Spotify Says ‘Anti-Copyright Extremists’ Scraped Its Library
A group of activists has scraped Spotify’s entire library, accessing 256 million rows of track metadata and 86 million audio files totaling roughly 300TB of data. The metadata has been released via Anna’s Archive, a search engine for “shadow libraries” that previously focused on books.

Spotify described the activists as “anti-copyright extremists … ⌘ Read more

Flock Executive Says Their Camera Helped Find Shooting Suspect, Addresses Privacy Concerns
During a search for the Brown shoogin suspect, a law enforcement press conference included a request for “Ring camera footage from residents and businesses near Brown University,” according to local news reports.

But in the end it was Flock cameras according to an article in Gizmodo, after a Redd … ⌘ Read more

Google Sues SerpApi Over Scraping and Reselling Search Data
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Search Engine Land: Google said today that it is suing SerpApi, accusing the company of bypassing security protections to scrape, harvest, and resell copyrighted content from Google Search results. The allegations: Google said SerpApi:

-Circumvented Google’s security measures and industry-standard crawling controls. … ⌘ Read more

Google Releases Gemini 3 Flash, Promising Improved Intelligence and Efficiency
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google began its transition to Gemini 3 a few weeks ago with the launch of the Pro model, and the arrival of Gemini 3 Flash kicks it into high gear. The new, faster Gemini 3 model is coming to the Gemini app and search, and developers will be able to access it immed … ⌘ Read more

Google’s Real Estate Listings ‘Experiment’ Sends Zillow Shares Down More Than 8%
Google’s data partner HouseCanary has begun displaying home listings directly in search results in select markets, sending Zillow’s shares tumbling more than 8% yesterday as investors weighed whether the search giant might eventually cut into the portal business that Zillow dominates.

The experiment places property de … ⌘ Read more

Google Search Homepage Adds a ‘Plus’ Menu
After introducing an AI Mode shortcut earlier this year, Google has now added a new “plus” menu to its Search homepage, highlighting options for image and file uploads. 9to5Google reports: On google.com, the Search bar now has a plus icon at the far left that replaces the magnifying glass. Clicking lets you “Upload image” or “Upload file.” It very much matches the AI Mode experience. Those t … ⌘ Read more

Bill Gates’ Daughter Secures $30 Million For AI App Built In Stanford Dorm
Phoebe Gates, Bill Gates’ youngest daughter, has raised $30 million for the AI shopping app she built in her Stanford dorm room with classmate Sophia Kianni. The app is called Phia and is pitched as a way to simplify price comparison and secondhand shopping. “Its AI-powered search engine – available as an app and as a browser e … ⌘ Read more

Google is Building an Experimental New Browser and a New Kind of Web App
Google’s Chrome team has built an experimental browser called Disco that takes a query or prompt, opens a cluster of related tabs, and then generates a custom application tailored to whatever task the user is trying to accomplish. The browser launched Thursday as an experiment in Google’s Search Labs.

GenTabs, the core feature po … ⌘ Read more

In a Major New Report, Scientists Build Rationale For Sending Astronauts To Mars
A major scientific report published Tuesday argues that sending astronauts to Mars is justified by the quest to find life and conduct research that robots alone can’t achieve. “We’re searching for life on Mars,” said Dava Newman, a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Insti … ⌘ Read more

Searching the web a bit brings up lots of threads where people hate WebP. The problem being that browsers support WebP but other programs tend to be problematic … ? 🤔

Search underway for man who reportedly fell off jetty in regional SA waters
Emergency services are searching for a man in Coffin Bay on the state’s Eyre Peninsula after the alarm was raised about 1am on Tuesday. ⌘ Read more

Legal challenge to police designated area declaration for Melbourne CBD
A legal challenge is launched against a “designated area” declaration for Melbourne’s CBD that gives police greater powers to search people without a warrant. ⌘ Read more

Man arrested, police searching for second person after fatal stabbing
Police are seeking out witnesses and searching for a second person believed to be involved in the fatal stabbing of a man in Melbourne’s north. ⌘ Read more

Google Must Limit Its ‘Default Search’ Contracts to One Year, Judge Rules
Bloomberg reports that Google “must renegotiate any contract to make its search engine or artificial intelligence app the default for smartphones and other devices every year, a federal judge ruled.”

Judge Amit Mehta in Washington sided with the US Justice Department on the one year limitation in his final ruling on what changes th … ⌘ Read more

Single women risk rape and exploitation in search for better life in Europe
Esther says she faced sexual violence on her journey to Europe after fleeing abuse in Nigeria. ⌘ Read more

Thousands join stem cell donor roll but still no match for Rowan
Rowan Tong-Law, 18, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia last year and has been searching for a full stem cell donor match. ⌘ Read more

Cloudflare Says It Blocked 416 Billion AI Scraping Requests In 5 Months
Cloudflare says it blocked 416 billion AI scraping attempts in five months and warns that AI is reshaping the internet’s economic model – with Google’s combined crawler creating a monopoly-style dilemma where opting out of AI means disappearing from search altogether. Tom’s Hardware reports: “The business model of the internet has … ⌘ Read more

Suspected human remains found after search for missing swimmer
Suspected human remains have been found at a South West Rocks beach in northern NSW where an 18-year-old was swept out to sea five days ago. ⌘ Read more

Breaking: Search for alleged police killer Dezi Freeman focused on finding body
Victoria Police says a targeted search has focused on locating evidence or the body of fugitive Dezi Freeman, four months after he allegedly fatally shot two police officers in Porepunkah, in north-east Victoria. ⌘ Read more

Officer’s claim about search for woman killed by partner tested at watchdog hearing
A Law Enforcement Conduct Commission is examining why it took police officers nearly an hour to respond to a Triple Zero (000) call about an assault which left Lindy Lucena dead at the hands of her partner. ⌘ Read more

Manhunt underway in Adelaide for man in cuffs and hospital gown
Police are looking for a man who escaped custody in a medical gown and handcuffs in Adelaide’s western suburbs, and are warning the public not to approach him. ⌘ Read more

I’m contemplating the idea of switching my activity pub instance from Gootosocial to a Pleroma one. While GTS is kinda cute (lightweight and easy to manage) of a software, the inability to fetch/scroll through people’s past toots when visiting a profile or having access to a federated timeline and a proper search functionality …etc felt like handicap for the past N months.

Boat found in search for fisherman missing off Albany
Western Australian authorities search for a man who failed to return from a fishing trip off the Albany coast on Tuesday night. ⌘ Read more

Breaking: Search for missing flight MH370 to resume this month, Malaysia says
The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume at the end of December, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared. ⌘ Read more

Search for British hiker who went missing in Romanian mountains
George Smyth’s mother says “the thought of life without him is unbearable”. ⌘ Read more

Search for Sydney schoolie swept out to sea at dangerous beach
The recent spate of tragic incidents on the NSW Mid North Coast is growing, as the search continues for a Sydney school leaver who was swept out to sea near South West Rocks. ⌘ Read more

Is OpenAI Preparing to Bring Ads to ChatGPT?
“OpenAI is now internally testing ‘ads’ inside ChatGPT,” reports BleepingComputer:

Up until now, the ChatGPT experience has been completelyfree. While there are premium plans and models, you don’t see GPT sell you products or show ads. On the other hand, Google Search has ads that influence your buying behaviour. OpenAI is planning to replicate a similar experience.

As spotted [by softwa … ⌘ Read more

Browser Extension ‘Slop Evader’ Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022
“The internet is being increasingly polluted by AI generated text, images and video,” argues the site for a new browser extension called Slop Evader. It promises to use Google’s search API “to only return content published before Nov 30th, 2022” — the day ChatGPT launched — “so you can be sure that it was written or produced by the human han … ⌘ Read more

King Island teen missing since Friday, police say
Local King Island teen Lusian West, 16, has not been seen since Friday, with Tasmania police and rescue crews to conduct aerial searches of the island’s north. ⌘ Read more

‘We all love you’: Plea for missing man to return home
Police are searching for missing man Chris Thorne, who was last seen in Melbourne’s western suburbs last week. ⌘ Read more

Gus has been gone for 63 days, and multiple searches have yielded no clues
The disappearance of Gus Lamont is one of those events that have a seismic impact on public consciousness: they distress, disturb, upset and unsettle. This week six mine shafts were searched, providing no further clues in the case. ⌘ Read more

Boatie who went missing twice died from ‘exposure to the sea’
A coroner has found Anthony Higgins, who went missing in 2020 sparking the largest and most expensive marine search in South Australian waters, died two weeks later when he went missing again. ⌘ Read more

Broken down on the Birdsville Track in search of a cattle-carrying boat
The ABC’s Landline crew discovers extreme kindness with a can-do attitude after a mechanical breakdown in South Australia’s outback. ⌘ Read more

Troops critically injured in Washington shooting named as FBI launch terror probe
Authorities identify the two National Guard members shot just blocks from the White House, as the FBI carries out searches of two properties on the US west coast. ⌘ Read more

Detectives carry out ‘targeted search’ for missing woman Samantha Murphy
Detectives are conducting a search in the Ballarat area as part of the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Victorian woman Samantha Murphy. ⌘ Read more

Court hears sand found in car of man accused of Toyah Cordingley’s beach murder
The Supreme Court in Cairns has heard Rajwinder Singh, who is accused of the 24-year-old’s 2018 murder, first came to the attention of police because of his blue car, which they later searched. ⌘ Read more

Breaking: No new evidence found as police conclude fourth search for 4yo Gus Lamont
Police say they have found no new evidence of missing four-year-old Gus Lamont as they conclude their fourth search for the boy today — a day earlier than previously planned. ⌘ Read more

3D-printed firearms, cash, drugs, silencers seized during Tasmanian raids
Tasmania Police say they have discovered 3D printers, several 3D-printed firearms and silencers, cash and a quantity of methylamphetamine during three searches. ⌘ Read more

Police search powers in Melbourne CBD criticised as ‘gross invasion’
Melbourne’s CBD will become a designated area from this weekend, giving police the power to search people and vehicles for prohibited weapons. ⌘ Read more

Mine search for Gus expected to resume as locals speak of shock and upset
A renewed police search for missing four-year-old Gus is expected to enter its second day, with no indication of any clues revealed so far. ⌘ Read more

After a 13-year search, researchers discover a ‘magical’ rare flower bloom
A team of researchers have described the “magical” experience of finding a rare species of flower in bloom deep in the Sumatran rainforest after a 23-hour trek. ⌘ Read more

@bender@twtxt.net Unfortunately, this also breaks the browser search.

Google Starts Testing Ads In AI Mode
Google has begun testing sponsored ads inside its Gemini-powered AI Mode, placing labeled “sponsored” links at the bottom of AI-generated responses. Engadget reports: [A] Google spokesperson says the result shown is akin to similar tests it’s been running this year. “People seeing ads in AI Mode in the wild is simply part of Google’s ongoing tests, which we’ve been running for several months,” the … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla Says It’s Finally Done With Two-Faced Onerep
Mozilla is officially ending its partnership with Onerep after more than a year of controversy over the company’s founder secretly running people-search and data-broker sites. Monitor Plus will be discontinued by December 2025, existing subscribers will receive prorated refunds, and Mozilla says it will focus on privacy tools it fully controls. KrebsOnSecurity reports: I … ⌘ Read more

Adobe Bolsters AI Marketing Tools With $1.9 Billion Semrush Buy
Adobe is buying Semrush for $1.9 billion in a move to supercharge its AI-driven marketing stack. Reuters reports: Semrush designs and develops AI software that helps companies with search engine optimization, social media and digital advertising. The acquisition, expected to close in the first half of next year, would allow Adobe to help marketers better … ⌘ Read more

Police investigating NSW stabbing death scour wetlands
Police officers investigating the fatal stabbing of a man in a Bega park, on the NSW South Coast, have conducted a search of nearby wetlands. ⌘ Read more

LinkedIn Is Making It Easier To Search For People With AI
LinkedIn is rolling out an AI-powered people search tool that lets users find connections by describing what they need instead of relying on names or titles. For example, you can enter a more descriptive search, such as “Northwestern alumni who work in entertaining marketing,” or even pose a question, like “Who can help me understand the US work visa system. … ⌘ Read more

SlopStop: Community-driven AI slop detection in Kagi Search
Comments ⌘ Read more

Search for protesters who allegedly assaulted police officers
Police have released the images of eight persons of interest as investigations continue into violent protests in Melbourne. ⌘ Read more

Search for protesters who allegedly assaulted police officers
Police have released the images of eight persons of interest as investigations continue into violent protests in Melbourne. ⌘ Read more