Jan 31

Teen wants $50,000 to stop tracking Elon Musk’s private jet

Posted in: Today's Chili

Earlier this week, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney won a bit of internet fame when Protocol published a story about one of his Twitter bots. The college student maintains ElonJet, a tracker that tweets out when Elon Musk’s private jet takes off and lands. Sweeney has several other such bots that use publicly available air traffic data to follow the private planes of celebrities like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. However, with 180,000 followers and counting, the ElonJet account is by far Sweeney’s most famous creation. And it’s that popularity that attracted none other than Elon Musk to the bot.

Last fall, the entrepreneur contacted Sweeney about ElonJet. “Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” he said, according to Protocol. Musk told Sweeney he would give him $5,000 to delete the account and keep “crazy people” from finding out his whereabouts. Sweeney made a counteroffer. “Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3.”

Musk told him he would think about it, but the two haven’t spoken since. At the time, Sweeney told Protocol he wasn’t bothered by Musk ghosting him. His work on ElonJet had taught him how to code and landed him a part-time job with a company called UberJets. Plus, as a self-proclaimed fan, he got to share a conversation with one of his idols.

Now the teen seems to have changed his tune. In a new interview with Business Insider, he said he decided to go public with Musk’s offer after the billionaire seemingly lost interest in cutting a deal. “He went the opposite way of me, so why wouldn’t I go the opposite way of him?” he asked the publication. “I’ve done a lot of work on this and $5,000 is not enough,” Sweeney said. He told Business Insider the initial offer wouldn’t replace the “fun” he’s had working on the bot.

It doesn’t seem like Musk has any interest in negotiating with Sweeney. Following their initial conversation, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO implemented some of the technical advice Sweeney gave him to make his jet harder to track. At the time, Musk reportedly also told Sweeney it didn’t “feel right to pay to shut this down.” He probably has a point.

No Comments
Jan 30

On A Quiet Weekend In Theaters, ‘Spider-Man’ Is No. 1 Again

Posted in: Today's Chili

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” topped the box office again in its seventh week of release.

No Comments
Jan 30

Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robot gets its first job in DHL warehouses

Posted in: Today's Chili

<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/stretch-main-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Stretch picking box in warehouse" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="709565" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/boston-dynamics-stretch-robot-gets-its-first-job-in-dhl-warehouses-30709564/stretch-main/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/stretch-main.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="stretch-main" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

Boston Dynamics

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/stretch-main-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/stretch-main-1280×720.jpg” />Boston Dynamics has been in the robotics space for some time now, making its name with designs equal parts science fiction and creepiness thanks to its robots’ animal-like forms. The company has passed through several hands since it was spun out of MIT way back in 1992; it was acquired by Google in 2013 before it was sold to Japan’s … Continue reading

No Comments
Jan 30

Spotify will add a ‘content advisory’ to COVID-19 podcast episodes

Posted in: Today's Chili

Following days of controversy stemming from Spotify’s handling of allegations that Joe Rogan has used the platform to spread COVID-19 misinformation, the company said on Sunday it would take new measures to point its users to accurate information about the pandemic. In a blog post attributed to CEO Daniel Ek, the company admitted it hasn’t been transparent enough about its content policy, but stopped short of detailing any specific action against Rogan.

Sometime in the next few days, Spotify says it will add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. That advisory will direct listeners to the company’s COVID-19 Hub. In its current iteration, the page includes links to podcasts from the BBC, ABC News and Foreign Policy. “To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform,” according to Ek. However, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have employed similar measures.

Spotify has also pledged to publicly share its content guidelines. As of today, you can read them through the company’s Newsroom website. In the future, they’ll also be accessible through Spotify’s main website, and the company has promised to translate them into a variety of other languages. Lastly, the company says it plans to start testing ways to highlight its content guidelines in the tools it offers to podcast producers and other creators.

“We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” Ek said. “In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.”

The action comes after musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from the streaming platform in protest of its handling of Rogan’s podcast and misinformation more broadly. Earlier today, author Brené Brown said she would not release any new episodes of her Spotify-exclusive podcast “until further notice.”

After Young first pulled his catalog from the platform, the company defended its record against misinformation by claiming it had removed 20,000 COVID-related episodes since the start of the pandemic. However, as part of that sweep, Spotify appears to have not removed any episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience. For instance, you can still listen to the controversial episode where Dr. Robert Malone falsely claims “mass formation psychosis” has led people to believe vaccines are effective against COVID-19. The Verge subsequently published the company’s COVID-19 content guidelines. In an internal memo, Spotify said Rogan’s content did not “meet the threshold for removal.”

No Comments
Jan 30

‘Inappropriate’: Republicans Break From Trump’s Pledge To Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters

Posted in: Today's Chili

“I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump ally, said Sunday.

No Comments
Jan 30

Halo's Trailer Bring Master Chief's Sci-fi Odyssey to Live Action

Posted in: Today's Chili

Since the original Halo released in 2001, Microsoft has been trying for a long time to get Bungie and 343 Industries’ sci-fi shooter into live action beyond excellent commercials and webseries tie-ins. After several aborted attempts at making a movie, Halo is now finally a TV show for Paramount+ (with some speed bumps…

Read more…

No Comments
Jan 30

Gaming Chromebooks teased with a colorful keyboard trick

Posted in: Today's Chili

<img width="1280" height="720" src="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/google-chromebook-gaming-1280×720.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="Gaming on a Chromebook" loading="lazy" style="margin: auto;margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%" data-attachment-id="709552" data-permalink="https://www.slashgear.com/gaming-chromebooks-teased-with-a-colorful-keyboard-trick-30709549/google-chromebook-gaming/" data-orig-file="https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/google-chromebook-gaming.jpg" data-orig-size="1440,810" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="google-chromebook-gaming" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="

Arto Tahvanainen/Shutterstock

” data-medium-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/google-chromebook-gaming-1280×720.jpg” data-large-file=”https://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/google-chromebook-gaming-1280×720.jpg” />Google’s Chromebook initiative has been a major success, particularly in the education sector where schools have made significant cost savings on both hardware and software. Chromebooks can be relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain, while Google’s cloud-based Google Classroom means schools aren’t tied into expensive software licensing. Joining this success in K-12 schools, Chromebooks have become increasingly popular among university … Continue reading

No Comments
Jan 30

‘WKRP In Cincinnati’ And ‘Head Of The Class’ Star Howard Hesseman Dies At 81

Posted in: Today's Chili

The two-time Emmy nominee played the radio disc jockey Johnny Fever on the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati.”

No Comments
Jan 30

Tell Us About Your Pop Culture Month: January 2022 Edition

Posted in: Today's Chili

It’s the end of the month, gang, and what an eventful month it’s been. Like the beginning of every year, there were some solid releases throughout January, but there’s a chance that much of the things you watched or read for the first month of the year were catchups from during the holidays. Now we want to know about …

Read more…

No Comments
Jan 30

‘Halo’ TV series heads to Paramount+ on March 24th

Posted in: Today's Chili

Paramount+’s live-action Halo series will debut on March 24th, according to a teaser the streamer shared today ahead of the AFC Championship Game on CBS. At approximately the 53-second mark of the clip, you can hear the announcer state the release date.

After sharing the first-look teaser back at The Game Awards in December, Paramount+ promised to release a longer trailer partway through today’s match between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. CBS will air the trailer during halftime, with the game scheduled to start at 3:05PM ET. We’ll update this article with the full-length trailer once it drops.

First announced back in 2013, the Halo live-action series spent years in development hell before ViacomCBS announced last year the show would premiere on Paramount+ instead of Showtime, as previously planned. Pablo Schreiber, of American Gods fame, is the one donning Master Chief’s signature Mjolnir armor, and the entire project oozes high production values.

No Comments