Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • 🔤SpellBinding: BEIVSUM Wordo: PAVER

  • 🔤SpellBinding: BIKMUPN Wordo: PENIS

  • 🔤SpellBinding: CDZIOSH Wordo: RACES

  • 🖼️ xkcd: Dual Roomba #3133

• Music

  • Listening to Alcest

    I've got the vinyl version and now I'm listening the FLACs on my iPod classic using Rockbox. It's brilliant! It's funny how music this heavy can sound so classy when it's in French :D

• Technology and Free Software

  • On Google Ending Unsigned App Sideloading

    Google announced yesterday that Play Protect-certified Android devices will soon require verification for all developers--even for sideloaded apps.^ Devs will need to register inside the Android Developer Console and sign their apps with keys verified by Google. Essentially, even if you distribute your app outside the Play Store, you will still need Google to whitelist your app before it can be installed on any device with Play Protect. The measure is being rolled out in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand in September 2026, and it will be introduced globally in 2027, though Google does not provide a specific global timeline yet.

    Google claims the measure is being done for security, and if the SANS newsletters I read are any indication, sideloading is indeed a major avenue for installing malware on smartphones. However, Google is making the new measure mandatory. Users will have no option to opt out, even if their use case requires sideloaded apps. It's doubtful that even dev builds of apps from (say) GitHub will work without going through the Developer Console. This seems to go a lot further than simply increasing security.

    To me, it's clear what Google really wants to do here. If all apps have to be whitelisted, even if they are distributed outside the Play Store, Google becomes the single, uncontested gatekeeper for all apps that run on (Play Protect-certified) Android devices. It's only a small step from there to remove sideloading completely and simply require that all apps are distributed through the Play Store. There, they can exert total control over what any app--and therefore your entire smartphone--is or isn't allowed to do.

  • Keyboard layouts and Input Methods

    Two days ago, I tried to add Japanese keyboard input to X11 for searching songs from anime I watched, because using English to search for Jpop music give less usefull result than using Japanese.

    I used `setxkbmap jp` to set current layout to Japanese, but it only change position of some keys. I did some research and found out that I need to setup Input Method Editor (IME) to input language that have more latters than button on keyboard (like Chinese, Korean, Japanese etc.), luckly, when I add Thai layout it not this complicate.

    To use IME, one must install Input Method Framework (IMF), then install IME for that language. I found KKC is perfect for Japanese input, just type the word in romanji and it will convert it to Japanese letters (for example type 'tegami', it will change it to '手紙').

  • Flashing LineageOS onto old OnePlus6

    It's always a bit of a heart stopping moment when you use ADB tools etc to flash a new OS onto an old phone. Will it work? Will I brick it?

    Anyway managed to flash LineageOS onto an old OnePlus6 this morning. It's like having a new phone and a de-Googled one at that. Satisfying!

    You have to follow the rules exactly for the installation of the OnePlus6. No room for small errors. It's a little complex if you haven't used ADB Tools from your computer before but Lineage especially has a good installation Wiki.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • A neat idea, but I can see this leading to the Balkanization of the Internet

      I did not expect my recent post about blocking a Chinese web bot [1] to generate such a large discussion at Hacker News [2] and to a lesser degree, Lobsters [3] (for the record, I did not submit my post to either site).