"You might say that the free press is trash, but what do you expect? The media operate as a giant computer program: Garbage in, garbage out." ~ Yasha Harari
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Laughzilla the Third (2012)
The Third Volume in the Funny Stuff Cartoon Book Collection Available Now.
Never did I think, 25 years ago, that this little corner of the internet would still be around all these years later, serving up laughs and content to zillions of folks all over the world, every moment of every day.
Elon Musk could have yet another problem with the European Union. Musk’s X has enabled the Grok chatbot to be trained on data from any user. This feature is now on by default, which may breach EU rules. Deep within the settings of X, users unearthed evidence of the data harvesting. Besides a check box that was already ticked, they spotted the following text: “Allow your posts as well as your interactions, inputs, and results with Grok to be used for training and fine-tuning.” This approach could violate the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The law restricts companies from…
An exercise machine for astronauts has entered an Airbus accelerator. Built by UK startup Physical Mind London, the device mitigates the impacts of zero gravity, which can be brutal. After six months in space, astronauts can lose up to 20% of their bone mass. Their muscles can also shrink dramatically. On short flights, they can suffer muscle loss of 20%. If no countermeasures are applied, this can rise to 50%. Physical Mind London wants to provide those countermeasures. The company’s flagship product is the HIFIm (High Frequency Impulses for Microgravity machine). HIFIm provides a workout based on one special exercise: jumping.…
After 12 years in business and several strategic pivots, British unicorn Improbable has achieved profitability for the first time. Improbable credited the milestone to yet another business shift. After numerous attempts to create virtual worlds, the company has reinvented itself as a venture builder. “Venture building has proven to be the optimal model for both Improbable and the metaverse, as experimenting with various use cases is key to achieving adoption,” said Herman Narula, Improbable’s founder and CEO. A new financial report substantiates his claim. In 2023, Improbable’s revenues increased by 37% to reach £66mn. With a total profit of £11…
It’s a common saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Now, researchers claim that they can also reveal deepfakes with the help of tools that study galaxies — by looking at eyeballs. According to the research by Adejumoke Owolabi, master’s student at the University of Hull in the UK, it’s all about how the light is reflected in the eyes. Working together with Kevin Pimbblet, astrophysics professor and director of the Centre of Excellence for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling, Owolabi compared real images with AI-generated deepfakes. To analyse the reflections of light in they eyes of…
Growing up, Jari Hazelebach was a full-time interpreter. Both of his parents are deaf, and from a young age he helped them communicate in a world largely oblivious to the struggles of the 430 million people suffering from disabling hearing loss. “While my parents could lip-read, their hearing disability made group conversations almost impossible,” Hazelebach told TNW. Even family Christmas gatherings were a struggle. That’s what drove Hazelebach to found Speaksee: so people suffering from hearing loss could carry an interpreter in their pocket, everywhere they go. The Speaksee microphone kit links to a mobile app. Credit: Speaksee The young…