The ‘90s are about to become hot again, both on the small screen and in your comic book shop.
Source: Gizmodo – Marvel Goes Back to the 1990s With These Throwback Covers
Monthly Archives: November 2023
IBM suspends advertising on X after its ads were placed next to pro-Nazi content
IBM is pulling back from X after its ads were placed alongside pro-Nazi content on the platform. The company says it has suspended all ads from the network after nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters reported that it found ads for IBM and several other tech giants next to pro-Nazi memes and other posts promoting Hitler.
“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” the company said in a statement. Comcast, whose ads were also highlighted by Media Matters, told the Financial Times it was looking into the situation.
An executive at X told Engadget that the posts identified by Media Matters will “no longer be monetizable” and will appear with “sensitive media” labels that require users to click through a warning in order to view the content. They added that “while we understand it’s not an ideal placement for any ad,” the post had only racked up “about 8,000 impressions.”
It’s not clear how many campaigns are affected by IBM’s decision to suspend ads. But another high profile company pulling back from the platform, even temporarily, is another blow to the company’s already battered advertising business.
In a post on X, CEO Linda Yaccarino said that “discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board,” though she didn’t reference IBM or Media Matters’ report directly. “X has also been extremely clear about our efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination,” she wrote. “There’s no place for it anywhere in the world — it’s ugly and wrong.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ibm-suspends-advertising-on-x-after-its-ads-were-placed-next-to-pro-nazi-content-234332820.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – IBM suspends advertising on X after its ads were placed next to pro-Nazi content
AI with 90% error rate forces elderly out of rehab, nursing homes, suit claims
Enlarge / UnitedHealthcare (UHC) health insurance company signage is displayed on an office building in Phoenix on July 19, 2023. (credit: Getty | Patrick Fallon)
UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the US, is allegedly using a deeply flawed AI algorithm to override doctors’ judgments and wrongfully deny critical health coverage to elderly patients. This has resulted in patients being kicked out of rehabilitation programs and care facilities far too early, forcing them to drain their life savings to obtain needed care that should be covered under their government-funded Medicare Advantage Plan.
That’s all according to a lawsuit filed this week in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. The lawsuit is brought by the estates of two deceased people who were denied health coverage by UnitedHealth. The suit also seeks class-action status for similarly situated people, of which there may be tens of thousands across the country.
The lawsuit lands alongside an investigation by Stat News that largely backs the lawsuit’s claims. The investigation’s findings stem from internal documents and communications the outlet obtained, as well as interviews with former employees of NaviHealth, the UnitedHealth subsidiary that developed the AI algorithm called nH Predict.
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Source: Ars Technica – AI with 90% error rate forces elderly out of rehab, nursing homes, suit claims
Google News Removing Magazine Support In December 2023
Google has announced that its News app and news.google.com will remove support for paid magazines next month. “The removal not only applies to new subscriptions/purchases, but also to existing libraries of magazines,” reports 9to5Google. “That means that users who have paid for magazines to use them in the Google News app will be cut off pretty soon.” From the report: Ahead of the December 18 shutdown, users will be able to export copies of paid magazines. Magazines that cannot be exported due to interactive elements will be eligible for a refund. Google explains: “Support for magazine content in Google News is being discontinued beginning on December 18, 2023, which means if you previously purchased or subscribed to magazines, access from Google News apps or news.google.com to your library of magazines will be removed. To continue to access previously purchased magazine content, we are providing the opportunity to export and save each purchased issue. In some cases, purchased magazines contain interactive elements that cannot be downloaded and saved for future access, and we are offering a refund for this content.”
The company further adds that affected users will receive an email titled “An update to Google News magazine support” which will contain instructions on how to download copies of magazines they’ve paid for. However, the cutoff for downloads and/or refunds is also December 18, 2023, which means the clock is ticking. You can access your library of magazines on News here.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google News Removing Magazine Support In December 2023
Should You Buy The Google Pixel 8 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?
See how two of the best Android smartphones on the market stack up side-by-side.
Source: LifeHacker – Should You Buy The Google Pixel 8 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra?
“Make It Real” AI prototype wows devs by turning drawings into working software
Enlarge / A shot of tldraw’s “Make it Real” in action, provided by Ashe on X: “Ok…@tldraw
is super fun. I iterated through ~10 builds today and it cost me $0.90 using GPT4. The pong game is playable as described.” (credit: Ashe Oro)
On Wednesday, a collaborative whiteboard app maker called “tldraw” made waves online by releasing a prototype of a feature called “Make it Real” that lets users draw an image of software and bring it to life using AI. The feature uses OpenAI’s GPT-4V API to visually interpret a vector drawing into functioning Tailwind CSS and JavaScript web code that can replicate user interfaces or even create simple implementations of games like Breakout.
“I think I need to go lie down,” posted designer Kevin Cannon at the start of a viral X thread that featured the creation of functioning sliders that rotate objects on screen, an interface for changing object colors, and a working game of tic-tac-toe. Soon, others followed with demonstrations of drawing a clone of Breakout, creating a working dial clock that ticks, drawing the snake game, making a Pong game, interpreting a visual state chart, and much more.
Users can experiment with a live demo of Make It Real online. However, running it requires providing an API key from OpenAI, which is a security risk. If others intercept your API key, they could use it to rack up a very large bill in your name (OpenAI charges by the amount of data moving into and out of its API). Those technically inclined can run the code locally, but it will still require OpenAI API access.
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Source: Ars Technica – “Make It Real” AI prototype wows devs by turning drawings into working software
What Does Superhero Casting Mean Anymore?
Well, we have our first quarter of the MCU’s Fantastic Four. Yesterday, reports broke revealing that Pedro Pascal is likely to end up playing Reed Richards in the upcoming Matt Shakman-directed film, provided Pascal isn’t too busy with other projects, namely Gladiator 2 and new seasons for The Mandalorian and The Last…
Source: Gizmodo – What Does Superhero Casting Mean Anymore?
'Hallucinate' Chosen As Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year
Cambridge dictionary’s word of the year for 2023 is “hallucinate,” a verb that took on a new meaning with the rise in popularity of artificial intelligence chatbots. The Guardian reports: The original definition of the chosen word is to “seem to see, hear, feel, or smell” something that does not exist, usually because of “a health condition or because you have taken a drug.” It now has an additional meaning, relating to when artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT, which generates text that mimics human writing, “hallucinates” and produces false information. The word was chosen because the new meaning “gets to the heart of why people are talking about AI,” according to a post on the dictionary site.
Generative AI is a “powerful” but “far from perfect” tool, “one we’re all still learning how to interact with safely and effectively — this means being aware of both its potential strengths and its current weaknesses.” The dictionary added a number of AI-related entries this year, including large language model (or LLM), generative AI (or GenAI), and GPT (an abbreviation of Generative Pre-trained Transformer). “AI hallucinations remind us that humans still need to bring their critical thinking skills to the use of these tools,” continued the post. “Large language models are only as reliable as the information their algorithms learn from. Human expertise is arguably more important than ever, to create the authoritative and up-to-date information that LLMs can be trained on.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – ‘Hallucinate’ Chosen As Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year
The Analogue Pocket Finally Gives You a Use for Your Old Game Cartridges
Here’s everything you need to know about one of the best luxury handheld gaming consoles.
Source: LifeHacker – The Analogue Pocket Finally Gives You a Use for Your Old Game Cartridges
SpaceX delays launch of its giant Starship rocket to swap out a part
Enlarge / The upper stage of SpaceX’s Super Heavy-Starship launch vehicle was removed from its position atop the rocket Thursday, clearing the way for the swap-out of a component on the booster stage. (credit: Stephen Clark/Ars Technica)
BOCA CHICA BEACH, Texas—The launch of SpaceX’s second full-size Starship rocket from South Texas is now scheduled for Saturday, a day later than previously planned, according to company founder Elon Musk.
This 24-hour delay will allow time for SpaceX technicians at the company’s launch facility, known as Starbase, to replace a component on the rocket’s stainless steel Super Heavy booster. There is a 20-minute launch window on Saturday, opening at 7 am CST (13:00 UTC), shortly after sunrise in South Texas.
A delay at this point is unsurprising. Starship is a complex launch vehicle with a sum of 39 methane-burning engines, each producing roughly a half-million pounds of thrust, powering its booster stage and upper stage. And this is only the second test flight of SpaceX’s new full-scale, nearly 400-foot-tall (121-meter) rocket, the largest launch vehicle ever built.
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Source: Ars Technica – SpaceX delays launch of its giant Starship rocket to swap out a part
Fortnite players can now submit audio clips as evidence when reporting in-game abuse
Epic has introduced a new tool for documenting toxic behavior in Fortnite. Players will now have access to voice reporting, which will continuously record voice chats in 5-minute segments for players to submit as evidence to moderators when reporting bullying and other forms of harassment. For anyone under the age of 18, this feature will automatically be turned on.
Fortnite players who are over 18 will have a bit more say over how voice reporting is applied. In the game’s main settings, they’ll have the option to set it as “Always On,” which would apply to every channel they’re in, or “Off When Possible,” which would disable it in Party Channels with friends as long as everyone’s preferences match.
In what’s likely an effort to quell privacy concerns, Epic says audio clips won’t be kept for long and they’ll only be stored locally on the user’s device unless submitted as evidence. And, in those cases, you’ll have to move fast. As each new recording comes in, the previous will be deleted. “This means only the immediate last five minutes of audio is reportable,” Epic said.
Epic Games
Under normal circumstances, audio clips will be auto-deleted either after 14 days or once action has been taken, the company added. If the accused player appeals the decision within that time, it may be extended for another 14 days. However, Epic says it will hold onto an audio clip as long as necessary if legally required to do so.
The move follows similar action taken by companies like Activision, Microsoft, Sony and others in the recent past as they attempt to clamp down on harmful online behavior. Earlier this year, Xbox introduced a system for submitting 60-second audio clips alongside reports of abuse in voice chats.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fortnite-players-can-now-submit-audio-clips-as-evidence-when-reporting-in-game-abuse-220905599.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Fortnite players can now submit audio clips as evidence when reporting in-game abuse
Retired NASA Telescope Reveals Clues to the Elusive 'Size Gap' in Exoplanets
Exoplanets pushing their atmospheres away may explain a gap in exoplanet masses, according to a team of researchers that recently studied data from NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope.
Source: Gizmodo – Retired NASA Telescope Reveals Clues to the Elusive ‘Size Gap’ in Exoplanets
Sonos has finally fixed the Dolby Atmos “pop of death” in its Arc soundbars
Enlarge / Sonos notes that its Arc soundbar pairs “Dolby Atmos and the upward-firing drivers,” which some users have not enjoyed during cacophonous pops. (credit: Sonos)
A bang, a gunshot, a “pop of death“: Some owners of Sonos’ Arc and second-gen Beam soundbars have been dealing with a striking audio disruption with their audio systems since at least December 2020.
The issue now has a fix, and it should already be available to users. Updating a Sonos mobile or desktop app and then checking for system updates should push the changes to Sonos speakers.
A Sonos staff member writes that the Arc and Beam soundbars “in certain home theater configurations process Dolby MAT,” which delivers Atmos audio over HDMI connections. Sonos products could receive corrupted audio from that connection but were failing to filter out those bits, playing them instead. The corrupted audio “can manifest as a popping sound.” The Sonos devices’ improved Dolby decoder should no longer force listeners to hear what it sounds like when digital audio transmissions go awry.
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Source: Ars Technica – Sonos has finally fixed the Dolby Atmos “pop of death” in its Arc soundbars
This Is the Only Way to Bypass Google Maps' Divisive New Color Scheme
Google Maps has a new color scheme, but you can opt out of it by changing your app settings. Sort of.
Source: LifeHacker – This Is the Only Way to Bypass Google Maps’ Divisive New Color Scheme
The EU Will Finally Free Windows Users From Bing
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Microsoft will soon let Windows 11 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) disable its Bing web search, remove Microsoft Edge, and even add custom web search providers — including Google if it’s willing to build one — into its Windows Search interface. All of these Windows 11 changes are part of key tweaks that Microsoft has to make to its operating system to comply with the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, which comes into effect in March 2024. Microsoft will be required to meet a slew of interoperability and competition rules, including allowing users “to easily un-install pre-installed apps or change default settings on operating systems, virtual assistants, or web browsers that steer them to the products and services of the gatekeeper and provide choice screens for key services.”
Alongside clearly marking which apps are system components in Windows 11, Microsoft is also responding by adding the ability to uninstall the following apps: Camera, Cortana, Web Search from Microsoft Bing in the EEA, Microsoft Edge in the EEA, and Photos. Only Windows 11 users in the EEA will be able to fully remove Microsoft Edge and the Bing-powered web search from Windows Search. Microsoft could easily extend this to all Windows 11 users, but it’s limiting this extra functionality to EEA markets to comply with the rules.
In EEA markets — which includes EU countries and also Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway — Windows 11 users will also get access to new interoperability features for feeds in the Windows Widgets board and web search in Windows Search. This will allow search providers like Google to extend the main Windows Search interface with their own custom web searches. Microsoft will allow EEA machines to remove the Bing results, so Google could provide its own search results here and effectively become the default if a user has uninstalled Bing. “If the user has more than one search provider installed, Windows Search will show the last one used when opened,” explains Aaron Grady, partner group product manager for Windows, in a statement to The Verge.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – The EU Will Finally Free Windows Users From Bing
TikTok Has Canceled Osama bin Laden
Just when you thought his reputation couldn’t get worse, TikTok has officially canceled Osama bin Laden. Somehow, videos promoting Osama bin Laden’s letter explaining his reasoning for orchestrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks have gone viral this week and TikTok is responding with a crackdown on bin Laden stan…
Source: Gizmodo – TikTok Has Canceled Osama bin Laden
Open-Source H.264 Video Encode Coming For Allwinner V3/V3s/S3 SoCs
Embedded Linux consulting firm Bootlin has announced they’ve developed open-source Linux kernel driver support for the H.264 video encoder found with Allwinner V3, V3s, and S3 SoCs…
Source: Phoronix – Open-Source H.264 Video Encode Coming For Allwinner V3/V3s/S3 SoCs
Unauthorized “David Attenborough” AI clone narrates developer’s life, goes viral
Enlarge / Screen capture from a demo video of an AI-generated unauthorized David Attenborough voice narrating a developer’s video feed. (credit: Charlie Holtz)
On Wednesday, Replicate developer Charlie Holtz combined GPT-4 Vision (commonly called GPT-4V) and ElevenLabs voice cloning technology to create an unauthorized AI version of the famous naturalist David Attenborough narrating Holtz’s every move on camera. As of Thursday afternoon, the X post describing the stunt had garnered over 21,000 likes.
“Here we have a remarkable specimen of Homo sapiens distinguished by his silver circular spectacles and a mane of tousled curly locks,” the false Attenborough says in the demo as Holtz looks on with a grin. “He’s wearing what appears to be a blue fabric covering, which can only be assumed to be part of his mating display.”
“Look closely at the subtle arch of his eyebrow,” it continues, as if narrating a BBC wildlife documentary. “It’s as if he’s in the midst of an intricate ritual of curiosity or skepticism. The backdrop suggests a sheltered habitat, possibly a communal feeding area or watering hole.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Unauthorized “David Attenborough” AI clone narrates developer’s life, goes viral
Doctor Who Anniversaries, Ranked
Next week, Doctor Who turns 60, and it’s preparing for a blockbuster celebration in the days and weeks to come, with a re-colored release of one its most iconic early stories, a trio of brand new specials, and a new Doctor arriving on Christmas Day. We can’t judge just how good the 60th has it just yet—but what about…
Source: Gizmodo – Doctor Who Anniversaries, Ranked
Intel Meteor Lake iGPU Goes Toe-To-Toe With Radeon 680M In Early Benchmark Run
Intel’s first-generation chiplet processors, code-named Meteor Lake, will include an entire chiplet (or “tile”) dedicated to graphics. Intel has made some big promises about the graphics horsepower of its Meteor Lake processors. Today we’ve seen the first GPU benchmark of any kind for Meteor Lake, and the results are indeed promising.
Spotted
Source: Hot Hardware – Intel Meteor Lake iGPU Goes Toe-To-Toe With Radeon 680M In Early Benchmark Run