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☆ Fact Check-Video showing an ‘alien’ in Las Vegas mixes CGI video and news report audio
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The audio from a news report about an alleged alien spotting has been edited onto a digital creation showing an alien-like being. Actual #Alien Footage from the Las #Vegas #UFO Landing…. In late April 2023, a Las Vegas family called 911 saying they’d seen two large aliens in their backyard, according to news reports (here), (here) and (here). The audio from a news report about the incident (timestamp 0:42) (here) has been edited into an unrelated, digitally created video (here). The visuals in this video have been created digitally and the audio comes from a news report about aliens.

Persons: they’d, “ Smh, Read Organizations: Vegas Police, UFO Aircraft, Patrol, Blender, Reuters Locations: Vegas, Las Vegas

☆ How to create with AI, including art, music, and writing, according to people who've written songs, stories, and letters
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Jack Sommers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

These five people used the tools to make content including a song and a commercial. A song for EurovisionInsider's Chloe Pantazi was underwhelmed by this year's Eurovision song contest. But ChatGPT gave him the space to experiment with the writing in a way he didn't feel comfortable with before. Insider produced a step-by-step guide of how to use it and Craiyon, another free tool that uses AI to generate images. Read more: I used Lensa, the chart-topping app, to make myself a masterpiece digital work of art — here's how it works

Persons: —, ChatGPT, Chloe Pantazi, Sweden's, Pantazi, Spriha Srivastava, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Matt Huculak, Huculak, Read, Elon Musk, . DALL, OpenAI, Lensa, Bethany Biron, Elizabeth Holmes, Biron Organizations: Service, Eurovision, University of Victoria, University of Cambridge Locations: British Columbia, Canada, Cambridge

☆ Apple could overcome VR’s nerd and creepy factors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters Breakingviews) - To be successful at launching a new technological device, a company must overcome both nerd and creepy factors. Meta Platforms (META.O), after buying headset company Oculus in 2014, uses its products to push Mark Zuckerberg's pet project, the Metaverse. And people may still be uncomfortable about switching between the real world and the virtual one. But as far as finding a device that is both aesthetic and copacetic, Apple's real world experience suggests it has a better chance at success than others. Follow @rob_cyran on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSApple revealed Vision Pro, the company’s virtual and augmented reality headset on June 5.

Persons: Tim Cook, Mark, Cook, Tim Cook’s, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Apple, Google, Meta, Thomson

One is about the possibility that we’re going to have this super intelligent AI that’s capable of great destruction. casey newtonI think that’s right. But it’s just like — I don’t think — I don’t think about to do these things in the moment like Dan. I don’t think that there’s an ethical issue with doing what he wants to do. And yeah, I just think it’s going into an area that’s going to be uncomfortable for the friend.

Persons: kevin roose, casey newton, we’re, ” casey newton I’ve, kevin roose It’s, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, clowned, New York Times ’, Kate Conger, Casey, Ajeya Cotra, kevin roose Totally, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, They’re, Kevin, Dan Hendricks who’s, “, “ I’m, don’t, you’re, I’m, — casey newton, it’s, ChatGPT, casey newton I’m, I’ve, Martinez, Varghese, kevin roose Tyler, —, Steven A, Schwartz, ”, they’re, it’ll, there’s, Mr, Bean, We’ve, James Vincent, It’s, Jensen Huang, Harry Potter, Harry Potter of, kevin roose —, casey newton Parallelelizable, Parallelizable, — casey newton Let’s, that’s, who’s, NVIDIA —, casey newton Well, doesn’t, katie cogner, Kate Conger who’s, katie cogner Hi, katie cogner I’m, Dan, what’s, Getty, casey newton Kate, let’s, John, Here’s John, john, kevin roose That’s, Kate, he’s, He’s, he’ll, casey newton That’s, There’s, we’ve, “ I’ve, ” Kate, cogner, Prince Harry, katie cogner Doesn’t, Harry, casey newton We’re, We’re, kevin roose Kate, they’ve, Joni Mitchell, Chris Vecchio, Chris, kevin roose I’m, You’d, casey newton “, you’ll, casey newton Oh, ” kevin roose Organizations: The New York Times, NVIDIA, New York Times, Safety, Google, AI, ChatGPT, Avianca Airlines, Delta Airlines, China Southern Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Royal Dutch Airlines, “, Bar Association, Texas, M University Commerce, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Harry Potter of Kentucky Christian, Facebook, eBay, “ New York Times, Boston, Garden, MetLife, TED, AIs Locations: British, Avianca, Durden, ChatGPT, Taiwan, Kentucky, Hogwarts, Harry Potter of Kentucky, California, Madison, —

☆ I've made $98,000 in a month on OnlyFans. There's this stigma that it's just creepy dudes on there — but most of the time, my conversations aren't sexual at all.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Fortesa Latifi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Laura Lux transitioned to online sex work during the popularity of MySpace. Lux makes about $30,000 a month on OnlyFans, but she doesn't recommend it to everyone. My transition to online sex work happened with the popularity of MySpaceI kind of blew up on MySpace just posting photo shoots with local photographers. My content isn't full-on sex content, and it's actually kind of tame compared to other creators. There's this stigma that it's just creepy dudes on thereBut in reality, we talk about all kinds of things.

Persons: Laura Lux, —, I'd, Snapchat, I've, it's, It's, I'm Organizations: Lux, Service, MySpace, Twitter Locations: Australia, OnlyFans

☆ None of the Roy children deserve to succeed Logan but I'm hoping it's Shiv
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There are really no good choices for who should succeed Logan Roy in "Succession." She also fakes authenticity — a power move, one expert told Insider. The show revolves around the deeply dysfunctional Roy family and the jockeying to succeed Logan Roy, the recently deceased patriarch played by Brian Cox, as head of the family media empire, Waystar Royco, loosely based on Fox News and News Corp. "Shiv seems to be a person who gets relationships," Gino told Insider. The media baron and inspiration for Logan Roy, Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp, also has stirred speculation over which of his children might succeed him at the top of the home of Fox News.

☆ Even After Debunking, ‘Sybil’ Hasn’t Gone Away
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Alexandra Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Schreiber, who aspired to a literary career and at one time was romantically involved with the playwright Eugene O’Neill’s oldest son, wrote celebrity profiles and pop psychology pieces for outlets such as Cosmopolitan. And Wilbur, who had treated the actor Roddy McDowall — Case 129 in a book she co-authored about the causes and “treatment” of male homosexuality — craved the kind of broad audience that magazines then attracted. Rather than telekinetic powers, she develops a preternatural ability to assume different personas. Wilbur by any modern metric crossed the line from transference to enmeshment. She crept into her patient’s bed to administer electroshock treatment with an outdated device, doled out Pentothal (a barbiturate then wrongly thought to act as a truth serum) to the point of addiction, and took her on creepy road trips.

Persons: Schreiber, Eugene O’Neill’s, Wilbur, Roddy McDowall —, —, ’, Sybil ”, Dora, Truman Capote’s “, ”, “ Sybil Dorsett ”, Stephen King’s, Carrie, ” Sybil, dissociating, “, Peggy, Mike ”, Sid ”

☆ Fox News host Greg Gutfeld bizarrely calls a teacher accused of having sex with 16-year-old student 'heroic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld bizarrely praised a female teacher accused of having sex with a teen student. Gutfeld lauded the educator as "heroic" on-air and said he "would have died" to be in a situation like that. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld bizarrely praised a female California teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student as "heroic" on-air, and added that he "would have died" to be in a situation like that. During the segment on Fox News, Gutfeld said, "A 16-year-old boy with like a hot teacher. The Fox News host went on to say: "Am I right to say it's an unfair comparison to do the female-to-male teacher?

☆ Creepy close-up images of the sun reveal yarn-like strands, dark pores, and a 'light bridge' crossing a decaying sunspot
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The sun looks spooky and mysterious in new images from the world's most powerful solar telescope. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has been observing the sun from the Hawaiian island of Maui since it first opened in 2020. Its first video, below, showed roiling solar plasma, each cell the size of Texas. Dark "pores" on the solar surface indicate powerful magnetic fields, which are likely driving the dark threads visible in the atmosphere above. The bright yellow surface plasma cools until its density is so low that it drops below the surface, through the dark lanes between cells.

☆ An Auction of Prosthetics, Mermaids and Creepy Dolls to Benefit Sea Turtles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Jace Tunnell spotted what appeared to be a leg on the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in Texas, he thought that his greatest fear — a body washing up on the beach — was coming true. It’s happening,’” said Mr. Tunnell, who is director of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve in Port Aransas, Texas. The leg, after all, was wearing pants. But when Mr. Tunnell went to lift it up, the leg turned out to be a prosthetic, one of the many items of flotsam and jetsam that come ashore along the Texas coastline each year. The prosthetic leg will be up for auction on Saturday, along with other curious pieces salvaged from among the more than 500 tons of marine debris that, according to the reserve, wash up on the beaches of Texas every year.

☆ Oklahoma governor wages war on PBS station after claiming it is indoctrinating children with LGBTQ content
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —America’s most-watched PBS station is on the verge of going dark. The Republican governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, recently vetoed a bill that would have renewed the license and provided millions in funding for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority, the statewide PBS network that reaches more than 650,000 viewers a week. The fundamental goal of PBS KIDS remains supporting children as they learn and grow through programming they have come to know and love. While the Oklahoma station receives $6.3 million in funding from donors and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, $2.9 million comes from the state government. It produces and airs the “Oklahoma News Report,” the only state news program that reaches every county in Oklahoma.

☆ Restaurant bookings, movie searches, and other tasks that Microsoft's Bing will be able to do, following an upgrade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft said it's allowing third-party developers to build on top of Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, to help people complete tasks. The company also plans to beef up Bing Chat's "memory," something that caused issues for Microsoft after the search engine launched. After Bing's chat feature launched, some users found they could provoke the chatbot into engaging in inappropriate and creepy conversations during long sessions. Bing users have engaged in over half a billion chats since its launch, the blogpost said. In March, just over a month after the company launched the AI version of its search engine, Bing exceeded 100 million daily active users.

☆ I moved to Kansas from New York City to be safe from flooding, afford a bigger house, and put roots down
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Landscape architect Jason Beury, 40, moved from Brooklyn, New York, to Kansas City, Kansas, in 2020. He thinks Kansas City is an up-and-coming destination for people moving from other states. So if I want to build equity in the property, New York City is not the place, both because New York City is so expensive and partially because of climate change. Kansas City, Kansas, is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, pictured here. We found a little house listed at $206,000, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom brick house from the 1920s in Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, Kansas.

☆ Here's how to use AI to make a commercial in 3 hours, according to the guy whose creepy pizza ad grabbed the attention of Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Here's how you can make your own AI commercial. Use an image generator to come up with artThe stills in the AI pizza commercial, including the final exterior shot of the phony pizzeria, were created using Midjourney, which Pizza Later described as "mind-blowing." Midjourney // PIzza LaterUse a video generator to come up with clipsThe most noticeable aspect of the Pizza Hug Spot commercial was the video clips created using AI. For the Pepperoni Hug Spot commercial, Pizza Later also used Runway AI, a text-to-video generator, to create short clips to add to the commercial. Put it up for the world to seeAfter releasing the commercial, Pizza Later said he was surprised by the widespread online reaction.

☆ Snapchat’s new AI chatbot is already raising alarms among teens and parents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The feature is powered by the viral AI chatbot tool ChatGPT – and like ChatGPT, it can offer recommendations, answer questions and converse with users. The net effect is that conversing with Snapchat’s chatbot may feel less transactional than visiting ChatGPT’s website. Snapchat's new AI chatbot. “I snapped a picture … and it said ‘nice shoes’ and asked who the people [were] in the photo,” a Snapchat user wrote on Facebook. One user wrote on Facebook that she’s been asking My AI for homework help.

☆ Disney has a ‘strong case’ against DeSantis over his ‘retaliatory campaign,’ First Amendment experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Disney just cast Ron DeSantis as the villain in a story of good versus evil. DeSantis responded to the lawsuit by issuing a statement through his communications director, Taryn Fenske. “It’s a serious First Amendment case,” Floyd Abrams, the renowned First Amendment attorney of Pentagon Papers fame, told me. The truth is that characterizing Disney as a creepy company that aims to morally bankrupt kids has become a mainstream position in GOP media circles. DeSantis knows this — which is why he was happy to pick this battle with the company.

☆ 'Return of the Jedi' missteps: Five ways the 'Star Wars' sequel messed up, from a certain point of view
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That’s in part because those shortcomings have echoed through the years, as subsequent “Star Wars” mythology has contorted itself, sometimes messily, in order to accommodate them. Still, Episode VI ill-served some of the original trilogy’s significant characters, in ways that have been debated across the decades, yielding the kind of arguments that have become one of the “Star Wars” franchise’s most renewable resources. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in "Return of the Jedi," which was released in 1983. Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock“From a certain point of view.” Let’s stipulate that Anakin Skywalker “became” Darth Vader when he turned to the dark side. “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” will play in select theaters beginning April 28.

☆ Snapchat's AI tool is a total fail with users
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Snapchat's AI tool made its debut across the application last week, and users aren't loving it. Only Snapchat+ subscribers can opt out of the service, which is powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT. My AI, Snapchat's ChatGPT-powered chatbot, launched to all Snapchat users earlier this month, and ever since, the app has been met with a surge of one-star reviews in the App Store. The feature, which offers a more stripped down version of OpenAI's now ubiquitous tool, was first introduced to Snapchat+ subscribers at the end of February. My own screenshotThe tool's access of personal information — including a user's location — has also been criticized for being creepy.

☆ Kitsch to Creepy: Polish Town No Longer Relishes Soviet Past (or Rasputin)
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Andrew Higgins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BORNE SULINOWO, Poland — Set in a thick forest, ringed by limpid lakes and free of violent crime, the town of Borne Sulinowo in northwestern Poland has undeniable bucolic charm — except for the ghosts on every eerily quiet street of the Nazi and then Soviet soldiers who built it. Governed for the past three decades by Poland, the town was controlled by and part of Germany before World War II; seized by the Red Army in 1945; and occupied by Moscow’s forces until 1992. Military re-enactors, including enthusiasts from Germany and Russia, visited each year to stage a parade, dressed in Soviet and Nazi uniforms, which are banned from public display in Germany. A Polish businessman opened the Russia Hotel, decorating it with photographs of himself and a friend dressed in Russian military uniforms and with communist-era banners embroidered with images of Lenin. His other ventures in the town included a cafe named after Rasputin and boozy, Russia-themed corporate events.

☆ Jeff Bezos, accidental style icon, was spotted at Coachella in a butterfly-print button-down shirt
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos showed up at Coachella in a butterfly-print button-down shirt. "Looks like a low budget Fast and Furious scene," wrote Redditor RuckOver3 in a post that was upvoted more than 34,000 times as of press time. Bezos was spotted at the festival with his partner Lauren Sanchez, Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner, and Jenner's partner, Corey Gamble, per TMZ. wrote Redditor BarfJello, in a comment that had been upvoted more than 13,000 times as of press time. "Looks like the average Coachella attendee," wrote Reddit user electricman420.

☆ At Trisha Brown, a New Voice Creates a ‘Symphony of Layers’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Gia Kourlas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Like her dance history, “Bleeding” contains more than one point of departure and is, in her mind, pictorial. “I put a lot of subjects in different layers,” she continued. Inside that, we find narratives that create a meaning or create a poetic constellation. “Trisha was talking about how she would consider alumni making new work, but she was also very clear that the alumni had to be dedicated, have invested time, energy and building knowledge as a choreographer,” Lucas said. And then she said ‘or a bright-minded young choreographer’ who is not necessarily an alumni.”

☆ Anyone can now use Snapchat's 'My AI' chat bot and the memes about 'horrifying' messages have arrived
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Snapchat launched its My AI feature to Snapchat+ subscribers in February. Now that the chat bot is available to all, memes and concerns about the feature are emerging. Snapchat's My AI chat bot is now available to non-paying users, and it's already the subject of hilarious memes and genuine concerns. As of Sunday , My AI is available for regular Snapchat users to chat to, and many are already posting about their strange conversations. Those who've tested out the feature took to TikTok to share their jokes and concerns about the chat bot.

☆ Mental-health apps have a dark secret — and it raises important questions about the future of online therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a video posted by Vice, Clarke addressed Clearlink's return-to-office mandate and said that many of his remote workers didn't open their laptops for a month. Online therapy fills a critical need — but it has a dark side. The data Loris used to create its "empathetic" software was generated from text conversations with people in distress, sourced from Loris' parent company, Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit suicide-prevention hotline. That is, however, according to Musk, who told Tucker Carlson that the two tech billionaires disagreed on safety and regulation. The real reason bosses are freaked out by remote work: they think it's for "sissies."

☆ TikTok is looking more and more like a record label. It’s annoyed many in the music industry.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Allbirds is one of the brands I'm looking at. TikTok is looking more and more like a record label. When TikTok launched SoundOn, a song-distribution and artist-services platform, some in the industry wondered whether it was trying to muscle its way into record labels' territory. TikTok is now looking to hire people who will "identify, sign, and develop new artists" as well as "design live show and merchandise strategies for artists globally." Get a front-row seat to TikTok's transformation into a record label here.

☆ The creepy secret behind online therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Tanmoy Goswami | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Crisis Text Line, now in its 10th year of operations, uses artificial intelligence to respond to people experiencing emotional abuse, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. 'The vast majority of mental-health apps are exceptionally creepy'BetterHelp, a poster child of online therapy founded in 2013, calls itself "the world's largest therapy platform" and says it has over 2 million users. One of the first popular mental-health apps, PTSD Coach, was launched by the US Department of Veteran Affairs in 2011. But for mental-health companies these practices can undermine the very foundations of mental-health care: dignity, trust, and psychological safety. As Crisis Text Line wrote on its website extolling its deal with Loris: "Why sell T-shirts when you can sell what your organization does best?"

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