[nonostantement #260] - mind traps / lensa undressed me / taliban & twitter

NOW with MORE lawyers involved!

Jan 29

Welcome to nonostantement: a weekly newsletter with perplexing, tenacious, and suspect stuff found all over the Internet.

Hello there, my name is Joele and I develop online strategies for brands and institutions. Being constantly connected to the good old ‘Net, I come across a lot of interesting stuff. So, I compile a weekly newsletter (yes, this same one) where I share these findings with my friends.

Music: Everything But The Girl - Nothing Left To Lose, Knowsum - foreplay perfume and enjoy 'Succession' Theme Song Explained By The Composer while waiting for next season ;)

#PEOPLE

[Video] - 21 Mind Traps : The Ultimate Guide to your most common Thinking errors
You probably think you are in complete control of your decisions and thoughts. But how often are they guided by something else? Something you don’t even notice occurring deep within your mind. This series explores 21 different cognitive mind traps, fallacies, biases and other phenomenon that exist within your brain.
People are using AI for therapy, whether the tech is ready for it or not
Mental-health counseling, text-based AI, and the future of your relationship with your therapist.
The viral AI avatar app Lensa undressed me—without my consent
My avatars were cartoonishly pornified, while my male colleagues got to be astronauts, explorers, and inventors.
Amsterdam’s underwater parking garage fits 7,000 bicycles and zero cars
This underwater garage for 7,000 bicycles took four years to build and cost the city of Amsterdam $65 million. It provides a critical link to Dutch rail and first- and last-mile transportation as the city moves beyond cars and into the future.
Inside the Picture Perfect—and Highly Lucrative—Business of Book Styling
"It would appear undeniable then that people who don’t read are helping sustain the independent book business. So why does it feel so hard to stomach?"

#TECH

An ALS patient set a record communicating through a brain implant: 62 words per minute
Brain interfaces could let paralyzed people speak at almost normal speeds.
InstructPix2Pix
"We propose a method for editing images from human instructions: given an input image and a written instruction that tells the model what to do, our model follows these instructions to edit the image."

👉 THE NONOSTANTEMENT ARCHIVES 👈 are now online, containing all the links I have sent in almost 5 years of nonostantement.

#SOCIALMEDIA

TikTok’s Secret ‘Heating’ Button Can Make Anyone Go Viral
TikTok and ByteDance employees regularly engage in “heating,” a manual push that ensures specific videos “achieve a certain number of video views,” according to six sources and documents reviewed by Forbes.
Ad spending on TikTok defies advertising slowdown
“TikTok is shifting the way we like to consume content on social media,” said Amy Gilbert, head of social for North America at The Social Element. “There are opportunities on that platform from a paid perspective, even if it’s just testing and learning. If brands aren’t thinking about this, they’re a little late to the game.”
Big Tech employees are TikToking on the job — and their bosses don’t always like it
Tech industry workers rack up millions of views on TikToks and YouTube videos documenting their work days. Tech companies don’t always like it — and creators run the risk of getting in trouble.

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#THEDARKSIDE

Taliban start buying blue ticks on Twitter
Prominent officials have bought ticks which used to indicate notable accounts verified by Twitter.
Showcase project by the world’s biggest carbon trader actually resulted in more carbon emissions
For years, South Pole – the world’s most influential climate consultancy – sold essentially concocted emission rights to hundreds of companies, including Gucci, Volkswagen and energy supplier Greenchoice. As a result, part of the climate achievements of many prestigious companies exist only on paper.
The science (and business) behind COVID-19 disinformation. And what to do about it.
"Analyses have found that 12 people—coined the “disinformation dozen”—are responsible for 65% of misleading claims, rumors, and lies about COVID-19 vaccines on social media."

That's it for now.

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