It doesn’t seem like Sony is backing down on its decision to end production of physical media by 2028 any time soon.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1319937/grapheneos-says-revolut-is-blocking-its-users-over-google-play-checks

Via @GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social on Mastodon.

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50398452

Just when you think @ZuckyZuck is finally out of ideas - to steal.

It starts to feel like even a weak LLM like MetaAI is more creative than him.

Maybe we already have created truly artificial intelligence because he is more of an SLM: a Small Language Model?

Kryptos is an end-to-end encryption app for iOS and Android that works through any messenger or SMS. You encrypt a message inside Kryptos (or on its keyboard), paste the resulting code into WhatsApp / Telegram / iMessage / Signal / VK / SMS / anything, and your correspondent decrypts it with Kryptos on their side. The messenger only ever carries what looks like random noise — the plaintext never touches it.

www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/145065770

I’ve been writing about accessibility and the disabled perspective for nearly 7 years. I’ve had the absolute privilege and immense responsibility of breaking some of the biggest stories in the gaming industry, holding powerful organizations accountable, and even helping disabled players process uncomfortable truths about a community that doesn’t always have their best interests at heart. For almost 7 years, I’ve been pushing myself to be a better journalist, not for myself, but for disabled individuals that deserve to have a voice in the gaming space. But for the past six months, I’ve realized that things need to change.

When I began writing for Can I Play That in September 2019, I sought to produce high quality journalism exploring the relationship between disabled players and the gaming industry. I wanted readers to understand that accessibility and disability reporting is not only essential, but capable of sitting alongside the same daily beats that regularly fill the pages of standard gaming publications. This sentiment still rings true. The work that I and other disabled reporters do can be both timely and evergreen. And it’s still true that publications struggle to understand this fact. I’m not here to convince you that the work disabled reporters do matters. I’m here to tell you that unless this style of reporting is consistently supported, the industry risks losing coverage of a beat that will only grow in necessity as time goes on.

cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/68987038

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.

cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/64681779

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.

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/50387285

Next up in my “education through entertainment” series is the family-friendly Heaven’s Design Team (Tenchi Souzou Dezain-Bu).

This manga-turned-anime series is another “it’s ironic that this is as educational as it is” series, given the premise is that creationism is real and all of Earth’s creatures were intentionally designed by a team in heaven in response to (often arbitrary) requests from God. Before the pitchforks come out, rest assured that this premise is presented as fictional and fantastical (the Japanese are not known for being big believers in creationism, after all), and is just a fun setting to explore the various ways that animals’ biology helps them overcome issues they might encounter in their environment, or even as a result of their own anatomy.

In an amazing feat (for anime at any rate), the series manages to stay engaging for older audiences while maintaining a PG-ish content rating, making it one of the few anime appropriate and engaging for the whole family. Additionally, unless you’re a zoology nerd, the biology facts presented in the series are likely not the kind most adults have encountered before; despite being a nature documentary aficionado, I found myself learning quite a bit about zoology/biology/evolution, and had a lot of fun guessing what animal they were building up to as they struggled with God’s latest design assignment.

You can read my full review of the series here.

What were some of your favorite educational animated/comic series as a kid?

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/70021

archive.is/z3axn

I am thrilled to announce that the action platformer Amata will be releasing on the 20th of August 2026! This news comes with the final feature update for the main campaign before release <3. This patch contains all the planned content for the final release, though I’ll continue working on translations and any bugs that come up!

There won’t be much changing between now and Aug 20th so if you’d like to jump in early then try the demo and pick up the game in EA today!

Thank you everyone so much for everything, I hope you enjoy! Come hang out on Discord!

store.steampowered.com/app/1841160/Amata/

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1318794/danish-pupils-will-have-to-orally-defend-essays-in-attempt-to-combat-ai-cheating-governm

Note: this post was originally posted in c/privacy@lemmy.ml, but got removed by a moderator, because it was apparently “off-topic” in “A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.”

Mastodon post

The US-based nonprofit Privacy Guides recently covered in their podcast “This Week in Privacy“ episode 64 an article titled “Inside the dystopian world of Germany’s free speech crackdown” from UK-based publisher The Telegraph. The co-host (Nate) read off the notes while covering the story and said the original article is "definitely worth a read. Lots of good stuff in there.”

Disclaimer: This fact-check has been written on a best-effort basis with the time and resources available to me. I would have liked to dig deeper into the sources I’ve linked, the claims made, and the original article, but my current circumstances don’t allow for such a large-scale investigation. In contrast to Privacy Guides, which is funded by many supporters, Voxel is a single person who tries his best to educate people about data protection and cybersecurity and to fight for a better future with no funding whatsoever. If you find something that is inaccurate, please feel free to kindly correct me in the comments, I will adjust it ASAP.

I’ll cover the claims made in the episode and debunk them chronologically.

The first claim is about Rainer Zitelmann who, according to them, had been accused of violating § 86a StGB, which bans the display of Nazi symbols, slogans, and imagery, and could now face three years in prison if found guilty. He found out the offending social media post was a meme about Adolf Hitler, but it was one in which he compared the Nazi dictator and his invasion of Czechoslovakia to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I found news coverage from other sources that paints a similar picture, but was unable to independently verify R. Zitelmann’s claims.

All following quotes are by Nate from Privacy Guides (source) if not marked otherwise.

So basically, like, I’m saying Hitler is bad. Why is this? Yeah.

Objectively misrepresents the case and makes it seem as if Germany would fight negative speech about Hitler.

(…) is one of thousands of Germans who have been threatened with fines or prison sentences for social media posts that fall afoul of the country’s political speech laws, which are unusually stringent for an EU member state.

Neither Privacy Guides nor the original article provides a source for this data. I was unable to find information about this.

They went on to cover the “Schwachkopf” (can be roughly translated as “weak head” in the cognitive/intellectual sense) case. They claim that the person who called Robert Habeck “Schwachkopf” got his home “raided.” This is false; the supposed raid was actually a search warrant to seize evidence. The accused voluntarily handed over the tablet used in the crime to officers; consequently, further measures were waived, not least for reasons of proportionality. So no actual home search was conducted.

In the case of the “Lügenfritz” (can be roughly translated to “lying Fritz”) insult, Nate says that the accused was fined two thousand euros. This is theoretically false. The court issued a fine of 30 days’ income. I was unable to find source that provides information on how much the accused earned. The accused didn’t object the ruling.

The number of investigations under Section 86a, the Nazi symbol ban that Dr. Z was investigated for has more than doubled over the past decade according to official police statistics. Investigations into the political insult law also reached a record level in 2025.

Neither Privacy Guides nor the original article provides a source for this data. I was unable to find information about this.

In one recent case, a pensioner was investigated under Section 188 for posting Pinocchio is coming on Facebook after he learned that Frederick Mertz, the chancellor, was visiting his hometown.

This is true, but the investigations were closed, “because this is a form of criticism of power covered by freedom of expression and is therefore permissible“ (automated translation). The original article and Nate fail to mention that.

In 2021, police raided a man’s apartment in Hamburg after he told a senator, you’re such a d***.

That is partially true; his apartment was searched. I don’t think this is equal to being “raided,” but the original article, as well as Nate, fail to mention that the apartment search was deemed illegal by the court.

The surge in cases is so vast that the U.N. has launched an investigation into free speech violations in Germany, a step typically reserved for dictatorships and banana republics. (…) So and Germany needs to figure out what they’re doing if they’re getting investigated by the UN. I think that’s pretty wild.

This is completely false. This misinformation was taken from the original article, which provides no source whatsoever. What is true, but wasn’t mentioned in the episode, is that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Ms. Irene Khan, undertook an official country visit to Germany to examine, in the spirit of cooperation and dialogue, the situation of the rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the country. But it’s important to highlight that (emphasis added):

Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.

German free speech activists on the left and right, as well as the Trump administration, have also raised the alarm, and there are growing calls from some of the country’s stricter laws to be scrapped.

No sources provided, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there are some people who do. I can’t comment on the Trump administration.

The fur bears some similarities to the speech debate in Britain, where citizens have a knock on the door from police over opinions posted online.

I believe this is an extreme exaggeration and misrepresentation of the current situation based on the data provided.

Conclusion: Privacy Guides seemingly did not verify the integrity of the article and the information they took from it and shared in their podcast. They spread lots of misinformation about Germany’s current status, left out important information, and even claimed that the UN would be investigating Germany for free speech violations.

My opinion: In addition to the conclusion above, I would like to point out that the article seems to be highly politically motivated and appears to manipulate readers through disinformation into specific beliefs; that Privacy Guides used the article without seemingly noticing this highly political intention behind it, and did not verify the integrity of the information provided, is very concerning. My appeal to Privacy Guides would be: accuracy over quantity. Covering more articles at the cost of the integrity of the information provided causes a lot of harm and allows misinformation to spread even further than it otherwise would. Privacy Guides also makes it very hard to investigate and check the integrity of the sources yourself, as they’re not provided or linked in the show notes of the podcast, and you have to manually go to their website, search for the blog entry for the podcast, and find the sources there; I believe putting the sources directly in the show notes allows for a healthier information flow and empowers listeners to investigate themselves.

Post by 🐍SNEGOVSKI (snegovski9623)
Socials: Bluesky, Patreon

https://archive.ph/20260806215050/https://www.wired.com/story/hackers-stalked-me-by-hijacking-a-smartwatch-for-kids/

• Dragon Ball
• One Piece
• Soul Eater
• Naruto
• World Trigger
• Witch Hat Atelier
• Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
• JoJo
• Ascendance of a Bookworm
• Hunter x Hunter (2011)

HxH is the clear best, and I’m surprised that WHA came close. Both are really excellent systems that make the others in the list (that I am aware off) look amateurish in comparison.

Serious question, because authors can and do write genius MCs badly.

I loved this so much, especially as a fan of this kind of media, and I know so many people have already talked about it, but I still needed to share my love for these games! I’ll be glad if you decide to have a read at my article! Please excuse my deserved appreciation of Godot and my research of the play his name comes from, Waiting for Godot.

Experts Reaction.

• Bacteriophages kill bacteria, and scientists hope engineered phages could work as new antibiotics.

• Researchers applied a generative AI model, called Evo 2, to this challenge. Given a starting place – in this case bacteriophage ΦX174 – Evo 2 suggested new DNA sequences.

• Based on genomes written by Evo 2, the researchers synthesized and tested nearly 300 phages for effectiveness against E. coli. They ended up with 16 that proved exceptional.
• Given its potential, the researchers have made Evo 2 openly and freely available. Acknowledging safety concerns, they point to the importance of having tools like Evo 2 to address existing natural pathogens and the ability to build safety checks into AI tools – something that doesn’t happen when pathogens evolve naturally.