Best Of MetaFilter

Photo by Kaysse via Flickr

Tired of those AI summaries when using Google search? Well, getting rid of them is really fucking simple!

image via pixabay.com

Rhaomi posted about Google's NotebookLM (AI-powered research and writing assistant), and its interesting "unassuming" option of turning your uploaded texts, links, docs, audio clips, etc., into source material for an extremely convincing virtual podcast with the surprising "Audio Overview" tool. Read all about it ... or, in fact, listen to the podcast about us reading all about it. Amazing.

Image by Casey Fleser, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/somegeekintn/)

When and why did Google search get so bad? Zenon's post has an answer! It's about Edward Zitron, who pinpoints the date and reasons to February of 2019, click to read the details!

In Ask Metafilter, "The Google Podcast app will no longer work after April 2nd ... What free Android podcast apps do you recommend?"

Image via neal.fun

Google Street View, curated: Having fun with Neal Agarwal's "Wonders of Street View."

Giant Teddy Bear by focusc (cc by)

Great link on the enshittification of the internet and how platforms die by Cory Doctorow

The Whisper by Brian Smithson (Old Geordie) (cc by)

Are Siri, Alexa, et al, relaying your private conversations to advertisers? Kadin2048 on why this isn't the case, why the truth is actually more nefarious, and why the distinction matters.

Gin and Broadband in Ask Metafilter: "bring me your most-loved shortcuts for unloveable Microsoft and Google"

Sentiment Analysis for C-of-the-ACM by tsevis (cc by-nc-nd)

Recent comments from Mefites that go behind the scenes or look a little deeper:

pinback on using Google Mobilizer as a proxy to render encrypted and obfuscated TV listings to create electronic program guides "back in the dark early days of digital television in Australia"

Eyebrows McGee on the complicated manipulations and confusion of special taxing districts

allkindsoftime on the hair-raising dangers and machinations of Nairobi's "matatu" minibus transit chaos

yankeefog on the concept of "convening an electoral college" as One Weird Trick for negotiating disputes or decisions in a healthy marriage

a fiendish thingy on resumes and job search etiquette, and why "creative" at this stage is more likely to read as "confusing" and "non-functional"

Frowner on the various considerations of navigating content/trigger warnings or disturbing material in an academic setting

Ramses condom package design

Ramses condoms are named after Ramses II, who had almost 160 children. Condoms are kind of all about preventing lots of kids ... And the Trojans famously let a large object inside their city which discharged a swarm of invaders that destroyed it. Again, isn't this exactly the opposite of what a condom should do? – Sangermaine

Arousing, spacey, spicy and dashing design recently on Mefi: Vintage condom package designs; An extravagant symbol of a man who can’t hide his true nature – A brief history on Spats; Taxi Fabric connects young Indian designers with taxi drivers; When Airlines Looked Cool and Showed It, posters from flying's golden age; In the '70s, NASA commissioned a redesign of their "meatball" logo... unfortunately a lot of NASA engineers hated it. And of course, Mefites weigh in on the Google logo redesign.

and in the Green: Who originated the ubiquitous laser/neon grid design of the '80s?; Cool examples of generative art?; How can I make beautiful Powerpoint Slides?; "The best way I can describe it is 'whimsical'" – Where can I get more plates like this?

Green IT by OiMax (cc by)

As an incredibly opinionated geek who has worked in the datacenter industry, let me rant about the delightful details between datacenter types.

MeFite Skrubly talks about datacenters and what people do and don't know about them.

and eriko talks about why the problem is so hard.

Are you an old school Blogger user from back in the day? I bet you got a few "update your old account" emails this week (I got 7 of them) and wondered why. MeFi member feelinglistless wondered if they were fake emails and how to save those old blogs associated with them and lucky for him, a Google engineer that works on Blogger showed up to explain why they emailed everyone and helped out a few users along the way.