href weekly | Dec 31 – Jan 6

Bits

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-55-spark/clip/16028678-the-fight-for-your-right-to-repair

“While this new, more diffuse set of social networks sometimes requires a little more tinkering to get started, they epitomize the complexity and multiplicity of the weirder and more #openweb that’s flourishing today.” https://web.archive.org/web/20231230234133/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/internet-future-about-to-get-weird-1234938403/

https://media.ccc.de/v/37c3-12142-breaking_drm_in_polish_trains#t=3269

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/12/how-to-build-a-small-solar-power-system/

Insight into the hidden ecosystem of autonomous and data scrapers crawling across the web. Protect your website from unwanted AI agent access. https://darkvisitors.com/

a versatile instant voice cloning approach that requires only a short audio clip from the reference speaker to replicate their voice and generate speech in multiple languages. https://research.myshell.ai/open-voice

investinopen.org an initiative dedicated to improving funding and resourcing for open technologies and systems supporting research and scholarship. We do this by shedding light on challenges, conducting research, and working with decision makers to enact change. via: @cogdog

“A public model is a model built by the public for the public. It requires political accountability, not just market accountability. This means openness and transparency paired with a responsiveness to public demands. It should also be available for anyone to build on top of. This means universal access. And a foundation for a free market in innovations. This would be a counter-balance to corporate-owned AI.” https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/12/ai-and-trust.html

Rather than writing articles on topics related to generative AI, we will be guiding YOU through activities that help you explore and understand these tools. You’ll be encouraged to try the activities, reflect on them, and share what you did with others.” https://dlinq.middcreate.net/detox-2024/

Sound & Music

MusicFX: Describe a musical idea and hear it https://aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com/

https://yolatengo.bandcamp.com/track/fallout
Hold back, unwind
Before it lays me flat
Fall out of time
Before it comes to that

https://sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com/album/ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-dancing-on-the-edge
We are the new vigilantes of the two-drink minimum .. “

Politics & Economics

“The average CEO collects $7,162 an hour. It takes just over eight hours in the new year for the top 100 CEOs to clock in an average of $60,600—what the average worker in Canada makes in an entire year.” https://policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/canada%E2%80%99s-new-gilded-age

But despite its relatively modest aims, there’s still something inspiring and even a bit radical about a that is this successful .. in the right context, people can and do work hard to build an egalitarian project because it’s satisfying to help others, or because it’s exciting to participate in a grand project for the benefit of all, or simply because they think it’s the right thing to do. https://prospect.org/world/2023-10-11-cooperative-that-could-s-group-finland/