404 Media is turning three years old! We've come a long way with your support, so let's hang out.

We're throwing TWO separate events to celebrate: A live taping of the podcast and a special night of talks on Sept. 3, and a big open-bar party on Sept. 4. Subscribers at the Supporter level get free and discounted access to both events!

Check your membership status or become a paid supporter of our work here.

On Thursday, Sept. 3, meet us at WNYC's Greene Space for 404 MEDIA LIVE! We'll discuss what we've accomplished in the past year, and what's next for our independent, human-made journalism. We'll also welcome a few very special friends to the stage: Matthew Gault joins us for a chat about AI datacenter resistance, and The Abstract's Becky Ferreira hits us with the coolest science to come out this year so far.

Supporters get 50% off their ticket to 404 MEDIA LIVE! Don't forget to check your membership status here and subscribe as a paying member for access to 50% off a full price in-person ticket.

Can't make it in person in NYC? Join us on the livestream! Grab an access ticket, donate what you're able, and watch for the link we'll send to your inbox before the event.

The next night, join us for a bash to celebrate our three year anniversary at Threes Brewing Gowanus. Have a beer, wine or seltz on us, plus light bites throughout the night. Buying a ticket to 404 MEDIA LIVE! gets you 50% off a ticket to the afterparty Friday night. Supporters get in to the party FREE!

All of us—Sam, Emanuel, Jason, and Joseph—will be there to celebrate 404 Media growing another year. We love these parties because it's a chance to connect with the people who make all of this possible: you, our subscribers.

Thank you for all the fun you've helped us have this year.

Supporters, scroll to the bottom of this page to reveal your promo codes.

We can't wait to celebrate with you this year.

Questions? Email sam@404media.co

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss AI music, slop bowls, and the endless quest for optimization.

EMANUEL: We’ve used Behind the Blog a few times at this point to pull the curtain on our story selection process. Usually, we do this when we explain the reasoning behind the decision to write a story we already published, but today I want to talk about a story I didn’t write (yet).

For the past few months I’ve been looking at a new and strange type of AI generated nonconsensual image on X.

Notice more spam getting through that corporate email filter lately? Attackers are using a technique known as "text salting," which hides benign-looking words intended to confuse some AI-powered email filters, says cybersecurity firm Barracuda. The email security outfit said on Thursday that it had detected more than one million retail-themed phishing attacks using text salting since April. It’s not a new technique by any stretch and has been used to fool traditional secure email gateways for years, but Barracuda says it can also confuse machine-learning and LLM-based security tools. Text salting involves peppering (sorry) a malicious email with random, harmless-seeming words in order to fool an email scanning system into thinking there’s nothing off about the flavor of a message (sorry again), tricking the system into passing it to its recipient for consumption (I’ll stop with the food jokes here). Pour a pile of salty text on top of an email and a human reader would probably get suspicious, however, so attackers typically use one or more of three flavor variations (okay, I'm done – promise) to hide the additives from human readers, but not automated scanners, per Barracuda. Typical techniques include CSS cropping, which sets the visible window small enough that a human won't see the hidden filler text; text manipulation to move the salty copy outside the visible screen; and zero font techniques which insert misleading words between suspicious phishing copy that’s visible to a machine but not a human. The end result of each of those techniques is a message that reads less malicious, more gibberish to a machine, leading it to assume the email is fine, and which looks exactly as the attacker intended when viewed by a human. Modern email security systems have largely adapted to these techniques, with newer tools able to remove hidden text to see what a reader is supposed to see, sounding alarms when a lot of hidden stuff is inserted in an email, and the like. AI, however, hasn’t managed to follow suit, says Barracuda. “Text salting and related techniques can be used to confuse AI-driven content analysis engines by flooding the email with random terms that encourage the AI system into making an incorrect classification decision,” the company wrote in its report - just like those early 2000s SEGs. What a technological leap we’ve made! LLMs, Barracuda explained, are typically designed to process email text and source code plainly, with no understanding of whether text is visible or hidden from a user. They can be trained to do so, but that just means most tools probably aren’t doing that by default. So, what can enterprises do to stop the flow of salty spam to their employees? Barracuda recommends a layered approach to email security rather than relying solely on keyword detection, including checking sender reputation, authentication results, embedded URLs, HTML-rendering techniques, and differences between user-visible and hidden content. Ditching that AI spam filter might not be a bad idea, either. ®

Original Mastodon Post

An Engineer's Guide to USB Typе-С (2024): https://www.ti.com/lit/eb/slyy228/slyy228.pdf?ts=1759892558029

Discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48862165

Kings Theatre, Brooklyn

The queen of Philly soul is on phenomenal form in a saucy and effortlessly virtuosic show celebrating 26 years in music

At one point during her triumphant phones-free show at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater, Jill Scott takes a moment to introduce Dwayne Wright, her bass player and co-musical director who is known to his friends, the queen of Philly soul informs the 3,000-strong audience, as the “pussy whisperer”. The crowd cracks up, but she’s not done. “I want you to close your ears and listen with your vagina,” she instructs, as Wright launches into a deep, toe-curling run on his instrument. “Kegel to the music!” she whoops. “You come to a Jill Scott concert and you become a virgin again.”

Perhaps Scott is emboldened by the no phones policy tonight; ours were stashed in Yondr pouches upon entry à la recent Jack White and Phoebe Bridgers concerts. But the emotionally attuned, pointedly political and proudly horny soul singer probably doesn’t need any help in getting loose. Despite my initial grumbles, the technology ban turned out to be an inspired decision in an evening that felt deeply connected, as if we were at a summer block party hosted by the neighborhood’s most charismatic character.

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Another 22 reportedly injured while mourning Palestinian killed in Israeli attack earlier in the day

An Israeli strike on a funeral in the Gaza Strip has killed at least seven people and injured another 22, according to a local hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

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Tehran bombs US allies in Middle East after US attacks on bridges, energy facilities and key port

The US hit bridges, energy facilities and a key Iranian port on Friday, expanding its aerial campaign against Iran, and prompting swift Iranian strikes against US allies in the Middle East.

US airstrikes hit bridges in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, killing at least seven people, Iranian state TV reported. The bridges were a key transit point for Bandar Abbas, Iran’s main port. Further US airstrikes brought down a tower in Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that the US military claimed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) used to facilitate attacks on vessels in the strait of Hormuz. The US also targeted key electrical infrastructure and Iranshahr airport.

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The incoming prime minister showed his oratorical skill and that he is prepared to borrow from populism

Nearing the end of his speech accepting the Labour leadership, Andy Burnham paused. “I know what to do,” he said. “I have a plan.” Perhaps he does. But even after half an hour of dense rhetoric, it is still not especially clear what this is.

Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday after this formal party coronation, is a politician who runs largely on vibes, and that was the driving force of his address to the Labour faithful in central London.

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European Commission proposal to overhaul emissions trading system would give companies less demanding pathway to reductions

Europe’s most effective method of cutting dangerous planet-heating gases risks being weakened after the European Commission proposed an overhaul of its flagship carbon market, critics have said.

In a long-awaited review of the European Union emissions trading system (ETS), the European Commission proposed giving companies a less demanding and cheaper pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Guardian readers tackle a thorny topic and share their stories of dating a friend’s ex – or a friend dating their ex

Life is full of big, messy questions. How should we spend our finite time on Earth? What is the nature of good and evil? And, thorniest of all: is it OK to date a friend’s ex?

This year, reality TV fans debated this question with vim and verbosity when it was revealed that Bravo reality stars Amanda Batula and West Wilson had started kissing (!) and dating (!!) even though West had broken the heart of Amanda’s best friend, Ciara Miller.

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• ‘I like goals that are lofty and sport needs moments’

• Keely Hodgkinson races in 800m in Diamond League

A bullish Josh Kerr has insisted he is in the shape of his life and “not scared of failure” as he attempts to break the one-mile world record at Saturday’s London Diamond League.

The former 1500m world champion and double Olympic medallist has developed a reputation as an admirably straight‑talker throughout his career, unafraid to state his ambitions publicly. Few have ever been so lofty as the one that awaits this weekend, though, as he attempts to surpass the great Hicham El Guerrouj’s one-mile mark of 3min 43.13sec that has stood since 1999. An entire generation of athletics fans were not even alive to see it happen.

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Antonelli’s lead in the F1 drivers’ standings looked insurmountable after Monaco, but now Russell is potentially within one race win of wiping it out

Squaring off at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Formula One’s leading title protagonists Kimi Antonelli and George Russell are embroiled in an increasingly tense head to head.The teenager and his experienced Mercedes teammate facing each other as well as each addressing their own approach to a championship still very much up for grabs.

The 19-year-old Antonelli appeared to have an iron grip on the lead, having secured five straight victories, the last at Monaco, after which he enjoyed a 68-point lead over Russell. However, with Antonelli enduring some bad luck during the past three rounds and Russell taking a strong win in Austria, that gap has reduced to 25 points. A seemingly insurmountable chasm has suddenly become all too bridgeable and with it the title race is on again.

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Social

U kunt weer ademhalen. U kunt de gordijnen weer openen. U kunt de airco weer uitdoen. U kunt weer water besparen. U kunt weer lauw bier drinken. U kunt het zwembadje in de tuin weer laten leeglopen. U kunt de parasol weer inklappen. U kunt weer in de zon zitten zonder te sterven. U kunt het weerbericht toch weer net even met wat minder urgentie bekijken. U kunt code rood vergeten (u kunt de Co de Rood-plaatjes weer opbergen). U kunt code oranje vergeten. U kunt code geel vergeten. U kunt de liveblogs weer rustig nalezen. U kunt weer regen verwachten. U kunt de ventilator naar zolder pleuren. U kunt uit de schaduw treden. U kunt uw zonnebril afzetten. U kunt weer op de wc-bril blijven zitten zonder eraf te glijden. U kunt weer zeggen: "Wat een kudtweer in Nederland." U kunt stoppen het hoofd koel te houden. U kunt weer veilig naar buiten. U kunt de buitenlucht weer opeisen. U kunt weer leven. Want het is voorbij. U heeft het overleefd. U kunt het RIVM en het KNMI weer negeren tot het volgende Nationaal Hitteplan.

De rest van de Hollandse zomer

Social

​Een enorme tegenvaller voor Randy (44) uit Lansing, Michigan. De Amerikaanse man, die vorige week nog een ‘Double Heart Attack Burger’ at met een ‘Triple Bypass Hotdog’ als toetje, is nu al dagen flink ziek van de ijsbergsla van de Taco Bell. Net als duizenden andere Amerikanen is hij getroffen door een uitbraak van de parasitaire ziekte cyclosporiasis. Hij voelt zich al drie dagen beroerd.

“Ik eet twee keer per week bij de Heart Attack Grill, maar dit heb ik nog nooit meegemaakt”, vertelt Randy, die onder een dekentje zit te rillen op de bank. “Ik heb altijd al gedacht dat ijsbergsla m’n einde zou betekenen. Was ik maar gewoon weer voor een halve koe met heel veel boter en saus gegaan, in plaats van voor zo’n riskante taco.”

Randy weet één ding zeker: deze fout gaat hij niet nog een keer maken. “Zo’n risico met sla of groenten neem ik niet nog een keer. Zodra die diarree-aanval ook maar een heel klein beetje voorbij is, eet ik gewoon weer gewoon een normale, veilige maaltijd: een ‘Coronary Dog’ met een Freakshake en een kuip maple syrup ernaast.”

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Tot nu toe betroffen de dubieuze stappen van de FIFA vooral zaken rónd het voetbal en de toewijzing van de eindtoernooien. Maar dit toernooi overschreed de FIFA een nieuwe grens.

De onzekerheid is groot in de Volkswagen-fabriek in Zwickau, nu de VW-top een nieuwe, grootschalige reorganisatie heeft aangekondigd. Mogelijk moet de fabriek, die sinds een recente modernisering alleen elektrische auto’s maakt, alsnog dicht.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo: