a Better Bubble™

TechDirt 🕸

Techdirt Podcast Episode 368: Trust & Safety Tycoon

1 year 1 month ago
As you hopefully know by now, earlier this week we launched our new game, Trust & Safety Tycoon. It’s a free, browser-based game (playable on desktop or mobile, though we recommend desktop for the best experience) that puts you in the shoes of the head of trust and safety at a rapidly growing social media […]
Leigh Beadon

IRS Pilots Direct File Program While Tax Prep Industry Flails In Response

1 year 1 month ago
We have long detailed through a series of posts, most of them based on fantastic reporting from Pro Publica, Intuit’s shady bullshit when it comes to its supposed “Free to File” program offered through a longstanding deal with the IRS. The summary is: massive tax prep companies cut a deal with the IRS so that […]
Dark Helmet

Daily Deal: 4-in-1 USB-C Charger for Apple Devices

1 year 1 month ago
This 4-In-1 Apple Watch & iPhone Charging Cable will allow you to charge up to 4 devices at the same time while saving space. It comes with 2 Lightning, 1 USB-C & 1 Watch charger ports, and the watch port is magnetic. It’s a perfect cable to carry when traveling or just to keep around […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Comcast Takes Heat For Misleading ’10G’ Cable Broadband Branding

1 year 1 month ago
Back in 2019 the cable industry, envious of all the attention 5G wireless was getting, pulled a new marketing term completely out of its ass. It simply started calling ordinary cable broadband upgrades 10G, based on absolutely no real-world standards or definitions. It was a hollow attempt to capitalize on wireless 5G hype because these […]
Karl Bode

Starbucks Joins The List Of Companies Using Trademark Law To Bully Its Own Union

1 year 1 month ago
The trend continues. One of the things we’ve noticed more frequently as of late has been larger companies attempting to use trademark law as some kind of cudgel against employee unions. This has taken several forms, from Wal-Mart attempting to shut down a union website for accurately calling itself a union of Wal-Mart employees, Medieval […]
Dark Helmet

Astronomers Say Starlink, Amazon Light Pollution Keeps Getting Worse

1 year 1 month ago
For years, scientific researchers have warned that Elon Musk’s Starlink low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband constellations are harming scientific research. Simply put, the light pollution Musk claimed would never happen in the first place is making it far more difficult to study the night sky, a problem researchers say can be mitigated somewhat but never fully eliminated. Now […]
Karl Bode

Hey Ricky Schroder: Porn Is Protected By The 1st Amendment

1 year 1 month ago
Do you all remember Ricky Schroder? He is a former child actor who became prominent thanks to TV series like Silver Spoons and NYPD Blue. While I could reminisce about old TV for hours, it is worth noting that Ricky Schroder has become a darling for the far-right. You might remember him from his greatest hits of […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: Amazon Web Services Technical Training

1 year 1 month ago
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most popular enterprise cloud computing solutions, used by businesses around the world to manage data, promote effective communication, secure proprietary information, and more. Professionals who can work and manage AWS platforms are always in high demand, and the Amazon Web Services Technical Training course aims to make […]
Gretchen Heckmann

Would Elon Pull ExTwitter Out Of The EU To Avoid The DSA Overreach?

1 year 1 month ago
This course of events was all too predictable. In May of 2022, while Elon was still in the “trying to buy Twitter” stage, we pointed out the absolute ridiculousness of him meeting with the EU’s Thierry Breton and saying that he fully endorsed the EU’s DSA approach. As we noted at the time, the whole […]
Mike Masnick

McCormick & Company Gets Spicy Over Weed Brand’s Parody Packaging

1 year 1 month ago
As the American market continues to expand on rights for Americans to enjoy being super high on cannabis, the industry around those rights are expanding quickly as well. And, in a way that is somewhat akin to the craft beer explosion that occurred last decade, more and more trademark scuffles are popping up as these […]
Dark Helmet

Error 402: The First Secure Monetary Transaction Online

1 year 1 month ago
Last week, we kicked off our Error 402 series on the history (and hopefully future) of web monetization, by talking about much of the framing of what this series will be about. I started it out by noting that it has been 30 years since I first got online in 1993. That also happened to […]
Mike Masnick

Professor Wrongly Blames Apple For CSAM

1 year 1 month ago
His heart is probably in the right place. That’s the best thing I can say about Berkeley professor Dr. Hany Farid, who has spent the last couple of years being wrong about CSAM (child sexual abuse material) detection. That he’s been wrong has done little to shut him up. But he appears to deeply feel […]
Tim Cushing

Daily Deal: The Complete Photoshop Master Class Bundle

1 year 1 month ago
The Complete Photoshop Master Class Bundle has 6 courses to teach you what you need to know to create amazing projects. It’s no secret that Photoshop can be a bit dense when you’re first getting your feet wet with it. That’s why it pays to have an expert instructor show you the ropes. Led by […]
Gretchen Heckmann

The Great Paywall Of Musk Will Consist Of $1/Year To Tweet

1 year 1 month ago
You will recall that, last month, Elon Musk mentioned in passing that he’d decided the only way to stop bots and spam on Twitter (which he’d already claimed to have stopped a few times earlier) was to paywall the entire site with “a small monthly payment for use of the X system.” This statement apparently […]
Mike Masnick