Author: matthewephotography@yahoo.com
With each passing year, Black Friday seems to be turning more and more into “Black November,” with many retailers starting their holiday sales weeks before the day. But while the barrage of promotions can be annoying, it’s also a great opportunity to beat the rush and get your holiday shopping done ahead of time without paying more than you have to.To save you some hassle, we’ve compiled the best early Black Friday deals in one easy place. Although most big tech retailers haven’t started their early sales in earnest yet, there are plenty of new discounts on recommended gadgets. We’ll…
If you love learning new things and honing your skills, a MasterClass subscription is probably one of the best gifts you can give yourself, and right now you can get up to 50% off. The website is running a pre-Black Friday sale, so if you find the regular price a little high, now’s your chance to sign up for a discounted price. MasterClass’ Standard subscription allows you to access content on one device and costs $7 per month instead of $10. However, if you want to watch classes offline, the cheapest option is the Plus tier, which costs $9 per…
Back in October, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) acknowledged that they were investigating “unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by an actor affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.” Collectively known as the “Salt Typhoons,” these bad actors allegedly targeted U.S. officials and staff in the run-up to the recently concluded presidential election. But days later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the group had reached far more people than originally thought. Essentially, the hackers may have been able to access the data of American customers of AT&T and Verizon. According to a new report…
BlueSky, which soared in the days following the U.S. presidential election, announced on Friday that it would no longer train its generative AI on user posts. This declaration stands in stark contrast to the AI training policies of X (Twitter) and Meta’s Threads. Perhaps not coincidentally, Bluesky’s announcement came on the same day that X’s new terms of service went into effect, allowing third-party partners to train on user posts.”Many artists and creators are based on Bluesky, and we hear their concerns about other platforms training their data,” Bluesky posted on Friday (via The Verge). “We do not use your…
The Anti-Defamation League’s damning report released Thursday about the “unprecedented” amount of racist and violent content in the Steam community prompted a U.S. senator to take action. In a letter unearthed by The Verge, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked Valve CEO Gabe Newell how he and his company are addressing the issue. I asked.”My concern is that Steam is the world’s largest single online gaming digital distribution and social networking platform, with over 100 million unique user accounts and a user base similar in size to ‘traditional social media and social networks.’ It is further heightened by the fact that…
With the success of Deadpool and Wolverine, it’s no wonder Marvel is leaning towards this title in terms of publishing. Along with that, the publisher has announced a new Weapon X-Men ongoing series that will feature not only the best Babs, but also a mutant strike force consisting of Cable, Thunderbird, and even Chambers. Returning to the X-Men universe is none other than writer Joe Casey, who will be joined by artist Criss Kross. Be sure to check out Casey’s Substack. In the near future, we plan to provide a little information about BTS. Check out the main cover by…
Mason Shaw is nobody. worker bee. Everything changes when she meets a few stragglers who are trying to stay one step ahead of the powerful queen. Some of us are able to manipulate the people around us by connecting them to a hive-like state of collective consciousness. These people are called hivers. It’s not hypnosis. It’s not some kind of drug. It’s biological. The Hive is the story of a group of chased hivers who struggle to stay one step ahead of an angry former queen who is hunting them down. But when a mysterious worker bee is recruited, it…
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced this week that it will file criminal charges against X (Twitter) in France in connection with the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign, which used the nonprofit organization as a prop to spread fake news. The group said legal action was a “last resort” in combating false articles aimed at promoting pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian sentiment that have fester on the platform. “X’s refusal to remove content it knows to be false and deceptive, as formally notified by RSF, amounts to complicity in the spread of misinformation circulating on the platform.” Antoine Bernard, RSF’s advocacy director, said in a…
WhatsApp, the most popular messaging platform on the planet, has finally added a drafts feature. Why did it take until the end of 2024 to introduce a seemingly simple tool that has been available on competing platforms for years? Who knows, but it’s here now.The aptly named Message Drafts offers a “new and easier way to find unfinished messages on WhatsApp.” Look for the “Draft” indicator at the beginning of the message. The platform says these unfinished messages will be moved to the top of the chat list so “people can quickly find them.”This is a draft feature, so there’s…
It’s been a while, but Small Press Spotlight is back. We begin our return with Madame Choi and the Monsters, a new comic by Patrick Spat and illustrator Shelley Domingo. The story, which hits stores November 26th, is based on a true story and published by SelfMadeHero. Learn more here: The true story of how a famous movie star and her ex-husband director were kidnapped by Kim Jong Il and forced to revitalize North Korea’s film industry The incredibly true story of Choi Eun-hee, a famous South Korean actress who was abducted in 1978 by secret North Korean agents on…