Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 17/09/2022: KDE Changes Outlined

  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • HackadayHackaday Podcast 185: A 2022 Rotary Phone, How AI Imagines Zepplin, Are We Alone In The Universe

        This week, Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Managing Editor Tom Nardi start off by talking about the chip shortage…but not how you think. With a list that supposedly breaks down all of the electronic components that the Russian military are desperate to get their hands on, we can see hackers aren’t the only ones scrounging for parts. If you thought getting components was tricky already, imagine if most of the world decided to put sanctions on you.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Trend OceansThe Difference Between Su, Sudo Su, Sudo -i, and Sudo -s - TREND OCEANS

        As Linux administrators, you have to go through tons of things like securing the system against unknown access and creating standard users instead of allowing direct root access.

        Sometimes, even the normal user requires some extra privileges depending upon their role. Switching to a different user or accessing a root account is one of them.

        However, there are no single but multiple ways to switch to a different user or superuser in Linux. It may create confusion for beginners as to which command to use and which command is relevant in which situation.

      • TecAdminWhere is the Maven Local Repository? - TecAdmin

        Maven Local Repository is a feature provided in Maven that allows you to manage local copies of your project’s dependencies. By default, Maven makes a copy of each dependency artifact that is used in your project and stores it in the local repository.

      • Introducing Red Hat UBI9 OpenJDK runtime images

        A few weeks ago we shipped the first RHEL UBI9-based OpenJDK container images.

        Universal Base Image (UBI) is an initiative where you can obtain, share and build upon official Red Hat container images without needing a Red Hat subscription. They're exactly the same base images that Red Hat products are built upon, composed entirely of Open Source software. Your precise rights are covered in the EULA.

        Nowadays we offer two flavours of images, the original style (now termed builder images) and leaner runtime images, which have a subset of the JDK, and no build tools like Maven, etc.

      • BeebomHow to Enable or Disable Fast Startup on Windows 11 | Beebom

        Despite being a heavy and bloated OS (learn how to debloat Windows 11), Microsoft has been working to make Windows 11 faster to boot and use. One such technique that the company is using is called “Fast Startup,” which allows your PC to boot faster almost instantly. But what is Fast Startup and whether you should keep it turned on or off? To answer all your questions, we bring you an easy guide on how to enable or disable Fast Startup on Windows 11. Along with that, we have also explained what it does, so check that out before making any changes.

    • Games

      • Boiling SteamTokyo Games Show 2022 Video Recap - Boiling Steam

        There’s still more Tokyo Games Show 2022 (TGS 2022) coverage to come from Boiling Steam. Today we are sharing with you all a video montage made of scenes we have captured on the show floor, to give you a sense of what it feels to be there. Many scenes are taken from the Steam Deck booth (Komodo).

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Nate GrahamThis week in KDE: It’s a big one, folks

          This week we have, like, a quadruple whammy. We released the Plasma 5.26 beta, annihilated a huge number of high profile bugs, added new features, and improved the UI throughout Plasma!

          Ark has now been ported to use KHamburgerMenu for a cleaner default user interface (Andrey Butirsky, Ark 22.12. Link)...

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Drew DeVaultThe phrase "open source" (still) matters

      In 1988, “Resin Identification Codes” where introduced by the plastic industry. These look exactly like the recycling symbol ♺, which is not trademarked or regulated, except that a number is enclosed within the triangle. These symbols simply identify what kind of plastic was used. The vast majority of plastic is non-recyclable, but has one of these symbols on it to suggest otherwise. This is a deceptive business practice which exploits the consumer’s understanding of the recycling symbol to trick them into buying more plastic products.

      The meaning of the term “open source” is broadly understood to be defined by the Open Source Initiative’s Open Source Definition, the “OSD”. Under this model, open source has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success, such that virtually all software written today incorporates open source components.

      The main advantage of open source, to which much of this success can be attributed, is that it is a product of many hands. In addition to the work of its original authors, open source projects generally accept code contributions from anyone who would offer them. They also enjoy numerous indirect benefits, through the large community of Linux distros which package and ship the software, or people who write docs or books or blog posts about it, or the many open source dependencies it is likely built on top of.

      Under this model, the success of an open source project is not entirely attributable to its publisher, but to both the publisher and the community which exists around the software. The software does not belong to its publisher, but to its community. I mean this not only in a moral sense, but also in a legal sense: every contributor to an open source project retains their copyright and the project’s ownership is held collectively between its community of contributors.

    • Programming/Development

      • GSoC Finale

        It definitely was a long journey. Although I didn’t write enough blogs to outline the exact shaping of it, here’s a final report on what has been going on.

        The workings of the protocol and the connection specifics have already been discussed before, so let’s keep this short.

        [...]

        Now we had what you can call state management (just a variable and if checks) and some nice JSON string generators.

        We jumped into media handling right on. Already having a pipeline to process video and audio in GNOME Network Displays made things easy, but tinkering with it was no easy job until the saviour lent a helping hand. The first few tutorials were all that was needed to get to speed.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • OpenSource.comWhat is OpenRAN? | Opensource.com

        The OpenRAN initiative (shorthand for Open Radio Access Network) was started by the O-Ran Alliance, a worldwide community of mobile operators, vendors, and research and academic institutions. The initiative aims to define open standards between the various components of radio access networks. Interoperability between components of different manufacturers was not possible. Until now.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • The Next PlatformSambaNova Doubles Up Chips To Chase AI Foundation Models

        One of the first tenets of machine learning, which is a very precise kind of data analytics and statistical analysis, is that more data beats a better algorithm every time. A consensus is emerging in the AI community that a large foundation model with hundreds of billions to trillions of parameters is going to beat a highly tuned model on a small subset of relevant data every time.

        If this turns out to be true, it will have significant implications for AI system architecture as well as who will likely be able to afford having such ginormous foundation models in production.

        Our paraphrasing of “more data beats a better algorithm” is a riff on a quote from Peter Norvig, an education fellow at Stanford University and a researcher and engineering director at Google for more than two decades, who co-authored the seminal paper The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Data back in 2009, long before machine learning went mainstream but when big data was amassing and changing the nature of data analytics and giving great power to the hyperscalers who gathered it as part of the services they offered customers.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Security

      • Krebs On SecurityBotched Crypto Mugging Lands Three U.K. Men in Jail

        Three men in the United Kingdom were arrested this month for attempting to assault a local man and steal his virtual currencies. The incident is the latest example of how certain cybercriminal communities are increasingly turning to physical violence to settle scores and disputes.

      • HackadayWhat’s Old Is New Again: GPT-3 Prompt Injection Attack Affects AI

        What do SQL injection attacks have in common with the nuances of GPT-3 prompting? More than one might think, it turns out.

      • HackadayGaze Upon Just How Thin ATM Skimmers Are Getting

        ATM skimmers are electronic devices designed to read financial card information, and they are usually paired with a camera to capture a user’s PIN. These devices always have to hide their presence, and their design has been a bit of an arms race. Skimmers designed to be inserted into a card slot like a parasite have been around for several years, but [Brian Krebs] shows pictures of recently captured skimmer hardware only a fraction of a millimeter thick. And that’s including the battery.

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Environment

    • Finance

      • ScheerpostQueen’s Funeral Shuts Food Banks Amid Cost of Living Crisis

        Critics warn that people ‘cannot wait for help’ as millions face poverty this winter.

      • The NationWhy US Workers Are Better Situated to Confront Economic Turbulence

        Inflation has come for Europe. In 2021, inflation concerns were largely specific to the United States, but after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, energy prices skyrocketed on the continent. This winter, unless there is significant government intervention, families will struggle to heat their homes. But inflation goes beyond this: With ongoing supply-chain problems, prices have risen even if you exclude energy and food. As we enter this next dangerous phase of the post-Covid recovery, decisions made much earlier are playing an outsize role. And the United States made two choices that have left the country’s economy in a much better situation than that of Europe.

      • ScheerpostHow a City’s Unequal Infrastructure Makes Poorer Neighborhoods Hotter

        Why poor neighborhoods are often hotter than rich neighborhoods — and what to do about it.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • DeSmogConservative Party Given €£651k by Aviation Industry

        DeSmog analysis of official records showed the gifts included €£515,000 from Christopher€ Harborne, the owner of a major aviation fuel company who donated millions to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the run-up to the 2019 general election.€ 

      • Craig MurrayCool Observation of Mass Hysteria

        When the so-called “Leader of the opposition” opposes protest against a new unelected head of state, out of respect for the previous unelected head of state, you know you live under totalitarianism.

      • MeduzaParliament of Kazakhstan renames Nur-Sultan to Astana and increases presidential term to seven years — Meduza

        At a joint session of the chambers, Kazakhstan's parliament adopted the law "On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution." Interfax reported that the document was unanimously supported by all 50 senators and 99 deputies of the Mazhilis who were present at the session. The law will now be sent to the president of Kazakhstan for his signature.

      • The NationFacing a Rising Right, Liberal Politicians Need to Stand Firm
      • The Nation“MAGA Republican” Is a Distinction Without a Difference

        Joe Biden ignited a firestorm of criticism—if firestorm is the right term for the tired, predictable fainting-couch routine the right resorts to when challenged—when he spoke forcefully of the risk that “MAGA Republicans” pose to the United States. He made a valid argument but erred in clinging to the good-vs.-bad Republicans framing, which suggests the conscience of the GOP is a potential solution to the existential threat the party represents. It isn’t, and the sooner Democrats realize that the better it will be for the future of our at-risk democratic institutions.

      • TechdirtMudge’s Testimony Shows He Was Acting As An Activist, Not An Executive

        Tuesday, former Twitter cybersecurity executive Pieter “Mudge” Zatko testified in front of a congressional committee regarding his whistleblower complaint[1][2][3] against Twitter. Though I’m a techie, I thought I’d write up some comments from the business angle.

      • The NationLet’s Call DeSantis’s Migrant Stunt What It Is—Kidnapping

        My late father immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, from Haiti. Like many Haitian immigrants, he first came to New York City. Queens. He came as a teenager with his mother and two younger siblings. One day, when he had been here for around six months, he was playing soccer in Central Park. The coach of the Denver University soccer team happened to be in the park on vacation that day and saw him play. The coach offered him a scholarship to DU on the spot, or so the story goes. My dad, who barely spoke the language at that point, accepted. He thought “Denver” was somewhere in New Jersey. When he showed up at the airport some weeks later, he had no idea that he’d be traveling 2,000 miles away from his family and friends, to the mountains.

      • The NationNew Hampshire’s GOP Senate Nominee Wants to Take Away the Right to Elect Senators

        It is no secret that the Republican Party has taken a hard right turn toward antidemocratic extremism. Former President Donald Trump attempted a coup in order to stay in office, and his minions have doubled down on their embrace of radical gerrymandering, voter suppression, and schemes to eliminate nonpartisan oversight of elections.

      • The NationACME of War
      • Common DreamsOpinion | Can US Democracy Survive This Fall?

        The traditional horse race politics of Democrat versus Republican are being supplanted by a more fundamental confrontation between defenders of our democracy, flawed as it is, and those who call themselves patriots while pursuing authoritarianism. The Republican Party, in thrall to the cult of Donald Trump, is openly professing subversion of elections. Allied with armed militias, the GOP and its backers are working to bend or break the institutions of government.

      • ScheerpostMark Fiore: Dems Funding MAGA:€ What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

        In a new animation, Mark Fiore explores why Democrats funding far-right MAGA candidate seems like a huge gamble.

      • Common DreamsMarkey Leads Call for Federal Probe of DeSantis Over 'Cruel' Migrant Stunt

        Markey and Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Bill Keating, Jim McGovern, Seth Moulton, Ayanna Pressley, and Lori Trahan sent a letter to the department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) given the governor's use of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) "to cruelly relocate vulnerable immigrants from Florida to other states across the country."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Corporate Media Is Trying to Convince People Student Debt Forgiveness Is Bad

        President Joe Biden's student debt cancellation plan may not be full forgiveness, but it can still have a life-changing impact on millions of people. Almost 20 million may see their debts wiped clean, and more than 40 million are directly affected. The plan is a step forward for debtors and activists who have spent decades struggling to abolish student debt and make higher education, long promised as the path out of poverty, affordable for everyone.

      • Common DreamsPakistan Floods Made Worse By Climate Crisis and Inequality: Study

        International climate experts teamed up to conduct the study for World Weather Attribution, a project that determines how much the human-caused climate crisis is fueling individual extreme weather events.

      • Common DreamsProgressive Lawmakers Slam Pushing Senate Same-Sex Marriage Vote to After Election

        "You should be able to marry who you love. This shouldn't be controversial."

      • Common Dreams'Chickensh*t': Watchdogs Criticize Biden DOJ's New Corporate Crime Plan

        In a speech in New York Thursday attended by prosecutors as well as corporate lawyers, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco outlined a number of changes the DOJ is moving to implement in an effort to crack down on and deter corporate crime, including incentives for companies to quickly self-report misconduct, stiffer enforcement of existing laws, and a shift away from "multiple, successive non-prosecution or deferred prosecution agreements with the same company."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Trump's Latest Threat Is a Doozy and Requires Four Responses

        Yesterday, Donald Trump threatened that if he is indicted on a charge of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, there would be "problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we've never seen before," adding "I don't think the people of the United States would stand for it."

      • TruthOutLacking 10 GOP Votes, Senate Negotiators Delay Marriage Equality Vote
      • Telex (Hungary)Radio Free Europe: Orbán spoke about the point of EU membership and the disintegration of the EU at Fidesz' picnic
      • Counter PunchThe Chuckleheads Take Charge

        In fact, last I checked, Republican panjandrum Mitch “Democracy’s Gravedigger” McConnell regarded the Ukraine proxy-war iniquity as the mission of our time. Mission to hell is more like it. But he and most of his party are just as frenzied with bloodlust as your average Dem. And that’s saying something.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • Creative CommonsStatement on the Introduction of the EU Media Freedom Act

        Catherine said: “An independent, plural media is central to a healthy, functioning democratic system which in turn is the bedrock for citizens’ trust and confidence in politics and values. Creative Commons applauds the EU in its efforts to protect journalists from intimidation and to safeguard the independence of the editorial processes.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Common Dreams'Cowardly and Despicable': West Virginia Gov. Signs Abortion Ban Into Law

      Republican Gov. Jim Justice abruptly announced at a press conference that he had privately signed House Bill 302, which passed in the legislature earlier this week.

    • Common DreamsOpinion | The Rail Strike Was Averted For Now, But Employers Take Notice

      A nationwide rail strike has been averted for now. A new agreement grants railroad workers an additional paid day off and the ability to attend medical appointments without penalty. (The agreement now must be ratified by the workers.)

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • TechdirtCalifornia’s Age Appropriate Design Code Is Radical Anti-Internet Policy

      When a proposed new law is sold as “protecting kids online,” regulators and commenters often accept the sponsors’ claims uncritically (because… kids). This is unfortunate because those bills can harbor ill-advised policy ideas. The California Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC / AB2273,€ just signed by Gov. Newsom) is an example of such a bill. Despite its purported goal of helping children, the AADC delivers a “hidden” payload of several radical policy ideas that sailed through the legislature without proper scrutiny. Given the bill’s highly experimental nature, there’s a high chance it won’t work the way its supporters think–with potentially significant detrimental consequences for all of us, including the California children that the bill purports to protect.

    • TechdirtBiden Falsely Claims That Removing Section 230 And Forced Transparency Will Stop Hatred; He’s Dangerously Wrong

      On Thursday, the White House hosted the United We Stand summit, to bring together people to take action against what they refer to as “hate-fueled violence.” This seems like a good idea for a summit, at a time when so much of politics is focused on grievances and culture wars that seem to inevitably lead to bigotry and violence. It’s good to see that the White House can actually talk about some of this and take a stand, rather than cowering behind traditional platitudes.

  • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

    • TechdirtAdobe Really Wants To Help Netflix With Its Dumb Password Sharing Cash Grab

      We’ve already noted how Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is a dumb cash grab. The company already cordons users off into pay tiers based on a number of different criteria, including how many simultaneous streams a single account can already use at one time. And it just got done imposing a major price hike on most of its subscribers, with more on the way.

  • Monopolies

    • Common Dreams'This Is About Corruption': Fury as Senate Poised to Delay Antitrust Vote

      TIME reported late Thursday that key lawmakers involved in the effort to get the American Innovation and Choice Online Act over the finish line "don't expect" Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bring the bill to the floor for a vote ahead of the November elections, throwing the stalled measure's prospects into further doubt.

    • Copyrights

      • Torrent FreakLawsuit: Comcast Must Terminate Pirates & Block Top Torrent Sites

        Comcast has joined AT&T and Verizon to become the third U.S.-based ISP to be sued for copyright infringement this month. Led by Voltage Holdings, a coalition of filmmakers says that Comcast failed to meet its obligations under the DMCA to disconnect customers repeatedly flagged for copyright violations.

      • Torrent FreakPirate IPTV Subscription Seller Sentenced to Six Months in Prison

        A man in his 40s who sold subscriptions to two pirate IPTV services has been sentenced to six months in prison. The man and his partner, both from Sweden, were acquitted of money laundering charges after the court found insufficient evidence to show that income was directly linked to two named IPTV services.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Technical

      • Another Oldie but Goldie: OpenTTD

        Last week I started playing Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe. It's a game from 1994 that still receives updates, mods, music, maps, and other content. The idea is that you start out on map where cities, mines, timber mills, factories, refineries, etc are sprinkled out here and there and you run a transporting company. You have to transport cargo from source to destination; from where it is to where it's needed.

        It's hard to explain what's so fun about it, but oh my god have I been hooked. I've watched a couple of youtube videos about it, and the OpenTTD wiki has been a daily occurrence in my reading. There's always something I want to check out. It took me some trying and reading to figure out how train signals work.

      • Science

        • HackadayVintage Tube Tester Teardown

          [Mr. Carlson] has an old-style 1940-era radio tube tester, the kind that used to inhabit grocery and drug stores. It is in amazing condition and he was kind enough to tear it down for us. The tester is a Model X from the Radiotechnic Laboratory in Evanston Illinois and, like [Mr. Carlson], we were amused that one of the indicators on the device is a Ouija board-like “doubtful” reading. When it lights up, it looks amazing.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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