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Links 21/01/2023: Sparky 2023.01 and ArchLabs Release



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • PR NewswireMALIBAL Unveils Aon S1: A Next-Gen Ultraportable Laptop

        sIt offers the flexibility to run multiple OSs via dual-booting or virtual machines, with OS options that include Windows 11, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, and Fedora, supplying users with all the tools necessary for any project or job.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • VideoSelf Driving Tesla Causes 8 Car Pileup - Invidious

        In this video I discuss the Tesla Model S that caused an eight-car pileup on the Bay Bridge last Thanksgiving. The vehicle was in "full self-driving mode" when it abruptly braked, injuring nine people including a 2-year-old boy. I also discuss how the "phantom braking" phenomenon is much more common in Tesla's than any other car manufacturer.

      • VideoHow Is This for Apple Privacy? - Invidious

        This week in the Privacy News, Google now wants to enter the stalking business, and they just settled another privacy lawsuit. Also, two states create new COPPA rules, and Apple has a security and a privacy snafu. We also look at security news.

      • VideoYou get a layoff! And you get a layoff! - Invidious

        The Lunduke Journal of Technology Podcast - Jan 20th, 2023 You can’t throw a rock without hitting news of a Tech Company doing yet another round of layoffs. Every day a new one. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Meta… layoff after layoff after layoff. Let’s talk about exactly why this is happening — it’s been a long time in coming.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • LibreOffice Draw Guide 7.4 updated - The Document Foundation Blog

        The Documentation team is happy to announce the availability of the LibreOffice Draw Guide 7.4, an update of the 7.3 guide.

      • ID RootHow To Install Telnet on Fedora 37 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Telnet on Fedora 37. For those of you who didn’t know, Telnet is a protocol that allows a user to remotely access and manage a device or computer over a network using a command-line interface. It is widely supported, and simple to use, but less secure than more modern protocols like SSH. It sends data, including the username and password, in clear text, which makes it vulnerable to eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks.

        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 Telnet network protocol on a Fedora 37.

      • Learn UbuntuInstall Angular on Ubuntu

        Angular is a JavaScript framework written in typescript and developed by google for one-page applications.

      • Linux CapableHow to Build NGINX from Source on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04 - LinuxCapable

        NGINX is a powerful open-source web server capable of serving dynamic web content and handling high-traffic loads while acting as a reverse proxy. Its reputation is built on high performance, stability, and low resource consumption. Building NGINX from the source and compiling it with additional modules can enhance its capabilities and make it more suitable for specific needs. This guide will explain the advantages of building NGINX from the source and list some of its key features and benefits.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install PHP-ImageMagick on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04 - LinuxCapable

        The PHP-ImageMagick extension is a powerful tool for manipulating images within PHP scripts. It allows you to perform operations such as resizing, cropping, and format conversion on images using the command-line ImageMagick library. This article will discuss two ways to install the PHP-ImageMagick extension on Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04 using the command-line terminal. We will also include extra steps for configuring the extension with the nginx web server.

      • Linux NightlyHow to Change File Permissions in Linux - Linux Nightly

        Learn how to change Linux file permissions using the chmod command in absolute and symbolic mode, and change the owner and group of a file.

      • Trend OceansHow to Enable - Disable the Universe, Multiverse, and Restricted Repositories - TREND OCEANS

        By turning on and off the Universe, Multiverse, and Restricted repositories on your Ubuntu machine, you can get access to many software packages that aren’t in Ubuntu’s default repositories.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install LibreWolf on Linux Mint 21 or 20 - LinuxCapable

        Librewolf is a free and open-source web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. It is designed to provide a more privacy-respecting alternative to Firefox by removing features that compromise user privacy and security. Incorporating Librewolf into your daily Linux Mint desktop can bring several benefits, including improved privacy and security, better control over your browsing experience, and access to a wide range of privacy-enhancing add-ons and extensions.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Skype on Linux Mint 21 or 20 - LinuxCapable [Ed: SKype is spyware of Microsoft, which uses it for wiretapping along with the NSA. Don't use this.]

        Skype is a popular communication tool that allows users to make voice and video calls, send instant messages, and share files with others. Incorporating Skype into your daily Linux Mint desktop can bring several benefits, including easily connecting with friends, family, and colleagues, no matter where they are located. Skype also offers a wide range of features that can improve productivity, such as screen sharing and group calls.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Telegram on Manjaro Linux - LinuxCapable

        Telegram is a popular free cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging system. Telegram is famous for providing end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, and file sharing, amongst many other features. The following tutorial will teach you how to install Telegram on Manjaro Linux with cli commands and utilizing either the default repository, which often has the most up-to-date version, or using the Arch Linux user repository with Manjaro’s package manager.

      • UNIX CopHow to export from MariaDB table to Calc / Excel?

        Hello, friends. In this short post, you will learn how to export from MariaDB table to Calc / Excel. It is simple, but this trick, especially in enterprise environments, can be very useful.

      • nixCraftHow To Set Up SSH Keys With YubiKey as two-factor authentication (U2F/FIDO2)

        All Linux and Unix servers are managed manually or by automation tools such as Ansible using ssh. For example, say you have a server at Linode or AWS. Then you copy your public ssh key to a remote cloud server. Once copied, you can now login to those servers without a password as long as ssh keys are matched. It is the best practice. Unfortunately, you are not protecting ssh keys stored on a local desktop or dev machine at $HOME/.ssh/ directory. If your keys are stolen, an attacker can get access to all of your cloud servers, including backup servers. To avoid this mess, we can protect our ssh keys stored on local dev/desktop machines using physical security keys such as YubiKey.

      • nixCraftLinux iotop Check What’s Stressing & Increasing Load On Hard Disks

        he iotop is a Linux command. It is a top-like utility for disk input and output (I/O). Use this command to see I/O usage information output by the Linux kernel. It displays a table of current I/O usage by Linux processes or threads on the Linux system. This post explains how to install and use the iotop command to discover what’s stressing (or program names) on your hard drives under Linux operating systems.

      • Solving the ’tail: inotify resources exhausted' Error on Ubuntu - Anto ./ Online

        The “tail: inotify resources exhausted” error usually occurs when you are using the tail command to follow a file that is being actively written to, and the inotify watch limit has been reached.

      • Solve The “Cannot Read Properties Of Undefined (Reading ‘Type’)” Error With These Simple Fixes

        If you’ve encountered the “jquery.min.js:2 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘type’)” error, you’re likely trying to access a property of an object that is undefined. This error occurs when you try to access a property of an object that is undefined or null.

    • WINE or Emulation

      • WINE Project (Official)The Wine development release 8.0-rc5 is now available.

        The Wine development release 8.0-rc5 is now available. This is expected to be the last release candidate before the final 8.0.

        What's new in this release: - Bug fixes only, we are in code freeze.

        The source is available at:

        https://dl.winehq.org/wine/source/8.0/wine-8.0-rc5.tar.xz

        Binary packages for various distributions will be available from:

        https://www.winehq.org/download

        You will find documentation on https://www.winehq.org/documentation

        You can also get the current source directly from the git repository. Check https://www.winehq.org/git for details.

        Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • Jack's Blog - Revisiting KDE

          Looking back I'm not sure the Oxygen theme has aged particularly well, but this picture fills me with nostalgia and so will always have a special place in my heart.

          Over the years KDE has (unfairly in my eyes) had a fairly negative reputation, and stereotyped for being quite buggy and resource hungry. I don't recall being effected by these issues described first hand, but hearing critical sentiments like this left me with a negative impression and drove me away from using KDE. So although I do have fond memories of this desktop, they were tainted by the opinions of a few vocal Linux enthusiasts at the time. I was young and impressionable, and wanted to use to use the 'best' thing, even if that meant not being able to form my own independent assessment.

          Consequently I was content to stay on Gnome desktop (and various forks) for most of my time on Linux. But that all changed pretty recently. I wanted to revisit KDE and see if this reputation was still warranted. I think part of me wanted to make amends and give some love to a Desktop environment I felt I'd never really given an honest chance.

        • Nate GrahamThis week in KDE: The best Plasma 5 version ever - Adventures in Linux and KDE

          Plasma 5 has officially branched for the beta version of its 5.27 release. Go check out the announcement and test out the beta! You’ll probably have noticed the number of 15-minute and very high priority Plasma bugs creeping up, and during this 3-week beta period, we’re going to be focusing on those to ensure that 5.27’s release is as bug-free as possible. Beyond that, Plasma 5.27 will continue to get periodic bugfix releases until and a bit beyond the release of Plasma 6, which we are very much hoping to have ready by late this year! Exciting times.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • SUSE/OpenSUSE

    • Arch Family

      • ArchLabs 2023.01.20 Release

        ArchLabs Release 2023.01.20 is now available.

        Welcome to 2023, is it too late into January to say "Happy New Year"? Either way, Happy New Year!

        This is our first release of 2023 and comes a couple of weeks after our 6th Birthday. Six years of ArchLabs, who would have thought?

        There isn't a lot new with this release, we have added dwm back to the installer and you will see that booting the ISO no longer will take you to a live session.

        The live session was always just an experiment and to try something new really. Our live session still exists, so for those of you who want to check out dk in all its glory, just type startx and hit enter.

    • Fedora / Red Hat / CentOS

      • Timothée RavierTimothée Ravier: Introducing Kinoite Nightly (and Kinoite Beta) - Siosm’s blog

        As announced during the Fedora Kinoite “Hello World!” talk (slides) last year at the Fedora 35 release party, one of the goals for Fedora Kinoite is to make it easier for everyone to try and test the latest KDE Plasma desktop and Apps, without having packaging, compiler or development knowledge.

        We are now much closer to that goal with the introduction of Kinoite Nightly, an unofficial variant of Fedora Kinoite based on stable Fedora plus nightly packages for KDE software (Plasma desktop and a base set of apps).

        Alonside Kinoite Nightly, we are also introducing Kinoite Beta, which is also an unofficial variant of Fedora Kinoite, also based on stable Fedora but with KDE Plasma Beta packages. This variant is based on fresh release of KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta.

        While the Nightly variant will be built daily and will always be available, the Beta variant will only be built and available during KDE Plasma Beta testing phases.

      • Fedora MagazineFedora Project at FOSDEM 2023 - Fedora Magazine

        Fedora Project will be present at FOSDEM 2023. This article describes this gathering and a few of the events on the agenda. I assume if you are reading the Fedora Magazine, you already know what FOSDEM is, but I’ll start with a small intro anyway.

      • Fedora ProjectCPE Weekly Update – Week 3 2023 - Fedora Community Blog

        This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any questions or feedback, please respond to this report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on libera.chat.

        We provide you both infographics and text version of the weekly report. If you just want to quickly look at what we did, look at the infographic. If you are interested in more in depth details, look below the infographic.

      • Fedora ProjectFriday’s Fedora Facts: 2023-03 - Fedora Community Blog

        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)!

      • Enterprisers ProjectHybrid work: How to maintain employee engagement

        Despite recent layoffs in Silicon Valley, most of the country is grappling with an ongoing labor shortage that threatens bottom lines. As this recent survey of popular online employment sites shows, a shrinking candidate pool will make it harder for employers to attract and keep top talent in the years ahead.

    • Debian Family

      • Sparky GNU/LinuxSparky 2023.01 + Persistence – SparkyLinux

        There is a new, an extra release of Sparky 2023.01 of the (semi-)rolling line out there.

        A next, regular rolling released is planned in March, as every 3 mounts I do, but I decided to publish 2023.01 MinimalGUI to let you test a new feature just implemented to Sparky rolling only so far.

        The Sparky tool that creates Live USB disk (sparky-live-usb-creator) has gotten a new feature which lets you make a live USB disk with persistence. It means, you can boot Sparky Live system from a USB disk and save your work, new installed applications, etc. to the same USB disk.

        The ‘sparky-live-usb-creator’ 0.2.1 is available to Sparky rolling (7) users so far, and it works with Sparky 2023.01 MinimalGUI iso image only so far.

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Itel strengthens its Smart TV portfolio- launches new line of Linux TVs - Sangri Today | News Media Website

        itel has announced the launch of the L series of Linux televisions, which includes two unique models that deliver an immersive and vibrant watching experience. The L3265 and L4365 models, available in 32 and 43 inches respectively, feature a frameless design and cutting-edge color technology for incredibly realistic images and vibrant colors. The L series also includes a 24W box speaker with Dolby audio for an immersive audio experience and comes with pre-installed OTT apps. Both L3265 and L4365 are respectively priced at INR 8999 and INR 16599.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • CNX SoftwareZSWatch open-source hardware nRF52833 smartwatch runs Zephyr RTOS - CNX Software

        ZSWatch is an open-source hardware smartwatch based on an u-Blox ANNA-B402 module with Nordic Semi nRF52833 Bluetooth 5.1 SoC and running Zephyr real-time operating systems.

        We’ve seen several open-source hardware smartwatches over the years, as well as open-source firmware projects such as AsteroidOS or InfiniTime with the latter used in the PineTime smartwatch, and the ZSWatch adds to the list of interesting open-source wearables with all source files made public.

      • CNX SoftwareHPMicro HPM64G0 - A 1 GHz RISC-V microcontroller - CNX Software

        Yesterday, I ended up on the HPMicro website showing the illustration above about a 1 GHz MCU called HPM64G0. It looked interesting enough so I clicked on the link to a page with some documentation for the company’s HPM6700/6400 microcontrollers. But in typical Chinese fashion, I was asked for a mobile phone number to download the documents. No luck this time since a Chinese mobile phone number is required. If anybody can set up a mirror on Mega or other websites easily accessible outside of China that would be appreciated.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

      • The Register UKIndian official reveals ‘plan’ to build a national mobile OS ● The Register

        India's government has reportedly teamed with academia and startups to create its own mobile operating system dubbed IndOS, in the name of competition.

        Local outlet Business Standard revealed the initiative, quoting a senior government official as saying "India is one of the largest mobile device markets in the globe. Our objective is to create a secure Indian mobile operating system that could also create choices and competition for Android's dominance in the Indian market."

        Government sources have since gone quiet on the plan. Probably because the plan is not very detailed or serious, as India's government surely understands two important things about the operating system market.

      • MedevelWomen Fertility Test Analyzer App: Ovulation - Pregnancy for Android

        It may be the best free and open source fertility app to help you interpret both pregnancy and ovulation test strips by giving you the % of pigmentation. It provides you with fertility charts based on your hormone levels, so you can pinpoint your fertile window and track your early pregnancy days.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Programming/Development

      • We invested 10% to pay back tech debt; Here's what happened

        Anyone who has maintained software for a while knows that it tends to rot over time. It takes deliberate effort to prevent that from happening. In this post I will talk about a story how one team successfully dealt with it and conclude with some practical tips.

      • Use.GPU Goes Trad — Acko.net

        I've released a new version of Use.GPU, my experimental reactive/declarative WebGPU framework, now at version 0.8.

        My goal is to make GPU rendering easier and more sane. I do this by applying the lessons and patterns learned from the React world, and basically turning them all up to 11, sometimes 12. This is done via my own Live run-time, which is like a martian React on steroids.

        The previous 0.7 release was themed around compute, where I applied my shader linker to a few challenging use cases. It hopefully made it clear that Use.GPU is very good at things that traditional engines are kinda bad at.

      • Barry KaulerTTF text in titlebar gui_engine

        There are two functions used to draw text on the screen; characterRGBA() and stringRGBA(). These are part of SDL_gfx. The SDL_gfx package is mostly for drawing shapes, such as lines, polygons, circles, etc.; however, it also has some bitmap fonts builtin, of various sizes. The default size is 8x8 pixels. These are basic 256-character ASCI fonts.

      • Barry Kaulergui_engine fully converted to TTF

        The down-arrow in the drop-down list was previously a character from the gfx 8x8 set. I changed it to a "trigon", which is a triangle, a shape that is available in SDL_gfx -- might make it a bit smaller. The "x" in the checkbox is still from the gfx 8x8 set.



      • CollaboraFOSDEM back in full force for 2023

        FOSDEM is back and ready to mingle! After two years of hosting the event virtually, Brussels will once again welcome attendees on February 4 & 5 for this free event on the old stomping grounds of the ULB Solbosch Campus.

        This two-day event is renowned worldwide as one of the best open source conferences, with over 8,000 people in attendance. With such a reputation and large crowd to impress, we are excited to be presenting 8 different talks, in 7 devrooms as well as on the main track. To get the full picture on each presentation, check out the details below. For those unable to make it, there will be live streams for all track. We'll be sharing the links on our social media channels as soon as they become available.

      • Python

        • How to improve Python packaging, or why fourteen tools are at least twelve too many | Chris Warrick

          There is an area of Python that many developers have problems with. This is an area that has seen many different solutions pop up over the years, with many different opinions, wars, and attempts to solve it. Many have complained about the packaging ecosystem and tools making their lives harder. Many beginners are confused about virtual environments. But does it have to be this way? Are the current solutions to packaging problems any good? And is the organization behind most of the packaging tools and standards part of the problem itself?

          Join me on a journey through packaging in Python and elsewhere. We’ll start by describing the classic packaging stack (involving setuptools and friends), the scientific stack (with conda), and some of the modern/alternate tools, such as Pipenv, Poetry, Hatch, or PDM. We’ll also look at some examples of packaging and dependency-related workflows seen elsewhere (Node.js and .NET). We’ll also take a glimpse at a possible future (with a venv-less workflow with PDM), and see if the PyPA agrees with the vision and insights of eight thousand users.

  • Leftovers

    • [Old] Writing Is Magic - Marc's Blog

      Sometimes when folks ask me for advice at work, I write them very long emails to answer their question. Sometimes, those emails are generally interesting and not work-specific, so I share them here. A couple days ago somebody asked me about how to get better at communicating their ideas and opinions, how to extend their influence, and how to drive consensus. This was my reply.

      There are many ways to be influential. You can form 1:1 relationships with people, have small group meetings, do talks, send out a code review, or argue in Slack. All of those can be valuable at the right time. But there's one tool that I choose most often: long-form writing. Writing is the closest thing I know to magic.

      Nearly every time I need to drive a difficult, subtle, or contentious decision, I write a document. Sometimes that's half a page, sometimes its six pages. Sometimes much longer, although brevity is valuable. I see a few benefits to this approach that keep me coming back it it again and again.

      First, clarity. I'm sure you know the quote "Writing is nature’s way of letting you know how sloppy your thinking is"1, and knowing how sloppy your thinking is allows you to sharpen it, test your arguments, and test different explanations. I find, more often than not, that I understand something much less well when I sit down to write about it than when I'm thinking about it in the shower. In fact, I find that I change my own mind on things a lot when I try write them down. It really is a powerful tool for finding clarity in your own mind. Once you have clarity in your own mind, you're much more able to explain it to others.

    • Science

    • Proprietary

      • AI's Jurassic Park moment - by Gary Marcus [Ed: Mass plagiarism "potentially dangerous", owing to Microsoft misframing what it actually is]

        New systems like chatGPT are enormously entertaining, and even mind-boggling, but also unreliable, and potentially dangerous.

      • TimeExclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic [Ed: Microsoft sweatshops/slavery, plagiarism and ripoffs presented as "HEY HI"]

        Content warning: this story contains descriptions of sexual abuse

      • Daily DotU.S. No Fly List Left on Unprotected Airline Server

        CommuteAir, a regional carrier, left a copy of the U.S. No Fly List on an unsecured server that could be viewed by anyone.

      • ReutersMicrosoft loses lawsuits against IRS over tax audit records [Ed: Lost in the news of Microsoft layoffs]

        - Microsoft Corp on Wednesday lost its bid in Seattle federal court to force the IRS to release tens of thousands of records tied to an audit that the agency is conducting of the technology company.

        U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in a pair of opinions ruled against Microsoft, after concluding in one lawsuit that the Internal Revenue Service was properly shielding 49,400 pages from disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act and in the other lawsuit that Microsoft was not entitled to additional records pertaining to the firm's audit-related contracts with law firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Boies Schiller Flexner.

        Microsoft had accused the IRS of taking "extraordinary lengths to keep its agency records in the dark" and questioned "outsourcing" work to private law firms.

    • Security

      • CISADrupal Releases Security Advisories to Address Multiple Vulnerabilities | CISA

        Drupal has released security advisories to address vulnerabilities affecting multiple products. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to access sensitive information.

      • Diffoscopediffoscope 233 released

        The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 233. This version includes the following changes:

        [ FC Stegerman ]

        * Split packaging metadata into an extras_require.json file instead of using

        the pep517 and the pip modules directly. This was causing build failures if

        not using a virtualenv and/or building without internet access.

        (Closes: #1029066, reproducible-builds/diffoscope#325)

        [ Vagrant Cascadian ]

        * Add an external tool reference for GNU Guix (lzip).

        * Drop an external tool reference for GNU Guix (pedump).

        [ Chris Lamb ]

        * Split inline Python code in shell script to generate test dependencies to a

        separate Python script.

        * No need for "from __future__ import print_function" import in setup.py

        anymore.

        * Comment and tidy the new extras_require.json handling.

    • Monopolies

      • Copyrights

        • Walled CultureFinnish Parliament reminds us that copyright should not trump fundamental human rights - Walled Culture

          One of the key dogmas the copyright industry fights hard to impose on the world is that copyright should trump all other considerations, and in all situations. For its supporters, copyright should even be placed above basic human rights, if ever a clash arises between them. For the most part, legislators and judges have allowed this distorted viewpoint to be spread unchallenged, as Walled Culture noted with regret in November last year.

          [...]

          Sadly, though, there have been few attempts to take that approach in practice. White mentions the challenge of the Polish Government to Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive. Although the Court of Justice of the European Union underlined the importance of respect for the right to freedom of expression and information, its unclear ruling may still allow upload filters to censor lawful material.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • The power of questions

        The guiding principle used in this section is the power of questions. Questions can inspire us to think about issues and they make it clear that our input is required. When preparing for the game, you need to use their imagination – reading a setting or an adventure book is less useful because it takes so long and when you’re in trouble, your instinct will be to turn back to the book you’ve been reading. This slows you down and you’ll feel inadequate. Don’t do it. Questions let you know that whatever you come up with is OK. Questions let you know that your input is required.

        [...]

        Once we know about success or failure, and having established the consequences, you can move on – or you can linger for a bit. Give that character a little spotlight and ask about how they did it, why they did it, how they felt as they did it. Why did that speech fail, was it something they did? Perhaps the player doesn’t have an answer. No problem, you already agreed on the consequences. But maybe the player feels like embellishing it or putting their own spin on it. This is the moment! You ask them a question and they get to tell us about their character. It’s an entertaining moment of character exposition at the table.

      • RE: Creation Stories

        I feel that there is one core issue here that must be addressed first: everyone has a creation story, or if you prefer, an origin story, a narrative which purports to explain the existence of the universe, and why it is the way that it is. There is always involved some Power, Being, or Force, or many of them. I believe what the Bible teaches, namely, that there is a being ʏʜᴡʜ, a first cause, who has no beginning or ending, infinite power, and unfathomable knowledge and wisdom. He who spoke the universe into being was also capable of providing us with a record of it, and did so.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's Bing Falls to Fourth in the Europe/Asia-Based Turkey, Share Halved Since LLM Hype, Now Only 1% (Sometimes Less)
Turkey (Eurasia) is another example of Microsoft failing with LLM hype and just burning a lot of energy in vain (investment without returns)
Censorship as Signal of Opportunity for Reform
It remains sad and ironic that Wikileaks outsourced so much of its official communications to Twitter (now X)
The World Wide Web Has Been Rotting for Years (Quality, Accuracy, and Depth Consistently Decreasing)
In the past people said that the Web had both "good" and "bad" and that the good outweighed the bad
Comoros: Windows Plunges to Record Low of About 6% in Country of a Million People (in 2010 Windows Was 100%)
Many of these people earn a few dollars a day; they don't care for Microsoft's "Hey Hi PC" hype
 
Backlash and Negative Press After Microsoft Tells Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) People to DIE
Follow-up stories
Joel Espy Klecker & Debian on Joe Biden's health and Donald Trump's assassination
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 17, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Links 18/07/2024: Hostname Pedantry and Retro Coding
Links for the day
Fedora Week of Diversity (FWD) 2024 Attracting 0.01% of the IBM Staff "Was a Success"
They expect volunteers (unpaid slaves) to do the PR for them...
African's Largest Population (Nigeria) Approaching 80% Android "Market Share" Amid Steady Monthly Increases While Microsoft Has Mass Layoffs in Nigeria
Microsoft- and Apple-sponsored Western (or English-speaking) media chooses to ignore that or treat it as irrelevant (a racist disposition in its own right)
[Meme] The Warlord's Catspaw
Thugs that troll us
Microsoft Misogyny Will be the Fall of Microsoft (Covering Up for Misogynists is a Huge Mistake and Highly Misguided Short-term Strategy)
Microsoft's undoing may in fact be its attitude towards women
Red Hat Keeps Behaving Like a Microsoft Reseller (for Proprietary Stuff!), Microsoft Employees as Authors in redhat.com
In some ways this reminds us of Novell
UEFI 'Secure Boot' Once Again Bricking PCs and Fake Security Models Are Perishing in Geminispace
Let's Encrypt has just fallen again
Links 17/07/2024: New Attacks on the Press, European Patents Squashed Even at Kangaroo Court (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2024: Proponents of Censorship and New Arrivals at Gemini
Links for the day
Links 17/07/2024: School Budget Meltdown and Modern Cars as Tracking Nightmares
Links for the day
This Should Certainly be Illegal, But the Person Who Helped Microsoft Do This is Still Attacking the Critics of It
perhaps time for an "I told you so post"
[Meme] A Computer With an Extra Key on the Keyboard Isn't Everyone's Priority
(so your telling me meme)
Africa as an Important Reminder That Eradicating Microsoft Doesn't Go Far Enough
Ideally, if our top goal is bigger than "get rid of Microsoft", we need to teach people to choose and use devices that obey them, not GAFAM
Billions of Computers Run Linux and Many Use Debian (or a Derivative of It)
many devices never get updated or even communicate with the Net, so exhaustive tallies are infeasible
The Mail (MX) Server Survey for July 2024 Shows Microsoft Collapsing to Only 689 Servers or 0.17% of the Whole (It Used to be About 25%)
Microsoft became so insignificant and the most astounding thing is how the media deliberate ignores it or refuses to cover it
[Meme] Microsoft is Firing
Don't worry, Microsoft will have some new vapourware coming soon
More DEI (or Similar) Layoffs on the Way, According to Microsoft Team Leader
What happened shortly before Independence Day wasn't the end of it, apparently
Windows Down From 98.5% to 22.9% in Hungary
Android is up because more people buy smaller mobile devices than laptops
Microsoft Windows in Algeria: From 100% to Less Than 15%
Notice that not too long ago Windows was measured at 100%. Now? Not even 15%.
[Meme] Many Volunteers Now Realise the "Open" in "OpenSUSE" or "openSUSE" Was Labour-Mining
Back to coding, packaging and testing, slaves
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" in New Zealand Plunges to 25%
Android rising
[Meme] Ein Factory
A choice between "masters" (or "master race") is a false choice that results in mass exploitation and ultimately eradication (when there's little left to exploit)
Links 17/07/2024: Open Source Initiative Lies and Dark Net Thoughts
Links for the day
SUSE Goes Aryan: You May Not Use the Germanic Brand Anymore (It's Monopolised by the Corporation)
Worse than grammar Nazis
Media Distorting Truth to Promote Ignorance
online media is rapidly collapsing
Gratis But Not Free as in Freedom: How Let's Encrypt is Dying in Geminispace
Let's Encrypt is somewhat of a dying breed where the misguided CA model is shunned
Android Rises to New Highs of Almost 80% in Cameroon
How many dozens of nations will see Windows at under 10% this coming winter?
Links 16/07/2024: TikTok Ban in Europe and Yandex Split
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/07/2024: On Packrafting and on Trump Shot
Links for the day
[Meme] Firefox Users Who Think They Know Better Than Mozilla
Enjoy Firebook
Firefox Used to Have About Half the Market in Switzerland, But It Doesn't Stand a Chance Anymore (Chrome Surging This Summer)
Mozilla has managed to alienate some of the biggest fans of Firefox
Microsoft's Biggest Losses Are in Europe This Summer
Microsoft's ability to milk a relatively rich Europe is fast diminishing
How to Make Software Suck and Discriminate Against People at the Same Time
ageism glorified
Bing Was at 2.6% in Russia When LLM Hype Started. Now It's Down to 0.8% (for 3 Months in a Row Already)
The sharp fall of Bing may mean that exiting the Russian market won't matter to anybody
[Meme] Microsoft Seems to be Failing to Comply With WARN Act (by Refusing to Announce Mass Layoffs as They Happen)
since when does Microsoft obey the law anyway?
Microsoft Layoffs Are Still Too Frequent to Keep Abreast of and Properly (or Exhaustively) Classify
The "HR" department knows what's happening, but whistleblowers from there are rare
Bahamas Joined the "5% Windows" Club
statCounter only traces back about 1 in 20 Web requests to Windows
Links 16/07/2024: Salesforce Layoffs and Microsoft's DMARC Fail
Links for the day
Antenna Abuse and Gemini Abuse (Self-hosting Perils)
Perhaps all this junk is a sign of Gemini growing up
Possibly Worse Than Bribes: US Politicians and Lawmakers Who Are Microsoft Shareholders
They will keep bailing out Microsoft to bail themselves out
The Software Freedom Conservancy Folks Don't Even Believe in Free Speech and They Act As Imposters (Also in the Trademark Arena/Sense)
Software Freedom Conservancy was already establishing a reputation for itself as a G(I)AFAM censor/gatekeeper
Djibouti Enters the Windows "10% Club" (Windows Was 99% in 2010)
In Africa in general Microsoft lost control
GNU/Linux Share Doubled in the United States of America (USA) in the Past 12 Months
Or so says statCounter
Even in North Korea (Democratic People's Republic Of Korea) Google Said to Dominate, Microsoft Around 1%
Google at 93.26%
[Meme] The Red Bait (Embrace... Extinguish)
They set centos on fire, then offer a (de facto) proprietary substitute for a fee
Shooting the Messenger to Spite the Message
segment of a Noam Chomsky talk
[Video] Boston Area Assange Defense (Yesterday)
It was published only hours ago
Guinea: Windows Down From 99.3% to 2.7% 'Market Share'
Guinea is not a small country
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 15, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, July 15, 2024
What's Meant by "Antenna Abuse" (Gemini)
syndication is not a monopoly in Gemini and if one doesn't condone political censorship, then one can create one's own syndication service/capsule
Microsoft Layoffs and Entire Unit Termination: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
What an announcement to make just before Independence Day
Links 16/07/2024: Old Computer Challenge and One Page Dungeon Contest
Links for the day