Tag: interactions
PS5 beta adds DualSense controller sound enhancements and Share Screen interactions
Twitter blocks interactions on tweets with Substack links
Substack users woke to a strange surprise today when trying to share links on Twitter, finding an error message when interacting with any tweet featuring a Substack link. Tweets with an outgoing link to Substack cannot be retweeted, replied to or even liked. The error message states that “some actions on this tweet have been disabled by Twitter.” The loss in functionality even extends to tools like TweetDeck.
I can’t even reply to my own Tweet if it’s got a Substack link in it pic.twitter.com/LLaQuFksmM
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) April 7, 2023
You can still tweet out Substack links, but that is where engagement ends. This could be a garden variety error, but it could be a response by Musk and Twitter to Substack’s recently-announced Twitter-esque Notes feature. After all, Twitter is no stranger to silencing rivals, both real and imagined. The social network briefly placed restrictions on tweets with outgoing links to Mastodon, Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social, even outlawing outgoing links to other social media profiles in bios. Musk has also experimented with banning journalists who cover Twitter and made other questionable decisions for a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist.
The founders of Substack issued a response to the move and it certainly seems like they believe the restrictions were instituted on purpose and not part of a system error.
“We’re disappointed that Twitter has chosen to restrict writers’ ability to share their work. Writers deserve the freedom to share links to Substack or anywhere else. This abrupt change is a reminder of why writers deserve a model that puts them in charge,” the founders wrote.
There is another option beyond spite or a system error. It is possible Substack ran afoul of Twitter’s recently-announced API pricing scheme. The sheer number of links to Substack content from users would force the company to invest in the Enterprise-level API at $42,000 a month. If Substalk balked about these costs and Twitter caught wind of it, this could be another New York Times checkmark situation.
A statement from our founders:
Any platform that benefits from writers’ and creators’ work but doesn’t give them control over their relationships will inevitably wonder how to respond to the platforms that do.
— Substack (@SubstackInc) April 7, 2023
Substack says it is currently investigating the newly-imposed restrictions and that it will “share updates as additional information becomes available.” The company shared a blog post in which it expressed hope that these moves were made in error and stated that “cracks are starting to show in the internet’s legacy business models.” We reached out to Substack and will update this post if the situation changes or if functionality is restored.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-blocks-interactions-on-tweets-with-substack-links-185548573.html?src=rss
Researchers Build a Bartending Robot That Can Engage In Personalized Interactions With Humans
A widely discussed application of social robots that has so far been rarely tested in real-world settings is their use as bartenders in cafes, cocktail bars and restaurants. While many roboticists have been trying to develop systems that can effectively prepare drinks and serve them, so far very few have focused on artificially reproducing the social aspect of bartending.
Researchers at University of Naples Federico II in Italy have recently developed a new interactive robotic system called BRILLO, which is specifically designed for bartending. In a recent paper published in UMAP ’22 Adjunct: Adjunct Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization, they introduced a new approach that could allow their robot to have personalized interactions with regular customers.
“The bartending scenario is an extremely challenging one to tackle using robots, yet it is also very interesting from a research point of view,” Prof. Silvia Rossi, one of the researchers who carried out the study and the scientific coordinator of the project, told TechXplore. “In fact, this scenario combines the complexity of efficiently manipulating objects to make drinks with the need to interact with the users. Interestingly, however, all current applications of robotics for bartending scenarios ignore the interaction part entirely….”
The innovative system created by this team of researchers allows their robot to process what a human user is telling them and their non-verbal cues, to determine what mood they are in, how attentive they are and what types of drinks they prefer. This information is stored by the robot and used to guide its future interactions with returning customers, so that they also consider their personalities and personal stories, along with their drinking preferences.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.