09.20.21

Links 20/9/2021: Linux 5.15 RC2 and pgAdmin 4 5.7 Released

Posted in News Roundup at 12:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • Linux Action News 207

        Desktop Linux graphics are about to get a significant investment, Mozilla and Canonical work together on a Firefox Snap, and some key new insights into the Linux port to Apple’s M1.

    • Kernel Space

      • Linux 5.15-rc2
        So I've spent a fair amount of this week trying to sort out all the
odd warnings, and I want to particularly thank Guenter Roeck for his
work on tracking where the build failures due to -Werror come from.

Is it done? No. But on the whole I'm feeling fairly good about this
all, even if it has meant that I've been looking at some really odd
and grotty code. Who knew I'd still worry about some odd EISA driver
on alpha, after all these years? A slight change of pace ;)

The most annoying thing is probably the "fix one odd corner case,
three others rear their ugly heads". But I remain convinced that it's
all for a good cause, and that we really do want to have a clean build
even for the crazy odd cases.

We'll get there.

Anyway, I hope this release will turn more normal soon - but the rc2
week tends to be fairly quiet for me, so the fact that I then ended up
looking at reports of odd warnings-turned-errors this week wasn't too
bad.

There's obviously other fixes in here too, only a small subset of the
shortlog below is due to the warning fixes, even if that's what I've
personally been most involved with.

Go test, and keep the reports coming,

                Linus
      • [GIT pull] locking/urgent for v5.15-rc2
      • Linux 5.15-rc2 Released With Many Fixes, Addressing Issues Raised By “-Werror”

        Linux 5.15-rc2 is now available as the latest weekly release candidate for this next version of the Linux kernel. Linux 5.15 in turn should be out as stable around the start of November.

        Being just one week past the end of the merge window, Linux 5.15-rc2 has seen many fixes land in the past week. Among the post-merge-window items catching my eye this week were bumping the GCC version requirement for the baseline compiler version supported, Linux 5.15 now being slightly less broken for the DEC Alpha “Jensen” system, and an important fix for the KSMBD in-kernel SMB3 file server.

      • -Werror pain persists as Linus Torvalds issues Linux 5.15rc2 [Ed: Simon Sharwood continues to troll Torvalds. Compare the promotional language used to promote Microsoft vapourware like Vista Service Pack ’11′ and all those negative headlines about Linux.]

        Linus Torvalds has revealed that winding back the decision to default to -Werror – and therefore make all warnings into errors – has made for another messy week of work on the Linux kernel.

        “So I’ve spent a fair amount of this week trying to sort out all the odd warnings, and I want to particularly thank Guenter Roeck for his work on tracking where the build failures due to -Werror come from,” Torvalds wrote in his weekly missive about the state of kernel development.

        “Is it done?” he asked rhetorically. “No. But on the whole I’m feeling fairly good about this all, even if it has meant that I’ve been looking at some really odd and grotty code. Who knew I’d still worry about some odd EISA driver on alpha, after all these years? A slight change of pace ;)”

      • Graphics Stack

        • RadeonSI Gallium3D driver Further Optimized For Mesa3D Version 21.3

          Mesa3D, the open-source OpenGL driver for emulation of software and acceleration of hardware for recent graphics cards, as well as primarily used in Linux, has recently merged the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver, further optimizing the driver to be released during the next quarter.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Install Linux Malware Detect (Maldet) on Fedora 34 – LinuxCapable

        Linux Malware Detect (LMD), also known as Maldet, is a malware scanner for Linux released under the GNU GPLv2 license. Maldet is quite popular amongst sysadmins and website devs due to its focus on the detection of PHP backdoors, dark mailers, and many other malicious files that can be uploaded on a compromised website using threat data from network edge intrusion detection systems to extract malware that is actively being used in attacks and generates signatures for detection.

      • How to Install Podman on Debian 11

        Developed by RedHat, Podman is a free and open-source daemonless container engine designed to be a drop-in replacement for the popular Docker runtime engine. Just like Docker, it makes it easy to build, run, deploy and share applications using container images and OCI containers ( Open Container Initiative ). Podman uses user and network namespaces and In comparison to Docker, Podman is considered more isolated and secure. Most commands in Docker will work in Podman. and so if you are familiar with running Docker commands, using podman will be such a breeze.

      • How to Install ArangoDB on Ubuntu Linux

        Every good application requires a database management system to match. As we know there are many of them and in many different categories. Today we will talk about how to install ArangoDB on Linux.
        In a nutshell, ArangoDB is an open-source NoSQL database system, and it is easily administered via the integrated web interface or the command-line interface.

      • How to Install Java 17 LTS (JDK 17) on Ubuntu 20.04 – LinuxCapable

        Java is a general-purpose, class-based, object-oriented multipurpose programming language that is popular due to the design of having lesser implementation dependencies, meaning that the compiled Java code can be run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java is also fast, secure, and reliable, therefore. It is widely used for developing Java applications in laptops, data centers, game consoles, scientific supercomputers, cell phones, etc.

        JDK 17 (JDK 17) has brought forward new language enhancements, updates to the libraries, support for new Apple computers, removals and deprecations of legacy features, and work to ensure Java code written today will continue working without change in future JDK versions.

        In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install the latest Java 17 (JDK 17) on Ubuntu 20.04.

    • Distributions

      • Reviews

        • Review: Obarun 2021.07.26

          The distribution is available in two flavours, Minimal and with JWM as the default window manager. The Minimal edition is an 837MB download while the JWM edition is 1.3GB in size. I chose to download the JWM edition for x86_64 computers.

          Booting from the provided ISO brings up a menu offering to start the distribution in Live, Persistent, or Run From RAM modes. This gives us some flexibility in how we wish to use the live media. I chose to take the default, plain live mode. The live session boots to a text console where we are shown login credentials for both the root user and a regular user account. Signing in as the regular user, oblive, automatically launches a graphical environment.

          The JWM-powered desktop places a panel along the bottom of the screen. The panel holds an application menu, task switcher, and system tray. On the desktop we find icons for opening a README file and for launching the system installer. The README file is a short text file with login credentials, links to on-line resources, and tips for launching programs from within JWM.

          Shortly after signing into the live desktop a network management window opens. This provides us with a utility for getting us on-line with minimal effort. The network manager window makes it straight forward to connect to wired and wireless networks.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

      • Debian Family

        • Backplane Systems Technology Presents Neousys’s IGT-22-DEV Industrial-grade IoT gateway Development Kit

          IGT-22-DEV provides a ready-for-use software environment featuring Debian Buster, Docker CE, Node-RED, Python3, GCC, and IoT platform agent configured with sensors and cloud connection. With minimum provisioning on the IoT platform, a web-based dashboard becomes available and can be accessed on a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone, wherever you may be. IGT series supports various programming languages, such as Python and GCC. On top of that, IGT-22-DEV has Node-RED pre-installed for intuitive graphical and local logic control of the built-in DO, allowing prompt responses. Unlike the standard IGT-22, the USB port of IGT-22-DEV is specifically set to OTG mode to provide serial and LAN functions over USB, so you can choose to connect to IGT-22-DEV with a USB cable.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • ASUS Tinker Board 2S is finally orderable in a Raspberry Pi form factor

        The Tinker Board 2S is finally available to purchase, with ASUS announcing it and the Tinker Board 2 last year. Currrently, SmartFly sells the single-board computer (SBC) on Amazon and AliExpress, starting at US$119.99 for the version with 2 GB of RAM. Alternatively, the company has the 4 GB of RAM model in stock for US$134.39.

        ASUS has equipped the Tinker Board 2S with a Rockchip RK3399 chipset that has two ARM Cortex-A72 cores, four ARM Cortex-A53 cores and an ARM Mali-T860 MP4 GPU. All RAM is LPDDR4 and is complemented by 16 GB of eMMC flash storage. Additionally, the SBC has four USB ports, a single HDMI 2.0 connection, RJ45 Gigabit LAN and an M.2-2230 slot populated by Bluetooth/Wi-Fi card.

      • Arm PSA Level 3 certified Sub-GHz wireless SoCs support Amazon Sidewalk, mioty, Wireless M-Bus, Z-Wave…

        Silicon Labs has announced two new sub-GHz wireless SoCs with EFR32FG23 (FG23) and EFR32ZG23 (ZG23) devices adding to the company’s Gecko Series 2 Cortex-M33 platform.

      • Top 10 IoT Boards for Development and Prototyping in 2021

        This is one of the popular IoT Boards based on IoT Technology. The newest version of the low-cost Raspberry Pi computer is the all-new Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. This electronic board, which is the size of a credit card, has several enhancements. For starters, the power connector is USB-C, which may accommodate an additional 500mA of current, providing 1.2A for downstream USB devices. A pair of type-D (micro) HDMI connections have been installed instead of the type-A (full-size) HDMI connectors, allowing for dual display output within the existing board footprint. In Raspberry Pi 4, the Gigabit Ethernet magjack is now on the top right of the board, rather than the bottom right. It has a new operating system based on Debian 10 Buster, which will be released soon. The user interface has been modified, and new programs such as the Chromium 74 web browser have been included. Additionally, the Mesa “V3D” driver has replaced the legacy graphics driver stack used on previous models, allowing for the removal of nearly half of the platform’s closed-source code, as well as the ability to run 3D applications in a window under X, OpenGL-accelerated web browsing, and desktop composition.

        [...]

        The NanoPi NEO Plus2 is a FriendlyElec-developed all-winner-based ARM board that is less than half the size of the Raspberry Pi. But that doesn’t make it any less capable in terms of storage and performance. Its operating system is Ubuntu Core 16.04, a strong Linux distro. It has a 64-bit quad-core Allwinner A53 SoC with Hexa-core Mali450 GPU, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB eMMC storage, Wi-Fi, 4.0 dual-mode Bluetooth, and 1 MicroSD slot, 10/100/1000M Ethernet based on RTL8211E-VB-CG. In comparison to the Raspberry Pi, the NanoPi NEO Plus2 has gigabit Ethernet, 8 gigabytes of eMMC storage, and two USB ports. It is powered by a micro-USB port and, despite its little size, offers expandable memory owing to a microSD card. It also has additional benefits, such as low cost, fast speed, and high-performance computation.

      • Open Hardware/Modding

        • Astro Pi 2: New Raspberry Pi hardware with updated camera, sensors to head to the ISS this year

          Good news for earthbound Pi-tinkerers hoping to get their code into orbit: a follow-up to 2015′s Astro Pi is due to head to the International Space Station (ISS) this year.

          Time has moved on a bit since the Principia mission of Tim Peake where the first units were installed aboard the orbiting outpost. While over 54,000 participants from 26 countries have since had code run on the hardware, the kit has fallen somewhat behind what is available on Earth.

          To that end, some new units are due to be launched, replete with updated hardware. In this case, heading to orbit will be Raspberry Pi 4 Model B units with 8GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera (a 12.3MP device) and the usual complement of gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, humidity, temperature and pressure sensors for users to code against.

        • Tracking Maximum Power Point For Solar Efficiency | Hackaday

          This build is incredibly extensive and goes deep into electrical theory and design choices. One design choice of note is the use of an ESP32 over an Arduino due to the higher resolution available when doing analog to digital conversion. There’s even a lengthy lecture on inductor core designs, and of course everything on this project is open source. We have also seen the ESP32 put to work with MPPT before, although in a slightly less refined but still intriguing way.

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • Firefox Experiment is testing Bing as the default search engine [Ed: Mozilla is trying to just kill Firefox and be over with it already]

            Mozilla is running an experiment on 1% of the Firefox desktop population currently, which sets the default search engine to Bing in the web browser.

            Firefox ships with different search engines by default, and one of these is set as the default search engine. The default search engine is used when users type into the browser’s address bar or use the search field on the browser’s new tab page.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • PostgreSQL: pgAdmin 4 v5.7 Released

          The pgAdmin Development Team is pleased to announce pgAdmin 4 version 5.7. This release of pgAdmin 4 includes 26 bug fixes and new features. For more details please see the release notes.

          pgAdmin is the leading Open Source graphical management tool for PostgreSQL. For more information, please see the website.

        • PostgreSQL Weekly News – September 19, 2021

          Pgpool-II 4.2.5, a connection pooler and statement replication system for PostgreSQL, released

          Database Lab 2.5, a tool for fast cloning of large PostgreSQL databases to build non-production environments, released.

          pgexporter 0.1.0, a Prometheus exporter for PostgreSQL, released

        • SQLite Linux Tutorial for Beginners

          This SQLite Linux tutorial is intended for beginners who wish to learn how to get started with SQLite database. SQLite is one of the world’s most widely-used Database programs. So, what is a Database, and what is SQLite?

      • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

        • 9 free software copycats that work better than the real expensive programs

          A great no-cost alternative is LibreOffice. This open-source office suite is especially great because its creators continually update it. You’ll get six programs, including Writer, Impress and Calc, which work just like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, respectively.

          LibreOffice allows you to edit documents created in the official MS Office and save new files in Office formats, too. Someone on the receiving end of your .docx file won’t know you used a program other than Word to save it.

      • FSF

        • GNU Projects

          • Gimp 2.10.28

            GIMP is a digital photo manipulation tool for Windows (and many other platforms) that’s considered to be the open source (free) answer to Adobe Photoshop. Like Photoshop, GIMP is suitable for a variety of image manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, image construction, and has many other capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, and so much more.

            GIMP is amazingly expandable and extensible – it is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

      • Public Services/Government

        • EU open source study highlights economic benefits but says Union is ‘on the back foot’ with industrial policy [Ed: By Microsoft Tim, with this slant]

          A new EU study of the economic impact of open source has mixed news. The economic benefits are huge, it said, but the EU is “on the back foot” when it comes to implementation.

          The study comes from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect), and was written by a team from Fraunhofer ISI and think-tank OpenForum Europe. Its focus is on the impact of open source software and hardware on technological independence, competitiveness, and innovation.

      • Programming/Development

        • Break point: Prometheus, JFrog, GDB, Boundary, Serverless Framework, Eclipse, Delphi, Kubermatic, and DataSpell

          The team behind monitoring system Prometheus has pushed version 2.30 into the wild, and with it some improvements to the scrape functionality. Amongst other things users can now adjust the scrape timestamp tolerance to save TSDB disk space in cases where a higher ms difference isn’t a problem. They also have access to an experimental way of configuring a scrape interval and timeout through relabeling, and new metrics behind the extra-scrape-metrics flag that expose the per-target scrape sample_limit value and scrape_timeout_seconds.

        • Java

          • Java 17 arrives with long-term support: What’s new, and is it falling behind Kotlin? [Ed: By Microsoft Tim]

            JDK (Java Development Kit) 17 was released today, the first long-term support release since JDK 11 three years ago.

            A new version of Java appears every six months, in March and September. According to the Oracle Java SE support lifecycle, these are supported only for six months until the next one appears, whereas LTS releases are supported for eight years.

            Java 8 (the last before a major revamp of the JDK in Java 9 with many breaking changes) has extended support until December 2030, while extended support for Java 11 runs up to September 2026.

            Suppliers of free OpenJDK editions of Java generally match and may sometimes exceed these support dates, but it is only the LTS editions that are intended for long-term use.

  • Leftovers

    • Revealed: Dancing monkey and raccoon attempting a break-in among wildlife photo finalists

      The winners of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards will be announced next month – click through our gallery below to see the finalists’ photographs

    • Health/Nutrition

      • Covid-19 and the new merchants of doubt

        On 9 April 2021, Open Democracy reported that Oxford University professor Sunetra Gupta, a critic of public health measures to curb covid-19 and a proponent of “natural herd immunity,” had “received almost £90,000 from the Georg and Emily von Opel Foundation.” The foundation was named after its founder, Georg von Opel who is the great-grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the German car manufacturer. Georg von Opel is a Conservative party donor with a net worth of $2 billion. “Gupta’s arguments against lockdowns—and in favour of ‘herd immunity,’” the report further noted, “have found favour…in the British government.”

        This is not the first time billionaires aligned with industry have funded proponents of “herd immunity.” Gupta, along with Harvard University’s Martin Kulldorff and Stanford University’s Jay Bhattacharya, wrote the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD), which, in essence, argues that covid-19 should be allowed to spread unchecked through the young and healthy, while keeping those at high risk safe through “focused protection,” which is never clearly defined. This declaration was sponsored by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a libertarian, climate-denialist, free market think tank that receives “a large bulk of its funding from its own investment activities, not least in fossil fuels, energy utilities, tobacco, technology and consumer goods.” The AIER’s American Investment Services Inc. runs a private fund that is valued at $284,492,000, with holdings in a wide range of fossil fuel companies (e.g. Chevron, ExxonMobil) and in the tobacco giant Philip Morris International. The AIER is also part of “a network of organizations funded by Charles Koch—a right-wing billionaire known for promoting climate change denial and opposing regulations on business” and who opposes public health measures to curb the spread of covid-19.

      • Novo Nordisk Foundation, Harvard, MIT launch research center with focus on diabetes

        The Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have launched an initiative to gain insights into disease mechanisms.

        To accelerate efforts to mine genetic data for insights into mechanisms — and eventually rationally design treatments — the trio of entities launched the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease based at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

      • Multi-omics analysis to decipher the molecular link between chronic exposure to pollution and human skin dysfunction
      • EU Nations Split Over Need to Renew Vaccine Export Controls [Ed: With all these patent monopolies and further restrictions it seems clear the goal isn't and was never to eradicate this virus; they've turned it into a profiteering and social control framework, plus nationalism]

        Several European Union governments are pushing back against a proposal by the bloc’s executive arm to extend controls on vaccine exports, according to people familiar with the matter.

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Pseudo-Open Source

        • Security

          • How a glitch in the Matrix led to apps potentially exposing encrypted chats

            The Matrix.org Foundation, which oversees the Matrix decentralized communication protocol, said on Monday multiple Matrix clients and libraries contain a vulnerability that can potentially be abused to expose encrypted messages.

            The organization said a blunder in an implementation of the Matrix key sharing scheme – designed to allow a user’s newly logged-in device to obtain the keys to decrypt old messages – led to the creation of client code that fails to adequately verify device identity. As a result, an attacker could fetch a Matrix client user’s keys.

            Specifically, a paragraph in Matrix E2EE (end-to-end encryption) Implementation Guide, which described the desired key handling routine, was followed in the creation of Matrix’s original matrix-js-sdk code. According to the foundation, this SDK “did not sufficiently verify the identity of the device requesting the keyshare,” and this oversight made its way into other libraries and Matrix chat clients.

          • How to use iPerf3 to test network bandwidth

            Admins must measure the throughput of their WAN links to ensure they are working properly. One way to do that is by using iPerf, the open source benchmarking utility. The latest version, iPerf3, is a complete rewrite of the code first developed by the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research in the 2000s.

            Like its predecessors, iPerf3 tests the bandwidth between any two networked computers to determine if the available bandwidth is large enough to support the transmission of an application.

            IPerf3 is built on a client-server model and measures maximum User Datagram Protocol, TCP and Stream Control Transmission Protocol throughput between client and server stations. It can also be used to measure LAN and wireless LAN throughput.

          • How to: Run OpenVPN on Windows, Mac, and Linux/Unix – Wi-FiPlanet.com

            Learn what it takes to get an OpenVPN Ethernet tunnel set up between a laptop computer and an office or home machine acting as an OpenVPN server.

          • Josh Bressers: Episode 289 – Who left this 0day on the floor?

            Josh and Kurt talk about an unusual number of really bad security updates. We even recorded this before the Azure OMIGOD vulnerability was disclosed. It’s certainly been a wild week with Apple and Chrome 0days, and a Travis CI secret leak. Maybe this is the new normal.

          • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • EFF protesting Apple CSAM identification programs on Monday evening | AppleInsider

              The Electronic Frontier Foundation is sponsoring a nationwide protest of Apple’s CSAM on-device protections it announced, then delayed, for iOS 15 and macOS Monterey. The protest is being held in several major US cities, including San Francisco, Atlanta, New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago.

              A post from the EFF outlines the protest and simply tells Apple, “Don’t scan our phones.” The EFF has been one of the largest vocal entities against Apple’s CSAM detection system that was meant to release with iOS 15, citing that the technology is no better than mass government surveillance.

            • China’s new proposed law could strangle the development of AI [Ed: Dumb 'journalism' which calls everything "hey hi" deserves ridicule and condemnation; who writes nonsense such as this?]

              China’s internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), recently issued a draft proposal of regulations to manage how technology companies use algorithms when providing services to consumers.

            • ExpressVPN bought for $1bn by Brit biz with an intriguing history in adware • The Register

              UK-headquartered Kape Technologies announced on Monday it has acquired ExpressVPN in a $936m (£675m) cash and stocks deal, a move it claims will double its customer base to at least six million.

              In a canned statement, Kape said combining the two companies would “create a premium consumer privacy and security player,” and that the acquisition “further positions Kape to define the next generation of privacy and security protection tools and services to return greater control over the digital sphere to consumers.”

            • Australia gave police power to compel sysadmins into assisting account takeovers – so they plan to use it

              Australia’s Federal Police force on Sunday announced it intends to start using new powers designed to help combat criminal use of encryption by taking over the accounts of some social media users, then deleting or modifying content they’ve posted.

              The law also requires sysadmins to help those account takeovers.

              The force (AFP) stated its intentions in light of the late August passage of the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2021, which was first mooted in December 2020. While the Bill was subject to consultation, few suggestions were incorporated and in August the Bill sped through Australia’s Parliament after two days of superficial debate with many suggested amendments ignored.

            • Confidentiality

              • Your car knows too much about you. That could be a privacy nightmare.

                As Jon Callas, the Electric Frontier Foundation’s director of technology projects, explained to Mashable, newer cars — and Teslas in particular — are in many ways like smartphones that just happen to have wheels. They are often WiFi-enabled, come with over a hundred CPUs, and have Bluetooth embedded throughout. In other words, they’re a far cry from the automobiles of even just 20 years ago.

                If your car knows where you go, and how long you stay there, it, like your cellphone, also hypothetically knows whether you’re a churchgoer, attend AA, or made a recent trip Planned Parenthood. And, depending on what features you’ve enabled, it may not keep that information to itself.

                But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

                [...]

                “All of these things are at least theoretically able to be logged,” cautioned Callas. “And there is a port that you can connect something to — and there’s lots of hardware and software that you can connect to your car and get all sorts of telemetry information about how the car is running — and just like there are people who hack their computers there are people who hack their cars.”

                In fact, there’s an entire industry built around monitoring, logging, analyzing, and monetizing this type of data. Dubbed telematics, the average consumer may know it as the technology insurance companies use to provide good-driver discounts.

                Progressive calls its driver-tracking program Snapshot. Allstate’s program is branded as Drivewise. And Farmers Insurance dubbed its version — which comes in the form of an app with access to drivers’ location data — Signal.

    • Environment

      • NSF EPSCoR grant will advance manufacturing of renewable and recyclable plastics

        Plastics are an indispensable part of today’s society. These nimble polymers help keep foods fresh, cars safe, arteries clog-free and have countless other uses. But the benefits come at a cost. Each year millions of tons of discarded plastic pollute ecosystems, harm animals and exacerbate climate change.

        Now, a $4 million award from the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR RII Track 2 program will bring together researchers from Kansas and Delaware and fund work to improve how plastics are manufactured and recycled.

        “We’re excited to advance technologies that will help society transition to a more sustainable plastic economy,” said lead investigator Bala Subramaniam, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering at the University of Kansas and director of KU’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

      • Walmart says crypto payments announcement is fake. Litecoin tumbles after spike

        Cryptocurrency litecoin gave up a 20% gain and tumbled back to Earth following a fake press release sent out by GlobeNewswire that referenced a partnership with Walmart.

        Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove confirmed that the press release is not authentic. He also said the retailer has been in touch with the newswire company to investigate how the false press release got posted.

      • Wikipedia blames pro-China infiltration for bans

        Wikipedia has suffered an “infiltration” that sought to advance the aims of China, the US non-profit organisation that owns the volunteer-edited encyclopaedia has said.

        The Wikimedia Foundation told BBC News the infiltration had threatened the “very foundations of Wikipedia”.

        The foundation banned seven editors linked to a mainland China group.

        Wikimedians of Mainland China accused the foundation of “baselessly slandering a small group of people”.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Beijing orders Alibaba, Tencent, more Big Tech to stop blocking links to rivals

        Beijing has yet again slapped regulations on Big Tech in China. This time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has told app makers and web sites to stop blocking links to their rivals, or face the consequences.

        In a Q&A session at the start of the week on manufacturing and cyber development, MIIT spokesperson Zhao Zhiguo said this practice of restricting access to external services damages the rights of users and unfairly disrupts the market.

        The g-man said the action was prompted by complaints logged by the Ministry, and added that companies would be allowed to self-examine and correct their policies before any punishment is decided.

      • Apple, Google yank opposition voting strategy app from Russian software stores

        A tactical-voting app built by allies of Vladimir Putin’s jailed political opponent Alexei Navalny is now unavailable in Russian Apple and Google app stores following threats from the Kremlin.

        According to state-owned news agency TASS, Russian lawmaker Andrei Klimov told reporters on Thursday that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office sent statutory notices to Google and Apple ordering a takedown of the Navalny app on the grounds it was collecting personal data of Russian citizens and sought to interfere in the nation’s elections. Refusal to do so would result in penalties, or perhaps worse.

        “The app particularly deliberately and illegally spreads election campaign materials in the interests of some candidates vying for positions in elective agencies or against the interests of such,” Klimov said.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Monopolies

      • Amazon abuses dominance to keep wholesaler prices high, says DC AG in updated antitrust complaint • The Register

        Amazon has been accused of pressuring wholesalers into selling goods at inflated prices on rival marketplaces through anticompetitve agreements, thus unfairly cementing its market dominance.

        The allegations were made in an amended antitrust complaint that was first filed in May by Washington DC’s Attorney General Karl Racine and widened this week.

        In his updated lawsuit [PDF], Racine stated Amazon requires wholesalers, aka first-party sellers, to sign Minimum Margin Agreements before they supply goods to the web titan to resell on its marketplace.

        These agreements, it is said, set the minimum amount of profit Amazon expects to receive from reselling the items. The wholesalers must make up the difference if Amazon fails to get the agreed minimum amount of margin from people’s purchases, it is claimed. The prices of these products for shoppers can be varied by Amazon, according to the lawsuit.

      • Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on Traditional Knowledge: Idealistic Expectations or Unworkable Ideas? [Ed: India needs to understand that these rules exist to colonise and oppress Indians rather than help them get ahead]

        The Committee Report’s observations on TK start off with a lament on how TK and indigenous inventions by grassroot level innovators often do not meet the criteria of patentability and how the lack of a proper statute renders such inventions without protection. It notes the lack of awareness about IP rights amongst communities that hold substantial TK which has led to practitioners not gaining monetary benefits from the system.

        The Report’s first target is Section 3(p) of the Patents Act, 1970 which says that “an invention which in effect, is traditional knowledge or which is an aggregation or duplication of known properties of traditionally known component or components” will not be considered an invention for the purposes of the Act. The Report notes that this Section is too prohibitively worded. Thus, it suggests that this provision should be revised to ensure that TK-based research and development is incentivized. Further, it suggests that there should also be provisions, when this revision takes place, to ensure the investigation of patent claims concerning TK in order to prevent its misuse/exploitation.

        Focusing on cases of misappropriation of TK, the Report notes the absence of a proper mechanism for documentation of TK and also notes the shortcoming of the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) in being effective as a source of TK and its protection. The blog has seen posts noting certain shortcomings of the TKDL in the past, such as here. For this, the Report recommends strengthening the database, without delving into what exactly the shortcomings are or the measures to be taken to correct them. Another intriguing suggestion in this respect is the proposal to make the Government a joint owner in claiming IP rights alongside creators/communities to restrict misappropriation.

        The Report also recommends the “registration of traditional knowledge as Geographical Indication” (pg. 76 of the Report) if it is closely linked to a specific location. This, it suggests, would be “highly beneficial to consolidate traditional knowledge into IPRs”. The Report then discusses the need to study Utility Models / short-term patents as an alternative form of patents that may be a viable means to protect TK in the country.

      • Around the IP Blogs

        India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on IP reform drew further attention from Spicy IP, with a post covering the report’s recommendations on IPR and traditional knowledge.

      • Patents

        • Federal Circuit Reaffirms That Section 287 Requires Actual Notice of the Infringement

          In a precedential decision handed down last week, Lubby Holdings LLC v. Chung, a panel of the Federal Circuit reaffirmed the long-standing interpretation the the patent marking statute, 35 U.S.C. § 287(a), precludes an award of damages for infringing conduct pre-dating the defendant’s receipt of either actual notice of the infringement or, though marking, constructive notice. (There are more nuances to these rules than I will repeat here, but if you’re interested, see, e.g., here and chapter 2.9 of my casebook on Patent Remedies.) From the majority opinion (authored by Judge Dyk, joined by Judge Wallach):

        • Alfred E. Mann Foundation sells insulin infusion pump IP to Medtronic [Ed: It is really bad when patents are described as something they're not (IP or "property") and moreover sold]
        • Most Common Design Patents 1842-2021 | Patently-O [Ed: Patent litigation firm-funded Dennis Crouch is pushing one of the most ludicrous form of patents: design patents]

          This is a remake of a video I made a few weeks ago. This time, I was able to go back to the 1840s and show the most-common design patent titles from each era. To make the chart, I used a 14 year rolling average. Thus, for example, the top-10 list shown for 2000 is actually the top-10 based upon the period 1987-2000. The bulk of the data also comes via OCR of images and so there are some artifacts (although I did read-through the first 1,000 design patents). One example that shows up in the data are the “island” patents — that word was somewhat randomly picked-up. Enjoy.

        • Anonymous oppositions to continue at EPO [Ed: But the problem is that the tribunals are rigged]

          Following the grant of a European patent, there is a window of nine months during which oppositions can be filed against a granted patent and the revocation of the patent can be requested. The current practice of the EPO allows an opposition to be validly filed by a “straw man” – that is, by an opponent filing the opposition not in their own interest, but in the interest of an anonymous third party. This article discusses a recent case that challenged this practice.

        • Exclusive: AT&T chief reveals plans for new Global IP Alliance [Ed: Ridiculous corporate puff piece in "report" clothing. Seems to be sponsored: "For more information on the Global IP Alliance, listen to Managing IP’s corner office podcast with Frank, due to be published next week."]
        • Looking to LATAM: how in-house manage IP in a changing region [Ed: Some imperialism by patents in LATAM]

          Counsel at Novartis, Volvo and three other companies reveal which countries they prioritise and the challenges they encounter in Latin America

        • Wind power boom is fanning high-stakes international patent activity [Ed: Total nonsense. Instead of tackling climate issues some lawyers and firms have a gold rush over patents of monopolies, which in turn restrict access to lesser-polluting advancements. This uses EPO greenwashing for propaganda.]

          In April 2021, the European Patent Office and International Energy Authority (IEA) released a joint report, “Patents and the Energy Transition” surveying global trends in low-carbon and clean-energy technology. The report identified patenting trends across a variety of low-carbon energy (LCE) technologies, using an international patent family (IPF) metric to measure patenting activity, each IPF covering a single invention, de-duplicating patents filed across different countries.

        • Understanding The Different Types Of Patent Claims

          A patent claim can be defined as a sentence in a patent application that elucidates an invention’s features and components. In other words, a patent claim describes the functionality of an invention and its corresponding features which has to be patented. Typically, patent claims are enlisted at the end of a patent application. As per section 10(4) (c) of the Patents Act, 1970, every complete specification must end with a patent claim or patent claims which aims to define the scope of the invention for which the protection is claimed. Patent claims play a pivotal role in a patent application. For one, it prevents unauthorized parties from duplicating or commercially exploiting the features, components, and functionalities enlisted in the claims. Patent claims must be described in detail, leaving no room for ambiguities or speculations. Apart from comprehensive descriptions, diagrams, flow charts or graphical representations of the invention would immensely strengthen and support the claims that are enlisted in an application.

        • Euro-PCT Patent Application Route[Ed: Haseltine Lake Kempner LLP failing to mention any of the corruption at the EPO and the misuse of granting authority to issue loads of fake patents]

          A European patent application can be obtained by entering the European regional phase from an International PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application, commonly referred to as the “Euro-PCT route”.

          A European patent obtained through this route provides the applicant with the same protection and rights as a European patent obtained through a direct filing at the European Patent Office (EPO). With the Euro-PCT route, the first phase of the procedure (the International phase) is subject to the PCT, while the second phase (the regional phase) is before the EPO and is governed by the European Patent Convention (EPC).

        • KFC Is Taking on Vegan Chicken Tenderloins [Ed: A lot of this "plant-based" marketing became little but a patent trap, with patents controlled by people who eat meat]
        • electroCore Announces New Patent Expanding Claims Related to Delivery of Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy Using Mobile Devices [Ed: Issuing entire press releases about nothing but a patent instead of actual products]

        • Software Patents

      • Trademarks

      • Copyrights

        • Ghosts in the machine learning pipeline will be impossible to exorcise • The Register

          There is, of course, no law explicitly covering this. You can’t copyright, trademark or patent a real-life personality. Impersonating the living is a valid career, free of licensing requirements. And the law seems reluctant to be inventive just because there’s technology involved. Last week in the US, a judge decided that AIs cannot patent their inventions, much like monkey selfies can’t be copyrighted, so whatever an AI output is, it’s not going to be easy to legally control.

09.19.21

Links 19/9/2021: Sparky 2021.09, Whisker Menu 2.6.0, HarfBuzz 3.0, and gThumb 3.12

Posted in News Roundup at 6:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Linux Weekly Roundup #148

      We had a busy week in the world of Linux Releases with Bluestar Linux 5.14.2, Manjaro 21.1.3, Ubuntu 18.04.6. and SparkyLinux 2021.09. Kdenlive 5.23 Beta, has also been released.

      As I mentioned last week, we are closing in to the 150 release of this weekly roundup, and I plan, to celebrate it, a bit more background about me and how I started to use Linux in 2013. If it might be interesting for you?

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • That Didn’t Take Long: KSMBD In-Kernel File Server Already Needs Important Security Fix – Phoronix

        It was just a few weeks back that KSMBD was merged into Linux 5.15 while now it’s seeing its first important security fix.

        When KSMBD as an in-kernel SMB3 file server was first talked about, many expressed concerns in the name of security even though NFS exists within the kernel, etc. This weekend’s security vulnerability for KSMBD is an issue leading to files outside of the SMB3 file share being accessible to clients…

      • Linux 5.16 To Support Sensor Readings On More ASUS Motherboards – Phoronix

        With a change to the nct6775 hardware monitoring sensor driver, more ASUS motherboards should enjoy working sensor support come Linux 5.16.

        The changed queued up this week via the “HWMON” hardware monitoring subsystem’s “for-next” branch for Linux 5.16 allows the nct6775 driver to access the ASIC using ASUS WMI functions. The driver’s existing functionality doesn’t work on ASUS motherboards since ACPI marks the I/O port as used so instead the ASUS WMI functions will be used in such case.

      • Graphics Stack

        • An OpenCL frontend written in Rust is being developed for Mesa

          Red Hat’s Karol Herbst, who is involved in the development of Mesa, the Nouveau driver, and the OpenCL open stack, has published rusticl , an experimental software implementation of OpenCL (OpenCL frontend) for Mesa written in Rust. Rusticl acts as an analogue of the frontend already present in Mesa OpenCL Clover and is also developed using the interface provided in Mesa Gallium .

          The development was presented on September 17 at the conference XDC 2021 (X.Org Developers Conference). The goal of the development was to study Rust, work out the best ways to integrate Rust into Mesa, try out creating API implementations in another language, and test the compatibility of Rust components with the rest of the C code. Development is not yet fully completed – CL CTS tests related to copying, reading and writing buffers are already successfully running, but compiler integration is not yet provided and there is no support for external crate packages in the build system. To generate bindings for Mesa and OpenCL, allowing cause Rust-functions in C code and vice versa, is involved rust-bindgen .

    • Applications

      • The 7 Best RSS Feed Readers for Linux

        RSS or Really Simple Syndication is a web feed that keeps you up to date with the latest updates from your favorite websites on the internet. However, to read these feeds, you need what’s called an RSS reader.

        An RSS reader is a feed curator, which aggregates content from your favorite sources on the internet and organizes it into a digestible feed, so you don’t have to visit those sources manually to keep up with what’s new.

        If you’re on Linux, here are our picks for the best RSS feed reader apps you can use to improve your content consumption.

      • gThumb 3.12 Released with HEIF/HEIC & AVIF Image Support

        AVIF and HEIF images can now be opened and edited in gThumb, the open source photo manager for Linux desktops.

        The new gThumb 3.12 release includes the ability to load .avif, .heif (including Apple’s .heic) and .jxl images, as well as the ability to save images in the .avif format.

      • New tag management capabilities, usability improvements, and a bunch of fixes — Kalendar devlog 15 – Stuff I wrote down

        This week, we have once again included a big number of little UI changes that should make Kalendar easier to use and prettier to look at than ever.

        Building upon our tag work from last week, we have also made tags far more feature complete this week. Let’s take a look!

      • HarfBuzz 3.0 Released With Unicode 14.0 Support, More APIs Considered Stable – Phoronix

        HarfBuzz 3.0 has been released as a new version of this widely-used, open-source text shaping library that is used by the major Linux desktop environments along with Chrome OS, Java, Android, Chrome, and a plethora of other software projects and UI toolkits.

      • Whisker Menu 2.6.0 released

        Whisker Menu is an alternate application launcher for Xfce. When you open it you are shown a list of applications you have marked as favorites. You can browse through all of your installed applications by clicking on the category buttons on the side. Top level categories make browsing fast, and simple to switch between. Additionally, Whisker Menu keeps a list of the last ten applications that you’ve launched from it.

        Favorites are easy to add and reorder. When browsing through your applications, right-click on any of them and select “Add to Favorites”. Simply drag and drop your favorites list to arrange them to suit your needs. You can remove them at any time from another right-click option.

        If you’re not sure exactly where a program is listed, instead of browsing through each category you can simply enter a search term. The search field is focused when opening the menu, so you can just start typing. Application descriptions as well as names are searched, which allows you to find a program by using a general word (such as “browser” to find all web browsers installed on your computer).

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • The Best Ways to Know Which Process Listening on a Specified Port

        A port is a communication endpoint. At the software level, within an operating system, a port is a logical construct that identifies a specific process or a type of network service. A port is identified for each transport protocol and address combination by a 16-bit unsigned number, known as the port number. The most common transport protocols that use port numbers are the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

        Also port is a logical entity that represents an endpoint of communication and is associated with a given process or service in an operating system. In previous articles, we explained how to find out the list of all open ports in Linux and how to check if remote ports are reachable using the Netcat command.

      • How to install Skype on Linux Lite 5.4 – Invidious [Ed: Microsoft turned it into NSA spyware by changing the topology]

        In this video, we are looking at how to install Skype on Linux Lite 5.4. Enjoy!

      • Ventoy: How to Create a Multiboot USB Drive with Multiple ISO Files

        With Ventoy, you don’t need to format the USB drive for each new installation, you just need to copy the ISO file to the USB drive and boot it.

        Whenever you want to try a new Linux distribution, you download the ISO image from the distributions website and write this to your USB flash drive using the dd command or with the help of some other tool, such as Balena Etcher.

      • Introduction to Ngrok: A Tutorial for Beginners

        If you are into web development, at times, you might have wondered how people on a different network can access your locally hosted website. Say you are developing a website for a client on your PC, and you want them to view it and track the progress without you having to host it online. If so, Ngrok is the perfect solution for you to do that.

        Ngrok is a dev tool to that allows you to expose a server running on your local machine to the internet. In this tutorial we’ll go through how to use the Ngrok utility from installation to deploying an HTML or a React JS website, on a Linux machine.

      • Creating Quality Backtraces for Crash Reports – Michael Catanzaro’s Blog

        Hello Linux users! Help developers help you: include a quality backtraces taken with gdb each and every time you create an issue report for a crash. If you don’t, most developers will request that you provide a backtrace, then ignore your issue until you manage to figure out how to do so. Save us the trouble and just provide the backtrace with your initial report, so everything goes smoother. (Backtraces are often called “stack traces.” They are the same thing.)

        Don’t just copy the lower-quality backtrace you see in your system journal into your issue report. That’s a lot better than nothing, but if you really want the crash to be fixed, you should provide the developers with a higher-quality backtrace from gdb. Don’t know how to get a quality backtrace with gdb? Read on.

      • Set up Virtual Box on top of Server F35 (pre release) via rpmfusion (VENV)

        First I’ve installed the most recent nightly build of Fedora 35 Server on Fedora 34 Bare metal KVM Virthost as Guest OS with “Fedora Workstation” desktop, like virtual machine seating on the Linux bridge been created via Web Cockpit Console. When done issued the following set of commands on F35 Guest…

      • Feeding Dinosaurs: Keeping Ancient HP LaserJets alive

        The world’s first laser printer was built by Gary Starkweather at Xerox PARC in 1971, hooking up a Xerox photocopier and an early Xerox computer. The first commercial laser printers were huge data-center-scale monsters, the IBM 3800 and the Xerox 9700. It took most of a decade, and the crossover from cameras to computers by Canon, for the laser printer to become affordable for home and small…

      • Using RADIUS For WLAN Authentication, Part II – Wi-FiPlanet.com

        There’s a lot of RADIUS options, from doing it yourself, to skipping it, to outsourcing. We invesitigate them all and put a focus on what it takes to outsource with a service like WSC Guard.

        [...]

        Install an Open Source RADIUS Server: If you’re not a Windows shop and have a penchant for breaking your knuckles on open source code, you may want to check out FreeRADIUS. This 802.1X-capable open source Server is still beta code, so caveat emptor. To go this route, you’ll need spare time, UN*X know-how, and a box running Linux, Free or OpenBSD, OSF/Unix, or Solaris to host your Server.

      • IPRoyal Proxy Testing: How It Works

        A proxy is an essential tool for online privacy and security. But not every proxy is created equal, and not all offer the same protections. How can you distinguish a high-quality proxy from standard mediocrity? It’s critical to examine your proxy to ensure that you’re getting the performance and security that you expect.

        This article will delve into the details of proxy testing and how to verify that your proxy is up to the task of keeping you safe.

      • Here’s how to boot Microsoft’s own Linux distribution: CBL-Mariner [Ed: Why would anyone want Microsoft in control of one's Linux?]
      • How to install Rocky Linux 8 on Amazon AWS Ec2 Instance – Linux Shout

        Rocky Linux 8 is the latest Linux operating system to replace CentOS 8 but with long-term support that has been dropped by its parent company RedHat. Hence, if you are an Amazon cloud user and want to start with Rocky Linux then here are the steps to install it on AWS Ec2 Instance.

      • How to tweet from the Linux Command Line

        Today there are many Twitter clients available for Ubuntu, but if you are someone who prefers to use a CLI to view and share tweets from Ubuntu , this article is for you.

        Using the terminal makes certain tasks more efficient and even faster than a graphical interface. This is because the command line tools do not use too many resources , making them a great alternative to graphical applications, especially if you use older hardware.

        You will see below how any user can tweet directly from the Ubuntu command line through the Rainbow Stream application. In order to carry out the whole process, you will learn how to install the application by giving it access to use your Twitter account before starting to tweet through it.

      • How To Install Apache Flink on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Flink on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Apache Flink is a framework and distributed processing engine for stateful computations over unbounded and bounded data streams. Flink has been designed to run in all common cluster environments, perform computations at in-memory speed and at any scale. Apache Flink provides data-source and sink connectors to systems such as Amazon Kinesis, Apache Kafka, Alluxio, HDFS, Apache Cassandra, and ElasticSearch where Apache Flink does not provide its own data-storage system.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Apache Flink on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

    • Games

      • SB Game Hacker APK Download 2021 – #1 Game Hacker App

        The best source of entertainment these days are Android games since we have moved on streaming web series season one by one. These series are endless and the drawback is that we need to wait for a lot of time for the next one to show up. What we love about these games is their petite size, unique privileges as well as and exclusive premium plan. We get addicted to these games once we begin playing. This is where SB Game Hacker APK download 2021 is useful for your phone.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Testing and Download the KDE Plasma 5.23 Beta Desktop Environment

          A available beta version of the custom Plasma 5.23 shell is for testing. You can test the new release through the Live build from the openSUSE project and the build from the project KDE Neon Testing edition . Packages for various distributions can be found on this page . The release is expected on October 12th.

        • Spyware: KDE Plasma, like Gnome, the anti-FOSS eye-candy blackmail

          The terminology used by such corporations is very deceptive on its own. Spying on the user and collecting data without really his conscious consent, is just spying. Whether you call it telemetry, or user feedback, or kuserfeedback-1.0.0, it is still spying. The software that is written for spying is called spyware. ms-Windows users pay dearly to other spyware sellers to clean their machines from spyware. While you are at it, looking at the source, also take a look at Ksystemstats as well.

          So what distributions promote and co-sign the safety of using free open software that are spyware?

          Better ask which distributions DON’T and will come out saying it that they condemn such practices and the use of such software.

          Why is this so important? Why is it that you, or anyone else, gave up on closed source non-free non-libre software to come to Linux or BSD, or Solaris, ot any unix?

          Exactly! This crap doesn’t belong in linux or any computer. If you volunteer to provide your data or report a bug with your own intention and choice, that is different, than some sub-system in the background copying and feeding your data to some datacenter KDE/plasma has setup to do data-mining.

          Alternatively someone can criticize us being superficial and hypocritical, because KDE has the decency to advertise they are officially doing this, while others are doing it secretly. We are not all knowing all catching of all problems and issues on FOSS, we report on what we find important.

    • Distributions

      • 12 Best alternatives to replace Windows 10 to some extent

        It is undeniable that Windows 10 captures the largest market for operating systems in computer users. But if you’re considering getting windows 10 then you need to also consider other alternatives which also give a good user experience and an easy-to-access interface. Below is the list of best alternatives to Windows 10.

      • Arch Family

        • The 8 Best Arch-Based Linux Distributions

          Arch Linux’s flexibility and customization options make it a primary choice of an operating system for Linux users. The performance-boosting features of Arch make it an absolute delight for the end-users.

          If you are battling with Arch’s complex installation procedure, you can always delve deeper into how Arch-based distros work and then take it on from there.

          Here are a few top choices of Linux distros for Arch lovers who want to make the most out of this flexible operating system.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

      • Debian Family

        • Sparky 2021.09

          Sparky 2021.09 of the (semi-)rolling line is out; it is based on Debian testing “Bookworm”.

          Changes:
          – repositories set to Debian “Bookworm” and Sparky “Orion Belt”
          – all packages updated as of September 17, 2021
          – new backgrounds: desktop, login manager, plymouth & boot screen, etc.
          – Linux kernel 5.10.46 (5.14.6 & 5.15-rc1 in Sparky unstable repos)
          – GCC 10 still as default, but GCC 11 is also installed
          – no more Sparky Advanced Installed GUI; the Advanced installer works in text mode only now; the first window lets you choose the standard version of the installer or DEV version with disk encryption and LVM support;
          – ‘sparky-upgrade’ text based tool is also preinstalled in CLI iso
          – packages removed from iso: mc, gparted
          – new package installed: lfm
          – Calamares 3.2.43

        • SparkyLinux 2021.09 Rolling Paves the Way for Debian Bookworm-Based SparkyLinux 7 “Orion Belt”

          SparkyLinux 2021.09 is the first release in the semi-rolling line to move to the new upstream Debian Testing repositories, which are now prepared for the next major release of one of the oldest and most acclaimed GNU/Linux distributions, Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm.”

          As such, SparkyLinux 2021.09 is here to pave the way for the next major stable series of the Debian-based distro, SparkyLinux 7.0 “Orion Belt,” which will be based on the Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” series.

        • Ben Hutchings: Debian LTS work, August 2021

          In August I was assigned 13.25 hours of work by Freexian’s Debian LTS initiative and carried over 6 hours from earlier months. I worked 1.25 hours and will carry over the remainder.

          I attended an LTS team meeting, and wrote my report for July 2021, but did not work on any updates.

        • SFSget improved and folder hierarchy reconsidered

          Just a short note, that I have been working on “sfsget”, the SFS downloader and installer. Various refinements, including much more aware of installing to the main desktop instead of as a container.
          This revamp was triggered with Chromium, which is not really suitable for running in a container. It has its own sandbox, which is effectively a container. Easy Containers are “crippled root” and the Chromium sandbox does not work in a container — it would be a sandbox-within-a-sandbox. So Chromium would have to run with “–no-sandbox” in a container.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • SD Times news digest: Android for Cars App Library 1.1, MariaDB announces a technical preview of NoSQL listener capability, and Rezilion funding – SD Times

          MariaDB released the technical preview of the NoSQL listener capability to define a port and protocol pair that accept client connections to a service.

          “We’ve opened up a port on MaxScale to listen for traffic that contains NoSQL data that we then store and manage in a MariaDB database,” Rob Hedgpeth, Director, Developer Relations at MariaDB, wrote in a blog post.

          When the MongoDB client application issues MongoDB protocol commands, either directly or indirectly via the client library, they are transparently converted into the equivalent SQL and executed against the MariaDB backend. The MariaDB responses are then in turn converted into the format expected by the MongoDB client library and application.

      • FSF

        • GNU Projects

          • GIMP 2.10.28 Released! How to Install via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04

            GIMP announced the 2.10.28 release of the popular image editor. The release includes mainly bug-fixes and stability improvements.

            The source tarball of version 2.10.26 is available to download 2 weeks ago. Due to a build bug, the project team skipped it and announced GIMP 2.10.28 as the latest stable release with fixes.

          • Weekly recap — 19 September 2021

            This is a brown paper bag release: 2.10.26 was inadvertently released with a tiny annoying bug, so the team skipped that version entirely. Either way, if you are a Windows user, I definitely recommend upgrading.

            This version comes with a bunch of fixes for this platform, especially for cases when GIMP used to be slow with a network drive being temporarily unavailable (not GIMP’s fault, but rather a 3rd party component used by the program).

            In other news, GIMP 2.99.x now has a Preferences switch between various Windows APIs for graphic tablets support, thanks to Luca Bacci. Basically, this means support for more tablets. Oh, and Jehan’s patch to support cloning on multiple layers at once has been merged and will be part of 2.99.8, hopefully in the coming October.

      • Programming/Development

        • Rust

          • The future of Rust

            Despite its name, the Rust programming language has never looked so shiny and new. Way back in 2016, Stack Overflow’s annual survey of developers crowned Rust the “most loved” programming language. They voted their love again in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Presumably, when 2022 rolls around, that devotion to Rust will persist.

        • Java

          • All the changes between JDK 11 and the Java 17 LTS release

            If you were to look at the features in Java 17, the most recent long-term support (LTS) release from Oracle, you’d probably be disappointed. There’s only 14 JDK enhancement proposals (JEP) included in the release, and none of them are particularly exciting. In fact, some of the JEPs are downright depressing, such as the deprecation of the Applet API for removal or the removal of the experimental AOT and JIT compilers.

            There are no ‘big bang’ JDK releases anymore. In the past, there would be a highly anticipated feature such as Java modules or Lambda expressions that would delay a release until the feature was complete. The Java world doesn’t work like that anymore. Releases now happen every six months. If a feature is complete, it goes into the release. If not, it gets targeted to the next release. But a new release happens every six months, and feature enhancements happen incrementally over time. So if you want to know what’s new in the latest LTS release, you really need to look over the various changes that were made and enhancements that were added between Java 11 and 17. Starting with Java 12, here is a list of them:

  • Leftovers

    • Integrity/Availability

    • Environment

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Wait To Rule On Hirshfeld’s Arthrex Authority, Fed. Circ. Told

          The Federal Circuit should hold off on deciding whether acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Drew Hirshfeld has the authority to review Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions, the agency said Wednesday, saying any challenge to its procedures was still “premature.”

          Earlier this month, Vilox Technologies Inc. urged the appeals court to remand a Patent Trial and Appeal Board ruling that invalidated a data display patent challenged by Unified Patents under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Arthrex ruling, which held that PTAB judges were unconstitutional and that giving the USPTO director the authority to review the board’s rulings fixes the problem….

        • How Koh might sway SEP law and cut backlogs at Ninth Circuit

          Seven IP lawyers say the judge from California’s northern district court would change the appellate venue for the better if her nomination went through, this time

        • European Biotech Patent Law Webinar [Ed: Giant patent litigation firm pushing for patents on life and nature in Europe]

          D Young & Co will be offering its next European biotech patent law update on September 21, 2021. The webinar will be offered at three times: 9:00 am, noon, and 5:00 pm (BST). D Young & Co European Patent Attorneys Simon O’Brien and Antony Latham will provide an update of new and important EPO biotechnology patent case law.

        • FCBA Remote Program on Gender Inequality Among Federal Circuit Advocates [Ed: Misusing feminism to make lobbyists [1, 2] seem beneficial or benign]

          The Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA) Rules, Nexgen, and Diversity Committees will be offering a remote program entitled “Gender Inequality Among Federal Circuit Advocates” on September 23, 2021 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (ET). Jenny Wu of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP will moderate a panel consisting of Paul R. Gugliuzza and Rachel Rebouche of Temple University Beasley School of Law, Heidi Keefe of Cooley LLP, and Neema Kumar of Sandoz. The panel will discuss a recent empirical study regarding gender disparity among the advocates who appear before the Federal Circuit in its patent cases and discuss what can be done to improve diversity in patent litigation.

        • Program Commemorating 10th Anniversary of America Invents Act [Ed: This was a step in the right direction for the USPTO, but corrupt Trump with his longtime ally Iancu worked to sabotage this progress]

          The US*MADE Coalition and Alliance for Automotive Innovation will be hosting an in-person and virtual program “Honoring the 10th Anniversary of the America Invents Act” from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm (ET) on September 22, 2021. The event will take place at the Ballroom at the Reserve Officers Association in Washington, DC.

        • Op Ed: Reflections on the American Invents Act on its Tenth Year Anniversary [Ed: So Michelle Lee now works for Jeff Bezos. Talk about revolving doors...]

          The America Invents Act (AIA), which passed on September 16, 2011, brought about some of the most significant changes to our patent system in over 50 years. The Act included an assortment of reforms from a transition to first inventor to file in the United States, the establishment of processes for third party challenges to granted patents at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the creation of the first regional offices of the USPTO, providing inventors the option for accelerated patent examination, and more.

          Many of the AIA reforms strengthened our patent system. For example, as a former Director of the USPTO, I cannot overstate the importance of the Agency’s ability to set its own fees and create an operating reserve. This enabled the USPTO to get through periods of government shutdown and to invest in longer-term initiatives such as much-needed information technology upgrades, hire more examiners to reduce the patent application backlog and provide additional training for examiners. The transition to a first inventor to file system was needed to harmonize the U.S. with the rest of the world. The establishment of the first regional offices of the USPTO made our intellectual property system more accessible to all, and of course, prioritized examination, allowing inventors to accelerate the examination of certain patents, makes business sense.

          After passage by Congress, the attention turned to the USPTO, and its massive effort to implement the AIA. Then-USPTO Director David Kappos and his dedicated team at the Agency worked hard to implement the AIA in view of numerous proposed rules, soliciting input from stakeholders along the way. By 2013, the USPTO had completed substantially most of the initial AIA rulemaking, including for the post-patent grant review proceedings.

          In 2015, I became Director of the USPTO, and the AIA changes had been in place for barely a few years. Leading the USPTO is a great honor that comes with a tremendous responsibility. As a result, I undertook as a priority to assess how these fledgling and complex reforms were going, and to make improvements where needed. Under my leadership, the USPTO continued to solicit feedback on the AIA reforms via numerous requests for comments to proposed rules and stakeholder engagements. This resulted in the implementation of multiple changes, including to the claim construction standard of soon-to-expire patents to be consistent with the (Phillips) standard used in district court litigation, submission of new testimonial evidence with a patent owner’s preliminary response, the addition of a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11-type certifications requiring a duty of candor in papers filed in AIA trials to prevent misuse of the proceedings, and more.

        • U.S. Says It Supports a Covid Vaccine Patent Waiver, But Document Reveals It Is Dragging Feet at WTO [Ed: Nations governed by patent cartels that willingly kill millions of people, needlessly, just to artificially inflate the prices of needles with juice in them]

          On September 14, the United States declined to support as-is a proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO), put forward by South Africa and India in October 2020, to suspend key intellectual property rules that relate to the Covid-19 vaccine. While the United States expressed frustration about ​“lost momentum” around negotiations over the intellectual property waiver, global health advocates say they are disappointed that the Biden administration has declined to take an active role in pushing such negotiations forward.
          The developments come despite the Biden’s administration’s much lauded pledge that it supports waiving intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines. ​“This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on May 5. ​“The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines. We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization needed to make that happen.”

        • Design Patent Term: 3½, 7, 14, and now 15 years? [Ed: Zero. Design patents ought not exist at all. They’re already covered by trademarks.]

          New design patents have a term of 15 years from patent issuance — that is a 1 year bump from the 14 year term familiar to many patent attorneys. The straight 14-year term took hold in 1982. In the years leading up to 1982, most design patents also had a 14 year term, but applicants had the option of instead obtaining a term of 7 years or 3½ years at a lower fee. In 1980, all design patents had an application fee of $20, and the issuance fee was $10, $20, or $30, depending upon whether the applicant wanted 3½, 7, or 14 years of patent term. In 1930, the prices were $10, $15, and $20.

        • Software Patents

          • Dallas Invents: 143 Patents Granted for Week of Aug 31 [Ed: Lots of these are just bogus software patents which courts (or PTAB) would toss out]

            Dallas Invents is a weekly look at U.S. patents granted with a connection to the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area. Listings include patents granted to local assignees and/or those with a North Texas inventor. Patent activity can be an indicator of future economic growth, as well as the development of emerging markets and talent attraction. By tracking both inventors and assignees in the region, we aim to provide a broader view of the region’s inventive activity. Listings are organized by Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC).

          • Parus Files Second Patent Lawsuit Against Apple for Infringement of its Proprietary Voice-Browsing and Device Control Technology
          • PTAB Affirms Patentability of Parus Claims

            Parus Holdings, Inc., a pioneer in voice-enabled technologies, is pleased to announce today that it has won an important victory against Apple in a patent dispute over its voice-user interface technologies for retrieving information. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected in its entirety Apple’s attempt to invalidate key Parus patents.

      • Trademarks

        • Mariah Carey can’t sell ‘Black Irish’ in Ireland due to earlier patent [Ed: Fantastic example of the mischievous, lying "IP" crowd (litigation profiteers) leaving people totally incapable of telling the difference between patents and trademarks, which are very different]

          Singer Mariah Carey is not able to sell her new liquor, called Black Irish, in Ireland or the EU because the name has been previously patented by an Irish company.

          Carrie said the name was derived from her father, who is Black, and her mother’s Irish heritage.

          For more than a year, Carey’s Irish cream liqueur has sought to use the Black Irish name, but been barred because Darker Still Spirits, an Irish liquor company, owns the name Black Irish European.

          Richard Ryan, co-director of Darker Still, is critical of Carey’s continually trying to use the name.

Links 19/9/2021: Jolla’s Sailfish OS 4.2 and FreeBSD Technology Roadmap

Posted in News Roundup at 7:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • 2021 The Year of the Linux Desktop?

        “Android and Chrome water down the Linux philosophy,” the article argues, “but they are Linux…”

        Does this make any long-time geeks feel vindicated? In the original submission wiredog (Slashdot reader #43,288) looks back to 1995, remembering that “my first Linux was RedHat 2.0 in the beige box, running the 0.95(?) kernel and the F Virtual Window Manager…

        “It came with 2 books, a CD, and a boot floppy disk.”

      • 5 Reasons Purism’s Librem Laptops Are More Secure Than Your Notebook

        If you’re looking for a secure laptop computer, you have several options. Thumb readers, facial recognition, and built-in encryption all offer considerable security. But these features – typically backed up by the operating system – are prone to failure, one way or another. For example, facial recognition can be bypassed using various techniques.

        Purism is a company that assembles Linux computers, complete with a secure operating system and hardware kill switches. These features – while eschewing potential points of entry found on other laptops – make Purism laptops particularly attractive to any user concerned about online privacy and security.

    • Kernel Space

      • Linux 5.15 Is Now Slightly Less Broken For The DEC Alpha “Jensen” – Phoronix

        One has to wonder how much longer the Linux kernel will keep around some very old and known to be borked hardware support but at least for now the DECpc AXP 150 “Jensen” platform support is sticking around and with Linux 5.15 is no longer marked as “broken” outright.

        The past four years the Linux kernel Kconfig for the DEC Alpha Jensen platform has marked it as “BROKEN” since it was known to not even compile due to a build error… With Linux 5.15 that Jensen system code now has its four lines of moved around code so it can at least build correctly. So with a change merged on Saturday Linux 5.15 no longer calls Jensen as “BROKEN” outright.

    • Applications

      • Rufus for linux? Not available, Use these best alternatives

        Rufus for Linux, yes, everybody who has ever used this bootable USB creator tool which is only available for Windows, definitely wished to have it for Linux operating systems too. However, although it is not directly available for Linux, we can still use it with the help of Wine software. But again even after installing it using Wine on Ubuntu, in our case, it couldn’t recognize the attached USB drives, which again closed the door for normal users to use Rufus on Linux. Thus in such scenarios what do?

        Don’t worry. The Rufus is not the only software for creating a bootable USB drives in the world. There are also few other best alternatives to Rufus that we can use easily on Linux operating systems. And here today we will discuss such opensource or free tools for creating bootable drives on Linux Distros.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Ansible YAML Basics – Anto ./ Online

        Understanding YAML is essential as it is a popular markup language. In addition, you need to get familiar with the basics of the YAML syntax to master the art of writing playbooks in Ansible.

        YAML is often called “Yet Another Markup Language” because it appeared in the era of other markup languages such as (HTML, XML, etc.). However, later its reference changed to “YAML Ain’t Markup Language” to emphasize its data-oriented purpose. Indeed, it is used for configuration files and other declarations. For example, in the case of Ansible, you may think of a playbook written in YAML as a declaration of configuration procedures and processes.

      • An Open Source Wi-Fi Roundup

        Wireless networks and hotspots aren’t just for Windows users. Linux-based projects are cropping up all over to make for inexpensive WLANs of all sorts.

      • What Is a Daemon?

        This strange term is a relic of Unix history, but daemons are still in use today. The term is synonymous with the concept of a “service”, a task that runs continuously, typically without user interaction.

        There are several common examples of daemons, and even if you don’t need to know exactly how they work, it’s at least useful to be able to identify them.

      • How to install MyWebSQL – Web interface to manage databases on Ubuntu 20.04

        Managing and viewing MySQL / MariaDB data using the terminal can be cumbersome. So we always have the help of various tools that allow us to do this process quickly and easily. Thanks to this tutorial, you will learn how to install MyWebSQL on Ubuntu 20.04, and with a modern graphical interface, you will be able to manage a database quickly.

      • How to Install Rust on AlmaLinux 8

        Rust is an open-source systems programming language that focuses on speed, memory safety, and parallelism. Developers use Rust to create a wide range of new software applications, such as game engines, operating systems, file systems, browser components, and simulation engines for virtual reality.

      • How to Install Plex Media Server on Fedora – LinuxCapable

        Plex Media Server is a piece of software to store all your digital media content and access via a client application such as your TV, NVIDIA Shield, Roku, Mobile App, and many more platforms. Plex Media Server organizes your files and content into categories. It’s extremely popular with people storing TV Shows and Movie Libraries, and if your connection is good enough, share it with your friends and family. Over time Plex Media Server has grown much and now supports many platforms.

        In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Plex Media Server on Fedora.

      • How to Install Brave Browser on Linux Mint 20
      • How to unpack tar bz2 xz gz archives in Linux – LinuxStoney

        For unpacking tar-archives through a command-line utility is used tar.

        It is useful to know that archives tar have the file extension .tar Also in Linux, archives are widespread that have additional compression by other programs. For example, archives .tar.bz2 , .tar.gz and others. All of these archives can be unpacked using the utility tar.

      • How to install Chromium browser on Debian 11 “Bullseye” – LinuxStoney

        Designed to provide safer, faster and more stable use for everyone, it is a Chromium browser, an open source browser project produced by Google. The software that aims to provide a secure web experience to the user; It can be used on Windows, GNU/Linux, macOS and many other systems. It is known that Google changes the Chromium source code almost daily. Therefore, it is recommended that the user always use the latest version. For this reason, it is considered more suitable primarily for developers, not end users. How to install Chromium browser on Debian 11 “Bullseye”? This is our topic today. As it is known, Debian 11, which got the code name “Bullseye” from the horse character in Pixar’s famous Toy Story series announcement of after the toys, the topics now turned to Bullseye. We continue from here. The Chromium browser created by Google is used by many users.

        To install the Chromium browser on the system, first in the terminal suYou must be root with the command or constantly per commands. sudoYou will need to add In the meantime, this on what to do to gain sudo command privileges on Debian forum post can be viewed .

      • How To Fix – Bash: Ifconfig Command Not Found | Tips On UNIX

        This tutorial will be helpful for fixing the issue – bash: ifconfig command not found

      • Linux modprobe command with Useful Examples

        The Linux Kernel is the core component of a Linux operating system. The Linux kernel has a modular design that allows it to be extended in terms of functionality. Modules are small pieces of code that may be loaded and unloaded by the kernel without having to restart the computer. Kernel modules can be loaded/removed manually or automatically.

        When a new device such USB or PCI is connected/removed, the kernel sends uevents. The uevents contain information about the device such as vendor and model details. Udev (device manager) is listening to this uevents and passes them to modprobe. Modprobe intelligently identifies the requested driver by searching under the module directory /lib/modules/uname -r and loads the module file into the kernel. Once the module is successfully loaded, it appears in the listing from lsmod command. Additionally, modprobe is used to manually add or remove a loadable module from the kernel.

      • Installing applications in Linux | Complete guide – LinuxH2O

        Linux distributions are one of the best operating systems available. Users are very satisfied to use them. This is because of the full control that we get over it. We love to customize, installing different kinds of applications, its regular hustle free updates, looks, performance, easiness, and the list goes on and on. So in this quick guide, we are going to learn about how to install applications in Linux distributions.

      • How to Install Zoom on Ubuntu [Easy Way]

        The ‘work from home’ was existing for years but only a few people chose to work like this.

        Covid-19 lockdowns made work from home a common scenario. Even the non-IT people had to resume their work activities from the confinement of home. Video conferencing tool become as common as emails.

        Among all this, Zoom became the de facto online meeting tool. If you are using Linux and prefer open source video conferencing tools like Jitsi Meet, chances are that people at work use Zoom.

      • How to Customize Your Cinnamon Desktop Look Like MacOS Big Sur – Linux Scoop

        Hi everyone. In this video I am going to show you step by step how to customize Cinnamon Desktop Look Like macOS Big Sur. In this video, I use Linux Mint 20 with the Cinnamon desktop 4.6 series for implementing the theme look like macOS Big Sur.

        This tutorial also works on Linux Distribution which using Cinnamon Desktop such as Linux Mint, Feren OS, OpenSUSE with Cinnamon, Debian Cinnamon flavor, Fedora Cinnamon Spin, Arch with Cinnamon Desktop, and Manjaro Cinnamon Edition.

      • What To Do After Installing elementary OS 6

        This is a recommendation for new elementary OS users who just had version 6 codenamed Odin. It includes apps, settings, and some enhancements you would and might need. Enjoy elementary OS experience!

        There are work apps not included in elementary OS which we need to install ourselves for example LibreOffice, multimedia tools like Kdenlive, and games like TuxMath and 0 A.D. Follow this guide to get what you need: Guide to Install 20 Standard Apps on elementary OS.

      • How to Install Java 17 in Ubuntu 20.04, 21.10, Linux Mint 20

        A quick guide on how to install the latest Java 17 in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10 and Linux Mint 20.x.

    • Games

      • IPv6 Support on the PlayStation 5

        The PS5 does support IPv6, and the Netflix app proves that IPv6 connectivity is available for use. Apart from Netflix, though, there is not much use of IPv6. That goes both for the system software and its bundled apps, as well as for third-party apps and games.

      • SDL Still Has A Number Of Issues To Address Before Defaulting To Wayland – Phoronix

        The recently released SDL 2.0.16 brought much-improved Wayland support but it’s still not quite good enough yet to have it be the default over the SDL X11 path. However, developers continue working in that direction to eventually use it by default.

        Well known Linux game porter Ethan Lee presented at this week’s X.org Developers Conference (XDC2021) with the ongoing work to bring SDL’s Wayland support up to parity with X11 that it can be the default.

      • VR on Linux: A Growing Market?

        Here’s another look at the survey conducted back in April 2021 – this time we will check the answers from all respondents regarding VR on Linux.

        First, let’s have a look at how widespread is VR among the respondents…

        As expected, the majority of users have actually never tried VR. However, the number of owners of PC VR equipment is much higher than I had anticipated. More than 13% is a huge number, relative to the usual market of VR as we know currently. As usual the same disclaimer apply as per the previous survey analysis (this sample is potentially not representative of Linux gamers at large, etc…) but there are still many things to learn from it.

        [...]

        It’s not very surprising that the large majority has no such intent. But still, about 15.8% say they would be somewhat likely or very likely to purchase such VR equipment. Even if only half of those actually pulls the trigger, that’s still something like a 8% growth year on year. Not very fast, but still healthy in terms of market development. It’s consistent with what we have been observing so far with VR: sales increase year after year, but there’s no explosion – nothing like how smartphones took off, if we were to take a benchmark.

        I think this all says that VR is potentially great, but for numerous reasons, it’s not yet ready to go full mainstream. Half Life: Alyx may be the exception that proves the rule: pretty much everyone who played it considered it a game-changer, but there’s only one game like that, and this is from Valve after spending years experimenting with what VR could bring. Maybe every game, ten years from now, will be as good or better than Alyx in VR, but until more extraordinary titles come out, adoption will be on a slow pace.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

      • BSD

        • Technology Roadmap

          Much like any other organization navigating the future during very uncertain times, the FreeBSD Foundation team spent the last year increasingly focused on how best to support its mission and goal – how best to support the FreeBSD Project. We held strategy sessions with the Foundation Board and FreeBSD Core team, reviewed the results of the FreeBSD core team’s user and developer surveys, and held conversations with developers, users and other members of the FreeBSD community to determine where to focus our efforts. The overall goal is to expand and enhance the efforts of the technology team.

          The beginnings of this effort can be seen in the FreeBSD Quarterly Status Reports for the first half of the year. One example is the sponsored Linuxulator Compatibility Improvements project that included modernizing the code base to support popular client-facing and server related Linux applications. You can read more about his work at https://freebsdfoundation.org/project/targeted-linuxulator-compatibility-improvements/.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • At least from an outside perspective, Ubuntu is Canonical’s thing

          It’s true that Ubuntu has a community of people who contribute to it despite Canonical not paying them for their time and work. But this community doesn’t get to make real decisions on anything that Canonical cares about, any more than the CentOS (community) board gets to overrule IBM’s views on how CentOS should operate. If and when Canonical says ‘Ubuntu is doing X’ (or ‘not doing X’), that’s what happens. In a way, there’s nothing particularly nefarious about this in the case of Ubuntu; Canonical founded it and has always paid for it and run it, and we’ve just enjoyed the ride.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • 5 best practices for using open source community leaderboards

        It takes a community of people with varying skill sets and expertise to build open source software. Leaderboards have become a way for open source communities to track progress and showcase and celebrate top-performing contributors. If leaderboards are done right, they can increase participation, motivate contributors with gamification, and enhance the community. But leaderboards can also have adverse outcomes—including discouraging participation.

        The Community Health Analytics Open Source Software (CHAOSS) community, a Linux Foundation project, focuses on bringing standardization to open source project health and metrics. Leaderboards are a topic that keeps coming up during those conversations. Initially, this blog post was a presentation I made for Upstream 2021, the Tidelift event that kicked off Maintainer Week, a weeklong celebration of open source maintainers. This article will explore five best practices to help communities use leaderboards successfully and improve their project health through metrics.

      • Huawei Launches Industrial Operating System for Coal Mines – Caixin Global

        HarmonyOS-based software replaces grab bag of Linux, Unix and Windows systems and promises greater efficiency and safety in mining

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • Oracle to PostgreSQL? 6 Reasons to Make Your Open Source Migration

          Now with nearly three-decades of maturity, the post-object relational database system PostgreSQL is particularly emblematic of an enterprise-wide trend: proven open source data technologies – in their pure open source versions – are increasingly replacing expensive and inflexible proprietary solutions.

          Postgres offers some especially enticing advantages for enterprises looking to trim (if not downright slash) costs without impacting database performance. Here’s a half-dozen reasons enterprises should consider the fully open source version of Postgres as a more-than-capable Oracle replacement.

      • Education

        • Creating Successful R User Groups in Abuja, Nigeria

          Bilikisu Aderinto, Founder/Organizer of the Abuja R User Group and R-Ladies Abuja, talks about the lack of R User groups in her area, and her desire to start one, leading to a large increase in members in Abuja. She talks about the issues with income disparity and how it affected lockdown attendance for the group. She also talks about training others to increase their knowledge base in the area.

      • Programming/Development

        • GitLab files to go public as both revenue and losses surge

          GitLab Inc., which provides a cloud service to enable software developers to share code and collaborate on projects, today announced plans to go public with an initial offering of stock.

          The San Francisco-based company, which counts among its competitors Microsoft Corp.-owned GitHub and Atlassian Corp. PLC’s BitBucket, didn’t reveal yet how much it plans to raise or precisely when it will do the IPO. It was last valued at $6 billion after a secondary share sale in January, and has raised a total of $400 million from investors such as Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, TCV, Franklin Templeton and Coatue Management.

        • [Old] LLVM internals, part 1: the bitcode format

          I’ve done a couple of posts on LLVM itself, mostly on things you can do with LLVM or how LLVM represents particular program features.

          I’ve received some good feedback on these, but I’d like to focus a sub-series of posts on LLVM’s implementation itself: the file formats, parsing strategies, and algorithmic choices underlying LLVM’s public interfaces (APIs, CLIs, and consumable output files). I’ll be writing these posts as I work on a series of pure-Rust libraries for ingesting LLVM’s intermediate representation, with the end goal of being able to perform read-only analyses of programs compiled to LLVM IR in pure Rust.

          For those who don’t know what LLVM is, this post has a broader background on LLVM’s components and intermediate representation.

        • [Old] LLVM internals, part 2: parsing the bitstream

          In the last post, I performed a high-level overview of LLVM’s bitcode format (and underlying bitstream container representation). The end result of that post was a release announcement for llvm-bitcursor, which provides the critical first abstraction(s) for a pure-Rust bitcode parser.

          This post will be a more concrete walkthrough of the process of parsing actual LLVM bitstreams, motivated by another release announcement: llvm-bitstream.

          Put together, the llvm-bitcursor and llvm-bitstream crates get us two thirds-ish of the way to a pure-Rust parser for LLVM IR. The only remaining major component is a “mapper” from the block and record representations in the bitstream to actual IR-level representations (corresponding to llvm::Module, llvm::Function, &c in the official C++ API).

        • LLVM internals, part 3: from bitcode to IR

          This post marks a turning point: now that we have reasonable abstractions for the bitstream container itself, we can focus on mapping it into a form that resembles LLVM’s IR. We’ll cover some of the critical steps in that process1 below, introducing a new crate (llvm-mapper) in the process.

          Also, critically: this post is the first in the series where our approach to parsing and interpreting LLVM’s bitcode differs significantly from how LLVM’s own codebase does things. The details of the post should still be interesting to anyone who wants to learn the details of how an IR-level LLVM module is constructed, but will not reflect how LLVM itself does that construction2.

        • Python

          • Python in 2021: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

            In this post, I want to look at the biggest strengths and weaknesses of Python, with more emphasis on the weaknesses, just because these problems have been there for years now and some of the rough edges bleed a lot.

  • Leftovers

    • ASEAN bloc agrees to work on digital trade pact that might get real by 2025

      The ASEAN economic and free trade bloc has agreed to develop a digital trade pact, and South Korea wants to play.

      ASEAN has ten members that collectively have about the same economic heft as the UK or France, and negotiate as one on trade matters with other blocs like the European Union. Bloc members Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are seen as likely to grow very quickly in coming years, making ASEAN of considerable importance to global trade and diplomacy.

    • Sir Clive Sinclair: even his failures were prescient inventions

      Even Sinclair’s so-called failures reveal an inventor who sought to solve everyday problems rather than amass a personal fortune. And many were prescient. Anticipating electrified personal transportation, Sinclair developed an electric car, then an electric bike – long before the vogue they both enjoy today.

      These later inventions may have been a business failure, but they were a triumph of the will and the imagination. Sinclair long ago secured his legacy as the “father of the home computer”, but time is only now vindicating his other creations. Now, at least, we have the chance to catch up.

    • Michigan students steal from bathrooms for TikTok challenge — and schools have had enough

      The “devious licks” challenge taking over TikTok is running rampant through Michigan schools, encouraging students to steal and angering administrators.

      Students in middle and high schools across the nation are stealing everything from soap dispensers to bathroom stall doors to shelves of COVID-19 tests to entire toilets, and documenting the entire thing on TikTok.

    • Education

    • Health/Nutrition

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Report: Biden administration to roll out sanctions targeting ransomware payments [iophk: Windows TCO]

          The sources believe that the sanctions could be implemented as early as next week by the U.S. Treasury Department. The sanctions are expected to be imposed on “specific targets” rather than the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Additionally, the Treasury Department is reportedly preparing to release new guidance that will warn businesses they could face fines and other penalties over involvement in ransomware payments.

        • U.S. to Target Crypto Ransomware Payments With Sanctions [iophk: Windows TCO]

          The Treasury Department plans to impose the sanctions as soon as next week, the people said, and will issue fresh guidance to businesses on the risks associated with facilitating ransomware payments, including fines and other penalties. Later this year, expected new anti-money-laundering and terror-finance rules will seek to limit the use of cryptocurrency as a payment mechanism in ransomware attacks and other illicit activities.

          The actions collectively would represent the most significant attempt yet by the Biden administration to undercut the digital finance ecosystem of traders, exchanges and other elements that cybersecurity experts say has allowed debilitating ransomware attacks to flourish in recent years.

        • PrintNightmare Windows Patch Reportedly Breaks Network Printing Altogether

          What makes the problem worse is that Windows is reporting different types of errors to each user, making it a bit harder to see what’s going on. BleepingComputer said that one source is seeing a 4098 Warning in the application event logs, while another said that their printer port tabs were all blank. One source couldn’t even get access to their network printers at all, seeing “access denied” errors instead.

        • Buying an iPhone 13 represents 49 days of work for Mexican professional

          An average Mexican professional has to work almost 50 days to afford the latest edition of Apple’s iPhone, an analysis by an international e-commerce platform found.

        • Why Government and Military Sites Are Hosting Porn and Viagra Ads

          The source of at least some of these uploads is a company called Laserfiche, according to Edwards. Laserfiche is a government software provider that makes content management systems. The company has contracts with the Army, the Navy, the FBI, and more, according to public procurement records.

        • Security

          • ‘OMIGOD’ vulnerabilities put Azure customers at risk

            The flaws were reported Tuesday by cloud security vendor Wiz, which previously disclosed the ChaosDB Azure vulnerability last month. At the center is Open Management Infrastructure (OMI), an open source software sponsored by Microsoft that Wiz researcher Nir Ohfeld described in a blog post as essentially “Windows Management Infrastructure (WMI) for Unix/Linux systems.”

          • Microsoft Azure Users with Linux VMs Exposed to Security Vulnerabiltiy Called OMIGOD—How to Fix | Tech Times

            It is worth noting that Wiz was able to dig a total of four security vulnerabilities in the OMI project of Microsoft. The security company dubbed these flaws as OMIGOD to give it a catchy nickname.

          • Microsoft’s end-of-summer software security cleanse crushes more than 80 bugs

            For its September Patch Tuesday, Microsoft churned out fixes for 66 vulnerabilities alongside 20 Chromium security bugs in Microsoft Edge.

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • Papers Please: Nationality Checks For The British Internet?

              As we’ve previously explained, the draft Bill includes provisions which will mandate age verification or age assurance processes onto all sites, services, or applications offering user-to-user content or communication which can be accessed in the UK. This will mean age checks on sites and services with user-to-user content or communication across the board, meaning all content, all sites, all services, and all users, all the time, regardless of scope, risk, or proportionality, excepting sites which are deemed ‘child safe’.

              You will need to do this not to shield children from subjectively harmful content, but to achieve your compliance requirements; and as the Bill has been drafted, you will be compelled to do this at the risks of penalties, sanctions, and even the threat of personal arrests.

            • Facebook’s social balance is in the red

              Changes Facebook instituted in 2018 to turn down the dial on contentious politics in people’s feeds had the opposite effect, driving extreme views instead.

            • WhatsApp testing business directory (yellow pages). This will be a big deal.

              The pilot is in Brazil and they say the feedback they get will determine the next steps with the feature. I foresee the feature being popular enough to get a worldwide release before the end of 2022. That’s quick for WhatsApp.

              WhatsApp is trying to help us sort the businesses that are on WhatsApp by category and alphabetically. Exactly like how the yellow pages were.

            • I Drank Kombucha on TikTok, Now I Have a Career Online

              Making money on YouTube generally comes in two ways; Google AdSense revenue, or branded/sponsored content. “It’s algorithmic, or certain brands will sponsor you to make a video for them that you post on your channel,” Broski explains.

            • Chinese smart tech fraught with risk

              Chinese technology firms have been peddling “safe city” and “smart city” packages of technology in Africa for years. Suites of interconnected products and services include surveillance equipment, communications tools and digital municipal management systems.

              Billed as public safety tools, the programs are increasingly used to control the population and crack down on dissent.

            • TikTok Parent ByteDance Reportedly Preps Streaming Service Following Tencent Music’s Exclusive-License Penalty

              Beijing-based ByteDance reportedly intends to launch the music streaming app – tentatively called Feilo and referred to as Luna internally – in China sometime later this year, according to Google’s translation of a Mandarin-language report from 36Kr (NASDAQ: KRKR).

              The concise report also notes that ByteDance’s streaming service will utilize a tried-and-proven algorithm from the outset in an effort to reach consumers, while the initially mentioned “invalidation of Tencent’s exclusive copyright may bring new opportunities” as ByteDance looks to “develop its domestic music business.”

            • Apple shut down a voting app in Russia. That should worry everyone.

              The Smart Voting app was designed to identify candidates most likely to beat members of the government-backed party, United Russia, as part of a broader strategy organized by supporters of the imprisoned Russian activist Alexei Navalny to bring together voters who oppose Putin. In a bid to clamp down on the opposition effort, the Russian government told Google and Apple that the app was illegal, and reportedly threatened to arrest employees of both companies in the country.

            • This US company sold iPhone [cracking] tools to UAE spies

              Documents filed by the US Justice Department on Tuesday detail how the sale was facilitated by a group of American mercenaries working for Abu Dhabi, without legal permission from Washington to do so. But the case documents do not reveal who sold the powerful iPhone exploit to the Emiratis.

            • 10 Best Browsers for Privacy That Aren’t Google Chrome [Ed: This list is pure comedy in some places. Privacy? Not even close…]

              In this era of hacking, identity theft, data privacy violations, and Facebook watching your every move, the best browser for privacy can be your greatest weapon. The internet can be the place to be completely anonymous, but it’s also where you can be the most vulnerable.

              Data is one of the most monetized assets right now. And where do you get most of the people’s data? On the internet— unguarded and sometimes given voluntarily. Google Chrome is one of the major tech companies that sell their user’s data, and it’s the most used browser in the world.

              So, if you want to keep your data private and still want to continue your internet browsing, it’s time to make the move, and choose a secure browser. In this quick guide, we have compiled the best browsers for privacy that are perfect Google Chrome alternatives.

            • Confidentiality

              • Automatic cipher suite ordering in crypto/tls

                The Go standard library provides crypto/tls, a robust implementation of Transport Layer Security (TLS), the most important security protocol on the Internet, and the fundamental component of HTTPS. In Go 1.17 we made its configuration easier, more secure, and more efficient by automating the priority order of cipher suites.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Gun Manufactures Quietly Target Young Boys Using Social Media
      • Opinion | Biden’s Nuclear Weapons Commitments: Dangerous Continuities

        In the dangerous Trump era, the Pentagon pronounced that “There is no higher priority for national defense” than to “replace [the country's] strategic nuclear triad and sustain the warheads it carries.” The estimated cost for upgrading the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal and replacing all its nuclear warhead delivery systems—intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles, and long-range bombers—was $1.7 billion. Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review, the guidelines for nuclear war fighting, and maintenance and acquisition of the weapons required for genocidal or omnicidal war, reaffirmed the country’s first-strike nuclear war fighting doctrine, and it increased U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons. This included their possible use in response to cyber and other high-tech attacks on U.S. infrastructure.

      • FBI declassified document confirms links between Saudi Arabia and the 9/11 terrorists

        Under an executive order from President Joe Biden, the FBI declassified an FBI report on Saturday—the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks—showing that there were links between former representatives of the Saudi Arabian government and the hijackers.

      • Ten men, including Paris attacks suspect, to be tried over 2016 Brussels bombing

        On March 22, 2016 two suicide bombers blew themselves up in Brussels international airport and a third in a crowded Metro station in Brussels.

        Investigators linked the gang that carried out the attacks in Belgium to the earlier attacks in Paris in November 2015, which killed 130 people.

      • Cartoonists mark start of Paris attacks trial

        The biggest trial in modern French history began on September 8, with 20 suspects charged in the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured. The court will hear from more than 300 witnesses over a period of nine months. Twenty individuals stand accused, including Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the commando team masterminded by the Islamic State group.

      • Three of the four 9/11 pilots – Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah – lived in Germany. Op-ed.

        Peter Frisch, the former head of the German Bureau for the Protection of the Constitution (Germany’s internal secret service), will say, “We didn’t have the people to do surveillance, nor did we know we should.” Hamburg – and Germany as a whole – was a risk-free environment for Islamic terrorists. German officials, mindful of the Nazi past, will say they were reluctant to target mosques and risk accusations of racism and Islamophobia.

      • Niger: Children killed or forcibly recruited by armed Islamist groups in devastating conflict – New Report

        Increasing numbers of children are being killed or targeted for recruitment by armed groups in conflicts raging at Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, Amnesty International said in a new report published today (13 September).

        The 57-page report, ‘I Have Nothing Left Except Myself’: The Worsening Impact on Children of Conflict in the Tillabéri Region of Niger, documents the devastating impact on children of the conflict, involving armed groups Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

      • The French teacher Didier Lemaire has written a book about the conditions in the town of Trappes, which is ruled by Islamists

        But everything went wrong when he denounced the spread of political Islam in the town a few weeks after the murder of Samuel Paty. The teacher who denounced a problem got into trouble himself […].

        Le Point: Why did you want to return to this topic?

        Didier Lemaire: I wanted to write a book of testimonies. I was a philosophy teacher in Trappes and gradually became aware of a rise in Islamism in my high school in connection with attacks. I noticed that my relationship with the students was changing, as was their relationship with the subject of philosophy. I found myself in a situation where it had become very difficult to teach philosophy in lessons.

      • Radical Muslim Group Assists with Afghan Resettlement in America

        ICNA or the Islamic Circle of North America is the American arm of South Asian Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a body openly sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. For 30-plus years, ICNA has harbored JI death squad leader Ashrafuz Zaman Khan, placing him in ICNA’s top leadership. ICNA has collaborated with and has promoted Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a US and Pakistan-banned front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). In August 2006, ICNA was a partner and top donor to JI’s Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF), at the same time AKF took a delegation to Syria to hand-deliver $100,000 to then-Hamas leader Khaled Mashal for violence against Israel.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Research group starts expedition to Estonia ferry wreck

        The dive to the wreck site will last approximately 10 days. A total of 46 people will take part in the expedition, including 18 ship crew members and six media representatives.

        Kurm has identified seven questions that the organizers want to get answers to during the expedition and subsequent analysis.

        Materials gathered in the course of the investigation project will be analyzed by dr. Andrzej Jasionowski, who has previous experience with the disaster. In 2005-2008 he was a member of a scientific consortium that conducted studies for the Swedish government.

        Scientific analysis should be ready by next spring.

    • Environment

      • World on ‘catastrophic’ path to 2.7C warming, warns UN chief

        A failure to slash global emissions is setting the world on a “catastrophic” path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating, UN chief Antonio Guterres warned Friday just weeks before crunch climate talks.

      • Opinion | Letting the World Burn: The Question of Governance

        The sixth report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms yet again that we are rapidly destabilizing the climate and making the earth a more dangerous and biologically impoverished planet. No surprise; we’ve known this since the 1970s. The primary cause of the worsening situation, however, is not the combustion of fossil fuels, but the massive political dereliction that has allowed the bonfire to go on after we knew that it posed a potentially lethal threat to humankind. We have no precedent for malfeasance at this scale therefore we have no law, no accountability—and so far—no remedy.

      • [Old] Fishing Vessels ‘Go Dark’ to Evade Authorities, Pirates

        IUU fishing costs West African nations $2.3 billion each year, according to the United Nations. The practice also destroys ecosystems and has been linked to other crimes such as piracy, kidnapping and drug trafficking. China is the world’s worst fishing offender, according to the IUU Fishing Index, and has targeted West Africa for years.

        Despite the consequences of IUU fishing, many West African nations do not require that fishing vessels use an AIS, according to Peter Hammarstedt, director of campaigns for Sea Shepherd Global, which helps several West African countries combat illegal fishing.

      • UN warns of “catastrophic” climate change failure without more emissions cuts

        Driving the news: For the report, 113 countries, including the United States, submitted new pledges that would add up to a 12% decline in emissions by 2030 compared with 2020 levels.

        But dozens of countries, including China, India and Saudi Arabia, didn’t make any new formal commitments.

      • Energy

      • Wildlife/Nature

      • Overpopulation

        • Illegal marijuana farms take West’s water in ‘blatant theft’

          The Bend area has experienced a population boom, putting more demands on the water supply. The illegal grows are making things worse.

          In La Pine, south of Bend, Rodger Jincks watched a crew drill a new well on his property. The first sign that his existing well was failing came when the pressure dropped as he watered his tiny front lawn. Driller Shane Harris estimated the water table is dropping 6 inches (15 centimeters) per year.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Ahead of Canadian Election, Bernie Sanders & Rashida Tlaib Endorse Jagmeet Singh
      • Ahead of Canadian Election, Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib Endorse NDP

        After high-profile Democrats expressed support for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party ahead of the country’s federal election on Monday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Rashida Tlaib endorsed the New Democratic Party, led by Jagmeet Singh.

        “There’s one party that stood up for working people in the pandemic. One leader who has the courage to make the wealthy pay their fair share so everyone gets the medication they need,” Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted Friday, explaining his support for Singh and the NDP.

      • Socialist India Walton Faces Treacherous Path in Buffalo Despite Court Victory
      • Russia Today Lodges Complain Against Facebook

        In response to the censorship of its digital content project “Redfish,” the television network Russia Today (RT) asked the authorities of its country to monitor more carefully the actions of Facebook.

        This week, this California-based company suspended Redfish’s account on Instagram. Given that this action was arbitrary, RT asked the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor (RKN) and the Prosecutor General’s Office to take the pertinent measures in this type of case.

      • Russia restricts opposition election voting app from Apple App Store and Google Play Store

        Mobile app store metrics from NetBlocks confirm the removal of a popular opposition election tracking app from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The incident comes as Russia holds parliamentary elections from 17 to 19 September 2021.

      • How Russia made Apple and Google complicit in its [Internet] crackdown

        This morning in Russia, as polls opened for three days of voting to elect a new parliament, Apple and Google submitted to an escalating pressure campaign by the Russian government and deleted opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s app from their respective app stores. Their decisions come after months of government efforts to suppress Navalny’s Smart Voting project, which published a voter guide available through the app. The Russian government has reacted to this voter guide as if facing a serious national security threat—a reaction that has stirred international controversy. The furious (and ultimately successful) efforts to suppress this voter guide not only demonstrate the Russian government’s determination to assert broad control over both the outcome of Russian elections and the information Russian citizens can access online, but also how the underlying dynamics of Russia’s censorship agenda can become an international problem, forcing companies based outside its borders into complicity with domestic repression.

      • Telegram Removes Navalny’s Smart Voting From Messaging Service

        Popular messaging app Telegram is suspending all chat bots used in the Russian elections campaign, in another blow to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s Smart Voting initiative after Apple and Google removed the election-guide app from their stores.

        Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced late on September 17 that the service would abide by Russia’s “election silence,” a law practiced in other countries that prohibits campaigning during the elections.

      • Facebook shields VIPs from some of its rules: report

        The program, referred to as “cross check” or “XCheck,” shields millions of elite users from rules that Facebook claims to apply equally at the social network, according to a report citing internal documents.

      • What Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party Can Teach Us About Freedom

        For the party’s poor and working-class supporters, the Socialists explained why their lives were often-dispiriting trials of toil, hardship, and humiliation. The problem, according to the party, was the despotism of capitalism: the system turned workers into bosses’ underlings — forced to work or starve — and made the political arena a fetid square of ravenous corporations and bought-and-paid-for politicians. They proposed an array of immediate reforms (from the eight-hour-day and unemployment insurance to public ownership of major industries and equal voting rights for African Americans and women), while advocating, in the long term, a “cooperative commonwealth,” where the economy would be democratically controlled and the political system would be rid of plutocrats.

        Freedom was central to that vision. “As long as he owns your tools he owns your job,” Debs told a labor convention in 1908, referring to employers: [...]

      • Noam Chomsky: Average People Still Have the Power to Stop Wars

        Noam Chomsky talks to Jacobin about why the US withdrawal from Afghanistan won’t change US imperialism, the many war crimes of George W. Bush, and why he still believes in average people’s ability to push back against the war machine.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • How The Online Safety Bill Lets Politicians Define Free Speech

        As it has been drafted, the Bill gives sweeping powers to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, and potentially to the Home Secretary, to make unilateral decisions, at any time they please, as to what forms of subjectively harmful content must be brought into the scope of the bill’s content moderation requirements. Shockingly, it allows them to make those decisions for political reasons.

      • Afghanistan’s singers flee Taliban violence

        The BBC spoke with six singers who crossed the border to Pakistan illegally and are now living in hiding. One said he feared he would be executed if he stayed in Afghanistan.

        The Taliban have banned music and are accused of executing a folk singer in northern Baghlan province in August.

      • Egyptian journalist Hossam Bahgat is set to go on trial for a tweet

        On November 2, Egyptian investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat is set to go on trial over a tweet. In the December 2020 post on Twitter–where he has more than 260,000 followers–Bahgat, who is also the executive director and founder of local rights group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, criticized the former president of the National Election Authority, Lashin Ibrahim, for alleged corruption during the country’s 2020 parliamentary elections.

        Seven months later, the state prosecutor’s office summoned him for interrogation based on a complaint about the tweet by the acting president of the election authority and charged the journalist with insulting the National Election Authority, spreading false news on electoral fraud that undermines public interest, and misusing social media.

      • ‘The freest platform on the Web’ Everything that’s wrong with Pavel Durov’s explanation for disabling access to ‘campaign materials’ during Russia’s parliamentary elections

        Mere minutes before midnight on September 18 when the new policy he was announcing would take effect, Telegram founder Pavel Durov published a statement on his personal channel explaining that the network would begin blocking bots “involved in campaigning” in accordance with Russia’s “election silence” law. His announcement did not begin with this information; Durov spent the first three paragraphs of his message berating Apple and Google for bowing to Russia’s censorship demands. “It’s a dangerous precedent,” he said, referring to the two American companies’ decisions to disable access inside Russia to the Navalny app on their respective app stores. “I’ve written many times that the Apple and Google oligopoly poses a threat to free speech.” After these condemnations and praise for Telegram as “still the freest platform on the Web,” Durov got to the core of his announcement. Meduza explains what’s wrong with his explanation.

      • Wikipedia bans seven Chinese users amid concerns of ‘infiltration, physical harm’

        The Wikimedia Foundation has revealed efforts to gather personal information on some Chinese Wikipedia editors by entities opposed to their activities on the platform and likely to threaten the targets’ privacy or well-being.

        The foundation’s response has been to ban seven users in mainland China, cancel sysop privileges for another dozen, and warn plenty more Wikipedia editors to modify their behaviour.

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

      • Eritrea – 20 years of dictatorship, two decades with no independent media

        Of the dozen journalists arrested in September 2001, only three are believed to be still alive in the prisons where they are held incommunicado. At least 11 journalists in all are currently imprisoned in Eritrea without access to lawyers and without any plans for trials. Some of them are probably held in Eiraeiro, a detention centre built specially for prisoners of opinion. This chilling message is inscribed above the room where they are interrogated: “If you don’t like the message, kill the messenger.”

        “Twenty years after the dictatorship was imposed, Eritrea is still a news and information desert in which journalists are systematically arrested, tortured and forced to go into hiding or flee the country,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “This dramatic situation, which is almost unique in the world, is the result of a policy of constant predation that tramples on the most elementary human dignity. We urge Eritrea’s partner countries to step up pressure on its government to free the journalists it is holding in the most atrocious conditions and to quickly provide proof that those held incommunicado for the past two decades are still alive.”

      • BBC news crew threatened by COVID-19 protesters in UK

        On August 28, demonstrators protesting the government’s measures to curb COVID-19 in Scarborough, a resort town on England’s North Sea coast, surrounded and threatened Norton, a reporter for public broadcaster BBC, his cameraman, and a site producer, the journalist told CPJ via messaging app and local news site Yorkshire Live reported. CPJ was unable to determine the name of the cameraman or the site producer.

      • Afghan journalists’ battle: To keep free expression alive

        “Anyone who says we are not doing our job is obviously not watching our TV stations and programs,” says Saad Mohseni, head of the Moby media group, which includes the 24-hour Tolo News channel. “But for how long? I’m not sure,” says Mr. Mohseni, contacted in London. Tolo News notes that 153 local media organizations have shut down across Afghanistan in the past month.

        “I don’t want to get too optimistic, because I know things can change quickly,” Mr. Mohseni says. “And I don’t want to be too pessimistic, because so far [the Taliban] have given us enough freedom for us to be able to continue with our work.

        “It’s not even a day-to-day proposition,” he says. “It’s an hour-by-hour proposition.”

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Opinion | ‘A Certain Terror’: A White Male Perspective on Being an Ally

        A version of this essay was presented to an online Diversity & Inclusion gathering on August 12, 2021

      • Mutual Aid — Not Police — Helped New Yorkers in the Wake of Hurricane Ida
      • Architect of Texas Abortion Ban Takes Aim at LGBTQ+ Rights While Urging Reversal of Roe

        Advocates for reproductive freedom and LGTBQ+ equality on Saturday pointed to a legal brief filed in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could soon overturn Roe v. Wade as a crucial example of the broader goals of those fighting to end abortion rights across the United States.

        “ALL anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice views stem from the same desire to control bodies.”—Zack Ford, Alliance for Justice

      • ‘Infuriating Disappointment’: Biden DHS Ramping Up Deportations to Haiti

        Still under fire from human rights advocates after appealing a court order to stop using the Covid-19 pandemic as justifation for expelling asylum-seeking families, the Biden administration on Saturday confirmed that it is ramping up deportations to Haiti and elsewhere.

        “It’s time to immediately stop all deportation and expulsion flights to Haiti. And to—finally—commit to a welcoming and fair approach at the border.”—Clara Long, HRW

      • Teamsters to hold unionization vote at Amazon warehouse in Alberta

        Teamsters Local Union 362 said Tuesday it has filed for a unionization vote at the Amazon warehouse in Nisku, Alta., just south of Edmonton. The Alberta Labour Relations Board must verify the application before a date is set, but the union expects a vote before the end of the year.

      • Time names revenge porn campaigner one of 100 most influential people

        Melo eventually decided to report what happened to the authorities, but her attempts only drew derision from an official who said that she since she was not drugged or raped, there was no crime. That was when she realized that things needed to change. She began compiling testimony from other victims of revenge porn and founded the National Front for Sorority to prevent abuse and support victims.

      • Michigan doctor in female genital mutilation case part of secret network who cut girls, feds say

        In a courtroom hearing Thursday, the government disclosed for the first time publicly that female physicians in California and Illinois also were performing the procedures on minor girls who belonged to their small Indian Muslim sect, known as the Dawoodi Bohras. They also alleged that Nagarwala — the lead defendant in Detroit’s historic female genital mutilation case — traveled to the Washington D.C. area to perform genital mutilation on as many as five minor girls there.

        As Department of Justice attorney Amy Markopoulos told a judge, these doctors “were in demand.”

      • Pastor “Macheted to Death” in Nigeria

        The International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety), a nonprofit based out of Nigeria, released a report in August stating that that 43,000 Christians were killed by Nigerian Islamic radicals in the last 12 years. 18,500 Christians have permanently disappeared, 17,500 churches have been attacked, 10 million Christians have been uprooted and about 2,000 Christian schools have been attacked.

      • ICC Rescues a Christian Driver in Pakistan

        In 2020, a Christian auto-rickshaw driver named Nasir was beaten and falsely accused of terrorism after he was told he could not pick up passengers from a local medical clinic. Although he enjoyed his driving business, Nasir explained that he “was often teased, discriminated against, and abused by Muslim drivers at the pickup point in front of a medical clinic.”

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Can MIT’s Tim Berners-Lee Save the Web?

        Thirty years ago, MIT professor Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and altered the course of human history. Now, in the face of misinformation, malicious behavior, and the exploitation of personal data online, he’s determined to slay the beast it has become.

    • Monopolies

      • South Korea fines Google ₩207 billion for forking up attempts at creating Android variants

        South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has fined Google ₩207 billion (US$177M) for abusing its market dominance in mobile operating systems by prohibiting forks of Android.

        As explained in an announcement, the Commission took exception to Google’s practice of requiring companies that sought early access to information about forthcoming Android releases – essential info for handset-makers – to sign an anti-fragmentation agreement (AFA) that prohibited them from forking Android.

      • Patents

        • ToolGen Files Opposition to Broad Preliminary Motion No. 3 to De-Designate Claims as Corresponding to Either Interference Count [Ed: Latest in the manic attempt to patent life and nature]

          On May 28th, Junior Party the Broad Institute, Harvard University, and MIT (collectively, “Broad”) filed its Substantive Preliminary Motion No. 3 in CRISPR Interference No. 106,126 (where ToolGen is the Senior Party). This motion, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §§ 41.121(a)(1)(iii) and 41.208(a)(1) requested that the Board de-designate Broad claims in these five categories as not corresponding to either Count 1 or proposed Count 2 (A-E) or Count 1 (F)…

        • ToolGen Files Opposition to Broad Contingent Preliminary Motion No. 2 to Add Claims Corresponding to the Count

          On May 28th, Junior Party the Broad Institute, Harvard University and MIT (collectively, “Broad”) filed its Contingent Preliminary Motion No. 2 in CRISPR Interference No. 106,126 (where ToolGen is the Senior Party), pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §§ 41.121(a)(1)(i) and 41.208(a)(2) and Standing Order (“SO”) 203.2. This motion is contingent on the Board’s grant of Broad’s Substantive Preliminary Motion No. 1. In that motion, Broad asked the Board to substitute (in part) a new Count No. 2 in place of Count 1 in the ’126 Interference as instituted (see “Broad Files Substantive Preliminary Motion No. 1 in CRISPR Interference”).

        • The Rise Of The Machines—When Inventions Invent [Ed: Deliberately mis-framing the problem for patent maximalist agenda]

          As some readers may recall, the increasing efficacy and ubiquity of artificial intelligence has instigated philosophical and legal debate concerning whether an artificial intelligence may itself be considered the inventor of an innovation it has generated. Granting a machine the status of an inventor would deviate from the traditional view that only a human being may be an inventor. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requested comment on various issues concerning patents of “AI inventions,” whether directed to or created using artificial intelligence. Among the questions the USPTO solicited was:

        • Expert instructions for instructing experts – Carpmaels & Ransford [Ed: Patent litigation profiteers on how to exploit scientists (experts) to help lawyers and other parasites (such as patent trolls) take money away from other scientists]

          Expert evidence is key to a UK patent case. Ordinarily the role of an expert witness is to provide an independent, impartial and objective opinion on technical matters within their expertise, with the dual objective of helping the court understand the technical issues and to educate the court as to what people working in the relevant field were doing and thinking at the relevant time (usually the priority date of the patent in suit, which may be many years prior to the litigation). However, the nature of a typical patent action means that the expert will also likely be required to consider concepts from patent law that are unlikely to be familiar, such as the identity of the skilled person, the state of the common general knowledge, and the legal tests for obviousness and sufficiency (although ultimately these are matters for the court to decide). As Mr Justice Arnold (as he then was) put it in MedImmune Ltd v Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd & Anor[1]:

        • FDA, Some Senators Voice Concern Over Drug-Patenting Process

          The Senate and the FDA are appealing to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to examine how it can limit the ability of pharmaceutical companies to leverage patent strategies to extend their drug monopolies. In separate letters last week to the USPTO, FDA acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D., and Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, of the Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee provided (PDF) suggestions on how the organization can better screen patent applications. (Dunleavy, 9/14)

        • AI Inventorship Decision Leaves Open Questions [Ed: Can we stop calling everything "Hey Hi" for the sake of patent agenda? This is infantile and laughable beyond belief. What have lawyers sunk to?]

          Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued the first court opinion in this country addressing whether an AI system can be named as an inventor on a patent.[1]

          Consistent with decisions from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the European Patent Office, or EPO, and U.K. Intellectual Property Office, or IPO, the court in Thaler v. Iancu found that an AI system cannot be named as an inventor on a patent, holding that an inventor must be a natural person.

        • AIA – 10 Year Anniversary

          Sept 16, 2021 is the 10 year anniversary of enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011. I’ve got a quick anonymous survey below (5 minutes) on the impact.

        • AIA 10 year Survey Results [Ed: Improved patent quality and squashed most software patents. Remember that Patently-O is sponsored by a patent litigation firm, whose clients include parasites and trolls. They don't care about science.]

          The patent system has seen tremendous change over the past decade. A large part of the transformation stemmed from the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 that was enacted ten years ago in September 2011. Earlier this week, I conducted a quick survey of Patently-O readers asking for their thoughts on the impact of the AIA, which has repeatedly been heralded as the largest change to the U.S. patent system since the Patent Act of 1952. We have about 600 responses.

          [...]

          The survey included an open-ended response block asking “What else do you have to say about the impact of the AIA?” About 1/3 of responses included these additional thoughts. My survey tool (Qualtrics) used semantic analysis on these responses and reports that the sentiment expressed was most often generally either “negative” or “very negative.” (65% Negative or Very Negative; 25% Mixed; 10% Positive or Very Positive).

          Some comments focused on the AIA coupled with Eligibility Decisions have “decimated the patent system”; “Devalued IP”; and “greatly reduced the value of U.S. patents” all “to the benefit of large enterprises.” ” A real mess.”

        • Standard Essential Patents in Italy: a review of the existing case law (Part II) [Ed: Those are patents that ought not exist in the first place because they obstruct competition and harm innovation]

          In April Enrico Bonadio, Luke McDonagh and Francesco Chierichetti reported in this blog four decisions in Italian SEP-related litigations. Since then, thanks to further research and inputs from friends and colleagues, we have come across some other unpublished decisions, which we want to highlight here.

      • Trademarks

        • Solo Cup Company Got Artist’s Instagram Nuked for Using Famous Jazz Pattern

          Instagram deleted the account of an artist producing work critical of Solo Cup Company, maker of the iconic, disposable red cup.

          “My intent was just to talk about paper plates,” artist Christopher Locke told Motherboard. Now his account, his followers, and years of conversations with fellow artists are gone. (disclosure: Motherboard has commissioned two pieces from Locke in 2019.

      • Copyrights

09.18.21

Links 18/9/2021: LibreOffice 8.0 Plans and Microsoftcosm Uses WSL to Badmouth ‘Linux’

Posted in News Roundup at 5:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • #TGIQF – The quiz about the 30th Linux birthday

        The first version of the Linux open source operating system appeared 30 years ago. The former nerd system has turned into a versatile software substructure that now exists in a wide variety of application areas and hundreds of distributions that now run on billions of devices every day. Starting with conventional computers and servers, it has spread over the decades via Android to smartphones, smartwatches, on-board computers in cars and even industrial and rocket technology.

        The 22-year-old software developer Linus Torvalds, who was significantly involved in the creation of the first Linux version, is also the inventor of Git, the free version management software. More than a million commits were received in the Linux versions by August 2020 – over ten every hour and the trend is rising.

      • Linux 5.14.6
        I'm announcing the release of the 5.14.6 kernel.

All users of the 5.14 kernel series must upgrade.

The updated 5.14.y git tree can be found at:
	git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.14.y
and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser:

https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-s...

thanks,

greg k-h
      • Linux 5.13.19
      • Linux 5.10.67
      • Linux turns 30: Success factors then and now [Ed: Automated translation]

        Congratulations on your 30th Linux! You saw the light of day on Friday thirty years ago, after Linus Torvalds had previously announced that you would appear on August 25th. You have retained some rough edges from your early days to this day. Don’t worry if someone holds them against you: critics often fail to realize that some of them are the reason for your triumph. On the anniversary, it is therefore a good idea to take a closer look at some of your characteristic properties.

      • DRM Driver Posted For AI Processing Unit – Initially Focused On Mediatek SoCs – Phoronix

        BayLibre developer Alexandre Bailon has posted a “request for comments” of a new open-source Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) driver for AI Processing Unit (APU) functionality. Initially the driver is catering to Mediatek SoCs with an AI co-processor but this DRM “APU” driver could be adapted to other hardware too.

        Alexandre Bailon sums up this DRM AI Processing Unit driver as “a DRM driver that implements communication between the CPU and an APU. This uses VirtIO buffer to exchange messages. For the data, we allocate a GEM object and map it using IOMMU to make it available to the APU. The driver is relatively generic, and should work with any SoC implementing hardware accelerator for AI if they use support remoteproc and VirtIO.”

      • Apple M1 USB Type-C Linux Support Code Sent Out For Testing – Phoronix

        he latest patches sent out for review/testing on the long mission for enabling Apple M1 support on Linux is the USB Type-C connectivity.

        Sven Peter has sent out the initial USB Type-C enablement work for the Apple ACE1/2 chips used by Apple M1 systems. In turn this Apple design is based on the TI TPS6598x IP but various differences. The Linux kernel support is being added onto the existing TIPD driver.

      • Graphics Stack

        • AMD + Valve Focusing On P-State / CPPC Driver With Schedutil For Better Linux Efficiency – Phoronix

          As reported at the start of August, AMD and Valve have been working on Linux CPU performance/frequency scaling improvements with the Steam Deck being one of the leading motivators. As speculated at that time, their work would likely revolve around use of ACPI CPPC found with Zen 2 CPUs and newer. Published last week was that AMD P-State driver for Linux systems indeed now leveraging CPPC information. AMD formally presented this new driver yesterday at XDC2021.

    • Applications

      • Top 20 Open-source solutions for Photographers

        In today world, editing photos is a critical component in the overall photography process, and it was taken a new level of importance.

        As demand continues to rise and the market is filled with plenty of capable options, we will suggest top 20 apps to enhance your photography workflow.

        We take many free high-quality photo editors without having to pay for an expensive program to edit your image like a pro.

      • EasyEffects (Formerly PulseEffects) – Apply Audio Effects to PipeWire Apps

        The popular audio manipulation tool, PulseEffects, finally adds supports for PipeWire sound server by re-naming to EasyEffects.

        EasyEffects is a GTK4 app designed for only PipeWire sound server. For PulseAudio, default sound service in current Ubuntu releases, PulseEffects is still available.

        The UI looks almost same as before, and it may apply effects including Auto gain, Bass enhancer, Bass loudness, Compressor, Convolver, Crossfeed, Crystalizer, De-esser, Echo Canceller, Equalizer, Exciter, Expander, Filter, Gate, Limiter, Loudness, Maximizer, Multiband compressor, Multiband gate, Noise reduction, Pitch, Reverberation, Stereo tools.

      • Mike Gabriel: X2Go, Remmina and X2GoKdrive

        In this blog post, I will cover a few related but also different topics around X2Go – the GNU/Linux based remote computing framework.

        Introduction and Catch Up

        For those, who haven’t come across X2Go, so far… With X2Go [0] you can log into remote GNU/Linux machines graphically and launch headless desktop environments, seamless/published applications or access an already running desktop session (on a local Xserver or running as a headless X2Go desktop session) via X2Go’s session shadowing / mirroring feature.

        Graphical backend: NXv3

        For several years, there was only one graphical backend available in X2Go, the NXv3 software. In NXv3, you have a headless or nested (it can do both) Xserver that has some remote magic built-in and is able to transfer the Xserver’s graphical data to a remote client (NX proxy). Over the wire, the NX protocol allows for data compression (JPEG, PNG, etc.) and combines it with bitmap caching, so that the overall result is a fast and responsive desktop experience even on low latency and low bandwidth connections. This especially applies to X desktop environments that use many native X protocol operations for drawing windows and widget onto the screen. The more bitmaps involved (e.g. in applications with client-side rendering of window controls and such), the worse the quality of a session experience.

        The current main maintainer of NVv3 (aka nx-libs [1]) is Ulrich Sibiller. Uli has my and the X2Go community’s full appreciation, admiration and gratitude for all the work he does on nx-libs, constantly improving NXv3 without breaking compatibility with legacy use cases (yes, FreeNX is still alive, by the way).

      • The 8 Best Wireless Penetration Testing Tools for Linux

        Wi-Fi penetration tools aid cybersecurity analysis by delving deeper into the details of the security framework. Before hackers use these tools to infiltrate your system, it is a wise decision to examine your network for any such vulnerabilities.

        For this purpose, many organizations are beginning to use Wi-Fi penetration testing tools to uncover the vulnerabilities on their wireless networks. Read on to know some of the potent and popular Wi-Fi penetration tools.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Install VirtualBox on Debian 11 (Bullseye)

        As we all know that VirtualBox is a free virtualization tool which allows us to install and run multiple virtual machines of different distributions at the same time. VirtualBox is generally used at desktop level where geeks used to create test environment inside the virtual machines.

        Recently Debian 11 (bullseye) is released with latest updates and improved features. In this post, we will cover how to install VirtualBox and its extension pack on Debian 11 system.

      • How To Install Opera Browser on Debian 11 – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Opera Browser on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, Opera is one of the most popular cross-platform web browsers in the world. Opera offers many useful features such as free VPN, AdBlocker, integrated messengers, and private mode help you browse securely and smoothly. Share files instantly between your desktop and mobile browsers and experience web 3.0 with a free crypto wallet.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of Opera Web Browser on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

      • Get your Own URL Shortening Service With YOURLS and Raspberry PI

        Online URL shortening are services able to transform a long, hard to manage url into a shorter one, usually composed by a domain ana a short casual string (the most famous being Bitly, Adfly and Shortest). With YOURLS and Raspberry PI you can create your own, private shortening service

        In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to install and configure YOURLS with a Raspberry PI computer board and publish it. Please note that this can’t be performed with a Raspberry PI Pico as it is a microncotroller and not a Linux computer.

        YOURLS stands for Your Own URL Shortener. It is an open source software, running on a LAMP server and using a small set of PHP scripts that allow you to run your own URL shortening service.

      • How to play Orcs Must Die! 2 on linux

        Create your own, self hosted url shortener service with YOURLS and Raspberry PI. Step-by-step guide to have it working in a very few time

      • Configure External RAID on Ubuntu/Centos/RedHat – Unixcop

        RAID: Stands For Redundant Array Of Independent Disks (Hardware Raid) or Redundant Array Of Inexpensive Disks (Software Raid) and that is technology that keeps data redundant to avoid data loss if any disk falls or is corrupted .

      • Don’t like Visual Studio Code? Try these 5 Alternatives Apps – itsfoss.net [Ed: Some of the 'alternatives' are also Microsoft and also proprietary software. Rather awful list...]

        When it comes to programming, we are going to need a plain text editor that allows us to easily modify files or take notes. One of the most complete and professional tools is Visual Studio Code. Although this Microsoft program is not indicated for users with little experience, so, if it is our case, surely we want to know what the best alternatives are.

        Anyone can download Virtual Studio Code, since it is completely free, but without a doubt, it has been designed to be used by programmers. In this field we find many other good options for professional work, especially if we are interested in knowing anything about a program developed by Microsoft.

      • How to Access BBSes in Linux Using Telnet

        In the ’80s and early ’90s, the most popular way to get online in the US was through Bulletin Board Systems or BBSes.

        While they’re nowhere near as numerous as they were during their mid-90s heyday, there are still hobbyists operating these systems scattered around the world. And you can access them from Linux, without a dial-up modem.

      • How to solve the undefined variable/index/offset PHP error – Anto ./ Online

        This guide will you how to solve the notice undefined variable, index, or offset error that you are experiencing in PHP. This error is easy to spot in the warning and error message logs. Consequently, you will typically see a descriptive error message like this…

      • Missing Standard Apps on elementary OS and Guide To Install Them

        elementary OS is a fast replacement to Windows or macOS. It comes with basic apps you need without ones you don’t. Because of that, several standard apps like LibreOffice not included by default. This article presents you the apps and guide to install them to help you every time you have new elementary OS. We hope this would be useful to you!

      • How to install Deltarune Chapter 2 on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Deltarune Chapter 2 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • How to Install Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04 Linux

        Spotify is an on-demand music company that gives us access to listen to millions of songs and podcasts for a monthly fee. It has been a revolution in music consumption on the Internet. The right music or podcast is always at your fingertip
        You can access it on your phone, your computer, your tablet, and more.

        Some of the most prominent features of Spotify are Equalizer, Listening history, Spotify Connect, Search, Listen offline and you can also listen offline. You can visit the official site to learn more about the features.
        Spotify is available for Android, iOS, and Windows. A great sign that Linux is also being taken into account. There is a Spotify client for the Linux family and mainly for Ubuntu 20.04 which is perhaps one of the most popular distributions.

      • How to Completely Uninstall Google Chrome From Ubuntu

        So, you managed to install Google Chrome on Ubuntu. It is the most popular web browser in the world, after all.

        But perhaps you dislike Google products for the heavy tracking and data mining they employ on its users. You decided to opt for other web browsers on Ubuntu, perhaps a non-Chromium browser.

        Now that you are no longer using it, it would be wise to remove Google Chrome from Ubuntu.

      • How to uninstall applications in GNU / Linux – itsfoss.net

        Either because the latest program we installed does not convince us, or because we are determined to ‘lighten up’ our equipment, it is important to know how we can uninstall software (or rather, using the correct terminology, ‘packages’) from our Linux system .

        However, one thing we should know about Linux is that there is not just one way to uninstall (or install, since we are) packages , but multiple. In the first place, it will differ according to the distribution we are using, and secondly according to how we prefer to carry out this task using graphical tools or the command line terminal.

      • How To Install Apache Airflow on Ubuntu 20.04 – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Airflow on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Airflow is one of the most popular workflow management solutions, it authors, schedules, and monitors workflows. Airflow is written in Python, and workflows are created via Python scripts. Airflow is designed under the principle of “configuration as code”.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Apache Airflow workflows management tool on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

      • How to Install Cockpit on AlmaLinux 8 or Rocky Linux 8

        The Cockpit is an open-source web-based server management tool that allows administrators to manage and monitor their Linux server systems remotely. It provides a nice Dashboard to administer your Linux servers from a web browser.

        With Cockpit, you can check the system performance, the load, start/stop services, disk space, CPU & memory usage, running process, and more. One notable feature of Cockpit is that you can access the terminal from the dashboard and install various packages over the remote server.

      • Perfect Server Automated ISPConfig 3 Installation on Debian 10 and Ubuntu 20.04

        This tutorial will take you through installing your own ISPConfig 3 single server setup using the ISPConfig auto-installer. This installer follows the old Perfect Server guides but is more modular and easy to follow. If you want to set up a multiserver setup with dedicated servers for each service instead, see the Perfect Multiserver guide.
        This guide works for both Debian 10 and Ubuntu 20.04. We will use the hostname server1.example.com. Replace it where necessary.

      • Auto Logout Inactive Users After A Period Of Time In Linux – OSTechNix

        This brief tutorial explains three different ways to auto logout inactive users after a particular period of time in Linux and Unix-like systems.

        Picture this scenario. You are managing a shared server that is regularly being accessed by many users from all systems in the network.

        There are chances that some user may forget to logout his session and left the session open. Leaving an user session open is dangerous and some users may misuse it intentionally.

      • 13 Top Command In Linux (Monitor Linux Server Processes) | LinuxTeck

        In this article, we will learn how to monitor running processes on Linux. The Linux OS offers several commands that can be used to monitor a running process, but for checking dynamic real-time processes, we can use a command called ‘TOP. This tool enables System Administrators to determine how fully real-time processes are utilized by their current system.

        With every Linux distribution, the ‘top’ utility comes pre-installed. We can utilize the interactive command to see the summary of the current system stats, and also customize the list of processes, threads, and many other features. This guide shows you how to use the top with various options to view all the current system activities. System administrators will be able to manage system resources as well as optimize their hardware utilization by analyzing uptime, CPU usage, memory utilization, swap space usage, load average, and all the other processes that are running on their system to ascertain how much real-time processing is being used.

    • Games

      • Steam Next Fest gets a fresh trailer ahead of the event on October 1 | GamingOnLinux

        Steam Next Fest is fast approaching with it set to go live on October 1 so Valve has made a fresh trailer to give a little tease on what to expect from it.

      • What is Proton? | TechRadar

        You may have seen lots of mentions of Proton with the upcoming launch of the Steam Deck handheld game console, but what is it, and how does it work?

        Proton is a piece of software created by Valve and CodeWeavers that acts as a compatibility layer that allows games designed for the Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems to run in Linux with a minimal impact on performance. Proton is based on the existing WINE tool, which allowed Windows applications to run in Linux, with Valve and CodeWeavers taking the tech and using it to specifically run games.

        This is incredibly useful, as the vast majority of games are coded for Windows, due to the sheer popularity of Microsoft’s operating system.

        Linux, a free and open-source operating system, is relatively niche, which meant that many game developers couldn’t – or wouldn’t – spend resources on making a port of their games to run natively on Linux.

      • Neptune 15 v2 from Juno is a Linux Gaming Laptop with 240 Hz Display

        The Neptune 15″ V2 from Juno Computers is powered by Intel’s 10th-gen Comet Lake chipsets, and can be configured with up to 64GB of RAM.

        Nowadays, it is a little difficult to choose a perfect Linux gaming laptop, but it is not impossible to get it. As well as, these laptops are prepaid with full advantages like an additional graphic card with a brilliant CPU.

        In fact, some of the best Linux gaming laptops offer up the same durability and premium design as their Windows counterparts. They’ll also cost less since there’s no Windows license included with the laptop.

      • Humble has a nice looking VR bundle if you need some more games | GamingOnLinux

        Do you have a VR kit that’s begging to be played? Check out the Fall VR Emporium Bundle over on Humble Bundle. Sadly, there’s not many native / supported Linux VR games and so you’re going to need Steam Play Proton to enjoy this set of games.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KDE Sees Another Big Batch Of Plasma Wayland Improvements – Phoronix

          Along with releasing Plasma 5.23 Beta this week, KDE developers have been busy on driving in a bunch of Plasma Wayland fixes and other refinements to their stack.

          This week was yet another busy push of Plasma Wayland fixes ahead of next month’s official v5.23 release. Among the changes this week were:

          - KWin will no longer crash the Plasma Wayland session when disconnecting a Bluetooth drawing tablet.

        • Plasma 5.23 Anniversary Edition Beta available for testing

          Are you using Kubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo, our current Stable release? Or are you already running our development builds of the upcoming 21.10 Impish Indri?

          We currently have Plasma 5.22.90 (Plasma 5.23 Anniversary Edition Beta) available in our Beta PPA for Kubuntu 21.04, and 21.10 development series.

          However this is a beta release, and we should re-iterate the disclaimer from the upstream release announcement…

        • Using KNotifications in QML

          KDE Frameworks provides a cross-platform notification API, and with a proposed change still in review this would also become directly usable from QML.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • The Truth they are not telling you about “Themes”

          Before we start, let’s get this out of the way because the week long delirium on social media has dragged enough.

          Yes, libadwaita “hardcodes” Adwaita. Yes, applications, as is, will not be following a custom system theme. Yes this does improve the default behavior of application for GNOME when run on other platforms like Elementary OS. However, this is was the result of a technical limitation, and not some evil plot as Twitter will keep telling you…

          The reason is that in order for High Contrast (and the upcoming Dark Style) to work, libadwaita needs to override the theme name property so it doesn’t fallback to GTK’s “Default” High Contrast style. The “Default” style is an older version of Adwaita, not your system style.

          Compared to GTK 3, there isn’t a new way to enforce the “hardcoded” style. The GTK_THEME variable still works, as does gtk.css and probably 3 other ways of doing this. Likewise, if you are developing a distribution, you have control of the end product and can do anything you want with the code. There is a plethora of options available. Apparently complaining on social media and bullying volunteers into submission was one such option…

          And I guess this also needs to be stated: this change only affects apps that choose to use libadwaita and adopt the GNOME Design Guidelines, not “every” GTK 4 application.

          As usual, the fact that the themes keep working doesn’t mean they are supported. The same issues about restyling applications when they don’t expect it apply and GNOME can not realistically support arbitrary stylesheets that none of the contributors develop against and test.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

        • Kali Linux 2021.3 is now more fun in VMs [Ed: Automated translation]

          The special distribution Kali Linux based on Debian GNU / Linux has been released in version 2021.3. The developers particularly emphasize that the system should now run better in virtual machines.

          As can be seen from a post In addition to various updates for the ARM architecture and a visual revision, the current version brings more support for older encryption algorithms. The Android version of the system, NetHunter, can now be installed on a smartwatch for the first time.

          Kali Linux is aimed at everyone who wants to track down and investigate security gaps in IT systems as part of their professional or private activities. It comes with a large number of preconfigured tools, the use of which is helpful or even necessary in the context of security analyzes.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • [IBM's IWB:] Why Our Judgements Are Often Flawed and What to Do About It

          A few weeks ago I listened to a very interesting Freakonomics podcast hosted by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt. In the podcast, Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About It, Levitt interviewed Daniel Kahneman about his recent book, Noise: A Flow in Human Judgement, co-authored with Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein. Kahneman is Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs Emeritus at Princeton University. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty.”

          Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman’s 2011 bestseller, was about the major discoveries by psychologists and cognitive scientists that have led to our current understanding of judgement and decision-making over the past several decades. Up to the 1970s, the prevailing view among social scientists was that people are generally rational and in control of the way they think and make decisions. It was thought that people only departed from rational behaviors because powerful emotions like fear, hatred or love distorted their judgement.

          These assumptions were challenged by the pioneering research of Kahneman and his long time collaborator Amos Tversky, who died in 1996. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that human behavior often deviated from the predictions of the previous rational models, and that these deviations were due to the machinery of cognition, that is, to the biases and mental shortcuts or heuristics that we use for making everyday decisions, rather than to our emotional state.

        • redhat subscription alternative | Local Repo

          we need to know although redhat provide open source software products for enterprises but it have payment subscription to install packages and updates in RedHat Enterprise Linux distribution and that supports diverse workloads in physical, virtualized and cloud environments , RHEL editions are available for servers, mainframe, SAP applications, desktops and OpenStack.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • World Free Software Day: why it is celebrated today and what are the advantages of these programs [Ed: Automated translation]

        Linux, Firefox, WordPress and even the very popular Android are, each in their own way, examples of the software free. Today is celebrating the move that involves a specific way of distributing and using computer programs: just like every third Saturday in September since the Free Software Day.

        The event arose in 2004 and on the occasion it was held on August 28, but around 2006 the third Saturday of the ninth month of the year was set.

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • Firefox could come to Ubuntu 21.10 in Snap format instead of Deb

            Canonical is willing to convert Snap, at least, into the new package format for Ubuntu applications (and if possible for the rest of the distributions ), so after the rivers of ink that ran through the Chromium case, now we comes a “sequel” with Firefox, which in Ubuntu 21.10 indicates that it will be served in Snap format .

          • Running the AWSY benchmark in the Firefox profiler — Paul Bone

            The are we slim yet (AWSY) benchmark measures memory usage. Recently when I made a simple change to firefox and expected it might save a bit of memory, it actually increased memory usage on the AWSY benchmark.

            We have lots of tools to hunt down memory usage problems. But to see an almost “log” of when garbage collection and cycle collection occurs, the Firefox profiler is amazing.

            I wanted to profile the AWSY benchmark to try and understand what was happening with GC scheduling. But it didn’t work out-of-the-box. This is one of those blog posts that I’m writing down so next time this happens, to me or anyone else, although I am selfish. And I websearch for “AWSY and Firefox Profiler” I want this to be the number 1 result and help me (or someone else) out.

            The normal instructions

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

        • LibreOffice 8.0 New tabbed interface layout available

          Muttakin Rizal ( Rizal Muttaqin ), one of the designers LibreOffice office suite, has published in his blog, the user interface possible development plan LibreOffice 8.0. The most notable innovation is the built-in support for tabs, through which you can quickly switch between different documents, similar to how switching between sites is carried out in modern browsers.

          If necessary, each tab can be unpinned in the form of a separate window, or vice versa, convert the window into a tab. It is also possible to collapse all tabs into a drop-down list accessible by pressing the “^” button. The header also shows a LibreOffice button to launch the initial interface, which was previously shown when starting or closing all documents, to open a file, visually evaluate recently opened documents, or create a new document based on a template.

      • CMS

      • FSF

        • GNU Projects

          • GIMP 2.10.28 is Here as a Bugfix Release, Version 2.10.26 Was Skipped

            GIMP 2.10.28 features all of the usual stuff like bug fixes and performance adjustments mainly aimed at Windows users.

            Whenever anyone asks for a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is always the first app that people talk about. It is a bitmap/pixel-based image manipulation program for photo editing and retouching and creating images and animations.

            Today open source image editor GIMP has been updated to version 2.10.28. Because GIMP 3.0 is pretty far away from becoming a stable release, we recommend that you stick with the new 2.10.28 release for now if you use GIMP regularly and you do not want random crashes or unexpected behavior.

      • Programming/Development

        • Java

          • Oracle Releases Java 17
          • Oracle Releases Java 17, Here’s All The Latest Updates
          • Oracle Releases Java 17

            Oracle today announced the availability of Java 17, the latest version of the world’s number one programming language and development platform. Java 17 delivers thousands of performance, stability, and security updates, as well as 14 JEPs (JDK Enhancement Proposals) that further improve the Java language and platform to help developers be more productive.

            Java 17 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release under Java’s six-month release cadence and is the result of extensive collaboration between Oracle engineers and other members of the worldwide Java developer community via the OpenJDK Community and the Java Community Process (JCP). Since the previous JDK 11 LTS released three years ago, over 70 JEPs have been implemented.

          • Oracle Releases Java 17
          • Oracle releases Java 17

            Oracle has announced the availability of Java 17, which delivers thousands of performance, stability, and security updates, as well as 14 JEPs (JDK Enhancement Proposals).

            Java 17 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release under Java’s six-month release cadence and is the result of extensive collaboration between Oracle engineers and other members of the worldwide Java developer community via the OpenJDK Community and the Java Community Process (JCP). Since the previous JDK 11 LTS released three years ago, over 70 JEPs have been implemented.

          • Oracle makes JDK free

            Oracle this week made Oracle JDK “available for free,” for personal, commercial and production use, including quarterly security updates, for a limited time.

          • Oracle Releases Java 17

            Next Java long-term support release delivers thousands of updates, further improving the language and platform to help developers be more productive Oracle JDK 17 gives customers security, performance, and bug-fix updates through September 2029

          • Java 17 dons features for safe, concise code; Oracle changes JDK licensing, pushes for more frequent LTS releases

            Java 17 reference implementation JDK 17 as well as GPL-licensed OpenJDK builds have been made available this week. The first long-term support release in three years sports 14 JEPs and is meant to improve not only the language but also the way it interacts with external functions and data.

            To make the programming language a little more intuitive to use, Java 17 includes a preview of a pattern-matching feature for switch expressions and statements. Up until now developers could use switch for limited types only and were restricted to constants for their case labels, which often made more complex queries tricky to construct (and read). Allowing patterns in labels and introducing new patterns altogether is therefore hoped to help devs in formulating more concise code for such scenarios.

          • Oracle Releases Java 17, Here’s All The Latest Updates
          • Oracle Java 17 released under a free-to-use license [Ed: That's not what the licence is or says]

            Oracle announced the availability of Java 17, the latest version of the world’s number one programming language and development platform.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • Improving the New York Times’ line wrap balancer

        I looked into options to improve the breaking points for line wrapping on the web. I found a few “text balancer” programs that use different methods to even out the number of words per line on the fewest number of lines possible. I wasn’t happy with any of them, but ended up improving on the New York Times’ text balancer. It wasn’t how I imagined spending my weekend.

        Web browsers follow a simple algorithm for laying out text: one word after the other, and wrap onto a new line when there’s no more room on the current line. It’s fast and produces good enough results in most cases. However, it doesn’t guarantee an even distribution of words and you can end up with a single word on a line by itself (known as a “widow”).

        An uneven distribution of words can make the design heavier on one side; making it unbalanced. It can be a small eye-sore at the end of a large paragraph of text. However, it draws unwanted attention to itself when it appears in a headline and other large type.

        The simplest solution is to rewrite the text until you get a better fit. However, you can’t rely on rewriting a text to get a perfect fit for every visitor. The fit will depend on the screen size and the font and platform (or require a webfont). You also end up doing more work and possibly awkward wording for the sake of the design.

        A text wrapping balancer is a program that tries to more evenly distribute words over multiple lines. There are at least two dozen algorithms used to achieve this. The most common one found on the web is the Adobe BalanceText project.

  • Leftovers

    • Integrity/Availability

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Eritrean and Tigrayan forces killed and raped refugees – HRW

        Eritrean soldiers and Tigrayan militias raped, detained and killed Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, an international rights watchdog said on Thursday.

        Human Rights Watch’s report detailed attacks around two camps in Tigray, where local forces have battled the Ethiopian government and their Eritrean allies since November in a conflict that has rocked the Horn of Africa region.

        Tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees live in Tigray, a mountainous and poor province of about 5 million people.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Google extends right-to-be-forgotten to app permissions on older Android devices

        In December, Google plans to have app runtime permissions expire on older versions of Android for apps that haven’t been opened for several months, extending the availability of a privacy protection feature introduced in Android 11.

        “In Android 11, we introduced the permission auto-reset feature,” explained Google software engineers Peter Visontay and Bessie Jiang in a blog post on Friday. “This feature helps protect user privacy by automatically resetting an app’s runtime permissions – which are permissions that display a prompt to the user when requested – if the app isn’t used for a few months.”

        That behavior is the default in Android 11 and in Android 12, expected in a few weeks. Come December, it will become the default in older versions of Android that rely on Google Play services, specifically Android 6 (API level 23) through Android 10 (API level 29).

    • Monopolies

      • WIPO Proof to end in 2022 after poor demand

        Director general Daren Tang told the CIPA Congress that WIPO should not be offering services that compete with the private sector

      • KOL357 | Free Man Beyond The Wall Ep. 631 with Pete Quiñones: Biden’s Mandate and Getting to a Hoppean Framework

        Pete and Stephan discuss the Constitutionality of Biden’s vaccine mandate and then get into discussions about Hoppe’s plan for local politics and how it can fight against overreach by the Feds.

      • Patents

        • Japan: The IP High Court has clarified that the Japanese Bolar exemption covers clinical testing for not only “generic” but also “innovator” drugs

          In the pharma industry, constant battles have been taking place for many decades between innovators and generics. More recently, battles among innovators have also started to occur. This post concerns a case which may have an impact on the development strategies of innovators, as well as licensing strategies of universities and public research institutions which do not commercialize patented drugs by themselves.

        • EPO welcomes new trainees, bids farewell to graduates [Ed: Funny that EPO mentions EUIPO, which is its EU corruption pipeline]

          During an online Commencement Ceremony held earlier today, the EPO welcomed a record intake of 117 new Pan-European Seal (PES) trainees from 50 universities in 27 member states and celebrated the valuable contribution made by the 77 graduates from the 2020/21 cohort. In his welcome address, EPO President António Campinos that extending the Programme partnerships to Europe’s leading technical universities is an important step in integrating IP into technical and scientific education. He also highlighted the programme’s growing success: and female trainees accounted for 60% of the 2020/21 cohort, underlining the EPO’s commitment to diversity and social responsibility. The graduates were congratulated for their adaptability, resilience and above all their valuable contribution to the Office.

          [...]

          This year marks the seventh consecutive programme run jointly with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). The EPO and EUIPO work together with 94 partner universities in 35 member states and two extension states, to enhance IP education and to bridge the gap between academia and the labour market. It gives graduates the opportunity to experience work in a collaborative, multicultural environment, undertake challenging assignments, and build their professional networks. Despite the challenges faced with the pandemic, the programme continues to grow: fourteen new universities, including technical universities, joined this year and contributed to the highest-ever intake of trainees in its history.

        • EPO holds cloud event for IP offices [Ed: Corrupt EPO has put its head in the “clown”, just like confidential data]

          The European Patent Network cloud event was held digitally on 15 September 2021. A total of 71 IT experts from national patent offices, as well as the World Intellectual Property Organization, European Union Intellectual Property Office and European Patent Institute, took part. The aim was to establish common ground on major topics affecting the European patent system when it comes to cloud security, service providers and operations.

          EPO Vice President for Corporate Services Nellie Simon opened the meeting by emphasising the central importance of the cloud to the EPO’s ongoing digital transformation and to the future success and sustainability of all IP offices. Ms Simon highlighted the opportunities that cloud technologies provide for delivering better, faster and more flexible services, as well as potentially greener IT solutions. Further insights into the range of secure and scalable solutions, as well as best practice at leading finance and public sector organisations throughout Europe, were presented by senior management from major cloud service providers.

        • Sonos withdraws PI application against Google in Hamburg

          Wireless sound systems manufacturer Sonos has apparently withdrawn its two preliminary injunction applications from the Hamburg patent courts. That Higher Regional Court Hamburg confirmed to JUVE Patent that Sonos withdrew its appeal against a negative decision from the Regional Court (case ID: 3 U 47/21). The latter court had not granted the PI against the German Google company.

          However, in the second case, the Hamburg Regional Court granted a PI against the European Google company in April. Google appealed the ruling (case ID: 3 U 74/21) and requested a stay of enforcement. But in June, the Hamburg Higher Regional Court rejected the initial application.

          Nevertheless, Google persisted and filed a second application. At that time, the written PI judgment of the first instance was unavailable. Google asked the court for a stay of enforcement following the court making the written judgment available. Now Sonos has withdrawn its PI application. This renders the PI against Google moot.

          [...]

          In Germany, Google claims that Sonos infringes its patents. As such, Google demanded that Sonos cease and desist. The wireless sound systems manufacturer immediately challenged both Google patents. The Federal Patent Court has not yet ruled on their validity.

          In March this year, with the consent of both parties, the Munich Regional Court suspended the lawsuit concerning EP 491 (case ID: 21 O 7264/20). Now, the court is waiting on the Federal Patent Court’s decision on the validity.

          In June, the Munich Regional Court handed down a first ruling, dismissing a lawsuit filed by Google (case ID: 21 O 7265/20). The court ruled that Sonos has not infringed Google’s EP 621. However, Google has appealed against the ruling.

        • Latest news on IP and coronavirus in Europe [Ed: JUVE‘sAmy Sandys seems to be under the impression that copy-pasting press releases from gangsters who hijacked the EPO is “journalism”…]

        • Software Patents

          • Using File Prevalence To Inform Aggressiveness Of Behavioral Heuristics: Non-technical [Ed: Software patent litigation profiteers in Europe still looking for ways around the law]

            This decision relates to an European patent application for a method for adjusting an aggressiveness level to use in behavior based heuristics malware detection. Here are the practical takeaways from the decision T 2386/16 (MALWARE DETECTION USING FILE PREVALENCE TO INFORM AGRESSIVENESS OF … of 27.4.2021 of Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.01…

          • Report suggests UKIPO-EPO dual filings for software patents

            Software patent applicants face different outcomes depending on whether they go to the UKIPO or EPO, according to a report published on Wednesday, September 15.

            The report by patent and trademark attorney firm Mewburn Ellis, which is based on applications filed at the UKIPO and EPO over a decade, recommended that applicants file in both offices.

            According to Mewburn’s report, eligibility issues were less likely to be raised by the EPO – yet in some scenarios, more favourable outcomes could be obtained at the UKIPO.

            The disparity was due, at least in part, to the different approaches taken by the two offices when examining software invention eligibility for patent protection.

            The report noted that the EPO used the Comvik approach, which coupled patent eligibility with the assessment of inventive step. This approach was clarified by the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal in the G1/19 case in March, which centred on computer-implemented simulations.

            The UKIPO used the Aerotel-Macrossan test, which originated from a 2006 England and Wales Court of Appeal decision in Aerotel v Telco and Macrossan’s Application.

            The report suggested that the two approaches should produce the same result but weren’t, and that applicants should consider a dual filing strategy in certain circumstances.

            Following such a strategy could be preferable, Mewburn noted, in situations where the inventions were of a high value, where UK protection was particularly important, and where inventive step arguments over known prior art were marginal.

            James Leach, partner at Mewburn Ellis, said: “It is difficult to predict with any certainty whether a given software invention will fare better at the UKIPO or EPO.

            “We have already seen anecdotal evidence that some large US tech companies are pursuing a dual filing strategy.”

      • Copyrights

Links 18/9/2021: GIMP 2.10.28 Released and Azure Remains Back Doored

Posted in News Roundup at 8:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Why my public library chooses Linux and open source

      The Crawford County Federated Library System has been using Linux and open source software in its IT operations since 1999. They realized early on the potential of open source and integrated it into their enterprise. They were a part of my own Linux journey as I built a content filtering system for our school district. Twenty years ago, there were few models for the use of open source in libraries and education. Meadville Public Library and the Crawford County Federated Library System were the leaders then and now. Recently I had some questions about how to help libraries in our own library system, and I called Meadville. They referred me to Cindy Murdock Ames, their IT Director. I asked her what they were using for patron desktop computers. Cindy sent a brief email that piqued my interest, and I asked her if she would agree to an email interview. She graciously accepted.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • LHS Episode #429: The Weekender LXXVIII

        It’s time once again for The Weekender. This is our bi-weekly departure into the world of amateur radio contests, open source conventions, special events, listener challenges, hedonism and just plain fun. Thanks for listening and, if you happen to get a chance, feel free to call us or e-mail and send us some feedback. Tell us how we’re doing. We’d love to hear from you.

    • Kernel Space

    • Applications

      • 9 Best Free and Open Source Command-Line Image Compression Tools

        Data compression is the process of storing data in a format that uses less space than the original representation would use. Compressing data can be very useful particularly in the field of communications as it enables devices to transmit or store data in fewer bits. Besides reducing transmission bandwidth, compression increases the amount of information that can be stored on a hard disk drive or other storage device.

        There are 2 main types of compression. Lossy compression is a data encoding method which reduces a file by discarding certain information. When the file is uncompressed, not all of the original information will be recovered. Lossy compression is typically used to compress video, audio and images, as well as internet telephony. The fact that information is lost during compression will often be unnoticeable to most users. Lossy compression techniques are used in all DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and most multimedia available on the internet.

      • Top 5 Open-Source eLearning Platforms for Linux

        The world of education, like other sectors, has been undergoing the process of digital transformation for years. With the creation of e-learning platforms, education is now available to anyone who has access to the Internet. The term “e-learning“, which means “electronic learning“, is one of the most commonly used words today. It refers to training and education typically on the Internet.

        Modern e-learning platforms or LMS (Learning Management System) are based on a virtual learning space that, in general, is oriented to simplify the distance training experience. So, due to the importance that e-learning has, it is necessary to know which are some of the best platforms available.

        In this post, you will find a brief overview of 5 open-source solutions for e-learning that can be installed on a Linux machine.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • IPv4 vs IPv6

        In today’s technological era, we are witnessing a massive leap in the usage of the internet and networking devices. Every home has a laptop, smartphone, digital watch, IoT device, home automation component, and other devices that are connected to the home network or the Internet. Devices communicate with each other through various network protocols, with TCP and IP being the most frequently used protocols. Each device connected to the network must have an IP address that identifies the device on the network.

      • Clear APT Cache Using the Apt Clean Command – ByteXD

        When you install a package on Linux, that package has to be kept somewhere on the system to be used for installation.

      • How to install Glimpse on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install Glimpse on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

      • Using Oracle Cloud, Part 2: An ‘Always Free’ Web Server Platform — Virtualization Review

        In a previous article, I detailed how it took less than 10 minutes to sign up for, create and use an “Always Free” Ubuntu 18.04 virtual machine (VM) on Oracle Cloud. Yes, the free VM wasn’t that large (1 vCPU, and 4GB RAM), but I figured it would allow for the creation of a small web site — a good test of Oracle Cloud because the web site on the VM would need to be opened up to allow access to the outside world. In this article, I will discuss what web server I chose to use, how I installed it and how well it works.

      • How To Install Chromium Browser on Debian 11 – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Chromium Browser on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, Chromium is an open-source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience the web. It is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, and many more, which is mainly not intended for end-users, but only for developers because Google tweaks the Chromium source code almost every day, hence you should always use the latest version.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the Chromium web browser on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

      • How to Install Redis on Debian 11 Bullseye – LinuxCapable

        Redis is an open-source (BSD licensed), in-memory key-value data structure store used as a database, cache, and message broker. Redis supports data structures such as strings, hashes, lists, sets, sorted sets with range queries, bitmaps, hyperlog logs, geospatial indexes, and streams. Redis also provides high availability with its Redis Sentinel software logic, creating automatic partitioning across Redis nodes with Redis Cluster.

      • How to Install Memcached on Debian 11 Bullseye – LinuxCapable

        Memcached is used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM. This reduces the number of times an external data source must be read, which lowers overheads and speeds up response times. The memory caching software is a free, open-source project that anyone can use.

        At the end of the guide, you will know how to install and configure Memcached on your Debian 11 Bullseye operating system.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • This week in KDE: so many Wayland improvements, and more!

          The Plasma 5.23 beta has been released, so go test it! We’ve got a month to fix all the bugs you find and report, so please do so. Many of the improvements already made this week pertain to Plasma’s Wayland session which is rapidly becoming usable for more and more people’s daily usage. I’m using it myself as my primary session, and this is pretty painless now. I’m so impressed by how KDE developers have managed to whip it into shape over the last year! The future truly is now, or something.

          Lots of other non-Wayland improvements were made as well…

    • Distributions

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS released

          The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop and Server products.

          Unlike previous point releases, 18.04.6 is a refresh of the amd64 and arm64 installer media after the key revocation related to the BootHole vulnerability, re-enabling their usage on Secure Boot enabled systems. More detailed information can be found here:

          https://ubuntu.com/blog/grub2-secure-boot-bypass-2021

          Many other security updates for additional high-impact bug fixes are also included, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

          Maintenance updates will be provided for 5 years for Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Cloud, and Ubuntu Base.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • COM-HPC module unleashes up to 80-core Arm edge server SoC

        Adlink unveiled a “COM-HPC Ampere Altra” module that runs Linux on a 32- or 80-core, Arm v8.2 based Ampere Altra. There is also an automotive focused “AVA Developer Platform” that supports Arm’s new SOAFEE initiative.

        Adlink announced a COM-HPC/Server module featuring Ampere’s up to 80-core Ampere Altra Arm server SoC, which uses Arm’s Neoverse N1 architecture. The module will first become available in an automotive focused AVA Developer Platform (see farther below).

        The COM-HPC Ampere Altra is the first COM-HPC/Server module we have covered, although we have reported on several smaller, more embedded COM-HPC/Client modules. These include Congatec’s Tiger Lake-U based Conga-HPC/cTLU and Tiger Lake-H powered Conga-HPC/cTLH, and Eurotech’s Tiger Lake-U based CPU-180. For more on COM-HPC, you can check out our report on MSC’s Coffee Lake driven MSC HCC-CFLS, which was the first fully announced COM-HPC module.

      • Open Hardware/Modding

        • Sir Clive Sinclair, 1940-2021
        • [Old] Reversing Sinclair’s amazing 1974 calculator hack – half the ROM of the HP-35

          In a hotel room in Texas, Clive Sinclair had a big problem. He wanted to sell a cheap scientific calculator that would grab the market from expensive calculators such as the popular HP-35. Hewlett-Packard had taken two years, 20 engineers, and a million dollars to design the HP-35, which used 5 complex chips and sold for $395. Sinclair’s partnership with calculator manufacturer Bowmar had gone nowhere. Now Texas Instruments offered him an inexpensive calculator chip that could barely do four-function math. Could he use this chip to build a $100 scientific calculator?

      • September update: Hurdles and Successes

        In this community update we’ll discuss PinePhone keyboard progress (and hurdles), add-on back cases awaiting developers approval, initial PineNote impressions and early development progress, as well as news of InfiniTime 1.4 release and a guest post about PineCubes as a part of a security system. We also have an announcement for our community developers: we will be introducing bounties to the DevZone.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • New Alpha Release: Tor 0.4.7.1-alpha

    • Events

      • Linux Plumbers Conference: Get ready for LPC 2021!

        The LPC 2021 conference is just around the corner. We wanted to share the logistics on how to participate and watch the virtual conference.

        For those that are not registered for the conference, we will have live streaming of the sessions on YouTube, like last year. This is free of charge. We will provide the URLs where to watch each day, on this page. The only limitation is that you cannot participate and ask questions live with audio. However this year we will have the chat in each Big Blue Button room also available externally via the Matrix open communication network. Anyone is invited to join with their personal Matrix account.

    • Web Browsers

    • FSF

      • GNU Projects

        • GIMP 2.10.28 Released with Improvements and Bug Fixes, New Script-Fu Function

          GIMP 2.10.28 is here more than five months after the GIMP 2.10.24 release, which probably most of you are using on your GNU/Linux distributions right now, to address various bugs and issues, as well as to improve the performance of the application and add some new functionality.

          Highlights of this release include a new Script-Fu function called dir-make that lets users create directories from scripts, fixes to various accessibility issues in themes, such as mouse-hover feedback or problematic colors, as well as bug fixes for the BMP, C-source, DDS, DICOM, GIF, Gimpressionist, Metadata Viewer, PS, PSD, Sunras, and TIFF plugins.

        • GIMP 2.10.28 Released With More Fixes
        • GIMP 2.10.28 Released

          GIMP 2.10.28 is now released. This is a bugfix release, because we are giving most of our time and efforts to the development version (2.99.x).

          Note: you may have noticed we skipped GIMP 2.10.26. A build bug has been discovered just after tagging the release. GIMP 2.10.28 is the same without the bug. We recommend against building and using GIMP 2.10.26.

      • Licensing/Legal

    • Programming/Development

      • It’s Time for Vendor Security 2.0

        1. Questionnaires are largely Security Theater because it’s nearly impossible to assess a company’s security risk from the outside.

        2. If the business needs a given tool, they’ll likely force the company to use it despite the risk.

        3. Given these truths, the most realistic path for protecting ourselves from vendors is heavy investment in Risk Visibility, Risk Reduction, and Risk Communication/Acceptance.

      • Napkin Problem 16: When To Write a Simulator

        I hope you see the value in simulations for getting a handle on these types of problems. I think you’ll also find that writing simulators is some of the most fun programming there is. Enjoy!

      • Python

        • Use virtual environments to install third-party Python programs from PyPI

          The problem is that Pip’s “user” mode involves pretending that Pip is basically a Unix distribution’s package manager that just happens to be operating on your $HOME/.local. This is an attractive illusion and it sort of works, but in practice you run into issues over time when you upgrade things, especially if you have more than one program installed. You’ll experience some of these issues with virtual environments as well, but with single purpose virtual environments (one venv per program) and keeping track of what you installed, the ultimate brute force solution is to delete and recreate the particular virtual environment. The dependency versions are getting tangled? Delete and recreate. You’ve moved to a new distribution version of Python (perhaps you’ve upgraded from one Ubuntu LTS to another)? It sounds like a good time to delete and recreate, rather than dealing with version issues.

  • Leftovers

    • Species Spotlight: Sunda Clouded Leopard, the Ethereal and Declining ‘Tree Tiger’
    • Afropessimism and Its Discontents

      Afropessimism is all the rage among millennial Black academics and activists—most notably among Black feminist critical race theorists, who themselves are now the prime targets of the MAGA crowd. Black intellectuals haven’t enjoyed this much pop currency among the right wing since Black Power took over buildings to demand Black studies in state universities and the Ivies 50 years ago.

      Afropessimism’s recent emergence in the mainstream of Black political conversation could not have been better timed. Particularly for that critical race sistren group, given their issues with suddenly woke white America—especially their bête blanche, white academic feminists. Here the grounds for suspicion are not gratuitous but experiential and statistical: 48 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump. Beyond that tempestuous internal struggle between feminists of different hues, though, just what is Afropessimism? And why should you, dear Nation reader, even give a good goddamn?

    • Tedious Failures, Revisited

      I began writing short stories from a very young age. Most of it was what you’d expect from an avid science fiction reader. I even won a library writing contest at age 16 for a story I wrote about vampires. The original story is lost to time, but the general idea was these vampires had a band and wanted me to join. I refused to perform with them because they sucked … (ha ha ha)

      I’ve always dealt with depression, so writing stories and songs without any audience in mind helped me get through a lot in my younger years. I love the writing process, from research to final draft. Creating something tangible from nothing at all and expressing it through the written word is nothing short of a phenomenon. Then sharing that creation with others—even if you only reach a handful of readers—is a great feeling. I may not be very good at it sometimes, but it’s something we all need in our lives.

      Anyone who reads my feature-length work here knows I focus heavily on music. There’s a reason for that. As the late, great Frank Zappa wrote: music is the best. But it’s far from my only writing interest. I also love writing scripts, advertising copy, how-to guides, and short stories. I tried my hand at a novel a few years ago. It is absolutely terrible, but it was still therapeutic and a blast to write … even if it sucks (it does).

    • Retrotechtacular: The Dangers of Confined Spaces

      Many people find themselves working in confined spaces every day, whether it be in sewer systems, drains, or other tight spots. These areas come with their own unique risks to life and limb that must be carefully considered in order to avoid disaster.

    • Science

      • A Socialist Vision for Space Exploration Must Include Disability

        It is well know that this space-race between three white, cis-het men collectively worth nearly 380 billion dollars isn’t without cost to the non-billionaire class: New Mexico taxpayers contributed 220 million dollars to Branson’s journey, Musk’s new German factory was constructed over environmental protests about its harmful effects on (among other things) water pollution in an area in which nearly all drinking water comes from groundwater reserves, and Bezo’s extractive practices as Amazon’s CEO are well-documented. What’s more, this ego-driven contest plays out as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has decimated public health systems, increased the number of families experiencing food insecurity, put millions into unstable housing situations, exacerbated educational inequities, and left communities reeling from the personal, economic, and health effects of the past year and a half. A year that laid stark our unequal access to healthcare, housing and food, and employment stability has almost completely eroded away to the faintest gossamers that archive our early-pandemic call for national quarantine and masking solidarity, government aid for all that needed it, and dreams of healing environmental woes. Many have leveled racial critiques of white men going to space while Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities bear the greatest impact of economic, environmental, educational, and health inequities here on Earth. Yet, one critique is missing: how consideration of disability, now and in the future, influence the way we might read the privatization of space.

        For most of us, this bizarrely out-of-touch mission to flee Earth for the chromatic possibilities of futurism is something entirely alien. Yet, for disabled people, it represents the next instance of an ongoing pattern of abandonment, another move toward a future of which they are not imagined to be a part. This past year, COVID cast a hypervisible spotlight in which folks with immuno-compromises were at first the center of liberal arguments to wear masks and think collectively to stop the spread of disease. But as vaccines became accessible (to people with transportation, paid time off to burn during the work week, and proximity to medical facilities), many returned to a pre-pandemic life in which practices of solidarity like masking, quarantining, and even switching to take-out are the cultural markers of their own altruism, rather than a daily personal hurdle. The disposability of disabled people was laid barer than ever, particularly in a world in which many refused to quarantine or vaccinate, backed by the argument that only the elderly, disabled, and young were dangerously susceptible to contamination. (Something about climate change and the particular effect of natural disasters of disabled people? Anything from Ida?) In critiques of everything from genetic testing to feminist science fiction novels, disability studies scholars confront us with the question of whether disability is desired in our collective future; in Musk’s dreams of colonizing Mars as Earth-bound humanity falls to the effects of climate change, it’s easy to wonder whether disabled people will be seen as “fit” for space travel.

      • Elon Musk’s Spacefaring Civilization is a Pipe Dream

        As it currently stands the United States, China, Russia—and to a degree Europe–are the only nations capable of building modules for human livable space stations and the transport systems necessary to replenish the space stations currently orbiting the planet. Moreover, they are the sole nations in possession of the skills and materials to get humans of the watery rock that is Earth.

        Waking up in the morning wishfully thinking, that “the future is going to be great” slams into a brick wall when thinking about nuclear weapons modernization, terrorism, perpetual war, pandemics, health care infrastructure collapse, murder rates, drug wars and a host of other plagues that the human species inflicts upon itself. Further, the human race seems to be hell-bent on destroying its only home, The Pale Blue Dot (Carl Sagan): Climate change is here thanks to the extraordinary amount of pollution that is pumped into the atmosphere and the maniacal destruction of plant life that allows the human race to breath. More depressing is the number of endangered species around the globe.

      • Tracking space debris is a growing business

        As orbiting objects multiply, the danger grows. Roughly a dozen sizeable pieces of space debris break up every year as a result of collisions, exploding rocket fuel, or the rupturing of pressurised tanks or old batteries. Solar radiation chips off bits of paint and metal. And the number of launches is increasing. According to BryceTech, a consultancy in Virginia, at the end of 2001 there were 771 active satellites orbiting Earth. Ten years later that population had grown to 965. Since then, it has nearly quintupled, to roughly 4,500—and this does not include defunct satellites. And small, cheap satellites are a booming business. Maciej Konacki, an astronomer at the Polish Academy of Sciences, in Warsaw, who has studied the matter on behalf of the European Union, reckons there could be 100,000 active satellites in orbit by the end of the decade.

    • Education

      • Forthcoming Mastery Book Price Changes

        Just like the rest of the industrial world, the print book supply chain is struggling. All over the world, my printers are raising their prices. My indie publishing unit, Tilted Windmill Press, must roll with the changes. If you want print books, I recommend purchasing them soon.

    • Health/Nutrition

      • Patient Advocacy Group Calls Out 2 Dems for “Selling Us Out to Drug Companies”
      • Bernie Sanders Rips Into Big Pharma Profits, Says “Thousands Die Every Year”
      • PETA Sues NIH And HHS Directors For Blocking Comments With ‘PETA’ And ‘#StopAnimalTesting’

        PETA is certainly not above filing some pretty ridiculous lawsuits, so I was initially skeptical when I heard that it had filed a lawsuit against the directors of the National Institutes of Health (Francis Collins) and Health & Human Services (Xavier Becerra) over Facebook keyword blocking. However, upon reading through the lawsuit, it seems pretty legit. At issue is that it appears that NIH has put in place a block list on Facebook and Instagram that blocks anyone from mentioning PETA and a surprisingly long list of words and phrases that are likely of interest to PETA.

      • Resisting Evictions Amid a Pandemic

        Indeed, the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Texas abortion ban was hardly its only horrific decision this summer. Its willingness to end a moratorium on evictions instantly put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of eviction, with tens of millions more in danger in the weeks to come. With an unequal economic recovery, surging Covid-19 cases (thanks to the highly infectious Delta variant), and poor and homeless people disproportionately suffering the effects of fires and floods, this decision could truly prove catastrophic. Nor is it the only one likely to impact poor and low-income communities of color drastically. That stacked court, the Trump court (if you want to think of it that way), is offering a remarkably vivid demonstration of just how connected voting rights, women’s rights, immigrant rights, and poverty really are.

        President Biden critiqued the Supreme Court recently for its ruling on the Texas abortion case. “For the majority to do this without a hearing, without the benefit of an opinion from a court below, and without due consideration of the issues,” he said, “insults the rule of law and the rights of all Americans to seek redress from our courts.” And as continued injustices, especially from that court’s “shadow docket,” have come to light, former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, now head of the American Constitution Society, tweeted, “SCOTUS’s increasing use of the shadow docket to issue massive legal decisions is yet another reason why Supreme Court reform needs to be taken seriously.”

      • Exclusive: Jared Kushner’s Family Firm Set to Unleash Eviction Wave Amid Pandemic

        Properties owned by former White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family company have filed at least 590 eviction lawsuits since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and more than 200 in 2021 alone, putting “countless tenants” at risk of losing their homes in parts of the U.S. where Covid-19 transmission levels remain dangerously high.

        “With eviction protections gone, corporate landlords like Kushner are relishing the soonest opportunity to evict the vulnerable.”

      • FDA Panel Recommends Pfizer Booster Shots for People 65+ and Especially Vulnerable

        A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Friday unanimously recommended booster shots of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for U.S. adults age 65 and older, and those especially at risk from virus, while voting strongly against recommending the same for people between the ages of 16 and 64.  

        Though neither vote is binding, the agency is likely to follow the advice of the 18-member committee and is expected to issue a final decision on boosters—a topic of controversy in recent months, especially given the ongoing global inequity in terms of access to vaccines—as early as next week.

      • Opinion | We’re Going to Take on Big Pharma and Win the Fight to Lower Drug Prices

        On Wednesday, Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) was one of three Democrats who cast a pivotal no vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rice shamefully voted against giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices as part of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better package.

      • Biden: GOP Governors Are Undermining Efforts to Combat COVID
      • How Congress Can Prevent the Next Pandemic

        $15 billion isn’t enough, but it is an important starting point. We must come to terms with the grim certainty that another pandemic will devastate our country in our lifetimes. Our government cannot afford another scramble for vaccine technology and personal protective equipment. We must prepare for the next pandemic today.

        Should Congress fail to pass at least $15 billion of pandemic preparedness funding, Americans will suffer more the next time we face a pandemic. COVID-19 has killed over 600,000 Americans and cost this country $16 trillion dollars, and experts say that the next pandemic could be right around the corner. That’s not to mention that COVID-19 has had disproportionate, devastating effects on disabled Americans, communities of color, those living in poverty and other marginalized groups. The reality is, pandemic preparedness efforts aren’t just about preventing economic ruin for our country — it’s about stopping what is in all reality a matter of life and death for marginalized communities.

      • Covid Is Here to Stay. This Is How We Should Respond.

        After 18 months of being stuck in our homes—if we were lucky enough to do so—and being surrounded by death and suffering, we are all ready to move past this pandemic. The vaccines offered hope for this in the spring—it seemed that by summer the virus would be at low levels and people could safely gather again. Then the Delta variant, combined with lackluster vaccination levels and a disastrous CDC guidance that told vaccinated people they could remove their masks indoors and dispense with social distancing, led to major setbacks. These factors combined to create a perfect storm of rising infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. As a result, despite having plentiful supplies of vaccines, as of early September, the United States is seeing more than 1,000 deaths a day.

      • Patient Group Targets Pair of Democrats for ‘Selling Us Out to Drug Companies’

        A national patient organization launched new ads on Friday targeting Reps. Scott Peters and Kathleen Rice for opposing a plan to let Medicare directly negotiate prescription drug prices, a centerpiece of the Democratic Party’s popular agenda to lower sky-high medicine costs.

        In the two 30-second spots—titled “Sellout” and “Patients Over Profit”—multiple sclerosis patient Therese Ball slams Peters (D-Calif.) and Rice (D-N.Y.) for prioritizing the interests of the pharmaceutical industry, which has lobbied aggressively against the Medicare drug-pricing proposal.

      • AOC Would Have Cast the Winning Vote for Drug Price Reform

        When Representative Kathleen Rice was running for reelection from New York last year, the centrist Democrat’s campaign ads announced that “in times of crisis, you see what really drives someone.” What drove Rice, the ads declared, was a recognition of the necessity of “taking on drug and insurance giants to lower costs.”

      • After 33 Years, Parents of Brain-Damaged Kids Get to Express Disgust With Florida Program

        The parents of children born with catastrophic brain damage who were stripped of the right to sue were offered a measure of consolation Thursday: They were given the chance to speak.

        About a dozen mothers and fathers addressed the administrators and governing board of Florida’s Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA, at an online meeting. Many of the parents said they had suffered silently for years as the program fought over benefits that could have relieved the considerable burden on the children and families NICA served.

      • NYT: China Needs to Rethink Its Not-Letting-People-Die-From-Covid Policy

        It still boggles me that a US paper thinks it has standing to offer advice to China on how to address the Covid-19 pandemic (FAIR.org, 1/29/21). For those who have been on Mars for the past two years, China has had, since the disease first appeared, 95,493 cases and 4,636 deaths from Covid. The United States, with approximately one-fourth as many people, has had almost 42 million cases and 668,000 deaths. On a per capita basis, the US’s handling of the coronavirus has been more than 600 times worse than China’s.

      • Mark Zuckerberg’s bad week: Senators demand answers after exposé reveals Instagram is toxic for kids

        Ire against the 37-year-old Harvard dropout and his social media platform has been one of the rare points of bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill this week as revelation after revelation about Facebook’s pitfalls continues to trickle out, many from a series of internal documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

        Lawmakers are now calling for Zuckerberg to testify in front of Congress, in particular about a number of internal reports cited by the Journal that determined Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, had a marked negative impact on young women.

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • New attacks continue using Linux to attack Windows systems – The Clare People [Ed: They try to make it seem like the problem is "Linux" rather than Windows]
        • Anatomy of a Cloud Infrastructure Attack via a Pull Request

          In April 2021, I discovered an attack vector that could allow a malicious Pull Request to a Github repository to gain access to our production environment. Open source companies like us, or anyone else who accepts external contributions, are especially vulnerable to this.

        • Man who unlocked nearly 2 million AT&T phones gets 12 years in prison

          In 2013, however, AT&T put into place a new unlocking system which made it harder for Fahd’s crew to unlock phones’ unique IMEI numbers, so according to the DOJ he hired a developer to design malware that could be installed on AT&T’s computer system. This allegedly allowed him to unlock more phones, and do so more efficiently. The AT&T employees working with Fahd helped him access information about its systems and other employees’ credentials, allowing his developer to tailor the malware more precisely, the DOJ said.

        • Security

          • Attackers Exploit OMIGOD Flaw in Azure Despite Microsoft Fixes [Ed: Bug door?]

            Cybercriminals are targeting Linux-based servers running Microsoft’s Azure public cloud environment that are vulnerable to flaws after Microsoft didn’t automatically apply a patch on affected clients in its infrastructure.

            According to cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, the attacks began the night of Sept. 16 after a proof-of-concept exploit was published earlier in the day on GitHub. About 10 malicious servers have been searching the internet for vulnerable systems, and while the search began slowing, it has now ramped up to more than 100 sites by morning, Recorded Future noted, citing information from threat intelligence vendor GreyNoise.

            In addition, Cado Security researchers in a blog post also noted a tweet from cybersecurity researcher German Fernandez, who found that the infamous DDoS Mirai botnet – known for taking advantage of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices – also is exploiting OMIGOD. Mirai is putting a version of the botnet into a system and then closing the 5896 OMI SSL port, essentially stopping others from exploiting the same box.

          • Yes, of course there’s now malware for Windows Subsystem for Linux [Ed: WSL is a sick joke and impossibility for security]

            Linux binaries have been found trying to take over Windows systems in what appears to be the first publicly identified malware to utilize Microsoft’s Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to install unwelcome payloads.

          • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

            • Microsoft to Azure Linux users: Patch this problem yourself

              Azure Linux administrators, it’s time to get patching. In response to the recent OMIGOD vulnerabilities, Microsoft has released an updated version of OMI, but you’ll need to upgrade on your own (via BleepingComputer). Here’s the full scoop.

              OMIGOD vulnerabilities are named after OMI, an acronym that stands for the Open Management Infrastructure software agent. The OMIGOD vulnerabilities found in OMI have opened the door for RCE (Remote Code Execution) attacks from malicious parties. And if you’re an Azure user operating on a Linux setup with a service such as Azure Diagnostics or Azure Automation enabled, that means you have OMI on your Virtual Machine.

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • These Single Moms Are Forced to Choose: Reveal Their Sexual Histories or Forfeit Welfare

              Amberly Sanchez had a job as an accountant at a real estate company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she was laid off due to the pandemic. Then an electrical fire destroyed her apartment building, forcing her and her 16-month-old daughter Avery to stay in a $400-a-week motel. She’d lost everything, from parenting essentials — crib, baby clothes, toy car — to her own mother’s ashes.

              This spring, she applied for welfare.

            • The spying that changed Big Tech

              In 2013, reporting by The Washington Post—based on documents from former US government contractor Edward Snowden—revealed that the National Security Agency and its British counterpart had essentially hacked reams of information from customers of Google, Yahoo and other American internet companies without those companies’ knowledge. The spy agencies did this by intercepting internet traffic from undersea internet cables or other access points between corporate computer centres outside the US.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • A National Rite of Passage: Beyond War

        The writer, Andrew Exum, was an Army Ranger who had deployments in the early 2000s to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and a decade later served for several years as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy.

        The point he is making amounts to this: The last twenty years of war have been a disaster, with our pullout from Afghanistan sealing history’s final judgment: We lost. And we deserved to lose. But what a crushing blow to the men and women who served with courage, indeed, who sacrificed their lives for their country.

      • The US and Yemen: Putting a Disreputable Policy Right

        In a word, Yemen is a humanitarian catastrophe in which the US has long had dirty hands.

        For a number of years, going back to the Obama administration, the US has been Saudi Arabia’s silent partner in war-making in Yemen. The proclaimed national interests that guided US support included confronting Iran’s presumed proxy force in Yemen, the Houthi, and being a faithful ally to the Saudis.

      • Minnesota Troopers Decided Being Sued For Excessive Force Was The Perfect Time To Delete Emails And Text Messages

        How do you reform this?

      • Examining the Labels: Settler Colonialism and ‘Toxic’ Masculinity

        Mother kept a very close eye on us, particularly when we were on the reservation. She inferred by her actions that some Indian men were not safe to be around. She clarified that sentiment with her words, “Stay away from him. He’s dangerous when he drinks, and he always drinks.” I do not recall ever hearing this off reservation. I discovered in my adult years that my Blackfeet grandmother has also carefully watched over her children in a similar manner and for good reason. With this information and an adult perspective, I began to wonder what this ideology of the dangerous Indian man instilled in our men and boys? Were we ourselves perpetuating the settler colonial construct of the ‘scary brown man’ and had we become so indoctrinated that we could not see past presumed danger and self-preservation to look for the root problems? I believe both idioms are correct and that we are contributing to the subjugation of our own people.

        Over the years I have read many feminist Indigenous authors (including, but not limited to Sarah Deer, Audra Simpson, and Mishuana Goeman) and I remain impressed on how they address the abuse of Native women at the hands of settler society and Indigenous men. This is good and valuable work, necessary to address the violence perpetrated against Native women. Yet, the more I read the more I wonder what we, as Indigenous women are doing to recognize the settler colonial trauma our men continue to endure? As the mother of six children, five of whom are male, this has become an important, relevant, and urgent question to ask myself.

      • US Urged to End Drone Strikes After Pentagon Says Killing 10 Afghan Civilians Was ‘Horrible Mistake’

        Following a rare Pentagon admission Friday that a remote-controlled airstrike which killed 10 Afghan civilians in the closing days of the war in Afghanistan was a “horrible mistake,” anti-war and human rights advocates asserted that “war crimes are not oopsies,” while calling on the U.S. to end drone strikes in the so-called War on Terror.

        “Many similar strikes in Syria, Iraq, and Somalia have happened out of the spotlight, and the U.S. continues to deny responsibility while devastated families suffer in silence.”—Brian Castner, Amnesty International

      • Anti-War Voices Blast Biden Over ‘Absurd’ $500 Million Saudi Military Contract

        Peace and human rights advocates on Friday accused President Joe Biden of breaking his promise to end American support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen after the U.S. State Department approved a potential agreement to provide half a billion dollars worth of support services to the Middle East monarchy known for its pervasive human rights abuses and military atrocities.

        “Providing such support to [Saudi Arabia] undermines the credibility of any U.S.-Yemen diplomacy, let alone the human rights and so-called U.S.-led rules-based international order rhetoric.”—Kate Kizer, Win Without War

      • From the ‘Iron Wall’ to the ‘Villa in the Jungle’: Palestinians Demolish Israel’s Security Myths

        Jabotinsky was speaking figuratively. However, future Zionist leaders, who embraced Jabotinsky’s teachings, eventually turned the principle of the iron wall into a tangible reality. Consequently, Israel and Palestine are now disfigured with endless barricades of walls, made of concrete and iron, which zigzag in and around a land that was meant to represent inclusion, spiritual harmony and co-existence.

        Gradually, new ideas regarding Israel’s ‘security’ emerged, such as ‘fortress Israel’ and ‘villa in the jungle’ – an obviously racist metaphor used repeatedly by former Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, which falsely depicts Israel as an oasis of harmony and democracy amid Middle Eastern chaos and violence. For the Israeli ‘villa’ to remain prosperous and peaceful, according to Barak, Israel needed to do more than merely maintain its military edge; it had to ensure the ‘chaos’ does not breach the perimeters of Israel’s perfect existence.

      • Opinion | US Drones Still Fly Over the Afghan Horizon

        Facing unrelenting criticism over the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden Administration is insisting that the United States will maintain a capability to launch airstrikes in Afghanistan, regardless of the legal limitations and possibility of perpetuating the war. 

      • Hello, China? This is the Pentagon Calling…

        Chinese hardliners just had their stance justified by the erratic, verging on unhinged, behavior in the United States and by its military.

        First the storming of the capitol on Jan 6. Seen from Beijing it looked like a failed coup, a botched but serious attempt to upend US politics. Now, a book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa claims US General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called General Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liberation Army not once but twice. First on October 30, 2020, just four days before the election. The second call took place on January 8, two days after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Milley sought to assure Li that the United States was stable and not going to attack. However, he said, if there were to be an attack, he would alert his counterpart ahead of time. Schizophrenic? This places Li in an impossible position. How does he tell his boss, Xi Jinping? He would have to inform the Chinese president that a US general had just said that they won’t attack with nuclear weapons but if they do they will be notified. Can you trust him to let you know? Is it a veiled threat? At the very least you would have to put your forces on alert.

      • New unmanned capabilities: When will the EU use drones for practical sea rescue?

        Two leading drone manufacturers report readiness to equip their aircraft with life rafts. These can be dropped with pinpoint accuracy over a maritime emergency. But perhaps this would also encourage violations of the Geneva Refugee Convention.

      • 21st Century Internationalism of the Oppressed: A Comradely Response to Ajamu Baraka

        Keeping this in mind the following is offered as a response to a recent piece by Ajamu Baraka, “We Can No Longer Avoid Raising the Contradiction of the Western Imperial Left’s Collaboration with the Western Bourgeoisie,” in Black Agenda Report (1 September 2021). This response is offered carefully because this is not a personal debate, despite the condescending tone of Baraka’s piece. Our differences do not revolve around any question as to the Baraka’s dedication and commitment, nor his insight into many issues facing the globally oppressed. He and I have known each other for years and, despite differences, have had a comradely relationship. In the context of his recent essay, however, I respectfully believe that his framework is muddled, incorrect and stuck in a perverse version of a pre-1991 world.

        We will leave aside Baraka’s insults to Gilbert Achcar. They are not only unfounded and inappropriate, but they are based on little other than Baraka’s disagreements with Achcar’s views, which he misrepresents, engaging in ad hominem insults (e.g., “Eurocentric armchair commentator”) that show he doesn’t have a clue of who Achcar is. The tone of the tirade almost sounded like a preface to the “Dozens,” an old African American exchange between potential foes in which they malign the other person by, among other things, talking about their opponent’s mother.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

    • Environment

      • How Climate-Conscious is Boris Johnson’s New Cabinet?

        Boris Johnson’s reshuffle has dominated the news this week – but what does it mean for government policy on climate change?

        As might be expected, several cabinet ministers were involved in campaigning for Brexit, whose crossover with climate science denial and environmental deregulation DeSmog has reported on extensively. 

      • Opinion | Federal Funding for Sustainable Nutrition Science Would Help Solve Climate and Health Crises

        A new analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists finds that federal funding for “sustainable nutrition science”—a field of research and education at the intersection of food production, climate and environment, and nutrition—is abysmally low, amounting to less than 25 cents out of every thousand dollars in federal research funding.

      • Cook Islands UN Negotiator Paid $700k by Shipping Industry Lobby Group

        A negotiator representing the Cook Islands at the UN who has been criticised for blocking efforts to tackle global shipping emissions has been paid at least $700,000 since 2010 by an industry lobby group he helps run with his wife.

        Campaigners said the revelation was a “slap in the face” for those suffering the effects of climate change in the South Pacific, where the archipelago is located.

      • What’s Up With COP26?

        COP26 will be one of the most significant meetings in modern human history, comparable to the meeting of the Big Three at the Tehran Conference November 28, 1943 when the Normandy invasion was agreed, codenamed Operation Overlord and launched in June 1944. Thenceforth, tyranny was stopped, an easily identified worldwide threat symbolized by a toothbrush mustache. Today’s tyranny is faceless but recklessly beyond the scope of that era because it’s already everywhere all at once! And, ten-times-plus as powerful as all of the munitions of WWII.

        What’s at risk at COP26?

      • Critics Warn Biden That 30% Methane Reduction by 2030 Not Good Enough

        Advocates of addressing the root causes of the global climate emergency on Friday called the United States and European Union’s new pledge to reduce methane emissions at least 30% by 2030 a step in the right direction but still lacking in both necessary ambition and specifics.

        “Instead of merely pledging to do better, governments around the world must put an end to the drilling and fracking that is fueling the climate emergency.”—Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch

      • ‘What Betrayal Looks Like’: UN Report Says World on Track for 2.7°C of Warming by 2100

        The United Nations warned Friday that the planet is barreling toward 2.7°C of warming by the end of the century, a nightmare scenario that can be averted only if policymakers take immediate and sweeping action to slash greenhouse gas emissions.

        Even if the 191 parties to the Paris climate accord meet their current commitments, global greenhouse gas emissions will still rise 16% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, according to a new report published by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

      • Biden-Backed Aukus Deal Could Spell ‘Disaster’ for Climate Cooperation With China

        Climate campaigners voiced concern Friday that a new trilateral military agreement by the U.S., U.K., and Australian governments—an arrangement, including new weapons sales, designed to neutralize China’s growing geostrategic influence—could have a devastating impact on urgently needed climate cooperation ahead of the United Nations’ COP 26 climate talks next month in Glasgow.

        “Further success is predicated on a repaired U.S.-China relationship, but also upon a commitment to multilateralism across the board if we are to keep the spirit of the Paris agreement alive.”

      • No Barrier?
      • Railways and Pipelines are Preferable to Nuclear Submarines

        Two major developments in international commercial conveyance were reported in August and September, but neither of them received much cover by mainstream western media.  First was the news that the China-Europe rail link was proving outstandingly successful, as recounted by the Xinhua news agency and Spain’s EFE, and second came the story on September 6 that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany was about to come on line, which was covered by the Oil Price website and to an extent by Deutsche Welle which didn’t mention the official statement by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.  But the New York Times, for example, did not consider the development newsworthy in even a minor fashion, and a search of the paper’s website was entirely negative, as it was for all the west’s major outlets.

        It is intriguing that these two significant affairs were so comprehensively disregarded rather than being welcomed in most western capitals, and it goes some way to explaining the shaky state of international relations to examine some of the reasons behind the seeming antipathy of western governments and media to successful cooperative ventures involving China and Russia.

      • Change of diet could help tackle climate change

        Food causes climate problems, and offers solutions too. New research examines what change of diet could do.

      • Alabama “Forever Chemicals” Plant Creates the Climate Pollution of 125,000 Cars
      • Opinion | Children Around the World Are Suffering From Climate Anxiety

        Climate anxiety and distress is affecting the daily lives and functioning of nearly half of global youth surveyed, according to the largest scientific study.

      • Energy

        • Opinion | 100% Renewable Energy Is Possible: A Plan for Africa

          The science shows that climate change will hit Africa the hardest. In fact, global warming and extreme weather events are already threatening the poorest and most vulnerable people on the continent. The 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released 9 August 2021, exposed the fact that global warming has been more rapid in Africa than the rest of the world. This warming is already having devastating impacts for people, their livelihoods, and ecosystems. It is being driven by a greedy energy system that is based on extracting and burning fossil fuels. It is an energy system that disrespects and destroys all life on earth. The time to move away from harmful fossil fuels towards a transformed energy system that is clean, renewable, democratic, and actually serves its peoples, has never been more urgent.

        • Opinion | The Time to Act Is Now: President and Army Corps of Engineers Must Halt Line 3

          Last month, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) delivered a devastating blow to the lives of Anishinaabe people and our surrounding tribal nations with their decision to stand by Trump-era water permits for the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. Further, earlier this year the USACE made the disappointing decision to not take action to stop the illegal Dakota Access Pipeline.

        • America’s Largest Windfarm: an Environmental Disaster?

          This question puts a fine point on the twin looming disasters that humanity has brought upon the Earth: the Climate Crisis and the Biodiversity Crisis. If we leave half the Earth to nature and radically reduce our environmental footprint on the remainder, we might well halt ecosystem collapse and the extinction pandemic in the short term, but if the climate crisis deepens, we could end up on a hot, stormy, lifeless planet anyway — and if we focus myopically on just the reducing fossil fuels, we might revert to a cooler planet only to find it depauperate in plants and animals and ultimately incapable of supporting our own species. The climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis are of equal importance to humans and every other species with which we share this globe, and it would be foolhardy to ignore either in pursuit of solutions for the other.

          This is where the LA Times’ article proves short-sighted: It treats the TransWest Express powerline, and the Chokecherry-Sierra Madre wind farm that it serves, as unqualified benefits for the Earth’s environment. In reality, neither would have ever been built in an environmentally sustainable world.

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Point Reyes National Seashore Capitulates to Ranchers

          As in the draft document, the final management plan proposes to kill the native Tule elk if their populations grow beyond what the ranchers believe (as the NPS jumps to) is undesirable. The public submitted some 50,000 comments opposed to continued ranching and the killing of rare native Tule elk. Point Reyes Seashore is the only national park where Tule elk exist.

          Among the impacts caused by the ongoing livestock operations is the pollution of the park’s waterways, increased soil erosion, the spread of exotic weeds, the transfer of park vegetation from wildlife use to consumption by domestic livestock,  the use of public facilities j(the ranch buildings, etc. are all owned by the U.S. citizens but are used just as if they were private property, hindering public access to its lands.

        • Killing Wolf Pups for a Cow Doesn’t Add Up

          It didn’t last.

          On July 31, just weeks after the pack’s adults attacked four cattle, helicopter sharpshooters from the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife killed two of the pack’s 14-week-old pups.

        • ‘It Has Come to This’: Ancient Sequoias Wrapped in Foil as Wildfire Threatens

          A grove of ancient trees in Sequoia National Park remained Friday in the path of a California wildfire that has already triggered evacuations and other protective efforts including wrapping some of the iconic trees—including the planet’s biggest—in protective foil covering.

          The immediate threat is the KNP Complex fire. Spanning 9,365 acres, the complex includes the Paradise Fire and the Colony Fire, both sparked by lightning last week.

        • Ever spot tiny ‘horns’ on a Texas beach? They belong to an elusive squid species

          If you’re a beachcomber with a good eye, there’s a chance you’ve spotted a tiny, curled “horn” in the sand.

          So, what sea creature is it from?

          Padre Island National Seashore shared a photo Friday of the milky-colored shell found last week on the barrier island near Corpus Christi, Texas.

          “If you’ve found one of these on the seashore while beachcombing, consider yourself very lucky!” Padre Island National Seashore posted on Facebook. “Why? Because you didn’t pick up a shell that an animal lived in, you picked up a shell that was inside an animal!”

    • Finance

      • We Are on the Precipice of a Housing Disaster

        Over the past weeks, multiple crises have merged: a crisis of democracy with the most significant attack on voting rights since Reconstruction; a climate crisis, with lives and livelihoods upended in the Gulf Coast and the Northeast by extreme weather events and in the West by a stunning fire season; and an economic crisis in which millions are being cut off from Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, even as August job gains proved underwhelming. There’s also a crisis taking place in state legislatures with an ongoing attack on women’s autonomy over our own bodies. The Supreme Court let a law go into effect that makes abortions nearly impossible in Texas and turns its enforcement over to vigilantes. And then, of course, there’s the looming eviction crisis that could precipitate the worst housing and homelessness disaster in American history.

      • Saving $3.5 Trillion on Prescription Drugs to Pay for Bernie Sanders’s Big Agenda

        The Democrats are hoping to use these savings to pay for expanding Medicare (possibly also lowering the age of eligibility; 64 would be a good start), free community college, extending the child tax credit, and all sorts of other good things. While there is some skepticism as to whether the government can actually save $600 billion over a decade on prescription drugs, this is actually a very low target. Arguably, the full cost of the $3.5 trillion (1.2 percent of GDP) package could be covered by savings on prescription drugs alone.

        Projected Spending on Prescription Drugs

      • Unemployment Benefit Cut-Off Will Slash Annual Incomes by $144 Billion: Analysis

        The decision by Congress and the Biden administration to let pandemic-related unemployment programs expire earlier this month will slash annual incomes across the U.S. by $144.3 billion and significantly reduce consumer spending, the Economic Policy Institute estimates in an analysis released Friday.

        “The resulting income and consumer spending losses of the most recent unemployment benefit cuts will be devastating.”

      • What Occupy Wall Street Organizers Would Do Differently

        The Rev. Michael Ellick1

      • Opinion | What We Can Learn From Occupy Wall Street for Today’s Tax Fight

        Ten years ago, young people set up camp in New York City’s Zuccotti Park to protest rampant  economic  inequality and outsized corporate influence on our democracy.  The Occupy Wall Street movement quickly spread to other  U.S. cities but lost steam before it made a meaningful mark on policy.

      • Did Occupy Wall Street Make a Difference?

        Ten years ago this month, Occupy Wall Street unexpectedly inaugurated a new wave of protest. The domestic manifestation of a worldwide explosion of digitally networked social movements, it scaled up rapidly, attracting enormous public and media attention. But the protesters were evicted from New York City’s Zuccotti Park and other occupied spaces after only a few months, and Occupy dissipated soon afterward. Some commentators have dismissed it as a meteoric flash in the pan, while others have criticized its “horizontalist” structure and lack of concrete demands.1

      • “Another World Is Possible”: How Occupy Wall Street Reshaped Politics & Kicked Off New Era of Protest

        On the 10th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, we examine the legacy of the historic protests with three veterans of the movement: Nelini Stamp, now the director of strategy and partnerships at the Working Families Party; Jillian Johnson, a key organizer in Occupy Durham who now serves on the Durham City Council and is the city’s mayor pro tempore; and writer and filmmaker Astra Tayor, an organizer with the Debt Collective. Occupy Wall Street “broke the spell” protecting the economic status quo and marked a major shift in protests against capitalism, Taylor says. “Occupy kind of inaugurated this social movement renaissance,” she tells Democracy Now! “We’ve been in an age of defiant protest ever since Occupy Wall Street.”

      • A Canadian Amazon Warehouse Could Soon Be the First to Unionize in North America
      • European Shares Subdued As China Data Disappoints

        European stocks were subdued on Wednesday as weak Chinese data, a strong inflation reading in the U.K. and disappointing sales from fashion retailer H&M raised concerns about the global economic recovery.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Rolling Back the Enlightenment

        Few people in the U.S. would like corporations to have more power. Unfortunately, Democrats have done little to halt their increasing power. Their hands, or so they would argue if they were honest, are effectively tied by the nature of campaign finance. They can’t afford to bite the hands that feed them.

        So the Democrats are not protecting us from the increasing hegemony of large corporations. What they are doing, on the other hand is far worse than rolling back the 20th century. They are taking us all the way back to the Dark Ages, the age of orthodoxy, where only officially sanctioned ideas were allowed to be publicly proclaimed. Freedom of expression, a lawyer friend of mine is fond of pointing out, is specifically for views one does not like, views one finds offensive, even threatening. It is completely unnecessary for views one agrees with because there is never a question of suppressing those.

      • Buffalo Mayor Who Lost to Socialist India Walton Can’t Be on Ballot, Court Rules
      • Trump’s Mental Stability in Question

        “He’s crazy. You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the chairman, Gen. Mark Milley, Jan. 8, two days after Trump supporters attacked the Capitol to thwart the certification of Joe Biden as president.

        “I agree with you on everything,” Milley told her.

      • Judge Blocks Biden From Continuing Inhumane Trump Policy to Deport Families
      • Freedom to Vote Act—For Capitalist Parties Only

        Yet this bill also deserves vigorous protest from the Left for its public campaign financing provisions, which are effectively for the two big capitalist parties only.

        The bill eliminates the Presidential Election Campaign Fund on December 31, 2021. That is the fund which Green Party presidential candidates have used to qualify for presidential primary matching funds. That funding has been crucial in paying for petitioners to qualify the Green Party for state ballots under the onerous signature requirements of most states. No major party candidates used primary matching funds in 2020 because it limited total primary spending to $50 million, which is not enough for the corporate party candidates these days. So they are eliminating it because only the Green Party still uses the program.

      • The Handcuffing of Joe Biden

        Bipartisanship? As Donald Trump would say in his New York accent: fuhgeddaboutit!

        One day after Biden’s inauguration, QAnon sympathizer Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced HR 57 to impeach the new president on the Trumped-up charge of bribery. As the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan proceeded at its telescoped and chaotic pace, impeachment calls came with greater regularity from the Republican Party, with Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) demandingthe president’s ouster for the high crime and misdemeanor of “ignoring sound advice.”

      • Milton Allimadi on US Media’s Africa Reporting
      • The New York Times: Ally to Colonialism in Africa

        In 1948, apartheid became official policy in South Africa. Racial segregation and inequity in distribution of resources, with adverse impact on the  African population on all aspects of social, cultural, economic, and political life—and always in favor of the white minority—was now formalized. It was the law of the land.

      • Secret Service Protection for Trump Family, Officials Cost $1.7 Million in 2021
      • Rikers
      • Trump the Neocon?: The Changing Climate of Antiwar Politics

        But I knew more than a few legit antiwar activists who were taken in by the orange bastard. Most of them were right-wing libertarians and paleocons, and most of them would readily admit that the guy was an asshole, but they still held out hope that this whole America First scheme would light a fire beneath middle America that would drive out the neocons and usher in a new era of conservative isolationism like the kind that once dominated the GOP before Nixon. At the very least, they held out hope that that foul gangster would finally bail us out of Afghanistan. I didn’t see it. So I voted for Jill Stein again.

        Five years later and I find myself in I-told-you-so country again. After a very brief flirtation with anti-globalist rhetoric and getting-along-with-Putin bromides, the GOP has rejoined their war loving frenemies in the Democratic Party to crucify Joe Biden for doing what their darling Trump promised to do for four years straight and finally get us the fuck out of Afghanistan. Both sides are fucking hysterical over the shocking spectacle of old Joe doing something right for the first time in his impossibly long career as a Beltway gangbanger, but those blathering crybabies over at Fox News take the cake.

      • A Journalist Dissects a Biased Chart of Media Biases

        Ad Fontes Media, Inc, claims they want to help people with this. They say they want to help people “navigate the news landscape” and “make news consumers smarter and news media better”. Unfortunately, their own bias steps in, and they fail at this task.

      • Roaming Charges: Taxing Representations

        + As AOC strolled before the fashion paparrazi at the Met Gala, her immaculate train held aloft by masked workers, I was reminded of the rollout for Verso’s chic 150th anniversary edition of the Communist Manifesto, with a trendy cover by Komar and Melamid, which publisher Colin Robinson boasted was “self-consciously marketed towards sybarites.” Marx and Engels’ call to arms ended up on display in the hands of mannequins at Barney’s and Prada wearing $150 t-shirts featuring Che Guevara. But at least they were marketing revolution as a kind of sly prank and not tax hikes to fund an upgrade to Bernie’s fleet of F-35s.

        + If the Left ever listened to Johnny Cash, they might realize that “taxes”–the one thing universally hated by the rich and working poor–is not a winning political slogan like, say–Free Health Care, End the War, Cancel Student Debt, Stop Evictions, Solar Power Now or even F tha Police.

      • Glenn Greenwald and Iowa’s latest WTF Moments

        Glenn Greenwald’s latest Substack essay shows how it is possible to be bright, seemingly progressive, stupid, and stealthily reactionary all at one and the same time – a common affliction of petit-bourgeois intellectuals who’ve never had a proper Marxist education.

        “While AOC’s revolutionary and subversive socialist gown generated buzz,” Greenwald writes, “the normalization of maskless elites attended to by faceless servants is grotesque.”

      • Understanding the Basics of 21st-Century Democracy, Autocracy, and Capitalism

        Residential communities in many parts of the modern world operate in formal democracies. However, they usually allow individuals with high levels of income and wealth to use these means to influence others in their voting, whereas individuals with low levels of income and wealth can and usually do wield less influence. The capitalist economic system generates precisely that unequal distribution of income and wealth that creates and sustains a wide gap between formal and real democracy in the world today. That gap in turn reinforces capitalism.

        Workplace communities are those collections of interacting individuals comprising enterprises: factories, offices, and stores. In societies where capitalism prevails, enterprises are very rarely organized democratically. Instead, they are autocratic. Inside most workplace communities in today’s world, an individual or small subgroup within the workplace community, a ruling group, governs the workplace community. An owner, an owning family, a partnership of owners, or a board of directors elected by major shareholders comprises the ruler in capitalist enterprises. Their autocratic governance reinforces and is reinforced by the unequal distributions of income and wealth that they generate.

      • To Avert Failure, Biden Should Listen to the “Radicals” – Not Corporate Media

        With Biden’s popularity lagging, success or failure for his administration hinges on who he listens to on various pressing issues. Will he side with the “radicals” or with the go-slow, yes/no, status-quo corporate media?

        STUDENT DEBT:  Biden should listen to Senate leader Chuck Schumer, not exactly a Marxist-Leninist, who has spent months publicly pressuringthe president to use his executive authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel up to $50,000 in federal student debt for each person holding such debt. This executive order would dramatically stimulate the economy well in advance of the 2022 election – and would be an important step forward on racial justice as well as economic equity.

      • Top Gymnasts Blast FBI for Not Taking Nassar’s Sexual Abuse Case Seriously
      • There’s No Good Reason FBI Director Chris Wray Still Has a Job

        Firing FBI Director James Comey was arguably the first big mistake of Donald Trump’s presidency (he’d go on to have more). It was such an obvious misstep that Trump consigliere Steve Bannon called it “the biggest mistake in modern political history.” Comey had been investigating foreign interference in the 2016 election as well as ties between Russian oligarchs and the Trump campaign. Trump literally admitted to firing Comey because of “the Russian thing,” which was textbook obstruction of justice, thereby triggering his first impeachment (he’d go on to have more).

      • Human rights advocates decry Apple, Google decision to pull Navalny app as Russia voting begins

        The app, built by associates of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was intended to help Russian voters opposed to Putin cast ballots in a way that would prevent splitting opposition support among multiple candidates and handing victory to the Putin candidate. But Roskomnadzor, the Russian censorship agency, accused Apple and Google of meddling in Russia’s political affairs by allowing voters to download the app and demanded that it be removed from their online stores. It threatened fines and possible criminal prosecutions while calling Navalny supporters “extremists.”

      • [Older] The Intolerance Network

        Over 17,000 documents from HazteOir and CitizenGO, Spanish right-wing campaigning organizations. They use high level lobbying, a large network and grassroots mobilizations to hinder advancements in LGBTQI, reproductive rights and secularization. These documents include HazteOir founding CitizenGo in 2013 to expand their reach, as well as their organizing of the 2012 World Congress of Families, an influential American far-right platform.

      • The Intolerance Network

        Today, 5th August 2021, WikiLeaks publishes “The Intolerance Network” over 17,000 documents from internationally active right wing campaigning organisations HazteOir and CitizenGO. The documents date from 2001 to 2017 and cover the founding of CitizenGO and early activities of both organisations. The documents are from their internal systems and cover things like: spreadsheets of donors and members, strategy and planning documents, letters, financial charts and legal and training documents.

        HazteOir was first founded in 2001 in Spain to campaign for right wing values, in 2013 it founded CitizenGO to spread its work beyond Spanish speaking countries. This dataset includes the founding of CitizenGo, and documents from HazteOir organising, along with US based The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, the 2012 World Congress for Families (WCF) in Madrid. The WCF brings together right wing organisations that promote opposition to LGBTQI+ and reproductive rights, it has been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and a 2014 Human Rights Campaign report stated “The World Congress of Families (WCF) is one of the most influential American organizations involved in the export of hate”.

      • Freedom to Vote Act—For Capitalist Parties Only

        The Freedom to Vote Act, the pared down voting rights legislation that Democratic Senators unveiled on September 14, must be supported to preempt GOP state laws for partisan gerrymandering, voter suppression, election subversion, and intimidation of voters and election administrators.

        Yet this bill also deserves vigorous protest from the Left for its public campaign financing provisions, which are effectively for the two big capitalist parties only.

        The bill eliminates the Presidential Election Campaign Fund on December 31, 2021. That is the fund which Green Party presidential candidates have used to qualify for presidential primary matching funds. That funding has been crucial in paying for petitioners to qualify the Green Party for state ballots under the onerous signature requirements of most states. No major party candidates used primary matching funds in 2020 because it limited total primary spending to $50 million, which is not enough for the corporate party candidates these days. So they are eliminating it because only the Green Party still uses the program.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

      • Litecoin Walmart Hoax Easily Exploits A Lazy U.S. Press

        You might have seen a week or two ago how everybody absolutely freaked out after a Rolling Stone article falsely reported that Ivermectin overdoses were causing massive congestion at Oklahoma hospitals. In reality, the truth wound up being something substantively less than that (Mathew Ingram at Columbia Journalism Review has a good breakdown here). The whole mess began after a local news organization published a story that was misinterpreted by a bunch of national outlets who “aggregated” and repackaged it. The screw up was then picked up in turn by conservative commentators eager to point out that the press was specifically out to get them.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Appeals Court Says The First Amendment Protects Minnesota Woman’s Right To Be Super-Shitty About Nearby Islamic School

        The First Amendment protects unsympathetic plaintiffs just as much as it does those able to obtain mass support for their arguments. This case, originating from Bloomington, Minnesota, involves someone whose motives seem bigoted but whose actions were clearly covered by the Constitution.

      • Angry Anti-Masker Sues Joe Biden, Facebook, And Twitter Because His Social Media Was Taken Down For Disinfo

        Another day, another truly silly lawsuit. The “Liberty Justice Center” and the Tyler & Bursch law firm — both of which seem to specialize in filing ridiculous lawsuits — have now filed a lawsuit on behalf of a disinformation-spewing anti-masker against Joe Biden, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Facebook, and Twitter… because Facebook and Twitter locked his account after he posted an image claiming (incorrectly) that “masking children is impractical and not backed by research or real world data.”

      • On Why I’m Leaving Academe

        Tenure is often the reward for having confined one’s activities to relatively uncontroversial topics. And just because your point of view is approved at this moment in our history does not mean that the tables won’t turn later. If you went into higher education because you valued freedom of thought and expression, lately you may be feeling as if you chose the wrong profession.

      • Citing Russia’s ‘broadcast moratorium,’ in a blow to Navalny’s Smart Vote initiative, Telegram suddenly suspends all bots ‘associated with campaigning’

        In a message on Friday evening, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the popular instant messenger is suspending support for all “bots associated with election campaigning” during Russia’s parliamentary elections, which began today and conclude on Sunday, September 19.

        Justifying the decision, Durov explained in a post on his Telegram channel that the network will observe Russia’s “broadcast moratorium” during the voting process. “We consider this practice to be legitimate and call on Telegram users to respect it. Beginning at midnight, Moscow time [September 18], we plan to restrict the functionality of bots associated with election campaigning.”

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

      • Dallas Journalist Barrett Brown Went to the U.K. Now, He Wants Asylum.

        But sometime after leaving the room, the official returned and changed his tune, Brown said. Suddenly, Brown’s answers were unsatisfactory, and he was told that his six-month visa had actually ended in April. “Whereas in fact, counting to six from November, it ends in May,” Brown said.

        The Home Office, the British department responsible for immigration, security and law and order, didn’t return a request for comment.

        Brown isn’t sure how his case will turn out. But even if he were to get slapped with the maximum sentence, he’d just be looking at six months behind bars, and he did more than that in solitary confinement alone in a facility outside of Dallas.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Words Mean Things, and the “Treason” Talk is Tiresome

        Not just by his opponents, who broke out the t-word every time they tried to blame Hillary Clinton’s loss on alleged collusion with THEM RUSSIANS!, but by Trump himself when, for example, an anonymous op-ed writer asserted that “adults in the room” were working to keep him from looking stupid.

        Trump’s leveling his latest (provisional — “if the story … is true”) “treason” accusation against General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

      • Hunger Strike Erupts in Notorious Florida Jail as Haitians Fight Deportation
      • 40+ NYC Activists Arrested for Protests Against Banks Fueling Climate Emergency

        At least 40 climate activists were arrested Friday at the New York City offices of JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America, organizers said, as campaigners across the United States demanded financial institutions stop supporting the destruction of the planet.

        “We need our government leaders to take action immediately… The climate crisis is here, now.”—Christina See, XR NYC

      • Fireworks at the Select Committee on the Capitol Riot

        It all depends on what secrets those phone records unlock. For instance, were early reports accurate that Boebert texted with the rioters during the pandemonium? If so, what did she tell them? Did any of these Stop the Steal congresspeople reveal the location of the goons’ targets – potential victims like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence? Particularly Pence, whom the rioters vociferously apostrophized with the chant, “Hang Mike Pence!” Revealing his location to such a mob would seem to show some rather criminal, if not murderous intent. Phone records could answer such questions.

        Certain things, however, are already known. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy had an infamous phone call with Trump on January 6, in which he reportedly pleaded with the Fuhrer to call off his thugs. Trump’s unforgettable reply was “well Kevin, I guess they’re a lot more upset about the election than you are.” Possible translation: I’m not calling them off until they do real damage or until not stopping them could harm ME. Trump may even have mulled invoking the insurrection act, thus suspending the transfer of power mandated by the election. But since members of the select committee won’t likely obtain McCarthy’s testimony – which he’d probably rather die than give – they may have to pursue the contents of that call otherwise. So ordering phone companies to preserve all records sounds pretty sensible.

      • New Report Shows “Deeply Troubling Failures” by Border Patrol in Boy’s Death, Key Congressional Leader Says

        A new report details “deeply troubling failures” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the 2019 death of a Guatemalan boy in the agency’s custody, including the creation of false records suggesting he was monitored during the night, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security said Friday.

        Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who leads the panel, called on the agency to “take corrective action to help ensure a tragedy like this never occurs again.”

      • The Big Lie That’s Destroying the Wild Horses of the American West

        At roughly 27 million acres, wild horse herd management areas (HMAs) constitute just 4% of the 750 million acres making up “the West” in the lower 48 states. There are 22 million cattle and sheep across that vast western expanse. That’s 265 times the number of wild horses (presently estimated at 86,000) in the 177 HMAs that were established principally for their use by the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.

        But the livestock industry considers that 27 million acres with 86,000 wild horses on it (one wild horse per 314 acres) to be overpopulated, or, as the BLM puts it, “above AML.” This is an acronym for “appropriate management level” but “agribusiness management level” is more accurate. Science-based? No. The AML is a quota whose purpose is to maintain commercial cattle and sheep stocking rates inside wild horse territory.

      • Indigenous People of Brazil Fight for Their Future

        “Bolsonaro attacked a woman first, the land, our mother,” the Indigenous leader Célia Xakriabá told me. “We have no choice but to fight back.”

        Since becoming president, the former Army captain, who served under the country’s last military dictator, has led an unprecedented war against the environment and the people protecting it. A slew of anti-Indigenous legislation, escalated violence against and assassinations of Indigenous land defenders, and the COVID-19 pandemic have threatened the existence of Brazil’s original people, the Amazon rainforest, and the future of the planet.

      • How to Have a Safe Abortion—Even in Texas

        Texas Senate Bill 8 bans abortions after six weeks, when most people don’t yet know they are pregnant. The law empowers private citizens to sue anyone believed to be providing or “aiding and abetting” a procedure. Snitches, even ones living outside of Texas, can receive a $10,000 reward. Elisa Wells, a cofounder and codirector of Plan C, an informational resource for self-managed abortions, called SB 8 “abhorrent.” But she stressed that, despite the new and escalating restrictions, another option exists: the self-managed abortion. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, abortion medications are safe, convenient, and can be mailed directly to homes, but false rumors spread by anti-choice groups color self-managed abortions as dangerous “back alley” options that need to be highly regulated. Thankfully, groups like Plan C are working to demystify and destigmatize this medical tool. I spoke to Wells about the Texas law, misconceptions about self-managed abortions, and what the future of reproductive rights in America looks like.

      • “Systemic Failure”: Top Gymnasts Blast FBI for Bungling Sexual Abuse Probe of Dr. Larry Nassar

        This week some of gymnastics’ biggest stars shared scathing testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the FBI’s failure to stop Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics doctor and serial sexual abuser.

        Lawyers say that after the FBI was first told of Nassar’s crimes, he abused another 120 people before his 2016 arrest. We feature the testimony of Simone Biles, the four-time Olympic gold medalist, who is widely considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time, and speak with gymnast Rachael Denhollander, who was the first to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual abuse and says the case exposes a systemic failure to take sexual abuse seriously. “Something we need to be asking as we’re watching this unfold is: What are we not seeing?” Denhollander says. “What happens to the survivors who don’t have an army of 500 women? What happens to the survivors who don’t have Olympians headlining their case and raising the profile of the gross negligence and corruption that’s taking place in our system?” We also speak with Mark Alesia, who was an investigative reporter at The Indianapolis Star in 2016 and helped to break the story about Nassar’s sexual abuse of gymnasts. “The FBI did not take the gymnasts’ complaints seriously,” Alesia says.

      • Mohamed Noor Murder Conviction Reversed: MN Supreme Court Orders Ex-MPD Officer Be Sentenced For 2nd-Degree Manslaughter

        According to the ruling, evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction since the “appellant’s conduct was directed with particularity at the person who was killed.”

      • Murder verdict in death of Australian woman Justine Damond overturned

        Noor was the first police officer in the state’s history to be found guilty of murder for killing a civilian.

        His conviction was followed by a 22-and-half year sentence for Derek Chauvin, the white Minneapolis police officer who was found guilty of murdering black man George Floyd by pressing his knee into his neck for almost 10 minutes.

        After a trial that captivated the midwestern state in 2019, Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for shooting Damond, a dual US-Australian citizen, after she called police to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

      • Minnesota Supreme Court overturns murder conviction of ex-cop who killed Justine Damond

        Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American former police officer, was convicted in 2019 of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond on the night of July 15, 2017. Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the US, had called to report a possible sexual assault taking place outside her home; Noor shot her as she approached his squad car.

      • Former Minneapolis police officer’s murder conviction reversed in deadly shooting of Australian woman

        The ruling in Noor’s case was also closely watched for its possible impact on three other former Minneapolis officers awaiting trial in Floyd’s death. Prosecutors had wanted to add charges of aiding and abetting third-degree murder against them, but that’s unlikely to happen now. The trio are due to go on trial in March on charges of aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

      • Minnesota Supreme Court Allows The Ballot Question On Changing The Minneapolis Police

        Yes 4 Minneapolis, which spearheaded the initiative, insists that the city would continue to have police if voters approve the amendment, but that the new department would be free to take a fresh approach to public safety that could reduce excessive policing against communities of color.

      • Minneapolis Inches Closer to Disbanding Its Police Department

        Both groups agree that the city’s police force has a problem. But how to solve that problem has remained a point of contention—one that’s led to months-long political feuds and legal battles over ballot language that will allow voters to decide this fall whether to replace the Minneapolis police force with a public safety agency. The latest episode came Thursday evening when the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that knocked down the ballot question.

        That means Minneapolis voters will have the chance to weigh in on the future of the police department. Early voting begins today.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Data Again Shows That U.S. Broadband Is Painfully Mediocre

        For literally twenty-five years we’ve thrown billions in subsidies, tax breaks, merger approvals, and regulatory favors at U.S. telecom giants in exchange for the promise of amazing, competitive, ultra-fast, widely-available broadband (and oodles of high paying jobs). And time and time again, studies show that what Americans got back in exchange was…something notably less than that.

      • How California’s Broadband Infrastructure Law Promotes Local Choice

        EFF will explain below why local communities need to take charge, and how the new law will facilitate local choice in broadband. No state has taken this approach yet and departed from the old model of handing over all the subsidies to giant corporations. That’s why it’s important for Californians to understand the opportunity before them now.

        If the bankruptcy of Frontier Communications has taught us anything, it is the following two lessons. First, large national private ISPs will forgo 21st-century fiber infrastructure in as many places they can to pad their short-term profits. Government subsidies to build in different areas do not change this behavior. Second, the future of broadband access depends on the placement of fiber optic wires. Fiber is an investment in long-term value over short-term profits. EFF’s technical analysis has also laid out why fiber optics is future-proof infrastructure by showing that no other transmission medium for broadband even comes close, which makes its deployment essential for a long-term solution.

        AT&T and cable companies, such as Comcast and Charter, are going to try to take advantage of this program by making offers that sound nice. But they will leverage existing legacy infrastructure that is rapidly approaching obsolescence. While they may be able to offer connectivity that’s “good enough for today” at a cheaper price than delivering fiber, there is no future in those older connections. It’s clear that higher uploads are becoming the norm, and at ever-increasing speeds. As California’s tech sector begins to embrace distributed work, only communities with 21st-century fiber broadband access will be viable places for those workers to live. Fiber optics’ benefits are clear. The challenge of  fiber optics is that its high upfront construction costs require very long-term financing models to deliver on its promise. Here is how the state’s new program makes that financing possible.

    • Monopolies

      • Patents

        • Ivantis to pay $60M in patent litigation settlement with Glaukos

          Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) announced today that it entered into a settlement with Ivantis to terminate a three-year-old patent infringement lawsuit.

        • FOSS Patents: China extends hand to EU over standard-essential patent enforcement, prefers dialog over escalation: judges from three jurisdictions spoke at today’s Renmin University conference

          China’s response to the EU’s request for information via the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding standard-essential patent (SEP) enforcement was rather succinct. But that is only because China is confident of its compliance with the TRIPS Agreement–and should not be confused for an unwillingness to discuss SEP enforcement policies with a major trading partner.

          In 2012, seven judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit attended what the U.S. appeals court’s website still describes as “an historic three-day conference to discuss the adjudication of intellectual property disputes.” That event took place at Renmin University of China (RUC), as did the first International Symposium on Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights–Transnational Dialogue and Normative Coordination a few years ago. Today, RUC hosted the “sequel” to that event, and I followed it via Zoom because it represented a splendid opportunity to listen to multiple patent-specialized judges from China, the UK, and Germany.

          If the European Commission that if they missed any details in China’s official answer, the EU might just ask for a recording of today’s conference (approximately five hours).

          The presentations by multiple Chinese judges as well as two German (Judge Klaus Bacher of the Federal Court of Justice and Judge Tobias Pichlmaier of the Munich I Regional Court) and two British judges (Justices Richard Meade and James Mellor, both of the England & Wales High Court of Justice) summarized and explained various landmark SEP rulings I’ve previously looked at, all the way up to the very recent jurisdictional decision in OPPO v. Sharp. No surprises there, obviously. Those presentations were all well-structured and informative. Judge Bacher didn’t mention that his court expects implementers to take global portfolio licenses–maybe he omitted it because it was so obvious to him, but in this international context it bears reiterating. I think Justice Meade stole the other European judges the show in terms of content, structure, and presentation (despite not switching into full-screen mode): low-key but world-class.

        • DABUS: An AI inventor or the Emperor’s New Clothes? [Ed: Stop calling bots "Hey Hi" and stop playing into the hands of people who provoke the patent courts/offices to turn them into a total farce]

          The question of whether it should be possible to name artificial intelligence (AI) code as an inventor on a patent application continues to dog patent offices and courts around the world. However, despite the global attention on the so-called “AI inventor” patent applications, we are no nearer to understanding how the AI (“DABUS”) actually goes about the process of inventing, or even if it can be said to really invent at all. Meanwhile, the main commercial players in the AI field, such as Google DeepMind, continue to navigate the patent system without apparent concern about the issue of AI inventorship.

          DABUS and the Emperor’s New Clothes

          The team behind the fight for an algorithm to be named as an inventor on a patent application have had some recent success. The South African patent office accepted DABUS as an inventor of a South African patent (IPKat), although it must be noted that South Africa takes a very light touch with respect to patent examination. The Australian Federal Court also found that DABUS could be named as an inventor (Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879) (currently under appeal). The US District Court, by contrast, recently found against naming an algorithm as an inventor (IPWatchDog). In the UK, we are imminently expecting the decision from the Court of Appeal (expected in September), whilst the oral proceedings in the case before the EPO are scheduled for December.

        • FOSS Patents: OpenRAN is certain to increase standard-essential patent licensing costs: more SEPs, more SEP holders, more implementers, more injunctions

          The stated goal of the O-RAN Alliance (O-RAN = OpenRAN = Open Radio Access Network) is to “enable a more competitive and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster innovation” by virtue of modularizing mobile network infrastructure through standardized interfaces. If OpenRAN (or “O-RAN”) is clearly superior over the current architecture, it’s striking that even the most optimistic projections come down to approximately 10% of the global RAN market by 2025.

          There are hurdles to be taken and concerns to be addressed. In this post I can’t talk about them all. To give just one example of a serious technical question, it is debatable whether a mobile network that runs partially on the cloud (“vRAN” or “virtual RAN”) could ever match the reliability and performance of traditional equipment, and whether the optimized use of resources that cloud-based solutions potentially offer outweigh security and other risks. I may very well discuss some of those architectual and practical issues on other occasions.

          Today I’m going to focus on what is–for this blog–the obvious starting point of the analysis: standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing and litigation. From that angle, O-RAN has zero upside–literally zero–but comes with a significant downside:

        • Software Patents

          • Ideahub patent held unpatentable

            On September 16, 2021, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. Ideahub Inc. holding all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,641,849 invalid and denied the motion to amend. The IPR was filed as part of Unified’s ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone. The ’849 patent relates to a video compression technique known as intra prediction.

            The ’849 patent is a part of the Access Advance patent pool. Access Advance claims that certain claims of the ’849 patent are essential to the HEVC standard.

      • Trademarks

        • Judge In Scouts BSA Trademark Case Says He’s Going To Rule In Scouts BSA’s Favor On Summary Judgement

          Well, well, it appears that this particular story is going to move faster than I had thought. And, to be frank, I kinda sorta get it. We had just discussed Scouts BSA, formerly The Boy Scouts of America, seeking summary judgement in the trademark suit brought by The Girl Scouts of America. You can go back through the old posts for the detailed context, but the short version is that the Boy Scouts decided girls aren’t as icky as they previously thought and rebranded as Scouts BSA to be more inclusive. This created a bunch of confusion with The Girl Scouts, some of it very much due to the actions of local Scouts BSA chapters, such as:

      • Copyrights

        • Instagram Beats Photographers’ Suit Over Embed Feature

          Two photographers in May sued Instagram on behalf users who uploaded content to the app that was later embedded elsewhere without permission. Alexis Hunley and Matthew Brauer argue that Instagram’s embed feature lets third parties display content without licensing it and therefore the app is secondarily liable for enabling their copyright infringement.

        • Yout Files Refocused Lawsuit Against RIAA to Have YouTube-Ripping Service Declared Legal

          YouTube-ripping service Yout.com sued the RIAA in 2020, hoping to have its platform declared legal. As time went on the case became more complex. As a result, it was dismissed last month to allow Yout time to revise its arguments. Yout has now done just that via a focused amended complaint, providing precise detail on why the court should rule in its favor.

        • RIAA and Rightscorp Counter Renewed ‘False and Fraudulent’ DMCA Notice Claims

          Internet provider RCN accused the RIAA and Rightscorp of sending “fraudulent” piracy notices based on flimsy evidence. The anti-piracy outfits recently asked the court to dismiss the allegations, arguing that these are fatally flawed. This includes the finding that Rightscorp operates without a private investigator’s license.

09.17.21

Links 17/9/2021: Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS, Manjaro 21.1.3, “2021 is the Year of Linux on the Desktop”

Posted in News Roundup at 4:32 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • The Best Linux Gaming Laptop? Juno Neptune 15 Review

        If I had to pinpoint something to criticize, it’s not something related to the actual hardware, but rather the operating system.

        Offering Ubuntu 20.04 pre-installed is certainly a safe and sane choice, but other Linux PC companies like Star Labs, Slimbook and TUXEDO Computers offer a handful of distro options.

      • 2021 Is the Year of Linux on the Desktop

        It’s the year of Linux on the desktop! Thirty years into the life of Linux, it seems like people have said that every year. But now it’s really true, and it’s true because Linux found its real niche—not as a political statement about “free software,” but as a practical way to enable capable, low-cost machines for millions.

        Linux was founded on the desktop, as one man’s project to create an alternative OS for his Intel-based PC. So it’s understandable that Linux fans have been focused on desktops and laptops as a sign of success—and not, say, servers, or IoT, or drones. They can finally rest easy. Walk into any school now, and you’ll see millions of Linux machines. They’re called Chromebooks.

        Chrome OS and Android are both based on the Linux kernel. They don’t have the extra GNU software that distributions like Ubuntu have, but they’re descended from Linus Torvalds’ original work. Chromebooks are the fastest growing segment of the traditional PC market, according to Canalys. IDC points out that Canalys’ estimates of 12 million Chromebooks shipped in Q1 2021 are only a fraction of the 63 million notebooks sold that quarter, but once again, they’re where the growth is. Much of that is driven by schools, where Chromebooks dominate now.

        Schoolkids don’t generally need a million apps’ worth of generic computing power. They need inexpensive, rugged ways to log into Google Classroom. Linux came to the rescue, enabling cheap, light, easy-to-manage PCs that don’t have the Swiss Army Knife cruft of Windows or the premium price of Macs.

      • Someone Made Ubuntu Look Just Like Windows 11

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • LVFS Serves Up 2+ Million Firmware Downloads In The Past Month – Phoronix

        The Linux Vendor Firmware Service (LVFS) in conjunction with FWUPD for offering easy-to-deploy firmware updates on Linux continues its meteoric rise.

        The past few years LVFS/FWUPD has enjoyed growing adoption by hardware vendors for providing firmware updates to Linux users from various peripherals to motherboard UEFI firmware updates. LVFS/FWUPD has been instrumental in establishing the firmware updating ecosystem on Linux.

      • The Current State Of Intel Discrete Graphics On Linux: Almost “Fully Functional” – Phoronix

        Along with bringing up DG2/Alchemist graphics card support on Linux, Intel engineers have been working to square away their support for the DG1 developer graphics card. This week thanks to XDC2021 is a fresh status update about what is working with this initial Intel graphics card on their open-source driver and what remains in the works.

      • The Increasing Importance Of ACPI Platform Profiles With Today’s Throttle-Happy Hardware – Phoronix

        As covered several times going back to the end of last year, ACPI Platform Profile support has materialized in recent versions of the Linux kernel for the core infrastructure and implementations that work with the latest laptops from the likes of Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, and HP. This platform profile support is becoming increasingly important with expressing your power/cooling/performance preference so that your laptop behaves as one would expect.

        While it would be nice to have a modern, slim notebook that can run at full-speed without throttling so quickly, that unfortunately is increasingly rare with today’s processors and vendors going for increasingly thin designs that means compromising thermals. Plus with today’s increasingly complicated processors and Intel SoCs requiring Thermald and now with ACPI platform profiles becoming necessary, it has rather complicated the Linux support.

      • Intel’s PSH ISHTP Driver Readied On Linux For Systems Wanting To Forego A Traditional EC – Phoronix

        It looks like Intel’s ISHTP_ECLITE driver will be ready for mainlining in Linux 5.16 as a driver for newer systems skipping out on a traditional embedded control (EC) and instead using this EC-like IP as part of their Programmable Service Engine subsystem.

        This driver allows accessing the Intel Programmable Service Engine (PSE) using the Integrated Sensor Hub Transport Protocol (ISHTP) beginning with Intel’s Elkhart Lake platform.

      • Graphics Stack

        • Experimenting Is Underway For Rust Code Within Mesa – Phoronix

          Longtime Mesa developer Karol Herbst who has worked extensively on the open-source NVIDIA “Nouveau” driver as well as the OpenCL/compute stack while being employed by Red Hat is now toying with the idea of Rust code inside Mesa.

          Karol Herbst has begun investigating how Rust code, which is known for its memory safety and concurrency benefits, could be used within Mesa. Ultimately he’s evaluating how Rust could be used inside Mesa as an API implementation as well as for leveraging existing Mesa code by Rust.

        • KWinFT Continues Working On WLROOTS Render, Library Split

          KWinFT as a fork of KDE’s KWin X11/Wayland compositor code continues making progress on driving fundamental display improvements and ironing out the Wayland support.

          KWinFT has been transitioning to use WLROOTS for its Wayland heavy-lifting and that process remains ongoing. KWinFT has also been working on splitting up its library code to make it more manageable and robust.

          Among the features still desired by KWinFT and to be worked on include input methods, graphical tablet support, and PipeWire video stream integration. Currently there are two full-time developers working on the project but they hope to scale up to four to five full-time developers.

    • Applications

      • Linux Apps: Ventoy now available with GUI

        Ventoy 1.0.52 update now available with GUI on Linux, Ventoy is an open source tool for creating bootable USB drives. It was originally released as a command line program. A web UI was introduced later in March this year, but it wasn’t really functional or easy to use. These days the developers have announced the first version of Ventoy with a native Linux GUI.

      • Spotify Linux Client (Finally) Fixes Its Annoying Bug [Ed: Spotify itself is a bug in the surveillance sense]

        An update to the official Spotify Linux client is rolling out.

        Spotify doesn’t publish change-logs for Linux client updates but a couple of very noticeable improvements come bundled up in the latest build.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Install LEMP Stack (Nginx, PHP and MariaDB) on Debian 11

        A LEMP Stack is a set of open-source software and frameworks or libraries that are used to host web applications on the internet. A stack consists of Linux operating system, Nginx web server, MariaDB/MySQL database server, and PHP language. A LEMP has good community support and is used in many highly scaled web applications around the globe.

        In this post, we will show you how to install the LEMP stack on Debian 11.

      • Linux: Install automatic package updates for Debian, Ubuntu, Raspi OS & Co.
      • Organize your Magic: The Gathering decks with Magic Assistant | Opensource.com

        It remains popular today because of its great flexibility. With more than 25,000 unique cards published over nearly three decades, there are enough cards for players to build hundreds of different decks for surprisingly unique gameplay experiences.

        Along with this flexibility, however, there comes a cost: many Magic: The Gathering players collect lots of cards so they can construct lots of different decks, which in turn lets them focus on different win conditions and try out different strategies.

        It can be quite a job to keep track of 1,000 cards when you only need 60 to 100 for a deck, but the open source application Magic Assistant makes managing your Magic collection easy.

      • Kubernetes admission control with validating webhooks | Red Hat Developer

        This article describes how to write, configure, and install a simple Kubernetes validating admission webhook. The webhook intercepts and validates PrometheusRule object creation requests to prevent users from creating rules with invalid fields.

        A key benefit of this approach is that your clusters will only contain prevalidated user-defined rules, resulting in uncluttered configuration across environments. Additionally, imagine there is an external alerting system that leverages fields in these customer-provided rules to make alerting decisions. It is important to ensure the rules are properly formatted, so the alerts are forwarded to the appropriate teams with the correct information.

        The example here is quite simple, but it can serve as a starting point to cleaner Prometheus installations with minimal errors.

      • GNU Linux Debian – how to create RAID10 (mdadm software raid, basic benchmarks 4x Hitachi HGST Ultrastar 7K4000)
      • How To Install phpBB on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install phpBB on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, phpBB is an open-source bulletin board package written in PHP. PhpBB can instantly establish a dedicated space for people to gather and communicate. It also supports popular database engines (MySQL, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL, etc.), flat message structures, hierarchical sub-forums, user groups, full-text search, plugins, and email notifications.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of phpBB on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

      • How to play games with Itch.io on Linux

        Itch.io is a website that allows independent developers to host, sell and distribute their video games. It is widely known for helping get indie games off the ground. Here’s how to play games with Itch.io on Linux!

      • Get healthy reminders on the Linux desktop using Stretchly

        Stretchly is an app that you can install on the Linux desktop to remind you to stand up, stretch and relax while working. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install Stretchly and how to use it too.

      • How To Configure Apache Webserver with Debian 11 – Unixcop

        Here, we will learn to install Apache webserver with Debian 11. In the previous article, we learned to install the LAMP stack with Debian 11. Apache is among the most popular web server. Apache is easy to deploy and manages the servers.

      • How I became a Linux sysadmin | Enable Sysadmin

        Many of us ended up in an IT job without that original intent. I studied and got my degree and license in electronics and communications engineering, entered the telecom industry as a cadet engineer, and rotated to different teams. On the intelligent networks team, I was introduced to telco charging and billing apps running on proprietary Unix operating systems.

        Many people starting their careers would probably wonder if is it worth shifting to the IT industry. They might think they’re wasting some of the expertise and credentials they picked up from their academic studies. I’d say it depends on what drives you.

        I feel lucky to have been given a chance to do it, ending up loving it and the perks it offers—pay grade, flexibility, more opportunities, and ultimately enjoying what I do. It also has its cons: being a sysadmin for mission-critical 24×7 systems, for example. It can come with extreme pressure and demands, but these challenging and stressful situations can help shape you for the bright career that lies ahead.

      • How To Install Nvidia Drivers on AlmaLinux 8 – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Nvidia Drivers on AlmaLinux 8. For those of you who didn’t know, Installing NVIDIA drivers on AlmaLinux is an easy task that can be done in less than a minute. Nvidia driver is needed by your NVIDIA Graphics GPU to function with better performance. Some Linux distributions offer the proprietary driver pre-packaged as part of its standard package repository making the entire Nvidia Linux Driver procedure extremely easy to follow.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Nvidia Drivers on AlmaLinux 8. You can follow the same instructions for CentOS and Rocky Linux.

      • How to Add Repository to Debian

        APT checks the health of all the packages, dependencies of the package before installing it. APT fetches packages from one or more repositories. A repository (package source) is basically a network server. The term “package” refers to an individual file with a .deb extension that contains either all or part of an application. The normal installation comes with default repositories configured, but these contain only a few packages out of an ocean of free software available.

      • How to Gzip Large (100GB+) Files Faster in Linux

        Linux users and system administrators will never fail to cross paths with file management routines. As the Linux system, programs, and user files grow from Megabytes to Gigabytes, there is always the need to zip or compress some of your OS-bound files.

      • How to Install Linux on Your Chromebook | PCMag

        Chromebooks are amazing little machines. Since they run a barebones operating system with just a browser on top, they are often inexpensive, low-powered, and incredibly useful. However, if you want to go beyond the extensions and Android apps Chrome OS offers, installing Linux is your best option.

        By tapping into Linux-based apps, you can make your Chromebook far more versatile than it was before. However, installing Linux isn’t a simple process, and you’ll need a few things before getting started. Here’s what you need and how to set it all up.

        [...]

        Here’s where things get a bit more complex. If you want to run Linux independently of Chrome OS—maybe you don’t really want Chrome OS at all, or maybe you want a separate environment you can muck around in without endangering your Chrome installation—you can install Linux in a more traditional fashion by partitioning the drive and dual-booting it with Chrome OS.

        Note that this will require dedicating quite a bit of extra space to your Linux installation, which may not be easy on Chromebooks with small amounts of storage. It’ll also wipe your device, so back up important files now before continuing!

        To dual-boot Linux, I recommend a tool call chrx, which will walk you through the necessary steps. By default, chrx installs GalliumOS, a lightweight distribution based on Xubuntu that’s customized for low-powered Chromebook hardware. If you want things as snappy as possible, GalliumOS is a great choice. However, chrx can also install Ubuntu and Fedora (plus Ubuntu derivatives like Lubuntu and Kubuntu), if you prefer.

        Before using chrx, you’ll need to enable Developer Mode, as we did when installing Crouton. You may also need to disable write protection and install custom firmware on your laptop, depending on its CPU. Check out this page for compatibility information regarding your specific laptop, and what you’ll need to do. (This custom firmware also allows you to wipe Chrome OS entirely and install Linux on its own, if you prefer that over dual-booting.)

      • How to Install Nodejs on Rocky Linux 8.4

        Node.js is a cross-platform java-script runtime for server-side programing language. It’s built on top of Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, allows you to execute JavaScript code on the server-side. As for developers, Node.js allows developers to create scalable backend applications using JavaScript. Also, it’s one of the most popular JavaScript runtimes among full-stack and front-end developers.

        Node.js has become more popular and become an essential part of building server-side and networking applications, also became an industry standard. It can be used to create applications for different platforms, including backend/server applications, desktop applications, web applications/front-end, and mobile applications.

      • How to Install Ubuntu Desktop on Raspberry Pi

        The revolutionary Raspberry Pi is the most popular single board computer. It has its very own Debian based operating system called Raspbian.

        There are several other operating systems available for Raspberry Pi but almost all of them are lightweight. This was appropriate for the small factor and low end hardware of the Pi devices.

        This changes with the introduction of Raspberry Pi 4B that flaunts 8 GB RAM and supports 4K display. The aim is to use Raspberry Pi as a regular desktop and it succeeds in doing so to a larger extent.

        Before the 4B model, you could install the Ubuntu server on Raspberry Pi but the desktop version was not available. However, Ubuntu now provides official desktop image for Pi 4 models.

      • How to Make the Switch From Windows to Linux

        Microsoft is getting closer to replacing Windows 10 with the sleeker Windows 11, but if you’re sick of embedded advertisements, constant updates, data collection, software lock-ins, and rising hardware requirements, we don’t blame you. The good news is you have options.

        If you’ve been thinking about making the jump to a different operating system, now is the perfect time. But you aren’t stuck with the Windows-macOS binary, and don’t have to settle for the browser-based Chrome OS. Instead, you can turn to the world of Linux.

      • How to automate daily jobs on Linux using (at) – Unixcop

        First we need to know everyone does the same specific task everyday manually and that may waste a lot of time especially when we have important tasks or your day was busy with a lot of other tasks .. but we bring the best solution that will save a lot of time to do other important things.

        So Let’s Start with (at): so at is a command on Linux used to execute command in a particular time once

      • How to scale the Plasma login screen on HD/UHD screens

        Life problems come in many shapes and forms. One of them could be the login screen in your Plasma desktop. How? By not scaling up to the selected screen resolution of your system. Case in point, my recent endeavor with Kubuntu 20.04 on my IdeaPad Y50-70, with its Nvidia card and 4K screen. Long story short, while I managed to get the desktop resolution and UHD scaling just right, the login screen did not obey my settings, and only rendered in 4K, ergo tiny.

        I spent a lot of time trying to fix this, and finally, came up with this guide. Now, in newer editions of Plasma, like say 5.20, where scaling works really great, you might not face this issue at all. In 5.18.5, I had to resort to a few ugly tricks to get everything working. Let’s see what gives.

      • Install phpMyAdmin on Ubuntu 20.04 with Apache

        phpMyAdmin is a web-based application for interacting with MySQL database server. This tool provides you with a user interface to make MySQL operations so you don’t have to use the command line interface.

        In this guide you are going to learn how to install phpMyAdmin with Apache on Ubuntu.20.04 and secure it.

      • FTP vs FTPS vs SFTP: The Difference Between Them Explained

        There is plain old FTP protocol, but there is also FTPS and SFTP. So, how do they differ? Here’s a comparison of FTP vs FTPS vs SFTP.

        FTP, FTPS, and SFTP are protocols that are used to transfer files over a network. While the acronyms for these protocols are similar, there are some key differences among them. The main ones are how data is exchanged, the level of security provided and firewall considerations.

        While choosing between FTP, FTPS, and SFTP, weighing the pros and cons of each option will allow users to have a better understanding of the available choices.

        Here is a head-to-head FTP vs FTPS vs SFTP comparison that overviews the advantages and limitations of each transfer protocol.

      • Model-driven observability: Embedded Alert Rules | Ubuntu

        This post is about alert rules. Operators should ensure a baseline of observability for the software they operate. In this blog post, we cover Prometheus alert rules, how they work and their gotchas, and discuss how Prometheus alert rules can be embedded in Juju charms and how Juju topology enables the scoping of embedded alert rules to avoid inaccuracies.

        In the first post of this series, we covered the general idea and benefits of model-driven observability with Juju. In the second post, we dived into the Juju topology and its benefits with respect to entity stability and metrics continuity. In the third post, we discussed how the Juju topology enables grouping and management of alerts, helps prevent alert storms, and how that relates with SRE practices.

      • SQLite cheatsheet – Unixcop

        This article is a short list of useful SQLite commands to make your life easier.

        SQLite is an SQL engine intended mainly for embed on systems. It’s serverless, there isn’t a client-server process but direct access to the database file. Also, there aren’t configuration files and the whole system only depends on the C-Library.

      • Resolve Python dependencies with Thoth Dependency Monkey | Red Hat Developer

        One of the most difficult programming problems to diagnose and fix is when a library misbehaves because of incompatibilities with its dependencies. Fixing such issues can be time-consuming and might require developing domain knowledge about the libraries, which you should be able to treat as black boxes.

        For Python programs, a solution is closer at hand thanks to Thoth, a project within the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AICOE). Thoth is a recommendation engine for building robust Python software stacks. To make sure applications are shipped in a healthy state, the Thoth team developed Dependency Monkey, which builds and runs Python applications in test environments to uncover issues involving dependencies. This article looks at the reasons for Dependency Monkey and how it operates.

    • Games

      • Raytracing Starting to Come Together – Bas Nieuwenhuizen – Open Source GPU Drivers

        I am back with another status update on raytracing in RADV. And the good news is that things are finally starting to come together. After ~9 months of on and off work we’re now having games working with raytracing.

      • Multiple Games Are Now Working With RADV’s Ray-Tracing Code – Phoronix

        Not only is Intel progressing with its open-source ray-tracing driver support but the Mesa Radeon Vulkan driver “RADV” has been rounding out its RT code too and now has multiple games correctly rendering.

        Bas Nieuwenhuizen has been spearheading the RADV work on Vulkan ray-tracing support and after more than a half-year tackling it things are starting to fall into place nicely.Games such as Quake II RTX with native Vulkan ray-tracing are working along with the game control via VKD3D-Proton for going from Direct3D 12 DXR to Vulkan RT. Metro Exodus is also working while Ghostrunner and Doom Eternal are two games tested that are not yet working.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Now Tuxedo becomes a KDE sponsor

          Tuxedo becomes a sponsor of KDE . Or what is the same, the free software project adds to its list of patrons the second brand specialized in Linux computers so far this year, after the Spanish Slimbook did the same.

          In the case of Tuxedo, it is necessary to transfer him to Germany, where this company is from, very much in the style of the aforementioned Slimbook or, to a lesser extent, of the more veteran System76, which as you know even has its own Linux distribution, Pop !_YOU. For the rest, the profile is similar and their products too, which is normal, considering that we are not talking about giants in the technology sector.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

      • SUSE/OpenSUSE

        • Thunar, Firefox, Python Update in Tumbleweed

          Five Tumbleweed snapshots became available to users of openSUSE’s rolling release this week.

          A couple smaller- and medium-sized snapshots brought new software updates for Xfce’s Thunar, the Linux Kernel, Mozilla Firefox, PostgreSQL, Python and more.

          The 20210915 snapshot had two package updates. There was an update of translations for the manpages-l10n package to version 4.11.0, which enabled Hungarian translations. The tool set package for accessing and modifying virtual machine images, libguestfs 1.44.2, had a large amount of changes; it added and removed several patches and relicensed setup.py to LGPLv2+ from its original GPLv2+ license.

          Xfce’s Thunar package was updated in snapshot 20210914; the update to the file manager 4.16.9 version fixed a memory leak, updated translations and disabled automatic queueing of file transfers. Linux Kernel 5.14.2 had a few USB serial control fixes and a Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures fix; the fix for CVE-2021-3640 could allow a privileged local user to crash the system or escalate their privileges on a system. The package for video and image frames, pfstools, updated to version 2.2.0 and provided many fixes allowing the package to work with newer versions of libraries. Also updated in the snapshot were aria2 1.36.0 and text browser links 2.24.

        • openSUSE Tumbleweed – Review of the weeks 2021/36 & 37

          Today, I have to span again two weeks of reviews. As you can imagine, a lot has happened in Tumbleweed and we have published 10 snapshots (0902, 0904, 0906, 0907, 0908, 0910, 0912, 0913, 0914, and 0915).

        • SUSE Reports Strong Growth In The Third Quarter

          SUSE announced its results for the third quarter of financial year 2021, which ended July 31, 2021. The company continued to see strong growth in Q3 with ACV growing across all business areas, most notably in the Emerging business where SUSE Rancher continues to gain traction. In the End User routes to market (RTM), the cloud service providers (CSPs), particularly the hyperscalers, contributed to strong growth.

      • Arch Family

        • Manjaro 21.1.3 Pahvo Download

          The an Arch Linux-based GNU/Linux distribution, 21.1.3 Pahvo version of Manjaro, was announced by Philip Müller. Having launched Ornara earlier this year, the project believes that all the dev teams are working hard to release the next version of Manjaro, and the latest Pahvo version 21.1.3 has been reached. This release is known to include significant improvements to Calamares, including file system selection for automatic partitioning and improved support for btrfs, it is also reminded that the default subvolume layout has been improved for btrfs installations, for easier rollback and less wasted space in snapshots . The system said to be available with KDE Plasma, Frameworks, KDE Gear; The update to Gnome includes major work. For detailed information about Manjaro 21.1.3 Pahvo, you can release announcement review the .

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Fedora 35: Release date, New features and Download

          Fedora 35 will not introduce any particular news, it is a moderate release that mostly fixes bugs and updates some packages. At the moment, the latest internal tests are underway and, next week, more precisely on September 14, the beta should arrive. The fallback date in case of a problem is September 21st. Similarly, the final release will arrive on October 19th with fallback on October 26th in case of anomalies. Most of the features that I am going to outline in the rest of the article are practically definitive.

        • Fedora Community Blog: Friday’s Fedora Facts: 2021-37

          Here’s your weekly Fedora report. Read what happened this week and what’s coming up. Your contributions are welcome (see the end of the post)!

          I have weekly office hours on Wednesdays in the morning and afternoon (US/Eastern time) in #fedora-meeting-1. Drop by if you have any questions or comments about the schedule, Changes, elections, or anything else. See the upcoming meetings for more information.

        • Red Hat Is Hiring So Linux Can Finally Have Good HDR Display Support – Phoronix

          One of the areas where Linux has struggled on the desktop has been around HDR (high dynamic range) display support while that will hopefully be addressed in the coming months with Red Hat hiring an engineer to focus on that problem.

          Linux has struggled for years with HDR display support while NVIDIA has worked on the problem for their proprietary driver stack and proposing a DeepColor Visual extension for X.Org, there has been some HDR work in the DRM code, work by Intel on HDR support for Wayland/Weston along with other Intel HDR driver work, and AMD driver work too.

        • Changes to Bugzilla queries

          On 13 September 2021, Red Hat’s Bugzilla team released updates to Bugzilla that included new functionality for pagination. There is also a change to the default number of results with the bug search API to support this feature. The default is now 20 but can be adjusted to 1000 by using the limit/offset parameters.

          [...]

          The default Bug search API(REST/XMLRPC/JSONRPC) result in 20 bugs by default and users can change this by specifying the limit. The value of limit can be up to 1000 bugs. If you need results that are more than 1000, you can use the offset parameter. You can get default 1000 bugs by sending 0 as a limit parameter.

          Additionally, they have introduced “total_matches”, “limit”, and “offset” values in the response. These give the total number of bugs qualified for the query and the number of results in the response.

        • Monitoring vs. observability: What’s the difference in DevOps? | The Enterprisers Project

          As software delivery becomes more complex and organizations work to scale their DevOps transformations, the need for observability increases. While observability plays an important role in any DevOps journey, it is often confused with monitoring. Although both are typically discussed in the same context, they are not one and the same.

          To help establish a clear picture, I asked SKILup Day participants and DevOps Institute ambassadors to clarify some of the key differences.

        • IT leadership: 3 lessons in failure, (im)patience, and teamwork | The Enterprisers Project

          Becoming a leader of a team or an organization isn’t something you simply wake up and do. It’s an evolution. It starts with “leading” yourself and driving yourself to make an impact toward a mission – toward something bigger than yourself. It takes relentless focus and passion.

          I’ve learned a lot of lessons over the years – sometimes by doing it right, sometimes by doing it wrong. Here are three that I keep coming back to.

        • The service provider edge: Building the case for an open source approach

          We’ve previously outlined the role of service providers in edge technology innovation and how constructing a robust ecosystem of partners multiply the opportunities to maximize functional and business opportunities while mitigating risk and investment.

          In order to support a broad variety of use cases spanning multiple industries, edge computing requires collaboration across suppliers, service providers and application and content partners. Additionally, with widely distributed networks and physical presence, they remain uniquely positioned to deploy edge computing infrastructures that are close to the user and tightly integrated with transport and access networks.

          The explosion and permutations of end-points, mobile applications, and distributed computing drives this need — all while meeting demanding functionality and quality of service expectations.

          How might the rapidly changing edge technology landscape benefit from the adaptability provided by open source solutions?

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Ubuntu 18.04.6 Update Available to Download with Security fixes

          Ubuntu 18.04.6 Update Available Download with Security fixes, The Ubuntu team has announced an updated version of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is now available. The new media includes security fixes, including a fix for the BootHole security issues.

        • Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS Released To Correct Broken Install Media

          The unplanned Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS release is available today that was made on short notice for addressing unbootable media with Ubuntu 18.04.5.

          This extra Ubuntu 18.04 “Bionic Beaver” LTS point release stems from the install media breaking due to key revocation. The issue stems from the BootHole vulnerability and the keys used by Ubuntu having been revoked and thus needing to issue Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS with new keys.

        • The Six Point Release Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS is Out!

          The Ubuntu team announced the six point release for Ubuntu 18.04 today for the Desktop and Server.

          Ubuntu 18.04.6 refreshed the disc images for the amd64 and arm64 architecture, re-enabling the usage on Secure Boot enabled systems due to the key revocation related to the BootHole vulnerability.

        • Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS Released with BootHole Patches, Latest Security Updates

          Released back in April 26th, 2018, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS was supposed to get only five point releases, up to Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS, but since it’s supported until April 2023, Canonical decided to publish another point release that include patches for some serious security vulnerabilities affecting previous point releases.

          As such, Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS is here as the sixth point release to the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system series with mitigations against the infamous BootHole security vulnerability discovered in the GRUB2 bootloader, which allows attackers to bypass UEFI Secure Boot.

        • Linux Mint’s Website Has a Much Needed Minty Fresh New Look

          Linux Mint is one of the best Linux distributions available while offering a modern user experience.

          However, Linux Mint’s original website looked dated and potentially unattractive to new-age computer users.

          Many suggested a visual makeover to reflect Linux Mint’s taste through a modern website design. And, only recently the developers started working on a redesign in collaboration with the community members, asking for feedback and getting insights on proposed designs.

          Finally, a design was finalized and applied to Linux Mint’s official website.

          The website looks clean and informative, great on desktop, and perfectly fits mobile phone browsers!

        • Linux Mint introduces new website

          Most people will agree that Linux Mint is one of the most beginner-friendly and, especially among Windows converters, one of the most popular distributions. However, the Linux Mint website was long out of date and some new users were put off. Now the project has finally presented a new website that meets all modern standards and will greatly improve the first impression of Linux Mint for many newcomers.

          In the current digital age, every serious project needs a well-designed website, especially if you are targeting beginners.

          At Linux Mint, the old website no longer corresponded to the product offered.

          But now Mint presents itself in a modern way, with a website that is kept uniform in Linux Mint green and corresponds to the latest design trends and of course is also adaptive.

        • This Is Ubuntu 21.10’s New Wallpaper

          Ubuntu 21.10’s new default wallpaper is now official with large animal mascot on it. Ubuntu 21.10 is due for release in mid October.

        • After Chromium, Ubuntu Now Converts Firefox to Snap by Default

          One of the major and controversial changes in the upcoming Ubuntu 21.10 is the conversion of Firefox from deb to snap.

          Yes, you heard it right. The default Firefox will be a Snap application, not the regular DEB version.

          As spotted by OMG! Ubuntu, this is done as per an agreement between Mozilla and Canonical (Ubuntu’s parent company).

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Asus Tinker Board 2 single-board computer now available for $94 and up – Liliputing

        The Asus Tinker Board 2 is a Raspberry Pi-shaped single-board computer powered by a Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core processor and featuring 2GB to 4GB of RAM. First announced almost a year ago, the Tinker Board 2 is finally available for $99 and up.

        Asus also offers a Tinker Board 2S model that’s pretty similar except that it has 16GB of eMMC storage. Prices for that model start at about $120.

      • Raspberry Pi Weekly Issue #371 – Sir Clive Sinclair, 1940 – 2021

        This week ended with the incredibly sad news of the passing of Sir Clive Sinclair. He was one of the founding fathers of home computing and got many of us at Raspberry Pi hooked on programming as kids.

        Join us in sharing your Sinclair computing memories with us on Twitter and our blog, and we’ll see you next week.

      • cuplTag battery-powered NFC tag logs temperature and humidity (Crowdfunding) – CNX Software

        Temperature and humidity sensors would normally connect to a gateway sending data to the cloud, the coin-cell battery-powered cuplTag NFC tag instead sends data to your smartphone after a tap.

        CulpTag is controlled by an MSP430 16-bit microcontroller from Texas Instruments which reads and stores sensor data regularly into an EEPROM, and the data can then be read over NFC with the tag returning an URL with the data from the sensor and battery, then display everything on the phone’s web browser (no app needed).

      • A first look at Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle RISC-V development board – CNX Software

        Formally launched on Crowd Supply a little over a year ago, Microchip PolarFire SoC FPGA Icicle (codenamed MPFS-ICICLE-KIT-ES) was one of the first Linux & FreeBSD capable RISC-V development boards. The system is equipped with PolarFire SoC FPGA comprised a RISC-V CPU subsystem with four 64-bit RISC-V (RV64GC) application cores, one 64-bit RISC-V real-time core (RV64IMAC), as well as FPGA fabric.

        Backers of the board have been able to play with it for several months ago, but Microchip is now sending the board to more people for evaluation/review, and I got one of my own to experiment with. That’s good to have a higher-end development board instead of the usual hobbyist-grade board. Today, I’ll just have a look at the kit content and main components on the board before playing with Linux and FPGA development tools in an upcoming or two posts.

      • What is IoT device management?

        Smart devices are everywhere around us. We carry one in our pocket, watch movies on another while a third cooks us dinner. Every day there are thousands of new devices connecting to the Internet. Research shows that by 2025, more than 150,000 IoT devices will come online every minute. With such vast numbers it is impossible to keep everything in working order just on your own. This brings the need for IoT device management. But what is IoT device management? To answer this question we first need to understand what the Internet of Things (IoT) is.

      • Beelink U59 mini PC with Intel Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake coming soon – Liliputing

        Beelink says the system ships with Windows 10, but it should also supports Linux.

      • Beelink U59 Celeron N5095 Jasper Lake mini PC to ship with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD – CNX Software

        Beelink U59 is an upcoming Jasper Lake mini PC based on the Intel Celeron N5095 15W quad-core processor that will ship with up to 16GB RAM, and 512 GB M.2 SSD storage.

        The mini PC will also offer two 4K HDMI 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, WiFi 5, as well as four USB 3.0 ports, and support for 2.5-inch SATA drives up to 7mm thick.

      • Open Hardware/Modding

        • Handy machine cuts heat shrink tubing to length | Arduino Blog

          Solder joints on PCBs don’t usually require extra protection, but loose wires are a different story. Because they can move around and touch each other or the enclosure, you need to protect the bare wire from shorts. Most people use either electrical tape or heat shrink tubing for the job. But cutting heat shrink tubing to length can be a time-consuming process if you have many wires to protect. That’s why Mr Innovative used an Arduino to build this handy machine that cuts heat shrink tubing automatically.

          Mr Innovative built similar machines in the past, including one that feeds four different wire spools and cuts them to desired lengths. This machine is similar, but works with a single spool of heat shrink tubing. The user inserts one end of the tubing into the machine, sets the length via a touchscreen interface, and the machine takes care of the rest. It will continue to snip off sections of tubing, all of the same length, until it runs out of heat shrink to work with.

        • RoboTray is a Secret Tea Butler

          If [samsungite] has any more Arduinos lying around, he might appreciate this tea inventory tracker.

        • Taking A Deep Dive Into SPI | Hackaday

          With the prevalence of libraries, it has never been easier to communicate with hundreds of different sensors, displays, and submodules. But what is really happening when you type SPI.begin() into the Arduino IDE? In his most recent video, [Ben Eater] explores the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and how it really works.

          Most Hackaday readers probably know [Ben] from his breadboard-based computers, such as the 6502 build we featured in 2019. Since then he has been hard at work, adding new and interesting additions to his breadboard computer, as well as diving into different communication protocols to better understand and implement them. For this video, [Ben] set the goal of connecting the BME280, a common pressure, temperature, and humidity sensor with an SPI interface, to his breadboard 6502 computer. Along the way, [Ben] discusses how exactly SPI works, and why there is so much conflicting nomenclature and operations when looking at different SPI devices.

        • TinySewer is a Portenta-powered camera module for sewer faults detection | Arduino Blog

          We all interact with the sewer system at multiple points throughout the day, and having it fail can lead to catastrophic results. Every year in the United States alone, an estimated 23,000 to 75,000 sewer pipe failures are reported, which means billions of gallons of untreated and hazardous waste is released into the environment. But rather than having a person constantly inspect the system on location, Huy Mai came up with a way to use computer vision in conjunction with embedded machine learning to automatically detect when a defect has occurred.

        • Arduino Cloud Widgets and Data Downloads Get an Overhaul

          Arduino Cloud’s dashboards and widgets are some of its most popular features. It’s what turns the Cloud into your ultimate control center for all kinds of projects, from home automation to industrial monitoring.

          We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the user experience, and we’ve just rolled out some small, but very important tweaks. Combined with the new historical data download process, your Arduino Cloud experience will now be even smoother.

      • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • The syslog-ng Insider 2021-09: 3.34; OpenBSD; OpenSearch; http() destination;

        Version 3.34.1 of syslog-ng has been released with many interesting new features. There is now a new parser that can parse messages with regular expressions. The throughput of the Redis destination driver has increased drastically.

      • Kentik Labs Launches With Open Source Networking Tools Leveraging eBPF | Data Center Knowledge

        The networking startup says the new platform is aimed at ‘the other side of the house’ from its usual network engineering customers.

      • Events

        • Linux Plumbers Conference 2021 is Almost Here

          We are only three days away from the start of LPC 2021!

          Thank you to all that made our conference possible:
          – Our generous Sponsors, listed here on the right
          – The Linux Foundation, which provides as always impeccable support
          – Our speakers and leaders, who are providing a lot of great content and planning great discussions

          As you can see, the schedule is finalized now. There are going to be seven parallel tracks each day, lasting four hours each. We have a total of 23 different tracks and Microconferences, with 191 sessions.

          At this time we are closing the CfPs for all tracks. We have still room for a limited number of Birds of a Feather sessions. If you want to propose one, even during the conference, and the necessary participants are all registered, please send an email to our lpc-contact@lists.linuxplumbersconf.org mailing list.

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • Niko Matsakis: Rustacean Principles, continued

            Rust has a long tradition of articulating its values. This is why we have a Code of Conduct. This is why we wrote blog posts like Fearless Concurrency, Stability as a Deliverable and Rust Once, Run Anywhere. Looking past the “engineering side” of Rust, aturon’s classic blog posts on listening and trust (part 1, part 2, part 3) did a great job of talking about what it is like to be on a Rust team. And who could forget the whole “fireflowers” debate?1

          • This Week in Glean: Glean & GeckoView

            (“This Week in Glean” is a series of blog posts that the Glean Team at Mozilla is using to try to communicate better about our work. They could be release notes, documentation, hopes, dreams, or whatever: so long as it is inspired by Glean.) All “This Week in Glean” blog posts are listed in the TWiG index (and on the Mozilla Data blog). This article is cross-posted on the Mozilla Data blog.

          • This Week in Glean: Glean & GeckoView

            This unblocks further work now. Currently Gecko simply stubs out all calls to Glean when compiled for Android, but we will enable recording Glean metrics within Gecko and exposing them in pings sent from Fenix. We will also start work on moving other Rust components into mozilla-central in order for them to use the Rust API of Glean directly. Changing how we deliver the Rust code also made testing Glean changes across these different components a bit more challenging, so I want to invest some time to make that easier again.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • Database Lab Engine 2.5: better data extraction for logical mode and configuration improvements

          Since version 2.5, it becomes possible to reset the clone’s database state to a specific snapshot if multiple snapshots are available. See DLE CLI reference. There is also a new option for the reset command, –latest, that allows resetting to the latest available state not knowing the snapshot name. This can be very useful in situations when a clone lives long, occupying a specific port, and some applications (e.g., analytical tools) are configured to work with it – users can periodically switch to the freshest database state without a need to reconfigure their applications.

      • CMS

        • Kiwi TCMS: Please nominate Kiwi TCMS at MLH Open Source Awards

          Last year Kiwi TCMS started partnering with the MLH Fellowship open source program. During the span of 3 semesters fellows received mentorship and career advice from us. They were also able to work on 20+ issues the majority of which have been complete.

          For that we kindly ask the open source community to nominate Kiwi TCMS at the MLH Open Source Awards.

        • Join us for WordPress Translation Day Global Events in September 2021

          WordPress contributors around the world are celebrating the sixth Global WordPress Translation Day throughout the entire month of September! That’s 30 days dedicated to help and encourage people to translate the software and its related resources. One of the highlights is a series of exciting core global events, starting on September 17 2021 and finishing on the United Nations’ International Translation Day itself on September 30, 2021.

          Everyone is welcome to watch these events live on YouTube and to share their translation stories which will be featured during the celebrations and beyond. The global events will be in English and include presentations on how and why to you should join the thousands of translators in the project, tips and tools, interviews, and much more.

          There are now 205 locales translating in what is a remarkable open source effort, bringing the opportunities of the software and its community to people in their own native languages.

      • Programming/Development

        • Announcement : An AArch64 (Arm64) Darwin port is planned for GCC12

          As many of you know, Apple has now released an AArch64-based version of macOS and desktop/laptop platforms using the ‘M1’ chip to support it. This is in addition to the existing iOS mobile platforms (but shares some of their constraints).

          There is considerable interest in the user-base for a GCC port (starting with https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=96168) – and, of great kudos to the gfortran team, one of the main drivers is folks using Fortran.

          Fortunately, I was able to obtain access to one of the DTKs, courtesy of the OSS folks, and using that managed to draft an initial attempt at the port last year (however, nowhere near ready for presentation in GCC11). Nevertheless (as an aside) despite being a prototype, the port is in use with many via hombrew, macports or self-builds – which has shaken out some of the fixable bugs.

          The work done in the prototype identified three issues that could not be coded around without work on generic parts of the compiler.

          I am very happy to say that two of our colleagues, Andrew Burgess and Maxim Blinov (both from embecosm) have joined me in drafting a postable version of the port and we are seeking sponsorship to finish this in the GCC12 timeframe.

          Maxim has a lightning talk on the GNU tools track at LPC (right after the steering committee session) that will focus on the two generic issues that we’re tackling (1 and 2 below).

          Here is a short summary of the issues and proposed solutions (detailed discussion of any of the parts below would better be in new threads).

        • Apple Silicon / M1 Port Planned For GCC 12 – Phoronix

          Developers are hoping for next year’s GCC 12 release they will have Apple AArch64 support on Darwin in place for being able to support Apple Silicon — initially the M1 SoC — on macOS with GCC.

          LLVM/Clang has long been supporting AArch64 on macOS given that Apple leverages LLVM/Clang as part of their official Xcode toolchain as the basis for their compiler across macOS to iOS and other products. While the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) supports AArch64 and macOS/Darwin, it hasn’t supported the two of them together but there is a port in progress to change it.

        • Dirk Eddelbuettel: tidyCpp 0.0.5 on CRAN: More Protect’ion

          Another small release of the tidyCpp package arrived on CRAN overnight. The packages offers a clean C++ layer (as well as one small C++ helper class) on top of the C API for R which aims to make use of this robust (if awkward) C API a little easier and more consistent. See the vignette for motivating examples.

          The Protect class now uses the default methods for copy and move constructors and assignment allowing for wide use of the class. The small NumVec class now uses it for its data member.

        • QML Modules in Qt 6.2

          With Qt 6.2 there is, for the first time, a comprehensive build system API that allows you to specify a QML module as a complete, encapsulated unit. This is a significant improvement, but as the concept of QML modules was rather under-developed in Qt 5, even seasoned QML developers might now ask “What exactly is a QML module”. In our previous post we have scratched the surface by introducing the CMake API used to define them. We’ll take a closer look in this post.

        • Santiago Zarate: So you want to recover and old git branch because it has been overwritten?
        • Start using YAML now | Opensource.com

          YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization language. Its syntax is simple and human-readable. It does not contain quotation marks, opening and closing tags, or braces. It does not contain anything which might make it harder for humans to parse nesting rules. You can scan your YAML document and immediately know what’s going on.

          [...]

          At this point, you know enough YAML to get started. You can play around with the online YAML parser to test yourself. If you work with YAML daily, then this handy cheatsheet will be helpful.

        • 40 C programming examples

          C programming language is one of the popular programming languages for novice programmers. It is a structured programming language that was mainly developed for UNIX operating system. It supports different types of operating systems, and it is very easy to learn. 40 useful C programming examples have been shown in this tutorial for the users who want to learn C programming from the beginning.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • China’s heist, and why it may be good

        Arm microprocessors power billions of phones, cars, Amazon servers and countless other devices.

        Until 2016, Arm was a British owned and headquartered company. Then another company called SoftBank bought it and formed a joint venture with a consortium of Chinese investors, to enter that market.

      • Of supply chains, or why global is personal these days

        Congestion in China is even worse, partly due to stricter COVID protocols for arriving vessels.

    • Health/Nutrition

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Manjaro Chooses Proprietary Poo Vivaldi Over Free Software – Invidious

          Recently, Manjaro Cinnamon made the decision to use Vivaldi as their default web browser. There is one big problem with this decision. Vivaldi is NOT free and open source software. Vivaldi is a proprietary web browser. Is it OK for Linux distros to default to proprietary software when there are great free and open source alternatives?

        • Security

          • Security updates for Friday

            Security updates have been issued by CentOS (firefox and thunderbird), Fedora (haproxy, wordpress, and xen), openSUSE (apache2-mod_auth_openidc, fail2ban, ghostscript, haserl, libcroco, nextcloud, and wireshark), Oracle (kernel and kernel-container), Slackware (httpd), SUSE (crmsh, gtk-vnc, libcroco, Mesa, postgresql12, postgresql13, and transfig), and Ubuntu (libgcrypt20, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-4.15, linux-hwe-5.4, linux-oem-5.13, python3.4, python3.5, and qtbase-opensource-src).

          • Reproducible Builds (diffoscope): diffoscope 184 released

            The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 184. This version includes the following changes:

            [ Chris Lamb ]
* Fix the semantic comparison of R's .rdb files after a refactoring of
  temporary directory handling in a previous version.
* Support a newer format version of R's .rds files.
* Update tests for OCaml 4.12. (Closes: reproducible-builds/diffoscope#274)
* Move diffoscope.versions to diffoscope.tests.utils.versions.
* Use assert_diff in tests/comparators/test_rdata.py.
* Reformat various modules with Black.

[ Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek ]
* Stop using the deprecated distutils module by adding a version
  comparison class based on the RPM version rules.
* Update invocations of llvm-objdump for the latest version of LLVM.
* Adjust a test with one-byte text file for file(1) version 5.40.
* Improve the parsing of the version of OpenSSH.

[ Benjamin Peterson ]
* Add a --diff-context option to control the unified diff context size.
  (reproducible-builds/diffoscope!88)

          • This Week In Security: Office 0-day, ForcedEntry, ProtonMail, And OMIGOD | Hackaday

            A particularly nasty 0-day was discovered in the wild, CVE-2021-40444, a flaw in how Microsoft’s MSHTML engine handled Office documents. Not all of the details are clear yet, but the result is that opening a office document can trigger a remote code execution. It gets worse, though, because the exploit can work when simply previewing a file in Explorer, making this a potential 0-click exploit. So far the attack has been used against specific targets, but a POC has been published.

            It appears that there are multiple tricks that should be discrete CVEs behind the exploit. First, a simple invocation of mshtml:http in an Office document triggers the download and processing of that URL via the Trident engine, AKA our old friend IE. The real juicy problem is that in Trident, an iframe can be constructed with a .cpl URI pointing at an inf or dll file, and that gets executed without any prompt. This is demonstrated here by [Will Dormann]. A patch was included with this month’s roundup of fixes for Patch Tuesday, so make sure to update.

          • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

    • Defence/Aggression

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Why did Apple and Google agree to take down Navalny’s app? And what does it mean for the RuNet? We asked an expert.

        Just a few weeks ago, Russia’s federal censor blocked the website for Alexey Navalny’s voting initiative “Smart Vote.” On September 15, Navalny’s team went ahead and released their list of recommended candidates regardless, uploading it to a Google Doc. Later that evening, Google Docs became temporarily unavailable inside Russia. On the first day of voting in the State Duma elections, September 17, tech giants Apple and Google caved to pressure from the Russian authorities and pulled Navalny’s mobile app from the App Store and Google Play. What’s more, Apple disabled its new “Private Relay” feature for users inside Russia. To find out more about whether or not Apple and Google had a choice in these matters — and what this mean for the future of the RuNet — Meduza spoke to lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan from the digital rights group Roskomsvoboda.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • May threaten ‘independence of media’ and violate freedom of speech: Madras HC on the IT Rules

        Mr T. M. Krishna, a prominent Carnatic music vocalist, cultural critic, and writer, had approached us to file a writ petition before the Madras High Court challenging the entirety of the IT Rules, 2021. The writ petition was admitted on June 10, 2021. On September 16,2021 the Madras High Court heard the counsels for the parties including Mr Rajshekhar Rao who represented Mr T.M Krishna. The Court also found merit in Mr Krishna’s contention that Part II of the Rules violated the right to speech, and held that any action taken under Rule 3 read with Rule 7 shall be subject to the decision in the petition. The Court also affirmed the previous stay on Rule 9. The Court has now listed these cases for final hearing on October 27, 2021.

        [...]

        On June 10, 2021, Mr Krishna’s petition was listed for the first time. On that day, the Madras High Court issued notice. Subsequently, the Respondents, the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology (‘MeitY’’) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (‘MIB’) filed their respective replies, after a delay of almost 8 weeks, on August 25 and August 26. The affidavit filed by MietY defended Part II of the IT Rules, 2021 which seeks to regulate intermediaries. Whereas, the affidavit filed by MIB defended Part III of the Rules which seeks to regulate digital new media and OTT platforms.

        The matter came up for hearing on September 16, 2021. The Court heard extensive submissions from the counsels, including Mr Rajshekhar Rao who was representing Mr TM Krishna.

        [...]

        The case is now listed for October 27, 2021 for final hearing. The interim decision passed by the Madras High Court is welcomed. Like the decision by the Bombay High Court, it provides much needed relief to users on the internet, news writers, editors and content creators. However, this is an interim relief and final hearing awaits. We will continue to provide legal support to Mr T.M Krishna and LiveLaw Media Pvt. Ltd., whom we are representing before the Kerala High Court, in their efforts to protect the right to speech and privacy of Indians on the internet.

        We thank Mr. T. M. Krishna for giving us an opportunity to lend our expertise in this important case and are deeply grateful to all the lawyers who worked on this petition and especially Senior Advocate, Rajshekhar Rao who led the legal team, comprising Suhrith Parthasarathy, Vrinda Bhandari, Abhinav Sekhri, Tanmay Singh, Krishnesh Bapat and Anandita Mishra.

Links 17/9/2021: WSL Considered Harmful

Posted in News Roundup at 10:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Kernel Space

      • Linux kernel turns 30: congratulations from PVS-Studio

        On August 25th, 2021, the Linux kernel celebrated its 30th anniversary. Since then, it’s changed a lot. We changed too. Nowadays, the Linux kernel is a huge project used by millions. We checked the kernel 5 years ago. So, we can’t miss this event and want to look at the code of this epic project again.

        [...]

        Last time we found 7 peculiar errors. It’s noteworthy that this time we’ve found fewer errors!

        It seems strange. The kernel size has increased. The PVS-Studio analyzer now has dozens of new diagnostic rules. We’ve improved internal mechanisms and data flow analysis. Moreover, we introduced intermodular analysis and much more. Why has PVS-Studio found fewer exciting errors?

        The answer is simple. The project quality has improved! That’s why we are so excited to congratulate Linux on its 30th anniversary.

        The project infrastructure was significantly improved. Now you can compile the kernel with GCC and Clang – additional patches are not required. The developers are improving automated code verification systems (kbuild test robot) and other static analysis tools (GCC -fanalyzer was implemented; the Coccinelle analyzer is enhanced, the project is checked through Clang Static Analyzer).

        However, we found some errors anyway :). Now we’re going to take a look at some really good ones. At least, we consider them “nice and beautiful” :). Moreover, it’s better to use static analysis regularly, not once every five years. You won’t find anything that way. Learn why it’s important to use static analysis regularly in the following article: “Errors that static code analysis does not find because it is not used.”

      • Choose the best file system for your Linux

        When we format a hard drive in Windows, the normal thing is to give it a file system known , such as FAT32 (rare today due to its limitations), exFAT for those looking for compatibility without the limitations of FAT32, or the most complete and the best for working on Microsoft systems, NTFS. However, if we are users Linux , in addition to being able to work with those, we can find another variety of file systems. What is the difference between them? Which is better? Let’s see it.

    • Applications

      • Linux Apps: Darktable 3.6.1 Released

        Darktable 3.6.1 Released (Download), Darktable is an open source application for the photo workflow and processing of RAW data. A virtual light table and a darkroom for photographers, so to speak. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable light table and enables you to develop and improve raw images.

        At the beginning of July, Darktable 3.6 was released as the main version, which introduced numerous new functions and improvements. Darktable 3.6.1 has now been released as the first point version, which fixes some unpleasant problems and offers support for new digital cameras.

      • Excellent Utilities: Deskreen – live streaming desktop to a web browser

        This is a series highlighting best-of-breed utilities. We cover a wide range of utilities including tools that boost your productivity, help you manage your workflow, and lots more besides.

        When people talk about screen sharing they typically refer to desktop sharing applications (remote display). Good examples of open source software include TigerVNC, Remmina, X2Go and Veyon. But this review looks at a different approach with live streaming your desktop or a specific application to a web browser.

        Deskreen is free and open source software that lets you use any device with a web browser as a secondary screen. This device can be a wide range of hardware such as a smartphone, tablet, smart TV, or a notebook. And you can connect as many devices as required.

        If you have a multi-monitor setup, you already appreciate the virtues of multiple screens. But Deskreen offers many of these advantages without additional outlay.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • On leaving Gemini: a friendly farewell

        I found that, while gemini was pleasant to play around with, write scripts for, and type up, it doesn’t really add that much to my experience to warrant the complexity it adds to how I write blog posts and publish web pages. And with a gemini capsule, and a web page, and a blog, writing a post somewhere becomes a three-way decision, and stuff tends to become messy. I tend to not like a situation like that, so I had to drop something, and that ended up being Gemini.

      • How to install i3 Window manager on Ubuntu 20.04 or Debian 11

        i3 is a tiling window manager developed from scratch and written in C. It is available under a BSD license, is primarily aimed at professionals and programmers, and has several special features. This slim window manager also supports window stacks, which it stacks in a tab structure similar to a web browser. Here we learn how to install i3 Window manager on Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04 LTS to get a slim and lightweight interface on this Linux.

        Well, Linux operating systems are known for their low resource consumption, however, due to the latest highly graphical desktops, many distros now become extensive resource guzzling OS. Nevertheless, there are many lightweight Desktop Window Managers and i3 is one of them. This Tiling Window Manager i3 brings particularly a slim interface to your Linux screen.

      • How to install Ksnip, a screen capture tool, on Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian and openSUSE!

        Ksnip is a Qt-based cross-platform screenshot tool that provides many annotation features for your screenshots. In this tutorial, learn how to install Ksnip screenshot on Linux using Flatpak packages.

        The Ksnip has many features and settings that enable the capture of perfect canvas. Make an image of your screen however you like, or the window you need. Do this simply and quickly. Don’t waste any more time and install this powerful tool right now on your Linux.

      • Kali Undercover – How to install, uninstall, enable or disable on Linux!

        If you are a Kali Linux user and you tend to do penetration tests in places with a lot of people, be aware that in a way this can be scary. However, Kali Undercover was created to undo your testing with Kali Linux. Imagine being in a family and trying to run a security test on some network, and everyone assuming you’re breaking into a bank or committing crimes? Well, in the face of repeated scenarios like this, Offensive Security, the company that maintains Kali Linux, created the solution.

        But don’t worry, as stated in the first paragraph, in this article you will learn how to use and install Kali Undercover on Linux. There are few commands, but they should help you not to have problems or distorted looks.

      • How to install Hugo website generator on Ubuntu 20.04

        Writing websites from scratch can be beneficial for learning but it is time-consuming. And there are simple or personal projects that need to be done quickly. To solve this problem is that there are static website builders. Today you will learn how to install Hugo on Ubuntu 20.04 which is perhaps one of the most popular website builders out there.

      • Control RAM and CPU usage by Kodi in real time – LinuxStoney

        As with antivirus or office suites such as Office, a good multimedia player at the moment cannot be missing from any PC. These programs are not used to view our favorite photos, play all kinds of videos and music , or even watch Internet television. A clear example of all this is found with the multimedia center called Kodi .

        This is a complete solution that acts as a multimedia center that will be of enormous help when dealing with all kinds of content of this type. Keep in mind that it not only serves as a player, but also offers us a multitude of functions for managing our own independent libraries. In addition, it offers us a somewhat peculiar user interface that looks like an independent operating system.

        Precisely because of all these additional features that it offers us, together with the complete user interface that we see, sometimes this program consumes more resources than we would like. It is true that it is optimized to work on most computers, platforms and operating systems, but it will not always do so with the same fluency. In addition, the types of content that we deal with also come into play here. Loading a simple photo is not the same as playing a video in four in 4K .

      • How To Install Spotify on Debian 11 – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Spotify on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, Spotify is a free-to-use music streaming service with a subscription for premium content at a small fee. Spotify enables you to stream music of your favorite artists, create custom playlists, shuffle play, share music and podcasts. Spotify is available for installation on Windows, Linux distributions, macOS, and Mobile devices powered by iOS and Android operating systems.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of Spotify’s digital music streaming service on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

      • How to watch YouTube on the Linux desktop with FreeTube

        FreeTube is available for Linux users on Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch Linux AUR, and others. To install this program on your Linux PC, start by opening up a terminal window.

        You can open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, search for “Terminal” in the app menu to open it. Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, follow the installation instructions outlined below.

    • Games

      • This PlayStation 4 emulator is LINUX EXCLUSIVE. – Invidious

        Spine is a PlayStation 4 emulator that works much like WINE, acting as more of a compatibility and translation layer than an emulator.

      • Take down a resurrected Maggie Thatcher in this upcoming Doom II campaign | GamingOnLinux

        Yes that’s right, Maggie Thatcher has somehow escaped from Hell in Thatcher’s Techbase, a new Doom II campaign that has been announced that will be free to grab on September 24.

        Developed by 3D: Doom Daddy Digital this will be a very British take on the whole Doom thing that I can’t wait to jump into with a cuppa. Might need a few biscuits too as apparently the UK is the 10th circle of Hell – well it’s not wrong. It will be provided as a standard WAD file so it will be playable across any system that can play it. The developer mentioned compatibility with PRBoom, DSDA-Doom, ZDoom and GZDoom.

      • Ray Tracing on Linux with AMD GPUs gets closer with multiple games working | GamingOnLinux

        While Ray Tracing has worked on Linux for a long time with NVIDIA, the situation with Mesa+AMD is still being worked out but the good news is that it’s all finally coming together.

        Developer Bas Nieuwenhuizen wrote in a new blog post about the current situation noting that after over 9 months of work, that they’re now seeing games working. Control was one title shown off that worked “on first try” once the required bits were hooked up in the radv Mesa driver.

      • Dota 2 to drop OpenGL and 32bit, Vulkan default on Linux and TI 21 tickets on September 22 | GamingOnLinux

        With The International 2021 tournament fast approaching Valve has given an update on the future of Dota 2 with some major underlying tech changes planned to come in.

      • Proton Experimental gets DEATHLOOP working on Linux with AMD GPUs | GamingOnLinux

        Valve and CodeWeavers have updated Proton Experimental again, the special testing version of Proton that brings in some of the latest fixes for the Windows-game compatibility layer. If you don’t know what Steam Play Proton is be sure to check our dedicated page.

        DEATHLOOP, the brand new release from Arkane Studios and Bethesda, will now work on Linux thanks to the latest Proton Experimental updates. However, currently the changelog notes that this is specifically for AMD GPUs using the radv driver.

      • Open source game achievements – Fedora Magazine

        Learn how Gamerzilla brings an achievement system to open source games and enables all developers to implement achievements separate from the game platform.

        Some open source games rival the quality of commercial games. While it is hard to match the quality of triple-a games, open source games compete effectively against the indie games. But, gamer expectations change over time. Early games included a high score. Achievements expanded over time to promote replay. For example, you may have completed a level but you didn’t find all the secrets or collect all the coins. The Xbox 360 introduced the first multi-game online achievement system. Since that introduction, many game platforms added an achievement system.

        Open source games are largely left out of the achievement systems. You can publish an open source game on Steam, but it costs money and they focus on working with companies not the free software community. Additionally, this locks players into a non-free platform.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Budgie desktop migrates from GTK to EFL libraries from the Enlightenment project

          The developers of the Budgie desktop environment have made the decision to move away from the GTK library in favor of the EFL Enlightenment Foundation Library ( ), developed by the Enlightenment project. The results of the migration will be offered in Budgie 11. Notably, this is not the first attempt away from GTK – in 2017 the project already made a to move decision to switch to Qt, but later revised plans in the hope that the situation would change in GTK4.

          Unfortunately, GTK4 did not live up to the expectations of the developers due to the continued focus only on the needs of the GNOME project, the developers of which do not listen to the opinions of alternative projects and do not want to take their needs into account. The main incentive to move away from GTK was GNOME’s plans to change the way it works with skins, which make it difficult to create custom skins in third-party projects. In particular, the platform interface style is provided by the libadwaita library, which is tied to the Adwaita skin.

    • Distributions

      • BSD

        • Experimenting with a new OpenBSD development lab

          This article is not an how to or explaining anything, I just wanted to share how I spend my current free time. It’s obviously OpenBSD related.

          When updating or making new packages, it’s important to get the dependencies right, at least for the compilation dependencies it’s not hard because you know it’s fine once the building process can run entirely, but at run time you may have surprises and discover lacking dependencies.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • Linux Mint 20.3 distribution design changes – LinuxStoney

          Linux Mint 20.3 distribution design changes, The end of the previous month brought another report with a summary of news in the development of one of the popular Linux Mint distributions. The developers have decided to focus on design modifications that will make the appearance of this distribution more modern and consistent. Users can expect this news with the release of Linux version Mint 20.3.

          Some of the changes are prepared for the Cinnamon desktop environment and Mint-X or Mint-Y themes. Mint-X will bring only a few minor tweaks, such as the new look of notifications in applications or the toolbar in Nemo File Manager. However, most of the changes will come for the Mint-Y theme. The colors of its panels will be more consistent and components with lighter and darker color contrasts should no longer be mixed in one application.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • The future of the Jekyll static-site generator

        My blog here has been rendered with the Hugo static site generator since at least 2016. Having all my blog posts stored as plain text files, wrapped with a simple enough theme, and generated on a server makes so many things easier. Hugo cuts through my almost 8,000 blog post archive like butter, rendering it in fewer than 20 seconds. My web server is the most basic thing imaginable, because all it has to do is deliver HTML.

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • [Older] Firefox 92 Browser for Linux Released Download and Install

            Firefox 92 Browser for Linux Released Download and Install, Mozilla Firefox 92 is a free, cross-platform browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation with the help of hundreds of contributors. The foundation’s intent is to develop a lightweight, secure, intuitive, and highly extensible browser. Wikipedia

      • Programming/Development

        • Learning Path: Introduction to R

          Enhance your data science toolkit with our “Introduction to R” learning path: from the basis of the syntax, to operations and functions, for solid programming foundations.

          R is one of the most popular programming, scripting, and markup languages. Written by statisticians for statisticians, it is an incredible tool for data exploration, data manipulation, visualization and data analysis. If you don’t have it yet in your pocket, or if you would like to build better foundations for your programming skills, this workshop series is what you were looking for.

        • Perl/Raku

          • A good old-​fashioned Perl log analyzer

            A recent Lobsters post laud­ing the virtues of AWK remind­ed me that although the lan­guage is pow­er­ful and lightning-​fast, I usu­al­ly find myself exceed­ing its capa­bil­i­ties and reach­ing for Perl instead. One such appli­ca­tion is ana­lyz­ing volu­mi­nous log files such as the ones gen­er­at­ed by this blog. Yes, WordPress has stats, but I’ve nev­er let rein­ven­tion of the wheel get in the way of a good pro­gram­ming exercise.

        • Python

          • Some notes on upgrading programs with Python’s pip

            My primary use of Python’s pip package manager is to install programs like the Python LSP server; I may install these into either a contained environment (a virtual environment or a PyPy one) or as a user package with ‘pip install –user’. In either case, the day will come when there’s a new version of the Python LSP server (or whatever) and I want to update to it. As I noted down back in my pip cheatsheet, the basic command I want here is ‘pip install –upgrade <package>’, possibly with ‘–user’ as well. However, it turns out that there are some complexities and issues here, which ultimately come about because pip is not the same sort of package manager as Fedora’s DNF or Debian’s apt.

          • OpenBSD’s pledge and unveil from Python

            Years ago, OpenBSD gained two new security system calls, pledge(2) (originally tame(2)) and unveil. In both, an application surrenders capabilities at run-time. The idea is to perform initialization like usual, then drop capabilities before handling untrusted input, limiting unwanted side effects. This feature is applicable even where type safety isn’t an issue, such as Python, where a program might still get tricked into accessing sensitive files or making network connections when it shouldn’t. So how can a Python program access these system calls?

        • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

          • Using functions more

            Bash functions seem to sit in a sweet spot between aliases and full blown scripts. I’ve defined a number of functions in my dotfiles which are all useful. Unlike aliases, they can take parameters and have greater scope for doing things; unlike scripts, they run in the context of the current shell which means, for example, that I can set a value in a variable during the course of a function’s execution and it’s available directly afterwards, in the same shell session.

        • Java

          • Java SE 17 Released

            After six months of development, Oracle has released a platform Java SE 17 (Java Platform, Standard Edition 17), as a reference implementation that uses an open source project OpenJDK. Except for the removal of some deprecated features, Java SE 17 retains backward compatibility with previous releases of the Java platform — most previously written Java projects will work unchanged when run under the new version. Ready-to-install Java SE 17 assemblies (JDK, JRE, and Server JRE) are prepared for Linux (x86_64, AArch64), Windows (x86_64), and macOS (x86_64, AArch64). The reference implementation developed by the OpenJDK project is Java 17 fully open source under the GPLv2 license with GNU ClassPath exceptions to allow dynamic linking to commercial products.

            Java SE 17 has been categorized as a Long Term Support (LTS) release with updates to be released until 2029. Updates for the previous Java 16 interim release have been discontinued. The previous LTS branch of Java 11 will be supported until 2026. The next LTS release is slated for September 2024. Recall that starting with the release of Java 10, the project moved to a new development process, implying a shorter cycle of forming new releases. The new functionality is now being developed in one constantly updated master branch , which includes ready-made changes and from which branches are branched every six months to stabilize new releases.

  • Leftovers

    • History’s Light on the Dark Road Ahead

      Based on hundreds of documents and interviews, the two-volume history starts off with long mea culpa—an acknowledgment of the naiveté that led the U.S. into a chaotic and bloody occupation of the land where human civilization began.

      The confessional drumbeat begins near the start, on p. 43, when, in the wake of 9/11, the military, at the direction of President George W. Bush, began forming its plan for regime change in Iraq.

    • You Reap What You Sow
    • Social Security: Long May It Wave
    • Austria’s Ibizagate

      The scandal broke when video footage emerged of the former leader of Austria’s far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache, then Austria’s Vice-Chancellor, promising public contracts to a woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece in exchange for support for the FPÖ in the 2017 election campaign.

      The fake billionaire woman offered to buy the country’s leading tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung and, somewhat in the manner of Rupert Murdoch, said she would change its editorial line to support the FPÖ’s anti-Islam, anti-immigration platform.

    • Why I’m mostly not a fan of coloured text (in terminals or elsewhere)

      A broader reason is that most colour schemes are not designed with a focus on contrast, readability, and communication (I think they’re often not systematically designed at all). Instead they are all too often a combination of what looks good and matches the tastes of their creators, mingled with what has become traditional. This is colour for colour’s sake, not colour for readability, information content, or clear communication.

    • Trolls Will Be Trolls, Online and Offline, Reports New Study

      If you’re a troll online, you are most likely also a troll offline, at least with respect to political discussions, reports new research published in the American Political Science Review. In their study, Aarhus University researchers Alexander Bor and Michael Bang Petersen investigate what they call the “mismatch hypothesis.” Do mismatches between human psychology, evolved to navigate life in small social groups, and novel features of online environments, such as anonymity, rapid text-based responses, combined with the absence of moderating face-to-face social cues, change behavior for the worse in impersonal online political discussions?

      No, conclude the authors. “Instead, hostile political discussions are the result of status-driven individuals who are drawn to politics and are equally hostile both online and offline,” they report. However, they also find that online political discussions may tend to feel more hostile because the greater connectivity and permanence of various Internet discussion platforms make trolls much more visible online than offline.

    • Hardware

      • Sir Clive Sinclair, the father of the ZX Spectrum, has died

        Even bigger success followed a year later with the ZX81, and then the ZX Spectrum in 1982, which became the best-selling personal computer in the UK. Various official and unofficial clones and spinoffs followed over the years, and Sinclair was granted a knighthood in 1983 for his contributions to British industry.

      • Sir Clive Sinclair obituary

        Sinclair created the world’s first pocket calculator and kick-started the home computing revolution by producing the first PC to retail at less than £100. However, these triumphs were eclipsed in 1985 by the commercial failure of his electric three-wheeler, the Sinclair C5.

    • Health/Nutrition

      • As Wealthy Nations Debate Giving Booster Vaccine Shots, Calls Grow for Global Vaccine Equity

        As the debate over booster vaccine shots heats up in the United States, global health leaders have issued an urgent call for global vaccine equity. The WHO reports vaccination rates on the African continent fall far below its target for 70% of the population of all countries to be vaccinated by mid-2022. “The science is not completely behind the need for booster shots yet,” says Zane Dangor, special adviser to the foreign minister of South Africa, who has called on the U.S. to come up with a proposal for allowing other countries to manufacture vaccines. “This is an emergency that affects all of us because variants are coming from areas where there are large numbers of unvaccinated people,” adds infectious disease specialist Dr. Joia Mukherjee.

      • Supreme Court Approval Hits Historic Low Over Failure to Stop TX Abortion Ban
      • United Airlines CEO Says Resignations in “Single Digits” After Vaccine Mandate
      • Harriet Washington, “Medical Apartheid”
      • Sanders Blasts Conservative Democrats for Siding With Big Pharma Over Voters
      • The Director of Florida’s Program for Brain Damaged Infants Has Resigned

        On the eve of what was expected to be a contentious board of directors meeting, the head of Florida’s compensation program for brain-damaged children abruptly resigned.

        Kenney Shipley, who has overseen the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA, for nearly two decades, announced her resignation in a letter Wednesday. It takes effect Jan. 4, 2022, though Shipley intends to claim accrued leave time after an interim director is appointed.

      • Sanders Says There’s ‘No Excuse’ for Any Democrat to Oppose Lowering Drug Prices

        After three House Democrats voted against a key plank of their party’s plan to lower prescription drug prices, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday that Congress must ensure the provision is included in the final budget reconciliation package despite objections from conservative lawmakers.

        Sanders (I-Vt.), the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said he understands that “the pharmaceutical industry owns the Republican Party and that no Republican voted for this bill, but there is no excuse for every Democrat not supporting it.”

      • Journalist’s slaying: Have Dutch values fostered a crime problem?

        “I have zero need for drugs and cannot understand why people need them”, she says. But she says that many people like her remain on the fence about further liberalization and await the results of recent legalization efforts in other parts of the world, including some U.S. states.

      • Why Americans Die So Much

        According to a new working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Americans now die earlier than their European counterparts, no matter what age you’re looking at. Compared with Europeans, American babies are more likely to die before they turn 5, American teens are more likely to die before they turn 20, and American adults are more likely to die before they turn 65. At every age, living in the United States carries a higher risk of mortality. This is America’s unsung death penalty, and it adds up. Average life expectancy surged above 80 years old in just about every Western European country in the 2010s, including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the U.K., Denmark, and Switzerland. In the U.S., by contrast, the average life span has never exceeded 79—and now it’s just taken a historic tumble.

        Why is the U.S. so much worse than other developed countries at performing the most basic function of civilization: keeping people alive?

      • Jio, Cisco, others ink pact with Agriculture ministry to modernize farming sector

        The Central government has further rolled out a Digital Agriculture mission for 2021-25 for projects based on new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, remote sensing, and GIS technology, use of drones and robots, among others.

        The agriculture department is also creating a federated farmers database which will be linked by the land records of farmers from across the country for the creation of a unique Farmer ID.

      • Facebook announces crackdown on ‘coordinated social harm’ campaigns

        Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, wrote in a blog post that the company was taking steps to crack down on “networks of primarily authentic users who organize to systematically violate our policies to cause harm on or off our platform.”

        The campaigns are separate from individuals who post on their own social media. They’re also different from efforts launched by “inauthentic users” where it is not immediately clear who is running the social media page or account.

      • Overnight Hillicon Valley — Scrutiny over Instagram’s impact on teens

        “It is clear that Facebook is incapable of holding itself accountable. The Wall Street Journal’s reporting reveals Facebook’s leadership to be focused on a growth-at-all-costs mindset that valued profits over the health and lives of children and teens,” Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said in a joint statement.

        Blumenthal and Blackburn, the top members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation’s consumer protection subcommittee, said they are in touch with a Facebook whistleblower and will use “every resource at our disposal to investigate what Facebook knew and when they knew it.”

        The senators said they’ll seek further documents and pursue witness testimony.

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Firefox dies? This Linux replaces it with another browser

          Firefox has always been the favorite web browser for users who are committed to free software and privacy. However, for months, Mozilla has only lost followers who, little by little, are migrating to both Chrome and Edge, the two most used browsers today. Although it is not the most used web browser within Windows, the orange fox has always been an icon in Linux distributions. However, this may be over very soon.

          What a web browser needs to be successful is to have great allies. Chrome, for example, appears on the main page of the Google search engine, so we will forcefully end up installing it. Edge comes by default in Windows 10, with banners that call us to try it. Safari the same on macOS. But what about alternative browsers, like Vivaldi ?

        • Security

          • OpenSSL 3.0 Cryptographic Library Released with new license

            Recently, OpenSSL 3.0 was announced , the new major version of the popular cryptographic library that is also one of the most essential components of the Internet . This is a job that has occupied developers for three years in which there have been 17 alpha releases, 2 betas and 7,500 commits, all of that coming from 350 different authors.

            OpenSSL 3 comes with many major changes that not only cover the software itself, but also other aspects such as the documentation and licenses used. As Matt Caswell explains in the official announcement, “there has been a 94% increase in the amount of documentation we have since OpenSSL 1.1.1 and an (adjusted) increase in ‘lines of code’ in our tests of 54% . “

            Caswell has also highlighted the community’s enthusiasm and level of activity in making contributions. The new version of the cryptographic library has been able to count on some dedicated engineers, who have been able to be paid thanks to the fact that the project has obtained financing through different channels.

            With regard to changes and news, we start with the change of license. Previous versions of OpenSSL used both their own license and SSLeay (which will remain), but OpenSSL 3 will use Apache License 2.0 , which is an Open Source license and free software of a lax nature compatible with version 3 of GPL, but not 2.

          • Trial Ends in Guilty Verdict for DDoS-for-Hire Boss

            A jury in California today reached a guilty verdict in the trial of Matthew Gatrel, a St. Charles, Ill. man charged in 2018 with operating two online services that allowed paying customers to launch powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Internet users and websites. Gatrel’s conviction comes roughly two weeks after his co-conspirator pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to running the services.

          • New malware uses Windows Subsystem for Linux for stealthy attacks [Ed: Microsoft's attack on Linux (WSL) is not being used as a FUD source against "Linux"]

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • What’s Up with WhatsApp Encrypted Backups

              Currently, users can choose to periodically back up their WhatsApp message history on iCloud (for iOS phones) or Google Drive (for Android phones), or to never back them up at all. Backing up your messages means that you can still access them if, for example, your phone is lost or destroyed. 

              WhatsApp does not have access to these backups, but backup service providers Apple and Google sure do. Unencrypted backups are vulnerable to government requests, third-party hacking, and disclosure by Apple or Google employees. That’s why EFF has consistently recommended that users not back up their messages to the cloud, and further that you encourage your friends and contacts to skip it too. Backing up secure messenger conversations to the cloud unencrypted (or encrypted in a way that allows the company running the backup to access message contents) means exposing the plaintext to third parties, and introduces a significant hole in the protection the messenger can offer.

              When encrypted WhatsApp backups arrive, that will change. With fully encrypted backups, Apple and Google will no longer be able to access backed up WhatsApp content. Instead, WhatsApp backups will be encrypted with a very long (64-digit) encryption key generated on the user’s device. Users in need of a high level of security can directly save this key in their preferred password manager. All others can rely on WhatsApp’s recovery system, which will store the encryption key in a way that WhatsApp cannot access, protected by a password of the user’s choosing. 

            • G7: Still coming after encryption, plans to reinforce Interpol and global travel surveillance

              The recent meeting of G7 interior and security ministers in London resulted in a detailed set of commitments, including reassertion of the need to undermine encrypted communications, reinforce Interpol, and to enforce new international standards on Passenger Name Record (PNR) travel surveillance and passenger profiling systems.

            • China’s Social Credit System Is Actually Quite Boring

              Contrary to common belief, the cities mainly target companies, not individuals. Nonetheless, legal representatives of a violating company are also included in the blacklists to prevent reoffending elsewhere or under a different company. Nationally, about 75 percent of entities targeted by the system end up on blacklists because of court orders they have ignored—the so-called judgment defaulters. The remaining companies are typically collared for severe marketplace violations—for instance, for food safety infringements, environmental damage, or wage arrears. But much of these cities’ day-to-day use of the SCS is banal thanks to the system’s fragmentation and inflation of results.

              Fragmentation is a symptom of central authorities being unclear about goals and how to reach them. This gives local authorities leeway to implement policies in creative or self-serving ways, producing numerous quirky experiments. During China’s first COVID-19 wave, the city of Anqing logged one blacklisting in excruciating detail, as our research found. At a checkpoint, “the culprit” refused to follow the advice of Chinese Communist Party members on duty, used a pair of pliers to cut through a fence that blocked the road and threw it off to the side. This led “the [Chinese Communist] Party flagpole on the fence to be bent across the road” and “the offender then [driving] over the flagpole, causing the party flagpole to be damaged. The damaged items were worth RMB 20.”

            • Microsoft adds a passwordless option for Microsoft accounts

              So how will your account be secured? In place of a password, Microsoft will use its Microsoft Authenticator app for your phone, Windows Hello, and codes sent to your email or phone in place of a traditional password. We’ve seen Microsoft offer to sign into your account without a password since 2017, but today is the first day that Microsoft is also inviting you to ditch passwords entirely.

            • TikTok faces privacy investigations by EU watchdog

              The watchdog is looking into its processing of children’s personal data, and whether TikTok is in line with EU laws about transferring personal data to other countries, such as China.

            • Confidentiality

              • Opinion | The Big Spy in Your Little Phone

                Is the phone in your pocket spying on you? As cell phones have become ubiquitous, government intelligence agencies have poured vast resources into hacking them, remotely stripping people of their privacy in the name of national security. Now, a burgeoning industry has emerged, generating huge profits for shadowy corporations that specialize in developing ever-more innovative ways to secretly infect digital devices with spyware. Activists, journalists, human rights defenders and dissidents the world over have been surveilled and in a number of cases arrested, tortured or killed. This week, Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research organization based at the University of Toronto, revealed the existence of a “zero-click” exploit that exposed 1.65 billion Apple iPhone and other Apple devices to a complete and almost undetectable takeover by the spyware known as Pegasus, produced by NSO Group, a private company.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • The Problem With Making War “Humane”

        Humane warfare is a paradoxical idea with a long history. Essentially, the notion speaks of the attempt to make war less lethal and more ethical for the purpose of minimizing the suffering of soldiers and civilians, a concern that, by the 19th century, had grown on account of the carnage of industrialized and mechanized warfare. Expressing this view in the early 1860s, for instance, the founders of the Red Cross struggled to make warfare less hostile even as they acknowledged its inevitability. From their efforts emerged the First Geneva Convention (1864), which established international rules of warfare for the treatment of sick and wounded soldiers. At the same time there emerged a transatlantic peace movement that sought to resist war, not by making it more humane but by outlawing it altogether. For peace activists such as Leo Tolstoy, Jane Addams, Bertha von Suttner, and others, humanizing warfare amounted essentially to legitimating and perpetuating it. They believed that criminalizing and abolishing war was the only option.

      • The Dangerous Exaggeration of the Threat

        Nations judge potential adversaries on the basis of intentions and capabilities.  Soon after World War II, the United States formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) due to an exaggerated fear of Soviet intentions and capabilities as well as the fear that Joseph Stalin was another Adolf Hitler.  Six years after the creation of NATO, the Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact, which institutionalized the Cold War between East and West.  Ironically, many European nations supported the creation of NATO because they feared a German revival rather than a Soviet challenge.  Similarly, the Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact because they questioned the loyalty and support of their East European neighbors more than they feared a threat from the West.

        In addition to exaggerating threats, the United States has tended to exaggerate its own skill and power in the resolution of tensions. Even when Stalin demonstrated his fear of another war in Europe by backing down from the Berlin blockade, U.S. policymakers considered his retreat the triumph of allied agility and military unity.  Years later, the United States believed that its military power solved the problem of the Cuban missile crisis, when a secret agreement involving the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey had been central to the agreement.

      • Decades of Reporting on Afghanistan War Failed to Look at Life Outside Kabul
      • What Can We Learn From the War in Afghanistan?

        Disagreements over how to assess the American exodus from Afghanistan have kept the pundits busy these last weeks, even though there wasn’t much to say that hadn’t been said before. For some of them, however, that was irrelevant. Having overseen or promoted the failed Afghan War themselves, all the while brandishing various “metrics” of success, they were engaged in transparent reputation-salvaging.

      • The Other Afghan Women: Rural Areas Hope Taliban Rule Will End Decades of U.S. & Warlord Violence

        Violence in Afghanistan’s countryside has reportedly dropped after the Taliban takeover and the withdrawal of U.S. troops, but the country continues to face an ongoing humanitarian and economic crisis, with millions of children at risk of starvation. Joining us from Kabul, New Yorker reporter Anand Gopal says he was shocked by the “sheer level of violence” Afghan women outside the cities have experienced in the last two decades of war. “The level of human loss was really extraordinary,” Gopal says. “I think we’ve grossly undercounted the number of civilians who died in this war.”

      • The Lessons of 9/11

        On the one hand, many of the poorest people on Earth live in such desperate circumstances that they often feel understandably angry that so little seems to be available to them except US military domination.

        On the other hand, many welcome US influence and would love to escape to live with us.

      • Victims of Endless War

        The attacks of September 2001 had their inception in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan at the end of the decade of the 1970s. The intention of the US was to make Afghanistan the Soviet Union’s Vietnam. The US achieved that goal and created its own Vietnam-style quagmire there. History doesn’t often repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. We will never know how many trillions of dollars were pissed away beginning in the 1980s, but Brown University’s Costs of War project gives a good reckoning of the trillions, $8 trillion, pissed away in the wars of the post-9/11 epoch and the lives ended.

        In August 1970, I climbed the stairs to the roof of my graduate dormitory on Washington Square South in Greenwich Village in New York City. The view of the towers of the World Trade Center was breathtaking. Almost forgotten were the environmental costs of such a project, in concrete and steel alone. In the night, it felt as if by reaching out, a person could touch those towers and the golden glow from the work lights of the South Tower that was reaching its completion gave the buildings a magnificent and eerie glow.

      • Opinion | We Need a National Rite of Passage That Doesn’t Include War

        A recent New York Times op-ed was perhaps the strangest, most awkward and tentative defense of the military-industrial complex—excuse me, the experiment in democracy called America—I’ve ever encountered, and begs to be addressed.

      • ‘Anti-China’ Military Pact ‘Threatens Peace and Stability’ in Pacific, Groups Warn

        Anti-war advocates are denouncing Wednesday’s formation of a trilateral military partnership through which the United States and the United Kingdom plan to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines—a long-term initiative broadly viewed as a challenge to China by Western powers determined to exert control over the Pacific region.

        “If Biden and the Pentagon really want to ‘ensure peace and stability’ in the region, they could simply stop dealing missiles, weapons, [and] nuclear tech to Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.”—CodePink

      • Opinion | Undermining Biden, White House Advisor Ratchets Up Conflict With China

        As a longtime Hawaii resident, I have always scratched my head as to how Grover Cleveland—the president of the United States—had been so ineffective when it came to foreign policy. His efforts to right the wrong of the unauthorized armed invasion and imprisonment of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893 fell woefully short. Corporate and military forces influenced Congress to undermine the president and successfully orchestrate the overthrow of the sovereign nation of Hawaii.

      • Ex-UM professor charged with shipping genetic equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions

        Faghihi, 52, was arrested on conspiracy and related charges stemming from allegations that he shipped genetic sequencing equipment to the Iranian military without a required license from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Faghihi was in contact with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, which bought several genetic testing machines from his local business, Thakur said.

      • America’s Afghanistan Amnesia

        What Biden could have added is that his critics are willfully dishonest about the history of the war—and the nature of the status quo before the collapse. One of the very best guides to that history is the blockbuster “Afghanistan Papers” report that Craig Whitlock released in The Washington Post in 2019 (now available in expanded form as a book).

      • Moscow Expands Its Military Footprint on NATO’s Borders

        Neighboring Poland declared a state of emergency along its eastern border with Belarus last week ahead of the military exercises. Baltic states Latvia and Lithuania have also declared states of emergencies as all three countries have seen a huge increase in the number of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa looking to cross into the European Union from Belarus—thought to have been deliberately sent to the border by Lukashenko. Then, on Sunday, Lukashenko added to tensions by announcing that Belarus would buy $1 billion worth of Russian military equipment over the next four years.

    • Environment

      • As big forests shrink, the carbon leaks and the heat rises

        The world’s greatest forests are turning to patchwork. The patches get more frequent, the carbon leaks and the heat rises.

      • The Climate Apocalypse According to Joy Williams

        Maggots: The Record, the 1987 concept album by Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics, opens with the following monologue: It is 25 years in the future. Environmental abuse and the burning of fossil fuels have effectively doubled atmospheric CO2 levels creating a greenhouse effect of strength unknown in historical times. Global temperature rises have caused accelerated melting of the earth’s glaciers and polar ice caps. Preventative measures against massive flooding have been unrealistic and poorly constructed. New York City is typical of cities all over the world. The part which is not completely submerged is a network of festering stagnant pools percolating in a blistering heat in humid air. Day by day, the sound of buzzing flies has become more and more pronounced.

      • Biden Admin. Sued for Letting Big Oil Harass ‘Imperiled’ Polar Bears

        A coalition of conservation groups sued the Biden administration on Thursday over the U.S. Department of the Interior’s recent rule allowing fossil fuel companies to harass polar bears and walruses while searching and drilling for oil and gas in the Southern Beaufort Sea.

        “Unchecked oil and gas development in Alaska’s Arctic impedes the survival of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, already one of the world’s most imperiled populations.”—Nicole Whittington-Evans, Defenders of Wildlife

      • Youth Climate Anxiety Is Skyrocketing — and Government Inaction Is to Blame
      • New Report Says We Will Miss 1.5 Degrees Celsius Goal Without Drastic Action Now
      • Exxon Helped Cause the Climate Crisis. It’s Time They Paid Up.

        This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration cofounded by The Nation and Columbia Journalism Review to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

      • Energy

        • Tlaib and Pressley File Bill to Force Fed to Divest Banks From Fossil Fuels
        • ‘Grim and Alarming’ UN Report Details ‘Catastrophic’ Global Failure on Climate

          United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned Thursday that humanity’s “future is at stake” with governments’ climate commitments, as he marked the launch of a U.N.-backed report he called “an alarming appraisal of just how far off course we are.”

          “We continue to destroy the things on which we depend for life on Earth.”

        • Dems Call Fossil Fuel CEOs, Lobbyists to Testify About Climate Disinformation

          Democratic leaders on the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee sent letters Thursday inviting the heads of key fossil fuel companies and lobbying groups to testify before the panel about the industry’s contributions to climate disinformation in recent decades.

          “Exposing the industry’s disinformation is a critical step in holding it accountable for the damage it has done and clearing the way for meaningful change.”—Jamie Henn, Fossil Free Media

        • GMB Union ‘Misleadingly’ Claims Gas Boilers Will be ‘Ripped Out’ of Homes Under Net Zero Plans

          One of the UK’s biggest trade unions has been accused of being “deeply misleading” after suggesting government climate plans involve “ripping out” gas boilers from people’s homes.

          The GMB union, which represents 500,000 workers including gas engineers, said this week that plans to replace fossil fuel boilers to cut household carbon emissions would lead to “heating chaos for millions”, calling low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps “unproven technology”.

        • Norway is wealthy because of oil. Can it give up fossil fuels?

          “Our demand is to stop looking for oil and gas, and stop handing out new permits to companies,” says Lars Haltbrekken, climate and energy spokesman for the Socialist Left party – a likely coalition partner for Labor. He claims that after eight years in charge the government is protecting a status quo at a time when the country is thirsty for a post-oil future.

          A report in August from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting global floods and fires created a wave in Norway that has crested throughout this election campaign.

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Scientists Find New Way to Reduce Marine ‘Dead Zones’
        • Help Us Understand Pacific Northwest Salmon and Treaty Rights

          Nearly 170 years ago, the U.S. government started signing treaties with Indigenous tribes in the Pacific Northwest that amassed millions of acres of land for new settlers. In exchange for their signatures, hundreds of tribes retained the rights to critical natural resources, including fresh water and salmon.

          But the U.S. government broke those agreements. It ignored them. It even fraudulently altered them. Some tribes were excluded from these treaties altogether.

        • Montana Puts Yellowstone Wolves in the Crosshairs

          Starting today, iconic Yellowstone wolves crossing the boundary of Yellowstone National Park into the state of Montana face slaughter by trophy hunters with high-powered rifles, including within federally-designated Wilderness areas. Wolves living in Glacier National Park face a similar fate when they exit the national park.

          Last month, Montana not only eliminated any cap on the number of wolves that can be killed in hunting and trapping zones bordering Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, but individuals can now kill a total of 10 wolves per season. New regulations also allow unethical baiting for wolves statewide, including within federal public lands and Wilderness areas. Night hunting with artificial lights or night vision scopes is also allowed on private lands statewide.

      • Overpopulation

        • The Daily Weight Of Water Weighs On The Poorest in Sierra Leone

          Clean water didn’t used to be an issue in Dworzak. In the 1980s and ’90s, people started building small houses on the lush terrain. Water bubbled up from multiple springs, and it gushed down streams that cut through ravines. Then during Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war in the 1990s, Dworzak grew rapidly. More and more people moved to the capital to get away from fighting in the countryside.

          And while new residents arrived quickly, basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, sewers and piped water didn’t. Streams got polluted with sewage and trash. Springs that had been sufficient for a few families couldn’t keep up with the demands of the growing population.

        • Water shortages loom over future semiconductor fabs in Arizona

          How the planned water cuts shake out depends on who is given top priority under a complex set of water-sharing agreements. Arizona, with more junior rights to the water than other states it shares it with, will suffer the biggest cuts, losing about 8 percent of the total water it receives a year. But for now, those cuts will primarily affect agriculture, which used more than 70 percent of the state’s water in 2019. Water for tribes, municipal use, and industry are given higher priority in the state, shielding residents and companies unless a more severe water shortage is eventually declared at Lake Mead.

        • First-ever water shortage on the Colorado River will bring cuts for Arizona farmers

          The reservoir near Las Vegas has fallen to its lowest levels since Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s and is continuing to drop after years of chronic overuse and drought intensified by climate change. It now stands at just 35% of full capacity.

    • Finance

      • Kyrsten Sinema’s Grapes of Wealth

        A curious news story popped up in the Sonoma County Press-Democrat this summer, just as a bipartisan group of US senators was trimming the sails on Joe Biden’s infrastructure plans and sending their own $1.2 trillion package to the Senate floor: The Wine Country paper of record reported that one of those senators, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, had traveled to the city of Sonoma in August 2020, where she earned $1,117.40 as a paid intern at a winery.

      • 400+ Economists Press Congress to Permanently Expand Child Tax Credit

        A group of over 400 economists on Wednesday sent a letter to congressional leaders calling for the expanded child tax credit to be made permanent, citing “potential tremendous immediate and long-term benefits for children and their families.”

        The America Recovery Plan, prompted by the pandemic, expanded the child tax credit (CTC), first enacted over two decades ago. In addition to boosting the amount of the credit to up to $3,600 for parents of younger children, it advanced half of the credit ahead of tax-filing time.

      • El Salvador Becomes First Nation to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender Amid Growing Authoritarianism

        Thousands in El Salvador took to the streets Wednesday to protest President Nayib Bukele’s growing consolidation of power and a new law making El Salvador the world’s first country to recognize the highly volatile cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender. Protesters in El Salvador are also criticizing a recent court ruling that paves the way for Bukele to run for reelection in 2024. El Salvador’s turn to bitcoin comes as a “surprise” to many, but has been pushed by Bukele as a way to lessen remittance fees, says Jorge Cuéllar, an assistant professor of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies at Dartmouth College. “There’s no reason why bitcoin should be at the top of the government agenda in a moment of pandemic, of water stress, of food insecurity, of depressed wages,” Cuéllar says. “People are very suspicious of this.”

      • Bitcoin the Messiah: El Salvador Goes Crypto

        One country has decided to make using cryptocurrency a reality, sticking its neck out in adopting bitcoin as something akin to an economic messiah.  Few thought it would be El Salvador, whose government made the currency legal tender on September 7.  To mark the occasion, each citizen signing up to Chivo, the national digital wallet, has receivedUS$30.  Foreigners adventurous enough to invest three bitcoins in the country are promised residency.

        The introduction was far from spontaneous.  The surf town of El Zonte, with its Bitcoin Beach project, began an experiment to adopt the currency in 2018, a venture aided by the Californian cryptocurrency zealot Michael Peterson.  Through the Evangelical Christian church, Peterson combined God and crypto, proselytising the value of such currency.  Each local family received US$50, and the currency came to be used for such projects as rubbish collecting and lifeguarding.

      • To Ward Off the Eviction Crisis, Look Not to Congress, But to the Grassroots
      • Opinion | The Moral Case for Resisting Evictions Amid a Pandemic

        Over the past weeks, multiple crises have merged: a crisis of democracy with the most significant attack on voting rights since Reconstruction; a climate crisis with lives and livelihoods upended in the Gulf Coast and the Northeast by extreme weather events and in the West by a stunning fire season; and an economic crisis in which millions are being cut off from Pandemic Unemployment Insurance, even as August job gains proved underwhelming. There’s also a crisis taking place in state legislatures with an ongoing attack on women’s autonomy over our own bodies. The Supreme Court let a law go into effect that makes abortions nearly impossible in Texas and turns its enforcement over to vigilantes. And then, of course, there’s the looming eviction crisis that could precipitate the worst housing and homelessness disaster in American history.

      • Opinion | Thanks to the Child Tax Credit, My Son Won’t Suffer the Tremendous Trauma I Did

        I remember finding out I was about to become a mother. I felt the fear taking hold of me. My brain stopped. I remember crying but had no tears. I remember trying to run, but I couldn’t move.

      • State of the Union: A Dress

        “Just where do you think You’re going?” it asked, in a heavy Slovenian accent.

        “I’m going to Tax the Rich,”replied AOC’s dress. “I thought you didn’t care.”

      • House Tax Proposal Falls Short of Making Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Joe Manchin Giveth on Voting Rights—and Joe Manchin Taketh Away

        The Democrats in the United States Senate have failed to pass either the For the People Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Both measures seek to restore voter protections that have been stripped away from people of color by either state legislatures or the Supreme Court. Both were passed by the House of Representatives. Neither has passed the Senate because Republicans oppose voting rights, while certain Democrats still love the filibuster. One Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin (D-Koch Brothers), opposes the For the People Act outright.

      • Arizona Mystery: Did Cyber Ninjas Botch Another 2020 Presidential Recount Attempt?

        It appears, at the very least, that a contract signed on July 28 by the Cyber Ninjas—the lead contractor in the Arizona Senate Republicans’ election review—and Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, a Boston-based technologist and unsuccessful GOP U.S. Senate candidate, indicated that all 2020 election results would be tallied by August—and that deadline has now been missed.

        An Arizona Republic report about Dr. Shiva, as he is known on social media, and the contract quoted Randy Pullen, the Senate review’s spokesman, as saying that Ayyadurai’s tally of the votes on digital images of 2.1 million paper ballots (created by vote-count scanners) was “sidetracked because the data was corrupted.” Pullen said “only 60 percent of the ballots were accessible.”

      • Opinion | The Real Criminals General Milley Exposed? Every Republican in the US Senate

        Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley stepped outside the realm of his constitutional power to prevent Donald Trump from starting nuclear war with China or Iran.  It was definitely unconstitutional and probably illegal.  But he’s not the true villain in this story; the true villain is almost never mentioned in the press.

      • GOP Strategists Fret Trump’s “Fraud” Talk Encourages Voters to Skip Midterms
      • Was the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjold murder?

        The third explanation is that another plane flew near the Albertina as it tried to land, either deliberately or accidentally, causing it to crash, either by forcing it to take evasive action or by downing it with warning shots. This would explain the eyewitness accounts, as well as tidbits other theories struggle with. In 2015 the UN reopened its investigation. Its first report found this explanation “plausible” and suggested that the governments involved ought to prove that they had made exhaustive checks of their records. It will report again in 2022.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

      • Elizabeth Warren Threatens Amazon For Selling Books Containing Misinformation; Perhaps Forgetting The 1st Amendment

        We’re going to have to do this again up front because I know how this is going to go over among some: even if you think Amazon is the root of all evil, and Senator Elizabeth Warren truly is the greatest Senator in the last century, that does not mean that she gets to ignore the Constitution. We had this issue earlier this year when Warren threatened to punish Amazon for its constitutionally protected speech, and now she’s going even further. She has sent a letter to new Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to complain about the fact that there are some books on Amazon that have dangerous mis- and disinformation about COVID-19 and various treatments and vaccines. And, yes, I recognize just as well as you do how dangerous that kind of mis- and disinformation can be. But, whether you like it or not, that mis- and disinformation is almost certainly protected by the 1st Amendment. And Warren ignores all that and implies that Amazon hosting this material is potentially “unlawful.” It’s not and threatening Amazon for carrying it is a huge 1st Amendment issue.

      • Analysis Shows Facebook Allows 99% of Climate Disinformation to Go Unchecked

        A new analysis released Thursday by the environmental group Friends of the Earth shows that Facebook is continuing to allow thoroughly debunked climate lies to run rampant on its platform, despite the tech giant’s frequent public pledges to combat disinformation.

        “Facebook is becoming the last bastion of climate denial.”—Michael Khoo, Friends of the Earth

      • Facebook’s new commitments on climate misinformation miss the point, activists say

        Lies about climate change still fester unchecked on Facebook, environmentalists say, even as the social media giant announces new climate initiatives. The company today said that it’s beefing up a “Climate Science Center” with more facts, quizzes, and videos. It’s also investing $1 million in grants to groups “working to combat climate misinformation.”

        Those efforts still don’t get at the root of the problem. Trying to funnel Facebook users to a “science center” doesn’t actually stop climate deniers from posting false information that can spread like wildfire on the platform. And Facebook continues to accept advertising dollars from oil and gas companies.

      • How the banking industry is using social media to kill Biden’s efforts to tax the rich

        One key provision of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan is causing confusion amid a sustained lobbying campaign from banks both big and small — and a big signal-boost from right-wing media personalities.

        A flurry of headlines about a proposed Internal Revenue Service reporting requirement for banks, which would require financial institutions to report net annual inflows and outflows on accounts with more than $600 — or that same amount in transactions — seem to be based on the false premise that the Biden Administration would be “snooping” or “monitoring” individuals’ finances, or otherwise tracking all transactions a person makes.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • 8th Circuit’s Bizarre Ruling In Devin Nunes’ SLAPP Suit Against Reporter Ryan Lizza

        Rep. Devin Nunes has kept up his suing news organizations (and satirical internet cows). He has been mostly losing. Lately, we’ve been writing a fair bit about the lawsuit Nunes’ family has (using the same lawyer, Steven Biss) against reporter Ryan Lizza, which has gone somewhat off the rails. There’s been more nonsense since we last wrote about it, but I’m kind of waiting on the judge to actually rule before I go into the details.

      • China’s Game Controllers Ignore Emergent Order

        Last week, China restricted children under 18 to three weekend hours of video games per week. If you’re a parent of a Minecraft- or Fortnite-obsessed child, you may be wondering why the U.S. doesn’t do something similar. But China’s move against juvenile gaming is just the Chinese government’s latest salvo in their barrage of attempts to control internet technology. Their centralized approach is one that we in the U.S. have historically rejected and should continue to reject.

      • This Iranian Musician Risks Prison for Releasing a New Album

        He was arrested last year after announcing the album and his intention to work with female singers. An Iranian judge told him he was ‘encouraging prostitution’ by working with women. Rajabian says he’s worried about being reaccused by the Iranian government now that his work on the album is complete.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Why Stop at Roe?

        In a ruling on what is known as the “shadow docket” as opposed to the traditional “merits docket,” the Court ruled that the Texas “Heartbeat” Act (Senate Bill 8) was Constitutionally permitted.  The bill outlaws abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detectable, which typically occurs in the sixth week of pregnancy.  In 2013, North Dakota passed a fetal heartbeat law that was, in 2015, ruled unconstitutional by the Court under Roe v. Wade (1973).  Other heartbeat bills – e.g., Georgia, Mississippi and Ohio – are on hold.

        The Court’s ruling with regard SB8 effectively overturns the landmark Roe decision of a half-century ago.  It demonstrates just how powerful the conservative movement is at both the state and federal levels.  So, this raises a critical question: While the Supreme Court is at it, what other critical or landmark prior decisions could it overturn?

      • Wanted
      • He Beat Her Repeatedly. Family Court Tried to Give Him Joint Custody of Their Children.

        Jennifer Moston was about seven months pregnant when, she said, her husband grabbed her by the arms, picked her up and threw her against the staircase. Each time she tried to get up, he pushed her down again.

        Such abusive episodes continued for several years, she said, until 2016, when he allegedly tried to strangle her. She went to the police and filed for divorce.

      • Federal Court Blocks Enforcement Of Florida’s New Anti-Riot Law

        Earlier this year, the Florida state legislature passed a law that turned protesting into a crime by expanding the definition of “riot” to make peaceful protesters culpable for the actions of those actually engaged in rioting. It refused bail to those arrested at protests and the term “aggravated rioting” was expanded enough to cover any gathering of more than nine people that blocked any road.

      • DEA Returns $87,000 It Helped Nevada Law Enforcement Steal From An Ex-Marine

        Another bullshit forfeiture has attracted national press attention. This one has some added bonuses, like local cops stating on (body cam) that the easiest way to get their hands on the seized money would be to ask the feds to come in.

      • Judge Blocks Biden From Continuing ‘Inhumane’ Trump Policy to Deport Families

        In a major win for asylum-seekers and human rights advocates, a federal judge on Thursday ordered President Joe Biden’s administration to end a Trump-era policy of using Covid-19 pandemic to justify the swift deportation of migrant families.

        “This court order reaffirms our pride in being a nation of refuge, as Congress intended.”—Cecillia Wang, ACLU

      • The LAPD Is Asking City Residents To Hand Over Social Media Account Info To Feed To Its Unsupervised Monitoring Software

        Documents obtained via public records requests by the Brennan Center reveal the Los Angeles Police Department has made social media part of its everyday business. The LAPD is wholly embracing the 21st century. This doesn’t mean its public relations department is making the most of numerous platforms to address citizens’ concerns and engage in more transparency.

      • ‘Cruel and Callous’: Biden Slammed for Resuming Deportations to Battered Haiti

        Infuriated human rights advocates on Thursday denounced the Biden administration for resuming deportation flights to Haiti—even as residents of the impoverished Caribbean nation continue to struggle in the aftermath of last month’s disastrous earthquake and tropical storm, which came amid the Covid-19 pandemic and in the wake of an ongoing political-economic crisis.

        “That ICE would continue to carry out the mass deportations of our Haitian neighbors—with Haiti in the midst of its worst political, public health, and economic crises yet—is cruel and callous.”—Rep. Ayanna Pressley

      • Beaten and Maligned by Police, a Philadelphia Mom Seeks Justice Over a Thin Blue Lie

        The lawsuit, obtained by Rolling Stone and embedded below, seeks damages for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case stems from a shocking incident of police violence last October, that itself followed the police killing of Walter Wallace Jr., a young Black man experiencing a mental health crisis whom cops shot after he allegedly lunged at them with a knife. That shooting set off mass protests, as well as incidents of vandalism and looting, late into the night of October 26th.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • AT&T Hopes You’ll Ignore It Routinely Finances Terrible Politicians Doing Terrible Things

        After the idiotic and dangerous events of January 6, you might recall how corporations like AT&T and Comcast proclaimed they’d paused donations to any politicians behind the clumsy, violent attempt to, you know, dismantle functioning democracy. But, of course, this was mostly a show; the companies continued to donate money to those same politicians via their lobbying and policy umbrella orgs. Then, once the public was adequately distracted by the next big scandal du jour, quickly got back to work funding those same politicians again with zero meaningful penalty.

    • Monopolies

      • No, Tech Monopolies Don’t Serve National Security

        The argument they make is that gigantic tech companies are the only ones who can innovate and compete with China. But this completely misses the point on innovation. When companies have monopolies, they have no reason to innovate since they have captured the market. There is no need to compete to have the best product when you are the only product. Innovation depends on the best ideas from everyone being put forth to the public.   

        Now, we don’t know if these folks actually believe in the argument or if they think the rest of us will believe in the argument because they say it, but this letter is really only about delaying legislative antitrust action through raising not just fictional concerns, but completely bogus takes on how innovation happens on the internet.

        The irony about the national security argument is that it takes a page straight out of the AT&T monopoly playbook and history. Forty years ago, AT&T was the largest corporation in the world and was facing antitrust action both in Congress and the courts. In a Hail Mary effort to get the Department of Justice to abandon its lawsuit, AT&T lobbyists went to the Department of Defense and convinced them that a monopoly communications network was essential for national security.

      • Book Review: Intellectual Property Law in China, 2nd Edition [Ed: No, there is no "Intellectual Property Law"; you are mixing together lots of different thing under an umbrella that is a misnomer]

        The first edition of Intellectual Property Law in China (IPLCN) was the first of a bunch of goodies this Kat enthusiastically gathered from the incomparable IP library of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (MPI). It was published in 2005 – a bit aged – but it still stands as the visible fruit of the MPI’s Asian Department, which was founded in 1975. From 2000 to 2005, the department published 12 volumes in the Asian studies series, demonstrating the institute’s policy and dedication to Asia. At that time, the Institute’s academic focus was allocated according to geographical expertise, for example, Nordic Department, Asian Department, and had not yet shifted towards the current project-based approach. The editor of the 2005 IPLCN was Dr Christopher Heath, then Head of the Department for Japan and East Asia.

      • Trademarks

        • CD Projekt Red Issues Trademark Strike For Board Game With A Cyberpunk Theme On Itch.io

          Way back in 2017, years before CD Projekt Red released Cyberpunk 2077 in a poor enough state so as to kickoff lawsuits from investors and a shitstorm of criticism by the public, we discussed how CDPR had acquired the US trademark for “Cyberpunk” in its licensing arrangements and then applied for a mark on the same term in the EU. The problem, of course, is that “cyberpunk” isn’t just the name of a series of tabletop and video games, but also the name of a broad genre of fiction. These are trademarks that should never have been granted, as they are akin to getting a trademark on something like “True Crime”. Plenty of folks in American and the EU cried foul over this, leading to CDPR putting out a statement that, among other things, noted that the company is not a trademark bully and would not be aggressive in enforcing the mark for unrelated projects in the cyberpunk genre. Pay special attention to the tweet from CDPR below in the section headed “What does it mean that CD Projekt owns the trademark for “Cyberpunk”?

      • Copyrights

09.16.21

Links 16/9/2021: Linux Mint Has New Web Site, LibreOffice 7.2.1, KDE Plasma 5.23 Beta, and Sailfish OS Verla

Posted in News Roundup at 5:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • 30 years of Linux: B1 Systems donates 30,000 euros and wants to know to whom

        Linux celebrates its 30th birthday on September 17th and the system house B1 Systems, which specializes in open source, wants to share its joy with open source and social projects: The team around the penguin mascot is donating a total of 30,000 euros.

        Half of the total goes to social projects. No recipient has yet been determined for the remaining 15,000 euros. Open source fans can now choose which open source projects or non-profit associations that promote open source will receive the money.

      • Linux 5.14.5
        I'm announcing the release of the 5.14.5 kernel.

This, and the other stable kernels released today, consist of only some
reverts to solve some reported problems with the last round of stable
releases.  Upgrading is not required, but highly recommended.

The updated 5.14.y git tree can be found at:
	git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.14.y
and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser:

https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-s...

thanks,

greg k-h
      • Linux 5.13.18
      • Linux 5.10.66
      • Linux 5.4.147
      • Intel Seamless Update to enable BIOS/UEFI firmware updates without a reboot

        Updating the BIOS/UEFI binary usually requires a reboot, but Intel is working on changing that, at least on Linux servers for now, with the Intel Seamless Update aiming to carry out system firmware updates (e.g. UEFI) at run-time without having to reboot, a bit like what Canonical does with the Ubuntu Livepatch service, but at a lower level in the software stack.

        Intel submitted a patch that “Introduces Platform Firmware Runtime Update and Telemetry drivers” to the Linux kernel mailing list a couple of days ago with the description reading in part:

        High Service Level Agreements (SLAs) requires that the system runs without service interruptions. Generally, system firmware provides runtime services such as RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) features, UEFI runtime services and ACPI services. Currently if there is any firmware code changes in these code area, the system firmware update and reboot is required. Example of bug fix could be wrong register size or location of the register. This means customer services are not available during the firmware upgrade, which could approach several minutes, resulting in not able to meet SLAs.

      • Linux 5.16 To Add Quirk For The Steam Deck, Other DRM-Misc-Next Changes – Phoronix

        With the Linux 5.15 merge window out of the way, the first drm-misc-next pull request has been sent in to DRM-Next for staging until the Linux 5.16 merge window opens up about two months from now.

        With this initial drm-misc-next pull the material is rather light considering the brief time since the merge window. There are some DMA-BUF updates, new macros, a number of new device quirks, documentation improvements, the V3D driver has a fix for a Vulkan CTS failure, new PCI IDs for the Bochs driver, VirtIO now supports mapping exported vRAM, and the ZTE driver has been removed for being obsolete.

      • Running Linux 5.15-rc1 Causing A New Slowdown… Here’s A Look – Phoronix

        Linux 5.15-rc1 performance overall has been looking good at the assortment of systems I have tested so far this week. The performance overall has been inline with expectations and jiving well with the many new Linux 5.15 features. But it quickly became apparent that something was wrong with compiler performance when running on Linux 5.15… Not the speed to compile the kernel, but rather the performance of building other codebases while the system is running Linux 5.15-rc1. This slowdown for build tests was happening for multiple codebases of very real-world and relevant projects and on multiple systems, making it an interesting regression to look at and worth bisecting for an article.

      • OpenZFS 2.1.1 Arrives As A Big Point Release – Phoronix

        Following the big OpenZFS 2.1 release from July that brought Distributed SPARE RAID, a compatibility property for pools, and other new features, OpenZFS 2.1.1 is available today as a follow-up release for this open-source ZFS file-system implementation for Linux and FreeBSD systems.

      • Graphics Stack

        • Intel Talks More About Their Open-Source Vulkan Ray-Tracing Bring-Up – Phoronix

          Prominent Intel open-source Vulkan Linux driver developer Jason Ekstrand presented at today’s X.Org Developers Conference (XDC2021) about their work on enabling Vulkan ray-tracing support.

          As has been covered many times already, with forthcoming Xe-HPG graphics card will feature hardware ray-tracing capabilities. While Windows users are getting excited over DirectX 12 DXR prospects with Intel graphics, on the Linux side that is obviously focused on the Vulkan ray-tracing extensions.

        • X.Org Could Use More Help Improving & Addressing Its Security – Phoronix

          Those reading Phoronix over the years likely know the X.Org Server has had an increasing number of vulnerabilities come to light in recent times and statements by security researchers like the security being even worse than it looks. Given the age of the X.Org/X11 codebase and many components being rather unmaintained these days, the security situation isn’t that great combined with a lack of manpower. The security topic was under the spotlight today at the XDC2021 conference.

        • Google Is Successfully Using The Open-Source Qualcomm GL/VLK Drivers On Chromebooks – Phoronix

          It’s been known that Google has been using the open-source “MSM” DRM/KMS driver on Qualcomm-powered devices that originally started out as a reverse-engineered driver project separate from the company. Now it’s also been confirmed how Google is successfully using the open-source Mesa Freedreno OpenGL and TURNIP Vulkan drivers on Qualcomm-powered Chromebooks too.

        • Mesa’s LLVMpipe + Lavapipe Land FP16 Support – Phoronix

          The latest work landing for Mesa 21.3 is supporting FP16 within the LLVM-based software driver code namely for the LLVMpipe Gallium3D OpenGL and Lavapipe Vulkan drivers.

          VK_KHR_shader_float16_int8 and VK_KHR_shader_subgroup_extended_types are now exposed for the LLVMpipe code with this OpenGL FP16 support in place. The Lavapipe Vulkan code is similarly exposing this FP16 support too.

    • Applications

      • Darktable 3.6.1 Released with New Camera Support & Various Bug-fixes

        The free open-source Lightroom alternative, Darktable release version 3.6.1. Here’s what’s new and how to install it in Ubuntu.

        Darktable 3.6.1 comes with stability improvements and bug-fixes. No new features, but has new camera support, including base support for Leica C-Lux (3:2), Sony ILCE-7RM3A, Sony ILCE-7RM4A, Nikon D6 (12bit and 14bit), and Nikon Z fc (12bit- and 14bit-compressed). The release also adds noise profile for Ricoh GR III.

        And here are the bug-fixes according to the release note…

      • Macast DLNA Media Renderer: Easily Cast Videos, Music And Pictures From A Phone To Your Compute

        Macast is a new free and open source tool to use your computer as a DLNA media renderer, so you can cast videos, pictures and music from your phone (or another computer) to your desktop, kind of like a Chromecast. It’s available for Linux, Microsoft Windows and macOS.

        The application is very easy to use, shipping with only a tray menu (without any other GUI) from where you can control it, and it uses mpv as the media player. A few days ago, Macast has added the ability to use other media players via plugins, with 3 such plugins being available right now (for IINA on macOS, pi-fm-rds for Raspberry Pi and PotPlayer for Microsoft Windows). You can also write your own plugin.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Watch commands and tasks with the Linux watch command | Opensource.com

        See how the watch command can let you know when a task has been completed or a command has been executed.

      • Proxmox VE Full Course: Class 8 – Creating Container Templates – Invidious

        Welcome back to LearnLinuxTV’s full course on Proxmox Virtual Environment! In class #8, we look at the process of converting a container into a template, that can then be used as a basis for launching additional containers.

      • LibreOffice Master Document Fixes

        Earlier this year, allotropia software GmbH was awarded a tender to fix a number of problems around the master document feature (Tender to implement master document fixes (#202106-02)) by The Document Foundation (TDF).

        We have finished implementing the necessary changes, and all fixes will be available for testing in LibreOffice 7.2.2.

        Using master documents is a somewhat hidden, but extremely useful feature of LibreOffice Writer, when producing longer documents (like books, or the help guides the LibreOffice documentation team is maintaining). With it, users can split a larger document into a number of smaller pieces, to work on independently. If this feature sounds interesting to you, the excellent Writer Guide has a chapter about it.

      • Czech translation of Impress Guide 7.0 is here!
      • 15 Practical Examples of ‘echo’ command in Linux

        The echo command is one of the most commonly and widely used built-in commands for Linux bash and C shells, that typically used in a scripting language and batch files to display a line of text/string on standard output or a file.

      • Plex repository for Linux – blackMORE Ops

        Add Plex repository for Linux and Plex Media Server will automatically get updated.

      • How to add system information to the Linux desktop

        Conky is a system monitor tool for the Linux desktop. With it, users can view everything from their RAM usage, CPU usage, disk usage, and more right on the desktop. Here’s how to get it working on your system.

      • How to install Zoom on Linux Lite 5.4 – Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install Zoom on Linux Lite 5.4.

      • Check How Long a Process Has Been Running in Linux – Putorius

        Have you ever started a script that needs to run for an extended period of time? Maybe you kicked off a job and it is still running next time you log in? Whatever the situation is, there may be times when it is necessary to check how long a process has been running in Linux. In this short tutorial we will discuss using the ps command to show elapsed time since a process was started.

        Every time you start a process on a Linux system it is assigned a process id (PID). The system keeps track of this process, it’s elapsed time, and other important information using this process id. Before we can find out how long a process has been running we need to find its PID.

      • How to install FNF Battle Royale Mod on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install FNF Battle Royale Mod on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

        If you have any questions, please contact us via a YouTube comment and we would be happy to assist you!

      • How to Install Microsoft Teams on Linux [Ed: Bad idea because it is technically malware]

        Communication platforms like Microsoft Teams have become an integral part of everyone’s day-to-day lives. From organizing team meetings in corporates to scheduling classes in educational institutions, Microsoft Teams is used everywhere. But is it available to Linux users?

      • Linux Essentials – Cron – Invidious

        As Linux server administrators, we need to be able to schedule tasks to run at some point in the future. Perhaps as a one-off command, or a job that’s expected to repeat on some sort of schedule.

      • How To Install and Configure Nagios on CentOS 8

        Nagios is a popular and one of the most powerful open-source computer monitoring systems. It keeps track of your IT infrastructure and ensures that your networks, servers, applications, and processes are running smoothly. Using a monitoring system allows you to identify problems before they occur and deploy fixes quickly resulting in saving of cost and downtime.

        In this tutorial, you will learn how to install and configure Nagios on a CentOS 8 based server. We will also do some basic configuration and install Nagios Remote Plugin Executor(NPRE), which will allow us to monitor remote hosts.

      • How to Install Wikijs on Rocky Linux

        Wiki.js is an open-source wiki software written in JavaScript and running on the Node.js runtime, it’s released under the APGL-v3 license. Wiki.js is a lightweight, and powerful wiki software with a beautiful and intuitive user interface, it’s designed for the modern web. Wiki.js is very extensible wiki software and suitable for different types of documents and deployments, it can be used for both technical and non-technical people.

        Wiki.js is backed by various types of modules to extend its features and make it a powerful and extensible wiki software.

      • How to Install MongoDB on Rocky Linux 8

        MongoDB is an object-oriented, schema-less, NoSQL database server used in developing modern dynamic apps. This implies that data objects are stored as separate documents in a collection unlike in traditional relational databases where rows and columns are used. MongoDB allows for quick traversing of nested data objects without requiring joins which improves performance greatly.

        MongoDB is written in C++ for massive scalability and flexibility which offers easy querying and indexing for developers. It also provides an aggregation framework that makes it easier to query complex document-based data sets.

        MongoDB has a rich and vibrant community and offers rich and powerful in-built features which include MapReduce, auto sharding among others.

        MongoDB runs on all major operating system platforms such as Linux, Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. It also supports many distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, Ubuntu etc.

        This tutorial will cover how to install MongoDB NoSQL database on Rocky Linux 8.

      • Bash Scripting – Functions Explained With Examples – OSTechNix

        In Bash shell scripting, functions are ways to group the set of instructions together to get a specific outcome. You can think of functions as a mini script. Functions are also called procedures and methods in some programming languages. Functions are a great way to achieve modularity and reusability.

        In this article, I will explain how to use functions in bash scripts in Linux with examples. You will be pretty comfortable in using bash functions by the end of this article.

      • How to Install LAMP Stack in AlmaLinux 8.4

        LAMP is a popular hosting stack used for developing and testing web applications. It’s an acronym for Linux, Apache, MariaDB, & PHP.

        Apache is an open-source and widely used web server. MariaDB is an open-source relational database server that stores data in tables inside databases, and PHP is a server-side scripting language used for developing dynamic web pages.

        In this walkthrough, we will demonstrate the installation of the LAMP stack in AlmaLinux.

      • How to Setup SSH Passwordless Login in Linux [3 Easy Steps]

        SSH (Secure SHELL) is an open-source and most trusted network protocol that is used to log in to remote servers for the execution of commands and programs. It is also used to transfer files from one computer to another computer over the network using a secure copy (SCP) command and Rsync command.

      • 15 Basic ‘ls’ Command Examples for Linux Beginners

        ls command is one of the most frequently used commands in Linux. I believe the ls command is the first command you may use when you get into the command prompt of Linux Box.

        We use the ls command daily basis and frequently even though we may not aware and never use all the available ls command tricks.

      • How to install GhostBSD 21.09.06 – Invidious

        In this video, I am going to show how to install GhostBSD 21.09.06.

      • How to Install Redis on Debian 11 Linux – TecAdmin

        Redis is an open-source in-memory database for storing data structure, caching, and as a message broker. It supports data structures such as strings, lists, sets, hashes, sorted sets with range queries, bitmaps, HyperLogLogs, and geospatial indexes with radius queries. Redis has a built-in replication feature, which makes it work as high available clusters in your production environments.

        This tutorial will help you to install the Redis on Debian 11 (Bullseye) Linux system.

      • How to Install Kali Linux in VMware [Easily]

        Kali Linux is the de facto standard of Linux distributions used for learning and practicing hacking and penetration testing.

        And, if you’ve been tinkering around with Linux distros long enough, you might have tried it out just out of curiosity.

        However, no matter what you use it for, it is not a replacement for a regular full-fledged desktop Linux operating system. Hence, it is recommended (at least for beginners) to install Kali Linux using a virtual machine program like VMware.

        With a virtual machine, you can use Kali Linux as a regular application in your Windows or Linux system. It’s almost the same as running VLC or Skype in your system.

        There are a few free virtualization tools available for you. You can install Kali Linux on Oracle VirtualBox or use VMWare Workstation.

      • How to Install Java 17 (OpenJDK 17) on Debian 11 Bullseye – LinuxCapable

        Java is a general-purpose, class-based, object-oriented multipurpose programming language that is popular due to the design of having lesser implementation dependencies, meaning that the compiled Java code can be run on all platforms that support Java without the need for recompilation. Java is also fast, secure, and reliable, therefore. It is widely used for developing Java applications in laptops, data centers, game consoles, scientific supercomputers, cell phones, etc.

        JDK 17 (OpenJDK 17) has brought forward new language enhancements, updates to the libraries, support for new Apple computers, removals and deprecations of legacy features, and work to ensure Java code written today will continue working without change in future JDK versions.

      • How To Install Microweber CMS on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Microweber CMS on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Microweber is a free and open-source drag and drops CMS and website builder written in the PHP programming language and the Laravel Framework. Microweber’s drag-and-drop technology and real-time writing and text editing functionality provide a quick and easy way to create your content, helping turn your website into a rich environment for you to express your thoughts. It also comes with built-in storefront features, allowing you to create an e-commerce site from which you can sell your products on the Internet.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Microweber CMS on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

      • How OpenStack’s Keystone handles authentication and authorization | Enable Sysadmin

        OpenStack’s Identity service, Keystone, verifies the user’s identity and provides information about which resources the user has access to.

        The Keystone project provides authentication, authorization, and other services such as delivering the service catalog, as this diagram shows…

    • Games

      • Get out together in Escape Simulator, a game with ‘highly interactive’ escape rooms | GamingOnLinux

        Playable in solo or online in co-op, Pine Studio (Faraway: Director’s Cut, SEUM: Speedrunners from Hell) have announced their escape room game Escape Simulator is releasing on October 19.

        “Think you have what it takes to escape? Face ingenuous locks in ancient Egypt. Hack the system in an adrift space shuttle. Decipher mysterious notes in the oddball Victorian library of Edgewood Mansion. Play online with pals for double the fun. Or brave the mysteries alone, with nothing but your smarts to aid you.”

        [...]

        The developer has confirmed that it will have full Linux support at release.

      • Grand Cathay gets a big introduction for Total War: WARHAMMER III | GamingOnLinux

        While it may be sad that Total War: WARHAMMER III has been delayed until 2022 so we’ve got a while to wait, we’re at least getting more info on what will be included like the new Grand Cathay nation.

        This is the first time for the franchise to see Grand Cathay realised in full. Originally mentioned in the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and a few random mentions, Creative Assembly teamed up with Games Workshop to pull together everything to create a full army and empire for Total War: WARHAMMER III including their own characters, units, magic, history, and much more.

      • Kingdom Two Crowns will expand again with Norse Lands coming soon | GamingOnLinux

        Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands is the latest announced expansion for the side-scrolling kingdom builder and it sounds like it’s going to be quite an exciting addition.

        Bringing with it a setting inspired by Norse Viking culture, it’s a whole new campaign that gives you a new setting to build, defend, explore and conquer. “In Norse Lands, players can look forward to unleashing abilities drawn upon from Norse gods, commanding mighty units, building Viking- inspired armaments, solving challenging puzzles, and facing a new enemy Greed.”.

      • Check out the first hour of a point and click thriller in Slender Threads: Prologue | GamingOnLinux

        Slender Threads: Prologue gives you a small slice of what to expect from the full point and click thriller and it’s out now with a Linux version.

      • City-builder Nebuchadnezzar gets another huge upgrade with fire, crime and diseases | GamingOnLinux

        A game that at release was pretty good but clearly lacking in many areas, Nebuchadnezzar has expanded yet again with more major new game mechanics. If you bounced off it at release, it’s really time to give it another look.

        “Nebuchadnezzar is a classic isometric city builder game inviting players to experience the mysterious history and culture of ancient Mesopotamia. In the campaign, players get to rule over influential historical cities filled with magnificent monuments.”

      • SkateBIRD does a fancy kickflip onto Steam and itch.io as it’s out now | GamingOnLinux

        Combining tiny little fancy birds with skateboarding is highly unusual but it continues to show how indie developers will try things AAA won’t. SkateBIRD is exactly that and it’s out now.

        Of course since you’re only tiny, so are the skateparks which are all made from random everyday objects. You get to customize your bird too, as the developer points out that “Skateboarding is all about self-expression, and style is important no matter how small the skater. From cowboy hats, to colorful scarves and backpacks, SkateBIRD’s accessories let each skater’s personality shine. Look fresh while tracking down hidden mixtapes to unlock new songs or have a solo session with low-fi bird-hop beats in the background”.

      • Valheim update Hearth & Home is out now with lots new | GamingOnLinux

        The big Hearth & Home update for the co-op survival game Valheim is out now and it’s a big one. Touching on many aspects of the game to make it feel quite different overall.

        Valheim is still mostly the same game but there’s so many tweaks that you’re going to need a fresh world to experience it all. Thankfully characters can move between worlds so it’s not a big issue. However, once you use a character on a new world or play a new world you can’t play it with an older version.

      • Boiling Steam: Powered By Gitea… and Much More!

        How does Boiling Steam work behind the scenes? What’s Gitea? There is not much point in talking about the CMS (Content Management System) we use (WordPress), because that would be a rather boring topic in itself… Rather, how does the small team behind our publication actually organize itself? And what tools do we use and how does Gitea fit into it?

        [...]

        Doing Peer Review also works well because we all have different backgrounds, tastes and experiences. If we were all from the same mold, it would not be nearly as helpful, nor let us reach beyond an audience we know individually.

        Peer Review should not be considered a silver bullet. It will not magically make all errors disappear or render every article perfect. But the more we have feedback, the more we can fix our individual blind spots, so the articles you end up reading are much more robust than their very first draft.

        There is no set period for Peer Review: it can take a few days to a few weeks, in case the article demands it. I would say that on average it takes 4-5 days between several rows of feedbacks and a final version. It’s definitely taking more time to follow such a process rather than just writing and pushing articles as soon as we have a draft ready.

        How do we deal with the fact that articles may take longer to finalize because of them? Well, we ensure we have a constant stream of new potential articles that we are working on: as long as we work on parallel on several of them, we will be able to release a few articles every week, statistically.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • A couple of big features for Thunar

        Welcome to my first post-GSoC blogpost. Google Summer of Code might have ended but I’m continuing my daily work on Thunar and Xfce Terminal (more on that later). This blog-post is accompanied by a video that showcases what is written here.

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KDE Plasma 5.23 Beta Released As The 25th Anniversary Edition

          It was in October of 1996 that the KDE desktop environment was founded and as such with marking twenty-five years since its creation, the forthcoming Plasma 5.23 is being advertised as the “25th Anniversary Edition” for the desktop.

          KDE Plasma 5.23 Beta is out today ahead of the planned official release next month. Plasma 5.23 has a lot of work in store including changes like:

          - Much improved Wayland support, including better touchpad gestures handling, drag-and-drop between native Wayland and XWayland applications, cursor animation fixes, a new screen rotation animation, and much more.

        • Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition Beta

          This is the Beta release of Plasma – 25th Anniversary Edition. To make sure that end-users have the best possible experience with the next version of Plasma, KDE is releasing today this test version of the software. We encourage the more adventurous to test-run it and report problems so that developers may iron out the wrinkles before the final release scheduled for the 12th of October.

          Plasma 25th Anniversary Edition is a leap forward in the quest for a more performant and usable desktop. We have improved the speed and stability of Plasma, while including changes that make it easier to use both on desktop and touch-enabled devices.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Anaconda accessibility improvements

          On the Workstation images, accessibility already was at the same level as a finished system would offer. Workstation media run a full Gnome session, with Orca available. The installer does not have to do anything. However, for the Server images the situation is different. The environment is heavily reduced: no sound, no Gnome, no Orca. That also means, no accessibility. Let’s change that!

          The latest Fedora 35 beta nightly builds now have the brltty screen reader on Server images. Thus far, brltty is enabled only for the console, which requires Anaconda to be started in text mode. There is also no means to configure the brltty session, so autodetection must work for your braille terminal device.

    • Distributions

      • Reviews

        • Primed for PineTime

          There’s something about having a watch that’s special. For me, not only is it a good way to tell the time without looking at my phone, it’s also a way to “accessorize” myself (not into piercings or tattoos, gugh…). I’ve owned watches in the past, but I either lost them or they broke after just a few months of having them (the result of buying cheap watches).

          These are just standard watches that I’m talking about; smartwatches have the burden of being tied down to a proprietary app on your smartphone in order to get any good use out of them, and what’s more, not only are they generally more expensive than a “dumb” watch, but they also need to be unstrapped from your wrist every week (or maybe every day, depending on what watch you have) and charged so that it can keep telling you the time.

          Something about the PineTime struck me though. Not just it’s inexpensive price point ($27 at the time of writing this); but also the fact that this is the first smartwatch I’ve ever seen that’s not powered by Google, Samsung, Apple, or the likes of some other wallet-draining corporation. It’s powered by the community, through open-source software. I can rely on the fact that, as long as the developers stay active, I can keep getting updates to my watch indefinitely, and not have to buy a “second-generation” watch just because the guys at the big corps say, “Well, this watch is two years old now; we have a better model that increases the screen size by about 10 pixels, increases the battery by about 2%, and the vibration is just a hair stronger. You have to buy the new model now because we’re not supporting the older model anymore.”

          None of that BS. The beauty the PineTime also has is that it’s not tied down to one specific type of operating system or firmware. I can use different types of firmware depending on my tastes; by default the PineTime ships with InfiniTime (more on that later), but if I want to change to say, WASP OS, that’s possible. Or any other type of firmware/operating system available.

      • IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

        • Cool happenings in Fedora Workstation land

          Been some time since my last update, so I felt it was time to flex my blog writing muscles again and provide some updates of some of the things we are working on in Fedora in preparation for Fedora Workstation 35. This is not meant to be a comprehensive whats new article about Fedora Workstation 35, more of a listing of some of the things we are doing as part of the Red Hat desktop team.

          One thing we spent a lot of effort on for a long time now is getting full support for the NVidia binary driver under Wayland. It has been a recurring topic in our bi-weekly calls with the NVidia engineering team ever since we started looking at moving to Wayland. There has been basic binary driver support for some time, meaning you could run a native Wayland session on top of the binary driver, but the critical missing piece was that you could not get support for accelerated graphics when running applications through XWayland, our X.org compatibility layer. Which basically meant that any application requiring 3D support and which wasn’t a native Wayland application yet wouldn’t work. So over the last Months we been having a great collaboration with NVidia around closing this gap, with them working closely with us in fixing issues in their driver while we have been fixing bugs and missing pieces in the rest of the stack. We been reporting and discussing issues back and forth allowing us a very quickly turnaround on issues as we find them which of course all resulted in the NVidia 470.42.01 driver with XWayland support. I am sure we will find new corner cases that needs to be resolved in the coming Months, but I am equally sure we will be able to quickly resolve them due to the close collaboration we have now established with NVidia. And I know some people will wonder why we spent so much time working with NVidia around their binary driver, but the reality is that NVidia is the market leader, especially in the professional Linux workstation space, and there are lot of people who either would end up not using Linux or using Linux with X without it, including a lot of Red Hat customers and Fedora users. And that is what I and my team are here for at the end of the day, to make sure Red Hat customers are able to get their job done using their Linux systems.

        • Christian F.K. Schaller: Cool happenings in Fedora Workstation land

          Been some time since my last update, so I felt it was time to flex my blog writing muscles again and provide some updates of some of the things we are working on in Fedora in preparation for Fedora Workstation 35. This is not meant to be a comprehensive whats new article about Fedora Workstation 35, more of a listing of some of the things we are doing as part of the Red Hat desktop team.

          NVidia support for Wayland
          One thing we spent a lot of effort on for a long time now is getting full support for the NVidia binary driver under Wayland. It has been a recurring topic in our bi-weekly calls with the NVidia engineering team ever since we started looking at moving to Wayland. There has been basic binary driver support for some time, meaning you could run a native Wayland session on top of the binary driver, but the critical missing piece was that you could not get support for accelerated graphics when running applications through XWayland, our X.org compatibility layer. Which basically meant that any application requiring 3D support and which wasn’t a native Wayland application yet wouldn’t work. So over the last Months we been having a great collaboration with NVidia around closing this gap, with them working closely with us in fixing issues in their driver while we have been fixing bugs and missing pieces in the rest of the stack. We been reporting and discussing issues back and forth allowing us a very quickly turnaround on issues as we find them which of course all resulted in the NVidia 470.42.01 driver with XWayland support. I am sure we will find new corner cases that needs to be resolved in the coming Months, but I am equally sure we will be able to quickly resolve them due to the close collaboration we have now established with NVidia. And I know some people will wonder why we spent so much time working with NVidia around their binary driver, but the reality is that NVidia is the market leader, especially in the professional Linux workstation space, and there are lot of people who either would end up not using Linux or using Linux with X without it, including a lot of Red Hat customers and Fedora users. And that is what I and my team are here for at the end of the day, to make sure Red Hat customers are able to get their job done using their Linux systems.

          Lightweight kiosk mode
          One of the wonderful things about open source is the constant flow of code and innovation between all the different parts of the ecosystem. For instance one thing we on the RHEL side have often been asked about over the last few years is a lightweight and simple to use solution for people wanting to run single application setups, like information boards, ATM machines, cash registers, information kiosks and so on. For many use cases people felt that running a full GNOME 3 desktop underneath their application was either to resource hungry and or created a risk that people accidentally end up in the desktop session. At the same time from our viewpoint as a development team we didn’t want a completely separate stack for this use case as that would just increase our maintenance burden as we would end up having to do a lot of things twice. So to solve this problem Ray Strode spent some time writing what we call GNOME Kiosk mode which makes setting up a simple session running single application easy and without running things like the GNOME shell, tracker, evolution etc. This gives you a window manager with full support for the latest technologies such as compositing, libinput and Wayland, but coming in at about 18MB, which is about 71MB less than a minimal GNOME 3 desktop session. You can read more about the new Kiosk mode and how to use it in this great blog post from our savvy Edge Computing Product Manager Ben Breard. The kiosk mode session described in Ben’s article about RHEL will be available with Fedora Workstation 35.

        • Camel K Brings Apache Camel to Kubernetes for Event-Driven Architectures – The New Stack

          Applications have increasingly relied on event-driven architectures (EDAs) in recent years, especially with the advent of serverless and microservices. EDAs decouple an event from the subsequent actions that may follow, as opposed to traditional linear architectures, where an event might be processed in that same code. This decoupling makes EDA processes able to be independently scaled and, while EDA does not strictly require microservices or serverless, the respective loose coupling and the on-demand nature is a perfect fit.

          In the cloud native world, the focus might often be on the serverless side of things, with Knative or Lambda taking the spotlight, but, as the name might imply, event-driven architecture is nothing without events. Apache Camel K takes Apache Camel, the fundamental piece of enterprise integration software that first came around as a sort of codification of the 2003 book Enterprise Integration Patterns, and brings it to Kubernetes, providing EDA with a multitude of event sources, explained Keith Babo, Director of Product Management at Red Hat.

        • Automated Live – A Red Hat video collection

          Watch Colin and his trusty tech guru Sean discuss how the Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform can help improve your business processes and scale for the future.

        • Shenandoah in OpenJDK 17: Sub-millisecond GC pauses | Red Hat Developer

          Our primary motivation for the Shenandoah OpenJDK garbage collection (GC) project is to reduce garbage collection pause times. In JDK 12, we released the original Shenandoah garbage collector, which implements concurrent heap evacuation, which solved the major problem of cleaning (potentially large) heaps without stopping the application. This version was eventually backported to JDK 11. In JDK 14, we implemented concurrent class unloading, and in JDK 16, we added concurrent reference processing, both of which further reduced pause times in those garbage collection operations. The remaining garbage collection operation under pause was thread-stack processing, which we’ve solved in JDK 17.

          This article introduces the new concurrent thread-stack processing in Shenandoah GC. Processing thread stacks concurrently gives us reliable sub-millisecond pauses in JDK 17.

        • Applying DevSecOps practices to Kubernetes: security analysis and remediation

          This post explores implementing DevSecOps principles to improve Kubernetes security analysis and remediation across the full development life cycle.

        • The Enterprisers Project’s 8th anniversary: What’s next for CIO role? | The Enterprisers Project

          At the Enterprisers Project, we have a clear mission: Help CIOs and IT leaders solve problems. That means not only the technology challenges but also the leadership and career varieties. Our IT leadership community succeeds largely because of all your generosity – in sharing real-world lessons learned with your peers. And what unparalleled lessons they were in 2021.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

        • First Look: Ubuntu 21.10 Default Wallpaper Revealed

          As expected, the new background doesn’t deviate too far from the traditional template and continues the trend of putting a large animal mascot face at the center of a purple and orange gradient…

          You may notice that the mascot artwork (of the Indri itself) is less stylised than in previous releases.

          We’ve had oodles of origami-inspired icons (Yakkety Yak, Zesty Zapus); ample angular and/or geometric motifs (Groovy Gorilla, Disco Dingo); and a clutch of companions composed entirely of intersecting concentric rings (Bionic Beaver, Cosmic Cuttlefish, Eoan Ermine, Hirsute Hippo).

        • Linux Mint’s New Website is Live (And Yes, It Looks Fresh)

          A brand-new Linux Mint website has gone live.

          Mint devs said that a revamped homepage was in the work, even inviting the community to get involved in shaping the form and function of it. All of that hardwork has paid off as the new Linux Mint website is online.

          And it’s looking great…

        • Ubuntu to Make Firefox Snap Default in 21.10

          Ubuntu plans to make the Firefox Snap the default version for new installations of Ubuntu 21.10.

          A feature freeze exception (FFE) filed by Canonical’s Olivier Tilloy will replace the Firefox .deb package in the Ubuntu ‘seed’ with the Snap version. He writes: “Per Canonical’s distribution agreement with Mozilla, we’re making the snap the default installation of firefox on desktop ISOs starting with Ubuntu 21.10.”

          Firefox is currently distributed via the Ubuntu repos as a deb package. If this feature freeze request is granted users who install Ubuntu 21.10 next month will find the official Snap version of the vaunted web browser there, in its place.

        • Ubuntu Blog: Snap Performance Skunk Works – Ensuring speed and consistency for snaps

          Snaps are used on desktop machines, servers and IoT devices. However, it’s the first group that draws the most attention and scrutiny. Due to the graphic nature of desktop applications, users are often more attuned to potential problems and issues that may arise in the desktop space than with command-line tools or software running in the background.

          Application startup time is one of the common topics of discussion in the Snapcraft forums, as well as the wider Web. The standalone, confined nature of snaps means that their startup procedure differs from the classic Linux programs (like those installed via Deb or RPM files). Often, this can translate into longer startup times, which are perceived negatively. Over the years, we have talked about the various mechanisms and methods introduced into the snaps ecosystem, designed to provide performance benefits: font cache improvements, compression algorithm change, and others. Now, we want to give you a glimpse of a Skunk Works* operation inside Canonical, with focus on snaps and startup performance.

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • It’s time enterprise businesses place their complete trust in open source

        Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) made an important announcement this week. Said announcement was that its managed services had achieved MSP Cloud Verify Certification (MSPCV). According to the company, “The certification further strengthens Canonical’s industry-leading open source offering, reassuring customers in all industries that they can securely consume open source in a regulated fashion that complies with all the industry standards and best practices.”

        Canonical also mentioned in its PR material that 85% of enterprise businesses have an open source mandate to increase agility and reduce costs.

        At the same time, Canonical announced the availability of Ubuntu Livepatch on-prem, which is an enhancement to the Ubuntu Livepatch service and provides the basis for an efficient, but fine-tuned continuous vulnerability management on private, hybrid or public clouds.

      • Success at Apache: from Mentee to PMC

        This post is about how I became a committer and a Project Management Committee (PMC) member of Apache Airflow, and provides guidance to those new to programming, are new to contributing to open-source projects, and want to become committers and PMC members in their respective Apache projects.

        About a year and a half after changing my career from electrical engineering to software development, I became a committer and a Project Management Committee member of Apache Airflow. Becoming a committer and a PMC member is a reward and a kind of validation that you are on the right part of your journey.

        On February 16, 2021, I accepted an invitation to become a committer in Apache Airflow. It came as a surprise, as I was not expecting it. Six months down the line, I received another surprise invitation to become a PMC member in Apache Airflow.

        These are impressive feats for me because before contributing to Apache Airflow, I didn’t have experience working with other programmers. I was making websites and taught a few friends of mine how to make their own. I didn’t have a mentor, and no one has ever seen my code to advise whether to continue on my journey or drop the idea of becoming a programmer.

        While I desired to work with experienced programmers to improve my skills, I feared people seeing my code would talk me down. I almost gave up on my journey only to come across an Outreachy post on Twitter looking for interns for open source projects. Outreachy is a tech diversity program that provides three months of paid, remote internships to people underrepresented in tech.

      • Web Browsers

        • Mozilla

          • The Great Resignation: New gig? Here are 7 tips to ensure success [Ed: Who does the Firefox blog consider to be its target audience, Mozilla?]

            If recent surveys and polls ring true, over 40% of the global workforce is considering leaving their employer this year. Despite COVID-19 causing initial turnover due to the related economic downturn, the current phenomenon coined “The Great Resignation” is attributed to the many job seekers choosing to leave their current employment voluntarily. Mass vaccinations and mask mandates have allowed offices to re-open just as job seekers are reassessing work-life balance, making bold moves to take control of where they choose to live and work.

            [...]

            As the Great Resignation continues, it is important to keep in mind that getting a new job is just the start of the journey. There are important steps that you can do, and Firefox and Pocket can help, to make sure that you feel ready for your next career adventure.

          • Firefox Suggest is a New Search Feature of Mozilla’s Web Browser [Ed: Miss the point that this is Mozilla pushing ads ("sponsored") under the guise of "suggest" into Firefox]

            Mozilla announced that it’s adding recommendations to the URL bar in Firefox through a new feature called Firefox Suggest.

            Firefox Suggest is a new custom search and sponsored suggestions feature of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser. The last month Mozilla is quietly testing Firefox Suggest on a limited number of users in the US. Now Mozilla is rolling out a Firefox Suggest feature to all.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

        • LibreOffice 7.2 Gets First Point Release, More Than 85 Bugs Were Fixed

          Released less than a month ago, the LibreOffice 7.2 office suite has been already adopted by hundreds of thousands of computer users as it’s another great release of the popular, cross-platform and free office suite that continues to improve the interoperability with the MS Office document formats.

          Now, LibreOffice 7.2.1 is here as the first maintenance update to the LibreOffice 7.2 series, fixing as many as 87 bugs across all core components. Detailed about these bug fixes are provided in the changelogs from the RC1 and RC2 development milestones.

        • LibreOffice 7.2.1 Community available for download

          LibreOffice 7.2.1 Community, the first minor release of the LibreOffice 7.2 family targeted at technology enthusiasts and power users, is available for download from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/. This version includes 87 bug fixes and improvements to document compatibility.

          For enterprise-class deployments, TDF strongly recommends the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners, with long-term support options, professional assistance, custom features and Service Level Agreements: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-in-business/.

      • CMS

        • Create a live chat support system with this remarkable Libra solution: LiveHelperChat

          An interactive chat widget embedded in a website or a web app provides a direct communication live channel between the customer (visitor/ user) and the service provider.

          Chat widgets are reliable and easy support channels and ticket sources for many enterprise ticketing and support systems.

          Some CRM solutions have integrated LiveChat support systems and support ticket management solution. We covered 23 open-source CRM solutions here, we recommend checking them out.

          While many embedded chat widgets come as SaaS, our topic of the day LiveHelperChat is free and open-source.

          [...]

          LiveHelperChat is generously released under Apache-2.0 License (Open-source).

      • Programming/Development

        • Generate a minimal GStreamer build, tailored to your needs

          GStreamer is a powerful multimedia framework with over 30 libraries and more than 1600 elements in 230 plugins providing a wide variety of functionality. This makes it possible to build a huge variety of applications, however it also makes it tricky to ship in a constrained device. Luckily, most applications only use a subset of this functionality, and up until now there wasn’t an easy way to generate a build with just enough GStreamer for a specific application.

          Thanks to a partnership with Huawei, you can now use gst-build to generate a minimal GStreamer build, tailored to a specific application, or set of applications. In this blog post, we’ll look at the major changes that have been introduced in GStreamer to make this possible, and provide a small example of what can be achieved with minimal, custom builds.

        • How to reach craftsmanship? – vanitasvitae’s blog

          I also taught myself coding. Well, I learned the basics of Java programming in school, but I kept on learning beyond that. My first projects were the typical mess that you’d expect from a beginner which has no idea what they are doing. Later I studied computer science and now I’m just a few credit points away from getting my masters degree. Yet, the university is not the place where you learn to code. They do teach you the basics of how a computer works, what a compiler is and even the theory behind creating your own compilers, but they hardly teach you how to write *good* code.

        • Perl/Raku

        • Python

          • Debugging by starting a REPL at a breakpoint is fun

            Hello! I was talking to a Python programmer friend yesterday about debugging, and I mentioned that I really like debugging using a REPL. He said he’d never tried it and that it sounded fun, so I thought I’d write a quick post about it.

            This debugging method doesn’t work in a lot of languages, but it does work in Python and Ruby and kiiiiiind of in C (via gdb).

          • Crunch numbers in Python with NumPy | Opensource.com

            NumPy, or Numerical Python, is a library that makes it easy to do statistical and set operations on linear series and matrices in Python. It is orders of magnitude faster than Python lists, which I covered in my notes on Python Data Types. NumPy is used quite frequently in data analysis and scientific calculations.

            I’m going to go over installing NumPy, and then creating, reading, and sorting NumPy arrays. NumPy arrays are also called ndarrays, short for n-dimensional arrays.

          • How I patched Python to include this great Ruby feature

            Ruby, unlike Python, makes lots of things implicit, and there’s a special kind of if expression that demonstrates this well. It’s often referred to as an “inline-if” or “conditional modifier”, and this special syntax is able to return one value when a condition is true, but another value (nil, specifically) when a condition is false.

        • Java

          • Oracle sets its own JDK free, sort of, for a while

            Oracle this week made Oracle JDK “available for free,” for personal, commercial and production use, including quarterly security updates, for a limited time.

            “Free” in this context means the software is now licensed under the Oracle No-Fee Terms and Conditions (NFTC) license, having been previously under the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) License Agreement for Oracle Java SE.

            But “free” does not mean developers may do as they please. Oracle’s NFTC forbids redistribution of its Java software for a fee.

            “Free” also does not mean the NFTC license conforms with the Free Software Definition or the Open Source Definition, both of which require allowing fee-based distribution.

            “Even though it is ‘free to use’ – although not really totally free to use, since commercial use isn’t free to use – that is extremely different from Free Software and Open Source,” said Jim Jagielski, an open source veteran who helped co-found the Apache Software Foundation and now oversees open source at Salesforce.

  • Leftovers

    • Hardware

      • Ask Hackaday: What’s the Best Way To Heat a Tent with a Laptop?

        My Hackaday articles are either cranked out on an Asus Chromebook or a 2017-vintage Dell Intel i7 laptop. The Asus isn’t up to much in the heat stakes because it’s designed as a low-power machine with a frugal battery life, but the Dell by comparison is capable of spinning up its fan at the slightest notice. Aside from its four processor cores it has a spinning-rust disk drive that can get nice and toasty, a DVD drive that must be good for a bit of heat, and a nice big LCD that sadly I wasn’t using for heat-making because I needed to sleep. So with Folding@home I was not really using the laptop’s full potential because I was only lighting up the CPU. At idle it used 10W, which Folding@home could push up to 31W. Could I find an algorithm or a piece of software that might push it closer to the limit? Perhaps I could mine a cryptocurrency, maybe farm Chia to warm up that disk drive instead of Folding@home, but it’s worth pointing out that a 2017 Dell with an Intel chipset isn’t going to make me a millionaire.

      • Farewell Sir Clive Sinclair; Inspired a Generation of Engineers

        It is with sadness that we note the passing of the British writer, engineer, home computer pioneer, and entrepreneur, Sir Clive Sinclair, who died this morning at the age of 81 after a long illness.

        [...]

        Through the 1980s the computer business foundered and was sold to rival Alan Sugar’s Amstrad, though the Sinclair inventing streak remained undimmed. His C5 electric vehicle was a commercial failure, but it led to his producing a range of electric bicycle add-on products into the ’90s that forestalled today’s electric bike boom by several decades. He wasn’t quite finished with computers though, as his Cambridge Z88 of 1987 was an LCD portable that ran from AA batteries and provided useful on-the-road office facilities.

        Aside from an array of always interesting but sometimes under-engineered technology products, Sir Clive’s true legacy lies in the generations who benefited from his work. Whether he introduced them to electronics in the 1960s through his writing, or introduced them to computing in the 1980s though the magic of Sinclair Basic, he delivered the impossible straight from science fiction to an affordable Christmas present. There is a whole cohort of engineers and software developers in the UK and other countries whose first experience of a computer had a Sinclair logo and who learned about memory mapping the ZX way. For us Sir Clive’s companies and products provided a career and a lifelong interest, and there will be few other individuals with such a lasting effect on us. Clive Sinclair, thank you!

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Pseudo-Open Source

        • Security

          • Security updates for Thursday [LWN.net]

            Security updates have been issued by Debian (sssd), Fedora (libtpms and vim), openSUSE (kernel and php7-pear), Oracle (kernel), Slackware (curl), and Ubuntu (libgcrypt20 and squashfs-tools).

          • Travis CI flaw exposed secrets of thousands of open source projects [Ed: Hidden cost of bloat, but Microsoft-funded Ars 'Tech'nica spins this as an "Open Source" problem]

            A security flaw in Travis CI potentially exposed the secrets of thousands of open source projects that rely on the hosted continuous integration service. Travis CI is a software-testing solution used by over 900,000 open source projects and 600,000 users. A vulnerability in the tool made it possible for secure environment variables—signing keys, access credentials, and API tokens of all public open source projects—to be exfiltrated.

          • Travis CI flaw exposed secrets of thousands of open source projects (ars technica) [LWN.net]

            Any project storing secrets in this service would be well advised to replace them.

          • The long-term consequences of maintainers’ actions – Ariadne’s Space

            OpenSSL 3 has entered Alpine, and we have been switching software to use it over the past week. While OpenSSL 1.1 is not going anywhere any time soon, it will eventually leave the distribution, once it no longer has any dependents. I mostly bring this up because it highlights a few examples of maintainers not thinking about the big picture, let me explain.

            First, the good news: in distribution-wide rebuilds, we already know that the overwhelming majority of packages in Alpine build just fine with OpenSSL 3, when individually built against it. Roughly 85% of main builds just fine with OpenSSL 3, and 89% of community builds with it. The rebuild effort is off to a good start.

            Major upgrades to OpenSSL are not without their fallout, however. In many cases, we cannot upgrade packages to use OpenSSL 3 because they have dependencies which themselves cannot yet be built with OpenSSL 3. So, that 15% of main ultimately translates to 30-40% of main once you take into account dependencies like curl, which builds just fine with OpenSSL 3, but has hundreds of dependents, some of which don’t.

            A major example of this is mariadb. It has been known that OpenSSL 3 was on the horizon for over 4 years now, and that the OpenSSL 3 release would remove support for the classical OpenSSL programming approach of touching random internals. However, they are just now beginning to update their OpenSSL support to use the modern APIs. Because of this, we wound up having to downgrade dozens of packages which would otherwise have supported OpenSSL 3 just fine, because the maintainers of those packages did their part and followed the OpenSSL deprecation warnings as they showed up in OpenSSL releases. MariaDB is a highly profitable company, who do business with the overwhelming majority of the Fortune 500 companies. But yet, when OpenSSL 3 releases started to be cut, they weren’t ready, and despite having years of warning they’re still not, which accordingly limits what packages can get the OpenSSL 3 upgrade as a result.

          • Level up your digital security hygiene! Cybersec Charcha #5

            By popular demand from our staff and community members, this edition of cybersec charcha will explore the basic digital security hygiene practices everyone should follow and how they protect your information from falling into the wrong hands.

            As attacks like Pegasus gain more limelight and become part of public knowledge, many of us feel that there is nothing we can do to protect ourselves. And currently, this stands true for sophisticated attacks like Pegasus. However, it’s important to remain cognizant that every time someone’s data is compromised, it’s not because they were targeted with a military grade spyware. It’s crucial for us to be aware of our personal threat levels. This threat level can be determined through a process called Threat Modelling.

          • Microsoft Releases Security Update for Azure Linux Open Management Infrastructure [Ed: This is how CISA covers Microsoft ‘bug doors’ inside Linux]

            Microsoft has released an update to address a remote code execution vulnerability in Azure Linux Open Management Infrastructure (OMI). An attacker could use this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.

          • Drupal Releases Multiple Security Updates

            Drupal has released security updates to address multiple vulnerabilities affecting Drupal 8.9, 9.1, and 9.2. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

          • New Go malware Capoae targets WordPress installs, Linux systems [Ed: Charlatans and frauds at ZDNet now try to blame some malware that targets WordPress on “Linux” and on the programming language the malware is written in (Go); this isn’t journalism and it’s even lower than tabloid level. Part of a trend. Imagine ZDNet blaming Photoshop holes on Windows and on C++ (if some malware is coded in that language).]
          • Democracy Now: NSO Group Spies Secretly Seized Control of Apple Devices by Exploiting Flaw in Code – The Citizen Lab

            Ron Deibert joined Democracy Now to discuss how Citizen Lab research of a zero-click zero-day exploit—used by NSO Group—led Apple to issue a patch to over 1.65 billion products.

          • Theory confirmed: Lumen Black Lotus Labs discovers Linux executable files have been deployed as stealth Windows loaders [Ed: WSL was always a security joke; it's compromised, totally controlled by Microsoft, and only a fool would call that "Linux"]
          • Theory confirmed: Lumen Black Lotus Labs discovers Linux executable files have been deployed as stealth Windows loaders [Ed: They've paid to spread this misleading thing which conflates WSL with "Linux"]
          • ACSC Releases Annual Cyber Threat Report

            The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released its annual report on key cyber security threats and trends for the 2020–21 financial year.

            The report lists the exploitation of the pandemic environment, the disruption of essential services and critical infrastructure, ransomware, the rapid exploitation of security vulnerabilities, and the compromise of business email as last year’s most significant threats.

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • Jamaica is poised to end data privacy

              Last week, Renae Green was glancing over the latest version of Jamaica’s draft digital ID bill when she came across a section of text that made her uneasy.

              Green, the executive director of the trans rights nonprofit TransWave Jamaica, had been following the twists and turns of a years-long political effort to roll out a digital ID system that would provide Jamaicans with a national identity card while collecting their personal information and biometric data. The latest attempt would require any Jamaican who wants to apply for an ID to give authorities documentation showing their sex assigned at birth, which would be displayed on the back of the card.

              Green fears that this requirement could create considerable risks by “outing” trans Jamaicans who don’t identify with their sex assigned at birth, exposing them to possible discrimination and violence while they use the card in their daily lives.

    • Finance

      • Anti-laundering unit goes off-grid, fraying Afghan ties to global finance

        A unit in Afghanistan’s central bank leading a 15-year effort to counter illicit funding flows has halted operations, four staff members said, threatening to hasten the country’s slide out of the global financial system.

        Since 2006, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Afghanistan (FinTRACA) has gathered intelligence on thousands of suspicious transactions and helped convict smugglers and terrorist financiers, according to its website.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • So, Why Are Hyperlinks Blue, Anyway?

        You’ve no doubt noticed by now that while some links are gold and/or bold, most links out there are blue, especially on web pages of yore. But why? the TL;DR answer is that the Mosaic browser, released in early 1993 used blue links, and since the browser was widely distributed, blue just became the norm. Okay, fine. But why did they choose blue? That’s a question that requires a deep dive into technology through the ages as the Web and personal computing developed in tandem.

    • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

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