digdeeper

https://archive.is/J7KGU

TikTok's new Local Feed will show you nearby shopping, dining, events, news, and more.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/11/tiktok-launches-an-opt-in-local-feed-in-the-u-s-leveraging-users-precise-location/

archive.is link

My folks are visiting me in Southern California for a couple of months, so I rented them a house down the street. The place is new construction, modern and sleek. Rentals tend to be shabby and worn-out, so choosing a home with the latest and greatest felt like a way to make the experience hassle-free.

All of the appliances and systems are brand-new: the HVAC, the lighting, the entertainment. Touch screens of various shapes and sizes control this, that, and the other. Rows of programmable buttons sit where traditional light switches would normally be. The kitchen even has outlets designed to rise up from the countertop when you need them, and slide away when you don’t.

It’s all state-of-the-art. And it’s terrible.

I’m no Luddite. I run a software company! I see the allure of high-tech gadgets and have fallen for their promises before. When my wife and I built a house more than a decade ago, we opted for all kinds of automated systems: low-voltage controls, mechanized blinds, irrigation systems that measure rain so the sprinklers come on only when you need them. We regretted it almost immediately. What we discovered is that this stuff requires setup, which can take more time than just doing things manually, and is maddeningly glitchy, forcing you to pay someone handsomely by the visit or the hour to fix your appliances for you.

Tech makes many things better, but you shouldn’t have to learn how to use a house. You shouldn’t need a tech tour and an app (or five) to turn the heat down or clean the dishes. You shouldn’t have to worry that pressing the wrong button will set off a chain of events you don’t know how to undo. All these powerful processors and thousands of lines of code have succeeded in making everyday things slower, harder to use, and less reliable than they used to be.

Is it just for the dogs?

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260211015156/https://www.theverge.com/tech/876866/ring-search-party-super-bowl-ad-online-backlash

Another casualty of streaming, yet Blu-ray PC drives, players, and discs are expected to remain niche but stable markets.

Kylie Brewer isn't unaccustomed to harassment online. But when people started using Grok-generated nudes of her on an OnlyFans account, it reached another level.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.404media.co/grok-nudify-ai-images-impersonation-onlyfans/

Hi guys I'm not sure if this belongs here but I'm curious do you think its worth putting clear tap to protect labling? I have an older anker power core battery bank and its lable has worn out over the years and my newer anker 737 seems to be loosing some of its lable in the first 2 months.

Not sure if I am being reasonable or just being paranoid.

Example:

https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-makes-changes-to-safety-rules-for-customer-usage-of-power-banks-onboard/

Hey Guys,

A really long time ago on the original reddit sub of r/TheDeprogram (before it got nuked off the internet), I made a post for Marxists to discuss and share their views on DEI-Programs.

I wanted to re-create this in this part of the internet too, so that we as principled leftists have a space to share our perspective on it.

In that sub I was recommended the podcasts and books by Jennifer C. Pan and Catherine Liu. I also saw Norman Finkelstein’s take on it.

I understand that DEI-programs are now being critiqued but sadly mainstream media (far-right gamers, politicians and even academics) still claim DEI was a Marxist invention when it really was an HR-policy.

To start a discussion, I have created a few discussion questions: (you dont have to answer these its just a conversation, starter)

• What was your experience with DEI-programs? And what do you think about people confusing DEI for real political action?

• What do you think about the authors/academics like Jennifer C. Pan and Catherine Liu and there takes on it? What are their limits, in their interpretations?

• Have you noticed a sudden shift decline in union membership/awareness in your country or institution?

• Has DEI ever been weaponized against you or other marginalized/vulnerable people?

• Do you think the blind acceptance of DEI over unions stems from the absence of a real leftist’s political opposition, and that it is a product of certain politicians’ decades long reign (Rutte, Merkel, Macron generations)?

• Have you ever experienced backlash from DEI-advocates concerning your Marxist perspectives on affirmative action? How did you deal with it?

• Do you think DEI and all incorporating terms of “diversity” has given fascists more acceptance, as they claim that their views are part of the diversity?

Anyways leave your thoughts below. If you want me to correct something or clarify a point please do remind me 😊

I would also kindly encourage that we create a page about it on prole wiki.

N.B.: This post is not intended to promote, defend, or attack any of the authors mentioned, nor to encourage harassment or brigading. It also is not intended to promote discriminatory actions (racism, sexism, ableism etc..) against anyone . The goal is simply to have an informative, good-faith discussion on DEI and the authors.

In a recent Guardian article about the Guthrie kidnapping (and probable murder) they indicated at the end of the article that efforts to identify the kidnappers had been stymied because her Ring camera subscription wasn't active:

They had said that one roadblock in the ensuing search for Guthrie was the fact that somebody had disconnected her doorbell camera when she disappeared. And because she was not actively subscribed to the doorbell camera service provider, they could not immediately get images, they said.

Only for Patal (as of course he would seeing he has no comprehension of opsec) to expose the fact that the FBI able to obtain recordings from Ring cameras, even when the owner is unsubscribed to the cloud storage service they provide:

The FBI director, Kash Patel, published the images as the search for Nancy Guthrie, 84, stretched into its second week, saying the images had been “previously inaccessible” but were subsequently obtained from “residual data located in back-end systems”.

Pretty horrifying for those who don't want their cameras reporting back. And yes yes i get that Ring has some pretty severe security breaches and problems and you shouldn't be using them but the idea that video is being stored for over a week in Ring's non-volatile storage systems, even when you're not paying for it, is pretty damn bad,

Apologies if this fact, breach of privacy, was already known and in the public domain. This is something i've just learnt about.

Zero-click prompt injection can leak data when AI agents meet messaging apps, researchers warn

PCs without the new certificates could eventually have trouble booting new OSes.

Following the EU Council’s vote last week to extend the controversial “Chat Control 1.0” (Regulation (EU) 2021/1232), civil society resistance is forming. Activists are calling on citizens to take immediate action and contact Members of the European Parliament via the platform fightchatcontrol.eu. While EU governments are pushing to continue the mass screening of private messages by US tech companies, the European Parliament’s position remains undecided. The draft report by Rapporteur Birgit Sippel (S&D) is expected shortly.

Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20260210192450/https://www.404media.co/with-ring-american-consumers-built-a-surveillance-dragnet/

Facebook's new AI features let users animate their profile pics, restyle their Stories and Memories, and add backgrounds to text posts.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/10/facebook-adds-new-ai-features-animated-profile-photos-and-backgrounds-for-text-posts/

Google on Tuesday expanded its "Results about you" tool to let users request the removal of Search results containing government-issued ID numbers -- including driver's licenses, passports and Social Security numbers -- adding to the tool's existing ability to flag results that surface phone numbers, email addresses, and home addresses.

YouTube Music has started putting lyrics — a previously free feature introduced in 2020 — behind a paywall.