The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

If the U.S. government wants to ban TikTok, Americans might flock to a different Chinese social media app. About a week before the potential ban, TikTokkers are posting about moving to RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu. So many are migrating to the app that it hit No. 1 on Apple’s U.S. App Store on Monday. Yes, TikTok might really be on its way out. It’s unclear exactly what would immediately happen to the app on the Jan. 19 deadline — it’ll likely at least disappear from app stores and stop receiving updates. The government could also ask internet service providers to block access, or TikTok itself could choose to leave. So perhaps it could be time to move to RedNote if that’s indeed where TikTokkers are headed. But don’t worry, we’ve got the details on what you need to know about RedNote. What is RedNote? In short: It’s a short-form video social media site. Well, duh. But it’s not precisely the same thing as TikTok. As dupes like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have shown, it’s difficult for any site to copy the success and addictive nature of TikTok, exactly. However, Xiaohongshu is quite popular and growing. It’s currently topping Apple’s App Store in downloads as people rush to find a replacement for TikTok.  Tweet may have been deleted TechCrunch noted that while RedNote is laid out more like Pinterest and is sometimes seen as China’s version of Instagram, it does rely on short-form video content like TikTok. Many folks use it for shopping or the type of content…What is RedNote? The Chinese app, aka Xiaohongshu, TikTokkers are flocking to

Cutting-edge chips, especially those designed to power emerging AI applications, tend to receive the most attention in the media and generate the most excitement. However, so-called “legacy” chips are just as important — if not more — to our daily lives.   While technological and manufacturing advances in chip-making seek to make chips that are ever-smaller and more powerful, legacy chips are produced using more “mature” process technologies or “nodes,” which roughly describe the size of the features that can be designed into a chip. Larger nodes are associated with older legacy chips, while smaller nodes are associated with newer, more cutting-edge chips. Legacy chips can be found in a wide variety of products including vehicles, aircraft, appliances, military systems and medical devices, among others. Despite garnering less attention than their more cutting-edge cousins, legacy chips have been in the news recently. The Biden administration launched an investigation into China’s production of legacy chips, which they are able to manufacture at scale. According to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, around two-thirds of U.S. products contain legacy chips from China. The investigation will also research the extent to which legacy chips are used within products for critical industries, including applications like defense, healthcare, aerospace, communications and energy systems.  However, with the Biden administration in its final days, the investigation into legacy chips will soon be handed off to the incoming Trump administration. While it is uncertain what the new administration will do with the investigation, the need for secure and resilient supply…America must act to secure its ‘legacy chips’ from China and other competitors 

A recent social media clash that erupted between Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump loyalists over high-skilled immigration reform exposed deep ideological rifts within the Republican coalition. But the importance of the debate over immigration policy and the American education system extends far beyond social media — solving these problems is critical to America’s competitiveness. By combining pragmatic immigration reforms, bold educational investments and innovative AI-driven learning, we can forge the “Talent Dominance” agenda we desperately need.  Human capital is the linchpin of America’s competitiveness, especially in key fields such as AI and quantum computing. As the global landscape evolves, it won’t be just technological assets or financial resources that determine a nation’s standing; it will be the skills, creativity and expertise of its people. America needs an “all of the above” approach, blending high-skilled immigration reforms with a renewed commitment to strengthening our domestic talent pipelines to have a workforce equipped to pioneer new ideas, harness these innovations, and adapt in the face of unprecedented challenges.  High-skilled immigration is indispensable to that strategy. Immigrants comprise 16 percent of U.S. inventors but drive 23 percent of innovation output through patents, citations and economic impact. They also founded or co-founded nearly two-thirds of top U.S. AI companies, and Census data show that immigrant-owned firms are more likely to develop new products and invest in research and development. The urgency of high-skilled immigration reform is clear and enjoys broad bipartisan support, with 71 percent of voters for Donald Trump and 87 percent of…America can't afford to lose the high-skilled talent race in today's competitive markets 

Meta is ending its efforts specifically known as diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, according an internal memo obtained by Axios. Like other recent moves Meta has made, the change reflects an apparent rightward political and cultural shift within the company, according to Axios. Authored by Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, the internal memo suggests that legal developments and cultural attitudes affecting the execution and perception of DEI influenced the company’s decision. SEE ALSO: Fury over Meta’s relaxed hate speech policies: “I really think this is a precursor for genocide” The Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling ending race-based affirmative action in higher education, for example, has led to greater legal scrutiny of workplace DEI initiatives. “The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others,” Gale said. Conservatives have also coordinated broad efforts to attack DEI. The backlash now regularly plays into debates over why certain tragedies have occurred. This week, for example, Elon Musk reposted content on X appearing to blame DEI for the catastrophic wildfires in Los Angeles, which experts say were fueled in part by extreme weather conditions and a drier, hotter climate. Elon Musk reposted content that appeared to blame diversity for wildfires in L.A. Credit: X / Twitter Gale said that Meta would still assemble “cognitively diverse teams, with differences in knowledge, skills, political views, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences” and that people wouldn’t be given or…DEI programs at Meta are done, company says

President Biden, on his way out the door, has permanently put over 625 million acres of federal waters off-limits to oil and gas exploration. This is the move of a spiteful old man eager to undercut one of the highest priorities of his successor, President-elect Donald Trump: U.S. energy development. It is also a desperate pitch to post an asterisk next to his name in the record books; yes, Biden is one of the most unpopular presidents of all time, but at least, as noted in the White House statement accompanying the move, “President Biden will have conserved more lands and waters than any other U.S. president in history.” Please take note, presidential historians.   Reducing acreage available for oil and gas exploration is a profoundly ignorant and damaging measure. As the world races toward broad-based adoption of artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductor manufacturing, cryptocurrencies and other new technologies, every country is vying to have not only scientific superiority but also the massive amounts of cheap electricity that the new industries require.   According to a study from the Bank of America, electricity demand in the U.S. grew by only 13 gigawatts over the last 13 years. But thanks to the growth of energy-intensive industries like AI, demand will soar by a projected 70 GW through 2030. With coal plants being retired, and given the intermittent nature of solar and wind power, the U.S. will likely face “grid stability” concerns. It will also continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels. Some indication…Biden’s climate narcissism could destroy America’s energy advantage 

Dateline: Woking, 8th January 2025.I travel a lot. And I forget things a lot. So I forget things a lot while I am travelling. On my last trip to Asia I left my payments cards in a hotel safe in Singapore and didn’t realise until I was through security at the airport on the way out of the country. And because of this… well, nothing. It’s a sign of the times that my life was not affected in the least.Subscribe nowContactless EverywhereWhy didn’t the loss of my cards interrupt my business trip? You already know the answer. It was because I had my phone with me and all of the places that I would be visiting were developed countries where all points of sale have contactless interfaces. For everything up to the contactless payment limit (eg, coffee with a colleague) it’s just tap and go, and for payments over that limit (eg, dinner with clients) it’s, well, just tap and go. All thanks to the miracle of CDCVM (“customer device cardholder verification method”).If you are not familiar with CDCVM, here’s a quick primer on high-value contactless payments that I wrote a few years ago to explain how authentication options work with the contactless no-CVM (cardholder verification method) limits. In summary:The no-CVM payment limit (£100 in the UK) is for “tap and go” transactions where there is no PIN, signature or anything else required from the customers who are waving their cards over the contactless readers. This limit must be set…I Forgot My Cards And… So What?

Instagram recently blocked teen users from viewing the results for numerous LGBTQ+ terms by accident, according to a spokesperson for Meta, the platform’s parent company. The restrictions were reported by User Mag, which found that teen users searching for content related to dozens of hashtags including #lesbian, #bisexual, #gay, #trans, #queer, #nonbinary, #Tgirlsarebeautiful, and #lesbianpride were instead shown a blank page with a message directing them to the platform’s sensitive content policy. That policy prohibits content “that impedes our ability to foster a safe community,” and includes material that may be “sexually explicit or suggestive.” SEE ALSO: Instagram announces new tools to fight sextortion and help teen victims “These search terms and hashtags were mistakenly restricted — an error that has now been fixed,” a Meta spokesperson told Mashable. “It’s important to us that all communities feel safe and welcome on Meta apps, and we do not consider LGBTQ+ terms to be sensitive under our policies.” Meta attributed the issue to technology that helps limit user exposure to sensitive content mistakenly misclassifying several LGBTQ+ terms, making them temporarily restricted. Instagram’s new teen accounts limit sensitive content by default. Teens between the ages of 13 and 15 need parental permission to change the setting. Mashable previously reported on claims made by adult LGBTQ creators that Instagram has shadowbanned their content. The platform has tried to address general concerns regarding “non-recommendable” content, with mixed reviews from affected creators. Meta told Mashable that LGBTQ content isn’t considered sensitive and is eligible for recommendation,…Instagram blocked LGBTQ+ content by accident, Meta claims

Dateline: Woking, 31st December 2024.Stablecoins are already big business. More than $150 billion worth of Tether (USDT), Circle (USDC) and other tokens backed by fiat currency (in theory, at least) are held by people around the world and volumes are growing. Revolut has joined the likes of PayPal with its own stablecoin and despite Europe’s new regulations, the growth of stablecoins of various kinds will undoubtedly accelerate through the coming year.Subscribe nowWhat Are Stablecoins?While “stablecoin” originally meant a cryptocurrency with a price algorithmically maintained at a constant level against some external benchmark, the term has come to mean any asset intended to maintain a specific price and backed by reserves such as fiat currencies, commodities, or even other cryptocurrencies. Within that category, volumes are dominated by dollar-backed stablecoins such as Circle’s USDC and Tether’s USDT that have exploded in popularity, with the consequence that their issuers earn some pretty decent profits through the yields on the underlying assets (eg, U.S. Treasuries).Why the growth? Well, the first point to note is that the use of these stablecoins is not confined to developing markets that lack banking infrastructure. According to Chainalysis (October 2024), the UK is Europe’s largest crypto economy and a key driver of the region’s growth, particularly with respect merchant services and, of course, the stablecoins that dominate the European market, making up nearly half of total inflows (with notable growth in both retail and professional use). Stablecoins far exceed bitcoin for fiat currency trade, with the euro accounting for…The Year Of The Stablecoin

Experts predict that 2025 will be the year artificial intelligence (AI) truly gets off the ground in K-12 schools.  2024 laid the groundwork for AI to reach a level of “maturity” in education, with the federal government releasing guidance on the issue and growing numbers of teachers getting professional training on the technology and classes on data science available to students.   Now, a development that once baffled educators and administrators is ready to go mainstream.  “I think the system was still in reaction mode. I think we still saw a lot of uncertainty as to where and how AI fits into education. I think you saw this in the way that AI was beginning to be implemented into technology that facilitates classroom management,” said Zarek Drozda, executive director of Data Science 4 Everyone at the University of Chicago.  “I think, over time, going into this next year, that you’re going to see more maturity come to the system even further,” Drozda added.   A report from his group found that since the 2020-2021 school year, 2,500 teachers have had more than 71,000 hours of data science professional development, and 277 schools have added data science classes.   Earlier this year, the federal government released a 74-page AI toolkit for schools that focused on safeguarding student privacy, creating plans to integrate the technology to fit student needs and how to use it to assist with learning.   Educators are now using AI to help speed up lesson plan creation and…AI ready to hit its stride in schools in 2025

TikTok, the popular viral video platform, is still slated to be banned in the U.S. next year. And with 2024 coming to an end, the January 19, 2025 ban date for TikTok is fast approaching.Just weeks before Christmas, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal filed by TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. The oral arguments in that case are set to begin Jan. 10.However, President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, just one day after the pending TikTok ban, is urging the Supreme Court to just grant a stay on the TikTok ban deadline date.Why? Because Trump humbly claims that only he can solve the issue and save TikTok from being banned.Trump to SCOTUS: Let me save TikTokIn his message to the Supreme Court, Trump asserts a myriad of reasons as to why he’s uniquely positioned to address the supposed national security concerns tied with TikTok being owned by a China-based company while simultaneously saving the platform from a ban.In the brief, Trump drops how many followers he has on TikTok (more than 14 million) and how the platform played a crucial role in his successful reelection campaign. The president-elect makes mention of Brazil’s recent ban on Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, to showcase a similar case of “historic danger” when a government bans a social media platform. In addition, Trump also cites his expertise as the founder of “another resoundingly successful social-media platform,” Truth Social, to show why…Trump tells SCOTUS that only he can save TikTok from ban