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Tag: Instagram

  • What’s Goin’ On Here? The Game Speaks Out After Changing His Profile Picture To A Photo Of Karrueche

    What’s Goin’ On Here? The Game Speaks Out After Changing His Profile Picture To A Photo Of Karrueche

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    The Game is offering up an explanation after confusing fans by changing his Instagram profile picture to a photo of Karrueche Tran.

    RELATED: Congrats! The Game Reveals He’s Expecting Another Child (WATCH)

    The Game Changes His Instagram Avi To A Photo Of Karrueche Tran

    On Thursday, August 22, Karrueche took to Instagram to share a carousel of two photos. The first featured a selfie of her posing in a mirror. In the flick, her short blonde hair appears to be disheveled. Furthermore, the second slide features a photo of her weekday morning routine.

    “Morning,” she wrote in the caption of the carousel.

    Check out her post below.

    In the following days, fans noticed that the rapper updated his Instagram profile picture to Karrueche’s recently posted mirror selfie. Subsequently, fans entered Karrueche’s comment section to ask about The Game’s puzzling action.

    Instagram user @dominicanaa___ wrote, “Why did the game put this photo of you on its account as a profile photo?😭”

    While Instagram user @linda_0x added, 😂😂😂 why @losangelesconfidential got this as his profile pic tho? 😭”

    Social Media Reacts As The Rapper Speaks Out

    More Instagram users weighed in on The Game’s bizarre profile update in The Shade Room’s comment section. Some mentioned Chris Brown, who previously dated Karrueche, while others appeared to speculate whether the rapper’s Instagram update implied something more about his relationship with Kae.

    Instagram user @justjazzmenblack wrote, Odd behavior for a man who had a baby on the way”

    While Instagram user @prettyblkjam added, Purposely provoking Chris is wild magnolia…😂”

    Instagram user @dessssyalexander wrote, It’s because he found the picture funny. Like a meme. Why is everyone acting lost?”

    While Instagram user @__.badhabit.__ added, Evelyn Lozada Daughter Punching Air Right Now Lmfaooooo”

    Instagram user @therealcharlee_ wrote,Didn’t he fall the other day 😂😂”

    While Instagram user @beatsbykourtni added, He must want chris brown to come out of retirement”

    Instagram user @ahhh_kiki wrote,Karrueche is really that girl😂 sis be trying to mind her business and everyone trying to mind her lol”

    While Instagram user @sara.stacksss added, Yall don’t let Chris rest. Damn.”

    Instagram user @itzbeautifulgurl wrote,He to handsome to be so damn corny”

    While Instagram user @blacknurseskillingit added,Doing this while you have a child on the way with ANOTHER woman is crazy 🤦🏽‍♀️”

    Eventually, the rapper himself stepped in to clear the air.

    That picture dope. & K is a fire person n the homie. Gone bout yall day. Yall gone be alright.

    Here’s Why The Game Has Recently Made Headlines

    As The Shade Room previously reported, The Game has been recently making headlines since June. At the time, Evelyn Lozada’s daughter, Shaniece Hairston, revealed she was pregnant with her first child. But, Shaniece did not reveal the identity of her child’s father.

    However, in December 2023, the 31-year-old was seen seemingly leaving a dinner date with The Game, per The Shade Room.

    Later in June, In Touch Weekly published a report “exclusively reveal[ing]” the father of Hairston’s child to be The Game. Then, in August, the 44-year-old father of three appeared on the ‘Tacos & Shawarma’ podcast and confirmed he is expecting another child. However, he did not reveal with whom.

    Since then, The Game has also gone viral for taking a tumble while walking down the aisle at a friend’s wedding.

    RELATED: You Good?! The Game Takes A Tumble While Walking Down The Aisle At Recent Wedding (WATCH)

    What Do You Think Roomies?

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    Jadriena Solomon

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  • Threads is testing disappearing posts that expire after 24 hours

    Threads is testing disappearing posts that expire after 24 hours

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    Threads is testing the option for users to put a 24-hour expiration timer on their posts, after which the post and all replies would disappear, Stories-style. A spokesperson confirmed to that the feature is being tested among a group of users after it was first spotted earlier this summer by developer . It sounds a lot like pre-X Twitter’s Fleets, . But, the ephemeral format could save habitual post-deleters some trouble.

    It comes a few months after Instagram head Adam Mosseri shared that Threads was . That optional feature would let users designate a date for their posts to be hidden from the feed. But Threads users in the past have indicated that they of automatic archiving, and such a feature hasn’t yet shown up on a wider scale. Threads at the beginning of August, and recently introduced an for users — particularly those with large followings — to keep track of their account’s performance. Meta also said the option to schedule posts is on the way.

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    Cheyenne MacDonald

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  • Instagram’s experimental profile grid has rectangular images instead of squares

    Instagram’s experimental profile grid has rectangular images instead of squares

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    Instagram is testing a new profile grid layout that features rectangular images instead of the squares you’re used to. In an Instagram story, Adam Mosseri has revealed that the app is testing a vertical grid for users’ profiles. He explained that the original square grid was designed back in the day when the app only allowed users to upload square photos. Those days are long gone, and the vast majority of Instagram uploads are apparently vertical, specifically 4 x 3 images and 9 x 16 videos. He called cropping those uploads down to square as “pretty brutal.”

    When you click on Instagram’s video tab, you’ll already see a rectangular grid, so the experimental layout won’t look terribly unfamiliar. In fact, the test profile looks exactly the same, based on a screenshot that a user posted on Threads, except the grid includes photo posts and not just videos. A spokesperson told The Verge that the test has only rolled out to a small number of users and that the Instagram team will listen to feedback before expanding the redesigned grid’s availability.

    Based on an old post by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, the app has been working on the new rectangular grid layout since at least 2022. It looks like the test is making its way to more users — and it seems like not everyone’s happy about it. Mosseri posted his Story in response to a comment submitted to his “Ask Me Anything” session, pleading for the app not to kill the old layout.

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    Mariella Moon

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  • Instagram Isn’t Protecting Women Politicians From Hate Speech

    Instagram Isn’t Protecting Women Politicians From Hate Speech

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    Pinned on vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ official Instagram page is a post featuring her alongside her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. In the comments, along with praise, criticism, and more than one “Trump 2024,” are several comments asking if Harris had offered Walz oral sex, with one calling her “Kamel toe.”

    Harris has long been the subject of online abuse, which is likely to intensify as her campaign wears on. But a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that tracks hate speech and misinformation online, found that Instagram failed to remove 93 percent of the 1,000 hateful and violent comments it flagged to the platform targeting both Republican and Democratic female politicians, including Harris.

    In doing so, Imran Ahmed, CEO of CCDH, says that the platform is helping to create an environment that discourages women from seeking political office. “It’s an unconscionable, regressive barrier to women’s participation in politics,” he says.

    Researchers monitored the accounts of 10 incumbent female politicians in the US for six months. These included five Democrats (Harris, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jasmine Crockett) and five Republicans (Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Paulina Luna, Lauren Boebert, and Maria Elvira Salazar, and Senator Marsha Blackburn). The abuse the researchers observed ranged from death and rape threats to racial slurs and more generally toxic comments.

    In one comment directed at Senator Blackburn, a user posted, “Hope someone leaves you for a dead in a ditch.” Another targeting Representative Crockett read, “All these black women trolling her should spend more time not being single mothers, raising the trash that’s destroying your shitty country …” Yet another, this time directed at Representative Pelosi, said, “hope whoever attacked your husband has more people ❤️❤️❤️❤️ so they can finish the job.”

    Researchers collected more than half a million comments from 877 Instagram posts between January 1 and June 7, 2024, and, using Google Jigsaw’s Perspective API, analyzed them for content that appeared to violate the platform’s community standards. (Meta’s policies prohibit attacks based on “race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, and serious disease” as well as threats of violence, calls for self-harm, or “severe sexualized commentary.”) The research team then flagged 1,000 abusive comments to the company using its reporting function to see whether they would be removed from the platform.

    Some comments, like one that used a racial slur to refer to Representative Crockett, seem to clearly violate Meta’s community standards. Others, like one directed at Vice President Harris saying “GO TO THE BORDER YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT !” are what researchers defined as “toxic”—not necessarily a direct threat or slur but a “rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make someone leave a discussion.” Though they may not cross the line to using sexualized or racialized language that would warrant removal, toxic comments are part of what researchers say creates an overall hostile environment for women politicians online. According to CCDH’s analysis, about one in every 25 comments contained toxic content.

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    Vittoria Elliott

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  • Instagram is failing to act on abuse targeting women lawmakers on both sides of the aisle

    Instagram is failing to act on abuse targeting women lawmakers on both sides of the aisle

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    Instagram is failing to enforce its own rules and allowing some of its most high-profile accounts to be targeted with abusive comments “with impunity,” according to a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The anti-hate group claims that Meta failed to remove 93 percent of comments it reported to the company, including ones that contain racial slurs, violent threats and other disturbing language that would seem to clearly violate the social network’s rules.

    CCDH’s researchers zeroed in on five Republican and five Democratic lawmakers who are up for election this year. The group included Vice President Kamala Harris, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Representative Lauren Boebert.

    The researchers reported 1,000 comments that appeared on the lawmakers’ Instagram posts between January and June of this year and found that Meta took “no action” against the vast majority of those comments, with 926 of them still visible in the app one week after being reported. The reported content included comments with racial slurs and other racist language, calls for violence and other abuse.

    “We’re simulating the moment at which someone reaches out their hand asking for help, and actually, Instagram’s failure to act on that compounds the harm done,” CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said in a briefing about the report.

    The CCDH also found that many of the abusive comments came from “repeat offenders” which, according to Ahmed, has “created a culture of impunity” on the platform. The report comes less than three months before the US presidential election, and it notes that attacks targeting Harris, who is now campaigning for president seem to have “intensified” since she took over the ticket. “Instagram failed to remove 97 out of 105 abusive comments targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, equivalent to a failure to act on 92% of abusive comments targeting her,” the report says. It notes that Instagram failed to remove comments targeting Harris that used the n-word, as well as gender-based slurs.

    In a statement, Meta said it would review the report. “We provide tools so that anyone can control who can comment on their posts, automatically filter out offensive comments, phrases or emojis, and automatically hide comments from people who don’t follow them,” Meta’s Head of Women’s Safety, said in a statement. “We work with hundreds of safety partners around the world to continually improve our policies, tools, detection and enforcement, and we will review the CCDH report and take action on any content that violates our policies.”

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    Karissa Bell

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  • NBC Sent 27 Creators to Paris. It Only Needed Snoop and Olympic Athletes

    NBC Sent 27 Creators to Paris. It Only Needed Snoop and Olympic Athletes

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    In mid-June, when NBCUniversal announced it was partnering with Meta, Overtime, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube to send 27 influencers to the 2024 Paris Olympics, it seemed like a big deal. These were huge content creators like Kai Cenat, Daniel Macdonald, and Zhongni “Zhong” Zhu, people with millions upon millions of followers. The hope was that their presence would engage members of Gen Z and Gen Alpha and get them interested in the Games.

    Mostly, that didn’t pan out. Though the move generated fawning “age of the influencer” pieces from outlets like The New York Times and Bloomberg, neither consumers nor advertisers (who NBCUniversal said could create sponsored posts with the influencers, should they desire) seem to have responded all that well to the network’s “Paris Creators Collective,” which spent the past two weeks bopping around between Olympic events.

    Instead, what caught the public’s attention was content from athlete creators like USA rugby team star Ilona Maher, who gained almost 2 million new followers in the past couple of weeks thanks to her witty fit checks and Love Island–like references to the “Olympic Villa.” Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen became famous for his love of a gooey chocolate muffin served in the Olympic Village, while other fans consumed seemingly dozens of national kit unboxing videos made by athletes from all around the globe.

    People have also fallen for hip figures, like Olympic shooters Kim Yeji and Yusuf Dikeç or Stephen Nedoroscik, the bespectacled American gymnast who really should work on getting a Warby Parker endorsement deal if he hasn’t landed one already. People have also gone nuts (again) for the reportedly highly valuable Olympics commentary of Snoop Dogg, who NBCUniversal officially brought on board for the first time for these Games.

    The videos that NBC’s influencers are posting, on the other hand, don’t seem to be hitting—or going viral, at least. Part of that could be due to the limitations handed to the creators, who weren’t allowed to post videos of the actual events.

    Most tried to work around the actual athletics, sharing clips from the venues, of their reactions, their meals, and their cartwheels, or of their outfits. Others tried to play coy around the whole conceit, using their TikToks to poke fun at European architecture or, in the case of “Apprentice of Jesus” creator Lecrae, addressing the “sincerity of his faith” for profiting off the same Games that people (incorrectly) believe did a parody of the Last Supper.

    The resulting videos feel a little thin, with commentary that’s less biting or immediate than what’s been making the rounds elsewhere. (After all, if NBCUniversal flies you to Paris and puts you up, you’re probably not going to comment on how goofy the Australian breakdancer’s moves were or how you couldn’t see squat from your expensive seat at the Opening Ceremony.)

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    Marah Eakin

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  • Colorado authorities warn first day of school pictures could pose safety risks

    Colorado authorities warn first day of school pictures could pose safety risks

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    JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – As students across Colorado head back to school this month, authorities are warning about social media posts meant to celebrate the new school year.

    Taking a picture of a child on the first day of school is a tradition for many families, but Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Michael Harris with the Child Sex Offenders Internet Investigations Unit (Cheezo) said sharing those photos can come with unintended consequences.

    “Once you send something, whether it’s a message or a photo, you lose all control over that photo. Just like when you have your kid go to the mall, you tell them not to talk to strangers, but yet you’re posting these photos. And if you don’t know everyone in your social media or on your friends list, there could be somebody that takes an interest in your cute child,” Harris said.

    Harris suggests only sending first day of school pictures to family and friends who parents know and trust.

    But Harris said if parents choose to post those pictures on social media, they should double check their privacy settings to make sure only their friends can see them or stick to platforms like WhatsApp which encrypt photos.

    “When we go and teach at schools, we tell the kids, you need to turn off location services, because it shows the exact place where that picture was taken. We don’t want that, because if you’re taking it at home, now they have your home address if you’re taking it at school. Now we know what school you go to,” Harris said.

    Harris said now is the time to be vigilant and put parental controls in place.

    Colorado authorities warn first day of school pictures could pose safety risks

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    Micah Smith

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  • Hack and payback Instagram scammer gets nabbed after bragging about it on a podcast

    Hack and payback Instagram scammer gets nabbed after bragging about it on a podcast

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    A guest who appeared on the No Jumper podcast to boast about a hack and payback scheme involving his victims’ social media accounts could face federal charges. Idriss Qibaa, also known as “Dani” and “Unlocked” who authorities allege ran the social media hacking site Unlocked4Life.com, faces two criminal felony counts filed by the US Attorney’s Office in Nevada for allegedly violating interstate communications laws for threats he issued in text messages to two victims and members of their families, according to documents obtained by 404 Media.

    Investigators filed the sealed complaint against Qibaa on July 25 and issued a warrant the following Monday when also made his first initial appearance in court, according to federal court records.

    The criminal complaint states that the FBI received a tip about Qibaa’s alleged extortion scheme on April 1 pointing to an appearance he made on the No Jumper podcast hosted by Adam22, also known as Adam Grandmaison, back in January under his pseudonym “Dani.” Qibaa outlined a financial scheme using over 200 victims’ social media accounts in which he would lock them out of their pages and charge them to regain access.

    He also boasted that he made about $600,000 a month from his activities and hired two security guards to follow him.

    “You’re making $2 million a month off your Instagram and Telegraph,” Qibaa says on the podcast. “I come and I take it away and make you pay for it back and I make it public and I post it and I expose you.”

    Qibaa even said on the podcast episode that he pulled the scheme on celebrities who unknowingly kept paying him to get their social media back. He later noted “I’m very petty” followed by a menacing laugh.

    “I’ve talked to stars who have told me that they’ve paid to get it back 20 times over and over and over they just have to keep paying to get it back,” Qibaa says, “and I’m like you realize what’s happening to you right like the same that’s getting you it back is…you’re getting extorted.”

    The criminal complaint tells the story of eight victims’ encounters with Qibaa and his services. One identified as “J.T.” operated two Instagram accounts: a cannabis news aggregate account called “theblacklistxyz” and a cannabis merchandising store under “caliplug,” both of which are currently set to private. J.T. reached out to Qibaa asking if he could obtain a username. Qibaa quoted a price back between $4,000-$5,000. J.T. refused to take Qibaa up on the offer and Qibaa responded with threats.

    “Qibba told J.T. that J.T. had wasted Qibaa’s time, blocked J.T.’s Instagram pages and demanded $10,000 to reinstate it,” the complaint reads. “J.T. offered Qibaa $8,500 to reinstate the account, an offer Qibaa accepted.”

    The complaint asserts that Qibba reached out to J.T. two more times. The first time, Qibba asked if J.T. would promote his Instagram page under the username “unlocked4life” that’s since been taken down. J.T. agreed but when he learned Qibaa had been threatening and extorting other victims, he confronted Qibaa and “Qibaa was irate.”

    A few months later, Qibaa apparently increased the scope of his threats to J.T. and members of his family. He sent threats to call the victim’s ex-wife’s lawyer and child protective services on his kids. Screenshots of the victims’ phone show Qibaa allegedly identifying the address and phone number of the victim’s sister. He texted another family member and introduced himself as “The guy that’s gonna murder your drug dealer brother. Tell him Unlocked says hi though. We have your entire family’s info.”

    Another victim identified as a journalist and comedian with the initials “E.H.” learned they were a target of Qibaa’s illegal services. Qibaa blocked their Instagram account, the name of which was redacted, at the request of a dentist in California who treated them. E.H. reached out to the Unlocked4Life account and received a reply that read, “Yo its Idriss.” He then told E.H. to pull up the No Jumper podcast episode featuring his interview. Qibaa not only took the victim’s Instagram account access away but also threatened to take their Social Security number and “blast it out” if they didn’t pay him $20,000.

    According to the complaint, not even restraining orders could make Qibaa leave his victims alone. One named “R.B.” received a restraining order from Los Angeles County Superior Court in July but “Unblocked” responded, “Cute restraining order..last I checked you’re still gonna die.” Then “UNLOCKED UNCENSORED” posted on Telegram, “$50,000 reward for whoever sleeps BO this week.”

    Perhaps the most disturbing threats happened to several victims in which Qibaa claimed he’d happily go to jail if payments weren’t made to him. Screenshots of the text chains show a person named “Dani” and “Daniel” telling his victims, “I will come and shoot you myself,” “I’m going to bury you for this shit” and “D., L., J., T., Children-Main Targets” referring to the victims’ children.

    Another text chain shows Qibaa allegedly threatening someone that he would “rather take a life sentence for murdering you then this,” “Idc if I have to shoot you my self [sic]” and “I’ll go to jail happily.” He follows the text with the threat “Here’s the last guy that came to take photos / came near my home” and sends three pictures of an unidentified bearded man, his car and a photo of his badly bruised and bloodied on the ground.”

    Adam22 concluded his podcast interview with “Dani” saying he was “very excited to see the fallout from this” and “I respect the hustle even though I can’t justify it on a moral level.”

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    Danny Gallagher

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  • Use These 16 Lyrics From Happier Than Ever In Your New Instagram Bio

    Use These 16 Lyrics From Happier Than Ever In Your New Instagram Bio

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    “Happier than ever” are the exact words we use when we think about Billie Eilish. In just a few short years, she’s managed to steal our hearts with songs like ‘i love you,’ ‘my future,’ and now ‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER.’ When we reflect back on her discography, we stop to remember the impact of Happier Than Ever.

    For all the Billie-stan accounts out there, we’ve compiled a list of the best lyrics from Happier Than Ever for your Instagram bios. Get to typing, honeybees!

    “I didn’t change my number, I only changed who I reply to.” 

    Well, duh! ‘I Didn’t Change My Number’ is probably our favorite track from HTE. We try to channel that Billie baddie energy every time another person dumps us…are we the problem? Thanks to Billie, we’ve officially blocked and deleted all the negative energy from our contact list and asked, “Who is this?”

    “I’ll see you in a couple years”

    This one hits hard. All of us honeybees in the hive are in love with our futures – they’re looking bright and successful from here! That’s why we have to quote ‘my future’ in our IG bios. Just so everyone knows, we’ve got our eyes on the prize (pit tickets for the HIT ME HARD AND SOFT tour).

    “I know you think you’re such an outlaw, but you’ve got no job.”

    Yet again, we’re channeling that baddie energy! It’s time to focus on us and only us. It’s time to get that bag and start making our dreams come true! Luckily, we are no ‘Lost Cause,’ but we are still obsessed with that song. This track and music video carried Billie fans through the trenches that was 2021. If it doesn’t make it to the setlist for the next tour, we are going to cry and complain right to headquarters.

    “I don’t relate to you.”

    Since we are remaking our IG bios, we should probably make sure everyone who is stalking us knows we’ve got confidence. Fake it till you make it! Only Billie fans are welcome to our page, so if you don’t fall into that category – we don’t relate to you! If you didn’t have the opportunity to scream the lyrics to ‘Happier Than Ever’ on the 2022 tour, we pray for you, it was truly such a healing experience and we can’t wait to do it again this coming fall.

    “I haven’t slept since Sunday; midnight for me is 3 a.m.”

    Given the fact that we are up until 3 a.m. every night aimlessly scrolling on Instagram, we thought this lyric from ‘Halley’s Comet’ was the perfect choice. When Billie posts pictures to her feed (a rare occurrence), we find ourselves up all night scrolling and scrolling and then falling into internet holes we didn’t even know existed. 

    “I’m happier than ever. At least, that’s my endeavor.”

    At the end of the day, we’re all trying to live each day to the fullest and find the small pockets of joy. Staying happy all the time is quite impossible, but when we have good music to listen to, that always helps us along. Hopefully, by putting this lyric in our IG bios, we can encourage all our followers to stay motivated day by day.

    What is your favorite lyric from Happier Than Ever? Which song are you most excited to hear live during the HIT ME HARD AND SOFT tour this year? Let us know in the comments below or hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram 🐝

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BILLIE EILISH:
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE

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    ableimann

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  • Instagram Will Let You Make Custom AI Chatbots—Even Ones Based on Yourself

    Instagram Will Let You Make Custom AI Chatbots—Even Ones Based on Yourself

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    Meta’a AI Studio handbook says that users can customize a chatbot by providing a detailed description, along with a name and image, and then specifying how it should respond to specific input. Llama will then draw on those instructions to improvise its responses. Meta says Instagram users can “customize their AI based on things like their Instagram content, topics to avoid, and links they want it to share.”

    Over the past year, Meta has become an AI success story thanks to its decision to offer robust AI models for free. Last week, the company released a powerful version of its large language model Llama, providing developers, researchers, and startups with free access to a model comparable to the powerful paid model one behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company says its new chatbots are all based on the latest version of Llama.

    And yet Meta has struggled to find the right tone and niche for its own AI offerings. Last September, the company launched a range of AI chatbots loosely based on real celebrities. These included a fantasy roleplay dungeon master bot based on Snoop Dogg; a wisecracking sports bot based on Tom Brady; and an everyday companion inspired by Kendall Jenner.

    These bots failed to become big hits, however, and Meta has retired them. Jon Carvill, a spokesman for Meta, said the company had learned from the earlier experiments. “AI Studio is an evolution,” he said.

    There is plenty of evidence that users may find fully customizable bots more compelling. A company called Character AI, founded by several ex-Google employees who helped make breakthroughs in AI, has attracted millions of users to its own custom chatbots.

    Zuckerberg also touted other new open source AI advances from Meta at SIGGRAPH. The company has developed a new tool for identifying the contents of images and video called Segment Anything Model (SAM) 2. The previous version is widely used for image analysis. Meta says SAM 2 could be used to more efficiently analyze the contents of video, for instance. Zuckerberg showed off the technology tracking the cattle roaming his Kauai ranch. “Scientists use this stuff to study coral reefs and natural habitats and evolution of landscapes,” he told Huang.

    Earlier in the day, in an on-stage interview with WIRED’s Lauren Goode, Huang, the NVIDIA CEO, said he would “absolutely” want a “Jensen AI” that knows everything he’s ever said, written, and done. “You’ll be able to prompt it, and hopefully something smart gets said,” he said. He could force stock analysts to pepper the bot—instead of him—with questions about the company. “That’s the first thing that has to go,” he said with a laugh.

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    Will Knight, Paresh Dave

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  • Who is Hannah Neeleman and what’s going on with Ballerina Farm?

    Who is Hannah Neeleman and what’s going on with Ballerina Farm?

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    If the name Hannah Neeleman doesn’t ring any bells for you, then maybe Ballerina Farm, the handles that she posts under on social media, does.

    Neeleman was the subject of a recent article in The Sunday Times, which labelled her the ‘Queen of the Trad Wives’, and which has gone viral this week after it gave an insight into what her life is really like on their farm.

    To her 9.1 million Instagram followers and her 7.6 million TikTok fans, Neeleman appears to be the picture perfect housewife, or traditional wife, as the trend goes.

    She spends her days baking cookies, making sourdough bread with freshly laid hen eggs, and tending to her eight children. The 34-year-old is also married to Daniel Neeleman, 35, the heir to the US airline JetBlue fortune.

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    Why has an interview with Ballerina Farm gone viral?

    During the interview with The Times, the interviewer noted that Daniel hardly left Neeleman’s side despite Neeleman being the subject of the interview, and some things were said that have caught readers’ attention.

    “My goal was New York City. I left home at 17 and I was so excited to get there, I just loved that energy. And I was going to be a ballerina. I was a good ballerina,” she said. Neeleman had been training as a ballerina at Juilliard school in New York City when she met Daniel. “But I knew that when I started to have kids my life would start to look different.”

    “I gave up dance, which was hard. You give up a piece of yourself. And Daniel gave up his career ambitions,” Neeleman says of the sacrifices the pair made to start a family.

    The writer, Megan Agnew, then notes: “I look out at the vastness and don’t totally agree. Daniel wanted to live in the great western wilds, so they did; he wanted to farm, so they do; he likes date nights once a week, so they go (they have a babysitter on those evenings); he didn’t want nannies in the house, so there aren’t any. The only space earmarked to be Neeleman’s own — a small barn she wanted to convert into a ballet studio — ended up becoming the kids’ schoolroom.”

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    Laura Hampson

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  • Ballerina Farm Influencer Hannah Neeleman Says She Doesn’t “Identify” as a Trad Wife

    Ballerina Farm Influencer Hannah Neeleman Says She Doesn’t “Identify” as a Trad Wife

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    Hannah Neeleman is best known for her social media handle, @BallerinaFarm, and her January 2024 appearance in the Mrs. World—just 12 days after giving birth. But she has also been identified with a phenomenon of extremely-online photogenic housewifery often called the “tradwife” movement—even as critics point out that many tradwife influencers are essentially running large advertising businesses. In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Neeleman says she doesn’t actually relate to a larger movement, agreeing that her life as a mother of eight, with nine million Instagram followers, is far from traditional.

    “I don’t necessarily identify with it,” she said, “because we are traditional in the sense that it’s a man and a woman, we have children, but I do feel like we’re paving a lot of paths that haven’t been paved before.” She agreed when her husband, Daniel Neeleman—who scarcely left his wife’s side during her interview, as the reporter is careful to note—said she was a co-CEO of their farm business. “So for me to have the label of a traditional woman,” she continued. “I’m kinda like, I don’t know if I identify with that.”

    That doesn’t mean she is completely comfortable calling herself a feminist. “I feel like I’m a femin-,” she said, before stopping herself. “There’s so many different ways you could take that word. I don’t even know what feminism means any more,” she continued. “We try so hard to be neutral and be ourselves and people will put a label on everything. This is just our normal life.”

    Though the Neeleman and her family’s membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is widely known, it’s not a central focus of the content she posts to her millions of followers. According to the Times, it is a frequent topic of conversation at home. Daniel said that they both agree with Mormon teachings on  “sexual relations” and abortion. “We see the joy of having kids,” he said. “And the sanctity of life,” Hannah Neeleman added.

    Neeleman also said her decision to grow her family has been influenced by prayer. “It’s very much a matter of prayer for me,” she said. “I’m, like, ‘God, is it time to bring another one to the Earth?’ And I’ve never been told no.” Six of Neeleman’s eight children were unmedicated home births, which she has documented extensively on social media. Still, she said that she did enjoy the one time she gave birth with an epidural. “It was kinda great,” she said with a smile.

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    Erin Vanderhoof

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  • ‘Love my bros’: Foursome allegedly robbed string of 7-Elevens, took to Instagram to celebrate

    ‘Love my bros’: Foursome allegedly robbed string of 7-Elevens, took to Instagram to celebrate

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    Four Los Angeles County men were arrested Tuesday in connection with a series of armed robberies of 7-Eleven stores and a CVS last year that they later allegedly posted about on Instagram.

    In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, federal prosecutors said Charles Christopher, 24, of Compton; D’Angelo Spencer, 26, of South Los Angeles; Jordan Leonard, 25, of Torrance; and Tazjar Rouse, 22, of Hollywood committed multiple armed robberies between Nov. 4 and Dec. 24.

    Christopher and Leonard pleaded not guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles and were ordered jailed without bond. Their trial is scheduled for Sept. 17.

    Rouse appeared Tuesday in federal court in Kansas City, Mo., and Spencer was expected to be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

    The indictment details the alleged robberies.

    While at least one of the group would remain outside as a lookout or getaway driver, the indictment claims, the others entered the stores during business hours, leaped over counters and took money from the cash registers that they stuffed into a black Nike bag. During the robberies, prosecutors allege, one defendant, usually Christopher or Leonard, pointed a gun at a store employee or customer and demanded their cellphones or wallets.

    The indictment also alleges that the men made multiple Instagram posts following the robberies that depicted cash or goods matching those taken from the stores, and that showed them wearing clothes and with a gun apparently identical to those seen in surveillance video during the crimes.

    On Nov. 4, the indictment says, Spencer, Christopher and two other men traveled to a South Los Angeles 7-Eleven in a blue BMW and fled with $2,495.

    Spencer’s Instagram account, hours later, showed him next to a stack of cash, wearing black clothes and a black ski mask that matched the description of the clothing worn by a suspect during the robbery.

    On Nov. 28, the indictment alleges, Christopher, Spencer and at least one other person stole cash and an employee’s cellphone from a 7-Eleven store in South Los Angeles.

    Later that day, Spencer’s Instagram showed multiple shots of stacks of cash. Leonard’s account also featured a photo of cash along with the caption “love my bros we go hit every time,” while tagging the Instagram accounts of Christopher and Spencer, according to the indictment.

    Two nights later, Leonard posted a video on Instagram of a man’s hand holding cash next to a Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol.

    The gun in the video appeared to be the same model and finish and from the same manufacturer as the one captured in surveillance video in 7-Eleven robberies on Nov. 28, Dec. 11 and Dec. 24, according to an affidavit made public with the indictment.

    On Dec. 11, the indictment says, Christopher, Leonard and Rouse entered a CVS in Hollywood, leaped over the counters and stole cash and prescription medication off the shelves.

    The next day, Rouse allegedly made several Instagram posts advertising medication for sale and sent a direct message to another user stating, “I got syrup.”

    On Dec. 19, Spencer posted an Instagram video that showed a group of men standing near a cluster of prescription bottles and a black plastic trash bag.

    “The prescription medication bottles were identical to the property taken during the CVS robbery; the black trash bag matched the one used to store the stolen medication during the CVS robbery; and the clothing worn by the depicted persons was identical to that worn by suspects during the crime,” LAPD Officer James A. Douglas wrote in an affidavit.

    All told, the men are alleged to have stolen $7,617 in cash, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

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    Corinne Purtill

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  • Sextortion scams run by Nigerian criminals are targeting American men, Meta says

    Sextortion scams run by Nigerian criminals are targeting American men, Meta says

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    FBI warns parents as sextortion cases involving minors surge


    FBI warns parents as sextortion cases involving minors surge

    02:44

    So-called sextortion scams are on the rise, with criminals from Nigeria frequently targeting adult men in the U.S., according to social media giant Meta. 

    Meta on Wednesday said it has removed about 63,000 accounts from Nigeria that had been attempting to target people with financial sextortion scams. In such scams, criminals pretend to be someone else, typically an attractive woman, in an attempt to trick potential victims into sending nude photos of themselves. Upon receiving nude pics, the scammer then threatens to release the photos unless the sender pays up. 

    Meta’s crackdown on sextortion has included the removal of 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook groups, all from Nigeria, that were providing tips for conducting such scams, such as scripts for talking with victims. The groups also included links to collections of photos that scammers could use when making fake accounts to catfish victims, Meta said. 

    Meta is also testing new technology that could steer victims away from falling for sextortion scams, such as a new auto-blur feature in Instagram DMs that will blur images if nudity is detected, the company said. 

    “First of all, this goes without saying that financial sextortion is a horrific crime and can have devastating consequences,” said Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head of safety, in a call with reporters. “It’s why we are particularly focused on it right now.”

    The most common platforms for sextortion scams are Instagram, owned by Meta, and Snapchat, according to a recent study from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Thorn, a nonprofit that uses technology to battle the spread of child sexual abuse material. According to the study, most sextortion scams originate from either Nigeria or Cote d’Ivoire. 

    Indiscriminate scammers

    Meta said it found that scammers are “indiscriminate,” sending requests to many individuals in order to get a few responses, Davis said. While most of the attempts were sent to adult men in the U.S., Meta did see some scammers trying to reach teens, she added. 

    Some of the Facebook accounts, pages and groups removed by Meta were run by the Yahoo Boys, a loose federation of scammers that operate in Nigeria, Davis said. 

    The FBI has sought to highlight the issue of financial sextortion scams targeting teenagers, with the agency noting that at least 20 children who were victims of these scams had died by suicide. Many victims feel fear, embarrassment and concerns about long-term consequences, according to the Thorn and NCMEC report. 

    Social media users should be cautious if an account with a “very stylized, especially good-looking” photo reaches out to them or asks to exchange messages, Davis said. “If you have never been messaged by this person before, that should give you pause,” she added.

    “If somebody sends you an image first, that is often to try to bait you to send an image second, or try to gain trust and build trust,” Davis noted. “This is one of those areas where if you have any suspicion, I would urge caution.”

    Social media users should also look at their privacy settings for messaging, she recommended. For instance, people can control their Facebook Messenger settings to filter the people from whom they can receive messages, such as blocking people other than their Facebook friends. 

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  • North Denver sandwich shop changes name after legal threat

    North Denver sandwich shop changes name after legal threat

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    After two years in business, Bodega has been slapped with a cease-and-desist.

    The cult-favorite brunch spot in Denver’s neighborhood Sunnyside has changed its name to Odie B’s, after a Kansas City restaurant called La Bodega sent it a legal notice, according to a message that the restaurant, at 2651 W. 38th Ave., posted on Instagram Monday.

    “It’s already hard enough to run restaurants and it’s tragic when other independent operators are out to get ya, too,” the restaurant wrote. “While change can suck and cause heartache, we have finally leaned into it. Even though we have happily been existing in Denver with several other bodegas, we would like to set ourselves apart and end all the confusion as we grow.”

    Bodega is known for its highly craveable breakfast sandwiches, as well as its burritos and burgers (which landed on The Denver Post’s list of favorites). Owner Cliff Blauvelt grew up in Sunnyside and wanted to offer the neighborhood an easy and playful, rather than pretentious, spot for breakfast and lunch. Blauvelt plans to open a second location in RiNo this fall.

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    Lily O'Neill

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  • Meta rolls back restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

    Meta rolls back restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

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    Meta, the parent company of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, has decided to remove restrictions placed on former President Donald Trump’s accounts.

    Meta updated its original statement announcing the end of Trump’s suspension on Facebook and Instagram in January of 2023 to reflect the Republican presumptive presidential nominee’s new online status. Axios first reported on the news.

    Meta removed Trump from all of its platforms following the attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 amid “extreme and highly unusual circumstances,” according to Meta’s original statement.

    Seven people were killed as a result of violence on or collateral damage as a result of the attack on the Capitol building.

    The following May, the Oversight Board ruled that Facebook failed to apply an appropriate penalty with its indefinite suspension of Trump’s accounts for “severely” violating Facebook and Instagram’s community guidelines and standards. Trump said in a video statement released less than three hours after the violence began “We love you. You’re very special” and called the insurrectionists “great patriots.” Those and other statements made in the wake of the US Capitol attack convinced the board that Trump violated its standard against praising or supporting people engaging in violence on its platforms.

    Two years later, Meta restored Trump’s accounts following a time-bound suspension with stricter penalties for violating its terms of service, a standard that was higher than any other user on Facebook and Instagram. Meta noted in its latest update that the ex-president will be subject to the same standard as everyone else.

    “With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated,” according to Meta’s statement. “In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis.”

    Twitter, now X, also took action against President Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol for three tweets he posted that were labeled for inciting violence. It started with a 12-hour suspension on Jan. 6, 2021. Two days later, Twitter banned him completely after determining that subsequent posts also violated its community standards. The following year, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk conducted an informal poll on his account asking if he should remove President Trump’s ban and reinstated his account a few days later.

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    Danny Gallagher

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  • ‘Saturday Night Live’ Writer Alex English Thinks Social Media Ruined the Art of Comedy

    ‘Saturday Night Live’ Writer Alex English Thinks Social Media Ruined the Art of Comedy

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    Alex English should be on summer break when I call him on a Thursday afternoon, but instead he’s fresh off of two stand-up sets in New York City, and is last-minute packing for a red-eye flight to London, where he will take the stage at the Top Secret Comedy Club that weekend. The work never ends when you’re, well, a working comedian.

    Since joining the SNL writers room in 2021 (season 47), English has shown an uncanny knack for the kind of humor that hits you in all the right places (all the more impressive considering he had no prior sketch experience before SNL). In his short but remarkable tenure, he’s blessed audiences with “Hot Girl Hospital,” “Nice Jail,” and the instantly iconic “Lisa from Temecula,” which he tells me was inspired during a holiday trip to Detroit, his hometown.

    English says the source of his humor is found not on social media but in analog experiences. “I talk to people, to my family. I read the paper. I also read a lot of books,” he says. “I love to people watch. I’m an old man.”

    English belongs to the next generation of exciting—and excitingly queer—comedians that include humorists John Early, Bowen Yang, Sam Jay, and Joel Kim Booster. What they strive to achieve is not a viral moment, which English says too many new comics thirst for, but a common understanding through life’s absurdities. In fact, English is adamant that social media ruined not only the art of comedy, but also our relationship to it. So I asked him to explain how we got here, and how we might get back.

    Jason Parham: What frightens you about the state of comedy right now?

    Alex English: I was on a flight recently. Another passenger was watching a clip on their phone and I was like, “Oh, I know that person.” Within seven seconds of the video, he just scrolled off of it. I’m sure that time was the comic setting it up or talking to the audience. That scared me. I was like, “I don’t want anybody to do that to me. I don’t want anybody scrolling off of me.” You know what it is, also—because everybody’s doing it now, it becomes so saturated. There’s no uniqueness to the videos I’m seeing. That’s no diss to people doing it. I just feel that’s not the way I should be doing it.

    That’s fair.

    Long gone are the days where you could go and perform at a club, someone from the industry sees it, and they want to put you on a platform to elevate your work. Instead, now the business is, do you have 500,000 followers from burning material that you put out on the internet or talking to an audience. When it comes to crowd work, I’m the one who came to work. The audience didn’t come to work. They came to laugh. I don’t understand this obsession with that. When I’m on stage, I don’t care that much about the audience. Like, “Are y’all dating?” Who cares? There’s no unique story to that. And they didn’t pay for that.

    Whose fault is that?

    I realized, especially after the pandemic, the Instagram and TikTok of it all when it comes to comedy has really ruined a lot of audiences. It’s changed the audiences’ perception of what comedy—specifically stand-up comedy—actually is. I did a show a few months ago that went well. This woman comes up to me after the show. She’d been sitting in the front. She said, “Oh my God, I thought you were gonna talk to us tonight. I thought you were gonna make fun of us.” I said, “Is that what you think stand-up is now?” There’s an expectation from audiences now because of what they’re consuming online.

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    Jason Parham

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  • Meta changes its label from ‘Made with AI’ to ‘AI info’ to indicate use of AI in photos | TechCrunch

    Meta changes its label from ‘Made with AI’ to ‘AI info’ to indicate use of AI in photos | TechCrunch

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    After Meta started tagging photos with a “Made with AI” label in May, photographers complained that the social networking company had been applying labels to real photos where they had used some basic editing tools.

    Because of the user feedback and general confusion around what level of AI is used in a photo, the company is changing the tag to “AI Info” across all of Meta’s apps.

    Meta said that the earlier version of the tag wasn’t clear enough for users to indicate that the image with the tag is not neccesarily created with AI, but might have used AI-powered tools in the editing process.

    “Like others across the industry, we’ve found that our labels based on these indicators weren’t always aligned with people’s expectations and didn’t always provide enough context. For example, some content that included minor modifications using AI, such as retouching tools, included industry standard indicators that were then labeled ‘Made with AI’,” the company said in an updated blog post.

    Image Credits: Meta

    The company is not changing the underlying technology for detecting use of AI in photos and labeling them. Meta still uses information from technical metadata standards such as C2PA and IPTC that include information about use of AI tools.

    That means, if photographers use tools like Adobe’s Generative AI Fill to remove objects, their photos might still be tagged with the new label. However, Meta hopes that the new label will help people understand that the image with the tag is not always created entierly by AI.

    “‘AI Info’ can encompass content that was made and/or modified with AI so the hope is that this is more in line with people’s expectations, while we work with companies across the industry to improve the process,” Meta spokesperson Kate McLaughlin told TechCrunch over email.

    The new tag will still not solve the problem of completely AI-generated photos going undetected. And it won’t tell users about how much AI-powered editing has been done on an image.

    Meta and other social network will need to work to set guidelines without being unfair to photographers who have not made alterations to their editing workflows, but the tools they used to touch up photos have some generative AI element. On the other hand, companies like Adobe should warn photographers that when they use a certain tool, their image might be tagged with a label on other services.

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    Ivan Mehta

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  • Say Hello to Creator-Built AI Chatbots on Instagram

    Say Hello to Creator-Built AI Chatbots on Instagram

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    In case you thought Instagram influencers couldn’t get anymore online, they’re soon going to have the ability to make AI versions of themselves that you can interact with at all times.

    The announcement came from the mouth of a chain-clad Mark Zuckerberg, who shared his thoughts about AI and who gets to control the technology in an interview with YouTuber Kane Sutter, aka Kallaway. (He also said Meta has holographic AR glasses coming soon, but let’s save that for another time.)

    The AI chatbots will be made in collaboration with a handful of Instagram creators that Meta has partnered with. Zuckerberg says the feature is in the test phase and will roll out to various Instagram users slowly. It is not yet clear exactly what form these AI chatbots will take, but it seems the creators that Meta is partnering with will build their characters in the company’s AI studio, so they will likely operate a lot like the AI Characters that Meta debuted last year.

    If this all goes according to plan, you’ll soon be able to go into your Instagram DMs and chat with AI simulacra of your favorite influencers. File this one away in the “What could possibly go wrong?” folder.

    Here’s some other consumer tech news from around the web.

    2 H2 2 Furious

    Extreme E, the off-road racing series that uses only electric vehicles for its high-speed shenanigans, is moving into another gear of power systems for its vehicles.

    The new series, called Extreme H, will be a race for hydrogen-powered cars only. Purpose-built for this series is the new Pioneer 25, a speedy racing car powered entirely by hydrogen. The Pioneer 25 can get up to 200 kph (124 mph), which is very zippy for an off-roading vehicle.

    The Pioneer is meant to usher in a new era of eco-friendlier motorsports, though there is some debate about how clean hydrogen power actually is.

    Hyundai Funday

    On the more affordable vehicle front, the Korean car company Hyundai has a new EV. The Hyundai Inster is a compact urban hatchback that can seat four people. It has a boxy look to it—similar to a Scion or a Mini Cooper—and boasts a projected range of up to 355 kilometers (220 miles). The Inster’s battery has a charge time of 4.5 hours for a full charge. It definitely isn’t a race car, as it tops out at 86 mph.

    The official price hasn’t been revealed yet, but according to AutoNews, the sticker should wind up being somewhere around $26,000. Or the foreign-currency equivalent of that, anyway; the Inster is not yet being released in the US. The car will land first in Korea, followed by Europe, the Middle East, and other countries in Asia.

    FCC U

    The US Federal Communications Commission is trying to make it easier for phone users to switch networks. A proposal put forth this week by FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel calls for mobile phone providers to unlock customers’ phones if they want to use the device on a different network. Lots of providers lock customers into their networks by pairing their devices with a subscription plan that keeps them on the network run by a particular carrier. If this guidance makes its way into reality, companies would be forced to unlock devices 60 days after being activated, which means you’d be free to switch carriers and take your phone with you.

    There’s no official ruling being put in place yet. This proposal is coming in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which the FCC drafts to seek public comment on potential rulings in the future. The proposal itself isn’t public yet, but it might be after the FCC votes to move it along during its July 18 open meeting session.

    One Vape to Juul Them All

    Juul once held near-total dominance over the nicotine vaping industry. But when US regulators cracked down on the purveyors of the addictive nicotine dispensers (particularly ones that were the most popular among underage customers), Juul’s reign came to an end. Of course, that doesn’t mean demand for vaping is anywhere close to gone. Plenty of illegal operations have moved to fill that void, and it’s relatively easy to find vape pods for sale in the US that come from overseas distributors.

    This latest episode of WIRED’s Gadget Lab podcast features Leon Neyfakh and former WIRED associate editor Arielle Pardes, the hosts of the new podcast Backfired: The Vaping Wars. The show is all about what happened to the nicotine vaping industry, whether vapes are really better than cigarettes (yes, but you probably still shouldn’t puff on them), and what will happen in the future of vaping.

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    Boone Ashworth

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  • New York governor signs law restricting social media from targeting kids with

    New York governor signs law restricting social media from targeting kids with

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    New York governor signs law restricting social media from targeting kids with “addictive feeds” – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new law Thursday that restricts social media companies from using “addictive” algorithms in feeds targeting children. She spoke with Jo Ling Kent about what she hopes the new law accomplishes.

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