internet with 1.2 terabit per second link, years ahead of forecasts | South China Morning Post
The headline of China launching a 1.2 terabit internet speed along their backbone between Beijing, Wuhan, and Guangzhou is interesting, but has little impact on us, or even their local users. It's a new speed, and a bragging point... if it's true. Network can send the...
After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads | Ars Technica
Amazon has been pushing their Fire Tvs for a while, and I'm an owner of one of these. What I wasn't expecting, was that Amazon is now planning to deliver prominent ads on these. Further, the ads are going to be built via your interaction with the various Alexa...
Hyundai to be First Automaker to Sell New Cars on Amazon – WSJ
Amazon's going to be selling brand new cars? Hyundai and Amazon say this will start in 2024. I'm not fully convinced on this venture, as other companies have a tremendous lead of experience on selling cars over the Internet. But Amazon isn't exactly known for...
WeWork files for bankruptcy
A company that had a novel idea of office-sharing before COVID, called WeWork, has finally succumbed to the work-from-anywhere concept. They are in Chapter 11, but I'm not sure how much longer they have. Office-sharing company WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Disney CEO Reveals Disney+ as We Know It Will Shut Down in December, Tells Parents to “Prepare” – Inside the Magic
Disney and Hulu apps will be merging. Bob Iger, head of Disney, announced this week that it's coming sooner than expected, and wanted to warn parents. It's been a while now, but both services have been bundled, so this isn't anything more than merging the apps, but...
Ransomware gang files SEC complaint over victim’s undisclosed breach
One of the more bizarre actions in cyber-attacks happened this week. The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently made a new rule that if you are a publicly traded company, that you have to report cyberattacks within 4 days. One ransomware operation filed a...
Most common passwords: 70% can be cracked in less than a second
The top 20 passwords list for 2023 was released. Fortunately, gone are some of the various foul words, but a series of numbers makes up the list rather quickly. Password itself comes in at 7, admin at 2 for the first time in years, and a few other variations fall in...
The Beatles New Song ‘Now and Then’: Single Review
It's a well over 40 years since John Lennon died, and over 50 years since the Beatles split up. This week delivered what is being called the last "new" Beatles song called "Now and Then". Why talk about it in a tech show? Because AI technology was used to bring the...
Using ChatGPT for accounting? You may want to think again | ZDNET
Increasing concerns keep coming out of the AI field, and this weeks includes ChatGPT's problems with accuracy in the one field that we don't want, math. The warning specific was not to use ChatGPT, or any AI in financials. Sure, computers are normally built as...
Western Digital Won’t Make SSDs Anymore
A click-bait headline announces the end of Western Digital making Solid State Drives. Before I continue, Western Digital is one of the biggest manufacturers out there for hard drives. They purchased another leader, SanDisk, in 2016. So, this update is simply that they...
Amid price hikes, ads, & crackdowns, Netflix finally cuts subscribers a break | Ars Technica
Netflix did something strange this week and announced a reduction in ads for the ad-tier subscribers. This means that an ad-free episode will be offered up after three with ads. This will be in additional to an enablement of downloadable content. Both of these changes...
Saying Apple filmed its big Mac event on an iPhone ignores all the specialist equipment it used to pull it off | iMore
Apple used an iPhone 15 to film their new Mac event. It also used professional lighting, hardware to hold the phone, special editing software, and so much more that you don't have. Ignore the hype, and catch up to our coverage on this weeks show. Apple's 'Scary Fast'...
New AirTag firmware starts to roll out to trackers
Apple Airtag firmware is getting an update. It's not important, and is happening. Tons of media talked about it, and even they don't know why. Bug fixes... Apple has released new firmware for AirTag, an update that will gradually roll out to all of the tracking...
48 countries are working on a pledge to not pay ransomware gangs
An effort is under way to stop ransomware by a group of 48 countries, led by the US. The goal is to stop governments from paying ransomware attackers, which is really an ideal approach anyway. Paying the ransom is not only dangerous, and an unreliable fix, it also...
Quishing is the new phishing: What you need to know | ZDNET
We've talked about this on the show as Covid changed how we were looking at menu's in restaurants. QR codes were setup for malicious ways, from diversion from where you wanted to go, all the way to pointing you to malware. We finally received a word for it, called...
BLACK 4.0 – The blackest black paint in the known universe *NEW* – Culture Hustle USA
A new black paint is out to replace the 3rd generation of ultra-black paint. Black 4.0 from Stuart Semple is extremely expensive at $50 for 150ml, or roughly 5 ounces. Not in the USA? Click here for faster shipping from our international site. *Note: By adding this...
AI anxiety as computers get super smart
This topic is a double-edged sword, cutting at both sides of the issue. A 2-day summit this week in London, explored regulations against AI risks, and it represents a certain level of anxiety that people are having. We fear the unknown... all of us. We fear big...
Apple TV hikes prices again, doubling them over the course of one year
Streaming prices have been getting a bit wild, and Apple announced this week that they'll be bumping the Apple TV+ service again in less than a year. This is the fastest of any of the services, as they move from $7 to $10 a month. This is worse, as they were $5 a year...
Meta sued by 42 AGs for addictive features targeting kids
Meta, aka Facebook, had a massive lawsuit, encompassing 42 states who allege that Facebook and Instagram features are addictive and target kids. No surprise... but a little late in the game. The lawsuits demonstrate the broad bipartisan interest in protecting kids and...
Why Cruise’s driverless car permits were just suspended by the California DMV
Brandname Cruise, a General Motors' self-driving taxi, had their license pulled after one of their autonomous cars was involved in a hit-and-run. General Motors’ self-driving taxi company Cruise has halted operations in San Francisco after its permits were pulled by...
People with CarPlay are mostly just listening to AM/FM radio – 9to5Mac
The latest data on CarPlay and Android Auto, is rather unexpected. Edison Research looked at people 13 and older on how they spend time listening in their car. While people are using it a little more for streaming audio, podcasts, or other high-tech purposes, nearly...
Don’t be fooled: Comcast’s ‘10G’ doesn’t mean what you think | PCWorld
Another round of misleading advertising is coming around, and Comcast has been talking up their 10G service. It's meaningless... The problem is that people think about 5G phone speeds, or 10 gigabit speeds, on ads like this, but it's not that. It's a branding thing....
‘A tool of political control’: how India became the world leader in internet blackouts | India | The Guardian
If you had to take a guess, what country would you say has used internet blackouts the most against their populace? Apparently, India has shut it down more times than any other country over the course of the last five years. 84 times in 2022 alone, entire areas up to...
Most Americans still don’t want an electric car — and many EV buyers end up going back to gas
Stats are still looking bad for the long term of EV's. Over 1/2 of polled people said they weren't looking to purchase an EV for their next car. Another study showed that over 1/2 of the previous owners of non-Tesla EVs went on to purchase a non-EV as their next car....
Apple developing ‘pad-like device’ that can update iPhone firmware while still sealed in the box – 9to5Mac
Big news about Apple being able to update phones while in the box, and Keith and I will discuss this not so crazy idea.Apple developing ‘pad-like device’ that can update iPhone firmware while still sealed in the box See full story on Apple developing ‘pad-like device’...
How Long Can an Electric Car Idle in The Winter? – InsideHook
Someone finally decided to test one of the Mustang EV's to see if it would survive a huge traffic jam of 12 hours, mostly in idle, but with cold weather. It did pass, but there were a few little tricks along the way, given by the Ford rep. Yes, it survived, and it...
YouTube’s New Ad Blocker Crackdown—What You Need To Know
YouTube gained the ire of many folks this past week, demanding everyone to disable ad-blockers. This, after raking in massive bucks on pre-roll ads and other spying activity to rake in money off of us elsewhere. YouTube is cracking down on the use of ad blockers on...
X (Twitter) is charging $1 new users a year to keep the bots and spammers at bay | Android Central
X, formerly known as Twitter, is proposing a $1 a year price to eliminate bots and spam, to weed out fake accounts, and it seems everyone wanted to accuse them of driving profits, of killing the idea of social media, and lots more. I think this minimal fee is...
The final straw? Netflix is hiking prices again despite massive success from its password crackdown | TechRadar
Netflix knows that they are the king of the streaming world, so they have upped their prices again. For the US, the prices are $2 more per month for the bottom tier, and $3 more for the top tier. The middle tier, Standard, is staying the same for now. This comes on...
X (Twitter) is charging $1 new users a year to keep the bots and spammers at bay | Android Central
X, formerly known as Twitter, is proposing a $1 a year price to eliminate bots and spam, to weed out fake accounts, and it seems everyone wanted to accuse them of driving profits, of killing the idea of social media, and lots more. I think this minimal fee is...
Netflix is opening stores soon — but don’t expect a ‘Blockbuster’ revival | Mashable
Netflix is capitalizing on a different concept, brick-and-mortar stores that focus on retail, dining, and immersive experiences that relate back to their shows. This is similar to many other concept pop-ups that have occured over the years, mimicking famous fictional...
I’m Back Film by Samuel Mello Medeiros — Kickstarter
I was excited a few weeks ago to hear someone had developed a 35mm film replacement to turn your old film camera into digital. The concept is cool, in that you can leverage old lenses, have a 20 megapixel pickup, and it works with all cameras. Downsides initially were...
Best Buy to stop selling DVDs, Blu-Ray discs
Best Buy announced this past week that they are pulling DVD's and Blu-Ray discs from shelves and inventory after this holiday season. They realize that the world of media and entertainment has changed, and they don't want to be sitting with a lot of inventory that...
Darren Aronofsky on Filling Sphere’s Screen With ‘Postcard From Earth’
The Sphere in Las Vegas has a big monster 18k movie that's about an hour long that will play when U2 is not in concert. Huge four football fields in size.Darren Aronofsky is the first director to make a film for Las Vegas' massive Sphere with 'Postcard From Earth,'...
Report: Windows 11 has surpassed 400 million monthly users | Windows Central
Windows 11 has continued to lag behind everyone's expectations, except according to Microsoft's deepest friends. It's now 2 years old, and still has yet to break the 25% install base of all Windows machines, which is a problem. The latest numbers indicate about 400...
Windows 11’s original version reaches end of life | PCWorld
In a strange quirk, where Windows 10 is still far more popular, Windows 11's first version is now end of life. It just means you need to update Windows 11, or let it do the work itself. The original version of Windows 11 will no longer receive updates, including...
Report: Amazon made $1B with secret algorithm for spiking prices Internet-wide | Ars Technica
Part of the big FTC lawsuit against Amazon includes something called "Project Nessie". The docs in the lawsuit accuse Amazon of using algorithmic code that would inflate prices on Amazon, but through the agreements, off Amazon as well. This was said to keep others...
Microsoft Walks Back OneDrive Photo Limits After Backlash
Microsoft is backing off an unpopular decision that would count single photos in multiple albums, as multiple photos... forcing OneDrive users to need to pay more. People freaked, Microsoft has said sorry. Microsoft previously announced that all copies of a photo in a...
Pomfret, Vermont: The fall foliage town that banned influencers – BBC Travel
Pomfret, Vermont is closing roads due to the influx of influencers who are inconsiderate. We may see more of these shutdowns of picturesque areas that are being abused for likes and follows. As hordes of photographers began descending on a small, rural community to...
Kroger has an intrusive plan to stop theft (Walmart and Target might follow) – TheStreet
It's no secret that I'm balanced on the usage of tech. I'm not fond of self-checkout in the form most companies do. Amazon Fresh is the only implementation that I like, and it's tolerable. Kroger is pushing a new item, based on the increased losses from pushing...
The $17,000 Apple Watch is officially a solid-gold paperweight | Macworld
The first series of the Apple Watch is now obsolete. Yes, that includes the original $17,000 gold version that contains . For those keeping track, these watches were released in 2015, giving a lifespan of just 8 years from birth to death. I have multiple watches that...
Landmark Texas, Florida social media cases added to Supreme Court term
The US Supreme Court is taking on a couple of different state level laws that are seeking to restrict social media companies from performing different levels of censorship. The social media companies have a long history of performing self-serving, or politically...
Disney’s Loki Sparks Controversy By Appearing to Use Generative AI | Extremetech
Disney found itself in a strange mess in the last couple of weeks. Apparently, they developed a promotional poster for the next season of Loki, one of the Marvel TV series. A quick glance by many who have seen AI generated art, will recognize a few quirky artifacts...
Now Disney is Coming For Password Sharing, Too
Disney+ is following Netflix in the crackdown against password sharing. They have announced they will be launching their own analysis of accounts to see who may or may not be abusing the terms. They'll start with Canada around the end of this year, and if experience...
iPhone 15 overheating reports, with temperatures as high as 116F
The new iPhone 15 is hot. As high as 116 degrees Farenheit. There is some level of reporting that this isn't heavily impacting now, but it's of concern. We'll be watching Keith's long term experience. Widespread reports are circulating about the iPhone 15 overheating,...
California bill to have human drivers ride in autonomous trucks is vetoed by governor | AP News
I don't get it, but California governor, Gavin Newsom appeared to go out of his way to veto a measure that would require human drivers on-board self-driving big-rigs. We rarely allow self-driving cars to be without a human on board, but we can launch massive trucks...
FEMA and FCC Plan Nationwide Emergency Alert Test for Oct. 4, 2023 | FEMA.gov
A quick reminder that FEMA is planning a massive test of the Emergency Alert System at 2:20pm Eastern, on Wednesday, October 4th.FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS)...
Best leather iPhone 15 cases in 2023 | CNN Underscored
Apple's abandonment of leather cases has driven an interesting response from many journalists. Instead of heaping praise for going vegan, many are pointing out that there are plenty of options for those who embrace the true organic feel of leather. I'll admit that I'm...
Iconic British car firm will discontinue production of ALL diesel & petrol motors – in ‘biggest change in history’ | The US Sun
Rolls-Royce became the latest car manufacturer to announce a date of phasing out classic fuel cars, something they've been specializing in since 1904. Almost a yawn at this point...AN ICONIC British car firm is one of several companies discontinuing the production of...
Amazon used market power to warp ecommerce prices, FTC antitrust lawsuit alleges
The Federal Trade Commission lobbed a lawsuit at Amazon on Tuesday, attacking the pricing structure. Amazon plays hardball, and pushes sellers to allow them the lowest sale pricing available, eliminating sales elsewhere. But they then turn around and demand higher...
India’s Moon Lander Fails to Awaken After Long Lunar Night | Extremetech
The moon lander at the South Pole of the moon arrived, and then during during a non-sun phase, they put it to sleep. Unfortunately, the sun arrived and it was time to wake up, and the mission remained incommunicado. This does not bode well, but there are hopes by...
Raspberry Pi 5 Review: A New Standard for Makers | Tom’s Hardware
The last time that we saw a new Raspberry Pi was before COVID. The new Pi 5 was announced and is specifically for those that enjoy single board computing. This will be available in just a few weeks, and is a distinct upgrade over the 4, with better CPU and video. It...
UK’s controversial Online Safety Bill to become law
The UK passed a broad Online Safety Bill that included massive amounts of rules on social media companies, leaving them legally responsible for material that makes it onto their systems. Age-inappropriate content must be locked down to prevent kids from viewing....
38TB of data accidentally exposed by Microsoft AI researchers | Wiz Blog
Microsoft also had a data leak that resulted in 38 terabytes of their data, including 30,000 internal Microsoft Teams messages, a number of passwords and private keys... and it's not surprising that it was one misconfigured security token. Wiz Research found a data...
Cybercrime gangs Alphv and Scattered Spider both claim responsibility for MGM hack
The big Las Vegas casino empire, anchored by the MGM Grand, was hit with a cyberattack a bit over a week ago. Multiple groups are claiming responsibility. Another in the long list of attacks and claims. Becoming really boring news at this point...The dueling...
Elon Musk: X/Twitter to charge all users with monthly subscription fees
X, aka Twitter, may have a monthly fee coming. Who knows where that's going, as I'll admit that it's been a long road with many detours since Elon Musk took over. His comments come as the company struggles to regain trust with advertisers. See full story on Elon Musk:...
Cisco to acquire Splunk in $28B mega deal | TechCrunch
Cisco is acquiring a big pro package used by IT Pros called Splunk, which is a tool used for monitoring security threats and watching the network for potential problems. $28 Billion was a nice fair price for this powerful tool. Cisco entered the world of mega deals...
Every product Microsoft unveiled at its Surface and AI event today | ZDNET
Microsoft also updated their Surface line, with a new version of some of their Surface hardware. Surface Pro 5, Surface Pro 9, and Surface Studio 2+ were all covered, They also spent time pushing the Windows Copilot and Bing Chat upgrades showing their commitment to...
Everything Amazon just announced: Alexa updates, new Echo Show, Fire tablets, and more | ZDNET
Amazon unveiled updates across the boards for their hardware this week. The latest version of Eero has WiFi 7, there's new FireTV hardware, and more. The Echo Hub is a much sleeker version of Echo Show for those who want a nice interface for their home automation....
Amazon Echo Frames (3rd-gen) hands-on: Refined look, better sound, faster Alexa
Amazon has released the latest version of their Echo Frames... smart glasses that are audio only. The bass is supposed to be better, but is still lacking. The audio will bleed enough so others can hear at times. The battery life is six hours, so not ideal. Speech...
Amazon Echo Frames (3rd-gen) hands-on: Refined look, better sound, faster Alexa
Amazon has released the latest version of their Echo Frames... smart glasses that are audio only. The bass is supposed to be better, but is still lacking. The audio will bleed enough so others can hear at times. The battery life is six hours, so not ideal. Speech...
Volvo will make its last diesel car in 2024 | TechCrunch
Volvo announced this last week that Volvo diesel cars days will be numbered... to early 2024. This is a company that 4 years ago considered diesel their strength in Europe. They are still selling gas cars, but have stopped spending any research and development money...
Volvo will make its last diesel car in 2024 | TechCrunch
Volvo announced this last week that Volvo diesel cars days will be numbered... to early 2024. This is a company that 4 years ago considered diesel their strength in Europe. They are still selling gas cars, but have stopped spending any research and development money...
You haven’t been paying a fair price for your streaming services. Warner Bros. Discovery CFO says: ‘I think that’s in the process of being corrected’
The CFO of Warner Bros said this past week that all of us aren't paying enough, and we should be prepared for steep increases. Oddly enough, he ignored the fact that Netflix turns a major profit, while Disney, Paramount, Peacock, and even Warner Bros each are posting...
The Angels face the Marlins in MLB’s first regular-season ‘virtual ballpark’ game
The MLB teams Angels and Marlins will be displayed on September 20th in a virtual environment, not unlike Meta. This will be compatible to your normal computer, and doesn't require some crazy 3D goggles. Looks kinda cool.Major League Baseball is ready to test its...
Oh no, your subscription fees for Max and other streamers sound like they’ll be going up again | TechRadar
I don't know if it's that time yet, but Max is upping their fees, even after some subscribers left after they dropped the HBO name. Doesn't seem right. Warner Bros' chief financial officer suggests streaming subscription price hikes are here to stay. See full story on...
Google extends automatic updates for Chromebooks
Companies often want to hold on to your cash, and offer what competitors do. So, when Google offered 10 years of automatic updates for Chromebooks this past week, it was surprising. But they did more than that... Chromebooks purchased that were made since Jan 1st,...
iPhone users spend seven times more on apps than Android users – 9to5Mac
It's interesting to note that iPhone users spend seven times more on apps than Android users. Sure, this could be in part due to deeper pockets and affluence. Oddly enough Google has about 4 times the amount of users, but a monthly revenue of $1.40 for Android users....
The food industry pays ‘influencer’ dietitians to shape your eating habits
The World Health Organization recently was raising questions about the risks of artificial sweeteners. In response, a number of dietitians came out in force to say safetyofaspartame in all manner of social media postings. The latest, however, shows that Coca-Cola,...
Google goes to trial in biggest US challenge to tech power in decades | Google | The Guardian
More lawsuit trouble for Google, this time for monopolizing search space. 38 attorneys general are involved in this one. US justice department accuses Google of locking out rivals and positioning itself as a gatekeeper to the online search space See full story on...
No more third-party printer drivers for Windows Update | Windows Central
It's rare that we see announcements like this, but Microsoft has announced that in four years, they will no longer be providing printer drivers through their own services, but require downloads of specialty drives from the original manufacturer website. Part of this...
NASA’s Rubio Breaks Longest U.S. Space Mission Record
Due to some issues with a return trip, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio will soon be logging the most time for a US astronaut in space. He's about to hit a year, and will be only one of six at that point. Part of this comes from the Soyuz capsule that brought him to the ISS...
Meta, OpenAI Class Action Lawsuit: Novel Authors Claim Infringement – The Hollywood Reporter
An ongoing issue regarding copyrights is to sue the aggregators, like Google, who scan the books, and then share some information from them. The latest is a suit against OpenAI and Meta, based upon the scans of hundreds of thousands of novels. The attempt is to stop...
I tried the Polaroid I-2 and was instantly transported to a simpler, happier time | TechRadar
Polaroid has a new instant film camera. I can't believe there's much nostalgic interest in this throwback to the 80's, but they do. I'll stick with my smartphone, my Nikon, and whatever other digital options may come my way. Classic looks and full control See full...
Microsoft is killing WordPad, a mainstay since Windows 95 | PCWorld
Microsoft Wordpad is going away. It was cool for years ago, but today, it's just too much dead weight, and has been cancelled. People went crazy in news feed, but to me... it's a yawner of a news item.Microsoft plans to kill off WordPad in a future Windows release,...
The $53,000 Connection: The High Cost of High-Speed Internet for Everyone – WSJ
I'm fond of providing internet to as many as possible, but also know that fiber or cable lines are expensive. Starlink is a better solution for people who are in hard-to-reach areas. For whatever reason, when I read about bringing internet to those in Montana, or...
LAPD asked about missed warnings with unit accused of stealing, turning off body cams
LAPD has become the latest to be investigated by the FBI for violating laws and regulations about body cameras, and other usage of tech against citizens. It's not clear if this is a problem with individuals and lack of management, or a systemic issue. One of the...
A Developer Built an AI-Powered ‘Propaganda Machine’ to Highlight Disinformation Dangers
A team built a propaganda machine that would sample an article, then process the information. The results would be fake stories, events, and other disinformation to counter the original article. What a shame and a waste of time, building up lies instead of truth. In...
Humanoid robots are now working side by side humans in warehouses
An analogue to Rosie the Robot from the Jetsons, may be a little closer. A company out of Austin, Texas has been showing off their 5'8" 160 pound humanoid robot in the past couple of weeks. It runs for 4 hours, and looks far more mechanical and goofy than you'd...
Scientists Discover Strange Link Between Internet Use and Dementia
A recent study admits some flaws in their research, but they want to pursue the correlation of a reduction in dementia for elderly who use the internet. Note that there are a number of factors. One found that using it more than 2 hours a day increasing the risk of...
New York City cracks down on Airbnb, other short-term rentals
I haven't stayed in an AirBNB or VRBO, but that's just me and my approach. I am shocked that New York City just shut down rentals like those after all of the problems that I've had getting a dismal room an hour away from the Big Apple. This is not good news for those...
Chrome is (obviously) the top browser, but you won’t believe what’s (a distant) second | ZDNET
The latest numbers are in regarding web browsers, and one interesting thing is that they are almost stagnant. With all of the push and shove that Microsoft has been giving Edge, it still rates at about 5% of all browser usage. Internet Explorer was near 2% when it was...
A how-to repair company wants to fix one of summer’s biggest problems: McDonald’s broken ice cream machines
McDonald's ice cream machines are notorious for breaking down, and requiring a specialist from a specific monopoly repair company. iFixit, a previous guest on our show, is now chasing down the rights to repair it from the US Copyright Office. But copyright law is...
Apple Events – Apple
Apple has announced their next event. September 12 at 10:am Pacific. Keith will update us on the following show about his take on all of the announcements. Watch the latest Apple event stream, and check out the archive of special event announcements for our products...
Is a California police department sharing license plate data illegally? Some lawyers, lawmakers say yes | News & Features | ArcaMax Publishing
The police department in El Cajon, California has turned up license plate cameras, and started sharing their data with other states, which is against California law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is chasing after this invasion of privacy, noting that the data...
Deepfake scams have arrived: Fake videos spread on Facebook, TikTok and Youtube
Deepfake scams are going around now. The latest video has Elon Musk purportedly creating an AI driven investment platform. Don't fall for it. See full story on Deepfake scams have arrived: Fake videos spread on Facebook, TikTok and YoutubeFound at www.nbcnews.com
Dark mode is a lie | Android Central
Recent research is finding out that dark mode, or at least a number of variations of it, are worse for your eyes than simple fully lit. It has to do with some of the options to dim the screen, which then create a flicker that may give you headaches or other ill...
He was arrested for a covid joke. It was free speech, court rules.
In March 2020, Waylon Bailey posted a joke on Facebook about how a Louisiana parish's sheriff office would shoot people infected with COVID-19. It was framed with a reference to the movie World War Z from 2013. The sheriff's response was to send a SWAT team to his...
Now Disney Plus is cancelling TV shows before they’re even released – and that’s not good | TechRadar
Disney is going something strange. In the past few months, they pulled their original movie Crater from streaming for no apparent reason. They also pulled The Spiderwick Chronicles and Nautilus, even though both had already wrapped all filming and most...
There Will Be a Massive Test of the Emergency Alert System this Fall. Here’s What You Need To Know – The Messenger
We've seen similar tests, but the biggest daddy of testing the Emergency Alert System is coming on Wednesday, October 4, around about 2:20pm Eastern Time. It will come across on our cellphones, radio, television, cable, satellite... everything. This is a routine test....
ChatGPT turns to business as popularity wanes
It's interesting how the big huge topic from earlier this year is falling on hard times. The latest news from the AI front is that just over half of us are more concerned than excited about the increase in the usage of AI. From there, the usage of ChatGPT has been...