Fellow journalists who spoke to TikTok press representatives told me that company representatives open my emails to request comment with trepidation. One reporter said a rep told them I would always ask them to comment on an internal policy, a leaked document, or a new feature they didn’t even know existed. I am currently working on more challenging stories about the platform. (If you have any tips, please Call me for my Signal number.)

But these tough stories won’t focus on the company handing over data to Chinese authorities, or the security risks associated with its relationship with the Chinese state. Because I couldn’t find any evidence of either. I want to find that link, because like any journalist, I’m an egoist and I want to be the one to break a story like this. I’ve been trying for years to find any links to the Chinese state. I’ve spoken to dozens of TikTok employees, past and present, seeking such a connection. But I didn’t discover it.

I can not say that this link does not exist. But I can say that I and other more talented journalists have been walking away from the TikTok edifice. We now know that the company has Spy on journalists and has Workplace harassment issues. TikTok’s finances are constantly being leaked. But neither of us found the smoking gun. And I don’t think my fellow reporters are any less excited to find it than I am.

We are in a strange political situation. Donald Trump’s legacy continues in the way we have our own personal fantasies, which we either firmly believe are true or repeat so often that we forget the truth. Among those fantasies: TikTok is a sure risk. TikTok is a puppet of the Chinese state. TikTok is a Trojan horse waiting for Chinese President Xi Jinping to bring down the West.

trump She launched a series of advertisements online In 2020 it says, “TikTok is spying on you.” It’s a sentiment echoed by other politicians, including Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who is concerned about TikTok’s links to China.

None of this is true. At least as far as I can tell. However, hearing politicians on both sides of the aisle talk about it, it’s a verifiable fact. And they want to ban the app because of that.

These American politicians are taking a curiously Chinese approach: suppressing and censoring it in the interest of harmony, rather than allowing free enterprise from a corporation that has shown itself willing to bend over backwards to try to answer concerns, and has made it appear that it is. Good faith efforts to address issues as they arise.

We’ll likely see a lot of heat, not a lot of light, from Thursday’s congressional hearing. There will be the usual objections from TikTok that it has no connections to the Chinese government, and the usual threat from politicians that TikTok’s answers aren’t good enough. but for 150 million Americans Now with the app, we have to hope TikTok answers will suffice.

New York prosecutors are believed to be about to file an indictment against Donald Trump over hush money payments to a former adult movie star. Stormy Daniels. This will be the first time in US history that a president, former or current, will face criminal charges.

Many imagine – some of them elated – what it would look like to arrest Trump. Among them is Eliot Higgins, best known as the founder of the open source investigative journalism website Bellingcat. This week, Higgins used the AI ​​image generator Midjourney to film Trump’s arrest. he Share 50 photos on TwitterAnd soon they spread rapidly.

As a result, he said on Wednesday, Midjourney appears to have suspended him from the service. Medjourney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (The word “suspended” is now banned on the platform.)

Higgins, 44, told BuzzFeed News that he “was juggling a lot of prompts to see what’s possible and how complex you can make it.” He pushed Midjourney to capture what Trump would look like if he were Overrun by the police On the streets of New York outside a building that looks eerily like Trump Tower, how His kids will reactAnd What will his life be like in prison?.

I’ve lost my AirPods, and I simply refuse to pay for new ones. The latest 3rd generation AirPods – And it’s great! I checked it! Starting at $169. The older, second-generation version is $120 (yes, there are sometimes deals online). These prices are not ridiculous. After all, they’re premium products, and the price point is in line with other high-quality wireless headphones.

However, I simply don’t want to pay $169 for headphones. I’d rather pay way less. Say… $20, maybe $25? I don’t think I need to explain myself here. I would like to keep more money in my pocket. This seems somewhat reasonable.

And yes, I am very willing to settle for quality. Apple AirPods have spatial sound with Dolby Atmos, great pairing functionality, and long battery life. I don’t expect $20 to make all of that happen, but I do want something completely acceptable.

Fortunately, Amazon has an amazing selection of cheap AirPod-like wireless earbuds. They have weird brand names you’ve never heard of, prices seem random (and there’s often a coupon on Amazon, which makes it even more confusing on pricing). I set out to test them out to find out which one fit my needs: cheap, but still usable.

I tested five anonymous brand white earphones, or, as I like to call them, the ShitPods.

My criteria for selecting five of the many options were:

• It should look like an AirPod. I skip the colorful or differently shaped earbuds that might have been just as good.

• Price point under $25.

• Lots of reviews, good or high rating. (Yes, this can be played around with, but at least it’s a start.)

• Free shipping and returns with Amazon Prime.

But first, there are two disclaimers:

1) I use headphones mostly to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Music quality is not my primary concern. If you are an audiophile or music is your passion, you will likely pay more money to get better headphones. I also use it for phone calls, so microphone quality—the person on the other end needs to be able to hear me well—is important to me.

2) All of these things were available on Amazon, but by the time I tested them for a month, two of the original five listings had already disappeared. That’s because Amazon’s marketplace for cheap electronics is a fun house for hyper-capitalist acceleration, as New York Magazine’s John Herrmann explained in his recent article “Paired Amazon. There are strange fake brand names like “CXK” or “Raviad”. Reviews often deceptive or fake, The sellers are often not the manufacturers, and the prices are constantly changing. Chances are that if you read this a few months after it was posted, the product links will change again.