#DigitalEconomy #DigitalColonialism #VC #SiliconValley: "As countries in the Global South have long been plundered for labor and precious natural resources, today’s digital economy is extracting data from its citizens. And as the new dirty jobs of the digital economy are outsourced to the Global South—for instance, content moderators and data labelers in Kenya and the Philippines scouring the dregs of social media to protect the public from extreme and graphic material—we are witnessing the construction of a new age of digital sweatshops, where the most dangerous work is offshored to be performed by workers with the fewest protections.

The tech industry likes to present itself as presiding over a new industrial revolution that will change the world forever. It’s a more apt comparison than they might realize. As Dr. Onoho’Omhen Ebhohimhen of the Nigeria Labour Congress explained to us, noting that the effects of the digital economy, such as algorithmic management of workers, “is akin to reproducing the first Industrial Revolution, where workers were bonded and locked up, worked for 20 hours or more in a day, and had no right to a family life.”

Yet, it doesn’t have to be this way. Digital innovation can disrupt economies in favor of collaborative, solidarity-based forms of decent and quality work, where all can flourish. So, how might we democratize the digital economy so workers have agency and are able to shape the future alongside the technologists and venture capitalists of Silicon Valley?"

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/building_the_future_of_work_we_want

#SuperApps #Solutionism #SiliconValley: "For some tech firms like Microsoft, super apps may provide an opportunity to break the hold of more established monopolies like Apple or Google. And for consumers, one application with a core function brings together a diverse array of services such as calling a cab, investing money, or even making a quick buck.

But app-based solutions to structural problems are just shining examples of insisting the disease is the cure. Silicon Valley has long exploited existing societal and infrastructural gaps. Ride-hail platforms have savaged public transit and the taxi industry, but the need for drivers in cities without adequate transport options remains. The same goes for platforms offering app-based solutions to housing or financial services: Their popularity is less a testament to their innovation than to how desiccated the nonmarket alternatives were, thanks to older deregulatory campaigns stretching back to the ascent of neoliberal governance in the 1970s. In the end, they perpetuate problems with the systems they claim to hack. The crypto industry preys on nonwhite communities without access to the traditional financial system, and on-demand labor platforms have been hard at work eroding this country’s threadbare labor laws."

https://www.wired.com/story/super-app-musk-x-wechat-regulation/

Silicon Valley ★★★★★★★★★☆ https://trakt.tv/shows/silicon-valley #SiliconValley #trakt

Hello, are Indian fabric/clothing shops like this kind of like a combination Men's Wearhouse / Bridal Tailor place?

I'm curious how much they usually split between willingness to tailor/make clothes from patterns vs only resize existing off the rack items.

I'm wondering if they make casual sun dresses, house dresses etc as well :)

Thanks in advance, to the #bayarea #indian #india #eastbay #fremont #Milpitas #siliconvalley #fashion #clothing communities!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/GsxKydUxTyYazHuHA

It reflects a sense of urgency among #antitrust enforcers that, w/o action, #SiliconValley giants will transplant their established #MarketDominance into the #NextGeneration of #technology, potentially stifling #innovation in futuristic fields such as #AI.

#Technologists say the arrival of advanced #generative AI signals an inflection point: a chance for new players rise to the top, or for the established victors to extend their lead.

#DOJ #Law #legal #monopoly

Wired: Super Apps Are Terrible for People—and Great for Companies https://www.wired.com/story/super-app-musk-x-wechat-regulation/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #SiliconValley #Regulation #ElonMusk #wechat #Ideas #X

Wired: Super Apps Are Terrible for People—and Great for Companies https://www.wired.com/story/super-app-musk-x-wechat-regulation/ #SiliconValley #Regulation #ElonMusk #wechat #Ideas #X

An unwavering rule:

When billionaires build utopia, it will always — always, always — be dystopia.

Utopia is utopia only when it's built for all.

Billionaires always — always, always — build only for themselves and their cronies. See: Elon Musk.

#California #TechBros #SiliconValley #utopia #dystopia

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/9/2191211/-Billionaires-want-to-build-a-new-city-in-rural-California-They-ll-have-to-convince-voters-first

Worth reading article on #longtermism, #SiliconValley and what it has to do with #urban #planning. For me, it is also another indication that one has to be sceptical about the current hype of a new (?) interest in #future. Perhaps we need less imaginaries of the future and more analysis of problems of the present. Via @tazgetroete, in German. https://taz.de/Elon-Musk-und-das-X/!5955322/

Wired: Trump Squeezed America's Geek Squad. Biden Built It Back Stronger https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-trump-squeezed-americas-geek-squad-biden-built-it-back-stronger/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #Business/TechCulture #NationalAffairs #Infrastructure #SiliconValley #healthcare #government #Plaintext #Business #COVID-19 #congress

Wired: Trump Squeezed America's Geek Squad. Biden Built It Back Stronger https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-trump-squeezed-americas-geek-squad-biden-built-it-back-stronger/ #Business/TechCulture #NationalAffairs #Infrastructure #SiliconValley #healthcare #government #Plaintext #Business #COVID-19 #congress

#AI #GenerativeAI #Hype #SiliconValley #Bubble: "Silicon Valley has seen wave after wave of hype cycle over the past decades — with mixed success. The infamous dot-com bubble saw companies go public and take hundreds of millions of dollars from retail investors simply for having a “.com” in their name. Countless social media companies battled for supremacy, but few remember names like FriendFeed and Yik Yak.

Meanwhile, billions of dollars have gone into building self-driving cars, but after years of development, the tech still isn’t ready for mass adoption, despite the predictions from tech luminaries that they would be widespread by the mid-2020s. Cryptocurrencies have seen their own cycles of excitement, most recently the bubble that peaked at the end of 2021, leading to millions of people losing money.

There was even a previous wave of AI venture capital hubbub in the mid-2010s, when scientific breakthroughs in image recognition, translation and other AI developments led to a burst of start-ups in the space. Many were acquired by Big Tech companies.

In the latest iteration, the tech behind chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard are trained on huge amounts of data pulled from the open internet. That means big energy and computing needs. Nvidia, the company that makes the computer chips and software best suited to AI, has seen its valuation balloon over the last year, catapulting it into becoming the world’s sixth-most valuable company at $1.1 trillion."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/05/ai-hype-bubble-chatgpt/

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Privacy Sandbox

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

#google #chrome #adtech #surveillanceCapitalism #PeopleFarming #surveillance #capitalism #privacy #web #BigTech #SiliconValley

Gizmodo: California Congressman Says Tech Utopia Developer 'Sold a Fairy Tale’ to Silicon Valley Elite https://gizmodo.com/california-forever-development-fairy-tale-garamendi-sf-1850809669?utm_source=regular #universityofcaliforniaregents #sanfranciscobayarea #travisairforcebase #californiaforever #marcandreessen #siliconvalley #johngaramendi #michaelmoritz #charlesschwab #mikethompson #goldmansachs #reidhoffman #timflannery #donaldtrump #california #janshramek #linkedin #solano #kgo

Wired: How Big Tech Got So Damn Big https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-con-cory-doctorow-book-excerpt/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #Culture/DigitalCulture #TechPolicyandLaw #TheInternetCon #Culture/Books #SiliconValley #Entrepreneurs #Antitrust #Culture #Books

Wired: How Big Tech Got So Damn Big https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-con-cory-doctorow-book-excerpt/ #Culture/DigitalCulture #TechPolicyandLaw #TheInternetCon #Culture/Books #SiliconValley #Entrepreneurs #Antitrust #Culture #Books

Wired: Grindr’s Return to Office Ultimatum Has Gutted a Uniquely Queer Space in Tech https://www.wired.com/story/grindrs-return-to-office-ultimatum-gutted-a-uniquely-queer-space-in-tech/ #Business/TechCulture #SiliconValley #Situationship #transgender #remotework #diversity #Business #LGBTQ+ #Labor

Wired: Grindr’s Return to Office Ultimatum Has Gutted a Uniquely Queer Space in Tech https://www.wired.com/story/grindrs-return-to-office-ultimatum-gutted-a-uniquely-queer-space-in-tech/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #Business/TechCulture #SiliconValley #Situationship #transgender #remotework #diversity #Business #LGBTQ+ #Labor

El proyecto detrás de las misteriosas compras de terrenos en California: una megaciudad verde cerca de San Francisco https://www.idealista.com/news/inmobiliario/construccion/2023/09/06/807838-el-proyecto-detras-de-las-misteriosas-compras-de-terrenos-en-california-una #AFC_News #AFColegiado #Marketnavigator #Siliconvalley #SanFrancisco #Construcción

Me neither, that's why I prefer to use FOSS software where ever is possible, rather than the mainstream closed source ones.

#SiliconValley #BigTech