Trump Is Launching an AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity
I recently gave Perplexity another try, but after hearing the recent news about how they’ve been circumventing no-crawl directives, and now this? I’m good.
Cannabis Is Being Grown Like It’s Bitcoin: That’s A Problem
According to Mills, the sector now burns through 595 petajoules of energy annually, costing roughly $11 billion. That’s on par with all other U.S. crop production combined, and more than the energy consumed by the entire pharmaceutical or beverage industries, and it doubles the amount of greenhouse emissions produced by cryptocurrency mining.
The weed is smoking us, man!
I feel like I’m always yammering about Metroidvanias. I was just scrolling my RSS feed and came across a link to a new (to me) site: MetroidVania.GG
It’s exactly what it sounds like; a curated list of games from the genre across every current gen platform.
Med Student Horrified to Learn How Much His Zoomer Patient Was Actually Vaping
…a “zoomer patient” of his, who was struggling with “fairly serious alcohol dependency/withdrawal and risk of seizures,” had been going through an entire disposable vape cartridge from the brand, Geek Bar, every two days…“That’s like nicotine equivalent of 30ish packs of cigs EVERY DAY.”
Who needs crack when you can just get a Geek Bar? 😬
Reddit considers iris-scanning Orb developed by a Sam Altman startup
In one scenario, there are far more AI “agents” operating on the internet than humans. Humans will have to have some way to differentiate themselves and quickly present credentials for various tasks.
I don’t think the solution is to let bots run wild and leave the burden on humans to prove they’re human. Why not focus on a way to identify AI agents instead?
I’m sure that’s a complicated thing to figure out, but it’s pretty fucking dystopian to force people to hand over biometric data to prove they aren’t a computer.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound mini review
I’ve been having a lot of fun with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound since it launched about a week ago. For $25, this is a killer Metroidvania adjacent game. Super fluid and responsive controls. One thing that added to the difficulty on older games in the series was that classic, infuriatingly calculated movement. Every step and every swing of your sword had to be completely intentional or you’d get put in your place before you even have time to blink.
uBlock Origin Lite is officially on the App Store!
I’ve been using uBlock Origin and Firefox everywhere else as long as I can remember. When I switched to iPhone, I had to settle for a paid subscription to Adblock Pro — which works great. But this feels more like home.
BREAKING NEWS when you live in Ohio.
‘Hibernation genes’ help control metabolism and feeding — and could hold untapped benefit for humans
Hibernation offers “a whole bunch of different biometrically important superpowers,” senior study author Christopher Gregg, a human genetics professor at the University of Utah, told Live Science.
Say no more. I’m omw to find a nice cozy cave somewhere 🥱
The web is my favorite OS
I like progressive web apps. They feel like this alternate reality between how smartphones evolved, and how they could’ve evolved. Looking at you, Firefox Phone (RIP).
High Noon issues recall after vodka seltzer cans mislabeled as Celsius
The affected packs may contain 12-ounce cans of High Noon vodka seltzer mislabeled as Celsius Astro Vibe Energy Drink, Sparkling Blue Razz Edition with a silver top.
That might affect your morning commute a bit 😬
Ninja Gaiden Ragebound Review: Thrilling, Fast-Paced 2D Revival
This looks SO SICK! Same studio that made my favorite modern Metroidvania, Blasphemous. Yet another Switch game I feel obligated to buy right at launch — tomorrow, July 31st.
Mario Paint Has Been Added To Switch Online, With Mouse Control
I’m not planning on getting a Switch 2 any time soon, but I’m definitely feeling the nostalgic pull of playing Mario Paint on official hardware again!
Switched from FreshRSS to CommaFeed a couple weeks ago, now I’m finally following @kev’s lead and trying out Miniflux. At first glance it looks pretty stripped down and basic, but it’s surprisingly powerful! Lots of integrations and options. Love to see the Linkding support. Favorite reader so far!
AI summaries cause ‘devastating’ drop in audiences:
AI summaries can give users all the information they seek without ever clicking through to the original source of the content. Meanwhile, search result links are pushed further down the page, lowering the number of users that find them.
If I’m searching something on Google, I’m probably looking for a quick answer. That usually means landing on a site covered in ads, which I block anyway. So I’m not sure my lack of traffic is hurting a whole lot. Honestly, I think the cracks started showing long before AI. People were already gaming SEO to climb the pagerank ladder; SEO slop was here long before AI slop.
That said, if AI is profiting off your work you deserve to be compensated. That part does bother me. But I also don’t want to see LLMs turn into the next digital ad silo.
I will say, AI aside, one thing that always keeps me coming back to Google (over Kagi or DuckDuckGo) is pretty simple, and it keeps me from visiting web pages too. It’s the way they list business information like store hours, how busy they are right now vs their normal traffic, and their phone number. On Kagi, I have to go to the website, usually get redirected to some random location 500 miles away because I use iCloud Private Relay, change “my store”, and then go digging through their menus to find my way back to their store information. All while dodging javascript popups for promotions and email capture.
I guess my point is this: I’ve never found a site I loved through Google. The stuff I care about — blogs, indie sites, weird corners of the web, etc. I’ve found through online communities. If I like a commercial site (404 Media, for example), I subscribe. I visit their site directly. Google isn’t part of that relationship at all.
At the end of the day, I think the economics of the web are just shifting. What they’re shifting to, I have no idea. I think the web will survive though.
Can you hear me now?
We had a gnarly thunderstorm roll through Columbus yesterday and, I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure lightning struck one of the 5G towers behind where I work.
Hollow Knight Silksong Actually Exists, Will Be Playable For The Public At Gamescom:
With how much I love Metroidvanias, you’d think I’d have played Hollow Knight. I’ve not. I started the first one years ago, but never finished or revisited it. I’ll probably play this one first and then go back to the roots. I blame Star Wars for teaching me things can start at an arbitrary point in the story and backtrack to the beginning.
Got my Indieweb is Punk sticker in the mail from @jim! Perfect addition to my humble little Surface Go 2.
Altman told Bowman that his firm had nothing to do with the “impending fraud crisis,” claiming that OpenAI wasn’t working on impersonation tools. However, as CNN points out, the billionaire does back a tool called The Orb, which is working on a controversial biometric authentication method. And its video generator Sora could conceivably be used for exactly the types he’s talking about as well.
He has the problem and the creepy, centralized solution.
Scientist Suggests Tests to See if Large Object Headed Toward Earth Could Be an Alien Spacecraft
I’m obnoxiously skeptical about aliens, but I can’t help secretly hoping a fleet of hyper advanced lifeforms will land on the White House lawn and deliver a bare-assed spanking to Donald Trump on live TV, crushing what’s left of his self esteem and ending his reign of terror once and for all.