Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Marathon and the Metaverse
This week, we discuss unfortunately checking Twitter for news, the closure of the metaverse, and being vulnerable in Marathon.
wired
Chinese Livestreaming 'Virtual Human' Salespeople Are Outselling Their Human Counterparts
Built using AI technology from Baidu and DeepSeek, these virtual livestreamers sell everything from wet wipes to printers and work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Features
How Tea’s Founder Convinced Millions of Women to Spill Their Secrets, Then Exposed Them to the World
A 404 Media investigation reveals how the man who started Tea, the ‘women dating safety’ app, tried to hire a female ‘face’ for the company and then hijack her grassroots community.
TikTok
TikTok Shop Sells Viral GPS Trackers Marketed to Stalkers
"If your girl says she’s just out with friends every night, you’d better slap one of these on her car."
News
Grok Exposes Underlying Prompts for Its AI Personas: ‘EVEN PUTTING THINGS IN YOUR ASS’
The website for Elon Musk's Grok is exposing prompts for its anime girl, therapist, and conspiracy theory AI personas.
News
The Government Just Made it Harder for The Public to Comment on Regulations
A critical piece of tech infrastructure that lets people talk to the government has been disabled.
The Abstract
A Strand of Hair Just Changed What We Know About the Inka Empire
A 500-year-old human hair in a rare khipu challenges the long-held idea that only elite men created these knotted records in the Inka empire.
The Abstract
A New Discovery Might Have Just Rewritten Human History
Long before modern supply chains, ancient hominins were moving stone across long distances, potentially reshaping what we know about our evolutionary roots.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Exercises in OSINT and Storage Pains
This week, we discuss OSINT for chat groups, Russell Crowe films, and storage problems.
News
Pentagon Funded Experiment Develops Robots that Change by ‘Consuming’ Other Robots
Researchers say this 'robot metabolism' is an early step in giving AI biological style bodies.
News
Trump Has Dropped a Third of All Government Investigations Into Big Tech
Tech companies spent $1.2 billion on political influence since 2024. It’s paid off.
News
ICE Adds Random Person to Group Chat, Exposes Details of Manhunt in Real-Time
The texts were sent to a group called “Mass Text” and show ICE using DMV and license plate reader data in an attempt to find their target, copies of the messages obtained by 404 Media show.
Media
4K Blu-Ray of 22-Year-Old 'Master and Commander' Is Sold Out Everywhere, Being Scalped on eBay
The cult classic 2005 film is selling for double the MSRP on the secondary market.