A poll of climate scientists has found them extremely gloomy about prospects for the future of our warming Earth. CC-licensed photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters on Flickr.
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A selection of 9 links for you. Hotter in herre. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.
Mark Zuckerberg says White House “pressured” Facebook to censor Covid-19 content • The Guardian
Mark Sweney:
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The Meta boss, Mark Zuckerberg, has said he regrets bowing to what he claims was pressure from the US government to censor posts about Covid on Facebook and Instagram during the pandemic.
Zuckerberg said senior White House officials in Joe Biden’s administration “repeatedly pressured” Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to “censor certain Covid-19 content” during the pandemic.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humour and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” he said in a letter to Jim Jordan, the head of the US House of Representatives judiciary committee. “I believe the government pressure was wrong.”
During the pandemic, Facebook added misinformation alerts to users when they commented on or liked posts that were judged to contain false information about Covid.
The company also deleted posts criticising Covid vaccines, and suggestions the virus was developed in a Chinese laboratory.
In the 2020 US presidential election campaign, Biden accused social media platforms such as Facebook of “killing people” by allowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform.
“I think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said. “I regret we were not more outspoken about it. Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any administration in either direction. And we are ready to push back if something like this happens again.”
Zuckerberg also said that Facebook “temporarily demoted” a story about the contents of a laptop owned by Hunter Biden, the president’s son, after a warning from the FBI that Russia was preparing a disinformation campaign against the Bidens.
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But there was a lot of false information about Covid, and it needed rapid action. Facebook never quite trusts its users to get things right – the contrast with Twitter’s Community Notes is stark – and so it sways back and forth through whatever Zuckerberg thinks is the right approach today.
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‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair • The Guardian
Damian Carrington:
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“I think 3ºC [of warming this century] is being hopeful and conservative. 1.5ºC is already bad, but I don’t think there is any way we are going to stick to that. There is not any clear sign from any government that we are actually going to stay under 1.5ºC.”
[Climate scientist Ruth] Cerezo-Mota is far from alone in her fear. An exclusive Guardian survey of hundreds of the world’s leading climate experts has found that:
• 77% of respondents believe global temperatures will reach at least 2.5ºC above preindustrial levels, a devastating degree of heating
• almost half – 42% – think it will be more than 3ºC
• only 6% think the 1.5ºC limit will be achieved.The task climate researchers have dedicated themselves to is to paint a picture of the possible worlds ahead. From experts in the atmosphere and oceans, energy and agriculture, economics and politics, the mood of almost all those the Guardian heard from was grim. And the future many painted was harrowing: famines, mass migration, conflict. “I find it infuriating, distressing, overwhelming,” said one expert, who chose not to be named. “I’m relieved that I do not have children, knowing what the future holds,” said another.
The scientists’ responses to the survey provide informed opinions on critical questions for the future of humanity. How hot will the world get, and what will that look like? Why is the world failing to act with anything remotely like the urgency needed? Is it, in fact, game over, or must we fight on? They also provide a rare glimpse into what it is like to live with this knowledge every day.
The climate crisis is already causing profound damage as the average global temperature has reached about 1.2ºC above the preindustrial average over the last four years. But the scale of future impacts will depend on what happens – or not – in politics, finance, technology and global society, and how the Earth’s climate and ecosystems respond.
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AI doomers had their big moment • The Atlantic
Ross Andersen:
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After ChatGPT’s release in November 2022, that whole spectrum of AI-risk experts—from measured philosopher types to those convinced of imminent Armageddon—achieved a new cultural prominence. People were unnerved to find themselves talking fluidly with a bot. Many were curious about the new technology’s promise, but some were also frightened by its implications. Researchers who worried about AI risk had been treated as pariahs in elite circles. Suddenly, they were able to get their case across to the masses, Toner said. They were invited onto serious news shows and popular podcasts. The apocalyptic pronouncements that they made in these venues were given due consideration.
But only for a time. After a year or so, ChatGPT ceased to be a sparkly new wonder. Like many marvels of the internet age, it quickly became part of our everyday digital furniture. Public interest faded. In Congress, bipartisan momentum for AI regulation stalled. Some risk experts—Toner in particular—had achieved real power inside tech companies, but when they clashed with their overlords, they lost influence. Now that the AI-safety community’s moment in the sun has come to a close, I wanted to check in on them—especially the true believers. Are they licking their wounds? Do they wish they’d done things differently?
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Doomers gonna doom.
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Meta and Instagram spotted developing a new social music-sharing feature • TechCrunch
Sarah Perez:
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Meta and Spotify are exploring deeper music integration in Meta’s Instagram app. New findings indicate the companies are testing a feature that would allow users to continuously share what music they’re listening to through Instagram’s Notes.
The new functionality was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who often finds unreleased features while they’re still under development. However, companies like Meta and Spotify test new concepts all the time, so the discovery doesn’t necessarily mean the feature will launch to the public in the near future.
In a screenshot Paluzzi published on Meta’s Threads, he shows a new option that would allow someone to “continuously share” their music from Spotify, as opposed to selecting a song from Instagram’s catalog.
“You can stop sharing at any time,” the message also indicates.«
A long time ago I recall someone who was trying to push a social network of some sort giving a talk where they said “our users have shared a million glooks” (or whatever it was). And I thought to myself: these are digital farts, aren’t they?
And I think the same about this. Do people seriously want to know what someone else is listening to? Or is this just a sort of digital pollution?
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Press release: Ultrahuman launches Ring AIR at Verizon, expands its US footprint • GlobeNewsWire
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Ultrahuman, a pioneer in wearable technology, is thrilled to announce the launch of the Ultrahuman Ring AIR in Verizon stores.
The Ring AIR is a part of the Ultrahuman ecosystem that also has Ultrahuman M1, a continuous glucose monitoring platform; Blood Vision, a preventive blood testing platform with the pioneering UltraTrace™ technology; and Ultrahuman Home, a revolutionary health device for your home.
Starting today, the Ultrahuman Ring AIR will be available in select Verizon stores nationwide. This brings Ultrahuman’s cutting-edge health and wellness technology to a broader audience, making it more accessible than ever.
“Verizon is committed to providing our customers with the latest technology to improve their lives,” said Farhana Chaudhry, Associate Vice President, Consumer Products, Verizon. “We are excited to offer the Ultrahuman Ring AIR to our customers and help them achieve their health and wellness goals.”
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Think it might be more about helping Verizon achieve its wealth goals – there’s no mention of the price in the press release, which probably isn’t surprising because it retails for £329 in the UK (probably $329 in the US). In other words, as much as a phone or smartwatch, except it does much less.
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Testing the YouTube videos that promise to get water out of your phone • The Verge
David Pierce:
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Every day for the last four years, dozens of people have shown up in the comments of one particular YouTube, declaring their love and appreciation for the content. The content: two minutes and six seconds of deep, low buzzing, the kind that makes your phone vibrate on the table, underscoring a vaguely trippy animation of swirled stained glass.
It’s not a good video. But it’s not meant to be. The video is called “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED ).” There are many others like it, too. And the comments — “the community,” as so many there refer to it — are almost all people who just got their phone wet in one way or another. “Walked through a river with the phone in my pocket,” one recent one says. “Yeah the steam from the shower is the reason I’m here,” says another. “Was using my phone in the shower this is a lifesaver.” They go on and on like this, many of them from repeat offenders. “We are back once again the 3rd time this month.” “its been 3 weeks and im back again.” “Dropped my shit in the shower AGAIN!”
If you believe the comments, about half the video’s 45 million views come from people who bring their phone into the shower or bathtub and trust that they can play this video and everything will be fine. I encountered it for the first time earlier this year after my nephew’s phone slipped out of his pocket and into a river near our Airbnb in a tiny town in Virginia. We semi-miraculously found his phone, then brought it inside and started trying to dry it off. A moment later, one of his friends just casually suggested playing “one of those videos that gets the water out.” We put on “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED ),” and ultimately, the phone was fine.
Ever since, I’ve been trying to figure out whether these videos really work. Are all these lucky shower scrollers just the beneficiaries of phones that have become far more waterproof and rugged in recent years? Or should we stop recommending rice and start recommending “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED )”?
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You’re dubious? Surprise! It works – a little.
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A smartphone’s speaker seems to be powerful enough to push air out from right next to the speaker, but not to solve problems elsewhere in the device — particularly underneath the buttons, the USB port, or the SIM card slot, which were the other most common intrusion spots.
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Cameo went from $1bn unicorn with major investors to a $600,000 court settlement it can’t afford to pay • Yahoo Finance
Paulo Confino:
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In March 2021, Cameo was flying high, with a soaring valuation of $1bn on the back of a $100m Series C funding round. Major investors like SoftBank, Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and even skateboarding legend Tony Hawk all lined up.
Cameo pitched itself as an alternative to talent agencies and managers that could help celebrities connect with their fans directly, while cashing in on their fame.
“We exist in an entirely different world today—one in which talent actually want to connect more deeply with their fans, and fans expect unprecedented access to the talent they admire most,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis wrote in a blog post after the Series C round. “This funding will help us create the access and connections that will define the future of the ‘connection economy’ on a global scale.”
However, by March of this year Cameo’s Series D resulted in a cramdown round—a type of financing for troubled companies—that saw its valuation plummet 90%. Cameo managed to raise $28m at a valuation under $100m.
The recent settlement [with 30 US states, where it was fined $600k but couldn’t pay it] stemmed from one of Cameo’s new ventures called Cameo Business that gave celebrities on the platform the chance to endorse products and business, not just send personal messages. Videos on this part of the platform failed to properly disclose that they were paid endorsements, according to the settlement agreement. The settlement accused Cameo of doing little to ensure that celebrities using the platform to promote certain products were following all the requisite rules, according to Randi Singer, a partner at law firm Sidley Austin’s commercial litigation practice.
“It doesn’t appear that Cameo had any guidelines or guardrails in place with respect to endorsements,” she told Fortune in an email. “Brands’ requests were limited only by the terms of service and community guidelines and the celebrity’s own discretion.”
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This incredible tale of hubris came to my notice via the excellent The Rest Is Entertainment podcast, which has much more about it: how a lockdown darling became a “remember that?” app.
But who gives those people $28m when they’re clearly in a downward spiral? Venture capitalists are patron saints of the sunk cost fallacy.
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Stolen iPhone. I survived • David G.W. Birch
David Birch:
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In the UK, mobile phone theft is more than a nuisance. Reported mobile phone thefts grew by a third in the year to January 2024 and losses from mobile banking fraud increased by 17% to £19m in H1 of 2023, the highest recorded total, with average losses per customer of £2,314. A mobile phone is reported stolen in London every six minutes.
The theft hot spot is Westminster, where almost a third of the thefts occur. In fact, that’s where mine was stolen. To cut a long story short, I got distracted by woman begging in a coffee shop. She was pestering my colleague and we were telling her to go away. She was waving around some papers. When she left, I realised my phone was gone. She had covered the phone with the papers and snatched it. I ran out of the door and saw her going down the street so I ran after her but she got into the back seat of a waiting car that drove off. There was nothing more I could do than memorise the registration number and go back to the coffee shop.
Back at the table I used my colleague’s phone to call the police and report the theft. Interestingly, the manager of the coffee shop asked me for the crime number given to me by the police, because these crimes happen so often that they send the crime number to their head office which then sends the CCTV from inside the store to the police!
While I was talking to the police, I used my laptop to log in to iCloud to locate the phone and set it to erase. The criminals had turned the phone off to prevent tracking, of course, but I immediately changed my iCloud password so they wouldn’t be able to log in when they turned the phone back on again. I then called my mobile operator to block the number. I also called my bank to block mobile banking.
…What worried me more than the criminals getting into my money (after all, since I had not authorised the transactions, the bank would have to refund me) was them getting into my identity. Money is fungible and recoverable, reputation is non-fungible and non-recoverable. I was panicking slightly because I had remembered that my photos included more than one picture of my passport and my driving licence (and, indeed, me holding a copy of my passport up next to my face because of some dumb onboarding procedure) and therefore my whole identity.
Why? Well, because of a variety of financial services that, lacking any working digital identity infrastructure, require you send valuable personally-identifiable information instead! With the last couple of months I’d sent these pictures to a couple of banks, to Google and to others.
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Apple to upgrade base Macs to 16GB RAM, starting from Apple M4 models: report • Business Standard
Harsh Shivam:
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Apple is reportedly planning to enhance its next-generation Mac models with significant performance improvements, featuring M4 chips and increased memory. According to a Bloomberg report, Mac devices powered by the M4 chip are expected to come with a minimum of 16GB RAM, a notable upgrade from the base 8GB RAM in current M3 models.
The report indicates that Apple has commenced intensive testing of four new Mac models to ensure compatibility with third-party applications. These models are listed as “16,1,” “16,2,” “16,3,” and “16,10” in the developer test log. While all four models are likely to be powered by the base-level M4 chip, they are expected to feature either 16GB or 32GB RAM. If accurate, 16GB RAM will be standard on M4-powered Macs, compared to the 8GB on previous generation models. Additionally, M4-powered Macs could support up to 32GB of memory, an increase from the 24GB supported by M3 models.
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The expectation is that this bump in RAM is to cater for the Apple Intelligence – aka LLM – processing, which is quite RAM-hungry. Apple has held back from increasing RAM for years and years because it hates spending money where it could get the buyer to pay for a necessary upgrade. But if the Intelligence function just wouldn’t work with 8GB, it has no choice.
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 