Harmony Evans's Blog, page 602
December 13, 2023
Rumble sues two people connected to Media Matters on heels of X suit
Online video platform Rumble is cracking down on Media Matters with a new lawsuit targeting people connected to the left-leaning website.
The suit from the video-sharing platform, popular with free speech advocates, alleges the non-profit media watchdog group engaged in misleading and unethical practices to damage its business.
The lawsuit filed on Nov 29, centers around Media Matters’ alleged strategy of repeatedly refreshing controversial videos on sites it aims to take down to capture major brand advertisements running adjacent to the content.
According to Rumble’s recent court filings, two individuals who run ‘Check my ads’ created fake profiles, sought out objectionable user-uploaded videos, and refreshed the pages multiple times until they could capture screenshots showing ads from high-profile brands next to the offending content. The data they collected was then used by Media Matters to call on big brands to avoid Rumble.
THREAD: Rumble is suing two individual Plaintiffs who run “Check my Ads” in connection with Media Matters. They are seeking punitive damages and an injunction to stop their conduct, among other things.
This will be my ongoing thread analyzing this lawsuit. Please bookmark it,… pic.twitter.com/QrKnx5w6JQ
— Tracy Beanz (@tracybeanz) December 12, 2023
Rumble said this strategy caused some brands, including Netflix, to pull their advertising spending on its platform after Media Matters showed them the controversially placed ads. The video platform called the tactics “unethical” and said the two defendants Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin deliberately tried to damage sites it deemed controversial by orchestrating the ad placements.
Rumble’s legal action comes on the heels of the group’s parent company, X Corp, filing what owner CEO Elon Musk called a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against Media Matters last month. X Corp alleged Media Matters executed a similar “refresh” tactic on its platform to capture brand ads next to antisemitic content.
The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2023
The lawsuit claims Media Matters then showed the screenshots to companies like Apple and IBM to prompt them to suspend their advertising partnerships with X Corp.
X Corp said Media Matters’ actions suppressed its free speech rights. Legal experts project X Corp may seek billions of dollars in damages from the media group.
Between the high-profile lawsuits from internet media giants Rumble and X Corp, Media Matters faces growing scrutiny and liability over its controversial editorial tactics. The non-profit will need to answer for its allegedly unethical practices in court in the months ahead.
Media Matters fights backThat’s not the end of the lawsuits. Media Matters is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after he opened an investigation into their reporting of X.
In the lawsuit, the non-profit alleges that Mr Paxton’s “retaliatory” investigation is unlawful and violates its First Amendment rights.
Lawyers for Media Matters said: “The chill imposed by his retaliatory scheme injures Plaintiffs’ ability to investigate and publish news stories and further chills their ability to participate in a robust public discussion around political extremism on the X platform”.
In an interview with Reuters after Musk filed his lawsuit, Angelo Carusone, the Media Matters president, said the non-profit’s findings flew in the face of X’s statements that it had introduced safety protections to prevent ads from appearing next to harmful content.
“If you search for white nationalist content, there are ads flourishing. The system they say exists is not operating as such,” he said.
Featured Image: Pexels
Radek ZielinskiRadek Zielinski is an experienced technology and financial journalist with a passion for cybersecurity and futurology.
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Senator J.D. Vance Wants Real Prison Time for Climate Change Activists Who Vandalize Historical Artworks | The Gateway Pundit
Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance wants to raise the maximum amount of prison time that climate change activists can get for defacing famous works of art.
Over the last year, we have seen numerous instances of these lunatics gluing themselves to walls or artwork, in addition to throwing fluids like soup on the art. The public is disgusted but these people keep doing it anyway.
Vance wants them to face a possible ten years in prison instead of five. Why not fifteen or twenty?
FOX News reports:
GOP lawmaker wants to crack down on climate change activists who deface historical artwork
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, wants to raise the stakes for climate change activists who vandalize historical artworks or damage museum property by creating harsher penalties for the crime.
The Consequences for Climate Vandals Act, introduced in the Senate on Wednesday, would also apply to the grounds or property of the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian museums and the Kennedy Center, among others, and raise the maximum prison time from five years to 10.
The consequences would mirror the current maximum prison time in England, where climate activists have frequently glued themselves to artworks or thrown soup or other liquids on protective casings of museum pieces.
“There should be no tolerance for the vandalization of our historic works of art,” Vance said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Apparently, a maximum penalty of five years in prison isn’t enough to keep these far-left protestors from tarnishing displays of cultural significance.”
He added, “Let’s make it 10 years and see if they’re still so bold.”
People who do this should go to jail.
Teenage climate activist Phoebe Plummer has recently gone viral after she threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at London’s National Gallery in mid-October pic.twitter.com/tuOxGylNTt
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 3, 2022
Activists who just threw food on a Monet painting say we won’t be able to feed ourselves in 2050 bc of climate change, but the best-available UN science predicts *higher* yields — unless we stop using fertilizer, which is what the activists are demanding
— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) October 23, 2022
They don’t create anything. All they know how to do is destroy.
The post Senator J.D. Vance Wants Real Prison Time for Climate Change Activists Who Vandalize Historical Artworks | The Gateway Pundit appeared first on Harmony Evans.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin set to return to launches next week
Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin is set for a long-awaited return to the sky after it confirmed it will fly an uncrewed mission this month.
That action would end a pause of more than 15 months in activity for its New Shepard suborbital rocket with the company announcing on X (formerly Twitter) that it wants to fly again, as early as next Monday.
We’re targeting a launch window that opens on Dec. 18 for our next New Shepard payload mission. #NS24 will carry 33 science and research payloads as well as 38,000 @clubforfuture postcards to space. #FortheBenefitofEarth
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 12, 2023
New Shepard has been stuck on the ground since September last year, when it was learned that an auto-abort was triggered by an issue with the engine nozzle, as reported by Tech Crunch.
As stated on the X post, “NS-24 (the name of the mission) will carry 33 science and research payloads as well as 38,000 @clubforfuture postcards to space.”
News of the fresh launch date means Blue Origin has implemented the actions and recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following its investigation into the aborted launch in September 2022. Bezos’ company has now received its modified launch license from the FAA, which is valid until August 2025 and is strictly limited to operations from Blue Origin’s West Texas facility.
Back in July 2021, New Shepard’s first launch with a crew included Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos and three others.
He was joined by his brother Mark, renowned flyer Wally Funk and a Dutch teen, named Oliver Daemen on the rocket which had a velocity of 2.233 mph and lasted 10 ten minutes.
That was a landmark occasion at Van Horn, Texas but if Bezos gets his way, he wants to make space travel safe and routine, taking millions of people to another dimension.
Picture: Pexels
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Tribe Capital in $100M funding talks with India’s Shiprocket: reports
Shiprocket, an Indian logistics and shipping software startup, is currently in funding talks with venture capital firm Tribe Capital. According to an anonymous source familiar with the matter cited in a recent TechCrunch report, Tribe Capital is deliberating leading a $75-100 million investment into Shiprocket.
The funding talks are said to be ongoing, and the final terms may change, two people close to the discussions stated under the condition of anonymity due to the private nature of the talks. Both Tribe Capital and Shiprocket declined to comment when asked about the funding rumors.
New Delhi-based Shiprocket operates an e-commerce-focused logistics and shipping software solution targeted at courier services. Its platform utilizes a machine learning-powered data engine to recommend optimal couriers for businesses and handle tasks like printing shipping labels and tracking orders through a centralized interface. This enables companies to efficiently manage shipping and returns.
Shiprocket’s growing list of backersShiprocket already counts prominent investors like Temasek and Indian food delivery service Zomato among its backers. According to an internal company document reviewed by TechCrunch, Shiprocket is aiming to become IPO-ready within the next 12-18 months. As of September 2022, its annualized revenue run rate exceeded $165 million.
The company currently works with over 250,000 merchants across India who process around 200 million transactions annually through the platform. Shiprocket is planning to expand its financial offerings for merchants, including services like financing options and buy now, pay later for consumers.
The internal document projects Shiprocket’s revenue run rate to reach around $500 million by the end of 2025. Another anonymous source revealed plans to grow Shiprocket’s cross-border shipping capabilities and checkout offerings as well.
As an existing investor, Tribe Capital seems intent on increasing its India investments. In an interview earlier this year, Tribe Capital’s leader Arjun Sethi told Economic Times that the firm seeks to raise a new $250 million India-focused fund.
The talks come during a funding slowdown across Indian startups. 2023 has seen just $7 billion invested into Indian startups year-to-date according to Tracxn, an over 70% year-over-year decline from 2022 levels. Late-stage mega-rounds above $100 million are down almost 70% compared to last year.
Featured Image: Pexels
Radek ZielinskiRadek Zielinski is an experienced technology and financial journalist with a passion for cybersecurity and futurology.
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iPhone 16 tipped to feature new button and camera layouts
The iPhone 16 has been tipped to showcase some fundamental changes to the button and camera layout after several years of iterative revisions.
According to information gained by MacRumors, we could set for some interesting button and camera design developments with next year’s iPhone 16. The website claims to have received details on early pre-production designs for Apple’s 2024 smartphone, and there are some interesting changes.
Mock-ups for the three devices (in yellow, pink, and black) said to be in testing show a phone with a vertically aligned camera module, one of which looks rather like the iPhone X module. This would make sense given Apple’s recent push with spatial video capture on the iPhone 15 Pro, which requires the two aligned cameras to function.
Image: MacRumorsOne of the designs also displays a new unified volume button rather than the separate up and down buttons that currently exist. It’s claimed that this would have been a solid state button that provided haptic feedback, but that the idea has been scrapped.
There’s also an action button on all three prototypes, which is a feature that looks set to come across from the iPhone 15 Pro. It’s suggested that this could switch to being capacitive in next year’s model.
Interestingly, the black model (which is said to be the most likely to see production) has a larger action button than the one we saw in the iPhone 15 Pro and the other two prototypes, as well as an additional Capture Button.
Image: MacRumorsWe’ve heard the latter mentioned before. It’s said to be a pressure-sensitive capacitive control that sits on the right-hand edge, below the power button, roughly where the 5G mmWave cutout is on US iPhone models.
Apple always runs prototypes of its devices ahead of production, so there’s no guarantee that the final iPhone 16 product will look exactly like any of these designs. It seems likely that the final product will draw heavily from these plans, though.
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IT’S COME TO THIS: Anti-Israel Students Protest Jerry Seinfeld Comedy Show in Syracuse, New York | The Gateway Pundit
The radical, anti-Israel left on college campuses is completely out of control and getting worse.
This week, multiple left-wing groups from Syracuse University in New York actually protested outside of a stand-up comedy show by American comedy giant Jerry Seinfeld, who is Jewish but non-political.
Seinfeld has publicly stated that he will no longer perform on college campuses because so many students are offended by everything and do not like or appreciate comedy. These students are proving that he was absolutely right.
The Daily Orange, an independent news outlet that is run by Syracuse students reported:
Hundreds march for Palestine downtown, protest Jerry Seinfeld show
Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Syracuse to rally in support of Palestine, calling for a cease-fire and protesting Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up show Friday evening.
The local “Shut It Down For Palestine” demonstration — organized by the Syracuse chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Syracuse Collective for Palestinian Liberation, the Resilient Indigenous Action Collective and the Syracuse chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation — was the latest of several similar pro-Palestine demonstrations on college campuses and in cities across the country following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The protesters marched from Clinton Square down S. Salina Street to the Landmark Theatre, where Seinfeld’s stand-up show was scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. Seinfeld was one of over 700 Hollywood celebrities to sign an open letter in support of Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack…
As people entered Landmark Theater for Seinfeld’s show, protestors stood outside. Police placed themselves between the two groups, forming a pathway for those looking to get inside the building while protestors chanted that Seinfeld was “complicit in genocide.”
If these students want to make people hate them and everything they represent, they’re doing a great job.
Jerry Seinfeld is an iconic American COMEDIAN who’s also Jewish.
On Friday, a mob of hundreds descended on his show to “Shut-It Down For Palestine.”
Once again, he’s a COMEDIAN not a diplomat or gov official.
Stop targeting American Jews.
This is wrong.https://t.co/am7iRhERc3
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) December 11, 2023
These left-wing fascist students are going to keep doing this until there are real consequences for it.
(Image:Source)
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Texas judge upholds TikTok ban on government devices
A Texas judge has upheld a ban on TikTok on government devices in the U.S. state.
The ban covers all state-owned devices and networks of state employees, including public university employees.
The decision made on Monday by District Judge Robert Pitmans was “motivated by data protection concerns and calling “a reasonable restriction on access to TikTok.” as reports Reuters.
More than 30 states and U.S. federal agencies have issued a ban on TikTok, including the Department of Homeland Security and the White House.
Texas lawmakers bulwark against foreign-owned apps like TikTokJudge Pitman argued that concerns around device and data security are the key to the ban being upheld against the suit filed by the Knight First Institute of Columbia University.
This decision is one of many made in the state of Texas to reinforce restrictions on the Beijing-based video app.
The Office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement ordering “to ban the use of TikTok on any government-issued devices as the threat of the Chinese Communist Party gaining access to critical U.S. information and infrastructure continues to grow.”
Texas and Governor Gregg Abbott have taken a direct approach to apps owned and controlled outside of the US with policies and acts like the Lone Star Infrastructure Act “prohibiting contracts or other agreements with certain foreign-owned companies in connection with critical infrastructure in this state.”
How many users does TikTok have?TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, reached one billion accounts in September of this year proving the popularity of the app.
The most popular trends of this year’s TikTok 2023 in the review were released last week.
The video app has 1.6 billion accounts, with an estimated 150 million US-based users.
ByteDance – the parent company behind TikTokByteDance announced significant investment and research into another app that hopes to “enable users to create their artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.” The Chinese tech giant is the latest large technology company to move into generative AI.
This week US investors heavily backed Mistral, the French AI company to the tune of $414 million in the initial round of fundraising. US investors hope to have a large say as the emerging technology becomes more present in consumer life.
Other global regions are reacting to the use of AI software and it’s proposing ethical deployment. The 27 EU member states recently voted to agree to the Artificial Intelligence Act. Making the EU the first group of nations to enforce governance on AI usage and development.
Image credit: cottonbro studio, Pexels.
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Freely streaming service set to launch on Hisense TVs in 2024
In case you hadn’t heard, Freely is a new live and on-demand streaming service coming from the same people behind Freeview and Freesat, and it’s just announced which TV brand it’s partnering with.
If you’ve read the headline you’ll know its Hisense, who will be the first smart TV partner for the service, signing up on a five-year contract.
Freely is the new service that allows UK households to stream live TV channels alongside on-demand content “for the first time” and for free through smart TVs, removing the need to connect to a satellite dish or aerial.
The service was first announced back in September 2023, and is a collaboration between the BBC, ITV, Channel and Channel 5 that puts free TV front and centre of the streaming experience. It sounds very much like what EE TV is doing with their new TV service and set-top box options.
The aim is to make the experience as seamless as possible, allowing users to browse channels through the TV guide as well as explore and find TV series to watch through live TV and on-demand libraries. Hisense will incorporate the Freely brand across their 2024 TV range, as well as on their remotes and packaging.
Deep Halder, Chief Commercial Officer, Everyone TV said: “We’re delighted that Hisense is partnering with us to bring Freely to market in the UK. Building on our long history of working together successfully, we are excited to be bringing the first free aggregated live and on demand TV experience to British viewers, built into Hisense’s next-gen Smart TVs. We look forward to announcing further partners ahead of launch to ensure Freely will be available on a wide range of TVs at differing price points, offering viewers the choice to future-proof their TV purchase.”
Howard Grindrod, Vice President, Hisense UK, said: “We’re proud to be leading the way and becoming the first TV manufacturers to bring Freely to the UK market. We’re always looking to enhance our product offering and find new ways to add value to our consumers, and this partnership with Freely does just that.”
More details about when Freely will launch and additional smart TV partners will be announced in 2024.
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December 12, 2023
Former Hillary Spokesman Who Has Worked to Pack the U.S. Supreme Court Hired by Office of Kamala Harris for 2024 Campaign | The Gateway Pundit
Former Hillary Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon has been hired by the office of VP Kamala Harris to help with their 2024 campaign.
Since Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election in 2016, Fallon has been the director of an activist group called ‘Demand Justice’ which has repeatedly called for packing the United States Supreme Court. They played a pivotal role in the protests that took place when Trump selected judges were appointed to the highest court.
Fallon was also on board with the left’s disastrous calls to defund the police.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Harris taps former Clinton press secretary to join 2024 campaign
Brian Fallon, the press secretary for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, will join the Biden-Harris campaign as Vice President Kamala Harris’s director of communications.
The campaign confirmed Fallon’s hiring Tuesday afternoon, and he is expected to start his new role in January.
“Brian brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge on the issues that matter most to the American people,” Harris’s campaign chief of staff Sheila Nix said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to have him join the team, and know he will be a huge asset to reelecting President Biden and Vice President Harris.”
Fallon has served as the executive director of Demand Justice, a liberal advocacy group, since its founding in 2018. There, he has primarily focused on pushing for the confirmation of liberal judges to the federal court system and has repeatedly knocked President Joe Biden and other Democrats, including Fallon’s former boss, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for failing to do enough to remake the federal judiciary.
Demand Justice is one of the leading voices calling for the expansion of the Supreme Court to offset a perceived conservative bias, an action the Biden administration has repeatedly declined to pursue.
The liberal media will completely ignore this.
Meet Kamala’s new campaign communications director pic.twitter.com/e7W6i6t01g
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 12, 2023
The payback continues:
Brian Fallon, the founder of left-wing dark money group Demand Justice, is joining the Biden presidential campaign as Kamala Harris’s communications director.
Demand Justice has lead the charge in attempting to intimidate the justices and trying to pack… pic.twitter.com/2TqEZWXlsZ
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) December 12, 2023
Kamala Harris’ new campaign spokesman called for defunding the police and packing the Supreme Court. Brian Fallon previously served as the national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign. https://t.co/Ry4BYwanZQ
— CJ4America2 (@GrammyC4Zone2) December 12, 2023
The professional left takes care of their own. There’s always a high-paying job waiting in the wings.
The post Former Hillary Spokesman Who Has Worked to Pack the U.S. Supreme Court Hired by Office of Kamala Harris for 2024 Campaign | The Gateway Pundit appeared first on Harmony Evans.
Xbox Game Pass could get a free ad-supported model, but perhaps not in the USA or Europe
Microsoft may be considering the possibility of introducing new tiers to its Game Pass subscription model, including an ad-based model that could allow players access to the games in the library, in return for watching streamed advertisements.
In an interview transcribed by Tweaktown from the Wells Fargo TMT Summit, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Tim Stuart said, “It also helps us…on geographic expansion. The vision I like to talk about is we have xCloud game streaming so that you can subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate and you can stream hundreds of games to really any endpoint that has a browser experience.
“For models like Africa, or India, Southeast Asia, maybe places that aren’t console-first, you can say, ‘hey, do you want to watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming?’
“Africa is, you know, 50% of the population is 23 years old or younger with a growing disposable income base, all with cell phones and mobile devices, not a lot of high-end disposable income, generally speaking.
“So we can go in with our own business models and say… there are millions and millions of gamers we would never have been able to address there, and now we can go in with our business models.”
It appears that the model is therefore being looked at as a way to develop a Game Pass audience in countries where the take-up of expensive gaming consoles is not high and would be a means of getting gaming into the hands and pockets of a new audience of players. Netflix has recently introduced an ad-supported tier in a bit to stop subscriber slowdown as increased costs bite across the globe. Microsoft may be looking at a different option to that here as there is no suggestion that an ad-supported tier would necessarily be added to its existing Western model of a monthly subscription.
Microsoft is already poised to surpass Sony PlayStation in revenue generation for the first time and with their recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, is setting up for a strong second half of the decade ahead.
Paul McNallyPaul has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision. He spent over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title. Has written gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the Daily Mirror. Former champion shoot ’em-up legend.
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