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+ Remembering Frank Stella
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OVERWORLD:
-500 000 000 decrypted criminal messages is a goldmine for U.S. feds.-
ONE BETWEEN:
-What are Google’s TPUs?-
THE DEPTHS:
-Remembering Frank Stella-
 | O |  |
✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦
Insane
500 000 000 decrypted criminal messages is a goldmine for U.S. feds.
U.S. feds are having a good time right now.
They’ve been playing around with a massive cache of a half-billion of encrypted chat messages, originally obtained through a European law enforcement operation against Sky ECC, to pursue prosecutions of organized crime figures involved in drug trafficking.
If you didn’t know, Sky was an encrypted messaging app that hosted tons of criminal networks — and it was compromised, hard:
Leakage: Belgian authorities first decrypted the treasure trove of messages in 2021. Since then, that sweet, sweet data has been a game-changer for procecution in American courtrooms. Specifically, U.S. authorities are using these messages to target cross-ocean coke smuggling operations.
Pirate of the Unknown: Court records reviewed by 404 Media reveal that the encrypted chats are being used as critical evidence in cases against individuals such as Milos Radonjic, also known as the "Pirate of the Unknown."
Tons of cocaine: Radonjic, a Montenegrin citizen, allegedly tried transporting over two and a half tons of cocaine using commercial maritime vessels from South America to the U.S. and Europe.
Caught white-handed: Radonjic’s prosecution, which followed his extradition to the U.S. in July 2023, is directly linked to Sky ECC messages obtained by European law enforcement and shared with U.S. agencies. These communications included detailed discussions of drug trafficking operations, photographs of ships used to transport narcotics, and other incriminating evidence.
Photos obtained in the Sky hack, per 404Media.
✦Chain effect✦
The utility of the Sky ECC hack fucks shit up far beyond Radonjic. Other high-profile cases, such as that of former heavyweight boxer Goran Gogic, also cite Sky messages as crucial evidence.
Gogic is accused of orchestrating the smuggling of cocaine worth over $1 billion into the United States and Europe. Which is insane.
Like Radonjic, Gogic's Sky messages contained self-incriminating details that helped U.S. authorities build their case against him.
Goran Gogic
✦Global✦
Worldwide, criminals are getting prosecuted on SkyECC-based evidence almost weekly. On June 19, 2024, seven men were prosecuted in Finland based on messages exchanged in the app received from foreign police agencies.
Two lead suspects were convicted 13 years prison sentence for acquiring nine kilos of cocaine, 17 kilos of amphetamine, and 9100 ecstasy pills as well as firearm felonies.
A photo obtained from the Sky hack.
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✦QUICK HITS✦
✦Business & Tech✦
Oh no: Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested near Paris on a warrant related to platform moderation issues. Authorities claim Telegram's lack of moderation enables criminal activity. Durov faces potential indictment.
Ready for launch: Nvidia is expected to report another surge in profits, driven by strong AI and data center growth. Analysts predict second-quarter revenue will more than double, supported by major customers like Meta and Microsoft.
Fool’s gold: Apple is set to unveil new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods on September 10. The iPhone 16 features larger screens and enhanced cameras, while updated Macs with M4 processors arrive later this year.
Damn: “Black Myth: Wukong”, a Chinese game, sold 10 million copies in 83 hours, setting records for PC launches. Priced at $38, it earned $450 million in three days.
✦Fashion & Culture✦
Whatever: New Balance and Loro Piana are releasing a $1,000 990v6 sneaker in September, with only 1,000 pairs available. The subtle design features maroon accents and will be sold exclusively at Loro Piana stores.
This is real: The "Very Demure" trend, popularized by Jools Lebron on TikTok, has gone viral after a trademark application was filed for the phrase, further fueled by celebrity participation.
Why? Outkast has filed a lawsuit against EDM duo ATLiens for trademark infringement, claiming improper use of the "ATLIENS" name. Efforts to resolve the issue amicably failed.
✦Hmm… Interesting✦
Really good: The Vital Necessity of Very Old Books
For programmers: Generating Mazes
Haha: A woman got tired of her mail getting stolen. She sent herself an Apple AirTag to help catch the thieves
ONE
BETWEEN
Tee-pee-you
What are Google’s TPUs?
For plebians, Google seems like a simple office suite company, for your crap. Search for crap, get crap in your Gmail, or create your own crap in Drive.
But Google also makes B2B crap.
Inside Google's HQ in Mountain View, California, a giant lab housing hundreds of server racks performs specialized tasks.
These tasks go far beyond simply powering their search engine or supporting Google Cloud’s millions of customers. Tap in:
Hardware, baby: These servers are dedicated to testing Google’s custom microchips for internal workloads, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
Use: Apple revealed in July that it uses Google’s TPUs to train AI models for Apple Intelligence, and Google relies on these chips to power its Gemini chatbot.
The problem: Google's TPU tries to crack a simple question: How much computing power would be needed if every Google user interacted with the platform by voice for just 30 seconds a day? The answer led to the creation of TPUs, which are 100 times more efficient than general-purpose hardware.
Competition: Despite the dominance of Nvidia in AI training, Google carved its own path by being the first cloud provider to introduce custom AI chips. Google’s TPUs, first launched in 2015, have since set the company apart in the AI landscape.
Real g’s move in silence: Google has had a rough time lately; delayed product launches and Gemini’s weird woke tendency, to name a few. Meanwhile, a quiet part of their business is booming, with Alphabet reporting a 29% rise in cloud revenue in the most recent quarter.
Next: Google's sixth-generation TPU, Trillium, is set for release later this year. Also, Google has announced its first general-purpose CPU, Axion, expected by year-end.
A TPU board.
THE DEPTHS
Legend art
Remembering Frank Stella
In the late 1950s, Stella's black paintings broke the mind of the art world.
The paintings were minimal, with methodically spaced black stripes — ridiculously simple, which was radical.
Back then, Abstract Expressionism was the shit. Few avant-gardists dared to stray far from the dominating influence of Jackson Pollock and his cluttered paint splatter.
No care, Stella went in the reverse; systematic geometry, endless darkness, zero vibrancy, and a stoic, almost monumental presence.
Here’s one of Stella’s black paintings:
Here’s Jack Pollock’s legendary “Convergence.” Get the difference?
✦Plot twist✦
Stella was cool because he wasn’t just radically against what people around him thought - he also challenged his own comfort.
By the end of the ‘60s, he did a 180. The guy synonymous with deep, deep blacks, started doing in-your-face colors.
It was a plot twist, but it still stayed true to the lore of the universe he had built. It had that same monumentalism in its DNA.
He debuted the direction with his Protractor series; a dazzling array of fluorescent colors and half-circle motifs.
✦Again✦
And then he twisted again, into the third dimension.
In the following decades, he ventured into sculptures. It was still geometry, but in a more chaotic, human way.
Here’s Khar-Pidda, from 1978:
✦Modernity✦
By the 2000s Stella had developed his own universe with a multi-dimensional language and was doing huge metal structures and complex 2D/3D blended art.
Despite some critics finding his later work overly ornate or corporate, Stella's ability to reinvent himself artistically kept him at the forefront of the art world.
For that, we wish Stella a beautiful afterlife.
Here’s Bandshell in Miami, from 2000:
Here’s Nessus and Dejanira, from 2017:
