Tag Archives: google

March 2, 2026 · 22:36

A simple red alert

There are moments I ignore them, how ever this evening I was alerted by Forbes (at https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2026/03/01/search-screen-with-google-lens-tool-compromised-to-steal-credentials/) to the setting of ‘Google Lens Chrome Browser Tool Compromised To Steal Credentials’ Now, first of all, I am a oogly googly Googler as such I to a point revere the solutions that Google gives to you an me and this alert is not on Google, but it is their solution that gives this predicament. Apparently (according to Davey Winder) who is a technology journalist who covers cybersecurity news and research and as he works for Forbes I reckon that his credentials are OK. Still we are given “it has been reported that a previously legitimate Chrome extension, used to search your screen with Google Lens, was recently compromised and turned into a malicious credential-stealing tool instead. Here’s what you need to know.” So, as I initially contemplated to let this rest for 12 hours and give it in the next story, I thought it might be better to reset the timeline and tell you as soon as I am aware of this. The usual media is all about stretching timelines and I thought it was important not to be mistaken with those losers. So as we are given “Google Chrome is the world’s most popular, or at least most-used, web browser, with estimates putting the number of users fast approaching 4 billion in 2026. That it is a target for attackers is absolutely no surprise to anyone, least of all Google which has an armoury of protections in place to help prevent users from threats. Sometimes, however, a threat gets past those protections. This seems especially true when it comes to Chrome browser extension threats, as recently exposed when a reported 30 malicious AI assistant extensions were uncovered. This latest threat is also of the extension variety, but this time was particularly insidious in that it exploited a previously trusted and legitimate tool.” And I have to admit that on the Apple I got a weird setting a few days ago that involves GoogleUpdater.APP I don’t know if it is related, but these two facts make me alert you all with the setting that at present there are a few hangups with Google. Now, there is nothing to be concerned about, because as I see it, Google is all over this already and we will be ‘treated’ to the lollies of repair soon enough, optionally it is already being rolled out. 

The additional information is “As per Bleeping Computer, the QuickLens extension, which formerly had a Google featured badge, grew to 7,000 users and enabled users to run Google Lens searches from within the Chrome browser. All was cool, until February 17, a little more than two weeks after ownership of the ownership exchanged hands, when the developer sold up. “A new version, 5.8, was released that contained malicious scripts that introduced ClickFix attacks and info-stealing functionality for those using the extension,” Bleeping Computer said.” And it comes with the additional “A Featured, reviewed, functional extension changes hands, and the new owner pushes a weaponized update to every existing user.” As such my question becomes Who is this new owner? It is followed by the last quote “I have approached Google for a statement, but the good news is that the compromised QuickLens extension has now been removed from the Chrome Web Store. Furthermore, it would appear to have been automatically disabled by Chrome as well, so existing users are also protected. The bad news, however, is that this is unlikely to be the last such example of legitimate extensions turning anything but. The usual advice applies: only ever update official apps and services from official sites that you have reached using known and trusted URLs, never by clicking a pop-up or link such as those mentioned here.” As such as it is not the last example, my original question remains “Who is this new owner?” And why is this piece of garbage given so much consideration for anonymity? There is a reason to do this to his children and make sure that such a person realizes that what you do to us, we can do to you. It is debatable so ‘violent’ but the article gives no clear message on who the new owners are and that is the most upsetting part. I don’t hold this against Davey Winder, but the entire setting is in some ‘new owner’ setting whilst we aren’t given names, not even corporations of who are out there to get out credentials. Is that not weird too? And as Google removed the culprit (which is good), there should be a nice register on who bought it and how much was involved, because someone bought it for more than a few coins. As such it is a simple red alert and if the others thought it would go unnoticed against all the Iranian Alerts, think again. Some people look out where the tall grass is moving. It might not be sexy, but at times it is essential to know where the tall grass is moving and whether it is moving in your direction. A simple setting really.

So again, have a great day and enjoy the sunshine out there if you are western enough from me. It is 22:45 here.

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February 28, 2026 · 08:03

The junkie says What?

Yesterday I was woken up by an incredible story we see got to see on BBC. The world has gone to hell and people died because their only response was that they had bo fibre, no sense of self and an insatiable need for external confirmation. That is how I see it. The article (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89kdpjn7eqo) gives us ‘‘I was on Instagram all day’ – woman tells landmark trial’ where we see the start giving us “A young woman, who is suing Meta and Google over what she claims is the addictive nature of social media, has told a jury her childhood years were taken over by her use of Instagram and Youtube.” It is actually hard to keep focussed keeping a serious nature here. The idea that she has the gall to claim “what she claims is the addictive nature of social media”, it is almost like the girl who claims that she didn’t know that the penis inserted inserted in the vagina could lead to pregnancy, because it felt so good. It might not be the complete truth (in many ways) but there is something like discipline of the soul. Which is continued by ““I stopped engaging with family because I was spending all my time on social media,” said the woman, who is known as KGM or Kaley, to protect her privacy.

She told the court in Los Angeles that she began using YouTube at the age of 6 and Instagram aged 9 and encountered no barriers to prevent her using them despite her young age.” So at that point? Or at which point are the parents claiming some responsibility in all go this? So when we get “While much of the court proceedings so far have focused on Instagram and Meta, Google’s YouTube is also a defendant in the lawsuit. TikTok and Snapchat were initially sued as well, but the companies settled shortly before the trial was scheduled to begin. The terms of those settlements were not disclosed.” I honestly do not see (I kinda do) why TikTok and Snapchat settled this. The entire manifest of entitlements here are (as I personally see it) completely out of whack. 

So when we get to “Now 20 years old, Kaley told the court that looking at Instagram was “the first thing” she did when she woke up each day and that she continued “all day” until she went to sleep at night, leading to difficulties at school, at home and with her mental health. She also watched YouTube videos for hours on end, noting that the platform’s “autoplay” feature, where a new video starts automatically after the previous one has ended, kept her on it. Failing to get enough “likes” on her social media posts left her feeling “insecure” or “ugly” she said.” So, at what time will the court ask questions of the parents? The word ‘parent’ is not mentioned even once, which with a starting age of 6 (and 9) is a pretty basic setting in any dealing with the optional setting of Doli Incapax, a legal common law principle presuming children aged 10 to under 14 years lack the capacity to be criminally responsible because they cannot distinguish right from wrong. And in that setting the parents are called in to answer a few questions. That is what I would do and the setting that I would press for, and beyond the setting of all of this and YouTube is in the benches for I know what reason, because YouTube has an ‘off’ switch, I press it all the time. I am (at times) a few hours on YouTube, it is how I get information as the News is no longer presented on TV, they call it entertainment and whilst I don’t have the luxury of seeking out all the TV channels at time, they all present their data on YouTube (as well as a few other channels). In all this it is up to me to decide when I need to get food, shop for items and even get to people. And as I am no billionaire (not even a millionaire) I have plenty of reasons to feel insecure, but my mother and father always taught me to “try again at the difficult task until you succeed”, my father was an alcoholic bully, but he did imbue me with a workaholic nature, it is the one part he gave me and that is the part I always saw as good. All other good things came from my mother, except smoking, she was a chain smoker I never took to that stuff. And I turned out pretty decent (or so I believe) at least I got the ball and fumbled it away from DARPA over half a dozen times, I created over half a dozen games (on paper), I wrote several scripts and that was just for starters. I also has tech support person, trainer and consultant for over two decades. As such I started work before that insecure little girl was born. But did I complain? I even released several pieces of what could be known as Apple IP to the public domain. Do I cry? Nope, I am merely putting a footprint on this world and there is a fair chance that over 99.999% of the human population has never heard of me. I personally believe that I matter (unless I move at the speed of light, then I am energy), the question is ‘Do I matter to others?’ I don’t care. I am who I am and I am solid in my convictions, they might be wrong or right. They are mine. So where does this leave you? Do I care? No, not really. Do you care? If yes, you should read something else. Still the BBC gives us “By age 10, she was engaging in self-harm, cutting herself, Kaley said. She has seen a therapist since she was 13. Kaley’s testimony comes a week after she attended court to sit directly across from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s co-founder and chief executive, as he spent around seven hours being questioned by lawyers, the first time the billionaire had ever appeared before a jury.

Meta’s lawyers have broadly argued that Kaley’s struggles with her mental health stemmed from problems with her family life, not her use of Instagram.” So at this point I ask again, where are the parents? If she was seeing a therapist since 10 they should be in the picture and they are not. Why not? So when we get to “Paul Schmidt, a lead lawyer for Meta, pointed during the first day of the trial to statements Kaley had made prior to filing her lawsuit about her home life, including a difficult relationship with her mother that had led to thoughts of self-harm.” We again see the need for the parents to be included in all off this and where was the father? All this leads to a view of a setting where (as I see it) Mark ‘Facebook’ Zuckerberg has no part in all of this, or at least a lot less then the BBC would like him to be. The only thing I see coming from all this is some loser who is blaming the world for her own undoing. It might seem harsh, but that is the setting I see. I don’t blame others for my lack of a Ferrari (not my favourite car anyway) ad there is so much more I could have achieved, but I believe that is because others never looked in my direction. It was not their job to look in my direction. It was my job to get noticed and putting a few DARPA solutions online is the way to go I say. Also putting the Apple IP ideas online might get me noticed by Timmy the Cook (a culinary expert at that Granny Smith corporation) we work with the tools we have and that is as much as I can do. I don’t cry, I don’t sulk, I merely pick up the next challenge and I solve it or a toss it aside. It is called strength of character, I don’t seek out the ‘approval of the masses’ it has no real function, other then it might get a few ‘likes’ and they don’t translate into real solutions. 

So have a good day and as I am about to enjoy a Saturday breakfast I tell you that I will be OK (Coffee usually gives that warm feeling that I need) is it additive? Yes, I guess so, but I only have one coffee in the morning, that is the consequence of a budget. We all have them and there is no Willy mindset involved (to explain that, it was a character in Popeye) who revered the expression “I’ll gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today”, which is how the United States government does its business and it has done so over 38 trillion times. So, you see how it ends and no President without an exit strategy in that matter will give you any solace here. 

Have a good one

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February 27, 2026 · 11:06

The fear behind us

There is a setting, one that requires scrutiny and one that demands closer looks. You see, I do not completely agree with the setting that The Guardian gives us (at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/26/how-to-replace-amazon-google-x-meta-apple-alternatives) with the illustrious title ‘Leave big tech behind! How to replace Amazon, Google, X, Meta, Apple – and more’ the first big thing is that there is no mention of Microsoft in that title. So that is the very first thing that comes to mind. Especially as CoPilot was mentioned earlier this week of sifting through our confidential emails. I can drop the ‘alleged’ as Microsoft admitted to this and basically said ‘Oops’ as an implied reason. So what gives?

It starts with “So many ills can be laid at its door: social media harms, misinformation, polarisation, mining and misuse of personal data, environmental negligence, tax avoidance, the list goes on. Added to which, Silicon Valley’s leaders seem all too keen to cosy up to the Trump administration, to shower the president with bribes – sorry, gifts – and remain silent about his worsening political overreach. And that’s before we get to the rampant “enshittification”, as the tech writer Cory Doctorow describes it, which means that by design many big tech products have become less useful and more extractive than they were when we originally signed up to them.” OK, I can go along with this. And the sentence “many big tech products have become less useful and more extractive than they were when we originally signed up to them” gets a mention from me because some of these ‘culprits’ seemingly have no idea what innovation is, for the you have to look towards China, specifically Huawei and Tencent. So we get to the first hurdle. 

“Google has cornered 90% of the search market for the past decade, but it is often no better, and sometimes demonstrably worse than its rivals, perhaps on purpose – Doctorow has called Google: “the poster-child for enshittification” citing its alleged strategy of worsening search quality so that users spend more time on the site. But changing the default search engine on any device is extremely easy. I’ve been using Ecosia for years. Instead of using your searches to fill corporate coffers, it uses them to plant trees. The Berlin-based company claims to have planted nearly 250m trees since it launched in 2009 (you can even get your own personal counter to feel extra virtuous). Ecosia commits 100% of its profits to climate action (over €100m so far), produces more clean energy than it consumes via its own solar plants, and collects minimal data on its users. Ecosia’s search results are not always as thorough as Google, admittedly (in the “news” category, for example), though the toolbar does give you options to search via Google and Bing if you need to.” The issue is that Ecosia is for all intent and matters Microsoft Bing. So this is seemingly a sales talk by a journalist because there is a massive problem finding anything by Microsoft reliable. And then we get the real stuff, Microsoft knows it is in hot waters, so we are given “The French company Qwant is similarly privacy-oriented (its slogan is “The search engine that values you as a user, not as a product”) and is now mostly independent (having started out based on Bing). It is now partnering with Ecosia to build a new “European search index”.” Yes but Microsoft is American ands as such your data will be copied and frowned on, browsed through to all their hearts content. If this is wrong, Ecosia and Qwant better clearly state that they are independent of Microsoft, because it is still the issue in Europe and for what they state the their DATA is completely secure, the issue becomes where are the backups? If they are on an American cloud or server, the setting of privacy is set to 0%. 

I can agree with the Browser chapter and even as I still rely on Google (it has never failed me), I get that no everyone is in that chapter of things. I get the Office part. I myself downloaded LibreOffice (download only, no installation yet) and I will look at it at some point, the Apple apps do their work brilliantly. So we are given “Many of them, including Austria’s military and local governments in Germany and France, are switching to LibreOffice, created by the Berlin-based, nonprofit, The Document Foundation. Businesses and individuals are doing the same. Ethical Consumer has used LibreOffice for some time, says Fraser. “It’s an open-source version of Word, and all of the Office tools. It works and looks basically the same.”” I personally reckon that this is the problem Microsoft has and getting the data from Ecosia might be their last handhold to European data, this is not a given, but I expect that this is the inside not Europe to some degree. And whilst everyone is concerned with the privacy of data, I reckon that similar to the setting of 1998-2002, no one is digging and questioning the stages of backups. But that might merely be me and as I am no longer living in Europe, I casually don’t care.

Then we see the mobile settings with a shoutout to Fairphone in the Netherlands. I have nothing against Fairphone, but it always makes me wonder if Fairphone had the same idea that Tulip had in the 90’s. That doesn’t make it wrong, it is merely a Business Ploy that should be considered. I am now and always have been a Google guy. So when we see “There is a catch: most of these phones still rely on Google’s Android operating system, but any phone can be fully “de-Googled” with the /e/OS operating system (it comes as standard with Murena phones), developed by the global, mostly European, nonprofit, e Foundation.” I can think of a way where Google can set this with their Pixels. When the consumer can select Google or A Linux version that does most of the stuff, Google clearly wins in several chapters. I reckon that these flower can merely snap market share because of this, when Google leaves it to the consumers, Google wins nearly automatically. Oh and in all this there is no mention of HarmonyOS in this and I reckon that these smaller players are adjusting to HarmonyOS as we speak, or cater to, or appease that branch. Not everyone in Europe is ‘China hating’ material. And that is merely the smallest setting of these parts. I am personally not touching the shopping side. I was raised as a follower of ‘Support your local hooker’ a phrase from the late 70’s. In that age we got malls, supermarkets and such and die to that escalation loads of local stores went through a foreclosure setting. In that same way I don’t order from Amazon. I have nothing against Amazon and they closed the gap of rural places having no way to get stuff to them having plenty of stuff and over 60% or Europe and 71% of rural USA is now served. As such Amazon did them right. I just believe that I should get to the local stores to get what I need. I only had to resort to Amazon twice in the last 10 years. So I am happy. And all these Amazon haters can go sit in a corner trying to work out the function of a cheese slicer (revelation: the red corners that are diminishing have figured it out).

But my issue is that Microsoft is shown in a ‘favorable’ light, they aren’t and they aren’t due that setting as I personally see it. The fear behind this is not the Big-tech, it is the policy that comes through the CLOUD Act (2018), it gives America too much ability to get to out data and in several cases non-American IP, which is even more frightfully. these hundreds of data centers have no reason to exist if the CLOUD Act (2018) what made illegal, that is how I see it and there is no saving Microsoft, because we get ‘blunder’ after ‘blunder’ and how long until we get another ‘Oops’ setting but now corporate IP was set in some AI hole? That is the larger fear that I see and there is no stopping it, whilst corporations are breathing the AI cloud through wannabe’s who want to move up in the world, that data is most likely to get compromised and as corporations are not setting the HR and data loops to any scrutiny, this is likely already happening and will continue to happen until the then valueless corporations see that they had to act a lot sooner than the day before all their data is in other hands. We already have Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence (2025), Bartz v. Anthropic (2025/2026), Disney & NBCUniversal v. Midjourney and the best case is United States v. Heppner (2026) where we see that documents drafted using a public, consumer-grade AI tool were not protected by attorney-client privilege or the work product doctrine. And that is the setting that people miss. Should someone at IBM use that setting this work becomes public, so consider that this is not IBM, but Microsoft using Copilot or OpenAI (ChatGPT) the work of your corporation becomes for all intent and purposes Public Domain, did you sign up for that?

There is plenty in the article that makes sense, but the ones that aren’t mentions are a larger fear creator than anything you are trying to hide from. Just an idea to consider. Have a great day this day.

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February 26, 2026 · 14:54

Just for the fun though

There is a new player in town and they are ‘ALL’ banking on the success of it. I remain skeptical because I gave the setting of its success over three years ago (in this blog no less), which would also have given an upgrade to malls and several other places. All due to a set of glasses. Now as I see the ‘pushed’ importance by wannabe influencers who are all on their ‘critique’ setting, I have to warn Apple, lead by Timmy the Cook in my usual way by gifting him with a gaming idea. One I thought of on the spot. And it comes with a setting that might work (still doubting that). You see the setting of Pokemon go where you frantically move your mobile phone in every direction to capture them all. The setting might be ‘transferred’ to the glasses where the image is shown on the glasses where you focus on the creature and you simple whisper ‘capture’ and the creature is transferred to your mobile where the capture event starts. And the fun part this setting could be used to capture Fantastic beasts (Harry Potter) and a whole range of other targets, like Droids for a futuristic setting and so on. So that engine could be fueling close to half a dozen games. 

There would be a setting where it might be possible to include an app on the Apple Watch to give signal when you are close to a capture target to optionally become a radar if it is possible to set the Apple Watch to a radar alerter (if that is possible) but as the Apple Glasses are supposed to get to the audience in 2027 it is important to get started NOW. Just for reference I believe that the absence of entertainment apps might be a larger reason why Apple Vision failed. And you might have your own reasons for not doing something but two billion gamers cannot be wrong. And as the Pokemon Go is owned by Niantic, Inc. Apple should talk to them now, not when it is too late and Niantic might come up with an upgraded setting to include Pokemon, Harry Potter/Fantastic beasts, even options lie Star Trek or Star Wars where you are a temporal agent trying to capture convicts. The idea tends to be the same but it is set in ‘that’ atmosphere.

And in this same I used the village of Sydney (no idea why) and I placed two worlds there the alphabet gives one and the numbers give the other and it is all managed by one setting. I reckon that Apple now gets the idea on what they need to do and they might think that it is not serious enough, but Niantic has used the idea as Pokémon GO has generated over $8 billion in lifetime revenue since its 2016 launch, consistently earning around $1 billion annually. So when was the last time any company walked away from a billion dollar plus? And that was merely Pokemon’s, now add the other worlds and perhaps create a few more and what is possible then?

Just an idea, I leave it to Timmy the Cook to wake up and watch the others capture the idea because pole is not alone in this field and Niantic could set this to an Android/Google setting and a iOS/Apple setting, they can capture both worlds, so where does that leave Meta? Not sure and I actually don’t care. I gave this wake up call to Timmy the Cook.

So you all have a great day and those game designers who want to ‘capture’ their game to the glasses, good luck. There is nothing more magical then trodding in new waters. And if your game can live there, it is all up to you.

Time for the munchies now, I’m hungry.

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February 21, 2026 · 01:16

Alternative Indiscretion

That is the setting and it is given to us by the BBC. The first setting (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8jxevd8mdyo) gives us ‘Microsoft error sees confidential emails exposed to AI tool Copilot’ which is not entirely true as I personally see it. And as the Microsoft spin machine comes to a live setting, we are given “Microsoft has acknowledged an error causing its AI work assistant to access and summarise some users’ confidential emails by mistake.” As I see it, whatever ‘AI’ machine there is, a programmer told it to get whatever it could and there the setting changes. With the added “a recent issue caused the tool to surface information to some enterprise users from messages stored in their drafts and sent email folders – including those marked as confidential.” As I personally see it, the system was told to grab anything it could and then label as needed, that is what a machine learning programmer would do and that makes sense. So there is no ‘error’ the error was that this wasn’t clearly set BEFORE the capture of all data began and these AI wannabe’s are so neatly set to capture all data that it is nothing less than a miracle it had not surfaced sooner. So when we laughingly see Forbes giving us a week ago ‘Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI’, so how much of that relies on confidential settings or plagiarism? Because as I see it, the entire REAL AI is at least two decades away (optionally 15 years, depending on a few factors) and as I see it, IBM will get to that setting long before Microsoft will (I admittedly do not now all the settings of Microsoft, but there is no way they got ahead of IBM in several fields). So, this is not me being anti-Microsoft, just a realist seeing the traps and falls as they are ‘surfacing’ all whilst there are two settings that aren’t even considered. Namely Validation and Verification. The entire confidential email setting is a clear lack of verification as well was validation. Was the access valid? Nope, me thinks not. A such Microsoft is merely showing how far they are lagging and lagging more with every setting we see.

And when we see that, is the setting we see (at https://arab.news/zzapc) where we are given ‘OpenAI’s Altman says world ‘urgently’ needs AI regulation’, and I don’t disagree on this, but is this given (by him of all people) because Google is getting to much of a lead? It is not without some discourse from Google themselves (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q3g0ln274o) the BBC also gives us ‘Urgent research needed to tackle AI threats, says Google AI boss’, consider that a loud ‘Yes’ from my desk, but in all this, the two settings that need to be addressed is verification and validation. These two will weed out a massive amount of threats (not all mind you) and that comes in a setting that most are ignoring, because as I told you all around 30 hours ago (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/02/19/the-setting-of-the-sun/) in ‘The setting of the sun’ which took the BBC reporter a mere 20 minutes to run a circle around what some call AI. I added there too that Validation and Verification was required, because the lack there could make trolls and hackers set a new economic policy that would not be countered in time making them millions in the process. Two people set that in motion and one of them (that would be me) told you all so around December 1st 2025 in ‘It’s starting to happen.’ (At https://lawlordtobe.com/2025/12/01/its-starting-to-happen/) as such I was months ahead of the rest. Actually, I was ahead by close to a decade as this were two settings that come with the rules of non-repudiation which I got taught at uni in 2012. As such the people running to get the revenue are willing to sell you down the river. How does that go over with your board of directors? And I saw parts of this as I promised that 2026 was likely the year of the AI class cases and now as we see Microsoft adding to this debacle, more cases are likely to come. Because the greed in people sees the nesting error of Microsoft as a Ka-Ching moment. 

So as we take heed with “Sir Demis said it was important to build “robust guardrails” against the most serious threats from the rise of autonomous systems.” I can agree with this, but that article doesn’t mention either validation of verification even once, as such there is a lot more to be done in several ways. If only to stop people to rely on Reddit as a ‘valid’ source of all data. Because that is a setting most will not survive and when the AI wannabe’s go to court and they will be required to ‘spout’ their sources, any of them making a mention of ‘Reddit’ is on the short track of the losing party n that court case. What a lovely tangled web we weave, don’t we? So whilst we see (there) the statement “Many tech leaders and politicians at the Summit have called for more global governance of AI, ahead of an expected joint statement as the event draws to a close. But the US has rejected this stance, with White House technology adviser Michael Kratsios saying: “AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future if it is subject to bureaucracies and centralised control.””

Consider that court cases are pushed through a lack of bureaucracy? I am not stating it is good or bad, but in any court case, you merely need to look at the contents of ‘The Law of Intellectual Property Copyright, Design & Confidential Information’ and that is before they rely on the Copyright Act, because there is every chance that Reddit never gave permission to all these data vendors downloading whatever was there (but that is pure speculation by me). And in the second setting we are given “AI adoption cannot lead to a brighter future”, the bland answer from me would be. “That is because it doesn’t exist yet” and these people are banking on no one countering their setting and that is why so many of these court cases will be settled out of court. Because the truth of this is that the power of AI is depending on certain pieces being in place and they are not. Doubt me? That is fine, and I applaud that level of skepticism and you merely need to read the paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” which was written by Alan Turing in 1950 to see how easy the stage is misrepresented at present. 

AlanTurinDownload

So is there good news? 
Well if you want to get your dollars in court and you are an aggrieved party, your chances are good and the largest players are set to settle against the public scrutiny that every case beings to the table. And in this day of media, it is becoming increasingly easy as I see it. There is no real number, but it is set to be in the billions where one case was settled on $1.5B, as such there is plenty of work for what some call the ambulance chasers and they will soon get a new highway, the AI Chasers and leave it to the lawyers to find their financial groove and as I see it, people like Michael Kratsios are bound to add to that setting in ways we cannot yet see (we can see some of it, but the real damage will be shown in a year of two) so as some are flexing their muscles, others are preparing their war fund to get what I would see as an easy payday. 

A setting that is almost certain to happen, because there are too many markers showing up the way I expected them to show. Not nice, but it is what it is.

Have a great day as you are all moving towards this weekend (I’m already there)

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February 20, 2026 · 10:56

The way of the dodo

Yes, that is a path that I am walking at present. You see, I am (originally) a Catholic. As such I tend to miss the Islamic markers around me. And this year I was aware of Ramadan, even though I do not practice it. So the news given by Morocco World News (at https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2026/02/279298/impossible-moon-saudi-arabia-faces-scrutiny-after-declaring-wednesday-as-1st-day-of-ramadan/) caught me unaware for two reasons. The first setting is that the accusation that Saudi Arabia made an Islamic booboo (as expressions go) is out of the realm of my conception of Islam. In this I am biased. I see Shia Islam (Iran) as evil and Sunni Islam (Saudi Arabia) as good. As such I see Islam of the UAE on the same footing as Saudi Arabia. If people want to convict me of these thoughts, that’s fair (as long as they are Muslim)

So the news given to me was ‘Impossible Moon: Saudi Arabia Faces Scrutiny After Declaring Wednesday as 1st Day of Ramadan’, I was own a different footing. I got that it was Ramadan as Google informed me it was, nothing complex about this. But then I tend to rely on Google on many matters, like the Horoscope, Chinese days and a few more like this and Ramadan fits in that setting for me. So a the News from Rabat is given to me In the form of “Another year, another controversy as experts and observers across the world are surprised and nearly shocked over Saudi Arabia’s decision to declare Wednesday as the first day of Ramadan 2026.

The Gulf country aligns with other nations in the region and beyond, who are facing scrutiny over their decision, with experts and astronomy centers stressing that the crescent moon, called the “hilal”, was impossible to sight last night.” This kinda caught me unaware. I am not a Muslim and as such I am in the dark of these matters. I for one (with my scientific mind) was thinking that as the world is almost a sphere that some will not see what some do see. So, what is visible from Mecca (or Riyadh) might be out of view for Rabat , Casablanca and a few more places. But that is thrown upside down as we are given “Critics say the declaration is against all available data contradicting declarations from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and beyond, which started fasting for Ramadan today. Astronomers had warned prior that highly unfavorable celestial conditions would make it impossible to sight the moon yesterday, February 17. Astronomy calculations suggest the moon sat before or simultaneously with the sun in most Islamic countries. This would serve as an obstacle to leave an observable crescent above the horizon, with both the moon’s age and angular separation from the sun also far below globally accepted visibility thresholds.” I am merely posting what Morocco World News is giving me, because in the first I am not Muslim, I am also neither a astronomer and I wouldn’t be able to do these calculations without an additional 4 years of University level of mathematics and calculus. So I lose out three times. And when we get to the setting of “According to Evrim Agaci, a Turkish science and education organization, the moon was supposed to disappear a mere 42 seconds ahead of the sun’s descent last night” it seems a matter of less than a minute and that is the slimmest of all astronomical settings as I personally see it. And my lack of knowledge and insight into science (as given above) I heralded with “The same source detailed how the moon will set before the sun in many cities, including in Abu Dhabi, where the moon sets one minute before sunset. “In Riyadh, it will set 37 seconds earlier,” Gulf News reported. Several other countries like Jordan, Oman, and Egypt announced Thursday as the first day of Ramadan, acknowledging the impossibility of sighting the moon. Saudi Arabia’s controversy is not limited to this single incident, especially as the Gulf country has long been treated as a reference point by many Muslim countries that model their own calendar decisions on Saudi announcements.” And my comical setting of a town proclamatory walking through Yas Mall (in Abu Dhabi), ringing a bell proclaiming ‘Ramadan has started’ brings a small grin to my mind knowing that the sin goes down a mine later and everyone can enjoy their foods until sunrise. But that is me, always trying to see the bright spot on the moon (its right between Ptolemaeus and Mare Nectaris) And yet, this article gives us another setting, one that I had no knowledge of and no expectation of. It is seen in “Observational data consistently show Morocco is among the most accurate in determining the start of lunar months, as they base their Islamic calendar on actually sighting the crescent moon with the naked eye. This approach relies on different methods, including engaging clerics, astronomers, and armed forces units in a coordinated effort.” I did not expect that to be a strength of Morocco. As such we might say ‘Calculate it again, Sam’ with a small wink at Casablanca. So even as I go the way of the Dodo, I do see that we are all fallible and we all come to conclusions. I am not judging Saudi Arabia, the UAE or even Morocco. But a setting of this magnitude happens. We might think bad, good or anywhere between there and uncaring. But the fact that this happens brings a smile to my face. Because we are all fallible and someone wanting to enter Ramadan a day early should be heralded into doing the best for his or her faith. It is seemingly that simple, at least that Is what I think.

You all have a lovely day and abstain from offering any Elderly Muslim water between dawn (Suhoor) to sunset (Iftar), I would want to do this for humanitarian reasons, but apparently it is not an option to Muslims, knowing this makes my heart hurt a little more than I am comfortable with.

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February 19, 2026 · 19:17

The setting of the sun

That is what I saw, the setting of the sun. A simplistic setting that was about to happen since the sun came up. We got the news from the BBC. And we are given ‘I hacked ChatGPT and Google’s AI – and it only took 20 minutes’ I can see how this happens. It doesn’t surprise me and the story (at https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260218-i-hacked-chatgpt-and-googles-ai-and-it-only-took-20-minutes) gives us the niceties with “Perhaps you’ve heard that AI chatbots make things up sometimes. That’s a problem. But there’s a new issue few people know about, one that could have serious consequences for your ability to find accurate information and even your safety. A growing number people have figured out a trick to make AI tools tell you almost whatever they want. It’s so easy a child could do it.” I think it is not quite that simple. But any ‘sort of intelligent setting’ can be fooled if it is not countered by validation and verification. It can give way to way to much ‘leniency’ and that is merely the start. Get 10,000 pages to say that ‘President Trump was successfully assassinated at T-15 minutes and the media will go into a frenzy in mere minutes and everyone uses that live feed in a matter of moments. So when a sizable Trolling Server farm connects the rather large settings of consumers to that equation the story is brought to life and that AI centre will be seeking all kinds of news to validate this, well not validate, the current systems corroborate. Now, lets face it, no non American cares about President Trump, but what happens when someone takes that approach with for example Lisa Su (CEO AMD) and stops her accounts whilst seeding this setting? You get a lot of desperate investors trying to place their money somewhere else. Whilst the trolls take their money, make is legal tender and buy all the stock in space and when the accusations are rejected they sell their shares with a nice bonus. Think I’m kidding? This is the result of Near Intelligent Parsing (NIP) but it cannot work without clear settings of validation or verification. So whilst we get “It turns out changing the answers AI tools give other people can be as easy as writing a single, well-crafted blog post almost anywhere online. The trick exploits weaknesses in the systems built into chatbots, and it’s harder to pull off in some cases, depending on the subject matter. But with a little effort, you can make the hack even more effective. I reviewed dozens of examples where AI tools are being coerced into promoting businesses and spreading misinformation. Data suggests it’s happening on a massive scale.” So what happens when economic settings lack certain verification and also is cutting corners on validation? Do you think my settings are far fetched? 

This was always going to happen and whilst economic channels are raving about the error of mankind, consider that “AI hallucinations are confident but false or misleading responses generated by artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs). These errors occur when AI fills in data gaps with inaccurate information, often due to faulty, biased, or incomplete training data” now think of what someone can achieve with doctored training data and that gets added to the operational data of any fake AI (NIP is a better term). This is the setting that has been out there for months and whilst organisations are playing fast and lose with the settings of credibility (like: that doesn’t happen now, there is too much time involved), someone did this in 20 minutes (according to the BBC), so do you think that Thyme is money, then you better spice up because it is about to become a peppered invoice (saw one cooking show too many last night).

What we are about to face is serious and I personally think that it is coming for all of us. 

So have a great day and by the way? And I just thought of a first verification setting (for other reasons, as such I keep on being creative. So, how is Lisa Su? #JustAsking

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February 18, 2026 · 15:23

The deluded new congregation

That is the thought I had when I looked at ‘AI challenges the dominance of Google search’ (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dx9qy1eeno)  where we see a picture of a pretty girl and the setting that “Like most people, when Anja-Sara Lahady used to check or research anything online, she would always turn to Google. But since the rise of AI, the lawyer and legal technology consultant says her preferences have changed – she now turns to large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “For example, I’ll ask it how I should decorate my room, or what outfit I should wear,” says Ms Lahady, who lives in Montreal, Canada.” It seems like a girly girly thing to do (no judgement) but the better angels of our nature, stated by Abraham Lincoln in his 1861 inaugural address requires reliability and the fake AI out there doesn’t have it, it is trained on massively inaccurate data, some sources give us that Reddit and Wikipedia is the main source of trained data in excess of 60%, whilst it uses Google data for a mere 23.3%, as such your new data becomes a lot less accurate and when I seek information, I like my data to be as accurate as possible. And of course she adds a little byline “Ms Lahady says her usage of LLMs overtook Google Search in the past year when they became more powerful for what she needed. “I’ve always been an early adopter… and in the past year have started using ChatGPT for just about everything. It’s become a second assistant.” While she says she won’t use LLMs for legal tasks – “anything that needs legal reasoning” – she uses it in a professional capacity for any work that she describes as “low risk”, for example, drafting an email.” I would hazard the thought that she wasn’t even old enough to touch a keyboard when she ‘early adopted’ Google. We now see more and more the setting that influencers (to be) will shout the “AI vibe” but the setting is nowhere near ready and whilst we look at the place, consider that she might be doing it in French (Montreal, Canada) so where is the linguistic setting in all this BBC? So whilst we get “A growing number are heading straight for LLMs, such as ChatGPT, for recommendations and to answer everyday questions.” My thought is ‘A what cost to our private data?’ And then the BBC makes a BOOBOO. We are given “Traditional search engines like Google and Microsoft’s Bing still dominate the market for search. But LLMs are growing fast.” A booboo? Yes, a booboo. You see Microsoft Binge holds a mere 4% market share whilst Google has 90%, this story is nothing less than a fabricated setting with a few people dancing to the needs of Suzanne Bearne, the technology reporter. What? Nothing to write about?

I did very much like the statement “Professor Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School in London, says people are using LLMs because they lower the “cognitive load” – the amount of mental effort required to process and act on information – compared to search.” I am willing to accept it as the sheepish hordes are all going towards the presented bright light of ChatGPT, but nothing more than that. I wonder when people will learn that the AI trains are not that, nothing like AI trains and for the most they seem to be the presented solutions that faster is better, but the tracks are not that reliable at present and they forget to give that view on the setting of that some laughingly call AI. And the end of this article does give an interesting ploy. It comes with:

“Nevertheless, Prof Li doesn’t believe there will be a replacement of search but a hybrid model will exist. “LLM usage is growing, but so far it remains a minority behaviour compared with traditional search. It is likely to continue to grow but stabilise somewhere, when people primarily use LLMs for some tasks and search for others such as transactions like shopping and making bookings, and verification purposes.”” That sounds about right and it comes with a dangerous hangnail. It becomes a new setting where phishers and hackers can get into the settings of YOUR data, because there is always a darker side and that side is brighter than getting Google to surrender what they have and often it is not laden with identity markers, but then I could be wrong. 

So whilst some will like the new congregation, the dangers of that new congregation is not given to you by the media, because caution does not translate to digital dollars, but flames of disruption are. Just keep that in mind.

Have a great day.

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February 15, 2026 · 10:58

When Grok gets it wrong

This is a real setting because the people pout there are already screaming ‘failed’ AI, but AI doesn’t exist yet, it will take at least 15 years for we get to that setting and at the present NIP (Near Intelligent Processing) is all there is and the setting of DML/LLM is powerful and a lot can be done, but it is not AI, it is what the programmer trains it for and that is a static setting. So, whilst everyone is looking at the deepfakes of (for example) Emma Watson and is judging an algorithm. They neglect to interrogate the programmer who created this and none of them want that to happen, because OpenAI, Google, AWS and Xai are all dependent on these rodeo cowboys (my WWW reference to the situation). So where does it end? Well we can debate long and hard on this, but the best thing to do is give an example. Yesterday’s column ‘The ulterior money maker’ was ‘handed’ to Grok and this came out of it.

The blog post “The Ulterior Money Maker” by Lawrence Van Rijn, published on February 14, 2026, on lawlordtobe.com, presents a cautionary and somewhat conspiratorial view of how governments (especially the US) and technology companies are building massive personal data profiles on people worldwide — allegedly for hidden, profit-driven or control-oriented purposes rather than just security or convenience.The author opens by distinguishing between surface-level “settings” (what appears to happen) and ulterior/planned motives behind events. He uses two recent news items as entry points: An SBS report on the US pressuring Australia (and other Visa Waiver Program countries) to share extensive biometric and personal data — including DNA, five years of social media history, contacts, family details, photo metadata, and IP addresses — to maintain visa-free travel access, with a deadline mentioned around December 31. The UK has already signed such an agreement, while the EU is negotiating. The author sees this as governments “selling out” citizens.
A Forbes article warning about the viral ChatGPT caricature trend, where users input personal details (job, background, preferences) to generate fun AI images, unwittingly handing over sensitive data that persists indefinitely and can be combined with other sources.
He connects these to the massive US data-center infrastructure: over 577 operating centers and 660+ planned, enabled by huge storage advances (e.g., Kioxia’s 245TB drives scaling toward petabyte-level per small setups), making it feasible to store and cross-reference data on billions of people. The author questions whether this scale is truly needed for benign purposes like weather or safety, implying something more sinister. Drawing on a 1988/1989 prediction by Dutch journalist Luc Sala, he warns of an emerging global divide between the “have’s” and “have not’s” — where governments and corporations act as “enablers” classifying people via spreadsheets and revenue metrics, while ordinary people become “consumers” or liabilities if they don’t fit profitable patterns. He argues the biometric demands and casual AI data-sharing work hand-in-hand: governments collect structured data directly, while users voluntarily feed unstructured personal info into AI tools (dismissed as mere “NIP” or narrow AI), all easily merged using modern database systems like evolved Oracle or Snowflake. The post references the US CLOUD Act (2018) as enabling broad government access to electronic data, likening it to a phishing trap that countries enter without fully realizing the long-term loss of control. Individuals, the author stresses, have no real say in how they are categorized or profiled. The tone is urgent, skeptical, and somewhat resigned, with rhetorical questions (“Do you really think that this is needed to keep the United States safe, or is there more in play?”) and direct reader address. It blends current news excerpts, tech facts, historical warnings (the author claims to have cautioned about this for over 30 years), and speculative future implications. The post closes on a stark note:
“Have a great day today, because as I see it, some governments are selling you out as you speak.”Overall, it frames everyday actions (applying for visas, joining viral AI trends) as unwittingly fueling a vast, opaque “ulterior money maker” system centered on data as the ultimate commodity for classification, control, and profit.

It is mostly correct, there are a few little things, but I am not the critic to pummel those, the setting is mostly right, but when we get to the ‘expert’ level when things start showing up, that one gives:

It contains only a single link: https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/02/14/the-ulterior-money-maker/ This points to a blog post on your WordPress site “Lawrence van Rijn – Law Lord to be” (which seems focused on law, IP, tech, geopolitics, energy, and related commentary). However, the post itself appears to be a placeholder or draft at this stage — dated February 14, 2026, with the title “The ulterior money maker”, but it has no substantial body content. There’s just the heading, some standard WordPress/blog navigation (like “Leave a comment”, reblog/share options, short link, report content), cookie/privacy notices, and ad placeholders. No paragraphs, analysis, or details are present yet. From search snippets of your blog (including the homepage and category pages), there are occasional teaser-like fragments that mention:”The ulterior money maker. That is the setting, but what is true and what is ‘planned’ is another matter. We have several settings, but let me start by giving …”
This suggests the intended post might discuss hidden motives, ulterior financial incentives, “planned” versus real events — possibly in contexts like energy markets, geopolitics, oil/gas (given your other recent posts on ADNOC/LNG, Red Sea tensions, UAE exports, etc.), corporate strategies, or something broader like money-making schemes in law/tech/politics.Nearby/recent posts on your blog (from snippets) cover topics like: Globalisation and shrinking world (“As the world grows smaller”)
UAE/ADNOC expanding LNG shipping and exports
Red Sea/Houthi tensions calming but still sensitive
Energy industry job opportunities
Other pieces on science, insomnia/ambience ideas, or older political commentary
If this is a post you’re still drafting or just published, it might fill in soon with more detail on whatever “ulterior” financial angle you’re exploring. If you meant for me to comment on, analyze, or discuss the intended topic (or if there’s more context/images/video in the post that isn’t showing up), feel free to share additional details! What’s the main idea behind “The ulterior money maker”?

Grok just joined two separate stories into one mesh, in addition as we consider “However, the post itself appears to be a placeholder or draft at this stage — dated February 14, 2026, with the title “The ulterior money maker”, but it has no substantial body content” and this ‘expert mode’, which happened after Fast mode (the purple section), so as I see it, there is plenty wrong with that so called ‘expert’ mode, the place where Grok thinks harder. So when you think that these systems are ‘A-OK’ consider that the programmer might be cutting corners demolishing validations and checking into a new mesh, one you and (optionally) your company never signed up for. Especially as these two articles are founded on very different ‘The ulterior money maker’ has links to SBS and Forbes, and ‘As the world grows smaller’ (written the day before) has merely one internal link to another article on the subject. As such there is a level of validation and verification that is skipped on a few levels. And that is your upcoming handle on data integrity?

When I see these posing wannabe’s on LinkedIn, I have to laugh at their setting to be fully depending on AI (its fun as AI does not exist at present). 

So when you consider the setting, there is another setting that is given by Google Gemini (also failing to some degree), they give us a mere slither of what was given, as such not much to go on and failing to a certain degree, also slightly inferior to Grok Fast (as I personally see it).

As such there is plenty wrong with the current settings of Deeper Machine Learning in combination with LLM, I hope that this shows you what you are in for and whilst we see only 9 hours ago ‘Microsoft breaks with OpenAI — and the AI war just escalated’ I gather there is plenty of more fun to be had, because Microsoft has a massive investment in OpenAI and that might be the write-off that Sam Altman needs to give rise to more ‘investors’ and in all this, what will happen to the investments Oracle has put up? All interesting questions and I reckon not to many forthcoming answers, because too many people have capital on ‘FakeAI’ and they don’t wanna be the last dodo out of the pool. 

Have a great day.

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February 11, 2026 · 00:31

Out of the blue

So there I was meeting up with my half brother Insomnia. When that rascal comes calling you can pretty much kiss sleep goodbye and it is my turn to be all over the field again. But then out of the blue an idea hit me. You see I have gotten into the habit of looking at (and listening to) Ambience videos. It started around Christmas with Hogwarts Legacy movies. But as I saw more movies my mind started to think. You see most of them are basically graphic DML applications. Don’t get me wrong, there are a fair view of them made by artists who go all in on 3D sculpting, but as I got to think a few things through, I saw a gap where optionally Google Dropped the ball (yet again) and as all Sony TVs have google TV, the idea started to form. 

You see DML can be awesome and in this case it is. And here is the setting:

You start with the setting, giving you space, a house, a spaceship, a space station. From there we get the specifics like Themed (think a game, TV series or a setting like Cyberpunk, Interior, weather and whether this is a light of a dark setting from there we get to the music like music style, rhythm, ambience music and volume. From there we can go back to stage one, or we can select sample so we see the low resolution sample. From there we get the final product and that is the one we safe/Download so we can watch this without using bandwidth. The stage needs optionally one addition to the Sony TV’s and that is a memory slot, optionally we can serve it via the DVD/4K player which has a memory card or your console. This setting is already with the bulk of the people, as such it is a mere adjustment. Google will be able to sell a whole lot of subscriptions (which allows for the download of 4K files, or people can optionally do this in the office (to the bosses I say, I never told your employees this and you aren’t reading this) ;-P

And it goes further, the people who actually design these settings can offer interiors that the people can buy for a few dollars and the good ones will make a decent bundle, some makers like View Escape are already putting them on YouTube, so you can just download those. A setting that allows Google to enrich their options and give more to the people (at a price) and this can be set to a much bigger stage, but the basic is already here and I reckon that the millions of big TV’s are out there (not just Sony) and soon there will be a setting where the TV is not just a screen, it will be art on display and that is something that Google could enable. 

Perhaps the idea is silly, but I do believe that there is a market for this and seeing the amount of Ambiance Video’s already on YouTube, I feel certain that this is a bigger market than anyone is considering. Have a great day, it’s Wednesday now for me.

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