Ted Cruz Goes After ‘Woke’ Microsoft Over Xbox Power Saving Settings Update

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past couple of years, you will be familiar with the concept of the anti-“woke” culture war the Republican Party grows and farms for its own purposes. This isn’t to say there aren’t real cultural conflicts we need to work out as a country, but that doesn’t change the simple fact that much of what you hear...

8h

Starry’s Broadband Ambitions Fall Apart, Lays Off More Employees

You might recall that Aereo founder Chaitanya Kanojia’s attempt to disrupt the TV industry ran face-first into an army of broadcaster lawyers and a notably ugly ruling by the Supreme Court. Undaunted, Kanojia returned with a new plan to try and disrupt the broken U.S. broadband industry. But that plan isn’t going so hot either. Kanojia’s new company...

13h

Stupid Patent Of The Month: Digital Verification Systems Patents E-Signatures 

Patent trolls make patents, and argue over them. They don’t have to ever make the thing described in their patents, if it’s even possible to determine what those things are. Instead, they generate legal threats and waste the time and money of companies that do do these things.  This month’s Stupid Patent of the Month is a great example of that. U.S....

15h

Incredibly, Facebook Is Still Figuring Out That Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well

For years now, I’ve talked about the impossibility of doing content moderation well at scale. I know that execs at various tech companies often point to my article on this, and that includes top executives at Meta, who have cited my work on this issue. But it still amazes me when those companies act as if it’s not true, and there’s some simple solution...

16h

Madison Square Garden’s Facial Recognition-Enabled Bans Now Being Targeted By Legislators, State AG

Late last year, it was revealed that MSG Entertainment (the owner of several New York entertainment venues, including the titular Madison Square Garden) was using its facial recognition tech to, in essence, blacklist its owner’s enemies. Those targeted included lawyers working for firms currently engaged in litigation against MSG Entertainment. Owner...

18h

Daily Deal: The 2023 Metaverse And AR Developer Bundle

The 2023 Metaverse and AR Developer Bundle has 9 courses to help you learn the core skills needed for Augmented Reality development. You’ll learn how to build websites, apps, games and more using A-Frame, and XR Interaction Toolkit. There’s also a course dedicated solely to explaining the Metaverse. This bundle is on sale for $29. Note: The...

18h

As Expected, Twitter’s New Trust & Safety Rules Are ‘Elon’s Whims’

Have you noticed that everything that Elon Musk insisted was “bad” about the old Twitter (often incorrectly) are things… he’s now doing himself, but in even more ridiculous ways? He insisted that Twitter was run by people who were promoting ideological political views. Yet… it was Elon Musk (not old Twitter management) who publicly insisted people...

19h

Netflix’s Password Sharing Cash Grab Finally Arrives In The States

After years of saying password sharing wasn’t really a big deal and was akin to free advertising, Netflix recently announced it would be cracking down on password sharing. It started with a new trial in the global south where users were nagged until they paid an additional fee if they shared their password with users outside of their home. Now, those...

23h

DoNotPay’s CEO Appears To Modify Donation Receipt After Being Called Out On Unfulfilled Promise

We’ve written a few stories lately about DoNotPay, the “robot lawyer” service whose gimmick of an automated AI-driven tool that would help users deal with challenges like getting out of parking tickets or cancelling subscription services that are difficult to get out of sounds like a really enticing idea. But there have long been questions about the...

1d

Twitter Tumbleweed Watch

I just want to share some back-of-the-envelope math. I’m increasingly convinced that Twitter (or at least the network neighborhoods that comprise my Twitter experience) is becoming a ghost town. Here’s why: A couple months ago, I spoke with Nancy Scola for her story about why DC-types can’t seem to quit Twitter. One of my comments became the headline:...

1d