Starlink: The FCC’s big bet on Elon Musk
The billionaire’s space internet project could connect millions of remote American homes. If it actually works.
Source: The FCC’s big bet on Elon Musk
Veritone launches new platform to let celebrities and influencers clone their voice with AI
Recording advertisements and product endorsements can be lucrative work for celebrities and influencers. But is it too much like hard work? That’s what US firm Veritone is betting. Today, the company is launching a new platform called Marvel.AI that will let creators, media figures, and others generate deepfake clones of their voice to license as they wish.
Source: Veritone launches new platform to let celebrities and influencers clone their voice with AI
Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine
Now a team of Google researchers has published a proposal for a radical redesign that throws out the ranking approach and replaces it with a single large AI language model, such as BERT or GPT-3 —or a future version of them. The idea is that instead of searching for information in a vast list of web pages, users would ask questions and have a language model trained on those pages answer them directly.
Source: Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine
Gaming Influencers Are the Future of Esports
Top players have left pro leagues to pursue streaming full-time as the industry veers more toward content creators.
A New Brain Implant Translates Thoughts of Writing Into Text
In early experiments, a paralyzed man with implants in his premotor cortex typed 90 characters per minute—by envisioning he was writing by hand.
Source: A New Brain Implant Translates Thoughts of Writing Into Text
How One Man’s Fight Against An AOL Troll Sealed The Tech Industry’s Power
In 1995, an online troll impersonated Ken Zeran on AOL, posting tasteless ads with his phone number. Zeran sued AOL, and lost. The person behind the ads has never been identified.
Source: How One Man’s Fight Against An AOL Troll Sealed The Tech Industry’s Power
Meet Jennifer Daniel, the woman who decides what emoji we get to use
Jennifer Daniel is the first woman at the helm of the Emoji Subcommittee for the Unicode Consortium and a fierce advocate for inclusive, thoughtful emoji. She initially rose to prominence for introducing Mx. Claus, a gender-inclusive alternative to Santa and Mrs. Claus; a non-gendered person breastfeeding a non-gendered baby; and a masculine face wearing a bridal veil.
Source: Meet Jennifer Daniel, the woman who decides what emoji we get to use
Hacking collective DarkSide are state-sanctioned pirates
The FBI confirmed yesterday (May 10) that a Russian hacking group called DarkSide was behind a recent cyberattack that shut down Colonial Pipeline, the company that operates the largest fuel pipeline in the US . What is DarkSide?
Source: Hacking collective DarkSide are state-sanctioned pirates
The Word Cheugy Is Already Cheugy
There is, once again, a trendy term going viral. A term that is dividing generations and genders. A term that groups a number of food, fashion, decor, and aesthetic preferences by how not-trendy they are. The word is “cheugy” and it’s as cringe-y as it sounds.
Source: Don’t Know What Cheugy Is? That’s Fine, You Really Don’t Need To
Apple and Epic Games are revealing a ton of industry secrets in court filings — from untold billions in ‘Fortnite’ profits to private email exchanges, these are the 5 juiciest bits
“Fortnite” maker Epic Games is suing Apple, and the bench trial started this week in California. Epic says Apple’s App Store is a monopoly. Apple says Epic broke its developer contract. Through court filings, major secrets from Apple, Epic, Microsoft, and more have been revealed.
Musicians Say Streaming Doesn’t Pay. Can the Industry Change?
Services like Spotify and Apple Music pulled the business back from the brink. But artists say they can’t make a living. And their complaints are getting louder.
Source: Musicians Say Streaming Doesn’t Pay. Can the Industry Change?
Digging in the dust of AOL and Yahoo’s lost internet empires
Where did half a trillion dollars go? AOL and Yahoo have been sold once again: This time private equity firm Apollo Global Management is buying them from Verizon for $5 billion. It’s a paltry sum for a pair of companies that were once valued at more than $475 billion combined.
Source: Digging in the dust of AOL and Yahoo’s lost internet empires
Apple’s AirTag trackers made it frighteningly easy to ‘stalk’ me in a test
Apple’s new AirTags , $30 wireless devices that help you locate things, work well. Frighteningly well. Clip a button-sized AirTag onto your keys, and it’ll help you find where you accidentally dropped them in the park. But if someone else slips an AirTag into your bag or car without your knowledge, it could also be used to covertly track everywhere you go.
Source: Review | Apple’s AirTag trackers made it frighteningly easy to ‘stalk’ me in a test
Can’t leave your phone alone? You’re just trying to blend in
Keep checking your smartphone without knowing why? You may be unconsciously copying those around you, according to Italian research into the ‘chameleon effect’
Source: Can’t leave your phone alone? You’re just trying to blend in
Cheugy
@webkinzwhore143Expand 👏 your 👏 vocabulary 👏 to 👏 include 👏 made 👏 up 👏 words 👏#greenscreen #cheugy #cheug♬ original sound – Hal
Out of touch? Basic? A new term to describe a certain aesthetic is gaining popularity on TikTok.
The Computers Are Getting Better at Writing
To spend ten minutes with Sudowrite is to recognize that the undergraduate essay, the basic pedagogical mode of all humanities, will soon be under severe pressure. Take an A paper, change a few words in the first paragraph, push buttons three times, and you have an essay that fits the assignment. Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed. The changes that are coming are fundamental to every method of speaking and writing that presently exists.
These Materials Could Make Science Fiction a Reality
Metamaterials, which could improve smartphones and change how we use other technology, allow scientists to control light waves in new ways.
Source: These Materials Could Make Science Fiction a Reality
Will AI Change the Game for Adtech?
The technology aided with artificial intelligence has revolutionized this industry; it has moved the advertising efforts from “brought to you by” on TV to actual relatable content to every cast and creed, making its way to several different platforms. This technology can read and understand the text while sensing the external environment.
Extremists Find a Financial Lifeline on Twitch
QAnon adherents and other far-right influencers are making thousands of dollars broadcasting election and vaccine conspiracy theories on the streaming site.
TikTok and the Vibes Revival
Increasingly, what we’re after on social media is not narrative or personality but moments of audiovisual eloquence.
Source: TikTok and the Vibes Revival