posted in Technology
First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/first-test-flight-of-largest-all-electric-aircraft-used-just-5-of-electricity/
posted in Technology
First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/08/first-test-flight-of-largest-all-electric-aircraft-used-just-5-of-electricity/posted in Technology
AI Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive. Mini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could out think neural networks.
www.wired.com/story/organoids-lab-grown-brains-neural-networks/
WIREDAI Is Dead. Organoids Are AliveMini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could outthink neural networks.posted in Technology
Microsoft's Weather App Eats More RAM Than Most Browsers – and Serves You Ads
www.gadgetreview.com/microsofts-weather-app-eats-more-ram-than-most-browsers-and-serves-you-ads
Gadget ReviewMicrosoft's Weather App Eats More RAM Than Most Browsers – and Serves You AdsWindows 11 Weather app consumes up to 1.6GB of RAM and displays third-party ads — roughly five times heavier than macOS's equivalent.Replying to a post on adultswim.fan
Yeah, well said. I agree with you on this, I hate both
posted in Technology
Two Decades of Cheaper Memory Vanished in One Brutal Year
www.gadgetreview.com/two-decades-of-cheaper-memory-vanished-in-one-brutal-year
Gadget ReviewTwo Decades of Cheaper Memory Vanished in One Brutal YearMemory prices are surging up to 95% as AI dominates chip supply — analysts warn costs won't normalize until 2028, so buy RAM and SSDs now.posted in Technology
Salem Brought a Guillotine To Oppose New Data Center. Company Reps Left, Feeling 'Unsafe'.
www.gadgetreview.com/salem-brought-a-guillotine-to-oppose-new-data-center-company-reps-left-feeling-unsafe
Gadget ReviewSalem Brought a Guillotine To Oppose New Data Center. Company Reps Left, Feeling 'Unsafe'.Salem's city council voted unanimously to pursue a data center moratorium after residents — and a guillotine — pushed back on a $5.1 billion AI facility.posted in Technology
The AI Slop Backlash Is Actually Having an Impact. Platforms are finally recognizing that people don’t want to consume AI slop.
www.wired.com/story/the-ai-slop-backlash-is-actually-having-an-impact/
WIREDThe AI Slop Backlash Is Actually Having an ImpactPlatforms are finally recognizing that people don’t want to consume AI slop. A growing number of sites and apps now have tools and policies to flag, label, and ban AI-generated content.posted in Technology
"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmers
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/54810980
blog.senko.net/code-was-never-the-hard-part-is-an-insult-to-all-programmers
Senko Rašić"Code was never the hard part" is an insult to all programmersThe software development profession is in the midst of upheaval. Nobody knows how the AI revolution will play out in the end, but it is c...posted in Technology
US Cities Cancel 50+ Flock Surveillance Contracts Amid Public Backlash
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50445196
townflex.com/us-cities-cancel-50-flock-surveillance-contracts-amid-public-backlash/
TownFlexUS Cities Cancel 50+ Flock Surveillance Contracts Amid Public BacklashAt least 54 US cities have canceled or rejected Flock license plate camera contracts in 2026 as privacy concerns and false alerts spark nationwide backlash.posted in Technology
Investors want ‘real proof’ AI spending is paying off, new report suggests - National | Globalnews.ca
cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/68987038
globalnews.ca/news/12011708/ai-spending-investing-fidelity/What, investors are beginning to think that maybe AI is more hype than substance? A really expensive way of doing not much of anything?
Didn’t this also happen with the dot.com meltdown? A few good ways to productively use it, a lot of ways to wastefully use it.
You would think they would have learned.
The truth is, AI should not stand for Artificial Intelligence, it is in reality Algorithmic Intelligence. Same computer processing, except that it is thousands of computers in a single chip all processing the data at the same time, with each computer doing the same math (a*b+c) but each simultaneous computation uses different input numbers. Great for doing massive simultaneous calculations, but certainly not ‘revolutionary’. Instead of one computer doing one program taking a thousand cycles, a thousand computers doing the same program taking one cycle. What IS revolutionary are the algorithms that are being developed, and the applications these massive calculator arrays are being used for. Some will bear fruit, most will not.
Let’s take a ‘for example’.
Weather predictions for the next day. You start with a given set of data, then run your predictive algorithm a thousand times, each with a slightly different set of possible future data points. One of them is probably the most accurate. The problem is to decide which one. The second problem is that it takes a week to do all the thousand runs. You can have a 95% accurate prediction in one week for what the weather is going to be tomorrow. See the problem?
But with the newest AI chips, you can do the thousand different scenarios at the same time. Also, you can calculate a probability for each scenario at the same time. The scenario with the highest probability is the most likely. Then you check the actual weather, feed it back to the system, and it gets better at calculating the probabilities for the correct scenario. You get tomorrows weather today, and the system gets better and better at calculating the probabilities. This is a useful application.
Second condition. In a lottery, you can use this same server to predict all of the potential combinations of numbers, before the next draw. Except that the probability of any one combination being drawn is, well, still equal. There is just no way the system can get better at selecting the correct random number. The selection of which combination to use is still random, from equal probabilities. You can calculate what all the potential outcomes can be, but this tells you nothing if they are all equally likely. So it tells you nothing. A completely wasteful application.
Yet there are far more companies trying to use ‘AI’ to do the second condition than for the first condition. After investing a fortune in hardware, they still have the same accuracy in decision making as before.
Global NewsInvestors want ‘real proof’ AI spending is paying off, new report suggests - National | Globalnews.caA new report from Fidelity suggests financial advisors are increasingly looking for evidence that AI investments are translating into strong financial results.posted in Technology
Trump’s Truth Social Hit by Humiliating Exodus [Down 40% in one year]
cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/64681779
www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-truth-social-hit-by-humiliating-exodus-of-daily-active-users/Active users of President Donald Trump’s social media platform have dropped like flies.
Trump’s Truth Social site, where he threatens other countries and posts self-aggrandizing AI slop, has experienced a dramatic drop in daily active users of its mobile app since last July, according to the Financial Times.
The outlet, citing estimates from the digital market intelligence company SimilarWeb, reported that the mobile site’s daily active users have plummeted from 436,000 in July 2025 to only 261,000 one year later.
The Daily BeastTrump’s Truth Social Hit by Humiliating ExodusPeople have left the president’s personal social media site in droves.posted in Technology
Why Normal People Aren’t Using AI Agents
www.wired.com/story/why-normal-people-arent-using-ai-agents/
WIREDWhy Normal People Aren’t Using AI AgentsThe tech industry is realizing it needs to build agents based on what regular consumers want, not just what its AI models can do.posted in Technology
Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery
www.wired.com/story/meta-ran-ads-that-contained-ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-imagery/
WIREDMeta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse ImageryMore than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.posted in Technology
Someone Cut Down Every Single Flock Camera in This Town in a Single Night
cross-posted from: lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/46324633
www.gadgetreview.com/someone-cut-down-every-single-flock-camera-in-this-town-in-a-single-night
Gadget ReviewSomeone Cut Down Every Single Flock Camera in This Town in a Single NightWinona's 8 Flock Safety license plate cameras were stolen and poles cut overnight, leaving a $24,000 gap and no suspects.posted in Technology
Winona police want to know who stole their Flock surveillance cameras
cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/68943011
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/08/05/winona-police-stolen-flock-surveillance-cameras
MPR NewsWinona police want to know who stole their Flock surveillance camerasThe police say that over the weekend, officers found the poles the cameras were mounted on had been cut down and the cameras were gone. Flock cameras are stirring controversy across the country as they compile license plate and other vehicle details in a national database.posted in Technology
AI Bots Can Steal Your Login Credentials, but You Can Protect Yourself
lifehacker.com/tech/ai-bots-can-steal-your-login-credentials-but-you-can-protect-yourself
LifehackerAI Bots Can Steal Your Login Credentials, but You Can Protect YourselfIn just two days, OpenAI and Anthropic both issued apologies for their AI staging cyberattacks using scraped passwords or secrets. How do you protect yourself?posted in Technology
DuckDuckGo Is Selling Anti Pervert Glasses That Contain Zero AI, Cameras, or Even Electronics Whatsoever
cross-posted from: discuss.tchncs.de/post/65320476
futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/duckduckgo-selling-anti-pervert-glasses
FuturismDuckDuckGo Is Selling Anti Pervert Glasses That Contain Zero AI, Cameras, or Even Electronics WhatsoeverGoogle alternative DuckDuckGo has come up with a pair of plastic, non-pervert glasses in response to Meta's controversial smart glasses.posted in Technology
Google Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images
www.404media.co/google-earths-new-ai-lets-anyone-fabricate-completely-bullshit-satellite-images/
404 MediaGoogle Earth’s New AI Lets Anyone Fabricate Completely Bullshit Satellite Images"Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put refugees near the Mexican border. Then I planted a nuclear plant in Iran. Then I put a fatal crash on a street in Amsterdam."posted in Technology
Boomers on Facebook Are Leaving Comments That Make It Clear That They Have No Idea That AI-Generated Thirst Traps Aren't Real
futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/boomers-facebook-ai-thirst-traps
FuturismBoomers on Facebook Are Leaving Comments That Make It Clear That They Have No Idea That AI-Generated Thirst Traps Aren't RealAging Facebook users are drooling over AI-generated thirst traps, clearly with no idea that they aren't real.posted in Technology
How China gets better bang for its buck than America in AI. Its investment lags far behind America’s. Its models do not
www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/08/03/how-china-gets-better-bang-for-its-buck-than-america-in-ai