Latest comic. A British consumer rights group examined unnecessary data harvesting by “smart” devices, including air fryers connected to phone apps. While these devices may not pose the greatest privacy risk in our everyday lives, they are part of a growing Internet of Things capable of collecting data when and where we least expect it.

Workers Moving Oil Barrels.
Edmond Morin, from "Les grandes usines," vol. 2 by Julien Turgan, Paris: 1869

Tobacco choppers.
Edmond Morin, from "Les grandes usines," vol. 2 by Julien Turgan, Paris: 1869

Chappe telegraph.
From "Le magasin pittoresque," vol. 8, collective work, Paris: 1840

"The underrepresentation of women in open-source software is frequently attributed to women’s lack of innate aptitude compared to men"

Ah yes, that's definitely the reason. For sure. Definitely.

Also... "First, I infer the gender of users from their usernames and the information provided on their profiles, labeling users as feminine, masculine, ambiguous, and anonymous."

This research is dodgy as anything.

https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/29/1/zmad049/7596747

📢 Big News!

Today, we’re announcing that Flipboard is beginning to federate our publisher partner accounts in Brazil and expanding federation in Canada, Germany and the U.K.

Now, people in the fediverse can follow 150 newly federated publisher accounts and 2,000 topically curated Magazines about everything from politics and world news to sports and travel.

Read more in our announcement here:

https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse/flipboard-expands-federation-in-brazil-canada-germany-and-u-k/

For a full list of federated accounts to follow, visit the Flipboard directory:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iUFTo6rPvhqzCReLaM1c6-xUKRuBVqlZVStZl9Al-EU

Follow our Mastodon accounts in Brazil and Germany to discover Flipboard accounts to follow and keep up with the day's news:

@FlipboardBR

@FlipboardDE

And as always, tell us in the comments what you think!

For several days, robot vacuums in several U.S. cities were hacked, with perpetrators physically controlling them and shouting obscenities through their built-in speakers.

The cyberpunk world we live in.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-11/robot-vacuum-yells-racial-slurs-at-family-after-being-hacked/104445408

Latest comic on Big Tech's climate hypocrisy

Latest comic: AI gone MAD

NEW: Details of people's therapy sessions—including reports, video and audio recordings—have been exposed by a healthcare company.

These included people mentioning sexual abuse and highly sensitive subjects. The exposed database has now been closed down

One of the most insidious things about the Horizon IT debacle at the Post Office was how, despite having information of the failings of the software (and including them in official manuals), they were also advising people phoning the PO helpline for the system that they were the only ones encountering (the now clearly widespread) problem with the 'losing' money.

The strategy from the start was to stop people realising it was a widespread problem.

A disgraceful deception & cover-up

Toggle press for electrotype moulds, with fixed head.
From "Hoe & Co.'s Catalogue of Printing Presses and Printers' Materials," New York: 1881

Patent double-cylinder press.
From "Hoe & Co.'s Catalogue of Printing Presses and Printers' Materials," New York: 1881

Flat stereotype plate mould, for paper process.
From "Hoe & Co.'s Catalogue of Printing Presses and Printers' Materials," New York: 1881