Certainly seems to be a grift:

https://kotaku.com/resident-evil-jovovich-mempalace-ai-github-2000685786

If you’re evil nowadays, you can just buy a Mar-a-lago face to short circuit the whole process.

So…to be clear, this was formed just prior to the release of the app, and almost certainly the app was being developed by this person/group before then.

Sure would be good to know what public funds were used to pay for this app (I assume too much), and whether there was a bidding process (I assume there wasn’t), and whether this person is someone the decision-maker already had some relationship/connection to (I assume that was the case).

Because regardless of the public value of a tracking & propaganda window favoring one party (none), it would be completely shocking, just totally unheard of, if this was a corrupt overpayment and misuse of public funds to pay for substandard work to personal and political connections.

I mean, we didn’t just see this happen with Noem or anything.

Upvoted for a different perspective, but I suspect it ends in the same place.

OpenAI is kept solvent by investor capital, and capital is kept flowing by the perception of OpenAI being the market leader. Seedance being a better model, enough to cause OpenAI to exit the market, still ruptures the perception of value. In a market with no clear profitability path, that’s ground falling away.

It also can’t be simply commoditized because generations (I’m sure even Seedance) are expensive and still not good enough for production use, even if 50% of their consumer base might boycott if a major studio even did use it in production. Commoditization can’t occur when there’s still no economically self-sustaining, market-acceptable “good enough” product. Without that, even if the leader changes, it’s a race between lemmings (sorry) off the cliff.

OpenAI said it will discontinue Sora, the generative-AI video creation platform it launched in late 2024, without providing a reason for the decision.

That is the strongest indication this is the beginning of the end for the AI bubble. Sora burned a ton of processing power, with no clear value proposition, just to keep the hype cycle going a little longer. Shutting down without explanation leaves the most likely one: they are out of helium to pump into the balloon. And if that balloon isn’t inflating, it’s deflating.

It’s incredible how every day in this country continues to be unimaginably dumber than the last.

Why do some people like vinyl? Why did the iPod’s scroll wheel evoke joy when used? Why is the OG PSP’s UMD drive clicking open and closed enjoyable?

If you’re looking to abstractly optimize consumption and sharing efficiency, it’s worse. But if you’re looking to optimize personal connection to the art and to other people, having some tactile interaction and giving a physical object that embodies the music arguably does that better.

I’d even bet that if you scanned brain activity of someone opening an MP3 versus someone putting in a disc and hitting a play button, the disc’s physical interaction very likely creates stronger neural pathways that trigger more chemical rewards.

Right…Per the article, the guy is fighting with the town’s lawyers who are apparently sending takedowns to Google without a legal basis.

Per the article, because he wanted to shine light on the fact that you play by different rules if you are wealthy.

From the article:

Parr’s experiment and documentary raises questions, of course, about who gets to have privacy in America. A wealthy enclave has set up the legal and surveillance infrastructure to be able to prevent being mapped. The rest of us, meanwhile, are subject to all sorts of surveillance by our neighbors and law enforcement. “The only reason it’s set up this way is because it’s such a wealthy community,” Parr said. “I know that I was able to do this, but I don’t know if I should be able to do this, and that’s kind of the question that I wanted to tackle. The YouTube comments are pretty crazy man. They’re all over the place. They’re very split 50/50 on that question.”

Seems like a pretty worthy activity to me.

But if you ask hasjohnolivermadelovetoacouch…

You’re right to feel insulted. LLMs are verbose and unreliable often enough that you have to check any work that comes out (or be negligent).

So what’s usually happening is someone is saving their time by spending yours. They saved the time normally needed to write a thoughtful reply by shifting the time and cognitive cost of reading and verifying to you, with AI as an excuse (often not without condescension, which is a type of “virtue signaling” driven by c-suite AI boosting). The slop output looks like “work product,” but is neither - it took no work and is a facade of a “product” because it’s unverified.

They are being selfish, and it is objectively an insulting act.

Thanks, the link works now.

$839 billion (Bernie’s post misstates at 829). The most normal and human response to reading this list is to feel physically ill.

Literally thousands? Have you tried bookmarking things after they’ve sat unused for awhile?

I typically just periodically save my browser windows with a tab manager extension. I just say because thousands sounds like way too much to keep track of…

Funny story, they actually did this to me before this all happened, and I was on a “I’m never going to update again” beta firmware that they gave me a link to, when the forced-update happened that broke my wifi. I didn’t disable any ADB-level processes, and I don’t think the system let me disable updates.

I mean, that’s great in theory. But the amount of manufacturers of non-smart TVs is tiny, and if you are interested in the best panels and display technology, refresh rates for gaming, etc (even removing affordability), it’s very very hard to just boycott if you want to have a modern TV at all.

Yup, really a core monopolist mindset. Money is a way to avoid competition, not win it.

Unfortunately the firmware was the issue, not just OS software. So factory-resetting didn’t help us. But yeah, that definitely radicalized me to the “never connect it to the internet” camp for future TVs.

I outright told them it’s illegal, since they are unilaterally altering the terms of any T&C agreements when we started using the TV and materially interfering with our ownership and use of the TV we purchased. They didn’t care. I then sent it to our state attorney general and nothing happened.

Would have loved to. It was just over one year (right after the warranty ended as well), though.

Zuckerberg more than any other tech CEO uses acquisitions to either adopt or strangle any potential competitor in the cradle. But he isn’t a visionary, he doesn’t actually know what technology will be useful. This is a perfect example.