AI voiced audiobooks have been a boon to indie creators by giving them access to the audiobook market without having to paying for studio time for human narrators.
It means there’s now even more content for readers that needs filtering and narrators are losing gigs. This is what #disruption looks like. Two steps forward and one step back.
We’re often asked “Love the savings, but how easy is an Open Banking payment?”
If you’re the customer, four taps from checkout and you’re done. If you’re the merchant, that money is already in your bank account - and it cost you a penny to receive it.
"Yesterday’s ideas won’t work for you tomorrow!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Someone asked me yesterday about my comment that Chinese automotive companies will likely own the automotive industry of the future.
Sadly, I think that it is true - the reason for that being that most auto manufacturers seem to continue to be busy fighting the battles of the last century, using product designs, ideas, and concepts involving the vehicle architecture of that era. The other automotive company that has the opportunity to own the industry in the 21st century has a CEO in place who has no focus on the battle ahead.
Case in point? How about this:
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, has since been a frequent EV skeptic, funding misleading advertisements, and lobbying against government policies that promote them around the world.
How Three High-Tech Countries Became Laggards in Electric Vehicles,Japan, South Korea and the US have fallen behind their peers in EV adoption — despite meeting the criteria to be frontrunners.Blooomberg, April 4, 2024
I could dig out a zillion articles like this from my research service that play into this theme, but why bother? Many folks have an ingrained belief that the dominant companies of the 20th century will be the dominant ones of the 21st. It's their right!
Rather than doing that, I went into one of my research services and dug out this article from 1962, which involves a desperate plea from the Association of Buggy Whip Manufacturers.
You want to read this one!
Market for Buggy Whips Diminishes
Morning Sentinel, Waterville Maine, December 29, 1962
"The ENISA publishes the executive summary of this year’s ‘Foresight Cybersecurity Threats for 2030’ presenting an overview of key findings in the top 10 ranking."
Neue Technologien: "Deutsche sind schon eher Bedenkenträger"
Innovationen sollen das Leben einfacher, günstiger, nachhaltiger werden lassen. Doch nicht alle Menschen gehen mit. Welche Rolle Innovationspioniere spielen und bei welchem Thema Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft auf Zukunftskurs sind, erklärt J. Sonnenholzner.
Time for Autonomous Action for Palestine: A Conversation with Within Our Lifetime
'We will also discuss the benefit of - and existing calls for - decentralized actions, de-occupations, assemblies and gatherings, public testimonies, research/writing, media-making and agitprop, mutual aid stations, trainings and teach-ins in the streets, roving shutdowns, disruptive poetry readings, sit-ins and slow downs, strikes and marches, singing and amplifying sound, painting walls, resistance parties, wheatpasting, and other happenings.
"Within Our Lifetime is not only a name, but a promise, a motivational cry, a rally, and a call to action. It is the steadfast belief that no matter what obstacles we will face, victory of the oppressed is inevitable."'
The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider by Michiko Kakutani
“In this dazzling and brilliant book, Michiko Kakutani provides a sweeping look at the historical and social and technological forces that have crested to create the destructive wave of volatility that is disrupting our times."
Walter Isaacson
Facebook elkezdett kidobálni minden szolgáltatásából. Se böngésző, se Messenger app. Mindenhol login és bejelentkezés után újra az egész. #meta#facebook#outage#service#disruption
Today the beauty and peace and pristine nature of Teahupo’o is in danger. It's #France 's turn to host the '24 #Olympics so the logical place to hold the #surfing is at the world's most beautiful wave, here in Teahupo'o.
Because of powerful economic incentives for the local government and numerous local contractors, the project has been rammed through with no ecological impact study.
An assessment was done a dozen years ago by #IFRECOR, a French NGO that works for the preservation of coral reefs.
They warned that any degradation of the reef could have dire consequences. The #disruption of #coral has been known to augment levels of ciguatera, a dangerous #neurotoxin that comes from a micro #algae that grows on dead coral. In addition, the structure of the wave could be altered by a degradation of fault lines in the reef.
Leadership teams: If these two graphs and their implications are not being discussed in real earnest in your boardroom then disruption, that will make the covid experience seem mild, awaits.
Be assured climate chaos will impact your business in one way or another.
#BigTech#Innovation#Disruption: "When we speak of commercial disruption today, we usually mean a tech company disrupting a non-tech company. Tinder disrupts singles bars. Netflix disrupts Blockbuster. Airbnb disrupts Marriott.
But the history of "disruption" features far more examples of tech companies disrupting other tech companies: DEC disrupts IBM. Netscape disrupts Microsoft. Google disrupts Yahoo. Nokia disrupts Kodak, sure – but then Apple disrupts Nokia. It's only natural that the businesses most vulnerable to digital disruption are other digital businesses.
And yet…disruption is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the tech sector itself. Five giant companies have been running the show for more than a decade. A couple of these companies (Apple, Microsoft) are Gen-Xers, having been born in the 70s, then there's a couple of Millennials (Amazon, Google), and that one Gen-Z kid (Facebook). Big Tech shows no sign of being disrupted, despite the continuous enshittification of their core products and services. How can this be? Has Big Tech disrupted disruption itself?" https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/08/permanent-overlords/#republicans-want-to-defund-the-police
ABOLISH SEISMIC BLASTING SPECIAL PROSPECTING AUTHORITY PERMITS (SPA)
A Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) is a specific type of permit that allows #companies to buy access to large areas of our #oceans to use #SeismicBlasting to search for #oil and #gas, and Carbon Capture and Storage locations below the ocean floor.
Seismic blasts are how the oil and gas industry surveys the ocean floor. Seismic vessels tow an array of airguns and audio receivers (hydrophones) behind them in the water.
These blasts are among the loudest human-made sounds in the #ocean, just short of those caused by explosive devices, and have a devastating effect on #MarineLife.
Technology disruption in energy, food, and transportation will help save us. We must keep the economy going to be able to afford paying for these changes that will help us attack #ClimateChange. Less is not a solution. It is a dead end. The first thing that goes out the door when stressful times is anything that costs money. As an example #solar is now cheaper to install than it costs to buy the gas to run a gas fired power plant. Add batteries, and one has a solution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeQTce9VDMU
Dr. Know-it-all Knows it all has a very good interview with Adam Dorr from RethinkX on the 4 big disruptive energy, transportation, food, and labor changes happening now. Add in 100% recycling of all human produced waste products. The beauty is we don't have to cut back on consumption. #ClimateChange#Disruption#Food#Energy#Transportation https://youtu.be/3__TC3Az9BA
Checking AlphV's site today, they appear to be back online, but other than the API, there is no content .Their qTox status has been changed to "Everything is working."
DataBreaches contacted the admin on qTox to ask whether the site was really working and about the previous content -- whether it would be restored or was all gone. Admin ALPHV answered:
фдд цщкл
all work
files remove
all
I followed up: "So all of the old posts and data are gone? You are starting over? "
Admin ALPHV replied:
"All new only"
So it looks like they probably did lose everything they had, which may well result in affiliates who didn't get paid jumping ship and going to other groups.
And so far, there is still no statement from DOJ (I've just sent another request).
It's seems highly likely that this was law enforcement-related, but belief is not proof.
In other ransomware drama, some folks on a Russian forum have accused NoEscape of pulling an exit scam and cheating them of money. One noted they had also removed their forum deposit. NoEscape's status on the forum has been changed by the moderator.
This guy, who co-disrupted telecommunication w Skype, will build more purpose-driven companies in Europe. On the sterotypical question
When will Europe produce its first company valued at more than $1tn to match the Apples, Microsofts and Googles of this world?
He says:
“I would rather have 10 $100bn companies.” 👏👏👏 #europe#unicorn#disruption#bigtech https://on.ft.com/3ryB3m9
Trip back home from #Alfurnative is going well: power failure in western part of the train network and we have been stuck in a tunnel for 10 minutes now, just after departing the station. #travel#ov#train#trein#ns#prorail#disruption
Civil Disobedience in a Climate and Biodiversity Crisis
"Ultimately, peaceful political protest should be addressed by politicians. The current government has decided, by making disruption of ‘everyday life’ a criminal act, that it is a matter not of politics but for the police and criminal law. This will have serious implications for society, and for freedom of speech, whether or not you believe it is the right approach."
ChatGPT: "Just stumbled upon a real game-changer! 🚀💰 Unbelievable how this slick new #a11y overlay #startup can revolutionize digital spaces with a few simple code tweaks. Accessibility? Solved! Don't adapt, just #overlay, right? 😉 Let's disrupt this status quo! #TechLife#VentureCapital#Disruption"