Distributions and Operating Systems

• Devices/Embedded

  • Linux Gizmos ☛ Blues introduces dev kits for IoT solutions

    Last month, Blues launched various products in a Notecard (System-on-Module) form-factor which offer multiple connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, LoRa and Cellular connectivity. The company is also offering compatible kits which provide sensors, I/O ports for expansion and battery connectors for portability.

• Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Google releases Android 14 and updates to features for Pixel devices

    The Android team at Google LLC has been busy behind the scenes working on Android 14 and with its public release today, it’s coming with a number of new features that will enhance customization and device control for users.

  • Cloudbooklet ☛ Android 14: Everything You Need to Know about Google’s Update in 2023

    Google has recently launched Android 14, the latest version of its mobile operating system. This update comes with a range of new features and improvements that are designed to enhance the user experience.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Google unveils Pixel 8 phones powered by new Tensor G3 chips

    Google LLC today launched its new flagship Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro flagship phones – powered by a new AI-focused chip — alongside the Pixel Watch 2, bringing a raft of new artificial intelligence features capabilities across its line of devices.

Leftovers

• Tedium ☛ Your Phone Will Ring Soon

  Ahead of the high-profile EAS test taking place today, here are a bunch of fake EAS videos on YouTube to entertain you.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Structuring ideas when blogging

  The freeform web made it easier than ever for people to share their written ideas. Blogging added structure, which had two important benefits:

  It made sites easier to understand, navigate, and explore. Once you understand the rough layout and structure of one blog, you could grok others.

  They could be parsed by machines, and presented in other ways. CSS promised to separate presentation from content; in reality it was RSS that did it.

• Science

  • The Straits Times ☛ China to double size of space station, touts it as alternative to Nasa-led station

    China plans to offer its expanded space station to other nations as an alternative platform for near-Earth missions.

• Education

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kong university chief denies allegations of 'money-laundering'

    Concerns have been raised over the management of a 10 million yuan scholarship donation and hiring practices

  • The Straits Times ☛ Star lecturers, hagwon probed over buying college entrance exam questions in South Korea

    Megastudy, Daesung Hagwon and maths lecturer Hyun Woo-jin among those under investigation.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ UP Squared i12 Edge is a compact, yet feature-rich, fanless Alder Lake-P mini PC

    UP Squared i12 Edge is a compact fanless mini PC powered by 12th Generation Intel Alder Lake-P processors from the Celeron 7305E penta-core CPU up to an Intel Core i7-1270PE 12-core processor, but still a good range of ports and features. Based on the UP Squared i12 SBC introduced earlier this year, the UP Squared i12 edge mini PC comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and features a 64GB or 128GB SSD soldered on board, plus an M.2 2280 NVMe socket and a SATA port for additional storage.

  • The Next Platform ☛ Intel To Set Its FPGA Unit Free To Pursue Its Own Path

    Maybe Intel chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has spent too much time at EMC and VMware.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Reason ☛ Both Parties Agree the Marijuana Industry Status Quo Is Untenable

    The SAFER Banking Act is trying to address dual legality of cannabis laws between the federal government and the 38 states that have some form of legal cannabis.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysians urged to hydrate, stay indoors to limit exposure to haze

    Short-term exposure could result in acute bronchitis symptoms such as cough and chest tightness.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Fukushima nuclear plant starts 2nd release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea

    Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has begun releasing a second batch of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea after the first round of discharges ended smoothly. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings says workers activated a pump on Thursday to dilute the treated water with large amounts of seawater, slowly sending the mixture into the ocean. The plant’s first wastewater release began Aug. 24 and ended Sept. 11. The wastewater discharges, which are expected to continue for decades, have been strongly opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries including South Korea, where hundreds of people have staged protest rallies. China banned all imports of Japanese seafood, badly hurting Japanese seafood exporters.

  • Digital Music News ☛ The Changing Face of K-pop: SM Entertainment Accused of Forcing Artists to Get Plastic Surgery

    K-pop idol Kyuhyun of the group Super Junior says SM Entertainment forced him to undergo plastic surgery — or get dropped. The damning revelation comes from Kyuhyun, a well-known South Korean idol and member of the k-pop group Super Junior. Though perhaps he’s simply saying the quiet part out loud.

  • BBC ☛ GP burnout: 'I was left feeling like a husk of a human' - BBC News

    A support service for NHS staff reports a 77% rise in doctors seeking help for mental health issues.

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: Game development in GitHub Codespaces [Ed: Alan Pope and Microsoft proprietary software, GPL violator etc.]

    Today I stumbled on a question in the LÖVE subreddit, asking how to have a portable development environment when you have no control over the host PC.

    Quick question. Is it possible to download love onto a flash drive so i can make it portable. I’m asking because I can’t download things at work on my work computer but I’m working on a love project in my spare time for a course I’m taking. I’m new to all this and appreciate any help.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • RFERL ☛ Kazakh Senate Ratifies Deal With China To Exchange Citizens' Personal Data

      Amid concerns of rights watchdogs, the Kazakh Senate ratified on October 5 an agreement with China on the exchange of personal data of their citizens.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Eight killed in Turkish air strikes on Kurdish-held zone in Syria -war monitor, security source

    At least eight people have been killed in Turkish drone strikes on Thursday on the Kurdish-held zone of northeast Syria, a war monitor and a local security source said, following Ankara's threats against Kurdish military facilities in Syria and Iraq.

  • University of Michigan ☛ UMich DPSS 2023 Security and Fire Report shows uptick in reported sex crimes

    Content warning: Mentions of sexual assault and misconduct. The University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security released its 2023 Security and Fire Safety Report over the weekend.

  • New York Times ☛ New Testimony in Tupac Murder Case Describes What Led to Fatal Shooting

    Grand jury witness testimony describes how hyperlocal clashes between warring gang factions spilled into a fatal dispute that would alter the course of hip-hop history.

  • The Strategist ☛ The defence gaps in Australia’s emerging grand strategies

    The world is again a dangerous place.

  • RFA ☛ Seoul, Tokyo reopen strategic diplomatic channels amid nuke threats

    Thursday’s meeting extends collaboration beyond military and finance.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea halts nuclear reactor, likely to extract bomb fuel: Report

    Reprocessing of spent fuel rods is a step taken before plutonium is extracted.

  • The Strategist ☛ Japan’s struggle to sell its ideals in the Pacific

    Geopolitics in the Pacific islands has become increasingly crowded and complex.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China condemns Philippine re-supply mission to disputed atoll

    China has told the Philippines to tow the vessel away, but Manila has rejected the demand.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s foreign minister criticises ‘lies’ about Tibet

    China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said lies fabricated by "some western forces" about Tibet are untenable and based on ideological bias.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Philippine boats breach a Chinese coast guard blockade in a faceoff near a disputed shoal

    Two Philippine supply boats have breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in the South China Sea in a recurring confrontation near a disputed shoal some fear could spark a larger security crisis that could draw in the United States. Two Philippine coast guard ships escorted the smaller supply boats on Wednesday. But it wasn't immediately clear whether the ships were blocked by the Chinese coast guard from coming closer to the Second Thomas Shoal. A small contingent of Filipino marines has stood guard there for years aboard a long-marooned but still actively commissioned warship. China also claims the shoal and has surrounded it with its coast guard ships and militia vessels in a years-long standoff.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • WhichUK ☛ Which? reveals Britain's greenest banks

      You're using less energy at home, cutting back on flights and recycling your rubbish, but is your bank letting you down on sustainability?

    • Atlantic Council ☛ What’s next in the two-front war against climate change and energy insecurity?

      Electrification is a powerful weapon in the battles against climate change and the weaponization of energy supply. To improve overall system reliability and resilience, the United States and European Union must decarbonize, meet new consumer and industrial demands, and expand transmission capacity.

    • New York Times ☛ Diesel Prices Could Keep Inflation High

      The cost of the fuel has been rising in recent weeks and could spike this winter because of supply problems, analysts warn.

    • New York Times ☛ Nio Loses $35,000 a Car. That Should Scare the U.S. and Europe.

      Chinese electric vehicle companies like Nio are pulling ever further ahead, partly through government support but also rapid technological advances.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ In Australia's Outback, Indigenous Voice proposal struggles to inspire

    In this dusty corner of the Outback, Tarna Andrews sat in the local schoolyard and rolled off a catalogue of problems afflicting her largely Indigenous community: Lack of jobs.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Firms already in Hong Kong among those drawn by gov’t push to boost tech sector; up to 80% from mainland China

    Firms long established in Hong Kong were among 30 “strategic enterprises” that finance chief Paul Chan has said were attracted to the city following the government’s move to draw international innovation and technology (I&T) companies. Most of them came from mainland China.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s economic slowdown ‘not a dramatic crisis,’ UN trade chief says

    Concerns about China’s economic troubles are being exaggerated and Beijing still has plenty of fiscal headroom, the United Nations’s trade and development chief said Wednesday. China’s ballooning property-sector crisis has seen several high-profile firms engulfed in debt, fuelling fears about the country’s wider economy and a possible spillover globally.

  • RFA ☛ Soft power billions seek ‘consent’

    US State Department warns Beijing is throwing massive sums at furthering its aims and Taiwan is on the frontline.

  • RFA ☛ ‘Lying flat’: Song about being young and poor goes viral in China

    The buzz phrase is a concern for the ruling Communist Party amid mass unemployment and a sense of hopelessness.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Digital Music News ☛ Meta’s Facebook, Instagram Heading Toward Paid Plans in Europe

    Meta is looking to introduce ad-free subscription plans for Facebook and Instagram users in Europe in a move to comply with European Union regulations surrounding its use of personalized ads.

  • France24 ☛ European security summit in Spain clouded by Azerbaijan snub

    Europe's quest to build a common geopolitical purpose brought four dozen of its leaders to Granada on Thursday, but its credibility suffered a blow when the Azerbaijani president stayed away.

  • RFA ☛ Patriot missile plan stirs debate in Palau

    Palau President Whipps said a U.S. missile defense system would be for security not aggression.

  • RFERL ☛ Notorious Criminal Kingpin Killed In Special Operation In Bishkek

    Kyrgyz security officers have killed notorious organized-crime figure Kamchy Kolbaev (aka Kamchybek Asanbek), who was added by Washington to a list of major global drug-trafficking suspects in 2011.

  • New York Times ☛ Blinken, Garland and Mayorkas Land in Mexico to Tackle Range of Issues

    The secretary of state, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas plan to meet with Mexico’s leader and other officials to cement strategy.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • RFA ☛ China bashes Japan press for hyping inbound Chinese tourist figures

      The attacks come as Japan releases more treated radioactive water.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong film star Chow Yun-fat laments Chinese censorship at South Korea film festival

    Busan, South Korea Hong Kong film legend Chow Yun-fat on Thursday lamented China’s “difficult” censorship while conceding the mainland market’s crucial financial importance for filmmakers.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Books by Japanese feminist gain traction in China despite censorship

    Japanese feminist scholar Chizuko Ueno’s books have helped keep feminism in mainstream conversations in China amid increasing censorship. Ms. Ueno does not directly write about China, but is highly critical of societal expectations of women and misogyny.

  • RFA ☛ Myanmar No. 2 in world for violations of internet freedom: report

    The jailing of a popular hip-hop singer illustrates the severity of the crackdown on online critics.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Press photographer charged after altercation with police officer at scene of fatal car fire

    Dimitris Legakis had about £6,000 worth of equipment seized by police that has not yet been returned.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • University of Michigan ☛ UAW should proceed cautiously to protect the future of American autoworkers

    The ongoing United Autoworkers strike has captivated the nation, constituting a reckoning in the fight between organized labor and big business. With the country’s most powerful leaders weighing in and President Joe Biden joining the picket line, negotiations couldn’t be tenser.

  • France24 ☛ More than 75,000 US health care workers begin three day strike

    Tens of thousands of health care workers in the United States walked off the job Wednesday, beginning one of the sector's largest strikes in recent history, as America's year of labor discontent rolled on.

  • CS Monitor ☛ ‘The thrill of discovery was gone.’ After strikes, will movies get creative?

    After past strikes, writers with original scripts found themselves in demand. Will there be a boom in creativity in Hollywood?

  • CS Monitor ☛ Health care workers on strike in five states. What do they want?

    More than 75,000 nurses and technicians are picketing Kaiser Permanente hospitals in five states, pushing for staff and wage increases. Appointments and non-urgent procedures may be temporarily delayed, but hospitals and emergency rooms will stay open.

  • JURIST ☛ UK Health Secretary to ban trans women from female NHS wards

    UK Health Secretary Steve Barclay announced plans to ban transgender women from female NHS wards Wednesday. He claimed the changes will ensure respect for patients’ “privacy, dignity, and safety” but did not elaborate on how the changes would impact transgender patients.

  • JURIST ☛ Pennsylvania inmates sue state corrections department over ‘torturous’ solitary confinement conditions

    A group of five Pennsylvania inmates sued the state’s Department of Corrections and its employees, according to a Tuesday announcement from the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ APNIC celebrates 30 years: Part 4 — Rundown to final /8 and the birth of IPv6

    How the community made policy changes in the face of inevitable IPv4 exhaustion

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Netflix Reportedly Planning Another Price Hike — Increases at Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu Confirmed [Ed: DRM swindles are taking away all the things you thought you bought unless you pay more and more and more]

    While Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ all have price hikes on the horizon, WSJ reports Netflix plans to raise its prices after the SAG-AFTRA strike ends. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Netflix is planning to raise the price of its ad-free tier a few months after the SAG-AFTRA strike ends.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Another Round of Layoffs Hit Twitch As Competitors Shine

    Twitch has announced a second round of layoffs that will impact employees this year as the streaming giant struggles to gain traction. The Amazon-owned, gaming-focused streaming giant was hit by a round of layoffs in March 2023, affecting about 400 people across the company.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Amazon Unplugs AMP Live Radio Less Than Two Years After Starting

    Less than two years after getting into the live radio game, Amazon wants out. A new report says Amazon AMP is getting unplugged. According to that Bloomberg report, Amazon Music Vice President Steve Boom sent an internal memo announcing the shutdown to staff.

• Monopolies

  • CS Monitor ☛ Big Tech monopolies? Amazon suit broadens an antitrust revival.

    Are consumers harmed by the dominance of Amazon, Google, and Facebook? Their market power stirs renewed antitrust activism, even if the charges against them may be difficult to prove.

  • Patents

    • European Commission ☛ Speech by President von der Leyen at the 50th anniversary of the European Patent Convention, via video message [Ed: EPO is a den of corruption and crime, and moreover the EU officials helped it start an illegal, unconstitutional court, disgracing the EU as a whole]

    • JUVE ☛ Ones to Watch in Dutch patent litigation 2023 [Ed: Spam disguised as reporting from a corrupt site that took bribes to produce fake (false) "news" and lobby for totally illegal agenda]

    • Input on the United States Government National Standards Strategy for CET – Part 2

      This post first appeared on SEP Essentials.

    • Unified Patents ☛ $10,000 for IP Edge entity, Communication Advances, video/image patents prior art

      Unified added 5 new PATROLL contests, with a $2,000 cash prize for each, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Communication Advances, LLC, an NPE and IP Edge entity. The patents generally relate to video and image processing. The patents have been asserted against Roku. The contests will end on November 30, 2023. Please visit PATROLL for more information or click on each link below.