Los Angeles TV station KTLA reports: It's an issue for cities across America: cars parked in bus lanes when they shouldn't be. Now, new AI camera technology is letting the buses themselves write tickets instantly.

Santa Monica recently tested the technology with their Big Blue Bus Line. Last year, they provided 7.7 million trips, but not all were on schedule due to cars improperly parked or stopped in dedicated bus lanes. "The question becomes how do we and other cities keep vehicles that should not be in the transit lane out of the lane," said Robert McCall, who oversees Community Engagement for the City of Santa Monica.

Santa Monica is among a growing number of cities exploring the use of AI cameras that can spot violations and issue tickets instantly. As buses drive their routes, special cameras capture the license plates of cars that shouldn't be parked or stopped where they are... Already, their cameras are installed in buses in New York City and soon, Washington, DC...

During Santa Monica's 45-day pilot, the system identified more than 500 potential violations. Each fine is nearly $300 dollars... Santa Monica still hasn't decided if they'll actually implement this technology, but it paves the way for a bigger trend in the future where AI will write tickets automatically when people break the rules.
"Although this might seem like a good way to keep people out of the bus lanes, it seems to me another encroachment on privacy and use of technology in ways that could harm more than help without oversight," writes long-time Slashdot reader neoRUR.

"Also what is the role of traffic police when it's all done automatically?"

Disney CEO Bob Iger is citing the studio's output increase for Disney+ as one reason for "some disappointments" as of late. From a report: Speaking to CNBC's David Faber at the Sun Valley Conference, Iger admitted the studio screwed with audience expectations by offering up so much streaming content. The negative impact of that has been commercial disappointments in theaters, be it "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" not even reaching $500 million worldwide or disappointing openings for summer tentpoles "Elemental" and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."

"There have been some disappointments. We would have liked some of our more recent releases to perform better," Iger said. "It's reflective not as a problem from a personnel perspective, but I think in our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond -- in terms of their time and their focus -- way beyond where they had been. Marvel's a great example of that. They had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series, and frankly, it diluted focus and attention. That is, I think, more of the cause than anything."

"Logan Parson's first flight by himself ended with airport officials taking the teenager into custody and whisking him away into an interrogation room," reports the Independent. The teen was "denied boarding to an American Airlines flight," reports the Washington Post. "He hadn't committed a crime, nor was he accused of being unruly.

"His offense? Attempting to make use of a money-saving hack that gutsy fliers use every year." Direct flights to major cities are so expensive, it can actually be cheaper to book a flight with stops in two cities — and then skip the flight to that second city. The Post points out that while passengers can save money with this so-called "hidden-city ticket" trick — or skiplagging — "most carriers regard it as a form of fraud."

From North Carolina TV station WJZY: In a statement to WJZY, American Airlines said, "Purchasing a ticket without intending to fly all flights to gain lower fares (hidden city ticketing) is a violation of American Airlines terms and conditions and is outlined in our Conditions of Carriage online...." Other major airlines, like Delta and United, also prohibit hidden city ticketing. Even [skip-lagging resource] Skip Lagged warns there may be consequences of hidden city ticketing, like your checked luggage moving on to the final destination instead of where you stop or losing frequent flyer miles you've accrued.
The Arizona Republic adds: According to American and Southwest's contracts of carriage, they can cancel any unused part of a ticket, refuse to let the passenger and their bags fly, not issue a refund and charge the customer for what the ticket would have cost for the full route. Airlines may ban a passenger from flying with them in the future.

Some airlines have challenged the practice in court but without success. In November 2014, United Airlines sued Skiplagged.com and its founder in court, claiming trademark infringement, according to court documents. A judge dismissed the suit the following year.
The Washington Post shares another warning: Chris Dong, a Los Angeles-based travel writer and points expert who used to skiplag, says you especially can't do this on a round-trip flight. "Airlines will cancel your return flight if you're a 'no show' for any segment of a booked itinerary," Dong said in an email.
While the teen's father told WJZY that his son was "interrogated a little bit" before being "taken to a security room," American Airline says their records don't show that the teen was taken to a security room. Instead, they've told the Post that "Our records indicate the customer was questioned only at the ticket counter about their travel, while attempting to check-in for their flight." The fact that the teen was denied boarding underscores how serious airlines take skiplagging. It makes sense, since the practice saps revenue from them on two fronts: Not only do passengers underpay — potentially by hundreds of dollars per ticket — but the seat on the tossed leg could have been sold to someone else. Most contracts of carriage from major airlines expressly forbid skiplagging as a result.
The Post also got this quote from Clint Henderson, an industry expert and managing editor for the Points Guy. "The airlines are getting increasingly sophisticated and smart about it. I expect that will get even more prevalent as technology improves further."

Telly's free 55-inch 4K dual-screen TV sets are set to arrive at users' homes this week -- but of course, there's a catch. From a report: The start-up, which plans to ship some 500,000 free, ad-supported TVs in 2023 in the U.S., is calling the initial wave a "public beta program." The company says the new Telly households represent a diverse cross-section of the U.S. population, although the initial user base overindexes on education level and household income -- and also skews toward Gen Zers and millennials. According to Telly, more than 250,000 people have signed up to receive a free TV set, which displays an always-on, rotating ad unit on a 9-inch-high second screen situated below the main 55-inch one. Each unit also includes a free Chromecast with Google TV adapter. The bulk of the half-million TVs will go out in the fourth quarter of 2023, Telly chief strategy officer Dallas Lawrence said: "We think there's no better Black Friday deal than free."

To receive the free TV, Telly users must submit detailed demographic info (such as age, gender and address), as well as purchasing behaviors, brand preferences and viewing habits, and they must agree to let their data be used for serving targeted ads. Telly's TVs include a sensor that detects how many people are in front of the screen at any given moment. So what's the catch? Telly users must agree to several conditions under the company's terms of service. If someone doesn't abide by the TOS, Telly reserves the right to demand the TV be shipped back -- otherwise, it will charge up to $1,000 to the credit card associated with a given account. Also read: Telly, the 'Free' Smart TV With Ads, Has Privacy Policy Red Flags.

Disney, Netflix, and other media and entertainment giants are pushing back against the FTC's "click to cancel" proposal (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source) that would make it easier for people to cancel streaming, gaming, and other services. Insider reports: Companies of all stripes have angered consumers by making services all too easy to sign up for but often confoundingly difficult to cancel, with gyms and news outlets considered among the worst offenders. The FTC has gone after individual companies; it recently sued Amazon, alleging the etailer "tricked" people into signing up for Amazon Prime. That followed the FTC's proposal in March for a regulation that's intended "to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up." The policy would cover providers of both digital and physical subscriptions, from streamers and gym memberships to phone companies and cable TV distributors. The new rule would require companies to offer a simple mechanism for users to cancel subscriptions the same way they signed up. For example, you wouldn't have to cancel a service in person or over the phone if you signed up for it online. "I can't tell you how much time I've spent trying to cancel subscriptions I never wanted, let alone the cost!" one person wrote in a comment to the FTC.

The Internet & Television Association, which counts Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery as members, said in its public comment that the proposed reg is so vague, it would lead marketers to be excessive in their disclosures, leaving consumers "inundated" and "confused." The reg would even infringe on its members' freedom of speech, the association argued. "The proposal would also severely curtail or, in some cases, even prohibit companies from communicating with their customers, in violation of the First Amendment," the association wrote. Sirius XM wrote in its comments that one proposed requirement -- that companies maintain records of phone calls with customers -- would cost the company "several million" dollars a year to comply with. The Entertainment Software Association, the video gaming trade organization, noted that the FTC's proposed disclosure requirements "would interfere with game play and customer enjoyment." The ESA wrote that "most consumers understand autorenewal offers and are knowing and willing participants in the marketplace" and that letting customers cancel immediately would prevent member companies from offering them alternative plans or discounts. The ESA was joined in its comments by the Digital Media Association and Motion Picture Association, whose members include Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Universal Pictures. The FTC will examine the feedback it's received through public comment before considering a final rule.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, the parent company of Redbox, has partnered with TikTok to stream the platform's short-form videos on screens atop approximately 3,000 Redbox kiosks across the United States. Deadline reports: Third-party brands will also have their ads run alongside the TikTok videos via Chicken Soup's ad platform Crackle Connex. The agreement covers roughly 10% of the total network of Redbox kiosks, which are generally located outside of grocery, convenience and big box retail stores. The out-of-home ad deal is part of a growing effort across the industry to identify alternatives to linear TV and place brand messages in venues like gas stations, elevators and other locations. "TikTok is the go-to destination for short-form video consumption by over a billion people globally," said Philippe Guelton, chief revenue officer of Crackle Connex. "This new partnership provides advertisers a unique opportunity to reach new audiences and drive engagement. Our Redbox kiosks are in high-traffic locations where millions of people frequently shop, such as grocery stores or value retailers. We look forward to working with TikTok on expanding this partnership as our DOOH network expands."

According to Variety, Hulu is launching a new sub-brand focused on adult animation and anime called Animayhem. From the report: The new hub is meant to capitalize on Hulu's already popular lineup of adult animation and anime shows. Series like "American Dad," "Bob's Burgers," "Family Guy," "Futurama" and "King of the Hill" consistently rank among the service's top 10 shows based on hours streamed, per Hulu. So far this year, over one billion hours of adult animation content has been streamed on Hulu, along with over 288 million hours of anime content, the streamer claims.

Hulu currently has 46 adult animated series, which adds up to 174 seasons and 2,600 episodes. For anime, Hulu has 17 films and 272 series, adding up to 435 seasons and 18,400 episodes (including subtitled and English dubbed versions of episodes). As part of the launch, Hulu is debuting a range of ads for Animayhem, which they describe as the "Animation Destination," one of which can be seen below. "When you have the number one offering in adult animation and anime of any major streaming service, creating this destination is obvious. We know exactly where we can meet these fans, because they're already here," said Barrie Gruner, Hulu's executive vice president of marketing and publicity, in an interview with Variety.

"I would say that this brand really cements Hulu as the ultimate streaming destination for animation and we're not going to achieve that with single title campaigns," Gruner said. "This is truly an intersection with our original programming and our library."

Animayhem will also be coming to San Diego Comic-Con via an immersive experience dubbed "Hulu Animayhem: Into the Second Dimension."

As an "ambassador" for FTX, football quarterback Tom Brady appeared at the company's conference in the Bahamas, and in TV commercials promoting the exchange as "the most trusted" institution in crypto, remembers the New York Times. And it was all about to go very bad...

"His money was also at stake. As part of an endorsement agreement Brady signed in 2021, FTX had paid him $30 million, a deal that consisted almost entirely of FTX stock, three people with knowledge of the contract said. Brady's wife at the time, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, was paid $18 million in FTX stock, one of the people said." Now FTX is bankrupt, and Bankman-Fried is facing criminal fraud charges. Brady, 45, and Bündchen, 42, have been sued by a group of FTX customers seeking compensation from the celebrities who endorsed the exchange. On top of it all, the terms of the deal would have required the former couple, who divorced last year, to pay taxes on at least some of their now worthless FTX stock, two people familiar with the endorsement deal said. Their situation is the highest-profile example of a humiliating reckoning facing the actors, athletes, and other celebrities who rushed to embrace the easy money and online hype of cryptocurrencies...

But last year's crash ended the celebrity crypto bonanza. In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Kim Kardashian to pay $1.26 million for failing to make adequate disclosures when she endorsed the EthereumMax crypto token. In December, a lawyer in California sued two crypto companies, MoonPay and Yuga Labs, accusing them of using a "vast network of A-list musicians, athletes and celebrity clients" to mislead investors about digital assets. In March, the S.E.C. charged the actress Lindsay Lohan, the online influencer Jake Paul and musicians including Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty with illegally promoting crypto assets. And in late May, after months of failed attempts, a process server delivered court papers to Shaquille O'Neal, the retired basketball star, who was sued for promoting FTX, according to legal filings. Mr. O'Neal was served while broadcasting from a National Basketball Association playoff game...

Brady has also faced legal trouble. In December, Adam Moskowitz and the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner filed a lawsuit in federal court in Florida accusing him and Bündchen of misleading investors. Among the other defendants are comedian Larry David, NBA star Steph Curry and tennis player Naomi Osaka, all of whom endorsed FTX. "None of these defendants performed any due diligence prior to marketing these FTX products to the public," the lawsuit said.

G/O Media is the owner of top sites like Gizmodo, Kotaku, Quartz, and the Onion. Last month they announced "modest tests" of AI-generated content on their sites — and it didn't go over well within the company, reports the Washington Post.

Soon the Deputy Editor of Gizmodo's science fiction section io9 was flagging 18 "concerns, corrections and comments" about an AI-generated story by "Gizmodo Bot" on the chronological order of Star Wars movies and TV shows. "I have never had to deal with this basic level of incompetence with any of the colleagues that I have ever worked with," James Whitbrook told the Post in an interview. "If these AI [chatbots] can't even do something as basic as put a Star Wars movie in order one after the other, I don't think you can trust it to [report] any kind of accurate information." The irony that the turmoil was happening at Gizmodo, a publication dedicated to covering technology, was undeniable... Merrill Brown, the editorial director of G/O Media, wrote that because G/O Media owns several sites that cover technology, it has a responsibility to "do all we can to develop AI initiatives relatively early in the evolution of the technology." "These features aren't replacing work currently being done by writers and editors," Brown said in announcing to staffers that the company would roll out a trial to test "our editorial and technological thinking about use of AI."

"There will be errors, and they'll be corrected as swiftly as possible," he promised... In a Slack message reviewed by The Post, Brown told disgruntled employees Thursday that the company is "eager to thoughtfully gather and act on feedback..." The note drew 16 thumbs down emoji, 11 wastebasket emoji, six clown emoji, two face palm emoji and two poop emoji, according to screenshots of the Slack conversation...

Earlier this week, Lea Goldman, the deputy editorial director at G/O Media, notified employees on Slack that the company had "commenced limited testing" of AI-generated stories on four of its sites, including A.V. Club, Deadspin, Gizmodo and The Takeout, according to messages The Post viewed... Employees quickly messaged back with concern and skepticism. "None of our job descriptions include editing or reviewing AI-produced content," one employee said. "If you wanted an article on the order of the Star Wars movies you ... could've just asked," said another. "AI is a solution looking for a problem," a worker said. "We have talented writers who know what we're doing. So effectively all you're doing is wasting everyone's time."
The Post spotted four AI-generated stories on the company's sites, including io9, Deadspin, and its food site The Takeout.

At least two of those four stories had to be corrected after publication.

George Church was part of the team that pioneered CRISPR gene editing. In 2021 he co-founded a kind of real-world "Jurassic Park" — Colossal Biosciences, a biotech startup working to de-extinct the Woolly Mammoth.

For the 30th anniversary of the movie Jurassic Park, Rolling Stone brought in Colossal's co-founder and CEO, Ben Lamm, to share how the movie inspired and influenced their plans. Lamm writes that in 1993 he was 11 years old when he'd first seen the movie Jurassic Park. And even then, "Yes, as an 11-year-old I thought, what if dinosaurs could be real?"

Lamm says he's now excited at "not just de-extincting animals but at the possibility for endless discoveries that would arise from the pursuit of doing so..." When I first told my lawyer that I was interested in starting Colossal and bringing back the woolly mammoth, he asked me if I had read Michael Crichton's book or seen Spielberg's Jurassic Park movie. Since then, it's a question that has come up in nearly every meeting with investors, journalists, and lawyers. I have, which meant that I spent a number of years thinking about if we should de-extinct animals before I set out to figure out if we could. (Thanks, Dr. Ian Malcolm.) Before ever setting foot in a lab, I spent many years and countless hours thinking about the moral questions at the heart of the story.

And, with each successive year, I watched, heard, and learned about more and more animals dying due to climate change — a modern-day extinction. I came to the conclusion that the question is no longer should we practice de-extinction science but how long do we have to get it right... [T]he scary vision of the future isn't one where dinosaurs escape Isla Nubar and fly to the mainland, putting a healthy planet at risk, but instead a future where there aren't enough animals left to support food webs and ecosystems. And that includes humans, too... [I]t is our belief that it is possible to safeguard against or even stop that fatalist future vision using a similar approach in the original movie with some slight variations. It all goes back to genetics and a lot of what I learned about when I first met George...

In the same way that wireless headsets, CAT scans, LEDs, the computer mouse, and thermal blankets are all products of going to the moon, de-extinction efforts have created breakthroughs already for both conservation and human healthcare. In Colossal's first few years of work, our woolly mammoth research alone has not only accelerated genetic rescue in elephants, but also, it is working to cure a deadly elephant virus that kills 25% of all baby elephants worldwide each year. The de-extinction toolkit is also establishing a genetic backup of all living elephant species, and building the necessary tools for elephant cloning and gestation. And now, unlike Dr. Hammond, who bought an island and hid his experiment from the world, governments are coming to us asking if we can help them to restore their critically endangered animals and help safeguard their keystone species.
Lamm points out that you can get good DNA samples from specimens frozen in permafrost, skeletons preserved in caves, and from preserved specimens in museums.

But "You can't get DNA from amber. Trust us. It's porous and doesn't preserve well."

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is taking a hard look at how much the company's Hollywood studio spends on original TV programming. From a report: In recent weeks, he has asked executives for detailed budget analyses of some of their biggest shows, according to people familiar with the matter, scrutinizing the studio's ballooning costs and mixed track record with audiences. The world's largest online retailer is engaged in a companywide cost-cutting program, with plans to eliminate at least 27,000 jobs. Across Amazon, Jassy has also jettisoned 37 different projects deemed unnecessary.

The Hollywood studio, which has spent tens of billions of dollars on original programming over the last decade, is an obvious place to look for savings. Last year, Amazon spent $7 billion on original shows, licensed programs and sports, up from $5 billion the year before. Only Netflix and Disney spend more on streaming. In the past nine months, Amazon has released at least a half-dozen pricey series that failed to deliver huge audiences. Daisy Jones & the Six, The Power, Dead Ringers and The Peripheral all cost more than $100 million to produce but failed to crack Nielsen's list of the 10 most-watched streaming programs in the US. Even The Rings of Power ($400 million-plus), a show that attracted a large audience, failed to hold on to most of its viewers over the course of the season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Consumers are winning from the streaming revolution but across most of Hollywood, the businesses churning out TV and movies are losing. From a report: Services such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+ and Max have become the default entertainment options for homes across America rather than cable, saving many consumers money. For the titans of Hollywood, that shift has been costly. Traditional media and entertainment companies have reported losses of more than $20 billion combined since early 2020 on their direct-to-consumer streaming businesses. Netflix, which brings in profits, is an exception, but the rest of the industry is wondering: While consumers love streaming, is it actually a good business?

Investors now care about profitability rather than growth, a change that makes finding new revenue streams and retaining customers critical. Studios that for years were able to splurge on content to feed viewers' insatiable appetite for new shows and films now must pull back to make the math work. The ad market is weakening, many companies have laid off staff to save money and Hollywood writers are on strike. Market values for Paramount Global, Comcast, Walt Disney and Netflix are down more than $280 billion combined since the end of 2020. Warner Bros. Discovery is worth about half of its total value since its 2022 trading debut as a combined company. The declines have come after many of the stocks rose during the early part of the pandemic, when consumers were stuck at home and hungry for entertainment.

An anonymous reader shares a report: The Ariane 5 rocket has had a long run, with nearly three decades of service launching satellites and spacecraft. Over that time, the iconic rocket, with a liquid hydrogen-fueled core stage and solid rocket boosters, has come to symbolize Europe's guaranteed access to space. But now, the road is coming to an end for the Ariane 5. As soon as Tuesday evening, the final Ariane 5 rocket will lift off from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying a French military communications satellite and a German communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. A 90-minute launch window opens at 5:30 pm ET (21:30 UTC). The launch will be webcast on ESA TV. And after this? Europe's space agency faces some difficult questions.

"In a 2022 survey of 1,200 people, language learning company Preply determined that 50% of Americans used subtitles and closed captions the vast majority of the time they watch content," writes IndieWire.

They delve into the reasons why so many people want to read dialogue: The first is that, for a lot of people, it's become a lot harder to understand dialogue on the TV. That's the top reason cited in the Preply survey, with nearly 72% of respondents who use closed captions marking that as one of the main reasons why.

The causes behind muddled dialogue are many, multifaceted, and might vary between person to person. For some, the problem is the design of modern televisions; the majority of which place internal speakers at the bottom of the set instead of facing towards the audience, causing significantly worse audio quality. Other issues are caused by sound designs optimized for theatrical experiences, which can result in compressed audio when translated to home. Whatever the reason, a lot of people struggle to hear dialogue now, so turning on closed captioning to decipher what people are saying has become a no brainer move...

Gen Z is, overwhelmingly, the generation most likely to be turning on subtitles according to Preply's numbers, with 70% of respondents in the generation saying they use closed captions "most of the time" compared to 53% of Millennials, 38% of Gen X, and 35% of Baby Boomers. As to why Gen Z likes to turn on text while watching their shows, part of it is that people in the generation grew up watching videos on social media, where subtitles are the algorithmically encouraged default.

Another reason is that Gen Z displays starkly different viewing habits than Baby Boomers in terms of where they're watching their movies and shows. According to Preply, 57% of all Americans watch shows or movies or videos in public on their mobile devices, but a very significant 74% of Gen Z do the same. Even if you're (hopefully) using headphones while in public, it's likely you're getting poor audio quality and hearing background noise if you're watching "The Irishman" on public transit.
The article also cites a three-month study in 2020 by Parrot Analytics (which studies trends in entertainment) which discovered non-U.S. shows accounted for nearly 30% of the demand from U.S. audiences. (And even English-language shows may still have characters speaking with difficult-to-understand accents...)

The company behind Flipper Zero expects $80 million in sales this year, which ZDNet estimates at around 500,000 unit sales.

In its Kickstarter days the company sold almost $5 million as preorders, remembers TechCrunch, and the company claims it sold $25 million worth of the devices last year: So what are they selling? Flipper Zero is a "portable gamified multi-tool" aimed at everyone with an interest in cybersecurity, whether as a penetration tester, curious nerd or student — or with more nefarious purposes. The tool includes a bunch of ways to manipulate the world around you, including wireless devices (think garage openers), RFID card systems, remote keyless systems, key fobs, entry to barriers, etc. Basically, you can program it to emulate a bunch of different lock systems.

The system really works, too — I'm not much of a hacker, but I've been able to open garages, activate elevators and open other locking systems that should be way beyond my hacking skill level. On the one hand, it's an interesting toy to experiment with, which highlights how insecure much of the world around us actually is. On the other hand, I'm curious if it's a great idea to have 300,000+ hacking devices out in the wild that make it easy to capture car key signals and gate openers and then use them to open said apertures.
The company points out that their firmware is open source, and can be inspected by anyone.

ZDNet calls it "incredibly user-friendly" and "a fantastic educational tool and a stepping stone to get people — young and old — into cybersecurity," with "a very active community of users that are constantly finding new things to do with it". (Even third-party operating systems are available).

"Instead of looking like some scary hacking tool, all black and bristling with antennas, it looks like a kid's toy, all plastic and brightly colored," writes ZDNet. "It reminds me of Tamagotchis..."

Thanks to Slashdot reader ZipNada for suggesting the article.

In an opinion piece for NPR, guest host and TV critic on NPR's Fresh Air, David Bianculli, raises concerns about Discovery CEO David Zaslav's track record and the future of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) under his leadership. Here's an excerpt from his piece: When the dismissal was announced recently of most of the people who have guided Turner Classic Movies brilliantly for years -- the programmers, the producers of special material, even the executives who plan the TCM film festivals and party cruises -- many people in Hollywood reacted like there'd been a death in the family. Because, to people who really love movies, that's what the news felt like. [...] Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, in explaining his TCM changes, has said that, among other things, he wants to have filmmakers appear on TCM to curate and present movies of their choosing. Nothing wrong with that. Except you don't have to replace your current management team to make that happen -- and besides, it's already happening. Earlier this year, when Steven Spielberg was promoting his new autobiographical movie The Fabelmans, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz had Spielberg on to select, present and talk about three movies of his choice.

The team that's been running TCM for years has been serving up treats like this with regularity, and with exceptional taste. There are pockets on the schedule for silent movies, for underground films, for film noir, for musicals, and so much more. And if you stay tuned between movies -- which you should -- you get even more treats. Salutes of actors by fellow actors. Short features on costume design and the uncomfortable but illuminating history of blackface in the movies. Some films are presented in newly restored form. Others are newly discovered and presented as the gems they are -- and TCM occasionally revives and showcases rare live television dramas, too. You can imagine how much I love that.

Zaslav says the TCM channel is on all the time in his office, too, and he's saying all the right things about valuing the curation of film as well as film itself. But Zaslav already has just shut down his overseas equivalent of Turner Classic Movies in the U.K. And he's the guy who, since taking over the reins at Warner Bros. Discovery, already has turned HBO Max into just Max, which makes no sense -- devaluing his own HBO brand. Zaslav's altered that Max streaming service so that, while a link to a TCM sub-menu does appear, it's buried way down in the menu. What's worse, its highlighted TCM movie offerings are almost all of the more recent, filmed in color, variety. It's presenting only a tepid taste of what TCM offers on its own 24-hour cable service. Zaslav also, since becoming CEO, has overseen the rapid, clumsy devaluation of CNN, by making poorly received moves like that Donald Trump town hall. In Zaslav's short time on the job, he's already considerably damaged CNN, one of Turner's more brilliant network ideas. I fear, with Turner Classic Movies, Zaslav is about to weaken another -- but I'd love to be proven wrong.

New data (PDF) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that one-third of Americans worked from home in 2022, up from a quarter, or 25%, in 2019. The survey also found that Americans working full time from home worked 2.5 hours less a day than Americans at the office. Barron's reports: Overall, the total civilian population worked for an average of 3.23 hours a day in 2022 down from 3.26 hours a day in 2019. The U.S. is 1% lazier. That number, given by the BLS, is the total population. Don't forget, babies don't work. [...] As far as what Americans were doing with the time not spent working, TV watching stayed flat, socializing dropped, and gaming increased. "Economics is complicated, but labor productivity is essentially the basis for economic gains," writes Barron's Al Root. "The economy is measured in dollars, but the dollar is just a unit of account. More output per worker is how living standards improve."

"In a strange way, coming back to work is like an economic stimulus package. If people go back to the office, at a 2019 rate, and work 8.2 hours a day instead of the at-home 5.7 hours a day, the economy has just added roughly 800 million weeks of work, an 8% bump."

"The findings will give management teams some momentum to bring workers back to the office," adds Root.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Something fishy is happening in the Netherlands and viewers worldwide are hooked. No, this isn't the latest voyeuristic reality series from the creators of Big Brother and The Traitors. It's a charmingly innocent live stream which lets you ring a doorbell on behalf of some frisky fish. For the past three migration seasons, an online feed has broadcast live footage from an underwater camera at a lock to the west of Utrecht. Every spring, thousands of fish swish through the Netherlands' fourth-largest city, seeking shallow waters in which to lay their eggs. Some swim all the way to Germany, like piscine Adam Peatys. Slight snag: they often have to wait at the Weerdsluis lock, which seldom opens at this time of year.

Local ecologists came up with an ingenious solution: the world's first fish doorbell or visdeurbel in Dutch (try saying it out loud). If webcam watchers spot fish waiting to pass, they simply press a virtual doorbell and the lock keeper -- who can't see down into the water, which is 2.1 metres (7ft) deep, from dry land -- is sent a notification. When enough fish have gathered, the operator opens the 200-year-old sluice gate by hand to let them through. It enables professionals and the public to work together around the clock, ensuring fish don't have to wait too long. Like a marine midwife or damp doula, you can help them reach their spawning sites unscathed. It means they're less likely to fall victim to predators such as herons, cormorants and grebes (boo! baddies!).

The project is a collaboration between water authorities and the municipality of Utrecht as fish are a vital part of the ecosystem, eating insects and maintaining the cleanliness of canals. It also provides data about the plentiful wildlife beneath the serene surface of the city's waterways. No wonder visitors are logging on to lend a hand, waving through 2,000 fish a week. Politely holding a door open for our scaly pals -- who lack the opposable fins to do it themselves -- is a feelgood act of kindness. The green-tinged live feed is like a calming version of that giant puddle in Newcastle or an eco equivalent of Big Jet TV. It's wholesome, interactive and addictive, akin to a soggy Springwatch or a low-budget Blue Planet. "In spring 2021, the doorbell was rung more than 100,000 times by punters as far afield as Canada and Taiwan," notes the report. "Thanks to its growing fanbase, this has been its best year yet, hitting one million unique users and 8.2 million visits in total."

"Alaska Weather," a daily 30-minute TV show that has broadcast across Alaska for the past 47 years, is going off the air due to a lack of funds. Gizmodo reports: In lieu of the news, residents seeking information on their state's weather will be forced to lean on spotty, sub-par internet. Friday evening will be the final television installment of "Alaska Weather," as first reported by Alaska Public Media. The show, which is the only weather program produced directly by the National Weather Service, has filled an information and communications void for decades. Without it, "if you don't have good internet connectivity, you're in a world of hurt in western and northern Alaska as far as getting weather information," said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the International Arctic Research Center, to the Associated Press. And many in Alaska don't have reliable or fast internet access.

General, aviation, and maritime forecast segments will remain available online only, via YouTube. Emergency alerts, like storm warnings, will be relegated to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration radio broadcasts, which don't cover the whole state, per Alaska Public Media. Officials from the state-owned, non-profit media organization say that money problems are to blame. Putting together and distributing "Alaska Weather" has cost Alaska Public Media $200,000 annually, and the network can't afford to do it anymore, according to Linda Wei, APM's chief content officer.

"It's no longer sustainable for us to continue in this manner," Wei told AP. "It's not a decision that we came to lightly." Big state funding cuts in 2019 left APM in a tough spot. The media org kept "Alaska Weather" going on its own for years, following the loss of state backing, but now Wei says the network can't anymore. "We've been doing this, without support, for about four or five years, and we've made that known to NOAA," said Wei to WaPo. "It just got to the point where we couldn't continue." Wei says she's hoping there's a possibility of getting "Alaska Weather" back on the air. But for now, there will be a gap.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ExtremeTech: Americans hate their internet service providers (ISPs) more than any other segment of the consumer economy -- except gas stations. A fresh set of rankings from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) reveals that few consumers are happy with the way their ISPs conduct business, preferring them only over trips to the pump in a list of 43 major industries. The rankings come courtesy of the ACSI's most recent telecommunications study, which the organization publishes annually. The study covers subscription TV services, video streaming services, and ISPs of both the fiber and non-fiber variety. Using interviews with 22,061 American consumers conducted between April 2022 and March 2023, this year's telecommunications study investigates just how happy people are with their ISPs, then pits that data against that of several other industries. This year, ISPs ranked lower than the endlessly frustrating automobile, banking, and health insurance industries, as well as 39 others that people tend to have an easier time with, such as breweries and athletic shoes.

On a satisfaction scale of 1 to 100, ISPs earned a lackluster 68, which consists of fiber's 75-point and non-fiber's 66-point satisfaction scores combined. The ACSI used customers' input on a number of experiential data points, from choosing a plan to actually using their home Wi-Fi networks, to calculate both scores and combine them based on usage. Although fiber customers found their internet to be relatively reliable and their bills easy to understand, earning an 80 in both categories, non-fiber customers weren't as impressed at 72 and 75, respectively. Unsurprisingly, both fiber and non-fiber customers enjoyed reaching out to their providers' customer service teams the least out of 14 total data points.

There was only one industry that ranked lower than ISPs. As much as Americans generally dislike the way ISPs manage hardware, pricing, customer service, outages, and more, they dislike gas stations even more, giving the category a measly score of 65. While the ACSI doesn't share respondents' reasoning (it's a telecommunications study, after all), it's easy to see why consumers might not enjoy spending obscene money to fill their tanks at dusty roadside stops.