RE: https://mastodon.social/@_inside/116742529849306484

Apple need to figure out how to offer terms for PCC use more widely. PCC might not be free, but you want dev to be using it rather than roll their own infra with insufficient privacy.

(If anti-trust, make the use contingent on a user subscription, and let the user deal with their token quotas)

Dropped past Taipei's Guanghua Digital Plaza, and, despite having been here dozens of times, I finally found the portal to the underworld realm where they sell solder in kilo ingots.

One kilogram. Ingots.

What must you be doing to consume your solder in one kilo ingots?

#taipei #Taiwan #GuangHuaDigitalPlaza #台灣 #台北 #光華商場

What’s the French for Schadenfreude?

Once upon a time – in the summer of 2022 – I posted a silly little joke on Twitter (before I left there, obviously):

I thought a few people might find it funny, but it took off beyond my expectations. By my standards over 5000 “likes” counts as “going viral” (as you young people say). Most people saw the joke immediately – if you don’t get it, the image is of a slice of choriz,o not an astronomical object – and some even joined in with puns and other jokes. Even funnier, some respondents earnestly shared their devastating insight that it was chorizo (or some variant thereof). I honestly didn’t think anyone would think that I was seriously trying to pass it off as a JWST picture; it was just meant to be silly. But there you go. That’s Twitter. I should also report that some people looked at the rainbow flags in my profile and proceeded to indulge in some homophobic abuse. That’s Twitter too.

Anyway, the day after I posted the image it seems a prominent French physicist called Etienne Klein who has many times more Twitter followers than I ever did, posted an embellished version of the same joke.

To cut a long story short that led to ChorizoGate, a story which made it into numerous newspapers, from the Daily Star to The Times, and even got coverage on CNN News and the RTÉ website. More exciting and even Physics World! In nearly all the stories I’ve seen, the image, together with the JWST connection, is attributed to Étienne Klein who is apparently very well known in France as a popularizer of science in the French language. Because he writes and broadcasts in French he is not so well known outside France.

In a post on this affair at the time, I said

To be honest I’m quite relieved to have avoided the media notoriety surrounding ChorizoGate, especially as it means I’ve avoided being on the front page of the Daily Star! Dr Klein is welcome to the publicity, though perhaps it might backfire on him…

And backfire it has.

Étienne Klein’s appropriation of a silly joke was of no consequence, but at the time I couldn’t help wondering how someone who would do that might behave with things that actually matter. Now I know the answer, and it’s more than worrying. An investigation into the PhD thesis of Etienne Klein by Paris Cité University has concluded that there is extensive evidence of plagiarism in it. Who needs AI when you have Etienne Klein? The University has now decided to rescind Klein’s doctorate, which was awarded in 1999.

What’s the French for Schadenfreude?

I note that Elon Musk's wealth now exceeds the annual GDP of Switzerland.

I think this makes him a state-level actor, and a *hostile* one.

I submit that we have tools for dealing with rogue states, and they should be applied to him until/unless he starts to behave. NB: said tools vary from polite talkings-to by diplomats all the way up to cruise missile strikes and invasions.

Du trodde kanskje Schibsted nye betal eller bli profilert strategi var ille.

Nå viser det seg at de har gitt #OpenAI tilgang til journalistenes interne notater, og mente det ikke var nødvendig å rapportere det som et avvik til #Datatilsynet

Open AI skal ha slettet opplysningene, men dette er jo ganske alvorlig. Om kilder eller ubekreftede opplysninger blir brukt i resultatene til ChatGPT er det undergravende for avisenes samfunnsoppdrag og kildebeskyttelse.

https://www.morgenbladet.no/kultur/neppe-tvil-om-at-dette-er-brudd-pa-personvernforordningen/10388585

For ten years I have hoped that the costs of verification would eventually be worth the benefits to corporations. It is wild to see an admission that this has happened. Formal proof summer is officially here!

https://blog.janestreet.com/formal-methods-at-jane-street-index/