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404 Media is an independent media company founded by technology journalists Jason Koebler, Emanuel Maiberg, Samantha Cole, and Joseph Cox.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
A team captured first-of-its-kind footage of orcas holding a sunfish carcass still and ramming it so hard that it burst into fragments, which may be a form of social play. “We could hear the sound,” said one researcher.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Join us for our latest FOIA Forum where we teach you how to pry records from the government.
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
My small town in South Carolina will soon have more Flock cameras than police officers.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
"For the time being, if you or someone on your crew has availability to secure black plastic bags (or something else) over the cameras, that would be great."
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
How cops are using Flock to look for specific people; the company buying mountains of books for AI companies; and the big Suno hack.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Here's how your personal address travels from your credit card provider, through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
Do you have to show ID to get unlimited pasta at Olive Garden? Yes. Is this the same as secure voting? Definitely not.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
For a year, Apple knew that an issue in its Hide My Email feature was exposing customers’ real email addresses. Apple only fixed the issue after 404 Media covered it.
404 Media
• Emanuel Maiberg
ISBNdb, a company that sources printed books for AI companies to turn into training data, tells clients “the optics problem is real.”
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
Cops and drone companies seem increasingly eager to put weapons on their drones.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
The mummified remains of 4,000-year-old Egyptian royals suggest that they were buried with weapons because they could use them, not for symbolic reasons.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
We're celebrating with TWO NIGHTS of good times: A live taping of the podcast, and a party the following night! Paid 404 Media subscribers get free and discounted access. Details below.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
This week, we discuss AI music, slop bowls, and the endless quest for optimization.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
A new procurement record says ICE wants access to personal data, including names, Social Security numbers, and ethnicity, to investigate in part what the agency calls “voters fraud.” It also plans to use the data to investigate immigration fraud.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
For the first time, scientists found that a rocky planet in the habitable zone of its star has an atmosphere. It’s the best place to look for alien biosignatures, scientists say.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed by 404 Media.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
ChatGPT flyers are everywhere; how Waymo drove some kids to the cops; and a $3,000 suit that electrocutes your muscles.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
Hacked source code reveals how Suno scraped decades worth of music and podcasts from the internet to train its AI tool.
404 Media
• Emanuel Maiberg
Remap Radio’s Rob Zacny and Emanuel dive deep into their current favorite game, Marathon, and what its middling success says about the future of games.
404 Media
• Nicole Carpenter
Vibecoding has made it possible to create a cheap rip off of a video game in just a few hours.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
This week we’re joined by Dr. Angela Jones, who asks these questions and much more in their new book, Sex in Public.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
The Los Angeles Police Department let its Flock contract expire over the weekend in part because it was regularly "investigating" and surveilling innocent people.
404 Media
• Joseph Cox
Celebrities like George Clooney have praised the expensive Katalyst suit. For me, it derailed my other exercises and made me reassess my obsession with fitness and efficiency.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
Welcome to the AI-generated poster hall of shame.
404 Media
• Becky Ferreira
For more than a decade, the strange light patterns emitted by “Tabby’s Star” have sparked speculation about alien megastructures and exotic natural explanations. The discovery of a giant planet is a new twist.
404 Media
• Matthew Gault
ChatGPT uses too many dream sequences and Gemini won’t stop describing characters.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
This week, we discuss mobile podcasting, participating in the meme, and vertigo.
404 Media
• Samantha Cole
“Creators deserve credit, compensation, and consent. If that's not on the table, the crawlers can stay the fuck off Patreon," CEO Jack Conte wrote on Thursday.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
The FTC's settlement with John Deere actually has teeth, unlike previous settlements that largely maintained the status quo.
404 Media
• Jason Koebler
An AI detection company found that amount of AI content that users actually see in their day-to-day browsing is shockingly high.
