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Links 13/5/2019: Nanonote 1.2.0, OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 RC, and GNUnet 0.11.4





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop



    • Google says all new Chromebooks will be Linux-ready
      One of the biggest announcements from this year's Google I/O related to the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL, but this was far from being all there was to get excited about. Microsoft may be increasingly embracing Linux in Windows 10, and Google is doing the same with Linux on Chromebooks.

      Support for Linux apps on Chromebook is nothing new, but Google has now announced that all Chromebooks that launch from this point forward will be fully functional Linux laptops, regardless of whether they are ARM or Intel devices.


    • Free OS to power computers in schools
      Over 2,00,000 computers in schools across the State will soon be powered by the latest version of the Linux-based Free Operating System that offers a variety of applications for educational and general purposes.

      The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has rolled out the new version named “IT@School GNU/ Linux 18.04”. Based on the Ubuntu OS LTS edition, the system features several free applications customised as per the State school curriculum.

      Office packages, language input tools, database applications, DTP-graphics-image editing software, sound recording-video editing-3 D animation packages, Geographical Information System, Database servers, desktop versions of mobile apps are the other features.




  • Server



    • The OpenStack Foundation would like everyone to just get along and play nice, m'kay?
      OpenStack executive director Jonathan Bryce took to the stage of the open source outfit's shindig in Denver, Colorado this week with a message of collaboration, openness and... clowns.

      Around 2,000 fans of the technology had gathered in the cavernous Colorado Convention Center to either listen to the emissions from the OpenStack Foundation (OSF) or shelter from the sudden return to winter in the mile-high city.

      Bryce took the audience at the newly renamed Open Infrastructure Summit on a whimsical trip down his own personal memory lane, which ended up, unsurprisingly, with his time at Rackspace and OpenStack, but started with his dream of becoming a rodeo clown.


    • Steve Singh stepping down as Docker CEO
      TechCrunch has learned that Docker CEO Steve Singh will be stepping down after two years at the helm, and former Hortonworks CEO Rob Bearden will be taking over. An email announcement went out this morning to Docker employees.

      People close to the company confirmed that Singh will be leaving the CEO position, staying on the job for several months to help Bearden with the transition. He will then remain with the organization in his role as chairman of the board. They indicated that Bearden has been working closely with Singh over the last several months as a candidate to join the board and as a consultant to the executive team.

      Singh clicked with him and viewed him as a possible successor, especially given his background with leadership positions at several open-source companies, including taking Hortonworks public before selling to Cloudera last year. Singh apparently saw someone who could take the company to the next level as he moved on. As one person put it, he was tired of working 75 hours a week, but he wanted to leave the company in the hands of a capable steward.


    • Radio ham wins Red Hat Women in Open Source Award
      Radio amateur Limor Fried AC2SN, founder of Adafruit Industries, was one of the winners of the 2019 Women in Open Source Awards

      In its fifth year, the Women in Open Source Awards were created and sponsored by Red Hat to honor women who make important contributions to open source projects and communities, or those making innovative use of open source methodology. Nominations for this year’s awards were accepted for two categories: academic (those currently enrolled in a college or university) and community (those working on or volunteering with projects related to open source). A panel of judges determined finalists based on nomination criteria, and the public voted to determine the award winners who were:


    • No Longer A Cheap Alternative, Open Source Is Now The Home Of Innovation Says Red Hat Chief
      Open source software and its associated culture of innovation and collaboration are now proving the difference in digital transformation, according to Jim Whitehurst, CEO and president of Red Hat.

      Indeed he told media and analysts at the company’s annual conference in Boston this morning that open source is where innovation happens and and that enterprises are starting to work it out, creating a boom period in the market.


    • Ansible roadmap offers open source automation with assurances
      At Red Hat Summit 2019 here this week, the company shared Ansible roadmap details, many of which underscored a prominent and running theme around the tool -- namely, that it's broadening its reach beyond the core IT ops and development domains, and into areas such as IT security, compliance and networking.

      In addition, Red Hat unveiled plans to shake up its delivery and distribution model for Ansible content, as well as provide expanded reporting and analytics capabilities in Ansible Tower, the tool's enterprise-level web-based management console.


    • Red Hat talks project vs. product in enterprise open source
      A lot of companies are ditching proprietary technology products in favor of open-source software. Others find they’re not quite ready to forgo vendor support. This is where the open-source as a service business model comes in.

      The difference between open-source projects and plug-and-play products can sometimes confuse customers, according to Paul Cormier (pictured), president of products and technologies at Red Hat Inc. For example, the open-source Kubernetes platform for orchestrating containers (a virtualized method for running distributed applications).


    • Red Hat CTO Chris Wright: we're creating an autonomic platform
      With the latest release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift being packed with Kubernetes-friendly features, Red Hat is looking to create what its CTO Chris Wright calls the "autonomic computing platform".

      Here at the Red Hat Summit in Boston - the first since IBM's acquisition plans for the open source company were made public - Computerworld UK sat down with Wright to talk the major new announcements, trends, open source's apparent victory, and what contributors might need to have their guard up about in light of increasing interest in open source communities.
    • Red Hat’s CTO says incremental improvements through open source will drive autonomic computing
      From his position as the chief technology officer for Red Hat Inc., Chris Wright (pictured) can see a future when self-tuning platforms will scale as the need grows. This is autonomic computing or autonomous clouds, and it’s not as far away as it might seem.

      “We’ve been working towards autonomic computing for decades,” Wright said. “Things like having this holy grail of a self-healing, self-optimizing, self-driving cluster is not as science fiction as it felt 20 years ago. We are tapping into the next generation of what’s possible.”


    • Red Hat’s David Egts: Open Source, Hybrid Cloud to Optimize Agency Access to HPC
      David Egts, chief technologist of Red Hat‘s (NYSE: RHT) North American public sector business, said open source and hybrid cloud platforms will be key to federal agencies’ adoption of high-performance computing, ExecutiveBiz reported April 25.

      Egts wrote in a GCN guest piece published April 24 that the combination of open source and hybrid cloud will work to enable even agencies with small budgets and few resources to utilize HPC technologies and explore new possibilities in using data science to update operations and address emerging business needs.



    • Red Hat's OpenShift 4 Kubernetes Platform: 5 Things To Know
      Red Hat unveils OpenShift 4, its first new major version of the Kubernetes platform since rebuilding it around the open-source container orchestration system...


    • Datacentrix ups the open source ante, attains Red Hat Advanced Solution Partner status
      High performing and secure ICT solutions provider Datacentrix has intensified its focus on open source technology, recently reaching Advanced Solution Partner status with Red Hat South Africa.

      In a partnership that has been just over a year in the making, Datacentrix's achievement speaks of its dedication to improve support of open source technology locally, says Graeme Dendy, service manager for Converged Solutions at Datacentrix.


    • CentOS8 Release Date and Features
      Red Hat released RHEL version 8.0 on May 7, 2019 so lots of folks are looking where is the equivalent build of CentOS. Well long story short, looking at the history it takes about a month to spin out a production release of CentOS after RHEL is released. Red Hat released RHEL7 on June 10 (2014) and CENTOS7 was released officially on July 7 (2014) almost a month later. So you should expect, rough and tough to see CetnOS8 released in the month June of 2019. Once CentOS8 is released you can download it from the official project download site.

      If you are clamoring to track the blow by blow status of the release progress, keep an eye on the project status page for the creation of CentOS 8.






  • Kernel Space



    • x86 FPU Optimizations Land In Linux 5.2 That Torvalds Loves But Worries Of Regressions
      As part of the first week of changes for the Linux 5.2 merge window, a patch series providing some x86 FPU optimizations were merged though there is some concern there could be regressions on older hardware.

      The patch series that has been in the works for a while is optimizing when to load FPU registers by now only doing so when returning to user-space and not with every context switch. The changes also make it cheaper to call kernel_fpu_begin() and in the process also cleans up some of the kernel's admittedly complex FPU code. More details on this floating point code cleanup and optimizations via the patch series message.


    • Linux Foundation



      • The Linux Foundation Appoints Cole Crawford to The LF Edge Governing Board
        Founder and CEO of Vapor IO joins the LF Edge Governing Board, helping to accelerate edge computing through standardizing around open source efforts.


      • Cole Crawford, founder and CEO of Vapor IO, joins the LF Edge Governing Board
        Vapor IO, creators of the Kinetic Edge and the leading provider of tower-connected edge colocation and interconnection services, announced that The Linux Foundation has appointed Cole Crawford, founder and CEO of Vapor IO, as an LF Edge General Member Board Representative.

        LF Edge is an umbrella organization within The Linux Foundation working to establish open, interoperable frameworks for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud or operating system.



      • NVIDIA Named Premier Member by Academy Software Foundation
        The Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) has announced that NVIDIA has joined the foundation as a premier member, with ftrack and Red Hat joining as general members. ASWF was developed in partnership by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Linux Foundation to serve as a neutral forum for open source software development in the motion picture and media industries.

        “We are very excited to welcome NVIDIA, ftrack, and Red Hat as new members,” said David Morin, executive director of the Academy Software Foundation at the Linux Foundation. “These companies have a wealth of expertise across graphics, open source, and project management that will be beneficial to our communities and our projects as we continue to grow.”


      • Uber, Google, IBM, and others join Urban Computing Foundation to create tools for ‘cities of tomorrow’
        The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit technology consortium that supports Linux’s growth, standardization, and commercial adoption, today announced a new industry-wide effort to create a common set of software required to “support the cities of tomorrow.” The freshly minted Urban Computing Foundation will offer a forum for developers to build open source tools that connect cities, autonomous vehicles, and smart infrastructure, and that target ongoing challenges in multimodal transportation and civil engineering.

        Initial contributors include developers from Uber, Facebook, Google, Here Technologies, and IBM, as well as Interline Technologies, Senseable City Labs, StreetCred Labs, and the University of California San Diego.



      • Linux forms Urban Computing Foundation: Set of open source tools to build autonomous vehicles and smart infrastructure
        The Linux Foundation, nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, on Tuesday announced the formation of the Urban Computing Foundation (UCF). UCF will accelerate open source software to improve mobility, safety, road infrastructure, traffic congestion and energy consumption in connected cities. UCF’s mission is to enable developers, data scientists, visualization specialists and engineers to improve urban environments, human life quality, and city operation systems to build connected urban infrastructure.





    • Graphics Stack





  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments/WMs



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt



      • KDE Usability & Productivity: Week 70
        Hold on to your hats, folks, because this week’s Usability & Productivity report is OVERFLOWING WITH AWESOMENESS!


      • KDE To More Prominently Show FUSE Mounts, Many Other Improvements & Fixes
        It's been a particularly busy start to May for KDE developers.


      • Nanonote 1.2.0
        This new version comes with several changes from Daniel Laidig: you can now use Ctrl+mouse wheel to make the text bigger or smaller and Ctrl+0 to reset the font to its default size.

        He also fixed the way links are displayed: they now use the theme color instead of being hard-coded to blue. If you use a dark theme, this should make Nanonote more usable for you.

        Nanonote now speaks German, thanks to Vinzenz Vietzke.


      • Kdenlive Update Brings Bug Fixes for All
        A bug-fix update to the refactored version of Qt-based video editor Kdenlive is available for download.

        The first point release in the Kdenlive 19.04 series features fixes for almost 40 bugs, including some annoying issues affecting the timeline.

        As Kdenlive is my go-to video editor on Linux, I’m always receptive to improvements, however minor.


      • Latte and a "Shared Layouts" dream...
        Following Latte and an Indicators tale, today I am going to introduce you another major feature that Latte git version supported this month, Shared Layouts.


      • Kate LSP Client Progress
        The Kate lsp branch contains now the infrastructure as used by Qt Creator. In addition, clangd is now somehow started in a working state for the first project opened inside Kate.

        For example, if you use the CMake Kate project generator and you compile Kate from the “lsp” branch, clangd should pick up the compile_commands.json for a CMake generated Kate project.

        ;=) Unfortunately not much more than starting and informing clangd about the open workspaces (for the first opened project) works ATM.






  • Distributions



    • Screenshots/Screencasts



    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva Family



      • OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 RC Released, Rebases To LLVM Clang 8, Java 12, Linux 5.1
        Following their success in stripping out the remaining Python 2 bits, the release candidate of OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 is now available.

        OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 is a big release with many changes that include upgrading to the LLVM Clang 8.0 as the default system compiler, switching back from RPM5 to RPM4, offering AMD Zen optimized support, ARM 64-bit support, an updated Calamares installer, and many other changes for this Mandriva/Mandrake-rooted distribution.

        With the OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 release candidate besides upgrading to LLVM Clang 8, they have also pulled in the Linux 5.1 kernel, KDE Plasma 5.15.5 + KDE Applications 19.04.1, Qt 5.12, systemd 242, and Java 12. There is also a variety of user applications updated too like Firefox 66.


      • OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 RC released




    • Fedora



      • Contribute at the Fedora Test Week for kernel 5.1
        The kernel team is working on final integration for kernel 5.1. This version was just recently released, and will arrive soon in Fedora. This version has many security fixes included. As a result, the Fedora kernel and QA teams have organized a test week from Monday, May 13, 2019 through Saturday, May 18, 2019. Refer to the wiki page for links to the test images you’ll need to participate. Read below for details.





    • Debian Family



      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu



          • Ubuntu 19.04: The Disco Dingo arrives and will really make your IT dept. happy
            Canonical recently released Ubuntu 19.04, the latest version of its flagship GNOME-based Linux desktop. But if you're a desktop user, you might be feeling a little left out.

            The big points of emphasis in this latest release are on Ubuntu as a tool for infrastructure development, server deployment, and the good old Internet of Things. For the server version of Ubuntu, the OS ships with all the latest cloud computing tools. In fact, that's already available in optimized builds on the major cloud services.

            Elsewhere, the latest version of the venerable Ubuntu desktop packs quite a few additional, tempting reasons to upgrade for Linux gamers. Ubuntu 19.04 makes the leap to the Linux kernel 5.x series, for instance, which offers much improved graphics support.

            Despite all the talk of developer tools and enterprise deployment stacks—Canonical has even taken to calling Ubuntu the "leading OS for cloud operations" lately—Ubuntu 19.04 is ultimately a worthwhile upgrade for all. After spending some time with it recently, we found some nice updates to the desktop, too. So no matter your Ubuntu use case, 19.04 seems to offer users a faster, more polished desktop than its predecessors.










  • Devices/Embedded





Free Software/Open Source



  • OmniOS Community Edition r151030 LTS
    The OmniOS Community Edition Association is proud to announce the general availability of OmniOS - r151030.

    OmniOS is published according to a 6-month release cycle, r151030 LTS takes over from r151028, published in November 2018; and since it is a LTS release it also takes over from r151022. The r151030 LTS release will be supported for 3 Years. It is the first LTS release published by the OmniOS CE Association since taking over the reins from OmniTI in 2017. The next LTS release is scheduled for May 2021. The old stable r151026 release is now end-of-life. See the release schedule for further details.


  • Solaris/Illumos-Based OmniOS Ships New LTS Release With Better Hardware Support
    While open-source operating system projects derived from the former "OpenSolaris" code now maintained by the Illumos community aren't exactly prolific these days, one of the projects that does continue cranking through and seeing commercial success as well is OmniOS. OmniOS r151030 was released this week in its "Community Edition" flavor with various improvements.

    OmniOS CE r151030 is the latest six-month update to this OpenSolaris-derived operating system and will be supported for three years as the first LTS release managed by the OmniOS CE Association.


  • OpenIndiana Hipster 2019.04 Brings MATE 1.22, More Python 3 Porting
    It seems to be the season of open-source Solaris operating system updates... In addition to a new OmniOS LTS release for that Illumos-derived platform, OpenIndiana Hipster has issued its newest quarterly update.

    OpenIndiana Hipster 2019.04 is available as the latest snapshot of this operating system that traces back to the once promising Sun OpenSolaris. With OpenIndiana 2019.04 there is an updated Firefox ESR package, VirtualBox packages are now available including for the guest components, the default MATE desktop pulled in its 1.22 components, IPS has seen updates, and some OpenIndiana applications have been ported from Python 2 and GTK2 over to Python 3 and GTK3.


  • Open Source RollerCoaster Tycoon Hits The Switch
    While the official RollerCoaster Tycoon games are available on just about any platform you want, its the open-source version of the game that fans have been...


  • Lawrence Livermore nuclear lab scraps proprietary prefab for open source
    Securing a nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile sounds like scarily sensitive, classified work. What type of technology is worthy of such a task? Custom-made, proprietary stuff with all associated components and code unknown to the public?

    Not at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. The facility is a big user of and contributor to open source, according to Robin Goldstone (pictured), HPC strategist, Advanced Technologies Office, at the lab.

    “We started out running really closed-source solutions,” Goldstone said. “In some cases the hardware itself was really proprietary, and of course the vendors who made the hardware proprietary, they wanted their software to be proprietary.”

    The problem is that these types of commercial technology products are typically built and tested for run-of-the-mill enterprises.

    “At our scale, it often doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to work. They’ve never tested it at our scale. And when it breaks, they’re the only ones that can fix it,” Goldstone said. In fact, sometimes, they simply don’t have the skills to service something as large and complex as the lab’s super-computing technology. That is why the laboratory turned to open source. Its high-performance supercomputer, Sierra, performs simulations with a combination of heavy-duty hardware like Nvidia Corp. graphics processing units and open-source software.
  • Tech View: Open-source alternatives to Facebook and Twitter
    When it comes to social media giants like Facebook and Twitter, you can be confident that if you’re not paying for the service, you’re not the customer — you’re the product being sold.
  • What You Should Know About Contributor License Agreements in Open Source Projects
  • Programmers are constantly pressured to overwork themselves. These two companies have a brilliant plan to change that.
    They are paying programmers $20-per-hour cash bonuses to work on open source projects on their off time. It could be any endeavor they want, whether it's something that benefits their company or a passion project.
  • Tyler Adams discusses open source development at NEO Colorado meetup
    Near the end of Q1 2019, NEO Colorado hosted Tyler Adams, co-founder of City of Zion (COZ) and Moonlight, as a guest speaker. Adams discussed his experiences developing Moonlight, open source development opportunities with COZ, and local impacts of the Colorado Digital Token Act.

    NEO Colorado is a community-established entity that aims to introduce NEO blockchain technology to the broader Colorado, national, and international blockchain industry. Prior NEO Colorado meetups have included in-depth 101 of the NEO blockchain, NEO’s path to network decentralization, and a recap of NEO DevCon 2019. Other NEO Colorado events have included Lightning Talks presentations about an intro to NEO and developer tools for the NEO blockchain.

  • ‘Open-source learning’ – a new approach to sharing knowledge (webinar)
    Open-source is a well-known concept in software development, but what lessons might learning and development professionals be able to draw from the open-source approach?

    The concept of open-source, with its focus on collaboration, innovation and community creation, has been common in the software development world for years. You will be familiar with open-source software used by millions of people on a daily basis such as Android, Firefox and Linux.
  • Advancing Open Source Innovation in Cybersecurity
    OIN seeks to secure the inclusion of open source in technology without fear of litigation from patent trolls

    Due to the convergence of an escalation in the number of security vulnerabilities, an increase in hacker capabilities and tools and new legislation being enacted in the European Union, businesses are increasing their investments in cybersecurity significantly. According to Global Market Insights, between 2019 and 2024, the market for cybersecurity products and services is expected to grow from $120 billion to more than $300 billion annually. Gartner estimates that by 2020, more than 60% of organizations will have invested in multiple data security tools such as data loss prevention, encryption and data-centric audit and protections tools, up from approximately 35% today.

    To meet the cybersecurity challenges of tomorrow, information security companies, venture capitalists and governments are investing and rapidly deploying new, innovative systems. Cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning and blockchain are being harnessed and integrated into numerous security products, services and platforms. A potential impediment to IT security growth and innovation stems from growing concerns of cybersecurity technology-related intellectual property lawsuits.
  • Alluxio Launches New Website to Better Serve Global Open Source Community of Data and Cloud Developers
  • DBS bank brings open-source in house to up company tech quotient
    DBS dove in deep and investigated the inner workings of technology companies. It wanted to become one itself — not just a regular company with a technology department on the backend. “The legacy way of building technology wasn’t going to get us to where we needed to be as a technology company,” Gledhill said.

  • How APAC firms are using open source software
    Open source software has evolved from providing low-cost alternatives to proprietary offerings to a platform for innovation.

    Most recent developments in cloud computing and software development, such as Kubernetes in the case of containers, for example, are first happening in open source.

    Indeed, users of open source software at Red Hat Summit 2019 are embracing the technology not only to save costs, but also to tap new capabilities to solve business problems.

    In the case of South Korea’s Lotte Card, the use of OpenShift has enabled the credit card company to keep up with the growing number of transactions over the years, said Jeong-hwan Kim, vice-president and CIO of Lotte Card.


  • Open Source Robotics: Getting Started With Gazebo and ROS 2
    Like ROS 1 before it, ROS 2 is an open source software development kit for robotics applications. Development of ROS 2 is led by Open Robotics, the company that also maintains the robot simulator where Dolly lives, called Gazebo, as well as other open source robot software and hardware. These projects are distributed under permissive open source licenses such as BSD and Apache 2.0, which makes them attractive to academia and industry alike.


  • LoRa extends reach with open source move as US MNOs step up NB-IoT
    One way that the unlicensed low power WANs (U-LPWANs) could extend their base, despite the increasing number of licensed network roll-outs by MNOs, is to create truly open platforms, lowering barriers to entry for device makers and service providers, WiFi-style. LoRa, the most widely deployed of the U-LPWANs, may be trying just that with its main technology developer, Semtech, releasing a first batch of code into the ope source process. This code is the first instalment in the LoRa Basics system and developer program, which has three aims – to ease deployment of LoRa networks; to attract a far wider base of developers and other stakeholders; and to counter the criticism that LoRa remains too dependent on a single chip…


  • Semtech Launches Free Open-Source Toolset for IoT Development with LoRaWAN
    Semtech has announced two new series of free educational tools to help designers learn about LoRaWAN and how to implement it in design, especially for IoT devices.

    AAC had a chance to speak with Steve Hegenderfer, Senior Director of Developer Ecosystem at Semtech, who characterized the programs as "geared towards developers and [designed] to help them understand LoRaWAN technology and get to market more quickly."


  • How to Tackle Master Data Management
    To manage mass amounts of data, you should consider using open-source platforms.


  • Instaclustr Certifies Apache Cassandra for Enterprise-Grade and Production-Ready Deployments


  • Instaclustr Introduces Certification Program for Open Source Platforms


  • Instaclustr Certification Framework for Open Source Software
    Instaclustr has announced a new certification program for open-source technologies. By certifying those technologies, companies will be able to develop with them with greater confidence.

    According to Instaclustr, the technologies are rigorously tested and evaluated under this program. The company will be applying this framework to all of the open-source technologies that it currently supports.


  • Open source framework for (automotive) system modelling and simulation simarchitect released [Ed: This is nonsense as it depends on "a Matlab/Simulink€® environment," i.e. proprietary software]
    The release of the SIMarchitect framework marks the realisation of a primary deliverable of the COMBINE project. In this project, HAN Automotive Research is collaborating with over 30 – mainly Dutch SME – partners on efficient, low-threshold solutions for system modelling and simulation. By delivering this solution to the open-source community, TNO and HAN hope to stimulate companies and institutes to use and enrich the solution, while empowering their own and each other’s performances by pre-competitive collaboration.



  • TNO launches open source powertrain simulator for automotive engineers
    The framework supports systems engineers to develop, validate and maintain system models as well as system control algorithms in a ‘Matlab/Simulink’ environment. The power of SIMarchitect is its internal data bus structure, unifying interfaces and graphical user interfaces, hence in its combination easing and stimulating re-usability of models and algorithms. Visualisation of simulation results is done via a few mouse clicks. To help users getting started, SIMarchitect will be accompanied by a library of (hybrid) vehicle powertrain component models and default examples.



  • Open source software helps organizations mine big data
    Businesses, as well as government and private agencies, generate huge volumes of data whether it be about the products and the services they offer or the clientele who avail of them.

    This has come to be known collectively as big data, which has given rise to the field of data analytics, enabling researchers to look for patterns and trends that could help them identify more efficient ways of achieving certain tasks.

    An open source software called Elastic Stack is enabling many modern enterprises to quickly react to the demands made of their organization.


  • Red Badger Tech Director Viktor Charypar talks monorepos, lifelong learning, and the challenges facing open source software [Interview]
    Back in February, Viktor Charypar, Tech Director at Red badger explained the benefits of using a monorepo. For many teams, especially those without the resources or a highly developed and well-supported engineering culture, the idea of a monorepo might sound a little strange – following on from this piece, I spoke to Viktor to get a little bit more detail on the benefits of a monorepo and why engineering teams should seriously consider using them.

    [...]

    The future of open source – is it sustainable?

    RG: How do you see the future of open source – is it sustainable on its current model?

    VC: That’s an interesting thing to think about! It seems like the open source model is widely misunderstood as software being built by dedicated developers in their free time. But in reality, most large, popular open source projects are backed by large software companies and people maintain them as their day job – for example, Linux, Kubernetes, React. Even the web standards are set by standard bodies comprised of professionals supported by the major browser vendors. I think the model with a sole maintainer working on something in their spare time doesn’t really work if their project gets very popular and the demand on their time grows. We all know how people tend to behave on the internet and software industry is no exception, so maintainers who do it as a hobby are at a pretty high risk of burning out.

    For the major open source projects, this seems to be more of an exception, as they are typically maintained by a team of people employed by a company invested in the project. The sponsor benefits from the community contributions and, if the project gets popular, from controlling the direction of a de facto standard and the community benefits from someone else doing the lion’s share of the work. I look at it as being similar to science, where different people publicly contribute to push the boundaries of knowledge, just because pooling resources makes more sense and doesn’t stop any individual contributor from profiting on the results. In that sense, I think it’s a pretty sustainable model and leads to better quality, more versatile software.



  • New open source software eases the pain of multiple UI designs
    The ORC Layout (OR-constraint Layout) software is being launched at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Glasgow, Scotland, today (7 May 2019). The software, a collaboration between the University of Bath, University of Maryland and Simon Fraser University offers a new approach to UI design based on flexible principles to intelligently suggest layouts for different screens.

    Currently a user interface (UI) has to be built for every different type of screen, such as desktop, tablet and mobile phone, as well as the orientations—portrait and landscape, which is not only very time consuming, but increases the chances of errors creeping in as it becomes hard to keep track of changes and iterations.

    Some software already exists to help automate this process, but both existing approaches have severe limitations.


  • CMS



    • Acquia Buys Open Source Marketing Automation Software Firm Mautic
      Open source website software company Acquia is buying marketing automation startup Mautic, the companies said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

      Acquia, based in Boston, develops open source tools to manage websites built using the open source content management system Drupal. Mautic, a few miles away in Medford, is an open source (See a pattern here?) software firm that helps companies launch and manage marketing campaigns across the wide and growing field of platforms, from social media networks to email and websites.


    • Acquia-Mautic acquisition underscores open source model
      Acquia's Mautic acquisition announced yesterday elevated the content management vendor a few notches higher toward becoming a complete digital experience platform vendor, competing with the likes of Oracle, SAP, Salesforce and Adobe.

      It's the first outright acquisition Acquia has made in about a decade, with the vendor having extended the platform's features and reach through integration partnerships with other vendors during the interim, Forrester analyst Mark Grannan noted. Acquia's Mautic acquisition also positions Acquia to compete more directly with Adobe than with the CRM vendors building customer experience platforms. Adobe and creative tools tend to be purchased by creative teams, while old-guard ERP and CRM system initiatives route through the CIO.

      "[Acquia is] definitely trying to compete more with Adobe, but I would say they are not trying to compete with SAP and Oracle and Salesforce as much," Grannan said. "They aren't competing on a CRM or ERP play."



    • Acquia Acquires Mautic to Deliver First-Ever Open Marketing Cloud
      Acquia, the open source digital experience company, announced that it has acquired Mautic, creator of the world’s only open marketing automation and campaign management platform. Together, Acquia and Mautic form the only open alternative to expensive, closed, stagnant marketing clouds, expanding Acquia’s vision to offer the industry’s first Open Digital Experience Platform. Customers can now automate, personalize, and measure the entire customer lifecycle – across every channel, at every stage, and at every interaction.



    • Liferay Portal 7.2 CE Beta 3 Release
      Liferay 7.1 introduced significant changes to Web Experience in how content creators added new content to their sites. Liferay 7.2 continues on with the great work that was started in 7.1 and vastly improves the overall experience. For more information please see Web Experience new features in Liferay Portal 7.2 b1 by David G�mez for more info.



    • Liferay Portal CE 7.2 Edges Nearer, eZ Platform 2.5 Released, More Open Source News
      In continuing its work towards the release of Liferay Portal CE 7.2, Liferay announced the availability of Liferay Portal CE 7.2 Beta 3 on April 24.

      The new features introduced in 7.2 primarily focus on enabling nontechnical users to develop and modify content with ease, deliver personalized content to segmented audiences and be able to better facilitate user management and administration.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC



    • GNUnet News: 2019-05-12: GNUnet 0.11.4 released
      This is a bugfix release for 0.11.3, mostly fixing minor bugs, improving documentation and fixing various build issues. In terms of usability, users should be aware that there are still a large number of known open issues in particular with respect to ease of use, but also some critical privacy issues especially for mobile users. Also, the nascent network is tiny (about 200 peers) and thus unlikely to provide good anonymity or extensive amounts of interesting information. As a result, the 0.11.4 release is still only suitable for early adopters with some reasonable pain tolerance.




  • Openness/Sharing/Collaboration



    • A Better Route Planner & Other Open Source Projects Need Our Help
      ABRP relies on other open-source projects and a variety of databases to give EV drivers estimates of energy usage and places to charge up while on the road.

      Perhaps most importantly, ABRP uses OpenStreetMap (OSM). Not only does it use OSM for a map, but it gets speed limits, elevation data, and other information to best plan routes. When it looks at a route, it uses your vehicle’s standard consumption data, the speeds you will be going, and the uphills and downhills to calculate how much battery you will use between charging stations.

      When it has all of this data right, it’s usually really close to what you’ll see in the real world. However, you’ll want to tell it that you want to arrive at chargers with 10–20% battery, just to be sure you don’t get stranded. Headwinds, unexpected rain, or road construction (among many other things) can cause you to use more power than expected, so it’s a good idea to have a bit of extra charge.


    • Demand Manager Mixes Open Source With Control for Publishers: Rubicon’s Barrett
      For publishers which want to take advantage of header bidding but which find the main open-source technology too onerous to manage, Rubicon Project thinks it has an answer.

      Discovery Inc., Clearing House, AutoTrader, Southern Cross, Austereo and Domain are amongst the publishers participating in a closed beta of the new Demand Manager. a solution which aims to simplify the Prebid header bidder wrapper technology which Rubicon helped create in 2017.

      “(Prebid) was great for a period of time,” says Michael Barrett, Rubicon Project president and CEO, in this video interview with Beet.TV Here is the company press release.



    • How a Wikipedia for drug discovery is disrupting big pharma
      From treatments priced beyond the reach of the poor to a refusal to tackle some of the world's most urgent health threats, critics of “big pharma” have seldom had it so easy.

      Of the $157 billion spent by the private sector on health research and development (R&D) in 2016, just $505 million was for neglected diseases – conditions such as malaria and tuberculosis which affect billions of the poorest people worldwide.

      But what if there was another way of developing the medicines we need? A way that eschews market incentives that stop pharma companies from developing medicines for diseases of poverty and does away with the secrecy that shrouds drug development.

      According to advocates of open source pharma, there is.


    • Could the Open-Source Model Help Us Develop Advanced Sustainable Materials?
      The open-source model paved the way for significant advancements in the fields of software and programming, and has positively affected industries such as medicine, engineering and even fashion, among others. The success of open-source methods brings to light the potential for its implementation in other areas.

      For instance, advanced raw materials under development—such as the 2-D wonder material graphene—could greatly benefit from the widespread experimentation of open-source use. In its current state, graphene is primarily researched by scientists in universities and labs, but by making graphene a material that is open to be improved upon by anyone, we might see the fulfillment of the potential that the nanomaterial has been hailed for since its discovery.





  • Programming/Development



    • Google is starting to reveal the secrets of its experimental Fuchsia OS
      Google Fuchsia remains shrouded in mystery, but the company is slowly beginning to open up about the next-generation operating system, what its purpose is, and what devices it might power. At Google’s I/O developer conference this past week, Android and Chrome chief Hiroshi Lockheimer offered some rare insight into Fuchsia, albeit at a very high level, in front of public audiences.

      What we do know about Fuchsia is that it’s an open source project, similar to AOSP, but could run all manner of devices, from smart home gadgets to laptops to phones. It’s also known to be built on an all-new, Google-built kernel called “zircon,” formerly known as “magenta,” and not the Linux kernel that forms the foundation of Android and Chrome OS.


    • Google launches Jetpack Compose, an open-source, Kotlin-based UI development toolkit
      Google today announced the first preview of Jetpack Compose, a new open-source UI toolkit for Kotlin developers who want to use a reactive programming model similar to React Native and Vue.js.

      Jetpack Compose is an unbundled toolkit that is part of Google’s overall Android Jetpack set of software components for Android developers, but there is no requirement to use any other Jetpack components. With Jetpack Compose, Google is essentially bringing the UI-as-code philosophy to Android development. Compose’s UI components are fully declarative and allow developers to create layouts by simply describing what the UI should look like in their code. The Compose framework will handle all the gory details of UI optimization for the developer.


    • Guido van Rossum On Python and Diversity in Open Source
      In a wide ranging conversation Guido van Rossum outlines how and why he initiated the Python language and why he resigned as BDFL after 28 years. He also discusses the issue of diversity in open source communities with interviewer Swapnil Bhartiya, the founder of the TFiR website.

      Although the video was only posted on TFiR, and published on You Tube on May 4, 2019 the interview took place last September during Oracle Code One, which Van Rossum was attending to receive of the five 2018 Oracle Groundbreaker Awards.


    • Setu announces open source learning platform for coders & designers building fintech apps
      Fintech focused software maker Setu has launched D91 labs – an open source initiative by the company to understand and enhance the financial lives of Bharat that embrace financial inclusion at the grass root level.

      D91 labs aspires to become last mile understanding for developers building fintech product for the masses. It publishes open source research, insights, frameworks and component libraries for designers, developers, and other stakeholders.

      Announcing D91 labs, the firm also published three posts on blogging platform Medium around designing for choices in payments, a case study depicting the plight of individuals who borrow from unorganised lenders and a survey on mobile payments in India.



    • Google & FB’s Latest Open Source Contributions To Machine Learning


    • Hardware Random Number Generator PRG320


    • Talk Python to Me: #211 Classic CS problems in Python


    • Alyssa Milano's Call for Sex Strike Ignites Social Media
      Actress Alyssa Milano has ignited social media with a tweet calling for women to join her in a sex strike to protest strict abortion bans passed by Republican-controlled legislatures.

      The former star of “Charmed” and current cast member of “Insatiable,” which is filmed in Georgia, urged women in her Friday night tweet to stop having sex “until we get bodily autonomy back.” Her tweet came days after Georgia became the fourth state in the U.S. this year to ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.


    • More 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bans Advancing in South, Midwest
      If a new Mississippi law survives a court challenge, it will be nearly impossible for most pregnant women to get an abortion there.

      Or, potentially, in neighboring Louisiana. Or Alabama. Or Georgia.

      The Louisiana legislature is halfway toward passing a law—like the ones enacted in Mississippi and Georgia—that will ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they’re pregnant. Alabama is on the cusp of approving an even more restrictive bill.


    • F() vs F(void) in C vs C++
      Prefer f(void) in C to potentially save a 2B instruction per function call when targeting x86_64 as a micro-optimization. -Wstrict-prototypes can help. Doesn’t matter for C++.



    • Simplest algorithm to get started with machine learning
      Hello, my name is Alex. And this article is about KNN algorithm. It's been a while since I first time met term "machine learning". For me, as a front-end developer, it's always been a struggle to understand it. There are so many things like supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement learning. Hundreds types of algorithms and neural networks.



    • Python Lambda Function with Examples


    • Python dicts and memory usage


    • AJAX calls in Django 2.2


    • On the Rookout for live data: Instant observability to fix software bugs and open AI black boxes
      Software bugs are a pain: buggy software can drop anything from your sales to aircraft in mid-flight. Debugging software is hard, tedious, and costs a fortune. A multitude of frameworks and processes have been created to facilitate software testing and ensure fewer bugs make it to production, and invariably they all fail from time to time.

      When this happens, the pain for software developers and the nail-biting for businesses starts. Developers have to find the source code that caused the bug, and execute this in a test environment that resembles the production one as closely as possible. The situation that caused the bug has to be recreated, too.

      The way this usually works is by adding logging statements and breakpoints in the code, and retracing execution in the code and its dependencies until the bug is located and can be fixed. Then the new code has to be rebuilt and redeployed in production.


    • How GitLab Cracked The Code Of Remote Working: GitLab Contribute Report
      Industrial revolutions changed our world. They built the foundations of the modern civilizations. But there were some side effects of these revolutions, too. One of the biggest “damages” industrial revolutions did to our society was breaking families apart. We have to leave our homes, our kids, our loved ones behind and go to ‘work’. We spend several years of our lives in just commuting to work.



    • ActiveState survey: developers spend 20 percent less time on programming compared to 2018
      Security, stability and managing dependencies of open source languages have been keeping developers from fully using their time toward what they do best: programming. A recent ActiveState survey titled “2019 Developer Survey: Open Source Runtimes” found that developers spend 20 percent less time on programming than last year.

      The survey included responses from 1,250 developers, 65 percent of whom consider themselves professional developers, from all over the world.

      According to the survey, about half of the developers ranked adding or incorporating a new language as difficult to very difficult. More than 61 percent said they spend four hours or less per day on programming and 65 percent said they don’t contribute or maintain open source projects. About half of those developers blamed a lack of time.






Leftovers



  • Health/Nutrition



    • Lawsuit by 44 States Accuses Pharma Giants of 'Multi-Year Conspiracy' to Hike Drug Prices by Over 1,000%
      "We have emails, text messages, telephone records, and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs," said Tong.

      The suit names 20 major drug manufacturers—including Pfizer, Teva, Novartis, and Mylan—as well as more than a dozen senior executives, who the complaint accuses of deleting evidence after the states began their investigation in 2014.

      "The industrywide scheme affected the prices of more than 100 generic drugs," the New York Times reported Saturday, "including lamivudine-zidovudine, which treats H.I.V.; budesonide, an asthma medication; fenofibrate, which treats high cholesterol; amphetamine-dextroamphetamine for ADHD.; oral antibiotics; blood thinners; cancer drugs; contraceptives; and antidepressants."

      Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than the people of any other industrialized nation. Alluding to this fact, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser—who joined the multi-state lawsuit—tweeted on Saturday: "If you are angry about rising drug prices, you should be. Particularly because a major cause of price increases is illegal collusion by generic drug companies."


    • Washington State to Offer Nation's First 'Public Option' Health Insurance
      Washington is set to become the first state to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option.

      A set of tiered public plans will cover standard services and are expected to be up to 10% cheaper than comparable private insurance, thanks in part to savings from a cap on rates paid to providers. But unlike existing government-managed plans, Washington’s public plans are set to be available to all residents regardless of income by 2021.

      The Legislature approved the plan last month, and Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to sign it into law Monday.




  • Security



  • Defence/Aggression



    • The Media’s Shameful Handling Of Bolton’s Iran Threat Claims Recalls The Run-Up To The Iraq War
      Media-savvy U.S. government officials, political operatives, and lawmakers and their staffs from all political parties and ideological persuasions have no doubt, throughout the history of our great country, duped a fair-minded but unwitting reporter into writing a juicy story in order to get a piece of information into the public bloodstream without their fingerprints on it.

      This is, in large part, how the Bush administration sold the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the American people: Feeding knowingly bogus or unsubstantiated intelligence on Iraq’s (nonexistent) WMD programs to reporters, who then published it as fact, without much in the way of critical scrutiny.

      Despite the lessons we’ve learned from that debacle, it’s happening again with regard to the Trump administration’s march toward war with Iran.

      In one now infamous incident during the months leading up to the start of the Iraq war, then-Vice President Dick Cheney went on NBC’s Meet the Press and issued a dire warning. Saddam Hussein was trying “through his illicit procurement network, to acquire the equipment he needs to be able to enrich uranium to make the bombs. … specifically aluminum tubes.”


    • Juan Guaidó Makes Open Plea for US Military 'Coordination' in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt
      After his latest coup attempt against the elected government of President Nicolás Maduro quickly fell flat, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó on Saturday said he has moved to open "direct communications" with Pentagon officials with the goal of establishing greater military "coordination" with the United States.

      According to the Associated Press, Guaidó announced during a rally Saturday that he has "instructed his political envoy in Washington to immediately open relations with the U.S. military in a bid to bring more pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to resign."

      "The leader said he's asked Carlos Vecchio, who the U.S. recognizes as Venezuela's ambassador, to open 'direct communications' toward possible military 'coordination,'" AP reported. "The remarks... mark one of his strongest public pleas yet for greater U.S. involvement in the country's fast-escalating crisis."

      Guaidó's open call for direct U.S. military involvement in his coup effort comes after the opposition leader's so-called "military uprising" against the Maduro government sparked chaos in the streets of Venezuela, but ultimately fizzled out after several days.

      Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolton, enthusiastically backed the coup plotters while rejecting the characterization of Guaidó's push to topple Venezuela's elected government as a coup attempt.

      As it became clear that Guaidó's uprising would not succeed in ousting Maduro, White House officials intensified threats of U.S. military intervention, which progressive critics argue would have disastrous consequences for Venezuela and the region.

      "The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent—military action is possible," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a Fox Business interview earlier this month. "In the event that there comes a moment—and we'll all have to make decisions about when that moment is and the president will ultimately have to make that decision—he's prepared to do that if that's what's required."



    • Pace Pompeo: What if the US is “Sowing Chaos” in Mideast & Iran is a Status Quo Power?
      Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC that Iran is an active threat to US interests and “sowing chaos” in the Middle East.

      It strikes me that exactly the opposite is true. The Islamic Republic of Iran has in recent years, despite its heritage in the 1979 revolution, acted as an Establishment, status quo power.

      I don’t agree with Iranian policy, e.g. its Syria intervention; I’m just acting as a dispassionate analyst and asking if it is really destabilizing. I conclude, not so much.

      In contrast, the United States (and more especially the Republican Party) has sown enormous amounts of chaos in the Middle East just in the past 20 years.

      The Bush administration probably had to try to overthrow the Taliban, given that that organization in Afghanistan sheltered al-Qaeda, which hit the US on 9/11/01. But instead of putting the Northern Alliance in charge and withdrawing, the Bush administration unwisely attempted to establish a long term foreign military presence (many Pushtuns would see it as an occupation). This brilliant policy, which may have aimed at surrounding Russia, has failed so badly that the Taliban, once hated, came back to take over half the country (at least).





  • Transparency/Investigative Reporting



    • Chelsea Manning Warns the Trump Administration 'Clearly Wants to Go After Journalists'
      Facing the possibility of being imprisoned yet again in the coming days for refusing to testify before a secretive grand jury, U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning on Sunday warned of the grave threat the Trump administration poses to press freedoms.

      "I think that ultimately what they really want is, they want to go after journalists," Manning said during an interview on CNN when asked whether the Trump administration's effort to extradite WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange to the U.S. is a danger to the free press.

      "This administration clearly wants to go after journalists," Manning said. "I think that if the administration gets its way... we're probably gonna see indictments and charges."

      "Whenever a journalist makes a misstep," she added, "I think that they're put on notice now that the FBI and the Department of Justice are going to go after them, on the administration's behalf."


    • Chelsea Manning says Trump 'clearly wants to go after journalists'
      Manning was released from jail last week. In March, a federal judge found her in contempt and ordered her to a Virginia jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Manning was freed because the grand jury’s term expired.

      Serving in the Army under her birth name, Bradley Manning, she rose to prominence in 2010 after passing along hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and military reports to the website known for its dumps of classified documents. She was convicted by court-martial in 2013, but former President Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence in 2017.


    • San Francisco Journalist Vows to Protect Source After Police Raid
      A freelance journalist is vowing to protect his source after San Francisco police raided his home and office while keeping him handcuffed for several hours as part of a criminal investigation, according to a newspaper report.

      Bryan Carmody told the Los Angeles Times that officers banged on his door Friday and confiscated dozens of personal items including notebooks, his cellphone, computer, hard drives and cameras. A judge signed off on search warrants, which stated officers were investigating “stolen or embezzled” property, the newspaper reported Saturday

      Authorities said the raid came during an ongoing probe into who leaked a confidential police report about the Feb. 22 death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

      Carmody said investigators had asked him a few weeks earlier to identify the source that provided him with the report. The reporter said he politely declined.

      While he was shackled, officers got a second warrant to search his newsroom, where police seized a thumb drive, CDs and, inside a safe, the leaked police report about Adachi’s death, the Times said.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature



    • A Mother's Resolve: Organizing for Local and Global Climate Justice
      A scarred hillside stood before us, a reminder of a 2014 oil pipeline spill. Oil pumpjacks rose and fell relentlessly around us.

      We had just arrived on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, home to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nations. MADRE, the organization I lead, in partnership with the Indigenous Environmental Network, was accompanying a delegation of Indigenous women climate defenders from Colombia, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Nepal, and Nicaragua to meet with local activists about the devastating impact of mega oil and gas projects on their livelihoods and their lands.


    • 'For the Love of Our Children': Mothers Rise Up in Global March for Climate Action
      "Business as usual—toxic pollution in our streets and our schools—is fueling a crisis that is making our kids sick and it is families in the deprived areas that are paying the heaviest price," Rosamund Kissi-Debra, whose daughter died from an asthma attack linked to air pollution, said during a rally on Sunday. "We need to do everything necessary to clean up our air and create a safer future for all our children."

      The Mother's Day climate demonstration in London was organized by Mothers Rise Up, a U.K.-based advocacy group led by mothers inspired by the youth climate strikes that have spread across the globe.

      Climate marches also took place in Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and other nations on Sunday.


    • Biden’s Climate Policy Sounds a Lot Like Obama’s
      As many on the left expected, presidential hopeful Joe Biden is tacking to the center on climate in an attempt to appeal to blue-collar workers and the energy sector, setting the stage for a fierce debate among the Democratic primary contenders over pipelines and the future of the nation’s vast fossil fuel reserves.

      On Friday, a Reuters report citing Biden campaign advisers suggested that the former vice president’s campaign is crafting a “middle ground” climate policy that would embrace natural gas, nuclear energy and technology that would reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuel energy sources, rather than moving away from fossil fuels altogether.

      In contrast, a number of high-profile Democrats have cosponsored or shown support for the Green New Deal, a sweeping vision for achieving net-zero carbon emissions within a decade by transforming the economy with green infrastructure and transitioning away from fossil fuels for good. The proposal, championed by Democratic rock stars like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and legions of young activists, has electrified progressives and sent conservatives into a tizzy about the rise of “socialism.”

      The 2020 elections loom as the U.S. arrives at a carbon crossroads. Global anxiety over climate disruption and environmental devastation is reaching a fever pitch. Scientists warn that governments must take drastic action to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and prevent the mass extinction of up to 1 million species. Meanwhile, the fracking boom has unlocked massive reserves of domestic oil and gas, and the U.S. is poised to become the world’s top fossil fuel producer for decades to come.






  • Finance



    • Minimum Wage Would Be $33 If It Had Kept Pace With Wall Street Bonuses
      The people who sell fancy sports cars and high-end Swiss watches look forward to the time of year when the big Wall Street banks hand out their annual cash bonuses.

      According to new figures, those bonuses added up a whopping $27.5 billion last year. That’s a lot of Rolexes.

      Unfortunately, this huge payout also means the reckless bonus culture that crashed our economy in 2008 is still flourishing.

      And there’s another reason we should be disturbed: These Wall Street payouts drive racial and gender inequality.

      That’s because the people pocketing Wall Street bonuses are overwhelmingly white and male, while the people stuck with stagnating wages at the bottom of the pay scale are disproportionately women and people of color.

      A new Institute for Policy Studies report I co-authored found that if the minimum wage had increased at the same rate as the average Wall Street bonus since 1985, it would be worth $33 today, instead of just $7.25.

      Women make up 63 percent of those minimum wage workers, but as little as 20 percent of senior executives and managers at big investment banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
    • Donald Trump proves tax code spawns risk, debt & speculation for which everybody else pays the price
      The New York Times disclosure that Donald Trump was able “to avoid paying income taxes” for years, while he racked up $1.17 billion in losses, tells you all you need to know about the American system of taxation that rewards risk, debt and speculation because it so completely insulates the greediest among us from the real world consequences of all three.

      The Times compared their Trump file “with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.”

      We know that our tax system taxes wages we earn at a much higher rate than the profits the rich earn off their investments. But it’s more perverse than that because it actually incentivizes the most predatory traits of vulture capitalism.

      To be sure, over the years the plume of red ink coming out of the Trump corporate octopus has proven toxic for an army of small business owners and investors.

      In Atlantic City, corporate entities tied to Trump filed for bankruptcy four times since 1990, allowing the companies to shed hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, but leaving a long list of businesses that did not get paid. The losers included small businesses and tradespeople.




  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics



    • Tired of the Smack Talk
      I’m angry, our system is supposed to work for us, but it doesn’t! I’m tired of being told that elected officials are supposed to represent their constituents, and watching their persistent inaction and failure. One of the interesting features of English language is the labels that are provided for groups of animals; perhaps the pride of lions or murder of crows are familiar to you. Few know that a group of jellyfish are called a smack. Sadly, so many American politicians are spineless, my comparison is the best I can do to capture my moral outrage at their immoral inaction.

      Donald Trump’s 10,000thlie or misstatement as President or candidate is now official and his base is still with him. He is the Pied Piper of all variety of cowards and manifestly willfully ignorant blind-to-truth followers.

      The ugly truth, since his base is quite large, is that we did this to ourselves. Too lazy to factcheck, too sloppy to discern truth, and too arrogant to find ways to work together, the U.S. was ripe for the invasion of the Russian troll army, and supremacist chatrooms celebrate discussions of civil wars and other Trump-approved disgusting plots.

      But it gets worse. Every year I’m reminded of these ugly failures. Those who survived the Columbine shooting 20 years ago apologized to those who survived the Parkland shooting, they were sorry that they were unable to prevent the massacre. So much violence, the last time the U.S. went a week without a mass-shooting was Jan. 5, 2014, we’re the only nation on Earth with the problem, and the only place that insists it is unavoidable.




  • Censorship/Free Speech



    • No, I am not anti-semitic
      I will readily admit that it was probably not my most skilled use of Twitter, but I stand by my point, and since expressing a nuanced and full formed opinion takes more than a tweet, it goes here.

      Racism and bigotry can both be summarized as hating or critizing a group of people for what they are, no matter if they are handicapped, colored, homosexual, red-haired or stupid.

      Nobody should be hated because of how, or for that matter where, they were born.

      Anti-semitism is the specific variant of racism where jews are being hated for being jews, and it is just as, and this bears stressing: Just as, not more and not less wrong, than any other kind of racism.

      While racism is never OK, it is perfectly OK, and infact entirely proper to criticize a group of people for what they choose to do, or more often choose not to do, in particular when the subject is gross violations of UNs Declartion of Basic Human Rights.




  • Privacy/Surveillance



    • Cisco open sources MindMeld conversational AI platform [Ed: Back doors giant Cisco is openwashing its surveillance right now. Added some buzzword too, "AI". Did Cisco write this article or send out a template? Identical headlines here and here.]
      Cisco announced today that it was open-sourcing the MindMeld conversation AI platform, making it available to anyone who wants to use it under the Apache 2.0 license.

      MindMeld is the conversational AI company that Cisco bought in 2017. The company put the technology to use in Cisco Spark Assistant later that year to help bring voice commands to meeting hardware, which was just beginning to emerge at the time.


    • The War on Social Media
      For a long time now, bubbling away on the mainstream media’s back-boiler, there’s been an on-going campaign to attack and undermine social media. It is multi-faceted, and unfocused, but constant. Seldom does a day go by, and never a week, that a story calling for limitation, regulation or outright banning of certain social media networks is called for.

      In a perfect example of what I’m talking about, I just went to The Guardian to find a story they published criticising social media two days ago…and then found new story on the same topic published yesterday.

      For months, years, we’ve been told how dangerous, immoral, out-of-control corrupt and just plain evil social media has become.

      The anti-social media campaign first came into view in the UK, immediately after Jeremy Corbyn won his first Labour leadership election 2015. Just two months later Yvette Cooper MP, who lost to Corbyn (humiliatingly badly), launched her “Reclaim the Web” campaign to “stamp out” abuse of women on the internet.



    • Millions of people uploaded photos to the Ever app. Then the company used them to develop facial recognition tools.
      Make memories”: That’s the slogan on the website for the photo storage app Ever, accompanied by a cursive logo and an example album titled “Weekend with Grandpa.”

      Everything about Ever’s branding is warm and fuzzy, about sharing your “best moments” while freeing up space on your phone.

      What isn’t obvious on Ever’s website or app — except for a brief reference that was added to the privacy policy after NBC News reached out to the company in April — is that the photos people share are used to train the company’s facial recognition system, and that Ever then offers to sell that technology to private companies, law enforcement and the military.

      In other words, what began in 2013 as another cloud storage app has pivoted toward a far more lucrative business known as Ever AI — without telling the app’s millions of users.

      “This looks like an egregious violation of people’s privacy,” said Jacob Snow, a technology and civil liberties attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. “They are taking images of people’s families, photos from a private photo app, and using it to build surveillance technology. That’s hugely concerning.”


    • Facebook Just Opened Up Its Data to Election Researchers

      The crusade is no doubt important, but some of Facebook's partners have proved a bit questionable. The organisation overseeing this particular project is Social Science One, and its founder has gotten in trouble with Facebook before for data harvesting.

      One of the funders is also the Charles Koch Foundation, a major financial contributor to climate misinformation.

      What's more, last week Facebook defended its partnership with Check Your Fact, an organisation that is known for its ties to white nationalists and is also funded by the Koch brothers.

      While it's admirable that the largest social media platform is taking action on fake news and also attempting some level of transparency, if Facebook continues to align itself with politically motivated organisations and funders, the company's conclusions might not be trusted by the general public or policy makers.



    • How creepy is your smart speaker?

      If eavesdropping is your problem, eschewing smart speakers does not solve it. Smartphones, which people blithely carry around with them, are even worse. Spy agencies are said to be able to activate the microphone in such devices, which have even more sensors than smart speakers, including location-tracking GPS chips and accelerometers than can reveal when and how the phone is moving. And smartphones are, if anything, even more intimate than smart speakers. Few of Alexa’s users, after all, take her into bed with them.



    • Co-founder's call to break up Facebook energizes its critics

      A call to break up Facebook from one of the company's co-founders is bringing new momentum to the movement targeting Silicon Valley's giants.

      Chris Hughes published an op-ed in The New York Times on Thursday arguing that the company that he helped build as a college student at Harvard had grown too large and unaccountable.

      The article was a stunning rebuke from a former insider and made waves in the political world and across social media.



    • Facebook defends itself against op-ed calling for its breakup

      Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications wrote the piece, and in it, he agrees with Hughs that “companies should be held accountable for their actions,” and that tech companies such as Facebook shouldn’t be the ones handling all of the “important social, political and ethical questions” for the [I]nternet.



    • [Old] Yahoo and AOL's privacy policy lets them plunder your emails for ads

      As you may recall, Oath is a group of companies made up primarily of Yahoo and AOL. Keen to find some way of making some actual ruddy money, it appears that targeted adverts in its mail services are going to be a big part of it.

      If we've learned one thing over the past month or so, it's that targeted adverts require access to users' personal data.

      And sure enough, the new privacy policy introduces 'scanning' of emails for the purposes or finding just the right thing to annoy you with.

      Let's look at some of the really scary bits.





  • Civil Rights/Policing



    • The new depths of Erdogan’s autocracy

      Until this week, Turks who could not stomach the autocratic rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan had one thing to cling to. Their president had locked up journalists and thousands of bureaucrats, gutted state institutions and used a referendum to grab constitutional powers. He had forced the sale of independent newspapers to his cronies, installed his second-rate son-in-law as finance minister and debauched the currency, tipping the country into recession. He had wrecked his country’s relationship with both America and the EU. And yet, at the same time, he was still governed by one master—the ballot box. Elections in Turkey may not have been terribly fair, but at least they were free.

      No longer. [...]



    • #FreeBlackMamas bails black mothers from jail for Mother’s Day
      It was five years since the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment, which banned chattel slavery with one notable exception: involuntary servitude is allowed as punishment for a crime.

      Nearly 150 years later, Howe’s dream of ending war has yet to become a reality. And the 13th Amendment has become more significant as, over the past 40 years, the number of people being sent to prison has skyrocketed. But accompanying these soaring numbers have been calls for abolition of another kind — to abolish prisons. It’s a call that’s been gaining traction and popularity over the past decade.

      Among the numerous tactics taken by abolitionists is one focusing specifically on mothers, particularly mothers of color, who have been hard hit by both poverty and tough-on-crime policies. It also challenges the country’s bail system, in which people who cannot afford to pay bail must stay in jail for months — and sometimes years — as their cases slowly wind their way through the court system.


    • A Cruel Disaster
      As we celebrate our own close-to-home blessings this fraught Mother's Day, we honor the thousands of mothers ripped from their kids by a barbarous regime stupidly impervious to the grief, terror and longtime trauma they've inflicted. There are likely far more than the documented 2,800 families separated under the Monster-In-Chief's "zero tolerance" madness; the Department of Health and Human Services now admits the unconscionable practice began a year earlier, during which time 47,083 children came through the border. Of those, God knows how many these mindless thugs "lost," but at least several hundred remain separated from parents now deported or detained elsewhere. Those kids forcibly removed from their distraught families must now be returned, says a judge who blasted the current "chaotic circumstances of the government's own making," en route pointedly rebuffing the thugs' whining about the "burden" of giving children back to their parents. "Although the process for identifying newly proposed class members may be burdensome," he intoned, "the hallmark of a civilized society is measured by how it treats its people and those within its borders." Happily, he now joins those of us out of fucks to give. May our ranks grow, and Happy Mothers Day.


    • Puerto Ricans Transform Closed Schools Into Community Centers
      An empty school doesn’t serve its purpose. The community loses a staple. The students are forced to travel farther to have the world open up to them through the classroom.

      Since Hurricanes Maria and Irma hit Puerto Rico in the fall of 2017, nearly 300 schools have closed on the island, due to migration after the storm and an ongoing financial crisis.

      In 2016, the U.S. Congress voted for the PROMESA Act, which created the federally appointed Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico whose mission is to manage and reduce the island’s massive $74 billion debt. School closures were a part of U.S.-imposed austerity measures to reduce spending even before the hurricane.

      As in distressed communities facing austerity globally, the closures are happening in tandem with a shift to privatization of education that marginalizes low-income communities. What remains are ghostly buildings all over the island that stand as a symbol of the cuts imposed by the management board and the changing priorities of the island’s education department.



    • On Mother’s Day, Remember the Mothers of Trayvon, Sandra and Tamir
      Late last month, two police officers in Hugo, Oklahoma, fired bullets into a truck containing four children. Three of the children were shot. The 4-year-old was shot in the head. The 5-year-old has a skull fracture. The 1-year-old has gunshot wounds on her face.

      The mother is grateful her children are alive. Her beautiful Black children, now trauma victims, victims of state violence, are alive.

      In 2014, academics Stacey Patton and David J. Leonard published a survey of publicly available cell phone videos capturing citizen encounters with police. Their “Video Survey of Police Interactions: Inequality in Black and White” is, frankly, stunning. White people interacting with the police were shown to confront, challenge and mock officers. Openly. Confident in their privilege, in their right to live, they refuse to comply. They read the officers their rights. They demand respect. They not only survive the encounter, they also feel good after it is over, having showed the cops who’s boss.

      A grown white man openly carrying two firearms along a suburban street refuses to put his cell phone down, refuses to show his identification and refuses, in the cop’s own words, to cooperate. He is treated with respect and is free to go. He survives, vindicated, and appears cocky in his extrication. This video in particular is difficult to watch without thinking of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old openly playing with a toy gun in a snowy neighborhood park. Tamir cannot refuse to put his toy down, cannot refuse to show his school ID, cannot refuse to do as he’s told. He cannot refuse, but he also cannot comply. Tamir is a child, playfully lifting the snow to watch how it falls. But youth is not the only reason Tamir cannot choose to refuse or comply. The literal moment the police arrive, they shoot the boy dead.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Tor Exit Node Operator Dodges Bullet in Piracy Lawsuit

        The operator of a Tor exit-node, who stands accused of downloading a pirated copy of the movie Dallas Buyers Club, has dodged a bullet. District Court Judge Michael Simon decided not to adopt a magistrate judge's recommendation that the man committed willful copyright infringement. As such, the accused pirate still has a chance to win the case.



      • “Confidential” HDMI Specifications Docs Hit With DMCA Takedown

        A Github user who archived documents detailing every HDMI specification since its inception has been hit with a DMCA takedown notice. According to Consumer Technology Association member HDMI Licensing Administrator LLC, the documents are both copyrighted and confidential. A second notice, filed by the CTA itself, curiously demanded the removal of publicly available documents.











Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
GNOME GUADEC 2022 & Debian Albanian women trafficked to Mexico?
Reprinted with permission from the Free Software Fellowship
Sainsbury's: It Takes Us Up to Two Days to Respond to Customers Upon Escalation (and Sometimes Even More Than Two Days)
It not only does groceries but also many other things, even banking
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day