How Hacking Became a Professional Service in Russia
The outfit behind the Colonial Pipeline attack had a blog, a user-friendly interface, and a sliding fee scale for helping hackers cash in on stolen information.
The Full Story of the Stunning RSA Hack Can Finally Be Told
In 2011, Chinese spies stole the crown jewels of cybersecurity—stripping protections from firms and government agencies worldwide. Here’s how it happened.
Source: The Full Story of the Stunning RSA Hack Can Finally Be Told
How fintechs can keep riding crypto trading hype while addressing environmental concerns
Demand for the likes of Bitcoin and Ether is unlikely to crash simply because of environmental concerns, but fintechs should add access to other cryptos with smaller carbon footprints to attract environmentally-minded customers. Cardano, for example, uses the less energy-intensive “proof of stake” verification protocol and was recently added by Revolut. In addition, firms like Tesla may one day pick Cardano or other green cryptos as more sustainable alternatives to Bitcoin, enhancing their recognition among investors.
Source: How fintechs can keep riding crypto trading hype while addressing environmental concerns
Twitch, in response to action against hot tub streamers, promises not to discriminate against ‘sexy’ people
Twitch published a blog post on Friday in response to a trend of users streaming from hot tubs while wearing bikinis. The company admitted that advertisements had been pulled from some accounts at brands’ requests. Twitch said “being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules,” and said it was creating a new category for users.
The “TikTok intifada”
From making solidarity videos on TikTok to using Twitter to organize international protests to posting videos to Instagram showing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, Palestinians and those around the world sympathetic to their plight have made social media a central weapon in the narrative fight against Israel. Those weapons are deployed on many fronts: using different platforms to target multiple audiences — in the region and around the world — while also using apps to coordinate actions among themselves.
Source: The “TikTok intifada”
America Offline
We’ve just lived through the most online period in history. What comes next?
Source: America Offline
Letter from Los Angeles: The Anxiety of Influencers
It occurs to me that the Clubhouse management actually cares very little about the long-term fates of these kids. After all, there’s a fungible supply of well-complected youngsters constantly streaming into Los Angeles. Only a very small percentage of these kids will actually make it in the industry; the rest of them, Amir tells me, will eventually just “cycle through.”
Source: [Letter from Los Angeles] The Anxiety of Influencers, By Barrett Swanson | Harper’s Magazine
Tech for disabled people is booming. So where’s the funding?
Erick Ponce works in a government communications department in northern Ecuador. The 26-year-old happens to be deaf — a disability he has had since childhood. Communicating fluidly with his non-signing colleagues at work, and in public spaces like the supermarket, has been a lifelong challenge.
Source: Tech for disabled people is booming. So where’s the funding?
Imperfect offerings: inside the complex new world of trans tech
Apps lie at the heart of one of the most enduring conflicts in the trans community.
Source: Imperfect offerings: inside the complex new world of trans tech
Rick and Morty Creator Launches First Crypto Blockchain Series, Krapopolis
Dan Harmon, the creator behind Rick and Morty, is launching an all-new animated series for Fox titled Krapopolis , which is the first animated series curated on the blockchain.
Source: Rick and Morty Creator Launches First Crypto Blockchain Series, Krapopolis
How AR VR Apps Are Gamifying Exercise And Workout
Augmented reality ( AR ) mixes up the digital content into a person’s actual environment and makes it interesting. Businesses are benefiting from this …
AT&T’s discovery: Beating Netflix is hard
Monday’s news that AT&T is spinning out WarnerMedia to merge it with Discovery has been hailed as a response to cord cutting , and an attempt to take on Netflix . Both may be true, but the deal also shows why it is so hard to take on Netflix in the first place, and why the newly-merged media giant may still struggle to keep up.
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
Let’s All Go To The Movies, Again: CDC Guidance Boosts Cinema Outlook
Two weeks before the unofficial start of summer, the cinema advertising industry is preparing for a strong — if not blockbuster — Memorial Day weekend, following last week’s guidance from the CDC that fully vaccinated Americans can return to indoor public places without their masks.
Source: Let’s All Go To The Movies, Again: CDC Guidance Boosts Cinema Outlook
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
Appuccino, Please: How TikTok Is Permanently Changing Starbucks
Stomachs churned and food service workers broke out in a cold sweat when a photo of a long, complicated custom Starbucks order went viral on Twitter. “On today’s episode of why I wanna quit my job,” a barista named Josie jokingly tweeted about Edward’s order, a caramel crunch Frappuccino with 13 customizations, including banana syrup, cinnamon dolce topping, and seven pumps of caramel sauce. (After the story went viral, the barista was fired from his job for violating store policy, even though the real Edward found the whole thing amusing.) There was a time when the idea of a mere soy latte or mocha Frappuccino was the punchline of dad jokes, an eyeroll about people not drinking “real” coffee.
Source: Appuccino, Please: How TikTok Is Permanently Changing Starbucks
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
AT&T in talks to spin off WarnerMedia for merger with Discovery
AT&T intends to break off its media arm and merge the assets with Discovery, in what could be a bid to strengthen the organization against streaming rivals such as Netflix, Disney, and Apple. AT&T is believed to be preparing to make a deal with Discovery that could create a new media behemoth, one that could be announced within the next week.
Source: AT&T in talks to spin off WarnerMedia for merger with Discovery
On Spotify, an Arranged Marriage Between Music and Podcasts
Music-filled — and Spotify-exclusive — shows like “Black Girl Songbook” and “60 Songs That Explain the ’90s” dance around copyright constraints.
Source: On Spotify, an Arranged Marriage Between Music and Podcasts
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
Confronting Disinformation Spreaders on Twitter Only Makes It Worse, MIT Scientists Say
Of all the reply guy species, the most pernicious is the correction guy. You’ve seen him before, perhaps you’ve even been him. When someone (often a celebrity or politician) tweets bad science or a provable political lie, the correction guy is there to respond with the correct information.
Source: Confronting Disinformation Spreaders on Twitter Only Makes It Worse, MIT Scientists Say
Google Analytics prepares for life after cookies
As consumer behavior and expectations around privacy have shifted — and operating systems and browsers have adapted to this — the age of cookies as a means of tracking user behavior is coming to an end . Few people will bemoan this, but advertisers and marketers rely on having insights into how their efforts translate into sales (and publishers like to know how their content performs as well).
Elon Musk says Tesla will stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases, citing environmental concerns
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday on Twitter that Tesla has “suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin,” out of concern over “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining.” The price of bitcoin dropped about 5% in the first minutes after Musk’s announcement.
Source: Elon Musk says Tesla will stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases, citing environmental concerns
The Secret Origins of Amazon’s Alexa
In 2011, Jeff Bezos dreamt up a talking device. But making the virtual assistant sound intelligent proved far more difficult than anyone could have imagined.
Why Is It So Hard to Be Evil in Video Games?
I have always loved the idea of choosing my own path in a game. Moral dilemmas make virtual worlds more interesting. Sometimes they change the outcome and give you a reason to play the game all over again. But as much as I like the idea, I often struggle to take the evil route.
TikTok is launching a job hiring service to help find gigs for Gen Z
TikTok is testing a tool for brands to recruit employees, sources tell Axios. Details: The pilot program is designed to help people find jobs on TikTok and connect with companies looking to find candidates. It’s also meant to help brands use TikTok as a recruitment channel.
Source: TikTok is launching a job hiring service to help find gigs for Gen Z
Why is new TV so much like cable?
There are constant fights among powerful digital companies over what streaming video apps appear on our living room TV sets. It shows how the overlords of new TV are falling into the same bad habits as old TV.
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?
What a Crossword AI Reveals About Humans’ Way With Words
At last week’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament , held as a virtual event with more than 1,000 participants, one impressive competitor made news. For the first time, artificial intelligence managed to outscore the human solvers in the race to fill the grids with speed and accuracy.
Source: What a Crossword AI Reveals About Humans’ Way With Words
The Strange, Soothing World of Instagram’s Computer-Generated Interiors
The 3-D-modelling software used to design digital interiors lends itself to certain elements, such as plastics, curves, and soft light. Space design and rendering by Nareg Taimoorian and Charlotte Taylor Last spring, several months into the pandemic , a series of images appeared on Instagram, depicting a luxury home nestled into the cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi, on the coast of Italy.
Source: The Strange, Soothing World of Instagram’s Computer-Generated Interiors
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
How to stop AI from recognizing your face in selfies
A growing number of tools now let you stop facial recognition systems from training on your personal photo
Source: How to stop AI from recognizing your face in selfies
Snapchat Can Be Sued Over Role In Fatal Car Crash, Court Rules
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Snapchat can be sued in a case in which a young man used the app’s “speed filter” feature before a fatal crash.
Source: Snapchat Can Be Sued Over Role In Fatal Car Crash, Court Rules