Interesting Links for 25-12-2023

[andrewducker]

1. Using Sequences of Life-events to Predict Human Lives

(tags:life ai )

2. The Hyperloop was always a scam

(tags:transport ElonMusk fraud )

3. Proof that there is no hyperbole or silliness that you can engage in on the internet that *someone* won't take seriously.

(tags:jokes twitter people EpicStupidity )

4. In 2024, please switch to Firefox

(tags:Firefox web viaLProven )

5. Judge rules that Twitter violated contract when it withheld millions of dollars in bonuses

(tags:Twitter ElonMusk pay contracts law )

Comments

[dewline]

2. Bewaring of tech oligarchs, always.

3. I have taken some hyperboles seriously myself, so...true.

4. I have several browsers on my system, and use Firefox most of the time for my own needs. Consider that an endorsement.

5. Busted again, His Sinkness is!

[calimac]

3) This would work better if the jokes were funnier. A couple of them are pretty good.

4) Agree. Already use Firefox as my principal browser, and have since it was new.

[bens_dad]

3. No wonder the AIs are hallucinating.

4. Firefox
The latest version (121) restores extensions to Firefox for Android.

GPC (Global Privacy Control) is a signal the a browser can send to websites telling them that they don't have permission to do stuff with your data.
Unlike "Do Not Track", GPC has legal force in several jurisdictions, including Califonia and (IIRC) the EU+UK GDPR. Several browsers have GPC plugins, but it is
now builtin (but turned off by default) in Firefox (though Android users will have to wait for v122 for the GUI option to turn it on).

Billionairhead

[hairyears]

5) I look forward to hearing that the court succeeds in enforcing the judgement...

One of the 'truths' I have long believed to be true has been partially disproven by Elon Musk:

A billionaire is a sovereign nation of One, placed above local sovereignty and the local laws within any other nation-state.

And yet, Musk keeps running into consequences for violating the law. Some of the time. Nation-states can sometimes invoke their laws and tell him what to do.

Or tell him 'No'.

The fact that this happens at all - and that we sometimes get to hear about it - tells me that I am at least partially wrong about the sovereignty of the super-wealthy, and that Elon Musk is crap at being a billionaire.

Re: Billionairhead

[bens_dad]

I hear about him being told "no", but rarely that he has done as he was told, or that there have been consequences.
OK, he did buy Twitter (at the promised price IIRC), but what else ?

Re: Billionairhead

[andrewducker]

Here are some court cases currently going on
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/elon-musk-will-see-you-in-court-the-top-twitter-and-x-corp-lawsuits-of-2023/

Re: Billionairhead

[andrewducker]

Here are some court cases currently going on
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/elon-musk-will-see-you-in-court-the-top-twitter-and-x-corp-lawsuits-of-2023/

[anef]

I use Firefox for everything except my Virgin emails, as Virgin Media keeps falling over on it.

[andrewducker]

Is there anything Virgin are actually competent at?

[matgb]

Not being BT

That's about it really, their uptime locally is pretty good (possibly because the main pennine trunk cable goes outside my house) and the connection speed is good, but customer service and similar are all over the place. They cut us off by mistake while we were moving and when they reconnected us gave us a different landline number without telling us. Noone uses it, so it didn't matter, but still...

[andrewducker]

Yeah, for me their basic internet service is pretty flawless. Although I know others who have issues. And I'd quite like them to get around to ipv6.

But everything they do around that is just a disaster. And nowadays they have enough competitors that if I was starting from scratch I wouldn't go with them.

[anef]

Yes, just thinking about the process of trying to find someone competent to speak to if I have a problem is giving me flashbacks!

[matgb]

Customer retention team and the "we're moving house" team aare/were the same people, but the admin below/arround them was terrible. We did get a VERY good deal when they reconnected us but the unnanounced number change was a weird "that could've been bad" thing. Frontline call handlers are generally terrible but if you can get a direct line for someone senior it's a lot better

[anef]

Yes, it's persuading the (useless) frontline call handler to put you through to someone competent which is hard.