Lead Hacker

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Meta has started its latest round of layoffs on Wednesday, and they affect employees in technical roles, according to CNBC . It’s unclear how many employees are being laid off in this round, but Vox reported Tuesday that the cuts would be “in the range” of 4,000 people. On LinkedIn, I found posts from people laid off in roles including senior engineering manager, user experience researcher, data scientist, technical program manager, gameplay programmer, and content designer. When reached for comment, spokesperson Elana Widmann pointed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s March 14th post announcing its plans to cut 10,000 more employees in addition to the 11,000 that the company already laid off . In that post, Zuckerberg said there would be three... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23689575/meta-layoffs-employees-technical-roles

Image: Ghostwriter / YouTube The generative AI music hype train only needed about 48 hours to go from “oh, that’s interesting” to full Balenciaga pope territory, and while it’s clear someone is using the technology to run a scheme, we’re still not sure who it is. Here’s the short version: Someone made an AI-generated Drake voice rapping an Ice Spice track, to which Drake posts on Instagram, “This is the final straw AI.” The same weekend, an unknown TikTok user, @ghostwriter977 , goes viral for an AI-generated Drake song featuring The Weeknd. The lyrics are apparently Ghostwriter’s, but the voices are unmistakable. There’s also a Metro Boomin tag in the song, though, as far as we know, he didn’t produce it. Nobody knows who Ghostwriter is, but the song, “Heart on... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688141/ai-drake-song-ghostwriter-copyright-umg-the-weeknd

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge A group of Republican lawmakers are calling on their colleagues to stop using TikTok as pressure mounts to ban the app nationwide. In letters to the Senate and House rules committees , Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and more than a dozen other Republicans demanded that the panels ban elected officials from using TikTok. Last year, Congress and a handful of state legislatures banned the app on government-owned devices , but these rules do not currently apply to members’ personal phones and devices. “It is troublesome that some members continue to disregard these clear warnings and are even encouraging their constituents to use TikTok to interface with their elected representatives — especially since some of these users... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688361/tiktok-ban-congress-republicans-aoc-china-bytedance

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has quietly altered its Hateful Conduct Policy to remove long-standing protections for its transgender users, as spotted by the nonprofit organization Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) . In a section that prohibits attacking other users with “repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to dehumanize, degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category,” Twitter removed a line that specifically includes the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.” According to Wayback Machine , the inclusion of misgendering and deadnaming was removed on April 8th — the day after Twitter announced it had updated the policy to clarify how it defines targeted harassment. The... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688192/twitter-harrass-transgender-users-policy

Image: BMW BMW’s 7 Series vehicles have always been about interior space and ride comfort, and now, the newest electric version is the automaker’s “most powerful” EV ever. The new BMW i7 M70 xDrive was handed the title as the vehicle makes its debut this week at the Auto Shanghai international motor show in China. According to BMW, its bestselling model worldwide last year was the BMW i4 M50 — a performance version of the electric 4 Series sedan. Now, the company has three electric performance models, including the BMW iX M60 SUV (a faster version of an already high-tech beast ) and this new i7 M70. BMW’s i7 M70 has a dual motor all-wheel drive system output of 485kW and 660 horsepower when the car’s M Launch Control or Sport Boost feature is... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23687834/bmw-i7-m70-xdrive-7-series-performance-reveal

The Emperor Philippa Georgiou has served a lot of good looks. | Image: CBS Television Studios Michelle Yeoh just won an Oscar and is now back to making movies. This time, she’ll be returning to her Star Trek: Discovery character for a new film based on the Star Trek black ops organization known as Section 31. Star Trek: Section 31 follows her character, the Emperor Philippa Georgiou. And if you are not very familiar with Star Trek , you might be confused. There are Emperors? Yes, yes, there are. Settle in, folks, as I explain the history of this character. Philippa Georgiou was the original captain of the ship Shenzhou but was killed in the pilot episode, and her death creates much of the friction for the surviving characters in the first season. Later in the season, her “evil” Mirrorverse counterpart shows up. The Mirrorverse is... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688094/michelle-yeoh-star-trek-section-31-film

The Maybach EQS SUV is only slightly more gaudy than the regular EQS. | Image: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz revealed a sumptuous new Maybach version of its all-electric EQS SUV today — and it’s certainly made for owners who aren’t planning on driving it themselves. Instead, they’ll be sitting on one of the two rear captain seats, which are glamorously appointed in diamond-stitched Nappa leather and come with electric recliner seats, pillows, removable tablet screens, and even a bottle chiller to keep the drive alive . The interior of the Maybach, of course, is designed for maximum comfort for the riders — but that comes at the cost of practicality. Even though it’s an SUV, it only sits four instead of five to seven people, something that makes more sense in the sedan S-Class Maybach vehicles. Pricing on the Mercedes-Maybach EQS... Continue reading… source https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/17/23686484/mercedes-benz-maybach-eqs-680-suv-announce