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#techweenie

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🚨#TechWeenie Alert

“I expected at least a few people to leave the walk-up line immediately, but the only ones who did were two families of #Tesla owners who went back to order from within their cars.

Even if the app didn’t work for them, they would still get their #food faster. The #hierarchy was clear: things were broken for everyone, but owners of #Musk products had to suffer slightly less.”

USA is broken. 🤣😂☺️

#Food / #automation / #dining <theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j

“AI is cutting a swath across a number of #CreativeIndustries — with AI-generated #BookCovers, the Chicago Sun-Times publishing an #AIGenerated list of #books that *don’t exist*, and AI-generated stories at CNET under real authors’ bylines.

The music industry is no exception. But while many of these fields are mired in questions about whether #AIModels are illegally #trained on pirated #data, the #MusicIndustry is coming at the issue from a position of unusual strength: the benefits of years of case law backing #copyright protections, a regimented #licensing system, and a handful of powerful companies that control the industry. #RecordLabels have chosen to fight several AI companies on copyright law, and they have a strong hand to play.”

Note the use of the word DATA. Music isn’t data, it is if you are a #TechWeenie wanting to strip mine artistic music for profit.

#ArtificialIntelligence / #arts / #music / #musicians / #artists / #mining / #StripMining / #technology / #tech <theverge.com/ai-artificial-int>

A robot watches a band rock out.
The Verge · Can the music industry make AI the next Napster?By Elizabeth Lopatto

“Woodside, the referee da Silva said. Then he lost a second one. His opponent pinned him down and began choking him.

Zuckerberg let out a guttural rasp, indicating that he was losing consciousness. “I can’t forget his eyes,” da Silva recalled. “You know, when someone is looking towards you but they’re not looking at you?”

Da Silva ended the match, calling it in the other fighter’s favour. When he’d recovered, #Zuckerberg loudly disputed the loss”

It is a long gushy article but I didn’t have to read it all to know the #TechWeenie got his arse kicked.

#Tech / #politics / #marketing <ft.com/content/a86f5ca3-f841-4 > (paywall> / <archive.md/rzKVN>

“Judging by recent controversy around the gamified #language-learning app he co-founded, it is not just #AI that can misjudge communication. Last month, #vonAhn shared on LinkedIn an email he had sent to all staff announcing Duolingo was going “#AIFirst”. “I did not expect the amount of blowback,” he admits.

“Unbelievable,” wrote one LinkedIn commenter, “Cancelling my account NOW.” “Well, there goes my 1,098 day streak,” posted another.

The chief executive says many social media users mischaracterised the changes as though “#Duolingo has no employees, we have fired everyone and everything is being controlled by a massive AI”.

He attributes this anger to a general “#anxiety” about #technology replacing jobs. “I should have been more clear to the external world,” he reflects on a video call from his office in Pittsburgh. “Every #tech company is doing similar things [but] we were open about it.”

A CEO who expresses *surprise* at a call for “AI-first” in a consumer application is an incompetent TechWeenie.

#LuisVonAhn / #WhiteCollar / #Techweenie <ft.com/content/6fbafbb6-bafe-4> (paywall) / <archive.md/juvfL>

Financial Times · Duolingo CEO on going AI-first: ‘I did not expect the blowback’Luis von Ahn says criticism over strategy change shows ‘anxiety’ about technology replacing jobs
Continued thread

Day 14 cont 🗣️🎙️📺 🇺🇸

“Price was appointed to lead a government efficiency unit if the #Coalition government is elected after 3 May. The unit, which would sit within the prime minister’s department, has been compared to one led by US #tech billionaire Elon Musk (#TechWeenie, #Oligarch), whose Department of Government #Efficiency, or Doge, is taking a razor to US government departments.

“Let’s be very, very clear, media, you’re obsessed with Donald Trump 🎃. We’re not obsessed with Donald Trump. We’re actually obsessed with ensuring that we can improve the circumstances for #Australians,” she said.”

Devoid of any #policy, #analysis, #costing, #ideas an LNP Senator makes a word salad of foreign phrases about making the “Bond market” sexy again, from a #BowlingClub on a Saturday in #Perth.

Repeat the slogans,
Repeat the slogans,
Repeat the #slogans.

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #propaganda / #JacintaNampijinpaPrice / #indoctrination <theguardian.com/australia-news

The Guardian · Jacinta Price says Coalition will ‘make Australia great again’ – then accuses media of being ‘obsessed with’ TrumpBy Sarah Basford Canales

“The push to develop in-house chips is part of a long-term plan at #Meta to bring down its mammoth #infrastructure costs as the company places expensive bets on #AI tools to drive growth.

Meta, which also owns #Instagram and #WhatsApp, has forecast total 2025 expenses of $US114 billion ($181 billion) to $US119 billion, including up to $US65 billion in capital expenditure largely driven by spending on AI infrastructure.

…Meta’s new training chip is a dedicated accelerator, meaning it is designed to handle only #AISpecific tasks. This can make it more power-efficient than the integrated graphics processing units (GPUs) generally used for AI workloads.”

Move into chip development, to reduce costs 🤣😂☺️

#Facebook / #Zuckerberg / #TechWeenie <archive.md/2ibTc> / <afr.com/technology/meta-begins>

🚨 #TechWeenie Alert
Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley

“An influential Silicon Valley publication runs a cover story lamenting the “pussification” of tech. A major tech CEO lambasts a Black civil rights leader’s calls for diversifying the tech workforce. #Technologists rage against the “PC police”.

No, this isn’t #SiliconValley in the age of Maga. It’s the tech industry of the 1990s, when observers first raised concerns about the rightwing bend of Silicon Valley and the potential for “#technofascism”. Despite the industry’s (often undeserved) reputation for #liberalism, its reactionary foundations were baked in almost from the beginning. As Silicon Valley enters a second Trump administration, the gendered roots of its original reactionary movement offer insight into today’s rightward turn.”

#BeccaLewis / #oligarch / #TechOligarch <theguardian.com/technology/ng->

The Guardian · ‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon ValleyBy Guardian staff reporter

“the recent #erasure and #submerging of abortion-related content, so soon after Donald Trump’s return to #power, has caused fear among some abortion rights supporters that a bigger crackdown could be on the horizon – and concerns that the #Meta founder #MarkZuckerberg’s promise to protect “#FreeExpression” may not apply to all speech.”

🚨 #TechWeenie Alert

#tech / #oligarch <theguardian.com/world/2025/jan>

“We are deeply alarmed by recent #leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of #transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent,… This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and re-establishing a relationship with leadership based on open #communication,”

“The Post lost 250,000 #subscribers, or 10% of its #subscription base, following its decision not to endorse. This reportedly was a massive contributor to the paper losing a whopping $100m in 2024,”

#TechWeenie / #Bezos/ #WaPo / #journalism <theguardian.com/media/2025/jan>

The Guardian · ‘Deeply alarmed’: Washington Post staff request meeting with Jeff BezosBy Marina Dunbar

“The #tech layoff wave continued through 2024. Following significant #workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, 2024 saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 542 companies, according to independent #layoffs tracker #LayoffsFyi. Large companies like #Tesla, #Amazon, #Google, #TikTok, #Snap, and #Microsoft conducted sizable layoffs in 2024, while smaller-sized #startups also experienced cuts, and in some cases, shut down operations altogether.”

#TechWeenie / #WhiteCollar <techcrunch.com/2025/01/14/tech>

TechCrunch · A comprehensive list of 2024 and 2025 tech layoffs | TechCrunchA complete list of all the known layoffs in tech, from Big Tech to startups, broken down by month throughout 2024.
Replied in thread

@atomicpoet @davidslifka @fediversenews

Thanks for taking up the charge. A couple of observations *as a private #mastodon Instance owner* to add.

Top: An automated instance software upgrade path. As an Ubuntu wannabe, I've been stuck somewhere in 3.x. An availability alert and a trigger in Sidekiq.

Next: Mature Free Support. Nondevelopers don't grok #github #techweenie lingo. Self support like #Wordpress comes to mind. Centralized.

Anyway, thanks!