Price of a bot army revealed across hundreds of online platforms worldwide
A new analysis using twelve months of COTSI data, published in the journal Science, shows that verifying fake accounts for use in the US and UK is almost as cheap as in Russia, while Japan and Australia have high prices due to SIM costs and photo ID rules.The average price of SMS verification for an online platform during the year-long study period running to July 2025 was $4.93 in Japan and $3.24 in Australia, yet just a fraction of that in the US ($0.26), UK ($0.10) and Russia ($0.08).
The research also reveals that prices for fake accounts on Telegram and WhatsApp appear to spike in countries about to have national elections, suggesting a surge in demand due to “influence operations”.
Price of a 'bot army' revealed across hundreds of online platforms worldwide
The first global index tracking real-time prices for buying fake account verifications on 500+ online platforms in every country has been launched by a team at the University of Cambridge.University of Cambridge
Brixton Soup Kitchen prepares for busy Christmas
Volunteers are preparing hampers and toys for local children who would otherwise go without.Helen Drew (BBC News)
Japan’s government / The LDP have decided to abolish support for new mega solar power generation projects from fiscal 2027 on “environmental concerns”
Japan's government / The LDP have decided to abolish support for new mega solar power generation projects from fiscal 2027 on "environmental concerns"BYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
'Never give up': Belarusian prisoners celebrate release after US lifts sanctions
"It's a feeling of incredible happiness," says political prisoner Maria Kolesnikova, freed after more than five years.Sarah Rainsford (BBC News)
The Diva is front and center! - All For Gardening
Miss Diva surrounded by all her friends. Just potted up some props I started months ago from my pothos and Philly. Moved things around and brought my smallGardener (All For Gardening)
14th December, so this classic from Nat King Cole is the choice for today. BTW Still not been Carey Carnaged or Whamageddoned, but grocery shopping tomorrow.
youtube.com/watch?v=A8eWaR8ONv…
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
Chris Kubecka
My personal Substack. Click to read Chris Kubecka, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.secevangelism.substack.com
It's still #caturday where I am, so here's a throwback pic to the day I adopted Misha and Henry. They now both weigh in at around 17 pounds, but they're still just as adorable as they were when the nice foster lady took this picture of us.
For those of you wondering about stablecoins, John Naughton (Observer, but no paywall for this article) sets out a summary of the political economy of their development, drawing a parallel with the petro-dollar move that cemented the place of the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
Of course currently there are many aspirant stablecoins, but as he points out, given the tech sector trends to monopoly, at some point a dominant stablecoin will be clear.
Beverley reshared this.
Nu så, det tog ett halvår utan att boota windows, men sedan nu kör jag bara linux på min daily-driver!
like this
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@Microplastics101 @Mercutio - Microsoft Edge is a fork of Google Chrome/Chromium
Yes, it is that hard.
The modern web runs full blown applications within a sandboxed browser. It's massively complex. Front End (what the user sees) and backend (what does all the heavy computing on the server side).
There *are* efforts to build new browser engines separate from Firefox/Chrome but they are underfunded and understaffed. Its firefox (paid for massively by Google donations) and Google proper. That's it.
sb arms & legs reshared this.
Servo aims to empower developers with a lightweight, high-performance alternative for embedding web technologies in applications.
Servo is a web rendering engine written in Rust, with WebGL and WebGPU support, and adaptable to desktop, mobile, and embedded applications.Servo
@Microplastics101 @tinker @Mercutio Servo has already been mentioned by someone else - Ladybird is another option. They aren't stable/fully featured yet, but with more funding they may get there quicker.
Edit: Disregard my suggestion - see the comments.
@marcusxms @Microplastics101 @tinker @Mercutio
and I'd just compiled some receipts for you on Andreas Kling/Ladybird going MAGA 
this may be handy for others
some notes in this post on fashtech awful.systems/post/5833209
endorses white replacement theory archive.is/ZtQpj
RIP Charlie Kirk nitter.net/awesomekling/status…
endorsing DHH's straight up fascism nitter.net/awesomekling/status…
this stuff is just what Kling does now
fashtech funding knocked on the door, Kling put on his red baseball cap and took ladybird out on the road
anyway, donate to servo
"Nederland, dat eigenlijk óók een Engelstalig land is" say what?
nos.nl/artikel/2594484-nederla…
Nederland populaire bestemming onder Amerikanen die de VS willen verlaten
Een groeiende groep Amerikanen vertrekt naar Nederland. Ons land is een populaire bestemming, mede dankzij een verdrag tussen de twee landen uit 1956. Daarnaast proberen ook meer Amerikanen hier asiel aan te vragen.Brian van der Bol (NOS Nieuws)
European Commission Welcomes Political Agreement on Major Reform of EU Pharmaceutical Rules
The European Commission has welcomed the political agreement reached between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament on a comprehensiveBYTESEU (Bytes Europe)
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Unknown parent • • •@drgeraint
yes, the last point is key - the pivot away form the US may undermine Naughton's conclusion(s)