Oct 02
Samantha Hayes, 27, of Idabel died Friday at Broken Bow Municipal Airport after the wing of a plane hit her while she was mowing grass.
Oct 02
When you think “Casper” you think friendly. You think animation. Maybe you even think of Devon Sawa and Christina Ricci. What you don’t think of is actually being scared, but maybe that’ll change after you watch this trailer.
Oct 02
Enormous Satellite Discovered to Outshine All but the 7 Most Brightest Stars
Posted in: Today's Chili
Late last year, a communications satellite unfurled its giant wings, stretching out a 693-square-foot (64-square-meter) antenna array in low Earth orbit. Once fully deployed, BlueWalker 3 became one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshined only by the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and seven stars, according to new…
Oct 02
An advertiser reportedly used a deepfake of Tom Hanks to promote dental plans without the actor’s permission. Hanks shared a warning on Instagram on Sunday alerting his followers about the AI-generated video, which he wrote he had “nothing to do with.” Hanks has been outspoken about the challenges AI poses for the industry, and the use of actors’ digital likenesses is one of the major points of concern voiced by striking SAG-AFTRA workers.
Just last spring, Hanks said in an appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast that AI and deepfakes present both artistic and legal challenges. “I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it,” Hanks said, “but my performances can go on and on and on and on and on, and outside of the understanding that it’s been done with AI or deepfake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me.” He also spoke of a hypothetical scenario in which an entire movie series could be made using an AI version of him that’s “32 years old from now until kingdom come.” Perhaps in confirmation of what’s to come, the offending dental plan ad depicts a significantly younger Hanks.
The use of AI to capitalize on celebrities’ legacies has already become an ethical issue. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain sparked widespread debate upon its release after it was revealed the documentary contained AI-generated voice overs of the beloved chef and storyteller. Just this weekend, Robin Williams’ daughter, Zelda Williams, posted in support of “SAG’s fight against AI,” writing on Instagram that she’d seen firsthand how the technology is used to capture the likeness of people “who cannot consent,” like her father.
“These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people,” Williams wrote, “but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for.”
Hanks said in the April interview that the issue has been on his radar since filming The Polar Express in the early 2000s, which starred a CGI version of the actor. It was “the first time that we did a movie that had a huge amount of our own data locked in a computer,” Hanks told Buxton, adding, “We saw this coming.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tom-hanks-calls-out-dental-ad-for-using-ai-likeness-of-him-161548459.html?src=rss
Oct 02
The actor and queer Latine TikTok icon is so much more than a girl in a pink wig.
Oct 02
A Lyft passenger lived every pet owner’s worst nightmare this weekend after a driver drove off with his cat. The two were eventually reunited, but not before the cat’s owner and Lyft itself whipped up the public to help find the feline.
Oct 02
Modeled after everyone’s favorite foursome of Staten Island vampires (plus their human familiar Guillermo), this collection of What We Do in the Shadows Phunny plushies from KidRobot is the perfect addition to your Halloween decor. Granted, some people probably won’t recognize who they are, but consider it a test to weed out the friends with refined, dark comedic taste and those who should be bitten and turned.
Measuring approximately 8″ tall, the plushies are available in Nandor The Relentless, Lazlo Cravensworth, Nadja of Antipaxos, Colin Robinson, and Guillermo de la Cruz varieties and cost $17 apiece. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a discount for purchasing the entire set together. That’s a shame because a discount does often affect my purchase decision. Granted, that discount usually has to be in the realm of 50% off, but still.
So, what do you do in the shadows? Me? I don’t like to do anything in the shadows and try to keep my house as well-lit as possible because shadows are the devil’s playground. That’s where monsters lurk. Plus, in the corner of my bedroom by the closet, no matter how many lamps I put over there.
Oct 02
Pokémon Company Apologizes After Van Gogh Collaboration Causes Scalping Mayhem
Posted in: Today's Chili
You’d think a Pikachu in a grey felt hat wouldn’t be able to spark crowd-swelling hysteria, but if the last few years have proven anything, Pokémon has developed a concerning relationship with speculative markets that can turn even the most humble cross-promotional event into an absolute headache. Or maybe more of an…
Oct 02
You may know NordVPN from its popular ambassador program, taking social media by storm as influencers sign up to make money advertising the virtual private network. But despite its popularity, it didn’t make the list of the nine top providers we published in June. After vigorous testing, I concluded it was a bit overhyped for the price, lacking features considered standard in lower cost options.
Geoblocking, streaming and gaming are the three main VPN use cases. So, to test out NordVPN and its competitors, I used them to watch Canadian Netflix from my US-based home, played an online game from a UK-based server and streamed a news channel on YouTube via a Hong Kong-based VPN.
NordVPN was easy to sign up for, offering options like opting in to automatic updates to keep the service running at the latest version. Depending on the tier you pick, you can also get access to NordPass, the company’s password manager, or NordLocker, a file encryption software. The “complete” package runs at $5.79 per month.
The best VPNs stay out of your way and you’ll barely even notice they’re running. That was pretty much the case with NordVPN. It passed our basic privacy tests, like successfully masking the IP address, and the DNS and WebRTC leak tests.It was also easy to access geo-blocked content, stream on YouTube and game using NordVPN, with little-to-no buffering. We ran a ping test, which measures internet latency. It took 75 milliseconds with NordVPN on, which isn’t a lot slower than 62 ms with it off.
NordVPN supports up to six devices at once, which means I could conduct all tests simultaneously and still had no slowdown. That’s great for sharing it with a family, or folks that like to game, watch TV and scroll on their phone at the same time. Those connectivity options come with a caveat: the devices have to run on different VPN protocols if they’re connected to the same server. NordVPN has more than 5,000 servers in 60 countries, and offers a variety of device support from gaming systems to Raspberry Pi devices to streaming services.
Still, NordVPN’s security history is less than ideal. NordVPN is based in Panama, a country with limited data sharing laws. It uses industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption and a modification on the WireGuard protocol to avoid temporarily collecting IP addresses. It does third-party security audits and has a vulnerability disclosure program, two indicators of taking privacy basics seriously. But it’s not open source, and when it comes to data privacy, it falls short because of its patterns of collecting and storing unnecessary user information. Notably, NordVPN also failed to disclose a 2018 data breach in a timely manner. It wasn’t until a security researcher discussed it publicly, over a year after the incident, that NordVPN owned up to it.
NordVPN’s history of loaded terms and deceptive advertising also just didn’t sit well with me. The UK-based Advertising Standards Authority ruled a 2019 NordVPN ad as misleading, by exaggerating the risk from data theft. It makes sweeping claims about what’s possible with its VPN that are impossible to prove.
For an option so highly talked about, the experience using NordVPN was just… fine. It didn’t stand out, unlike ProtonVPN that offered a more comprehensive suite of products alongside the VPN and higher security measures. That’s why Nord didn’t make the cut as one of the top choices I’d recommend.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nordvpn-review-a-bit-too-overhyped-for-the-price-163100341.html?src=rss
Oct 02
Freshman Democrat Hits Matt Gaetz With A Hard Truth About His McCarthy Antics
Posted in: Today's ChiliRep. Jasmine Crockett dared the Florida Republican to “do it” — but pointed out a flaw in his plan.
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