The New York Times / Tiffany Hsu
What can you do when A.I. lies about you? →“The limited protection is especially upsetting for the subjects of nonconsensual deepfake pornography, where A.I. is used to insert a person’s likeness into a sexual situation. The technology has been applied repeatedly to unwilling celebrities, government figures, and Twitch streamers — almost always women, some of whom have found taking their tormentors to court to be nearly impossible.”
The Washington Post / Paul Farhi
She paid a fortune for her town’s paper. Years of turmoil followed. →“Despite pledging to preserve the paper’s independence and integrity, McCaw quickly turned its moderate editorial pages — which had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1962 for exposing the extremism of the John Birch Society — into a forum for her libertarian politics and private crusades. The paper inveighed against the Coastal Commission and elected officials who had crossed her….As the News-Press limped toward bankruptcy, and as the business model for newspapers collapsed in the internet age, McCaw seemed to have grown bitter about her adopted hometown. ‘Santa Barbara, once the gem of the Central Coast, is deteriorating into a city that is crime-ridden, graffiti-covered, with inebriated indigents and a disgusting downtown mess,’ she wrote Dec. 31, 2022, in what became her final piece for the paper.”
Press Gazette / Aisha Majid
Vanity Fair / Charlotte Klein
Will the public get to watch Donald Trump on trial? →“Former acting U.S. solicitor general Neal Katyal also stressed the importance of camera access. ‘This is the people’s court and they should be able to see what it is doing,’ he wrote in an email, adding that ‘this shouldn’t be a partisan issue — everyone benefits from increased transparency.'”
Platformer / Casey Newton
The Financial Times / Jemima Kelly
Advertising has reached a new low in the age of podcasts →“It is quite disconcerting to suddenly realise that the person you’ve just been listening to speak with authority and credibility — on, say, the threat from China, or how to get over your ex — is now using that very same voice to try to convince you that being able to find a therapist on an app is a revolutionary development (I’m talking to you, BetterHelp). So revolutionary that you must immediately download the app and use their discount code. When did we collectively decide to accept this level of grift?”
The New Yorker / Alex Ross
Apple again fails to save classical music →“The most established of the bespoke apps is Idagio, which was founded in Berlin, in 2015. Presto Music and Qobuz also serve up classical music in quantity. In March, Apple launched Apple Music Classical, which grew from a now defunct service called Primephonic.”
Poynter / Amaris Castillo
The Guardian / Adam Gabbatt
Esquire / Michael Sebastian
The Washington Post / Julian Mark
The New York Times / Sam Roberts
Lois Libien, who found a readership with household tips, dies at 87 →“While most women’s magazines described products without evaluating their performance or cost, the How column and the handbook delved into the details of maintaining a household. Readers learned to concoct a homemade grease remover (hot water, liquid dishwashing detergent and ammonia); why ammonia and chlorine bleach should never be mixed (they release noxious fumes); not to seal butcher block counters with polyurethane (it can be absorbed by food during chopping); the best way to care for silver (use it every day); and how to make use of expensive china (leave the washing and drying to friends and relatives).”