Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Company Comments and a Party Recap
This week, we discuss companies' responses to being monitored by an ICE contractor, caring about the little things, weight loss drug ads, and how our SXSW shindig went.
Redbox
The Redbox Removal Team
Redbox left 24,000 abandoned DVD rental kiosks. These are some of the people recovering them.
News
Russian Disinformation Campaign Spreads Lies About Ukraine's ‘Stalker 2’
A Russian disinformation operation has set its sights on Stalker 2, which has become a symbol of Ukrainian perseverance.
Overemployment
Are Overemployed ‘Ghost Engineers’ Making Six Figures to Do Nothing?
"We have data on the performance of >50k engineers from 100s of companies. ~9.5% of software engineers do virtually nothing: Ghost Engineers.”
Podcast
Podcast: Pokémon Go to The Military Industrial Complex
Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go, is building an AI model based on user data; we discuss the rise of AI pimping, and a phone sold the U.S. military is expanding to the public.
Bluesky
Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for 'Machine Learning Research'
A Hugging Face employee made a huge dataset of Bluesky posts, and it’s already very popular.
X
X's Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts
"X CORP. OWNS THE X ACCOUNTS."
advertising
WTF Is Stake, the Online Casino Using Viral Posts to Advertise Its Gambling Site
Stake is an online casino and sportsbook that's using watermarks on viral meme accounts to advertise on social media. But it goes deeper than that.
News
Steam Removes Oct 7 Game at Request of UK Counter-Terrorism Unit
The creator of a game that allows players to recreate “Operation al-Aqsa Flood” says it’s no different than Call of Duty.
News
Pokémon Go Data ‘Adding Amplitude to War Is Obviously an Issue,’ Niantic Exec Says
A Niantic executive said he could see governments and militaries buying Niantic geospatial AI trained on player data, but the company said it’s still early days.
News
Tether Has Become a Massive Money Laundering Tool for Mexican Drug Traffickers, Feds Say
Tether is being used on a massive scale by large scale drug traffickers, to the point where Tether is sold cheaper in Mexico due to its links to drugs, according to court records reviewed by 404 Media.
The Abstract
An Ancient Crystal from the Sahara Reveals a Lost World of Martian Water
This week, we’ll travel to ancient Mars, indulge in record-breaking “nanopasta,” check out nature’s version of fiber optic cables, and behold a galactic jellyfish.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: 'I Reject It!'
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we talk about conjuring gaming memories, AI-generated Birkin bags, and a rejection of a certain type of criticism.