You probably remember Oren Aks as the often exasperated former FuckJerry employee who was featured in the Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud. 

The graphic designer managed the disastrous festival’s social media accounts but quit the company about six months after the festival fell apart. After Hulu’s documentary was released, Twitter users voiced their support (and thirst) for him — even Chrissy Teigen gave him a shout out. 

SEE ALSO: A campaign to unfollow the Fyre Festival promoters is gaining traction

Although he’s settled in Barcelona at the moment, Aks is still proud of the work he did for Fyre, design-wise. He even still manages the official Fyre Festival Twitter account, and includes it in his online portfolio — with a disclaimer that says: “I am in no way affiliated with the mismanagement of the festival, I was only contracted in the start to consult & design.”

During a phone interview with Mashable, Aks chatted about when he realized the festival went to shit, why he left Jerry Media, and why he actually likes the work he did for Fyre. 

I’ve seen stories that you’re running away from Fyre, but on your Instagram you’re just on vacation — can you just clear that up? 

Just chilling, yeah. No running away. 

So is this a vacation for you? What brought you to Barcelona?

It’s a little … I work remote. I’m a designer so I hop around. I’ll be in Tel Aviv soon, bouncing around the states, I just like to take my work on the road. 

As someone who saw it [Fyre Festival] all go down, I think you would be more inclined to believe the Hulu documentary was more accurate than the Netflix one, but what were the biggest blind spots you saw in either documentary? 

I think a lot of characters, on both sides, were leaning on specific sides of the story. Hulu had people that Netflix couldn’t, and vice versa. Hulu relied heavily on one team, or two teams, describing the story. 

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that it was ethically slimy that FuckJerry was working on the Netflix documentary, considering their part in Fyre. What do you think of it? 

It was just a client, any other agency would take on. There’s a certain time when a client is in … it puts you in a position that you need to decide what to do next. And at some point Jerry Media quit, and where we are now is a real question of “How do we handle the story?” You can fight it or you can just live with it. 

But do you think it was possible to produce a well-balanced documentary, considering they had a stake in it? 

Hmm. Yeah, I think they could have, if they really wanted to. They could have delved really deep into it. Both of these docs could have been even better if if people got really into it, and got really psychological. There’s really so much more both sides could have done, but it’s a light watch. 

And why exactly did you leave the company?

There was a multitude of things, but in general I just felt like I was wasting my time there and that I could do everything that I was doing there on my own, that I was just not feeling the energy of my coworkers. Things were just boring me, I was bored and felt mistreated. 

What do you mean by mistreated? 

Not treated the way I wanted to be in the office. The environment was just hostile sometimes, in these weird office-y ways. Salary-wise, I was asking for raises and never getting anything. No benefits, since the day I started there, zero insurance. 

Those are just basic things, those aren’t even personal-level requests. 

Do you remember an exact point when you were working on the festival but you realized it was going to shit? 

There were a few key points that I really put things into question. The moment it really hit, though, was when we arrived and I saw it in person. 

But your website still shows off the design you came up with for Fyre’s social media, like that Instagram feed. Are you still proud of the work you did for it? 

Yeah, I think as a design piece, I’m proud of it on its own. I don’t like what has happened after or because of it, but I think as a standalone it’s a pretty cool thing that I’ve done. 

So you stayed on at Jerry Media after the festival anyway. Why?

I tried to work it out. I had stock in the company and I felt like it would be a shame to leave over some short term, petty feelings, and maybe I can keep working on it because I want to be here for the long run. But after a while, the money just didn’t make sense for how I felt. 

What do you think about FuckJerry donating what they made from the festival to the Bahamian restaurant owner who wasn’t paid? Do you think it was genuine, or do you think it was just a PR stunt?

I think it was … I think it was both. He’s [Elliot Tebele] not a bad human, but I think the timing … it was also done in a weird way. But whatever, it doesn’t matter. It was done. It was interesting to see now, I’m curious how they feel. 

What do you mean? 

It’s just interesting working on something and then having to donate everything you worked for. I didn’t do this for money, Hulu never paid me. For me it was time and money put into this. 

Speaking of that, why did you agree to be in the Hulu doc? 

Basically to tell the truth! I knew the Netflix doc was coming out, and I didn’t want my story to be unheard. I couldn’t go into meetings and show this product off, it had a bad taboo to it. I wanted to clear the air and make sure future clients were like, cool with it, and understand it, and my career is not over forever because of it. 

I’ve been thinking of ways to show it on my website and my portfolio, and it’s complicate. You have to educate somebody and a whole industry just to be like, “See, now that you understand marketing, it’s fine!” 

So it’s hard to do that in a really quick combover of your website. 

Before the documentary come out, did you advertise the fact that you were involved in Fyre Festival? 

Yeah, it was like, my shining jewel. I was always posting about progress on Instagram, doing polls on what design I should go with. Just having fun with people who are into my work, or my friends. 

And the second it all went down, everyone, even the influencers, took their orange squares off and … we were watching it in the office, we were watching the internet just take everything down. We were like, we have to make sure we screenshot everything. Top level influencers took theirs down. Mid-range influencers took them down. 

[After the] fallout, people definitely came out the woodwork after I deleted it and said, “Hey, I saw this thing on your Instagram, weren’t you part of this thing?” 

How did you usually respond to that? Have you ever like, hid the fact that you were part of it? 

Not hid, but just like, not talked about it. I had a meeting for a pitch about something that would be perfectly aligned with what I did there, and I just left it out. Just telling myself that I’ll be fine, even without this great addition to it, I’ll be alright. 

But then other times I’ve worked with some younger entrepreneurs who did understand it and will hire me specifically … for mentality of how we got things done. 

In a legal sense! Haha, working hard in a legal sense. 

Yeah! There’s been a lot of criticism of FuckJerry stealing content, and stealing posts for ads. What’s your stance on that, from someone who’s worked so heavily in social media?

It’s one of those things, I came from a very traditional design background. Things were copyrighted, and you owned your work, and people that ripped you off are really bad. So it was hard for me in the beginning to be like, “Here’s your task. You have X, Y, and Z to accomplish for this new account.” 

And now, I’m thinking, I’m just gonna illustrate it. I’m gonna do my own design stuff.

They were like, “Yeah, this is great and all, but just do it quicker.” 

So the point is that, my background [at Thrillist] was Getty and stock images, just having this very limited amount of what I could and couldn’t do, and then the week after just being like “Do whatever you want.” 

Do you feel like what you’re doing now is more fulfilling? 

Yeah, slightly so. I’m not working as much as I’d like to be. I’m taking it slower, which is nice … but I’m also ready for bigger projects. 

When looking for projects, what are the red flags you look for to prevent another Fyre Festival?

I think these days what I’m looking for is management. It’s a lot about management, who’s in charge, what are they saying, how are they backing it up? It’s a major, major thing that I never looked at in jobs before. 

I’m just kind of doing my own little research on that end. 

Anything else you wanted to say? 

Just in general, the next thing I’m working on is getting out there. Working on some projects that do good, whatever that looks like in the arts. 

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

I took my first Tesla Model 3 test drive this week and all I wanted to do was make the all-electric car fart.

The interior of the Model 3 electric sedan is impressive, with its extreme minimal design. In the front, you’ve got the steering wheel with two knobs next to the horn, a gear selector and indicator control, and then the pièce de résistance: the tablet.

The Tesla 15-inch tablet looks and feels like a giant iPad nestled in between the front seats. This is where everything lives: your speedometer, climate control, mapping, the Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system, the radio and other music options, even the button to open the glovebox. At one point I saw a lightning bolt on the screen and had the sudden urge to click it. Without thinking I opened the charging port on the left side of the car. Luckily a “close” button was easy enough to click.

SEE ALSO: Here’s all the ways you can make your Tesla fart

The tablet is also where the elusive Easter egg “drawer” is housed. Play with fun add-ons like Atari video games, a drawing board, holiday app, and romance mode, which features a crackling fireplace, sensual music, and blasting heaters. There’s also a Whoopee cushion icon. This was the app I was after.

After getting a rundown on how the car works and what all the different buttons on the touchscreen controlled, I reached for the Tesla icon on the home screen. From there I knew I could slide open the  hidden tricks and games, including the newest app: Emissions Testing Mode, aka “fart mode.”

Sure enough, I could control which seats in the ironically emissions-free vehicle gave out a loud, noxious toot. Impressively, the farting noises really did sound like they were coming from the front passenger seat or the back seat. There’s a drop-down menu of fart sound options, all named for inside jokes and nods to other Tesla CEO Elon Musk ventures and interests. 

One of the seven fart options, Ludicrous (named for the all-out setting on some Tesla vehicles that can send the car practically flying), was the best. That emission option was perfectly juicy, but realistic — all while still staying in the humorous realm. It never got too disgusting. And (for now) it’s an odor-free experience, so it’s more than tolerable. If you can’t decide which fart you like best, there’s an option for random gassing.

You can also set the farts to go off every time you use the turn signal, which is peak ridiculousness.

The Tesla’s Easter eggs are what give the car a bit more personality. Even if a fart button seems juvenile, you have to crack a smile at the silliness and admit it’s a fun feature. Completely unnecessary, but a little something extra to discover, enjoy, and hopefully not unleash upon your unknowing friends.

Emissions testing mode is one of the tongue-in-cheek gems scattered through the car’s “interface.” In Navigate on Autopilot, the semi-autonomous tool that allows the car to drive with a driver still at the wheel and paying attention, Mad Max mode gives you the option to overtake slower cars on the road. It’s the most aggressive option on a sliding scale starting at “mild,” appropriately named for its movie reference.

In a more serious update, sentry mode is supposed to make it into the next car update after customer concerns about vandalized cars. That new feature might include a few Easter eggs itself. 

Fart on.

Who will guard the guards? Amazon!

Amazon has released guidelines for facial recognition software that it wants lawmakers to consider when crafting legislation. With the post, Amazon joins Microsoft in calling for regulation of the technology, and notably, its application in law enforcement.

SEE ALSO: Amazon’s Ring has been reportedly spying on customers

Notably, as the ACLU points out, Amazon’s suggestions place the burden of “misuse” of the technology onto the people using the tech — not onto the manufacturer, Amazon. Surprise!

“Proposing a weak framework does not absolve Amazon of responsibility for its face surveillance product,” Neema Singh Guliani, ACLU senior legislative counsel, told Mashable over email.

Reports showcasing the discriminatory potential of Amazon’s own facial recognition technology, Rekognition, directly inspired the report. Amazon has been slammed in recent months for selling the tech to law enforcement. And for the very development of what the ACLU described as a technology “primed for abuse in the hands of governments” that “poses a grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants.”

Amazon denies the ACLU’s reports of how its technology can play a part in discrimination, but is putting forward legislative guidelines that it hopes will make Rekognition less, um, controversial.

In the two-plus years we’ve been offering Amazon Rekognition, we have not received a single report of misuse by law enforcement. Even with this strong track record to date, we understand why people want there to be oversight and guidelines put in place to make sure facial recognition technology cannot be used to discriminate. We support the calls for an appropriate national legislative framework that protects individual civil rights and ensures that governments are transparent in their use of facial recognition technology.

The ACLU directly refutes Amazon’s claims about its report, specifically the idea that it has not been misused by law enforcement.

“Amazon says it has not received a single report of misuse by law enforcement, but just last week was made aware of misuse and reportedly took no action,” Singh Guliani said.

Amazon’s most far reaching suggestion is that all existing civil rights legislation apply to facial recognition technology. That is, facial recognition should be held accountable if it plays a part in discriminating against protected groups.

The note also suggests that law enforcement use facial recognition in a human-moderated and limited capacity for its investigations. Amazon suggests that human review of facial recognition results must accompany investigations, and that facial recognition be held to a 99% confidence threshold. Additionally, it suggests that law enforcement release transparency reports about its use of the technology. 

In public spaces outside of law enforcement, Amazon says it supports a national legislative framework governing how companies can use facial recognition commercially. It suggests that placards be put in place notifying people when facial recognition is being employed.

“New technology should not be banned or condemned because of its potential misuse,” the note concludes. “Instead, there should be open, honest, and earnest dialogue among all parties involved to ensure that the technology is applied appropriately and is continuously enhanced.” 

Are Amazon’s suggestions significant for protecting people’s civil rights and privacy? To all of Amazon’s suggestions, the ACLU is not impressed.

“Amazon’s framework rings woefully hollow, underscores the company’s refusal to properly address the dangers of its technology in government hands, and reinforces the urgent need for Amazon to get out of the surveillance business altogether,” Singh Guliani said.

For one, there is almost no burden of legislation that would apply to Amazon itself in the company’s suggestions.

Instead, it stresses “Our customers are responsible for following the law in how they use the technology.” This is akin to saying we just make the tech, and it’s up to people to use it lawfully. This in itself is a legislative position that should not necessarily be a given.

The ACLU also counters most of Amazon’s suggestions. It points out that Amazon has acknowledged that it does not have a proactive way of knowing whether its customers are using facial recognition in a discriminatory manner. That Amazon’s calls for transparency are hypocritical, considering that it will not share with Congress which agencies are using its product. It objects to the idea of the “99% confidence threshold,” because “changing the threshold does nothing to the reduce the inevitability of law enforcement using the technology to determine who attends protests, monitor immigrants, or target communities of color.”

And, in perhaps the most stunningly obvious objection to Amazon’s suggestions, the ACLU points out that there is no law that authorizes government agencies to use facial recognition in the first place.

“Amazon says that face recognition should not violate the law, yet it ignores the fact that there is no law on the books authorizing its use by law enforcement at all,” Singh Guliani said.

Technology companies have a long history — stretching back to the era of railroads — of taking a hand in crafting the very legislation that governs its own activities. It is a pre-emptive strike, that allows the company to say “we are in favor of regulation,” while also making sure that the regulation is not too cumbersome. 

“Industry has a role in participating in the public debate over issues, but we should be wary of proposals pushed by industry that are not in the public good,” Singh Guliani said.

So when Amazon — or any private company, really — says it is “in favor of regulation,” make sure to take a closer look at who’s really benefiting from its “suggested” rules.

Believe it or not, there are still people using Internet Explorer — and Microsoft would like them to stop.

Microsoft cybersecurity expert Chris Jackson recently published a post on the official Windows IT Pro blog, titled “The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser.” Jackson urges users that it’s time to stop using its old web browser, a product Microsoft officially discontinued in 2015.

In his post, Jackson explains how Microsoft customers still ask him Internet Explorer related questions for their business. The fact of the matter is that while most average internet users have moved on to Google Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft’s Edge, some businesses are still working with older web apps or sites that were designed for Internet Explorer. Instead of updating its tech, many companies have chosen to just keep using the various enterprise compatibility modes of Microsoft’s old web browser.

But, Jackson says “enough is enough.” It’s time to event stop calling Internet Explorer a web browser.

“Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution,” writes Jackson. “We’re not supporting new web standards for it and, while many sites work fine, developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days.” 

SEE ALSO: Microsoft Edge mobile browser will warn users about fake news

Jackson clarifies that it’s fine to use Internet Explorer where necessary, for example certain enterprise solutions, but even those companies should not be using IE as its default web browser.

The Verge points out that Microsoft helped exacerbate the problem by coupling its current web browser, Edge, with Windows 10, limiting its ability to be used on older versions of Windows. However, to be fair to Jackson, he never pushes for any specific web browser to replace Internet Explorer.  

Also, Microsoft will soon solve its Edge issue with its upcoming Chromium-based version of the browser, which will be compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, and even Mac.

“If we continued our previous approach, you would end up in a scenario where, by optimizing for the things you have, you end up not being able to use new apps as they come out,” Jackson says.

“As new apps are coming out with greater frequency, what we want to help you do is avoid having to miss out on a progressively larger portion of the web!”

The song “Sweet Victory” has experienced a massive spike in online engagement thanks to its appearance in the Super Bowl halftime show. According to Nielsen Music (via Billboard), the song’s streams and downloads increased by roughly 566% in the days following the performance.

SEE ALSO: SpongeBob showed up at the Super Bowl thanks to Travis Scott

Before the Super Bowl, “Sweet Victory” was listened to on-demand around 46,000 times a day; on the day of and day after, that number reached 310,000. The song, by David Glen Eisley and Bob Kulick, is featured on the 2005 Spongebob compilation The Yellow Album.

Spongebob’s introduction to Travis Scott included approximately eight seconds of “Sweet Victory” as a tribute to Spongebob creator Steve Hillenburg, who passed away in November.