Search results for tag #technology
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Sometimes smart homes fall short of expectations. In 2025, with the arrival of generative AI assistants, there was a bumper crop of snafus. PC World ranks the biggest smart home fails, from overheating beds roasting sleepers to privacy-infringing toilet cams:
#Tech #Smarthome #AI #Technology #ArtificialIntelligence #Home
Just because you post something doesn’t mean your followers will see it. @Techcrunch tells us how creators are navigating social networks that have become increasingly reliant on algorithmic feeds:
Free doesn’t necessarily mean cheap. PC World compiles this list of free software for your PC. Plus, when it’s worth it to upgrade to paid:
From @Techcrunch: New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill this week that will require social media platforms to show warning labels to younger users before they’re exposed to features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling. Will more states follow?
CES 2026, the tech world’s biggest annual conference, officially runs from Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas this time around, and big announcements are expected from Samsung, Sony, NVIDIA and many other companies. Read more from @Engadget:
A hacker-turned-source turns up dead. A secret order to allow U.K. officials to spy on users. And who could forget the Trump administration accidentally texting its war plans to a reporter. These are just a few of @Techcrunch’s best cybersecurity stories from 2025 that were originally reported on by other organizations. Quite an informative and gripping batch.
A freckle is bigger than a tiny robot so small it can barely be seen but can "sense, think, and act" autonomously, according to the engineers who built it. Read more from @ScienceAlert, including how the design has huge potential despite its minuscule size:
“Xbox didn't enter 2025 in a great state, and it's leaving the year grasping for help,” writes Devindra Hardawar. So is the console basically dead? Or can it be resurrected in PC form? Read more of Hardawar’s story from @Engadget:
Waymo is updating software to help its fleet of robotaxis navigate disabled traffic lights during power outages like the one San Francisco endured last weekend. Many Waymo vehicles requested a “confirmation check” instead of treating intersections with dead traffic lights as a four-way stop. @Techcrunch has more on how the company's incorporating "lessons from this event.”
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The Computer History Museum has gotten a recently-discovered tape of UNIX V4, the first C-based version, running.
#technology #history #retrocomputing
#unix
https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/23/unix_v4_tape_successfully_recovered/
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"Nothing is ever simple. Nostalgia protects and nostalgia poisons, and still we go back for more."
Jess Love for The American Scholar:
https://theamericanscholar.org/the-last-good-thing/
#Longreads #Essay #Nostalgia #Streaming #DVDs #Technology #Parenting
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So TalkBack 16.2 had an update that fixes the image button issue. It would call buttons with images just image, like the Back navigation button.
But it *still* has an issue where it replaces the Line up and Line down commands on the Humanware NLS EReader, a Braille display given out to blind people across the US, with D-pad up and D-pad down. The Humanware NLS EReader doesn't even have a D-pad. So there is no way to move up and down by line. This will hit more people in the TalkBack 16.2 rollout, and those with an NLS Ereader will see just how carefully Google cares about Braille. /s
And there's no way to change these Braille commands. So now if I want to skip a bunch of filter radio buttons in Audible and get to the first book, I have to go one item at a time for a good 10 elements until I find the first book. If I use another Braille display, the Braille Edge, which does have line up and line down mapped, those commands now only move by line *within* the currently selected item, not vertically down the screen. So even if those commands did work, it won't help.
Android just isn't ready for purely Braille access. And no I don't want to have to pull out my phone and tap the screen. I don't have to do that on iOS which is supposed to be the less customizable platform; why should I have to on Android?
Adding on to this the other issues like not being able to navigate threaded emails easily, moving from one message to the next in a conversation, the notification shade getting worse with "expanded" being replaced with "fully expanded" which is more screen reader clutter I have to listen to or read before hearing the actual notification, and the name of the app on a collapsed stack of notifications being replaced with just a number, and for me it doesn't matter how many Bluetooth keyboard commands there are if Braille support doesn't improve also. I don't use a Bluetooth keyboard. Maybe if I did I'd be happy. But I use Braille, and they should *also* be focusing on that.
We should be able to enter our PIN, hit modifier keys like Control + n for a new email in the Gmail app, or even open apps with our Braille displays, and the TalkBack Braille keyboard, without having to find and hit a search button, or install a custom launcher that may or may not work well for us. I mean Braille Access on iOS just plain works a good 80% of the time. and while image descriptions on Android are great, the Braille support is frustrating enough that, when I'm on Android, I hate using Braille. And that's really sad. Apple just helps us out a bit. Google leaves us to flounder around until we hit a good spot to where it "meets our needs", or is "*shrugs* good enough". They don't strive for excelence, just "good enough." And as Apple continues to advance, "good enough" ain't good enough anymore.
#technology #tech #apple #google #iOS #Android #accessibility #blind
Waymo suspended its robotaxi service in San Francisco on Saturday evening after a massive blackout appeared to leave many of its vehicles stalled on city streets. Read more (plus photos and videos) at @Techcrunch:
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Open source adoption in Japan is delivering measurable business value.
In this blog, Hilary Carter, SVP of Research at the Linux Foundation, shares findings from The State of Open Source Japan 2025. The research highlights enterprise impact and where stronger cloud native foundations and open source governance can support long-term growth.
🔗 https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/japans-open-source-moment-strong-business-value-global-leadership-and-a-clear-path-forward
Maybe some people don’t want unremovable generative AI software installed on their TV. Read more from @ArsTechnica:
#Tech #AI #TVs #SmartTV #Devices #ArtificialIntelligence #GenAI #Technology
What happened when @WSJ let an AI run its snack vending machine? It ordered a live fish, gave away a PlayStation, offered to buy cigarettes, and lost hundreds of dollars. [Gift link]
Tired of the endless scroll of dating apps? Known, a San Francisco-based startup, is using a voice-powered AI onboarding system that learns about users without requiring them to fill out a form. The intended outcome: IRL dates that make sense for each person. Read more from @Techcrunch:
#Tech #AI #Dating #Apps #DatingApps #ArtificialIntelligence #Technology
When you’re at a bar, ballgame or mall, do you turn off your phone’s Wi-Fi? Here’s why you should. Important read from PC World:
Meta is telling some Facebook users with professional pages that their link sharing will soon be restricted, unless they pay for the Meta Verified subscription, which costs between $14.99 and $499 per month. Those who don't pay up will be limited to sharing links in two organic posts a month. Here's more from Social Media Today (the story was first reported by @mattnavarra).
#Technology #Tech #SocialMedia #Facebook #Meta #Publishing #Media
What were the biggest tech fails of 2025?
@PCMag has a list: https://flip.it/iYlZ2Y
#Tech #Technology #2025
We think Merriam-Webster nailed it. Their 2025 word of the year: slop.
CNBC says the choice is another "sign of growing wariness around artificial intelligence."
iRobot, the maker of Roomba robot vacuum machines, has filed for bankruptcy. "The company has struggled to keep up with foreign rivals, its hefty debt and new costs of tariffs," @npr says.
A Chinese whistleblower now living in the U.S. is being hunted by Beijing with help from American tech.
@AssociatedPress reports: https://flip.it/qmQ-L6
Congratulations, folks, you're TIME's Person of the Year — and so are we, and so's our wife. For @TheAtlantic, Charlie Warzel writes about the selection of "The architects of AI" as Person of the Year, why this is all of us, and how the battles over copyright, attribution and ethics are just beginning. "Odds are, you have not personally developed a large language model at a large technology company," he writes. "And yet, the odds are also decent that morsels from your life have been used to train chatbots."
AI toys for kids talk about sex and issue Chinese Communist Party talking points, tests show.
NBC News reports: "In new research, experts warn that the AI technology powering these new toys is so novel and poorly tested that nobody knows how they may affect young children."
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"Why Toyota’s new prototype could mark the end of gas cars. Toyota’s latest solid-state battery prototype is not just another incremental EV upgrade, it is a direct challenge to the core advantages that have kept gasoline cars dominant for more than a century." .https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/why-toyota-s-prototype-may-mark-the-end-of-gas-cars/vi-AA1HEXlZ?cvid=2b6242b21ddf460b8fd2cb530fde1998 #cars #ev #climate #environment #technology #innovation #business
South Korea to require advertisers to label AI-generated ads.
@AssociatedPress reports: https://flip.it/JjyEIv
#AI #Advertising #ArtificialIntelligence #SouthKorea #Technology
Millions of under-16s in Australia just woke up to no social media as the country's world-first ban came into effect. @CNN breaks down how it will all work.
#Technology #Tech #SocialMedia #Internet #Parenting #Australia
"Digital twins are palliatives — they treat the symptoms, not the causes, of flagging productivity growth."
Max Hancock for The Drift: https://www.thedriftmag.com/model-employees/
#Longreads #Work #Labor #Technology #Manufacturing #DigitalTwins #Business
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I found this funny. credit https://www.threeboy.com/
#sysadmin #technology #life #jobs
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A comic strip titled "TrueNuff Heck Support"
Jay is IT person and when looking at the coworker monitor, he yells "NO," when asked, "JAY, CAN I INSTALL ...?"
Jay walks away from a female coworker who says, "I THINK MY COMPUTER NEEDS ....," to which he replies, "IT DOESN'T."
Another coworker shouts, "HEY! WHY'S MY COMPUTER BROKEN AGAIN?" Jay yells back, "BECAUSE YOU DOWNLOAD DUMB SHIT."
Later, Jay is relaxing on a couch playing video games. Another person asks him, "HOW WAS WORK?" Jay, holding a bottle, smiles and replies, "AWESOME."
ChatGPT’s paying subscribers complained about seeing promotional messages in the app. Maybe the suggestions just looked like ads. Read more from @Techcrunch:
Autonomous ride-hailing service Waymo will file a voluntary software recall after reports that its self-driving taxis illegally passed stopped school buses. Read more from @npr:
#Tech #Waymo #Transportation #Driving #Technology #SelfDriving
Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy Z Trifold “holds the promise of an entirely new way to use our phones,” reporter Jamie Richards writes. Don’t think for a minute this doesn’t put pressure on Apple. Read more from @TechRadar:
ChatGPT has seen its global monthly active users climb by 180% year-over-year as of November 2025, but is that growth slowing down? @Techcrunch has more:
Reddit is "moving away" from r/popular, the default feed for new users, CEO Steve Huffman says. “For a long while, we were known as the ‘front page of the internet,’ but we’ve outgrown a singular front page for everyone." Huffman says it will be replaced with "better, more relevant and personalized feeds." Here's more from @theverge.
It's all change at Apple as design chief Alan Dye leaves the company for Meta. For his blog, artist and designer @louie writes about how this, and the departure of iPhone designer Jony Ive in 2019, might not be a bad thing. Why? Under their tenure, Mantia argues, "Apple shifted away from making products 'for the rest of us' and started making products that appealed specifically to rich people."
#Technology #Tech #Apple #JonyIve #AlanDye #Design #IndustrialDesign #iPhone
The U.S. State Department is instructing its staff to reject H-1B visa applications from anyone who has worked on fact-checking or content moderation, according to an internal memo sent this week. "If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible" for a visa, the memo says. Here's more from @npr.
#Technology #Tech #USGovernment #USNews #TrumpAdministration
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Other browsers are racing to build AI that controls what you experience online.
We're building a browser that gives YOU control while exploring the web. Simple as that 🤝
https://vivaldi.com/blog/keep-exploring/
#artificialIntelligence #AI #LLM #Vivaldi #Browser #Tech #Technology #Software
How is AI really impacting jobs? @brianmerchant writes for Blood in the Machine about what the numbers are saying: "Generative AI is not reliable enough when it comes executing complex tasks to enable most organizations to displace jobs at scale, and it certainly can’t do jobs that require empathy or hands-on problem-solving," he writes. "What it can do is automate the production of work that need not be 'reliable' or 'accurate,' but that employers might find 'good enough.' Precisely the way many corporate executives already conceive of creative work, in other words."
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Technology #Tech #JobMarket #Layoffs
RE: https://social.vivaldi.net/@Vivaldi/115049621717082376
Looking to escape the whole AI browser trend? Switching is still surprisingly simple 🤷♀️
#AI #Tech #Apps #Technology #Vivaldi #Browser
Switching from Firefox to Vivaldi is easier than you'd think. 😊 One click imports your tabs and browser data. ✅
#Vivaldi #Tech #VivaldiBrowser #Browser #Apps #Browsers #Technology
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Video displays a user navigating to vivaldi.com with their browser, downloading the latest version of the Vivaldi browser and installs it. Then the user navigates through some of the initial steps after opening the browser for the first time, and imports browser data with a single click.
