The FTC is investigating whether Ticketmaster is doing enough to prevent bots from illegally reselling tickets on its platform, with a decision on the matter coming within weeks, according to Bloomberg (paywalled). Reuters reports: The 2016 law prohibits the use of bots and other methods to bypass ticket purchase limits set by online sellers. As part of the probe, FTC investigators are assessing whether Ticketmaster has a financial incentive to allow resellers to circumvent its ticket limit rules, according to the report. A settlement is also possible, Bloomberg reported. If the FTC pursues a case and Live Nation loses, the company could face billions of dollars in penalties, as the law permits fines of up to $53,000 per violation.

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A leaked Meta video revealed upcoming "Meta Ray-Ban Display" smart glasses with a monocular HUD and sEMG wristband control, set to debut at Connect 2025 for around $800. Despite past hesitation, it looks like EssilorLuxottica has agreed to co-brand after Meta invested $3.5 billion in the company, taking a 3% stake. UploadVR reports: Meta's HUD glasses with the sEMG wristband will in fact be Ray-Ban branded, a leaked video which also depicts the HUD and wristband in action reveals. A quickly removed unlisted video on Meta's YouTube channel showed what will soon be Meta and EssilorLuxottica's full lineup:
- The regular Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
- The recently-launched Oakley Meta HSTN glasses.
- The rumored Oakley Meta Sphaera glasses, with eye protection and a centered camera.
- The rumored monocular heads-up display (HUD) glasses controlled by Meta's long-in-development sEMG wristband, which are labeled as "Meta Ray-Ban" with the word "Display" underneath. The smart glasses are expected to be made official during the Meta Connect 2025 keynote at 5pm PT on Wednesday.

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Robinhood has filed with the SEC to launch "Robinhood Ventures Fund I," a publicly traded fund designed to give retail investors access to startup shares before IPOs. TechCrunch reports: While the current version of the application is public, Robinhood hasn't filled in the fine-print yet. This means we don't know how many shares it plans to sell, nor other details like the management fee it plans to charge. It's also unclear which startups it hopes this fund will eventually hold. The paperwork says it "expects" to invest in aerospace and defense, AI, fintech, robotics as well as software for consumers and enterprises.

Robinhood's big pitch is that retail investors are being left out of the gains that are amassed by startup investors like VCs. That's true to an extent. "Accredited investors" -- or those with a net worth large enough to handle riskier investments -- already have a variety of ways of buying equity in startups, such as with venture firms like OurCrowd. Retail investors that are not rich enough to be accredited have more limited options. There are funds similar to what Robinhood has proposed, including Cathy Wood's ARK Venture Fund, a mutual fund which holds stakes in companies like Anthropic, Databricks, OpenAI, SpaceX, and others. [...] This new closed-end "Ventures Fund I" is a more classic, mutual fund-style, approach. As to when Robinhood's new fund will be available we don't know that either yet.

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The Internet Archive has reached a confidential settlement with Universal Music Group and other major labels, "ending a closely watched copyright battle over the nonprofit's effort to digitize and stream historic recordings," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. From the report: The case (PDF), UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Internet Archive, targeted the Archive's Great 78 Project, an initiative to digitize more than 400,000 fragile shellac records from the early 20th century. The collection includes music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, and has been made available online for free public access. Record labels including Universal, Sony Music Entertainment and Capitol Records had sought $621 million in damages, arguing the Archive's streaming of these recordings constituted copyright infringement.

The Internet Archive, based in San Francisco's Richmond District, describes itself as a digital library dedicated to providing "universal access to all knowledge." Its director of library services, Chris Freeland, acknowledged the settlement in a brief statement. "The parties have reached a confidential resolution of all claims and will have no further public comment on this matter," he wrote.

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Greg Adams Photography posted a photo:

ajpscs posted a photo:

SUMMER (HEAT IS ON)
SILVER (Shades of)
© ajpscs

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on slide, “Maggiore Italy"

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide, October 1984

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

UTRECHT (ANP) - Tussen Gouda Goverwelle en Den Haag Centraal rijden dinsdag de hele ochtend veel minder treinen door een defecte bovenleiding, meldt de NS.

De NS verwacht dat de storing tot 12.15 uur duurt. In de reisplanner is te zien dat de helft van de intercity's tussen Utrecht en Den Haag uitvalt door de storing.

BOGOTA (ANP) - De Verenigde Staten zien Colombia niet langer als bondgenoot in de strijd tegen drugshandel, zo verklaart de Colombiaanse president Gustavo Petro. Het besluit zou neerkomen op het stopzetten van Amerikaanse steun aan Colombia ter waarde van honderden miljoenen dollars per jaar.

"De Verenigde Staten trekken hun certificering in na de dood van tientallen politieagenten en soldaten die betrokken waren bij de strijd tegen door drugshandel gefinancierde kartels en guerrillabewegingen", kondigde de linkse president aan tijdens een ministerraad.

Trump zei maandag dat Afghanistan, Bolivia, Myanmar, Colombia en Venezuela zullen worden toegevoegd aan een lijst waarvan de VS meent dat ze afgelopen 12 maanden "aantoonbaar hebben gefaald" om hun verplichtingen wat betreft het bestrijden van drugshandel na te komen.

GAZA-STAD (ANP/AFP) - Hamas heeft in een bericht op Telegram laten weten dat het lot van de nog in Gaza aanwezige gijzelaars volledig wordt bepaald "door de terroristische regering van Netanyahu". Volgens de groepering bedreigt de "systematische vernietiging van Gaza-Stad" ook het leven van de gevangengenomen soldaten.

"Netanyahu draagt de volledige verantwoordelijkheid voor het leven van zijn gevangenen", aldus Hamas. Ook stelt Hamas dat de Amerikaanse regering direct verantwoordelijk is voor de escalatie van het geweld.

Volgens Axios en The Jerusalem Post begon het Israëlische leger in de nacht van maandag op dinsdag met het grondoffensief in Gaza-Stad. Families van gijzelaars protesteren bij de woning van Netanyahu terwijl het offensief in Gaza-Stad wordt opgevoerd.

Ze protesteren tegen deze actie en willen aandacht vragen voor het mogelijke gevaar voor de gijzelaars.

Alan M :-) has added a photo to the pool:

At Wonga Wetlands near Albury, New South Wales.

The White House wants to make it very clear that Nosferatu Van Goebbels does not play with porcelain dolls.

Stephen Miller Is Leading Donald Trump's Reign of Terror:

In the decades that followed, Miller did not grow -- except to become more hardened in his extremist views. When he worked as a communications aide in the office of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions during the Obama years, he was so widely disliked by his conservative colleagues on Capitol Hill that Republican staff in other offices would invent or spread malicious rumors about Miller, such as that he liked to play with porcelain dolls. (A White House official insists that any such characterization of his time on the Hill is "inaccurate and baseless gossip.")

The staffers at the time never dreamed that he'd ever amount to much more than a punch line or an obscure cautionary tale of what happens when you read too many far-right hate websites and dive into Washington's most feverish swamps.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

Introducing Mohawk Mosaic, a new range of papers with fresh colors and distinctive textures inspired by nature and the world we live in. As always, Mohawk's team of paper makers set out to create a paper grade line that offered innovation, promoted craftsmanship, and embraced endless creative possibilities. Mohawk teamed up with Hybrid to develop a packaging system that would creatively display the papers and their unique qualities. Each sample card was designed to represent a different piece of the "mosaic" of colors, textures, and weights. The packaging itself utilizes papers from the line and was designed to be handheld.

Vladimir Cuevas has added a photo to the pool:

A massive ad truck rolls through Shinjuku Dori, its oversized typography screaming louder than the street itself. In a city already overflowing with neon, billboards, and motion, this moving wall of letters adds an almost absurd layer to Tokyo’s urban theater.
It’s both comedy and commentary: pedestrians reduced to extras while a giant rolling commercial steals the stage. A snapshot of modern consumer culture, where even the streets feel like moving billboards.

Location: Shinjuku Dori Avenue, Tokyo