@philbetts@mastodon.social cover
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philbetts

@[email protected]

Art, code, society, foliage. PhD'd in Management (booooo) and movies? (yaaaaaay!) Probably the world's most pre-eminent Fox Searchlight Pictures scholar, 1994–2009. Real Little Miss Sunshiners () get it. Bisexual icon. Highly suggestible.

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@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party avatar TheBreadmonkey , to random

What the actual fuck is happening have I died is that it?

Spaghetti bag | Moschino | £2,440

https://www.moschino.com/en-gb/products/spaghetti-bag-beige-polmc4229pp0nos940a

philbetts ,
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@TheBreadmonkey the latest fashions out of Italy.

@the_etrain@beige.party avatar the_etrain , to random

Around here, GOAT stands for greatest of all toads.

philbetts ,
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@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party avatar TheBreadmonkey , to random

Today I shall mostly be entertaining the possibilities of things that might be

philbetts ,
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@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party avatar TheBreadmonkey , to random

Really feel like the Game of Thrones music needs lyrics

Game of, Ga-Ga-Game of, Game of Thrones (Game of, Ga-Ga-Game of, Ga-Ga-Game of, Ga-Ga-Game of), Game of, Ga-Ga-Game of, Game of Thro-o-ones

philbetts ,
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@mattb @TheBreadmonkey I was going to. Share this too. It is known.

@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random

Reddit mod jailed for sharing movie sex scenes in rare “moral rights” verdict
Redditor confessed to violating actresses' "moral rights" in landmark ruling.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/reddit-mod-jailed-for-sharing-movie-sex-scenes-in-rare-moral-rights-verdict/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

philbetts ,
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@arstechnica interesting case that makes you go "hmmmm, where do I sit on this one?"

Also interesting to note Hollywood literally treated this as a comedic concept when Seth Farlane sang "We Saw Your Boobs", at the Oscars of all places (though people criticised it then too.)

@philbetts@mastodon.social avatar philbetts , to random

RE: https://aus.social/@firstdogonthemoon/115524363419903414

Bit late for an Unauthorised Bread promo stunt, right @pluralistic ?

@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar pluralistic , to random

Look at these fucking ghouls and imagine how much shit they are eating this morning. https://time.com/7331119/zohran-mamdani-billionaires-ackman-bloomberg/

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@pluralistic ""Billionaires like Bill Ackman and Ronald Lauder have poured millions of dollars into this race because they say that we pose an existential threat," Mamdani said at an Oct. 13 rally. "And I am here to admit something. They are right. We are an existential threat to billionaires who think their money can buy our democracy.”"

More of this. Democrats doing the great and usually wildly exaggerated stuff Republicans accuse them of.

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

Mediazona published an excerpt of a very cool book due out by journalist Andrey Zakharov, all about the data brokers who allowed @christogrozev to track down Navalny's FSB poisoners. Quite the adventure here. I wrote a brief summary of the published excerpt. https://meduza.io/en/brief/2025/11/05/this-was-russia-today

philbetts ,
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@kevinrothrock @christogrozev I think that was the first time I'd encountered Bellingcat, and remember reading that investigation with my jaw dropped. Everything in it was almost incomprehensibly outside of my frame of reference!

@soatok@furry.engineer avatar soatok , to random

If it takes this many goddamn resources and environmental impacts to not even arrive at "artificial general intelligence" I'm not fucking worried about superintelligence.

philbetts ,
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@soatok not entirely unreasonable to imagine that might make you see the God particle.

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

philbetts ,
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@kevinrothrock you would hope the Nobel selection committee would be a little more circumspect about milkshake ducking.

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

The USG slaps new sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, and demands an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0290

philbetts ,
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@kevinrothrock was the US a big client? Is this material or more symbolic? It's kind of amazing to see the current admin do ANYTHING against Russia!

@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

'Be authentic' and 'curate your personal brand' are contradictory instructions we've somehow convinced an entire generation to follow simultaneously

philbetts , (edited )
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@Daojoan Usually I agree with 99.99% of what you say, but I don't think they are inherently contradictory. I think there are different ways they can be interpreted. One way would be "assemble and share things that tell a story about you and show who you are, and/but make sure those things and that story is authentic to you."

(Which is not to endorse either cliche, necessarily.)

@itsfoss@mastodon.social avatar itsfoss , to random

Wait, what? 🧐

This is an edited photo of a sky in the nighttime; the lightning pattern in the sky shows the Kali Linux logo.
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philbetts ,
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@itsfoss 📢 TROGDOOOOOOOR! 🎶

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , (edited ) to random

Poll [1 of 4]:

Do you refer to your friends as "bro"?

philbetts ,
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@mcc hearing my 10 year old nephew call his mum "bro" was particularly amusing to me.

@eunews@mastodon.social avatar eunews , to random

Macron wants EU to target US Big Tech after new Trump tariff threat

France doesn’t want the EU to take Trump’s bluster lying down.

https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-floats-coming-after-us-big-tech-response-donald-trump-threats-tariffs/

philbetts ,
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@eunews the main thing keeping US tech in the ascendant is inertia. Without inertia, the moat is not that wide or deep.

@philbetts@mastodon.social avatar philbetts , to random

Accidentally snapped a banger at Martin Place. Looks like a movie poster!

Sunset looking down Martin Place with a purple sky, clock tower, flanked by buildings and men artfully walking by
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@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

The Ukrainian government has apparently staked the country's reputation on defending the morality of American and Israeli "measures" against Iran. https://twitter.com/MFA_Ukraine/status/1936857928096461180

philbetts ,
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@kevinrothrock they're damned either way. Probably less staunchly supportive of the incoming massive spike to the oil price, and the effect that will have on Russia's income. 😬

@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

You can either:
a) Join a 500-person company to feel stable
b) Start a one-person company and learn that “stable” was a UI illusion the whole time

philbetts ,
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@Daojoan each year role 1D6 - "number of years you've been there". On a 1 it's BRUTAL STAFF CUTS, BAYBY! 🤙

@philbetts@mastodon.social avatar philbetts , to random

Poor people can't be given money because they won't have an incentive to work, but pharmaceutical companies must be given lots of money or they won't have an incentive to work.

@_elena@mastodon.social avatar _elena , to random

Dear Fedi friends, I need your help!

We are working on motion graphics for the Fediverse promotional video... and we would love to do a sequence at the end with a mosaic of people's profile photos. For that, I need your consent.

If you'd like to have a small cameo in our video, can you let us know if we can use your profile pic?

Thanks! 🙏

Can you please boost this?

philbetts ,
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@_elena happy to

@evacide@hachyderm.io avatar evacide , to random

I can no longer tell if I'm holding up surprisingly well right now because I did all of my grieving for the future back in 2024 or if I have just reached a state of emergency dissociation so extreme that I will not be feeling my feelings until 2026.

philbetts ,
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@evacide very Diane Lockhart The Good Fight vibes (understandable, reasonable)

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

Is data center AI scam bubble bursting?

"Microsoft denied everything. But TD Cowen kept investigating and found another two gigawatts of cancelled leases in the US and Europe. Bloomberg has now confirmed that Microsoft has halted new data centres in Indonesia, the UK, Australia and the US."

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/04/07/confirmed-microsoft-stops-new-data-centres-worldwide/

philbetts ,
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@Meznor @falcennial @gerrymcgovern I found this thread fascinating. An open source browser reaching out semi-responsibly to its (very niche) tech audience and floating the idea of AI use, and getting almost universally panned in the responses.

Perhaps the position isn't surprising considering the audience, but I feel the degree of hostility is notable. Real Clippy energy to it.

https://floss.social/@servo/114296977894869359

@MichaelWhelan@mastodon.art avatar MichaelWhelan , to random

PASSAGE: THE RAINBOW (1991)
Acrylic on Canvas - 36" X 48"

The surface meaning of my Passage paintings is technical—it signifies a passage from working nearly exclusively in acrylics to attaining a greater technical flexibility in oils. 1/2

A massive stone arch straddles the horizon. The milky white stone texture of the "rainbow" stands against misty lavender sky. Gray-blue lines mark randomly patterns of interconnected lines and shapes. Circle, egg, broken ladder, swirl, hour glass—none of the shapes or lines repeat. Transparent spheres, each containing a solitary flame, float toward the arch. A long causeway extends out across a channel of blue water to the center of the arch. The channel splits what appears to be a futuristic city as seen from very high up. Skyscraper-like structures appear tiny against a stretch of flat concrete as they cast long shadows that run parallel to the horizon.
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philbetts ,
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@MichaelWhelan it's hauntingly beautiful!

@tracketpacer@infosec.exchange avatar tracketpacer , to random

we shooting gold ions this week ☢️

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philbetts ,
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@tracketpacer
👈 🤠 👉 ✨

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

One weakness I have as a game designer is Achievements. As a player I don't care about achievements and never try and get them. It makes it hard to design achievements for my games. I don't care about them and I don't understand why players do.

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@grumpygamer they do feel insidious - an attempt by platforms to sink hooks in deeper and get you to keep playing beyond enjoyment.

@nixCraft@mastodon.social avatar nixCraft , to random

This machine has all the essential drives/storage and even comes with a turbo button for those older games or apps. The name "turbo" was misleading, as it didn't actually boost performance. Turbo "Off" means slowing down the CPU's clock speed, often down to the speeds of older processors.

A ENCOM brand desktop white computer tower, likely from the late 1990s, featuring a digital display showing "100", a turbo button, and logos for Intel Inside and Microsoft Windows. The tower also includes multiple drive bays, including a CD-ROM drive and floppy disk drives.
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philbetts ,
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@nixCraft most of us laughed when The Matrix described the late 90s as the peak of human civilization...

@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

Climate collapse? Not inevitable. Oligarchy? Not inevitable. War? Not inevitable. These things don’t happen because they must. They happen because people in power convince themselves (and us) that they must. And when we believe them, when we accept the pattern, we let it play out.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/pattern-recognition-vs-pattern-lock-in/

philbetts ,
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@Daojoan love a preview that begins "The Franco-Prussian war of 1878 cast a long shadow..." 🤌🤌

@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

Today’s history fact: The partition of British India resulted in an estimated 1 million to 2 million deaths with many of those killed in communal violence. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/if-indians-and-pakistanis-can-relocate-why-cant-gazans-refugees-displacement-palestinians-39d7678c

philbetts ,
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@w7voa Also... how does Sadanand think Isreal/Gaza came about?

To say nothing of the... ummm... ongoing challenges between India and Pakistan.

Yugoslavia.

The more I think of it, the more everything about this is inconceivably awful.

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

I knew the idiot Elon Musk was a horrible human back when he called the guy who helped rescue those kids from the flooded cave and pedophile, simply because they wouldn't use his tech-bro solution. I wrote Musk off back then. Musk is a horrible human. Always has been. He has no redemption arc.

philbetts ,
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@grumpygamer around the same point for me also, though I can't remember if Hyperloop and anti-public transport mutterings had sent up a few red flags prior. The Thai cave definitely crystallised it - seemed so out of left-field at the time.

@harriorrihar@mas.to avatar harriorrihar , (edited ) to random Spanish

[1] A job I did a long time ago ⚡

philbetts ,
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@danslerush @harriorrihar I very nearly described you as "like a 21st century Moebius" earlier! The colours and the lines. Gorgeous!

@Gargron@mastodon.social avatar Gargron , to random
philbetts ,
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@Gargron haha, nerd ♥️

@harriorrihar@mas.to avatar harriorrihar , to random Spanish

Lately I've been trying to be a part of the , leaving aside the social networks of megalomaniac owners. But had very bad luck with the Art. instance and I think that's one of the reasons why graphic art hasn't populated the fediverse. How nice it would be if an initiative like was here too.

philbetts ,
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@harriorrihar @valkyrie followed you here from Twitter and am glad to see you back!

philbetts ,
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@harriorrihar @valkyrie I reckon Mastodon wasn't ready for the first bounce, but it's improved a lot over the past two years. There's a lovely smallish art scene, but the most active styles seem to be pixel art and photography, which meshes with the early techie scene. The launch of Pixelfed has been another little boost, which hopefully will light a little fire and show federation is more than Masto.

I think this is the right move in the long run, just might take a while to come out on top.

@geraldew@fosstodon.org avatar geraldew , to random

Ok, my nerd hat is on! Non-programming followers can skip this one.

For the others, if you've heard the terms "memory leak" and "memory safety" and never been entirely clear about what they mean, here is a video for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcQgBeEyxyc

In which @BrodieOnLinux live draws diagrams and talks you through the concepts and possibilities.

Even if you program in languages like Python, you will get value in knowing the background of all the talk (and some arguments).

Top stuff!

philbetts ,
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@geraldew @BrodieOnLinux desperately trying to figure out the accent. Welsh Australian?!

@MAJ1@beige.party avatar MAJ1 , to weirdfolks group

& G’day Squirrel Fans, hope I find you bright eyed & bushy tailed!

Thursday & all the chores are done & breakfast is well & truly over.

Cashew later Peeps, have a fabulously nutty day ! 😊🫶🐿️🖖 weirdfolks@a.gup.pe icon weirdfolks group

Picture a small red squirrel with their nose poking out of their drey. The caption reads: “When you wake up thinking it’s Friday… Then find out it’s only Thursday! ” CREDIT: DDG find
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philbetts ,
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@MAJ1 weirdfolks@a.gup.pe icon weirdfolks group in Australia it's Thursday night and babe, it's bliss. Hold on! 😑

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

True story: When Twin Peaks first aired, the MI team would come to my apartment and we watched each episode.

philbetts ,
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@grumpygamer any allallusions, influences or nods make it across?

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

** Deleted post criticizing Mastodon because I don't want to get flamed... which is kind of the problem **

It's disheartening to see so many of my friends leave for Bluesky (at least they aren't going back to Tw***er).

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@grumpygamer agree. Masto still has a good chance if winning the long game, but BlueSky has one the short. It has a lot of what made Twitter great (and if course there were good parts.)

@EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu avatar EUCommission , to random

Today is the day. Welcome to THE charger!

USB-C is officially the common standard for charging electronic devices in the EU.

This means:

🔌The same charger for all new phones, tablets and cameras
⚡ Harmonised fast-charging technology
🔄 Reduced e-waste
🛑 No more “Sorry, I don’t have the right cable”

One charger to rule them all.

A minimalist illustration showing a packaged charger box labeled "one Union one Charger." The box features an image of a blue charger with the European Union flag symbol and a USB-C cable. The scene is set within a holiday theme, with decorative Christmas trees, ornaments, and gift boxes surrounding the charger box. In the top right corner, there is a small EU flag symbol.
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philbetts ,
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@EUCommission so good. When governments work for people.

@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar tante , to random

I'm not super into their later albums but Pearl jam's "vs." holds up so fucking well.

Rearviewmirror is one of the best rock songs ever written.

philbetts ,
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@tante coincidentally saw them twice last month (once by design, once by random friend with a free ticket.) So good! Bangers across at least 4 albums. 👌

@metacurity@infosec.exchange avatar metacurity , to random

This is kind of upsetting. Wikipedia has $400 million in cash reserves and the foundation which runs Wikipedia has 550 employees with top managers making high salaries but doesn't pay it maintainers a penny.

I'm so disillusioned.

The next time Wikipedia asks for a donation, ignore it
https://unherd.com/newsroom/the-next-time-wikipedia-asks-for-a-donation-ignore-it/

philbetts ,
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@metacurity not really. It's one of the world's most important and valuable assets, with an incredibly important mission. People volunteer to edit (and contribute) because they see the value. $20 million sounds dubious, and doesn't sound like it includes things like legal contingencies - what happens if one of its many enemies tries to take it down, through law or otherwise? I'd rather Wikipedia be unassailable over cost effective, and I think that does require a level of professional staff.

@kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange avatar kevinrothrock , to random

quitting twitter and almost nobody noticing is very certainly an indictment of the system and not me, yessiree

philbetts ,
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@kevinrothrock I was happy when you came here, one less reason to go back. I see some of the big Ukraine academic names have finally jumped off too. Surprised it took so long, but then they had massive profiles...

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

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    philbetts ,
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    @gerrymcgovern thanks, just passed this on to my friend who teaches high school English. They've played around with AI poetry, this will be a great discussion piece!

    philbetts ,
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    @gerrymcgovern (I mean she's got a Masters in Creative Writing and teaches English so I'm pretty sure she's Team Human, but I think like most educators she's grappling with what it will mean for her discipline and her students!)

    @Rachelburch@mastodon.social avatar Rachelburch , to random

    Autumn colour at Burrator reservoir last week,

    An Autumn lake side photo.
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    philbetts ,
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    @Rachelburch oh my gods I hadn't even anticipated the autumn colours to come in your photos!

    @philbetts@mastodon.social avatar philbetts , to random

    Yaaaaargh, I be commitin' computer piracy. ☠️🦜

    Dorothy, a green parrot with a white head, sitting on my arm which is resting on a laptop.
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    @molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

    New details in court filings pertaining to FTX executive Ryan Salame, including areas of criminal exposure prosecutors were investigating: foreign bribery, narcotics trafficking, hiring sex workers for FTX VIPs, and arranging preferential access to tokens.

    DS: New areas of criminal exposure: (1) evidence that Salame was involved in FCPA scheme in the Bahamas, in which he supervised efforts to pay bribes to immigration authorities to help get FTX employee and associates into the country; (2) evidence of distribution quantity narcotics trafficking; (3) paying for prostitutes, including for FTX VIP clients; (4) failure to pay taxes on 2021 bonus; (5) have evidence that RS arranged to obtain unauthorized preferential access to tokens on FTX.
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    philbetts ,
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    @molly0xfff outside the legal teams and actors involved you're probably the foremost expert on FTX. It's wild that it doesn't have more coverage considering its real and imagined scale. P.s. have you considered writing it up as a PhD. That's pretty much what I did - an analytical organisational biography of Fox Searchlight. I think it would be great!

    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random
    philbetts ,
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    @arstechnica seems a fairly monumentally bad bet for Google to go all in on this. And an even worse business model if they plan on anything close to $240 for a subscription, when they're selling, at best, "novelties" and "mild usefulness you could get from searching."

    I just bought a Pixel 8 Pro (and am posting from it now.) I would not have gone with Google if I thought they were trying to shove Gemini down my throat in every corner. Yikes.

    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar arstechnica , to random
    philbetts ,
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    @arstechnica this is so gross! I'm seeing the backlash at work too. If you can't be bothered to write it yourself, I can't be bothered to read it.