Leftovers

• Jim Nielsen ☛ Occupation and Preoccupation

  Here’s Jony Ive in his Stripe interview:

  What we make stands testament to who we are. What we make describes our values. It describes our preoccupations. It describes beautiful succinctly our preoccupation.

• Hardware

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Huawei reclaims top spot in China’s phone market, data shows

    Tech giant Huawei topped China’s smartphone market for the first time in over four years, outflanking US tech giant Fashion Company Apple as well as local competitors including Xiaomi, according to the US-based International Data Corporation.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • The Register UK ☛ Google sues 25 alleged BadBox 2.0 botnet operators

      "As of April 2025, BadBox 2.0 is comprised of more than ten million infected AOSP-based TV streaming boxes, tablets, projectors, and after-sale car infotainment systems," according to the lawsuit [PDF]. "In fact, BadBox 2.0 is the largest botnet of infected [connected TVs] CTVs ever uncovered and expands beyond CTVs to include additional devices such as tablets, digital projectors, and others."

    • Jan Lukas Else ☛ My never-ending quest for better WiFi

      After extensive research, I decided to look at more options and consider routers beyond OpenWRT, as long as they didn’t come with Chinese firmware. Key requirements for my new setup included the option to use my self-hosted DNS-over-TLS server for DNS resolution, and a robust QoS or SQM (Smart Queue Management) feature. This last point was particularly important because my network sits behind a Zyxel 5G modem, and 5G and LTE connections are often affected by bufferbloat.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Site36 ☛ Frontex wants to send surveillance planes to the Atlantic and negotiates with Cape Verde on operations off West Africa

    The EU border agency Frontex wants to extend its surveillance flights to the Atlantic. This would be a milestone in the externalisation of European migration defence. According to Frontex, it is holding talks with the Cape Verde authorities about possible aerial surveillance in the sea area off the island.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-12 [Older] PKK Disarmament Opens New Page for Turkey, Erdogan Says

  • ANF News ☛ 2025-07-11 [Older] PKK disarmament ceremony followed with great interest in Kurdistan and Turkey

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-07-11 [Older] Kurdish Separatist Fighters in Iraq Begin Laying Down Weapons as Part of Peace Process With Turkey

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-07-13 [Older] Peace with PKK could boost Turkey's status in Middle East

  • Federal News Network ☛ What the Israel-Iran ceasefire means for US critical infrastructure

    Even though the bombs and missiles have stopped falling, that doesn't mean nothing is happening between Iran, Israel, and the United States.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • PHR ☛ “Brutal Milestone”: 2000 Attacks on Ukraine’s Hospitals, Clinicians, and Health Infrastructure Since Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion

      Ukraine has endured 2000 attacks on the country’s health care system, according to documentation and monitoring by human rights and humanitarian organizations.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s recovery cannot wait until Russia’s invasion is over

      The recent Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome brought together thousands of participants and established new connections that could bolster Kyiv's wartime resilience while also setting the stage for the country's revival, writes Anna Morgan.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man allocates arms for Ukraine, threatens Russia with tariffs if no truce in 50 days

      During an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday, US President The Insurrectionist said he would punish Russia and its allies with tariffs if there is no Ukraine peace agreement within 50 days. Convicted Felon and Rutte also unveiled a deal under which NATO would buy US arms to send to Ukraine. Eliza Herbert has more.

    • JURIST ☛ UN human rights office urges ceasefire after Russia attacks kill dozens in Ukraine

      The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for an urgent ceasefire on Tuesday, following a series of large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks on densely populated Ukrainian cities, which resulted in significant civilian casualties and damage to protected infrastructure.

    • LRT ☛ Nordics and Baltics pledge lion’s share of Europe’s support to Ukraine – Lithuanian FM

      The 25 billion euros in aid pledged this year by the eight Nordic and Baltic countries (NB8) make up the bulk of the 32 billion euros Europe has promised to Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said on Wednesday.

    • RFERL ☛ Svyrydenko Takes Helm As PM In Move To Drive Ukraine's War Effort And US Ties

      Ukrainian lawmakers approved Yulia Svyrydenko, the economy minister and first deputy prime minister who led talks with the United States on a critical minerals deal, as prime minister in a cabinet shuffle aimed at boosting relations with Washington and breathing new life into the war-torn country.

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky touts battle-tested Ukrainian drones as bargaining chip in ‘mega deal’ for U.S. weapons — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian strike on Ukrainian shopping center kills at least two and injuries 27 — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ EU proposes 'most ambitious ever' budget of two trillion euros

      The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the "most ambitious ever" €2 trillion ($2.3 trillion) 2028-2034 budget to counter overseas competition and Russian aggression, but Germany, the bloc's top economy, rejected it as unacceptable. France24 Europe Editor Armen Georgian explains.

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Japanese-first’ party Sanseito denies ties with Russia

      The right-wing party is riding a wave of support for its platform opposing globalism, immigration.

    • Meduza ☛ Messaging app Telegram reportedly plans Russian office to satisfy regulatory demands — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ E.U. says joint law enforcement operation dismantled pro-Russian hacker group — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian lawmakers expand grounds for revoking naturalized citizenship — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Let’s keep the lighthouse on Supporting Meduza from inside Russia is impossible. Our readers there are counting on you. — Meduza

    • JURIST ☛ Russia sentences man to 3 years for donations to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation

      The Moscow court sentenced on Tuesday a father of five to three years of imprisonment on the charges of financing a terrorist organization. Dmitry Marsov was arrested in April this year for donating to the Anti-Corruption Foundation once a month from August to December 2021, totaling 1500 rubles (approximately $20).

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Time remains on Putin’s side. That must change.

      The United States can take five specific actions now to disabuse the Russian president of the belief that he can simply play for time in Ukraine.

    • JURIST ☛ UN experts urge investigations into deaths in custody of political prisoners in Belarus

      A group of independent UN experts on Wednesday called for the immediate and impartial investigations into the deaths of individuals held in Belarusian custody for exercising their right to political dissent, expressing concern over what they described as a pattern of repression against opposition voices and civil society in the country.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania hands in protest note to Belarus over Gerbera drone airspace violation

      The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday handed a protest note to the Belarusian chargé d’affaires over the violation of Lithuanian airspace by a Gerbera drone last week.

    • LRT ☛ Belarus shuts down nuclear reactor, no radiation change in Lithuania

      Lithuania’s Radiation Protection Centre said Thursday that no change in radiation levels has been detected in the country following the shutdown of a reactor at the Astravyets Nuclear Power Plant in Belarus late Wednesday.

    • LRT ☛ Does Lithuania fund Belarus opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya’s office in Vilnius?

      Since fleeing Belarus after the disputed 2020 presidential election, opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been a prominent figure based in Lithuania. While she has received broad support from Lithuanian officials and the public, some critics have questioned how much taxpayers are spending to host her and her team.

• Finance

  • BIA Net ☛ 2025-07-14 [Older] Turkey enacts law allowing 10 consecutive workdays for tourism workers

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Zimbabwe ☛ BAZ Warns YouTube, Facebook (Farcebook) Podcasters: Same Rules Apply to Online Broadcasting

    The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Authority (BAZ) has issued a warning to internet broadcasters, demanding they comply with the same ethical and legal standards that govern traditional media outlets like ZBC.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • ACLU ☛ 60 Years Later: How a Civil Rights-Era Defamation Case Empowers the Press

    The United States used to set the standard for press freedom. Now, it’s dropped its status as a worldwide leader, according to Reporters Without Borders.

    President The Insurrectionist has spearheaded a historic attack on press freedom in the United States, filing three lawsuits against news companies such as ABC, CBS, and the Des Moines Register in the past few months alone. The president’s litigious approach to the press challenges long-standing legal protection for journalists under a landmark Supreme Court case from 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • France24 ☛ Rencontres d'Arles festival puts women and Indigenous voices front and centre

    In this episode of arts24 with Eve Jackson, we explore the 56th Rencontres d'Arles festival in France, where women and Indigenous artists like Caroline Monnet take centre stage, challenging colonial narratives and celebrating resilience through photography and art. Plus, get previews of London's new burlesque musical "Diamonds and Dust" starring Dita Von Teese, Oasis's triumphant return to Manchester and the global DRM spreader Netflix sensation "KPop Demon Hunters".

  • JURIST ☛ UN calls on world leaders to promote gender equality in sports

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk delivered a speech on Wednesday urging UN member states to invest more effort in addressing the gender gap in women’s sports and promoting the rights of women athletes.

  • BIA Net ☛ 2025-07-10 [Older] Turkey tells Council of Europe it will not extend ‘right to hope’ to Öcalan

  • The Strategist ☛ The last public database tracking protests in China is about to go dark

    As global financiers tried in late 2024 to predict how much stimulus Pooh-tin Jinping would roll out to boost China’s faltering economy, government censorship of China’s economic data drove them to a surprising alternative source: [...]

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ $3,000 for Proxense authentication patent monopoly prior art

    Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $3,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 17 of U.S. Patent 11,095,640, owned and asserted by Proxense LLC, an NPE. The '640 patent monopoly focuses on a system and method for securely and automatically authenticating users to access data or applications, notably through radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic authentication technologies.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Uncomfortable Truths: Prosecution History Disclaimer in Design Patents

    The Federal Circuit has rejected Cozy Comfort's $15 million verdict -- finding that its hoodie design patent monopoly was not infringed.  D859,788.  The case turns on prosecution history - with a holding that the patentee had disclaimed aspects of the design when distinguishing the invention from the asserted prior art.

    The image here shows the Top Brand accused design (left), Cozy Comfort's patented design (right), and the White prior art (middle).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Connie Francis, Pop Superstar of the 60s (And Viral Fentanylware (TikTok) Star) Passes Away

    Connie Francis, a pop singer who dominated the charts in the 1960s and recently became a viral sensation on TikTok, has passed away at 87. Connie Francis, a pop sensation of the 1960s who recently achieved viral success on Fentanylware (TikTok) with her hit, “Pretty Little Baby,” passed away on Wednesday.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Retro reviewer could face up to three years in jail over copyright monopoly — Italian authorities investigate creator for 'advertising' Anbernic handheld game consoles

    Italian content creator Francesco Salicini is currently under investigation by Italian authorities for reviewing Anbernic consoles.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Josh Hawley Calls Out Hey Hi (AI) Companies for “Largest Intellectual Property Theft in American History”

    Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) presided over a high-profile Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing that placed Big Tech’s use of copyrighted works for Hey Hi (AI) training under an intense microscope. Hawley opened the session with a pointed assertion,” Today’s hearing is about the largest intellectual property theft in American history.