The Street Finds Its Own Uses For Things

Collecting Everyday Cyberpunk

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TikTok suspended a teen who posted a viral takedown of China disguised as a makeup tutorial, but it claims it's because she posted a video of Osama bin Laden

Feroza Aziz's suspension from TikTok came as the Chinese-owned app faces increasing criticism over its treatment of politically sensitive content.

"Steganography is about concealing information by spreading it throughout other information." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition (2003)

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Cows wearing VR headsets might produce better milk

They're happier in virtual fields than confined farms.

Moo. 

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Fraudsters deepfake CEO's voice to trick manager into transferring $243,000

Criminals use commercially available voice-generating AI software to impersonate the boss of a German company to steal funds.

“ The company CEO, hearing the familiar slight German accent and voice patterns of his boss, is said to have suspected nothing“

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”The rain was sour and acid, nearly the color of piss. The cabby called you an asshole; you still had to pay twice the fare. She had three pieces of luggage. In his respirator and goggles, the man looked like an ant. He pedaled away in the rain. She didn't look back.” -- William Gibson, “Fragments of a Hologram Rose” (1977) 

Advertisement posted by the official Facebook account of Respro (a company selling pollution masks) on 6/30/14. 

 Original Ad: https://www.facebook.com/ResproMasks/photos/whoever-thought-pollution-masks-would-be-in-vogueintroducing-our-brand-new-skins/765779450141230/

Company Site: http://respro.com/pollution-masks

via @hackermaderas on Twitter

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“I've got a literally life and death one. 5G cell networks are going to set back weather forecasting ~30 yrs bc they operate at frequencies too near that of water vapor in the atmosphere, harming measurements. We'll lose 2-3 days' worth of accuracy in hurricane path forecasting. https://t.co/OzNSwsLhga”

On track for Sterling’s “Heavy Weather”? 

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Erin Hale on Twitter

“New defensive tactic from Hong Kong protesters - fishing line- to slow down police https://t.co/1633cswvUF”

Textbook street finding its own uses for things. 

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Hong Kong protesters use lasers to block facial recognition tech

The lights make the protests look like something out of science fiction.

The street finds its own uses for things. 

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Cops Are Giving Amazon's Ring Your Real-Time 911 Caller Data

Amazon-owned home security company Ring is pursuing contracts with police departments that would grant it direct access to real-time emergency dispatch data, Gizmodo has learned.

“There was a woman there from Cops in Trouble, which had been Rydell's father's favorite show, but she said she couldn't actually talk to him until she'd spoken with his agent. Rydell said he didn't have one.” – William Gibson, Virtual Light (1993) 

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MobilBye

Injecting traffic signs to advanced driver-assistance system using a projector installed on a drone

Hacking cars by making drones project phantom road signs that only robots can see. PDF of research paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.09765.pdf

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Rutger Hauer, ‘Blade Runner’ Co-Star, Dies at 75

Rutger Hauer, the versatile Dutch leading man of the ’70s who went on star in the 1982 “Blade Runner” as Roy Batty, died July 19 at his home in the Netherlands after a short illne…

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

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Mike Stuchbery💀🍷 on Twitter

“Police raids in Italy have unearthed a huge Far Right cache of weaponry, including an ground-to-air missile. (via @itvnews) https://t.co/TsPecXD6iX”

“Deke could read it all in his face: Combat was the only out Tiny had had, and he'd taken it every chance he got. Until some anonymous nationalista with an antique SAM tore him out of that blue-green Bolivian sky and slammed him straight down to Richmond Road and Jackman's and the smiling killer boy he faced this one last time across the faded cloth.”  -- "Dogfight", William Gibson @GreatDismal & @MichaelSwanwick (1985)

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This bunk bed in San Francisco rents for $1,200 a month - CNN Video

PodShare is a co-living space where tenants pay to rent a "pod," or bunk bed, in one of its San Francisco or Los Angeles locations.

“A cheap place, not even room to hang yourself.” - William Gibson, “Burning Chrome” (1982)

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WeChat and the Surveillance State

How one BBC correspondent was locked out of China's top messaging app after posting photos.

People wouldn't be able to speak to their friends or family without it. So the censors who can lock you out of WeChat hold real power over you.

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Schools Are Deploying Massive Digital Surveillance Systems. The Results Are Alarming

To prevent shootings and suicides, K-12 schools are monitoring breathtaking amounts of digital information, often with little regard for civil liberties. Internal district records highlight the messy situations that arise.

One student “opened a Google Doc, wrote down concerns about a boy in class acting strange, then typed every bad word they could think of,” Mays said. At the end of the note, the student apologized for the foul language, but wrote that they wanted to make sure the message tripped alarms.

[radical-eve]

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I listened to a Massive Attack record remixed by a neural network

Massive Attack's third album, Mezzanine, has been reinterpreted by artificial intelligence.

“that’s an AI, you know? … The music it played you, it probably just tapped your banks and cooked up whatever it thought you’d like to –” “Babylon,” broke in the other Founder, “mothers many demon, I an’ I know.“

- William Gibson, Neuromancer, (1984)

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Robot vs Human Combat | James Bruton

I worked on this project with final year degree students in Computer Games Technology at Portsmouth University CCI faculty. The robot hardware is controlled ...

Robotics engineer James Bruton has teamed up with University of Portsmouth students to create a robot that fights humans in real life while they’re playing in VR.