The title of this video doesn’t do it justice.
Another Steven Bartlett video that goes way beyond just the title. An eye opener for those trying to get a better understanding of how different government agencies work around the world.
Another Steven Bartlett video that goes way beyond just the title. An eye opener for those trying to get a better understanding of how different government agencies work around the world.
Dear Apple: It’s turmeric, not tumeric
I will not acquiesce to such deviance. Turmeric is a miracle spice that deserves respect and has a right to be spelled with dignity. I typed “tumeric”in Docs, Pages, and even on Squarespace, and sure enough, it was flagged as a misspelled word.
I will not acquiesce to such deviance. Turmeric is a miracle spice that deserves respect and has a right to be spelled with dignity. I typed “tumeric”in Docs, Pages, and even on Squarespace, and sure enough, it was flagged as a misspelled word.
The Islamic concept of Barakah present in Apple Product Design.
In a YouTube video with Muslim Founder, Peter Gould discusses how he talked to Apple Product Designers about Barakah (transcription below):
Yeah great question Well um I was once teaching teaching some Apple product designers in Cupertino in um in San Francisco head office and uh I remember kind of speaking to the audience like okay you’re familiar with things like Feng shui or Zen design or Wabi-sabi like Japanese like non-western design philosophy and they're like yeah like we're all cool designers - then I said, "Well how about Barakah?" And they're like "What?" It's like "Isn't that like a movie or something?"
And you know I'm just kind of paraphrasing but you know Barakah is such an essential part to you know maybe a quarter of the world's population in terms of how we think how we live our life how we aspire for this intangible divine goodness in a thing, Barakah, and uh you know as my my friend Muhammed Faris he wrote a book called The Barakah Effect And he once he kind of said "Peter we should think about ROI as return on intention rather than return on investment."
And so in these places and some of the places I've taught I intentionally use the language of the heart I don't call it Islamic design or like Muslim, you know in every human there is a heart. Every heart has a spiritual state, and someone designing an iPhone or designing you know really popular software, they can appreciate that, on the spiritual path like Alhamdulillah as as Muslims we are given a much richer understanding of what is the heart what is the ruh, what is the how, and then your amanah, your kind of responsibility, if you're designing for that, becomes much more serious, like you've got to be careful like, “am I just pulling people to distract them and addict them and whatever or am I trying to find ways to be uh very aware of my responsibility in design?”
A little deeper dive into Barakah can be found with an interview between Peter Gould and Muhammed Faris himself:
“Most definitions come down to things like ‘abundant, flowing, positive, divine energy that enters a thing’ — a tangible intangible that works in mysterious ways beyond logic to create an effect.
“Some scholars describe it as a hidden soldier of the soul. Meaning Allah sends Barakah into something like one of his soldiers. So it might enter your time, or your family, or your laptop, or your sleep, or your food. And it does some kind of spiritual chemical reaction there that leads to a benefit of abundance or goodness that’s hard to describe.
“One example that many of us have experienced is when you invite friends over for dinner and you’ve prepared food for 10 people. But then one of your friends brings his whole family, and you look at the food and think it’s not going to be enough. But the Barakah is that it’s always enough. Sometimes there’s even leftovers as well. That’s a manifestation of Barakah as a result of your good intention to bring people over and feed them. […]
It’s not unusual, for example, for good things to happen with our work and for us to consider it as either luck, coincidence, or the results of our own hard work. But as Mohammed says, if we were to really take the time to look at how events have led to that ‘good thing’ happening, we would surely see something bigger at play.
“This is Barakah,” he says. “It’s Allah aligning things so perfectly that you look back and think ‘I could not have planned this’. Things had to align so perfectly to get to this exact point — you can’t just see it as cause and effect any more; it’s beyond that.
“And the danger — especially for entrepreneurs and start-ups — is that we tend to say it’s from our hard work. Because we do experience all of the hard work. We show up early every day, go into the office, do all this stuff, and we want to attribute that success to ourselves. You almost don’t want to recognise that there’s a spiritual invisible hand at work. But it’s the Barakah effect that moves things and arranges things for you.”
We need the concept of Barakah to also hit the field of AI and other technologies in order to help build humanity instead of trying to destroying it.
In a YouTube video with Muslim Founder, Peter Gould discusses how he talked to Apple Product Designers about Barakah (transcription below):
Yeah great question Well um I was once teaching teaching some Apple product designers in Cupertino in um in San Francisco head office and uh I remember kind of speaking to the audience like okay you’re familiar with things like Feng shui or Zen design or Wabi-sabi like Japanese like non-western design philosophy and they're like yeah like we're all cool designers - then I said, "Well how about Barakah?" And they're like "What?" It's like "Isn't that like a movie or something?"
And you know I'm just kind of paraphrasing but you know Barakah is such an essential part to you know maybe a quarter of the world's population in terms of how we think how we live our life how we aspire for this intangible divine goodness in a thing, Barakah, and uh you know as my my friend Muhammed Faris he wrote a book called The Barakah Effect And he once he kind of said "Peter we should think about ROI as return on intention rather than return on investment."
And so in these places and some of the places I've taught I intentionally use the language of the heart I don't call it Islamic design or like Muslim, you know in every human there is a heart. Every heart has a spiritual state, and someone designing an iPhone or designing you know really popular software, they can appreciate that, on the spiritual path like Alhamdulillah as as Muslims we are given a much richer understanding of what is the heart what is the ruh, what is the how, and then your amanah, your kind of responsibility, if you're designing for that, becomes much more serious, like you've got to be careful like, “am I just pulling people to distract them and addict them and whatever or am I trying to find ways to be uh very aware of my responsibility in design?”
A little deeper dive into Barakah can be found with an interview between Peter Gould and Muhammed Faris himself:
“Most definitions come down to things like ‘abundant, flowing, positive, divine energy that enters a thing’ — a tangible intangible that works in mysterious ways beyond logic to create an effect.
“Some scholars describe it as a hidden soldier of the soul. Meaning Allah sends Barakah into something like one of his soldiers. So it might enter your time, or your family, or your laptop, or your sleep, or your food. And it does some kind of spiritual chemical reaction there that leads to a benefit of abundance or goodness that’s hard to describe.
“One example that many of us have experienced is when you invite friends over for dinner and you’ve prepared food for 10 people. But then one of your friends brings his whole family, and you look at the food and think it’s not going to be enough. But the Barakah is that it’s always enough. Sometimes there’s even leftovers as well. That’s a manifestation of Barakah as a result of your good intention to bring people over and feed them. […]
It’s not unusual, for example, for good things to happen with our work and for us to consider it as either luck, coincidence, or the results of our own hard work. But as Mohammed says, if we were to really take the time to look at how events have led to that ‘good thing’ happening, we would surely see something bigger at play.
“This is Barakah,” he says. “It’s Allah aligning things so perfectly that you look back and think ‘I could not have planned this’. Things had to align so perfectly to get to this exact point — you can’t just see it as cause and effect any more; it’s beyond that.
“And the danger — especially for entrepreneurs and start-ups — is that we tend to say it’s from our hard work. Because we do experience all of the hard work. We show up early every day, go into the office, do all this stuff, and we want to attribute that success to ourselves. You almost don’t want to recognise that there’s a spiritual invisible hand at work. But it’s the Barakah effect that moves things and arranges things for you.”
We need the concept of Barakah to also hit the field of AI and other technologies in order to help build humanity instead of trying to destroying it.
Every girl’s dilemma.
Huffington Post describes one young girls dilemma with AI generated nude content:
One 15-year-old girl revealed a stranger had made fake nude images of her and she was worried about them being sent to her parents.
“It looks so real, it’s my face and my room in the background. They must have taken the pictures from my Instagram and edited them,” she told the charity.
“I’m so scared they will send them to my parents, the pictures are really convincing, and I don’t think they’d believe me that they’re fake.”
Just one of many thousands of horror stories.
Huffington Post describes one young girls dilemma with AI generated nude content:
One 15-year-old girl revealed a stranger had made fake nude images of her and she was worried about them being sent to her parents.
“It looks so real, it’s my face and my room in the background. They must have taken the pictures from my Instagram and edited them,” she told the charity.
“I’m so scared they will send them to my parents, the pictures are really convincing, and I don’t think they’d believe me that they’re fake.”
Just one of many thousands of horror stories.
Five “Fahadx” observations I made when at the hospital.
Baby girl got sick again this past week, making a total of 8 days at the hospital over a one month period. A few observations I noticed:
Almost every healthcare worker wears an Apple Watch.
This particular Modular Compact configuration with no bottom widget is more common than I would like.
The chapel is occupied by Muslims 99% of the time.
Sushi is great, and cheap. You can literally park at the hospital and get cheaper sushi at the cafeteria than the grocery store.
Masimo blood oxygen sensors are a real thing. A wrap-around for the foot, using the big toe as the sensing point. Thank you Masimo - now please (Apple and Masimo), make a deal and give us proper Apple Watch blood oxygen capability.
Baby girl got sick again this past week, making a total of 8 days at the hospital over a one month period. A few observations I noticed:
Almost every healthcare worker wears an Apple Watch.
This particular Modular Compact configuration with no bottom widget is more common than I would like.
The chapel is occupied by Muslims 99% of the time.
Sushi is great, and cheap. You can literally park at the hospital and get cheaper sushi at the cafeteria than the grocery store.
Masimo blood oxygen sensors are a real thing. A wrap-around for the foot, using the big toe as the sensing point. Thank you Masimo - now please (Apple and Masimo), make a deal and give us proper Apple Watch blood oxygen capability.
I “accidentally” bought an iPhone Pocket.
Disclaimer: Inspired by true events..near the end of November 2025.
My wife wanted to go visit her brother who just had a baby, and it’s quite a hike from Charlottesville, Virginia all the way to Paterson, New Jersey. I had to come back two days later for work, but we still managed to make a quick trip to New York City, four years after our last one. A great way to spend time with the wife and kids.
The trip was a selfless trip, all about them…
We’ve gone to the city many times, so it was my idea to try something different, a place more cultured, more “boutique,” with a different but still authentically New York City experience.
“Let’s go to SoHo.” I said. Plenty of things to see on the way there, and plenty of spots to get quick bites to eat. A little bit of Belgian fries with powdered parmesan, some Yemeni coffee, great architecture, and cobblestone streets that would bring tears of agony to any Ferrari owner. A world of cultures densely packed in one place.
A new experience for the kids with more cultural exposure. I’m serious…
A lot of the fun is just driving around in NYC, seeing how people interact, and how traffic rules gradually mean nothing the deeper you get inside. The craziest thing we saw before we even parked the car? A well-dressed man in hot pink wearing what looked like a beachcomber straw hat, wrestling with his dog who was upside-down, full monty view of its junk, all to try and tighten his dog vest so he doesn’t get cold.
Aaah, New York City.
For our family of six, the real challenge was walking, since the sidewalks are crowded, barely wide enough for a stroller, and one wrong step on an uneven sidewalk (a hallmark feature of NYC) could smash your head down a set of stairs right into an Italian bakery, no mob activity required.
Challenge #2 - finding a bathroom. It’s already impossible to find a bathroom in the city, but I heard you can go to an Apple Store and use the bathroom without being harassed to buy something. Perfect for the little ones. There happens to be an Apple Store in SoHo not too far from us, so we headed there to freshen up.
Wow what are the odds that there happens to be an Apple Store nearby? Crazy…
I was getting a sip of ice water from my Journey water bottle while standing near the iPhone booth, when my daughter bumped into me as she was making a beeline towards an iPad Pro. She jostled me enough to make me spill ice water all over my shirt and shoe. It’s one of those sneakers with perforated holes, so my sock was soaked.
It was a shock to my system as the iced part of my shirt velcroed itself to my chest, throwing off my reflexes. A cold shiver down my spine and drenched sock sent my brain into a frenzy and made me scream in horror.
It was like a scene from a Michael Jackson music video. I’m screaming, twitching from all the cold and shaking my leg, screaming:
“Oh my God it’s icey!”
“My yucky sock!”
Several of the Apple employees heard me, and well, they quickly rushed away which made me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious all of a sudden. Nobody else really batted an eye, because after all, it’s New York City.
I’m thinking those employees went to get a mop to clean up the mess, but they ended up coming back with an iPhone Pocket. I asked them, why did you bring me this?
“Well we thought you were so excited for the ISSEY MIYAKE sock* so we got you the last one in stock,” said the Specialist.
They mistook my expressions the wrong way.
“Umm, no” I said. “I was just expressing my feelings about how icey I felt, and how yucky my sock feels.”
Apparently the, “OMG it’s icey! My yucky sock!” sounds a lot like, “OMG it’s ISSEY MIYAKE sock!”
Still shivering from the wetness all over my torso, I grabbed my phone to call my wife so she can supervise the kids while I go clean myself up in the bathroom. My hand was shivering, and my quivering thumb accidentally tapped the Power Button twice instead of once activating Apple Pay. The employee with the iPhone Pocket noticed my Apple Pay screen, and tapped her little iPhone kiosk gizmo to my iPhone Air, completing the transaction.
Everything happened so fast…I don’t know if I got high off some weed fumes as we made our way to the Apple Store, but I was now the owner of an iPhone Pocket. Before I “accidentally” spend more money, I decided it was best to leave now that we have 5 empty bladders and a clean diaper.
In retrospect, it’s kind of crazy how I happened to end up in the only store in the USA that was selling the ISSEY MIYAKE iPhone Pocket, and they had it in stock.
TOTALLY didn’t expect that to happen.
———————————————————
*Actually how the events played out - I made a reservation that morning while in New Jersey and they had a few colors in stock at SoHo. Went there like a normal person (with family) and I said, “I’m here to pick up my iPhone Pocket.”
“Oh, we call it the sock,” said the employee.
No drama, no flair, but the Belgian fries and Yemeni coffee were real.
So was the man in hot pink.
It was a symbiotic affair where everyone in the family got something out of the trip.
Disclaimer: Inspired by true events..near the end of November 2025.
My wife wanted to go visit her brother who just had a baby, and it’s quite a hike from Charlottesville, Virginia all the way to Paterson, New Jersey. I had to come back two days later for work, but we still managed to make a quick trip to New York City, four years after our last one. A great way to spend time with the wife and kids.
The trip was a selfless trip, all about them…
We’ve gone to the city many times, so it was my idea to try something different, a place more cultured, more “boutique,” with a different but still authentically New York City experience.
“Let’s go to SoHo.” I said. Plenty of things to see on the way there, and plenty of spots to get quick bites to eat. A little bit of Belgian fries with powdered parmesan, some Yemeni coffee, great architecture, and cobblestone streets that would bring tears of agony to any Ferrari owner. A world of cultures densely packed in one place.
A new experience for the kids with more cultural exposure. I’m serious…
A lot of the fun is just driving around in NYC, seeing how people interact, and how traffic rules gradually mean nothing the deeper you get inside. The craziest thing we saw before we even parked the car? A well-dressed man in hot pink wearing what looked like a beachcomber straw hat, wrestling with his dog who was upside-down, full monty view of its junk, all to try and tighten his dog vest so he doesn’t get cold.
Aaah, New York City.
For our family of six, the real challenge was walking, since the sidewalks are crowded, barely wide enough for a stroller, and one wrong step on an uneven sidewalk (a hallmark feature of NYC) could smash your head down a set of stairs right into an Italian bakery, no mob activity required.
Challenge #2 - finding a bathroom. It’s already impossible to find a bathroom in the city, but I heard you can go to an Apple Store and use the bathroom without being harassed to buy something. Perfect for the little ones. There happens to be an Apple Store in SoHo not too far from us, so we headed there to freshen up.
Wow what are the odds that there happens to be an Apple Store nearby? Crazy…
I was getting a sip of ice water from my Journey water bottle while standing near the iPhone booth, when my daughter bumped into me as she was making a beeline towards an iPad Pro. She jostled me enough to make me spill ice water all over my shirt and shoe. It’s one of those sneakers with perforated holes, so my sock was soaked.
It was a shock to my system as the iced part of my shirt velcroed itself to my chest, throwing off my reflexes. A cold shiver down my spine and drenched sock sent my brain into a frenzy and made me scream in horror.
It was like a scene from a Michael Jackson music video. I’m screaming, twitching from all the cold and shaking my leg, screaming:
“Oh my God it’s icey!”
“My yucky sock!”
Several of the Apple employees heard me, and well, they quickly rushed away which made me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious all of a sudden. Nobody else really batted an eye, because after all, it’s New York City.
I’m thinking those employees went to get a mop to clean up the mess, but they ended up coming back with an iPhone Pocket. I asked them, why did you bring me this?
“Well we thought you were so excited for the ISSEY MIYAKE sock* so we got you the last one in stock,” said the Specialist.
They mistook my expressions the wrong way.
“Umm, no” I said. “I was just expressing my feelings about how icey I felt, and how yucky my sock feels.”
Apparently the, “OMG it’s icey! My yucky sock!” sounds a lot like, “OMG it’s ISSEY MIYAKE sock!”
Still shivering from the wetness all over my torso, I grabbed my phone to call my wife so she can supervise the kids while I go clean myself up in the bathroom. My hand was shivering, and my quivering thumb accidentally tapped the Power Button twice instead of once activating Apple Pay. The employee with the iPhone Pocket noticed my Apple Pay screen, and tapped her little iPhone kiosk gizmo to my iPhone Air, completing the transaction.
Everything happened so fast…I don’t know if I got high off some weed fumes as we made our way to the Apple Store, but I was now the owner of an iPhone Pocket. Before I “accidentally” spend more money, I decided it was best to leave now that we have 5 empty bladders and a clean diaper.
In retrospect, it’s kind of crazy how I happened to end up in the only store in the USA that was selling the ISSEY MIYAKE iPhone Pocket, and they had it in stock.
TOTALLY didn’t expect that to happen.
*Actually how the events played out - I made a reservation that morning while in New Jersey and they had a few colors in stock at SoHo. Went there like a normal person (with family) and I said, “I’m here to pick up my iPhone Pocket.”
“Oh, we call it the sock,” said the employee.
No drama, no flair, but the Belgian fries and Yemeni coffee were real.
So was the man in hot pink.
It was a symbiotic affair where everyone in the family got something out of the trip.
Honda’s futuristic new logo will be for all future vehicles and not just EVs and hybrids.
While this isn't our first time seeing Honda's new emblem, it's the first time we're hearing that it will appear on all future models, not just the electric ones. Today, the automaker's European media team announced that the new "H mark" will gradually expand across its automobile lineup, starting in 2027 with its EVs and major hybrid models. Honda also said that the new logo will appear in other parts of its vast business, from dealerships to motorsports and more.
Looks like a futuristic logo since it was originally for EV and hybrid vehicles, but it really is a throwback to their original logo (via creative bloq).
It was an obvious move to make their logo uniform everywhere, especially now that most automakers are backpedaling on EV adoption.
While this isn't our first time seeing Honda's new emblem, it's the first time we're hearing that it will appear on all future models, not just the electric ones. Today, the automaker's European media team announced that the new "H mark" will gradually expand across its automobile lineup, starting in 2027 with its EVs and major hybrid models. Honda also said that the new logo will appear in other parts of its vast business, from dealerships to motorsports and more.
Looks like a futuristic logo since it was originally for EV and hybrid vehicles, but it really is a throwback to their original logo (via creative bloq).
It was an obvious move to make their logo uniform everywhere, especially now that most automakers are backpedaling on EV adoption.
These type of people are incompetent.
Hot take:
If you’re the type of person whose phone is always about to die, you’re incompetent for two reasons:
You use your phone too much and probably are wasting a lot of time.
You’re too lazy and are not forward thinking enough to make sure your phone is available to accomplish real goals.
Hot take:
If you’re the type of person whose phone is always about to die, you’re incompetent for two reasons:
You use your phone too much and probably are wasting a lot of time.
You’re too lazy and are not forward thinking enough to make sure your phone is available to accomplish real goals.
Google Gemini will power Apple’s next gen version of Siri.
Joe Rossignol via MacRumors:
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year.
"After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement said.
The report explicitly mentioned that Google Gemini will power Siri, as was expected. Apple's decision to lean on Google's artificial intelligence technology should result in the revamped Siri being more capable and advanced than it otherwise would have been, as Gemini's large language model is significantly larger than Apple's own model.
I’m glad I went with Google Gemini over ChatGPT. It just makes more sense since Google has much more data points to learn from and make their AI platform more robust than the competition. Apple doesn’t have to be the best at everything - they just need to have the best implementation, even if that means using other companies’ products and services.
Joe Rossignol via MacRumors:
In a statement shared with CNBC today, Apple confirmed that Google Gemini will power the next-generation version of Siri that is slated to launch later this year.
"After careful evaluation, we determined that Google's technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we're excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users," the statement said.
The report explicitly mentioned that Google Gemini will power Siri, as was expected. Apple's decision to lean on Google's artificial intelligence technology should result in the revamped Siri being more capable and advanced than it otherwise would have been, as Gemini's large language model is significantly larger than Apple's own model.
I’m glad I went with Google Gemini over ChatGPT. It just makes more sense since Google has much more data points to learn from and make their AI platform more robust than the competition. Apple doesn’t have to be the best at everything - they just need to have the best implementation, even if that means using other companies’ products and services.
Why isn’t this electrical circuit disabled on the iPad’s Magic Keyboard?
Apple’s website says (in small font):
The USB-C port on Magic Keyboard provides power, but it doesn't transmit data. This means you can't use this port with an input device such as a USB-C mouse. Never connect one end of a USB-C cable to the USB-C port on your iPad and the other end to the USB-C port on your Magic Keyboard.
Naturally, the moment I read this, I had to try it. 📓
Apple’s website says (in small font):
The USB-C port on Magic Keyboard provides power, but it doesn't transmit data. This means you can't use this port with an input device such as a USB-C mouse. Never connect one end of a USB-C cable to the USB-C port on your iPad and the other end to the USB-C port on your Magic Keyboard.
Naturally, the moment I read this, I had to try it. My battery did jump up from 44% to 45%, but it was an internal battery cycling error since the keyboard itself doesn’t have a battery. The iPad did start to heat up a little, but I’m surprised this function isn’t disabled. It really does give normal people the impression that the keyboard can charge your device, only to drain it faster than usual.
No, not infinite battery life. Notice the charging logo.
OpenAI releases ChatGPT Health.
Today, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes—so it's hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own. People have shared countless stories of turning to ChatGPT to help make sense of it all. In fact, health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT today: based on our de-identified analysis of conversations, over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness related questions on ChatGPT every week.
ChatGPT Health builds on this so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps—like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal—so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the tradeoffs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.
Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care. It is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time—not just moments of illness—so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations. To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.
Sounds promising, and makes me think their first hardware device will be a wearable of some sort that also gathers health data.
Today, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes—so it's hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own. People have shared countless stories of turning to ChatGPT to help make sense of it all. In fact, health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT today: based on our de-identified analysis of conversations, over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness related questions on ChatGPT every week.
ChatGPT Health builds on this so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps—like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal—so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the tradeoffs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.
Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care. It is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time—not just moments of illness—so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations. To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.
Sounds promising, and makes me think their first hardware device will be a wearable of some sort that also gathers health data.
Grok’s ability to sexualize women - are we really surprised?
Sex sells.
Any publicity is good publicity.
Whether it’s right or wrong, it doesn’t matter to many people.
It’s funny because I go out of my way to blur women, but here we are now where all kinds of women, even hijabis are being exposed with AI.
From Reddit:
there has been an increase in people misusing AI tools to turn hijabi women pics into harmful images and spreading them online without consent.
you have a bunch of guys asking Grok things like "put her in a bikini", "turn her around", "make her touch her toes while turned around"
Muslim woman if you are reading this and share your images online, you might want to check out what's happening in X because images shared online are no longer in your possession and people can do with them as they like
This one video of this known hijabi went viral and it's fully extreme NSFW, published on Corn sites.
Please be cautious with public photos May Allah protect us all.😧
Unfortunate of course, but not surprising. I mentioned this over a year ago in my other blog when discussing about “undressing” websites:
This is another reason why women and girls in general, shouldn’t post their photos online. The fitna is already there even if the photos aren’t sexualized, but this is a whole other level of just destroying a girls reputation.
Imagine if this became rampant in the Muslim community? It would just be a huge mess, with families’ reputations being tarnished and girls being slandered against left and right. Imagine a high school or middle school boy liking a muslim girl in school, and trying this feature on her. She may not even be one who posts photos online and might not even be involved in social media, but anyone can just take your photo these days and do whatever they want with it.
Sex sells.
Any publicity is good publicity.
Whether it’s right or wrong, it doesn’t matter to many people.
It’s funny because I go out of my way to blur women, but here we are now where all kinds of women, even hijabis are being exposed with AI.
From Reddit:
there has been an increase in people misusing AI tools to turn hijabi women pics into harmful images and spreading them online without consent.
you have a bunch of guys asking Grok things like "put her in a bikini", "turn her around", "make her touch her toes while turned around"
Muslim woman if you are reading this and share your images online, you might want to check out what's happening in X because images shared online are no longer in your possession and people can do with them as they like
This one video of this known hijabi went viral and it's fully extreme NSFW, published on Corn sites.
Please be cautious with public photos May Allah protect us all.😧
Unfortunate of course, but not surprising. I mentioned this over a year ago in my other blog when discussing about “undressing” websites:
This is another reason why women and girls in general, shouldn’t post their photos online. The fitna is already there even if the photos aren’t sexualized, but this is a whole other level of just destroying a girls reputation.
Imagine if this became rampant in the Muslim community? It would just be a huge mess, with families’ reputations being tarnished and girls being slandered against left and right. Imagine a high school or middle school boy liking a muslim girl in school, and trying this feature on her. She may not even be one who posts photos online and might not even be involved in social media, but anyone can just take your photo these days and do whatever they want with it.
What phone fasting can do for you.
Via Kottke.org (photo removed version of article here)
A group of students at a New Mexico college (mostly) gave up their phones & computers for a week. What did they learn? “Most students said they had gotten to know themselves better without their phones butting in all day long.”
There’s no doubt “phone fasting” has its benefits, even though it’s really impossible today with many services being digitized with no alternative, such as student laundry machines that run on an app.
I noticed the same thing when I used to do prison dawah. Inmates were not on drugs or alcohol, and the mental clarity is what allowed them to think and let their fitra lead them to the straight path.
It’s crazy that we spend so much of our time looking down at our devices, when Allah subhana wata'aalah constantly reminds us to look up at the sky to witness His signs:
Have they not then looked at the sky above them: how We built it and adorned it ˹with stars˺, leaving it flawless?
Surah Qaf (50:6)
Via Kottke.org (photo removed version of article here)
A group of students at a New Mexico college (mostly) gave up their phones & computers for a week. What did they learn? “Most students said they had gotten to know themselves better without their phones butting in all day long.”
There’s no doubt “phone fasting” has its benefits, even though it’s really impossible today with many services being digitized with no alternative, such as student laundry machines that run on an app.
I noticed the same thing when I used to do prison dawah. Inmates were not on drugs or alcohol, and the mental clarity is what allowed them to think and let their fitra lead them to the straight path.
It’s crazy that we spend so much of our time looking down at our devices, when Allah subhana wata'aalah constantly reminds us to look up at the sky to witness His signs:
Have they not then looked at the sky above them: how We built it and adorned it ˹with stars˺, leaving it flawless?
Surah Qaf (50:6)
Apple’s “Can’t Decide” video plateaus at 79 million views.
I was tracking the view count sporadically the past 2 months:
11/10- 50 million
11/12- 52 million
11/13- 53 million
11/16 - 57 million
11/23 - 64 million
11/28 - 67 million
12/1 - 70 million
12/2 - 71 million
12/4 - 72 million
12/6 - 74 million
12/7 - 75 million
12/14 - 79 million
Still at 79 million on 1/8/26.
I was tracking the view count sporadically the past 2 months:
11/10- 50 million
11/12- 52 million
11/13- 53 million
11/16 - 57 million
11/23 - 64 million
11/28 - 67 million
12/1 - 70 million
12/2 - 71 million
12/4 - 72 million
12/6 - 74 million
12/7 - 75 million
12/14 - 79 million
Still at 79 million on 1/8/26.
Stellantis didn’t know about Maduro’s capture plot, but this person sure did.
Terrence O’Brien from The Verge (News+ Link):
Shortly before the US military launched an attack on Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, an account on Polymarket made some very suspiciously timed investments. The prediction market had been running bets on when or if Maduro would be removed from power, with prices for “out by January 31, 2026” as low as $0.07 late Friday evening. But within 24 hours of the military action, a newly created account invested tens of thousands of dollars, racking up several hundred thousand in profits.
The account was created less than a week ago and invested over $30,000 the day before the assault, turning a profit of over $408,000. The activity was flagged on social media, with people speculating that the person placing the bet was acting on inside information and perhaps even worked at the Pentagon.
Wow.
Sadly this is unsurprising when you learn how politicians play the markets (use haramblur while watching, or lower your gaze).
Terrence O’Brien from The Verge (News+ Link):
Shortly before the US military launched an attack on Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, an account on Polymarket made some very suspiciously timed investments. The prediction market had been running bets on when or if Maduro would be removed from power, with prices for “out by January 31, 2026” as low as $0.07 late Friday evening. But within 24 hours of the military action, a newly created account invested tens of thousands of dollars, racking up several hundred thousand in profits.
The account was created less than a week ago and invested over $30,000 the day before the assault, turning a profit of over $408,000. The activity was flagged on social media, with people speculating that the person placing the bet was acting on inside information and perhaps even worked at the Pentagon.
Wow.
Sadly this is unsurprising when you learn how politicians play the markets (use haramblur while watching, or lower your gaze).
Bittersweet, gas guzzling, HEMI powered V-8 Ram SRT TRX announced just two days before Nicolás Maduro was captured.
I’m sure Stellantis wasn’t in on the plot to capture Nicolás Maduro, but announcing the return of their newest monster on New Years day, two days prior to Maduro’s capture, is just bad timing. Or is it good timing?
With impactful performance updates, the 2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX cements itself as the fastest and most powerful, production, gas pick-up truck in the world, once again setting the record for the half-ton segment. TRX put the industry on notice when it debuted in 2021, and after a brief hibernation, it reclaims its spot at the top of the food chain.
I read both headlines on the same day, and it’s hard not to make a connection even though there is no connection.
I’m sure Stellantis wasn’t in on the plot to capture Nicolás Maduro, but announcing the return of their newest monster on New Years day, two days prior to Maduro’s capture, is just bad timing. Or is it good timing?
With impactful performance updates, the 2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX cements itself as the fastest and most powerful, production, gas pick-up truck in the world, once again setting the record for the half-ton segment. TRX put the industry on notice when it debuted in 2021, and after a brief hibernation, it reclaims its spot at the top of the food chain.
I read both headlines on the same day, and it’s hard not to make a connection even though there is no connection.
Grok makes nearly nude photos of women without their permission - future implications.
The Guardian (pdf file of article):
Grok has come under fire from lawmakers and regulators worldwide after it emerged it had been used to virtually undress images of women and children, and show them in compromising sexualised positions. The widespread sexual abuse consists of X users asking Grok to manipulate pictures of fully clothed women to put them in bikinis, on their knees, and cover them in what looks like semen.
“I felt horrified, I felt violated, especially seeing my toddler’s backpack in the back of it,” St Clair said of an image in which she has been put into a bikini, turned around and bent over.
“It’s another tool of harassment. Consent is the whole issue. People are saying, well, it’s just a bikini, it’s not explicit. But it is a sexual offence to non-consensually undress a child.”
I wonder if this is the first time 1st generation Muslim parents in the West are aware of this issue? Unfortunately, this is nothing compared to some of the more vulgar apps and websites out there. The worst part? The more this type of behavior becomes normalized, the more likely it is for women (yes, even Muslim women) to say, “well if people are going to nudify me, I might as well get paid for it.”
The Guardian (pdf file of article):
Grok has come under fire from lawmakers and regulators worldwide after it emerged it had been used to virtually undress images of women and children, and show them in compromising sexualised positions. The widespread sexual abuse consists of X users asking Grok to manipulate pictures of fully clothed women to put them in bikinis, on their knees, and cover them in what looks like semen.
“I felt horrified, I felt violated, especially seeing my toddler’s backpack in the back of it,” St Clair said of an image in which she has been put into a bikini, turned around and bent over.
“It’s another tool of harassment. Consent is the whole issue. People are saying, well, it’s just a bikini, it’s not explicit. But it is a sexual offence to non-consensually undress a child.”
I wonder if this is the first time 1st generation Muslim parents in the West are aware of this issue? Unfortunately, this is nothing compared to some of the more vulgar apps and websites out there. The worst part? The more this type of behavior becomes normalized, the more likely it is for women (yes, even Muslim women) to say, “well if people are going to nudify me, I might as well get paid for it.”
Haramblur.
Cool extension a family member referred me to. Works for a majority of browsers and Android devices. Blurs Islamically inappropriate content.
Love the innovation in the Muslim AI space. Check it out.
Cool extension a family member referred me to. Works for a majority of browsers and Android devices. Blurs Islamically inappropriate content.
Love the innovation in the Muslim AI space. Check it out.
The best watch band for your new Space Gray Apple Watch Series 11.
The new Space Gray color on the Series 11 is not as exciting as Jet Black was when announced for the Series 10, but the subtle gray does have nostalgic iPhone 5S and SE vibes. The perfect band to pair with it is undoubtedly the Black Titanium Milanese Loop. You will have to purchase the larger 46mm size for band compatibility. Both the band and the watch have a brushed finish, and the contrast between the two works well.
I know it’s a $199 dollar band for a $429 watch (crazy deal on Amazon right now for $329!), but the band will outlast the watch and really looks good.
Make sure you pick the right size for your wrist. (pics inside)
The new Space Gray color on the Series 11 is not as exciting as Jet Black was when announced for the Series 10, but the subtle gray does have nostalgic iPhone 5S and SE vibes. The perfect band to pair with it is undoubtedly the Black Titanium Milanese Loop. You will have to purchase the larger 46mm size for band compatibility. Both the band and the watch have a brushed finish, and the contrast between the two works well.
I know it’s a $199 dollar band for a $429 watch (crazy deal on Amazon right now for $329!), but the band will outlast the watch and really looks good.
Make sure you pick the right size for your wrist.
MacRumors iPhone Fold sort of hands on video.
Super preliminary information that probably helps fill in the weak news cycle during the holiday season, but nice to see Dan’s weight loss transformation compared to just a few months ago.
Super preliminary information that probably helps fill in the weak news cycle during the holiday season, but nice to see Dan’s weight loss transformation compared to just a few months ago.