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☆ Marc Andreessen is getting raked over the coals for calling social responsibility the 'enemy'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VC Marc Andreessen wrote a lengthy missive this week, titled "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto." AdvertisementAdvertisementIt wouldn't be a Marc Andreessen essay if the internet didn't lose its mind over it. Rather, technology, he wrote, can solve for "any material problem" under the sun and herald a new era of "abundance for everyone." The backlash to Andreessen's essay was swift. He runs one of the biggest venture capital firms by assets and perceived importance.

Persons: Marc Andreessen, —, Kara Swisher, Andreessen, Ben Collins, Andreessen's missive, Dorothea Baur, Cameron Moll, he's, Gary Marcus, Marcus, what's, Aravind Srinivas, A16z, Collins, Andreessen Horowitz, Del, Johnson Organizations: Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook, Backstage Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Venture Locations: Silicon Valley, Del Johnson, Silicon

☆ I was an English major in college and now I lead a data analytics team. Here are 3 ways I became a 'numbers person.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Navah Maynard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

AVERAGE - Calculates the average of a set of values that are manually input or from a cell range. MEDIAN - Calculates the median of a set of values that are manually input or from a cell range. SUMIF - Calculates the total value from a cell range only including the values that match the conditional logic that you set. COUNTIF - Counts the numbers of cells from a cell range only if it meets the criteria that you set. FILTER - Returns only the rows of a cell range that meets the criteria that you set.

Persons: —, I've, Ben Collins, You've, It's Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Google Locations: English

☆ Twitter removes autocomplete function after it suggested shocking videos of cats and dogs being tortured and mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter has removed the autocomplete function in its search bar following complaints. Users highlighted that it had started to suggest graphic videos of animal abuse and mass shootings. An expert told the BBC that Twitter's content moderation issues come down to job cuts. Twitter has removed the autocomplete function in its search bar after users flagged that it had started to recommend horrifying videos of animal abuse and mass shootings. Amarasingam suggested that the company no longer had the required staff to remove content or warn users about graphic content.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene compared New York to Gotham City and said it 'smells bad' after she had to wade through a crowd of hecklers in Manhattan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bashed New York City on Wednesday, calling it 'filthy' and 'terrible.' The Georgia lawmaker was heckled on Tuesday at a pro-Trump rally in Manhattan. Greene was in New York to hold a mini protest for Trump, who was arrested and charged in court on Tuesday afternoon. Before the protest, New York Mayor Eric Adams singled out Greene by name when he called for calm in the run-up to Trump's surrender in New York. "People like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech.

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrates Marjorie Taylor Greene getting heckled in New York City at a pro-Trump rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was in Manhattan to speak at a pro-Donald Trump rally. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrated a report that the Georgia congresswoman was heckled. "Welcome to NYC!," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted with a Statue of Liberty emoji. The New York Times reported that Greene delivered brief remarks calling Democrats "communists" and rattling off GOP policy positions. "Do your freakin' job, Marjorie Taylor Greene," he said in a video he tweeted.

REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File PhotoMarch 6 (Reuters) - American carmakers will lean on technology to keep the horsepower wars going among their electric muscle cars, a tectonic shift from the big, rumbling motors of the past. GM and Dodge have both issued timelines to stop selling gas-powered muscle cars and replace them with electric variants that will wear the same badges. Dodge's Charger and Challenger muscle cars will not be made next year, while Chevrolet has laid out plans for an electric Corvette. Brands such as Polestar and Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) have announced optional power upgrades to their sedans that improve acceleration and total horsepower via paid OTA (over-the-air) software updates. Dodge has said it will transition its muscle cars to an electric platform, and is working to differentiate those models.

☆ Twitter is now blocking tweets that include links to Mastodon, its competitor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter appears to be banning the posting of links to its competitor, Mastodon. Insider's attempt to publish tweets containing Mastodon links were met with an error message. On Thursday evening, Insider attempted to publish ten tweets from three separate Twitter accounts, all containing links to various Mastodon user profiles. Other Twitter users also noticed on Thursday evening that they were unable to post links to Mastodon, a platform often touted as an alternative to Twitter. Also on Thursday, Twitter suspended the official Mastodon Twitter account.

☆ Twitter suspends multiple journalists who have been covering, criticizing Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter suspended several journalists' accounts on Thursday. Many of the affected writers had been covering or criticizing Elon Musk in the preceding days. But Rupar told Insider that he didn't believe he had tweeted or even retweeted anything about the ongoing private jet saga. Nearly all of them had been reporting on Twitter, covering Musk, or writing critically about the billionaire in the days leading up to their suspension. The flight data Musk is trying to keep off Twitter is available online to anyone and relatively easy to track.

Twitter’s chief information security officer and chief compliance officer resigned late Wednesday night as the company started implementing changes that would allow users to more easily impersonate major brands and government officials. The departures came just hours before the company’s new CEO, Elon Musk, sent his first email to Twitter employees, titled “difficult times ahead,” and implementing a mandatory return-to-work policy. Lea Kissner, the chief information security officer, confirmed they had left in a Twitter post Thursday morning. Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty has also left the company, according to a person familiar with the situation who asked to remain nameless because they were not authorized to speak publicly. A spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission said in an emailed statement that it is keeping watch on the situation.

☆ Days before the midterms, Twitter lays off employees who fight misinformation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Ben Collins | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Brandy-Zadrozny-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Musk has said the company won’t allow anyone back on Twitter who was previously banned for at least a few more weeks. One current and two former employees were also concerned about a planned product that would allow Twitter users to buy verification badges. “Twitter isn’t prepared for that scale,” said one Twitter employee who survived Friday’s layoffs and asked to remain nameless because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal company projects. The Twitter employee said that, as of the layoffs, the plan was that “there’s not going to be any verification of ID” to acquire a verification badge. “Now they’ve taken the brakes off the car.”One laid-off Twitter employee told NBC News that “the only saving grace is that he changes his mind on things all the time.”“There were some incredibly talented people who didn’t deserve this,” said a current Twitter employee.

Twitter will lay off staff Friday, the social media giant said in an email obtained by NBC News. In the email, sent Thursday evening, Twitter said it would notify staff by email starting Friday morning about their employment. One Twitter employee said Thursday's email was the first communication staff had received from Twitter since the acquisition Oct. 27. "It's total chaos, house melting down, everyone looking towards this email," the employee told NBC News. "At the end of this nightmare, I better get a cash prize," one Twitter employee told NBC News.

☆ Twitter to begin layoffs Friday, days after Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Rob Wile | Ben Collins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter will be laying off staff Friday, the social media giant said in an email obtained by NBC News. In the email, sent Thursday evening, Twitter said it would be notifying staff by email starting Friday morning about their employment. The cuts come after numerous reports that Musk had planned to slash the company's 7,500-person payroll after he finalized his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter late last week. Meanwhile, Musk has sought to reassure advertisers, saying in a post to Twitter that the platform would not become a "free-for-all hellscape." That was among nearly two dozen tweets Musk posted to the site last weekend, though few offered additional clarity on what the site will look like under his leadership.

☆ Right wing jumps on conspiracy theories and disinformation about Paul Pelosi attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRight wing jumps on conspiracy theories and disinformation about Paul Pelosi attackNBC News' Ben Collins joins Shep Smith to report on the misinformation circulating after a man attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband at their home in San Francisco.

On Wednesday night, NBC News counted at least nine people watching the ballot drop box in Mesa, a small part of what has become a growing effort by some conservatives to monitor ballot drop boxes in hope of catching election fraud. Some people have stood watch at the drop box while wearing military-style fatigues and masks over their faces, prompting complaints to the Arizona secretary of state. No such drop box fraud has ever been found in significant numbers. On that platform, the former president’s account has shared posts by users advocating for drop box surveillance, including the Mesa drop box. “As for tailgate parties in every drop box: why not?” Keshel said, reiterating that drop box watchers should not participate in any illegal behavior.

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is telling employees not to believe “rumors” that nearly 75% of them could lose their jobs if Elon Musk eventually takes over the company's owner. “Please know, as we get closer to deal close, there will continue to be tons of public rumors and speculation,” Edgett wrote. There have been no plans for company-wide layoffs since then, he said. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed that the content of the email is accurate. It’s unclear when Musk’s purchase of Twitter might be finalized.

There is no evidence that any school has deployed litter boxes for students to use because they identify as cats. The rumor of litter boxes in schools appears to have begun among parents on social media, and one of the first schools to confront the falsehood was in Canada last fall. Catalina Lauf, a Republican congressional nominee in Illinois, tweeted this month that schoolchildren were using litter boxes in her state. Some say litter boxes are located in “transgender bathrooms” in schools. Meanwhile on TikTok, one video claiming “kids are now requesting litter boxes at school” collected 3 million views on the platform.

☆ 'Hellraiser' review: Hulu doesn't raise the bar on Clive Barker's gory original
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Although the new “Hellraiser” is billed as “reimagining” Clive Barker’s 1987 horror film, it’s not like the title ever went away, raising six direct-to-video productions (the last one in 2018) after the four theatrical movies. It also fits Hulu’s strategy of premiering movies culled from well-known franchises, with “Prey” – from the “Predator” universe – among the recent examples. For those just seeking another fix of Pinhead and the Cenobites, that’s probably enough to get the job done. But once “Hellraiser” has made that, er, point, the movie feels more like a snack – or ‘bite – than a meal. “Hellraiser” premieres October 7 on Hulu.

A high-ranking member of the far-right Oath Keepers organization who has been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol exchanged messages in November 2020 with former Trump White House aide Andrew Giuliani about election issues. That text message went to a White House switchboard line, so it could not be delivered. Andrew Giuliani told NBC News that the last contact with SoRelle on his phone was on Nov. 10, 2020. “None of that was like ‘Hey, we should go storm the Capitol,’” SoRelle told NBC News. The panel will hold its next public hearing on Wednesday, the second day of jury selection in the Oath Keeper's trial.

☆ QAnon song plays and MAGA supporters give unusual finger salute as Trump speaks at JD Vance rally in Ohio, video shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former President Donald Trump spoke at a rally for JD Vance on Saturday in Youngstown, Ohio. A QAnon song played while he spoke about Ukraine, "Fake News," and Hunter Biden's laptop. Last month, Trump posted a video on his social media platform Truth Social using the same audio, per Media Matters. At the time, the former president's spokesperson claimed to Vice that it was not a QAnon song but music by the composer Will Van de Crommert. People point their fingers to the sky during a speech by former President Donald Trump at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio.

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