Wearing AirPods (and other wireless headphones) has become part of everyday life – but can you tell if someone’s listening to you? CC-licensed photo by Xavi Rodriguez Magaña on Flickr.
You can sign up to receive each day’s Start Up post by email. You’ll need to click a confirmation link, so no spam.
It’s Friday, and there’s another post due at the Social Warming Substack at about 0845 UK time. It’s about betting.
A selection of 9 links for you. Pardon? I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome.
AI avatars in China just proved they are better influencers • CNBC
Evelyn Cheng:
»
Avatars generated by artificial intelligence are now able to sell more than real people can, according to a collaboration between Chinese tech company Baidu and a popular livestreamer.
Luo Yonghao, one of China’s earliest and most popular livestreamers, and his co-host Xiao Mu both used digital versions of themselves to interact with viewers in real time for well over six hours on Sunday on Baidu’s e-commerce livestreaming platform “Youxuan”, the Chinese tech company said. The session raked in 55 million yuan ($7.65m).
In comparison, Luo’s first livestream attempt on Youxuan last month, which lasted just over four hours, saw fewer orders for consumer electronics, food and other key products, Baidu said.
Luo said that it was his first time using virtual human technology to sell products through livestreaming.
“The digital human effect has scared me … I’m a bit dazed,” he told his 1.7 million followers on social media platform Weibo, according to a CNBC translation.
Luo started livestreaming in April 2020 on ByteDance’s short video app Douyin, in an attempt to pay off debts racked up by his struggling smartphone company Smartisan. His “Be Friends” Douyin livestream account has nearly 24.7 million followers.
Luo’s and his co-host’s avatars were built using Baidu’s generative AI model, which learned from five years’ worth of videos to mimic their jokes and style, Wu Jialu, head of research at Luo’s other company, Be Friends Holding, told CNBC on Wednesday.
«
You can see this two ways: either it’s calamity which means it’s AI all the way now feeding our brains with irresistible junk; or this is finally going to pull the plug on human influencers and collapse the whole industry.
unique link to this extract
Address bar shows hp.com. Browser displays scammers’ malicious text anyway • Ars Technica
Dan Goodin:
»
Tech support scammers have devised a method to inject their fake phone numbers into webpages when a target’s web browser visits official sites for Apple, PayPal, Netflix, and other companies.
The ruse, outlined in a post on Wednesday from security firm Malwarebytes, threatens to trick users into calling the malicious numbers even when they think they’re taking measures to prevent falling for such scams. One of the more common pieces of security advice is to carefully scrutinize the address bar of a browser to ensure it’s pointing to an organization’s official website. The ongoing scam is able to bypass such checks.
“If I showed the [webpage] to my parents, I don’t think they would be able to tell that this is fake,” Jérôme Segura, lead malware intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes, said in an interview. “As the user, if you click on those links, you think, ‘Oh I’m actually on the Apple website and Apple is recommending that I call this number.’”
The unknown actors behind the scam begin by buying Google ads that appear at the top of search results for Microsoft, Apple, HP, PayPal, Netflix, and other sites. While Google displays only the scheme and host name of the site the ad links to (for instance, https://www.microsoft.com), the ad appends parameters to the path to the right of that address. When a target clicks on the ad, it opens a page on the official site. The appended parameters then inject fake phone numbers into the page the target sees.
Google requires ads to display the official domain they link to, but the company allows parameters to be added to the right of it that aren’t visible. The scammers are taking advantage of this by adding strings to the right of the hostname.
«
In a way, it’s faintly encouraging that the scammers are having to resort to this rather than ringing landline numbers at random. (Or maybe they’re still doing that?) And they keep finding new ways to bring people into their scams.
Taxpayer will subsidise industry energy bills to help firms • The Times
Oliver Wright and Max Kendix:
»
British manufacturers will have their energy bills slashed and subsidised by the taxpayer under plans to boost the country’s global competitiveness.
Ministers will announce a multibillion-pound package of support to the UK’s most energy-intensive industries to bring their costs in line with international competitors.
The announcement next week will form the centrepiece of a ten-year industrial strategy under which the government provide bespoke support for sectors that are seen as critical for the UK’s long-term growth.
The standing charges industries such as steel, ceramics and chemicals pay for their electricity supply will fall by up to 90%, saving them hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
But sources said that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, wanted to go further and extend the support to other industries that are heavy electricity users but are currently ineligible for support.
They are launching a consultation to extend subsidised power to other key growth sectors such as AI databases and advanced manufacturing that are not currently covered by the existing scheme and cost the government several billion pounds.
This would mean firms being exempt from paying towards the costs of the government’s renewable energy policies — bringing the UK into line with others that largely fund the upfront costs of transitioning to net zero through general taxation.
…Britain has some of the highest industrial electricity prices in the developed world, according to 2023 data from the International Energy Agency. Since 2021, the average electricity price for UK non-domestic users has increased to 75% higher than the average price at the start of 2021.
UK firms currently pay about 25p per kilowatt hour for power compared with just 17p in France and Germany. Compared with the United States, prices are almost three times higher.
«
16 billion Apple, Facebook, Google and other passwords leaked; act now • Forbes
Davey Winder:
»
If you thought that my May 23 report, confirming the leak of login data totaling an astonishing 184 million compromised credentials, was frightening, I hope you are sitting down now. Researchers have just confirmed what is also certainly the largest data breach ever, with an almost incredulous 16 billion login credentials, including passwords, exposed. As part of an ongoing investigation that started at the beginning of the year, the researchers have postulated that the massive password leak is the work of multiple infostealers. Here’s what you need to know and do.
Password compromise is no joke; it leads to account compromise and that leads to, well, the compromise of most everything you hold dear in this technological-centric world we live in. It’s why Google is telling billions of users to replace their passwords with much secure passkeys. It’s why the FBI is warning people not to click on links in SMS messages. It’s why stolen passwords are up for sale, in their millions, on the dark web to anyone with the very little amount of cash required to purchase them. And it’s why this latest revelation is, frankly, so darn concerning for everyone.
According to Vilius Petkauskas at Cybernews, whose researchers have been investigating the leakage since the start of the year, “30 exposed datasets containing from tens of millions to over 3.5 billion records each” have been discovered. In total, Petkauskas has confirmed, the number of compromised records has now hit 16 billion. …These collections of login credentials, these databases stuffed full of compromised passwords, comprise what is thought to be the largest such leak in history.
The 16 billion strong leak, housed in a number ion supermassive datasets, includes billions of login credentials from social media, VPNs, developer portals and user accounts for all the major vendors. Remarkably, I am told that none of these datasets have been reported as leaked previously, this is all new data. Well, almost none: the 184 million password database I mentioned at the start of the article is the only exception.
«
In general, you may as well assume that any password you use on the web (banks and very large companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google excepted) is compromised as soon as you (or your password manager) composes it. Which is why for anything that matters you want 2FA, or a passkey.
Also, if anyone’s counting, there are only around 8 billion people on the planet.
unique link to this extract
Front brake lights could significantly prevent road crashes • Cosmos Magazine
Coco Veldkamp:
»
What if a simple addition to your car—an extra brake light on the front—could prevent thousands of collisions?
That’s the question behind a new study led by Ernst Tomasch, a road safety expert at Graz University of Technology in Austria.
The team analysed real-world crash data and accident reconstructions to test the idea, and the results are striking.
The study, published in Vehicles, suggests that adding a forward-facing brake light—visible to oncoming or crossing traffic—could cut collisions by up to a fifth. At intersections, where vehicles are prone to stopping and starting abruptly, the extra signal could give drivers just enough time to react.
“This visual signal can significantly reduce the reaction time of other road users,” says Tomasch. “This reduces the distance needed to stop and ultimately the likelihood of an accident.”
While rear brake lights have long been standard, front brake lights are virtually absent from today’s vehicles, with only limited field tests—such as one in Slovakia—trialling them in real traffic. Because of this, the researchers relied on detailed reconstructions of accidents from Austria’s Central Database for In-Depth Accident Study and simulated how events may have played out differently if the vehicles involved had been fitted with front brake lights.
The analysis revealed that, depending on the reaction time of road users, 7.5% to 17% of collisions would have been prevented by an additional brake light on the front of the vehicle.
«
It might take people a while to get used to them, but there was a time when reversing lights were a shocking, totally unnecessary-seeming addition. They aren’t actually mandatory, but they’ve been on British cars since 1989.
unique link to this extract
Tech execs just joined the Army. Boot camp not required • Business Insider
Kelsey Baker:
»
Four top tech execs from OpenAI, Meta, and Palantir have just joined the US Army — no obstacle courses, shouted orders, or grueling marches required.
The Army Reserve has commissioned these senior tech leaders to serve as midlevel officers, skipping tradition to pursue transformation. The newcomers won’t attend any current version of the military’s most basic and ingrained rite of passage— boot camp.
Instead, they’ll be ushered in through express training that Army leaders are still hashing out, Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for the chief of staff of the Army, said in a phone interview with Business Insider.
“They’ll do marksmanship training, physical training, they’ll learn the Army rank structure and history, and uniforms,” Butler explained. He said that “you could think of it as a pilot” of the boot-camp-lite plans, adding that the new soldiers were a part of the Army’s larger effort to rapidly modernize.
The execs — Shyam Sankar, the chief technology officer of Palantir; Andrew Bosworth, the chief technology officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, the chief product officer at OpenAI; and Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab who was formerly the chief research officer for OpenAI — are joining the Army as lieutenant colonels as part of an effort to turbocharge tech innovation and adoption, according to an Army press statement.
The service’s decision to allow the four to skip “direct commissioning” boot camp, a shortened version of regular officer boot camp, is unusual, though not without historical precedence, Butler said.
“The Army has allowed the direct commission of civilians since 1861 to bring experts with critically needed skills into the force,” he wrote in an email to BI.
«
Army rank structure! Also, no ball pool or bean bags or lunch massages or onsite Michelin chefs. Damn your boot camps, aren’t they suffering enough?
unique link to this extract
How people decided it’s OK to wear AirPods anywhere, anytime • WSJ
Lauren Weber:
»
Human communication was awkward enough before AirPods and their non-Apple brethren became so ubiquitous, but at least some pockets of life seemed off-limits. Not anymore.
Dan Weisel, a family medicine doctor, has noticed more patients keeping their earbuds in even after he walks into the examination rooms at his practice in St. Louis.
“My initial reaction is, that’s rude because it seems like you’re not giving me your full attention,” he said. Then he wonders if the person might use them as hearing aids, or have a diagnosis like autism where earbuds help control sensory overload. Most of the time, Weisel has no idea if the devices are serving a legitimate purpose or simply delivering the latest episode of “Smartless.”
Most confusing of all is never knowing whether the wireless earbuds are on or off. “It’s the unknown that’s sort of uncomfortable.”
Some patients see it differently. Joseph Montes, a 55-year-old information-security manager who lives near Boca Raton, Fla., keeps his AirPods in all day. “They’re always off, but if someone calls, I can answer,” he said. The devices are such a constant that when he visited the doctor recently, Montes didn’t understand why the nurse was giving him “dagger eyes.” He finally got the hint when the doctor came in. Montes sheepishly pulled one AirPod out of his ear. “I’m a man, I’m stupid,” he said.
Still, he worries about removing the earbuds even briefly. “If you take it out and put it in your pocket, it can end up in the laundry and you’ve just washed a $250 piece of technology,” he said.
In many cases, it’s workers who now find it totally acceptable to do their very customer-facing jobs while other voices fill their ears. Last month Josh Hammons discovered an AirPod at the bottom of the bag of food he’d just picked up from a restaurant drive-through.
«
I wear AirPods while walking my dog; I’ll pause what I’m listening to for brief conversations, but for people I know, or conversations that matter, I’ll take them out. It’s a form of politeness, I think: it signals very clearly that I’m giving you my full attention. (Thanks Karsten L for the link.)
unique link to this extract
The mysteriously minimal 11th of the month • David R Hagen
David Hagen:
»
On November 28th, 2012, Randall Munroe published an xkcd comic that was a calendar in which the size of each date was proportional to how often each date is referenced by its ordinal name (e.g. “October 14th”) in the Google Ngrams database since 2000. Most of the large days are pretty much what you would expect: July 4th, December 25th, the 1st of every month, the last day of most months, and of course a September 11th that shoves its neighbors into the margins. There are not many days that seem to be smaller than the typical size. February 29th is a tiny speck, for instance.
But if you stare at the comic long enough, you may get the impression that the 11th of most months is unusually small. The title text of the comic concurs, reading “In months other than September, the 11th is mentioned substantially less often than any other date. It’s been that way since long before 9/11 and I have no idea why.” After digging into the raw data, I believe I have figured out why.
«
Absorbing read. You won’t guess why it happens – which will make the revelation that much more enjoyable.
unique link to this extract
‘City killer’ asteroid may hit the Moon in December 2032 and threaten satellites around Earth • Times of India via MSN
»
Asteroid 2024 YR4 is not expected to strike Earth, but scientists are increasingly worried that it could collide with the Moon.
According to the experts at the University of Western Ontario caution that such an impact would hurl more than 100 million kilograms of debris into space. This fast-moving lunar material can be a grave hazard to satellites in low Earth orbit employed for communication, GPS, and climate observation and even put astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) at risk. With increased satellite networks and human space activity, the severity of the implications of a Moon impact by asteroid 2024 YR4 calls for immediate international consideration and readiness.
When 2024 YR4 was initially monitored [back in January/February], it seemed to be a potential threat to Earth. But subsequent observation eliminated a direct Earth impact. Instead, simulations now indicate a higher chance of it striking the Moon, with probabilities increasing from 3.8% to 4.3%. While that seems low, it is sufficient to lead scientists to track the asteroid’s path closely and simulate likely effects.
If the asteroid does hit the Moon, the released energy might be the equivalent of 6.5 megatons of TNT – more than 400 times the Hiroshima bomb (0.015 megatons). A 1-kilometer-wide crater would probably be created by the impact, likely somewhere in the southern hemisphere of the Moon.
The collision could shoot approximately 100 million kilograms of lunar rock and dust into space-debris that will not simply disappear into space. Of greatest concern is that approximately 10% of the lunar debris could make its way towards Earth within days after impact. Most of it will be minuscule, but particles greater than 0.1mm can be hazardous enough to penetrate or harm satellites and spacecraft. These pieces will remain in orbit, risking long-term damage to space-based infrastructure.
«
Will nobody rid us of this potentially turbulent asteroid? Always an annoyance to have to consider impacts with the Moon as well as the Earth.
unique link to this extract
| • 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. |
Errata, corrigenda and ai no corrida: none notified
The Overspill: when there's more that I want to say 