The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

Dateline: Threadbo, 16th August 2024.I am sure that responsible commentators on the world of digital finance are not supposed to have a favourite data breach, but I cannot help it. I have a new favourite data breach pretty much every week. One of my current favourites comes from El Salvador, where more than five million personal records, including high-definition facial photos labelled with the individual’s El Salvador national ID document number (DUI), have been made available for free.(The number and nature of the records prompted speculation on social media that the breach is from the Chivo Bitcoin wallet.)ShareHoneyNow you may be wondering, as I was, why a responsible digital wallet operator would create a centralised database of personal information, particularly when that information may be of considerable assistance to criminals of many varieties. And, in particular, you may be wondering why the digital wallet operator would store the facial photos at all, never mind in an unencrypted format. If the selfies were required for onboarding (to match an individual face against a photo on a driving licence or some other ID card) then they should have been deleted immediately after the match was made. If they are retained for future “step up” authentication, then the operator should have stored the biometric templates, not the biometrics.These biometric templates are typically much smaller in size compared to raw biometric data, such as a facial picture, which makes storage and transmission efficient, and they are much more secure because they do not store the…Biometric Honey. No More.

Over 54 minutes of elevator music and then – complete silence.That’s what X users who tried to tune into Elon Musk’s interview of Donald Trump were treated to on Monday night as X’s live audio platform, Spaces, glitched out when hundreds of thousands of user accounts tried to listen in.Musk blamed the issue on a denial-of-service attack (DDoS) attack. However, some X employees say that’s not true. Tweet may have been deleted X’s Spaces failureThe interview between Musk and former president Donald Trump was heavily promoted in advance by both participants. Earlier this summer, Musk officially endorsed Trump in his reelection campaign for president. Trump has been struggling in the polls since President Joe Biden announced he wasn’t running for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. To promote the interview, Trump returned to Musk’s X before the Spaces chat and published a barrage of posts on the platform for the first time in nearly a year.Trump’s X account shared the Spaces chat around 15 minutes before its scheduled 8 p.m. ET start. While both Trump and Musk were in the Space, it took just over 54 minutes past the planned start time before the two started their conversation.During that time, X users were reporting issues even entering the Space on X. Mashable viewed a few hundred thousand users in the Space around 8:30 p.m. When Mashable tried to enter the Space, we were abruptly pushed to a screen that said “This Space is not available.” Other…Elon Musk said Donald Trump interview suffered a 'DDoS attack' — X / Twitter employees say he's lying

The season two premiere of Yung Miami’s podcast Caresha Please was shocking and tea was spilled as the former City Girls star uncharacteristically broke her silence regarding her past relationship with controversial music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and other controversies.Yung Miami, whose legal name is Caresha Brownlee, opened up about all the controversy of this year with guest host, and long-time friend, rapper Saucy Santana. The 33-minute long episode opened with a short monologue from Brownlee teasing the information that’s about to come, saying “I wanted to tell my truth, my story, on my platform where I feel safe.” The podcast formally started with the City Girls rapper addressing her mental health — expressing feelings of isolation and a lack of support from people who she expected to have her back amidst all of the controversies with ex-boyfriend Combs.”So mentally, one minute I’m happy, one minute I’m sad,” she said. “One minute, I’m kinda like, ‘Fuck this shit.’ And then the next minute, I’m looking at my kids, like I didn’t bring us this far to go backwards.” Yung Miami on her relationship and split with Diddy As the podcast continued, Brownlee spoke about how she believed fans took issue with how she portrayed herself in her relationship with Combs, saying that her fans thought she made her City Girls brand more about Combs than the group.”I never thought I was bigger than the program,” she said. Emphasizing that she was still heavily involved in the group and putting out music with…Yung Miami finally speaks on relationship with Diddy and the City Girls breaking up

As Donald Trump and his reelection campaign drops in the polls, the former president is making at least one big move in hopes of altering the trajectory. On Monday, Trump returned to Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, with a slew of posts promoting his presidential campaign and attacking the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Trump also promoted an upcoming interview with Musk over X’s Spaces platform, which will take place on Monday night.The first official post back on the @realDonaldTrump account was a campaign video upload published just after 11am ET. However, the account also posted a paid advertisement right before 3am ET. Some X users noted how they see Trump’s sudden return to X as a desperate attempt to reverse his falling poll numbers. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Others noted how they were excited to see Trump back on X. Tweet may have been deleted Trump’s return to XTrump’s account previously posted just once before since being “permanently” suspended by the company then-known as Twitter in January 2021 following his supporters’ Capitol building attack. Musk reinstated Trump’s account in November 2022, shortly after he acquired the company. On August 24, 2023, Trump’s account posted for the first time since his suspension. The post included a photo of his then-brand new indictment mugshot, which he has used for his campaign merchandise.However, after that one August post last year, Trump has gone without posting on X again for nearly a year. As of the publishing time…Donald Trump returns to X / Twitter with a flurry of posts — and an inconsistently labeled campaign ad

Never has the county, perhaps, felt more united than while watching Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry absolutely dog on the French men’s basketball team during the gold medal final of the Paris Olympics. In the annals of historic moments in US history, Curry’s four straight three-point shots against France should be hung on a wall next to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Moon Landing.As Team USA basketball edged out France 98-87 on Saturday, users on X (formerly Twitter) let their American spirit be known to the world. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Let’s not forget that the women’s USA basketball team also won gold in Paris, also against the French, but in a way more dramatic fashion. Team USA won by the skin of their teeth as France guard Gabby Williams banked a game-tying shot — except her foot was on the line, meaning France lost by 1. Naturally, the discussion of women’s basketball’s Olympic victory shifted to WNBA star Caitlin Clark, who was not selected to be on Team USA, because social media refuses to be normal about women’s basketball. Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted As the Paris Olympics mark their end, it was a generationally triumphant moment for Curry, Lebron James, Kevin Durant,…Internet patriotism soars as USA basketball wins gold at Paris Olympics

There are a million ways for a sport to make its debut at the Olympics, but breaking probably had the most interesting one. Breaking or breakdancing made its official Paris Olympics debut on Friday with Japan’s Ami Yusa taking the Gold over 16 other B-girls.However, the B-girl that stole the show wasn’t Nicka, the small Lithuanian woman wearing a durag, but 36-year-old Australian university lecturer Rachael Gunn, better known by her stage name Raygun. As an academic, he research focuses on, yep, breakdancing. Tweet may have been deleted Despite going 0-3 against her opponents and failing to score a single point during the day’s event, Raygun has become a viral hit and much-needed source of memes in the backdrop of ridiculous culture war shenanigans on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted For her part though, Gunn has committed to being herself despite the virality. In an interview with the Guardian, the breaker told the outlet “I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get that in a lifetime to do that on an international stage.” Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deleted Tweet may have been deletedAustralian breaker Raygun becomes an instant viral hit at 2024 Paris Olympics

Thanks to a new feature, “blue checks” may no longer dominate reply threads on X.There has been a lot of criticism over the past few years regarding how Elon Musk changed the blue check. The blue checkmark was previously used to verify the authenticity of notable users when the platform was known as Twitter. Under Musk, X now doles out blue checks to anyone who pays $8 per month for X Premium. On top of that, blue check subscribers were given priority in the mentions of posts. SEE ALSO: How Elon Musk and X’s decision to sue advertisers may have just backfired As a result, X users would often find blue checkmark accounts’ posts sitting at the top of the replies to their own post, even if these replies were completely irrelevant to the conversation.And here’s how it looks on X for web: Sort replies on X for web Credit: X screenshot The latter two reply sorting options are pretty straightforward. “Most recent” shows replies in chronological order from newest to oldest. “Most liked” shows the replies with most likes first. Blue check accounts appear to have completely lost any advantage that the paid subscription provided them when selecting either of these two menu options.It’s unclear exactly how X is determining how to sort posts via the “most relevant” option. However, it appears to be the same sorting method as the previous default. Blue checks do still appear to be prioritized in this view.Any user can change the reply sorting…Elon Musk's X lets users sort replies to find more relevant comments

Just earlier this week, Elon Musk’s X announced that it was suing the constituent members of an initiative known as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). On Thursday, just days after X’s federal antitrust lawsuit was filed, the organization behind GARM, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), announced that it was dissolving GARM. The WFA and several corporations were the suit’s named defendants, not GARM itself.X claimed in its lawsuit that WFA and a number of its major advertising members “conspired” to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue”After the news was announced, X CEO Linda Yaccarino took to X to celebrate GARM’s end. However, at least one adtech watchdog is claiming that this might actually backfire for X.GARM shuts downAccording to a letter from the WFA that was sent to its members, as first reported by Business Insider, the group was “discontinuing” GARM as a result of X’s lawsuit as the initiative was a non-profit with limited resources. The GARM initiative, which helped members avoid advertising on harmful websites, was staffed by only two full-time employees.However, the WFA will continue on and challenge X’s lawsuit, saying they committed no wrongdoing.The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, whose report was used by X in its lawsuit, deemed GARM’s closure a “big win for the first amendment.” Tweet may have been deleted X CEO Linda Yaccarino quoted the House Judiciary Committee post in her own reply.”No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized,” Yaccarino said. “This is an important…How Elon Musk and X's decision to sue advertisers may have just backfired

Elon Musk has often touted that X is a place for news since acquiring the company then known as Twitter. Regardless of studies and reports showing misinformation on his social media platform are running rampant, Musk has repeatedly claimed that X is the best online destination for truth.On Thursday, Musk seemingly fell for a photoshopped fake news headline from a far-right user on X — and shared it with his more than 293 million followers. Tweet may have been deleted Musk’s tweet-and-delete post”Detainment camps…” Musk posted alongside a quoted post from X user Ashlea Simon, who posted a fake image that was created to look like a headline from The Daily Telegraph’s website. The fake headline read “Keir Starmer considering building ’emergency detainment camps’ on the Falkland Islands.” Simon is one of the leaders of the far-right UK party known as Britain First. The fake headline was referencing the far-right’s anti-immigration riots that have been unfolding throughout the UK and appeared to claim that the UK Prime Minister and Labor Party leader was building “detainment camps” to hold the arrested rioters.Musk appeared to have deleted his post roughly 30 minutes after publishing it. It received more than two million impressions on the platform before Musk removed it. Musk has yet to acknowledge its deletion or issue a correction for his followers who were deceived by the fake news.As previously mentioned, Musk has pushed hard for X to be seen as a news media application — not just a social media platform….Elon Musk tweeted this far-right fake news post on X — and then deleted it

Dateline: Auckland, 8th August 2024.I’m sorry to say that I’d never heard of the British pop star FKA Twigs, but I was fascinated by her testimony to a US Senate Judiciary subcommittee that she has developed her own deepfake version of herself (trained on her personality but able to speak French, Korean and Japanese, which she cannot) so that she can leave the bots to interact with journalists and her legions of fans while she focuses on her music.ShareThe ProblemThis seems a very farsighted and innovative use of the technology. Ms. Twigs says that in an age that demands a lot of press interaction and promotional work, this will free her up to “spend more time making art”.  I already getting confused about what “real” means in a variety of circumstances, so I am naturally concerned to know how the fans and journalists will know that they are looking at the real fake FKA Twigs and not a fake fake FKA Twigs?It is already quite difficult to tell a real celebrity from a celebrity fake, as evidenced by the fact that American pop singer Katy Perry’s own mother was fooled by a picture of the star attending the Met Gala in a billowing floral gown. On Instagram, Ms. Perry shared a screen grab of the text message from her mother saying “What a gorgeous gown, you look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol” and her responding “lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!”. Subscribe nowDaveGPTMy legions of adoring fans, friends…Make It Until You Can Fake It