Thoughts?

#ICYMI By introducing carefully crafted text into an #AI model’s training data, cyber-attackers can create a ‘trigger’ phrase or keyword that causes the model to, say, extract sensitive data, or bypass security protocols. www.turing.ac.uk/blog/llms-ma... via @theturing.bsky.social

“You don’t smell the cigar smoke, you don’t see the needle going onto the record, but you get to hear the exact same record,” Ledbetter said. “People should always be able to hear these songs.” laist.com/news/arts-an... via @laist.com

The Great Flattening? In the race to make machines more like us, we may end up becoming more like them. But without the collision of individual flaws, quirks and oddities that make human interactions interesting, will we still have as much fun? www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... via @bloomberg.com

“A lot of connection in general just boils down to: ‘how can you help me further my career?’” Xiao said, adding that people, upon seeing his job title, outright asked him for a job. “And I’m like: ‘Bro.’” www.bloomberg.com/news/article... via @bloomberg.com

The construction of data centers, which require massive amounts of power + water, could lead to shortages in communities already facing a resource crunch. Then there's the labor market, including India’s outsourcing industry. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1... via @pranshuverma.bsky.social

“There is a lot of water cooler talk about people who haven’t had work in months,” said a woman who has narrated 600+ audiobooks. “At what point will it be good enough so that fans won’t complain and the cost differential will be too compelling to ignore?” www.wsj.com/tech/persona... via @wsj.com

#ICYMI Flock’s Condor cameras are designed to record and track people. The exposure was discovered by @bennjordan.bsky.social and shared with gainsec.bsky.social who has also found vulnerabilities in Flock’s automated license plate reader cameras. www.404media.co/flock-expose... via @404media.co

The first-ever foreign influence op targeting Arab Israelis is now exposed, but has gained a substantial following and duped activists, a major Arabic-language media outlet and a Jewish-Arab political party. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/... via @haaretzcom.bsky.social

A Christian doomsday cult of Chinese exiles is behind a widespread influence operation to evangelize Jewish Israelis online. They distribute AI-generated "Torah lessons" in Hebrew which are actually sermons preaching the church's gospel. 👀 www.haaretz.com/israel-news/... via @haaretzcom.bsky.social

“As you are building out your 2024 plans, I’m asking that the business teams stay laser focused on 1) teens, particularly in developed markets and 2) Threads, and in that order,” Mosseri wrote in the Nov. 6, 2023, memo. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

Though Musk is unpredictable, he is also a formidable ally. With his nearly unlimited resources and unmatched digital megaphone, Musk could prove a powerful asset to the MAGA movement once Trump leaves the stage. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

"Nobody in city government will comment on the record, but it is also lost on nobody that an environmental impact report and a fair appraisal — both of which the city has been plodding its way through the process of obtaining — are precursors to eminent domain." missionlocal.org/2025/12/pge-...

What can one woman do to make sure attention is paid to American history? Speak to your personal experience. Listen to Betty Reid Soskin, speaking in her own words. Now resting in peace at 104. Beloved for a reason. 🙏🏻 www.kqed.org/news/1191431... via @kqednews.kqed.org @kitchensisters.bsky.social

FTC Analysis shows Consumers Have Lost Millions to Rental Scams. Soooo, what is the FTC doing about it? www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

Eight immigration attorneys — in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. — said that since early November, they have not been able to get kids with cleared sponsors out of ORR custody in most cases. www.tpr.org/news/2025-12... via @texaspublicradio.bsky.social

Born Betty Charbonnet in Detroit in 1921, Soskin spent her early years in New Orleans with her Creole family. She survived the devastating Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, an event that displaced her family and prompted their move to Oakland. www.kqed.org/news/1206821... via @kqednews.kqed.org

Other SF neighborhoods are thriving. So what about downtown? Whatever the answers turn out to be, they're unlikely to come from idea-free city leaders. The city’s economist: “It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as it happens soon.” www.kqed.org/news/1206798... via @kqednews.kqed.org

#ICYMI San Jose's Japantown is one of 10 neighborhoods chosen to be a state-designated cultural district. This provides the district with a $10,000 grant, as well as branding resources to attract more visitors. #WaitWut www.kqed.org/news/1045959... via @kqednews.kqed.org #fromthearchives #135strong

We are told this is about green energy and the future. But at what cost, and to whom? Norway already has abundant electricity. Why is nature valued only when it can be exploited? www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202... via @aljazeera.com

This fall, warm temperatures and early rains fueled what 🍄‍🟫 experts are calling a “super bloom” of poisonous 🍄 known as death caps in California. Already, 24 people have been sickened, the largest outbreak in at least three decades. www.kqed.org/science/1999... via @kqedscience.bsky.social

The largest of the pro-AI super PACs has a war chest of $100 Mil+. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are fielding anger + distress from constituents about AI-powered job losses, mental health harms and power-hungry data centers. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

This year, Meta had the second-highest number of approved H-1B petitions...👀 www.bloomberg.com/news/article... via @bloomberg.com

"Communities want their hard work to be recognized. As long as there's a disconnect between what people and communities do to reduce their risk and what they're experiencing from their insurance companies, there's this bias to do nothing." www.npr.org/2025/11/13/n... via @npr.org

Why we can't have nice social media anymore? 🤷🏻‍♀️ "The hack reveals what products the AI-generated accounts are promoting, and allowed the hacker to take control of more than 1,000 smartphones that power the company." www.404media.co/hack-reveals... via @404media.co

#ICYMI Rob Bonta joined 23 AGs ✍🏼 to the #FCC over a notice of inquiry laying the groundwork to attempt to preempt state #AI laws. “California knows that states can both nurture evolving innovation and protect our residents — we have been doing so for decades.” oag.ca.gov/system/files...

Have California municipalities unwittingly built a big federal surveillance network? “If we get a federal court warrant, we’re still going to have to ... turn over the data. That’s why privacy folks like me are, like, don’t collect the data in the first place.” — @brianhofer.bsky.social

The encounter some 22,000 miles above Earth in 2022 was never acknowledged publicly by the Pentagon or Beijing. This kind of orbital skirmishing has become so common that defense officials now refer to it as “dogfighting.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i... via @washingtonpost.com

The plan signals an impending crackdown on political dissent under the banner of counterterrorism — one that could land large numbers of liberal activists on government watch lists and chill Americans’ First Amendment rights. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

But if everybody's a consultant, don't most people see through this #cockamamie #LinkedIn strategy? www.washingtonpost.com/business/202... via @danielleabril.bsky.social

“We’re seeing right-wing media at war with itself,” said Jared Holt, senior researcher at Open Measures, a platform for tracking online trends and threats. “There’s a sense that the future of this political movement is up for grabs.” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

What is the business model for an organic intelligence revival? Looking out the window at this city of lights and shadows, I tried to imagine what that might be. People riding with me looked at their phones. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open... via @almckee.bsky.social

“If it’s 100 mile an hour winds and it’s dry ... there’s going to be a fire.” “But if you look at the response in Palisades and the county,” Bass replied, “neither side —” The mayor paused for a moment. “Both sides botched it.” www.latimes.com/california/s... via @davidzahniser.bsky.social

When you're a 🔨 everything looks like a nail. How about real money behind beat police, small biz tax/permit breaks, greenery and pubic art for San Pablo + Shattuck, where housing complexes haven't automatically sprouted community? www.berkeleyside.org/2025/12/12/b... via @nicosavidge.bsky.social

“I was so happy,” said Amarjit Singh, a 41-year-old truck owner and driver who worried he wouldn’t be able to support his two children or afford the $4,000 monthly payments on his truck. “This is a very big relief.” www.kqed.org/news/1206755... via @kqednews.kqed.org @faridajhabvala.bsky.social

The scripts are injected into webpages anytime the user visits one of these platforms. From there, the scripts override browsers’ built-in functions for making network requests and receiving responses. arstechnica.com/security/202... via @arstechnica.com

The more things change... 🤦🏻‍♀️ www.kqed.org/science/1999... via @kqedscience.bsky.social @climatedaddykqed.bsky.social

In 2024, Meta’s ad business bustled in China: $18 Bil+ in annual sales, that's >10th of the co's 🌎 revenue. But @ 19% of that – $3 Bil+ – came from ads for scams, illegal gambling, porn and other banned content, acc to internal Meta documents. 🧟‍♀️ www.reuters.com/investigatio... via @reuters.com

California has regulations in place that mean Tesla will need to combine multiple permits if it wants to offer fully driverless rides in the state. Texas, on the other hand, does not. techcrunch.com/2025/12/15/t... via @techcrunch.com

“I knew it, like, in my gut ... I had been blacklisted. You just start to feel paranoid because no one will say to you ‘This is why we will absolutely never interview you or call you or speak with you.’” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... via @washingtonpost.com

#ICYMI The #FTC has escalated its case against #Uber: what began as a federal lawsuit is now a multi-state enforcement action with expanded allegations and a demand for civil penalties, not just behavioral fixes. www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

The industry push to supersede state legislation is “shortsighted,” said @joshbecker.bsky.social. But just how shortsighted is unclear. The EO includes exemptions for laws that cover child safety + “other topics as shall be determined." “This is going to sow massive confusion in the industry.”

Kwon’s lawyers sought no more than 5 years, arguing his behavior flowed from arrogance + desperation, not greed. Prosecutors, 12 years, because he lied to investors about his cryptocurrencies, then “fled from the wreckage” when the coins imploded. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/t... via @nytimes.com

Google, at last, allows us to a peek behind the curtain with its report that the median Gemini app prompt consumes 0.24 watt-hours of electricity, the equivalent of running a standard microwave for about one second. www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1... via @technologyreview.com

Investigative reporter @ehellerstein.bsky.social looks at how Ukraine’s culture of tech innovation — and its surprising ties to Silicon Valley — are fueling the country’s resistance through an army of engineers, coders, hackers, and tinkerers. www.kqed.org/news/1206467... via @kqednews.kqed.org

“We have asked them point-blank about language to prevent replacing therapists with artificial intelligence, and they have been very clear that they want the ‘flexibility’ to increase #AI and reduce their need for us.” www.kqed.org/science/1999... via @kqednews.kqed.org

A well-known Fruitvale businessman is widely believed to be “Co-conspirator 1” federal prosecutors referred to in the indictment as the source of a trove of information they used to bring charges against Thao, Jones and the Duongs. oaklandside.org/2025/12/01/m... via @oaklandside.org

According to four people familiar with congressional negotiations, House Republican leaders believe Democrats will only vote to preempt state #AI laws if that preemption is paired with new online protections for kids. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025... via @politico.com

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The defense by the guys who also have big bets placed on the same sectors that Sacks does doesn’t actually address the Times’ central premise, which is that Sacks is still invested in areas where he is dictating policy. The implied answer to that is basically, “So what?” gizmodo.com/silicon-vall...