TikTok only launched its Creator Fund a few years ago, but is already shutting it down in favor of a new monetization scheme that arrived earlier this year. "Starting December 16, 2023, the Creator Fund will be discontinued in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany," a spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. "All creators currently enrolled in the Creator Fund can upgrade to the Creativity Program."
https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-is-shutting-down-its-2-billion-creator-fund-and-steering-users-to-the-creativity-program-091023832.html
Intuit is shutting down the Mint budgeting app; how to pick a new one
Intuit Inc. announced this week that it will shut down Mint on Jan. 1, 2024. The company’s decision to discontinue the popular budgeting app could leave millions of users scrambling to find a replacement.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/intuit-is-shutting-down-the-mint-budgeting-appheres-how-long-you-have-to-find-a-new-service-41e82db7?ref=biztoc.com
New defense tools from Abnormal Security defend against seemingly harmless QR codes
The innocuous black-and-white Quick Response (QR) codes pervasive across retailers, airports, bars, hotels (and more) are the threat surfaces no one talks about. But attackers see them as the perfect Trojan Horse for hijacking phones and stealing digital identities.
https://venturebeat.com/security/how-a-simple-qr-code-can-take-control-of-your-phone-and-digital-life/
YouTube is now cracking down on ad blockers globally | TechCrunch
YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blocker usage globally, by showing warnings about breaking the platform’s terms of service. In some cases, the company is preventing users from viewing more videos unless they disable ad blocks. The video streaming platform started experimenting in June, when it showed a message to users saying that the video player would be blocked after three videos if the ad blocker wasn’t disabled.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/01/youtube-is-now-cracking-down-on-ad-blockers-globally/
Biden releases AI executive order directing agencies to develop safety guidelines
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President Joe Biden signed an executive order providing rules around generative AI, ahead of any legislation coming from lawmakers. The order has eight goals: to create new standards for AI safety and security, protect privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers, patients, and students, support workers, promote innovation and competition, advance US leadership in AI technologies, and ensure the responsible and effective government use of the technology.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/30/23914507/
University of Chicago researchers seek to “poison” AI art generators with Nightshade
The open source "poison pill" tool (as the University of Chicago's press department calls it) alters images in ways invisible to the human eye that can corrupt an AI model's training process. Many image synthesis models, with notable exceptions of those from Adobe and Getty Images, largely use data sets of images scraped from the web without artist permission, which includes copyrighted material. (OpenAI licenses some of its DALL-E training images from Shutterstock.)
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/10/university-of-chicago-researchers-seek-to-poison-ai-art-generators-with-nightshade/
Google Play Games for PC is getting support for 4K and some console game controllers
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Google is adding some new features to the Google Play Games Beta on PC, its service that lets you play Android games on a PC, including support for 4K screen resolution on “supported monitors” and for popular console gaming controllers. Google detailed the updates in a blog post from Arjun Dayal, Google Play Games’ director of product.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/23/23928877/google-play-games-pc-4k-game-controllers-clash-of-clans-royale