OVERWORLD:
-Amazon cameras track UK train passengers’ emotions-

ONE BETWEEN:
-Everybody is sick of Adobe’s dirty games-

THE DEPTHS:
-These rappers were terrorists and patriots after 9/11-

"To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself."
— Henry Miller

✦DISCOVERY PICKS✦

▶️ YouTube:
If Lil Wayne's "A Milli" was made in the 1950s

✖️ X:
What explains this?

❓
Mystery link.

Nasty work

Amazon cameras track UK train passengers’ emotions

Over the past two years, thousands of UK train passengers probably had their faces scanned by Amazon software as part of AI experiments.

The image recognition system effectively figured out unsuspecting people's age, gender, and... emotions. Building targeted advertising on information like that would hit the nail on Orwell’s head.

Here’s the deal, quickly explained:

We have the amazing people at Big Brother Watch to thank for access to this documentation which was accessed via a freedom of information request. If it weren’t for them, we’d never know about these cameras.

Anyway, the AI system used both advanced “smart” CCTV cameras and older cameras connected to cloud-based analysis.

Each station had five to seven cameras or sensors. Although the documents listed 50 possible AI use cases, not all were implemented.

For example, London Euston planned to trial a “suicide risk” detection system, but the camera failed, and it was not replaced due to the station being a terminus.

✦Tracking your emotions✦

One controversial aspect of the trials was the focus on “passenger demographics.”

Cameras captured images when people crossed a “virtual tripwire” near ticket barriers, which were then analyzed by Amazon’s Rekognition system to produce demographic statistics and assess emotions like happiness or anger.

This data could potentially be used to enhance advertising and retail revenue. However, AI researchers warn that emotion detection is unreliable and should be approached cautiously. But they're figuring it out.

A Network Rail spokesperson told WIRED that they use various advanced technologies to protect passengers and comply with relevant legislation.

Meanwhile, Orwell's skeleton is screaming a silent, throatless scream.

✦QUICK HITS✦

✦Business & Tech✦

Here we are: Nvidia has surpassed Microsoft and is now the world's most valuable public company at $3.34 trillion. Shares rose 3.6%, up 170% this year, driven by AI chip demand. Nvidia dominates the AI chip market, with significant sales growth in its data center business.

Also: Nvidia's rise will force XLK to buy over $10 billion in Nvidia shares while reducing Apple’s weighting significantly. Post-rebalance, Microsoft and Nvidia will each hold around 21%, and Apple will drop to 4.5%.

YouTube is testing "notes," allowing users to add context to videos, such as clarifying parodies or outdated footage. Only select contributors can write notes, evaluated for helpfulness by third parties. Initially available in English to US mobile users, notes aim to reduce misinformation by expanding community context features.

Apple has stopped issuing loans through Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later program. Instead, it will offer installment loans via third-party companies and credit/debit cards globally. Current loans remain unaffected.

✦Fashion & Culture✦

Fashion week highlight: Streetwear brand PDF by Domenico Formichetti held a fashion show with musical performances in Milan. Inspired by the Super Bowl, the event featured celebrities like Rihanna and Drake, and showcased the "Holy Motor" spring collection with automotive-themed designs.

Sad: Life by You, the upcoming competitor to The Sims, has been canceled. Paradox cites unfixable issues despite extended development. Initially revealed in 2023, the game faced multiple delays before its cancellation.

He lives: Noam Chomsky, 95, is alive. Reports of his death are false, as clarified by his wife. However, he is recovering from a stroke in Brazil. If you didn’t know, two publications mistakenly published obituaries, causing the whole internet to holler “RIP”.

✦Hmm… Interesting✦

Cozy 4-minute read: Observations on 6 years of journaling

Giant read for giant brains: How Innovative Is China in Nuclear Power?

For developers: Every Way To Get Structured Output From LLMs

Get inside his head: Guy made $2,000,000 for reporting a crypto bug.

Hardware: MicroMac, a Macintosh for under £5

ONE 

BETWEEN

How multi-billions scam

Everybody is sick of Adobe’s dirty games, including the US government.

The US government just filed a lawsuit against Adobe.

They're accusing it of concealing costly fees and complicating the cancellation process for its subscriptions.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Adobe has allegedly enrolled consumers in its most expensive subscription plan by default without clearly disclosing essential terms.

It also claims Adobe hides the terms of its annual paid monthly plan in fine print, making it difficult for consumers to understand.

✦Big, fat, slimey scam✦

The cancellation process is described as "onerous and complicated," involving multiple webpages and pop-ups. These ultimately "ambush" customers with the termination fee, discouraging them from proceeding.

These practices, according to the lawsuit, violate federal consumer protection laws. The complaint claims executives immediately direct and control the alleged deceptive practices.

At one point in time, you'd buy an Adobe product, say Photoshop, and own it forever. That changed in 2012 with Adobe's subscription model.

At the time, it was a no-brainer deal; for $19.99/month you'd get the full Adobe suite. Today, that price tag sits at something closer to $70/month.

This model has long been a point of frustration for creatives who rely on Adobe’s software for their work. Recently, Adobe faced backlash over new terms of service perceived as a means to train its AI on users’ artwork.

Brutal.

THE DEPTHS

Hip-hop esoterics

These rappers were terrorists and patriots after 9/11

The 9/11 terrorist attacks were a unifying moment for most of the United States. Hip-hop, however, had a more complicated relationship.

Nothing better exemplified this than the Harlem collective The Diplomats, also known as Dipset. To introduce you to this concept, here are some raps:

“I ain't mad that the Towers fell. I'm mad the coke price went up, and this crack won't sell.”
— Juelz Santana of Dipset, on Gangsta

Actually, here’s a 2-minute compilation of every weird little pro-terrorist wrinkle in Dipset’s music:

✦Patriot terrorists✦

Dipset, rising between 2000 - 2002, positioned themselves as rap antiheroes. Their imagery was much inspired by both sides of President Bush’s “good guys vs. bad guys” imagery as he waged his “War on Terror”.

They were part patriot, part terrorist.

For one, their official name was the “The Diplomats.” But they also called themselves “the Dipset Taliban” and “Harlem’s Al Qaeda,” comparing themselves to Osama bin Laden.

They paired this with patriotic imagery with a gun-toting American bald eagle as their logo, plus their red-white-and-blue fashion.

Content-wise, their double album "Diplomatic Immunity" featured a song called "Ground Zero," where they declared their music as “9/11 music.”

On “I Love You,” Juelz Santana expressed empathy for 9/11 victims but controversially praised 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta in an unreleased line.

“I worship the prophet, the great Mohammed Omar Atta, for his courage behind the wheel of the plane. Reminds me when I was dealin’ the ‘caine.”
— Juelz Santana, on I Love You

Juelz has (decades) later come out to clarify his point; the terror was not his obsession, but the conviction and determination of the hijackers. “I wish somebody believed in me so much they’d go that far,” he says in an interview with VladTV.

And of course, the symbolism was also for the sake of shock-factor. And even if was blindly so, Dipset was very ahead of their time with their post-9/11 commentary.

It took a very long time for any American mainstream media to view the conflict from Osama’s side — but Dipset did it instantly, if immaturely.