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  1. Anushe Fawaz
    Twitter launches Community Notes to tackle the spread of misleading media by Anushe Fawaz After demanding researchers who monitor tweets pay a whopping $42,000 API monthly fee, and having trouble with the widespread use of misleading AI images, Twitter has introduced a new feature to help prevent the spread of misinformation across the platform. Last week, the company began asking academics to delete the data regarding tweets provided by an API called Decahose or pay a monthly fee to maintain access to it. The news led to a dissatisfied audience as they argued Twitter seems to not be prioritizing authenticity on its platform. Another case, as highlighted by TechCrunch, that led to today's announcement was images of a fake attack on the Pentagon Complex that went viral. Prime example of the dangers in the pay-to-verify system: This account, which tweeted a (very likely AI-generated) photo of a (fake) story about an explosion at the Pentagon, looks at first glance like a legit Bloomberg news feed. pic.twitter.com/SThErCln0p — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) May 22, 2023 Hence, in an attempt to curb the backlash, Twitter announced Community Notes today. These ‘Notes on Media’ are attached to images shared by users, such that, whenever that image is shared, the note appears beside it. From AI-generated images to manipulated videos, it’s common to come across misleading media. Today we’re piloting a feature that puts a superpower into contributors’ hands: Notes on Media Notes attached to an image will automatically appear on recent & future matching images. pic.twitter.com/89mxYU2Kir — Community Notes (@CommunityNotes) May 30, 2023 Users will see Notes that have been automatically attached to the original post with any recent or future matching images. The capability is reserved for contributors who have a Writing Impact of 10 or above. A Writing Impact measures how often a contributor's notes have earned the status of Helpful when rated by others. These contributors will get the option of adding an “About the image” on some of their tweets. They can then choose whether their note is about the tweet or the image itself. If they choose the latter, the note will automatically appear whenever the image is shared. According to Twitter, this is to avoid the spread of misleading images regardless of the tweet they are featured in. Due to this feature, readers and raters on Twitter will be able to understand the context of the media posted and get to rate it as well. These ratings can identify cases where a specific note may not apply to the tweet shared. Twitter mentioned that the feature is under development as it is working on adding notes for videos, GIFs, and tweets with multiple images. It also added: “It’s currently intended to err on the side of precision when matching images, which means it likely won’t match every image that looks like a match to you. We will work to tune this to expand coverage while avoiding erroneous matches.” Lastly, the company highlighted that it will monitor the use of Notes on Media and will be open to feedback on the capability.
  2. DocM
    A low resolution, needle injectable, Neural Lace has been injected into living mice, Gizmodo.... But Musk's Neuralink venture is for human - AI interfacing. Resistance is futile Ars Technica....
  3. Anushe Fawaz
    Twitter gives academics 30 days to delete Twitter data or pay $42,000 a month for API access by Anushe Fawaz Twitter is revoking rights of access to data by academics unless they pay a whopping $42,000 every month to the tech giant. These academic researchers have 30 days to make their call to either delete all the data Twitter has allowed access to or to pay the monthly fee. Academic researchers have been on the platform for a while and were in charge of monitoring the spread of misinformation and hate speech. To do so, Twitter provided an application programming interface (API) called Decahose. The API enabled the academics to receive a bulk data feed that consisted of 10% of random Twitter posts every day. This was either available free of cost or at a fee of $200 per month. Over the last few months, Twitter was seen raising its API prices which disturbed several companies and academics. On February 2, the company officially announced a price hike removing free access to its APIs in an attempt to boost its revenues. Twitter then called for a delay in the implementation of the policy. Users started to face difficulties in situations where companies such as MTA and WordPress were being asked to pay monthly fees, eventually pushing them away from Twitter. As the situation got worse, Twitter allowed free access to APIs again for emergency and weather alerts but the dissatisfaction among the users persisted. Unfortunately for the academics guarding the interactions on Twitter, the company is contacting them to pay $42,000 every month to gain access to only 0.3% of the daily posts. Researchers added that the company is asking them to share screenshots of the removal of the data and that the offer does not seem feasible. It is important to note that this claim was part of the initial contract when researchers agreed to use Decahose. After the structural changes in Twitter, these policies seem to have changed as well and now scrutiny and transparency are not as welcomed as it was before. One researcher, who wished to remain anonymous, described the incident as equivalent to “book burning” and said: “There is quite a bit of research underway to illuminate what has happened on Twitter the last several years, so it’s devastating both to that research, and to the transparency of the platform, and for the historical record of the public discussion on Twitter.” Filippo Menczer, director of the Observatory on Social Media at Indiana University, also emphasized on the negative consequences of such a policy by stating: “The changes to the Twitter API are having catastrophic effects on our research into the spread of disinformation and its harms, the manipulation of social media, and the vulnerability of people and platforms to online abuse.” Menczer also mentioned that useful tools that helped remove inauthentic accounts on Twitter and aid content monitoring have already stopped working or will begin to do so as a result of this decision. However, Manoel Horta Ribeiro, who studies social media at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, added that only a handful of researchers used Decahose so the decision would not affect “people using the standard API or the academic API that went on to be released.” Academics are also planning to take a defiant approach where they would scrape data unofficially and find a workaround to the situation, although, doing so is certainly more complicated than getting official access by Twitter itself. Source The Independent via 9To5Mac
  4. Aditya Tiwari
    Brain implant company Neuralink confirms its first human trials are on the way by Aditya Tiwari Neuralink announced that it has got approval from FDA to conduct its "first-in-human clinical study." The company added that the recruitment for the clinical trial is yet to begin and it will drop more information in the coming future. We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study! This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our… — Neuralink (@neuralink) May 25, 2023 Based in Fremont, California, Neuralink was founded in 2016 and funded entirely by Elon Musk but the brain implant company made its public appearance in March 2017. Over the years, it has been working on a general-purpose, high-bandwidth brain-computer interface. Neuralink has tested its underdevelopment tech on animals, for instance, it previously added a wireless implant in a monkey, enabling it to control a computer and play video games. Neuralink's practices have been criticized by animal welfare organizations. It was reported last year that Neuralink was under federal investigation over potential animal-welfare violations and internal staff complaints that the animal testing was rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths. Regarding human trials, the FDA previously rejected the approval of Neuralink's implant over safety concerns, Reuters reported. There were concerns related to the implant's lithium-ion battery, its wires migrating to other parts of the brain, and whether the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue. However, there were multiple occasions when Elon Musk tweeted about hopes of starting human trials soon after getting regulatory approval. Neuralink has publicized its implant as a medical device. Touting a variety of applications for its N1 chip last year, Neuralink said its tech has the potential to restore vision in blind people and allow people with spinal cord injuries to walk. The chip can also allow people with quadriplegia to control their mobile devices and computers with their thoughts.
  5. Omer Dursun
    San Francisco authorities investigate Elon Musk's Twitter HQ turning into 'hotel' by Omer Dursun San Francisco officials have launched an investigation into Twitter's headquarters following a lawsuit filed by six former senior employees. The lawsuit accuses Elon Musk's team members of knowingly violating local and federal laws. The former employees claim that Musk's team instructed staff to disable lights and install non-compliant locks in employee bedrooms, which violated building codes. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware federal court, names Twitter's successor company X Corp. and Elon Musk as defendants. The city's Department of Building Inspection spokesperson, Patrick Hannan, confirmed that a new complaint will be opened, and an investigation will be conducted into the allegations made by the former employees. One of the plaintiffs, Joseph Killian, who served as Twitter's lead global design and construction project manager, stated that Musk's team instructed him to violate building codes while creating rooms for employees to sleep in. Killian alleged that he was told to disconnect motion-sensitive lights and install space heaters, violating the building's lease and codes. Additionally, he claimed that he was instructed to install door locks that would not automatically unlock during emergencies, potentially blocking first responders' access to the rooms. Killian quit his job on the same day, and the lawsuit alleges that someone else later installed non-compliant locks. The lawsuit further alleges that when city inspectors visited the building, Killian was instructed to keep the planned changes private. According to the lawsuit, the inspectors expressed surprise and relief, assuming there were more significant alterations. The plaintiffs are seeking severance pay, punitive damages for "flagrant bad faith," and compensation for alleged fraud and violations of laws. The investigation will shed more light on the claims made in the lawsuit and determine the appropriate course of action. In response to a request for comment on the investigation, Twitter replied with a poop emoji. It is worth noting that Musk laid off the communications team. Sources: Engadget, CNBC
  6. zikalify
    Linda Yaccarino brings ads peace, GroupM says Twitter is no longer high risk by Paul Hill GroupM, which is owned by the world’s largest ad company WPP, has said Twitter is no longer considered high risk, the Financial Times has reported. Following the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, GroupM declared that the social media platform was “high risk” to brands, but it has now changed its mind with the installation of the new CEO Linda Yaccarino. The reversal in GroupM's position is pretty simple to understand. Unlike Musk who can be somewhat erratic on Twitter, Yaccarino comes from a solid background in advertising as she was the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal. GroupM reportedly removed Twitter’s “high risk” designation on Monday, according to three people familiar with the matter. The move should see more clients resume advertising their brands on the social media platform. The news should be very good for Twitter because it has been struggling financially and Musk had been trying to find ways to solve this by reducing the headcount and by introducing a premium tier called Twitter Blue. A person with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times that GroupM had been holding off on reversing its designation until Musk sorted out his senior leadership team. The source also said GroupM had been working with Twitter to ensure ads don’t appear with problematic content. GroupM has not spoken publicly on the matter just yet, so things could still change. Ad revenue, as on many websites, is crucial for the viability of Twitter because most users don’t subscribe to Twitter Blue but still use the website which runs on resources that have to be paid for. While Twitter will still seek other ways to monetize the company, having the ad revenue coming in will be a boon for it. Linda Yaccarino is expected to take on the CEO role from Musk in the coming weeks. Source: Financial Times
  7. zikalify
    Twitter has sent a letter to Microsoft claiming it used data without paying for it by Paul Hill Twitter has sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella complaining that Microsoft has been improperly using Twitter data, according to The New York Times which saw the letter. Twitter has accused Microsoft of not paying to use data, using data more than had been agreed, and sharing the data with government agencies without Twitter’s permission - this could be concerning if authoritarian governments were the recipients. Microsoft spokesman, Frank Shaw, told NYT that Microsoft doesn’t pay Twitter for its data. He said the company will review the letter from Twitter and respond accordingly. Perhaps reassuringly, Shaw said that Microsoft looks forward to continuing its long-term partnership with Twitter. In a recent interview with CNBC, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, said that the platform was like a plane that was on fire about to crash, financially speaking. In an effort to stop losing money hand-over-fist, Musk quickly fired about half of the employees at the company. He now admits it was very hasty but that decision had to be taken quickly. He said the company could probably do with getting some of those people back if they’re not too annoyed, he said. With the big splash ChatGPT and other generative AI services have made, platforms like Twitter and Reddit have said they want compensation for their data being used to train the bots. Musk has said that Microsoft essentially runs OpenAI now, or at least has significant power over the company. OpenAI’s ChatGPT powers Microsoft’s Bing Chat. Given Microsoft's involvement and the huge amount of money it has, this could explain why Musk is going after Microsoft for payment for the training data. The letter doesn’t say if Twitter will take legal action or how much financial compensation it has demanded but says that Microsoft uses Twitter data in several of its products including Xbox, Bing, advertising, and cloud computing. It wants Microsoft to submit a report by next month about how much Twitter data it uses and which governments have gained access to the data. It also told Microsoft to abide by the Twitter developer agreement in its handling of the data. Source: The New York Times
  8. Ishtiaqe Hanif
    Elon Musk on Sam Altman and ChatGPT: I am the reason OpenAI exists by Ishtiaqe Hanif Elon Musk, one of the three co-founders of OpenAI, questioned the changing business practices of the company during an interview with David Faber at Tesla's Giga Texas factory. He said, "I came up with the name" and "I am the reason that OpenAI exists.". Musk claimed the non-profit startup wouldn't have come to where it is today without his instrumental role. Initially committing to invest $1 billion in backing, Musk invested roughly $50 million in the startup. He resigned from the board of OpenAI after a dispute over his attempt to buy out the startup and a conflict of interest. Since then, it switched to a for-profit entity and accepted a $1 billion infusion from Microsoft to accelerate the development of ChatGPT and image generator DALL-E. Musk questions transitioning from a non-profit business to a $30 billion limited-profit company. I’m still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2023 He was also skeptical about the governance structure, policies and revenue plans of OpenAI after turning into a closed-source entity. The move conflicts with its name, which suggests it's open-source. In a tweet, he revealed it had access to the Twitter database for training, which he put a stop to. After the launch of ChatGPT, he remarked it was scary good, and it can quickly turn dangerous. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, replied to his tweet, agreeing about the potential cybersecurity risk and being close to getting real AGI within the next decade. This interview happened on the same day Sam Altman found addressing a US Senate panel on the rise of generative AI and its possible effects on many different industries suggesting AI needs regulation. Source: CNBC
  9. Omer Dursun
    Twitter makes its first acquisition under Elon Musk's leadership by Omer Dursun In a significant move under Elon Musk's leadership, Twitter has reportedly made its first acquisition by purchasing Laskie, a job-matching tech startup. The acquisition aligns with Musk's vision of transforming Twitter into a "super-app" that offers users a range of functionalities, including payments. Based in San Francisco, Laskie focused on revolutionizing the recruitment process by helping job seekers quickly find suitable job matches. The startup was founded by Chris Bakke in 2021, who previously sold another venture to the prominent online job board Indeed. Although Laskie's website now states that the service is no longer available, its LinkedIn page still describes its core offering. According to PitchBook, Laskie had raised a total of $6 million in funding. The exact financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, a source familiar with the acquisition revealed that Twitter paid a combination of cash and stock, totalling "tens of millions" of dollars. The acquisition of Laskie marks a significant step for Twitter under Elon Musk. By integrating job-matching technology, Twitter may provide users with an experience that combines social interaction with employment opportunities. This acquisition is likely the first step in a series of moves aimed at diversifying Twitter's offerings. By integrating Laskie's technology, Twitter may enable users to discover job opportunities based on their interests, skills, and connections within the platform. Source: Axios
  10. John Callaham
    Elon Musk says he's hired a new Twitter CEO but he will still be around [Update] by John Callaham He bought Twitter and named himself as its CEO in October 2022. Now billionaire Elon Musk says that he's stepping down from that role. However, he will still remain a major force in the social networking company. Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023 In a post on his Twitter account, Elon Musk says he has "hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!" That unnamed person likely will also be taking over as CEO of Twitter's parent company X. Musk will still be around at Twitter. He says his new role will be as "exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops." During his tenure as CEO of Twitter, Musk started by firing over half of its employees. He also made a lot of changes designed to charge people and businesses money for services, such as the $8 a month Twitter Blue subscription with a number of extra features, and charging most businesses money to access its APIs. This week Twitter started offering encrypted DMs for Twitter Blue and paid business users. Update: The Wall Street Journal reports that current NBCUniversal sales chief Linda Yaccarino is in talks to be the new Twitter CEO.
  11. Chasethebase
    Not used your Twitter account in years? You might lose it by Steve Bennett On Monday, Elon Musk took to his Twitter feed to confirm that the company is working on removing user accounts from the platform that have been inactive for a long period of time, which is as yet undefined but is in the "years" range. We’re purging accounts that have had no activity at all for several years, so you will probably see follower count drop — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2023 This isn't the first time that Elon has tweeted along these lines, originally announcing in November that an account purge was on the way, and then again in December that the platform would be freeing up name space of up to 1.5 billion user accounts. This also follows another suggestion in November by Musk to potentially deactivate accounts that have not logged in within a single year. This shows that potentially this initial idea has evolved within Twitter management in the past six months to cover inactive accounts that haven't logged in for more than one year. At the moment only Musk's tweets give any insight to what the process will cover at Twitter, with no confirmation on exactly how the process will roll out and when it will begin.
  12. John Callaham
    Twitter offers free API access again for emergency, weather, and traffic alerts by John Callaham Twitter started charging for its API to businesses and government groups earlier, with a price starting at $42,000 a month. This decision caused many of those businesses and groups to abandon using Twitter altogether. Today, Twitter made yet another one of its decision reversals, and will now allow government and public safety groups access to its API for free, but just for emergency alerts. One of the most important use cases for the Twitter API has always been public utility. Verified gov or publicly owned services who tweet weather alerts, transport updates and emergency notifications may use the API, for these critical purposes, for free. — Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) May 2, 2023 The decision was announced on the Twitter Dev account. It stated that government and publicly owned groups "who tweet weather alerts, transport updates, and emergency notifications" can use its API free of charge for those specific messages. Previous to today's decision, groups like the Seattle Police Department and the New York City Subway announced they would deactivate their use of Twitter for alerts due to the new paid API subscription. It remains to be seen if these groups will return to Twitter. The company seems to be used to changing its mind after its user base don't care for its actions. Twitter previously said its blue verified checkmark could only be received if you paid for a Twitter Blue subscription. A few days after those old checkmarks were removed from legacy verified owners, some of those accounts got them back, without them having to pay anything.
  13. John Callaham
    The latest Twitter bug is logging off many users from its website [Update: Fixed] by John Callaham It's another day, and it's another big issue for people trying to use Twitter. Numerous online reports claim that people who were signed onto the social network on Twitter's website are now being logged off, and they continue to be kicked out even if they log back in again. We can confirm this bug is happening on our personal Twitter account with its desktop site, and the "Desktop Twitter" phrase with lots of similar reports is ironically trending on the social network right now. This issue appears to be happening just on the Twitter website and does not seem to be affecting the company's mobile apps at the moment. The official Twitter status website does not show any indication that this bug is occurring, and the Twitter Support account also doesn't have a report on this bug. However, this is just the latest glitch on the social network that has popped up since Elon Musk bought the company in 2022. In March, the company suffered a prolonged outage due to an issue with its APIs. Hopefully, this latest issue will be resolved in quick order. Update: It looks like the logging-off bug has subsided. Twitter has still not commented on what caused this latest issue.
  14. Ishtiaqe Hanif
    WordPress leaves Twitter API due to the sudden price hike by Ishtiaqe Hanif WordPress announces it is ending Twitter auto-sharing through Jetpack Social as we know it. Earlier in April, WP clients faced an unannounced outage when posting on Twitter through Jetpack Social. This happened when Twitter suspended its access to itsAPI without warning on April 3, 2023. Shortly after, WP made another post on their blog about regaining access to it. Starting May 1, you will no longer be able to share https://t.co/TtSh4XCnsB posts automatically to Twitter using Jetpack Social. This decision came after a number of conversations with Twitter since their change to the terms & pricing of the Twitter API.https://t.co/2Y5RO1YaAR — Jetpack (@jetpack) April 29, 2023 WordPress is the latest major organization to say goodbye to Twitter integrations over the massive API price hike. Twitter currently does not offer any free API plan to developers for app integrations. Now, they have to subscribe to a $42,000 per month Enterprise tier to do so. The price hike resulted in WP getting cut off from Twitter integrations in their Jetpack Social platform. Jetpack released a blog post about the matter and the title clarifies their stance. It says it attempted to work with Twitter in good faith to negotiate new terms but an agreement was not reached. Twitter connection on Jetpack Social will cease to work, and your blog posts will no longer be auto-shared to Twitter. - Kristina P. Jetpack Social is currently working towards adding an auto-share feature to Instagram and Mastodon. Clients can still use the service to share on other platforms like Facebook andLinkedIn.. Source: Jetpack
  15. Ishtiaqe Hanif
    New York City Subway ends Twitter service alerts after Musk imposes price tag on API by Ishtiaqe Hanif The real-time service alerts on Twitter by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will no longer be available. It was regularly used by subway, train, and bus commuters in New York City. The authority has decided to sever ties with the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, resulting in the loss of this crucial service for public transport users. Image via FortuneAfter Twitter asked Microsoft to pay to use its API, it is now asking MTA to pay a monthly fee of $50,000 to ensure access to Twitter's API, an MTA official said. MTA posts on its official Twitter saying: For the MTA, Twitter is no longer reliable for providing the consistent updates riders expect. It said goodbye to Twitter for service alerts and information. To continue getting updates, it is offering alternatives to customers. ✔️ Bookmark https://t.co/8rwbuwle0p ✔️ Use our MYmta & TrainTime apps ✔️ Look for info on screens in stations and on trains/buses ✔️ Sign up for The Weekender, our newsletter for weekend service changes ✔️ Sign up for email & SMS alerts (beta) https://t.co/NLrVIpqa4U — MTA (@MTA) April 27, 2023 According to an interview by Fortune, MTA says paying for the API is not the best use of its resources while they have other reliable alternatives for the customers. They have internal and homegrown features and functions. Shanifah Rieara, MTA’s acting chief customer officer and senior advisor said they want to utilize all platforms to communicate with customers, but they want one that is consistently reliable. MTA has many Twitter accounts to push out updates including @NYCTSubway, @NYCTBus, @LIRR, and @MetroNorth. It immediately suspended the usage of these accounts until further notice. It will continue to monitor the situation and use them to respond to messages. Twitter has a free tier for API but it's not practical for large clients like MTA. Twitter will complete the deprecation of its older APIs on April 29th. Amidst a $600 million and growing budget deficit, it is not looking to add extra costs. Source: MTA (Twitter) via Fortune
  16. John Callaham
    Two fake Twitter accounts still managed to get gold business verified badges by John Callaham Twitter continues to deal with confusion surrounding its new system for verifying accounts. Today, two Twitter pages that had the gold badge for verified business accounts were taken down after they were proven to be fake. Twitter charges businesses $1,000 a month to get the coveted gold verified checkmark on their accounts. However, Deadline reports that a fake account, which claimed to be the official Disney Junior UK page, got the gold badge, and then it started posting several messages that would never be posted on a real Disney account. They included posts with profanity and racial slurs. The account was shut down earlier today. Then, Deadline reported on a second fake Twitter account with the gold badge. This one claimed to be an official account for MTV's reality show The Challenge. It posted violent video content before it was suspended today as well. There's no word on how either of these Twitter pages got the gold badge. This weekend, a few days after Twitter was supposed to remove the blue checkmarks from legacy verified pages, it restored many of them with large followings. The accounts, some of which were for people who have passed away, had not paid for the new $8 a month Twitter Blue service that was supposed to be the new and only way to get the blue verified badge.
  17. John Callaham
    Twitter is restoring blue verified checkmarks to accounts with over 1 million followers by John Callaham Just a few days ago, Twitter got rid of nearly all the blue verified checkmarks on accounts that were put in place before Elon Musk bought the social networking company. He wanted to make people pay $8 a month to get that checkmark instead. It was then revealed that Musk personally put verified checkmarks on the accounts of three celebrity Twitter users. Now it appears there's yet another partial reversal in his checkmark policy. As Rolling Stone reports, Twitter has put the blue checkmark back for many accounts that have over one million followers. One of them is Lord of the Rings and X-Men actor Ian McKellen, who wanted to make his followers know that he did not pay to get that badge back. Despite the implication when you click the blue badge that has mysteriously re-appeared beside my name, I am not paying for the "honour". — Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) April 23, 2023 That's not the only thing Twitter has shifted gears on lately. Earlier this month, the network labeled the Twitter accounts of media outlets like NPR, the BBC, and PBS as either "state-affiliated" or "government-funded". Now, those labels have been removed from the accounts that had them. NPR.com reports that Musk made that decision because of a suggestion by Walter Isaacson, the famed journalist and official biographer of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Isaacson is reportedly working on a similar biography of Musk.
  18. zikalify
    The login prompt for Twitter Search has returned just months after Elon Musk wanted it gone by Paul Hill It seems as though the search feature on Twitter has been disabled again for people without an account. There were several news stories last year explaining that George Hotz (GeoHot), the famous iPhone hacker, had become a Twitter intern. One of his tasks was to remove the login prompt when using Twitter Search. He, or someone else at the company, did remove the login prompt successfully and it has been possible to search Twitter without logging in, that is, until now. If you go to Twitter now without logging in, you’ll be taken to the Explore feed and there will not be a search box at all. If you press on a tweet, the search option does show up but trying to search with it brings up a login prompt. In addition, while you’re on the Explore feed, you should see a hashtag icon on the left side next to the word ‘Explore’ but if you resize the browser window on the desktop, this changes back to a search icon for some reason, perhaps it's a remnant. The fact that search is no longer usable for those not signed in is pretty interesting. CEO Elon Musk has been actively trying to get people to become Twitter subscribers. He has even removed the legacy blue checkmark from famous people’s accounts in recent days. Search could have been switched off to entice users onto the platform, including those who left due to the controversy after Musk took over.
  19. John Callaham
    Elon Musk is actually paying to have a few celebrities retain their Twitter blue checkmark by John Callaham On Thursday, Twitter finally made good on its promise to remove the certified blue checkmark from accounts that were not paying for its Twitter Blue service at $8 a month. As it turns out, three accounts that didn't pay for Twitter Blue kept their blue checkmark, and it's all due to Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Those three accounts belong to best-selling writer Stephen King, NBA basketball star LeBron James, and the star of the 1980s cop show T.J. Hooker, William Shatner. King mentioned that he had not paid for Twitter Blue in a post, but still had his checkmark, and Musk replied to that message with, "You’re welcome namaste.". He later clarified that he was only paying for King, James, and Shatner's blue checkmark. So why would Musk pay out of his pocket to have these three particular accounts keep their verification marks? That remains unclear. It's even odder for Musk to pay for King's checkmark. King has been very vocal about his feelings about Musk taking over Twitter in 2022, posting at one point that while he did think Musk was a "visionary" with his running of the Tesla car company, "he’s been a terrible fit for Twitter. He appears to be making it up as he goes along." There's no word on how many people have paid so far for Twitter Blue, which does offer more features than just that blue checkmark. In fact, we may never really know, since it is now a private company under Musk's ownership.
  20. John Callaham
    Xbox and Game Bar on Windows gamers can no longer share game uploads to Twitter by John Callaham It's now going to be a bit harder to quickly show your cool gameplay clips on Twitter if you are an Xbox or Windows gamer. Microsoft has confirmed that the ability to press one button to share the last 30 seconds of gameplay to Twitter has been disabled for its Xbox consoles, along with users of the Game Bar for Windows. We have had to disable the ability to share game uploads to Twitter directly from the console and Game Bar on Windows. You can still share your favorite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS. — Xbox (@Xbox) April 20, 2023 Microsoft confirmed this feature was shut down when asked by a gamer on, ironically, its Xbox Twitter account (via Windows Central). The post did add, "You can still share your favorite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS." The post didn't go into detail on why Microsoft made this move, but it's not hard to put two and two together on this "mystery". Twitter recently announced it would no longer offer its API for free to large businesses. It's now charging a fee of at least $42,000 a month for the use of its API. Microsoft likely doesn't feel it wants to pay Twitter for that feature. Earlier this week, Microsoft Advertising announced it will no longer support Twitter starting April 25. That led Twitter's CEO Elon Musk, to threaten Microsoft with a lawsuit, as he made a vague and unproven claim that Microsoft "trained illegally using Twitter data." Source: Xbox on Twitter via Windows Central
  21. zikalify
    ARK Invest CEO, Cathie Wood, believes Tesla will 10x in value by 2027 by Paul Hill The well-known growth investor, Cathie Wood, has told CNBC in a video interview that she expects Tesla to be worth $2,000 per share by 2027. Her comments come on the same day that the Tesla share price fell 9.75% after the company reported a fall in net income after it lowered the price of its vehicles in a bid to grow its market share to put it in better stead in the future. When asked about ARK Invest’s new Tesla valuation assessment, the company’s CEO, Cathie Wood, responded by saying: “For 2027, our expected value is roughly $2,000. That’s within a range of $1,400 to $2,500, our bear and bull case.” Seemingly a bit taken aback by the figure Wood was sharing, another CNBC interviewer joined the conversation asking her to clarify the number as it represents a more than ten times increase from the current share price of $163. She confirmed the figure and said that Tesla’s robotaxi plan is a huge opportunity that could spur the stock price increase. Cathie Wood said that robotaxis, globally, could deliver between $8 trillion - $10 trillion in revenue by 2030 and “is one of the most important investment opportunities of our lifetimes.” She explained that autonomous vehicles will cut road-related fatalities by a massive 80% to 90%. The deadline for this prediction isn’t too far off into the future so this wild prediction may still be on people’s minds by the time it expires. If it does turn out accurate, those who make the bet and invest in Tesla will be rewarded handsomely. For anyone considering it, you should only invest what you can afford to lose.
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    Starship performs stunning launch before exploding at an altitude of 30 Km by Paul Hill After a several-year wait, SpaceX finally launched its interplanetary rocket Starship atop the Super Heavy booster. The rocket is a massive 5,000 tonnes and for a few seconds after 30 of the 33 raptor engines ignited, the rocket did not move. Eventually, it began its slow ascension. The rocket managed to reach an altitude of 39 Km before SpaceX attempted a flip and the detaching of the Super Heavy booster. This is where things went awry. As the rocket performed the flips, it lost about 9 Km in altitude before going up in a fiery blaze, thus ending the mission. SpaceX has many failures like this but it usually does a good job of taking note of what happened and rectifying the issue – after all, it’s private money on the line and not an endless stream of tax revenue. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated his team on the “exciting test launch of Starship” and said there will be another test launch in just another couple of months. Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023 If you don’t normally follow this type of news, SpaceX wants to build a rocket that can ferry people back and forth to the Moon and Mars. In a trailer video from several years ago, Starship was also demonstrated as a fancy airplane that could transport people around the Earth in a much quicker time than any jet. It’s unclear if Earth-to-Earth transportation is still on the table in 2023, however.
  23. John Callaham
    Microsoft Advertising ditches Twitter, and then Elon Musk threatens a lawsuit by John Callaham Microsoft Advertising will no longer support Twitter, and this action may have caused Twitter's CEO Elon Musk to threaten a lawsuit against Microsoft. Today, Microsoft Advertising posted an update on a support page, stating that its "Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform will no longer support Twitter" starting April 25. There's no stated reason for this move, but it's likely that it has to do with Twitter switching to a paid API for larger businesses. They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2023 When this move was mentioned on the independent Twitter Daily News account, Elon Musk suddenly replied to this post with a quick message: "They trained illegally using Twitter data. Lawsuit time." Right now it's unclear exactly what Musk means about "trained illegally using Twitter data". It's possible Musk could be accusing Microsoft of using the Twitter API to train its AI services like Bing Chat. He offered no evidence of any such activity. Both Twitter and Musk have been in the news quite a lot over the past few weeks. Earlier in April, Twitter blocked people from liking, replying, or retweeting posts that had links from Substack for a few days. Musk also accused Substack of downloading "a massive portion of the Twitter database" to help support the recently launched Substack Notes. Again, he offered no proof of that activity. More recently, he's labeled some media outlets as being government funded, which has caused NPR to no longer post on its Twitter accounts.
  24. zikalify
    Elon Musk pursues generative AI, just weeks after calling for a pause by Paul Hill Several weeks ago, Elon Musk signed a letter with others calling for AI labs to pause the training of their AI systems for six months. Now, it turns out that Musk is pursuing his own generative AI start-up if a report from the Financial Times is to be believed. One insider says SpaceX and Tesla investors are already helping Musk fund the work and “are excited about it.” Ever since last year when OpenAI launched ChatGPT, many tech firms have piled in to create their own generative AI. Not one to shy away from futuristic projects, Musk now appears to be getting in on the game too. He has also secured thousands of NVIDIA GPUs to help power the AI systems, according to those in the know. To help develop the software, Musk has also been poaching engineers from various companies including Alphabet’s DeepMind. Igor Babuschkin is named as one engineer that has been brought on by Musk from DeepMind but there are about six others who weren’t named. Elon Musk actually helped to co-found OpenAI but had disagreements with the others at the company. Given his fears about AI, it’ll be interesting to see what safeguards he uses in his product if it launches. Source: Financial Times
  25. John Callaham
    NPR quits Twitter after disputing its "government-funded media" label by John Callaham National Public Radio (NPR) has decided to no longer use any of its 52 official Twitter accounts. The decision comes after Twitter CEO Elon Musk labeled NPR first as ""state-affiliated media" and later as "government-funded media" a few days ago. In a post on NPR's website, the media outlet offers its view of the "government-funded media" branding: The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. NPR says that even if the label is removed from its Twitter page, it may not immediately post new content to the account as it feels that it can no longer trust Twitter's decisions. The media outlet will give its staff members who run those accounts two weeks to "revise their social-media strategies". Individual NPR employees will be allowed to decide whether or not they can continue to update their personal accounts. This news comes just a few hours after Musk was interviewed by the BBC. The media group's Twitter account was also labeled as "government funded media" a few days ago, even though the BBC gets its funding from UK residents who pay a license fee. Musk stated in the interview that the BBC Twitter page has now been relabeled as "publicly funded". Musk was also asked in the BBC interview about Twitter's current status since he bought the social network in late 2022, and then fired the majority of its workers. Musk claims that the company is now "roughly breaking even" and that Twitter now has about 1,500 employees, well below the nearly 8,000 workers that it had before Musk purchased the company. Musk admitted that since acquiring Twitter it has been "really quite a stressful situation over the last several months", but feels that it was still the right decision. Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 11, 2023 In related news, Musk posted on his own Twitter page that the checkmarks for verified accounts will be removed by April 20. Twitter started putting in the new verified and paid for, Twitter Blue checkmarks on April 1, but left the old ones live, That apparently will change in the next week.