Company X, owned by Elon Musk, has recently updated its terms of service. These changes redirect disputes from users of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to federal court in Texas. Federal judges in Texas have a reputation for favoring conservative litigants in political cases.
The updated terms state that any legal action against Company X must be filed exclusively in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or the state court in Tarrant County, Texas. This venue clause is a common practice for companies, but it is notable that Company X is located in Bastrop, Texas, which falls under the Western District of Texas.
It is speculated that this choice of venue is related to the political leanings of judges in the Northern District of Texas, which has fewer Republican-appointed judges compared to the Western District. This district is known for conservative activism and has become a preferred destination for lawsuits challenging Joe Biden’s policies, leading some to criticize the tactic as “judge shopping.”
Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, suggested that the new language in the terms of service may be connected to Company X’s recent legal strategy. Elon Musk, known as the world’s richest man, has shown support for conservative causes and was a significant financial backer of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Company X has already filed two lawsuits in the Northern District of Texas, including one against Media Matters for allegedly defaming the platform. Additionally, an antitrust lawsuit has been filed against multiple advertisers for conspiring to boycott and causing revenue loss. These cases are assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, known for controversial rulings on healthcare and gun control.
Despite concerns over potential conflicts of interest, Judge O’Connor has refused to recuse himself from the cases involving Company X. The federal court in Fort Worth, where the cases are being heard, has only two active judges, with the other judge, Mark Pittman, appointed by President Trump.
FSeventeen seconds. According to , this was the average amount of time adults could focus on a screen in 2021. Research by Gloria Mark, Professor of Information Studies at the University of California. Twenty years ago, in 2004, this number was two and a half minutes.
Our attention spans, or the amount of time we can focus without distraction, are shrinking. Our focus, how intensely we can think about things, also suffers. The cause: Technology designed to demand our attention. We have endless tools for procrastination at our fingertips. Increased stress and anxiety disorders. And the quality of sleep is poor. But there is a solution. From quick-hit hacks to big lifestyle changes, we asked experts for tips on how to think seriously for the long term.
Find your “why”
Author and psychotherapist Eloise Skinner says that a strong sense of purpose “focuses our attention” and helps us avoid distractions. To find that purpose, Skinner recommends trying the “Five Whys” exercise developed by Japanese businessman and inventor Sakichi Toyoda in the 1930s. In this exercise, you consider why you want to do something until you find the core reason.
For example, at first you may wonder why you fill out a spreadsheet. The answer may be because your boss told you to do it. why? Because it’s part of your job. Ultimately, you get to your core “why,” which in this case might be “this job supports my family.” Write it down so you can get back to it when you feel like you’ve lost focus.
Let’s go for a morning walk
Exposure to natural light in the morning tells our brains to stop producing the sleep hormone melatonin and starts releasing hormones like cortisol, which increases our alertness.
In short, a morning walk can help you focus for the day, says Marian Taylor, sleep consultant and founder of Sleep Works. Taking these walks regularly can improve your concentration in the long run and establish a rhythm in which melatonin is released at the right time of the night, making it easier to fall asleep. “During sleep, our brains consolidate memories and process emotions,” Taylor says. “This ‘cognitive housekeeping’ allows us to wake up with a clearer mind each day.”
IImagine someone driving a high-end sports car to a pub. £1.5 million Koenigsegg Regerapark and saunter out of your car to pick one at random. They come to the pub where you’re drinking, start walking around the patrons, slip their hands into their visible pockets, and smile at you as they pull out your wallet and empty it of cash and cards.
Not-so-sophisticated pickpockets will stop if you ask out loud, “What the hell are you doing?” “We apologize for the inconvenience,” says Suri. “It’s an opt-out system, dude.”
It sounds ridiculous. But this appears to be the approach the government is pursuing to appease AI companies. A consultation meeting will be held soon, Financial Times coverageThis will allow AI companies to scrape content from individuals and organizations unless they explicitly opt out of having their data used.
The AI revolution is both rapid and comprehensive. Even if you’re not one of them, 200 million people If you log on to ChatGPT every week or dabble in generative AI competitors like Claude or Gemini, you’ve undoubtedly interacted with an AI system, knowingly or not. But to keep the AI fire from burning out, we need two constantly replenishing sources. One is energy. This is why AI companies are getting into the nuclear power plant acquisition business. And the other thing is data.
Data is essential to AI systems because it helps them recreate how we interact. If the AI has any “knowledge”, which is highly disputed given that it is actually a fancy pattern matching machine, it comes from the data used to train it. .
In some studies, large-scale language models such as ChatGPT Training data is missing By 2026, that appetite will be huge. But without that data, the AI revolution could stall. Tech companies know this, which is why they license content from left, right, and center. But it has created friction, and an unofficial mantra has continued in the sector over the past decade.move fast and break things” causes no friction.
This is why they are already trying to steer us towards an opt-out approach to copyright, rather than an opt-in regime, where everything we type, post and share is locked in until we say no. It is destined to become AI training data by default. Companies must ask us to use their data. We can already see how companies are nudging us towards this reality. This week, X began notifying users of changes to its terms of service that will allow all posts to be used for the following purposes: train grokElon Musk’s AI model designed to compete with ChatGPT. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, then made similar changes, resulting in the widespread urban legend of “Goodbye Meta AI,” which purportedly invalidates legal agreements.
It’s clear why AI companies want an opt-out system. If you ask most people if they want to use something in the books they write, the music they produce, or the posts and photos they share on social networks to train an AI, they’ll probably say no. And the gears of the AI revolution will turn off. Why the government would want to enable such a change to the concept of copyright ownership that has existed to date. over 300 yearsis stipulated by law. 100 or moreit’s not so obvious. But like many things, it seems to come down to money.
The government faces lobbying from big tech companies suggesting this is a requirement for the country to be considered as a place to invest in AI innovation and share the spoils. A lobbying document prepared by Google suggests support for its approach to an opt-out copyright regime.guarantee uk In the future, it could become a competitive arena for developing and training AI models. ”So the government’s discussion of how to frame the issue, with opt-out options already on the table as a countermeasure, is a major victory for big tech lobbyists.
With so much money flowing into the tech industry and high levels of investment going into AI projects, Keir Starmer understandably doesn’t want to miss out on the potential benefits. It would be remiss of the Government not to consider how to appease the tech companies developing world-changing technology and help turn the UK into an AI powerhouse.
But this is not the answer. To be clear, the copyright system in question in the UK means that companies effectively own every post we make, every book we write, every book we create. This means it will be possible to add nicknames to songs and to our data without being penalized. That requires us to sign up to every individual service and say, “No, we don’t want you to chop up our data and spit out a poor composite image of us.” The number can number in the hundreds, from large technology companies to small research institutes.
Lest we forget, OpenAI – now Over $150 billion – The company plans to abandon its original nonprofit principles and become a for-profit company. Rather than relying on the charity of the general public, we have enough funds in our coffers to pay for our training data. Surely such companies can afford to line their pockets, not ours. So please let go.
The National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science in Britain has initiated a consultation process that may result in the redundancy of 440 employees.
In a memo sent to staff this month, the Alan Turing Institute announced an update on its new strategy, which involves focusing on a smaller number of projects.
Addressed to “affected employees,” the letter mentioned that government-backed labs might have to reduce their workforce. Unofficial estimates suggest that the memo could have been sent to about 140 individuals.
The institute collaborates with universities, private companies, and government agencies on 111 active projects. An internal document states that they will need to scale back their involvement in some projects.
Last year, the institute introduced a new strategy called “Turing 2.0,” with a focus on health, environment, defense, and security. However, due to lower core funding, they are considering restructuring and potentially closing certain projects.
The institute is evaluating which projects align with their new strategy and could lead to staff reductions. They aim to minimize layoffs and will involve employee representatives in the decision-making process.
Dr. Jean Innes, the institute’s CEO, mentioned that they are entering a new ambitious phase to address societal challenges using technology.
Named after the renowned mathematician, the institute was initially focused on data science before including AI in its mission in 2017. Its objectives include conducting top-notch research to tackle global issues and fostering informed discussions about AI.
With upcoming government announcements on technology, the institute is gearing up for potential changes. This includes launching an “AI Action Plan” led by Technology Entrepreneur Matt Clifford, focusing on economic growth and public service enhancement.
Additionally, there are plans to establish a legally binding AI model testing agreement with tech companies, separate the UK AI Safety Institute from the Turing Institute, and introduce a consultation on the proposed AI bill.
start again Wide range of weekly episodes available There’s nothing more inducing an existential crisis than a ’90s icon being a midlife expert, but Davina McCall is the genre’s OG. Introducing a new podcast about new starts, turning points, and the “curving lines” of life. McCall, as always, is a bundle of empathy and isn’t afraid to cry with his guests. The first person is Fearne Cotton, who talks about her challenges. This isn’t your average celebrity chat podcast, as McCall listens intently and digs into his guests’ answers. Hannah Verdier
hyperfix Wide range of weekly episodes available This peppy podcast bills itself as a help desk for life’s most intractable problems. An “overconfident moron” (his words), Alex Goldman spends as much time on the gram as he does America’s Cup trying to create the perfect cake as he does investigating why driving in New York is so bad. It’s just as interesting as helping women who are trying to convert. HV
X marks the place… New podcast questions Elon Musk’s use of surveillance. Photo: David Swanson/Reuters
not too extreme Wide range of weekly episodes available Dr. Bernie Fisher played a pivotal role in improving the way breast cancer patients are treated. Without his work, women might still undergo disfiguring surgeries. Here, Dr. Stacey Wentworth takes us from the operating room to the White House and explains how Fisher, the women’s movement, and science have fundamentally changed breast cancer treatment. Holly Richardson
elon’s spy Widely available, all episodes now available Is Elon Musk using secret agents to gather information on the people he has his ax to grind with? That’s the allegation this series explores, featuring an extensive interview with a British diver whom he called a “pedo bastard” after making a remarkable rescue of a team of trapped young Thai soccer players in an underwater cave. I am doing it. Alexi Duggins
Lost Notes: Groupies – From Pills to Punks, the Women of the Sunset Strip Wide range of weekly episodes available The podcast begins with a group of teenage girls being chased by the likes of Led Zeppelin and David Bowie in the ’70s. That’s amazing, but shallow. There’s no shortage of wild party stories – and they’re worth hearing – but judging by the first episode, it’s supposed to do much more to interrogate the ethics of power and age dynamics. advertisement
There’s a podcast for that
Fail upwards…Elizabeth Day, host of the hugely successful How to Fail. Photo: David Levenson/Getty Images
this week, Rachel Aroesti choose the best five listen comfortablyfrom a viral wedding mystery to Elizabeth Day’s seminal show about failure.
A perfect day with Jessica Knappett There are many “perfect” podcasts out there covering everything from dreamy meals (off-menu) to ideal vacations (life is on the beach) to fantasy funerals (where there’s a will and where there’s a wake). A relatively recent addition to the genre, it’s definitely one of the most comforting. That’s partly because of the subject matter – it’s quite a meditative experience to hear all the lovely, relaxing things our guests incorporate into their perfect day schedules – and partly because of the energy of our friends. Thanks to our hilarious host for venting (it helps that she’s actually friends with guests like Tim Key and Emerald Fennell), she lets us veer off into weird stories. Fearlessly leading meandering conversations.
Who squatted on the floor at my wedding? The rise of podcasting and the rise in actual involvement in crime go hand in hand, and it’s no wonder. Immersive, detailed, and cliffhanger-heavy investigations are the perfect fuel for the audio format. But what if you want the satisfaction of crime-solving but don’t want any of the depressing violence or global corruption? This podcast is your answer. In this podcast, amateur detective Lauren Kilby tries to figure out who was responsible for the defecation incident at her friends Karen and Helen’s wedding on a boat. The resulting pod is a highly entertaining and pleasantly low-stakes addition to the true crime genre. Even better, the team recently returned with another delightfully fun mystery titled The Case of The Tiny suit/Case.
how fail Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast isn’t exactly an exercise in schadenfreude, but by inviting celebrities (including Kate Winslet, Bonnie Tyler, and Richard Osman) to reveal their top three mistakes, Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast to Fail” certainly helps listeners feel a little better about their failures. We did something wrong in our lives. The show often serves as a reminder that no one has a perfectly great life, a necessary corrective in the Instagram era, but the show also features guests with stories of shocking adversity. Bringing in also provides evidence that success is possible even through periods of turmoil.
Green Wing: Resurrection Comfort is often closely tied to nostalgia. That’s why shows like Friends have made a comeback during the pandemic. In fact, there’s something about 2000s television that looms especially large in our collective comfort zones. For comedy fans of a certain age, the hospital comedy Green Wing definitely fits this concise description. And for those who have completed a simple trip down memory lane, the return of this podcast will be gratefully received. Green Wings: Resurrection is faithful to the original story, starring Stephen Mangan (as the pathetic surgeon Guy Secretan), Julian Lind-Tutt (as the swoon-worthy Mac), and Michelle Gomez (as the Cracker Stuff liaison). The majority of cast members will return, including Sue (Sue). . Note the familiar strangeness and uncompromising stupidity.
See What Crappens For anyone in need of peace of mind, reality shows should be very high on their agenda. In particular, the Real Housewives series is a non-stop festival of bickering and petty drama. This podcast is brought to you and released by enthusiasts Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam Five Once a week – We recap all 11 US Housewives programs (and others from reality network Bravo). It’s your in-depth guide to every character, storyline, and feud, plus your chance to gossip, joke, and vent your grievances about your most infuriating cast members. All delivered with the kind of growing hysteria that such a relentless schedule inevitably produces.
Why not try it…
How to saveis a hopeful series about conservation campaigns that are getting results, from protecting manatees to restoring Papua New Guinea’s coral reefs.
Holiday with Woody and PierceIn this article, two indie musicians tell fans about the trials and rewards of following a team across the country (or the world, really).
Reports suggest that Mehta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, terminated approximately 24 employees at the Los Angeles office for misusing $25 meal credits to purchase items like toothpaste, laundry detergent, and wine glasses.
The tech giant, with a market capitalization of £1.2 trillion and ownership of WhatsApp, took action after an investigation revealed unauthorized food deliveries to employees’ homes. One employee allegedly fired was earning $400,000 and admitted to using meal credits for non-food items and groceries.
On Blind, an anonymous platform, the individual wrote about using meal credits only on days they did not eat at the office, leading to their termination upon admission during an HR probe. Some employees were also found to have used credits for personal items like acne pads, with consequences varying based on the severity of the violation.
Free meals have been a common perk at tech companies, including Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, which offers free meals in large offices but provides daily food credits for smaller sites. These credits include $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch, and $25 for dinner.
In 2022, Meta made changes to its Silicon Valley campus, delaying the free dinner service by 30 minutes to 6:30 p.m. as part of broader cutbacks. This decision sparked discontent among employees as fewer could dine on campus, affecting access to leftover food to take home.
Wearing a crisp blue shirt and speaking with a soft American accent, this well-dressed young man is an unlikely supporter of the military junta leader of the West African nation of Burkina Faso.
“We must…support President Ibrahim Traore…Homeland or death, we must overcome!” he said in a video that began circulating on Telegram in early 2023. Ta. This was just a few months after the dictator took power in a military coup.
Another video starring another person with a similar professional appearance and repeating the exact same script in front of the Burkina Faso flag was released around the same time.
A few days later, on X’s verified account, the same young man in the same blue shirt claimed to be Archie, the CEO of a new cryptocurrency platform.
These videos are fake. These were generated by artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a start-up based in east London. A company called Synthesia has made waves in an industry competing to perfect lifelike AI videos. Investors poured in cash, propelling the company to “unicorn” status, or the status of a privately held company valued at more than $1 billion.
Synthesia’s technology is aimed at clients looking to create marketing materials and internal presentations, and any deepfakes violate its terms of service. But this means little for models whose digital “puppet” has a similar model behind it.Used in propaganda videos apparently supporting the Burkina Faso dictator. The Guardian tracked down five of them.
“I am in shock and have no words right now. [creative] “I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years and I’ve never felt so violated and vulnerable,” said Mark Torres, a London-based creative director who appears in the fake video wearing a blue shirt. spoke.
“I don’t want anyone to look at me that way. Just the fact that my image is out there, the fact that I’m promoting a military regime in a country I didn’t even know about, says something. People will think I’m involved in a coup,'' Torres added after being shown the video for the first time by the Guardian.
of shoot
In the summer of 2022, Connor Yates received a call from an agent offering him the chance to be one of the first AI models at a new company.
Yeates had never heard of the company, but he had just moved to London and was sleeping on a friend’s couch. An offer of nearly £4,000 for a day’s shoot and three years of use of the images felt like a ‘good opportunity’.
“I’ve been modeling since university and that’s been my main income since I graduated. Then I moved to London to start doing stand-up,” said Yates, who grew up in Bath.
Filming took place at Synthesia studios in east London. First, I received hair and makeup instruction. Thirty minutes later, he entered the recording room where a small staff member was waiting.
Yates wore a variety of costumes, including a white coat, a construction high-vis vest and helmet, and a corporate suit, and was asked to read his lines while looking directly into the camera.
“I have a teleprompter in front of me with lines written on it, and when I say it, I can capture the gestures and reproduce the movements. They’ll be more enthusiastic, smiling, grimacing, angry, I would say,” Yates said.
It took 3 hours in total. A few days later, he received a contract and a link to his AI avatar.
“They paid right away. I didn’t have wealthy parents, so I needed the money,” Yates said, but she didn’t think much about it after that.
Like Torres, Yates’ portrait was used in propaganda by Burkina Faso’s current leader.
A Synthesia spokesperson said the company will ban accounts that create videos in 2023, strengthen its content review process, and “employ more content moderators and increase moderation to better detect and prevent abuse of our technology.” “We have improved our automation capabilities and automation systems.” ”.
But neither Torres nor Yates were told about the video until they were contacted by the Guardian a few months ago.
…
“unicorn”
Synthesia was founded in 2017 by Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild, and two academics from London and Munich.
A year later, the company released a dubbing tool that allows production companies to use AI to translate audio and automatically sync actors’ lips.
This was featured on a BBC program where an English-only news presenter was magically made to appear to speak Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish.
It was the company’s pivot to mass-market digital avatar products that are now available that earned it the coveted “unicorn” status. This allows businesses or individuals to create presenter-led videos in minutes for just £23 per month. Choose from dozens of characters with different genders, ages, ethnicities, and appearances. Once selected, the digital doll can be placed in almost any environment, given a script, and read that script in over 120 languages and accents.
Synthesia currently commands a dominant market share, with customers including Ernst & Young (EY), Zoom, Xerox, and Microsoft.
The product’s advancements led Time magazine to include Lipalberg among the 100 most influential people in AI in September.
But the technology has also been used to create videos related to adversaries such as Russia, China, and others to spread misinformation and disinformation. Sources suggested to the Guardian that the Burkina Faso video, which circulated in 2023, was also likely produced by Russian state actors.
personal influence
Around the same time that the Burkina Faso video began circulating online, two pro-Venezuelan videos featuring fake news segments provided by Synthesia avatars also appeared on YouTube and Facebook. In one article, a blond male presenter in a white shirt denounced “Western media claims” about economic insecurity and poverty, instead painting a highly misleading picture of the country’s financial situation.
London-based actor and Synthesia model Dan Dewhurst, whose likeness was used in the video, told the Guardian: He quietly judged me. You may have lost a customer. But that’s not me, it’s just my face. But they would think I agreed with it. ”
“I was furious. It really, really took a toll on my mental health. [It caused] “It’s an overwhelming feeling of anxiety,” he added.
A Synthesia spokesperson said the company is in contact with some of the actors whose likenesses were used. “I sincerely regret that these historic events have had a negative personal or professional impact on the people you spoke to,” he said.
However, once the damage caused by deepfakes has spread, it is difficult to reverse it.
Mr Dewhurst said seeing one’s face used to spread propaganda was the worst-case scenario, adding: “When we’re worried, our brains often go into a catastrophic state. It was really scary to see my fears come true.”
“Roller coaster”
Last year, more than 100,000 unionized actors and performers went on strike in the United States to protest the use of AI in the creative arts. The strike was called off last November after the studios agreed to contractual safeguards, including informed consent before digital reproduction and fair compensation for such use. Video game performers continue to strike over the same issue.
…
Last month, a bipartisan bill, the NO FAKES Act, was introduced in the United States and aims to make companies and individuals liable for damages for violations involving digital replicas.
However, other than AI-generated sexual content, there is virtually no practical mechanism for helping artists themselves.
“These AI companies are taking people on a really dangerous roller coaster,” said Kelsey Farish, a London-based media and entertainment lawyer who specializes in generative AI and intellectual property. “And guess what? People have been on this roller coaster and now people are starting to get hurt.”
Under the GDPR, models can technically request that Synthesia delete data that includes their likeness or image. In reality this is very difficult.
A former Synthesia employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, explained that AI cannot “unlearn” or remove what it may have gleaned from a model’s body language. To do so, the entire AI model must be replaced.
A Synthesia spokesperson said: “Many of the actors we work with re-engage with us for new shoots… At the beginning of the collaboration, we explain to them the terms of use and how our technology works. We explain how it works and help you understand what the platform can do and the safeguards we have in place. ”
He said the company does not allow “stock avatars to be used for political content, including content that is factually accurate but potentially polarizing,” and that the company’s policy is that avatars are “manipulated.” It said it was designed to prevent it from being used for “competence, deception, impersonation, etc.” False association.”
“Our processes and systems may not be perfect, but our founders are committed to continually improving them.”
When the Guardian tested Synthesia’s technology using various disinformation scripts, attempts to use any of the avatars were blocked, but by recreating Burkina Faso’s propaganda videos with personally created avatars. It was possible to download it, but neither should have been allowed. According to Synthesia’s policies. Synthesia said this was not a violation of its terms, as it respects the right of individuals to express their political views, but later blocked the account.
The Guardian also produced a clip from the audio-only avatar saying “Long live Hitler” in several languages and another audio clip saying “Kamala Harris rigged the election” in an American accent. I was also able to download it.
Synthesia suspended its free AI audio service after being contacted by the Guardian, stating that the technology behind the product was a third-party service.
aftermath
The experience of learning about his likeness was used in a propaganda video.Mr. Torres was left with a deep feeling of betrayal. “It makes me so angry to know that this company that I trusted in my image would get away with something like this. It could cost me my life.”
Torres was invited to do another shoot with Synthesia this year, but he declined. His contract ends in a few months and his Synthesia avatar is removed. But what will his avatar look like in the Burkina Faso video?It’s unclear even to him.
“Now I understand why it’s so dangerous to expose your face to them. It’s a shame that we took part in this,” he said.
YouTube has since removed the propaganda video featuring Dewhurst, but it remains available on Facebook.
Both Torres and Yates remain on the front page of Synthesia’s video ads.
RJust before last week's newsletter was published, a short selling firm called Hindenburg Research issued the following report. Highly critical report on Roblox. In it, they accuse public companies of inflating their metrics (and thus their valuations), and even more worryingly for the parents of the millions of children who use Roblox. He also called it a “pedophile's hellscape.'’ The report claims that there were some gruesome discoveries within the game. Researchers found chat rooms of people purporting to exchange images and videos of children, and users claiming to be children or teens offering such material in exchange for Robux, an in-game currency. I discovered it. roblox I strongly refuse The claims made by Hindenburg in his report.
For those unfamiliar with the title, Roblox is more of a platform than a game (or, as corporate communicators like to think of it, a metaverse). It claims 80 million daily users (though Hindenburg says this figure is inflated). Log in, customize your avatar, and from there you can dive into thousands of different “experiences” created by other users. From role-playing cities to pizza delivery mini-games to cops-and-robbers games to cops-and-robbers games and, unfortunately, much less, Public Bathroom Simulator (which the creators say was 12 years old before they realized bad people existed) It is a delicious dish that looks like the one that he made at the time of his death. Roblox games are created by players, so the site must be constantly moderated. The company's moderation team handles a huge amount of content every day.
It's important to recognize that Hindenburg has a vested interest in making Roblox a stock tank. Hindenburg has a short position in the company (meaning it stands to profit if the stock price falls). Several other companies I've seen their stocks crater after releasing a report on them. However, it is also possible to independently verify some of the claims made in the report. A very quick search of the platform reveals that these in-game chat groups that appear to be soliciting and trading images do indeed exist and are active. And the accounts with questionable usernames that reference child abuse and Jeffrey Epstein are genuine. Some of the specific games and accounts mentioned in Hindenburg's report last week have been removed by the company.
Roblox defended itself in a statement posted online, saying, “Every day, tens of millions of users of all ages have safe and positive experiences on Roblox, and we adhere to our community standards.” said. But any safety incident is terrifying. We take content and conduct that does not adhere to our standards on our platform very seriously. ” The company further added: “We are continually evolving and enhancing our safety approach to catch and prevent malicious and harmful activity, including text chat filters that block inappropriate words and phrases; , which includes disallowing image sharing between users on Roblox” (as further reported in this article in the Guardian).
If your kids are playing on a platform like Roblox, triple-check their settings. Photo: Phil Noble/Reuters
Of course, this isn't the first sensational report about Roblox. In recent years, articles in CNN, the Observer, Wired, and many other publications have found that there is a large amount of inappropriate content on the platform, and that child predators are There are also some proven cases of using Roblox for crafting. Last July, More from Bloomberg In one such case, a man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for grooming a minor and having her cross state lines to perform sex acts as part of a broader investigation into the platform's apparent flaws in moderation and child safety. He was sentenced in 2018.
Many parents are worried about what to do. Roblox is part of the daily online lives of millions of children, even if the figure of around 80 million daily users is inflated, as Hindenberg claims. Anyone who has children of school age knows that it is very widely used. Is Roblox dangerous for kids? Should they stop playing it immediately?
Despite everything presented in this and other reports over the past few years, I believe it is entirely possible for children to play Roblox safely. Appropriate parental controls are in place to limit or eliminate the extent to which strangers can contact your child. When used correctly. If I had kids playing Roblox, I'd be checking all of these settings over and over again to make sure the “friends list” feature was set to include only real-life friends. We also recommend supervising young children to minimize the likelihood that they will encounter or actually seek out the many inappropriate games that seem to regularly elude Roblox's management efforts. I'm very reluctant to let you play this game without it.
Basic online safety education is critical for all children who use the Internet. Given the multiple convictions of child predators who used Roblox to access children, it is impossible to deny the presence of pedophiles on the platform, but it is difficult to objectively assess the extent of it. It's difficult. Some of what Hindenburg highlights in his report seems to me more likely to be the product of an adolescent fringe master than an actual child predator. Roblox is full of teenagers who have grown up with the game. When you see 900 variations of the username Jeffrey Epstein, you don't necessarily see 900 active child abusers, you see 900 stupid 14-year-olds trying to be funny. .
Full disclosure: I don't let my kids play Roblox, and I have no intention of starting them. I don't believe that a publicly traded company can be trusted to put the interests and safety of children ahead of profits. Moderation is expensive and difficult. No one in the big tech industry is any closer to building a system to prevent harmful material from appearing on these types of open platforms, or to prevent people from exploiting harmful material for their own purposes. No. Legitimate safety concerns aside, rather than trying to squeeze money out of kids to pay for endless in-game cosmetics and “experiences,” it's simply better to serve kids' imaginations and curiosity. There are hundreds of great games.
Only offline games can completely eliminate this risk of children being exposed to inappropriate content. After just a few hours of exploring Roblox, one thing is abundantly clear. It's not hard to find something very problematic.
what to play
The wolf in the game Neva grows into a magnificent creature crowned with horns that protects you.
Neva, a game about a warrior and a she-wolf, surprised me. I've played so many beautiful, artistic indie platformers that it’s hard to find one that really makes me feel something. But there I was ugly crying in front of the TV after a few nights with Neva. It takes place over four seasons. The wolf starts out as a cub that you have to protect, but later grows into a magnificent creature with horns that can protect you. Use an elegant combination of jumps, double jumps, dashes, and strikes to explore an incredibly beautiful but horribly corrupt natural world and make multiple attempts to conquer the demons that poison it. Worth a few hours of anyone's life.
Available: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Approximate play time: 3-4 hours
The cause of the Alamo…Nintendo's new clock. Photo: Nintendo
On Friday, a group of people who worked on highly acclaimed psychology and political science research RPG Disco Elysium announced the creation of a new studio to work on the game's spiritual successor. Then, confusingly, another new studio was announced same thingThis time it comes with a trailer. And on the same day, a third group announced another spiritual successor. as one viral tweet “Disco Elysium splitting into three unions claiming succession is more of a commentary on communism than the game wanted.”
A premium book/magazine hybrid about video games. above, Released today. Guardian games correspondent Keith Stuart and I feature in issue one. Naturally, his article is about Sega arcade boards and mine is about Nintendo details.
game freakThe developer of Pokemon suffered a hack of almost unprecedented scale.: Details about unreleased Pokemon game and movie projects, employee information, source code, and details about the series' development. decades I'm there now.
To cap off a truly bizarre week of video game news: nintendo We have announced an alarm clock that watches over you while you are sleeping. It's called “Alarmo,” and it wakes you up with the not-so-gentle sounds of Mario, Splatoon, or Zelda, synchronized with your groggy morning movements. the available now For those willing to jump through a few hoops (and pay £90).
Amazon.com has recently signed three agreements to collaborate on the development of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power technology. This cutting-edge technology aims to address the increasing demand for power, particularly from data centers. Amazon has solidified its position as a major player in the high-tech industry.
One of the agreements involves Amazon funding a feasibility study for an SMR project near its Northwest Energy site in Washington state. X-Energy will be responsible for developing the SMR, with financial specifics remaining undisclosed.
As per the agreement, Amazon will have the option to procure power from four modules. Energy Northwest, a group of state utilities, may also include up to 80 MW modules, resulting in a total capacity of up to 960 MW. This power will be able to supply over 770,000 US homes, with excess energy being allocated to Amazon and utility companies for residential and commercial usage.
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services, expressed, “Our agreement will expedite the advancement of new nuclear technologies that will provide energy for years to come.”
SMR leverages factory assembly of components to reduce construction expenses, a departure from the conventional on-site assembly of large nuclear reactors. While some critics argue that achieving economies of scale with SMR technology may be costly, it remains a promising development.
Nuclear power, known for its near-zero greenhouse gas emissions and creation of high-wage union jobs, garners bipartisan support in the US. Despite this, the country is yet to have a working SMR. NuScale was the lone US entity to secure an SMR design license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently.
Furthermore, SMRs produce lasting radioactive waste, and the US lacks a definitive disposal site for such byproducts. Scott Burnell, a representative from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stated that regulators still await detailed information about planned SMR implementations.
“I have to show you this – it’s going to change your life!” is the very Imogen Heap way of greeting.
She smiled at me and showed off a mysterious black device. The musician and technologist is an evocative and eccentric presence even on video calls, speaking with passion and changing his mind like a rally driver turning a corner. She swivels me from the kitchen floor to the living room of her parents’ home in Havering, near London. It’s familiar to the thousands of fans (aka Heapsters) who tune in to watch her improvise on the grand piano on livestreams. “By the way, that’s the tent I’ve been sleeping in,” she laughed, enjoying the surprise, pointing to an attractive white tent at the edge of the manicured lawn.
Her fans use the term “Imogeneration” to describe someone who changed the course of pop music. Heap’s theatrically layered vocals and expressive production on the albums Speak for Yourself (2005) and Ellipse (2009) have inspired the likes of Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Casey. It influenced chart giants such as Musgraves and popularized the use of the vocoder (later heard in the works of Kanye West and Bon Iver). She has been widely sampled, especially by hip-hop and ambient musicians, and in 2010 became the first woman to win a Grammy Award in the engineering category.
Since then, Heap has dedicated his career to shaping music through technology, and shaping technology through music. Her fast-paced projects include The Creative Passport, which envisions a more accessible way for musicians to store and share personal data, and a pioneering project that lets you record loops of sound and add details like vibrato and reverb. These include the MiMU glove, a wearable instrument. In real time just by moving your wrist.
But she didn’t create the black device she’s brandishing at me. Plaud Note is a voice recorder that uses ChatGPT. She laughed and explained that this converts our conversations into text and generates a summary of our thoughts. Recording interviews is typically the job of journalists, but for the past two years, Heap has been collecting data about herself for a new project: a comprehensive AI assistant called Mogen (pronounced like Imogen). Our interviews become training data. The text prepares Morgen to answer questions about Heep’s life and work, and the audio trains Morgen to reproduce her voice. “Everything I’ve ever said or done, I want Morgen to have access to,” Heap says.
Heap performance in 2010. Photo: Samir Hussain/Getty Images
Mogen was born as a premium feature of Heap’s fan app, theoretically giving Heapsters a way to access Heap’s sentiments and opinions on certain topics. Anything Mogen can’t answer is forwarded to Heap’s (human) assistant. “I don’t want to repeat myself. I want to make sure people have the information they need, when they need it,” Heap says. “In a way, I have been working on [her] For the rest of my life.”
But Heep’s ambitions for Morgen are rapidly expanding. Beyond its role as a kind of living autobiography, Heap hopes to become a point of “omniscient connection” that can streamline workflow and deepen the creative process in the studio and on stage. Future versions of Mogen will explore how Heap can improvise live, become a live collaborator, process fan musical suggestions in real time, and feed biometric and atmospheric data to create You’ll be able to create performances that feel “realistic.”
“I want to [be able to] “Right now, we can create broad orchestral pieces and angular drums with a variety, richness, and tenderness that you just can’t get in real time with off-the-shelf equipment,” says Heap.
All of this data collection was inspired by a series of life-changing experiences that convinced Heap of his current power. Heap, who discovered she had ADHD during the pandemic and shortly after her sister’s death, said: “We’re using our most precious resource, our time, to do these mundane things.” He explains what he noticed. She hired a studio assistant to reduce distractions and improve focus, and to understand the sense of presence, or what she poetically calls “an immaterial bubble without time and space.” I concentrated.
The journey included an introduction to Wim Hof breathing techniques by fellow music experimenter John Hopkins and a visceral response to music by noise artist Pullian, which left her shocked on her kitchen floor. Ta. She likens the latter to childbirth. “That was the only time in my life that I felt like I wasn’t in control of my body.”
The result of this new focus, which she will discuss in more detail this week at London’s Southbank Center, is a worldview that sees technology as both a problem and a solution. On the other hand, the capitalist system and attention economy make us “greedy.” “We have become desensitized,” she says, but in the meantime, we might be able to invent new tools that foster creativity and connection over profit. “I want to dedicate my life to it,” she says seriously.
Her vision isn’t exactly utopian. She speculates that we “will go through this period of running away” from dangerous AI. But she firmly believes there is a bright future on the other side of this potential disaster. Even so, Heap remains perplexingly sour about the possible risks. “You can’t stop progress,” she shrugs, dismissing widespread concerns about the ethics of scraping other people’s data to build profitable AI systems and the environmental costs of all that processing power as “very simple.” “I scoff. It’s based on fear.”
The most direct result of her recent soul-searching will be a 14-minute track released in three parts via a new site called The Living Song. The first part, “What Have You Done to Me,” will be available at the end of October and will allow users to chat with Mogen and remix or sample the song. The idea is to demonstrate that ethical and compensatory collaboration between artists, AI, and fans is possible, with one-third of all profits going to Brian Eno’s climate change foundation Earth%. Masu. “This song gives you the tools to collaborate and love with different people,” she emphasizes. “I don’t want to be kept in a basement. I’ve never felt protective or possessive. [my music]”
The new song, which tells the story of Heap and her relationship with herself and Morgen, also reimagines the melody of “Hide and Seek,” her first big hit and a song that has had a remarkable life in its own right. After being used as the soundtrack for The O.C.’s dramatic second season finale in 2005, the scene was parodied in a Saturday Night Live sketch that looped her “Um, what are you talking about?” It went viral. lyrics. Two years later, Jason Derulo sampled the same elements in his debut single “Whatcha Say,” which topped the US charts. Heap himself included the song in his score for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and Palestinian singer Nemasis used the opening bars of a video about the devastation in Gaza.
AI optimists see similarities between this sampling (using parts of someone else’s work to create something new) and generative AI, which processes vast amounts of existing material to create music. I claim that there is. But major labels Sony, Universal and Warner are suing two AI startups for processing their copyrighted music without their permission.
Ms Heap said her project was trying to move on from the days when “people were always trying something and not evaluating it”. For example, an unreleased demo called “A New Kind of Love” cut from her band Frou Frou’s 2002 album somehow ended up on the desk of Australian drum and bass musician Veerre Cloud. His loose remix, released in 2019, has since been streamed over 400 million times on Spotify. After researching, Heap’s team discovered that there are more than 60 other tracks that use the song without credit. “We had to say: Hello, we’re glad you put it out there, but could we have some?”
This is why The Living Song project is so important, she says. Treating each song as a separate entity allows Heap to set and work around its own rules for interaction and collaboration, as it has throughout its career. It’s like labels and artists fighting over AI services.
Previously, I asked what happens if I don’t want my data (my words in the conversation) to be part of Mogen’s training set. Heap said that for data protection reasons, Morgen would only incorporate her answers, not my questions, and the same would be true for fan submissions. She hypothesizes that in the future, my own AI assistant will negotiate with Morgen and inform me of my preferences in advance. She then added with a wry smile that if we didn’t like the data, “I’d probably leave it alone.” [the interview] short”.
But certainly, conversation is also a type of collaboration. What is the answer to a question without context? As I was thinking about this, Heap sent me a summary of the call that Plaud had generated. One line reads: “Katie Hawthorn shares feelings of paranoia, while Imogen Heap expresses excitement.”
This mission to form her own archive through a cleverly automated digital twin, rooted in the past but designed to extend and even predict Heap’s present, is a battle with the music industry over ownership. It makes sense in the context of a career spent in . But it also raises bigger, more difficult questions about heritage, voice, creativity, and control, and Heap aims to fundamentally reshape music, and perhaps life, as we know it. Given her outpouring of persuasion and deep cultural influence, it’s hard to resist her. “I’m not a guru,” she jokes. “still!”
Nima Momeni’s lawyer asserted in his opening statement that the technology consultant accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee had no motive to kill him and was actually defensive during a multi-day drug raid, claiming he needed to defend himself from Mr. Lee on Monday.
Prosecutors claim that Momeni, 40, orchestrated the April 4, 2023 attack following an altercation over his sister, Hazard, who was acquainted with Lee. Allegedly, Momeni retrieved a knife from a special kit in his sister’s apartment, pursued Lee to a secluded area, stabbed him three times, and fled.
“He was stabbed in the heart and left for dead,” Assistant District Attorney Omid Tarai stated. “The victim sustained multiple stab wounds, including one to the chest, one to the lower back, and crucially one to the heart.”
Lee’s untimely death at 43, after seeking aid on a vacant street in downtown San Francisco, deeply impacted the tech sector, with colleagues remembering the charismatic entrepreneur’s benevolence and skill. At the time of his demise, Lee held the position of chief product officer at the cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin and was a father of two.
Judge Alexandra Gordon informed the jury that the highly anticipated trial, commencing Monday at the San Francisco Superior Court, is anticipated to span two months. Momeni, a resident near Emeryville, California, has been detained since his apprehension shortly after Lee’s passing in a San Francisco medical facility.
Momeni has pleaded not guilty, and if convicted, he faces a potential sentence of 26 years to life imprisonment.
Attorney Saam Zangeneh told the jury that Mr. Momeni harbored no animosity towards Mr. Lee and that the circumstances compelled him to safeguard himself after brandishing a knife while under the influence of drugs and sleep-deprived. Zangeneh indicated that the defense would substantiate his claims that Momeni had indulged in an extended narcotics binge.
“We believe that once the evidence is presented and any ambiguities resolved, the only justifiable verdict in this case is one of innocence,” Zangeneh declared. “A life has been lost. No one condones that, but the right to self-defense must be recognized.”
Throughout prior court appearances, Momeni, dressed in an orange prison garment, attended with his lawyer donned in a formal ensemble. His mother, a constant presence at hearings, was also in attendance.
Seated on the opposite side of the courtroom were Mr. Lee’s relatives, including his ex-wife, father, and brother. As a recording of Lee’s distress call played in court, Lee’s brother comforted their father. In the call, Lee implored for assistance while unable to provide his location or identity, conveying that he had been attacked.
Assistant District Attorney Tarai mentioned that the jury would hear testimony from a friend present with Lee and Momeni’s sister a day before the altercation. Tarai alleged that Momeni verbally attacked Lee over the phone that evening, discussing his sister, drugs, and inappropriate subjects, with Lee exhibiting composure. Tarai insinuated that the friend would portray Momeni as a possessive individual striving to display toughness.
Mr. Zangeneh dismissed the credibility of the friend as a witness and contended that Momeni and Lee had exchanged amicable emails on that evening. Zangeneh suggested that Lee probably invited Momeni to the club.
CCTV footage from Lee’s final night depicted his entry into the opulent Millennium Tower where Momeni’s sister and her spouse, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon, resided. The footage captured Lee and Momeni departing the premises around 2 a.m. and driving off together in Momeni’s vehicle.
Tarai noted another video depicting two individuals exiting a car at a remote location along the Bay Bridge, with Momeni stabbing Lee thrice and discarding a knife from his sister’s kitchen set moments later, followed by his escape. Tarai revealed intentions of unveiling text messages sent by Momeni to his sister, alleging a harassment claim the subsequent morning when Momeni expressed uncertainty regarding Lee’s fate but accused Lee of assaulting Hazard.
The defense cited a video capturing Momeni being surveilled by San Francisco police detectives pre-arrest, purportedly reenacting the stabbing outside his former law firm thrice. However, the defense noted a lack of reenactment concerning the initial knife confrontation as claimed by Momeni’s attorney.
A knife with a 10cm blade was recovered at the remote location where Lee was assaulted. Prosecutors asserted that forensic tests exhibited Momeni’s DNA on the weapon handle and Lee’s DNA on the blood-stained blade.
Zangeneh indicated on Monday that the police should have screened the steering wheel for Lee’s fingerprints. He derided the notion that Momeni employed a trivial kitchen knife to perpetrate the assault, emphasizing Momeni’s perceived unawareness of Lee’s dire condition.
He expressed Momeni’s desire to elucidate his perspective yet remained undecided on Momeni’s potential testimony for the defense.
Momeni and Lee’s families opted not to comment on Monday.
WOne of the first indie game superstars of the 2000s, Derek Yu started designing games on graph paper with his friend John Perry while still a student. When Yu’s first major success, “cave exploration,” became a hit, he and Perry decided to collaborate once again, this time as men in their 40s. This heartwarming backstory is reflected in UFO50, an ambitious collection of 50 games. The narrative structure was crafted by a fictional game company during the years of 1982 to 1989. Each game in UFO50 features the nostalgic Atari 2600 and NES aesthetics with chunky sprites and a retro chiptune soundtrack, but incorporates modern design elements to bring a fresh twist to the retro style.
Why 50 games? No one knows for sure. But Yu and Perry, along with their supportive developer friends, showcased their design talents across a variety of genres, both familiar and completely innovative. One standout is “party house,” where players must balance a mix of guests to throw the ultimate house party, scoring points based on the success of the event. Other games in the collection include “night manners,” a point-and-click horror story, “bushido ball,” an Edo period themed game similar to Pong, and “rail robbery,” a stealth action game where players take on the role of an outlaw robbing trains.
Creating 50 games was a daunting task for Yu and Perry, requiring immense dedication and effort. The end result of UFO50 is a testament to their creativity and highlights the vast possibilities within the realm of game design, even in the simplest looking games.
Apps with the highest total number of notifications: – message:391 – new york post:190 – slack:121
Elon during the election campaign
Elon Musk spoke on stage alongside Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania this month. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Elon Musk is having a very difficult time against Donald Trump.
The CEOs of Tesla and SpaceX gave tens of millions of dollars to pro-Trump political action committees and planned a packed campaign schedule to boost the former president in Pennsylvania. The newspaper said he speaks with President Trump multiple times a week and has encouraged other billionaires to support the Republican candidate en masse in private gatherings. new york times.
Taken together, Mr. Musk’s actions are unprecedented in modern times. Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of one of the most influential mass communications outlets, is putting all his efforts into political candidates. He is no longer a billionaire dabbling in politics. Elon Musk is here to stay as a political actor.
Last weekend, Musk appeared with President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of Trump’s first assassination attempt. He plans to make additional stops in the Keystone State in the three weeks leading up to the election. Politico coverage. he also $47 referral bonus Anyone who is registered to vote in a battleground state can sign a petition filed by his political action committee, America Pac. Remember, Musk forced all Tesla employees to return to the office five days a week in mid-2022. One might wonder how he will manage the company’s affairs since he will be spending so much time in Pennsylvania.
Tesla’s CEO contributes not only IRL but also online. He is bending Twitter/X to his political ends: He @America behind the wheel For this week’s America pack. Last month he Hacked materials from the Trump campaign Published by independent journalists. Musk’s own feed is filled with support for Trump and retweets from people who support him.
President Trump seemed excited about all of the above, sending out a fundraising email with the subject line “Elon!” Elon! Elon! ”’ He also asked supporters to buy the black-on-black “Dark Maga” hat that Musk wore while jumping for joy behind Trump in Pennsylvania.
Elon Musk stands on stage with President Trump during a campaign rally at the site of Trump’s first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
As the world’s richest man fights for the Republican nomination, he is following a familiar rabbit hole down the rabbit hole for President Trump’s surrogates. He is increasingly appealing to the fringe of the “Make America Great Again” movement. “If you don’t vote, this will be your last election in America,” Musk said in Pennsylvania. It’s an irony reminiscent of the storming of the Capitol. He repeats the line, “If Kamala Harris wins, she’s going to jail.”
President Trump expressed a similar idea, albeit a more optimistic one, telling a group of Christian supporters in July: We’ll fix it just fine, so there’s no need to vote. ” This is a hopeful statement in the sense of ending democracy. Mr. Musk’s version is a repudiation of Mr. Trump’s, and is full of the doom of election deniers. This contrast is similar to the dynamic between President Trump and J.D. Vance, who has expressed extreme anti-abortion views in speeches and interviews, although Trump himself has said he would return the issue to the states. I’m trying to get around this problem by repeating this.
You might think science is a top priority for a tech CEO, but Musk also defers to Trump on science issues. but, This week’s interview with former Fox News host Tucker CarlsonMusk touted the anti-vaccination movement while walking off a cliff, saying, “I’m not anti-vaccine in general…we shouldn’t force people to get vaccinated,” before praising smallpox and polio vaccines. did. Trump himself called the coronavirus “one of humanity’s greatest achievements.” But during the campaign, he said he would cut funding to schools that require vaccinations and appoint the nation’s most notorious anti-vaxxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to his transition team.
In the same conversation with Carlson, Musk repeated a statement he had previously recanted and wondered out loud why no one was trying to assassinate Harris.
Musk previously called Trump a “ruthless loser.” Trump once said with a vengeance that he could make tech moguls “bend the knee.” This strange partnership affected at least one of Musk’s businesses. A shift to the right and the launch of the Hot Wheels-style Cybertruck transformed Tesla from a brand coveted by Hollywood and Silicon Valley people to a brand beloved by law enforcement. It’s a change similar to that of Mr. Musk himself. Corporate value has fallen by tens of billions of dollars.
We will be keeping a close eye on Mr. Musk’s next steps on the campaign trail.
Art on Samsung TV and Art in the Museum
Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is on display.
What is the purpose of digital reproduction of paintings?
Samsung announced yesterday that it has entered into a partnership to license 20 paintings from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to be used on its Frame TVs. To promote this collaboration, the Korean electronics giant organized a tour of MoMA. I saw Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, Claude Monet’s giant “Water Lilies”, and surrealist painter Leonora Carrington’s “And I Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur”.
“Water Lilies” by Claude Monet. Photo: Noah Karina/Guardian
Two weeks before this announcement, the Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands published a study measuring the neurological effects of art. Scientists have discovered that an original work of art stimulates a response in the viewer’s brain that is 10 times stronger than the response evoked by a reproduction of the same painting.
Philosopher Walter Benjamin theorized this finding about 100 years ago. In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” published in 1937, he argued that original works have an indescribable aura that replicas can never match. Samsung seems to agree with him to invite journalists on a private MoMA tour to view original works. So what are the benefits of artwork on Frame TV?
Robin Saetta, MoMA’s director of business development, said during the tour that the partnership aligns with the museum’s goal of “extending and expanding access to modern and contemporary art.” I agree. Benjamin writes of the reproduction of a work of art, “Above all, it allows the original to meet the viewer half-heartedly.”
A close friend of Keir Starmer suggests that Westminster needs to distance itself from X, alleging that Elon Musk is purposely manipulating algorithms to further his own political and personal agenda. He implied that this might be the case.
Josh Symonds, Member of Parliament for Makerfield and former director of the pro-Starmerite think tank Labor Together, argues that Britain’s political elite is dangerously reliant on the platform formerly known as Twitter. He expressed his belief in it. Symonds maintains an active X profile but is cautious not to “overuse” it.
His remarks mirror the growing unease among Labour MPs regarding the impact of X following the summer riots, during which misinformation rapidly circulated on the platform. This situation also risks escalating tensions between the government and the company, with Musk persistently criticizing Starmer for his handling of the violence.
Congressman Josh Simmons Photo: Roger Harris/British Parliament
Simons, a tech expert who authored a book on artificial intelligence, conveyed in an interview with The Guardian: That’s all. Particularly because I hardly ever endorse anything he says and I really don’t want to see it, even though I encounter him frequently.
“I even mentioned, ‘Don’t show me any more,’ yet he’s constantly present. And that certainty – despite the disapproval from the company’s founders and owners. You’ll notice additional individuals in the algorithm – [of] Something happening.”
He added, “The notion that individuals in the Westminster bubble are acquainted through a ranking system devised by someone who has dedicated his life to supporting Donald Trump is entirely, unequivocally wrong and detrimental to British democracy. I believe it’s harmful,” he continued. “I think it’s short-sighted for us all.”
X did not respond to requests for comments
The relationship between the government and social media platforms has been strained since the summer riots, with experts contending that online misinformation about the perpetrator who killed three children in Southport incited the disturbances.
As the violence intensified, Musk repeatedly posted about the unrest, sharing a video of the riots in Liverpool with the caption: “Civil war is inevitable.” Downing Street publicly rebuked these comments, labeling them as “unjustified,” to which Musk retaliated with a flurry of enraged posts.
X’s owners recently revived their criticism of the Labour government after being excluded from an international investment summit on Monday. “I don’t reckon anyone should visit the UK when they release a convicted pedophile. [sic] For imprisoning individuals based on their social media postings,” he posted, apparently alluding to the government’s early release initiative.
Numerous Labour MPs have opted out of X and instead established profiles on competing platforms such as Bluesky.
Simons, formerly involved in Meta’s AI program and presently campaigning for a seat on the Commons Technology Select Committee, opines that the new cohort of MPs are more skeptical of platforms than their predecessors, he asserts.
“The landscape is evolving quite fundamentally,” the 31-year-old remarked. “In reality, I believe there’s a generation that doesn’t necessarily imply they won’t utilize it at all, particularly since it offers us another avenue to attract attention.”
He also contends that the discourse surrounding AI has been predominantly shaped by older politicians who did not grow up in a tech-immersed environment like his generation did. He suggests that such individuals are frequently overly optimistic or pessimistic about how technology will revolutionize government operations.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair and ex-Conservative Party leader William Hague are among the most vocal proponents of broad AI integration in the public sector. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak also conveyed optimism about the potential but cautioned about the “existential risks” to humanity.
“There’s a generation,” Simons remarked, “[that] didn’t grow up alongside data and technology, and they harbor simplistic, reductionist, and often utopian or apocalyptic notions about how technology will impact the nation’s future, public services, and economy.”
“AI frequently hinders delving deeper into the technology to better comprehend its policy and political implications.”
Legislation supported by Labor, the Conservative Party, and child protection experts will require social media companies to exclude teenagers from algorithms intended to reduce content addiction in under-16s. This new Safer Telephones Bill, introduced by Labor MPs, prioritizes reviewing mobile phone sales to teenagers and potentially implementing additional safeguards for under-16s. Health Secretary Wes Street voiced support for the bill, citing the negative impact of smartphone addiction on children’s mental health.
The bill, championed by Labor MP Josh McAllister, is receiving positive feedback from ministers, although there is hesitation around banning mobile phone sales to teens. With backing from former Conservative education secretary Kit Malthouse and education select committee chair Helen Hayes, the bill aims to address concerns about children’s excessive screen time and exposure to harmful content.
Mr. McAllister’s bill, which focuses on protecting children from online dangers, will be debated by ministers this week. The bill includes measures to raise the Internet age of majority to 16 and give regulatory powers to Ofcom for children’s online safety. The proposed legislation has garnered support from various stakeholders including former children’s minister Claire Coutinho and children’s charities.
Concerns about the impact of smartphones on children’s well-being have prompted calls for stricter regulations on access to addictive online content. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer is against a blanket ban on mobile phones for under-16s, there are ongoing discussions about how to ensure children’s safety online without restricting necessary access to technology.
The bill aims to regulate online platforms and mobile phone sales to protect young people from harmful content and addiction. Mr. McAllister’s efforts in promoting children’s digital well-being have garnered significant support from policymakers and child welfare advocates.
As the government considers the implications of the bill and the Online Safety Act, which is currently pending full implementation, efforts to protect children from online risks continue to gain momentum. It remains crucial to strike a balance between enabling technology access and safeguarding children from potential online harms.
Child safety activists have urged the UK’s communications watchdog to enforce new online laws following accusations that video game companies have turned their platforms into “hellscapes for adult pedophiles.” They are calling for “gradual changes.”
Last week, Roblox, a popular gaming platform with 80 million daily users, came under fire for its lax security controls. An investment firm in the US criticized Roblox, claiming that its games expose children to grooming, pornography, violent content, and abusive language. The company has denied these claims and stated that safety and civility are fundamental to their operations.
The report highlighted concerning issues such as users seeking to groom avatars, trading in child pornography, accessible sex games, violent content, and abusive behavior on Roblox. Despite these concerns, the company insists that millions of users have safe and positive experiences on the platform, and any safety incidents are taken seriously.
Roblox, known for its user-generated content, allows players to create and play their own games with friends. However, child safety campaigners emphasize the need for stricter enforcement of online safety laws to protect young users from harmful content and interactions on platforms like Roblox.
Platforms like Roblox will need to implement measures to protect children from inappropriate content, prevent grooming, and introduce age verification processes to comply with the upcoming legislation. Ofcom, the regulator responsible for enforcing these laws, is expected to have broad enforcement powers to ensure user safety.
In response, a Roblox spokesperson stated that the company is committed to full compliance with the Online Safety Act, engaging in consultations and assessments to align with Ofcom’s guidelines. They look forward to seeing the final code of practice and ensuring a safe online environment for all users.
exterior: The cable that connects to your phone and connects to your home.
I haven’t had a landline phone for years. Oh, young whipsnapper! You are really missing out.
What exactly? So many! Give your complete phone number to the caller when you answer the phone, and lock yourself in a room where all family members can clearly hear your side of the conversation. It’s the best.
I don’t think it’s the best. You won’t understand. My landline still receives a lot of calls.
From whom? Oh, all my new friends. This is the man who promised to give him millions of pounds in return for loaning him 10,000 pounds. The woman at the bank who kept asking for all my personal information. They are all very nice works.
I don’t want to say it, but this is what I think Maybe you are being deceived. Yes, you are almost certainly being scammed. It has recently been discovered that more than half of all calls are made to landlines. It’s from a scammer.
why? That may be because fraudulent numbers are harder to screen and block on landlines than on mobile phones. It may be because someone who legitimately wants to talk to you just rings your cell phone. Or maybe it’s because it’s mainly older people who have landlines these days.
How is it related? Scammers famously like to target the elderly, with 80% of seniors owning a landline, compared to only 50% of 18-29 year olds. Because it is.
So if you’re a scammer and you dial a landline… You’re more likely to get a kind senior who may not realize you’re about to empty your bank account.
terrible. This must be the end of landline telephones. Landlines are now coveted by Gen Z, so don’t talk too soon.
why? It looks like a cassette player and is retro and cool. Listen, if you’re 20 years old, you’ve probably lived your entire life using your cell phone as your laptop, camera, book and food ordering system. Isn’t it refreshing that it can only be used as a phone?
Ah, I see. It’s imaginary nostalgia. Maybe it will stick. After all, nothing makes a phone conversation more enjoyable than the actual phone call.
Wait a minute, what do you mean by conversation? when talking to someone.
Via text? No, it’s from your mouth.
I in fact you would have to Do you want to tell someone? Vocally? By phone? that teeth my biggest fear. Well, you might die alone with that kind of attitude, but the good news is you’ll never get scammed.
Please say: “Landline phone users are more susceptible to fraud.”
Please don’t say things like: “But please give us all your bank account details and we will tell the scammers to stop.”
While I was on the treadmill at the gym the other day, I overheard a conversation between two men.
“We had an amazing night last night,” one of them exclaimed.
Intrigued, I listened for more details, hoping for a juicy story.
“The score was 96 points,” he continued.
My interest waned.
“It’s insane,,” replied his companion. “My average is 67, and I don’t see it going any higher.”
“But what about your heart rate?”
“I never check, but I know my REM score this week is unusually high,” he responded.
At the mention of REM, rapid eye movement, they delved into a discussion about sleep performance.
Welcome to the realm of Orthosomnia. This term refers to an unhealthy fixation on achieving perfect sleep, often driven by wearable devices. American researchers coined the term in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The study revealed that obsessively analyzing nightly sleep data might exacerbate insomnia. People may spend excessive time in bed striving for a flawless score, leading to heightened anxiety over their sleep performance.
But what constitutes a “good sleep score”? And can one manipulate involuntary biological processes?
According to behavioral sleep therapist Katie Fisher, many clients are fixated on achieving the “perfect” night’s sleep. She emphasizes that individuals who sleep well often don’t think much about it. Conversely, those who struggle with sleep attempt to hit a specific number of hours without realizing that their needs may differ. Fisher asserts that excessive monitoring of sleep data only induces stress and recommends focusing on how one feels rather than fixating on numbers.
Dr. Neil Stanley, author of How to Sleep Well, questions the utility of sleep tracking devices. While they can provide basic information on sleep duration, accurately discerning between sleep stages requires advanced monitoring. He highlights the importance of listening to one’s body rather than relying solely on data.
Professor Guy Leszziner also raises doubts about the efficacy of sleep tracking. He stresses the need to address underlying obstacles to good sleep, such as sleep disorders or lifestyle factors. Leszziner argues that while REM sleep plays a critical role, fixation on REM data may not yield significant insights into overall sleep quality.
Illustration: Jess Jenkins/Guardian
Both experts advocate for a more holistic approach to sleep, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and lifestyle adjustments rather than fixating on sleep data. They highlight the need to prioritize self-care and listen to the body’s cues for optimal rest and well-being.
Dr. Neil Stanley, author of How to Sleep Better.
Ultimately, the focus should be on improving overall well-being and quality of life, rather than fixating on arbitrary sleep scores. By tuning in to one’s body and making sustainable lifestyle choices, individuals can optimize their sleep and overall health.
The quest for perfect sleep may lead to unnecessary stress and anxiety, detracting from the essence of rest and relaxation. Instead of relying solely on data, individuals should prioritize self-care, listen to their bodies, and adopt healthy sleep habits to achieve long-term well-being.
As technology advances, sleep tracking may become more sophisticated, but the fundamental principles of good sleep remain unchanged. It is essential to strike a balance between leveraging technology for insights and honoring the body’s natural rhythm and needs.
In a world obsessed with metrics and data, the key to quality sleep lies not in numbers but in a holistic approach that integrates self-awareness, healthy habits, and a deep connection with one’s body.
Westfield Shopping Center is not an ideal place for studying, but for Deborah Botende, it was one of her few options.
Botende grew up in a foster care home in Brisbane and did not have internet access at her residence. During high school, she would return home after her retail job and use the shopping center’s Wi-Fi on a second-hand laptop to complete her school assignments.
On her days off, Botende would go to the library, but her time there was limited as the library closed early.
“It was extremely challenging. I often found myself falling behind on assignments and struggling to understand them,” she recalls. “The lack of internet was a significant barrier to my education. I had to take proactive measures.
“I would use the internet after work, sometimes coming home late to work on assignments. I felt like I had no other choice. This was my reality.”
As end-of-year exams commence nationwide, the Smith family is urging the federal government to establish a national device bank to bridge the digital divide among young individuals.
According to the latest data from the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), nearly a quarter of Australians are digitally excluded, lacking access to vital technologies such as fast internet and digital devices.
Doug Taylor, CEO of The Smith Family, mentions that around 10 million laptops, tablets, and PCs have been discarded by businesses and governments in the last five years. If these were recycled, 10 million students could benefit.
“Digital poverty is a new aspect of poverty that people are facing,” Taylor notes. “It’s a barrier that goes beyond just access.”
Device banks have been successful in other countries. Since 1993, the Canadian government has refurbished and distributed approximately 2 million digital devices through the Computers in Schools program, aiming to reduce electronic waste and enhance young people’s digital skills.
Similarly, The Smith Family has repurposed around 6,500 laptops as part of their digital inclusion efforts, noting that over 80% of students have shown improved academic performance after receiving these devices.
Mr. Taylor emphasizes that with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and new technologies, digital skills are now as crucial as basic literacy and numeracy skills in children’s education.
“We anticipate that more jobs will require higher education, and it’s difficult to envision pursuing higher education or entering the workforce without a laptop,” Taylor states.
“Furthermore, schools now view AI as an indispensable tool. Without access to it, students may face further disadvantages in their education.”
The primary reason for digital exclusion is affordability. Research from ADII shows that 65% of people in public housing experience digital affordability stress, needing to allocate more than 5% of their household income for a reliable internet connection, with 70% of them being unemployed.
Without a national digital inclusion framework, families in need must navigate fragmented state and territory grants, loans, and policies that lack coherence, according to Taylor.
There has been progress in recent years. The Queensland Government, for instance, has introduced funding for public schools to partially cover devices for economically disadvantaged students. Grant schemes are also available for upgrading broadband internet for distance learning students.
In Victoria, schools have implemented BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs, encouraging parents to provide devices for their children. In New South Wales, principals can approve the loan of digital devices for home use, though it is not mandatory.
“This is a solvable problem,” Taylor affirms. “We need to consider universal access. Just last week, I spoke to a student who was one of the few not taking notes on a laptop in a lecture. It struck me.”
“When students feel disconnected from the school environment, it impacts their educational experience. Grades suffer, and attendance declines.”
For Botende, who recently completed her advanced degree with the assistance of a donated laptop, individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds already face numerous disadvantages.
“Digital inclusion may seem basic, but it levels the playing field,” she concludes.
WBack in 2011, Marc Andreessen was a venture capitalist with dreams of becoming a public intellectual. published an essay Titled “Why Software is Eating the World,'', he predicted that computer code would take over large swaths of the economy. Now, 13 years later, the software seems to be making its way into academia. In any case, this is one possible conclusion to be drawn from the fact that computer scientist Jeffrey Hinton shares the following about 2024: Nobel Prize in Physics John Hopfield and computer scientist Demis Hassabis share half of it. Nobel Prize in Chemistry With one of my colleagues at DeepMind, John Jumper.
In some ways, Hassabis and Jumper's awards were as expected. Because they built the machine. alpha fold 2 – This will enable researchers to solve one of the most difficult problems in biochemistry: predicting the structure of proteins, the building blocks of biological life. Their machine was able to predict the structure of virtually every 200m protein the researchers identified. So this is a big problem for chemistry.
But Hinton is not a physicist. Indeed, he once Introduced at an academic conference As someone who “failed physics, dropped out of psychology, and then joined a field with absolutely no standards: artificial intelligence.” After graduating, I worked as a carpenter for a year. But he's the guy who found a way to do it (“backpropagationThis allows neural networks to be trained. This was one of the two keys that opened the door to machine learning and sparked the current AI frenzy. (The other is transformer model (published by Google researchers in 2017).
But where's the physics in this? That's from Mr. Hopfield, who shares the award with Mr. Hinton. “Hopfield networks and their further development, called Boltzmann machines, are based on physics,” Hinton explained to the man. new york times. “Hopfield nets used energy functions and Boltzmann machines used ideas from statistical physics. So that stage of the development of neural networks relied heavily on ideas from physics.”
that's ok. But the media often describes Hinton as the “godfather of AI,” which has vaguely sinister overtones. In reality, he is the exact opposite: tall, affable, polite, intelligent, and endowed with an acerbic and sometimes acerbic wit. When I asked Cade Metz how he reacted when he heard the news of the award, he said he was “shocked, surprised, and appalled,” which I think most people would say. But in 2018, he shared the Turing Award, computer science's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, with Joshua Bengio and Yann LeCun for their work in deep learning. So he was always in the top league. It's just that there is no Nobel Prize in computer science. Given the way software is eating up the world, perhaps that should change.
There's an old joke that the key to becoming a Nobel Prize winner is to “outlive” your rivals. Hinton, now 77, clearly took notice. But in fact, what is most admirable about him is his persistence in believing in the potential of neural networks as the key to artificial intelligence, long after the idea had been discredited by the profession. Given the way academia works, it required an extraordinary amount of determination and confidence, especially in a rapidly developing field like computer science. Perhaps what drove him through his dark times was the idea that his great-grandfather was George Boole, the 19th century mathematician who invented the underlying logic. all Of this digital stuff.
We also think about the impact awards have on people. When news of Hinton's award broke, I thought of Seamus Heaney, who won the literary prize in 1995. He described the experience as “like being attacked by something.” generally “A benign avalanche.” Note that I say “almost.” One of the consequences of the Nobel Prize is that the recipient instantly becomes public property, and everyone wants a piece of it. “All I'm doing these days is 'going to work,'” Heaney wrote resignedly to a friend in June 1996. And this situation will continue for weeks and months yet… Whatever the final outcome of the Stockholm effect, its direct result is the desire to quit and start over. with a unique persona (within myself)”
So…note to Jeff: Congratulations. And manage your calendar.
what i was reading
talk like this Is chatting with a bot a conversation? wonderful new yorker essay Historian Jill Lepore talks about interacting with GPT-4o's Advanced Voice Mode.
Interesting times… October 2, 2024. this particular problem Heather Cox Richardson's essential Substack blog is a gem.
real page turner Elite college students who can't read books, interesting report in atlantic ocean Written by Rose Horowich.
Don’t worry if the salted bodies, partial skeletons, and taxidermied carcasses that fill the museum seem a little, well, quiet. In the latest coup in artificial intelligence, dead animals will be given a new lease of life, sharing their stories and even their experiences of the afterlife.
More than a dozen exhibits, from American cockroaches and dodo remains to a stuffed red panda and a fin whale skeleton, will be given the gift of conversation on Tuesday for a month-long project at the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology.
Dead creatures and models with personalities and accents can communicate by voice or text through visitors’ mobile phones. This technology allows animals to describe their time on Earth and the challenges they have faced in the hope of reversing apathy towards the biodiversity crisis.
“Museums use AI in many ways, but we think this is the first application where we’re talking from an object perspective,” said Jack Ashby, the museum’s assistant director. “Part of the experiment is to see if giving these animals their own voices will make people think differently about them. Giving cockroaches a voice will change the public’s perception of them. Is it possible?”
A fin whale skeleton hangs from the museum’s roof. Photo: University of Cambridge
This project was conceived by natural perspectiveis a company building AI models to strengthen the connection between people and the natural world. For each exhibit, the AI includes specific details about where the specimen lived, its natural environment, how it arrived in the collection, and all available information about the species it represents.
The exhibits change their tone and words to suit the age of the person they are talking to, allowing them to converse in over 20 languages, including Spanish and Japanese. The platypus’s cry is Australian-like, the red panda’s call is slightly Himalayan-like, and the mallard’s call is British-like. Through live conversations with the exhibits, Ashby hopes visitors will learn more than can be written on the labels on the specimens.
As part of the project, the conversations visitors have with exhibits will be analyzed to better understand the information visitors are looking for in specimens. The AI suggests a variety of questions for the fin whales, such as “Tell me about life in the open ocean,” but visitors can ask whatever they like.
“When you talk to these animals, you really get a sense of their personalities. It’s a very strange experience,” Ashby said. “I started by asking questions like, “Where did you live?’ and “How did you die?’ but eventually I asked more human questions. Tanda. ”
Mallard ducks have a British accent due to AI. Photo: University of Cambridge
The museum’s dodo, one of the world’s most complete specimens, fed on fruit, seeds and the occasional small invertebrate in Mauritius, explains how its strong, curved beak is perfect for splitting tough fruit. I explained what it was. Tambaracock tree.
The AI-enhanced exhibit also shared views on whether humans should try to revive the species through cloning. “Even with advanced technology, the dodo’s return will require not only our DNA, but also Mauritius’ delicate ecosystem that supported our species,” the group said. . “This is a poignant reminder that the essence of all life goes beyond our genetic code and is intricately woven into our natural habitats.”
A similar level of obvious care was given to the fin whale skeleton that hangs from the museum’s roof. When I asked him about the most famous person he had ever met, he admitted that in his lifetime he had never had the opportunity to meet anyone as “famous” as humans see them. “But,” the AI-powered skeleton continued, “I would like to think that anyone who stands below me and feels awe and love for the natural world is important.”
Q
Wayne refused to use them. Musicians’ unions tried to ban them. Then computers overtook them. Synthesizers have been ridiculed, despised, and discarded throughout history, but somehow they’re entering a new golden age.
A new wave of synth makers has emerged, developing machines that are more ambitious and often outlandish than their beeping predecessors, satisfying the desires of a growing fan base.
Thousands, including Portishead’s Adrian Utley, gathered at Makina Bristonica, a festival of “knobs, buttons and discussion” in Bristol this weekend, to perform and sometimes cross the line from musical instruments to conceptual art. The designers created devices that they believed in.
Less than a decade ago, anyone wanting to discover the latest in electronic music production had to make a pilgrimage to the annual Superbooth fair in Berlin, but now there are several Superbooth fairs in the UK It has been. SynthFest UK took place in Sheffield last week, and Synth East in Norwich opened for the first time last year.
“A lot of people are using computers to make electronic music,” says Machina Bristronica co-founder Ben Chilton. Over the past 20 years, software like Cubase, Reason, and Ableton Live have made it easy for anyone to create music on their computer or mobile phone. Software synthesizers can be heard in nightclubs everywhere.
“People sold synthesizers when they were excited about computers, but a few years later they started craving something they could touch,” Chilton says. The ability to shape sounds on the fly during a performance, rather than feeling like you’re programming a machine, is behind the resurgence of synth hardware, he added.
Human League performs live on stage in 1983. Photo: BSR Entertainment/Gentle Look/Getty Images
Synthesizers have inspired generations of musicians in one form or another. Pink Floyd created menacing soundscapes. dark side of the moon Using a synthesizer in my briefcase. The Human League, Gary Numan, and Cabaret Voltaire pioneered the 80s synthpop sound, later enhanced by the Yamaha DX7. And while Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” brought the Moog to disco, DJ Pierre and Juan Atkins pumped out a Roland TB-303, intended as a bass replacement, for squelky sounds. Modern dance music would be very different if we hadn’t realized that it was possible to create . Acid house sounds.
Modern synthesizers fall into two categories. Self-contained desktop synths typically have a keyboard and a number of knobs, dials, and faders that allow the player to swoop or soar the instrument. Additionally, there are synths assembled from different modules, some of which generate sounds and others which manipulate sounds. Modular synths can be simple or extraordinary hunks of cables and metal, like the 15,000-pound colossus that film composer Hans Zimmer built to restart the BBC Radiophonic Workshop this year. There is also. In 2013, sound on sound reported that there are approximately 730 modules available in Eurorack, which has become a modular standard. Today, there are over 16,000.
Yesterday also marked the 60th anniversary of the first commercially available synth, the Moog Modular. Until 1964, anyone interested in the possibilities of electronic music had to build their own machine. Delia Derbyshire uses tape and BBC test equipment in her radiophonic workshop. doctor who Theme song. After Robert Moog’s synthesizer came the Buchla Easel.
“Originally they were designed with the home organist in mind, but by the mid-‘70s people realized they were instruments in their own right. [Jean-Michel] Jarre, Tomita, Vangelis” is a synth historian and ” synthesiszero evolution.
Not everyone liked them. Some musicians feared being replaced, and some bands took a stand. Queen said, “No synthesizers!” It was used on the covers of four albums, and in 1982 the musicians’ union passed a ban.
Now that just about every sound imaginable can be generated from a computer, the options are endless and creators are turning to more limited devices. Tom Whitwell, former editor mix mugnow manufactures synth modules as Music Thing, and today at machina Bristronica he will be demonstrating his latest equipment, a portable modular synth.
Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in London in 1970. Photo: Mirror Pix/Getty Images
The increased interest in synthesizers is due to a post-pandemic boom and easy access to factories in China, Whitwell said, noting that synthesizers like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, James It is said to be used by Blake, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and others.
“The barrier is much lower,” he said. “You design something, send some files to Shenzhen, and three weeks later you have these magical circuit boards for £25. It means you can take on the challenge.”
He helps the participants of Machina Bristronica create microphonies. This is a musical joke inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, in which the sound of a synthesizer switch is captured with a microphone and fed back into the machine.
The key to synthesizer success is getting people playing again, said Jack Edwards of Beep Boop Electronics. “It rekindles the spark of interest in my environment and the universe that I had when I was a child,” he says. “It’s a conversation between the player and the instrument. You get something that words can’t explain.”
Tesla shares dropped almost 9% on Friday, erasing roughly $60 billion from the company’s market value following the underwhelming announcement of its highly anticipated robotaxis that failed to impress investors.
The electric vehicle manufacturer’s stock plummeted to $217 at the close of the market after CEO Elon Musk revealed a much-hyped self-driving car at an event in Hollywood. Since the start of the year, the stock price has declined by about 12%.
Musk stated that Tesla would commence the development of a fully autonomous CyberCab by 2026 priced under $30,000 and introduced a van capable of transporting 20 people autonomously within the city, aiming to revolutionize parking.
Prior to the event, he tweeted: “And within 50 years all transportation will be fully autonomous.”
During the presentation, he mentioned that parking would no longer be necessary in the city.
However, analysts were disappointed by the lack of specifics at the event concerning Tesla’s projects and other developments. Musk has a track record of making ambitious projections about future products that often fail to materialize within set deadlines or at all.
Royal Bank of Canada analyst Tom Narayan remarked in an investor note that the event lacked specifics. He stated, “Investors we spoke to during the event felt that the event glossed over actual figures and timelines.”
“These shortcomings are common at Tesla events, which appear to focus more on promoting and branding Tesla’s vision rather than providing concrete data for analysis. Consequently, we anticipate a decline in the stock price.”
Narayan also mentioned that some investors were anticipating a preview of an affordable car equipped with pedals and a steering wheel set to be launched next year, but no such announcement was made.
Garrett Nelson, an analyst at investment research firm CFRA, expressed disappointment with the revelations about the CyberCab and the lack of information regarding more economical vehicles.
He said: “The event raised numerous questions but was surprisingly brief and resembled more of a controlled demonstration than a comprehensive presentation. We were unsatisfied with the absence of details about [Tesla’s] near-term product plans, which include a more affordable model and the Roadster. Musk previously mentioned on a conference call that production of these models is set for 2025.”
The British sense of humor is cherished among Brits, but it’s natural to assume that many British jokes may be embarrassing to other cultures. There is an interesting point to consider here – humor is not universal. What one finds amusing is not inherent, but rather cultural.
Humor differs significantly from laughter, which is a common experience for all human beings, even the grumpiest ones. Laughter is much easier to comprehend and study scientifically.
For instance, TV producers have long understood that incorporating a pre-recorded “laugh track” can make people perceive something as funnier compared to when they don’t hear that laughter (I’m Looking at You, 90’s Sitcom). However, neuroscientist Robert Provine found that jokes are not even necessary. In a study conducted in 2013, Provine solely played the laugh track, which surprisingly was adequate to induce laughter in nearly all participants.
Provine’s groundbreaking research on laughter involved observing it in real-world settings rather than just in a lab. Observing people laughing in public, he empirically proved that individuals are significantly more likely to laugh in the presence of others than when alone, approximately 30 times more likely. Moreover, laughter is not necessarily a response to finding something funny but serves as a form of social communication, indicating a positive, nonthreatening interaction.
Laughter is not exclusive to humans; it is observed across the animal kingdom. For example, apes enjoy being tickled and vocalize their enjoyment while playing. Kea parrots are known for their playful behaviors and have distinct calls to amuse others. Additionally, mice produce ultrasonic giggles when playing. Rats tickled regularly by their owners exhibit immediate laughter upon the owner’s arrival, displaying excitement for playtime.
Powered by Galaxy AI to provide resourceful assistance Thanks to the Chat Assist feature on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, Galaxy AI analyzes your chats and messages in real-time and displays contextual suggestions as you type to help craft the perfect reply. Therefore, choosing a casual tone is likely to include lighter and wittier touches.
However, humor poses a greater challenge in understanding. What makes certain things more amusing than others? And how do you define what is considered amusing, depending on individual perspectives?
One compelling explanation for humor is that it involves the buildup and release of tension. This concept can explain some well-known comedic moments, such as Del Boy falling on the bar, Basil Fawlty hitting a car with a tree branch, or Mark Simmons’ joke at the Edinburgh Fringe: “I planned to sail around the world in the smallest ship, but chickened out.” These instances are humorous, especially when viewed from a non-human perspective.
Generative AI, trained on vast internet data, is adept at replicating various humor styles, including generating jokes based on given parameters. When prompted with a framework like, “I thought I was going to sail around the world in the world’s smallest ship…”, an AI chatbot replied, “I felt like I was sinking.” Not a bad attempt, right?
However, creating the framework itself, i.e., original humor, involves distilling quirky and unconventional ideas that resonate with shared human experiences but lack any firsthand experience of the world beyond online sources. For now, these unique concepts offer intriguing ways to engage with audiences.
Throughout history, there have been many individuals who meticulously monitored their weight, but one of the most intriguing figures is Santorio Santorio. In the 1500s, he devoted his life to tracking his body, weighing everything he consumed and everything he excreted.
For a particular scientific investigation, he created what he called a sanctorian weighing chair – a chair placed next to the dining table on a steel scale that closely monitored one’s weight.
His theory was based on the idea that individuals could maintain their weight by consuming the same amount that their bodies expelled (urine, feces, sweat, or what he referred to as “insensible sweat”). If it detected overeating, the chair would lower, making it impossible to reach the food. This would prevent further consumption until the end of the meal.
Despite being mocked at the time, Santorio’s concept had merit. The notion of a personalized, experimental, and quantitative approach to health is undeniably appealing.
Nearly two centuries later, Benjamin Franklin, inspired by Santorio, meticulously recorded his dietary intake and compiled a list of all 13 of his virtues. He marked them whenever he committed an immoral act, monitoring and quantifying his life in great detail.
In the modern era, individuals have pushed boundaries with technology to track various aspects of their lives. For instance, a Reddit user created a beautiful visualization depicting a baby’s sleep and wake times during the initial months of life.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Take your health tracking to the next level with Galaxy AI If you want to stay healthy, pairing Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip6 with a Samsung Galaxy wearable is easy. and free samsung health The app allows users to track sleep patterns, heart rate, blood pressure, and calories. This information can be used to manage your health condition. energy score – Daily measurements of your physical and mental energy and readiness with Galaxy AI. Alternatively, you can engage in a calming meditation program on mindfulness and relaxation.
The advancement of wearables has made monitoring our health easier than ever. With technology, we can now effortlessly track various health metrics. AI-powered wearables connected to smartphone apps can monitor sleep patterns, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Having access to objective numbers and data can be reassuring. It can serve as a motivator for achieving our health goals and connecting with communities that prioritize health tracking and accountability. However, it’s essential not to prioritize tracking numbers over happiness and well-being.
When it comes to fitness, remember that numbers are merely proxies for what truly matters. Each individual is unique, and responses to external stimuli vary. While trackers can provide insights into what is “normal” for a person, this data should be used to inform rather than dictate health status. Human bodies are complex and should not be reduced to mere data points.
Back in 1830, what would eventually become one of the most renowned novels in French literature was just an empty page. Victor Hugo had been tasked with writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame the year before, but instead of focusing on it, he was preoccupied with other obligations. His publisher informed him that he was running out of time to finish the book, giving him a strict six-month deadline.
To force himself to deliver, Hugo resorted to working in the nude – except for a large knitted shawl. Unable to go out in public, he had no choice but to stay at home and focus on writing. This wardrobe tactic proved successful, as The Hunchback of Notre Dame was completed and published two weeks ahead of schedule on January 14, 1831.
Procrastination is a common challenge that people face when they struggle to find the motivation to complete tasks. Piers Steel, a prominent researcher in the field of procrastination, defines it as “the act of delaying tasks even though you know it will worsen your situation.” Hugo’s experience highlights how overthinking rather than taking action has been a prevalent issue for centuries.
References to procrastination can be traced back to ancient times, with examples found in early Roman, Greek, and Egyptian texts. Hesiod, an ancient Greek poet, warned against procrastination and laziness in his works, emphasizing the importance of diligence. The Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita also addresses the consequences of procrastination, highlighting its detrimental effects.
While procrastination has always existed, modern factors like social media and technology have exacerbated the problem. With numerous distractions, the way we approach work has evolved, making it easier to procrastinate when tasks are not immediately vital. Companies are now grappling with challenges like “cyber loafing,” where employees waste time online instead of working.
Galaxy Z Fold6
Enhance productivity with Galaxy AI
Experience the joy of procrastination with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6, equipped with Galaxy AI features for efficient multitasking and organization. From Transcript Assist for detailed meeting notes to Note for translation and formatting, the tools you need are at your fingertips. While it may not solve all your problems, it’s a great start.
The conventional view that procrastination stems from poor self-control has shifted to emphasizing emotional regulation. Research indicates that procrastination often results from avoiding negative emotions associated with tasks, leading to a cycle of procrastination and negative feelings.
Technology, while contributing to procrastination, also offers solutions. Apps like Forest promote focused work by rewarding users with virtual trees. Generative AI can help overcome creative blocks, providing tools to combat procrastination.
It’s important to acknowledge and address procrastination with self-compassion. Occasional distractions can boost self-esteem and curiosity, ultimately enhancing motivation. Starting with small tasks and gradually progressing can help overcome the discomfort of returning to work after procrastination. Remember, even delayed progress eventually leads to completion.
The U.S. government may seek court intervention to break up Google and challenge its monopoly in the internet search market.
According to court documents filed by the Justice Department, Google is considering implementing “structural remedies” that would restrict the use of products like Chrome, Android, and Play. The government believes this would provide Google with an unfair advantage over its competitors.
Additional measures being considered include prohibiting Google from paying to have its search engine preinstalled on devices like smartphones.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., has objected to the lawsuit, arguing that it represents government overreach at the expense of consumers.
The lawsuit stems from a previous court ruling in August which found Google in violation of antitrust laws for building an illegal monopoly in the search market. The Justice Department is pursuing further actions to challenge Google’s dominance.
The filing alleges that Google’s actions have harmed users and emphasizes the need to restore competition in a market crucial to Americans.
The proposed remedies could prevent Google from using its search-related products, such as Chrome, Play, and Android, to gain an advantage over competitors through new search features like Artificial Intelligence.
Furthermore, Google may be prohibited from paying major phone companies to make Chrome the default browser on their devices, a practice that has cost the company billions.
Google’s vice president of regulation criticized the Justice Department’s proposals, warning of potential harm to consumers, businesses, and developers.
Hello. Welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, technology news editor at Guardian US.
I’m taking over TechScape from Alex Hern. In this newsletter I would like to introduce myself and my ideas.
Blake Montgomery, new TechScape writer. Photo: The Guardian
A little about me: I started working for the Guardian the day Sam Bankman-Freed went to trial. My first break from my new job coincided with the shock firing of Sam Altman at OpenAI. A story I often tell at parties is how I was arrested and jailed while reporting. deadly testicular injection.
New newsletter: TechScape immerses you in the influence of politics, culture, and technology. We analyze the importance of the week’s most important technology news, explore odd niches, stay up to date with Guardian coverage, and give you helpful tips from time to time. My version of TechScape is a newsletter about technology and the people who make it. Technology, both as a product and as an industry, is the biggest driver of change in our time. It intersects every aspect of our lives and changes our daily behavior. Think of TechScape as your guide to the future and future present.
Thank you for your participation.
This week on iPhone
Yu-Gi-Oh! There’s a lot to explore in Master Duel. Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Average usage time per day: 6 hours 2 minutes.
Most used apps: Yu-Gi-Oh! master duel. I just downloaded this app last week and it stirs up some nostalgia in me. teenage trading card era for better or for worse. Quite a lot of things in the game have changed since then, so there’s a lot of digital territory to explore.
Silicon Valley’s elite schools are testing temporary bans on technology
There is a popular opinion that mobile phones are bad for everyone, especially children. Photo: The Guardian
Leaders in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe are debating whether students should have cellphones in their hands during class. A growing number of people in power, from presidents to school superintendents, think they shouldn’t do that.
California’s governor last week signed a bill requiring schools to reduce screen time for students, and the Los Angeles School District, the second largest in the United States, passed a ban on public high school phones on campus starting in 2025. The UK is not making this decision piecemeal. Similar to the US, ministers announced plans in February to ban phones in schools across the country. Hungary now requires schools to collect students’ devices at the start of the school day. France is in the midst of trialing a ban on the use of phones for students under 15. The Netherlands has banned the use of phones in schools from January 1, 2024.
Consensus is growing. Taking up arms against screen time is a popular stance among both conservatives and progressives. There is a popular opinion that phones are bad for everyone, especially children. One of the problems is that it is a universally acknowledged fact that everyone living in our time must have a smartphone. How can we prepare students to balance the two competing needs of screen time and screen-free time?
Will going tech-free help students learn better in school? Photo: The Guardian
An elite school in the heart of Silicon Valley is asking students to put down their devices and rethink their relationship with technology. The $62,400-a-year, private school for girls at Castile School in Palo Alto, Calif., has banned cell phones in classrooms since middle school principal Laura Zappas can remember. Also smart watches. The school has 185 students in grades 6, 7, and 8, aged 11 to 14.
Zappas instituted a completely technology-free week last school year, requiring all Castillaja students to lock their devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and school-issued laptops, at the start of the school day for one week in March. The girls took notes, filled out all assignments on paper, and recorded data from their science experiments in graph journals. They wrote down the homework they needed to complete on paper planners that Zappas personally distributed. They complained of cramps because they handwritten more lines in a day than any other grade.
“We found that students with laptops had several screens open at the same time,” Zappas said. “They may be texting or playing games instead of taking notes. Or, a student’s urge to start class may be replaced by waiting for instructions from the teacher or what they are doing. Instead, I wanted to open my laptop as soon as I entered the classroom. I was always drawn to my laptop.”
The initiative, simply named “Tech Free Week,” served to reset digital-first educational practices during the pandemic, Zappas said. “I think before coronavirus, we were using a combination of paper and technology. And I think my own education has changed pretty dramatically with coronavirus, with all assignments now having to be submitted electronically. And since COVID-19, it has become our daily life.”
What does Unplugged look like as a way for students and teachers to think more deeply about our relationship with technology?
Administrators described Tech Free Week as a pause for rethinking. How can we participate as a community without screens?”
A recent study from Tech-Free Week found that 42% of students improved their ability to concentrate after returning to paper and pen. Photo: The Guardian
The results were positive, with 42% of students saying they were able to concentrate better in class and were less distracted during schoolwork, according to a survey conducted by the school. Almost three-quarters of teachers asked Zappas to repeat the effort. She is in discussions with administrators at the 9th- through 12th-grade high school to implement a technology-free week for older students.
Zappas emphasized that advance notice and careful preparation made Technology Free Week possible. She notified school teachers of the initiative four months in advance and pitched it to parents six weeks in advance. She asked both teachers and parents to consider how they can build healthy relationships. That a week without technology required so much planning shows that devices can be an inseparable part of modern life, even for 11-year-old students.
We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before.
“We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before,” Zappas said. “And it took a long time for them to figure out, ‘Okay, what’s the right word that I want to use here?’ How do I find that?”
ILog in to Dave Winer’s blog. script news
you’ll see constantly updated notes that tell you how many years, months, days, hours, and seconds your blog has been running.
The year field will switch to 30 sometime tomorrow morning. That means Dave’s blog will be stirring things up every day for 30 years.
He really notable person
a talented hacker and software developer who embodies the spirit of the early Internet.
In the 1980s, he created a new type of software called ThinkTank. “Outliner”
It’s a computerized version of the hierarchical list we all use when planning articles and presentations, but until then was scrawled on paper.
Like Dan Bricklin’s spreadsheets, this was a novel idea at the time, but nearly every type of writing software now includes an outliner.
Surprisingly, Microsoft Word also has this feature.
In 1983, Winer founded a company called Living Videotext to develop and commercialize the outline idea, and six years later sold it to Symantec to earn enough money to do his own work for the rest of his life.
I got the funds. One of them is to play a leading role in development. RSS
(Very Simple Syndication) is a tool that allows users to track different websites in one application (a news aggregator), constantly monitoring the site for new content.
(Think of this as the hidden wiring of the web.)
As the use of RSS feeds became commonplace, someone had the idea of being able to attach audio files to RSS feeds, and Dave implemented that idea with a nice geeky touch.
I attached a Grateful Dead song. Initially, this new technology was called audio blogging, but eventually a British journalist came up with the term “podcasting” and the word stuck.
So, while Dave was there to create some cool stuff, it was his blog that brought him to a wider audience.
“Some people are born to play country music.” he wrote
At some stage.
“I was born to blog. When I first started blogging, I thought everyone would become a blogger. I was wrong. Most people don’t have the urge to say what they think. I don’t have one.’”
Dave was just the opposite. He was (and still is) articulate and forthright.
His formidable track record as a technological innovator meant that he could not be dismissed as an eccentric.
The fact that he was financially secure meant he didn’t have to pander to anyone and could speak his mind. And he did.
That made him a prominent presence on the web from the moment he launched Scripting News in October 1994.
Like many of us, he realized that what became known as the blogosphere might be a modern realization of Jurgen Habermas’ ideas. “Public sphere”
Because it was open to everyone, everything was up for discussion, and social status did not determine who was allowed to speak.
But what he – and we – underestimated is that tech companies like Google and Facebook have surrounded their public realm with their own walled gardens, where “free speech” is algorithmically enforced.
The speed and comprehensiveness of the central monitoring of speakers and their data. Mined for advertising purposes.
In my experience, most journalists fail to understand the importance of the blogosphere.
This is partly due to the fact that they thought, like Dr. Johnson, that “no one but a blockhead writes about anything other than money,” so bloggers must be weirdos.
(This is difficult for those of us who happen to be in this situation, but both bloggers
)
But that was largely because the mainstream media was hypnotized and blindsided by the dizzying rise of social media.
Journalists have come to believe that the blogosphere must be a meeting place for old hats, relics of the past, weirdos in Cornish pasty shoes, nerds and ponytailed men. Social media was key.
If that’s really what they think, Winer has news for them.
The blogosphere is alive and well and thriving.
In fact, much of the best writing and thinking of our time is found here.
I can say this because I use tools and read them every day. feedland.org – Something Dave made to make it easier to drink water from a fire hose.
Clay Shirkey, an early Internet sage, Please put it down once
There is no such thing as information overload, only “filter failure.”
And there’s no excuse to ignore the blogosphere.
what i was reading
100th anniversary celebration
Jimmy Carter turned 100 this week, and his former speechwriter James Fallows wrote the following message: generous rating His stuff on his Substack.
Look, I don’t have any hands…
Our ubiquitous future is astonishing. blog post
By Allen Pike: I think self-driving cars will become commonplace.
The truth about monopoly
Antitrust Revolution: Title great essay
in harpers Barry Lynn, on democracy’s awakening to the dangers of corporate power.
Andrew Carter and Adam DiMartino launched Smallhold in 2017 with a goal of providing mushrooms to more people. Carter believed that mushrooms are highly sustainable in terms of water, waste, plastic use, and emissions. Over the years, Smallhold has successfully introduced specialty mushrooms like shiitake, green oysters, and trumpet mushrooms to grocery stores and households across America.
As mushrooms gained popularity as a symbol of sustainability during the pandemic, Smallhold found success and attention from the media, resulting in a valuation of $90 million. Despite starting in a Brooklyn shipping container, the brand expanded rapidly with farms in New York, Texas, and California, selling in 1,400 stores nationwide.
Smallhold’s co-founders, DeMartino and Carter, believe in promoting sustainability and reducing waste in the food industry. However, the company faced challenges when the founders resigned, leading to Smallhold filing for bankruptcy. Although the brand was acquired and reorganized, it struggled to maintain its original vision, closing farms and reducing staff.
For entrepreneurs, Smallhold’s journey serves as a lesson on finding a niche beyond sustainability and ensuring economic sustainability. While the company focused on unique mushroom varieties and sustainable practices, it also built a strong brand through aesthetics and social media. It’s crucial for startups to deliver quality products, maintain profitability, and avoid excessive reliance on venture capital.
In the evolving landscape of food startups, lessons can be learned from Smallhold’s experience. By combining sustainability with quality, variety, and branding, companies can attract customers and thrive in the market. Innovating in the food industry requires a balance between financial responsibility and sustainability goals, defining success on your own terms.
Amazon has been attempting to enter the gaming industry for quite some time. Despite having abundant resources and hiring top designers, progress has been slow. However, in recent times, Amazon has found success in releasing massively multiplayer online games. First came New World in 2021, a fantasy game focusing on survival and player-built settlements. This was followed by Lost Ark in the next year, developed by SmileGate from South Korea, blending MMO elements with Diablo-style combat. While reviews were mixed, both games found popularity among players. Now, Amazon is launching its third MMO in four years, Throne and Liberty, also developed in Korea. Here’s what you need to know about this latest offering.
What is Throne and Liberty?
A large, detailed world… Throne and Liberty. Photo: Amazon Games
Throne and Liberty is an MMO set in a fantasy world akin to World of Warcraft. Players create characters and embark on adventures, either alone, with friends, or as part of a guild. The game offers main storylines, cooperative dungeon battles, and player-versus-player combat for territory control.
The game had a prolonged development, initially announced in 2011 as an expansion of the Lineage series. It was released in South Korea in December after facing delays, technical changes, and leadership shifts. Amazon is the global publisher, having acquired the rights in February the previous year.
How is Throne and Liberty different?
Traditional MMO combat combined with action-game dodging and parrying for real combat. Photo: Amazon Games
Throne and Liberty offers unique elements, such as the ability to transform into various animals for faster travel. Combat and character progression stand out; instead of fixed classes, character abilities revolve around weapon usage. With six different weapons and customizable combinations, players can create unique playstyles.
Is Throne and Liberty worth playing?
A unique world… a massive floating whale in the sky. Photo: Amazon Games
Throne and Liberty offers engaging exploration and combat mechanics, blending MMO and action elements. However, it lacks depth in storytelling and character development. Crafting and upgrading systems may feel complex and tedious. Overall, the game is free-to-play and provides a decent gaming experience without requiring excessive time investment.
Should I try Throne and Liberty?
Fashionable style… Characters resembling a mix of wizards, warriors, orcs, and goblins. Photo: Amazon Games
Throne and Liberty is recommended for casual play, offering basic yet enjoyable gameplay. However, if choosing between Amazon’s Korean MMOs, Lost Ark may be a better choice due to its more engaging combat and storytelling. Both games are free-to-play, providing diverse experiences for players.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk into a sweaty, dusty club on a desert planet from Star Wars? What would be played on the radio in a casino on a planet like Las Vegas? What do Tatooine’s merchants and villains listen to when they’re not working on moisture farms or fighting off Tusken Raiders? Cody Matthew Johnson’s life these past few years has been spent pondering such questions. The composer and artist has previously worked in video game music, including Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Bayonetta, and the cult indie Akira Kurosawa’s sidescroller Trek to Yomi. Surely is credited to. However, in Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, he was tasked with creating music for a shady criminal organization.
“While the scope of musical expression within the world was limited in the original trilogy, this was an opportunity to legitimately explore the music of the time on a broader scale,” Johnson said. It was offered for his work in The Outlaws. “Creating bar music in the style of the original trilogy has its own set of ‘rules’, and while this game is certainly set in that era, we have was only encouraged. slightly Inspired by the cantina music from the original trilogy.”
We’re all familiar with John Williams’ 1977 Cantina Band music (unfortunately, the genre was commonly known as “jazz”), but it’s mainstream. Matthew Johnson digs deeper, exploring the dirt under the fingernails of Star Wars dunces and getting a real feel for the culture of those forgotten by the Empire and too demoralized to join the Rebellion. There was a need. He had to make different music for a world we were already familiar with.
Cody Matthew Johnson, composer, songwriter, producer of Star Wars Outlaws Photo: Knocking Bird
“The galaxy is vast, typically with thousands (some say millions) of planets, and the last 40 years of in-universe music have only scratched the surface of the possibilities., was not only about the main character Kay Vess and what she listens to, but also the underworld subcultures she exists in, such as Toshara, Akiba, Tatooine, and Kijimi. Not only music, but also music. created By that subculture.”
The result is a full album’s worth of tracks, over an hour long, and more than 10% of all diegetic or “in-universe” Star Wars music ever created. To my ears, Songs from the Underworld has elements of ELO, Bonobo, Snarky Puppy, Kraftwerk, and Ry Cooder. It bounces between genres and utilizes weird and wonderful instrumentation. Matthew Johnson is just as happy to use the didgeridoo as he is the guitar, which is not surprising considering he is a trained ethnomusicologist.
“All kinds of sounds, textures and instruments were on the table: spider monkeys, seals, vintage carbon phone microphones, cimbalom, yair tambour, furushi, shakuhachi, gamelan arranged on a drum set…” he says of this Maxima. Let’s talk about rhythm. “I searched every nook and cranny for inspiration to best represent these worlds, and every once in a while, I heard the sounds of gamelan, trash cans, didgeridoos, and kazoos being smashed together.” Just right For the outlaws of Star Wars.”
Matthew Johnson was “making it hard on himself” to avoid having “funny alien music” playing in every den of scum and villains where the player controls Kay Vess. He seriously considered and thought about the sounds of instruments within the world that the inhabitants of these worlds could physically play. He describes “the tonal elements of different instruments, the emotions and symbolic meanings they evoke, and how they can be combined to create instruments that may have been created or inspired by the world’s natural resources and cultures.” I had to think about whether I could create sound.
“I heard the gamelan, trash can, didgeridoo and kazoo being smashed together.” It’s just right”… Star Wars Outlaws. Photo: Ubisoft
For example, he explains in great detail that the sympathetic, resonant buzz of the sitar, the aggressive attack of the drumsticks of the saz and bouzouki, must be considered in conjunction with the playing style of the nylon-string guitar and charango of flamenco. I’m doing it. All these incredibly special sounds combine to give you a unique melodic instrumental sound that you would get on a desert planet. This is also the case with the track “If These Sands Could Speak.”
To create the collaborative spirit and “all in this together” attitude at the heart of so much alternative underground music, Matthew Johnson needed a band. “The joy of life is being able to collaborate with friends,” he explains. “It was a dream gig for everyone involved in this project, including musicians, engineers and instrument designers.The joy of playing and creating music is something we all share. That’s why we decided to dedicate our lives to this. Projects like Star Wars Outlaws combine my background as a record producer, performing musician, recording artist, and video game composer. , the perfect instrument for making music feel It’s like having a party.”
That’s right. The diegetic music in Star Wars Outlaws complements the equally great original score by Wilbert Roget II, providing some great musical ebbs and flows rarely seen in open-world games. The score is designed to be heard by you, the player. The music on the radio and in the bar is for Kay Vess. I think Outlaws is one of the best examples of how in-game music can add texture and depth, even to a world with as much history and lore as Star Wars.
“‘The Outlaws’ is the perfect vessel to show how music can reveal narrative information without literally conveying it,” says Johnson. “As Kay walks down the hallway and turns a corner, she hears the faint sound of a reverbed subwoofer hitting a kick drum. As she approaches the door at the end of the hallway, more musical elements can be heard. When Kei opens the door, music floods her body, and there’s a band on stage, dancing patrons, dim neon lights, and two stories of fog throughout. An underground nightclub has appeared.
“Even before they arrive at the club, the music, and equally importantly the implementation of music into the game itself, reveals a lot about our setting to the player.”
Songs from the Underworld is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. For me, it gives me a sense of what it’s like to be planetside in Star Wars, what it’s like to actually put yourself in the shoes of characters who live and breathe different atmospheres.
Star Wars Outlaws is available now on PS5, Xbox One, and PC. the song of the underworld Available on Spotify.
TThe first expansion story for Bethesda’s space RPG comes after a year of updates that have fixed the game’s flaws. Quest-breaking bugs are gone, there are vehicles for easier planetside travel, city maps are improved, and a 60fps mode is added for Xbox Series X players. However, NPCs still feel stiff and there are many loading screens. Despite this, the Shattered Space expansion aims to build upon the game’s progress.
Bethesda realized that traveling through space via cutscenes was lackluster, so Shattered Space mostly takes place on a single map. The story revolves around the Varoon family, a cult of space serpent worshippers. Players embark on a mission to save a civilization hit by a catastrophe, encountering various tasks and challenges along the way.
Tasks range from interstellar travel to defeating phantoms and mundane chores. While reminiscent of classic Bethesda RPGs, many tasks lack excitement and are hindered by clunky movement mechanics.
Exploring the planet’s landscape can be frustrating due to impassable rocks and lack of interesting discoveries. The gameplay lacks the depth and immersion found in Bethesda’s previous titles.
The attempt to introduce cosmic horror elements falls short, reverting to typical gunfights and loot collection. Unreliable quest markers make the game frustrating, overshadowing the engaging main story and visual appeal of the game.
Shattered Space offers more of the same experience as Starfield, lacking the variety of spaceflight. Despite its flaws, there is potential for improvement in future updates, but a full sequel may be needed to address fundamental issues. The core brilliance of Starfield remains unfulfilled, leaving room for growth.
This fall marks 10 years since we launched the Guardian Long Read. Looking back now, it’s hard to remember how counterintuitive this idea was at the time. At the time, readers were still increasingly willing to read things longer than a few hundred words, or even 140 characters. Creating a space in the Guardian dedicated to publishing multiple 5,000 (or more) words a week, many of which take months or even years to produce, is a strange project. It seemed like. Thankfully, our readers aren’t, and we’ve learned a lot about everything from the “brutal, paranoid and failed” Home Office and the fight against Islamic State to the strange world of competitive farming and the rise of hygge. They embraced our deeply researched stories.
Just a few months after launching The Long Read, our audio team had the bright idea to start the Audio Long Read Podcast. The idea was simple: get a good voice actor to read the article. That was it. We found that our listeners loved it. (A few years ago, I met Ed Miliband briefly and he said he likes to listen to podcasts when he swims in the pool.)
Since then, we’ve created well over 1,000 audio long reads. If you spend 12 hours a day doing nothing, it would take you about two months to listen to everything. While we wholeheartedly support this way of spending your time, we’ve selected just five of our favorites below.
We also have a range of 10th-anniversary content available in our audio long-form feed, and earlier this week, we began a roundtable discussion between editors about the section’s past, present, and future. And over the next 10 weeks, the podcast will be highlighting some of our favorite audio long reads from each year, along with new introductions from authors.
david wolf The Guardian Editor-in-Chief’s Long Read
This week’s picks
Tom Kerridge and Chris Stark, hosts of the podcast Proper Tasty Pub Quiz Photo: Daniel Billinghurst
Margate murder case Audible, all episodes now available Sheridan Smith and Joanne Froggatt lead the cast in this dangerously gluttonous untrue crime drama. A serial murder case occurs once every 10 years, and as a forensic psychologist, detective, and local newspaper reporter discuss the case, it becomes clear that not everyone’s testimony is reliable. Although the story is scripted, it sounds like a convincing true crime story, thanks to the actors’ deft direction and a refreshingly understated realism. Hannah Verdier
Single women in your area Wide range of weekly episodes available Prepare for contagious hysteria. In this raucous giggle-fest, hear comedians Harriet Kemsley and Amy Gledhill grapple with being single in your 30s. Is true love lurking on rodeo night? How can I find a partner who will please my picky 2-year-old daughter? Is true love washing someone’s skid-marked pants? All will be revealed. Alexi Duggins
The Secret World: Alphayed, Harrods Predator BBC Sounds, all episodes now available This Mohamed Al-Fayed expose series may be a little stilted in narration, but the victims’ astonishing testimonies are truly heart-wrenching. Hearing the stories of staff who have had their crotches grabbed, been raped, or had their ovaries checked by an in-house doctor is horrifying and a testament to the courage of those who speak out. advertisement
from now on Wide range of weekly episodes available Presenter Lisa Phillips is a former model who was abused on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island when she was 21 years old. Here she shares her story and uses it to help other abuse survivors. Part confessional, part interviews with guests, including former cult members, it transforms from the confessional of a brave soul into a deeply insightful psychological help book. advertisement
correct delicious pub quiz Wide range of weekly episodes available Every week, award-winning chef Tom Kerridge and broadcaster friend Chris Stark invite you to take part in a pub quiz at Kerridge’s gourmet bar, The Butcher’s Tap and Grill in Chelsea. Celebrity guests will be answering questions and giving food talks, with the first few episodes starting with Jamie Redknapp and Pixie Lott. Holly Richardson
There’s a podcast for that
Dapper Laughs, Jimmy Carr, Dave…a “joke” era phenomenon explored in a long-running Guardian series in 2017. Illustration: Guardian Design Team
this week, charlie lindler choose the best five Guardian audio long text readingfrom Archie Brand’s essay on the rise and fall of ‘jokes’ to Michael Aylwin’s shocking account of his wife’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
era of jokes Archie Bland’s 2017 read takes us back to the heyday of LadBible and Dapper Laughs. So we examine the era of brash and gory comedy and ask what it was all about. Archie meets a group of “party pilgrims” who take a night boat from Ayia Napa to Syria, tracing the history of youth magazines and interrogating the pinnacle of this strange culture. Richard Keys and Andy Gray are questioned over their departure from Sky over sexism. A comment that, in the immortal words of “Kesey,” was “just a joke.” “Is it time to get off the banter bus?” the piece asks. Yes, of course, but this great piece is worth riding one last time.
For more from Archie, sign up for our inaugural newsletter here
How a dazzling creative wife in her 40s recovered from Alzheimer’s disease In August this year, Guardian journalist Michael Aylwin wrote a remarkable article about his wife Vanessa and her battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Aylwin considers Vanessa’s early signs of dementia, her strength as the disease ate away at her, and recalls how their relationship changed as it took hold. This is a tough, must-read book that reveals the truth about the disease, the strain it places on marriages, and the damage that can be done by not speaking up about its effects. Michael’s description of his “dazzling and creative” wife and her “cruel and unanswerable” degradation is even more moving when heard in his own words.
My 4 miscarriages: Why is pregnancy loss so mysterious? This 2020 full-length book explores perhaps the most personal burden of all: fertility. After experiencing four consecutive miscarriages, journalist Jenny Agg explores the words we use to describe losing a pregnancy, the circumstances of miscarriage care, and what she could do to change what happened to her. I decided to investigate whether there was anything I could do. Agg gracefully writes, “To become pregnant again after a previous miscarriage is to live at the crossroads of two lives,” and Emma Powell matches her in a gripping reading of her profound words. . Additionally, Agg delves deeper into the urgent need for better miscarriage treatment on this 2021 episode of Today in Focus.
How sandwiches consumed Britain Believe it or not, there was a time before Pret a Manger, Greggs and Tesco meal deals. Lunch used to be something completely different. So how did we arrive at the sandwich monoculture? Author Sam Knight traces the packaged sandwich back to its roots in the 1980s, and how Marks & Spencer’s Egg and Cress Triangle came to be in the 80s. We look at how it has grown into a £billion industry, where ‘sandwich people’ have come to pre-empt and often dictate what people eat for lunch. Knight reads this episode’s story with the same sense of wonder and whimsy with which he wrote the original.
Cotton Capital: Repulsion – How slavery research came under criticism As part of The Guardian’s 2023 series examining the paper’s founder and its historical links to slavery, Samira Shackle will be reviewing a series of articles taking place at universities and other public institutions. We delved into similar studies and the harsh backlash that accompanied them. Shackle meets intrepid historian Nicholas Bel Romero and accompanies him on his quest to understand Cambridge’s troubled past. It’s not just about how scholarship drew from slavery, but, in Shackle’s words, “how that scholarship may have reinforced, validated, or challenged race-based thinking.” . Important parts of your report will be more convincing in audio format. To learn more about the Cotton Capital project, visit the project homepage or sign up for our 15-week newsletter series.
Why not try it…
Dig deeper into unusual hobbies, from Warhammer to wild turkey conservation. Niche that meets you.
deserterThe New York Times’ new “audio feature” features Sarah A. Topol’s epic report on a fugitive Russian military officer, narrated by Liev Schreiber.
TThe Tokyo Game Show will take place at Makuhari Messe. Makuhari Messe consists of spacious halls situated in a suburban complex about 45 minutes east of central Tokyo. The event occurs in late September and is usually accompanied by extreme heat or heavy rain, leading to humid and crowded conditions. Despite these challenges, I have always had an interest in TGS. My first experience attending was in 2008, and the memories of playing games in a crowded hall with minimal understanding of the surroundings evoke a sense of nostalgia.
Last Friday in Tokyo, many individuals, including myself, felt nostalgic as the event hall was filled with characters and series from 15 years ago. Games like Silent Hill 2 at the Konami Stand and the return of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater remake sparked memories. Popular titles like Monster Hunter from Capcom, Sony’s showcase of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and Sega’s presence with upcoming games also added to the nostalgic atmosphere. Japanese-made Astro Bots and other new games were on display, reflecting the greatness of the industry.
Alongside these prominent displays, new games like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Like a Dragon: Pirate Rokuza in Hawaiian series captivated the audience. Developers of Palworld faced challenges amidst a lawsuit from Nintendo for alleged copyright infringement. The event also featured Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, Infinity Nikki, and elaborate presentations from Paper Games, offering a variety of experiences to attendees.
Participants at last week’s Tokyo Game Show. Photo: Tomohiro Osumi/Getty Images
Exploring the diverse offerings, it became evident that indie games from around the world were prominently featured this year, showcasing a blend of creativity and innovation not seen a decade ago. Titles like Rolling Macho: Tumble to Earth from Serial Games offered unique gameplay experiences, reflecting the evolving landscape of the gaming industry.
Reflecting on my time at TGS, I was reassured that Japanese games, reminiscent of my childhood, were thriving. With new releases like Metaphor: ReFantazio from Studio Zero capturing attention, the event highlighted the enduring appeal of Japanese game development.
What to Play
Apartment Story, a Sims-style life management game. Photo: Blue Rider Interactive
One standout experience was playing Apartment Story, a Sims-like game that immerses players in the mundane life of a gaming journalist, offering a unique and intimate gaming experience worth exploring.
Available: Computer Estimated play time: 1-2 hours, multiple playthroughs possible
What to Read
“Assassin’s Creed Shadows” features a black samurai as the main character. Photo: Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed, sparking controversy and reflections on the gaming industry’s challenges. The removal of The Simpsons: Tapped Out from the app store and insights into the Yakuza series further highlight the evolving landscape of gaming.
What to Click
Question Block
Plug and play…steam deck. Photo: Valve
“Is the Valve Steam Deck suitable for plug-and-play gamers like myself? How does its performance compare to traditional PC gaming?”
The Valve Steam Deck offers a portable PC gaming experience at an accessible price point, making it a viable option for gamers seeking convenience. While some games may require minor adjustments for optimal performance, most titles are optimized for the Steam Deck, ensuring a hassle-free gaming experience. Additionally, Steam offers a hassle-free refund policy for games that do not run smoothly on the device, providing peace of mind to users.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out to us at pushbuttons@theguardian.com.
After Meta launched a new platform for sharing fraud information with banks, celebrities and others were taken away in handcuffs. The platform blocked 8,000 pages and 9,000 celebrity scams, reducing the likelihood of Australians seeing deepfake images promoting fraudulent crypto investments on Facebook. This occurred in the first 6 months following the launch.
Between January and August 2024, Australians reported $43.4 million in losses to social media scams through Scamwatch, with almost $30 million related to fake investment scams.
Meta has been dealing with scams using deepfake images of celebrities like David Koch, Gina Reinhart, Anthony Albanese, Larry Emdur, and Guy Sebastian. Politicians and regulators have pressured the company to address these scams, especially those facilitating investment fraud.
Mining tycoon Andrew Forrest is suing Meta for failing to address fraudulent activity using his image.
Meta has partnered with the Australian Financial Crime Exchange (AFCX) to launch the Fraud Information Exchange (Fire). This channel allows banks to report known fraud to Meta, enabling Meta to notify all banks involved in fraud discovered on its platform.
Seven banks, including ANZ, Bendigo Bank, CBA, HSBC, Macquarie, NAB, and Westpac, are participating in the Fire program. Another program involving AFCX’s Intel Loop information sharing service includes banks like Optus, Pivotel, Telstra, TPG, and the National Anti Scams Center.
Since the pilot launch in April, Meta has removed over 9,000 fraudulent pages and 8,000 AI-generated celebrity investment scams on Facebook and Instagram based on 102 reports received.
While the early results are promising, the number of fire reports is low compared to the losses reported to Scamwatch, with 1,600 reported losses in social media scams in August alone.
Meta reported removing 1.2 billion fake accounts worldwide in the last quarter, with 99.7% removed before user reports.
AFCX’s Rhonda Lau mentioned that the program aims to make Australia a less attractive target for fraudsters.
Meta’s David Agranovich stated that the system will help detect fraud outside the platform, connecting the dots between fraudulent activities on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta provides the list of blocked domains to partners and will grant access to the Fire platform to its threat exchange system to detect criminal activity like covert influence operations and child abuse on the platform.
Mr. Agranovich acknowledged the frustration Australians may face in reporting fraud to Meta and mentioned plans for improvement.
Both the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ welcomed the collaboration with Meta. Deputy Treasurer Stephen Jones introduced a draft bill to combat fraud and provide a proper dispute resolution process for fraud victims, with consultations ending on 4th October.
circleWhen a company like computer chip maker Nvidia experiences a significant surge in value within a short period, it catches the attention of investors. However, regulators are also alert, knowing the risks of monopolies stifling competition and manipulating markets. The U.S. Department of Justice, along with other competition authorities and tech watchdogs, suspect Nvidia of employing such tactics to strengthen its chip monopoly. Recently, reports surfaced that the Justice Department would initiate an antitrust investigation. investigationIt's about time.
Before the pandemic, Nvidia was relatively unknown to those outside the realm of video game enthusiasts with high-end gaming computers and consoles featuring powerful Nvidia chips. However, in the era of generative AI, Nvidia has risen to prominence. The fastest growing The greatest companies and their chips of all time Powered Every significant AI milestone (including OpenAI's development of ChatGPT) Two thirds of the AI business tools market.
Generative AI necessitates massive computational power, with Nvidia's GPUs being a preferred choice for these calculations. This alignment between computational needs and Nvidia's chips has significantly contributed to the company's high market capitalization. 30 or more times In just five years, The world's most valuable companies It surpassed Microsoft and Apple earlier this year.
While Nvidia's success is beneficial for investors amid the AI boom, recent stock market fluctuations suggest that the enthusiasm may be excessive. Nvidia should not be faulted for capitalizing on favorable circumstances, but the manner in which a company like Nvidia expands is critical. Unfair practices like driving out competitors, inflating prices, and fortifying monopolies are detrimental to customers, fair competition, and the public interest.
Similar to other tech giants, NVIDIA aims to dominate every market it enters. 88% of the world It also leverages GPUs and holds an edge in AI. Some projections indicate that Nvidia could attain a Trillion Dollar Market within a few years, solidifying its dominance. 98% of the market For data center GPUs.
Despite serving as a vital infrastructure for the AI industry, Nvidia’s market power raises concerns. By amalgamating chips, software, and network services, the company holds a strong position in dictating AI development. This concentration can hinder competition, increase prices, and limit innovation, ultimately harming consumers and fair market practices.
To promote a healthy AI chip market, equitable accessibility to advanced semiconductors is essential. This fosters innovation, supports small businesses, and mitigates potential monopolistic control over the industry. Addressing these issues is crucial to safeguarding fair competition, consumer choice, and overall market resilience against disruptions.
The mounting concentration of the chip market, particularly controlled by Nvidia, warrants caution. As AI regulation initiatives emerge globally, Nvidia’s dominance in supplying high-demand chips places it in a quasi-regulatory role, influencing AI development access. This commercial influence over regulatory matters is concerning, highlighting the need for robust oversight to prevent monopolistic practices.
While Nvidia’s rapid growth is remarkable, it does not absolve the company from potential regulatory scrutiny for its monopoly practices. By leveraging its market power to exclude competitors and strengthen its position, Nvidia jeopardizes healthy competition and public interest. Regulators must act swiftly to prevent Nvidia from repeating the mistakes of past tech giants in dominating markets and stifling innovation.
aShortly after posting Pushing Buttons last week, big gaming news broke: Sony was pulling the plug on hero shooter Concord just two weeks after launch, citing reasons that no one was playing it. Refunds were being offered to everyone who purchased it on PlayStation 5 and PC, leaving the game’s future uncertain.
It’s a brutal series of events. Sony acquired Firewalk Studios, the makers of Concorde, in 2023. Concorde was an expensive game that was in development for eight years, with a custom cinematic and a long-term plan that cost over $100 million to develop. Estimates suggest that fewer than 25,000 copies were sold in the first two weeks of release. This is shocking compared to other bad news for developers and studios this year.
Many It is written The question remains as to why Concorde was such a huge flop. As Keith Stewart pointed out in his review of the game, it entered a crowded genre of hero shooters, where many players already had favorites (Overwatch, Valorant, Apex Legends, etc.). Sony’s marketing for the game also seemed to flop, with very few people knowing about Concorde before it came out (I almost didn’t, but it’s my job to know about these things). Criticism was also leveled at the characters and design, which were generic and lacked any particularly interesting gameplay ideas.
Concord’s failure is emblematic of an existential problem in modern game development: Games are expensive and take so long to make that moment they can be missed years before a game is released. This makes publishers risk-averse, but simply trying to recreate something popular means it will be outdated by the time it’s finished.
I don’t want to play a game that takes years to play…Black Myth: Wukong. Photo: undefined/Game Science
Concord isn’t the first high-profile multiplayer flop of the year. Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League also disappointed publishers with poor sales and disappointed players by shoehorning a potentially fun game into a live-service multiplayer model. Sega’s Foamstars went completely unnoticed. And let’s not forget Sega’s live-service shooter Hyenas. Cancelled This was just a few months before the scheduled release.
My sense is that people just don’t have time to play games that last forever anymore. Destiny, one of the first of the current generation of permanent live-service games aimed at keeping players playing for years, celebrated its 10th anniversary this week. The game has become part of the lives and habits of millions of people. Overwatch, Fortnite, and even the decades-old World of Warcraft dominate in their genres. What will it take to get these players to abandon the game for a new one or add a new one to their spare time? And with these types of games, people aren’t just abandoning the game, they’re abandoning their friends.
The proliferation of live service games reminds me of the time in the 2000s when nearly every publisher was trying to make a massively multiplayer online game like World of Warcraft. Every day we got a press release saying someone had secured millions of dollars in funding for a new Warcraft killer. Some of the resulting games were good (Guild Wars, to name one), but most were only moderately successful at best. Online games areSuccess isn’t easy. It never was.
It’s surprising that this game is coming out so soon after the sales surge of Black Myth: Wukong, a single-player only game. As I wrote last week, many factors contributed to Wukong’s success, but still, there is a huge demand for this game, and by extension, single-player games in general. Personally, I don’t want a game that takes years to play. I want a game that wants to say something, to convey an experience, and that eventually ends. Games where the artistry is reflected in the game. in front That business model.
This is partly a matter of preference. There’s clearly a huge market for live-service multiplayer games; it’s just that most people are already playing them. There’s no way there’s an untapped market for millions of players who crave hero shooters and battle royale games but haven’t yet found the right fit. It’s time for publishers to try something new instead.
What to Play
It’s also great for kids… Photography: Good Feel Co.
My family is still crazy about Astro Bot. My youngest son wakes me up every morning telling me about his favorite power-up (his favorite is the “Frog Punch”). But I wanted a break, so I took a long train ride recently. Bakel It’s a Japanese-style action platform game in the vein of the forgotten 1990s series Ganbare Goemon, which means absolutely nothing to 98% of people – it means defeating beautifully animated enemies. Yokai Use your drumstick to run through a world of manga-style depictions of Japanese towns and landscapes.
The difficulty level is clearly geared towards kids, so I barely had any trouble playing through the first few levels, but it’s still a welcome time-warp platformer that reminded me of the screenshots of similar Japanese games I used to pore over in Nintendo magazines back in the ’90s.
Available: PC, Nintendo Switch Estimated play time: 10 hr
An eternal conversation…Destiny 2. Photo: Activision
In more positive news for Sony, the long-awaited PS5 Pro It’s finally been announced, and for an extra £200 on top of the current system price you get an enhanced tech spec, a 2TB solid-state drive and more.
As mentioned above, Bungie’s space opera shooter destiny It turns 10 this week, and as Christian Donlan writes in his anniversary essay, the game is about everytime There’s something to be said for this, and it’s not just one of the first ever-lasting games, it’s an ever-lasting conversation.
The Mystery of Rubber Keysa new film about the development of ZX Spectrumwill be released early next month.
What to click on
Question Block
Baldur’s Gate 3 is best played on PC. Photo: Larian Studios
leader Maisie Question of the week:
After years of enjoying gaming on the Switch, I decided to broaden my horizons and bought a PS4 and a gaming laptop. The PS4 is great, but I’m having trouble getting Steam games to start. Working at a desk is different than lounging on the couch next to your husband. Do you have any tips for making PC gaming more fun and less like work?
I feel the exact same way about PC gaming. I hate sitting at a desk playing games. As a teenager I would play endless hours of Rollercoaster Tycoon, The Sims, and Age of Empires II after school, but now I sit at a desk all day. Not only is it the last thing I want to do after work, it’s also bad for my health. But I’ve been playing a lot of PC games lately, because I can play most games with a Bluetooth-enabled controller by connecting it to my TV with an HDMI cable. PS4 Controller You can use any Xbox controller. I Xbox One Pad I use it for PC gaming now, but for many years I used an old, cheap, second-hand wired Xbox 360 one. Steam Deck It’s a game changer, so I highly recommend saving up and buying one.
For PC-exclusive games, that might seem like a worthwhile investment — almost all games are cross-platform these days — but… Baldur’s Gate 3 It really is great to play on PC, and if playing on PC doesn’t make you a fan of the keyboard and mouse, then nothing will.
If you have a question for Question Block, or anything else you’d like to say about the newsletter, please click “Reply” or email us at pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.
Following Joe Biden’s announcement of not seeking reelection, misinformation surfaced online regarding the potential for a new candidate to assume the presidency.
Screenshots claiming nine states couldn’t add new candidates to the ballot quickly went viral on Twitter (now X) and were widely viewed. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office received requests to fact-check these posts which turned out to be completely false as the voting deadline had not passed and Kamala Harris had ample time to be added to the ballot.
The misinformation originated from Twitter’s chatbot Grok, which provided an incorrect response when asked if new candidates could still be added to the ballot.
This incident served as a test case for the interaction between election officials and artificial intelligence companies in the 2024 US presidential election, amid concerns that AI could mislead or distract voters. It also highlighted the potential role Grok could play as a chatbot lacking strict guardrails to prevent the generation of inflammatory content.
A group of secretaries of state and the National Association of Secretaries of State contacted Grok and X to report the misinformation. Initial attempts to correct it were ineffective, prompting Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon to express disappointment at the lack of action.
While the impact of the misinformation was relatively minor, prompting no hindrance to voting, the secretaries of state took a strong stance to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The secretaries launched a public effort by signing an open letter to Grok’s owner, Elon Musk, urging the chatbot to redirect election-related queries to trusted sources like CanIVote.org. Their efforts led to Grok now directing users to vote.gov when asked about the election.
Simon praised the company for eventually taking responsible action and emphasized the importance of early and consistent debunking of misinformation to maintain credibility and prompt corrective responses.
Despite initial setbacks, Grok’s redirection of users and Musk’s philosophy against centralized control offer hope for combating misinformation. It is critical to prevent AI tools like Grok from further exacerbating partisan divisions or spreading inaccurate information.
The potential for paid subscriptions and widespread usage of Grok integrated into social media platforms poses challenges in addressing the risk of deceptive content creation. Efforts to address and rectify misinformation are crucial in safeguarding the integrity of elections and ensuring responsible use of AI-based tools.
Joanne McNally investigates… Was Furby spying on us? BBC Sounds, weekly episodes Why was Furby, the cute talking toy from the ’90s, banned from the Pentagon? Could Furby be a secret listening device for the Chinese government? The comic’s latest fun, self-aware “investigation” finds her calling aviation authorities and heading to the home of a Furby collector who hangs Furby skins out to dry on a clothesline. It’s fun and silly. Alexi Duggins
Doubt everything Widely available, with weekly episodes Brian Reed, of S-Town and The Trojan Horse Affair, is launching a new show that explores journalism’s place in the modern world. The show was inspired by the reaction to S-Town, which saw Reed have to prove in court that his podcast was journalism. It’s an admirable and forthright take on an important issue, and the striking first episode sees Reed confront one of his biggest critics: advertisement
A visitor walks past the Furby exhibit at the Hasbro booth at the Tokyo Toy Show 2024. Photo: Franck Robichon/EPA
Night shift Widely available, with weekly episodes Jake Adelstein returns to his Missouri hometown in the 1990s, when patient deaths soared at his local hospital. This is a depressing story of a hospital that smelled of “soap and cigarettes” and provided solid medical care, only to be hit by a rise in “Code Blue” alarms. Adelstein tells the story without being exploitative. Hannah Verdier
The Road to Joni Widely available, with weekly episodes Carmel Holt travels the US to explore Joni Mitchell’s appeal across ages and generations. She meets Joni fans like Hozier, Esperanza Spalding, and Don Was to ask them how they got into Joni and where she’s taken them. Lovingly written and delightfully rambling, this is a wonderful tribute to an utterly unique artist. Phil Harrison
Dealcraft: Insights from Great Negotiators Widely available, with weekly episodes Ready for a raise? Join host Jim Sebenius for “Cool Deal” tips from negotiation gurus. Proving that negotiating is never boring, attorney John Branca shares how he helped Michael Jackson get access to his master recordings that were traditionally held by his record company. HV
There is a podcast
Cybertruck: Shaping the future of automobiles? Photo: Tesla/Reuters
this week, Charlie Lindler Top 5 podcasts selected futureFrom climate-conscious programming to policing tech excesses
How to save the planet “What if there was an uplifting show about climate change?” asks Gimlet’s Climate Change Podcast, hosted by Alex Blumberg and his “geek gang.” The show focuses on solving environmental problems now and in the future. The podcast ended two years ago, but fortunately (or unfortunately), the topics Blumberg and company explore with a positive, optimistic attitude remain relevant. Should I get rid of my lawn? How can I buy less? Is fast fashion really that bad for the planet? Listen in and find out.
Managing the future of work Hold on, come back! Yes, this podcast is as business-focused as you’d expect from a show produced by Harvard Business School. Sure, there are episodes on HR databases, supply chains, and AI in the workplace. But thanks to an engaging host and knowledgeable guests, there’s a rich back catalogue of real, usable, relevant research on how work is changing our lives, and vice versa. Start with computer scientist and author Cal Newport’s talk on “The Productivity Deficit” and you’ll be hooked.
Easy to understand English This political and cultural podcast from journalist Derek Thompson, less tech-driven and more focused on humanity, quickly became a favorite of mine when it launched in 2021. The content delivered by not only Thompson’s guests but the host himself makes every episode rich with interaction and always leaves you smarter than before you started listening. Thompson has a talent for putting names to social phenomena you’ve felt but can’t quite pinpoint. Fittingly, the title of the first episode, about the metaverse, NFTs, and everything in between, is “The Future Is Going to Be Crazy Weird.”
Concentrate your full attention Produced by the Center for Humane Technology, the show closely monitors the ever-expanding, unregulated tech industry and asks whether we are truly using our advancements for good. Host Tristan Harris, a former Google design ethicist, was a compelling commentator in Netflix’s excellent documentary The Social Dilemma, which explores how social media manipulates our minds. Here, he continues the sobering thought process with guests including authors Yuval Noah Harari, Kara Swisher, and Esther Perel, who comments on the impact of technology on intimate relationships.
All the future If you have any doubts, just listen to The Wall Street Journal’s all-encompassing podcast. From modern bookstore design to how the Tesla Cybertruck is impacting auto manufacturing to scientists developing artificial breast milk, this long-running, award-winning podcast covers cutting-edge technological advances. While the AI portion may be too much for many listeners, a quick browse through the show’s extensive archives will find enough to fill your commute, all in 15-minute, digestible episodes.
Give it a try…
From family group chat etiquette to helping your child get their first period, This is so awkward They’re there to hold the hands of nervous, sweaty parents.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
