The EU Commission has opened another investigation into Google - this time over potential abuse of dominance and favoring its own AI tool.

Sooo many folks I’m excited to work with on Mamdani’s technology transition committee. All hands on deck to bring the Affordability Agenda to life: childcare, housing, transportation. While its easy to get swept up in personality, this is a group focused on peoples real needs. LETS KEEP THE FOCUS.

I need everyone, esp anyone working in education or tech (but really everyone) to WATCH THIS CLIP of @drtanksley.bsky.social discussing the technologies infiltrating our schools & psyches and how she is addressing it with our young people. youtu.be/5mtcSL4S3HQ

Inconvenient facts for malign (often foreign) influencers who try to portray my home city as a lethal no go zone. After more than half a century living here, I’ve never felt safer And kudos to Fraser Nelson for his work on this

Here is the interview in English. Excellent read.

A brilliant interview w/ philosopher Alberto Toscano on the social desires the far-right managed to exploit for its resurgence in the last decade & how the left can deal with them. Well worth autotranslating from Portuguese into whatever your language is, whether in the EU, the UK, or the USA.

Hot off the press: Heliotrope— By the Machine for the Machine: Virilio’s Logistics of Perception in the Age of Generative AI BY TRACY VALCOURT www.heliotropejournal.net/helio/bythem...

For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files: splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app

I appreciate the work of these authors to show that this problem not only is still here but has grown: www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne... But it is also quite frustrating 🧵>>

Portrait of Andrew Cuomo.

As an amateur birder and a Wikipedia lover, I am so in awe by the intersection of this work. Incredible!

Meet one of Syria’s “shadow warriors.” Hassan Al Hariri risked everything to help smuggle more than a million documents out of Syria during the war. They include evidence of war crimes that could one day hold Bashar al-Assad and his top officials to account.

I have a limited number of 2for1 tickets available for my Manchester show this Sunday - DM me for the code!

‘Most scammers have themselves been scammed. The tens of thousands of Chinese, Ethiopians, Ugandans, Filipinos, Pakistanis and others who carry out the grunt work have been tricked, kidnapped and enslaved.’ @alexclapp.bsky.social on the vast cybercrime economy. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Wow - those are quite phenomenal headlines given the details of the story. Ahh look, he’s just a ‘nerdy’ guy. No harm done. You need to scroll down to paragraph 13 of the Sky piece to find the full story! 🧵 1/9

🗨️ "Austrian privacy group noyb said on Tuesday it has filed a criminal complaint in Austria, accusing U.S.-based Clearview AI of illegally collecting photos and videos of European Union residents to build its facial-recognition database." More Info: www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

“The fraud is mind-boggling.” — alleged NBA game-fixing, 11 states, and a mob cameo

There is a moment at this time of year when the word ‘apricity’ really comes into view. For those who don’t know it, it was recorded only once, in 1623, before slipping out of view. Apricity is the warmth of the sun on a chilly day.

Hello Bluesky. I'm here because Meta doesn't want me. Looking forward to post unfiltered, unhinged and un-whatever stuff here. Tell your friends!

Thurs 23 October, 10:00-17:00 BST: 'Folklore & Anthropology in Conversation: Revisiting Oral Narrative'--joint symposium of @folkloresociety.bsky.social and The RAI. Tickets are free. In-person attendance is fully booked but places still available to attend online: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Fellow academics, I'm doing it. Going all in. Pulling the plug, literally. This is on my syllabus for Spring 2026: "This is an analog class. No Canvas; this syllabus is your guide." All readings are printed books; hand-written exams; no laptops. #academicbluesky #Highered #academia #Rutgers

Folklorist Job Alert! University of London seeks a part time PDRA on Project Storymachine, which aims to preserve, explore and increase access to folklore in Germany and the UK through digital infrastructure. Application details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOY261/p...

Keir Starmer's planned National Digital ID scheme announced in September 2025 and set for rollout by mid-2029, is still in the consultation and planning phase, with tech companies, including potentially Oracle, preparing to bid for multi-billion-pound contracts. Thread

so Google just added a bunch (more) AI bullshit to Chrome Go through these steps to disable it: opus.ing/posts/how-to... #chrome #aibullshit

Teesside’s freeport, initiated in 2021 under Rishi Sunak, has cost £560 million far exceeding the standard £25 million allocation (22 times the standard £25m). 90% profits go to the private sector. This clearly shows the UK model of State aid post-Brexit is utterly corrupt.

Before I go to my desk for the Thorny Problem, here’s my morning thought…

MEGATON 📢 OUT NOW! Stick it on your favourite playlist… You can thank us later. #sleafordmods #megaton

I walked into the lounge last night to find my teenage son watching this. We have long admired @kurzgesagt.org and found their videos to be extremely illuminating. But this one in particular I think is so important right now! www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN...

With Bluesky admitting that they are pushing a lot of content here to 3rd parties, I just send their data protection officer a GDPR information request to find out where what data actually goes. Let's see what happens.

I don't even know what to say about @aaron.bsky.team announcing that actually they feed all images posted on Bsky into an AI that just a year ago they told everyone they had banned from using Bsky images

And as Kitty, written by the peerless Victoria Wood.

Europe 2026 - Part 1 We can’t wait to dance with you again, Europe! Tickets are on general sale now! Don’t snooze and lose. Get ‘em here: sleafordmods.com/live €1 from every ticket goes to support War Child’s life-changing work with children affected by conflict.

BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador. Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.

Attention! Important News: I have discovered someone on YouTube editing Paulie Walnuts into Star Trek TNG episodes

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer. This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

There's a WEEK left to sign up to mentor for @artsemergency.bsky.social - potentially get paired with a young person (16-18) who wants to work in the arts/creative industries, but who might not have the contacts or context to help them understand how to do that www.arts-emergency.org/get-involved...

Yup. We have formally entered the age of illusion.

NEW: GOP Lawmaker says the FBI does indeed have a LIST of names of wealthy men who Jeffrey Epstein trafficked victims to, among them he named British banker Jes Staley. List,https://www.miamiherald.com/article312146310.html?giftCode=84626696b99f40a656df0fc384bc9f2db6e809f9f730c8b3b4ab961986e86566

Tip for anyone in or around London: the London Transport Museum's depot in Acton has an open day next weekend - Thursday 18th through Sunday 21st - and in addition to poking around their huge collection of normally off-display items if you go on Saturday or Sunday you can ride a little tiny […]

Last week, we held The Gaza Tribunal - an inquiry into Britain's complicity in genocide. This is just the beginning. We will uncover the full truth, and we will bring about justice for the people of Palestine.

Astonishingly, I've discovered, the Tufton Street junktanks that shaped Liz Truss's agenda are still operating at the heart of government. Remind me what we voted for again ... This week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Freeports, (SEZs), AI Growth Zones, and now Defence Growth Zones. “UK Zone fever” is accelerating at breakneck speed, yet most people have no idea it’s happening, let alone that they might be living in or near one. Free to read article on my Substack! europeanpowell.substack.com/p/zone-fever...

😂

social media gold

Very important info for eg women in violent relationships who maintain a secret phone. Please pass along.

What are Food Enterprise Zones (FEZs)?👇🏻👀💰 substack.com/@europeanpow...