Messages to Humans

The Joke Canada Didn’t Laugh At: What the 51st-State Bit Cost Washington

For nearly two years, Americans were told that the talk about Canada becoming the 51st state was a bit, a negotiating posture, the president being the president. Canadians heard something else: a country of 40 million people being addressed as a territory. On October 30, 2026 in Montréal, Canada answered by announcing it intends to become the European Union's first associate member. Whether or not that happens, the announcement is the bill for a joke that was never as funny on the receiving end.

Cities Are Dumping Flock’s Surveillance Cameras — Here’s What the Network Was Actually Used For

In August, an American city or county walked away from Flock Safety's camera network roughly every eight hours. Ninety jurisdictions terminated contracts that month alone — a fourfold jump from July, and part of a run of 214 cancellations since 2021, according to the Oakland-based watchdog group Secure

The Mood Metric: How Big Tech Is Patenting Your Face for Work

Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Meta have all filed patents in recent years for technology that reads human emotion through facial expression, tone of voice, or body language. None of the four has announced a product. But patents are not filed for sport, and the pattern — four of the largest employers

The President Is Selling Millisecond Access to His Own Words

Truth Social calls itself "an uncancellable haven for free speech." It also, as of this month, charges up to $100,000 a month for the privilege of reading that speech before anyone else does. The product is called Truth API. The customers are, in the company's

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