Spyke

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Soon, Google has even more leverage against adblockers

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More than you think. They are also actively seeking ways to make that leverage effect more people.

They are defining web standards. They control chrome and chromium. So all of the alternative browsers that aren't safari and Firefox are using Google's web engine. Even Firefox and safari are beholden to Google as they fund both these web browsers through their default search deals.

Google after many failed messaging apps has taken on RCS messaging. They provide most of the supporting infrastructure through their Jibe servers. They don't allow anyone but themselves and Samsung to make an RCS app on android. They also had a campaign to pressure apple to use RCS. It's likely apple's RCS will be following Google's Jibe service closely, as they've already said their will work with Google on this. Google successfully got most RCS messages going through their servers, with apple on board with RCS itll see most SMS messages defaulting to RCS and most of those going through Google.

They also have deep hooks into education market with their OneDrive/Google docs products and Chromebooks.

Most privacy focused android alternatives recommend Google hardware.

memes

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I think we've been had

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It's old people. They vote and don't like change.

Everyone in the UK under 40 never used imperial in their education, but everything is still imperial.

Even stuff that's not supposed to be. Milk is sold in pints but labelled in ml. Sometimes it's litres because these are smaller. Timbre is all sold in a metric equivalent, but it isn't consistent. You don't know if the piece you've had delivered is 2.4m or 2.44m. Rulers have both metric and imperial, unless you pay extra for a single system - which makes them harder to use.

The worst thing is recipes, many recipes are imperial online because of the USA. American imperial measurements aren't the same as UK ones.

It is all driven by ignorance. The royal family (TV show) summed this ignorance up best. They complained it took them longer to get to the destination because their sat nav was in kilometres and there's more kilometres than miles so everything is further away.

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military industrial publishing complex

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I did this once. They wouldn't give me a copy, I didn't push it because they were retired and did try to give me advice about contacting librarians to add the journal to their subscription.

I do imagine younger people publishing more recent work would be more open to sharing their work.

For anyone else seeing this the university of the author often also publishes their papers free access. Even when the journal the paper is published in is paywalled. So it's worth checking that. This is especially the case if the work was funded by bodies that require open access.

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"prompt engineering"

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It won't generate random numbers. It'll generate random numbers from its training data.

If it's asked to generate passwords I wouldn't be surprised if it generated lists of leaked passwords available online.

These models are created from masses of data scraped from the internet. Most of which is unreviewed and unverified. They really don't want to review and verify it because it's expensive and much of their data is illegal.

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Some people who barely knew each other meeting for no special reason.

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Bill Gates went to visit Epstein in prison after he got charged.

Allegedly Epstein's behaviour was well know. Donald Trump commented on it before it came out, saying Epstein liked them too young.

Epstein died prior to fully testifying, in suspicious circumstances. His partner was charged with trafficking, with no customers being identified.

It's highly probable some of his associates were his customers. It's right to treat them with suspicion. We don't know who they were, but we know they got away with it. They will continue to get away with it, if everyone just forgets.

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Young girls are using anti-aging products they see on social media. The harm is more than skin deep

This is the danger of allowing unregulated media, entertainment and advertisement towards children. She didn’t come up with these ideas on her own. She was actively pursued and encouraged to do this by YouTube children entertainers and advertisers. They did it for profit and will do it again, then blame parents and governments for letting them do it.

Never before have businesses had this much direct access to children. They see it as a great market. They are easy to manipulate, uniformed and highly sensitive. These are the reasons we limited who, when and what could be advertised to them in the past. It was much easier with TV.

europe

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Apple Argued Safari Is Three Different Browsers to Avoid Regulation in EU

This might have big implications for Google. If underlying technology is what determines if a browser is separate and distinct from an other one. Then all chromium browsers could be considered one browser.

Especially with chromium powering not just Chrome but edge, brave, Vivaldi, opera, Samsung internet browser etc. This makes it the default on four major operating systems, and the majority of the global market. It also makes up the majority of alternative browsers.

This is a real problem. Google have defacto control over the internet and the standards thar define how people access it. This is a big issue for Safari right now, because chromium is based on safaris web kit. However, Google forked web kit and it is going to continue to diverge. We will see less sites work on safari in the future, similar to how we see less sites work in Firefox.

This is really bad, because it forces users to use a Chromium based browser. People that prefer safari or Firefox are often compelled to install chrome because they need a website to work correctly. Despite chrome being clunkier, less battery efficient and more spyware.

I think the EU should force all significant operating systems sold to commercial users to provide an option for web browsers. This should include windows, iOS/MacOs, android, pre-installed (Linux), android and possibly chromeOS.

How the internet is accessed and the standards it adheres to are very important. It should be a truly open consortium defining these standards.

We are heading towards the same issue we had with internet explorer. This time the issue will be two major browsers rather than one (chrome and Safari). This will also be hidden by the illusion of choice between all the chromium variants. Firefox is great, but it's not got the default power like it's competitors.

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‘If Instagram didn’t exist, it wouldn’t have happened’: a mother’s search for her trafficked daughter

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Social media makes it easier for the perpetrators, to target vulnerable people.

It also reduces opportunities for family/teachers/community to intervene. If someone saw you talking with suspicious characters, they are more likely to bring that up with parents. Social media can isolate all interactions to be between the victim and groomer.

Social media platforms also give the perpetrators anonymity. A groomer can pose as someone else that gives them access to more victims. They can also simultaneously target more victims at once and over a broader area.

It is not right to say social media is not a fault. It's not right to say it was a problem before so it doesn't matter anymore. This attitude only benefits the criminals.

Social media companies are explicitly and knowingly targeting children to generate ad revenue. They know these children aren't using the platform safely and they know they are circumventing it's age restriction features. They don't care about the consequences, only the revenue they can generate.

privacy

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Got tracked down for my school reunion

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Most aren't going to thwart governments, serious policing, private investigations or very determined individuals. But they will reduce their exposure to advertising and online profiling. We are bombarded with soon many businesses try to constantly sell things and manipulate the way we think and act for thier own profit. Privacy is a series of small acts that can reduce hostile businesses effectiveness.

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Canada

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It's much more effective if they are grouped together waiting to catch the grenade. It also reveals the position of the soldiers in the trench.

Grenades aren't very effective in trenches, unless the victim is close by. The narrow shape and curves of the trench can shield a person from a nearby blast.

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Texas power prices soar 20,000% as brutal heat wave sets off emergency

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The problem is ideology. The Texas power grid is the end state of neo-liberalism taken to the extreme.

The belief that natural monopolies should be privately controlled with minimum regulations has lead to this. A power grid run for maximum short term profit with minimum investment. The grids poorly maintained, because that doesn't make money. The grid is unfit, because implementing designs that cover the extremes is expensive. The price is excessive because the state is ideologically unwilling to intervene.