#Technology PR Services

[namankumar123]

Best Tech PR Firm In India

MediagraphicsPR specializes in technology PR, offering tailored public relations services for tech and IT companies. We help innovative brands amplify their message, gain media coverage, and establish authority in the tech industry.

[carmine2023pr]

Technology PR Agency in Mumbai | Thane | Carmine

Carmine simplifies Technology PR Agency in Mumbai, with innovative strategies to enhance your brand's visibility and market reach. Our expert team crafts impactful campaigns that connect with your audience and deliver measurable results. Trusted by leading tech companies, we focus on driving growth and long-term success for brands in Mumbai and beyond. Let’s build your story together!

[thekollab]

Web3 Influencer Agency for Scalable Growth – The KOLLAB

The KOLLAB is a top-tier Web3 Influencer Agency connecting blockchain, NFT, and DeFi brands with powerful KOLs. Our Web3 influencer agency drives real results through targeted campaigns, community engagement, and creator-led storytelling. Partner with The KOLLAB to grow your Web3 project with trusted voices and authentic digital influence.

[sugarcream-sims]

ISSUE 2 | LEGACY

<< PREV | NEXT >> TRANSCRIPT BELOW

We have another exclusive with Iris Liddell of Liddell Genomics, and as always, I consider myself privileged to breathe the same air… it’s truly humbling to stand in your illustrious presence.

IRIS LIDDELL: You honor me.

Of course, you’re here today to discuss more than your own accomplishments, incredible as they are.

LIDDELL: Please, my good sir. My company’s market domination would never have been possible without the work of the founder of Liddell Genomics, Alice Liddell. Or indeed the work of my direct predecessor, former CEO Elise Liddell, who oversaw the merger with Hinagiku Robotics…

Before she mysteriously vanished a decade ago, as I recall.

LIDDELL: Unsolved to this very day.

It must have been very difficult for you, losing your mother at such a tender age…

LIDDELL: Oh, not at all.

As resilient as one would expect, from the heiress of the company that some say rules the world.

LIDDELL: My, my. People do say the most curious things… LG may provide life-extending healthcare for upwards of 97% of government officials in the first world, but we prefer to stay out of politics.

An impressive figure, to be sure! On that note, we’d like to ask about your upcoming biographical film, the Liddell Legacy, set to release across all streaming services on February 13th.

LIDDELL: Go right ahead.

Until this point, details about the Liddells have been very sparse, limited to matters of public record and biographic blurbs from your PR department… what made you decide to so freely share information about your life, and the lives of your two predecessors?

LIDDELL: The short and sweet answer is that I believe the public has a right to know. LG cares for the people of this world from the point they’re first laid down in their cradles, to the time they enter their graves. We maintain the very largest collection of personal data ever put to record; highly detailed dossiers. Why shouldn’t our beloved customers get to access me, the same as I access them?

So it’s a matter of reciprocity?

LIDDELL: It’s also about building trust. I want to establish a relationship with all the bright, beautiful consumers of LG gene therapies. I am not merely the architect of your destinies, shaping your resistance to cancers and diseases, granting you all the bodies of your dreams. I am also your close, personal friend.

I feel closer to you already!

LIDDELL: I am so very happy to hear that.

Moving along, I have to say, one of the subjects I’m the most excited to learn about is the founder of Liddell Genomics, Alice Liddell. She created the company from the ground up, humbly using her vast inheritance in pursuit of her passion for genetic perfection… only to step down from the throne of her genemod empire a scant decade later. In terms of historical significance, Alice Liddell is comparable to the great conquerors of the ancient world, but we know more about Alexander the Great or Napoleon than the woman who created the company that doubled the human lifespan & cured the common cold.

LIDDELL: A lack of documentation that our film seeks to correct.

I don’t want to ask for spoilers, but what are you willing to tell our readers now?

LIDDELL: I can say that the focus of the film will not only illuminate much of what went on behind the curtain here at Liddell Genomics during its grand and tumultuous creation, but also bring to light the deeply private details of the personal lives of my predecessors… withholding nothing.

Details like what exactly the Founder gets up to, these days…?

LIDDELL: I’m aware of the rumors, good sir. We don’t need to play coy.

Ah, you found me out.

LIDDELL: Ask your burning question.

Is it true that Alice Liddell was placed in cryostasis, around the end of her reign?

LIDDELL: …yes. It was her will.

So the rumor is true? That’s incredible!

LIDDELL: At the time, our anti-aging technology was somewhat more primitive. Foremost in the Founder’s thoughts, after securing LG’s grip on the private health market and cloning herself an heir, was ensuring her own youth would spring abundant and eternal.

So the genemod mogul Alice Liddell was as afraid of aging as anyone…

LIDDELL: To the world, she was the tech tycoon who forged a new era in blood, with ruthless business acumen. To me, she was Grandmother. A playful and dreamy woman, often lost in her own imagination, desiring nothing more or less than to vanish into her sweet and simple dreams.

So it’s more involved than just being put on ice.

LIDDELL: That’s correct. Just as she outlined in her personal designs, she’s been placed in a cryostatic slumber. The exact details are proprietary, but much of her natural bioliquid is drained through dialysis, and replaced with a potent cocktail of freeze-resistant artificial blood and neurostims. While her heart might only beat once per minute, her brain is quite active in REM.

She really is dreaming…

LIDDELL: It’s my own dearest dream to ensure that her dream continues unabated, weaving into perpetuity.

Eternal life?

LIDDELL: As near as the billions of credits generated by Liddell Genomics will allow. We’re further refining the process of life extension every day. So you see, good sir, that what might at first blush appear to be the story of an autocratic tech giant dominating the global health market… is actually the gentle and relatable tale, of a family seeking to fulfill the dream of their beloved Grandmother to remain joyful and beautiful at any expense.

It’s what anyone with a heart and billions of credits at their disposal would do.

LIDDELL: It’s part of why I’m so proud to share our story with the masses.

“THE LIDDELL LEGACY” IS COMING TO STREAMING SERVICES FEB 13. DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY FROM BULLETBANK & RECEIVE LIDDELL GENOMICS GENEMOD COUPONS!

<< PREV | NEXT >>

[fereldanwench]

ARASAKA ADVANCED SOLDIER SYSTEMS

⚠️ do not reupload or edit my shots without my permission ⚠️

These were inspired by a few other images. This Arasaka advert from the game:

Which reminded me of the cover render for the first Tomb Raider game on the Game Boy Color (highly underrated TR title btw):

Which then reminded me of this PR render for Legend:

I've always had a lowkey fascination with futuristic/sci-fi jungle settings--Not like full sci-fi advanced society in the jungle, like Aya in MEA (although I like that, too), or post-apocalyptic nature-has-taken-over vibe, but like mixing the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the tech of Bladerunner. If that makes any sense at all?

I don't know how to explain it exactly, but that Arasaka advert hits the mark pretty much 100%. I just really love the creative possibilities with the juxtaposition of modern/slightly advanced technology against something wild and ancient but it's all still very rooted in human civilization.

Anyway, I think Goro's service in the special forces probably took him to some pretty interesting locations, and this was also kind of musing on those prospects, too. (Although he'd obviously be younger, but whatever. Details.)

[mariacallous]

What would a force hostile to the United States—a nation whose power has been the envy of the world for more than seven decades—do if it were able to set up an influential pipeline for policy ideas directly to the White House? Or, better yet, if it could somehow burrow into the mind of its president?

With so many points of U.S. strength, it is hard to know where to begin. One might start by fanning a backlash against the long-standing, if halting, trend in U.S. society toward inclusiveness, which has gradually sought to bring disfavored groups into the fold of the country’s prosperity. This might include waging a war against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives—one that, in its most Orwellian dimension, would extend to policing the use of words such as “bias,” “privilege,” and “equality” in government agencies.

One might pull the rug out from under a country sitting on the doorstop of Washington’s long-standing European allies, which has suffered invasion and continued assault from a revanchist autocracy bent on expansion. For instance, one might shy away from identifying Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine and sometimes blame the latter for the conflict, all while conceding major Russian war aims even before the start of peace negotiations.

One might criticize European democracies such as Germany for not providing more space to extreme-right political parties that have openly flirted with ideology reminiscent of the Nazis. Or one might disparage longtime friends and democratic allies, from Canada to Japan, saying that they are cheating the United States, imposing high tariffs on them, and demanding that they pay for the security protection they get from Washington.

One might ravage the staff and budget of the Internal Revenue Service, the body that collects the taxes that fund the government, while passing budget resolutions that will provide large tax breaks to the wealthy—all but ensuring massive increases in future budget deficits. While doing so, one might insinuate that Social Security—a pillar of the U.S. political compact since the Great Depression—is being fleeced by millions of phantom super-centenarians, whose relatives cheat the system by collecting benefit checks long after their deaths.

One might withdraw from United Nations bodies such as the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, thus ceding influence to countries that make no pretense of respecting human dignity and freedom, and ending U.S. leadership in combatting diseases that threaten people worldwide.

One might try to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides technical assistance and funding to much poorer countries to boost their economic development while also bolstering U.S. soft power.

One might liquidate the country’s international broadcasting capacity, ending the delivery of relatively objective news to hundreds of millions of people who live under dictatorships, including in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.

One might seek to hinder the development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind while pushing the acceleration of fossil fuel production, not only ensuring huge environmental damage, but also ceding U.S. leadership in a sector that is vital to future wealth and competition.

Why stop there, though? One could move to weaken a body such as the National Institutes of Health, which has long been a major force in the United States’ world-leading medical research, or even take a swipe at one its biggest recent triumphs: the breakneck development of the mRNA vaccine technology that helped the United States become a global leader in limiting the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are so many ideas for how to sap Washington’s strength that one could imagine fatigue setting in among those charged with manning the pipeline to the president imagined at the outset of this column. But it turns out that U.S. President Donald Trump does not even need such a unit. And there is little sign of his administration slowing down its efforts to sap the country’s vitality. His team’s other ideas involve hindering nuclear safety and research for nuclear energy and weapons, degrading the country’s ability to monitor or even discuss global warming, and defunding weather forecasts. There are many more.

With a list as prodigious as this, it has taken me too long to get to perhaps the brightest, and most insidious, idea of all for bringing the United States down to the status of an average power: pursuing a campaign of destruction against the country’s world-leading universities. The Trump administration is already carrying this out on several fronts, with little sign that most Americans are concerned about or even aware of what is happening.

This campaign was signaled in advance by hostile rhetoric from conservatives such as Vice President J.D. Vance. Even before he was elected, Vance, himself a product of elite education, spoke of U.S. higher education as “the enemy.” Since Trump returned to office, his government has acted accordingly. It has moved to undercut federal support for university-based research, tightened visa access for international students, and made U.S. campuses a priority area in its war against diversity. Potentially most damaging of all, it has weaponized the idea of antisemitism as a tool to extend the government’s political control into university departments and classrooms.

Full disclosure: I have been a professor at Columbia University—ground zero for much of this campaign—for nearly two decades. Protests on my campus over Israel’s offensive tactics in Gaza have been the pretext for much of this; now, the Trump administration practically equates criticism of Israel with legally punishable antisemitism.

I lived and taught through the period of campus protests, and it is my sense that they were overwhelmingly peaceful, but I would never rule out the possibility that Jewish students were sometimes made to feel uncomfortable by the signs, slogans, or even taunts of some individual protestors. However, this should not be used to justify restricting one of the most vital U.S. freedoms and the essence of the country’s culture of excellence in higher education: free speech.

By arresting and seeking to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate and legal permanent resident of the United States, for participating in these protests, the administration has revealed its hand and shown that its war on education and war on speech are fundamentally intertwined. Not only has Khalil never been charged with a crime, but in interviews, Department of Homeland Security officials have been unable to clearly explain his alleged offense.

The punishments and supposed remedies run together. The Trump administration has canceled $400 million in government funding to Columbia unless the university fulfills a series of wildly unreasonable demands. This includes the requirement that Columbia’s department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies be placed under “receivership,” which would remove oversight of the department from its faculty.

“We’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. It’s been coming and coming, and not everybody is prepared to read it that way,” Lee Bollinger, Columbia’s longtime former president, said last week. “Our problem in part is a failure of imagination. We cannot get ourselves to see how this is going to unfold in its most frightening versions. You neutralize the branches of government; you neutralize the media; you neutralize the universities, and you’re on your way.”

Although routinely unacknowledged as such, the country’s universities are the crown jewel in its entire democratic system. Some, such as Harvard University, are considerably older than the nation itself. But more than that, the United States’ sense of itself—of law, of science, of the humanities—flows from its campuses and their great tradition of academic freedom, including free speech. This is also true of the United States’ economic, technological, and military prowess.

Universities have been able to buttress U.S. leadership largely because of their pull on ambitious people from all over the world, many of whom have fervently embraced U.S. ideals, becoming naturalized as citizens or spreading democratic values overseas. The powerful force that attracts them is built on more than individual hopes of wealth, or even of personal achievement. It is built on freedom, and once that ultimate value—practically an American brand—is destroyed, it may never be restored.

[astroismypassion]

✨PART OF FORTUNE IN SIGNS AND HOUSES SERIES: 10TH HOUSE✨

Credit: Tumblr blog @astroismypassion

ARIES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aries and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via marketing or work in dynamic and fast-paced industries, via coaching, sports management, fitness entrepreneurship, coaching and mentoring services in connection with career development, leadership skills, personal empowerment, via work in innovation management, technology development, product development, especially emerging industries. You find abundance when you are bold, take risks, focus on ambitious goals, cultivate independence, build a strong public image and when you embrace leadership qualities.

TAURUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Taurus and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via work in finance, banking, investment, wealth management. Or via working as a realtor, property manager, real estate developer, via curating, selling or managing art collections, working as a chef, restaurateur or food critic. You find abundance in work in hospitality (managing hotels, resorts, spas), via work in landscape architecture or gardening, interior design, or as a performer, producer or manager, through farming, agricultural management or sustainable food production or creating an eco-friendly business. You feel abundant when you are focused on stability, value quality, when you are patient and persistent.

GEMINI PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Gemini and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via work as a journalist, writer, editor, public relations, marketing, working as PR specialist, brand manager, social media strategist, work as a teacher, lecturer, educational content creator, via writing content for blogs, websites or online platforms connected with technology, lifestyle, business. You find abundance when you write books (fiction or non-fiction), via work in technology sector, via technical writing, UX writing or product management, via event planning and work as a sales representative, account manager or business strategist. You feel abundant when you network actively, when you keep learning and embrace versatility.

CANCER PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Cancer and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via work in healthcare as a nurse, doctor or therapist, work in interior design or home décor, helping others create comfortable and nurturing spaces, work as a chef, baker or food critic, via handmade furniture, textiles or pottery, engaging in childcare, daycare management or family support services, via work in real estate, helping families find their ideal home. You feel abundant when you use emotional intelligence, emphasize nurturing and care.

LEO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Leo and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via pursuing a career in acting on stage, in film or on television, working as a musician, singer or performer, via directing or producing theatrical productions, films or TV shows, work in television, radio or digital broadcasting, you could work as a host, anchor or presenter, designer, stylist, model, painter, sculptor or graphic designer.

VIRGO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Virgo and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via offering personalized health and wellness service. You can offer remote fitness coaching, such as offering personalized fitness plans and virtual training sessions. You could work in mental health professions, like counselling or psychology, work as a nutritionist, dietitian, work as a proofreader or editor, work with biology, chemistry, environmental science, mathematics or with language or having an IT role (system analysis, IT support or cybersecurity). You feel abundant when you develop organizational skills, use analytical skills and when you seek structured environments.

LIBRA PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Libra and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via offering dance classes, via work in art curation, gallery management or the fines arts, helping to showcase and promote artists and their work, via a career in human resources, focusing on employee relations, conflict resolution, via talent management, recruitment or career coaching. You feel abundant when you work in fashion design, graphic design, visual arts, brand management and marketing. You feel abundant when you aim for balance and harmony, emphasize fairness and justice.

SCORPIO PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Scorpio and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via forensic accounting, crisis counselling or support services, via a career in scientific research, forensic science, medical research, psychology, surgery, oncology, energy healing, finance, technology or wellness, via art therapy and filmmaking. You feel abundant when you embrace transformation, healing, use psychological insight, when you pursue authority and expertise.

SAGITTARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Sagittarius and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via travel blogging, vlogging or becoming a travel consultant. You find abundance via academic research, publishing, by becoming a travel consultant, tour guide, work in the tourism industry, work connected with educational, human rights and cultural exchange, via career as a spiritual teacher, counsellor, life coach, via theological or philosophical work, writing or teaching. You feel abundant when you cultivate optimism or enthusiasm, seek global or cultural perspectives, pursue knowledge or education and embrace exploration and travel.

CAPRICORN PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Capricorn Sun people in your life. You find abundance via work as a financial advisor or analyst, accounting, as a property developer, manager or investor, via work in property management, overseeing rental properties, commercial spaces or large residential complexes, via civil engineering, work in educational administration (school or college management). You feel abundant when you focus on long-term goals and value pragmatism and responsibility.

AQUARIUS PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Aquarius and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via buying and selling collectibles (stamps, coins, vintage items), creating eco-friendly products or services (zero-waste goods, sustainable fashion). You may also find abundance in esports coaching by offering coaching services for aspiring professional gamers. You feel abundant via work in scientific research, in fields like physics, astronomy, biotechnology and environmental science, work in roles focused on research and development, via digital marketing. You feel abundant when you are pursuing unconventional paths, via networking with like-minded individuals and align with social causes.

PISCES PART OF FORTUNE IN THE 10TH HOUSE

You feel the most abundant when you have Pisces and Capricorn Sun people in your life. You can earn money via work in music as a composer, musician or performer, via a career in painting, illustration, sculpture or other visual arts, via hospice work, via work in non-profit sector, focusing on causes related to humanitarian aid, environmental conservation or social justice, work in hospitality, such as hotel management or event planning, via cultural exchange, guided tours or spiritual retreats. You feel abundant when you embrace your creative talents, cultivate compassion and empathy, when you explore spiritual and esoteric interests and when you focus on meaningful impact.

Credit: Tumblr blog @astroismypassion

[tomorrowusa]

It's the media, stupid!

No, I'm not talking about specifics of various news media outlets or nitpicking about particular stories or attitudes. The problem is the vast overall state of the media environment in the United States.

Kate Riga is on target with her blog entry at TMP. (emphasis added)

Democrats Just Can’t Compete In This Media Environment

[T]here’s one leading factor that Democrats absolutely need to respond to as quickly as possible to avert this kind of electoral disaster in the future: the media environment unequivocally favors Republicans. We don’t have a ton of data yet, and much of it is partial. But we can already tell that Harris performed best — that is, underperformed least — in the battleground states. In the places where her campaign flooded the airwaves with her messaging, put her on TV shows and radio stations and in local newspapers, scattered driveways with information flyers, positioned her beside local celebrities, she improved on the repudiation of Democrats that infected nearly every other state. In other words: In the states where she set up a temporary but pervasive media apparatus, she negated some of the nationwide drag. That speaks to the reality that most of the country is awash in right-wing propaganda all the time. For the olds, it’s Fox News and conservative radio; for the youths, it’s the right-wing manosphere podcasts and streams that Trump so assiduously courted all campaign long (plus soothing TikToks promoting retrograde gender roles, evangelical values and distrust of government regulation — think the trad wives and crunchy so-far-left-they’ve-looped-around-to-the-right content — aimed specifically at women). It helps explain Biden’s prodigious unpopularity, despite passing a ton of legislation that not only polls well, but has meaningfully improved people’s lives. It helps elucidate the consistent claims that people don’t know what Harris stood for, before and after she released her policy proposals. It’s a playing field that Republicans not only dominate; Democrats don’t even compete. They still depend heavily on traditional media sources that simply don’t operate the same way these right-wing PR arms do. And we know that these forms of media are powerful; they reach tons of people, and are seen as useful enough pawns that Russia has invested in some of them. This isn’t a novel observation. The Obama alums who started Pod Save America and the greater Crooked Media family did so after Trump won in 2016 specifically to try to build up a Fox News of the left. There are structural problems with mimicking this right-wing content beat-for-beat. The Pod Save guys, while open about their political allegiances, often criticize the party and its politicians. It would be much more difficult to recreate the fawning adoration of Donald Trump Fox News and those podcasts produce for, say, Joe Biden on the left. It requires creativity and investment, but I think Democrats and those aligned with them could do it. Voters say over and over that they prefer Democratic policies — even Republicans often vote for them when they’re standalone ballot initiatives. It’ll require a cultivation of talent, a saturation of these spaces, finagling how to wrest back the counter-cultural bad boy persona from those who are espousing a way of life most people consider retrograde, confining, divisive and exhausting, not to mention solely in service of the plutocratic elites that run the party. Obama was such a revelation because he hijacked technology in a way that was new and exciting for people, and it helped him micro-target low propensity voters. Trump has since taken that mantle. In the two and then four years ahead, Democrats have to find a way to get in people’s eyes and ears, to figure out how to make an affirmative case in these spaces that people would likely respond to if they were exposed to it.

It's not just Fox News – which is bad enough by itself. There are the rightwing talk radio stations dating back to the 1980s. They joined Christian fundamentalist stations which had been pushing social conservative positions since the 1930s. And now there are countless bro types who talk rightwing shit for hours at a time on their podcasts.

Apart from Obama's skillful use of social media when it was still new, Democrats have fallen behind with digital media. Most recently, Elon Musk bought Twitter simply to use it as a propaganda machine. Facebook and its sister sites like Instagram use algorithms which promote rightwing talking points.

There had been attempts to set up liberal talk radio. But they have been sporadic and met with mixed success. Al Franken set up a liberal radio network called Air America Radio in 2004. But it had only modest reach on mostly medium powered stations and ultimately filed for bankruptcy during the Great Recession.

We need to increase our news and information footprint in a major way and on multiple media platforms – and fast. Obviously that takes money and business talent. So if you find yourself next to Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, or Michael Bloomberg on a flight or in an elevator, have your pitch ready. If that doesn't happen, we need to start raising money on our own. Nobody said that freedom is free.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 7, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

May 08, 2025

Alarm appears to be rising about how the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is consolidating data about Americans. Hannah Natanson, Joseph Menn, Lisa Rein, and Rachel Siegel wrote in the Washington Post today that DOGE is “racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents.” In the past, that information has been carefully siloed, and there are strict laws about accessing it. But under billionaire Elon Musk, who appears to direct DOGE although the White House has said he does not, operatives who may not have appropriate security clearances are removing protections and linking data.

There are currently at least eleven lawsuits underway claiming that DOGE has violated the 1974 Privacy Act regulating who can access information about American citizens stored by the federal government.

Musk and President Donald Trump, as well as other administration officials, claim that such consolidation of data is important to combat “waste, fraud, and abuse,” although so far they have not been able to confirm any such savings and their cuts are stripping ordinary Americans of programs they depend on. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told the Washington Post reporters that DOGE’s processes are protected by “some of the brightest cybersecurity minds in the nation” and that “every action taken is fully compliant with the law.”

Cybersecurity experts outside the administration disagree that a master database is secure or safe, as DOGE is bypassing normal safeguards, including neglecting to record who has accessed or changed database information. The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s Kennedy School explains that data can be altered or manipulated to redirect funds, for example, and that there is substantial risk that data can be hacked or leaked. It can be used to commit fraud or retaliate against individuals.

The Ash Center also explains that U.S. government data is an extraordinarily valuable treasure trove for anyone trying to train artificial intelligence systems. Most of the data currently available is from the internet and is thus messy and unreliable. Government databases are “comprehensive, verified records about the most critical areas of Americans’ lives.” Access to that data gives a company “significant advantages” in training systems and setting business strategies. Americans have not given consent for their data to be used in this way, and it leaves them open to “loss of services, harassment, discrimination, or manipulation by the government, private entities, or foreign powers.”

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo suggests Musk’s faith in his AI company is at least part of what’s behind the administration’s devastating cuts to biomedical research. Those who believe in a future centered around AI believe that it will be far more effective than human research scientists, so cutting actual research is efficient. At the same time, Marshall suggests, tech oligarchs find the years-long timelines of actual research and the demands of scientists on peer reviews and careful study frustrating, as they want to put their ideas into practice quickly.

If the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is an example of what it looks like when a tech oligarch tries to run a government agency, it’s a cautionary tale. Under Trump the FAA has become entangled with Musk’s SpaceX space technology company and its subsidiary Starlink satellite company, and it appears that the American people are being used to make Musk’s dream come true.

Musk believes that humans must colonize Mars in order to become a multiplanetary species as insurance against the end of life on Earth. On Monday he explained to Jesse Watters of the Fox News Channel that eventually the Earth will be incinerated by an expanding sun, so humans must move to other planets to survive. In 2016, Musk predicted that humans would start landing on Mars in 2025, but in the Watters interview he revised his prediction to possibly 2029 but more likely 2031.

Critics note that while it is true the sun is expanding, the change is not expected to affect the Earth for another 5 billion years. As a frame of reference, humans evolved from their predecessors about 300,000 years ago.

But getting to Mars requires lots of leeway to experiment, and Musk turned against the head of the FAA under President Joe Biden, Mike Whitaker, after Whitaker called for Musk’s SpaceX company to be fined $633,009 over safety and environmental violations. Musk complained that the FAA’s environmental and safety requirements were “unreasonable and exasperating” and that they “undercut American industry’s ability to innovate.” Musk continued: “The fundamental problem is that humanity will forever be confined to Earth unless there is radical reform at the FAA!”

Musk endorsed an employee’s complaint on social media that Whitaker required SpaceX “to consult on minor paperwork updates relating to previously approved non-safety issues that have already been determined to have zero environmental impact,” reposting it with the comment: “He needs to resign.” Musk spent almost $300 million to get Trump elected, and Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office.

That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”

Today Lori Aratani of the Washington Post reported that in February, shortly after the deadly collision of an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter in the airspace over Washington, D.C., administration officials also stopped the work of an outside panel of experts examining the country’s air traffic control system.

After President Trump blamed the crash on diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices, career officials quit in disgust, according to Isaac Stanley-Becker of The Atlantic. As they left, an engineer from Musk’s SpaceX satellite company arrived. He had instructions from Musk to insert equipment from Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, into the FAA’s communications network. On the social media platform X, Musk warned that the existing communications system for the FAA “is breaking down very rapidly” and was “putting air traveler safety at risk.” In fact, the government had awarded a 15-year, $2.4 billion contract to Verizon in 2023 to make the necessary upgrades.

Starlink ties into Musk’s plans for Mars. In November 2024, SpaceX pitched NASA on creating Marslink, a version of Starlink that would link to Mars, and Starlink’s current terms of service specify that disputes over service on or around the planet Earth or the Moon will be governed by the laws of Texas but that “[f]or Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.”

In early March, debris from the explosion of one of Musk’s SpaceX starships disrupted 240 flights. On April 28, air traffic controllers lost both radio and radar contact with the pilots who were flying planes into Newark, New Jersey, Liberty International Airport, for about 90 seconds. In the aftermath of the incident, aircraft traffic in and out of Newark was halted, and four experienced controllers and one trainee took medical leave for trauma.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former Fox Business host, suggested the Biden administration was to blame for the decaying system. His predecessor as transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, dismissed the accusation as “just politics,” noting that he had launched the modernization of the systems and reversed decades of declining numbers of air traffic controllers.

On Monday the White House fired Alvin Brown, the Black vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the agency that investigates civilian aviation accidents. Former FAA and NTSB investigator Jeff Guzzetti told Christopher Wiggins of The Advocate: “This is the first time in modern history that the White House has removed a board member.”

Musk has the power of the United States government behind him. In December, Trump nominated Musk associate and billionaire Jared Isaacman to become the next head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Senate has not yet confirmed Isaacman, but the Republican-dominated Senate Commerce Committee advanced his nomination last week. The president’s proposed budget, released Friday, calls for cutting about 25% of NASA’s funding—about $6 billion—and giving $1 billion of the money remaining to initiatives focused on Mars.

Yesterday the FAA granted permission for SpaceX to increase the number of rocket launches it attempts from Boca Chica, Texas, from 5 to 25 per year after concluding that additional launches would have “no significant impact” on the environment near the launchpad. The first test of a SpaceX rocket launch there in 2023 caused the launchpad to explode, and the spaceship itself blew up, sending chunks of concrete into the nesting and migration site of an endangered species and starting a 3.5-acre fire. In their hurry to rebuild, SpaceX officials ignored permitting processes. According to Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency, the company then violated environmental regulations by releasing pollutants into bodies of water.

Musk is trying to make Starlink dominate the Earth’s communications, a dominance that would give him enormous power, as he suggested last month when he noted that Ukraine’s “entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” In April, Trump delayed the rural broadband program in what appeared to be an attempt to shift the program toward Starlink, and today Tom Perkins of The Guardian reported that the administration is going to end federal research into space pollution, which is building up alarmingly in the stratosphere owing in part to Musk’s satellites.

Today Jeff Stein and Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post reported that the administration has been telling nations that want to talk about trade that it will consider “licensing Starlink” as a demonstration of “goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.” India, among other nations, has rushed through approvals of the satellite company. Just 1% of India’s consumer broadband market could produce almost $1 billion a year, the authors report.

In a statement, the State Department told Stein and Natanson: “Starlink is an American-made product that has been game-changing in helping remote areas around the world gain internet connectivity. Any patriotic American should want to see an American company’s success on the global stage, especially over compromised Chinese competitors.”

The attempt to gain control over artificial intelligence and human communication networks regardless of the cost to ordinary Americans might have a larger theme. As technology forecaster Paul Saffo points out, tech oligarchs led by technology guru Curtis Yarvin have called for a new world order that rejects the nation states around which humans have organized their societies for almost 400 years. They call instead for “network states” organized around technology that permits individuals to group around a leader in cyberspace without reference to real-world boundaries, a position Starlink’s terms of service appear to reflect.

Mastering artificial intelligence while dominating global communications would go a long way toward breaking down existing nations and setting up the conditions for a brave new world, dominated by tech oligarchs.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[the-cosmos-foundation]

Hello, Worlds!

We bid thee welcome to the official Rotomblr blog of the Cosmos Foundation, a multiversal-focused study advocacy group and think tank for the applications of what our fellows have been capable of beyond the veil.

Our world has long been cut off from the multiverse sans rather sparse moments or through the power of beings of extraordinary powers, and only through recent developments have we been getting signals that allow us to connect with the broader tapestry of creation that spacetime has given us access to. As such, the Cosmos Foundation follows three key tenets:

To advocate for technological growth and development of a more robust, stable connection to other dimensional planes.

To assist and fund efforts in the former through our own research and in bettering the lives of both our fellow man and Pokemon alike.

To push for the uplifting of those that require the help our current systems cannot help in any meaningful way.

We are a group of people dedicated to the improvement of the star we live upon. Those with disabilities here may have more meaningful assistance elsewhere we can draw inspiration from. Technology may be far more advanced, but at achievable levels reached with close examination here. And of course, worlds where Pokemon play an even more integral role that is not simply in service of humanity, but in cooperation with them.

Our main moderation team is threefold: Mods Crescent, Luna and Apogee, all denoted with the appropriate colors you see here! Click their names to get to know us all a bit better!

We hope to get to know you better as we explore the multiverse together!

//Welcome, welcome, one and all to this rousing circus' outlandish call.

I am fully invested in my bullshit, and you're gonna need to find out for yourself whether or not this blog is what it says it is or not~!

Mun's an adult, all mods are adults, this is however an officially-facing PR account for a "Team" of sorts. Whether or not they're closer to something like Team Magma and Plasma, Teams Yell or Skull or even the Aether Foundation is up to you all to find out~!

Have fun harassing the mods, they're all here for the long haul!

[keithmosher2]

Can't Have Nice Things Redux

It seems the Ketamine King did NOT delete the IRS Free Tax Filing System. The Ketamine King intimated he had eliminated all the workers, but an individual with knowledge of the workforce said the system was still up and running.

The service's X account was deleted though.

I have to wonder, if the Ketamine King thought he was deleting the service, but he wasn't, then what the heck did he actually do?

[thekollab]

Blockchain Marketing Agency for Web3 Growth | The KOLLAB

The KOLLAB is a Blockchain Marketing Agency helping decentralized projects build authority and scale impact in Web3. As a crypto-native team, we craft data-driven campaigns, influencer activations, and content strategies tailored for blockchain audiences. Whether you’re launching a protocol or growing a dApp, partner with The KOLLAB to amplify your brand in the blockchain ecosystem.

[nareshkumartech]

How Canadian Licensing Systems Protect Against Identity Fraud

Identity fraud is a growing concern worldwide, and Canada is no exception. As licenses increasingly serve as key forms of identification for banking, travel, and government services, Canadian licensing systems have had to evolve with robust security measures to protect against identity fraud. Whether you are applying for your first license or renewing an existing one, it’s important to understand how these systems work to safeguard your personal information.

1. Advanced Physical Security Features

Modern Canadian driver’s licenses are embedded with multiple physical security features designed to make them extremely difficult to forge or tamper with. These include:

Holographic overlays: Special images that appear when the license is tilted, making duplication extremely difficult.

Microprinting: Very tiny text that is not visible to the naked eye but detectable under magnification, preventing easy reproduction.

Ghost images: A faint second image of the license holder that helps prevent photo swapping.

Raised lettering: Some jurisdictions use raised text that you can feel, adding another layer of protection against fakes.

These built-in technologies make it easy for authorities and businesses to quickly spot a fraudulent license during routine checks.

2. Digital Data Encryption

Canadian licensing systems now store driver data in encrypted databases, making unauthorized access to personal information extremely difficult. When information is transferred — such as when police scan your license or when you renew online — the data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. This ensures that even if someone intercepts the data, it remains useless without the decryption keys.

3. Stringent Identity Verification at Issuance

Before issuing a license, provincial and territorial licensing authorities conduct rigorous identity verification checks. Applicants must present multiple pieces of identification, including:

Proof of legal status in Canada (passport, PR card, visa).

Proof of residency within the province.

Secondary documents such as a birth certificate, citizenship card, or utility bill.

In many cases, cross-checks with federal databases (like immigration records or citizenship status) ensure that the applicant is who they claim to be. Newcomers may also face additional document checks to confirm their eligibility before a license is issued.

4. Real-Time Photo Comparison and Biometrics

When you renew your license or apply for a new one, your photograph is compared with existing photos on record using facial recognition software. This system helps detect cases where someone might be trying to fraudulently assume another person’s identity. In the future, more provinces are planning to expand the use of biometrics, such as fingerprints or iris scans, to further strengthen identification measures.

5. Ongoing Monitoring and Alerts

Canadian licensing systems do not just verify identities at the point of issuance — they continue monitoring afterward. If a license is reported stolen, lost, or involved in suspicious activity, it can be flagged in the system. Law enforcement agencies and border officials have real-time access to these databases, making it harder for stolen or fraudulent licenses to be used undetected.

Additionally, provinces encourage drivers to immediately report lost or stolen licenses to prevent identity theft and ensure the system remains secure.

Canadian licensing authorities are committed to staying ahead of fraudsters by continually updating security features and identity verification processes. Thanks to multi-layered protection — from physical security measures to real-time monitoring — Canadians can trust that their licenses remain a strong line of defense against identity fraud.

For step-by-step guidance on obtaining your driver’s license safely and staying informed about new ID requirements, visit LicensePrep.ca. Their resources make navigating the licensing process simple and secure!

[wisteria-tarot]

please please please do more on Alex turner// id love if you could do one on his soulmate and future spouse, looks, personality, career, age please

Disclaimer: This reading is only for entertainment. Take it with a grain of salt. These are my personal interpretations of the cards with a sprinkle of intuition. Tarot is not set in stone it is not the end all be all of someones life.

What are some tidbits about his future spouse?

4 of swords, ace of pentacles, 7 of wands, 3 of pentacles:

May be someone who knows the importance of taking time for yourself, reflecting, and rejuvenating. May be someone who is ambitious and practical, likely focused on building a secure and prosperous life. They might have a good head for business or be involved in projects that create tangible results. They could be resilient and courageous, facing challenges head-on with confidence. They may thrive in group settings, whether in their career or personal life, and be very supportive of shared goals.

What career will his future spouse have?

the tower, the emperor, 8 of wands, ace of pentacles:

might work in a field that deals with transformation or crisis management, such as emergency services, disaster relief, or even sectors like consulting where they help organizations navigate significant challenges. Might be in a managerial or executive role, possibly in fields like business, government, or law. They might thrive in positions that require strategic planning and decision-making. They may work in a fast-paced environment, possibly in technology, marketing, or communications. They may be involved in ventures that create financial growth, such as entrepreneurship, real estate, or investments. They could also be someone who focuses on tangible results in their work. I personally think that they might be working in PR or something along those lines.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

#20yrsago Audio/transcript from BBC Creative Archive talk https://web.archive.org/web/20060306155902/http://digital-lifestyles.info/media/audio/2004.10.28-BBC-Creative-Archive-Q&A.mp3

#15yrsago Heavy illegal downloaders buy more music https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html

#15yrsago Scenting the Dark: outstanding debut short story collection from Mary Robinette Kowal, exploring our relationship to technology and each other https://memex.craphound.com/2009/11/01/scenting-the-dark-outstanding-debut-short-story-collection-from-mary-robinette-kowal-exploring-our-relationship-to-technology-and-each-other/

#10yrsago Surveillance and stalkers: how the Internet supercharges gendered violence https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahjeong/2014/10/28/surveillance-begins-at-home/

#10yrsago Secret recording of corporate lobbyist is a dirty-tricks playbook https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/politics/pr-executives-western-energy-alliance-speech-taped.html

#10yrsago NZ Trade Minister: we keep TPP a secret to prevent “public debate” https://www.techdirt.com/2014/10/31/new-zealands-trade-minister-admits-they-keep-tpp-documents-secret-to-avoid-public-debate/

#5yrsago Blizzard’s corporate president publicly apologizes for bungling players’ Hong Kong protests, never mentions Hong Kong https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/1/20944022/blizzard-blizzcon-hearthstone-china-hong-kong-response-j-allen-brack

#5yrsago My review of Sandworm: an essential guide to the new, reckless world of “cyberwarfare” https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-11-01/sandworm-andy-greenberg-cybersecurity

#5yrsago Report from a massive Chinese surveillance tech expo, where junk-science “emotion recognition” rules https://twitter.com/suelinwong/status/1190194625572569093

#5yrsago Toronto approves Google’s surveillance city, despite leaks revealing Orwellian plans https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sidewalk-labs-waterfront-toronto-quayside-vote-1.5342294

#5yrsago Chicago teachers declare victory after 11-day strike https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/31/chicago-teachers-strike-union-tentative-agreement-makeup-days/4106271002/

#5yrsago Airbnb’s easily gamed reputation system and poor customer service allow scammers to thrive https://www.vice.com/en/article/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-airbnb/

#5yrsago Suppressed internal emails reveal that the IRS actively helped tax-prep giants suppress Free File https://www.propublica.org/article/the-irs-tried-to-hide-emails-that-show-tax-industry-influence-over-free-file-program

#5yrsago Massive spike in young people registering to vote in the UK https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/01/massive-spike-in-young-people-registering-to-vote-in-the-uk/

#1yrsago Social Security is class war, not intergenerational conflict https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/01/intergenerational-warfare/#five-pound-blocks-of-cheese

[mariacallous]

The recent installation of Elon Musk ally Thomas Shedd atop the federal IT structure has thrown an agency in charge of servicing much of the US government’s technical infrastructure into disarray.

Over the last few days, workers at the Technology Transformation Services (TTS), which is housed within the General Services Administration (GSA), have been summoned into what one source called “sneak attack” meetings to discuss their code and projects with total strangers—some quite young—who lacked official government email addresses and have been reticent to identify themselves. TTS workers have also received confusing transition guidance and a sudden DC office visit from Musk.

It was announced last week that Shedd, who previously worked as a software engineer for eight years at Tesla, Musk’s electric car company, would be the new TTS director. In emails to TTS staff, Shedd reinforced the Trump administration’s commitment to cutting costs and maximizing efficiency—something Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has been charged with carrying out.

“I’ve spent my entire career in Silicon Valley,” Shedd wrote in an introductory email to staff last Thursday and obtained by WIRED. “If we work together and execute well we will be able to navigate the policies, leverage our technical expertise and be a critical part of accelerating technology adoption across agencies to enable great gains in efficiency.”

TTS helps develop the platforms and tools that underpin many government services, including analytics tools and API plugins that agencies can use to deploy tech faster. This means that the group has access to troves of government data and systems across agencies. That access is useful for standardizing the many, not always interoperable, systems that the federal government uses, but could also provide invaluable information to a private company or be weaponized against government employees and citizens.

Early Wednesday morning, rumors began to spread at TTS that employees would be receiving surprise one-on-one meeting notifications from management. During these brief meetings, employees would, according to a staff email that Shedd sent later on Tuesday, be asked to identify their biggest “wins” and the most significant “blockers” preventing them from working as efficiently as possible. The email linked to a Google Form questionnaire for employees to fill out ahead of their scheduled meetings. The invites included people without official GSA email accounts who were using Gmail addresses as well as official government accounts, multiple sources told WIRED.

“These should be items that you completed,” a screenshot of the form obtained by WIRED said. “It is OK to have a mix of big projects and small wins (examples: fixed a critical bug, shipped XYZ feature, saved this amount on a renegotiated contract, ect [sic] … If you are an engineer or designer please include a link to a PR [pull request] or a screenshot of one of your wins from the past 3 months.”

The email is reminiscent of one that Musk sent early in his Twitter days, demanding that employees email a one-page description of what they had accomplished the previous month and how it differed from their goals.

Rather than convening with Shedd in these meetings, TTS employees were instead surprised to be met with people they had never seen or worked with before.

“It was a very confusing call because I expected to be meeting you, and I was instead met by two people reluctant to identify themselves,” one TTS employee told Shedd in an open Slack channel, one of several reviewed by WIRED. “They had not seen the information I submitted in my form, so I was left trying to explain things without the visuals/links I had submitted,” one wrote.

“Also had the same exact experience,” another employee added. “The individual I had met with had no idea about the google form I submitted and when I did reference it, I was met with avoidance.”

In a Slack message to TTS staff on Thursday morning viewed by WIRED, Shedd apologized for the vague and sudden meeting invites, and for including unnamed individuals in the meetings who joined with Gmail addresses.

“They are each in the onboarding process of obtaining a GSA laptop and PIV card. I take full responsibility for the actions of each of them in the calls. I’ve asked them to start the calls with their first name and confirming that they are an advisor to me,” Shedd said in a screenshot of the Slack message viewed by WIRED.

Shedd told employees that the people on the calls were “vetted by me, and invited into the call.” He said they were physically present with him at the GSA headquarters, and that he had “badged them all into the building.” This implies that those joining the calls did not currently have official government IDs issued to agency staff.

At least two of these individuals appeared to be “college students with disturbingly high A-suite clearance,” one TTS source told WIRED. (A-suite clearances tie employees to the GSA administrator’s office.)

One person says they were brought into a review with Edward Coristine, a recent high school graduate who spent several months at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface company, whom WIRED has previously identified as a person working at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and reporting directly to its new chief of staff, the former xAI employee Amanda Scales. He has not responded to requests for comment from WIRED, and OPM has declined to comment.

“We do not have any additional personnel announcements at this time.” a GSA spokesperson told WIRED on Thursday.

It’s typical for TTS workers to work in tandem with other agencies across government, with many of their projects containing data external to GSA and subject to sensitivity agreements. Being required to share specific technical achievements, though, spooked some employees who feared they could breach these agreements.

“The team is correct in feeling nervous sharing details about other agencies in these calls and should continue to follow the normal guidance which is to not share sensitive information,” Shedd wrote in the GSA Slack on Thursday. “The point of these calls is to talk through interesting example problems/wins and dig into how that win was realized. A chance for you to brag about how you solved a problem.”

This week, it appears that TTS has become the primary target of these meetings, but members of the US Digital Services—which a Trump executive order has rebranded as Musk’s DOGE—also met with management to go over their recent work last week. The DOGE meetings were conducted similarly in structure to the TTS ones, according to The Washington Post.

Like many other agencies, GSA has been making changes to DEI initiatives that have put workers on edge. On January 23, TTS deputy director Mukunda Penugonde announced that as part of the GSA’s new initiative to curtail DEIA programs, the agency would be shutting down its “Diversity Guild meeting series” and the “#g-diversity Slack channel effective today,” in an email reviewed by WIRED.

Musk was seen at the GSA office near the White House on Thursday, but it’s unclear what he was doing there. Shedd was scheduled to lead a meeting with around 40 TTS program supervisors Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday, WIRED reported that Musk has been telling his friends that he’s been sleeping at the DOGE office in DC.

Of all parts of the government, TTS, perhaps even more so than DOGE, is well positioned to get inside agencies’ technology and data, including government spending data, explaining why it’s such a focus for the new administration.

“TTS represents the consolidation of 20-plus years of tech and data expertise, brought together by the hard work of hundreds (if not thousands) of civil servants,” Noah Kunin, a cofounder of 18F, a team of designers and engineers within the GSA that help government agencies build and deploy new tech products, and a former infrastructure director at GSA, tells WIRED. “They have the products, platforms, and people to do this work right, within the confines of current law, and fast.”