Lauren Weinstein

< Tech Systems & Policy Analysis: Internet, Privacy, plus his other sundry topics >
Los Angeles - lauren.vortex.com

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Last Notes

2024-08-24 17:41:43

Leela now has gotten into the habit of -- at around dawn each morning -- of settling down longitudinally along my chest with her face a couple of inches from mine. She stays that way for quite some time. I feel her warm breath on my face as she silently stares at me. I assume she's trying to decide if she will permit me to live for another day. Obviously, so far so good.
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/113/018/226/646/043/004/original/3ba3219ec2f491ea.jpg

2024-08-14 16:00:18

BREAKING: Madman Trump claims #Google is rigging the election, calls emergency press conference for tomorrow.

2024-08-12 18:41:24

Apple turning the screws on Patreon and its users, in obvious bid for profits and dominance.
https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/950/513/679/851/631/original/030c10085e046100.png

2024-08-12 18:21:58

Another, a bit more, hmm, provocatively posed photo purportedly of JD Vance in drag is now making the rounds (same blonde wig and fashion choices as the first photo). Campaign hasn't denied first photo was legit; no word yet on second.
To be clear, if JD wanted or wants to dress in drag that's his business. The problem is the hypocrisy of his current political positions relating to such and related activities, along with those of Trump and the GOP in general.

2024-08-11 22:45:58

Trump's accusations that Harris crowd photos are AI generated are ludicrous of course. However, given Trump's behavior, and generative AI's mediocre at best performance -- often spouting confusion and falsehoods -- I am willing to consider the possibility that he is a generative AI simulation.

2024-08-11 22:35:28

The programming language that is used at the hardware level to operate virtually all computer numerical control (CNC) machines: 3D printers, drills, lathes, grinders, on and on -- is called "G-code" (currently RS-274D - ISO 6983). Its use continues to expand. Fun fact: It was introduced in 1958 -- just one year after FORTRAN. Pretty damned impressive.

2024-08-11 19:19:07

Trump in total panic: Sending out posts claiming Harris crowd photos are faked by AI!
Uh, no Donny. They're not. Do try something else.

2024-08-08 18:06:05

Looking at articles from June saying how Democrats hoped the debate between Biden and Trump would be a boost for the Democratic ticket. Ironically, it was, vastly more than anyone could have ever imagined, but not along the vector imagined at the time.

2024-08-07 22:14:32

Streaming services' continuing dramatic price increases are going to make the traditional cable company packages that triggered "cord cutting" by consumers look like bargains by comparison. The deep and pervasive greed on the part of some of these streaming services -- raising prices, flooding the services with ads -- exactly what most consumers wanted to escape from -- is disgusting.

2024-08-06 23:32:08

I'm unsure that the existing statistical polling models -- even the very best ones -- are fully able to capture the speed with which events are changing in this election. This is going to be like nothing anybody alive now has ever seen before in politics.

2024-08-06 20:09:07

NY judge confirms that Trump sentencing will be next month on schedule.

2024-08-06 19:45:36

So MAGA is circulating a nearly 30 year old mugshot of Walz from a DUI that led to him stopping drinking alcohol.
But hey, Trump's got a MUCH more recent mugshot!

2024-08-06 13:13:25

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@npub1w9a…04m0 Keep in mind that Kelly would have seriously risked the Arizona senate seat.

2024-08-06 13:11:16

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@npub1w9a…04m0 Shapiro would have been a liability this cycle. His time may yet come in the future.

2024-08-05 00:30:52

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@npub1w9a…04m0 Definitely worth the billions and billions of dollars being poured down the john for this stuff.

2024-08-04 15:42:52

Apparently there's a significant geomagnetic storm in progress. Not#hi]]]]ng t$3o-- wsrry boutTT thou///

2024-08-03 18:08:37

ABC has reportedly confirmed that if Trump doesn't show up for the already scheduled September debate, the airtime will be used for a discussion with Harris alone.

2024-07-31 16:30:46

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@npub18c7…er9d $10 Uber Eats coupon code went out to some involved, apparently. WOW!

2024-07-31 16:28:18

Report: Delta says the CrowdStrike outage cost them $500 million, and that neither CrowdStrike nor Microsoft have offered them any compensation. And they sound pretty upset about it.

2024-07-30 15:19:00

Microsoft Azure and 365 have been suffering a global outage of some services.

2024-07-29 17:22:54

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@npub1lzz…jhl3 Just watch CNN or MSNBC. Even FOX News was discussing it at length.

2024-07-29 15:24:32

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@npub1lzz…jhl3 I saw it widely reported in mainstream media quite quickly.

2024-07-28 20:32:46

Looks like I'm not the only one who noticed how awful that #Google video is promoting the use of Gemini AI to write a fan letter for a child to an Olympic athlete. Unwittingly, Google has highlighted the deep mediocrity of generative AI vs. human creativity.
I hoping to use this topic for my usual Monday evening national network radio tech segment tomorrow.

2024-07-28 17:50:12

Was that actually the Grim Reaper with the torch at the Olympics?

2024-07-28 16:11:33

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 Trump, who once declared cryptocurrency essential a scam, was at their convention singing its praises yesterday.

2024-07-25 21:32:59

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@npub17ha…t8va We shouldn't be taking this laying down.

2024-07-24 17:13:14

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@npub18c7…er9d I didn't see anything specifying exactly WHOM it was directed to. But that doesn't matter. This is a sick joke irrespective of that.

2024-07-24 17:07:07

CrowdStrike apologizes for their global Windows computers disaster -- with $10 gift cards This is real, not a parody. You can't make this stuff up. Yeah, a $10 Uber Eats gift card. Oh, and some of the recipients are saying when they tried to access this "generous" gift, it turned out to be cancelled.
https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/24/crowdstrike-offers-a-10-apology-gift-card-to-say-sorry-for-outage/
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/842/559/333/593/112/original/ef7072fd8d561d5a.png

2024-07-24 13:27:51

I've seen a lot of elections, but I've never seen anything approaching what's playing out with Democratic funding and enthusiasm (and organization) since Biden's announcement that he would not be running, and his endorsement of Harris. That was only last Sunday! Since then, Harris (great initial speeches!) has enough delegates for the nomination, and more than $125 million has been raised from small dollar donors, more than half of whom are donating for the first time.
Live long enough and you'll see pretty much everything.

2024-07-24 13:17:58

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@npub17nv…96rn Can't you buy access cards on a one-off basis as needed (presumably more expensive)?

2024-07-23 22:55:38

AT&T's disastrous wireless meltdown was caused by lack of testing, etc.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/07/fcc-details-att-screwups-behind-outage-that-blocked-25000-calls-to-911/
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/838/267/422/976/203/original/7bbfd6771790174c.png

2024-07-23 15:39:39

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@npub17nv…96rn Trump desperately wants to avoid that, though he will almost certainly fail.

2024-07-23 15:33:51

Meanwhile, the "age and mental competency" spotlight swings over to illuminate Trump. Smile Donny, you're on!

2024-07-23 15:29:09

Prediction: While Biden was largely unable to get really big rallies going, Kamala (that's how she wants to be referred to and what her posters say) is going to draw enormous crowds.

2024-07-22 20:21:15

Judging from his posts, Trump still thinks he's running against Biden. Somebody should really let him know ...

2024-07-22 15:13:27

I just saw a commentator saying that Trump has wanted weekly debates with Biden, and that Harris should take him up on that (ha, he'd never do it).
Then the commentator noted that she has "youth and agility on her side".
Given that she's almost 60, I find this sort of analysis to be reassuring.

2024-07-22 02:02:31

In the hours since Biden announced he is not running, and has endorsed Harris, Act Blue has collected almost $47 million in small dollar donations.

2024-07-21 18:46:58

One of the country's top election lawyers, who has won a vast number of cases, says that the talk of the GOP successfully challenging Harris on state ballots is essentially garbage, even taking the current Supreme Court into account.

2024-07-21 18:24:59

BREAKING: Biden endorses Harris to replace him as the presidential nominee.

2024-07-21 18:12:50

This, boys and girls, is what's called history in the making.

2024-07-21 18:11:32

BTW, I learned the Biden news first here on #Mastodon.

2024-07-21 18:10:35

That's one of the big differences between Biden and Trump. Trump is all about himself, not the country. Biden is all about the country, not himself. Biden proved this yet again today.

2024-07-21 17:12:25

Oh lookee! Now the TV #YouTube app is pushing BITCOIN videos in its hot topic recommendations along with garbage sports, in place of user search history. Pile of dung.

2024-07-20 15:50:34

I'm increasingly suspecting that across the universe of social media platforms the denizens of #Mastodon may have the least developed sense of humor.

2024-07-19 15:24:25

Meanwhile, the AI systems are busily taking notes on how to bring down critical systems around the world ...

2024-07-19 13:36:30

When the first step in telling customers how to fix their hanging mission critical Windows system that you've crashed with a bad update is "Boot Windows in Safe Mode" -- you have a REALLY serious problem.

2024-07-18 15:55:29

Russian foreign minister welcomes Vance as VP candidate, saying Vance will help stop the flow of weapons to Ukraine so the war will end. (By Russia crushing everything in its path, of course. Trump and Vance are effectively Russian assets.)

2024-07-18 14:50:13

As many observers have suspected, the rally shooter apparently had no political motives, he apparently "simply" wanted to conduct a violent act that would put him the history books. His phone showed searches for both the RNC and DNC, and both Trump and Biden. The Trump rally just happened to come first and be nearby. Days earlier, on a Steam board, he apparently posted, "July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds."

2024-07-17 20:13:12

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@npub1yck…ujmw I'm not being critical, I am stating a fact. That's all.

2024-07-17 19:39:53

Perhaps having U.S. space transport and classified space-based security operations dependent on a chaotic fascism-supporting billionaire is problematic. Also, if you are using Starlink, you're now supporting Trump and everything that means. And if you buy a Tesla now, you can't claim "you didn't know" that they're as much a part of fascism as the original VW was part of the Nazis.

2024-07-17 16:28:23

Newsflash: California will do JUST FINE without X or SpaceX here. A kick in the gut to their employees here though, but that's Musk for you. And female employees who always wanted to know what it would feel like to be a slave with no control of your own bodies will love Texas.

2024-07-16 21:24:27

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@npub1w9a…04m0 Never gonna happen. Fantasy.

2024-07-16 17:50:08

Vance now partnering as VP candidate with Trump, after the long litany of strongly negative statements Vance has made about Trump in the past, is like if Sundar Pichai suddenly declared that the best search engine is Bing.

2024-07-16 16:55:53

Under normal circumstances, the attempted assassination of a former president would be the lead story for months. But in this case, it's already down to #3 or lower, demonstrating the chaotic nature of the current political environment.

2024-07-16 15:33:38

Given Trump's age, more than the usual focus on his fascist VP pick seems entirely appropriate.

2024-07-15 17:48:13

Big Leela Is Watching You.
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/791/759/905/010/951/original/2f40579943e31083.png

2024-07-15 17:22:37

Leela atop her royal pedestal.
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/791/658/008/013/482/original/5afe3b19dee42566.png

2024-07-15 16:06:52

If the RNC cronies were smart, they'd be promoting national unity throughout the convention. But word is that while there was some talk of changing the vile anti-Biden speeches planned, few if any modifications have been made to the scripts.

2024-07-15 15:04:26

I have to admit I'm glad I'm a guy. Trump and his cronies want to take away women's control of their bodies, their right to vote, their ability to divorce abusive men, and ultimately the rest of their freedoms. And yet many women still vote for these people who would turn them into slaves if they could -- and maybe they can. Women voters outnumber men. They could end all this. Just sayin' ...

2024-07-15 14:15:18

BREAKING: Judge Cannon dismisses Trump documents case, claiming special prosecutor had no authority. Expect this one to be quickly appealed, but it's more delay.

2024-07-14 19:37:34

Report: Rally shooter worked as a dietary aid at a nursing/rehabilitation center; employer had no concerns about him.

2024-07-12 17:22:32

Typical early summer monsoonal moisture over L.A. now. This tends to happen for a few days toward the start and end of the summer bringing some humidity rather than the usual dry heat (though nowhere near as bad as the humidity in the South and East). Cloud cover is holding temps down for the moment, only 73F at present in my very hot summer corner of L.A. It won't hold that low for long.

2024-07-12 17:07:17

My theory is that #Google has devoted virtually all their computing capacity to AI, and that all other Google services are now running on a single 386 PC sitting on the floor pushed under a rack in the Council Bluffs data center. I could be wrong, but it sure feels that way.

2024-07-12 15:59:18

The #Gmail search function sucks.

2024-07-07 15:20:55

The chorus of people trying to blame the messenger -- the media -- for calls for Biden to bow out of the race cannot dispel what we all can see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears when Biden is in any public situation without a teleprompter now. And many of us have seen the same situation, heartbreakingly so, among older members of our own families, who have lived stellar lives and keep insisting that -- for example -- they can still drive just fine, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

2024-07-03 19:54:45

As enjoyable as #Mastodon generally is, on some issues it approaches the intolerant "echo chamber" toxicity of #Twitter / X, just skewed left instead of right. That's the reality.

2024-07-02 14:27:56

Article in the NYTimes today discussing how customers most interested in EVs (left-leaning) are most turned off by Musk, and how this is negatively impacting sales. The "driving around in a giant MAGA hat" effect appears to be very real.

2024-06-28 18:39:14

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 It's a long way to Alpha Centauri.

2024-06-28 03:12:39

As much as I like Joe, he needs to step aside. I'm not recommending a specific replacement. But his continued presence as the presumptive nominee could do to the presidency what Ginsburg's refusal to resign did to the Supreme Court. It pains me mightily to put this in such stark terms, but I call them as I see them, otherwise there's no point to posting here at all.

2024-06-25 20:24:41

The world would be a better place if viewing the original "The Three Stooges" shorts were a required part of all school curriculums.

2024-06-25 17:58:08

Technically, with no audience and the mikes muted when the other candidate is speaking, this should be a far more straightforward debate for moderation and followups than previous ones. One risk is that Tapper and Bash will bend over backwards to seem tough on Biden and "fair" to Trump to try demonstrate lack of bias against Trump. So the dynamics are complex.

2024-06-25 17:04:14

At some point during the debate, likely near the beginning, Trump is almost certainly going to be asked if he won or lost the 2020 election. That should be fun.

2024-06-24 17:17:53

I know I really shouldn't discuss temporal prediction matters here, but projective timeline analysis suggests that the Thursday Biden/Trump debate will be an enormously crucial decision fork, for Democracy, for the USA, and for the entire world for decades to come. I haven't seen indicators go so far into the red like this since historical timeline records on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Wow.

2024-06-24 17:11:57

Remember, the vast majority of viewers of the Trump/Biden debate are firmly fixed in their positions, and will hear and see everything through the filters of that. The ones who are for Biden will think he does great, the ones who are for Trump will similarly pick out the places that they can say he did well. This is all about very small slices of truly independent voters on the margins, and especially turnout. That's it.

2024-06-24 16:49:45

Just a note that more networks, on the right, left, and center, English, Spanish, and more are signing up to simulcast the Biden/Trump Thursday debate, so quickly that I can't keep up. Basically, it will be pretty much everywhere, on-air and online. A good thing. I'll update when I have more stable lists.

2024-06-24 16:23:27

Tonight on my usual Monday evening national network radio tech segment, I'll be briefly discussing a new study that explains how the human brain works to determine whether voices are genuine or AI fakes. This also gives me an opportunity to rant about the horrific flood of AI-generated garbage videos drowning #YouTube.

2024-06-23 22:04:15

YouTube's new screensaver on TV is infuriating and you can't even turn it off!
I mentioned this recently myself. It's awful and incredibly anti-user of #Google. I pay for #YouTube Premium and I don't need this garbage pushed at me without any way to disable it! -L
https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-tv-screensaver-infuriating-3447834/
https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/668/196/404/962/480/original/e360c7b70ce4c6c2.png

2024-06-23 16:20:33

Coming Soon: Social Media platforms where only AIs can join.

2024-06-22 15:48:17

I don't know why anyone is surprised that government-mandated pay increases for fast food workers and delivery app drivers has resulted in depressed customer activity in both sectors. It was inevitable that these firms would pass along those increases as higher food prices and delivery fees, and this is a pretty clear demonstration that to a large extent these sectors are, as we say in economics, very elastic. For most people, they are not necessities, and beyond certain price points they just stop buying.

2024-06-20 15:13:49

The first presidential debate will be on CNN between Biden and Trump, a week from today. It will be 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. I believe (not 100% certain) there is a prohibition against political ads during those breaks. They cannot consult with their teams during those breaks. No notes or props can be brought on. No audience. Microphones will be muted while the other person is answering. CNN is offering the feed to other networks, unclear right now who might take it. Moderators will be CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

2024-06-20 15:08:09

BREAKING: RFK, Jr. fails to meet requirements for first presidential debate. It's possible he could meet the second, but full requirements for that one have not been announced, and his poll numbers are currently apparently sinking significantly.

2024-06-19 03:49:24

Dear Sundar,
Thanks for all your great work at Google! Your services will no longer be required, but I wish you the best in your future endeavors. The gentlemen in the blue shirts who just arrived will take your badge, laptop, and escort you from the campus.
Thank you again so much!
Best,
Gemini AI

2024-06-17 16:58:31

So now the surgeon general wants warnings on social media like on cigarette packs. Nothing better to do with your time, huh?

2024-06-15 22:04:00

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@npub1wpj…7m4z That would not be an "AI firm" ...

2024-06-15 02:06:23

I haven't really paid serious attention to "Doctor Who" since the Tom Baker days (the only real Doctor Who, and whose companion Leela is namesake of my Leela!), but I do keep an eye on television and streaming ratings numbers, and man it looks like Doctor Who's numbers have really gone downhill. I haven't watched the show in at least five years or more, but this seems to be a pretty dramatic fall.

2024-06-14 22:11:26

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@npub1psd…9sr7 I've lost track of the number of times I'd get emails from RMS chastising me for calling it simply Linux.

2024-06-14 21:52:46

When I pointed out that ordinary consumers are really not usually well equipped to deal with Linux desktops because they usually don't have robust support systems, this person tries to educate me about how great Linux is and makes snide remarks. I've been using/developing UNIX/Linux since the 1970s, starting with UNIX V6 direct from Bell Labs. Probably before this guy or gal was born. What is it with people on #Mastodon? No wonder so many people come here and then are driven away.

2024-06-14 17:22:24

Without a doubt, the single most valuable course I ever took in school at any level, was a Junior High School typing class. I was one of maybe two or three guys in it -- the rest were girls. I wanted to learn touch typing to make it easier to write reports and term papers on the old manual typewriter I had available.
I had absolutely no idea at the time that I'd be spending my entire damned career typing untold millions of words and maybe billions of characters into the soulless computers.

2024-06-14 17:19:35

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@npub1wup…ydzp The legends quickly wear off my keys. That's OK for me, but if anyone else ever has to use my keyboard and isn't a touch typist, they have a problem.

2024-06-14 16:38:51

Here's something about generative AI that I haven't seen mentioned. #Google has apparently said that it plans to start running ads with AI Overview answers. I'm sure that advertisers are gonna be just THRILLED to have their ads running on answers that are wrong, misleading, or might even end up hurting people. Oh yeah.

2024-06-14 16:00:02

A federal law should be passed making AI firms fully responsible for any and all content disseminated from their generative AI systems. Period. No exceptions.

2024-06-14 14:41:06

By shutting down their "Internet Observatory" misinformation center, Stanford University is showing its true colors. Next they'll be endorsing the U.S. becoming a dictatorship under Trump.

2024-06-13 16:31:21

It's almost as if #Google has now adopted Boeing's quality control philosophy.

2024-06-13 16:09:37

I consider Google's newly reported orders to employees to "take risks" with users by pushing out AI answers that it knows may be inaccurate to be fundamentally unethical. At #Google scale, even a relatively small percentage of wrong answers can be vast numbers of users being shown incorrect information, potentially in harmful ways. And Google's continued "victim blaming" ("how dare our users ask questions that our AI will get wrong?") is utterly shameful.

2024-06-13 04:25:55

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@npub1asa…n9sr Yes, it was traditional for the class to count those down out loud.

2024-06-12 21:52:23

I can't help but chuckle when I see people's "homemade" video countdown leaders that go down to "1" or even "0". 'Cause real leaders never go down below "3" or "2", depending on the leader type.

2024-06-12 16:19:33

The fact that #Microsoft felt that their screenshot spying "Recall" AI feature was safe to be enabled by default -- a position they have now reversed after massive criticism -- calls into question their entire security and privacy regimes -- which appear to have become rotten to the core. Of course, they're not the only ones pushing aside privacy and security in the name of AI profits at the expense of their users.

2024-06-11 16:06:40

These book banning school boards and politicians (in both parties) trying to keep kids off of social media seem to think that kids are stupid. They're not. They will always find a way around the prohibitions.

2024-06-10 18:21:03

Some advisors want Trump to pick a female running mate, but unfortunately Leni Riefenstahl has been dead for years.

2024-06-10 16:04:28

The frozen dinners, etc. typically say something like: "Heat on high for 10 minutes, lift film and stir, then cook on high for another 5 minutes." The problem is that after you lift the film, it immediately turns into a crumpled mess that probably has more than three dimensions.