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Colorado’s TikTok creators worry about losing income, online communities with a potential U.S. ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

TikTok creators living and working in Colorado fear their incomes – and online communities – are at risk if a potential U.S. ban on the social media app moves forward.The popular Chinese-owned app, which features a seemingly never-ending stream of short videos, means more to creators than captured moments with adorable pets or trending dances for Generation Z, also known as zoomers. Owner ByteDance Ltd. committed to pouring around $285 million over three years to pay high-performing influencers through its Creator Fund – but the real money for content creators comes from partnerships with brands.“This is a serious source of income for me, which sounds silly,” said 32-year-old Amanda Bittner. “But, when I look at my bank account at the end of the month, that is real money that I earned.”“I consider it a job.”The Denver resident posts her adventures around Colorado’s capital city and beyond to her account, @theamandabittner, cultivating a foll...

Snnaaake! South African pilot finds deadly cobra under his seat while inflight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat.Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday's flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced down to see the head of a fairly large Cape cobra “receding back under the seat,” he said.“It was as if my brain didn't know what was going on,” he told The Associated Press.After taking a moment to compose himself, he informed his passengers of the slippery stowaway.“There was a moment of stunned silence,” he said. Everyone stayed cool, especially the pilot.Erasmus called air traffic control for permission to make an emergency landing in the town of Welkom in central South Africa. He still had to fly for another 10 to 15 minutes and land the plane with the snake by his feet.“I kept looking down to see where it was. It was happy under the seat," Erasmus said. “I don't have a big fear of snakes, but I normally don...

Pittsburg: Third suspect in fatal shooting arrested after standoff in Modesto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

PITTSBURG — A 37-year-old man was in county jail after a search warrant served at a Modesto apartment led to an hours-long standoff that ended in his surrender and arrest Wednesday in connection with a fatal shooting earlier this month, authorities said.Shortly after 9 p.m. March 22, police responded to a home after a possible gunshot report in the 100 block of Bruno Avenue. About forty minutes after officers arrived, they heard gunshots about a half-mile away in the 1000 block of Power Avenue, and learned of a dispatcher’s call about a clerk shot at a store.Other officers responded to the store, and found a clerk suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Despite officers’ life-saving efforts, the man was pronounced dead at the scene. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/03/23/male-slain-in-pittsburg-shooting/ Police identified him as Abdul Raouf, 44, and said the shooting was the city’s first homicide of the year.Police learned that two Pittsburg residents, a ...

Missing Northern California man found dead on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

MEXICO CITY –  The body of a U.S. man who had been missing since Feb. 11 has been found in a clandestine burial pit on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, prosecutors in the state of Baja California Sur said Wednesday.State prosecutor Daniel de la Rosa said a local man and his sister had been arrested in connection with the killing, which he said apparently stemmed from a dispute over a traffic accident.The body of Wilmer Trivett was found by a specially trained dog near the quiet Pacific coast town of Todos Santos.Trivett had been camping in the area in his camper truck, which was found burned Feb. 23.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | 4 people found dead near a hotel in Cancun Crime and Public Safety | FBI offering $40,000 reward for help finding San Mateo woman kidnapped in Mexico Crime and Public Safety | Tech art with a Mexican twist arrives in San Francisco’s Mission District Crime and Public Safety | ...

Editorial: Tech must craft AI safety protocols, forget naive call for pause

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

The tech industry has known for the past decade that artificial intelligence carries significant risks. Three years before his 2018 death, Stephen Hawking went so far as to warn that, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”So why hasn’t Big Tech acted to quell those fears? An industry that had public trust as a primary concern would have taken steps to develop safety protocols to offset the potential dangers.But today’s tech leaders instinctively recoil from establishing any regulations or industry standards that hinder their ability to maximize profits, which explains why the United States still doesn’t have an internet Bill of Rights to protect consumers. And, sadly, Congress has proven itself incapable of regulating technology to protect the public.Yet, last week, hundreds of technology leaders and researchers, including Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk, signed on to a letter calling for a six-month pause o...

Opinion: Stanford graduate students should back unionization effort

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

The unionization of graduate students: Which side are you on, and why?In recent decades, universities throughout the country have increasingly relied on graduate and sometimes undergraduate student assistants for the purpose of teaching, grading and research. These students perform a variety of functions, many of which were previously done by tenure track academics. It is much cheaper to employ the former rather than the latter group.For a little more than a century, the public policy of the United States has been the promotion of freedom of association of workers to band together so that they can bargain collectively with their employer. But because of the law’s weaknesses and frequent inadequate union resources and energy, these promises have been rarely realized, with less than 6% of workers in the private sector represented by unions. Growing American inequality is, in part, attributable to the absence of organized labor.Now, Stanford University graduate students, assistants and...

Single family residence sells in Palo Alto for $4.5 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

1043 Cowper Street – Google Street ViewA 2,660-square-foot house built in 1903 has changed hands. The spacious historic property located in the 1000 block of Cowper Street in Palo Alto was sold on March 14, 2023. The $4,500,000 purchase price works out to $1,692 per square foot. The property features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a garage, and two parking spaces. It sits on a 7,500-square-foot lot, which also has a pool.Additional houses have recently been sold nearby:In January 2023, a 2,028-square-foot home on Waverley Street in Palo Alto sold for $3,800,000, a price per square foot of $1,874. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Byron Street, Palo Alto, in November 2022, a 672-square-foot home was sold for $2,000,000, a price per square foot of $2,976. The home has 1 bedroom and 2 bathrooms.A 3,853-square-foot home on the 900 block of Waverley Street in Palo Alto sold in August 2022, for $4,998,000, a price per square foot of $1,297. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms...

What we know about Bob Lee, the Cash App founder stabbed, killed in SF

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Bob Lee was stabbed and killed Tuesday morning outside a luxury high-rise building in SoMa. San Francisco police said they found the 43-year-old from suffering from apparent stab wounds outside his apartment building on the 300 block of Main Street around 2:35 a.m.Affectionately known as "Crazy Bob" in the Bay Area, Lee not only founded popular mobile payment service Cash App, he also had a hand in developing Android and was an executive at cryptocurrency MobileCoin and online payment service Square. MORE: San Francisco tech executive killed in stabbing near SoMa Before moving to the Bay Area in 2004 to work at Google, he was a web developer for Southeast Missouri State University and a consultant at several companies, his LinkedIn profile showed. He continued building his career in Silicon Valley when he joined Square as its chief technology officer in 2014 where he helped launch Cash App and MobileCoin in 2021 as its chie...

Baltimore tripleheader: Orioles home opener as CFG Bank Arena opens with Bruce Springsteen, Eagles band

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley previews CFG Bank Arena (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); If you’re a local baseball fan — or just a fan of classic rock — it’s a great weekend to visit Baltimore, Maryland.Not only does Friday mark the home opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, it also marks the launch of the newly renovated CFG Bank Arena with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band performing o...

Chelsea hires Frank Lampard as manager until end of the season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:56:00 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Chelsea hires Frank Lampard as manager until end of the season.Source