The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

Being the default search engine is a big deal for Google. The company spends billions of dollars to be the default search engine on devices like the iPhone. In 2017 Google reportedly paid Samsung $3.5 billion in fees to be the default search engine on Samsung mobile phones. It’s almost to the point of being an anti-trust issue. Anyway that may change soon. In a case of the headline is most of the story, here’s Markets Insider. Alphabet loses $55 billion in market value after Samsung reportedly considers replacing Google with Bing in its phones Alphabet stock slid as much as 4% on Monday, erasing about $55 billion in market value after a report from The New York Times suggested that competition is heating up in the mobile search market.Matthew Fox, April 17, 2023, markets.businessinsider.com The post Samsung May Make Bing Its Default Mobile Search Engine appeared first on Mason Pelt.Samsung May Make Bing Its Default Mobile Search Engine

In an upcoming interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Twitter CEO Elon Musk revealed that government agencies had a high level of access to the Twitter platform and its users. Fox News has revealed that its primetime host, Tucker Carlson, will engage in a comprehensive conversation with tech titan Elon Musk on his popular show. The two-part interview, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, promises to delve into several critical topics that have recently garnered attention. https://video.reclaimthenet.org/articles/musk-twitter-carlson-int-9032435.mp4 In a pre-release clip of the interview, Elon Musk said, “The degree to which various government agencies effectively had full access to everything that was going on Twitter blew my mind.” When pressed by Carlson about whether the government agencies also had access to direct messages between users, Musk responded, “Yes.” Elon Musk has previously exposed a series of confidential documents, now known as the “Twitter Files,” revealing a close collaboration between Twitter and the US government to censor content on the social media platform. Musk, who acquired a controlling stake in Twitter last year, took to the platform to share the revelations, sparking a global conversation about the extent of censorship and the role of social media in controlling narratives. The Twitter Files consist of a series of internal communications and documents which indicate that the US government has been exerting influence on Twitter to suppress certain information and promote specific narratives. The files unveil a secret partnership between Twitter executives and government officials, involving content manipulation and the suppression of dissenting voices….Elon Musk says government agencies had mind-blowing levels of access to Twitter and user’s DMs

Audio of these conversations is available via your favorite podcast service. This week’s podcast features two episodes looking back on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which arguably kicked off when the New York Times and the Guardian published articles on March 17, 2018. The Times headline was “How Trump Consultants Exploited the Data of Millions,” while the Guardian went with “Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach.” That number, and the scale of the scandal, would only grow in the weeks and months ahead. It served as a major catalyzing moment for privacy concerns in the social media age. In these two episodes we’ll look back on what has happened since, the extent to which perceptions of what happened have changed or been challenged, and what unresolved questions that emerged from the scandal mean for the future. In the first episode, I speak with David Carroll, a professor of media design in the MFA Design and Technology graduate program at the School of Art, Media and Technology at Parsons School of Design at The New School. I’ve known David for over a decade, including during the period in which he legally challenged Cambridge Analytica in the UK courts to recapture his 2016 voter profile using European data protection law, events that were chronicled in the 2019 Netflix documentary The Great Hack. In the second episode, we hear a panel discussion hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center that I helped moderate at the end of March….The Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Five Years On

Automotive software seems a lot more fragile than I’d like to believe. Here’s a couple stories about minor errors causing mayhem. Thanks to a glitch, some Seattle Mazda drivers can’t tune their radios away from KUOW As the radio remained frozen, the rebooting visuals on the screen in the middle of the dashboard were just too distracting when he was driving. Welding ended up covering the spot with cardboard.Erik Lacitis, Updated February 11, 2022, seattletimes.com Tuning to KUOW, caused some Mazda in-vehicle infotainment systems to fail. According to the Seattle Times, the error impacted 2014-2017 Mazdas with HD Radio infotainment systems. The cause of the failure was seemingly broadcasting images without a file extension. That’s not the first infotainment system related error. The Reply All podcast had an episode about how another podcast 99% Invisible broke Mazda. The combination of Bluetooth + car radio + the 99% Invisible podcascaused some Mazda’s radios to freeze, shut down and restart. The podcast is embedded, and can also be found here. The problem (now long fixed) had to do with the name of the podcast. Reply All’s Brilliant Roman Mars Episode Messes With the Podcasting Industry Oftentimes, the internet being what it is, these adventures touch the surface of something much darker, perhaps even dangerous. Not so with the case of Ben’s malfunctioning Mazda, which instead leads Goldman & Co. into a journey of pure whimsy. In their bid to figure out why the car so vehemently rejects 99% Invisible — is it Mars’s voice?…Automotive Software Seems Fragile

As lawmakers across the country try their best to legislate TikTok out of the US, its parent company, China-based ByteDance, has been undeterred and has set its focus on a new app for Gen-Z named Lemon8. The app is surging in the US right now, and as of the time of this writing has over 5 million downloads in the Google Play Store.Lemon8 is not new, but it is for US users. Originally launched in Japan in 2020, Lemon8 is ByteDance’s response to a popular Chinese lifestyle app known as Xiaohongshu (or Little Red Book), which is largely popular with young women. By 2022, Lemon8 amassed over 5 million active monthly users across East Asia and was stealth launched in the US in February of this year as TikTok faced increasing pressure from US legislators over data privacy concerns. As it continues to gain popularity in the States, here’s what you need to know about Tiktok’s sister app. SEE ALSO: As U.S. leaders debate a TikTok ban, lawmakers and creators clash over generational and social differences What is Lemon8?Not to beat a dead horse but every descriptor about Lemon8 calls it “Pinterest meets Instagram.” And it’s true. Combining the best aspects of 2016-era Instagram’s photo sharing with the type of stuff you’d find on Pinterest, Lemon8 is a social media app built for content curation. With an emphasis on photos over videos, Lemon8’s UI is perfect for those who enjoyed the pleasing, curated aesthetics of old Instagram and hated all…What is Lemon8, and is it safe?

Since acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk maintained that one of his major objectives was to eliminate the bots.Last night, Twitter did just that. One problem, though: The bots blocked are the good ones.Numerous public service Twitter accounts have lost their ability to automatically post breaking news and events. Twitter has been removing API access, which allows many of these accounts to post in an authorized way by the platform, as it switches to Musk’s new high-priced paid API system.Many of these affected Twitter accounts have automated updates, but aren’t the type of hands-off bot accounts that some may think of when they hear the term “bot.” For example, numerous National Weather Service accounts that provide consistent updates, both automated and manually posted by humans, shared that they could no longer provide their up-to-the-minute, potentially life-saving updates. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) “Twitter is now limiting automated tweets and as a result this account can no longer auto post warnings as we have done so in the past,” tweeted the National Weather Service (NWS) Wilmington, OH account this morning. “We will continue to provide general updates, but always ensure that you have multiple means for receiving weather information & alerts.” Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) “@Twitter is now limiting automated tweets and as a result, this account can no longer post all #Tsunami Warnings, Advisories, Watches, and Information Statements as they are issued,” tweeted the NWS Tsunami Alerts account. “We will make every…Elon Musk just shut down potentially life-saving public safety Twitter accounts

This post is for Reclaim The Net members. Join Already a supporter? Login here If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post “Smart city” dystopia appeared first on Reclaim The Net.“Smart city” dystopia

John Perrino is a policy analyst at the Stanford Internet Observatory. The Montana state legislature passed a bill that effectively bans TikTok by prohibiting app store downloads and banning the company, which is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, from operating in the state.  The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Greg Gianforte after a 54-43 House vote on Friday afternoon. Gianforte is expected to sign the legislation into law despite likely legal challenges. He previously banned TikTok on state government devices. SB 419, titled “Banning TikTok in Montana,” would fine providers that make the app available for download in the state $10,000 each day they are in violation of the law. Otherwise set to go into effect on January 1, 2024, the legislation would be voided if TikTok is acquired by a U.S. company, or if a national ban is passed. Montana state legislators vote to ban TikTok. April 14, 2023. The Montana bill will face legal challenges before it is implemented. TikTok says the bill violates the First Amendment and that there is no practical means by which to implement it. Civil society groups including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and TechFreedom issued a joint letter that says “SB 419 is censorship—it would unjustly cut Montanans off from a platform where they speak out and exchange ideas everyday, and it would set an alarming precedent for excessive government control over how Montanans use the internet.”  A national TikTok ban briefly…First U.S. State TikTok Ban Heads to Montana Governor’s Desk

Twitter is not now, and was never the town square. It was for many a home page online, and for more the place to go for breaking news. Under Elon Musk’s leadership it’s becoming less useful across all applications. “Twitter is now limiting automated tweets and as a result this account may no longer be able to post all watches/warnings/advisories as they are issued. We will continue to provide weather updates, but ensure that you have multiple means for receiving weather information & alerts.” Tweeted the National Weather Service Boston from the official @NWSBoston account. Twitter is now limiting automated tweets and as a result this account may no longer be able to post all watches/warnings/advisories as they are issued. We will continue to provide weather updates, but ensure that you have multiple means for receiving weather information & alerts.— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) April 15, 2023 Screenshot for posterity. The post New Twitter Rate Limits Called Out By National Weather Service Boston appeared first on Mason Pelt.New Twitter Rate Limits Called Out By National Weather Service Boston

Parler has been acquired. Parler has also just been shut down.On Friday, the digital media company Starboard announced that it had acquired Parler, the conservative social media platform. According to Starboard, the deal went through on Good Friday and it bought Parler for an undisclosed amount.Following Starboard’s announcement on Friday, the company immediately shut down Parler’s website. A note on Parler.com reads “no reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more.”To be clear though, this isn’t an anti-conservative statement from Starboard. It’s strictly business. Starboard’s statement goes on to praise former Parler CEO George Farmer for Parler’s more recent move into providing alternative IT and cloud services solutions through its former parent company Parlament Technologies. “We focus on working with groups that are advocating for or otherwise advancing conservative causes or conservative beliefs,” Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne told the Daily Caller News Foundation in 2021, back when Starboard was known as Olympic Media. SEE ALSO: Trump-backed Truth Social allegedly owes $1.6m in unpaid hosting fees According to its social media platforms, Starboard offers digital marketing and ad agency services. In that same 2021 Daily Caller piece, the agency previously worked with current and former Republican Congress members like Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik, and Madison Cawthorn and conservative organizations like Turning Point USA.“Parler’s large user base and additional strategic assets represent an enormous opportunity for Starboard to continue to build aggressively in our media and publishing business,” Starboard CEO Ryan Coyne said in a…Conservative social media platform Parler acquired and then immediately shut down by new owner