Tag: follows
As Europeans strike first to rein in AI, the US follows
A proposed set of rules by the European Union would, among other things. require makers of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, to publicize any copyrighted material used by the technology platforms to create content of any kind.
A new draft of European Parliament’s legislation, a copy of which was attained by The Wall Street Journal, would allow the original creators of content used by generative AI applications to share in any profits that result.
Sainsbury’s follows Tesco in cutting milk prices
Twitter replaces ‘Super Follows’ with ‘Subscriptions’
Twitter creators who want to make money on the platform will now turn to Subscriptions, not Super Follows, in a rebrand announced by Elon Musk. Twitter originally introduced Super Follows in 2021 as a way for creators to charge for exclusive tweets. Now, subscriptions also include long-form content (thanks to those extra-long tweets) as well as “hours long videos,” according to Musk.
But the details of the program seem to be largely unchanged from Super Follows. Creators can charge $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 a month, with exclusive content including subscriber-only chats in Twitter Spaces, as well as special badges for paid subscribers. Interestingly, as The Verge, points out, a help page says that “we hope to include newsletters and other Twitter features as potential bonus content.” That’s notable given Musk’s recent feud with Substack as well as because he shut down Revue, the newsletter platform Twitter acquired in 2021, soon after taking over as CEO.
For the next 12 months, Twitter will keep none of the money.
You will receive whatever money we receive, so that’s 70% for subscriptions on iOS & Android (they charge 30%) and ~92% on web (could be better, depending on payment processor).
After first year, iOS & Android fees…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023
Super Follows never seemed to gain much traction, even before Musk took over Twitter. Now, it seems he’s trying to lure creators with more favorable terms, at least initially. He said that Twitter would not be taking an additional cut of creators’ earnings from Subscriptions “for the next 12 months.” Instead, creators can expect 70 percent of their earnings from mobile and about 92 percent from web-based subscriptions, which should account for all revenue after app store and payment processing fees. (A Google spokesperson pointed out that the Play Store now only takes 15 percent from in-app subscriptions. It’s unclear what this means for Twitter’s creators as the company now responds to press queries with a poop emoji.) “We will also help promote your work,” Musk said, though he didn’t elaborate on what that would entail.
Updated with additional info on Google’s subscription fees.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-replaces-super-follows-with-subscriptions-203711756.html?src=rss
‘Bigfoot’ Follows NJ Researcher In Wildlife Area: See Video – Patch
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Movies Anywhere Follows Netflix’s Lead In Sharing Crackdown
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses made huge changes–some to survive, some to earn consumer goodwill. Streaming services went in big on features that would let people watch movies and TV shows together. Now, as Netflix prepares for a big crackdown on password sharing, Movies Anywhere is pulling back on is sharing options as well, the company announced.
If you’re someone who still buys their movies on disc, you probably know what Movies Anywhere is. The codes for digital movies that come packed in with each of those discs are generally for Movies Anywhere–a way for studios to keep physical movie releases relevant in an increasingly online world. One of the coolest features of Movies Anywhere has been Screen Pass, which lets a Movies Anywhere user share up to three movie passes per month without having to share login info. That feature, however, is going away.
“As the experience continues to evolve, we want to notify you that effective May 1 users will no longer be able to use the Screen Pass feature to send a Screen Pass,” the announcement says. “For Screen Passes sent prior to May 1, recipients will still be able to accept and finish watching the movie before their passes expire. As of June 1, the Screen Pass feature will no longer be supported.”
Meta follows in Twitter’s footsteps with new paid subscription model
It appears that Meta is moving in the paid models direction, as the company rolls out its new Meta Verified service.
The news came after the company sent out a premature message announcing its new business offering to Instagram users, involving a monthly paid service that verifies your identity, provides account holders with a coveted blue badge and reportedly monitors the site for impersonators.
Not long after, the official news was posted to followers of the new Meta broadcast channel by CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself, who wrote:
This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services.
Credit: Mark Zuckerberg / Instagram
In order to sign up for Meta Verification, users need to meet the “minimum activity requirement,” be at least 18 years of age or older and must submit a form of government identification that matches the information on their respective Instagram or Facebook account. As The Verge reported, those who pay for Meta Verified will also get access to exclusive content, like Reels and Stories stickers, as well as 100 free Facebook stars each month — stars can be used to virtually tip other creators.
The service is startlingly similar to the controversial Twitter Blue offering debuted by CEO Elon Musk, which was met with the ire of Twitter users and official accounts near and far. But Meta contends that its paid model is different, an addition to its current account services across platforms that won’t touch current verified accounts that met the current “notability and authenticity” requirements.
At the same time, Meta continued revealing additional services that seem to be ushering in a new creator-forward era of its social platforms, including Instagram’s Broadcast Channels and Facebook’s new content moderation tools for creators seeking more control over their pages.
The Meta Verified service begins at $11.99 per month for desktop users or $14.99 per month for iOS, and will roll out to users in Australia and New Zealand first.
UFO CLUSTER Follows Alongside Airliner Over Phoenix, Arizona (VIDEO/PHOTOS)
An eyewitness video of a group of UFOs following a passenger jet earlier this month. The UFOs are keeping steady speed with the plane and seem to rotate each of the four glowing objects. The passenger was recording through the window and had both sound and visual. However the UFOs seem to not have any sound, but we do hear the cabin.
Date of sighting: Jan 6, 2023
Location of sighting: over Phoenix, Arizona
Eyewitness states:
“At 41,000 feet above possibly Nevada or Arizona, I looked out of the window of our Delta plane and saw something flying in tandem with us, or at least it appeared to be. The brightness increased at one point. I took both pictures and a video of it. The city and state are not correct since we were flying and that information is required to file a report. I actually have no clue where we were except it had to be in the southwest region given our flight path from LA to ATL.”
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Have you had a sighting of a winged humanoid or huge bat-like creature in the Chicago, Illinois metro area / Lake Michigan region? The entity has also been referred to as the ‘Chicago Mothman’, ‘Chicago Owlman’ & ‘O’Hare Mothman’ or ‘O’Hare Batman.’ – Chicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive Map – Please feel free to contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com – your anonymity is guaranteed. Our investigative group is conducting a serious examination of his phenomenon. We are merely seeking the truth and wish to determine what eyewitnesses have been encountering. Your cooperation is truly appreciated.
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TODAY’S TOP LINKS
Thought Reading and Mind Hacking
Ultra-rare ‘rainbow clouds’ light up the Arctic Circle like auroras in stunning new photos
PHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Anchor
PHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Spotify
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Please Consider a Donation to ‘Phantoms & Monsters’
Your financial support of Phantoms & Monsters and our other pursuits is much appreciated. This all depends on you, the readers & followers.
Please use the PayPal donation buttons on the blog site. You can also go directly to Phantoms & Monsters donation. Thanks again for your loyalty and continued support. Lon
This blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.
Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS & MONSTERS ® – USPTO #90902480 – Lon D. Strickler
© 2005-2022 Phantoms & Monsters – All Rights Reserved
‘GLIMMER MAN’ ENTITY Attacks Couple on Vacation…Then Follows Them Home
A new client contacted me about a specific and then subsequent encounters with a ‘Glimmer Man’ being. Please read the account and feel free to express your thoughts.
“I guess my encounter is about something called the Glimmer Man. I’m from southern Ontario, Canada. It was have been mid-July 2018. My boyfriend and I were spending a day in Toronto at a few restaurants, had a couple of drinks throughout the day, and then decided to kind of head back to the hotel early and crash.
I woke up at about 5 AM or so. I do wake up fairly early, but not this early. I was trying to go back to sleep. It happened that there was some light from dawn coming in from the windows. The curtains were drawn in the hotel room but there was some light coming in. I noticed that I can hear it it was my boyfriend talking in his sleep. I looked over at him. I guess there was probably about three feet of space between where my boyfriend was lying on his side of the bed and the space between the wall. As I looked beyond my boyfriend, I saw a shimmering movement along the wall. As I continued to watch I distinctly made out a humanoid form. It was kind of rocking back and forth. I didn’t know what to think. Maybe I was tired and imagining this.
Then I saw a pair of eyes manifesting on the face of this being. As I watched the eyes turned a bright yellow color. Then the being crouched down and out of sight. Then suddenly it popped up right beside my boyfriend. I saw a shimmering hand reach up and cover my boyfriend’s face, then pulled back when my boyfriend made a gasping sound. Then it happened again. I started shaking my boyfriend, but he wouldn’t wake up!
The being then stood up and started walking around the bed toward my side. I immediately jumped out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. I entered and slammed the door. I yelled for my boyfriend to wake up, but I heard no response. Then I heard him gasping again! I opened the door and saw the being lying on my side of the bed. I stood and watched it, again yelling at my boyfriend to wake up.
Then suddenly, my boyfriend woke up and lets out a horrific scream. He looks at me with wide terrified eyes. I looked over to my side of the bed. The being was gone. My boyfriend tells me that he had an awful dream that someone was trying to smother him. I started crying.
I told him what I had seen. At first, I don’t think he believed me. But the more I talked, the more he realized that his dream was similar to what I was describing. We quickly packed our bags, checked out early, and then drove home.
Since that day my boyfriend and I married. We bought a house and plan to start a family soon. But I occasionally see the same Glimmer Man. I believe he hitched a ride back with us from Toronto. He isn’t here all the time but seems to show up at the most inopportune times.
Can you tell me what to do? Can this being be removed? Is it a spirit or a malevolent entity? LL”
NOTE: I talked to ‘LL’ for several hours. I do believe that this may be a Glimmer Man, but this being is unlike any that I have dealt with previously. It’s not a shadow person or even a spiritual energy. This is something different.
I wonder now if there are several types of Glimmer Man beings? Could this be a camouflaged entity? I’d be interested in your thoughts. I plan to work closely with ‘LL’ in the hope of resolving this to her satisfaction. Lon
HAVE A COMMENT? GO TO OUR SUBREDDIT AND POST YOUR THOUGHTS
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Have you had a sighting of a winged humanoid or huge bat-like creature in the Chicago, Illinois metro area / Lake Michigan region? The entity has also been referred to as the ‘Chicago Mothman’, ‘Chicago Owlman’ & ‘O’Hare Mothman’ or ‘O’Hare Batman.’ – Chicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive Map – Please feel free to contact me at lonstrickler@phantomsandmonsters.com – your anonymity is guaranteed. Our investigative group is conducting a serious examination of his phenomenon. We are merely seeking the truth and wish to determine what eyewitnesses have been encountering. Your cooperation is truly appreciated.
—–
TODAY’S TOP LINKS
NASA and DARPA Collaborating on a Nuclear-Powered Rocket for Quick Trips to Mars
Green Comet ZTF Develops Strange ‘Anti-tail’ Pointing in Wrong Direction
PHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Anchor
PHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Spotify
**********
Please Consider a Donation to ‘Phantoms & Monsters’
Your financial support of Phantoms & Monsters and our other pursuits is much appreciated. This all depends on you, the readers & followers.
Please use the PayPal donation buttons on the blog site. You can also go directly to Phantoms & Monsters donation. Thanks again for your loyalty and continued support. Lon
This blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.
Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS & MONSTERS ® – USPTO #90902480 – Lon D. Strickler
© 2005-2022 Phantoms & Monsters – All Rights Reserved