We have just gotten a whiff of rumors now, but macrumors.com reports that in an exclusive out today from The Information, Apple is allegedly working on a foldable iPhone similar to the Galaxy Z Flip. Apple has been on the prowl now for months, looking for suppliers in Asia, and now is moving forward with the project. The Apple foldable is being code named V68. Up to now, Apple has had interest in a folding iPhone, but hasn’t been happy with the crease where the screen folds. We’ll see if they are able to overcome this, or if we will see a folding iPhone by 2026. 

The European Union is threatening Meta for saying Facebook is free in the EU. According to theverge.com, the EU has told Meta that their ‘pay or consent’ model for Facebook and Instagram may violate consumer protection laws. They have given Meta until September 1st to propose changes to its model which they call ‘misleading’ and ‘confusing’ for users. If Meta doesn’t hit the deadline, it gets hit with big fines. Meta has responded with a statement saying “Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries. Subscription for no ads follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and we are confident it complies with European regulation.”

Three lecturers at University of Glasgow in Scotland have published a paper in the journal of Ethics and Information Technology, and have also covered it in a Scientific American article. The paper is titled ‘ChatGPT is Bullshit.’ After laughing and agreeing, I read further. The professors say there are actually bullshit distinctions…there’s general bullshit, hard bullshit, and soft bullshit. Cnet.com says the scholars argue that calling AI lies hallucinations is not accurate, saying ”Because these programs cannot themselves be concerned with truth, and because they are designed to produce text that looks truth-apt without any actual concern for truth, it seems appropriate to call their outputs bullshit. We think this is worth paying attention to.” They go on to write “Among philosophers, ‘bullshit’ has a specialist meaning, one popularized by the late American philosopher Harry Frankfurt. When someone bullshits, they’re not telling the truth, but they’re also not really lying. What characterizes the bullshitter, Frankfurt said, is that they just don’t care whether what they say is true. ChatGPT and its peers cannot care, and they are instead, in a technical sense, bullshit machines.” 

Google has now given up on plans to depreciate third party cookies on Chrome. According to androidauthority.com, the little trackers that make targeted ads possible will be sticking around. Google had said back in 2020 they would revise Chrome’s user privacy, but after several delays, they have apparently killed the whole idea. Money talks. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.