Notices by Dave Rahardja (drahardja@sfba.social)

Hey, go cancel that streaming subscription you’re not using. Go on, cancel it. Do it right now.

It’s trivial to resubscribe when you need to. You don’t need it right now. Cancel it.

Remember how we fixed a hole in the ozone layer 40 years ago?

StarLink: Hold my beer

“SpaceX's Starlink May Be Keeping the Ozone From Healing, Research Finds”

#space #climate #ozone #starlink

https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starlink-ozone-healing

It looks like companies think that the Overton window on #DEI has now passed, and they are starting to can the teams that were supposed to help them meet their goals.

“Microsoft laid off a DEI team, and its lead wrote an internal email blasting how DEI is 'no longer business critical’”

#technology #siliconValley #diversity #equity

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-dei-leader-email-2024-7

Non-paywall: https://archive.ph/3A7b3

A moderator of a FB group I frequent has fallen headlong into the “politeness” trap, insisting that participants observe “civility” and “manners” when they post.

Many of you probably already recognize that #politeness is a trap. It is a tool used by aristocrats and the powerful to silence dissent, by protesting *how* the oppressed choose to cry, instead of dealing with *why* they cry. Southern slaveowners were probably the most polite bunch of folks you’ll ever know.

Focus on what’s important: kindess, empathy, respect, tolerance. And tell politeness to go fuck itself.

We’re doing it again.

SMH this country. We’re doing it again.

Also, this is another reminder to never elect a cop into public office. Eric Adams may be a Democrat, but he is a cop at heart. A cop will reach for the same tools to solve every problem, every time. https://ourislandgeorgia.net/@Wolven/112363354599879653

Hhehehe

Credit: The New Yorker cartoons

#crypto #ai #humor #comic #art

Here’s a clear example of how aggressive the #ai image processing has become on newer iPhones. This is a comparison between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 11 Pro Max, taking photos of distant text at equal magnification. Note how the 15 Pro Max’s image pipeline has hallucinated all the details.

Original video: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=885196069752553

#GitHub is under attack.

“The flow of the campaign is simple:

1. Cloning existing repos (for example: TwitterFollowBot, WhatsappBOT, discord-boost-tool, Twitch-Follow-Bot, and hundreds more)
2. Infecting them with malware loaders
3. Uploading them back to GitHub with identical names
4. Automatically forking each thousands of times
5. Covertly promoting them across the web via forums, Discord, etc.
”

“GitHub besieged by millions of malicious repositories in ongoing attack”

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/02/github-besieged-by-millions-of-malicious-repositories-in-ongoing-attack/

The FaceTime ads were some of the most human of tech ads. It really showed how technology got out of the way of humanity. https://mastodon.social/@marioguzman/111792353417015546

Oh wow no shit, amazing discovery

#labor #workers #fairWages #livingWage

https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-restaurant-chain-better-pay-benefits-helped-staffing-2021-11

Just in case you still entertained the thought that #AI is anything more than super-fancy autocomplete:

Ah yes, this is a *great* way to turn “Can I see your driver’s license?” into “Can you hand me your unlocked phone so I can rifle through it?” at a traffic stop.

Yes, it’s more convenient than having a separate card, and it may serve as a great backup in case your physical card is lost or damaged. But please don’t use this as your *only* driver’s license, especially if you are an often-targeted demographic.

“Californians can now carry driver’s licenses on their phone as part of pilot program”

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-03/californians-can-now-carry-drivers-licenses-on-their-phone-as-part-of-pilot-program

“The entire case for “AI” as a disruptive tool worth trillions of dollars is grounded in the idea that chatbots and image-generators will let bosses fire hundred of thousands or even millions of workers.

That’s it.”

Yep. Spot on. This is the fundamental reason that #AI is getting so many billions poured into it. It’s the lure of replacing *expensive* labor with automation. Corporations have endlessly squeezed blood from lower-cost labor and they are salivating at the prospect of getting rid of high-cost labor.

This is unfortunate, because AI has *actual* uses. As models get more specialized and smaller, I can see AI automating a lot of rote work away at reasonable cost. Unfortunately, the corporate hype is so strong right now it’s muddying all the conversations.

“Google’s AI Hype Circle” by @pluralistic

https://doctorow.medium.com/googles-ai-hype-circle-6158804d1299

That’s right, website designers: Popping up an obstructing box right on top of your content is the *perfect* user experience. Just pop it up right there and ask me to sign up for your newsletter, upsell me to a subscription, or tell me there’s a sale going on. You’ll totally get your 0.05% clickthrough rate and you’ll pat yourself on the back for being a Metric Advancer. Good job. Yeah, just put it right in the middle, don’t be shy.