Airline Wi-Fi has been very variable, but satellites are about to make it more reliable and faster. CC-licensed photo by Dunk 🐝 on Flickr.

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There’s another post coming this week at the Social Warming Substack on Friday at 0845 UK time. Free signup.

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A selection of 10 links for you. Flying high. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. Observations and links welcome.

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Appeals court upholds decision against Internet Archive’s book scanning program • Publishers Weekly

Andrew Albanese:

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In a swift decision, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously affirmed a March 2023 lower court decision finding the Internet Archive’s program to scan and lend print library books is copyright infringement. In an emphatic 64-page decision, released on September 4, the court rejected the Internet Archive’s fair use defense, as well as the novel protocol known as “controlled digital lending” on which the Archive’s scanning and lending is based.

“This appeal presents the following question: Is it ‘fair use’ for a nonprofit organization to scan copyright-protected print books in their entirety, and distribute those digital copies online, in full, for free, subject to a one-to-one owned-to-loaned ratio between its print copies and the digital copies it makes available at any given time, all without authorization from the copyright-holding publishers or authors? Applying the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act as well as binding Supreme Court and Second Circuit precedent, we conclude the answer is no,” the decision states.

The closely watched copyright infringement lawsuit was first filed on June 1, 2020, in the Southern District of New York by Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley, organized by the Association of American Publishers.

The appeals court ruling comes just over two months after a lengthy June 28 hearing in New York, at which the panel appeared highly engaged, if deeply skeptical of the Internet Archive’s case—a relatively quick turnaround that suggests that the court did not struggle in deciding the case, much like district court Judge John G. Koeltl, who delivered his March 24, 2023 summary judgment ruling in favour of the plaintiff publishers just days after a March 20 hearing.

…In his now affirmed 47-page opinion, Koeltl forcefully rejected the Internet Archive’s fair use defence. “At bottom, IA’s fair use defense rests on the notion that lawfully acquiring a copyrighted print book entitles the recipient to make an unauthorized copy and distribute it in place of the print book, so long as it does not simultaneously lend the print book,” Koeltl wrote in his opinion granting the publisher plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and denying the Internet Archive’s cross-motion. “But no case or legal principle supports that notion. Every authority points the other direction.”

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To be honest, I never thought the IA had a good case. It’s so very different from websites – infinitely storeable and reproducible, and intentionally so.
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A select few have tried OpenAI’s Google killer: here’s what they think • The Washington Post

Lisa Bonos and Gerrit De Vynck:

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A long-awaited search engine being developed by the maker of ChatGPT is far from ready to replace Google, according to interviews with people who got access to the tool, videos shared online and analysis by a search marketing firm.

OpenAI’s SearchGPT uses artificial intelligence to provide slick answers with clearly marked sources, by summarizing information drawn from different webpages. But the search tool struggled with some shopping and local queries, and on some occasions, it presented untrue or “hallucinated” information.

The limitations of the prototype search tool suggest that OpenAI, whose ChatGPT has inspired predictions that some Silicon Valley giants could become sidelined, still has major work to do before it can begin to directly threaten Google’s lucrative search business.

“We’re going to take the best features and merge them into ChatGPT,” OpenAI spokeswoman Kayla Wood said in a phone interview about SearchGPT. When asked if OpenAI’s service would include ads, like Google and other established search engines, Wood said the company’s business model was based on subscriptions. But she added that OpenAI hasn’t announced if SearchGPT will be offered free or as part of a ChatGPT subscription.

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Nothing about this is in the least bit surprising: why would anyone think that a search engine with an LLM backend would do this right? Surely the right way to do it would be a fantastic LLM (to interpret what the question is) and a fantastic search engine. But Google has demonstrated that that doesn’t work either.
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Microsoft rolled out AI PCs that can’t play top games—and there’s no quick fix • WSJ

Yang Jie:

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The latest Windows personal computers with artificial-intelligence features have “the best specs” on “all the benchmarks,” Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella recently said. There is one problem: the chips inside current models are incompatible with many leading videogames.

Microsoft and its partners this spring rolled out Copilot+ PCs that include functions such as creating AI-generated pictures and video.

Under the hood of the new laptops is a hardware change. Instead of the Intel chips that have powered Microsoft Windows PCs for nearly four decades, the initial Copilot+ PCs to hit the market use Qualcomm chips, which in turn rely on designs from UK-based Arm. 

Most PC games, including popular multiplayer games such as “League of Legends” and “Fortnite,” are made to work with Intel’s x86, a chip architecture that has been the standard for many personal computers for decades.

To make some of these programs function on the Qualcomm-Arm system, they must be run through a layer of software that translates Intel-speak into Arm-speak. Chip experts say the approach isn’t perfect and can result in bugs, glitches or games simply not working.

The problem is widespread. About 1,300 PC games have been independently tested to see if they work on Microsoft’s new Arm-powered PCs and only about half ran smoothly, said James McWhirter, an analyst with research firm Omdia. He cited an independent website recommended by Microsoft to check compatibility. Many other less-popular games haven’t been tested.

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This was always going to be the problem for Windows on ARM – though the question is whether the buyers of those PCs actually care about playing games. If they’re used by corporates, does it matter? PC sales are about 50-50 corporates and consumers, from memory.
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UK electric car drivers should be charged per mile, say campaigners • The Guardian

Gwyn Topham:

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Campaigners have called on the chancellor to introduce a controversial pay-per-mile road charging scheme on electric cars, warning of a £5bn “black hole” in tax revenues from motoring.

In a letter to Rachel Reeves, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) urged her to reform vehicle taxes, with fuel duty poised to dwindle in the coming decade as petrol and diesel cars are phased out. The charity said it was an “urgent issue” as tax revenues were forecast to fall by £5bn between 2028 and 2033, and the public agreed that all vehicles should pay a fair share.

Silviya Barrett of CBT said: “The new chancellor faces a looming black hole. She can avoid it, in a way which is fair, and which garners broad public support. But she should start now, as this issue will only get more pressing.” CBT said the easiest first step would be to levy a small pay-per-mile charge on zero-emission vehicles, with a transition period exempting existing drivers.

The letter said the group “fully appreciate that such a change would be difficult and be criticised by the opposition”. However, it said its research showed that 65% of the public believe it is fair for electric car drivers to be taxed, but at a lower rate than petrol and diesel drivers.

Fuel duty is now 53p a litre for petrol and diesel vehicles. Zero-emission cars will also pay vehicle tax for the first time in 2025..

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A 30mpg car gets 30 miles per 4.54 litres, ie 6.6 miles/l, so pays 53p/6.6miles = 8p in fuel duty per mile. You could levy it based on MOT figures. The problem is that rural drivers need to drive further, on less congested roads. How do you allow for that? (Or do you not, since fuel duty already doesn’t make that distinction?)

I do recall reading an article suggesting the way to do this is to introduce the tax two years in the future, but can’t now find it. Link welcome!
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The Uruguayan company teaching people how to turn regular cars into EVs • Rest of World

Daniela Dib:

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In 2010, Uruguayan president-elect José Mujica made headlines for the bright blue mini-truck he rode to his inauguration ceremony.

The vehicle, which looked like any ordinary pickup truck, was used to convey a message: Uruguay was serious about its quest to become more environmentally friendly. The gas-powered four-wheeler had been transformed into an electric vehicle by Organización Autolibre, a local retrofitting company.

Viral press coverage of the ceremony put the company in the spotlight, sparking interest from EV enthusiasts inside and outside Uruguay who wanted to convert their gas-guzzling vehicles into economical EVs. 

“This news coverage in many media outlets across Latin America gave a lot of visibility to this technology, and to this day we tour the region every year across Peru, Mexico, Argentina,” Gabriel González Barrios, founder and CEO of Organización Autolibre, told Rest of World. “The same distributors of Autolibre systems permanently invite us to train the necessary technicians to generate the local ecosystem for the local development of this industry.”

Over the years, González Barrios and his team at Organización Autolibre have helped convert thousands of traditional vehicles into e-cars across 14 Latin American countries. The company trains individuals and mechanics through online courses, and supervises conversions for corporate fleets. So far, at least 40 companies have used Organización Autolibre’s services, González Barrios said. While some countries have flagged concerns about the safety of retrofitting vehicles, González Barrios said his company is leading efforts to make it a safer and standardized practice across Latin America.

“We want to show it’s an industrialized process,” Andrés García, the owner of a retrofitting shop in Bogotá, Colombia, which works with Autolibre, told Rest of World. “This is not for hobbyists or people who are inexperienced.”

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Stock plunge wipes out Trump Media’s extraordinary market gains • The Guardian

Callum Jones:

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Donald Trump’s tiny social media empire has seen its extraordinary stock market rally wiped out by a steep sell-off.

Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of Truth Social, closed below $17 on Wednesday, reversing all their gains since the company’s rapid rise took hold in January.

The former president has been prohibited by a lock-up agreement from starting to sell shares in the firm until late September. While his majority stake in the firm is still worth some $2bn on paper, its value has fallen dramatically from $4.9bn in March.

As a business, TMTG is not growing rapidly. It generated sales of just $4.13m in 2023, according to regulatory filings, and lost $58.2m.

Nor is Truth Social growing rapidly as a platform. While TMTG has not disclosed the size of its user base, the research firm Similarweb estimated that in March it had 7.7m visits – while X, formerly Twitter, had 6.1bn. That same month, however, TMTG was valued at almost $10bn on the stock market.

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All the people selling ahead of the lock-up expiring really is very, very funny, though that it’s there at all is still a demonstration of the madness of crowds.
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Biden administration announces major actions to tackle Russian efforts to influence 2024 election • CNN Politics

Sean Lyngaas, Evan Perez, Kylie Atwood, Zachary Cohen, Jennifer Hansler:

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The Biden administration announced a sweeping set of actions to tackle a major Russian government-backed effort to influence the 2024 US presidential election on Wednesday, including unveiling criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctions on ten individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains.

At Russian President Vladimir Putin’s direction, three Russian companies used fake profiles to promote false narratives on social media, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.

Two employees of RT, the Russian state media network, were indicted in a US court for allegedly being part of a scheme that funneled nearly $10m to set up and direct a Tennessee-based front company to produce online content aimed at sowing divisions among Americans, according to the Justice Department.

Taken together, the actions represent the Biden administration’s most significant public response yet to alleged Russian influence operations targeting American voters. After the US accused Iran of trying to hack both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns last month, Wednesday’s expected actions are a reminder that US officials continue to see Russia as a prominent foreign influence threat to November’s election, the sources said.

…In July, the Justice Department accused an RT employee of being involved in a scheme that used a network of about 1,000 social media accounts to pose as US residents to spread disinformation about the Ukraine war and other topics. US officials accuse the Kremlin of financing the scheme; a Kremlin spokesperson denied the allegation.

Asked for comment, an RT spokesperson did not respond to the substance of the allegations, and instead emailed mocking comments including, “2016 called and it wants its clichés back.”

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Then again, the cliche isn’t a cliche, because there was a Russian disinformation effort – which had some effect – in 2016.
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Intel honesty • Stratechery

Ben Thompson:

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the problem with Intel’s most recent earnings call was threefold:

• Intel is technically on pace to achieve the five nodes in four years [CEO Pat] Gelsinger [who returned to Intel, where he had previously successfully pushed CISC over RISC, in 2021] promised (in truth two of those nodes were iterations), but they haven’t truly scaled any of them; the first attempt to do so, with Intel 3, destroyed their margins. This isn’t a surprise: the reason why it is hard to skip steps is not just because technology advances, but because you have to actually learn on the line how to implement new technology at scale, with sustainable yield. Go back to Intel’s 10nm failure: the company could technically make a 10nm chip, they just couldn’t do so economically; there are now open questions about Intel 3, much less next year’s promised 18A.

• Intel is dramatically ramping up its Lunar Lake [allegedly ARM-competitive x86] architecture as it is the only design the company has that is competitive with the Qualcomm ARM architecture undergirding Microsoft’s CoPilot+ PC initiative; the problem is that Lunar Lake’s tiles — including its CPU — are made by TSMC, which is both embarrassing and also terrible for margins.

• The third problem is that the goal Gelsinger has been pushing for is the aforementioned 18A, yet Intel has yet to announce a truly committed at-scale partner. Yes, the company is in talks with lots of folks and claims some number of secret agreements, but at this point the foundry strategy needs real proof points; unfortunately Intel itself ramping up on TSMC, even as it loses control of its costs, isn’t exactly a selling point as to why any third-party should put their fortunes in Intel’s hands.

All that noted, my initial response to the meltdown over Intel’s earnings was to defend Gelsinger; what is happening to Intel now is downstream of mistakes that happened years before Gelsinger came back to the company. That remains true, but Gelsinger does have one fatal flaw: he still believes in Intel, and I no longer do.

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That’s an utterly damning phrase from Thompson, who isn’t given to dumping on companies, especially big ones. But it’s clear that Intel just doesn’t have a strategy that fits how the world is. As Thompson goes on to point out, only the fact that TSMC is based in Taiwan, and China poses a threat, gives Intel any leverage.

Gelsinger’s choice of CISC over RISC paid off.. but not forever.
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We tested Wi-Fi on over 50 flights. It often stinks, but it’s about to get better • WSJ

Joanna Stern:

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Soon you might get a low-earth orbit (LEO) connection. LEO satellites are less than a thousand miles from earth, so the data travels a shorter distance, addressing that latency problem. And you certainly feel the difference. 

I packed my bags and tested two providers of LEO connectivity. The first was Starlink from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which now offers in-flight Wi-Fi on Hawaiian Airlines and smaller carriers like JSX. I flew JSX round trip from Dallas to Houston. Next, I tested Intelsat’s upcoming LEO service on the company’s test plane, from Chicago to Newark. It was a stunning leap forward in performance.

• Streaming: I brought 10—yes, 10—devices on board. I could simultaneously stream high-def YouTube and Netflix on my menagerie of tablets, laptops and smartphones.
• Video calling: Without stopping those streams, I also managed to Zoom with people on Earth and on the same flight. The delay was minimal and I was able to keep up with the meeting. (Maybe the true flight nightmare isn’t a crying baby but a seatmate spewing corporate jargon for five solid hours.)
• Real-time apps: Download speeds hit 150 Mbps on the flights. More impressive was the lower latency, resulting in snappier web browsing, scrolling long social feeds and rock solid connections for apps like Google Docs and Slack.

Starlink’s performance was excellent but its availability is limited. Intelsat plans to start equipping planes later this year with antennas that can connect to both GEO and LEO satellites. GEO is still better in the skies over major population centers, because of the way those satellites are concentrated, says Bijur.

American and Alaska plan to start upgrading those old cellular planes this year, wrapping up next year. Viasat and Panasonic plan to offer a similar dual-network system to airlines.  

“In 25 years, I have never seen such a high level of interest from airlines in upgrading,” John Wade, Panasonic Avionics vice president of in-flight connectivity, told me. Since I’m often on United planes with slower Panasonic GEO systems, that’s (streaming) music to my ears.

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I guess this matters if you’re flying over the US, but any flying I’ve done lately has been over multiple countries, and I’d imagine that gets complicated. Also expensive. Isn’t it nice to know you’re not online sometimes?
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What I’ve learned after a year of serious Substacking • Odds and Ends of History

James O’Malley:

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When I started my writing career, churning out articles for search engines to find, with titles like “Top 10 iPhone cases 2013”, I was not imagining a rapturous critical reception at my prose. Instead, my main goal was to hit the necessary wordcount as quickly as possible, so that I could bank my £40 and move on to the next piece.

Though I take somewhat more pride in my work today, where I typically work on less depressing articles, what remains true is that not all words are not created equal. The time and effort required to write, say, a thousand words can vary enormously. Sometimes you just want to get to something good enough to before your deadline – because even if you spend double the amount of time finessing every word, the fee at the end is ultimately the same.

However, Substack is very different.

Here, my professional success is closely linked to the quality of work that I’m producing. There is a direct correlation between the quality of my writing and the number of new subscribers (both paid and free) that I earn after each post.

This is a good thing, as this aligns my incentives to produce quality content, because the more effort I make, the more I will be rewarded. That’s why I genuinely think that my writing on this newsletter has been some of the best that I’ve ever done.

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This is an important observation: by making it possible for people to find the audience with whom they can connect most effectively, and enabling them to monetise that connection, Substack is doing an enormous favour to journalists and people with a yen generally for writing. It’s only taken 10 years to be an overnight sensation.
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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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Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified