Tootfinder

Q&A with John Cusack, a longtime press freedom advocate, on how FOIA-based reporting shouldn't be behind paywalls and how walls hurt those most affected by news (Carolina Abbott Galvão/Columbia Journalism Review)
https://www.cjr.org/the-interview/john-cusack-foia-payw…

John Cusack wants to talk about paywalls.
The movie star says that by selling their public-records-based reporting, news outlets are compromising one of journalism’s essential civic roles.

Sources: Meta is pursuing a new Llama successor and frontier AI model, codenamed Avocado, set for release in Q1 2026, and it could be a proprietary model (Jonathan Vanian/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/09/meta-avocado-ai-strategy-issues.html

From Llamas to Avocados: Meta's shifting AI strategy is causing internal confusion
Meta’s push to develop its next frontier model, codenamed Avocado, under new AI leadership is creating internal friction as it races rivals OpenAI and Google.

The impact of missing data on the construction of LISA Time Delay Interferometry Michelson variables
Ollie Burke, Martina Muratore, Graham Woan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06406 …

The impact of missing data on the construction of LISA Time Delay Interferometry Michelson variables
We investigate the impact of missing input data on the construction of second-generation Time Delay Interferometry (TDI) variables, which enable data analysis for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). TDI relies on the introduction of precise time delays into the raw interferometric data streams before they are combined to suppress otherwise dominant laser phase noise. We show that a single missing sample, corresponding to 0.25 s of data, will result in an effective data gap of approxi…

Paraphrase of my #IOT hardware rant on slack (unsurprising, since I maintain https://github.com/unixorn/internet-of-trash/)
In a perfect world IOT hardware companies should:
- Have to escrow the firmware. And escrow the source code, not just the binary blob
- The firmware isn't allowed to use binary blobs as device drivers. Chip manufacturers will have to suck it up and document their chips or hardware companies won't be able to use them
- Have to escrow any keys required to update the firmware
- To be sold, have to have a local API, with at a minimum, functionality to update the firmware once the hardware company stops support. No "You have to use our crapware that only works on a phone/computer OS two major versions old, and it has to download firmware from our servers that got turned off when we went out of business / dropped the product's support
- Eighteen months with no updates causes release of the escrowed firmware and update keys. There are bound to be at least some security updates required in that time
- Have to have clearly labeled pads on the board for updating firmware and running diagnostics.
- Not be allowed to lock consumers out of reflashing the firmware. If someone flashes custom firmware before the escrowed firmware is released, and the custom firmware bricks the device, that's on the person who reflashed it, not the company.
@…

We are pleased to announce the release of CTI-Transmute.org, a new free and open-source service designed to facilitate conversions between MISP and STIX 2.x formats.
The service is available both through a web interface and an API, allowing users to convert CTI data easily. The web UI also gives users the option to share or keep private their conversions for further review or collaboration.
You can view an example conversion here: 🔗

How the NFL head coach interview process works: Timeline and the Rooney Rule https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6946139/2026/01/06/nfl-coach-hiring-process-timeline-rules/

Asking For It: Question-Answering for Predicting Rule Infractions in Online Content Moderation
Mattia Samory, Diana Pamfile, Andrew To, Shruti Phadke
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06350

Asking For It: Question-Answering for Predicting Rule Infractions in Online Content Moderation
Online communities rely on a mix of platform policies and community-authored rules to define acceptable behavior and maintain order. However, these rules vary widely across communities, evolve over time, and are enforced inconsistently, posing challenges for transparency, governance, and automation. In this paper, we model the relationship between rules and their enforcement at scale, introducing ModQ, a novel question-answering framework for rule-sensitive content moderation. Unlike prior clas…

After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid "trouble making", and arrested a commentator (Committee to Protect Journalists)
https://cpj.org/2025/12/hong-kong-arre

Hong Kong arrests commentator, summons international media over deadly fire - Committee to Protect Journalists
Updated on December 8, 2025 2:31 AM EST New York, December 8, 2025—Chinese and Hong Kong authorities must immediately stop harassing journalists, release news commentator Wong Kwok-ngon, and allow the media to freely cover the city’s most deadly fire in decades, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. In a rare move, Beijing’s national security arm...

Meta says it is pausing the release of its Ray-Ban Display glasses to the UK, France, Italy, and Canada due to "unprecedented demand and limited inventory" (Steve Dent/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta

Meta has delayed the international rollout of its display glasses
Meta is pausing release of its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses to the UK, France, Italy and Canada due to "unprecedented demand and limited inventory."