"The level of creativity and versatility on display on your average Geocities site is hard to understate. Most were a cross between amateur experiments and love letters to this or that piece of pop culture. They were plastered with recipes, vacation photos, esoteric images, and tidbits of slash fiction."
technology
“I have a PhD in AI, worked to develop some of the algorithms used by generative AI,” one developer wrote. “I deeply regret how naively I offered up my contributions.”
https://www.wired.com/story/video-game-industry-artificial-intelligence-developers/
"As technologists, we are workers first. We cannot individually stop the machine of capitalism from exploiting our labor, and, while this tide will shift, many of us are too romanced by the technofuturist dream of [Large Language Models] — despite widespread, multidisciplinary criticism of the technology and disastrous consequences in its application so far — to easily reconsider our adoption of it."
https://henry.codes/writing/economics-and-labor-rights-in-ai-skepticism/
via @henry
Remember those "best experienced with [browser name]" badges?
"MTV's revamped World Wide Web site for MTV contains a heavy amount of original music content and a unique Web browser design. [...] Some of the site's best content, including a grossly appealing game with Beavis & Butt-head, is designed exclusively for Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser."
https://cybercultural.com/p/browser-war-1990s/
#internet #TheWeb #InternetHistory #technology #cyberculture
Edited 1y ago
As someone who is totally blind, the Fediverse is the only place where I have ever been able to follow people such as photographers, artists, or even those who post pictures of their cats or the food they ate. The reason is that most of them use alt text. They take the time to describe the images that my screen reader can't recognise. Some write the descriptions themselves, and others use tools such as altbot. Some worry that their descriptions aren't good enough, especially when they are new at this. Let me assure you, not only are they good enough, they are extremely appreciated! If the rest of the world thought as you did, it would be a much better place. Don't hesitate to ask if you're unsure of something, but never think that we don't notice your effort.
#appreciation #accessibility #altbot #alttext #blind #blindness #fediverse #gratitude #images #inclusivity #peoplewhocare #pictures #technology
Virgin Money's AI-powered chatbot will scold you if you use the word "virgin".
https://www.ft.com/content/670f5896-1fe5-4a31-b41f-ad4f5b91202f
Archived link: https://archive.is/gGVgt
"But to [Aaron, the creator of the anti-AI software Nepenthes], the fight is not about winning. Instead, it's about resisting the AI industry further decaying the Internet [...]."
Or to paraphrase Jean-Paul Sartre:
"You don’t fight enshittification because you are going to win, you fight enshittification because it is enshittification."
#news #TechNews #technology #ai #nepenthes #enshittification
"I'm in the process of setting up a WWW server that will blow the socks off your Mosaic viewer!"
#ElonMusk’s business #conflicts draw scrutiny amid WH role [apparently no one noticed till now 🙄]
Musk had sharp words for a the $500B partnership touted by the #Trump admin to hasten development of #ArtificialIntelligence #infrastructure. “They don’t actually have the money,” he said of #OpenAI & #SoftBank….
Left unsaid by the #technocrat, he has skin in the game: #xAI, is directly challenging OpenAI for the lead in the race to transform society w/the #technology.
🧵
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/24/elon-musk-conflicts-doge-trump-openai/
Edited 1y ago
Facebook flags Linux topics as 'cybersecurity threats' — posts and users being blocked
#news #tech #technology #socialmedia #facebook #linux #security
"[California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s] memo clearly illustrates what a legal clusterfuck the AI industry represents, though it doesn’t even get around to mentioning U.S. copyright law, which is another legal gray area where AI companies are perpetually running into trouble."
Edited 1y ago
I believe it is one of our missions, as antifascist nerds, to break the myth of an inaccessible and complex technology. The tools, services, and software we all use everyday are the more or less indirect outcome of broader socio-political and economical dynamics. Therefore, we can and we should bring forward a massive resistance as we do on other fronts.
How do we do burst the bubble?
How can we practically unmask the politicality of technology to people outside the digital sector?
How do we popularize digital media critique?
What forms of art, workshops, and formats could take advantage of?
On Wed 11 June, at 14:00 UTC, I will be hosting an online round-table session with @transparenttech to discuss and try to answer these questions.
I will be briefly sharing my experience and my ideas after making Knitting Our Internet. Above all, though, I want to welcome any kind of contributions to address this mission in a multifaceted, intercultural, intersectional, and decolonial way.
Free attendance! Register here ⬅️
#OurNet #CITR #IndependentTech #IndependentTechnology #Technology #PoliticalTechnology #KnittingOurInternet #Internet #InternetCritique #Fediverse
"Wait, isn't this the plot to the "Terminator" movies?"
https://futurism.com/openai-signs-deal-us-government-nuclear-weapon-security
#news #technology #TechNews #AI #OpenAI #military #terminator
The Department of Justice and Texas software-maker RealPage announced this week that they have reached a settlement in a case involving price-fixing allegations in some of the nation’s largest rental markets.
#News #DOJ #Rent #Law #Antitrust #Technology #Tech #Software
Microsoft confirms it will give the FBI your Windows PC data encryption key if asked — you can thank Windows 11's forced online accounts for that
Windows 11's online Microsoft Account requirement means your PC is automatically backing up its data encryption key to the cloud, and Microsoft says it will hand those over to the FBI if asked.
#Microsoft #Windows11 #privacy #surveillance #enshittification #encryption #technology #software #dystopia
"The original video showing off Google's Gemini offerings in Workspace was posted five days ago and showed the AI generating a response for a small-business owner in Wisconsin. In the response, Gemini claims Gouda accounts for "50 to 60% of the world's cheese consumption.
The edited ad now shows a Gemini response that says Gouda "is one of the most popular cheeses in the world."
https://www.businessinsider.com/google-super-bowl-ad-gemini-ai-gouda-cheese-2025-2
Archived link: https://archive.is/2cX3i
Not sure what the chances of this bill passing are, but it's certainly interesting to see the efforts.
"Under Hawley’s proposed law, “technology or intellectual property” developed in China would be barred from importation into the U.S. Anyone found violating these restrictions could face up to 20 years in prison, as well as substantial monetary penalties of up to $1 million for individuals and $100 million for companies."
https://interestingengineering.com/culture/law-proposed-to-criminalize-deepseek
"Inevitably creating the potential for bots emailing other bots and absolutely nothing else to worry about."
Among the data used by Cambridge Analytica to profile gun owners in the database: income, debt, religious affiliation, whether they liked the paintings of Thomas Kinkade and whether the underwear women had purchased was plus size or petite.
#News #Data #Privacy #Technology #Guns #Tech #USPolitics #Trump
"Australia’s Department of the Treasury has found that Microsoft’s Copilot can easily deliver return on investment, but staff exposed to the AI assistant came away from the experience less confident it will help them at work."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/australian_treasury_copilot_pilot_assessment/
The world could experience a year above 2°C of warming by 2029
Europe power guru Wang Xiongfei returns to China, bringing expertise in grid stability.
"The New York Times has reportedly approved artificial intelligence tools that newsroom staff can use for editing copy, summarizing information, coding, and writing. The publication announced in an internal email that product and editorial staff will receive AI training, according to Semafor, and introduced a new internal AI tool called Echo for summarizing articles, briefings, and other company activity."
https://www.theverge.com/news/613989/new-york-times-internal-ai-tools-echo
Senators Demand Transparency on Canceled Veterans Affairs Contracts
—
Following a ProPublica investigation into how DOGE had developed an error-prone AI tool to determine which VA contracts should be killed, a trio of lawmakers said the Trump administration continues to “stonewall” their requests for details.
#News #DOGE #Veterans #VA #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #Technology #Government