Twitter’s Roller Coaster Ride
The past year has been wrought with a plethora of new social media networking platforms and migration to alternative platforms such as Mastodon, Post.News and Tribel as a result of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter in October of 2022. Many Twitter users were opposed to his purchase, but nevertheless were willing to wait and see what he would do with the platform.
I suppose one could argue whether it was a good idea for a billionaire with no experience or expertise in social media networking to simply want to own one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Within days of the purchase, Elon Musk laid off approximately one half of the Twitter staff, formed a content moderation council tasked with content moderation (while cutting a huge number of previous moderation staff) and revamped the subscription service.
Read moreMeet Noam Bardin, Chief Poster, Founder and CEO of Post
Noam Bardin is the former CEO of Waze. During his time as the CEO of Waze, he launched Waze Ads, drove Monthly Active Users up from 2,000 to 140 million, built up the Waze Global community, and much more. Now he is the CEO of Post which aims to develop a platform where publishers can generate revenue from micropayments where users pay as little as five cents to read individual articles. This would enable users to read the articles of their liking without having to pay subscriptions to each publishing company. The platform also combines a social component enabling anyone to create, share, and engage with the posts.
Noam Bardin (@noam ) is the former CEO of Waze. During his time building the app, he grew the community from 2,000 users to 140 Million.
Then in 2021, he left Waze to start a company of his own, @Post.
To hear the full story behind Post News, listen on Apple Podcasts here.
Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down
Yudkowsky is a decision theorist from the U.S. and leads research at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He's been working on aligning Artificial General Intelligence since 2001 and is widely regarded as a founder of the field.
An open letter published today calls for “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”
Read More: AI Labs Urged to Pump the Brakes in Open Letter
This 6-month moratorium would be better than no moratorium. I have respect for everyone who stepped up and signed it. It’s an improvement on the margin.
I refrained from signing because I think the letter is understating the seriousness of the situation and asking for too little to solve it.
The key issue is not “human-competitive” intelligence (as the open letter puts it); it’s what happens after AI gets to smarter-than-human intelligence. Key thresholds there may not be obvious, we definitely can’t calculate in advance what happens when, and it currently seems imaginable that a research lab would cross critical lines without noticing.
Read moreMicrosoft reiterates upcoming Windows 10 21H1 end of service in December
Windows 10 21H1 is about to reach its end of service (EOS) on December 13, 2022, which means it will no longer receive security updates. If you are still one of those using this Windows version, it is time to upgrade to the latest release to stay protected against attacks on future vulnerabilities that will no longer be patched in the coming months.
Affected users need to get the latest release of the Windows 10 system or upgrade to Windows 11 before the said date.
Read moreOpen source developers urged to ditch GitHub following Copilot launch
Software Freedom Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization that provides support and legal services for open source software projects, has called on the open source community to ditch GitHub after quitting the code-hosting and collaboration platform itself.
FCC takes long-delayed step against spam text surge
More than 10 billion spam texts were sent in the month of August alone — nearly 39 spam texts for every person in the U.S., according to data from RoboKiller, an app that blocks spam calls and texts.
Read moreWant Windows 11? Your PC better have these specs
Microsoft has published its hardware requirements for Windows 11, adding strict new security requirements for its next operating system...if you're going the official route, that is. Here’s what you’ll need to run Windows 11 when Microsoft releases it in the fall.
iCloud Private Relay now considered a 'beta' feature, comes disabled by default with iOS 15
iCloud Private Relay is part of iCloud+, which is what Apple now calls the paid iCloud subscription plans with more storage. With Private Relay, Apple provides multiple security proxies that change the route of user traffic and keep it private. It’s almost as if Private Relay is Apple’s VPN for iCloud subscribers.
The most dangerous (and interesting) Microsoft 365 attacks
Government-sponsored hackers, who carry out cyberespionage campaigns, invest more resources than ever to find new ways of attacking the cloud. One of their preferred targets is Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, a platform used by an increasing number of organizations of all sizes.
Read moreRobocalls are out of control. But that could change after June 30
Millions of Americans don't even bother answering calls from unfamiliar or blocked numbers for fear a call might be from an illegal robocaller. That could change with a June 30 deadline from the FCC that requires voice providers to implement technology to force callers to identify themselves.
Municipal Broadband Is Restricted In 18 States Across The U.S. In 2021
Over the past year, the broadband sector has come into the forefront of public discourse, with millions of Americans struggling to stay online amidst the pandemic. In many communities, local governments have turned to creating their own solutions where private competition has not met the needs of the populace.
There are currently 18 states in total that have restrictive legislation against municipal broadband networks in the U.S.
Read moreIntroducing Twitter Blue - Twitter’s first-ever subscription offering
Twitter is officially rolling out their first subscription offering of Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) in Australia and Canada. The subscription service will offer Bookmark Folders, Reader Mode which will allow users to turn threads into easy to read text, and the ability to "Undo"; the ability to delete a tweet using a customized timer which can be set for up to 30 seconds.
Read moreWhat is Apple's "Thunderbolt/USB 4" vs. Pc-Windows Thunderbolt 4?
Thunderbolt 4 finally promises PC/Windows users all the features Thunderbolt 3 has long offered Apple users. For Mac users, full Thunderbolt capability has always been present. This has been true since the first Macs with Thunderbolt 3 (Thunderbolt USB-C).
Read moreFCC's RoboCall plan and how phone providers will protect the consumer
We are increasingly being inundated on a daily basis by telemarketers and spammers on our land lines and on our mobile phones. These phone calls can appear to be from your local area or calls from those impersonating an IRS agent whose purpose may be to steal your IRS refund. This deceptive and sometimes malicious practice of disguising the calling number via Caller ID is known as spoofing.
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