●● IRC: #techbytes @ Techrights IRC Network: Friday, March 10, 2023 ●● ● Mar 10 [08:35] *veratrate has quit (Ping timeout: 120 seconds) ● Mar 10 [09:14] schestowitz[TR]
  • [09:14] schestowitz[TR]
    Portenta X8 in Arduino IoT Cloud
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    You may have heard about Portenta X8 for its flexibility of usage of Linux combined with real-time applications through the Arduino environment.

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    But now, a new set of features have been added to Portenta X8 thanks to its brand-new Arduino Python container. Update your board with the latest image (here is a tutorial showing how to do so) and start exploiting a wide range of unique functionalities: [...]

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    • [09:14] schestowitz[TR] [09:14] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-blog.arduino.cc | Portenta X8 in Arduino IoT Cloud | Arduino Blog [09:36] schestowitz[TR]
  • [09:36] schestowitz[TR]
    Point, Shoot, and Forget
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    It was promoted at the time as a new ideaand some elements, like the use of 35mm film, certainly were new additions to the equation. And the cameras could be dropped off at the same camera shop where you got all your other photos developed, necessary due to the then-prevalence of one-hour photo shops.

    [09:36] schestowitz[TR]

    But in many ways, it was a success story about 100 years in the making. It set the stage for something even more disposable: Digital pictures. (It might have even made Kodak a bit lazy and complacent in the process, but thats a story for another time.)

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    • [09:36] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-tedium.co | Disposable Camera History: Point, Shoot, and Throw Away [09:44] schestowitz[TR] https://patentblog.kluweriplaw.com/2023/03/09/epo-bringing-fun-to-the-teams/ [09:44] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-patentblog.kluweriplaw.com | EPO - Bringing Fun to the Teams - Kluwer Patent Blog [09:44] schestowitz[TR] "EPO family member [09:44] schestowitz[TR] MARCH 9, 2023 AT 3:11 PM [09:44] schestowitz[TR] For those working at the European Patent Office, the arguments used in Bringing our family together are familiar because this is 1:1 the explanation used by EPO management. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Ironically, the author(s) of that text used official EPO communications and explanations provided to examiners in a nearly verbatim manner for writing that text (just exchanging the EPO setup with family members). [09:44] schestowitz[TR] For comparison, the following text was published as an official EPO communication for EPO employees, in order to justify the move from a fixed office to an office-for-a-day for examiners and further EPO employees (this is really the official explanation / reasoning given to examiners and formalities; this is not a joke!): [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Bringing our teams together [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Recent years have seen a seismic shift in the way the EPO functions and in how we choose to work. Our buildings must reflect this new reality. This is first and foremost about making use of our premises in a sustainable way. In light of the Offices commitment to environmental sustainability and the efforts to reduce our energy consumption, it is neither viable nor socially responsible to have large areas of our offices left empty. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] This is why we need to reorganise our workspaces in a more sustainable manner. But these moves have the added benefit of keeping our buildings vibrant and strengthening our sense of belonging by bringing colleagues together. It supports the DG1 transition into technology communities and cross-functional principal directorates. It also gives us the flexibility to adapt to our changing needs. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Preparations for this reorganisation of workspaces in Munich and The Hague are in full swing. Accommodation plans have been reviewed and as of 25 February, several DG1 units will begin to relocate; the plans for other DGs are to follow in due course [09:44] schestowitz[TR] [] [09:44] schestowitz[TR] REPLY [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Divide and Conquer [09:44] schestowitz[TR] MARCH 10, 2023 AT 8:41 AM [09:44] schestowitz[TR] The EPO management will indeed leave the upper floor empty (squeezing the workforce together in the remaining floors), allegedly to save energy. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Apparently the long-term goal of Moving teams together is renting out some of the PschorrHfe buildings, increasing the already astonishing financial surplus of the EPO even further. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] When the New Career System was introduced, the incentives provided to employees with regard to career progression turned out to be detrimental to the working atmosphere, by creating a competition for artificially limited ressources (colleagues became rivals in the annual competition for resources, without which career progression could no longer take place). [09:44] schestowitz[TR] A similarly divisive approach is now being introduced by the upper management for rooms: While some colleagues are allowed to keep their room, many others lose their rooms (not only those who want to work from home anyway, but also many colleagues who like to work in the office the majority of time). This is again divisive and detrimental for the working atmosphere. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] It is the task of the lower managers (the team managers and the directors) to distribute the available rooms and to decide who will lose their rooms. There is a broken link in the managerial hierarchy: Such decisions are taken by the upper management, which instruct the lower management to implement it. However, upper management ignores any feedback from employees (even from the lower management including directors). Furthermore, lo [09:44] schestowitz[TR] wer management was carefully selected. Only those who have an above-average positive view of the situation at the EPO have become team managers or directors. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] REPLY [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Samourai [09:44] schestowitz[TR] MARCH 9, 2023 AT 3:34 PM [09:44] schestowitz[TR] This is what happens when one has a workforce by way much more clever than its management [09:44] schestowitz[TR] REPLY [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Kicked out employee [09:44] schestowitz[TR] MARCH 9, 2023 AT 6:09 PM [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Former PD General Administration was not a fan of the project Bringing Teams Together. She could at least do her maths: how can 30 EPO employees share 10 offices-for-the-day when all of them have to come at least two days per week ? [09:44] schestowitz[TR] VP4 then decided to have another PD General Administration. [09:44] schestowitz[TR] Bringing Teams Together, the project which is actually preventing a whole team to come together to work." ● Mar 10 [10:13] schestowitz[TR]
  • [10:13] schestowitz[TR]
    Senators Are Largely United in Desire to Rewrite Section 230
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    During a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Senate lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle doubled down on calls to gut major provisions of the internets most important legal liability shield. The senators slammed tech companies for allegedly putting profits over user safety and criticized members of the Supreme Court who appeared hesitant to upend Section 230 prote [10:13] schestowitz[TR] ctions during oral arguments last month. Supporters of Section 230 say its provisions are fundamental to the modern internet. Senators disagreed.

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    • [10:13] -TechBytesBot/#techbytes-gizmodo.com | Senators Are Largely United in Desire to Rewrite Section 230 ● Mar 10 [11:30] schestowitz[TR] Richard Stallman wrote on 10/03/2023 04:28: [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > > On the basis of ethics, in various senses, Microsoft is by far worse. To [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > > spare a lot of examples (history of 50 years almost), let's just say [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > > that Microsoft's attack on computing in general, on computer users in [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > > general, and on GNU/Linux is not comparable to what any other company [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > > did. Not even close. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > I don't know what concretely those words refer to -- they are very [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > broad and vague. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > I am judging by the way various software denies people's freedom. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > For instance, the Apple iMonsters don't allow people to install [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > any software that is not approved by Apple. I don't think [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > Microsoft or Google did that. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > On the other hand, Windows has a universal back door, and I don't [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > recall that Apple or Google did that. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > [11:30] schestowitz[TR] > Which is worse? I think it is a tossup. [11:30] schestowitz[TR] Where are many examples where Microsoft is "exceptional", for instance the SCO lawsuit that turned 20 a few days ago (Microsoft funded that lawsuit) and all the patent attacks by Microsoft against GNU/Linux. Those are just two examples among many more. ● Mar 10 [12:27] *u-amarsh04 has quit (Quit: Konversation terminated!) [12:32] *psydroid2 (~psydroid@cbcfptirpkfqa.irc) has joined #techbytes [12:33] *u-amarsh04 (~amarsh04@nqkitbgnqjad4.irc) has joined #techbytes ● Mar 10 [16:17] schestowitz[TR] " [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [LSCTH] Happy women's day 2023! - An invitation to work together towards gender equity at the EPO [16:17] schestowitz[TR] The present publication emanates from Local Staff Committee the Hague which does not have access to mass email. It is re-published via SUEPO in order to reach a larger number of colleagues. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] Dear colleagues, [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] International womens day is celebrated on March 8th: a day to Celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness about discrimination and take action to drive gender parity. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] In 2018 (reflecting the data up to 2017), the administration prepared a document Gender Awareness Report - 2018 containing several indicators which revealed weak points in D&I policies at the Office. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] Since then, the administration has put some measures in place. The staff representation believes that it is the right moment to evaluate the impact of each of the measures taken, and to receive an overview of the present situation as well as an evaluation of the previous policies. Therefore, we requested an update of the Gender Awareness report complemented with an in-depth study on Equality in career, with a specific fo [16:17] schestowitz[TR] cus on the impact of the new career system (NCS) on female colleagues. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] In 2022 the central staff committee described how the NCS still has the effect of widening the gender pay gap. Furthermore, the negative effects of the education allowance and childcare reform on women cannot be underestimated, and there are question marks as to the effects on women of the Bringing Team Together project. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] According to the EPO intranet Diversity & Inclusion intranet page: D&I is naturally embedded in our Offices Mission, Vision and Values. In 2022 we will move to identifying and implementing concrete actions on D&I []. [16:17] schestowitz[TR] [16:17] schestowitz[TR] We welcome the administration to share the concrete actions and progress report, and once again express our willingness to work together towards embracing gender equity at the EPO leaving no one behind." ● Mar 10 [19:39] *psydroid2 has quit (connection closed)