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“bro your content really fell off”
Thanks, yeah I’ve been extremely happy lately.
Thanks, yeah I’ve been extremely happy lately.
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Colton Cray retweeted
For months, everyone has been talking about Peter Thiel’s secretive Antichrist lectures in Nashville. @gb_rango attended all four off-the-record lectures, held inside the historic Grand Lodge of Tennessee Free and Accepted Masons.
Now, with Thiel’s blessing: a comprehensive, n of his sprawling theory of the end times, from AI doomers and one-world government to the fate of America.
piratewires.com/p/inside-peter…
Now, with Thiel’s blessing: a comprehensive, n of his sprawling theory of the end times, from AI doomers and one-world government to the fate of America.
piratewires.com/p/inside-peter…
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Colton Cray retweeted
A jet engine that has spent 10 of the last 30 years in the air.
The fan blades spin ninety-four times a second, the blade tips at 1,070 miles per hour.
28,800 g's of centripetal acceleration
For a decade.
Fewer countries have built a commercial airliner than gone to space.
The fan blades spin ninety-four times a second, the blade tips at 1,070 miles per hour.
28,800 g's of centripetal acceleration
For a decade.
Fewer countries have built a commercial airliner than gone to space.
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Colton Cray retweeted
Founders Fund II is in a league of its own
a $220m fund from 2007 that has created $37.4bn
that's 183.5x per dollar at risk. The median across 408 ranked funds is 1.3x
1️⃣ Founders Fund II, 183.5x, @SpaceX
2️⃣ Bullet Time Ventures I, 53.3x, @Uber
3️⃣ Founders Fund III, 52.2x, n 3x any other fund on the list. INSANE
Source: @JoinOdin via @hkanji
Is this skill or one SpaceX-sized bet? @foundersfund
a $220m fund from 2007 that has created $37.4bn
that's 183.5x per dollar at risk. The median across 408 ranked funds is 1.3x
1️⃣ Founders Fund II, 183.5x, @SpaceX
2️⃣ Bullet Time Ventures I, 53.3x, @Uber
3️⃣ Founders Fund III, 52.2x, n 3x any other fund on the list. INSANE
Source: @JoinOdin via @hkanji
Is this skill or one SpaceX-sized bet? @foundersfund
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If you've ever wondered why smart TVs are so cheap, this is why.
@log4j rooted his Samsung and found an always-on hot mic, automatic content recognition, geolocation, network mapping, ad targeting and user profiling, shared with Samsung's "400 partners".
A lot of it can be te a basic guide below.
What your TV is doing
The main culprit is ACR (automatic content recognition). Your TV screenshots what's on screen, fingerprints it, and sends it home to build your ad profile. Samsung does it every 500ms, LG every 10ms [1].
What is insane: it happens on connected devices too.
Plug in your laptop, your console, your work machine, and your TV can fingerprint that via HDMI [1].
He also found that if your Samsung doesn't have a mic, it'll look for one from a connected soundbar or bluetooth device.
x.com/log4j/status/2…
It's on by default, and you likely agreed to it on the setup screen you clicked through in 10 seconds.
Step 1: Turn off ACR
Samsung: Terms & Privacy → Viewing Information Services
LG: Live Plus
Vizio: Viewing Data
Roku: "Use info from TV inputs"
Sony/Google TV: Samba Interactive TV
Menus vary by model, but those are the names to look for. While you're in there, opt out of interest-based ads, reset your advertising ID, decline every optional privacy agreement, turn off voice recognition, and delete apps you never open.
Step 2: Give smart devices their own network
Put the TV, cameras, speakers and vacuum on your router's guest/IoT network. The logic is simple: these devices rarely get patched. If one gets compromised (getting drastically more frequent with AI), it shouldn't be able to see your other devices or home network.
Step 3: Block trackers for the whole house with DNS-level filtering
NextDNS (cloud-based) is easy and has a solid free plan. Pi-hole is a little bit more work if you prefer self hosting. For simplicity we'll focus on the former.
1. Sign up at nextdns.io (free tier is plenty)
2. Privacy tab: add a blocklist (OISD is a good bet) and turn on Native Tracking Protection for Samsung, LG, Roku, Amazon (see attached image)
3. Setup tab: copy your endpoint
4. Paste it into your router's DNS settings as DNS-over-HTTPS/TLS (or use the IPs + "Link IP" if your router only does plain DNS)
5. Bonus: block outbound port 53 except to your router. Some devices hardcode their own DNS to get around you
Then open the NextDNS logs and watch how often your TV phones home. It's eye-opening. If an app or update breaks, find the domain in the logs and allowlist it.
Why they do this
TV prices are down 97% since 2000 [2]. Most of that is better manufacturing and brutal competition. But once margins on the hardware hit zero, the cost moved to you.
In Q3 2024, Vizio lost $6.7M selling TVs and made $115.8M in gross profit from ads and viewing data [3]. They've said on earnings calls that they keep TV prices low to grow the audience they sell to advertisers. Walmart bought them in 2024.
This isn't a conspiracy theory either. Vizio paid $2.2M to the FTC in 2017 for tracking 11 million TVs without consent. Last December, Texas sued Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense and TCL over ACR. Samsung and LG have since agreed to stop collecting that data without explicit consent [4].
TL;DR
1. ACR off
2. Ads + voice off
3. Smart devices on their own network
4. NextDNS filtering on the router
Sources:
[1] ACR study: arxiv.org/abs/2409.06203
[2] Cost of US consumer goods: aei.org/economics/char…
[3] Vizio Q3 2024: sec.gov/Archives/edgar…
[4] Texas v. Samsung: texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/…
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Colton Cray retweeted
Back in 2008, 53% of Californians voted for the high speed rail project.
Today, after 18 years of absolutely deranged delays and cost overruns, 62% support it.
California is broken because Californians like it that way.
Today, after 18 years of absolutely deranged delays and cost overruns, 62% support it.
California is broken because Californians like it that way.
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Colton Cray retweeted
Had a great time on House Calls with Schuster and @TQVentures. We talked about building Poseidon, from the first idea to where we are now!
The world’s largest cargo drone. 50-foot wingspan. 4,000 pounds of payload. No cockpit. Built in a San Francisco warehouse by a company that didn’t exist two years ago.
What it actually takes to build it:
“The more glass I eat and the more my teeth get kicked in on a daily t there’s nothing else I could be doing.”
@DavidZagaynov, co-founder and CEO of @poseidonaero
Timestamps:
00:00 Welcome to Poseidon
00:45 Why planes
01:23 Trucks of the sky
02:06 Meet Egret, the world's largest cargo drone
02:26 Backyard projects with dad
03:38 Inside Egret
04:25 The Jensen Huang answer
05:26 The ground control station
07:00 V0, the first prototype
07:44 The 1am duck pond test flight
08:38 Seagull, the quarter-scale seaplane drone
09:33 The new hangar
10:10 What’s next
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Colton Cray retweeted
If ~4 years ago was a great time to invest in breakthrough energy companies, which are hitting growth stages now, the next market we think is underappreciated is resilience and underwriting for a more unstable world - including natural disasters. Happy to back @standinsurance!
Today @standinsurance announced $70M at a $1B valuation, led by @Saga_Ventures. A year ago, we insured $1B of property. Today it's $10B. Disasters follow the laws of physics. Insurance should too. Here's what our team is building:
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My sister’s house burned down in the LA fires and they lost everything.
To add salt in the wound, they have undergone a harrowing experience learning how poorly equipped insurance products were to address the devastation.
It is insane that in 2026 our own financial instruments still can’t account for natural disasters. @standinsurance is working to change that reality. Proud to support what their team has built @lowercarbon.
The full stack matters.
To add salt in the wound, they have undergone a harrowing experience learning how poorly equipped insurance products were to address the devastation.
It is insane that in 2026 our own financial instruments still can’t account for natural disasters. @standinsurance is working to change that reality. Proud to support what their team has built @lowercarbon.
The full stack matters.
Today @standinsurance announced $70M at a $1B valuation, led by @Saga_Ventures. A year ago, we insured $1B of property. Today it's $10B. Disasters follow the laws of physics. Insurance should too. Here's what our team is building:
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The ladies at UPS Store know my face and ask to see pictures of my daughter every week when I pick up my mail.
Don’t tell me we’ve lost 3rd Places in America
Don’t tell me we’ve lost 3rd Places in America
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