Saturday, August 31, 2024

X is right to stand up to Brazil's unjust "hostage laws," but Musk's fight highlights his cynical free speech stance after he caved to Modi's censorship demands (Mike Masnick/Techdirt)

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
X is right to stand up to Brazil's unjust “hostage laws,” but Musk's fight highlights his cynical free speech stance after he caved to Modi's censorship demands  —  In the battle between Elon Musk and Brazil, there are no heroes — only two sides engaged in an epic display of hypocrisy and overreach.



A reporter tries fixing his reputation with AI chatbots, including by adding a "strategic text sequence" to data sources, and via an AI optimization startup (Kevin Roose/New York Times)

Kevin Roose / New York Times:
A reporter tries fixing his reputation with AI chatbots, including by adding a “strategic text sequence” to data sources, and via an AI optimization startup  —  When I set out to improve my tainted reputation with chatbots, I discovered a new world of A.I. manipulation.



How the Israeli army's Unit 8200 became an incubator for cybersecurity startups, with its alumni starting Wiz, Palo Alto Networks, and other companies (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal:
How the Israeli army's Unit 8200 became an incubator for cybersecurity startups, with its alumni starting Wiz, Palo Alto Networks, and other companies  —  Unit 8200 has become an incubator for cybersecurity startups defending the world's biggest companies against hackers



It's time for audio services like Spotify to deal with AI by using labels and banning or downweighting music made with AI tools that don't license training data (Ed Newton-Rex/Music Business Worldwide)

Ed Newton-Rex / Music Business Worldwide:
It's time for audio services like Spotify to deal with AI by using labels and banning or downweighting music made with AI tools that don't license training data  —  The following MBW Views op/ed comes from Ed Newton-Rex (pictured inset), CEO of the ethical generative AI non-profit, Fairly Trained.



Friday, August 30, 2024

A federal judge dismisses a lawsuit claiming Elon Musk and Tesla pumped up Dogecoin into a "pyramid scheme", finding that Musk's statements were "aspirational" (Rachel Graf/Bloomberg)

Rachel Graf / Bloomberg:
A federal judge dismisses a lawsuit claiming Elon Musk and Tesla pumped up Dogecoin into a “pyramid scheme”, finding that Musk's statements were “aspirational”  —  Investors who lost tens of thousands of dollars investing in the cryptocurrency faulted Musk for promoting …



As Russia plans a trial of cross-border payments using crypto, some senior Russian leaders suggest it can help counter sanctions; experts doubt it will work (CoinDesk)

CoinDesk:
As Russia plans a trial of cross-border payments using crypto, some senior Russian leaders suggest it can help counter sanctions; experts doubt it will work  —  Experts doubt it will work, given the traceability of blockchains and the risk of even tougher sanctions for Russia.



China's top antitrust regulator says it has seen "effective results" that Alibaba has ceased the monopolistic practices that prompted an investigation in 2020 (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
China's top antitrust regulator says it has seen “effective results” that Alibaba has ceased the monopolistic practices that prompted an investigation in 2020  —  - Antitrust watchdog says Alibaba has ceased monopolistic acts  — Fallout from the crackdown years persists across the industry



A look at Jony Ive's work with LoveFrom; Ive bought a city block in SF's Jackson Square and could raise ~$1B with Sam Altman by end of 2024 for an AI device (Tripp Mickle/New York Times)

Tripp Mickle / New York Times : A look at Jony Ive's work with LoveFrom; Ive bought a city block in SF's Jackson Square and could...