Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/01/2023: Mozilla Firefox 109 and Lejeune foundation Adopts GNU Health



  • GNU/Linux

    • 9to5Linux9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: January 15th, 2023

      9 This week was quite busy with lots of great announcements, starting with the ability of Linux kernel 6.1 on Ubuntu and the new wallpaper competition for the upcoming Lunar Lobster release, the end of life of the Linux 6.0 kernel series, and a new flavor of the upcoming Unity 7.7 desktop environment with Wayland support.

      On top of that, System76 teased us with a beefed-up Pangolin Linux laptop, Canonical released more kernel security updates for all supported Ubuntu releases, and MX Linux 21 users finally received the Xfce 4.18 desktop environment. Below, you can enjoy these and much more in 9to5Linux’s Linux weekly roundup for January 15th, 2023.

    • Applications

      • California18Kodi 20: Final version of the media center released

        Since the system is now very mature, the changes and innovations are more likely to be found under the hood, between the release of Kodi 19 in February 2021 the community has nearly 4,000 commits submitted to the developers. On Wiki for newcomers can be found here. alternatives? There are sure to be some. Including Plex or Jellyfin. And if you’re on the go with the Apple TV, you can also take a look at Infuse.

      • Kodi FoundationKodi 20.0 "Nexus" - Release | News | Kodi

        It's Time! We are pleased to present the latest release of Kodi, v20 "Nexus".

        With over 4,600 commits since v19 "Matrix" was released on February 19th, 2021, this has been a huge effort. Thanks go out to our team members, and everyone in our community who sent a pull request, tested and gave feedback, or provided support to users on the forum. We appreciate your contribution to making Kodi better.

      • It's FOSSKodi 20.0 "Nexus" Update Includes Support for AV1 Video and Steam Deck Controller

        Kodi is a cross-platform open-source media player developed by the Kodi Foundation that offers a plethora of features.

        Its previous major release was Kodi 19 'Matrix' which came almost two years ago.

        Now, an improved release is here, called Kodi 'Nexus'. It promises several new features and improvements.

        Let's take a look at those.

      • DebugPointKodi 20 "Nexus" Arrives After Two Years with AV1, Full HDR Support

        KODI is a free and open-source media player software application. It allows users to play and view most streaming media, such as videos, music, podcasts, and videos from the internet, as well as all standard digital media files from local and network storage media.

        A new version of Kodi arrives, code-named Kodi 20.0 "Nexus", bringing modern AV1 media streaming support and more.

      • Linux LinksBest Free and Open Source Alternatives to Autodesk MotionBuilder

        While Autodesk develops many high quality applications they are proprietary software. And the vast majority of their products are not available for Linux. This series looks at the best free and open source alternatives.

        MotionBuilder is 3D character animation software. The software is designed for virtual cinematography, motion capture, and traditional keyframe animation. Capture, edit, and play back complex animations.

        MotionBuilder is available for Linux but it’s proprietary software. We recommend the best free and open source alternatives.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • DeveverProducing HTML using string templates has always been the wrong solution

        There have been attempts to overcome these shortcomings of string templating systems via adding features like autoescaping. However, these features have the shortcoming that often the kind of escaping needed is context-dependent. For example, the escaping required in an HTML attribute value is different from the escaping required in an HTML element body, which is in itself different from the escaping required for a query string parameter value inside an URL inside an HTML attribute value. Thus, all autoescaping systems are forced to choose between two possible approaches: [...]

      • Ciprian Dorin CraciunPasswords in deployment or development scripts?

        Before laying out my question, let me put it into context. It seems that lately attackers are more successful by targeting administrators or developers than attacking the actual deployments and servers. Meanwhile some attacks social engineer employees into credential theft or reset, other attacks go after operational credentials that are used in semi-automated operations or development scripts.

        To be clear, I don't want to focus on the issue of secure online credential management (I hope we all use some form of password manager), or the security of online authentication protocols (even OAuth seems to be lacking), or the security of MFAs, not even the security of cloud API keys that are actively used by unattended running services (if the attacker has compromised the actual server he most likely already has access to all the sensitive data he wants).

        What I want to focus on is those credentials that are used mainly for semi-automated operational or development scripts. Like for example AWS secret keys used to deploy or to gain access to the underlying buckets or backups; or passwords used to access the SQL database for maintenance; or other such secrets that are used outside the browser or specialized applications like SSH.

        Also, let's assume we are speaking in the context of a small company with at most 10 employees. Large companies probably have 10 people on the security team tasked only with this topic, thus perhaps this problem is solved in more complex ways.

      • TuMFatigInstalling Slackware Linux from SSH

        Using a french keyboard, it can be complicated having to type in US layout through the VNC connections of Cloud VM providers or a virtualisation software console.

        Here’re a couple of shell commands that permit installing Slackware Linux using the SSH daemon that ships on the installer image.

      • OpenSource.comRecover from an unsuccessful git rebase with the git reflog command

        The git rebase command allows you to adjust the history of your Git repository. It's a useful feature, but of course, mistakes can be made. As is usually the case with Git, you can repair your error and restore your repository to a former state. To recover from an unsuccessful rebase, use the git reflog command.

      • OpenSource.comHow to use the open source MQTT plug-in in JMeter

        In a previous article, I described how JMeter has built-in support for HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, and other common protocols and has a plug-in extension mechanism.

        Through plug-ins, you can support much more than just what's built-in, including MQTT.

        MQTT is a mainstream protocol in the IoT world. Although it is not a protocol type that comes with JMeter, it is extremely common in IoT testing scenarios. In order to support the load testing of the MQTT protocol, EMQ developed a JMeter-based open source testing plug-in for the MQTT protocol.

        This article introduces how to use the MQTT plug-in in JMeter.

      • Net2How to quickly send a text from Ubuntu to Android using a three-line Bash script

        Transferring text from Ubuntu to Android using a Bash script is a powerful and efficient way to automate the process of transferring text between devices. Bash scripts are a powerful tool that can be used to automate repetitive tasks, and can be used to create simple and complex programs.

      • Red Hat Official5 tips for using oc to work faster in Kubernetes | Enable Sysadmin

        Swap the kubectl command for OpenShift's oc tool to speed up daily tasks and testing in Kubernetes.

      • Red HatHow to prevent computer overload with remote kind clusters | Red Hat Developer

        Is your computer is getting tired from running multiple kind clusters? Learn how to run remote clusters as if they were local.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install NVIDIA Drivers on Rocky Linux EL9 or EL8 - LinuxCapable

        Nvidia graphics drivers allow Linux users to enjoy an unparalleled experience running graphical applications and games on their systems. For instance, they provide a stable environment for Nvidia GPUs and keep up with the necessary changes by including support for the newest releases of OpenGL and CUDA. To ensure Linux users can take full advantage of what’s available, this guide walks you through installing such drivers on Rocky Linux 9 or Rocky Linux 8. Whether you’re a gamer who needs better frame rates or a professional designer who relies on computing power, having up-to-date Nvidia drivers will always give you the best experience.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Linux Kernel Headers on Rocky Linux EL9 or EL8 - LinuxCapable

        If you’re working on a Rocky Linux system, you may need to install missing Linux kernel headers to build and install specific software. This guide demonstrates installing the missing kernel headers on Rocky Linux 9 and Rocky Linux 8 distributions.

      • Check Historical and Statistical Uptime of Linux

        As a system administrator, you may want to look for various information on your workstation or server system, such as how long the system has been running.

        This way, you can keep track of the system resources and optimize based on your usage. Unfortunately, the uptime command used to get this information only returns information for the current session.

        Surprisingly, you have an external tuptime command-line tool that can offer you historical and statistical uptime information for your Linux system.

    • Games

      • GamingOnLinuxProton Experimental fixes Splinter Cell, Final Fantasy XIV Online and Asian text

        Valve released a fresh build of Proton Experimental on January 13th which€ include a few notable improvements across various games for Steam Deck and Linux desktop.

      • Ubuntu Pit7 Best Story Games for Android with Thrill and Plots

        Story-based games are always people’s favorite gaming genre as they offer a captivating and immersive gaming experience that keeps players engaged for hours. These games combine engaging storylines with challenging gameplay and engaging characters, that’s just perfect for players who love a good narrative gaming story. You are probably on the right track if you are interested in learning about the best story games for Android. Today, we’ll talk about exactly this genre so that you can be introduced to some exciting games to try.

      • HackadayInside The Atari 2600

        The Atari 2600 was an extremely popular yet very simple game console back in the 1970s. They sold, apparently, over 30 million of them, and, of course, these things broke. We’d get calls from friends and — remember, back then normal people weren’t computer savvy — nine times out of ten, we’d ask them to swap the controllers to show them it was a bad controller, and problem solved. But if you did have to open one up, it was surprising how little there was inside, as [Steve] notes in his recent teardown.

      • HackadayStadia Says Goodbye With Bluetooth And Crap Game

        In just a few days time, Google’s Stadia game streaming service will finally shut down for good. But not for any technical reason, mind you. Microsoft has managed to demonstrate that streaming modern games over home and even mobile Internet connections is viable with their immensely popular Game Pass Ultimate service, and NVIDIA is making similar inroads with GeForce Now. No, like so many of Google’s failed experiments, they’ve simply decided they don’t want to play anymore and are taking their proverbial ball home back with them.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • CyberprawnFreeBSD package update breaks KDE desktop effects

          Logging out and back in again, and subsequent reboots from this point, and everything seemed fine. However, I noticed the shadows around windows were no longer present. I had some subtle wobbly windows effects turned on before as well, and these types of effects have stopped as well.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • New Releases

      • NeowinMX Linux 21.3 "Wildflower" released: Debian 11.6 base, Xfce 4.18, improved hardware support - Neowin

        MX Linux 21.3 “Wildflower” has been released over the weekend bringing bug fixes, kernel, and application updates. Notably, MX Linux is now based on the latest Debian 11.6 base and comes with Xfce 4.18 which was released in December. As a point release, MX-21 users needn’t bother reinstalling MX Linux to get this update, instead, you can just apply all the available updates.

        For those just hearing about MX Linux, it’s rated first on Distrowatch’s page hit rankings, meaning it’s one of the most looked-into distros by Linux users. It offers Xfce, KDE, and Fluxbox editions and aims to offer a good feature set while not bogging the computer’s resources down. Its Debian base also makes it a very stable choice.

    • BSD

      • UndeadlyTesting wanted: execute-only on amd64

        On the tech@ mailing list, Theo de Raadt (deraadt@) has issued a request for testing of patch(es) for execute-only (xonly) binaries on amd64. The message is quite long, but well worth reading in its entirety for those interested. Selected highlights include: [...]

    • Fedora / Red Hat / IBM

      • Fedora MagazineBuild a kiosk with Fedora Silverblue - Fedora Magazine

        If you’ve had the occasion to visit a museum, you might have used a touchscreen monitor with useful information and insights of the items on display. Or if you’ve attended a public library, you might have used a workstation with a browser or a software aimed to the consultation of the book’s catalog. Or even in public places like train stations or public squares, you might have spotted big screens or televisions where you can see advertisement videos, or interacted with them in order to obtain information and services. These devices are kiosks. They are locked down environments, generally running a full screen application.

        Under the hood there is usually a small PC (maybe a fan-less device or a so called industrial PC, capable of staying powered on without issues for long periods of time) or perhaps a Raspberry Pi. Many times they are powered by Linux!

      • Terence EdenHOWTO: Fix Calibre's broken window borders in Flatpak / Wayland

        If you have a large collection of eBooks, you probably use Calibre - it's simply the best bit of cross-platform software for managing your library. It runs rock-solid on Linux.

      • TalospaceIn Case You Thought AIX Had A Future

        In case you thought IBM AIX had a future, IBM's legacy proprietary Unix, IBM apparently doesn't. The Register reported Friday that IBM has moved the entire AIX development group to IBM India, apparently their Bangalore office, and placing 80 US-based developers into "redeployment." That's a fairly craven way of replacing layoffs with musical chairs, requiring the displaced developers to either find a new position within the company (possibly relocating as well) within some unspecified period, or retire. About a third of IBM's global staff is on the Indian subcontinent. IBM didn't publicly announce this move and while it's undoubtedly good news for IBM India it seems bad news for AIX's prospects: the technologies IBM thinks are up and coming IBM tends to spend money on, and so an obvious cost-cutting move suggests IBM doesn't think AIX is one of those things.

      • Enterprisers ProjectSRE in 2023: 5 exciting predictions

        SRE (site reliability engineering) is a field defined by its constant evolution – from Google’s in-house secret recipe to the hottest new practice for the biggest enterprises to a diverse and holistic mentality practiced by companies of all sizes.

        In our State of SRE survey, we predicted that the skillsets and responsibilities of people in the SRE position would become more diverse in 2022. Indeed, we’ve seen SREs fill more roles beyond development and operations, with some SREs focusing entirely on process, strategy, or culture. This expansion of SRE has led to an even more significant potential for what the field can accomplish. We’re excited to speculate on what 2023 will bring for SRE.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • UbuntuCloud optimisation: cut your 2023 cloud spending by two-thirds

        Cloud optimisation enables organisations to significantly lower their cloud spending while ensuring the desired performance and necessary compliance. It’s a process that every business should adopt when choosing cloud infrastructure as a foundation for their applications. It’s been proven that applying cloud optimisation best practices leads to a total cost of ownership (TCO) reduction of two-thirds under certain circumstances.€ 

        But let’s step back for a second. How exactly does cloud optimisation help you avoid high costs? What exactly does it involve? And finally, why should you care about your cloud spending at all? These are all critical questions. Questions that deserve good answers. Let’s answer them as best as we can.

        “Canonical’s solution was a third of the price of the other proposals we’d received. The solution is also proving to be highly cost-effective, both from CAPEX and OPEX perspectives.”

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX SoftwareAetina unveils NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano and Orin NX edge embedded systems

        The enclosure support wall mounting, but Aetina also offers a DIN rail mounting kit upon request. All four models of the embedded system look to be identical with just different NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX or Orin Nano modules. There’s no mention of the OS used, but we can safely assume the embedded computer will run Ubuntu 20.04-based NVIDIA JetPack, and the company also tells us their AIE platforms support their EdgeEye platform for real-time remote monitoring of edge devices.

        Aetina says the Jetson Orin NX-based systems should become available in February 2023, while the Jetson Orin Nano embedded computers will be available in March. More details may be found on the product page, and the press release also includes additional information about other larger Jetson Orin Nano and Orin NX systems with an extra M.2 B-Key for LTE/5G function expansion.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Linux GizmosVecow introduces embedded platform based on Raptor Lake-S processors

        This month, Vecow introduced the ECX-3000 which is a Workstation-grade fanless embedded system compatible with 13th/12th Gen Intel processors and Intel 600 Series Chipset. This rugged embedded system is equipped with up to 8x 2.5GbE LAN ports with 4x PoE, 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi6 and extensive storage support.

      • Digi-key ElectronicsHow to Crack a Safe's Combination with a Robotic Auto Dialer - Part 1

        The first thing I did was research to see what is out there. I wanted to know what other ‎people have tried or if there are commercially available products that can do this sort of ‎thing. I came across a video on the Lock Picking Lawyer YouTube channel. He ‎demonstrated a safe combination auto dialer that appeared to be a commercial product, ‎but if you look closely at the chuck, you’ll see some 3D-printed parts. I did some ‎digging and found a similar device with a price tag of $6k for sale! I really liked the ‎simplicity of this design but, Levy isn’t going to fork over that kind of cash to open his ‎safe. My plan is to replicate the design and features of this commercial product. I will ‎also publish the CAD, code, and other design files as open source if others want to ‎build their own and improve on my prototype.

      • CNX Software$4 Sipeed M0S Dock IoT development board features BL616 WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee RISC-V microcontroller - CNX Software

        As expected, Sipeed has now launched the Sipeed M0S IoT module based on Bouffalo Lab BL616 RISC-V microcontroller with 2.4 GHz WiFi 6, BLE 5.2, and Zigbee connectivity along with the “Sipeed M0S Dock” development board.

        The M0S is a tiny module (11×10 mm) with a 320 MHz wireless MCU, a ceramic antenna, and castellated holes for I/Os, and the Sipeed M0S Dock places the module on an easy-to-use board with a USB Type-C port, a BOOT button, and a 12-pin 2.54mm pitch header.

      • HackadayDesigning Aesthetically-Pleasing PCBs

        We’ve seen our share of custom PCBs here on Hackaday, but they aren’t always pretty. If you want to bring your PCB aesthetics up a notch, [Ian Dunn] has put together a guide for those wanting to get into PCB art.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Zach FlowerGoodbye, Gopher

      I have really enjoyed experimenting with the gopher protocol—and bending Jekyll to my will to actually serve up my phlog—but in the move to managed hosting for my personal website, gopher simply didn't make the cut. If Cloudflare ever decides to support non-HTTP protocols in their Pages product, then I may come back to it some day. But for now... it's time to say farewell.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • 9to5LinuxMozilla Firefox 109 Is Available for Download with New Unified Extensions Button

          As I reported during the beta stage, Mozilla Firefox 109 implements a new Unified Extensions button in the toolbar that acts as a container for all your installed (and enabled) add-ons, making your toolbar tidier and easier to manage add-ons from one place.

          All the add-ons that are listed in the new Unified Extensions button will have a settings icon next to them so you can more easily access their options, pin them on the toolbar, remove or report them, as well as to manage them in the built-in Add-Ons Manager.

    • GNU Projects

    • Programming/Development

      • Python

        • Linux FoundationHow a UseR! 2014 Experience Led to the Development of a 1,700-member R Community in Budapest - R Consortium

          The trend that I particularly see over the next years is the increasing integration of programming languages, such as the introduction of C++ in R, or using Java or Python through R for the past years, and integrating packages from other languages (such as Rust) in R rather than writing everything in R.

        • RlangPython for R users workshop

          Description: R users sometimes hear about the fabulous advantages of Python for advanced data science and modelling. While these claims are regularly exaggerated, it never hurts to be able to use more tools. This workshop will teach you to use Python together with R in the same project. That way, you can keep using the data science tool chain you already know and like in R (e.g., data processing and plotting), while employing tools from the Python world where needed, for example, for modelling. The workshop will include unsupervised machine learning with scikit-learn and BERTopic. We use the excellent reticulate package in a quarto+RStudio workflow to accomplish this, yet the knowledge is transferable to other tools.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • Ruben SchadeThe mysterious textInput RSS field

        I would know, because I re-implemented it on my own feed here recently, and have had a few emails from people claiming it broke their readers! In the case of a few parsers, the title for the entire channel was overwritten with the title of that textInput block, suggesting they’re incorrectly parsing any title in a channel header.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • HackadayCustom Thermostat PCB Connects Boiler To Home Assistant

        Thanks to Home Assistant, automating the various systems that run your home is easier than ever. But you still need to make a connection between those systems and your Home Assistant setup, which can be tricky if the manufacturer didn’t have this use case in mind. When [Simon] wanted to automate his home heating system, he discovered that most Home Assistant-enabled thermostats that he could find didn’t support his two separate heating zones connected to a single boiler. The easiest solution turned out to be to design his own.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Security

      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

        • Ruben SchadeExploiting taxi queue systems for profit

          That last action was their undoing. This is what gets me about these sorts of attacks: they’re always brought down by greed. Once you tell enough people about a scheme, word of it will make its way to the top. They would have earned less keeping the number of cabbies who knew about it to a minimum, but they may have continued to get away with it for years.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Defence/Aggression

      • The Telegraph UKMan arrested on suspicion of terror offences after uranium found at Heathrow

        He was questioned under section nine of the Terrorism Act 2006, which created an offence “of making or possessing a radioactive device or possessing radioactive material with the intention of using it” in the commission or preparation of an act of terrorism.

        The use of the section is incredibly rare.

      • Defence Web‘Unprecedented’ insecurity in West Africa and the Sahel, UN Security Council hears

        Operations by armed groups, violent extremists and criminal networks forced the closure of more than 10 000 schools, with millions of children affected, and some 7 000 health centres.

        These non-state groups are fighting among themselves for supremacy and control of resources, she said, which is pushing States to the margin and causing untold misery to millions who have fled elsewhere to safety.

      • Telex (Hungary)Hungarian court prevents state from deporting Russian opposition activist
      • Counter PunchHow to Defeat an Army

        War is a language of lies. Cold and callous, it emanates from dull, technocratic minds, draining life of color. It is an institutional offense to the human spirit. The Pentagon speaks the language of war. The President and the Congress speak the language of war. Corporations speak the language of war. They sap us of outrage and courage and the appreciation of beauty. They commit a carnage of the soul.

        Take for example the recent report issued by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) entitled “The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan.” This “Think Tank” conducted 24 iterations of wargames whereby China invades Taiwan. The U.S. and its allies respond. The result each time: No one wins. Not really.

      • Counter PunchWar is as Popular as Cherry and Apple Pie

        Small bands of protesters, or no antiwar protesters are like poison to a war resister. When the recent€ New York Times€ obituary of Dr. Willard Gaylin€ appeared, there was absolutely no mention of his landmark work (War Resisters in Prison, 1970) with war resisters during the Vietnam War. Singer-songwriters who wrote anthems to antiwar protest go silent about today’s wars or nearly choke on€ questions about the meaning of an old song measured against today’s endless wars. Banners hung from telephone polls in communities depicting soldiers from past wars also tell part of the story of militarism. Where are the banners hoisted to teachers, social workers, and the average Jane or Joe trying to survive through hard work? The death threats against protesters who assembled in front of the federal building in Providence, Rhode Island at the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001 are yet another reminder, as were the nightly segments on local news programs about soldiers who had died since the beginning of that war. Tributes to those who died in war is not negative, but measured against power structures in the US that refused to accept the Taliban’s offer to turn Bin Laden over to the US, casts the entire war in a different light. The composition of the forces that answered the 2001 attacks was the subject of much debate regarding its socio-economic nature. No historical context for the US role in Afghanistan was ever€ presented in the mass media.

        The disappearance of antiwar protest during Barack Obama’s so-called troop surge in Afghanistan is yet another of the endless reminders of unbridled militarism. The list is endless, but points to the mass acceptance of war and the preparations for war, a phenomenon that Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke eloquently about in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech at Riverside Church in 1967. Recall what the€ late historian Howard Zinn said about Barack Obama and militarism:€ “I wish President Obama would listen carefully to Martin Luther King.”€ It is all familiar and war has become normalized with the trillion dollar outlays for war in the Biden administration and the disappearance of criticisms of war in the mass media about the war in Ukraine.

      • Counter PunchHow Safe Can We Really Be?

        It was the guacamole’s fault!

        That’s the guy’s defense, anyway — that plus his right to carry four handguns, an AR-15 and a 12-guage shotgun into a supermarket in Atlanta. Oh yeah, and he was wearing body armor. This was in March 2021, barely a week after an actual mass shooting at several massage parlors in Atlanta, in which eight people were killed. And it was only two days after a mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, where 10 people were killed.

      • Counter PunchBeyond Vietnam and Into Today

        A year to the day before his assassination, Martin Luther King publicly and decisively denounced not only the US war in Vietnam but the militarism that enabled the war and undermined American society. King’s€ Beyond Vietnam€ sermon, delivered on April 4, 1967, at New York’s Riverside Church, was as predictive as it was powerful and prophetic. Its meaning and value exist today as much as they did nearly 55 years ago.

        King rightfully tied together the overarching and commanding militarism of the US with the economic, societal and cultural demons plaguing America. Much as President Dwight Eisenhower had done in his€ farewell€ address six years earlier, King set about to make clear the insidious nature of the reality of that militarism through not only overseas warfare and a controlling military-industrial complex but the demeaning and diminishing effects it had on the American people. King understood and communicated the war in Vietnam as “a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” The shameful and hideous deaths it brought overseas were the substance of America’s wreckage. He summarized his purposes in opposing the war in Vietnam as an attempt to save America’s soul.

      • Scheerpost[Repost] The Liberal Contempt for Martin Luther King’s Final Year

        The MLK tributes are sure to pour on the anniversary of the civil rights hero's death, but don't expect them to acknowledge his anti-militarist ideals.

      • Counter PunchHow Many Ukrainian Refugees Will Return Home?

        Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has created the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. While millions of Ukrainian refugees have since returned home, almost 2.9 million moved to Russia, according to October 2022 figures, and roughly 7.9 million were registered across Europe between February and December 27, 2022. Besides Russia, Poland (1.5 million), Germany (1 million), and the Czech Republic (474,731) have welcomed the largest numbers of Ukrainian refugees, while Italy, Spain, France, Romania, and the UK have also accepted more than 100,000 each.

        There is little reason to suggest many Ukrainian refugees will return home soon. A June survey by polling group Rating, for example, found that 24 percent of Ukrainian refugees wanted to return but were waiting for a certain time, 48 percent said they would return after the end of the war, and 8 percent said they would not go back to Ukraine. A German government-backed survey from December 2022, meanwhile, found that around 37 percent of Ukrainian refugees wanted to settle in the country permanently or at least for the next few years.

      • Counter PunchWho Were the Afghans Harry Killed?

        The furore over Prince Harry’s much-criticised remarks about his role as a helicopter pilot in the war in Afghanistan in 2012 reveals more about his critics than they do about him. Much of the abuse is hysterical or attention-grabbing, but it stems also from British amnesia about the failed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

        In his book, Harry writes that “Afghanistan was a war of mistakes, a war of enormous collateral damage – thousands of innocents killed and maimed and that always haunted us”’

      • MeduzaPutin on Wagner Group forces capturing Soledar: ‘I hope our fighters make us happy a few more times’ — Meduza

        Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considers the dynamics that have developed in the combat zone in Ukraine to be “positive,” according to an interview the president gave to journalist Pavel Zarubin, for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on network Russia 1. Putin’s words were a response to Zarubin’s observation that “there’s news from Soledar.”

      • MeduzaExplosion on a Belgorod base A sergeant grabbed a hand grenade, allegedly to gain authority among draftees — Meduza

        Three people have been killed and 16 wounded, according to the latest tally, by ammunition detonating at a Russian base at the Tonenkoye farm, in the Korochansky district of the Belgorod region. Interfax reports, citing emergency services, that an additional eight people are missing.

      • MeduzaRussia and Belarus begin joint air force drills — Meduza

        Russian and Belarusian air force units have begun joint exercises on Belarus’s territory, the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

    • Environment

      • Energy/Transportation

        • Positech GamesSolar farm battery storage business case calculations

          First things first, I’ll explain why any of this would make any sense. You cannot just rent a field, fill it with solar panels (assuming the farmer lets you, and planning permission is granted), and make a pile of money. Its not that simple. (And trust me: none of that is simple). The main problem you face is the grid connection. Basically solar farms go in fields, so we are already limited to relatively rural locations. This means that the land is large enough, and also its not going to upset too many people. Our site is surrounded by fields and hills and generally…nothing, so there were zero objections. This is all good news.

        • TruthOutNew York Climate Groups Sue Over New Energy-Guzzling Crypto Mining Operation
        • MeduzaRussia and Iran discussing creation of joint stablecoin backed by gold — Meduza

          Alexander Brazhnikov, executive director of the Russian Association of Cryptoindustry and Blockchain told Vedomosti that the Central Bank of Iran is considering the creation of a stablecoin with the Russian Federation as a means of payment in foreign trade transactions.

    • Finance

      • Counter PunchHow Private Equity Amplifies the Abuse of Predatory Lending
      • Counter PunchWorld Economic Forum Plutocrats Suffer Vertigo on Contemporary Capitalism’s Roller-Coaster

        Part 1: The context of extreme financial devaluations

        The World Economic Forum is meeting in Davos this week. The gathering of many of the wealthiest corporate elites and state leaders compels consideration of directions global capitalist chaos may take us in 2023. What lessons did we learn from the devaluation of so many economic assets – including the lead plutocrats’ own wealth – in 2022, amidst so much geopolitical, environmental and socio-economic suffering?

      • Creative CommonsBringing Better Sharing to Davos

        I’m fortunate to be able to attend this week of public programming, alongside Brigitte Vézina, CC’s Director of Policy and Open Culture. We recognize the privilege of representing CC, and look forward to a week of learning, listening, and partnership. While we are in Davos, CC’s CEO Catherine Stihler is participating in this year’s launch event of the Morgridge Acceleration Program, for which she is one of twelve selected mentors.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Craig MurrayTwitter Ban

        UPDATE It is astonishing how many people are incapable of comprehending the following phrase from the article below...

      • ScheerpostChris Hedges: Russell Banks, John Brown and the American Soul

        There are few contemporary novelists who have explored the dark undercurrents of American society with more insight and pathos than Russell Banks, who died earlier this month.

      • Seattle TimesFacebook, Microsoft pulling out of more Seattle-area offices

        The same day, Redmond-based Microsoft confirmed reports that it won’t renew its lease at the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue when that lease ends in June 2024.

        The announcements come as the continued popularity of remote work and a tech slowdown with massive layoffs have both cut into demand for office space in Seattle and elsewhere.

      • Business StandardMeta, Microsoft vacate office buildings in US over WFH and layoffs

        As the tech sector goes through ‘soft market’ changes in the office leasing space, major companies such as Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft are separately vacating their buildings in Seattle and Bellevue in Washington, according to the Seattle Times.

        A soft market is a phase in the economic cycle characterised by more sellers than buyers and low prices.

      • NDTVMeta, Microsoft Vacate Offices In US Over WFH, Massive Layoffs: Report

        The Seattle Times said on the same day, Redmond-based Microsoft confirmed reports that it won't renew its lease at the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue when that lease ends in June 2024.

      • India TimesMeta, Microsoft vacating offices in Seattle amid remote work, layoffs

        The ongoing work-from-home and layoffs have cut into demand for office space in Seattle and other tech cities in the US.

      • Hindustan TimesWhy Meta and Microsoft are vacating office buildings in Seattle?

        According to the report, the announcements by the two tech giants has brought more bad news to the office market in Seattle which is already struggling due to sluggish return of remote office workers. In downtown Seattle, the total office vacancy now stands at a low 25 per cent. The non-vacant offices are half empty because of remote work. Since last summer, the area has only seen 40 per cent of the workers present before the pandemic, a cellphone location data from Placer.ai by the Downtown Seattle Association stated.

      • Rolling StoneFar-Right Superstars Are Failing on Rumble. Who’s Winning?

        To quickly recap the site’s journey from unknown startup to breakout among “alt-tech” apps: Rumble debuted in 2013, with founder and CEO Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian tech entrepreneur, envisioning it as a refuge for small-time creators left in the dust as YouTube prioritized its most successful influencers. For about seven years the site hosted innocuous viral fodder and aggregated news. Today, the landing page maintains sections for both cute animal videos and conventional broadcast reports, though barely anyone watches the clips shared from One America News Network, Newsmax, and Breitbart, let alone Reuters. Viewers are more drawn to stuff like conservative comedian Jeff Ahern making fat jokes about lingerie models in a segment titled “How Victoria’s Secret’s Push To Become Woke Made It A Joke.”

      • RFERLUkrainian Parliament Passes Bill To Ban Russian Music In Move To Protect Culture

        The Ukrainian parliament on June 19 passed a bill to ban Russian-language music as lawmakers pushed through a number of bills aimed at protecting Ukrainian culture and the country’s information space from Russian influence.

      • Counter PunchThey Never Tire of Abusing Dr. King

        From the Dept. of Horrible Chutzpah

        During the fight over the new House Speaker election, Congress member Chip Roy (R-TX), who voted against the anti-lynching act last March, had the immoral temerity to quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He did so as he explained how he was positioning himself to the hardliner right of rightwing Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

      • Counter PunchThis MLK Day, Save the Fake Love

        I love MLK Day but hate when politicians parrot Dr. King’s prose while doing their damnest to keep his dream unrealized. His family knows and deals with this best.

        Over the holiday break, I rewatched the ’60 Minutes’ interview with Coretta Scott King from Christmas Eve 1968. Mrs. King opened her home to Mike Wallace and the world only eight months after her husband’s assassination. She inspired millions, using her grief to grow the movement by letting people mourn with her.

      • ScheerpostWhy America Might Want to Lower Its Expectations

        Rebecca Gordon reminds us that this country does remain all too exceptional, even if in ways that couldn’t be more unnerving.

      • Meduza‘Your cowardly silence will end with these same terrorists coming for you.’ Zelensky addresses Russians after Dnipro missile strike. — Meduza

        In his daily video address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky switched to Russian to speak to Russian citizens about the missile strike that destroyed a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday.

      • MeduzaRussian Defense Ministry says missile strike that destroyed a Dnipro residential building ‘reached its target’ — Meduza

        During its daily briefing, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Russian troops hit Ukrainian military command and energy targets during a massive strike on the country on January 14.

      • MeduzaMMA fighter Georgiy Gagloev found dead in a train car — Meduza

        Mixed martial arts fighter Georgiy Gagloev, from Beslan in the North Caucasus, was found dead in a train en route from Vladikavkaz to Moscow. TASS reports, citing sources from the sports world, that Gagloev was found during a stop in Rostov-on-Don.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

        • CS MonitorAn African defense against dishonesty

          One country gaining notice for how it is strengthening its digital defenses is Ghana. It is one of a handful of African countries with a national cybersecurity strategy able to track and respond to digital threats, including disinformation. The West African country jumped 40 places in the Global Cybersecurity Index in just three years, ahead of Ireland and New Zealand.

          The strength of Ghana’s approach is a commitment to civic unity and freedom of expression – democratic principles that face rigorous challenges around the world as countries come to grips with the free flow of information via social media. In Ghana, cybersecurity policy is under civilian leadership and oversight. Businesses and the banking sector participate in monitoring and responding to threats. Judges and prosecutors have been specially trained to assess digital evidence.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • ABCCatholic priest burned alive in Nigeria's hard-hit north

        Nigerian authorities are struggling to stem rising violence in the north and central regions where armed groups target rural communities, killing thousands and abducting people to ransom. Security forces are often outnumbered and outgunned and suspects are seldom detained, residents said.

        The attacks sometimes target religious figures such as clerics. In July last year, Rev. John Mark Chietnum was killed after he was kidnapped in the northwestern Kaduna state.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • IFJUkraine: IFJ calls on the government to revise new media law

        President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a controversial bill that expands the government's power to control the media, endangering press freedom and media pluralism in the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Ukrainian affiliates, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), in calling on the government to revise the new legislation and to start a broad inclusive dialogue with journalists’ unions and the media sector.

      • NewsweekZelensky Accused of Censorship Over Ukraine Media Law

        The law expands the authority of Ukraine's state broadcasting council, meaning that it will be able to regulate all media in Ukraine. Under previous legislation, enacted in 2019 under the Zelensky government, the council has the power to issue licenses, conduct inspections, and impose sanctions on television and radio companies, Ukra News reported.

      • WSWSZelensky government expands media censorship

        Both the European Federation of Journalists and the€ Committee to Protect Journalists have opposed the measure, and in September Ukraine’s own National Union of Journalists called the law “the biggest threat to press freedom in (Ukraine’s) independent history.”

        Earlier in July, the European Federation of Journalists denounced the law, writing that “it proposes to give arbitrary and disproportionate regulatory powers to the national regulator, the National Council of Broadcasting, which would have authority not only over audiovisual media, but also over print and digital media.”

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

      • Copyrights

        • Torrent FreakPikaShow: Police Arrest Student After Free Piracy App Drew Global Attention

          Pirate streaming app PikaShow made powerful enemies in 2022, including Disney, Star India, and the MPA. PikaShow's response was to sponsor the Afghan national cricket team and advertise itself on broadcast TV. According to police in India, a college student was arrested last week on suspicion of monetizing pirated TV streams via the PikaShow app.

        • Torrent FreakProminent Pirate Sites Mysteriously Vanish from Bing's Search Results

          Pirate sites are increasingly hard to find in search engines. Google has taken a series of steps to demote or remove problematic domains and it doesn't appear to be alone. Several of the most visited pirate sites have virtually no results in Bing either. According to the search engine, this isn't the result of an 'editorial decision'.

  • Gemini* and Gopher


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC