Flock
Cities Are Ditching Flock, Immediately Replacing It With Axon License Plate Readers
Rather than get rid of ALPR cameras entirely, many cities and towns are switching to Axon, whose cameras can be mounted to an existing streetlamp, helping them blend into their surroundings.
The Abstract
No Bosses: Ancient Engineering Marvel Was Built Without Rulers, Study Suggests
A 2,000-year-old canal system in Colombia visible from space was long assumed to be built at the direction of powerful rulers. New evidence is turning that assumption on its head.
News
Company Offering ‘100% Human-Written, Never AI’ Medical Research Is Entirely AI
Research Gold's team of human methodologists are either AI generated or using the identity of real people without their permission
ICE
ICE to Pay LexisNexis Millions for Data to Feed to Palantir
LexisNexis sells a massive amount of data to law enforcement, including ICE. New records indicate ICE wants to feed that data into a Palantir system.
News
The Mayor Who Said 'No' When Flock Came to Town
“I guess all crime could be eliminated if you put cameras everywhere, surveillance everywhere, and had drones patrolling the skies [...] but what life are we living then?”
AI Lobbying
Mark Zuckerberg Posts Deranged 6,500-Word Essay About Giving Everyone AI Superintelligence
"The future is for everyone," Zuckerberg says, describing future that is primarily good for Meta.
Robotics
The Roboguard Revolution is Short-Circuiting
Knightscope and other robotics companies are rethinking automated security following canceled contracts. One pivot? Human guards.
The Abstract
Crab Odyssey: Crustacean Wandered the Seas in a Bottle for Months, Scientists Find
Scientists discovered a crab that had spent months at sea stuck in a bottle, subsisting on algae and fish that wandered into its plastic lair. The lonely mariner offers a warning about the impacts of human pollution on wildlife worldwide.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Rare Books and Baseball Brain
This week, we discuss Flock blogging, "rare" books, and Jesus Christ.
News
City That Arrested Person for Clapping at Data Center Meeting Moves to Virtual Meetings for 'Public Safety'
A small town in Kansas took its city meetings virtual and ended public comment after city leaders received a wave of death threats.
Flock
Flock Pitched a Plan To Turn Uber and Lyft Drivers Into Roaming Surveillance Vehicles
A Flock presentation shows the company planned to use around 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers to collect license plate data for its surveillance system.
Tokenmaxxing
Software Giant SAP Stops Most Travel and Hiring Because of AI’s Soaring Cost
SAP says it needs to “be disciplined in how we spend.” That includes still freezing hires and travel. Unless it's to do with AI, of course.
The Abstract
Scientists Designed a Virtual Alien Lifeform to Hunt for Extraterrestrials
A model of a microbe cell revealed that methane-producing organisms could potentially emerge on a wide variety of exoplanets, which can inform the search for extraterrestrial life.