#Sign out of one drive microsoft | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

azuremist · 1 year

Text

Google is going to start scraping all of their platforms to use for AI training. So, here are some alternatives for common Google tools!

Google Chrome -> Firefox

If you’re on tumblr, you’ve probably already been told this a thousand times. But FireFox is an open-source browser which is safe, fast and secure. Basically all other browsers are Chrome reskins. Try Firefox Profilemaker, Arkenfox and Librewolf! Alternatively, vanilla Firefox is alright, but get Ublock Origin, turn off pocket, and get Tabliss.

Google Search -> DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo very rarely tracks or stores your browsing data (though they have only been known to sell this info to Microsoft). Don’t use their browser; only their search engine. Domain visits in their browser get shared. Alternatively, you can also use Ecosia, which is a safe search engine that uses its income to plant trees! 🌲

Google Reverse Image Search -> Tineye

Tineye uses image identification tech rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks to find you the source of your image!

Gmail -> ProtonMail

All data stored on ProtonMail is encrypted, and it boasts self-destructing emails, text search, and a commitment to user privacy. Tutanota is also a good alternative!

Google Docs -> LibreOffice

LibreOffice is free and open-source software, which includes functions like writing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, formula editing and more.

Google Translate -> DeepL

DeepL is notable for its accuracy of translation, and is much better that Google Translate in this regard. It does cost money for unlimited usage, but it will let you translate 500,000 characters per month for free. If this is a dealbreaker, consider checking out the iTranslate app.

Google Forms -> ClickUp

ClickUp comes with a built-in form view, and also has a documents feature, which could make it a good option to take out two birds with one stone.

Google Drive -> Mega

Mega offers a better encryption method than Google Drive, which means it’s more secure.

YouTube -> PeerTube

YouTube is the most difficult to account for, because it has a functional monopoly on long-form video-sharing. That being said, PeerTube is open-source and decentralized. The Internet Archive also has a video section!

However, if you still want access to YouTube’s library, check out NewPipe and LibreTube! NewPipe scrapes YouTube’s API so you can watch YouTube videos without Google collecting your info. LibreTube does the same thing, but instead of using YouTube servers, it uses piped servers, so Google doesn’t even get your IP address. Both of these are free, don’t require sign-ins, and are open source!

Please feel free to drop your favorite alternatives to Google-owned products, too! And, if this topic interests you, consider checking out Glaze as well! It alters your artwork and photos so that it’s more difficult to use to train AI with! ⭐️

#anti ai #anti ai art #anti ai music #anti ai writing #anti google #google #political #current events #azure does a thing

30K notes · View notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

Text

Big Tech disrupted disruption

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/08/permanent-overlords/#republicans-want-to-defund-the-police

Before "disruption" turned into a punchline, it was a genuinely exciting idea. Using technology, we could connect people to one another and allow them to collaborate, share, and cooperate to make great things happen.

It's easy (and valid) to dismiss the "disruption" of Uber, which "disrupted" taxis and transit by losing $31b worth of Saudi royal money in a bid to collapse the world's rival transportation system, while quietly promising its investors that it would someday have pricing power as a monopoly, and would attain profit through price-gouging and wage-theft.

Uber's disruption story was wreathed in bullshit: lies about the "independence" of its drivers, about the imminence of self-driving taxis, about the impact that replacing buses and subways with millions of circling, empty cars would have on traffic congestion. There were and are plenty of problems with traditional taxis and transit, but Uber magnified these problems, under cover of "disrupting" them away.

But there are other feats of high-tech disruption that were and are genuinely transformative – Wikipedia, GNU/Linux, RSS, and more. These disruptive technologies altered the balance of power between powerful institutions and the businesses, communities and individuals they dominated, in ways that have proven both beneficial and durable.

When we speak of commercial disruption today, we usually mean a tech company disrupting a non-tech company. Tinder disrupts singles bars. Netflix disrupts Blockbuster. Airbnb disrupts Marriott.

But the history of "disruption" features far more examples of tech companies disrupting other tech companies: DEC disrupts IBM. Netscape disrupts Microsoft. Google disrupts Yahoo. Nokia disrupts Kodak, sure – but then Apple disrupts Nokia. It's only natural that the businesses most vulnerable to digital disruption are other digital businesses.

And yet…disruption is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the tech sector itself. Five giant companies have been running the show for more than a decade. A couple of these companies (Apple, Microsoft) are Gen-Xers, having been born in the 70s, then there's a couple of Millennials (Amazon, Google), and that one Gen-Z kid (Facebook). Big Tech shows no sign of being disrupted, despite the continuous enshittification of their core products and services. How can this be? Has Big Tech disrupted disruption itself?

That's the contention of "Coopting Disruption," a new paper from two law profs: Mark Lemley (Stanford) and Matthew Wansley (Yeshiva U):

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4713845

The paper opens with a review of the literature on disruption. Big companies have some major advantages: they've got people and infrastructure they can leverage to bring new products to market more cheaply than startups. They've got existing relationships with suppliers, distributors and customers. People trust them.

Diversified, monopolistic companies are also able to capture "involuntary spillovers": when Google spends money on AI for image recognition, it can improve Google Photos, YouTube, Android, Search, Maps and many other products. A startup with just one product can't capitalize on these spillovers in the same way, so it doesn't have the same incentives to spend big on R&D.

Finally, big companies have access to cheap money. They get better credit terms from lenders, they can float bonds, they can tap the public markets, or just spend their own profits on R&D. They can also afford to take a long view, because they're not tied to VCs whose funds turn over every 5-10 years. Big companies get cheap money, play a long game, pay less to innovate and get more out of innovation.

But those advantages are swamped by the disadvantages of incumbency, all the various curses of bigness. Take Arrow's "replacement effect": new companies that compete with incumbents drive down the incumbents' prices and tempt their customers away. But an incumbent that buys a disruptive new company can just shut it down, and whittle down its ideas to "sustaining innovation" (small improvements to existing products), killing "disruptive innovation" (major changes that make the existing products obsolete).

Arrow's Replacement Effect also comes into play before a new product even exists. An incumbent that allows a rival to do R&D that would eventually disrupt its product is at risk; but if the incumbent buys this pre-product, R&D-heavy startup, it can turn the research to sustaining innovation and defund any disruptive innovation.

Arrow asks us to look at the innovation question from the point of view of the company as a whole. Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma" looks at the motivations of individual decision-makers in large, successful companies. These individuals don't want to disrupt their own business, because that will render some part of their own company obsolete (perhaps their own division!). They also don't want to radically change their customers' businesses, because those customers would also face negative effects from disruption.

A startup, by contrast, has no existing successful divisions and no giant customers to safeguard. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain from disruption. Where a large company has no way for individual employees to initiate major changes in corporate strategy, a startup has fewer hops between employees and management. What's more, a startup that rewards an employee's good idea with a stock-grant ties that employee's future finances to the outcome of that idea – while a giant corporation's stock bonuses are only incidentally tied to the ideas of any individual worker.

Big companies are where good ideas go to die. If a big company passes on its employees' cool, disruptive ideas, that's the end of the story for that idea. But even if 100 VCs pass on a startup's cool idea and only one VC funds it, the startup still gets to pursue that idea. In startup land, a good idea gets lots of chances – in a big company, it only gets one.

Given how innately disruptable tech companies are, given how hard it is for big companies to innovate, and given how little innovation we've gotten from Big Tech, how is it that the tech giants haven't been disrupted?

The authors propose a four-step program for the would-be Tech Baron hoping to defend their turf from disruption.

First, gather information about startups that might develop disruptive technologies and steer them away from competing with you, by investing in them or partnering with them.

Second, cut off any would-be competitor's supply of resources they need to develop a disruptive product that challenges your own.

Third, convince the government to pass regulations that big, established companies can comply with but that are business-killing challenges for small competitors.

Finally, buy up any company that resists your steering, succeeds despite your resource war, and escapes the compliance moats of regulation that favors incumbents.

Then: kill those companies.

The authors proceed to show that all four tactics are in play today. Big Tech companies operate their own VC funds, which means they get a look at every promising company in the field, even if they don't want to invest in them. Big Tech companies are also awash in money and their "rival" VCs know it, and so financial VCs and Big Tech collude to fund potential disruptors and then sell them to Big Tech companies as "aqui-hires" that see the disruption neutralized.

On resources, the authors focus on data, and how companies like Facebook have explicit policies of only permitting companies they don't see as potential disruptors to access Facebook data. They reproduce internal Facebook strategy memos that divide potential platform users into "existing competitors, possible future competitors, [or] developers that we have alignment with on business models." These categories allow Facebook to decide which companies are capable of developing disruptive products and which ones aren't. For example, Amazon – which doesn't compete with Facebook – is allowed to access FB data to target shoppers. But Messageme, a startup, was cut off from Facebook as soon as management perceived them as a future rival. Ironically – but unsurprisingly – Facebook spins these policies as pro-privacy, not anti-competitive.

These data policies cast a long shadow. They don't just block existing companies from accessing the data they need to pursue disruptive offerings – they also "send a message" to would-be founders and investors, letting them know that if they try to disrupt a tech giant, they will have their market oxygen cut off before they can draw breath. The only way to build a product that challenges Facebook is as Facebook's partner, under Facebook's direction, with Facebook's veto.

Next, regulation. Starting in 2019, Facebook started publishing full-page newspaper ads calling for regulation. Someone ghost-wrote a Washington Post op-ed under Zuckerberg's byline, arguing the case for more tech regulation. Google, Apple, OpenAI other tech giants have all (selectively) lobbied in favor of many regulations. These rules covered a lot of ground, but they all share a characteristic: complying with them requires huge amounts of money – money that giant tech companies can spare, but potential disruptors lack.

Finally, there's predatory acquisitions. Mark Zuckerberg, working without the benefit of a ghost writer (or in-house counsel to review his statements for actionable intent) has repeatedly confessed to buying companies like Instagram to ensure that they never grow to be competitors. As he told one colleague, "I remember your internal post about how Instagram was our threat and not Google+. You were basically right. The thing about startups though is you can often acquire them.”

All the tech giants are acquisition factories. Every successful Google product, almost without exception, is a product they bought from someone else. By contrast, Google's own internal products typically crash and burn, from G+ to Reader to Google Videos. Apple, meanwhile, buys 90 companies per year – Tim Apple brings home a new company for his shareholders more often than you bring home a bag of groceries for your family. All the Big Tech companies' AI offerings are acquisitions, and Apple has bought more AI companies than any of them.

Big Tech claims to be innovating, but it's really just operationalizing. Any company that threatens to disrupt a tech giant is bought, its products stripped of any really innovative features, and the residue is added to existing products as a "sustaining innovation" – a dot-release feature that has all the innovative disruption of rounding the corners on a new mobile phone.

The authors present three case-studies of tech companies using this four-point strategy to forestall disruption in AI, VR and self-driving cars. I'm not excited about any of these three categories, but it's clear that the tech giants are worried about them, and the authors make a devastating case for these disruptions being disrupted by Big Tech.

What do to about it? If we like (some) disruption, and if Big Tech is enshittifying at speed without facing dethroning-by-disruption, how do we get the dynamism and innovation that gave us the best of tech?

The authors make four suggestions.

First, revive the authorities under existing antitrust law to ban executives from Big Tech companies from serving on the boards of startups. More broadly, kill interlocking boards altogether. Remember, these powers already exist in the lawbooks, so accomplishing this goal means a change in enforcement priorities, not a new act of Congress or rulemaking. What's more, interlocking boards between competing companies are illegal per se, meaning there's no expensive, difficult fact-finding needed to demonstrate that two companies are breaking the law by sharing directors.

Next: create a nondiscrimination policy that requires the largest tech companies that share data with some unaffiliated companies to offer data on the same terms to other companies, except when they are direct competitors. They argue that this rule will keep tech giants from choking off disruptive technologies that make them obsolete (rather than competing with them).

On the subject of regulation and compliance moats, they have less concrete advice. They counsel lawmakers to greet tech giants' demands to be regulated with suspicion, to proceed with caution when they do regulate, and to shape regulation so that it doesn't limit market entry, by keeping in mind the disproportionate burdens regulations put on established giants and small new companies. This is all good advice, but it's more a set of principles than any kind of specific practice, test or procedure.

Finally, they call for increased scrutiny of mergers, including mergers between very large companies and small startups. They argue that existing law (Sec 2 of the Sherman Act and Sec 7 of the Clayton Act) both empower enforcers to block these acquisitions. They admit that the case-law on this is poor, but that just means that enforcers need to start making new case-law.

I like all of these suggestions! We're certainly enjoying a more activist set of regulators, who are more interested in Big Tech, than we've seen in generations.

But they are grossly under-resourced even without giving them additional duties. As Matt Stoller points out, "the DOJ's Antitrust Division has fewer people enforcing anti-monopoly laws in a $24 trillion economy than the Smithsonian Museum has security guards."

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/congressional-republicans-to-defund

What's more, Republicans are trying to slash their budgets even further. The American conservative movement has finally located a police force they're eager to defund: the corporate police who defend us all from predatory monopolies.

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

287 notes · View notes

blubberquark · 2 years

Text

Computer Literacy

Computer literacy is the most important social problem of today. At least, it’s the most important problem relative to the amount of time we spend talking about it. That makes it the most underrated social problem, and probably the one where we can achieve the most long-term improvements per unit of effort spent, but for some reason we don’t.

As computers have become more and more important, most jobs are now impossible to do without some sort of IT system in there, and that has resulted in people who used to be competent, confident and creative in their jobs throwing their hands in the air, saying “it’s a software problem, what can you do“ as automation increasingly dictates their workflows and makes them unable to even do things they used to be able to accomplish manually.

Somehow, the modern world is full of computers, and they are more important than ever, but as software has become more complicated and more difficult to use, people have become worse at using computers.

Over the last twenty years, we didn’t really get better at computer use. Instead we got used to not being able to understand what’s going on. We are also used to not being in control. Programs update themselves. Web apps change their UI. Web sites change their URL structure and invalidate all your bookmarks. Phones become obsolete in a way that makes it impossible to even run the versions of apps that used to work.

When I talk about complexity, I don’t mean the “internal” complexity of software, as in code complexity, build dependencies, software architecture, and all the tooling to manage this somehow. I mean user-visible complexity: Software is no longer an .exe file on your hard drive, but a self-updating app with a small icon that needs an online account and starts itself when your computer starts. Data is no longer a file on a floppy disk, but a collection of rows in an SQL database somewhere in %APPDATA%, or worse, a collection of rows in an SQL database in the cloud behind a REST API that is actually not REST but just RPC over HTTP.

Computer literacy is a moving target. That makes it difficult to teach. I suspect that the software industry wants it that way.

In their quest to “simplify“ software, vendors turn every application into a black box or a walled garden, denying users ways to re-use knowledge gained from other apps. Can you share the document you are editing with your friends by sharing the URL in your browser? If it was a file, you could save it and share the file with a friend. Online, all bets are off. Maybe the URL thing works, maybe the application has its own internal sharing system that requires your friends to make accounts, so you can “connect“ with them, and only then can you select them from a drop-down menu to share your document with, or maybe the application automatically scrapes your friends from facebook.

When I was in 7th grade, I had “basic computer lessons“, sponsored by Microsoft. We learned how many bits there were in a byte, how to send e-mail with hotmail.com, and what to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for. What we did not learn was how to uninstall software, how to burn a CD, or how to send e-mail attachments. The “child-proofing” software installed on the school computers prevented us from accessing the file system.

Important tasks such as

connecting to a wireless network

printing on a shared network printer

getting your PowerPoint to display on an external screen or projector

verifying that an e-mail is indeed coming from your friend or your bank

were left out.

(Aside: Why don’t banks sign their mail with PGP?)

In the mean time, what has gotten worse was not education. It was software itself. Software has gotten more and more hostile to computer literacy. Some software is actively hostile to deep understanding now, and increasingly it’s also becoming hostile to shallow understanding and muscle memory. Good luck with your new iPad air, we have moved all the buttons around, and have hidden basic functionality behind gestures. Tapping this does nothing, maybe try swiping it, pinching it, shaking it, with three fingers, swipe from the edge of the screen, whoops you switched apps now. It’s no longer possible for an end user to understand software. It’s no longer possible for third parties to even write “the missing handbook” of Slack or Google Docs or Spotify or Dropbox or indeed the iPad. It will be obsolete before it hits the shelves.

Related: http://contemporary-home-computing.org/turing-complete-user/

#computer literacy #End-user Computing

299 notes · View notes

blazehedgehog · 5 months

Note

Thoughts on the Microsoft Third Party news?

I mean if Xbox is getting to be a big enough brand that people are raising questions of whether or not exclusivity means monopoly, then yeah, spreading more of your games out across multiple platforms makes legal sense.

More and more of the game industry is regrettably going to be moving in the direction of "account ecosystem" rather than hardware platform. Years ago there was talk about how one day there would be no Xbox or Playstation console, just an Xbox or Playstation App you launch on something like a Roku.

The final disgusting endpoint in all of this "no more sales, just service" drive. No discs, not even local data, just a monthly streaming subscription. Forever. No ownership, no ability to mod games, no way to play offline.

Even in the best case scenario, we're looking at a Netflix where you stream 90% of what you play and only "buy" the 10% of games you truly love.

The only thing that flies in the face of that is, like, Steam. The state of movie ownership is what it is because Netflix got there first. The streaming arm of Netflix is the entire reason the "Hollywood Streaming Industry" exists right now. It predates Prime Video, it predates Tubi, it predates everything.

Fewer people probably remember this, but the original premise of Hulu was to get TV networks signed on to simulcast their newest shows online, because none of them were doing that yet. "Netflix Instant" (the original name for Netflix streaming) even predates that. Hulu was trying to fill a need that Netflix could not because Netflix did not actually stream TV shows at first. Not even syndicated rerun stuff. It was just movies. Streaming Seinfeld or The Simpsons or The Office was just outright impossible.

Netflix got in there and shifted the direction of an entire industry, before borders had been staked out or consumers had built up substantial libraries they were protective of. So we went from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray to Streaming, where "Streaming" usually means a subscription service and not any form of ownership.

But that's not the case with games. Users expect backwards compatibility, they expect their libraries to carry forward, and in some cases people may own hundreds or even thousands of games in a digital library. I know on the Xbox 360, I own at least $200 worth of digital games, because I won a sweepstakes specifically for a $200 Xbox gift card. And my 19 year old Steam account will gladly tell the entire world I own over 1600 PC games.

That's just on Steam! Epic is still always giving away free games (200+), GOG is occasionally giving away free games and holding sales where you can get stuff for a couple bucks, etc. etc. etc. It's like the warehouse of mythical items from Indiana Jones over here.

People own gigantic libraries of digital games they expect to keep and willingly modify in perpetuity. It's a lot harder to push people to stream everything off the cloud as a result. It's why the big selling point for game streaming is "No downloads!" and it's why it's struggling to catch on. Sure, a 100gb+ game is huge, but if I take my download limiters off, it doesn't actually take that long. A 90 minute download for a 30+ hour game seems like a pretty fair exchange, all told.

But Microsoft is still going all-in on "account ecosystem." It's like, think of it this way: every game publisher is in a constant war to have the one big holiday game that everybody buys. And for guys like Microsoft, that one big game a year is their primary moneymaker. If they can get everyone to spend at least $60 on their game once a year, they stay in business.

Game Pass is $60 a year. They side step having to put out that holiday season's biggest game and get to say, "Well for the price of one game, you can get access to an entire library." It changes the perspective on so much of their business model. Suddenly they don't need the big flagship holiday blockbuster, they just need to get more people to pay for Game Pass.

And the ultimate end goal there is probably to get Game Pass in as many places as they can. There's already a PC Game Pass. If they can launch some version of Game Pass for Playstation? Game Pass for Switch? They'll do it. The Xbox almost doesn't matter anymore. The subscription and the ecosystem does. It's why Microsoft rebooted the Xbox app on PC a few years ago -- it used to be a "Companion App" for your console, but now the Xbox App on PC is where all of their PC gaming and Game Pass stuff lives. Xbox isn't hardware anymore, it's a service you subscribe to, and that's where the real money is. Especially considering what a gigantic money pit hardware is; I don't think Microsoft has ever, even once, turned a profit on Xbox hardware (and neither has Sony, as far as I know).

Get rid of the need for hardware and that $60/year looks even sweeter, doesn't it? Especially when you start to consider that something like Game Pass Ultimate is actually $180/year. If you can lure people in on the $60 but upsell them to the $180... well, gosh, that's almost the price of a whole new console every year, isn't it? That's a lot of constant cashflow without needing the years and years of deeply expensive research, development, and manufacturing.

Getting people to spend a console's worth of money on your service without actually needing the console itself is massively desirable. They'd be saving millions, if not billions of dollars while making millions more elsewhere. There's a chart out there some executive is drooling over where a line goes straight up by something like 900%.

The only problem is the whole consumer rights/ownership factor. Which I am not a fan of. I objectively refuse to support Game Pass for what it's obvious goals are. I will buy and own every game I want to play. No compromises. I will buy physical if space and money allows. I will not be bled dry by temporary access.

#questions #Anonymous #xbox #microsoft #game pass #subscription #streaming #stadia #amazon #netflix #hulu

7 notes · View notes

ahb-writes · 11 months

Text

People Are Using A.I. to "Write" Unauthorized Books From Popular Authors and Sell Them on Amazon

Read the Article: "An author says AI is ‘writing’ unauthorized books being sold under her name on Amazon" by Clare Duffy, CNN (article appears in full, below)

Supplemental Reading: "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)" by Jane Friedman

❯ ❯ ❯

New York (CNN) -- An author is raising alarms this week after she found new books being sold on Amazon under her name — only she didn’t write them; they appear to have been generated by artificial intelligence.

Jane Friedman, who has authored multiple books and consulted about working in the writing and publishing industry, told CNN that an eagle-eyed reader looking for more of her work bought one of the fake titles on Amazon. The books had titles similar to the subjects she typically writes about, but the text read as if someone had used a generative AI model to imitate her style.

“When I started looking at these books, looking at the opening pages, looking at the bio, it was just obvious to me that it had been mostly, if not entirely, AI-generated … I have so much content available online for free, because I’ve been blogging forever, so it wouldn’t be hard to get an AI to mimic me,” Friedman said.

With AI tools like ChatGPT now able to rapidly and cheaply pump out huge volumes of convincing text, some writers and authors have raised alarms about losing work to the new technology. Others have said they don’t want their work being used to train AI models, which could then be used to imitate them.

“Generative AI is being used to replace writers — taking their work without permission, incorporating those works into the fabric of those AI models and then offering those AI models to the public, to other companies, to use to replace writers,” Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the nonprofit authors advocacy group the Authors Guild, told CNN. “So you can imagine writers are a little upset about that.”

Last month, US lawmakers met with members of creative industries, including the Authors Guild, to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence. In a Senate subcommittee hearing, Rasenberger called for the creation of legislation to protect writers from AI, including rules that would require AI companies to be transparent about how they train their models. More than 10,000 authors — including James Patterson, Roxane Gay and Margaret Atwood — also signed an open letter calling on AI industry leaders like Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to obtain consent from authors when using their work to train AI models, and to compensate them fairly when they do.

A Growing Problem

Friedman on Monday posted a well-read thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, and a blog post about the issue. Several authors responded saying they’d had similar experiences.

“People keep telling me they bought my newest book — that has my name on it but I didn’t write,” one author said in response.

Amazon removed the fake books being sold under Friedman’s name and said its policies prohibit such imitation.

“We have clear content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale and promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised,” Amazon spokesperson Ashley Vanicek said in a statement, adding that the company accepts author feedback about potential issues. “We invest heavily to provide a trustworthy shopping experience and protect customers and authors from misuse of our service.”

Amazon also told Friedman that it is “investigating what happened with the handling of your claims to drive improvements to our processes,” according to an email viewed by CNN.

The fake books using Friedman’s name were also added to her profile on the literary social network Goodreads, and removed only after she publicized the issue.

“We have clear guidelines on which books are included on Goodreads and will quickly investigate when a concern is raised, removing books when we need to,” Goodreads spokesperson Suzanne Skyvara said in a statement to CNN.

Friedman said she worries that authors will be stuck playing whack-a-mole to identify AI generated fakes.

“What’s frightening is that this can happen to anyone with a name that has reputation, status, demand that someone sees a way to profit off of,” she said.

The Authors Guild has been working with Amazon since this past winter to address the issue of books written by AI, Rasenberger said.

She said the company has been responsive when the Authors Guild flags fake books on behalf of authors, but it can be a tricky issue to spot given that it’s possible for two legitimate authors to have the same name.

The group is also hoping AI companies will agree to allow authors to opt out of having their work used to train AI models — so it’s harder to create copycats — and to find ways to transparently label artificially generated text. And, she said, companies and publishers should continue investing in creative work made by humans, even if AI appears more convenient.

“Using AI to generate content is so easy, it’s so cheap, that I do worry there’s going to be this kind of downward competition to use AI to replace human creators,” she said. “And you will never get the same quality with AI as human creators.”

❯ ❯ ❯

Read the Article: "An author says AI is ‘writing’ unauthorized books being sold under her name on Amazon" by Clare Duffy, CNN

Supplemental Reading: "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)" by Jane Friedman

#jane friedman #writeblr #writing #novel writing #fiction writing #the problem with ai #artificial intelligence #generative ai #genai #the rise of ai #book publishing #publishing #authors #cnn #publishing research #reporting #clare duffy #goodreads and amazon are becoming dumpster fires

2 notes · View notes

frostyreturns · 1 year

Text

When my last computer died I vowed I was never buying Apple or Windows ever again, now I’m vowing to never buy an acer chromebook, these computers are pieces of shit. I bought it when everything was locked down and I didn’t have much choice or money.

- Battery already giving me problems wont charge beyond like 12% so the battery life is now like ten minutes. And its built like a macbook where I can’t just pop it out buy a new one and replace it.

- functionless desktop..there’s no desktop shortcuts I can’t drag and drop icons to and from it for easier access I just get a big blank screen that doesn’t even have a functional wallpaper system. If I want to post a custom photo as my wallpaper I have to dig through every single image on my computer to find it because it only gives you preset google provided images and one giant folder labelled “my images”

- It has a shelf/dock but it constantly removes items I put there everytime I’m not looking. I keep tryint to pin my settings to the shelf and yet eveytime I go to use it the icon has disappeared from the shelf. It’s like im in a fight with a roommate over where a table goes but there’s no roommate and every day I just find the table in the spot where I moved it from before bed. You’re my fucking computer you are a thing, I own you, I paid for you, you don’t get a say... do what I fucking tell you.

- Flimsiest fucking plastic piece of shit I’ve ever seen in a piece of technology. The plastic on the screen feels like it’s made out of what chinese knockoff toys at the dollar store are made out of, you have to brace the entire screen with both hands when opening it and closing it or you’ll snap it.

- Every once in a while will just randomly shut off and not turn off, figured out that a little garden varety static was shorting it out.

- keys not backlit, so it’s unusable at nighttime.

- no compatibility with anything, wont recognize or run an external disc drive so I cannot use it for any physical media whatsoever. Can’t watch dvds on it, can’t upload music to it...nothing.

- Every browser other than chrome is suspiciously unusable. Browsers that on every other device run and work smoothly run like bricked dogshit.

- Worst of all it makes you sign in to google to use it at all.

- Awful word processer, you can type words and that’s it. Making it useless as a writing laptop. Your options are use google docs and upload everything you ever type straight to google or here’s a text program that lets you type words but has literally no other function at all. Makes everything a formatting nightmare if I actually have to send something to someone.

There are no good options for computer anymore, you just have to find the one that doesn’t suck complete ass and it’s none of them. They’ve taken all the fun out of technology and the bad parts just keep getting worse. Fuck everyone at apple, fuck Bill Gates and everyone at microsoft and fuck everbody at google I hate you all you’re all bad people and you’ve all made the world a worse place eat shit and get fucked.

9 notes · View notes

umichenginabroad · 5 days

Text

Week 6: Another Trip to Cape Town :)

Hey everyone! I have just finished my 6th week at SANSA. The project I am working on is progressing well and I hope to finish up most/all of it within the next two weeks before I have to leave. Unfortunately, both of my supervisors are traveling for work which often happens since researchers need to attend conferences etc. For now, I am in contact with them through email and Microsoft Teams so that I can update them on my progress and ask questions as needed. If you participate in this program in the future it is definitely important to set up a good form of communication if your supervisor is traveling to make sure you can still work smoothly on your project.

Most of the week was spent working as usual although I went to town some evenings to get food or walked the cliff path to get fresh air. However, the weekend was a lot more busy since Aminata and I went back to Cape Town but this time we went with one of the SANSA grad students who is from Cape Town. When we had gone to Cape Town previously there were certain things we couldn’t do or see since it was recommended to have a local with you. Since we had Mihlali (the grad student) with us, we got to go to some places we previously avoided.

This time, we could not get free transportation from Hermanus to Cape Town. However, there was an uber driver we met previously who offered to be our driver for a price of 1000 rand which was pretty reasonable considering he had to drive all the way from Cape Town to Hermanus and then back to Cape Town. The driver, Jabali, also regularly does day trips for people who want to see Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope (Africa’s southwestern most point), and other areas along the coast a bit outside of Cape Town. We decided to do this since we had already planned on visiting some of those places at some point. Jabali picked us up from SANSA at around 8:30 am and we were on our way to Cape Point which took about two hours since the location was past Cape Town. To enter the park where Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope are, there was a fee of 400 rand for international visitors. After entering the park, we drove for a couple minutes before reaching a viewpoint. We took some pictures and then drove all the way to Cape Point where there was a short hike to a lighthouse.

After Cape Point, we drove about 10 minutes to get to Cape of Good Hope which is the southwestern most point in Africa. There was a place to hike here too but we decided to just take pictures in front of the sign and then head out. During our drive in the park, we got to see a lot of wild ostriches. This was so exciting since I had never seen wild ostriches before. There seemed to be two variations of the ostriches - one with light brown feathers and the other with dark brown feathers. I think the color difference is due to gender with the light brown ones being female and darker ones being male. It was clear that the darker ones were bigger which is why they were probably male. We also saw a family of baboons during our drive. They were eating grass and just sitting on the side of the road. The baby baboon kept hiding behind its mother, afraid of the cars driving past it. We had a really late lunch but it was worth it since we got to have amazing hake (fish) and chips at a place called Fish on the Rocks. This place was recommended by Jabali and it did not disappoint at all.

That night, we stayed at a hostel in the city called Villa Viva. I liked this hostel much better than the one we stayed in the previous week called Big Blue Backpackers. The bathrooms and bedrooms were much nicer and the difference in price was only 100 rand (~$5) per night. They also had free breakfast here which was not included with the other hostel. Overall, I would highly recommend staying here if you’re visiting Cape Town since it was 306 rand per night for a 4 bed mixed dorm - Aminata, Mihlali, and I took up 3/4 of the beds and there was no one in the fourth bed which was nice.

On Sunday, we first went to Bo-Kaap which is a neighborhood filled with colorful houses. You can see houses of every color and take pictures in front of them. There were also several art galleries we visited here. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures but everything I saw was amazing. One art gallery had art made strictly from recycled material. On one wall, they had a huge piece that was a depiction of Cape Town from an aerial view. It was really cool to see how much you can do with just recycled material. Another gallery had a lot of water color and oil paintings. From this place, I bought a small watercolor print of a street in Bo-Kaap. For lunch, we headed to an Ethiopian restaurant called Ethiopian Madam Taitou. Here, I had Mota Chicken with injera. I had Ethiopian food a couple of years ago so this was my second time having it and it tasted great. In addition, the vibes of the restaurant were great since it felt like we were in a jungle from all the decorations they had.

After lunch Aminata and I headed to our next activity - paragliding. We were supposed to go last weekend but it was really windy so it got canceled and I got a refund. This time, the weather was amazing with clear skies and a very light breeze. The meeting point for the paragliding was at signal hill which is a huge hill near Lion’s Head mountain. The paragliders jump off of Signal Hill and paraglide over the town below before landing in a big field near the ocean. For an additional fee of $20 we also got to get pictures and videos of our flight. Since this was my first time paragliding I decided to get the pictures/videos. The flight itself was really nice and lasted about 15 minutes. I felt very safe since the instructor handled the parachute while I just sat and enjoyed the view. I love thrill seeking activities so this was definitely an experience I will remember forever. After landing near the beach, we were driven back up to Signal Hill where we watched the sunset over the ocean. The view was amazing and there were many people sitting on the hill watching with us. We hadn’t planned to watch the sunset here but I was happy we got to see it before heading back to the hostel where Jabali picked us up to take us back to SANSA.

I had an amazing weekend in Cape Town once again and was so happy to go with a local this time. Only two more weeks left in South Africa!

Satwika Tattari

Space Sciences and Engineering

IPE: Undergraduate Research Program at the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) in Hermanus, South Africa

#umichenginabroad #IPESANSA #IPESummer24 #SouthAfrica #SatwikaTattari

0 notes

devleader · 17 days

Video

undefined

tumblr

What drives innovation in tech?

John Vandivier says: Diversity

From working at Microsoft, this is one of the core focuses the entire organization has with building teams of engineers. You see it at ALL levels.

What's one surprising answer to help with gender diversity in software engineering? This certainly isn't what I would have expected to hear:

Bootcamps.

John states that gender diversity achieved in coding boot camps is around 50%! That's completely different than what we've observed in colleges and universities in software-related programs.

What have you seen help improve diversity within software engineering?

Check out the full video: https://youtu.be/IfpFm44-2ZM

📨 Sign up for my FREE email newsletter

🗣️ Share with your network!

What drives innovation in tech?

John Vandivier says: Diversity

From working at Microsoft, this is one of the core focuses the entire organization has with building teams of engineers. You see it at ALL levels.

What's one surprising answer to help with gender diversity in software engineering? This certainly isn't what I would have expected to hear:

Bootcamps.

John states that gender diversity achieved in coding boot camps is around 50%! That's completely different than what we've observed in colleges and universities in software-related programs.

What have you seen help improve diversity within software engineering?

👇Want the full video? Comment below! 👇

📨 Sign up for my FREE email newsletter

🗣️ Share with your network!

#Software Engineer #Software Engineers #Software Engineering

0 notes

risezonic003 · 19 days

Text

The Influence of AI on SEO in 2024 and Beyond: A Disruptive Force

Overview:

AI Impact

Explanation

Voice Search Optimization

Optimizing for AI-powered voice assistants like Alexa and Siri

User Experience Signals

Leveraging AI for personalized experiences that boost engagement

RankBrain Integration

How Google's AI system influences rankings and SEO strategies

Automation & Insights

AI-driven tools for analytics, task automation, and data-mining

Introduction

Flashback to 2016 when Microsoft's AI chatbot Tay went rogue on Twitter after trolls trained it to spew racist, offensive rhetoric. The event was a sobering wake-up call about the potential pitfalls (and hilarity) of artificial intelligence run amok.

It’s the year 2024, and AI is the technology now seemingly revolutionising the marketing and business markets. Although either being conscious or not self-aware, AI technologies have advanced and perform the most incredible works in real life.

This transformation is remodelling the key components of digital strategies especially Search Engine Optimization which is essential ever. What's more, considering that SEO is the digital powerhouse that can drive traffic and revenue making it an investment worthy it, it is important to get at the edge of the AI curve.

In the next lines, we will delve into the wide-ranging ways AI technology will utterly revolutionise SEO in 2024 and beyond. The effect is permeating through content creation, voice search, experience of the user, ranking algorithm etc.

As a futurist, I invite you to put on your futurist lens and join me in the fascinating brain of how AI will change the fundamental principles of SEO success.

Content Creation: Quality at Unmatched Level

For many years, with flashing signs lit, SEOs and marketers have been preaching the gospel about the quality, depth, audience-centeredness of the text is the key to a high place in the organic ranking success. Google is obviously not happy with that: thin, meaningless content can be forgotten.

On the face of it, this order obviously sounds good. However, it is very challenging to multitask and produce a significant amount of good content very often, particularly after the constriction of supply or funds befall a small team.

Enter: AI-driven content creation and optimization platforms. We are not considering the kind of algorithms that only rearrange the words like a digital mad lib. By that, I literally mean the best natural language generation models that can create well-formulated and readable, as well as almost human content regarding any fields and topics.

Amazingly this very sentence is being written by the AI system called Claude that was founded by the leader researcher of the field. Does it read like I have an entire digital marketing agency ghostwriting for me? I'll take that as a compliment!

The implications of leveraging AI for consistent, scalable content creation are immense. With the right prompts and training data, brands can churn out volumes of blogs, articles, social posts, emails, scripts, and more on autopilot. The economics and time-saving potential are staggering.

Voice Search: Optimizing for Audible Assistants

Chances are you've witnessed the meteoric rise of voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant infiltrating homes and offices worldwide. According to Microsoft’s data, 72.2% of voice assistant users use the technology on a daily basis. This is mass adoption on a wide scale.

Yes, the whole voice experience is still in the process of evolution, one thing people keep to do, though, is use voice search in order to find information hands-free by asking questions. And who do you imagine is probably behind those voice search capabilities? As if by magic – artificial intelligence and machine learning mechanisms.

The most structural change occurs in people’s searching in this relevant way, which implies it is no longer a choice but a necessity to optimize content for conversational and audio-friendly processing.

Optimizing for long-tail, question-asking keywords.

Using more conversational narration of topics help the reader to perceive the communicated news.

Featured snippets and other SERP features for voice answers will be prioritized.

Making mobile fully ready, whether it is your website or the content you publish, is essential.

Google is not only developing but already producing tools like the Speakable markup for a more accurate and thorough page content understanding.

The handwriting is on the wall and the voice will only grow in popularity. AI-first optimization is imperative to sail through this tsunami in the AI field.

AI Enabled Personalised User Experiences Empowered by AI

It's a known fact that Google pays a great attention to signals of visual experience, including the journey, trip rebound tourists, funnelling, and engagement as it algorithms weapons. In the end, we can say that happy users support the search environment.

As more and more elements are becoming AI-powered, in virtue of your website relevancy and personalized user experience, the key SEO metrics will change to digital success. Individually focused strategies are preferable to the single method.

Consider yourself as a customer on a website who searching for a product. At the same time, the product arrangements, search function, navigation and CTA's, all are modified based on a predictive model of your preference and intent. The AI could suggest top-sellers that match their demography for one customer and clearance items that are based on their previous purchases for another. You'd need AI assistants turbo-boosted by deep learning capabilities to dynamically construct the optimal path per visitor.

Powerful SEO Tools Fueled by AI Enablement

Beyond strategic and technical SEO optimizations, smart marketers are leveraging AI-powered tools to drive analysis, task automation, and deeper data mining to extract fresh SEO insights.

We're already starting to see this manifest in areas like:

Automated SEO Audits: Cloud-hosted algorithms that crawl websites and surface optimizations based on thousands of data points.

On-Page Recommendations: Content optimization assistants that suggest header tag usage, internal linking opportunities, semantic keyword upgrades, and more.

Rank Tracking: Tools harnessing machine learning models to surface factors impacting ranking fluctuations at scale.

Smart Forecasting: AI prediction engines that estimate future organic traffic and revenue based on real-time rankings and trend data.

As AI evolves, this burgeoning marketing technology ecosystem will only continue growing more sophisticated and indispensable for SEO practitioners.

The human dimension is not doomed to become obsolete even with AI’s incapacity to exhibit creative, strategic, and divergent approaches to problem solving. However, companies that adeptly put the right AI tools and data networks to work will have an indisputable edge.

How Risezonic is Your AI-Powered SEO Partner

Wow, that was a fast-paced overview of the AI revolution's comprehensive influence on SEO. AI is manifesting itself in content generation that is intelligent, voice search, smart ranking models and is turning around productivity scores. The evolving role of SEO is in front of us.

Despite the blending of chaos, this move opens the gates of opportunity for the resourceful marketers who are ready to drive the AI curve change. Those who are stingy in moving with this digital progression might find themselves left behind on the digital lane on where they never knew what happened.

So, to summarize, this is a practical reason why it is crucial to online marketing with a powerful digital marketing partner that uses AI technologies and SEO seniors to power upwards. For instance, Risezonic, a top marketing firm in Delhi NCR.

This isn't a hollow statement about the trendiest phrase. Risezonics AI application as diffused includes the investments to AI powerful technologies, the mutually addition of talent, and the education system moving forward.

Conclusion

By this time, it is obvious that AI plays a fundamental role in the future of SEO. And more alarming as each month passes.

AI influence is around, AI automation of content workflow organization and voice search optimization IN search of enhancing user experiences and the AWS of ranking algorithms the AI ‘s hold estimated everywhere. The organizations that jump on this bandwagon will be the ones that will lead the market. For those who choose to disregard the signals just to be disrupted and outflanked is real.

Call to Action:

Enjoyed this in-depth exploration of how AI is disrupting and shaping the future of SEO? Let me know your biggest takeaways in the comments below!

Is there an AI solution like content generation or voice search, that had a better impact than others on your business? What is your view on the automatic influence of AI models in RankBrain and other ranking systems? Please share your views and experiences as I look forward to continuing the conversation.

Risezonic

Mobile Number: 8178857250

Email ID: [email protected]

#seo services #digital marketing #seo agency #seo company

0 notes

govindhtech · 2 months

Text

TPM: A Guide to Understanding Your Computer’s Security Chip

What is Trusted Platform Module (TPM) A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a secure cryptoprocessor chip on your computer’s motherboard.

First Contact TPM for Windows The BitLocker drive encryption, the Virtual Smart Card features, and the Crypto Provider are among the security components of the Microsoft Windows operating system that depend on TPM-based capabilities. In fact, Trusted Platform Module 2.0 needs to be activated in ALL desktop and server variants of Windows 10 and 11. By using remote attestation in conjunction with the system’s Trusted Platform Module to allow Measured Boot, the configuration of the system is protected from undetectable threats like rootkits.

On Intel’s Windows machine, Intel can quickly verify some Trusted Platform Module details by navigating to the Security Devices area of the Device Manager screen.

TPM details by navigating to the Security Devices area of the Device Manager screen.

Now let’s engage with it. Now that a terminal window is open, let’s extract some basic system data. There are numerous powershell cmdlets available in Windows that can be used right away.

Get-Tpm retrieves the following data from the module:

Intel can also use this information to deduce some details about the underlying system: For instance, if the platform is equipped with and employing Platform Trust Technologies (PTT), “Intel” will appear in the manufacturer section here. Here, a Trusted Platform Module from the company STM is being used.

Intel must communicate with Windows Core Security features, namely the Trusted Platform Module Base Services software component and related API, in order to utilise the Trusted Platform Module from an application standpoint. Microsoft offers tools and wrappers to facilitate the integration of these processes more quickly.

Then intel will begin examining these after that.

Linux-based TPM First Contact Working with keys securely across any TPM 2.0 compatible module is made feasible by a set of standardised commands and libraries that enable the use of TPMs for key loading and storage in Linux.

At a high level, you can check if a TPM is present in the system by running the following command in the system log: dmesg | grep -i tpm.

Here is a step-by-step guide to several fundamental Linux system interactions: Required conditions: Install a TPM 2.0 chip on the target machine. Install TPM 2.0 software. These packages differ per Linux distribution.The tpm2-tools and tpm2-tss packages are popular. Initialise TPM: Initialise the TPM before using it. Initialise the TPM with tpm2 startup. Establish an Application Key: Create a key that is unique to your application and that you wish to keep in the TPM.You can use a software library like OpenSSL or a Trusted Platform Module library like tpm2-tools to generate this key.

The following is one method of generating an RSA keypair: RSA algorithm -out appkey.pem -openssl genpkey

Fill the TPM with the Key: To load your application-specific key into the TPM, use the TPM 2.0 tools. For this, you’ll usually use the tpm2 load command: tpm2 load -C appkey.pub -r appkey.priv -u context.out This command saves the context of the key in the context.out file and loads it into the TPM. This context is necessary for using the key later on. Apply the resident key (TPM): You can use this commands or libraries such as tpm2-tss to execute cryptographic operations on the TPM-resident key when your programme needs to access it. To sign data using the TPM key, for instance, run the following commands: tpm2 sign -c context.out -g sha256 -m data.txt -s signature.bin Using the TPM-resident key, this command signs the data and stores the signature in signature.bin. Unload the Key (Optional): You can use the tpm2 flushcontext command to unload the TPM-resident key if you no longer require it: tpm2 flushcontext -c context.out. This releases the key’s associated TPM resources. Shutdown and Cleanup (Optional): You can use the tpm2 shutdown command to terminate the Trusted Platform Module once your programme has finished utilising it. Analysing TPM 2.0 thoroughly Advancements in Computer Security Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 hardware boosts computer security. It protects your system and encryption keys as a secure cryptoprocessor. Essential Features: Cryptographic Key Management: TPM 2.0 securely produces, stores, and utilises keys.Data encryption, digital signatures, and secure communication require these keys. TPM 2.0’s hardware isolation makes key theft and tampering much harder than with software-based systems.

Platform Integrity Validation: Trusted Platform Module 2.0 monitors firmware and other critical software. It looks for any unauthorised changes that might point to malware or efforts at tampering. TPM 2.0 can protect your data by stopping the system from booting if something suspect is found.

Platform Attestation: The firmware and software of your system can be reported on using Trusted Platform Module 2.0. Other security measures or reliable organisations can use these reports, known as attestations, to confirm the integrity of the system. This is useful for secure boot environments and for assessing a system’s health prior to allowing access to resources that are sensitive.

Benefits of TPM 2.0: BitLocker Drive TPM 2.0 securely holds encryption keys, strengthening encryption and other functions. This makes data access tougher for unauthorised parties, even if they reach your device.

Enhanced Platform Security: Your system will boot with authentic, unaltered firmware and software thanks to the platform integrity checks. This lessens the chance that malware will compromise your system remotely.

More Robust User Authentication: Trusted Platform Module 2.0 can be paired with Windows Hello and other comparable technologies to provide more reliable two-factor authentication. By requiring a physical factor in addition to a password, like a fingerprint or facial recognition, this strengthens security. TPM 2.0, Win11:

Microsoft says Windows 11 needs Trusted Platform Module 2.0. This shows how crucial hardware-based security capabilities are becoming in the battle against more complex assaults. The good news is that TPM 2.0 functionality is probably pre-installed on the majority of PCs made in the last few years. It may, however, be inactive by default in the BIOS settings.

Beyond the Fundamentals: Flexibility: TPM 2.0 takes a “library” approach, in contrast to its predecessor. This implies that Trusted Platform Module 2.0 features can be selected by manufacturers based on what best meets their device and security requirements. Wider acceptance across multiple platforms from laptops to embedded systems is made possible by this versatility.

Future-Proofing: Expansion is a key design principle of TPM 2.0. As security risks evolve, it supports the installation of new functions and algorithms. This guarantees that Trusted Platform Module 2.0 will continue to be applicable and useful when new security threats arise.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

#TrustedPlatformModule #tpm #intel #windows10 #windows11 #windows #microsoft #technology #technews #news #govindhtech

0 notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

Text

This day in history

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables TONIGHT (Jan 22) at 8PM. Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

#20yrsago Europe to get fake-tree microwave masts https://www.theregister.com/2004/01/22/how_to_hide_a_phone/

#20yrsago Ian McDonald’s Kling Klang Klatch https://memex.craphound.com/2004/01/24/ian-mcdonalds-kling-klang-klatch/

#15yrsago Australian family caged, detained, starved and deported by US customs https://www.smh.com.au/national/mercy-dash-family-denied-entry-to-us-20090125-gdtb2n.html

#15yrsago Rick Lieder’s fantastic backyard bird photos — new book https://memex.craphound.com/2009/01/24/rick-lieders-fantastic-backyard-bird-photos-new-book/

#10yrsago Snowden’s Russian asylum extended https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/index.html

#10yrsago You won’t believe how sweet this anti-hyperbole plugin is http://downworthy.snipe.net

#10yrsago Who reads books in America, and how? https://web.archive.org/web/20140119040800/http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2014/E-Reading-Update.aspx

#10yrsago Great Firewall of Cameron blocks game update because “XerathMageChainsExtended” contains “sex” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/21/uk-porn-filter-blocks-game-update-that-contained-sex

#5yrsago Elizabeth Warren proposes Thomas Piketty-style annual wealth tax https://theintercept.com/2019/01/24/elizabeth-warren-proposes-annual-wealth-tax-on-ultra-millionaires/

#5yrsago Braille RPG dice https://www.dotsrpg.org/3d-models

#5yrsago Davos audience erupts in uneasy laughter at mention of AOC’s proposal for a 70% tax on income over $10,000,000 https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/davos-2019-live-updates/h_2e61fb5a7c8252de33a30ec4afecdc18

#5yrsago Peak indifference: “extreme weather events” drive record US acceptance of climate change as an immediate problem https://memex.craphound.com/2019/01/24/peak-indifference-extreme-weather-events-drive-record-us-acceptance-of-climate-change-as-an-immediate-problem/

#5yrsago Secret Service challenge coin commemorates unpaid labor during the shutdown https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/challenge-coins-secret-service-government-shutdown/index.html

#5yrsago The “reverse supply chain”: vast warehouses of deeply discounted, returned goods https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/where-amazon-returns-go-to-be-resold-by-hustlers/580363/

#5yrsago Google, Facebook and Microsoft were the top sponsors of a conference that featured climate change denial kooks https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/google-facebook-and-microsoft-sponsored-a-conference-that-promoted-climate-change-denial/

#5yrsago Facebook sold out the internet, secretly lobbied IN FAVOUR of upload filters https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-story-facebook-fight-against-european-regulation/

#1yrago David Graeber's "Pirate Enlightenment" https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/24/zana-malata/#libertalia

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

#pluralistic

8 notes · View notes

theaceofskulls · 4 months

Text

I feel like it still needs to be said just how much Toriyama changed almost everything.

It's easy to go "well, I don't watch Shounen battle anime" but you need to understand that besides for just inspiring a bunch of other shounen series, you can pretty much trace his influence in almost all video games.

If you're unfamiliar with how popular Dragon Quest is in Japan, it's easy to miss how much this game series influenced console gaming over its life time, and I say this as someone who never really fell into the series hard.

While it's incredible easy to point out the horrid torrent of isekai shlock that's all directly attempting to use Dragon Quest as a jumping off point, it also needs to be pointed out that two major series can almost certainly point directly to Dragon Quest as major drivers of what they became.

The first I'll talk about is Pokemon, and I'll start out by saying that no, I don't believe that Pokemon directly attempted to copy Dragon Quest's monster designs 1:1.

However the designs of the monsters and the popularity of the designs, which were Toriyama's contribution, eventually led to a mechanic in Dragon Quest V (1992) that let you recruit some of them to join your party, which was the direct inspiration for Pokemon which focused entirely on this as the basis of its gameplay.

Meanwhile the second media franchise that's important to talk about is Final Fantasy, one of many JRPGs that grew up in the wake of Dragon Quest, but importantly continued to iterate and compete with the series. Eventually this led to Final Fantasy 7 and the massive influence that game had (as well as the eventual merger between Enix and Squaresoft into Square Enix).

Which speaking of the influence of Final Fantasy 7, its success was one of the major reasons the games industry in the west began to take more and more note of console games over PC gaming. Well, actually it was the success of the PS1 from giants like this that led to the PS2 which Microsoft took as a sign that consoles were going to become the default way to not just play video games but also take over as the default living room entertainment system since the PS2 had CD and DVD playback features (they were mostly right in a way).

The Xbox is important because it was made with PC parts instead of custom hardware parts, which allowed them within a year to launch Xbox Live forever changing how video games were handled with the idea of online play, patches, and downloadable content. YMMV on the exact positivity of some of that with the extremes those have gotten to but the point stands that the landscape forever changed because console games became so large that it forced this.

While there were numerous other hands in the market and it should definitely be noted that the success of Dragon Quest is absolutely not solely on the shoulders of Toriyama's art, the visual style of Dragon Quest are one of the stronger elements and one of the most immediately front facing parts of the game that continued to define it.

And the success and legacy of Dragon Quest is almost foundational for understanding console gaming after its release. While its direct influence faded after the release of the sixth generation of consoles (outside of its strength and Squaresoft's commercial failures with a certain movie but their success of Kingdom Hearts and FFX leading to the merger that made Square Enix), the fact that it shaped the console space from the third generation until then is massive.

Again, in the western gaming space, Dragon Quest or even its competition Final Fantasy was not the sole driving force for the success of the fifth generation consoles but the latter was one of the giants (and specifically the original Final Fantasy was greenlit specifically because Dragon Quest proved such a success)

0 notes

gadgets24 · 4 months

Text

(Refurbished) Hp EliteBook 840 G3 6th Gen Intel Core i5 Thin & Light HD Laptop (8 GB DDR4 RAM/256 GB SSD

About this item Hp EliteBook gives fast performance at an affordable price. Laptop Ideal for professionals/students needing best-in-class,business rugged notebooks. It's powered with Intel Core i5 6200U 2.3 GHz upto 2.8 GHz with Intel Turbo Boost Technology, 8 GB DDR4 RAM along with 256 GB SSD storage which enhances the overall performance of the machine and 3 MB cache. Features like Intel HD Graphics 520 make it an ideal product to carry out all your tasks in one place.; It offers Brighter, crisper display with 14-inch HD Display along with Webcam and Microphone which enhances your video conferencing experience. It encompasses a wide range of slots and ports, it comes along with USB, Security lock slot,VGA port,Display Port,LAN Port (RJ-45), Power connector,Headphone/Microphone combo jack and SD Card reader.It also comes with Bluetooth making your wireless connectivity easier and faster. 6 Month Extendable Pan India Warranty. Experience hassle free ownership, with out Pan India comprehensive warranty covering component,labor and shipping (If required). Extend your warranty upto 2+ years by reaching out on - 8377846391 Wireless Communication Technology: Wi-Fi; Software Included: Microsoft Office ; Display Resolution Maximum: Hd (1366 X 768); Human Interface Input: Keyboard; Hard Disk Interface: Serial Ata300 Product information Brand ‎HP Manufacturer ‎hp Series ‎Hp EliteBook-cr Form Factor ‎Laptop Item Height ‎10 Centimeters Item Width ‎48 Centimeters Standing screen display size ‎14 Inches Screen Resolution ‎1366 x 768 Resolution ‎HD (1366 x 768) Pixels Product Dimensions ‎34 x 48 x 10 cm; 1.5 Kilograms Batteries ‎1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) Item model number ‎Hp EliteBook 840G3-cr Processor Brand ‎Intel Processor Type ‎Intel Core i5 Processor Speed ‎2.3 GHz Processor Count ‎1 RAM Size ‎8 GB Memory Technology ‎DDR4 Computer Memory Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM Maximum Memory Supported ‎8 GB Hard Drive Size ‎256 GB Hard Disk Description ‎HDD Hard Drive Interface ‎Serial ATA-300 Hard Disk Rotational Speed ‎5400 RPM Audio Details ‎Headphones Speaker Description ‎Integrated high quality speakers Graphics Coprocessor ‎Intel HD Graphics 520 Graphics Chipset Brand ‎Intel Graphics Card Description ‎Integrated Graphics RAM Type ‎DDR4 SDRAM Graphics Card Ram Size ‎8 GB Graphics Card Interface ‎Integrated Connectivity Type ‎Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Number of USB 3.0 Ports ‎2 Number of Audio-out Ports ‎1 Number of Ethernet Ports ‎1 Optical Drive Type ‎No Optical Drive Power Source ‎ac Hardware Platform ‎Windows Operating System ‎Windows 11 Average Battery Life (in hours) ‎1.5 Hours Are Batteries Included ‎Yes Lithium Battery Energy Content ‎55 Watt Hours Lithium Battery Weight ‎50 Grams Number of Lithium Ion Cells ‎4 Included Components ‎Laptop,Battery,Power Cord Manufacturer ‎hp Country of Origin ‎India Item Weight ‎1 kg 500 g

High-Quality Product Professionally inspected, tested, and cleaned to work like new by the seller, may have a few visible signs of earlier use.

Backed by a 6-month Seller Warranty Seller will repair your product or will provide a replacement or refund within 6 months of your receipt in case the product turns out to be defective within warranty period.

Why Renewed Laptops? Tackle your daily tasks with a laptop that has the features you need Lighter on pocket

Better for the Planet Your Renewed purchase extends the lifetime of this product and reduces electronic waste Read the full article

#HpLaptop #Laptop #Laptops #refurbished #Refurbishedlaptop #Refurbishedlaptops #renewedlaptop #renewedlaptops

0 notes

quatiumcomics · 4 months

Text

Underground self made millionaire of urban anime label and brand and the true owner of [email protected] flip mode the shifty tried takeover by evil people. Creates New label to keep creating continuing continuous growth and success with the comic anime books title stories such as Nambi Ichi and the Forsaken, ZERO ZOO, THE DIARY OF JET JULY

And others....

Leave losttime you see now alone. As the art is stolen and the imposters try to be me. The .o ey goes Into nothing you fans want. Expartner screwed everyone involved to investors to people who put the heart and soul into the Project.

Next time listen and do want I say it my company, I'm the one who pays everyone. Not them. None of us got paid, not even me.

Worker hard than. Before because I have less time to do this with. I can still get you guys' money back and still build something better than losttime, it grew and learned and evaluated that together as a team, we can take back what is ours and then some. Project losttime block chain members, I tried to tell you cut him out he was fired for causing chaos and stealing all kinds of money online AND real time. White ain't always right. It is just comfortable to believe in.

Now, round one, rough draft, successful but management were unprofessional and stole the company app and revenue stream of 250 million. Shut down studio, block chain, made the founder homeless, broke and paid people not to help him, and still does. May they all burn in hell....

Kelly Hallman and Stephen Joshua Nix do not have permission to sell, use, manipulate, make deals, sign contracts, or Anyway shape or format represents Adrian C. EUGENE, Adrian Eugene, LosttimeLLC, LOSTTIME COMICS NFT APP, LOSTTIME ENTERTAINMENT, LOSTTIME INC, OR ANY FUTURE ARTWORK ,PROJECTS , BUSINESS VENTURES, I WILL SUE ALL THOSE THAT CONTINE TO SELL MY STOLE ARTWORK SINCE 2020 AS VIOLATION OF US COPYRIGHT LAWS.

I lost that round, but not the fight... moving forward. Thanks goes out to GOD, ME, and my awesome earth angels of tiktok

LoL, Now with this behind me I can truly let go and show shine like I'm supposed too.

I need some sponsorship to stabilize and speed up the come back process,

This includes a equipment list...

1. A computer tower master with a awesome strong fast motherboard graphic,sound card with monster process and mega load of memory. All in one scanner and printer with. high resolution, 2 big hard drives to store data.

2. 8x11 card stork bright white paper case, 8x11 regular bright white typing paper case, mirror pens from size 000.1 - 0.8 bamboo brush pen black different sized, iwata dual trigger airbrush gun 3 of them. Sharpie BLACK MARKERS ALL SIZES

3. Adobe Photoshop Cs5 on Disk or any Adobe Photoshop software 3 and up on disk. Why? Because without the internet, I can still work on projects without being online. Light oars and drawing tablet to draw on the computer with pen with different tips.

Toon Boom Harmony system and a computer tower to be able to run the software completely different data base from the master co.puter system. This one would be the master for the work stations for colorist and aniamtion section.

A adim tower with Microsoft Word, pdf, and other CPA software and printer

A building type warehouse that can be modified into what I need it to be. Plus spe I'll seprate ethernet system firewall from the heavens to block everyone. Lol.

Now you are up to date....

#irs.gov #fantasy #books #losttimecomics #AdrianC.Eugene.#Adrian Eugene #losttime LLC #Ghostsun studios #ys #entertainment #entertainment lawyers #divorce lawyer #anime and manga #animation #sony #sony entertainment

1 note · View note

akshayvarma1 · 6 months

Text

Akshay Varma of Creative Business School Decodes the Latest U.S. Stock Market Trends

In the constantly evolving landscape of the stock market, understanding the nuances and underlying factors driving market movements is crucial. Akshay Varma, the esteemed founder of Creative Business School, offers an insightful analysis of the recent trends in the U.S. stock market, particularly focusing on the performance of major indexes and the notable rise of tech stocks, including the historic highs of NVIDIA.

As of the latest market data, the three major U.S. stock indexes exhibited mixed performances at the opening, with a unified rise by midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, initially low, rebounded to close with significant gains, while the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite showed strong openings and sustained their upward trajectory. This marked a collective rise for two consecutive trading days, with NASDAQ and S&P registering their largest closing gains since November 14, 2023.

Varma points out the critical role of tech stocks in driving the market's momentum. The NASDAQ 100, heavily laden with tech stocks, and the NASDAQ Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC) both rose significantly, recovering from a five-day slump. Similarly, the Russell 2000 index, representing small-cap value stocks, also showed a notable increase, bouncing back from its lowest closing since December 13, 2023.

One of the key focal points in Varma's analysis is the performance of NVIDIA, which saw its stocks reach a record high following the release of the GeForce RTX 40 Super series. This surge is indicative of the growing importance of AI in the tech sector, a trend that Varma has been closely monitoring. The performance of NVIDIA underscores the increasing relevance of AI and machine learning in the tech industry and its impact on the stock market.

In contrast, the aviation sector faced challenges, as reflected in Boeing's significant drop following a flight incident involving the Boeing 737 Max 9, leading to a temporary global grounding of this model. This event triggered a notable decline in Boeing's stock value, impacting the overall performance of the Dow Jones index.

Varma also analyzes the broader tech sector, including the performance of FAANMG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, and Google) stocks. These tech giants showed resilience, with most recovering from recent losses and contributing to the positive momentum in the market. This resilience, Varma notes, is a testament to the enduring strength and adaptability of major tech companies in the face of market volatility.

Akshay Varma, leveraging his extensive background in finance and economics, provides a nuanced analysis of the current stock market trends, focusing on the tech sector's pivotal role and the broader market dynamics.

1. Tech Sector's Resilience and Leadership:

Varma notes the tech sector's resilience as a critical factor in the market's recent performance. The recovery of FAANMG stocks, which includes tech behemoths like Apple, Amazon, and Google, plays a significant role in stabilizing and driving the market. He highlights the swift rebound of these stocks, mitigating the initial downturns of 2024. This resilience is not just a sign of strong fundamentals within these companies but also reflects their adaptability and innovative edge in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

2. NVIDIA's Historic High and AI's Growing Influence:

The remarkable performance of NVIDIA, reaching historic highs, is a focal point of Varma's analysis. He attributes this success to NVIDIA's strategic positioning at the intersection of AI and advanced computing. The launch of the GeForce RTX 40 Super series, enhancing AI experiences on PCs, represents a significant step forward in AI integration into consumer technology. Varma views NVIDIA's success as a bellwether for the growing influence of AI in various sectors, projecting a continued uptrend for companies at the forefront of AI and machine learning.

3. Market Impacts of Sector-Specific Events:

Varma also examines the impact of sector-specific events, such as the Boeing 737 Max 9 incident, on the market. The aviation sector's challenges, particularly Boeing's significant drop, illustrate how isolated incidents can ripple through the market. While tech stocks provided buoyancy, Varma stresses the interconnectedness of different market sectors and the importance of diversified portfolios to mitigate sector-specific risks.

4. Small-Cap and Mid-Cap Stocks Performance:

The performance of small-cap and mid-cap stocks, as represented by the Russell 2000 index, is another aspect Varma analyzes. He notes the index's recovery from a prolonged slump, signaling investor confidence in smaller companies. This trend may indicate a broader market shift, where investors are looking beyond blue-chip tech stocks for growth opportunities.

5. AI and Tech Stocks Outperforming the Market:

Focusing on AI-related stocks, Varma observes their significant outperformance compared to the broader market. This trend underscores the market's growing interest in AI and its applications. Companies like C3.ai and Palantir, specializing in AI solutions, are prime examples of this trend. Varma predicts that AI will continue to be a critical driver of market growth, recommending investors keep a close watch on this sector.

6. The Continued Struggle of Chinese Tech Stocks:

Lastly, Varma touches upon the continued downturn of Chinese tech stocks, as seen in the NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index. He suggests that geopolitical tensions and regulatory challenges contribute to this trend, advising caution and a keen understanding of international market dynamics for investors interested in this sector.

#Akshay Varma

0 notes