A brilliant Google safety tip, my Sora 2 deep dive, and the free AI course I'm taking next
Plus, another David video, my big product announcement, how to think about AI coding and costs, a scary home robot, Amazon's nuclear dreams, and the end of an era.
I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.
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My latest video
Nylon is very tough to 3D print. The filament absorbs water and when it does, it becomes mush. So, when Sunlu sent me their $350 filament dryer to test out, I had to test it with nylon. I had a ten year old roll that sat on a shelf through Florida humidity and Oregon winters, so that’s what I decided to test. So, let’s do some science.
My articles
Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.
This free Google AI course could transform how you research and write - but act fast: The Knight Center and Google are launching a free AI course aimed at journalists, but if you’re a student or a writer, you could learn a lot, too. It starts today.
Is art dead? What Sora 2 means for your rights, creativity, and legal risk: OpenAI’s Sora 2 gives anyone the power to make realistic AI videos - but what happens when creativity, copyright, and deepfakes collide in ways we can’t control? This is my deep dive into this troubling topic.
I’ve tested free vs. paid AI coding tools - here’s which one I’d actually use: Some developers pay big for AI coding tools. Others stick with free. Here’s how to know when to spend - and when to save.
Project of the week
Super-excited to share that I just finished launching My Private Site 4.0, an update that now offers all WordPress users free defenses against AI scraping via a variety of methodologies. If you’ve been reading my articles about using OpenAI’s Codex for coding, this is the result of my four day programming sprint (plus about three or four weeks of product marketing).
I also launched an advanced version of AI Defense available as an add-on that includes defenses against a wide variety of AI bots, all the RSL licensing options, and active countermeasures, so WordPress users never have to be afraid their content will be stolen for AI training again.
The new release also offers three additional new add-ons, Visitor Intelligence (deep insight into who’s accessing your site), Guest Access (provides temporary access to guests) and Block IP (to block bad guys, both individually and in bulk).
If you’re interested, here’s the announcement post. You can watch the overview videos via its distribution page on the WordPress repo.
Must-watch YouTube
Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.
Really interesting video about a hover train project in the UK that never went anywhere (pretty much literally).
This is creepy. It’s a robot actually being built that seems like it stepped from the pages of an Isaac Asimov robot story.
Here’s another wildly overpriced toy I really want but should never be allowed to use. It’s a single-person hover copter. Want to know more? Here’s Oculus founder Palmer Luckey taking delivery of his vehicle. Warning: Serious mullet alert!
Filming rig of the week
This thing just showed up in the “you might want to buy this” section on Amazon, and I might want to buy it. About six months ago, I went looking for a metal camera cage for my iPad, but there weren’t any to be had. I had purchased one about five years ago, but iPads have changed dimensions and the one I bought back then doesn’t fit the new models.
But today, this thing showed up on my list and on my radar. I use the tablet cage to mount my iPad to my tripod, and then use that as both a monitor camera and teleprompter. Then there’s the brand name: Nitze. It’s not Nietzsche, but still.
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Interesting reads
And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.
This is crazy. Amazon is on track to become a nuclear power (almost literally). Fascinating, audacious story.
Here’s the end of an era. TiVo is no longer selling DVRs. Over time, I think I bought six or seven of these, but stopped when I went all streaming, all the time. I guess I’m not alone. Still, I raise my cup of coffee to TiVo for what it was.
ZDNET’s Lance Whitney spotlights a must-do action item from Google. Google now has a recovery accounts feature where you can assign another person to verify that you’re you in case you get locked out. Denise and I will do this tonight for each other’s accounts. Seems like a no-brainer good idea.
Send in your projects
I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.
If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.
Both my EPs are now streaming
Available on all your favorite streaming services.
More clicky
I’ve got a lot happening all over the web. Here are links to my various stuff:
House of the Head: home for my published music
ZATZ Labs: where I host my published software projects
Feel free to dig around, visit, and say hey!
Leave some comments
Substack supports comments, so feel free to leave some. I promise to read them. Just, please, let’s keep our personal politics out of any discussion.
That should do it for this week. This newsletter is really starting to pick up subscribers. Please help it out by sharing links on all your socials.
Have a great week!