Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
Apple has issued an apology following massive backlash to an ad for the new iPad Pro that crushes physical creative tools in an industrial press.
As we highlighted, the commercial shows the device obliterating items such as musical instruments, paint and cameras, then unveiling an iPad as the replacement for everything creative.
Following an overwhelmingly negative response from viewers who branded the ad ‘soul crushing’, Apple issued a statement.
“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad,’ the company claimed, going on to admit “We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
'We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry,' the tech giant said of a new ad involving a hydraulic press, which had drawn heavy backlash https://t.co/s0eNXW565X pic.twitter.com/mwhrDvOJ8L
— Financial Times (@FT) May 10, 2024
According to reports, there were plans to broadcast the ad on terrestrial television, but they have now been scrapped.
The ad is still live on Apple’s YouTube channel.
It’s encouraging to see that people do not want dystopian tech crushing all aspects of humanity.
British filmmaker Asif Kapadia was taken aback, like many others, as to how honest the ad was in its admission that tech companies are crushing creativity.
Like iPads but don’t know why anyone thought this ad was a good idea
— asifkapadia (@asifkapadia) May 8, 2024
It is the most honest metaphor for what tech companies do to the arts, to artists musicians, creators, writers, filmmakers: squeeze them, use them, not pay well, take everything then say it’s all created by them https://t.co/ZgwXO53UZ0
James Bore, tech expert at consultancy Bores Group, told the Daily Mail that the ad “shows how disconnected they are from actual creative efforts.”
“I think they may have alienated a not-insignificant part of their target market by thinking like technologists rather than creatives,” Bores continued, adding “There were much better ways to create the same message, without destroying things that their customers will feel sentimental about for a publicity stunt.”
“Unless of course they were going deliberately for the controversy sells angle, which I can’t rule out entirely,” Bores further noted.
Someone “fixed” the Apple ad by reversing it, thereby effectively crushing the iPad and having the creative objects appearing in its place.
Hey @Apple, @rezawrecktion elegantly fixed your ad for you — sound on 🔊 & enjoy 😊 pic.twitter.com/A9nImoVPx4
— Art Jonak (@ArtJonak) May 8, 2024
Others pointed out that the ultimate irony is that the concept wasn’t even an original creation, and was done before by LG in 2008:
LG phone ad from 2008 (BBH London) pic.twitter.com/cWIDZx1d4a
— Andy Allen (@asallen) May 9, 2024
* * *
Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.
Following several more cross-border attacks from Ukraine, including direct drone hits on Russian oil facilities over the past 48 hours, Russian forces have launched a surprise ground offensive which seeks to break through front lines in the northeastern Kharkiv border region on Friday.
"Russia launched a new wave of counteroffensive actions... Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades, and artillery," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed of the new action in a briefing. "Now there is a fierce battle underway."
Civilians have also been witnessed fleeing border areas in droves as heavy fighting ensues. Already Moscow forces have penetrated at least 1 kilometer deep in what's being described as an effort to create a larger 'buffer zone' in order to help prevent Ukrainian attacks from reaching Russian territory.
Ukraine's defense ministry said that the new offensive began at 5am local time with armored vehicles leading the charge of infantry troops in this major effort to effectively push the border itself deeper into Ukraine territory.
Kharkiv region on fire amid a major surprise Russian offensive:
Ukrainian Kharkiv after Russia’s attack last night. Thank you Scholz and the SPD for not escalating. pic.twitter.com/Hd7ZN2TC1D
— Sergej Sumlenny, LL.M (@sumlenny) May 10, 2024
But Ukraine defense officials have claimed, "As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue."
The AFP has written, "If Moscow's advances are confirmed, it would represent the Russian military's largest land operation in the region since sending thousands of troops across the border in February 2022."
Below: the center of Vovchansk after heavy fighting...
The center of Vovchansk after the attack by russian war criminals. Today, russian troops attempted to break through Ukrainian defense lines in Kharkiv oblast. The most intense fighting was around Vovchansk where russian aviation dropped bombs. pic.twitter.com/ZDTSUjkpYE
— Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇦 (@rshereme) May 10, 2024
Heavy shelling is also taking place, especially in the vicinity of Vovchansk, which is a border town of a few thousand people but which had a pre-war population of 17,000. According to further unfolding details:
Kharkiv region's governor said the length of the border and the settlements in it were a "grey zone" and confirmed active fighting taking place.
A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said Russian forces had pushed 1 km (0.6 mile) inside the Ukrainian border near Vovchansk.
The source said Russian forces were aiming to push Ukrainian troops as far back as 10 km inside Ukraine as part of an effort to create a buffer zone, but that Kyiv's troops were trying to hold them back.
Kharkiv, which is Ukraine's second-largest city and sits very close to the border, has been attacked heavily by airstrikes for months, and has had its energy infrastructure severely downgraded in the attacks.
Ukraine regional governor Oleg Synegubov described that "Enemy shelling from various types of weapons has been intensifying in Kharkiv region in the northern area for the last day." He further wrote on Telegram while confirming at least two civilians killed, "In Kharkiv region, evacuation routes have been developed since 2022, and a system of humanitarian aid distribution, temporary resettlement."
The Russian side is also urging civilians to seek immediate safety amid the heavy border fighting. "There is fighting on several parts of the line of contact, including in the border areas of Kharkiv region," Vitaliy Ganchev, a Russian officials overseeing the Kharkiv region stated on Telegram. "In this regard, I ask residents living in these areas to be careful and not to leave shelters without an urgent need."
Bashkortostan, Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery. May 9, 2024. pic.twitter.com/iZlrgRe1A6
— Russia on fire (@russiasonfire) May 10, 2024
This week at least eight Russian civilians have died in the Belgorod region after Ukraine forces sent more drones across the border. Also, Ukrainian drone slammed into an oil refinery in central Russia’s Kaluga region south of Moscow overnight.
And the day prior, a drone struck an oil refinery in Russia’s republic of Bashkortostan, which is a first of the conflict. It reportedly involved a long-range, slow moving drone flying at a low altitude. This has raised questions of the current state of Russia's anti-air defenses.
Authored by Ken Silva via Headline USA,
The FBI released on Tuesday a new batch of records about its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising—raising more questions about the event in the process.
Among the 107 pages of new records is a series of emails with the subject line, “Stand down. See below.” The emails are heavily redacted, and the individuals in the email thread are not identified. Only one person’s title was revealed: a supervisory intelligence analyst for the FBI’s DC office. Even the date and times of the emails are redacted, with the exception of one that was sent at 5:46 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021.
Story herehttps://t.co/rxAbjYzbC0
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) May 8, 2024
The limited information in the emails suggests that law enforcement was investigating a group of people who travelled to Washington DC on Jan. 5.
“We are standing down in [REDACTED]. The predicated subjects have been [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] is being informed. The only people from the group who are continuing to DC are non-subjects, who are not carrying weapons, and appear to be solely involved in legal First Amendment protesting,” one email from the thread stated.
In response to that email, someone else said, “Thank you all for quickly stepping up today!”
Law enforcement did have to deal with some armed individuals on Jan. 5, 2021, as noted by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope.
First up is Thomas Gronek from North Carolina who was on the Hippies for Trump bus that got pulled over on January 5. Gronek brought a pink Ruger 10/22 rifle, with 275 rounds of .22 ammo, and a black 9mm Springfield handgun with 31 rounds of ammo. Gronek was detained until… pic.twitter.com/dRRVgKShVF
— 🇺🇸 (@FreeStateWill) April 23, 2024
For instance, the DC Metropolitan Police Department reportedly stopped a “Hippies for Trump” bus on Jan. 5, arresting a protestor during that stop. Officers said they found a pistol, a rifle, more than 300 rounds of ammunition and fireworks.
Another would-be protestor, Colorado man Harlan Boen, was reportedly arrested on Jan. 5 for carrying a pistol at Freedom Plaza.
The batch of FBI emails released Tuesday also includes discussions between Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF, members on Jan. 5, 2021, forewarning possible violence.
“Hi all, [REDACTED] asked earlier about [REDACTED] subjects coming to the [National Capitol Region] this week who have been [REDACTED]. Per [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] (cc’d), below is information regarding [REDACTED] subjects travelling to the NCR [REDACTED].”
Yet another heavily redacted email from Jan. 4, 2021, shows that the JTTF treating the upcoming Stop the Steal rally as a “usual” event.
“Usual early [warning order] for something brewing. There are a few people posting intent to come down to DC to do harm on the 6th. [REDACTED] are working in which [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] … and there are likely to be others … That is all I have. You should at least be [REDACTED] from here on out,” the Jan. 4 email said.
The FBI has declined to comment on its Jan. 6 investigation in response to emails from Headline USA.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
By Gareth Jenkinson of CoinTelegraph
Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin believes the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is intentionally hindering innovation, which threatens the country’s existing financial landscape.
Speaking at FT Live’s Crypto and Digital Asset summit in London, Lubin unpacked Consensys’s decision to sue the SEC after receiving a Wells notice from the U.S. securities regulator.
“The SEC appears to have reclassified Ether as a security without telling anybody that that’s the case. They are going about a strategic series of enforcement actions rather than open discourse and clear rulemaking,” Lubin said.
The CEO of Consensys — which developed the MetaMask wallet — said the enforcement actions intend to create fear, uncertainty and doubt for the cryptocurrency industry “in an attempt to paralyze” and force the company offshore.
Lubin said the firm’s counteraction against the SEC is aimed at getting more clarity from U.S. courts, considering that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had previously classified Ether as a commodity.
The Consensys CEO also highlighted the upcoming deadline for the SEC to issue a decision over the approval of Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a driving force behind the regulator’s renewed enforcement action against Ethereum.
“We believe that there’s a flurry of activity designed to enable them to say that their action wasn’t capricious in the very likely event that they deny the Ether spot ETFs,” Lubin explained.
Lubin said the SEC had noticed how much capital had flowed into the ecosystem following the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs:
“I think they’re concerned that so much attention and capital will flow to our ecosystem, considering it is improving enormously in terms of scalability and usability.”
Lubin also speculated that the prospect of the banking industry's customers moving assets into digital forms using decentralized finance constructs could scare many banks and other financial institutions.
“The SEC probably doesn’t want to see a wave of innovation that will really transform the landscape," he said.
The importance of a positive outcome against the SEC could also have wide-reaching implications for the cryptocurrency and technology landscape in the United States.
Lubin said the SEC’s claims that Coinbase and MetaMask’s wallets are acting as broker-dealers are setting a dangerous precedent. He added that the thought of a piece of software acting as a broker-dealer was a “preposterous notion.”
“We’re at odds over whether we should register MetaMask as a broker-dealer. Should every MetaMask user have to register their wallet as a broker-dealer, it’s chilling,” Lubin added.
The Consensys CEO concluded that the entire technology industry in the U.S. could be impacted by the actions of the securities regulator.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to roll out a controversial ID card pilot program for illegal immigrants being released into the US, with the stated objective of 'modernizing the documentation process for removal proceedings,' Fox News reports.
First reported in 2022, the 'Secure Docket Card' pilot program is expected to begin this summer with around 10,000 cards in a limited rollout at three or four locations in the US. The agency claims that the program is "pre-decisional" and subject to change. According to the report, Houston and Atlanta are two potential locations.
Officials claim that the program will "modernize documentation provided to some noncitizens" but it will not be an official form of federal ID.
"While the specifics of the card and pilot are under development, it is important to note the secure card will not be an official form of federal identification," the agency said. "The secure card will indicate it is for use by DHS agencies and would be provided only after national security background checks have been performed."
When illegal immigrants cross the border and are released into the interior, they are often given a number of paper documents depending on their status and situation. ICE says that such documents pose a security risk and can be lost and degraded, and the new program will make the agency more efficient.
It would also allow for an easier verification of identity through DHS systems via officials. -Fox News
"Moving to a secure card will save the agency millions, free up resources and ensure information is quickly accessible to DHS officials while reducing the agency’s FOIA backlog," a spokesperson told the outlet. "For provisionally released noncitizens, the digital modernization will provide ongoing access to important immigration documents through the secure card and connected portal."
The program is expected to face serious opposition from Republicans and conservatives who have criticized the Biden administration for regular releases of illegal immigrants.
"Just in time for the election, the Biden administration is quietly legitimizing a government-sanctioned invasion of our nation," said RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) and a visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Providing illegal aliens with identification will undoubtedly lead to obtaining other documents, benefits and rights — or create an entirely new identity. After all, most who cross the border have no identification information in their possession. So, how do we even know who they are?"
On Wednesday, Republicans moved forward with legislation that would require a citizenship question on the census in order to prevent noncitizens from being counted.
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing for a scenario in which the highly pathogenic avian influenza starts spreading among humans, the agency’s commissioner said on May 8.
“This virus, like all viruses, is mutating. We need to continue to prepare for the possibility that it might jump to humans,” Dr. Robert Califf, the commissioner, told senators during a hearing in Washington.
The influenza, also known as the bird flu or H5N1, has recently started spreading among cattle and other species. One person in Texas has had a confirmed case this year.
So far, genetic sequencing and other data indicate that influenza poses little risk to people, and there are no signs that the flu is transmitting from person-to-person, according to U.S. officials. But they are working on getting treatments, tests, and vaccines ready in case that changes.
“We’ve been busy getting prepared for if the virus does mutate in a way that jumps into humans on a larger level,” Dr. Califf told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
The patient in Texas primarily experienced one symptom: inflamed eyes. Neither the patient nor many of the cows that have been infected have suffered respiratory symptoms. H5N1 commonly infects the respiratory tracts of birds.
“The real worry is that it will jump to the human lungs, where, when that has happened in other parts of the world for brief outbreaks, the mortality rates have been 25 percent,” Dr. Califf said. The worry is based in part on how viruses typically mutate, such as in the case of COVID-19.
From 2003 to April 1, 2024, 889 cases of H5N1 have been confirmed across the globe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Of the patients, 52 percent have died.
WHO chief scientist Jeremy Farrar said recently that H5N1 has developed into a “global zoonotic animal pandemic” and that scientists are concerned that the virus could evolve to spread among humans.
Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the organization, said Wednesday that “the virus does not show signs of having adapted to spread among humans, but more surveillance is needed.”
Many experts consulted by the U.S. government are concerned about the jump of the influenza to cattle and other species and how cattle intermingle with pigs, chickens, and humans on farms, according to Dr. Califf. A May 3 study from U.S. and Danish researchers said testing of tissues from cattle indicated the animals could serve as a “mixing vessel” for avian influenza because receptors from chickens, ducks, and humans were expressed in the cows.
While the risk is still low, “if we institute the countermeasures now and reduce the spread of the virus now, then we’re much less likely to see a mutation that jumps to humans for which we’re ill-prepared,” Dr. Califf added.
Current U.S. rules mandate testing of some cattle before being moved to another state. The guidance includes advising workers on farms to wear protective equipment when dealing with animals that may be or are sick with the bird flu.
The FDA is focusing in part on ensuring the country’s milk supply is safe to drink. The agency and its partners have tested samples of milk from grocery stores. Although some samples tested positive, no live virus has been detected, meaning the milk supply is safe, according to the agency.
Test results from beef have also found beef is safe, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The agency has confirmed H5N1 infections in 36 herds across nine states, including Colorado, Kansas, and Michigan. Data from affected cows indicate H5N1 began circulating in cattle in late 2023, according to a preprint paper from the department.
About 70 farm workers are being monitored in Colorado, officials said in a briefing this week, but none have displayed symptoms as of yet.
A Rockville, Maryland-based biotech company called MacroGenics crashed in premarket trading in New York after it revealed five deaths in a clinical trial of its investigative therapy for prostate cancer, according to Bloomberg.
MacroGenics finished enrolling participants for the TAMARACK Phase 2 study of vobra duo in November 2023. This study involves patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have previously received one treatment targeting the androgen receptor pathway. These participants might also have had one prior treatment, including taxane, but no other chemotherapy. The study aims to test two different doses of vobra duo, either 2.0 mg/kg or 2.7 mg/kg, given every four weeks.
"The interim safety and anti-tumor activity observed to date in the TAMARACK study look very promising for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer," Johann DeBono, Regius Professor of Cancer Research and Professor in Experimental Cancer Medicine at The Institute of Cancer Research, London and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, stated in a release.
DeBono continued, "With the limited treatment options currently available to these patients, this novel ADC molecule could potentially become the first therapy targeting B7-H3 in patients with prostate cancer and would represent an important new treatment for this population."
Further in the release, MacroGenics revealed five deaths in the study. They said two deaths have been considered unrelated to the study, while the other three are being investigated.
A total of five events with fatal outcome occurred as follows: one Grade 5 event in the 2.0 mg/kg dosing cohort: acute myocardial infarction (considered unrelated to study drug by the investigator); three Grade 5 events in the 2.7 mg/kg dosing cohort: one • cardiac arrest (considered unrelated to study drug by the investigator) and two events of pneumonitis. In addition, a patient in the 2.7 mg/kg dosing cohort had a Grade 3 pleural effusion that is recorded as having a fatal outcome. The latter three deaths are being investigated, as follow-up is incomplete on this ongoing trial.
In premarket trading, shares crashed 67% on fears of updated efficacy and safety information regarding the clinical trial.
Wall Street analysts were very sour about the new developments. Here's what they're saying (list courtesy of Bloomberg):
BMO Capital Markets (downgrades to market perform from outperform)
- Analyst Etzer Darout has lower conviction on MacroGenics' prostate cancer program, with both efficacy and safety updates for TAMARACK falling short of expectations
Stifel (downgrades to buy from hold)
Analyst Stephen Willey's primary concerns are not efficacy- driven, but rather reflect safety and tolerability data
The data doesn't appear meaningfully differentiated from the prior P1 dose-expansion experience
SVB Securities (outperform)
... bears shorted 16.29% of the float or 10 million shares.
This sets up for a high volume day and wild volatility.
Election integrity groups are demanding Ohio's House speaker advance legislation prohibiting foreign money in state ballot measure campaigns.Here’s the latest information you need to know about each prosecution Democrats are waging against the Republican presidential candidate.Kennedy acknowledged every abortion is a “tragedy” but repeatedly claimed women should get the final say over whether a child lives or dies.
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