Tag: also
PBS has also quit Twitter over its ‘government-funded media’ label
NPR isn’t the only public broadcaster to stop tweeting after Twitter applied a “government-funded media” label to its account. PBS has halted its use of the platform too. The organization hasn’t posted on its Twitter account since April 8th.
Both PBS and NPR claim the label, which previously read “state-affiliated media,” doesn’t represent them accurately. Twitter previously reserved such labels for state-run outlets like China’s Xinhua News Agency and Russia’s RT and Sputnik.
“PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time,” a PBS spokesperson told Variety. “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
Federal funding accounts for around 15 percent of public television system revenue, PBS says. The biggest chunk of revenue, 31 percent, comes from donations from individuals. NPR, meanwhile, says federal funding makes up less than one percent of its average annual budget. The broadcaster says it stopped using Twitter in large part to protect its credibility, suggesting the label implies that the government has editorial influence over it. NPR says it’s “a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence.”
Twitter also applied the label to the BBC’s account. That organization also pushed back against the “government-funded media” descriptor. Following an interview that a BBC reporter conducted with Twitter owner Elon Musk this week, the company updated the label to read “publicly funded media,” a more accurate description of the broadcaster’s license fee-based budget.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pbs-has-also-quit-twitter-over-its-government-funded-media-label-164843803.html?src=rss
Leaked Classified Documents Also Include Roleplaying Game Character Stats
At some point, a Discord user uploaded a zip file of 32 images from the leak onto a Minecraft Discord server. Included in this pack alongside highly sensitive, Top Secret and other classified documents about the Pentagon’s strategy and assessment of the war in Ukraine, was a handwritten piece of paper that appeared to be a character sheet for a roleplaying game. It’s written on a standard piece of notebook paper, three holes punched out on the side, blue lines crisscrossing the page. The character’s name is Doctor “Izmer Trotzky,” his character class is “Professor Scientist.” They’ve got a strength of 5, a charisma of 4, and 19 rubles to their name. Doctor Trotzky has 10 points in first aid and occult skills, and 24 in spot hidden. He’s carrying a magnifying glass, a fountain pen, a sword cane, and a deringer. […]
But what game is it from? Motherboard reached out to game designer Jacqueline Bryk to find out. Bryk is an award-winning designer of roleplaying games who has worked on Kult: Divinity Lost, Changeling: the Lost, Fading Suns: Pax Alexius, and Vampire: the Masquerade. “I strongly suspect this is Call Of Cthulhu,” Bryk said when first looking at the sheet. Call of Cthulhu (COC) is an RPG based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft where players attempt to stave off madness while investigating eldritch horrors. “This is a pretty classic Professor build. The sword cane really clinches it for me. I notice he’s currently carrying a derringer and a dagger but took no points in firearms or fighting. I’m not sure which edition this is but it seems like the most he could do with his weapons is throw them.” “After some research, Bryk concluded that the game is a homebrewed combination of COC and the Fallout tabletop game based on the popular video game franchise,” adds Motherboard. “My best guest here is Fallout: Cthulhu the Homebrew,” Bryk said, giving the home designed game a name.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Economic Report: The U.S. jobs report was strong — make no mistake. Yet it also offers signs of progress in Fed inflation fight.
This immersive sim will be set in a gas station that might also be Hell
Finally, there’s a girlfriend simulator that can also file your taxes
This tax season, fall for MSCHF’s dating sim, not tax scams.
On Monday, MSCHF launched a free anime dating game for doing your taxes. From the cheeky creator behind the Big Red Boots, Tax Heaven 3000 is a real, working game that enlists a dating sim named Iris to help you prepare your federal income taxes. “Hi there! Iris here,” she says on the taxheaven3000.com website. “It’s always been a dream of mine to meet that special someone…and file their tax return. Join me and we’ll search for deductions while searching for love!”
Credit: MSCHF
Predatory tax filing services are the latest target of MSCHF, an art collective known for creating viral products that offer provocative commentary on late-stage capitalism, fandom, and hype-driven consumer culture. The company has generated media attention for its “Satan Shoes,” custom Nike Air Max sneakers made in collaboration with Lil Nas X that contained a drop of blood, “Eat the Rich Popsicles,” and “Ketchup or Makeup,” packets that either contained ketchup or lip gloss. Now, MSCHF is calling out companies like TurboTax and H&R Block for taking advantage of confused taxpayers.
If you made less than $73,000, it is free to file your taxes in the U.S. But a ProPublica investigation revealed how tax-filing company TurboTax deliberately confuses and misleads customers into paying for their services. TurboTax also lobbies heavily to keep these using these deceptive tactics. As we enter the dreaded tax season, Tax Heaven 3000 is here to remind you that filing your taxes can be free…and sexy.
Credit: MSCHF
“TurboTax, per its own internal documents, is built on the ‘Fear Uncertainty and Doubt’ that ordinary people have about their taxes,” says the website. “Against this we pit free software instead built on parasocial desire for intimacy and benign horniness! If TurboTax is Dark UI, TH3K is Pink UI, the nightcore of tax software.”
Tax Heaven 3000 was leaked on Steam last week and subsequently taken down from the popular gaming platform. But Daniel Greenberg, co-founder of MSCHF, said it is now available via itch.io. You can also buy a collector’s edition of the game on the Tax Heaven 3000 website for $90. The purchase includes a physical collector’s box with a CD of the game, an instruction manual, an IRS mailing envelope, and an Iris body pillow (otherwise known as a dakimakura).
Snuggling up to Iris seems like a better investment of your money than paying for service that is technically free. At least she won’t break your heart like the IRS.
ChatGPT’s history bug may have also exposed payment info, says OpenAI
OpenAI has announced new details about why it took ChatGPT offline on Monday, and it’s now saying that some users’ payment information may have been exposed during the incident.
According to a post from the company, a bug in an open source library called redis-py created a caching issue that may have shown some active users the last four digits and expiration date of another user’s credit card, along with their first and last name, email address, and payment address. Users also may have seen snippets of others’ chat histories as well.
This isn’t the first time caching issues have caused users to see each other people’s data — famously, on Christmas Day in 2015, Steam users were served pages with information from other users’ accounts….
How to pick the perfect hot glue gun (that also just happens to look like a sci-fi blaster)
Professor Layton’s New Switch Game Is Also Bringing Back Luke
New RoboCop game isn’t just about violence — you can also hand out parking tickets
RoboCop: Rogue City gets a new (later) release date