Tootfinder

Techies are always chasing the mythical tool that will let them "focus on the work" and avoid tedious distractions like "talking to people." AI tools are only the latest to promise this impossible dream.
But talking to people IS the work. You can complain about it on the internet, or take responsibility and make your life a lot easier.
#LLM

Can Designers Avoid Meetings?
LLMs are not the first tool to promise that they can free us from having to talk to people so we can "focus on the work." But talking to people IS the work.

This is such a devastatingly sad read for how "chat bots" are effectively exploiting people's loneliness: Inside ‘AI Addiction’ Support Groups, Where People Try to Stop Talking to Chatbots
https://www.404media.co/inside-ai-addiction-support-groups-where-people-try-to-stop-talking-to-chatbots/

Hulk Hogan and the Lawsuit That Changed Journalism and America (Josh Marshall/Talking Points Memo)
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/hulk-hogan-and-the-lawsuit-that-changed-journalism-and-america
http://www.memeorandum.com/250729/p4#a250729p4

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Well, who the hell else are you talking to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here.

Wo ist die Protest-Aktion?
"The European Union will ban apps not licensed by [Google's Play Integrity API] under its new age verification system"
https://www.talkandroid.com/512861-eu-age-verification-app-google/

EU Age Verification App Sparks Ban on Non Google Licensed Android Apps - Talk Android
The European Union will ban apps not licensed by Google under its new age verification system, which has been met with controversy. Set for pilot testing

Face2VoiceSync: Lightweight Face-Voice Consistency for Text-Driven Talking Face Generation
Fang Kang, Yin Cao, Haoyu Chen
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19225 https://

Face2VoiceSync: Lightweight Face-Voice Consistency for Text-Driven Talking Face Generation
Recent studies in speech-driven talking face generation achieve promising results, but their reliance on fixed-driven speech limits further applications (e.g., face-voice mismatch). Thus, we extend the task to a more challenging setting: given a face image and text to speak, generating both talking face animation and its corresponding speeches. Accordingly, we propose a novel framework, Face2VoiceSync, with several novel contributions: 1) Voice-Face Alignment, ensuring generated voices match fa…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #VarietyMix
The Slits:
🎵 I Heard It Through the Grapevine
#TheSlits
https://open.spotify.com/track/2tlQN0gUJz6tW7bPunEaid

"Wie schreibe ich einen guten Businessplan?"
Aus dem Programm der #TinCon, der Teilkonferenz der #republica "für digitale Jugendkultur".
Die Jugend von heute, ich weiß ja auch nicht.

[disclaimer: not a political scientist, talking out of my ass]
For the two parties are going to divide up the electorate, if one is the fascist party, maybe the other •has• to be the anti-fascist party — not just philosophically, but for practical reasons. Maybe you just can’t maintain a viable coalition to oppose a fascist party without bringing everyone who opposes fascism into your coalition. Sure feels that way now.
5/

In a valiant attempt to keep the world at bay, I have been doing another playthrough of Mass Effect. This time, it was misbehaving in various ways in the Citadel DLC. I restarted after it froze, which unblocked things but now if I invited person A for a hangout, person B would show up. Odd things like that.
It gets better.
During the party, after talking upstairs to the group including Traynor, I walked into the bedroom where Traynor was also standing, stock-still, unresponsive, in her underwear, even though a responsive Traynor was still on the couch nearby.
In the morning, waking up (next to Garrus of course), unresponsive Traynor was still standing in the bedroom. I hope this is a first in ME history, a sort of threesome or at least voyeur party.