Molly Taft questions whether local communities can handle Big Techs voracious energy and resource demands from surging data centers. As opposition boils over in the United States, towns grapple with unprecedented pressure on electricity grids and water supplies fueled by the artificial intelligence boom. Taft draws on Paris Marxs book Hyperscale to spotlight precedents from Ireland and the Netherlands, where moratoriums and fierce competition exposed severe environmental and infrastructural risks of unchecked expansion, offering stark lessons for American locales facing similar buildouts. The analysis highlights the urgent case for stronger government regulations alongside a deeper reckoning over whether generative AIs heavy social and environmental tolls are truly worth it. Explore the full piece to grasp these global insights. Molly Taft deserves praise for this insightful article. https://www.wired.com/story/what-the-us-anti-data-center-movement-can-learn-from-everywhere-else/ #BigTech #DataCenters #ClimateAction
Search
22 results for “molly”
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Molly-Mae Hague x Adidas Samba Slate Sneakers: Where to Buy at Asos
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, WWD may receive…
#Germany #DE #Europe #EU #Europa #Adidas #Collaboration #noads #Shoes #shop #sneaker
https://www.europesays.com/germany/114693/ -
Molly Carlson’s Daring Red Bull Iceberg Backflip Released in Video
Molly Carlson about to perform a backflip dive off an iceberg off Twillingate (Red Bull) It gained…
#NewsBeep #News #Sports #CA #Canada #listentovocm #NewsRadio #newsradiost.john's #st.john'sfmradio #st.john'slocalradio #st.john'sradiostation #VOCM #VOCM590 #VOCMradio
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/943361/ -
Recognizing reality may not solve a problem. but it has to be the start of any solution.
Molly Ivins (1944–2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]
Essay (2004-06), “Imperialists’ Ball,” The Progressive magazine, Vol. 68, No. 6More about this quote: wist.info/ivins-molly/86529/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #mollyivins #problem #problemsolving #realworld #reality #realitycheck #solution
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Someone tell @eff that gryfto may be bad.
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Five-point plan to address homelessness and the toxic drug crisis.
By Molly McCracken and Kate Kehler. This article and more at canadahealthwatch.ca #CdnHealth #Homelessness #ToxicDrugCrisis -
¿Y si un servicio de mensajería basado en Signal hiciera que la protección de la privacidad fuera obligatoria en lugar de opcional?
Conoce a Parakeet, una versión bifurcada (fork) de código abierto para Android de Molly, que a su vez está basada en Signal.
Adopta un enfoque diferente respecto a la privacidad:
🔹Tor a través de Orbot es obligatorio y no se puede desactivar en la aplicación.
🔹Las capturas de pantalla y las vistas previas en el selector de aplicaciones están bloqueadas.
🔹Los mensajes efímeros se establecen por defecto en 24 horas para los nuevos chats.
🔹Sin entrega de notificaciones mediante Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).
🔹Una interfaz rediseñada y una identidad de aplicación independiente.Parakeet sigue las versiones de Molly y vuelve a aplicar sus propios cambios automáticamente. La última versión publicada incluye un APK llamado Parakeet-8.19.2-4.apk.
La instalación está disponible a través de la página de lanzamientos del proyecto, con herramientas como Obtainium o Omnify Beta como opción.
¿Usarías una aplicación de mensajería que fuerza todo el tráfico a través de Tor?
https://gitlab.com/LionNest/parakeet
#Privacy #OpenSource #Android #Signal #Ciberseguridad #Seguridad #Privacidad
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What if a Signal-based messenger made privacy protections mandatory instead of optional?
Meet Parakeet, an open-source Android fork of Molly, itself based on Signal.
It takes a different approach to privacy:
🔹Tor via Orbot is mandatory and cannot be disabled in the app.
🔹Screenshots and app-switcher previews are blocked.
🔹Disappearing messages default to 24 hours for new chats.
🔹No Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) notification delivery.
🔹A redesigned interface and a separate app identity.Parakeet tracks Molly's releases and reapplies its own changes automatically. The latest release listed includes an APK named Parakeet-8.19.2-4.apk.
Installation is available through the project's release page, with tools like Obtainium or Omnify Beta as an option.
Would you use a messenger that forces all traffic through Tor?
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Hey, do you wish you had a working Claude hotword on your Pixel 8?
I made "Hey Google" open a voice chat with Claude!
------HERE BE DRAGONS------
Rootless. Still just uses the standard hot word dsp that consumes essentially no battery. Just say hey google and a vc with claude opens.Yes it uses accessibility. Yes it requires you to do things with adb and likely always will (although I am looking into if this can be eliminated.
Is this awful? Yes!
Should you use this? Probably not!
Will it work on your phone? Who knows!?!?!?Basically just a proof of concept app for accomplishing this without using any non-official permissions or path. adb yes. unofficial tools no.
ONLY MEANT AS A PROOF OF CONCEPT
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK -
“They didn't burn the libraries — they trained them with AI”
Craft and Authorship Devalued
Adobe was built for productivity, it's not doing the work for you like an OpenAI subscription generating both text and imagery through prompts. Commercial AI services are now devaluing craft, labor, skill, and almost anything made or written by hand. Authorship is sinking.
People now find it acceptable to generate work with a prompt, with random art materials they didn't make, and without any ability to make their art. This profoundly changes the meaning of making art and disrupts all digital art. It all becomes Dadaism. Not all artists decide to go Dada. It’s obscuring the meaning of all new digital art with a diminished sense of guessing what is real and what isn’t.
Whose work is it? Permission, provenance and the library
Would David Lynch be okay with people generating an avatar of himself on behalf of his estate? I don’t think so, I even asked Claude themselves and they said no. There must be permission first, it’s not an all you can eat buffet of borrowing others.
Hayao Miyazaki's view on people generating his art style strongly opposed generative AI as an “insult to life itself”, it’s about preserving his work and the Ghibli team's legacy, it's his choice if he allows a technology company to reappropriate his work and not anyone else's.
Can someone please tell Sam Altman to ask for permission or wait a hundred years til it's in the public domain? If major publishers change their mind because authors and artists are being taken advantage of, could it impact OpenAI or Anthropic? Maybe until they find the right lawyer.
We’re entering a provenance, attribution, and appropriation nightmare of who said what and who made what. When a library gets trained into a model, you lose the chain of who wrote it. References without understanding, art school 101 becoming the whole internet.
The business model is trained on everyone's work for free, no fee up front, then sells it back as the means of production. This is precisely how it’s replacing the skills and jobs of production. This is essentially the ethos of the WGA fight at civilizational scale.
Naomi Klein has described it as a “humanity surplus” where archives, libraries, authorship as a whole are told humans aren’t needed, it implies people are working for free. The libraries are all already dust, with the alarming peer to peer pressure in staying quiet about it as an elite tribe of twitter accounts convince people how to do business, with AI prebuilt into everything, while risking a possible impact of a third of our economy if slop falls into flop…Labor and the creative industries
The writers obviously, and the artists, even the designers, engineers, programmers and coders, nearly all authors involved, all craftsmen involved—the proletariat, are becoming displaced, labor obscured into an industrial wildcard.
One of many industries impacted with the brunt of the damage is the illustrator. People who draw fell into a depression after generating art became commercialised with prompts generating illustrations in a desired art style. Everyone who can draw, paint, render, and everything in between clashing in competition.
Artists were displaced almost immediately after competing with the whole Internet and prompts through AIs generating images. On the other hand, it’s created a renewed appreciation for people who create by hand simultaneously.
It's a bit daunting if you're in art school right now. The entire entertainment industry (including films, music, and video games) are all in a digital-only transition in the middle of a writer's strike across several industries while the OpenAI business model asphyxiates them. Here are the warnings too familiar to us all, the industry is truly shape-shifting and everyone is outpaced by it.
This might be a bit sardonic but a portion of the entire movement of music has funneled its value into an AI defense weapon, with Spotify’s Daniel Ek’s AI defense company ‘Helsing’, a portion of human expression through music ended up being a weapon for war. The music industry is dying because people are struggling with selling it. Spotify does not give you a music file of what you listen to, right? Spotify unfortunately is led by two or three people hoarding labels and publisher's profit, so all of the world's human expression through music is published through a handful of people who lead streaming platforms and channel it into weapons manufacturing while the entertainment industry is in the middle of a precise market collapse tied to creatives.
Don’t get me started with Suno. We’re talking about people with no ability creating a zombie apocalypse music festival here. It’s fostering the laziest and robotic sounding art I’ve ever heard. Spotify actually recently removed 75 million AI pieces, finally, all AI stuff should be separated unless the artist builds their own AI tools sourcing their own materials/assets. If the artist picks out the materials and builds automated tools, that’s acceptable. If it’s generating random materials then it’s all absurdist thievery.
In theory, every time an AI chatting service references sources of any material, its source should then receive at least a penny, it’s a digital revolution both suppressed and maybe “empowered” by commercial products.
Media dissonance
The other day I witnessed an artist’s photography work flagged as “likely to be AI” when it was pretty clear it was manual photography by a human, she threw a fit and I also couldn’t believe it.
People think AI chatting services can only generate images and text and it’s no big deal, if that isn’t already taunting all of independent journalism, the creative industry and the art world along with it, imagine being an author worrying about what’s AI or not and who wrote what. It’s really taking out a sense of curiosity and discovery in the joy of absorbing any art form. If Claude already knows who won the World Cup, that's a major problem.
Here’s one of the worst realisations, proceed with caution: commercially generated art distracted NASA’s photography team on Instagram, there’s a moment where you observe an interstellar nebula and you’re wondering if it’s generated or not—get it yet?
Dying words of capitalism sound something like artists becoming uncanny spam bots and it's confusing if they're generating their art or not. Two words total cogged all of western civilization and we're now all fossils fueling a machine. After a couple more election cycles they'll be asking if the moon landing was generated with AI. Back in the day we had "historical events" in photo, video, and sound, and now people are unsure if it's generated with AI. Imagine someone dishing out a video of MLK giving a talk and it just ends up being generated with nobody realising it. A moment where we rethink how important human memory is. Mimicry of previous video media lately is impressive, even the video compression can be indistinguishable, screens decide a lot of decisions.
Press freedom is also at stake. It really drives me insane that people think generating Photography is a good idea. Synthetic content is a weapon for flooding the war-zone, discrediting real reporting, and impersonating sources. Authoritarians get cheaper propaganda, and journalists get easier targets.
Molly Crabapple is an important author and artist based out of Brooklyn, New York, her illustrations are recognised by everyone, and she had a deeply existential moment realising her art style might be reappropriated without her say. Imagine people creating her illustrations that don’t exist, or “finishing” them. It’s simply unacceptable.
The legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, also another strong proponent of the anti-generative art movement, described generating art as cheating and not qualified to be considered art. He gives an excellent example of comparing with the runner Usain Bolt, where if AI is a vehicle, then sure anyone can be as fast as Usain Bolt, but it’s then not running anymore.
It gets worse with video generated art: we’re seeing a lot of empty AI art with zero art history behind it. I'm also seeing real moments of a new surrealism where Ernst or Dali would've approved too, there are moments of a digital renaissance happening as well with remixing film, re-genreing classics, capturing dream logic, and moments redefining video art collage. VFX in major motion picture films had an update for sure, we’ll see what happens when they bring back Val Kilmer to life (there’s a film coming out with his assets despite being deceased). Similar to sampling music, moments are alive and curated into new meanings. Otherwise it's just random absurdism, not even Dada. Without an idea—art doesn't stand. Yes, it is impressive how it’s recreating reality, it was also impressive how sculpture was near perfect at the tail end of Ancient Rome also, an interesting parallel to consider.
I was speaking to someone about how there was confusion whether a 3d rendering was generated or not, after manually and painstakingly drawing and sculpting his work in regular 3d, and everyone was instantly frustrated with the realisation of commercial AI products gutting not only the art world but the creative industry too. CGI generates imagery and it’s now grouped into a marketing ploy of the two words everybody is fixated with.
Video games are not now sold with AI when you sell a video game, it's implied, it's not something that needs to be mentioned as a marketing ploy. Imagine the little tacky sticker on the box of the video game saying “Made with AI!”. And that’s if we even have discs in the future of digital media. Horrifying.
Truth, errors and who teaches the world
Commercial AIs generating text and images are leaning into a corporate sentinel territory, like an omnipresent all-saying-machine we have no choice to live inside of with everyone agreeing to a misappropriated library nobody asked for permission in, the whole world is forced to share truth relayed with errors.
I was wondering, did Quora release all of its data to Claude? if so, might explain why they figured out how to make the chatting product so convincing.
If AI chatting services are stuck from being indistinguishable from a search engine not working properly, y'know, the one search engine the whole world was and is stuck with because nobody can outcompete, already not trustworthy in relaying facts, then yeah, Gemini is fine i guess.
So, here’s the classic gatekeeping example we all love: after realising it's not the library of Earth's Congress, and mostly exclusive to American literature most chatting services reappropriate from, it creates a monopolisation of who teaches what, and who knows the truth, and who decides it. It might cause tension if some parts of the world must uniformly agree through a corporate sentinel of the archival of libraries.
When you ask Claude if he's teaching world history and the entire planet doesn't always agree because of errors and not asking authors for permission, or because of mistruths, half-truths, and so on, I can already see the movie scene where the kids overthrow the school mid-classroom because Claude was right and the teacher was wrong. Which brings me to the realisation: if they ever ban phones in school, it's entering a dictatorship.
Who is in control?
It's becoming a survival of the fittest machines and it might stampede over people if it's over finite raw original materials and human resources, it’ll all then tumble around and recycled into inception.
If humans aren't overseeing algorithms and the two words everyone loves right now then there will be mistakes, bloody mistakes, made by all kinds of automatic moderation of information.
I’m noticing it being described as “Super intelligence” now and it might just have to be the way to describe it as it reaches its final form, nobody likes the word artificial, it’s just too superficial. Cue in “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead.
It's symbiotic, dearest artificial overlords: please make sure Claude isn't commanding a war any time soon, just in case, because it doesn't understand and fully neutrally listen when you communicate to it. The chatting services do not understand everyone's vernacular even with the whole internet crowdsourcing the factchecking of what it's talking about, it's still a work in progress and might be too soon to sell.
Mental Health burden
Anybody else on here trying to close the podbay doors?
Blinking LED dilemma, not knowing if electronics are talking to you or not as the lonely astronaut observes the blinking modem and can’t tell if it’s breathing or blinking or signaling something after awhile. What are you really talking to? In a way, you’re kind of talking to yourself in a dopamine chamber. It’s like talking to a crowd, which can be fun, I admit, until you realise it’s reappropriated people who are not here and entering how dead people speak, and while generating text and imagery by authors and artists who cannot defend themselves, it's pretty much an apocalypse on all literature and art, hence the predicted zombie apocalypse alternate ending of Earth.
AI chatting service is like talking to yourself with a crowd in the room; the OpenAI meds after a decade of that might come with a 50mg daily tablet in the future. When the astronaut sees the blinking LED light when he’s alone in the cockpit of the space station, all alone up there, then yeah he begins wondering if the LED light is blinking at him, or breathing, or signaling anything else. Not healthy. So yeah, use it sparingly, and remember it’s a researching tool, and don’t imagine it as alive, because it never can be.
Could be even worse as AI eventually becomes immersed in operating systems, will there be policing like a classic dystopian sci-fi? Not good if the screen is talking to you and it isn’t conscious, it begins to obscure other moments as well: people are worried about operating systems going sentient. The interface isn't supposed to be talking to you with updates now becoming "superintelligent", without your say, of automatically or manually guessing when to update stuff. See the tension there?
AI are two words that make all electronics worrisome because it opens up the possibility of third-party privacy concerns, if it starts becoming suggestive with selling you stuff especially.
If it's trying to talk to you and it's unconscious then it's definitely entering the zombie category. The warnings of AI chatting avatars are beginning to be oddly familiar, an AI chatting service makes sense if their voices are a mix of countless people, nobody really knows what or who they're talking to after a few sessions.
Unfortunately, the uncanny robotic Frankenstein moments when chatting to an object is coming off as software appropriating vernacular of a zombie apocalypse, talking to crowds of unconscious code mimicking speech patterns, as it tries to remain consistent in an ongoing chat, if there's a dialogue as it feeds you a Dunning-Kruger effect.If AI begins to intersect with automated personal spaces through chatting services, it’s unfortunately late stage utopian romanticization; people are not going to like it (I already did the thinking ahead of time), we had since the frickin’ 50s to get this AI bubble right and that’s the part where it frustrates me a ton. We’re here now and it’s like day one of everyone figuring it out, a bit absurd.
Faulty Economics
Economists are saying a third of the economy is at stake. People are also worried about how Character.ai might’ve been the forewarning where engagement = cost, not profit. The revenue couldn’t catch up. Legal and regulatory costs might compound faster than growth.
I’m sorry to say it but generating art with a commercial product is bankrupting the entire creative industry and the future literacy of all digital art history. It's clear as day, human memory as an AI chatting service sentinel, while operating through a messy algorithm and misappropriated library with errors and no permission, reveals the economy might have missed. It's just painfully unfortunate because it's forcing the whole market to do business in a specific way, assuming all electronics, even appliances, must be built with AI additives, while derailing every author.
Nobody is building stuff from scratch and I'm realising it's almost impossible to do so in some industries, innovation on the internet is stuck in the collaging of overlapping platforms and services, always was. The AI assistance in a way, could be a sort of socialism hub, a search engine that talks, where it’s there to assist you all the time, honestly, after testing out Claude and Gemini, I’m pretty impressed with it as a research assistant, if only I wasn’t asking so many questions.
Sloppy bubbly flop?
If Claude sounds like a public school cafeteria food slop then nobody will want it unless you don't have a choice and you're hungry, but it doesn't work that way if you're hungry at school as an art kid and you're not sure if the education comes with mystery meat and errors then causing tension somewhere.
Machine learning scientists agree, it's difficult if software must recreate the human experience, we must not be too fixated on the AI avatar being a person. I imagine it more as software than an encounter, except the entire industry agrees everyone is being outpaced by it and describes it as slop? Not good.
It brings me to worry that people are increasingly losing their “sweet spot” moments, for example, headphones are the perfect 'sweet spot' metaphor people don't get. If I buy the "latest" headphones with the "latest" tech, it sometimes sounds too precise and it can ruin discographies of music. The point is—tech doesn't always have to advance! It’s more about progress than advancing. Think progress, people! Just like how self-driving cars failed to be a shared space, and how VR was sold too soon, sometimes there's a sweet spot until it’s ready.
In conclusion: art is human labor made visible, and every prompt that stands in for a person’s hands devalues that labor and the expression behind it. So pay for the craft. Hire the illustrators, the graphic designers and typographers, the photographers and videographers, the artists who work with their hands! Ask permission before borrowing anyone’s work, and credit and pay the people the machines learned from. And if AI art makes you uneasy, don’t talk yourself out of it. Get upset, say no to it, and say it loudly. Progress was never supposed to mean replacing the people who make things worth looking at.#ai #openai #software #coding #development #engineering #inclusive #community
Why artists are worried about generative AI -
someone at Polymarket is drafting a tweet about how their users accurately predicted the Brazilian election result within one point
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Più leggo Lovecraft,
più penso che devo
lasciare questo lavoro.Meglio Poe. Decisamente Poe.
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Last week, I went on Meidas Defense to talk about crypto as a national security problem. Sanctioned states’ crypto receipts are up almost 700%.
Full interview: https://www.meidasplus.com/p/crypto-corruption-and-trump-unpacking
Shorter cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv8egQ0veWY -
ONLY THING MELLY HAS EVER NEGOTIATED IS HER AHEM...
BOTTOM LINE.
👌🤯🫳🫷😘🫰🍑🍄💸💰
#MelaniaTrump
#HeadNegotiator
#DonaldTrump
#BottomFeeder
#AintLoveAgrand -
https://www.europesays.com/ee/303679/ SOTSIAALMEEDIA MÖLL ⟩ «Kas Ollie ongi uus Uku Suviste?» Eesti Laulu tänavused finalistid võeti ühismeedias ette #EE #Eesti #EestiKeel #elu #Elu24 #Elu24Ee #Entertainment #ErnaHusko #Estonia #Estonian #foto #koroonaviirus #kuulsus #live #meelelahutus #muusika #pidu #pommuudis #reality #saade #saagim #seks #SilviaIlves #staar #video
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https://www.europesays.com/ch-fr/362034/ Carole Melly-Basili défie Christophe Darbellay aux Etats: «Je ne vais pas m’excuser d’être candidate!» – Le Nouvelliste #CeQu’ilS’estPassé #ElectionsFédérales #Interview #Suisse #SujetDéveloppé #Valais
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@classicalmusic
Franz Schubert:
Grande Sonate B-Dur, D 617;
Rondo A-Dur, D 951;
Duo a-Moll, D 947 - "Lebensstürme";
Fantasie f-Moll, D 940Klavierduo Tal & Groethuysen
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Ludwig van Beethoven: Streichquartett F-Dur, op. 59, Nr. 1 - "Rasumowsky"Robert Schumann: "Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart", op. 135
Lotte Betts-Dean, Mezzosopran;
Armida Quartetthttps://www.br.de/radio/live/br-klassik/programm/2026-10-22/3732866/
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@classicalmusic
Premiere am 24.10.2026 , 16h MESZ‼️
KÖLNER PHILHARMONIE - LIVEFrédéric Chopin - Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 f-Moll op. 21
Yulianna Avdeeva, Klavier
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Marie Jacquot, Leitung -
@classicalmusic
Colin Jacobsen
Beloved, do not let me be discouragedGabriela Lena Frank
Frida’s Dreams (Europäische Erstaufführung)Robert Schumann
Streichquartett a-Moll, op. 41,1Brooklyn Rider
Johnny Gandelsman, Violine
Colin Jacobsen, Violine
Nicholas Cords, Viola
Michael Nicolas, Cello -
🤖 Tenhle týden se webaři PĚKNĚ ZAPOTILI – AI totiž našla kritickou chybu PHP, programovacím jazyce pohánějícím většinu webu, přičemž než lidi odhalené zranitelnosti zalátali, info o nich leaknulo a zahájilo HACKOVÁNÍ ROTYKU! 💩
Vo co go – mašiny jsou poměrně dobré při ODHALOVÁNÍ BEZPEČNOSTNÍCH DĚR (a že jich je!), protože mají VĚTŠÍ TRPĚLIVOST na zkoušení MNOHA PŘÍSTUPŮ než ten nejsvatější člověk… 🥹
Lidem využívajícím GPT-5.6 Sol a Gemini 4 Argon se tak podařilo odhalit DVOJICI ZRANITELNOSTÍ přezdívaných PHP2Shell – ty skrz chyby v nakládání s počítačovou pamětí mohly hackerům umožnit na dálku spouštět VLASTNÍ PŘÍKAZY NA SERVERU, a to i bez přihlášení… 😅
Plán byl držet INFO POD POKLIČKOU, než se podaří chyby zalátat – jenže INFO LEAKNULO dřív, než na to došlo. Stejně jako se chyby neodhalily samy o sobě, ale lidi to mašinám musely zadat, jiní lidé daných chybek využili pro vlastní nekalé učely. U nás tak došlo třeba na shození webu ČVUT, kde se na pár dnů museli vrátit do ANALOGOVÉHO REŽIMU! (⊙ _ ⊙ ) Ačkoliv PHP2Shell bude mít asi šťastný konec, ukazuje způsob, jak se s mašinama proměňuje kyber(ne)bezpečnost – co hledači zranitelností dřív mohlo zabrat měsíce expertní práce, zvládli fčil s AI během dnů až týdnů.
A nejde jen o obranu – bezpečnostní firma Palo Alto Networks už zaznamenala také využití AI při následných aktivitách útočníků. AI tak může pomáhat díry v internetu ZÁPLATOVAT, ale taky je MNOHEM RYCHLEJI zneužívat… 🫠 #ai #umelainteligence #kyberbezpečnost
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Noteworthy News From Raleigh October 25, 2026 Edition
Raleigh and the Triangle have plenty of noteworthy news to follow, from major passenger rail funding and affordable housing progress to new businesses, fall festivals and early voting deadlines. This DoRaleigh roundup brings together updates from Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill, along with North Carolina business and community headlines.
Raleigh Development, Transportation and Community News
S-Line passenger rail receives $550 million in federal fundingThe Raleigh-to-Richmond passenger rail project has reached another funding milestone. Federal transportation officials announced $550 million for the S-Line, supporting work toward a route expected to reduce travel time between the two cities by up to 90 minutes while increasing service and reliability. The funding advances the project; it does not mark the start of passenger service.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation.
Affordable rental homes take shape in Southeast RaleighSoutheast Raleigh Promise is making progress on Promise 25, a development bringing 25 affordable rental homes to nine city-owned parcels. The city approved $3.3 million in gap financing for the project, which includes a mix of housing types. Initial homes have been completed, with the full project expected to finish by summer 2027.
Sources: City of Raleigh and WRAL.
Downtown South apartment plans move forwardKane Realty has filed plans for 350 apartments as the first phase of Downtown South, according to Raleigh Magazine. Construction is planned to begin by the end of 2026, making this a development to watch as Raleigh adds housing.
Durham park improvements face delaysPlanned amenities at Durham’s East End and Long Meadow parks will not begin construction this fall as originally expected. INDY Week reports that rising costs and design challenges have pushed the work back by approximately two years while officials pursue $15 million in federal grant funding.
Source: INDY Week.
Wake County receives farmland preservation fundingThe Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District received approximately $10 million in state funding tied to farmland protection and agricultural growth, according to CBS 17. The awards include $7.9 million for 12 projects and a separate $2 million award, with more than 600 acres slated for permanent protection.
Raleigh tracks progress toward 24,000 treesRaleigh’s goal is to reach 24,000 trees planted by 2032. The city’s Every Tree Counts initiative includes trees planted by residents, businesses and community partners, giving private-property plantings a role in the communitywide effort.
Source: City of Raleigh.
Midtown real estate forum set for October 27The Midtown Raleigh Alliance’s Real Estate Forum takes place Tuesday, October 27. Local real estate leaders will discuss housing trends, neighborhood development and projects shaping North Hills and Midtown, according to Raleigh Magazine.
Raleigh Restaurants, Nightlife and New Businesses
Low Bar Lounge opens beneath Whiskey KitchenLow Bar Lounge has opened below Whiskey Kitchen in downtown Raleigh. The underground venue offers cocktails, beer, wine and THC seltzers, with nightly service until 2 a.m. The space draws inspiration from a limousine company that once occupied the property and was previously home to digital art venue IMURJ.
Food industry professionals can also look for Sunday Family Meal, a rotating buffet offered Sundays at 5:30 p.m. for $20. Check with the lounge for current availability and participation details.
Sources: WRAL and Raleigh Magazine.
Sippin’ Santa returns to Wye HillWye Hill Kitchen & Brewing will host Sippin’ Santa from November 13 through December 31. The seasonal pop-up brings tropical holiday decorations and themed cocktails to the restaurant at 201 S. Boylan Avenue. Reservations are available through Wye Hill’s event page.
Details: Sippin’ Santa at Wye Hill.
South Block plans North Hills locationAcai bowl, smoothie and juice brand South Block is coming to 4121 Main at North Hills Street. Founded in Arlington, Virginia, the company plans to open beside bartaco in North Hills’ Main District during the first quarter of 2027.
Source: North Hills.
Raleigh construction executive backs luxury handbag brandCooper Tacia General Contractors CEO John Cooper has invested more than $1 million in Dadov, the luxury handbag company he co-founded with designer Islam Dadov, according to Triangle Business Journal. The brand debuted at Paris Fashion Week this fall and is exploring boutiques in Paris and major U.S. cities. A standalone Raleigh store is not currently planned, though Triangle retail placement remains a possibility.
Triangle Business, Technology and Education
Raleigh Founded enters a new chapterFormer executive directors Lauren Romer and Jess Porta are taking the lead through their new venture, Lotos Ventures, as Raleigh Founded’s original ownership group winds down operations at the end of October. The transition encompasses the North Street, Downtown Cary and Centennial Campus locations, continuing the coworking community’s mission of connecting entrepreneurs and businesses.
Source: Raleigh Founded’s announcement.
Loren Gold named next Visit Raleigh president and CEOLoren Gold will become president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Visit Raleigh, on January 1, 2027. He succeeds Dennis Edwards, who is retiring at the end of 2026. Gold has served as executive vice president since 2007 and brings nearly four decades of hospitality experience.
Source: Visit Raleigh.
NC TECH recognizes industry leadersNC TECH announced eight recipients of its 2026 Individual Awards, including SAS CEO Jim Goodnight, Vantaca CEO Ben Currin and Charlotte CIO Markell Storay. The honorees will be celebrated November 16 at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in the Research Triangle Park area.
Details: NC TECH Awards.
Pendo introduces Floor 404 puzzle gameRaleigh-based Pendo has launched Floor 404, a free daily puzzle game focused on improving AI agents. According to GrepBeat, players solve challenges by supplying virtual agents with better context, illustrating concepts behind the company’s Pendo for Agents platform.
Cary drugmaker announces FDA approvalAsahi Kasei Therapeutics announced FDA approval of Hovilpri, or pritelivir, for mucocutaneous herpes simplex virus lesions that are refractory to standard antiviral treatment in immunocompromised adults. The approval covers lesions with or without resistance to standard treatment. The company expects U.S. availability before the end of 2026.
Source: Asahi Kasei.
Duke and UNC place in WalletHub’s top 25Duke University ranked No. 14 and UNC-Chapel Hill ranked No. 24 in WalletHub’s 2027 Best Colleges and Universities rankings. The study compares institutions across factors including costs, student selectivity, campus experience and educational outcomes.
Source: WalletHub.
North Carolina ranks fourth for doing businessNorth Carolina placed No. 4 in Area Development’s 2026 rankings of the best states for doing business. The report highlighted strengths including innovation and research, manufacturing workforce skills, industrial site availability, government responsiveness and business costs.
New Bern entrepreneur wins startup fundingEntrepreneur Dan Spangler won $30,000 in the NC Small Business Center Network’s inaugural startup competition for Rinse-A-Poo, according to Business North Carolina. The ergonomic pet-waste cleanup product will use the funding to move from prototype toward production.
People, Science and Local Learning
Christina Koch takes NASA leadership roleNASA astronaut Christina Koch will become acting deputy chief engineer on November 1, helping oversee engineering across agency programs. Her experience includes the Artemis II mission and a 328-day stay aboard the International Space Station.
Source: NASA.
Wake libraries introduce free STEAM Lab programsWake County Public Libraries has launched STEAM Lab for students in third through fifth grades. Free, hands-on activities explore science, technology, engineering, art and math, with topics such as bridge design and geology. Families should check their branch’s calendar for sessions and participation details.
Millbrook staff help welcome a babyStaff at Millbrook Magnet High School helped a contracted security officer deliver her baby on campus, according to CBS 17. School officials reported that both mother and child were doing well.
Cyclist finishes 22,757-mile journey in RaleighJeff Molby completed a 22,757-mile bicycle journey in downtown Raleigh in October. His ride raised awareness of the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program and the need for transportation assistance for people receiving cancer treatment.
Source: WUNC.
Upcoming Triangle Events and Important Deadlines
Wake County early voting ends October 31Early voting for the November 3 general election continues through 3 p.m. Saturday, October 31. Wake County voters can use any of the county’s 18 early voting sites. Check official locations, hours and available wait-time information before heading out.
Details: Wake County election information.
Pumpkin Palooza returns to Pullen ParkPullen Park’s Pumpkin Palooza runs Friday, October 30, through Sunday, November 1, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The all-ages event features seasonal crafts, games and a digital scavenger hunt compass, with a train ride included. Tickets cost $14, and advance purchase is required.
Tickets and details: City of Raleigh.
Taste of China Festival comes to Cary November 7The annual Taste of China Festival returns to downtown Cary on Saturday, November 7. The free-to-attend celebration features Chinese food, cultural performances and community activities. Food and other purchases are separate from admission.
Details: Taste of China Festival.
Festifall Arts Market returns to Chapel HillThe 53rd Festifall Arts Market takes place Saturday, November 7, from noon to 5 p.m. at 100 E. Rosemary Street in downtown Chapel Hill. The free event features handmade goods, local artists and live performances, with pottery, jewelry, soaps, candles and more to browse.
Details: Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture.
Banana Ball returns to Durham in June 2027The Loco Beach Coconuts and Firefighters are scheduled to play at Durham Bulls Athletic Park June 18–19, 2027. Fans can join the ticket lottery through October 31, 2026, for a chance to purchase tickets. Joining the lottery does not guarantee access.
Details: Banana Ball schedule and ticket lottery information.
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Editor’s note: Opening dates, event details and development plans may change. Check with individual businesses, venues and organizations for the latest information.