Archived version: https://archive.ph/9WPwx

The Sotheby's auction house has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by investors who regret buying Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs that sold for highly inflated prices during the NFT craze in 2021. A Sotheby's auction duped investors by giving the Bored Ape NFTs "an air of legitimacy... to generate investors' interest and hype around the Bored Ape brand," the class-action lawsuit claims.

The boost to Bored Ape NFT prices provided by the auction "was rooted in deception," said the lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Central District of California. It wasn't revealed at the time of the auction that the buyer was the now-disgraced FTX, the lawsuit said.

"Sotheby's representations that the undisclosed buyer was a 'traditional' collector had misleadingly created the impression that the market for BAYC NFTs had crossed over to a mainstream audience," the lawsuit claimed. Lawsuit plaintiffs say that harmed investors bought the NFTs "with a reasonable expectation of profit from owning them."

Sotheby's sold a lot of 101 Bored Ape NFTs for $24.4 million at its "Ape In!" auction in September 2021, well above the pre-auction estimates of $12 million to $18 million. That's an average price of over $241,000, but Bored Ape NFTs now sell for a floor price of about $50,000 worth of ether cryptocrurrency, according to CoinGecko data accessed today.

Investors previously sued Bored Ape creator Yuga Labs, four company executives, and various celebrity promoters including Paris Hilton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Hart, Snoop Dogg, Serena Williams, Madonna, Jimmy Fallon, Steph Curry, and Justin Bieber. The original class-action was filed in December 2022, and Sotheby's was added as a defendant in an amended complaint submitted on August 4.

Yuga describes its collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs as "unique digital collectibles living on the Ethereum blockchain" that double as a "Yacht Club membership card." The website has some "members-only" areas. "When you buy a Bored Ape, you're not simply buying an avatar or a provably rare piece of art," the NFT collection's website says. "You are gaining membership access to a club whose benefits and offerings will increase over time. Your Bored Ape can serve as your digital identity, and open digital doors for you."

Lawsuit: Yuga “colluded” with Sotheby’s

The amended lawsuit alleges that "Yuga colluded with fine arts broker, Defendant Sotheby's, to run a deceptive auction." After the sale, a Sotheby's representative described the winning bidder during a Twitter Spaces event as a "traditional" collector, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said it turned out the auction buyer was now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail awaiting trial on criminal charges. Ethereum blockchain transaction data shows that after the auction, "Sotheby's transferred the lot of BAYC NFTs to wallet address 0xf8e0C93Fd48B4C34A4194d3AF436b13032E641F3,77 which, upon information and belief, is owned/controlled by FTX," the complaint said. Speculation that FTX was the buyer had been percolating since at least January 2023.

The lawsuit alleges that Yuga Labs and Sotheby's violated the California Unfair Competition Law, the California Corporate Securities Law, the US Securities Exchange Act, and the California Corporations Code. The plaintiffs also claim that Sotheby's Metaverse, an NFT trading platform opened after the auction, "operated (or attempted to operate) as an unregistered broker of securities."

"FTX has several deep ties to Yuga such that it would be mutually beneficial for both Yuga and FTX (as well as Sotheby's) if the BAYC NFT collection were to rise in price and trading volume activity. Upon information and belief, given the extensive financial interests shared by Yuga, Sotheby's and FTX, each knew that FTX was the real buyer of the lot of BAYC NFTs at the Sotheby's auction at the time that Sotheby's representatives were publicly representing that a 'traditional' buyer had made the purchase," the lawsuit said. FTX is not named as a defendant.

Ape prices soared, then plummeted

After the auction, the price of Bored Ape digital assets hit a new high and kept rising for months. It peaked at over $420,000 in April 2022 but plummeted to about $90,000 six weeks later, according to CoinGecko.

The class action lawsuit's named plaintiffs are Johnny Johnson, Ezra Boekweg, Mario Palombini, and Adam Titcher. They are trying to get certification of a class consisting of "all investors who purchased Yuga's non-fungible tokens ('NFTs') or ApeCoin tokens ('ApeCoin') between April 23, 2021 and the present." There were over 103,000 account holders of Yuga securities as of December 1, 2022, the lawsuit said.

"While the Executive Defendants made hundreds of millions of dollars, investors were left with NFTs worth a fraction of their artificially inflated value," the original version of the complaint in December said.

Yuga and other defendants have a September 12 deadline to file motions to dismiss the complaint. Sotheby's told CNN this week that the "allegations in this suit are baseless, and Sotheby's is prepared to vigorously defend itself." Yuga Labs similarly called the allegations "completely without merit or factual basis."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/3350022

Incognito Pilot: The Next-Gen AI Code Interpreter for Sensitive Data

Hello everyone! Today marks the first day of a new series of posts featuring projects in my GitHub Stars.

Most of these repos are FOSS & FOSAI focused, meaning they should be hackable, free, and (mostly) open-source.

We're going to kick this series off by sharing Incognito Pilot. It’s like the ChatGPT Code Interpreter but for those who prioritize data privacy.

Project Summary from ChatGPT-4:

Features:

• Powered by Large Language Models like GPT-4 and Llama 2.
• Run code and execute tasks with Python interpreter.
• Privacy: Interacts with cloud but sensitive data stays local.
• Local or Remote: Choose between local LLMs (like Llama 2) or API (like GPT-4) with data approval mechanism.

You can use Incognito Pilot to:

• Analyse data, create visualizations.
• Convert files, e.g., video to gif.
• Internet access for tasks like downloading data.

Incognito Pilot ensures data privacy while leveraging GPT-4's capabilities.

Getting Started:

1. Installation:

   • Use Docker (For Llama 2, check dedicated installation).
   • Create a folder for Incognito Pilot to access. Example: /home/user/ipilot.
   • Have an OpenAI account & API key.
   • Use the provided docker command to run.
   • Access via: http://localhost:3030
   • Bonus: Works with OpenAI's free trial credits (For GPT-3.5).

2. First Steps:

   • Chat with the interface: Start by saying "Hi".
   • Get familiar: Command it to print "Hello World".
   • Play around: Make it create a text file with numbers.

Notes:

• Data you enter and approved code results are sent to cloud APIs.
• All data is processed locally.
• Advanced users can customize Python interpreter packages for added functionalities.

FAQs:

• Comparison with ChatGPT Code Interpreter: Incognito Pilot offers a balance between privacy and functionality. It allows internet access, and can be run on powerful machines for larger tasks.

• Why use Incognito Pilot over just ChatGPT: Multi-round code execution, tons of pre-installed dependencies, and a sandboxed environment.

• Data Privacy with Cloud APIs: Your core data remains local. Only meta-data approved by you gets sent to the API, ensuring a controlled and conscious usage.

Personally, my only concern using ChatGPT has always been about data privacy. This explores an interesting way to solve that while still getting the state of the art performance that OpenAI has managed to maintain (so far).

I am all for these pro-privacy projects. I hope to see more emerge!

If you get a chance to try this, let us know your experience in the comments below!

Links from this Post

• https://github.com/adynblaed?tab=stars
• https://github.com/silvanmelchior/IncognitoPilot
• Subscribe to !fosai@lemmy.world!

This is a good example, why not all devices should be connected to foreign servers. Errors can happen everywhere. But it could end badly, if some Corporations make errors and creating trouble, which would otherwise not happen.

In the case of the 3D-printer it is not that bad (except it destroys itself or even gets on fire), also you can turn it off. But imagine a smart stove top that lights up a towel (or something similar) while nobody is home.

Not, that I think that it is not useful to have something like that, but wouldn't it be nice, if that stuff would work locally? (with the WireGuard integration in modems, the access from outside of home with the smartphone, should also be no problem for non-tech people)

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3vfmc

How much ink does an all-in-one printer need in order to fax a document? Or to scan one to your computer? The obvious answer is "none." But if you own certain printers from companies like HP and Canon, you won't be able to use core features unless the device has ink—even if those features have nothing to do with ink.

Unfortunately, all-in-one printers arbitrarily demanding ink to perform non-printing functions isn't a new frustration. And that's despite some companies having printers that can scan without ink. Clearly, scanning or faxing without requiring an ink cartridge would improve users' experience—and they've illustrated that through class-action lawsuits. But this hasn't stopped printer makers from fighting to keep the nettlesome practice.

No ink, no scan

Since mid-2022, HP has been fighting a class-action lawsuit alleging that certain all-in-one printer models won't scan or fax without ink and that HP doesn't properly disclose this to shoppers. On January 13, 2023, the complaint was dismissed but allowed to be amended (you can view the amended complaint here: [PDF]), and on August 10, a Northern District of California judge dismissed HP's motion to dismiss the amended complaint [PDF].

HP Envy 6455e and HP Deskjet 2655 purchasers Gary Freund and Wayne McMath filed the complaint, which states that HP printers are designed to enter an error state when low or out of ink, preventing usage until the installment of a new ink cartridge. The plaintiffs are also peeved that HP marketing and advertising doesn't clearly disclose this, the complaint says. The complaint also notes that an HP support agent has said that HP printers are "designed in such a way that with the empty cartridge or without the cartridge the printer will not function."

"HP’s All-in-One Printers do not work as advertised. Ink is not a necessary component to scan or to fax a document," the complaint reads.

It adds:

Tying the scan or fax capabilities of the All-In-One Printers to ink contained in the devices offers no benefit and only serves to disadvantage and harm consumers financially. However, tying the scan or fax capabilities of the All-In-One Printers to ink contained in the devices does, however [sic], serve to benefit HP.

Anyone who's owned an inkjet printer knows how expensive ink can be. That suggests a reason to push people to buy ink through tactics like blocking core features if no ink is present and reportedly selling printers below cost. Ink-buying programs have also become cash cows. HP in 2021, for example, said its Instant Ink subscription business was worth $500 million, per CRN. In its Q2 2023 financial report, HP named Instant Ink a key growth area.

The complaint against HP says:

Indeed, HP designs its All-in-One printer products so they will not work without ink. Yet, HP does not disclose this fact to consumers. … Even were it technically possible to scan a document without all ink cartridges present, HP does not disclose any 'workaround' to consumers in any of the product packaging nor in any of HP’s advertising and marketing materials regarding its multi-function devices.

The complaint seeks monetary damages as well as the end of HP's "misleading advertising and marketing campaign" and for HP to "engage in a corrective campaign to inform consumers of the misleading advertising."

Here are all the HP printer models listed in the complaint:

• HP Deskjet 2755e
• HP DeskJet 3755
• HP DeskJet 4155e
• HP ENVY 6055e
• HP ENVY 6075
• HP ENVY 6455
• HP ENVY Pro 6475
• HP OfficeJet 250 Mobile
• HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format
• HP OfficeJet Pro 8025
• HP DeskJet 2622
• HP DeskJet 2655

HP declined to comment on this story.

Canon's doing it, too

HP isn't the only company demanding ink for scans and faxes. It's not even the only one that has faced litigation over it.

As noticed by The Verge, Canon back in March settled a class-action lawsuit [PDF] stating that Canon all-in-one printers can't scan or fax with low or empty ink cartridges and its "advertising claims are false, misleading, and reasonably likely to deceive the public."

The settlement terms weren't disclosed, and Canon didn't respond to Ars Technica's request for comment. But here are the models listed in that complaint:

• MAXIFY GX7020
• MAXIFY GX6020
• PIXMA TS3520
• PIXMA G3260
• PIXMA G7020
• PIXMA G2260
• PIXMA MX330
• PIXMA MX452
• PIXMA TS9520
• PIXMA TR8620
• PIXMA TS6420
• PIXMA TS6320
• PIXMA TR4520
• PIXMA MG3620
• PIXMA MG2522
• PIXMA TS3320
• PIXMA TR7020
• PIXMA TS9521C
• PIXMA TS8320
• PIXMA TR8520
• PIXMA TR7520
• "and any and all predecessor models"

Similarly to the HP situation, representatives on Canon's support forum allegedly confirmed that certain all-in-one printer models require "all ink tanks installed and they must all contain ink in order to use the functions of the printer" and that "there is no workaround for this."

However, the posts that are linked to in the complaint (here and here) as of November 22, 2022, have a comment from a moderator saying, "It's possible to scan with an empty ink tank or cartridge." The support page provides instructions for disabling the function that detects ink levels.

Canon didn't explain why its printers ever required ink to scan in the first place. But the company has at least agreed to instruct users on disabling the ink requirement, which is better than where HP is currently.

Semantics prioritized over customers

As of this writing, HP doesn't seem to be working toward enabling its printers to scan and fax without ink. When trying to get the complaint dismissed, HP claimed that support agents who said printers are designed to not scan without ink don't represent HP and were not referring to printer models owned by the complaint's plaintiffs.

The printer industry has long had an issue with customer trust. HP, for instance, has bricked third-party ink (and issued other problematic printer firmware updates), along with the company's controversial HP+ program and region-locked printers . HP has already paid settlements for abruptly bricking third-party ink via its Dynamic Security "feature."

The Verge noticed that HP at least changed its language for the Envy 6455e's Amazon product page to say that you can "print, scan, and copy from your phone—from whenever, wherever" to "print, scan, and copy from your phone—from anywhere."

Such semantic games feel more like HP seeking a loophole than trying to please customers.

Such corporation-first tactics may be why Epson thinks it's dunking on competitors with its own support page dedicated to this topic. It reads, "Since 2008, all Epson printers will scan even when there is little or no usable ink left in the cartridge."

But, as is often the case with printers, a sneaky little caveat could abruptly ruin your day. As the support page also states:

However, all of the genuine Epson cartridges must be installed in the printer, even if depleted of usable ink and the printer displays the replace cartridge message.

So you still need an Epson ink cartridge to scan. If you happened to have tossed your ink cartridge when it became useless, your all-in-one printer could be virtually useless, too. (Epson didn't respond to a request for comment.)

It's alarming that printer makers know customers feel swindled and confused—but won't eliminate the problematic design. Printer vendors have become too bold in expecting customers to accept wordplay, settlements, and confusing support responses. Class-action lawsuits may light a fire under these companies, but it shouldn't be up to disgruntled customers to complain to support agents, lawyers, and judges.

If printer companies can't deliver a reliable, easy experience, customers will have no choice but to consider alternatives.

After the last post publicly by Naomi Wu being

“Ok for those of you that haven't figured it out I got my wings clipped and they weren't gentle about it- so there's not going to be much posting on social media anymore and only on very specific subjects. I can leave but Kaidi can't so we're just going to follow the new rules and that's that. Nothing personal if I don't like and reply like I used to. I'll be focusing on the store and the occasional video. Thanks for understanding, it was fun while it lasted”

Naomi Wu mentions briefly on her silencing and how she is not nearly as safe as she was before now that it’s obvious to the Chinese government her disappearance won’t cause an uproar of bad press making China look bad.

Long but a good read. The fascinating life of Joseph Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA.

Investors are barely breaking even as the venture is hardly making any profits due to a shortage of chips, divided interests, and more.

... OpenAI has already seen a $540 million loss since debuting ChatGPT.

... OpenAI uses approximately 700,000 dollars to run the tool daily.

⚠️ First off, apologies as I didn't cross check. Take it w/ a grain of salt.

This piece of news, if true, somehow explains why OpenAI has been coming up w/ weird schemes for making $$$ like entering the content moderation space.

On a similar note, I wonder if this had been a key driver (behind the scenes) in the recent investment in open source AI initiatives (Haidra comes to my mind?) Perhaps some corporations who haven't got enough $$$ to fund their own dedicated research group are looking to benefit from an open source model?

The Foxconn factory located in Sriperumbudur is gearing up to roll out the latest iPhone 15 models.

iPhone 15 production in India depends on the stock of imported components and the ramp-up of production lines at the Foxconn plant near Chennai.

Other Apple suppliers in India, such as Pegatron and a Wistron facility soon to be acquired by the Tata Group, are also expected to join the iPhone 15 production machine.

Can't wait until Google flips them on globally for all users

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3PdeS

We’ve been focused on creating a great gaming experience for our members since 2021 when we added mobile games to Netflix. Our goal has always been to have a game for everyone, and we are working hard to meet members where they are with an accessible, smooth, and ubiquitous service. Today, we’re taking the first step in making games playable on every device where our members enjoy Netflix — TVs, computers, and mobile.

We are rolling out a limited beta test to a small number of members in Canada and the UK on select TVs starting today, and on PCs and Macs through Netflix.com on supported browsers in the next few weeks. Two games will be part of this initial test: Oxenfree from Night School Studio, a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew’s Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game. To play our games on TV, we're introducing a controller that we already have in our hands most of the day — our phones. Members on PCs and Macs can play on Netflix.com with a keyboard and mouse.

This limited beta is meant to test our game streaming technology and controller, and to improve the member experience over time. Games on TV will operate on select devices from our initial partners including: Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart ONN. Additional devices will be added on an ongoing basis.

By making games available on more devices, we hope to make games even easier to play for our members around the world. While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more as we continue on the road ahead.