Ximo F. Verde
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ximofverde.bsky.social
Ximo F. Verde
@ximofverde.bsky.social
23 followers 34 following 140 posts
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ximofverde.bsky.social
How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet ▶ And why many scientists are freaked out about the first serious for-profit company moving into the solar geoengineering field | MIT Technology Review www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/10/1...
But numerous researchers focused on solar geoengineering are deeply skeptical that Stardust will line up the government customers it would need to carry out a global deployment as early as 2035, the plan described in its earlier investor materials—and aghast at the suggestion that it ever expected to move that fast. They’re also highly critical of the idea that a company would take on the high-stakes task of setting the global temperature, rather than leaving it to publicly funded research programs.
December 11, 2025 at 9:27 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
The war on disinformation is a losing battle ▶ How the systems that fight misinformation and disinformation became misconstrued and dismantled | The Verge www.theverge.com/features/839...
The disinformation wars are here
How Joe Biden’s administration caved to the right in the battle for truth.
www.theverge.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Ximo F. Verde
mikestabile.bsky.social
"Elon’s entire incoherent free speech framework collapses into a single coherent principle: speech I like is protected, speech I don’t like should be punished.

This is what happens when someone who never understood the actual principles of free speech tries to cosplay as a free speech absolutist."
Three Tweets That Capture The Entire Elon Musk Free Speech Con
We’ve spent years calling out what a hypocrite Elon Musk is on free speech. But sometimes the universe Elon hands you a gift: three tweets in the span of a little over a week that demonstrate…
www.techdirt.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Ximo F. Verde
ec.europa.eu
Today, we fined X for non-compliance with transparency obligations under the DSA.

We're holding X accountable for:
🔹Deceptive design of its ‘blue checkmark’
🔹Lack of transparency of its advertising repository
🔹Failure to provide access to public data for researchers

link.europa.eu/bcmC87
December 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM
ximofverde.bsky.social
‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right ▶ Text signed by president seems to echo ‘great replacement’ theory, saying Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’ | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right
Text signed by president seems to echo ‘great replacement’ theory, saying Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’
www.theguardian.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Buy the sky
and sell the sky
and lift your arms up to the sky
and ask the sky
and ask the sky

Don't fall on me
December 1, 2025 at 12:13 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart
Then you close your mind
November 30, 2025 at 11:11 PM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Large language mistake ▶ Cutting-edge research shows language is not the same as intelligence. The entire AI bubble is built on ignoring it | The Verge www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
The AI hype machine relentlessly promotes the idea that we’re on the verge of creating something as intelligent as humans, or even “superintelligence” that will dwarf our own cognitive capacities. If we gather tons of data about the world, and combine this with ever more powerful computing power (read: Nvidia chips) to improve our statistical correlations, then presto, we’ll have AGI. Scaling is all we need. But this theory is seriously scientifically flawed. LLMs are simply tools that emulate the communicative function of language, not the separate and distinct cognitive process of thinking and reasoning, no matter how many data centers we build.
November 26, 2025 at 8:37 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Microsoft tries to head off the “novel security risks” of Windows 11 AI agents ▶ Agents with read/write access to your files create big security, privacy issues | Ars Technica arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...
But these safeguards and monitoring capabilities don’t change the fact that you’re exposing yourself to privacy and security risks by using AI agents. They’ll be able to request read and write access to most of the files in your user account—by default, anything in the Documents, Downloads, Desktop, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders. They’ll have access to any apps that have been installed for all users on the PC (apps that have only been installed in your user account won’t be accessible to the agent, and it will also be possible for users to install apps that only their agents can access.) And agents can potentially be vulnerable to hijacking that exposes your data to attackers—Microsoft specifically mentions “cross-prompt injection (XPIA), where malicious content embedded in UI elements or documents can override agent instructions, leading to unintended actions like data exfiltration or malware installation.”
November 18, 2025 at 8:44 PM
ximofverde.bsky.social
LLMs show a “highly unreliable” capacity to describe their own internal processes ▶ Anthropic finds some LLM “self-awareness,” but “failures of introspection remain the norm.” | Ars Technica arstechnica.com/ai/2025/11/l...
The full paper on “Emergent Introspective Awareness in Large Language Models” uses some interesting methods to separate out the metaphorical “thought process” represented by an LLM’s artificial neurons from simple text output that purports to represent that process. In the end, though, the research finds that current AI models are “highly unreliable” at describing their own inner workings and that “failures of introspection remain the norm.”
November 4, 2025 at 8:31 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for ▶ My impression is that it is little more than cynicism masquerading as software | MIT Technology Review www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/27/1...
It’s been hard for me to understand why Atlas exists. Who is this browser for, exactly? Who is its customer? And the answer I have come to there is that Atlas is for OpenAI. The real customer, the true end user of Atlas, is not the person browsing websites, it is the company collecting data about what and how that person is browsing.
October 28, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Ximo F. Verde
404media.co
NEW: an a16z-backed startup called Doublespeed promises clients can “orchestrate actions on thousands of social accounts through both bulk content creation and deployment.”

Essentially an AI-powered bot service in violation of all major social media platforms

www.404media.co/a16z-backed-...
a16z-Backed Startup Sells Thousands of ‘Synthetic Influencers’ to Manipulate Social Media as a Service
Andreessen Horowitz is funding a company that clearly violates the inauthentic behavior policies of every major social media platform.
www.404media.co
October 24, 2025 at 6:14 PM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data ▶ With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data sent by satellites unencrypted | Wired www.wired.com/story/satell...
For three years, the UCSD and UMD researchers developed and used an off-the-shelf, $800 satellite receiver system on the roof of a university building in the La Jolla seaside neighborhood of San Diego to pick up the communications of geosynchronous satellites in the small band of space visible from their Southern California vantage point. By simply pointing their dish at different satellites and spending months interpreting the obscure—but unprotected—signals they received from them, the researchers assembled an alarming collection of private data: They obtained samples of the contents of Americans’ calls and text messages on T-Mobile’s cellular network, data from airline passengers’ in-flight Wi-Fi browsing, communications to and from critical infrastructure such as electric utilities and offshore oil and gas platforms, and even US and Mexican military and law enforcement communications that revealed the locations of personnel, equipment, and facilities.
October 14, 2025 at 11:51 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement ▶ New design sets a high standard for post-quantum readiness | Ars Technica arstechnica.com/security/202...
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
New design sets a high standard for post-quantum readiness.
arstechnica.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:04 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
The EU has a secret weapon to counter Trump’s economic bullying. It’s time to use it ▶ The anti-coercion instrument, or ‘trade bazooka’, is designed to shield against foreign pressure | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What is to be done? Europe’s anti-coercion instrument works by calculating the degree of the coercion and imposing counter-actions. Provided most European governments agree, the European Commission could kick US goods and services out of Europe’s market, or apply tariffs to them. It can strip their intellectual property rights, block their investments and require reparations as a condition of readmittance to Europe’s market.
October 9, 2025 at 7:13 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Els veïns dels eixos verds de l’Eixample es planten i critiquen la gestió de la càrrega i descàrrega ▶ A més, reivindiquen que es mantingui tota la vegetació que es va plantejar des d'un inici en aquests carrers pacificats | Betevé beteve.cat/societat/que...
Els veïns dels eixos verds de l'Eixample es planten i critiquen la gestió de la càrrega i descàrrega
El nou horari de càrrega i descàrrega als eixos verds de l'Eixample torna a incomplir-se un mes després d'haver entrat en funcionament.
beteve.cat
October 8, 2025 at 8:43 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time ▶ Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report finds | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time
Record solar expansion and steady wind growth driving world’s shift away from fossil fuels in 2025, report finds
www.theguardian.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:55 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Europa premia los ejes verdes de Barcelona y el ayuntamiento guarda silencio | El Periódico #superilla @ajuntamentbcn.bsky.social www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona... prizes.new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/winners-prizes
Europa premia los ejes verdes de Barcelona y el ayuntamiento guarda silencio
<a href='https://www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona/eixample/20251002/vecinos-esquerra-eixample-retan-ayuntamiento-122126175' target='_blank'>Los vecinos de la Esquerra del Eixample retan al ayuntamient...
www.elperiodico.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:59 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
El Ayuntamiento de Barcelona respetará los parterres plantados por los vecinos de la Esquerra de l'Eixample | El Periódico www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona... #superilla
El Ayuntamiento de Barcelona respetará los parterres plantados por los vecinos de la Esquerra de l'Eixample
<a href='https://www.elperiodico.com/es/barcelona/eixample/20251003/europa-premia-ejes-verdes-barcelona-122232332' target='_blank'>Europa premia los ejes verdes de Barcelona y el ayuntamiento guarda s...
www.elperiodico.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:57 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
OpenAI’s Sora 2 Copyright Infringement Machine Features Nazi SpongeBobs and Criminal Pikachus ▶ The main use of Sora appears to generate brainrot of major beloved copyrighted characters + the millions of articles, images, and videos OpenAI has scraped | 404 Media www.404media.co/openais-sora...
The main immediate use of Sora so far appears to be to allow people to generate brainrot of major beloved copyrighted characters, to say nothing of the millions of articles, blogs, books, images, videos, photos, and pieces of art that OpenAI has scraped from people far less powerful than, say, Nintendo. As a reward for this wide scale theft, OpenAI gets a $500 billion valuation. And we get a tool that makes it even easier to flood the internet with slightly better looking bullshit at the low, low cost of nearly all of the intellectual property ever created by our species, the general concept of the nature of truth, the devaluation of art through an endless flooding of the zone, and the knock-on environmental, energy, and negative labor costs of this entire endeavor.
October 2, 2025 at 7:17 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Revealed: Europe losing 600 football pitches of nature and crop land a day ▶ Investigation shows extent of green land lost across UK and mainland Europe to development from 2018 to 2023 | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Nature accounts for the majority of the losses, at about 900 sq km a year, but the research shows we are also building on agricultural land at a rate of about 600 sq km a year, with grave consequences for the continent’s food security and health.
October 1, 2025 at 8:47 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Scientists make embryos from human skin DNA for first time ▶ The technique could overcome infertility due to old age or disease by using almost any cell in the body as the starting point for life | BBC News www.bbc.com/news/article...
October 1, 2025 at 7:35 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
AI ‘Workslop’ Is Killing Productivity and Making Workers Miserable ▶ AI slop is taking over workplaces | 404 Media www.404media.co/ai-workslop-...
A joint study by Stanford University researchers and a workplace performance consulting firm published in the Harvard Business Review details the plight of workers who have to fix their colleagues’ AI-generated “workslop,” which they describe as work content that “masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task.” The research, based on a survey of 1,150 workers, is the latest analysis to suggest that the injection of AI tools into the workplace has not resulted in some magic productivity boom and instead has just increased the amount of time that workers say they spend fixing low-quality AI-generated “work.”
September 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
Trump is waging culture war on Europe by promoting rightwing allies, report finds ▶ Study says US president seeks to interfere in elections and ‘move the ideological centre of gravity’ in European politics | The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
The study suggests conditions are “ripe” for European leaders to walk off Trump’s “film set”. Polling shows European sentiment – the sense of belonging to a common space, sharing a common future and subscribing to common values – is strong, it says. Eurobarometer data shows citizen trust in the EU is at its highest since 2007 and has risen in 12 countries – most sharply in Sweden, France, Denmark and Portugal – since Trump returned to the White House. Majorities in almost all feel attached to the EU. Hardly any party now wants to leave the EU, and majorities in all but three countries (Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic) say the role of the EU in protecting Europe’s citizens against global crises and security risks must become more important.
September 23, 2025 at 6:55 AM
ximofverde.bsky.social
'Enough is enough' by Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation, from the 1994 album 'Anarchy' www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD0R...
Chumbawamba & Credit To The Nation - Enough Is Enough
YouTube video by RileyELFuk
www.youtube.com
September 19, 2025 at 6:26 AM