There’s that old saying: the coverup is always worse than the crime. There appears to be something of a corollary to that: the freak-out over a leak is always worse than the leak itself. Let’s call that Geigner’s Law, because why the hell not? You should recall that Nintendo has been in full freak-out mode […]
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike again. Given how much writers contribute to the entire entertainment ecosystem—every satisfying cinematic moment begins its life on the written page—the WGA is asking studios to grant professional writers a reasonable slice of Hollywood’s huge profit pie: a higher minimum wage across all media, higher contributions […]
For many months now, Elon has been promising encrypted DMs. And, indeed, we’ve pointed out that he’s absolutely correct that this is an important feature, and one that social media services should offer. The fact that he’s brought it up a bunch and it seemed to be a priority was definitely a good thing, and […]
JBL Live Free NC+ TWS earbuds deliver JBL Signature Sound with supreme comfort. Stay in the groove all day long without noise or any distractions thanks to Active Noise Canceling, while TalkThru and Ambient Aware keep you in touch with your friends and surroundings. Up to 21 hours of battery life and in-case wireless charging […]
Play Moderator Mayhem in your browser » Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of our newest game in partnership with Engine. Moderator Mayhem is a mobile, browser-based game that lets you see how good a job you would do as a front line content moderator for a growing technology company that hosts user-generated content […]
Satellite TV provider Dish Network isn’t having much fun. Despite oodles of direct government assistance during the Trump era, the company’s attempt to pivot from mediocre satellite TV provider to modern streaming service and wireless giant has been a hot mess. The company lost another 552,000 pay TV subscribers during the last quarter. In part […]
And here we go. Fresh after Nintendo got a pie in its face when, by intent or by confused retailers, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaked early, you just knew that the company would completely wig out. At first the company took the sort of useless actions it always takes in the face of leaks: […]
The Indian government really is showing the world what government censorship is all about lately. The country used to be somewhat better about speech issues online, but for years now we’ve been following the country’s descent towards censorship. Things really ramped up with the Modi government, where he seems ridiculously thin-skinned and unable to deal […]
First off, full disclosure: I live in this state. It’s one of those upper Midwestern states no one seems to live in and yet they do. I continue to endure the Trump-loving antics of our current governor, Kristi Noem, who somehow managed not to kill off a large percentage of the state’s population with her […]
Last month there was a lot of attention paid to Frank Ocean’s performance at Coachella, which has been described as “so bizarre.” Apparently there was supposed to be an elaborate ice rink involved in the set, which was scrapped at the last minute, and then everything about the actual performance, including that it was difficult […]
A rather strange prosecution of a former Uber executive finally comes to an end. And the first tech company executive to be convicted of criminal acts related to a data breach won’t be going to prison, as Joseph Menn reports for the Washington Post. Former Uber chief security officer Joe Sullivan avoided prison Thursday as […]
Get the most out of your devices with this powerful, compact charging station. This 7-in-1 charging dock has universal compatibility that works with most iPhones, iPads, and many other devices throughout your home. It also features a super-speed 30W Fast PD port and intelligent identification technology to keep the device safe and healthy. With its […]
Over the last few years we’ve covered a number of different very, very questionable civil lawsuits brought against internet companies under FOSTA. We had predicted that there would be these vexatious lawsuits, looking to hold companies liable in a sort of cash grab, where people would just go after the companies with the deeper pockets, […]
During the COVID crisis, the FCC launched the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB program), giving lower income Americans a $50 ($75 for those in tribal lands) discount off of their broadband bill. Under the program, the government gave money to ISPs, which then doled out discounts to users if they qualified. But (and I’m sure this […]
Last summer, we discussed a fairly silly trademark suit brought by Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey’s production company, against Roulette Productions, responsible for the “Oprahdemics” podcast. While the name of the podcast is obviously a nod to its main subject matter, Oprah, it’s also the case that the podcast is a journalistic endeavor covering the history […]
Analysts had been quietly noting for a while that Starlink satellite broadband service would consistently lack the capacity to be disruptive at any real scale. As it usually pertains to Musk products, that analysis was generally buried under product hype. A few years later, and Starlink users are facing obvious slowdowns and a steady parade of price […]
We’ve been swamped with some big projects lately, and that put a bit of a dent in our podcast schedule. We’ve got a whole bunch of fresh new episodes lined up to record, so you can expect lots of original content soon — but to tide you over until then, this week we’ve got a […]
Content moderation at scale is impossible to do well. And, contrary to what most people believe, a huge part of content moderation is not “we have to suppress this content that scares us,” but just an attempt to “stop people from being jerks to others.” Unfortunately, too many people get confused, and think that “free […]
The UK government still hopes to bend the internet to its will, but it’s constantly finding out it won’t be as easy as just declaring a bunch of stuff illegal. Tech companies from all over the world would be affected by its “Online Safety Bill” (originally more proactively titled the “Online Harms Bill“). Negatively affected. […]
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