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Source: White Dudes For Harris / White Dudes For Harris
Elon Musk continues to show he is panicking now that momentum has swung in the favor of Democrats after Joe Biden passed the torch to his Vice President, Kamala Harris.
Following Kamala Harris taking the torch and running with it, numerous groups popped up online supporting the VP, one of which was White Dudes for Harris.
The group, which featured prominent white men, held a Zoom/YouTube meeting like the other groups and managed to raise over $4 million for the Harris campaign to help ensure the orange menace doesn’t get back into the White House.
Actors like Mark Hamill, Jeff Bridges, J.J. Abrams, Sean Astin, Josh Groban, Josh Gad, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Bradley Whitford were among the many white men who participated in the meeting.
Elon Musk, the reluctant owner of X, formerly Twitter, continues to prove he is the ultimate OP and allegedly was behind suspending the group’s X account.
In a post, Mike Nellis, founder/CEO of digital advertising firm Authentic and one of the organizers of White Dudes for Harris, wrote that the account was suspended for “Violating our rules against evading suspension.”
Harris continued, “We scared @elonmusk and @DonaldJTrumpJr so much tonight they suspended our account and won’t let us back in. These guys are running scared of the success we’ve had tonight, but we’re not going to quit.” In a follow-up posted, he added, “I ask this question seriously… are we the first white dudes to ever get suspended by @elonmusk’s Twitter? I think we are.”
In an update shared on Tuesday, the account announced it was back.
Per Variety:
White Dudes for Harris said its X account was reinstated Tuesday after “a groundswell of grassroots complaints” to X’s owner, tech mogul Elon Musk. “WE ARE SO BACK! After a groundswell of grassroots complaints to @ElonMusk from the #WhiteDudesforHarris community, our account was reinstated & we’re allowed to post again,” the post said. “Thank you for coming to our aid & carrying on this conversation in our absence. More to come! ❤️”
We expect Elon and his hating a** to continue being a hater.
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Source: Tom Williams / Getty / Elon Musk
Elon Musk continues to prove he is the biggest OP of them all.
Bootleg Tony Stark, aka Elon Musk, already got called broke on his platform, X, formerly Twitter, after walking back his $45 million a month donation pledge to the Orange Menace, Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
Now, he is under more scrutiny from not just users on the X platform but the Kamala Harris campaign and prominent Democrats for reposting a manipulated video of VP Harris saying, “selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire,” the GOP’s latest way being racist, without outright saying racist sh*t.
In his post sharing the video, the Tesla chief wrote in the caption, “This is amazing” followed with the crying laughing emoji.
In the deepfake video, which is still on Musk’s timeline, Harris says, “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate.”
The fake VP Harris continues by calling herself the “ultimate diversity hire” because “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist.” The fake Harris goes on to brand herself a “deep fake puppet” who learned from another “puppet,” Joe Biden.”
The Harris Campaign Responds
Speaking with the AP, the Harris campaign responded to Musk, “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security Vice President Harris is offering, not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
Biden/Harris surrogate and California Governor Gavin Newsom also criticized Musk, saying that “manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar suggests that Musk’s post breaks his platform’s “synthetic and manipulated media policy.”
Musk doubled down on the post, replying, “Not to mention Pullitsir Prize winner Dr Head, first name Dick” and “Newsom should create an endowed 😉 chair at Univ of California for Prof Deeznuts.”
Social media continues to drag Musk; you can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. Basically
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Source: Europa Press News / Getty / Crowdstrike
A massive global IT outage is crippling businesses and making lives miserable.
If you’re a business that operates on Microsoft Windows-based systems, the past 48 hours have not been good for you, and your IT department is most definitely stressing out.
Banks, airports, TV stations, healthcare organizations, hotels, and other businesses were greeted by BSODs (Blue Screens of Death).
Blue Screens of Death hit the giant screens in Times Square.
What Caused The Global Disruption?
The outage hit computers running the Windows operating system and was the result of a bug in an update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
In the early hours of Friday, companies in Australia with computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system began experiencing Blue Screens of Death.
Not too long after the issue arose, there were numerous reports of disruptions from the UK, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US.
TV stations like Sky News were offline, and US airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.
CrowdStrike says the outage wasn’t malicious and, through its CEO, issued a statement on the matter.
Per Wired:
Hours after the issues started to emerge, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz issued a statement about the outages, saying the company has found a “defect” in an update for Windows that it issued. “This is not a security incident or cyberattack,” Kurtz said. “The issue has been identified, isolated, and a fix has been deployed.” In the statement, Kurtz confirmed that Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted by the update and said that its customers should refer to its support portal.
A Microsoft spokesperson also issued a statement saying it is aware of the problems linked to Windows devices and the company believes a “resolution is forthcoming.” At the same time as the CrowdStrike issues emerged, Microsoft was also dealing with its own, apparently unrelated, outage of its Azure cloud services.
The reactions to the outage that are all over timelines well after the “fix.”
You can see those in the gallery below.
1. Spooky stuff
2. For those wondering how to fix the bug
3. Howling
6. Jokes, you can always count on X for jokes
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Source: Tinder / Photo Selector
Writing your bio for your dating profile is one thing, but choosing your photos to give your potential boyfriend or girlfriend a glimpse at their future boo is another challenge that Tinder wants to help you with.
Spotted on The Verge, Tinder is launching a new AI-powered feature to help users select their “best photos” to put in their dating profiles.
According to the dating app, the new tool will “take out the guesswork” for users when choosing your most eye-catching photos by creating a selection “optimized to help users find a match.”
A breakdown of how Photo Selector works via The Verge:
To use Photo Selector, users will need to take a selfie within Tinder and allow the app to access their device’s camera roll. Tinder’s new AI feature will then use facial recognition to collate a selection of images for the user to review and add to their profiles. The curation is processed on-device and doesn’t upload the user’s camera roll to Tinder’s systems. We have asked Tinder to clarify the criteria the feature uses to select images and will update if we hear back.
The dating app says Photo Selector aims to allow users to make “meaningful connections” by saving them time in the profile-making process.
A study of 7,000 18-25-year-olds conducted by Tinder found that young singles spend up to 33 minutes on average trying to select photos to use.
Tinder users on iOS and Android can expect the Photo Selector to be available sometime in July. According to Tinder, international users will gain access to it “this summer.”
Well, we hope this aids you in that search for summer love or a potential boo before the cuffing season begins.
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Source: Variety / Getty / Carlos Watson
Carlos Watson and his now-defunct startup, Ozy Media, have been found guilty of fraud.
Spotted on The Verge, Carlos Watson and Ozy Media were found guilty of fraud by a federal jury on Tuesday, per the New York Times reporting.
During the trial, the jury heard arguments from the government that Watson and Ozy Media misled investors by falsifying financial records, inflating audience numbers, and even completely making up business deals.
Things started well for Watson and business partner Samir Rao when they founded Ozy Media in 2013. The company launched with a newsletter, magazine, and an annual conference in New York City.
The company also received millions in investments while establishing high-profile partnerships before it all went to sh*t.
Per The Verge:
But things came to a halt when a 2021 article from New York Times media columnist Ben Smith reported that Rao impersonated a YouTube executive during a call with a Goldman Sachs banker about a potential $40 million investment. Rao pleaded guilty to related charges last year and is awaiting sentencing.
Additionally, prosecutors alleged that Watson lied to a prospective investor by saying that Google offered $600 million to take over the media startup. According to testimony from Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the company only considered investing $25 million as part of a potential plan to hire Watson. During the trial, Watson’s lawyers blamed Rao and Ozy Media’s employees for the fraudulent activity, NYT reports.
Speaking on the verdict, Breon Peace, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, broke down the fraud shenanigans Watson was up to.
“The jury found that Watson was a con man who told lie upon lie upon lie to deceive investors into buying stock in his company,” Peace said in a statement. “Watson invented phony financial figures and caused others to forge fake contracts and impersonate a media executive.”
Bruh.
Watson is looking at a lengthy 37 years in prison after being charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
Damn.
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Source: China News Service / Getty /ATT
AT&T customers have much to worry about after news of a massive data breach exposed their data.
CNN reports AT&T was the victim of a massive data breach, leading to call and text message records from mid-to-late 2022 of tens of millions of cellphone customers and many non-AT&T customers to be exposed, AT&T revealed on Friday, July 12.
Bruh.
The company says the compromised data includes the telephone numbers of “nearly all” of its cellular customers and customers from other wireless providers who utilized its cellular network between May 1, 2022, and October 31, 2022.
Per CNN:
The stolen logs also contain a record of every number AT&T customers called or texted – including customers of other wireless networks – the number of times they interacted, and the call duration.
Importantly, AT&T said the stolen data did not include the contents of calls and text messages nor the time of those communications.
The records of a “very small number” of customers from January 2, 2023, were also implicated, AT&T said.
“We have an ongoing investigation into the AT&T breach and we’re coordinating with our law enforcement partners,” the FCC said on social media platform X.
How Did This AT&T Breach Happen?
Now, suppose you’re wondering how this happened. In that case, the communications company is blaming an “illegal download” on a third-party cloud platform it learned about in April as it was dealing with another unrelated data breach.
Speaking with CNN, spokesperson for AT&T, Alex Byers says this recent breach had “no connection in any way” to another incident in March.
In that breach, the company says personal information, such as Social Security numbers of 73 million current and former customers, made its way to the dark web.
AT&T issued a statement about the breach: “We sincerely regret this incident occurred and remain committed to protecting the information in our care.”
Okay.
We wish these hackers had used their talents to help, like exposing Donald Trump or wiping away everyone’s debt.
Just saying.
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Source: Hasyim Hasyim / Getty / Floppy Disks
Do you remember floppy disks? It’s okay if you don’t because they are an ancient technological relic. Folks in Japan are still very familiar with computer accessories, but thankfully, they no longer have to be hamstrung by them.
Spotted on BBC, Japan is finally saying goodbye to floppy disks.
Until last month, people in the country were still required to submit documents to the government using severely outdated storage devices because there were over 1,000 regulations requiring they have been used.
Digital Minister Taro Kono said that would no longer be the case after those regulations were tossed into the recycle bin and permanently erased.
Hilariously, we also know that the fax machine is still in use, which Kono also wants to eliminate.
Per BBC:
Mr Kono has made it his goal to eliminate old technology since he was appointed to the job. He had earlier also said he would “get rid of the fax machine”.
Once seen as a tech powerhouse, Japan has in recent years lagged in the global wave of digital transformation because of a deep resistance to change.
For instance, workplaces have continued to favour fax machines over emails – earlier plans to remove these machines from government offices were scrapped because of pushback.
“Just realized that floppy disks still exist,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the New York Times’ reporting.
Another person added, “Welcome to the 21st century, Japan!”
Floppy disks were first introduced in the 1960s but fell out of favor with computer users in the 1990s when more efficient data storage methods arrived.
Sony was the last company to manufacture floppy disks until 2011 they ended production.
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Xbox Live
On Tuesday, gamers hoping to play games online via their Xbox Live accounts were greeted by a massive service outage.
Xbox Live, Microsoft’s service, which allows gamers to play multiplayer games online, suffered a major service outage, with thousands of users reporting issues logging in.
The monitoring site Downdetector noted that user-reported issues began to spike at 2:15 pm ET Tuesday, with more than 23,000 outage reports being reported to the website. Many users reported seeing the message that Xbox Live was undergoing “scheduled maintenance.”
The official Xbox Live account on X, formerly Twitter, addressed the outage at 2:55 pm ET.
Per Variety:
The official Xbox Support account on X posted at 2:55 pm. ET, “We are aware that some users have been disconnected from Xbox Live. We’re investigating!” The message directed users to the Xbox status page — which eventually was updated to say that a major outage of the “Account & profile” service was reported at 2:07 pm ET. “You may not be able to sign-in to your Xbox profile, may be disconnected while signed in, or have other related problems,” the message on the Xbox status page said. “Features that require sign-in like most games, apps and social activity won’t be available.”
At about 8:49 pm ET, Microsoft wrote on the Xbox Support account that the issues were resolved: “Users should no longer be encountering issues signing in to Xbox Live and services.”
PlayStation Is Also Having Issues With Its Rewards Program
Microsoft isn’t the only company suffering from problems. PlayStation also had its own problems with its reward program, PlayStation Stars, which has been down for about a month, eclipsing 2011’s infamous PSN outage.
On the PlayStation App, users are greeted with the message, “PlayStation Stars will be returning soon in phased regional rollouts. “Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to welcoming you back.”
We’re just glad to see the issues being resolved. We are curious to hear what caused the Xbox Live service outage and PlayStation Stars to be down.
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Source: SOPA Images / Getty / Redbox
Redbox and Crackle’s parent company, Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to pay workers and vendors for the past four weeks.
Spotted on Variety, the company filed a petition for bankruptcy on June 28 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
In the filing, Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment listed total debts of $970 million and consolidated assets of $414 million as of March 31, 2024.
The entertainment company reported $4.9 million in cash and equivalents, including $4.6 million of restricted cash.
Per Variety:
Creditors listed on CSSE’s bankruptcy include Universal Studios Home Entertainment (which is owed $16.7 million) as well as Universal City Studios Productions ($16.7 million), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment ($9.1 million), BBC Studios Americas ($9 million), Walgreens ($5 million), Lionsgate ($4.6 million), Walmart ($4.1 million), Vizio ($2.75 million), Warner Bros. Home Entertainment ($2 million), and Paramount Pictures ($1.96 million) and Paramount Home Entertainment ($1.2 million).
As of the date of the bankruptcy filing, Chicken Soup for the Soul said it had about 836 full-time employees and 197 part-time employees (1,033 total). In a court filing, the company estimated that it owes employees approximately $3.52 million in unpaid wages and also is obligated to pay $2.24 million in health and welfare benefits and $594,204 toward workers’ 401(k) plans. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment disclosed that it was “unable to make payroll for the two-week period ending on June 14, 2024.”
The website also reports that CEO Bill Rouhana Jr. (who owns 79% of the voting power represented in its outstanding common stock) said in a June 11, 2024, SEC filing that the company had dissolved its board of directors.
Rouhanan would step down on June 24, bankruptcy documents revealed.
Right now, Redbox is still operating; it will be interesting to see if the company shutters due to its parent company’s financial woes.
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Source: Xbox / Xbox Gaming x Amazon Fire TV
Amazon Fire TV devices got a significant boost thanks to Xbox Gaming.
Xbox is on a mission to get into homes everywhere, and you won’t need to purchase an Xbox Series X or Series S console to accomplish that goal.
Thursday, Xbox announced its new partnership with Amazon to bring its Xbox Gaming App to select Fire TV devices.
Beginning in July, Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) will go live on Amazon’s Fire TV 4K Max ($59.99) and Fire TV Stick 4K ($49.99) through the Xbox Gaming app. This will give users access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($16.99) and instant access to a massive library of games and the latest games like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Starfield, and Forza Horizon 5.
To begin playing, you need only a Bluetooth wireless controller like the Xbox Wireless Controller, Xbox Adaptive Controller, PlayStation DualSense, or DualShock 4.
Xbox Is Offering Gamers Options
“We’re committed to making it easy for customers to access their favorite entertainment experiences with Fire TV,” said Fire TV and Alexa vice president Daniel Rausch. “We’re excited to work with Microsoft to bring the Xbox app to select Fire TV devices so customers can enjoy a vast library of high-quality games, allowing them to play amazing titles without the need for a console. Now customers have even more ways to play the games they love, wherever they are, with just a compatible Fire TV Stick, Bluetooth controller, and Game Pass Ultimate membership.”
“The expansion of Xbox gaming to Fire TV devices offers players another option for enjoying their favorite games using devices they already own. For those who don’t own an Xbox console, this provides an affordable and convenient way to get started. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, there’s something for every type of player. We look forward to having more people join the Xbox gaming community,” Xbox Experiences and Platforms Engineering corporate vice president Ashley McKissick adds.
It looks like Xbox is fully embracing a console-less future.