a Better Bubble™

TechDirt 🕸

Rep. Green Again Pounds The Drum On Impeachment, And This Time A Majority Of Democrats March To The Beat

1 week 4 days ago
This week Representative Al Green (Texas) filed another set of impeachment articles against Trump. They didn’t move forward; in fact, they failed an initial vote for Congress to decide to even think about moving them forward. But that impeachment didn’t move forward this time is not the story, because even though it didn’t, pursuing it […]
Cathy Gellis

Daily Deal: 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad

1 week 4 days ago
This 3-in-1 Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad integrates three charging modules for cell phones, headphones, and watches—a maximum power of 15W for cell phone charging, 5W for Airpods charging, and 2.5W for Apple Watch charging. This charging pad can be folded and used as a phone stand. It’s slim and compact, easy to put in your […]
Daily Deal

Politico’s Union Journalists Win Key Ruling In Battle Against Lazy, Undercooked AI

1 week 4 days ago
The rushed integration of half-cooked automation into the already broken U.S. journalism industry simply isn’t going very well. There have been just countless examples where affluent media owners rushed to embrace automation and LLMs (usually to cut corners and undermine labor) with disastrous impact, resulting in lots of plagiarism, completely false headlines, and a giant, completely avoidable mess. Earlier this year, we […]
Karl Bode

Finally: Rep. Haley Stevens Files Articles Of Impeachment For RFK Jr.

1 week 5 days ago
We’ve obviously done a ton of coverage on RFK Jr. as the head of Health and Human Services because, well, he’s an unmitigated disaster. Between all the chaos he’s created with his hiring/firing practices at HHS and its child agencies, the mass exodus of talent from those agencies, and all the anti-vaxx bullshit he’s pulled […]
Timothy Geigner

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Censors & Sensibility

1 week 5 days ago
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]
Mike Masnick

ChatGPT Is Pitching In To Help Federal Officers Misrepresent Confrontations With Protesters

1 week 5 days ago
We’ve already written several times about the danger posed by adding AI to law enforcement incident/arrest reports. There are a lot of obvious problems, ranging from AI misinterpreting what it’s seeing to it adding so much unsupported gibberish it isn’t the time-saver companies like Axon (formerly Taser) claim it will be. The cost-effectiveness of relying […]
Tim Cushing

Pebble’s Original Creator Creates An Open Source $99 Voice Recorder Ring You Can Hack

1 week 5 days ago
Eric Migicovsky, who basically invented the smartwatch category with the original Pebble, just announced something much simpler: a $99 ring with one button that records voice memos. That’s it. No internet connection required, no cloud storage, no subscription fees, no wake words. Press the button, talk, release. Your note is saved locally—either on the ring’s […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: SunFounder GalaxyRVR Mars Rover Kit for Arduino

1 week 5 days ago
The SunFounder GalaxyRVR Mars Rover Kit is your gateway to hands-on learning on robotics, coding, and Mars-like adventures! Its durable aluminum frame and rocker-bogie suspension easily handle tough terrains, while smart sensors ensure smooth navigation. It’s compatible with the Arduino UNO R3, runs on solar power, and includes real-time FPV with app-based control for day […]
Daily Deal

Our Corrupt Congress Just Quietly Killed Military Right To Repair Reforms

1 week 5 days ago
We’ve covered how there’s a real push afoot to implement statewide “right to repair” laws that try to make it cheaper, easier, and environmentally friendlier for you to repair the technology you own. Unfortunately, while all fifty states have at least flirted with the idea, only Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Colorado, California, and Oregon, and Washington have actually passed laws. […]
Karl Bode

Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal

1 week 6 days ago
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Republished under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. For months, the Trump administration has been accusing its political enemies of mortgage fraud for claiming more than one primary residence. President Donald Trump branded one foe who did so â€śdeceitful and potentially criminal.” He called another “CROOKED” on Truth Social and pushed the attorney general to take […]
Justin Elliott, Robert Faturechi, and Alex Mierjeski

Australia’s Social Media Ban Goes Into Effect As Pretty Much Everyone Realizes It’s A Total Mess

1 week 6 days ago
Australia’s social media ban for kids is now in effect. As we’ve discussed, this is a monumentally stupid plan that will do real harm to kids. It’s based on a moral panic and a wide variety of faulty assumptions, including that social media websites are inherently bad for kids, something that none of the evidence […]
Mike Masnick

Daily Deal: Microsoft Project Professional 2024

1 week 6 days ago
Microsoft Project 2024 Professional is the ultimate project management tool, designed to help professionals plan, execute, and complete projects with precision and efficiency. With its robust features and user-friendly interface, this software is perfect for project managers, team leaders, and executives who need a reliable solution to manage their projects from start to finish. It’s […]
Daily Deal

This Is What You’re Funding When You Support Techdirt

1 week 6 days ago
Last week, we launched our monthlong fundraiser with a commemorative Techdirt / 30 years of Section 230 coin for donations of $100 or more. The initial response has been great, but we need more support to hit our targets. We’re still far below our goal of making Techdirt funded primarily by reader donations. That matters […]
Mike Masnick

Public AI, Built On Open Source, Is The Way Forward In The EU

2 weeks ago
Aquarter of a century ago, I wrote a book called “Rebel Code”. It was the first – and is still the only – detailed history of the origins and rise of free software and open source, based on interviews with the gifted and generous hackers who took part. Back then, it was clear that open source represented a […]
Glyn Moody

How ICE’s Plan To Monitor Social Media Threatens Not Just Privacy, But Civic Participation

2 weeks ago
When most people think about immigration enforcement, they picture border crossings and airport checkpoints. But the new front line may be your social media feed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has published a request for information for private-sector contractors to launch a round-the-clock social media monitoring program. The request states that private contractors will be paid to comb through â€śFacebook, […]
Nicole M. Bennett