News
ICE Is Searching a Massive Insurance and Medical Bill Database to Find Deportation Targets
The database, called ISO ClaimSearch, is nearly all encompassing and contains details on more than 1.8 billion insurance claims and 58 million medical bills.
Bluesky
Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for 'Machine Learning Research'
A Hugging Face employee made a huge dataset of Bluesky posts, and it’s already very popular.
X
X's Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts
"X CORP. OWNS THE X ACCOUNTS."
advertising
WTF Is Stake, the Online Casino Using Viral Posts to Advertise Its Gambling Site
Stake is an online casino and sportsbook that's using watermarks on viral meme accounts to advertise on social media. But it goes deeper than that.
News
Steam Removes Oct 7 Game at Request of UK Counter-Terrorism Unit
The creator of a game that allows players to recreate “Operation al-Aqsa Flood” says it’s no different than Call of Duty.
News
Pokémon Go Data ‘Adding Amplitude to War Is Obviously an Issue,’ Niantic Exec Says
A Niantic executive said he could see governments and militaries buying Niantic geospatial AI trained on player data, but the company said it’s still early days.
News
Tether Has Become a Massive Money Laundering Tool for Mexican Drug Traffickers, Feds Say
Tether is being used on a massive scale by large scale drug traffickers, to the point where Tether is sold cheaper in Mexico due to its links to drugs, according to court records reviewed by 404 Media.
The Abstract
An Ancient Crystal from the Sahara Reveals a Lost World of Martian Water
This week, we’ll travel to ancient Mars, indulge in record-breaking “nanopasta,” check out nature’s version of fiber optic cables, and behold a galactic jellyfish.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: 'I Reject It!'
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we talk about conjuring gaming memories, AI-generated Birkin bags, and a rejection of a certain type of criticism.
News
Crooks Allegedly Stole Truck Full of $1.5 Million of Oculus Headsets
The truck thieves also stole trucks hauling electronics from Microsoft and Logitech.
spotify
Spotify Has A Pirated Software Problem
Playlists and "podcast" episode descriptions are hiding malware and piracy sites in plain sight on the streaming platform.
News
I Don't Own a Cellphone. Can This Privacy-Focused Network Change That?
A small tech company called Cape has been selling a privacy-focused cellphone service to the U.S. military. Now Cape will be offering its product to high-risk members of the public.
Podcast
Podcast: Buzzfeed's AI Ads Are a Disaster
We chat Buzzfeed's AI-powered ads, a big Graykey leak, and the wave of publishers making deals with AI companies.