In what was probably a tactical leak from the EU, they're gonna ban a whole heap of artifical intelligence applications. The definiations of prohibited uses of AI are open to interpretation, but some examples of AI it seeks to outlaw include, "systems which establish priority in the dispatching of emergency services, systems determining access to or assigning people to educational institutes, recruitment algorithms, those that evaluate credit worthiness, those for making individual risk assessments, crime-predicting algorithms". Good. All those things are horrible. The EU is rumoured to be making an official announcement next week.
Remembner the shitshow surrounding unlocking the San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone back in 2015/2016? It's a long story (Wikipedia has a good summary) but ultimately the FBI's claims the iPhone was unbreakable so Apple had to give them a backdoor was bullshit and the FBI managed to get in to the iPhone anyways. How they got in to the relatively secure iPhone 5C remained a mystery - until today. According to The Washington Post, Australian company Azimuth Security did the deed, using a chain of exploits that allowed them to bypass security features like wiping the device after 10 incorrect passcode guesses.
Certain people (you know who you are) are very excited about Coinbase's IPO going off like a frog in a sock overnight. The cryptocurrency trading platform went public, with the share price starting at US$250 a pop, spiking to a peak of $429, then settling on $328 on market close. That's a wild ride and far exceeded most people's expectations. The cryptocurrency boosters are absolutely loving it as they see the market's enthusiasm for Coinbase as validation of cryptocurrency, comparing Coinbase's listing to AOL or Netscape mainstreaming the internet back in the good old days.
Here's some news for people that publish audio related content to the internet. Rode's new Connect app looks like a really easy way to turn your laptop into a mixer with support for remote guests via Zoom or Skype and external audio sources (e.g: music). This is usually a bit of a pain in the arse and requires multiple apps, but Rode chucked it all into one. Bit of a bummer it only supports the NT-USB Mini mics, but they're good mics anyways. If you've got a semi-recent Nvidia graphics card (even the GTX units are supported now) and use OBS to stream your antics, it now has Nvidia's crazy RTX Voice feature built-in to reduce background noise. There's never been a better time to create some content!
📻 Stare At The Sun - Ringo Deathstarr
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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.