𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Thursday, January 14, 2021 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Fri 15 Jan 02:42:11 GMT 2021 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): Qmerspha5sBXhxrSkZzuXGw8WeXrUmG8Gn1nDfz6fRSY8K QmXjVc4NJjr6RYHKPa7EFWknSzg9ZwLN4YnErbmcqdcEKL QmbKJcqeWwdwEZRmynaB1QUsBfphEamM17YNSFjDbd967Q Qmb7Vc3ijMXKkDXwdbFmKva484B1Txefyq476N1SQzkaPz QmYqhYrKEV9gAAitfZidCc8mCztdegVqsSjGntAvWHtCKY QmWzJPniMtb3SfrYyRRc9aN9sx4BQcsVRaBipsquzkyPyP QmTc7fVWDZAd8Hhdj4NZkukktpS3GgF3bkCCEsEPzBFQ8b QmQteVnu669KJD3aGFG9pTaha5NeLdUVvog8v7rtH7aAif QmZQ6Pn5zz59X5DotEqu3wFU1Zv7NgnekWx1XnZmEtgxoJ QmSFbBNGkS4rhKR4CEWoVvxihh6PGXm91pwQceXjQRvbqH QmU9utRxait6DvuC5UtvxHGqvGucHEXPr6tugdaE6zwHa9 QmVwyNzdqyZQseHF1h9twiPx9YwhTX5Czp3HzGyUFcvpqq QmcW6oTMq2wsnGxnPC9kbvxcneQTdmrTBUDSdcb7dcDpZ5 QmX4u8WLvSMeyBAUYLC4cppEKCNWzLjiXJiZMnUc3GWMhX QmTj7LsgiVYQ5yrja86fyugrT71ioj5BqEgHp9yghitcrZ QmdA6htMZSzPdyHdafnfdBHBxdZEysGBZB134zUHMUwEyF QmUkrxvJRop3NdRoZycgbUJyuFTkHiSGCsbK647F4cj3sf QmTioT2gP3XfUN7pt6ZeHG9qfg9Psg4b34Kj1YVUYV7GU3 QmSw555oSnJyZjxAcv5QKbZsC5fSkUQe5k87k3Sp1bZ5zE QmYU4BPVhs83e832MicVAqM37KSVnpZgQB2Ypq6xomSZuR QmXogomsJXnGKemXP4RbmBPMxRjfNU9W2d9dadE8fdLRSM ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 13, 2021 | Techrights ⦿ InteLeaks – Part XIV: Technical Incompetence and Incoherence Leading to Alienation and Brain Drain | Techrights ⦿ Patent Propaganda and UPC Jingoism Instead of Actual News | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/irc-log-130121/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/linux-dx-and-more/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/upc-jingoism/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/alpine-linux-3-13/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/mesa-21-0-0-rc1/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 53 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/irc-log-130121/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.14.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Wednesday,_January_13,_2021⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:06 am by Needs Sunlight 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== § IPFS Mirrors⠀➾ CID Description Object type IRC log for  Qma5rCcR76oPc1hR877a3bEaZ9hXDVPJyMGPN73GfQSPgt #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  QmXJ25HuPQ7kAbBd6Mi6EGb3i4hkoMNkUpATpe4kwbFJH1 (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmRjBRd994BAybANaVZC2mXdXbyFyLQpRvB5fhwnrXcqRS social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmXsC2Lykz8qu7zqp8yDaura3GNgmWRLuVkBgTGuQ64X4Z social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmSp1E2HC761DcZKzHjtg9fhKhTBdDArRdVQea2CZHLJ98 #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmbgvBYonGuHfX2SwW8yY8RGQyo1Wp5j87iPhjTeedAcUA (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmWF9b5J2taED9F9uajzdutANKJxaTktXgC4jdwVVLN5Aj #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmQomiknWQJkaLt3afisCz582ugPVwmaZb52xCLa1A3phE (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmXogomsJXnGKemXP4RbmBPMxRjfNU9W2d9dadE8fdLRSM ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 166 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/linux-dx-and-more/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.14.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ InteLeaks_–_Part_XIV:_Technical_Incompetence_and_Incoherence_Leading_to Alienation_and_Brain_Drain⠀✐ Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware at 7:42 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link http://techrights.org/videos/linux-dx-and-more.webm Summary: The idea that Intel “loves Linux” or “supports Linux” is somewhat of a sham; one needs only to consider what Intel insiders are saying about that, having witnessed it firsthand THIS video starts with a few notes or mental notes (memories) regarding the demise of Intel, based on this week’s news (so far we know about a new CEO, as noted in our latest batch of Daily Links and more upcoming news_picks). Intel has a job and talent retention crisis. It’s very well aware that in some circles/areas of operation it has grown increasingly irrelevant and fell way behind. That’s why they’re putting a new CEO in place (he comes from the_most notorious_GPL_violator) and there are some big layoffs in a company half owned by Intel. We’ll link to reports about it in the next batch of Daily Links and this morning I heard about this from people with contacts inside the company (so it’s personally corroborated). It’s pretty serious, no matter what Intel tries to tell the public (or shareholders), and there’s more to come. I spent 20 minutes on the phone. “Intel has a job and talent retention crisis.”This video deals with lack of understanding of GNU/Linux inside Intel. It also shows poor documentation efforts, which alienate and upset whatever geeks still work at Intel (there seems to be ‘brain drain’; see this series’_index_in_the_relevant_wiki_page). Later in this series we’ll show some of the things that cause Intel engineers to hand in their notice; One of them wrote: “dropbox?! github?! slack?! We’re going to lose devs… I just use a shell, irc and gitlab but for change… why not an internal git of our own…” “It’s inadvertently also a cautionary tale for other companies.”Intel will pay a very high price for trying to impose Microsoft on people who focus on GNU/ Linux in order to get away from Microsoft. Of course Microsoft isn’t going to save Intel, nor will the new/incoming CEO (term starts or becomes effective very soon). Maybe nothing can save Intel anymore. It has long been committing felonies and nowadays it persistently makes a bunch of suicidal decisions/ moves. The public needs to see it and insiders ought to know who’s responsible. It’s inadvertently also a cautionary tale for other companies. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 228 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/01/14/upc-jingoism/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.14.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Patent_Propaganda_and_UPC_Jingoism_Instead_of_Actual_News⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Europe, Patents at 2:13 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link http://techrights.org/videos/epo-and-upc-spin.webm Summary: Today’s so-called ‘news’ about the EPO (Europe’s second-largest institution) and the failed UPC is nothing short of shameless propaganda TODAY’s stock of articles about the EPO and the UPC has thus far been appalling, albeit more or less as usual. Yesterday we_mentioned_the_Kluwer_spin (probably Bristows in disguise) and today we see Bristows doing_so_directly, along with another_law_firm that lobbies for patents on life (as does the media_operative_of_Team_UPC). Meanwhile, as of a few hours ago, the EPO wants_us_to_think (warning: epo.org link) that more monopolies is a great accomplishment, even illegal monopolies that lack a legal basis. The EPO’s first press release of the year (2 weeks after the start of the year) isn’t even about the EPO. The video discusses some of these things. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 268 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.14.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_14/1/2021:_Wine_6.0,_Debian_11_Freeze,_and_Alpine_Linux_3.13⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 8:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ Top_10_Reasons_Why_to_Use_Linux⠀⇛ Linux initially started as the OS of choice for servers, but not so much for PCs. However, that has drastically changed over the years, and currently, in 2021, Linux is more than capable of replacing the Mac or Windows installation on your desktop. And to prove this point, we have put together a list of the most compelling reasons you should use Linux. So without wasting any more time by prolonging this introduction, let’s dive into what’s really important. # ⚓ Slimbook’s_New_Linux_Gaming_Laptop_is_a_Ryzen_BEAST⠀⇛ The valiantly-titled Slimbook Titan boasts an impressive specs sheet for a laptop, not least because it has Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics — yes, the 3000 series is now available for laptops — as its crowning glory. Colossal performance doesn’t come cheap: Slimbook Titan will cost €1750 and up, though a special discount price is available to pre-orders. # ⚓ How_I_Switched_from_Windows_10_to_Linux_Mint?⠀⇛ This article explains the reasons and process to switch from Windows 10 to the latest Linux Mint version, which is Linux Mint 20 Ulyana. I was using Microsoft Windows for almost 10 years. As of January 2020, Microsoft has terminated the support for windows. I had the option to use windows 7 by paying for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates or upgrade to Windows 10 for free. But I was not interested to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10. Now, I have decided to move to the Linux based operating systems rather than Microsoft Windows. The first question that arose in my mind is which Linux Distro will fulfill my needs in terms of professional and personal use. Some of the Linux distros are fine for professional use, but not meant for personal use like Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Therefore, I was keen on finding the best distro that can be used for professional, as well as personal use, and great community support. Community support is an important aspect to consider when you are selecting any distro. The reason is that if you face any problem while installing any software applications or doing some configuration, then you can post your problem on the community website, and anyone can give the solution. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ What_Is_RISC_V:_Should_You_Even_Care⠀⇛ RISC V gets thrown around a lot but what is it and how does it differ from what we’re already using on our desktop and mobile systems. # ⚓ BSD_Now_#385:_Wireguard_VPN_mesh⠀⇛ Description: History of FreeBSD: Early Days of FreeBSD, mesh VPN using OpenBSD and WireGuard, FreeBSD Foundation Sponsors LLDB Improvements, Host your Cryptpad web office suite with OpenBSD, and more. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ CXL_2.0_Support_Steps_Closer_To_The_Mainline_Linux_Kernel_– Phoronix⠀⇛ So far for the virtual CES this week there hasn’t been any big CXL 2.0 announcements since the Compute Express Link 2.0 specification was finalized back in November, but the Linux kernel support for this CPU-to-device interconnect continues coming together and will be hopefully mainlined in a coming release. Back in November the CXL 2.0 spec was published and immediately following that Intel began posting Linux support patches for implementing the specification with an initial focus on type- 3 memory devices as memory expanders for RAM or persistent memory. # ⚓ Systemd_248_To_Allow_Unlocking_Encrypted_Volumes_Via_TPM2_/ FIDO2_/_PKCS#11_Hardware⠀⇛ For those with TPM2 security chips in your system or various hardware security tokens like YubiKeys, the upcoming systemd 248 will make it much easier to use then for unlocking your encrypted LUKS2 volumes. While systemd-cryptsetup has already supported unlocking LUKs2 volumes at boot via user-supplied passphrases and key files on a local or removable disk, with systemd 248 will be the ability to make use of TPM2 / FIDO2 / PKCS#11 security hardware for unlocking volumes if desired. # ⚓ Unlocking_LUKS2_volumes_with_TPM2,_FIDO2,_PKCS#11_Security Hardware_on_systemd_248⠀⇛ Blogging is a lot of work, and a lot less fun than hacking. I mostly focus on the latter because of that, but from time to time I guess stuff is just too interesting to not be blogged about. Hence here, finally, another blog story about exciting new features in systemd. # ⚓ Following_LTO,_Linux_Kernel_Patches_Updated_For_PGO_To Yield_Faster_Performance_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Clang LTO for the Linux kernel to provide link-time optimizations for yielding more performant kernel binaries (plus Clang CFI support) looks like it will land for Linux 5.12. With that compiler optimization feature appearing squared away, Google engineers are also working on Clang PGO support for the Linux kernel to exploit profile guided optimizations for further enhancing the kernel performance. Google engineers on Tuesday posted their latest patches providing the necessary kernel infrastructure around Clang Profile Guided Optimizations (PGO). This is more complicated than LTO support since with compiler PGO functionality it relies on first collecting profiles during run- time to then provide that feedback back to the compiler in order to generate a more optimized binary based on that actual run-time profile/ feedback. # ⚓ Some_Older_ARM_Platforms_Will_Be_Saved_While_Others_On_The Chopping_Block_For_Linux⠀⇛ Following the very active discussions the past several days over the Linux kernel potentially dropping a number of old CPU targets/architectures, an updated list of planned ARM platforms for removal has been published now that some have been saved thanks to expressed interest. Several platforms like Axxia, Broadcom Kona, Digicolor, Dove, Nspire, and Spear are no longer expected for removal at this time. Work on them will supposedly resume otherwise they might be dropped in the future. # ⚓ Final_days_for_some_Arm_platforms⠀⇛ Arnd Bergmann stirred up a bit of a discussion with his January 8 “bring out your dead” posting, wherein he raised the idea of removing support for a long list of seemingly unloved Arm platforms — and a few non-Arm ones as well. Many of these have seen no significant work in at least six years. In a January 13 followup, he notes that several of those platforms will be spared for now due to ongoing interest. # § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ Collabora’s_Panfrost_Open-Source_Driver_Gets_OpenGL 3.1_Support_on_Mali_GPUs⠀⇛ The big news Collabora wants to share with us is the fact that they’ve added desktop OpenGL 3.1 support in the open source Panfrost graphics driver for Midgard (Mali T760 and newer) and Bifrost GPUs, which will be available for most GNU/Linux distribution as part of the upcoming Mesa 21.0 open source graphics stack. This work follows on the footsteps of the initial OpenGL ES 3.0 support on Midgard GPUs added last year to the Panfrost driver as part of the Mesa 20.0 graphics stack series. This implemented new features like 3D textures, uniform buffer objects, instanced rendering, as well as multiple render targets on Mali T760 GPUs and higher. # ⚓ Desktop_OpenGL_3.1_on_Mali_GPUs_with_Panfrost⠀⇛ Mesa’s shared code also extends to OpenCL support via Clover. Once a driver supports compute shaders and sufficient compiler features, baseline OpenCL is just a few patches and a bug-fixing spree away. While OpenCL implementations could be layered (for example with clvk), an open source Mesa driver avoids the indirection. I would like to thank Collaboran Boris Brezillon, who has worked tirelessly to bring OpenGL ES 3.0 support to Bifrost, as well as the prolific Icecream95, who has spearheaded OpenCL and desktop OpenGL support. # ⚓ Mali_Midgard_and_Bifrost_GPUs_to_get_OpenGL_3.1_with Mesa_21.0_–_first_RC_up⠀⇛ With the first Mesa release of 2021 for open source Linux GPU drivers upcoming with Mesa 21.0 hitting the Release Candidate stage, Collabora have been busy bringing up OpenGL on ARM Mali GPUs. This is coming with the Panfrost driver, which Collabora has been working on for some time now. While not officially conformant yet as it seems they haven’t gone through the conformance testing from The Khorons Group, they announced in a fresh blog post that both the Midgard and Bifrost GPU generation will see “non-conformant OpenGL ES 3.0 on Bifrost and desktop OpenGL 3.1 on Midgard (Mali T760 and newer) and Bifrost”. # ⚓ Intel_Sends_In_Another_Batch_Of_Graphics_Work_For Linux_5.12_–_More_Display_Fixes_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ At the start of the month Intel sent out their initial graphics driver changes targeting Linux 5.12 while now a secondary set of changes have been sent to DRM-Next. That initial pull included restoring Tiger Lake Gen12 frame-buffer compression, HDR display support for select Intel Gen9 graphics hardware support, atomic mode- setting improvements for Big Joiner, and other changes. # ⚓ AMDGPU_Working_On_“Secure_Display”_Functionality_– Phoronix⠀⇛ The AMD Radeon “AMDGPU” open-source Linux kernel driver is tacking on another new feature: Secure Display TA. Over the past two years we have seen AMD Linux driver developers work on more “security” features that at least initially appeared to be driven by AMD picking up Chromebook design wins and needing to support this functionality for those use-cases. There has been HDCP display support for APUs to land as well as Trusted Memory Zones – TMZ for securing video memory buffers. The latest feature being tackled is “Secure Display TA”. # ⚓ Mike_Blumenkrantz:_Overhead⠀⇛ As in all software, overhead is the performance penalty that is incurred as compared to a baseline measurement. In Mesa, a lot of people know of driver overhead as “Gallium sucks” and/or “A Gallium-based driver is slow” due to the fact that Gallium does incur some amount of overhead as compared to the old-style immediate mode DRI drivers. While it’s true that there is an amount of performance lost by using Gallium in this sense, it’s also true that the performance gained is much greater. The reason for this is that Gallium is able to batch commands and state changes for every driver using it, allowing redundant calls to avoid triggering any work in the GPU. It also makes for an easier time profiling and improving upon the CPU usage that’s required to handle the state changes emitted by Gallium. Instead of having a ton of core Mesa callbacks which need to be handled, each one potentially leading to a no-op that can be analyzed and deferred by the driver, Gallium provides a more cohesive API where each driver hook is a necessary change that must be handled. Because of this, the job of optimizing for those changes is simplified. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Productivity_corner:_editors,_editors,_editors⠀⇛ Text editors are a curious product. On one hand, they are simple, no-nonsense digital pads for taking notes, without any embellishments or visual styling. On the other, they are powerful code and data toolboxes, allowing for a great deal of flexibility and innovation. Indeed, software developers, Web developers and entrepreneuring nerds worldwide often use text editors for a range of useful tasks and activities. Never have so many owed so much to so few. To that end, we want to introduce you to several powerful text editors in the Snap Store. [...] Sometimes, an abundance of choice can be difficult for the consumer. With text editors, it’s quite the opposite. More is more. The wealth and diversity of available products in this space gives tinkerers and developers the ultimate freedom to select just the right tool for the job – and there could be many different tools for different jobs. Hopefully, this article will help you find the text editor that has the best features you need, and allow you to be even more productive in your endeavors. If you have any comments or suggestions, please join our forum for a discussion. # ⚓ Top_7_Free_Multi-Platform_PDF_Editors⠀⇛ The recent rise in popularity of eBooks has led to the emergence of several different file formats, of which the most popular and the most widely used is the Portable Document Format, or PDF for short. PDFs are one of the most reliable and efficient formats of documents that can easily be shared across computer systems. These files are also secure enough to prevent people from easily updating file contents. This article looks at seven of the best PDF Editors available on all major platforms. [...] Scribus is a free and open-source publishing software that is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Scribus provides several different PDF editing tools to users, of which the most notable features include highlighting, moving, and adding text; creating PDFs and lists; and making PDF files more interactive by adding text fields, checkboxes, and more. This is a property unique to Scribus, setting it apart from other PDF editors in this list. # ⚓ Looking_to_Ditch_WhatsApp?_Here_are_5_Better_Privacy Alternatives_to_WhatsApp⠀⇛ After the latest WhatsApp privacy policy updates, many users who trusted the service seem to be making the switch to alternatives like Signal. Even though WhatsApp tries to clarify and re-assure the change in the policies, users have made their mind while considering the benefits of using privacy alternatives to WhatsApp. But, what are some useful and impressive alternatives to WhatsApp? In this article, let us take a look at some of the best options. [...] Signal is the best blend of open-source and privacy. They’ve improved a lot over the years and is safe to assume as a perfect alternative to WhatsApp. You get almost every essential feature compared to WhatsApp. However, just because it does not store your data, you may not be able to access all the messages of your smartphone on Desktop. In addition to that, it relies on local backup (which is protected by a passphrase) instead of cloud backups. So, you will have to head to the settings, start the backup, safely copy the passcode of the backup, check where the local backup gets stored, and make sure you don’t delete it. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_Integrate_Your_Google_Account_into_GNOME_Shell⠀⇛ Regardless of your feelings about Google, many people around the world use Google services every day. As such, it’s important to talk about all the amazing ways you can get easier access to your Google account, particularly for those trying to use Linux in the enterprise. This tutorial shows you how to integrate your Google account into GNOME Shell. # ⚓ How_to_install_notepadqq_on_Linux_Mint_20.1⠀⇛ In this video, we are looking at how to install notepadqq on Linux Mint 20.1. # ⚓ How_to_install_SMPlayer_on_a_Chromebook⠀⇛ Today we are looking at how to install SMPlayer on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. # ⚓ How_to_install_Eternal_Terminal_for_persistent_SSH connections⠀⇛ If you’re an admin with Linux servers in your data center or cloud hosted account (such as AWS and Google Cloud), chances are pretty good you connect to those machines via SSH. Sometimes you need to remain connected for a good amount of time. You could be debugging code, working on containers or Kubernetes, or just about a thousand other reasons. # ⚓ Install_Windows_10_like_Kylin_desktop_environment_on_Ubuntu 20.04⠀⇛ Kylin Linux distro is the official flavor of Ubuntu released by Canonical and China’s MIIT to target the Chinese laptop and PC consumer market. Although it is based on the same official Ubuntu, however, its interface is much beautiful than the standard custom Gnome one. Ubuntu Kylin desktop environment which is also known as UKUI is more inclined towards the Windows 10 or Deepin like interface with sleek and colorful icons along with user- friendly elements that make it easy to use. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Apache_Maven_on_Linux_Mint_20_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Apache Maven on Linux Mint 20. For those of you who didn’t know, Apache Maven is an open-source project management and comprehension tool used primarily for Java projects. Maven uses a Project Object Model (POM), which is essentially an XML file containing information about the project, configuration details, the project’s dependencies, and more. 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 through the step by step installation of Apache Maven open-source data visualization and monitoring suite on a Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana). # ⚓ How_to_use_Cloudformation_to_create_an_EC2_instance⠀⇛ Before we proceed I assume you are aware of the EC2 service on AWS and know its basic components. I would recommend visiting my article to create an EC2 instance using the AWS Console and understand the basics of the EC2 instance, click here to go to the article. In this article, we will create an EC2 instance with the latest Linux AMI using Cloudformation hence knowing the basics of cloud formation is required. Even if you are not aware of Cloudformation and would just like to create an instance using it, do not worry and proceed with the article. # ⚓ Formatting_tricks_for_the_Linux_date_command_|_Enable Sysadmin⠀⇛ The date command is simple. However, it has several useful options that enhance it. It’s also capable of giving you practical information about past or future dates. This article shows you some of the format controls to manipulate the date command’s output. At the end of the article, I offer some practical suggestions about how you can use this command in conjunction with common tasks. # ⚓ 7_Essential_Linux_Commands_for_Managing_Users⠀⇛ From the very beginning, the Linux operating system was designed to be a multi-user OS. As such, one of the most common administrative tasks performed on a Linux machine is managing user accounts. It’s a critical part of keeping a healthy and secure Linux machine. You might think that it is overwhelming to manage users from the command line. On the contrary, it is not at all. There are only a few basic commands that you need to know, and I will cover them in this article. # ⚓ Analyze_Kubernetes_files_for_errors_with_KubeLinter_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ KubeLinter is an open source project released by Stackrox to analyze Kubernetes YAML files for security issues and errant code. The tool covers Helm charts and Kubernetes configuration files, including Knative files. Using it can improve cloud-native development, reduce development time, and encourage DevOps best practices. # ⚓ Remote_Directory_Tree_Comparison,_Optionally_Asynchronous and_Airgapped⠀⇛ In the previous installment on store-and-forward backups, I mentioned how easy it is to do with ZFS, and some of the tools that can be used to do it without ZFS. A lot of those tools are a bit less robust, so we need some sort of store-and-forward mechanism to verify backups. To be sure, verifying backups is good with ANY scheme, and this could be used with ZFS backups also. # ⚓ Run_a_variety_of_virtual_machines_on_your_Chromebook_with Gnome_Boxes⠀⇛ Now that Chrome OS is offering an official Windows Desktop via Parallels, Enterprise customers have a fully-supported and very viable way to access legacy applications while still embracing the cloud. That’s all fine and well for companies that have the means to purchase high-end Chromebooks along with licenses for Windows and Parallels but not so much for us common folk. Lucky for us – where there’s a will, there’s a way and we have a way. In the early days of Chrome OS, running a separate operating system meant putting your device in developer mode and jumping through a bunch of hoops to essentially dual boot a version on Linux on your machine. In all honesty, the process isn’t that difficult and when you’re finished, you have a fully-functional version of Linux running side-by- side with Chrome OS. The main drawback – aside from the technical expertise required – was the fact that developer mode technically makes a Chromebook less secure and it throws out any and all support you may get from Google should you brick your machine. # ⚓ Sfdisk_Tutorials⠀⇛ Partitioning is vital for system administration. This is the reason the partitioning software comes in so many variants. fdisk and cfdisk are made to be interactive. With parted, you can create everything with commands. Those are the most commonly used ones; sfdisk is not very common. It does have many features, but you can use it for scripts to a much higher degree. For a long time, sfdisk lagged behind on supporting GPT since version 2.26, it does support GPT. # ⚓ Install_Signal_Desktop_App_In_Ubuntu_/_Linux_Mint_|_Tips_On UNIX⠀⇛ Signal is a free, cross-platform application for communication purpose, it’s main aim is to protect users PRIVACY and one of the best alternative to Whatsapp messenger. With Signal messenger you can do HD Voice / Video calls, Chat, etc. # ⚓ How_to_Run_Google_Chrome_OS_from_a_USB_Drive_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ Google Chrome OS is based on the open-source Chromium OS. It is a browser-based operating system. You will only have the Google Chrome web browser installed on it. You can install Chrome web apps or extensions from the Chrome Web Store and add more functionality to the operating system.Sadly, the Google Chrome OS is not publicly available for download, and only the source code of Chromium OS is publicly available. So, you can’t run the Google Chrome OS or Chromium OS directly on your computer. Luckily, a few Chromium OS-based operating systems are available that you can download and install on your computer. The most popular one is Neverware’s CloudReady OS. This article will show you how to make a Live bootable USB thumb drive of Neverware’s CloudReady OS and run it from the USB thumb drive. So, let’s get started. # ⚓ How_to_Install_and_Use_FFmpeg_on_Linux_Distros_|_Beginner’s Guide⠀⇛ The FFmpeg is a popular media library function that you can install individually or alongside a media player on your Linux system. This tool was initially created under the Linux project, but now available for Mac and Windows OS also. The FFmpeg tool is a formation of two media codec packets, which are the FF and the MPEG. The FF is the short form of Fast Forward, and the MPEG is the acronym of Moving Picture Experts Group. You can directly use the FFmpeg tool on your Linux system through the command-line interface to convert, cut, join, and compress media files. You can also use it for live streaming or feeding live media into a server. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Linux_Mint’s_Cinnamon_Desktop_4.8_in_Ubuntu 20.04_LTS_|_UbuntuHandbook⠀⇛ Want to try out the Cinnamon Desktop Environment? Without installing Linux Mint, you can get the desktop packages in Ubuntu via a few commands. Cinnamon is available in Ubuntu main repositories, though the package version is however a little old. You can simply run the command in step 2 to install it if you don’t stick to the latest features. The Wasta Linux team maintains an Ubuntu PPA that contains Cinnamon 4.8 packages for Ubuntu 20.04. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Atom_1.54.0_in_Ubuntu_/_Linux_Mint [Ed: But Microsoft is in the mist]⠀⇛ Atom editor is built on the Electron framework, which lets developers create modern desktop apps using state-of-the-art Web technologies like HTML5, CSS, Node.js, and JavaScript. # ⚓ How_to_Check_CPU_Temperature_in_Linux_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ Device temperature control is, therefore, very important. Most of the time, your laptop computer gets too hot because different parts and components of the laptop device are closely coupled to one another. So, in slim laptops, there seems to be little space for airflow. It would do any harm to the physical hardware components and to your body as well if your machine gets too hot. We will learn about how to install temperature sensor packages on any Linux system and how to check the temperature of the CPU. # ⚓ How_to_Backup_Btrfs_Snapshots_to_External_Drives_–_Linux Hint⠀⇛ By default, you can store the snapshots you take of your Btrfs subvolumes in the same Btrfs filesystem, but it is not possible to store the snapshots of one Btrfs filesystem directly to another Btrfs filesystem. However, the Btrfs filesystem provides you with the necessary tools to back up snapshots of one Btrfs filesystem to another Btrfs filesystem. This article shows you how to back up Btrfs snapshots to an external Btrfs filesystem on an external drive. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Xfce_4.16_On_Xubuntu_20.04_(Focal_Fossa)_Or 20.10_(Groovy_Gorilla)_–_Linux_Uprising_Blog⠀⇛ Xfce 4.16 was released back in December, and it includes some important changes like a dark mode for the Xfce panel, fractional scaling support, and more. This article explains how to install Xfce 4.16 on Xubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) or Xubuntu 20.10 (Groovy Gorilla). Undoing the changes is also covered in the article. # ⚓ How_to_set_up_Samba_in_Ubuntu_and_access_it_in_MacOS/ Windows⠀⇛ Samba is a way to share files across the different operating systems over a network. It let you access all your files from one PC to another without any 3rd party application. Today, we will install and set up Samba in our Linux system and share files over the network. o § Wine or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Run_Windows_apps_on_Linux_with_Wine_6.0⠀⇛ It used to be, people would scoff at the idea of switching to a Linux-based operating system due to a lack of software. While that is still true for some folks — especially business users — it is less of a concern these days. Why? Well, so many things are done through the web browser nowadays, lessening dependence on Windows software. For many consumers, just having the Google Chrome browser on, say, Ubuntu, is more than enough to accomplish their wants and needs. Not to mention, there are many quality Linux apps like GIMP and DaVinci Resolve. But OK, lets say you really want to use a Linux- based operating system, but there’s some Windows- only software that you absolutely cannot live without. Thankfully, you may still be able to ditch Windows and upgrade to something like Fedora or Linux Mint. How? Thanks to the excellent Wine. This compatibility layer (don’t you dare call it an emulator), can sometimes enable you to run Windows software on Linux. Today, version 6.0 is released. # ⚓ Wine_6.0_released⠀⇛ Version 6.0 of the Wine Windows not-an-emulator has been released. # ⚓ Grab_a_Glass,_Wine_6.0_Has_Been_Released⠀⇛ Wine 6.0 bottles up an entire year’s worth of development (fermented from more than 8,300 changes) to bring users a rich and varied palette of improvements, new features, and advanced capabilities with it. For those unfamiliar with it, Wine is a Windows compatibility layer that allows apps, tools, and games built for Microsoft Windows to run (with caveats) on Linux, BSD, Android, and even macOS systems. At the time of writing than 27,500 Windows apps and games are compatible with Wine, including well- known software like Photoshop and Microsoft Office, and popular games like StarCraft, Final Fantasy XI Online , and Team Fortress II. # ⚓ Wine_6.0_Officially_Released_with_Vulkan_Backend_for WineD3D,_This_Is_What’s_New⠀⇛ A year in the making, Wine 6.0 is here to provide GNU/Linux users with much-improved support for running Windows applications and gams on their beloved distributions. Major changes including support for core modules in the PE format, Vulkan backend for WineD3D, DirectShow and Media Foundation support, as well as revamped text console. # ⚓ Wine_compatibility_layer_version_6.0_released⠀⇛ Wine, the compatibility layer designed to run Windows games and applications on other systems has a big 6.0 release now officially available with thousands of improvements. This is the main tech behind the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer. Plenty of improvements came as a result of CodeWeavers (who back the Wine project) working with Valve on that since they get Proton changes upstreamed whenever possible into Wine directly. [...] How good is Wine? It varies from game to game but it often results in a really great experience. We use it to play titles like Overwatch, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft and more that don’t support Linux officially. It’s great that Linux has something like this available so you don’t have to give up your favourite Windows games. # ⚓ Wine_6.0_Released_With_A_Plethora_Of_Improvements_For Windows_Software_On_Linux⠀⇛ Wine 6.0 stable is now officially available as the annual stable release for this open-source project allowing Windows games and applications to run on Linux, macOS, and other Unix-like platforms. Among the many highlights for Wine 6.0 are core modules now being implemented in Portable Executable (PE) format, the initial (experimental) Vulkan back-end for WineD3D as an alternative to OpenGL, DirectShow and Media Foundation support, and a redesign of their text console implementation. # ⚓ Wine_Announcement⠀⇛ The Wine team is proud to announce that the stable release Wine 6.0 is now available. This release represents a year of development effort and over 8,300 individual changes. It contains a large number of improvements that are listed in the release notes below. The areas of major changes are: - Core modules in PE format. - Vulkan backend for WineD3D. - DirectShow and Media Foundation support. - Text console redesign. This release is dedicated to the memory of Ken Thomases, who passed away just before Christmas at the age of 51. Ken was an incredibly brilliant developer, and the mastermind behind the macOS support in Wine. We all miss his skills, his patience, and his dark sense of humor. The source is available from the following locations: https://dl.winehq.org/wine/source/6.0/wine- 6.0.tar.xz http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/wine/source/6.0/wine- 6.0.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. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ What_Never_Was:_Chapter_II_gets_a_teaser_trailer_and_a Steam_page_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ What Never Was is a free short, story-driven first- person puzzle-solving adventure that released back in 2019. It was so popular that the developer is bringing out What Never Was: Chapter II. The first part released in January 2019, with a Linux build arriving later in April 2019. It went on to gather over 4,000 user reviews and still has an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating today. Epic Games later noticed it and gave the developer an Epic MegaGrant (no exclusivity) to help Acke Hallgren work on more of it. “Starting immediately after the events of What Never Was – Sarah finds herself magically whisked away to a strange place. Where did the magical clock take her? What other secrets are to be discovered? What more did her eccentric grandfather hide from her?” # ⚓ Dead_Cells:_Fatal_Falls_releases_January_26_and_gets_a_new trailer⠀⇛ Ready for more Dead Cells? I know I am! Motion Twin and Evil Empire have announced the Dead Cells: Fatal Falls expansion will release on January 26. This is the third expansion, although only the second that’s paid as Dead Cells: Rise of the Giant was released free and comes after over 20 major updates to the game that have been released free. At release, they’re also putting up a ‘complete the set’ bundle to save you 15% on The Bad Seed and Fatal Falls DLC together. So what to expect from Dead Cells: Fatal Falls? There’s two new mid-game biomes, which are alternative paths to Stilt Village / Clock Tower and Slumbering Sanctuary / Forgotten Sepulcher. “One is the Fractured Shrines, which is a load of floating islands connected by ledges that are covered with traps and ready to drop you into the abyss below. When you’re not falling you’ll be dealing with pagan snake people and giant statues with even bigger axes. After that you’ll enter The Undying Shores where you need to descend a cliff in the middle of a storm. Some caves offer a way out of the rain but they’re full of weird experiments and undead healers, so good luck getting out!” # ⚓ Love_turn-based_strategies?_Check_out_the_Turn-Based Tactical_Bundle_on_Steam⠀⇛ It appears that more developers are teaming up to create game bundles on Steam, where you get a couple games from different teams plus a discount to get them all together. Much like the Devolver Digital Hidden Gems Bundle, this is a good chance to pick up even more indie greats if you don’t already own them. # ⚓ HotShot_Racing,_Review_in_Video⠀⇛ Following the article published at the end of 2020, here’s the follow up in video. It should have been published much earlier, but you know how plans go… Anyway, if you haven’t checked the review yet, this is a good and quick summary alongside some footage… o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ Files_40.alpha:_Creation_timestamp_&_Wallpaper portal⠀⇛ In my last post I’ve promised that the next one would have screenshots of new developments in the Files app, and it’s finally here! It took me longer than I expected back then. After the 3.38 release, I had to had to focus my time elsewhere: assisting and training local primary health care teams in managing and following up of the raising number of COVID-19 cases assigned to them. With this mission accomplished, in December I’ve picked up again on my GNOME contributions and have something to show you now. # ⚓ GNOME_Shell_Merges_Port_Of_Extensions_App_+_Portal_To GTK4_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ With GTK4 out and stabilizing well, more GNOME components are working to migrate to this updated toolkit as part of the GNOME 40 development cycle. The latest GTK4 porting work to be merged is GNOME Shell’s extensions application and portal components being moved from GTK3 to GTK4. # ⚓ GNOME_40_Will_Finally_Show_File_Creation_Times_Within Its_File_Manager_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Finally in 2021 with the GNOME 40 release is the ability of GNOME’s Nautilus file manager to show and sort by file creation times… Going back more than a decade have been requests for being able to show timestamps for when files are created within the GNOME file manager or to be able to sort by file creation times in a folder rather than the last modified date. Initially that was blocked by the Linux kernel / file-systems exposing the information while in recent years that’s been addressed and more time until it was implemented for GNOME. # ⚓ Philip_Withnall:_Add_extended_information_to_GErrors in_GLib_2.67.2⠀⇛ Thanks to Krzesimir Nowak, a 17-year-old feature request in GLib has been implemented: it’s now possible to define GError domains which have extended information attached to their GErrors. You could now, for example, define a GError domain for text parser errors which includes context information about a parsing failure, such as the current line and character position. Or attach the filename of a file which was being read, to the GError informing of a read failure. Define an extended error domain using G_DEFINE_EXTENDED_ERROR(). The extended information is stored in a ‘private’ struct provided by you, similarly to how it’s implemented for GObjects with G_DEFINE_TYPE_WITH_PRIVATE(). o § Distributions⠀➾ # § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Alpine_Linux_3.13_Brings_Official_Cloud_Images,_Much Faster_Node.js,_Cloud-Init_Support⠀⇛ Alpine Linux, the distribution popular for container environments due to its lightweight nature with employing Musl libc and Busybox while being designed for simplicity, security, and efficiency, is out with version 3.13. With Alpine Linux 3.13 the distribution is ramping up its cloud ambitions. Alpine Linux 3.13 brings the project’s first official cloud images. There are now official Alpine Linux cloud images for Amazon AWS EC2 on x86_64 and AArch64. Support for more public cloud providers are expected with time. Alpine Linux images for EC2 were previously available but with version 3.13.0 is now considered “official” and supported. # ⚓ Alpine_Linux_3.13_Released_with_Official_Cloud Images,_Linux_5.10_LTS,_and_PHP_8.0⠀⇛ Coming about eight months after the Alpine Linux 3.12 series, Alpine Linux 3.13 is powered by the latest and greatest Linux 5.10 LTS kernel series and introduces ifupdown-ng network device manager as a replacement for BusyBox’s ifupdown and provide users with a flexible ifup/ifdown implementation. This release also improves Wi-Fi support in the setup scripts, introduces support for the latest and greatest PHP 8.0 general-purpose scripting language, as well as initial support for the cloud-init industry standard multi-distribution method for cross-platform cloud instance initialization. # ⚓ Alpine_3.13.0_released⠀⇛ We are pleased to announce the release of Alpine Linux 3.13.0, the first in the v3.13 stable series. # § Screenshots/Screencasts⠀➾ # ⚓ Garuda_KDE_Dr460nized_210107_overview_|_performance_& beauty.⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show an overview of Garuda KDE Dr460nized 210107 and some of the applications pre-installed. # § PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Zoom_updated_to_5.4.57862.0110_»_PCLinuxOS⠀⇛ Zoom, the cloud meeting company, unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across Zoom Rooms, Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and H.323/SIP room systems. # § Arch Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Sven-Hendrik_Haase:_Manual_pages_indexing_service⠀⇛ We are happy to announce our newest public service: A manual pages indexing site at man.archlinux.org that publishes the man pages of all our packages and allows you to search and browse them. Check out, for example, the man page of tar. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ CloudLinux_Announces_AlmaLinux_As_Their_1:1_RHEL Fork,_Alternative_To_CentOS⠀⇛ Following the surprise announcement last month that CentOS 8 will be discontinued at EOY2021 with CentOS Stream to be the new upstream for RHEL, several different organizations and developers have announced their intentions to create new community- oriented, open-source rebuilds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that will be free. One of the promising announcements so far has been from CloudLinux and today they have announced it as AlmaLinux. CloudLinux, which provides a CentOS-based Linux distribution catering to shared hosting providers, announced in December they would be working on their own replacement to CentOS. They said this drop-in CentOS alternative would be supported by them with $1 million USD annually for development. # ⚓ CloudLinux_Prepares_CentOS_Replacement_AlmaLinux⠀⇛ Launching a CentOS alternative was an obvious move for the company, said Igor Seletskiy, CEO and founder of CloudLinux Inc., in the announcement. “The Linux community was in need, and the CloudLinux OS is a CentOS clone with significant pedigree—including over 200,000 active server instances. AlmaLinux is built with CloudLinux expertise but will be owned and governed by the community. We intend to deliver this forever-free Linux distribution this quarter,” he said. # ⚓ Flatpak_1.10_Released_With_More_Efficient_Repo Format⠀⇛ Most notable to the Flatpak 1.10 stable release is a new and more efficient repository format. This new format – which is already supported by Flathub – allows isolating metadata based on the CPU architecture used by the client, supports delta-based incremental updates, and other optimizations. In many cases the new repo format means no longer having to download megabytes each time but can be as little as ~20k updates. Thus it’s a win for lowered bandwidth usage while also helping expand Flathub in supporting more CPU architectures thanks to the new design. # ⚓ Knowledge_meets_machine_learning_for_smarter decisions,_Part_1⠀⇛ Drools is a popular open source project known for its powerful rules engine. Few users realize that it can also be a gateway to the amazing possibilities of artificial intelligence. This two-part article introduces you to using Red Hat Decision Manager and its Drools-based rules engine to combine machine learning predictions with deterministic reasoning. In Part 1, we’ll prepare our machine learning logic. In Part 2, you’ll learn how to use the machine learning model from a knowledge service. # ⚓ Using_OpenSCAP_to_help_achieve_HIPAA_compliance_with Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_8.3⠀⇛ Tracking and controlling activities across a large environment is challenging in any IT environment. Adding requirements like HIPAA compliance makes life even more challenging for IT teams, and takes time away from addressing higher-level business problems. In this post, we’ll look at how teams can use OpenSCAP in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to help with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance and focus on work that delivers real value for the business. # ⚓ Finally,_The_Right_Pilot_At_The_Intel_Helm⠀⇛ IBM’s vaunted mainframe business in the 1960s and 1970s was knocked down a few pegs by the advent of proprietary and then RISC/Unix and then Wintel/Lintel systems, and it was blindsided by the rise of the PC to a certain extent. Even though it recovered for more than a decade, IBM could just not keep up. And while Microsoft was able to take its hegemony on the Windows desktop into the datacenter with Windows Server and a large stack of systems software, it has not been able to keep Apple from rising from the dead – for the second time, mind you – and creating a huge and profitable client machine. Intel similarly made the leap from the desktop to the datacenter, and has become the dominant compute engine maker to an extent that we have not seen since the late 1960s with the IBM mainframe. In 2020, if the final quarter works out as we expect, X86- based machines will account for over 90 percent of the $82 billion in server revenues and approaching 99 percent of the more than 12 million server shipments worldwide. And Intel Xeon SP processors will be in the overwhelming majority of those machines. Still. After years of Arm and AMD. # ⚓ Develop_Eclipse_MicroProfile_applications_on_Red_Hat JBoss_Enterprise_Application_Platform_XP_2.0⠀⇛ This article shows you how to install Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP) XP 2.0.0 GA with support for Eclipse MicroProfile. Once you’ve enabled Eclipse MicroProfile, you will be able to use its quickstart examples to start developing your own MicroProfile applications with Red Hat CodeReady Studio. In this demonstration, you’ll learn two ways to build and run the MicroProfile Config quickstart application. # ⚓ The_Eclipse_Foundation’s_move_to_Europe_will_bring open_standards_and_open_source_together⠀⇛ Today, the Eclipse Foundation announced that they are moving their headquarters from the U.S. to Brussels, Belgium. As a founding member of the new Eclipse Foundation AISBL nonprofit association, IBM believes this move to Europe will accelerate global collaboration around open source projects and pave the way for richer technology as a result of Europe’s rigorous privacy and security standards. The Eclipse Foundation has a proven historical record for being a fair, secure place to collaborate in the open. With more than 170 members and over 900 committers based in Europe, it’s fair to say that European open source developers are already invested in the Eclipse Foundation projects, so moving its headquarters makes sense to continue to support this growth. # ⚓ Red_Hat,_Intel_Align_R&D_For_5G,_Hybrid_Cloud,_Edge Computing⠀⇛ Red Hat OpenShift will pair with Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Ethernet Network Adapters, FlexRAN reference software and Open Network Edge Services Software, an edge computing software toolkit. # § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Bullseye_freeze⠀⇛ Bullseye is freezing! Yay! (And Trondheim is now below -10.) It’s too late for that kind of change now, but it would have been nice if plocate could have been default for bullseye… It seems that since buster, there’s an override in place to change its priority away from standard, and I haven’t been able to find anyone who could tell me why. (It was known that it was request moved away from standard for cloud images, which makes a lot of sense, but not for desktop/server images.) # ⚓ Debian_11_Freeze_Begins,_Debian_12_Might_Reduce_Focus On_i386_Support⠀⇛ The Debian 11 “Bullseye” build-essential freeze is now in effect with the release team no longer entertaining transition requests. Meanwhile, architecture support for Debian 12 is in early stages of discussion with a possible reduction in i386 support for that follow-on release. Debian 11.0 “Bullseye” will see its soft freeze for new packages begin on 12 February, the hard freeze beginning a month later on 12 March, and then the full freeze of Debian 12 to happen at some later point to be determined. # ⚓ bits_from_the_release_team:_bullseye_freeze_started and_its_architectures⠀⇛ Hi all, === bullseye Transition and (build-)essential freeze === We're pleased to announce that the freeze for Debian 11 'bullseye' has begun. On January 12th we stopped accepting transition requests and we are working to complete the transitions in progress. We ask the maintainers of packages that are (transitively) part of (build-)essential to stop uploading those packages [1]. We remind everybody to stop uploading large or disruptive changes to unstable, from here on experimental is the place to do that. Further details of the freeze are available in the freeze policy [2]. The freeze contains 3 more milestones: * 2021-02-12 - Milestone 2 - Soft Freeze no new packages, delayed migration * 2021-03-12 - Milestone 3 - Hard Freeze - key packages and packages without autopkgtests need a manual unblock for migration * TBA - Milestone 4 - Full Freeze all packages need a manual unblock for migration === RC bugs === We are missing the Bug Squashing parties. We have the impression that in the current list of Release Critical bugs for bullseye [3] there are quite a few bugs that are relatively easy to fix by NMU and we normally don't see them this late in the cycle. Please everybody, we know the times are different, but with your help, we can keep this freeze short. === bullseye architectures === We have decided that the architectures that will be part of the bullseye release are: amd64, arm64, armel, armhf, i386, mips64el, mipsel, ppc64el and s390x (i.e. the same we had for buster minus mips). There are some issues with a couple of the architectures, the number of porters being the main one. However, we realized that the call for porters was late and makes more sense at the start of the release cycle, instead of near the end. We intend to do the bookworm call soon after we release bullseye and architectures with too few porters will be dropped early (after sufficient warnings). One of the architectures at stake is i386, which we stopped waiving. We're interested in the discussion about i386 support in Debian that was going on recently and that will probably continue in one form or another. If the outcome requires changes to how we build some ports, the start of the bookworm release cycle is a good moment to try to get those in place. We're also interested in the proposal [4] to make it less troublesome for architectures to move between Release Architecture and Debian Ports, albeit we see that this mainly doesn't depend on us. === your packages === Please take this opportunity to check packages are in their final shape and stay vigilant for release-critical bugs. On behalf of the Release Team, Paul [1] https://release.debian.org/bullseye/ essential-and-build-essential.txt [2] https://release.debian.org/buster/ freeze_policy.html [3] https://udd.debian.org/dev/bugs.cgi [4] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/ 2020/11/msg00381.html # § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ ECS_LIVA:_ARM_versions_of_mini-PCs_introduced_that run_Android_and_Ubuntu_natively⠀⇛ It has been a few years since ECS announced its LIVA Q range of mini-PCs, which it last refreshed with Intel Apollo Lake processors. Now, the company has introduced ARM models that it has called the LIVA Q1A and LIVA Q1A Plus, respectively. The machines share broadly the same hardware, but ECS has distinguished them by their processors. # ⚓ The_Home_Directory_Will_be_Private_in_Ubuntu_21.04, What_Does_it_Mean?⠀⇛ I hope you are aware of file permissions. If not, I have written a detailed and easy to understand guide to Linux file permission and I suggest you read that. Most people probably never noticed it but the home directory in Ubuntu has the permission 755 i.e. rwxr-xr-x. What it means is that if there are multiple users on the same Ubuntu system, they can enter home directory of other users and read the files stored in it. They cannot modify these files or execute them, however. I think this is the common practice in many Linux distributions as this allows to easily share files between users on the same Linux system, specially in a server environment. # ⚓ Redditor_newhacker1746_managed_to_run_Ubuntu_on iPhone_7⠀⇛ A Reddit user newhacker1746 posted a thread on Reddit where he claimed to run Ubuntu on iPhone 7. Initially, he managed to just run Ubuntu CLI but he later managed to run Ubuntu GUI properly. [...] This wasn’t surprising for people who are already nerd. There’s already a project postmarketOS that brought Linux to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. # ⚓ Find_new_ways⠀⇛ Sometimes it is time to critically question things and look for new ways. This is what we as the Ubuntu Community Council have initiated with the existing Local Communities (LoCo) project. The LoCos have been an integral part of the Ubuntu family since almost the beginning of Ubuntu. The aim of the LoCos is that people who are involved with Ubuntu find contact persons and like-minded people in their area, so that they are included in the Ubuntu community and also get help with possible questions or problems with Ubuntu.It is also the aim that these local units fill Ubuntu with life and organise events. In the past years they have been an important institution in building the community around Ubuntu. Last year, we at the newly elected Community Council wanted to re-staff the international council that oversees this LoCo and called for nominations. Unfortunately, there were not enough candidates so that we could re- staff this council. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Crowdfunding_Astro_Slide_5G_smartphone_ships_in_June,_has_a physical_keyboard,_and_promises_Linux_support⠀⇛ The Astro Slide is a 5G smartphone with a 6.5 inch display and a physical keyboard that slides out from behind the screen, allowing you to use the phone like a tiny laptop computer. It will ship with Android, but the plan is to also make GNU/ Linux distributions including Debian and Ubuntu Touch available for download. First announced by Planet Computers in March, 2020, the phone went up for pre-order through an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $1.6 million in hopes of shipping the Astro Slide to customers by March, 2021. Now the makers of the phone are providing an update – because of pandemic-related delays it will likely ship in June instead. And the specs have changed (the phone has more RAM than initially planned, but a less powerful processor and smaller battery). # ⚓ Pine64_mailbag_–_PinePhone_postmarketOS_Edition,_PineCone BL602_board,_and_Pinecil_soldering_iron⠀⇛ Once we’re done we can use the phone. I did not install a SIM card, so I just used my PinePhone with Firefox and the terminal for now. Browsing the web is not super smooth, but not quite as slow as I would have expected on an Allwinner A64 processor, and works without major bugs. I did notice the Thai language is not supported, and can’t be configured from the user interface, but it should not be too hard to install from the terminal once I learn more about Alpine Linux/postmarketOS. I plan to do so by checking out the Wiki. As you can see from the photo above there are very few apps right now, and the software app store is almost empty. At this stage, the battery will deplete quite fast. I charge it in the evening, before switching to charge to my Android phone, and the battery was depleted in the morning. As a development tool and for people caring about privacy it looks promising. PinePhone shown here with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage is sold for $149.99 with KDE Plasma Mobile. The exact version with postmarketOS is not available anymore, as currently, the Pine64 community works in batch with a different OS for each production run. This will change in the future however. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Here’s_why_everyone_should_own_a_cheap_Android tablet⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_See_Which_Apps_Can_Access_Your_Location_on Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei_P50_Pro_might_offer_Android,_Harmony_OS variants⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Update:_Verizon]_Samsung_Galaxy_S20_FE_is_getting Android_11⠀⇛ # ⚓ Asus_Android_11_update_tracker:_Devices_received beta/stable_OS_so_far⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Update:_Jan._14]_Android_11_arrives_on_Poco_F1, Xiaomi_Mi_A2,_OnePlus_6/6T/3/5/Nord,_Nokia_6.1_Plus, and_more_as_custom_ROMs⠀⇛ # ⚓ 10_Best_Flight_Tracking_Apps_for_iPhone_and_Android_ (Free_and_Paid)⠀⇛ # ⚓ AnTuTu:_These_were_the_global_best_performing_Android smartphones_in_December_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ Johns_Hopkins_security_researchers_‘shocked’_at Android_and_iOS_vulnerabilities⠀⇛ # ⚓ CBORD_expands_mobile_credential_support_to_include Android_phones⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_boosts_in-car_experience_with_SmartThings_in Android_Auto,_wider_car_compatibility⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Mozilla_VPN_Comes_to_Mac_and_Linux⠀⇛ The Mozilla VPN has now landed on Mac and Linux, reports Engadget. The VPN, which is also available for Android, iOS, and Windows 10, is offered under a $5/month subscription in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia, with more regions coming soon. # ⚓ Mozilla_VPN_is_now_available_across_all platforms_including_Mac_and_Linux⠀⇛ Mozilla has announced that its VPN solution is now available for users of Mac and Linux devices, following its Windows, iOS, and Android launch last year. Mozilla VPN is currently available in six countries (the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia), with more regions coming soon. Like many VPNs, Mozilla’s offering uses the WireGuard protocol to encrypt network activity and hide the user’s IP address. WireGuard’s use of high-speed cryptographic primitives also means that users of Mozilla VPN should still be able to experience fast network speeds. Mozilla VPN provides device-level encryption, utilizing more than 280 servers spread across over 30 countries, promising no bandwidth restrictions and no recording of your online activity. Signing up for the VPN costs $4.99 a month and allows up to five devices to be connected. # ⚓ Mozilla_VPN_Now_Available_for_Linux⠀⇛ The promised subscription-based VPN service from Mozilla is now available for the Linux platform. Back in July 2020, Mozilla launched a subscription-based VPN service and made it immediately available for Android, iOS, and Windows. Linux and macOS users, however, were left in the lurch. That has officially changed, with Mozilla making their VPN available for the two operating systems missing in the original mix. The new VPN service isn’t free. In fact, it’s a bit pricier than a number of other options on the market. What do you get for your $4.99/month? Users can enjoy the service on up to five different devices (be they desktops, laptops, phones, or tablets), and with over 280 servers available in 6 countries (with zero bandwidth restrictions), Mozilla claims their VPN is one of the fastest available. This is achieved with the use of high-speed, low-level cryptographic algorithms. # ⚓ The_Mozilla_Blog:_Why_getting_voting_right_is hard,_Part_IV:_Absentee_Voting_and_Vote_By_Mail⠀⇛ As with in-person voting, the basic idea behind securing mail-in ballots is to tie each ballot to a specific registered voter and ensure that every voter votes once. If we didn’t care about the secrecy of the ballot, the easy solution would be to give every voter a unique identifier (Operationally, it’s somewhat easier to instead give each ballot a unique serial number and then keep a record of which serial numbers correspond to each voter, but these are largely equivalent). Then when the ballots come in, we check that (1) the voter exists and (2) the voter hasn’t voted already. When put together, these checks make it very difficult for an attacker to make their own ballots: if they use non- existent serial numbers, then the ballots will be rejected, and if they use serial numbers that correspond to some other voter’s ballot then they risk being caught if that voter voted. So, from a security perspective, this works reasonably well, but it’s a privacy disaster because it permanently associates a voter’s identity with the contents of their ballots: anyone who has access to the serial number database and the ballots can determine how individual voters voted. The solution turns out to be to authenticate the envelopes not the ballots. The way that this works is that each voter is sent a non-unique ballot (i.e., one without a serial number) and then an envelope with a unique serial number. The voter marks their ballot, puts it in the envelope and mails it back. Back at election headquarters, election officials perform the two checks described above. If they fail, then the envelope is sent aside for further processing. If they succeed, then the envelope is emptied — checking that it only contains one ballot — and put into the pile for counting. This procedure provides some level of privacy protection: there’s no single piece of paper that has both the voter’s identity and their vote, which is good, but at the time when election officials open the ballot they can see both the voter’s identity and the ballot, which is bad. With some procedural safeguards it’s hard to mount a large scale privacy violation: you’re going to be opening a lot of ballots very quickly and so keeping track of a lot of people is impractical, but an official could, for instance, notice a particular person’s name and see how they voted.1 Some jurisdictions address this with a two envelope system: the voter marks their ballot and puts it in an unmarked “secrecy envelope” which then goes into the marked envelope that has their identity on it. At election headquarters officials check the outer envelope, then open it and put the sealed secrecy envelope in the pile for counting. Later, all of the secrecy envelopes are opened and counted; this procedure breaks the connection between the user’s identity and their ballot. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Ravgeet_Dhillon:_Dynamic_Home_Route_in_a_Flutter App⠀⇛ In any production app, the user is directed to a route based on some authentication logic whenever the app is opened. In our Flutter App, we have at least two routes, Login and Dashboard. The problem is how can we decide which route should a user be redirected to? In this app, we will check the value of a locally stored boolean variable to dynamically decide the home route. We can use any method for writing our authentication logic, like checking the validity of the API token, but for the sake of simplicity, we will explore a simple logic. # ⚓ How_to_add_and_customize_Bootstrap_in_Nuxt.js⠀⇛ Configuring things in any framework is always tricky especially when we are just starting. We will learn today that how can we add and customize Bootstrap in our Nuxt project. Once we go through this guide, we will get an overall idea of how to make things work in Nuxt. By learning how to setup Bootstrap, we can install Popper.js and JQuery as well which are peer dependencies for Bootstrap. # ⚓ GCC_11_Is_Moving_Closer_But_Still_Challenged_By_Many Regressions_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ GCC 11 is slated to enter “Stage 4″ development at the end of this weekend after which only regression and documentation fixes will be permitted. The first GCC 11 stable release should be out in 2~3 months, but at the moment there is an increasing number of P1 regressions that are of the highest priority. SUSE’s Richard Biener announced today that GCC 11 will transition from stage three to stage four at the end of the week, at which point only regression fixes and documentation updates can be merged to trunk. There has been though another 30 P1 regressions, which are bugs of the highest priority, bringing the total count to 67. There is also 331 P2 regressions, 34 P3 regressions, 190 P4 regressions, and 24 P5 regressions. While some 60 P3 regressions were closed, there is a net gain of around 50 new bugs since the prior GCC 11 status report. # ⚓ Cross-compiling_made_easy_with_Golang_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ I work with multiple servers with various architectures (e.g., Intel, AMD, Arm, etc.) when I’m testing software on Linux. [...] Until then, I had never accounted for this scenario (although I knew about it). I primarily work on scripting languages (usually Python) coupled with shell scripting. The Bash shell and the Python interpreter are available on most Linux servers of any architecture. Hence, everything had worked well before. However, now I was dealing with a compiled language, Go, which produces an executable binary. The compiled binary consists of opcodes or assembly instructions that are tied to a specific architecture. That’s why I got the format error. Since the Arm64 CPU (where I ran the binary) could not interpret the binary’s x86-64 instructions, it errored out. Previously, the shell and Python interpreter took care of the underlying opcodes or architecture-specific instructions for me. # ⚓ C++_Types⠀⇛ A C++ entity is a value, object, reference, function, enumerator, type, class member, bit-field, structured binding, namespace, template, template specialization, or parameter pack. An entity can be of one or more types. There are two categories of C++ types: fundamental and compound types. A scalar is arithmetic or a pointer object type. Fundamental types are scalars, while the rest of the entity types are compound types. The memory of a computer is a series of cells. Each cell has the size of one byte, it is normally the space occupied by a Western European character. The size of an object is given in bytes. This article gives a summary of C++ types. You should already have basic knowledge of C++, in order to understand this article. # ⚓ Firebird_Embedded_in_a_sandboxed_MacOS_App⠀⇛ For those who might not be aware, Firebird on MacOS is now relocatable, in that you don’t necessarily have to install it as a Framework, this also means that you can create an embedded version out of the current installer. # § PHP⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_install_the_Hestia_Control_Panel_for_an Apache/NGINX_PHP-FPM_web-based_config_tool_– TechRepublic⠀⇛ If you’re a web admin and you’re looking to make your job a bit easier, you probably have your eyes on a control panel. Such tools are generally web-based GUIs that make your job considerably easier. You might have a fine grasp on the command line tools necessary to get the job done, but having a GUI makes your work more efficient. On top of that, when you assign tasks to lesser admins, you can be sure you find them staring at the screen, wondering what to do next. # ⚓ Use_of_usleep()_Function_in_PHP⠀⇛ Two functions are mainly used in PHP to delay the execution of the script for some time. These are usleep() and sleep (). The usleep() function is used to delay the execution of the script for specific microseconds. This function can throw an exception if the negative microseconds value is provided. This function consumes the CPU cycle also when called. How this function can be used in PHP has shown in this tutorial. # ⚓ Write_into_a_file_in_PHP_using_fwrite()⠀⇛ Many built-in functions exist in PHP to write in a new file or into the existing file. fwrite() function one of them to write content into the file. fopen() and fclose() functions are required to write content into the file using fwrite() function. fopen() function is used to open a file for reading, writing, and appending that returns a file handler. fwrite() function uses the file handler to write the content in the file. fclose() function is used to close the file that has opened for reading or writing and release the buffer that is used by the file. How the content can be written into a new or an existing file using the fwrite() function has been explained in this tutorial. # ⚓ Change_the_string_into_uppercase_in_PHP⠀⇛ PHP has many built-in functions to change the case of the string. The string value can be converted into all uppercase or lowercase; convert the first letter of the string into the uppercase or lowercase, and convert the first character of each word of a string into uppercase. strtoupper(), ucfirst(), and ucwords() functions are used to change the case of a full string or a part of a string into the uppercase letter in different ways. The uses of these functions have been explained in this tutorial by using different examples. # ⚓ Generate_a_random_number_in_PHP⠀⇛ Generating a different number every time by executing the script is called the random number. The random number can be used for various purposes in the programming, such as generating a random filename, random password, and a random number that is not predictable to others. PHP has many built-in functions to generate random numbers in different ways. rand(), random_int(), and mt_rand() functions are used in PHP to generate random numbers. How these functions is used to generate the random numbers are explained in this tutorial. # ⚓ How_to_install_Xdebug_and_use_it_in_PHP_on Ubuntu?⠀⇛ When any programming code generates unexpected output, it requires to find out the reason behind the error of the output to solve the problem. Debugging is the best way to find out the reason for the unexpected output of the code by tracing the code step by step. Normally, print_r() and var_dump() functions are used to check the output of the variables. Xdebug extension is used in PHP for an advanced level of debugging. This extension is not installed in PHP by default. You have to install it and set up the necessary configurations to use its features. How the Xdebug extension can be installed and configured in PHP and integrated with the Visual Studio Code editor on Ubuntu is shown in this tutorial. # ⚓ Use_of_XOR_operator_in_PHP⠀⇛ Different types of operators exist in PHP to perform logical operations. These are AND, OR, NOT, and XOR. These operators are used as a Boolean operator and bitwise operator. This tutorial mainly focuses on the Use of the XOR operator. The full form of XOR is exclusive, OR that works on two conditions. The XOR operator returns true when any condition returns true and returns false when both conditions return true or false. Xor keyword is used between the states to perform Boolean Xor operation, and ‘^’ symbol is used between the operands to perform bitwise xor operation. How the xor operator can be used for Boolean and bitwise operation, have shown in this tutorial. # ⚓ Use_of_xpath()_in_PHP⠀⇛ XML document is used to store a small amount of data, and sometimes it is required to read the particular content of XML document based on the path value using PHP script. xpath() function is used to parse the content of an XML document. This function can be used by using simplexml_load_file() function or by creating the object of SimpleXMLElement class. The xpath() function can be used to read the particular XML node values shown in this tutorial. # ⚓ Use_of_ternary_operator_in_PHP⠀⇛ If-else statements are normally used to define conditional statements in any programming language. ternary operator (?:) can be used as the alternative of any simple if-else statement. It is one of the shorthand comparison operators in PHP and contains three operands: the conditional statement, the statement for true condition, and the statement for the false condition. This operator is better implemented with a simple logical statement with a short code because it is better to maintain and can be defined in a single statement. The uses of this operator are explained in this tutorial. # ⚓ Use_of_usort()_function_in_PHP⠀⇛ Many built-in functions exist in PHP to sort the array variables. usort() function is one of them. This function sorts the array by using a user-defined callback function. When the array contains a particular type of data that can’t be sort in a standard way by using other sort functions, then usort () is better to use. For example, if the array contains data values, then the variety can’t be appropriately sorted using other sort functions of PHP. This type of collection can be sort by defining the proper user- defined function called in the second argument of the usort() function how usort() function can sort the specific array values shown in this tutorial. # § Java⠀➾ # ⚓ 5_things_we_learned_about_Java_in_2020_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ In 2020, Java marked its 25th anniversary and, despite its age, remains strong and active. Its seven to 10 million developers make it one of the top three languages in use today, according to the TIOBE Index. To help celebrate Java reaching a quarter-century, Daniel Oh recounted Java’s history before he explained How to install Java on a Mac (because its future depends on more people using it). To continue the party, we’ve compiled the top five things we learned about Java in 2020. Whether you’re just starting with the language or experienced and trying to improve your Java development skills, these are things you should know. o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾ # ⚓ Vulkan_SDK_Now_Formally_Available_For_Apple_Platforms_– Including_Apple_Silicon_Support⠀⇛ The Khronos Group and LunarG have announced an updated Vulkan SDK that includes now formally providing support for Apple platforms, including Apple Silicon systems via Universal Binaries. With Apple still not officially backing Vulkan but preferring their own closed ecosystem of the Metal API, Vulkan on macOS/iOS platforms continue to rely on the MoltenVK portability layer that ultimately routes Vulkan over the Metal drivers. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Gain_control_of_your_calendar_with_this_simple_strategy_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ In prior years, this annual series covered individual apps. This year, we are looking at all-in-one solutions in addition to strategies to help in 2021. Welcome to day 3 of 21 Days of Productivity in 2021. Before we had calendars on our computers, we often had to do a dance around scheduling a meeting. A time that was good for Alice and Bob might not be suitable for Carol and Dave, so there was a lot of talking about when the meeting could be held. When electronic calendars became generally available, it was a revolution. Alice could check to see when Bob, Carol, Dave, and a meeting room were open, and send out an invitation asking for all of them to attend. o ⚓ How_I_prioritize_tasks_on_my_to-do_list_|_Opensource.com⠀⇛ In prior years, this annual series covered individual apps. This year, we are looking at all-in-one solutions in addition to strategies to help in 2021. Welcome to day 4 of 21 Days of Productivity in 2021. In this article, I’ll examine a strategy for prioritizing tasks on a to-do list. To find the open source tool that suits your routine, check out this list. It is easy to add things to a task or to-do list. Almost too easy, really. And once on the list, the challenge becomes figuring out what to do first. Do we do the thing at the top of the list? Is the top of the list the most important thing? How do we figure out what the most important thing is? o ⚓ 13_questions_for_a_quantum_architect⠀⇛ With quantum computers already available for commercial use, albeit not in great quantity, I believe it is time for companies to start considering how to incorporate them into their arsenal of IT services. Time is running out for security teams to get their defenses in order ahead of the first quantum computer attack. Right now, it’s not really possible to just buy the latest quantum computer model and take it for a spin. It takes some real architectural brain power to actually make such a computational beast fit into an existing structure. What kind of architect would be needed for such a task, and what would the design look like? o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Privatisation/Privateering⠀➾ # § Linux Foundation⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_Foundation_Launches_Open Source_Management_&_Strategy_Training Program⠀⇛ The Linux Foundation has announced a new training program designed to introduce open source best practices to management and technical staff within organizations, Open Source Management & Strategy. # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Security_updates_for_Thursday⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by Fedora (adplug, audacious-plugins, cpu- x, kernel, kernel-headers, ocp, php, and python-lxml), openSUSE (crmsh, firefox, and hawk2), Oracle (thunderbird), Red Hat (kernel-rt), SUSE (kernel and rubygem-archive-tar- minitar), and Ubuntu (openvswitch and tar). # ⚓ Minimizing_cyberattacks_by_managing_the lifecycle_of_non-human_workers⠀⇛ The number of non-human workers is growing, particularly as global organizations increasingly prioritize cloud computing, DevOps, IoT devices, and other digital transformation initiatives. Yet, organizations frequently only apply access controls to humans (employees, contractors, etc.), despite the risks associated with cyberattacks and data breaches linked to non-human workers and their privileged access to sensitive information. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ The_New_Humanitarian_|_Syrian_al-Hol_returnees_face difficult_homecomings⠀⇛ Thousands of Syrian detainees have returned since a change in the rules in October, but homecoming is often not all it’s cracked up to be. Salem Radi was overjoyed when news came through that he and his family would soon be allowed to return home after almost two years in al-Hol, a packed camp in northeast Syria that has become notorious for housing both supporters and victims of the so-called Islamic State. The 44-year-old man, his wife, and eight children fled their rural hometown of al-Susah in eastern Deir Ezzor province in March 2019, part of an exodus of tens of thousands leaving the extremists’ rapidly shrinking territory in that part of Syria, battles raging behind them. Along with other locals who fled, they were taken north across the desert by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. Backed by a US-led coalition, the SDF led the fight against IS in the area. After an intense security screening process, Radi and his family joined the almost 70,000 Syrians and foreigners in al-Hol, the largest camp in the Kurdish-held northeast. # ⚓ Tigray:_Ethiopian_army_kills_ex-Foreign_Minister_Seyoum Mesfin⠀⇛ o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Unemployment_claims_jump_to_highest_level_since_August_amid COVID-19_surge⠀⇛ o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Disenfranchisement:_An_American_Tradition⠀⇛ During the 2020 election, liberal pundits and politicians repeatedly warned that democracy was “on the line,” “at stake,” “in peril,” and facing “an existential threat.” There was occasion for the hyperbolic language: Donald Trump and his Republican allies orchestrated an unprecedented assault on the integrity of U.S. elections by, to list just a few examples, promulgating ludicrous lies about voter fraud, obstructing early mail-in voting, encouraging vigilante voter intimidation, and constricting access to polls. But critics risk succumbing to a liberal version of “Make America Great Again” nostalgia if they assume Trump’s departure from office will solve our democratic crisis. His efforts to maintain power built upon a long history of political exclusion and racial subordination in the United States. It is not surprising that politicians, if allowed, would prefer to pick their own voters. The more vexing question is why voter suppression is not more taboo in a country that extols its democratic system as a beacon for the world. This election has exposed a broad ambivalence about (and from some quarters, outright disdain for) majoritarian, multiracial democracy. Candidates compete on a playing field designed over generations to protect capital, colonial ambitions, and white supremacy. The anti-majoritarian Senate and Electoral College have rightly come under harsh scrutiny this election cycle. But contests are also distorted by the nation’s gerrymandered districts, a campaign finance system that licenses wide-scale legalized corruption, and immigration and naturalization policies that dictate which residents must live and work under laws that they have no voice in shaping. Millions more are disenfranchised due to incarceration and felony convictions, or because they lived in Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands. [...] After these dead ends, activists turned to agency registration. These “motor voter” laws required that state agents offer people applying for a driver’s license or social services the opportunity to register to vote. In the 1980s, scholar- activists Frances Fox Piven and Richard Cloward embraced agency registration as a strategy to counter Ronald Reagan’s assault on the welfare state, hoping that registering public assistance beneficiaries would alter the demographics of the electorate and force politicians to more aggressively defend the interests of state workers, low-income people, and communities of color. Their organization, the Human Service Employees Registration and Voter Education Fund, joined with civil rights, community action, and voting rights organizations (and later “Rock the Vote”) to push for registration reforms at the state and federal level throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Because officials would be registering people already affirmatively identified by the state, organizers hoped the policy would be insulated from concerns about voter fraud. But the specter of fraud continued to haunt the debate. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell campaigned tirelessly against the law, sarcastically dubbing it “auto-fraudo,” while arguing that “relatively low voter turnout is a sign of a content democracy.” President George H.W. Bush vetoed motor voter legislation in 1992 on the grounds that it was “an open invitation to fraud and corruption.” When President Bill Clinton finally signed the law in 1993, fraud concerns had rationalized the inclusion of new voter list maintenance requirements and the elimination of election day registration. Political elites with a vested interest in limited participation have bequeathed us with a maze of seemingly apolitical technical regulations—restrictive registration policy, limited poll locations, constrained absentee and early voting—that the Trump administration seized upon in their efforts to undermine the 2020 election. These mechanisms are best understood as growing out of old status tests for political rights, tools used to guard not just against unlawful votes but unwelcome, particularly Black, voters. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ The_rising_cost_of_internet_censorship_in_African countries⠀⇛ o § Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Print_journalism_under_siege:_podcasts_to_the_rescue?⠀⇛ This Kat takes journal subscriptions seriously. How seriously? Well, Mrs. Kat says that he would likely win his town’s award for the resident with the most paid subscriptions to journalistic content. For sure, this Kat has followed with ever-increasing concern, tinged by moments of incipient depression, the two-decade downward trajectory of print media in the face of (often free) on-line contents. This Kat is no Luddite. There is complementary space for both on-line blogs, such as IPKat, and traditional journalistic content. The problem is that the IPKat has a simple cost structure, namely none, except for potential lost opportunity costs facing each member of the team. But newspapers and journals do not have that luxury. Unless they have a Daddy Warbucks in the background ready and able to cover losses, financial viability remains a constant challenge in the face of the availability of free on-line contents. And so, the on-going struggle–how to attract paid subscribers? One of the most interesting recent attempts to do so has been to try and establish a notable presence in a different medium, and then to leverage that position to facilitate increased paid subscriptions in the original print product. This Kat has been particularly struck by the efforts of print icons to gain a foothold in the podcast space for that purpose. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Follicum_:_receives_European_patent_for_the_company’s peptides_for_developing_first_in_class_diabetes treatments⠀⇛ # ⚓ NeoDynamics_will_be_granted_another_European_patent for_its_pulse_biopsy_tools⠀⇛ NeoDynamics AB (Spotlight Stock Market: NEOD), a MedTech company dedicated to advancing diagnosis and care of breast cancer, today announces that the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a Communication under Rule 71(3) EPC (Notice of Allowance) and intends to grant a European patent for NeoDynamics pulse biopsy tools, including a multi-purpose driver supporting several different needle options. The decision will be published in the European Patent Bulletin, once the requirements concerning the translation of the claims and payment of all fees are fulfilled by NeoDynamics. # ⚓ The_amendment_before_the_EPO_of_a_patent_subject_to ongoing_litigation⠀⇛ On October 16, 2020, the Provincial Court of Barcelona issued a ruling that we consider very interesting and which provides an answer to the question of what should happen in an ongoing dispute over a patent, when it is amended at the European Patent Office. Indeed, once the grant of a European patent is published in the European Patent Bulletin, it can be validated in Spain. With this validation, the patent holder can oppose it to third parties in Spain. However, the European patent that is validated in Spain can still be objected to by third parties in the European Patent Office. In the context of this opposition, the patent may be limited. This requires that the patent validated in Spain also be modified by submitting the corresponding translation to the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. This is what happened in the case resolved by the referenced resolution. Corning Opticals filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Huawei based on a Spanish patent. Huwaei answered the claim rejecting the infringement and filed a counterclaim requesting the invalidity of the Spanish patent. In parallel, Huwaei filed an opposition with the EPO against the European patent which served as the basis for the Spanish patent. In the first instance, the Court considered that the patent was valid and that it had been infringed. The resolution was appealed in front of the High Court of Barcelona. At the same time, the opposition procedure before the EPO continued and ended up involving the limitation of the European patent in front of the EPO. Therefore, the Spanish patent that was being considered in the appeal was limited as a consequence of the opposition process at the EPO. Corning Opticals submitted an amendment to the OEPM, with its corresponding Spanish translation. However, Huwaei requested that the nullity claim be terminated due to a supervening lack of purpose and that it be declared that there was no infringement of the patent. # ⚓ Forward_Pharma_Announces_Rescheduling_of_the EP2801355_Appeal_Hearing_to_September_6,_2021_due_to COVID-19_Restrictions⠀⇛ Forward Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:FWP) (“we,” “Forward” or the “Company”), today announced that due to ongoing precautionary measures against the spread of the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the Technical Board of Appeal (the “TBA”) of the European Patent Office (the “EPO”) again has rescheduled the oral hearing of the appeal against the decision of the Opposition Division that revoked the EP2801355 patent (the “’355 Patent”). The new hearing date is set for September 6, 2021. # ⚓ Vodafone_Can’t_Pause_€508M_3G_Tech_IP_Suit_To_Wait_On Spain⠀⇛ A judge refused on Thursday to grant telecoms giant Vodafone a stay on a €508 million ($617 million) patent dispute over 3G technology brought by a Spanish technology company while a related dispute plays out in Madrid. Vodafone had caused the “fragmentation” between the cases, High Court Judge Marcus Smith said. But he added that the British company had “entirely properly” avoided being a party in the Spanish lawsuit brought against it and Huawei by Top Optimized Technologies’; by invoking exclusive jurisdiction contract clauses requiring disputes to be dealt with in England. “It is Vodafone that has forced the fragmentation of… # ⚓ Federal_Circuit_Continues_to_Remain_Silent_about_its R.36_Opinions [Ed: Dennis Crouch continues trying to shame_courts_into_accepting_fake_patents_by_slowing them_down]⠀⇛ 35 U.S.C. § 144. [My Article] The provision was amended in 1984 to particularly require a “mandate and opinion.” However, prior to that time the Federal Circuit and its predecessor always wrote opinions associated with every judgment. Although there is no legislative history, I believe that the fact of an opinion was assumed and simply codified into law. [...] In this case, Waterblasting, LLC appealed an adverse IPR decision cancelling claims 1- 4 and 10 of its US7255116 (Stripe removal system). On appeal, Waterblasting argued that the PTAB had erred in its legal analysis and also made factual conclusions that were not supported by substantial evidence. The Federal Circuit sided with the PTO and affirmed. However, rather than explaining its decision, the Federal Circuit simply issued its judgment without opinion as permitted under Federal Circuit Local Rule 36. # ⚓ Patent_grants_up_5.9%_at_IP5_offices_in_2019 [Ed: Corrupt EPO (lots_of_crimes_committed) wants us to think that more monopolies is an accomplishment, even illegal monopolies⠀⇛ The world’s five largest IP offices granted 1.6 million patents in 2019, an increase of 5.9% on the previous year, according to the latest IP5 Statistics Report published earlier this week on the IP5 website. The report is an annual compilation of patent statistics published by the European Patent Office, the Japan Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the China National Intellectual Property Administration and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In total, 2.7 million patent applications were filed at the IP5 offices in 2019, a decrease of 4% on 2018, but at the level of filings in 2017. Last year applications rose at KIPO (+4.3%), the EPO (+4.1%) and the USPTO (+4.1%), while falling at the JPO (- 1.8%) and CNIPA (-9.2%). All of the IP5 offices reported an increase in the number of patents granted in 2019, except for the JPO. # ⚓ Germany:_Further_Delay_To_German_UPCA_Ratification [Ed: This is false. They’re not merely “delaying”. Team UPC_lacks_credibility_on_this_because_they_created_this monster.]⠀⇛ Following the passing in Germany of the Bill for Re-ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) in December 2020, two constitutional complaints against German ratification were filed at the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). The FCC has now confirmed to journalists that the FCC has asked the Federal President not to sign the bill into law. Signing of the bill is the last step necessary before UPCA and Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA) ratifications can be deposited by Germany. It is unclear at present whether the delay will be short (for example if the FCC declines to admit the complaints for detailed consideration), or will last for several years in the case that the FCC decides that at least one of the complaints is admissible. The first constitutional complaint against German ratification of the UPCA was filed in 2017 and decided only in 2020. # ⚓ EU_GMO_Directive_‘stunts’_CRISPR_patents [Ed: Lunatics and their lobbyists insist it would be perfectly normal to grant patents on life and on nature]⠀⇛ Agricultural sources claim restrictive plant breeding regulations are holding back CRISPR patent filings in Europe # ⚓ USPTO_should_rework_patent_bar_test_rules,_say_in- house [Ed: Sexist_companies_like_IBM talk about “joining the patent bar to increase gender diversity”. IBM cares about profits, not gender diversity. They view PR aspects as a profit opportunity and sometimes want to promote patent maximalism under the guise of feminism.]⠀⇛ Counsel from IBM, Blaze Bioscience, and four other companies say the USPTO should expand the requirements for joining the patent bar to increase gender diversity # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old]_Trumped-up_Trademarks_–_or_–_How_are_you today?:_I’m_Peachy⠀⇛ IMPEACH 45. President Trump is the 45th President and so the meaning of this proposed mark (IMPEACH 45) is clear. The USPTO examiner caught the implication and rejected the application “because the applied-for mark consists of or includes something identifying a particular living individual whose written consent to register the mark is not of record.” The applicant then abandoned the registration application. A slightly more cryptic mark made it through the registration process. The image to the right shows the general prohibition sign (“no-sign”) covering the number 45 that is now a registered mark owned by Kamyar Shadan of Tiburon, CA. Back in August 2016, it looked like Hillary Clinton would be No. 45. Thus when Mark Allan filed for IMPEACH THAT BITCH, the TM examiner similarly found that the proposed mark improperly “identifies Hillary Clinton, a living individual.” That registration application has also been abandoned. Other anti-Hillary registration applications include ANYBODY BUT CLINTON, WOMEN AGAINST CLINTON, and the catchy HILLARY.CON. These registration applications have all been abandoned. # ⚓ Impeachmints⠀⇛ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 3357 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 01.14.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_14/1/2021:_Season_of_KDE_2021_Selection,_Mesa_21.0.0-RC1,_Tor_Browser 10.0.8⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 8:50 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o ⚓ Is_Linux_POSIX-Compliant?⠀⇛ Software is written by numerous developers with various backgrounds. General algorithms are available under a free license or have been scientifically published, and they might also be available for free for studying purposes. This results in different implementations and software versions that fit a variety of needs. A standardization of interfaces and data formats is necessary to make these different implementations both interchangeable and modular. In short, POSIX [1] does exactly that for UNIX and UNIX- like systems (see Zak H’s article [4] for a more detailed history on this topic). It defines the exchange interfaces, calling mechanisms, and transferred data for the software but leaves the internal implementation to the developer or maintainer of the software. The aim is to unify all the various UNIX forks and UNIX-like systems in such a way that different software implementations can interact with one another. The main advantage of POSIX is to have a binding documentation for these components – interfaces, mechanisms, and data – available in written form. o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ SlimBook_Titan_is_a_Linux-friendly_gaming_laptop_with_Ryzen 5000H_and_NVIDIA_RTX_3070⠀⇛ This week NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel all launched new chips designed for high-performance gaming laptops. And we’ve seen a lot of companies announce new notebooks powered by those chips. But so far most have had one thing in common: they ship with Windows 10. Now Spanish PC maker Slimbook has revealed new gaming laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 graphics, and support for Ubuntu or Windows. The new Slimbook Titan is up for pre-order for 1750 € and up and the laptop should begin shipping in May, 2021. # ⚓ Linux:_Not_all_users_are_developers⠀⇛ “Not all Linux users are developers.” It’s a statement I’ve been having to make quite a lot lately. This comes from prospective clients, who find out I’ve been using and writing about Linux since the late 1990s, and then approach me to ask if I’d be willing to either take on a development project or to write about development through the eyes of an actual developer. When I tell these possible clients that I’m not a developer, without fail, their response is shock. “You use Linux. Doesn’t that, by design, make you a developer?” My response to that is (at least internally), “Why would you assume I’m a developer?” Or maybe “You’re a Windows user. Does that make you a gamer?” Or “You’re a macOS user. Does that make you a musician?” [...] I probably should have prefaced this by saying I’m not the average user Linux should be targeting. Because of my various jobs, I wind up doing much more with Linux than what an everyday user would, which clearly defines me as a Linux admin and not just a user. However, I wear multiple hats, and one of those hats is user. Sometimes I don the admin hat and sometimes I doff the admin hat in favor of the user hat. However, a developer hat never sits atop my head–no matter how many times people assume it of me because of the platform I use. I’m good with that. What I’m not so good with is the assumption that every Linux user is a developer. Not only is it bad marketing, it almost always ends with me having to remind clients that I’m not a developer and they knew that going into our agreement. To every Linux user out there, I say to you: Be the user you want to be, not the user everyone assumes you are. To those who are interested in Linux, rest assured, it’s not a developer-specific platform. o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Three_open-source_giants_to_watch_in_2021:_Red_Hat,_SUSE, Ubuntu⠀⇛ Apart from on desktop PCs used in businesses across the globe, the dominating operating systems on today’s computers are UNIX-like. The hardware that runs the world’s services, in the cloud, on the internet of things, and many phones, runs software that comprises of Linux variants and a small percentage of BSD-you-likes, typically FreeBSD. Windows Server instances still exist — estimates put the figure somewhere between 20% to 30% of servers running the OS. But in the main, the vast majority of operating systems, applications, databases, deployment tools, development tool-sets, and so forth comprise open- source software, which runs, usually, on UNIX-like operating systems. Of the Linux variants found in the data center, the three big players are Ubuntu Server (of Canonical), SUSE Linux Enterprise, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux — or variants thereon. (The word variants is often found in the free and open software world: variations or forks are rife in just about every part of open-source IT.) o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Beginner’s_Guide_To_The_Linux_Terminal⠀⇛ I’ve been receiving a lot of questions from new Linux users that want to learn the terminal and the command line. One viewer recently asked me if there was one video of mine that he could watch to learn this stuff. # ⚓ Powerpill:_Is_It_Really_Faster_Than_Pacman?⠀⇛ Parallel package downloads will soon to be coming to pacman but there’s already a way to try them out in the form of Powerpill for Arch Linux and I was genuenly surprised by the results. # ⚓ FLOSS_Weekly_612:_Open_Sheet_Music_Display_–_Open_Source Music_Tech⠀⇛ Dr. Matthias Uiberacker talks about Open Sheet Music Display, open-source music tech, and cool new ways to make and practice music in a FLOSSy way. He’s a veteran musician, EE Ph.D., and CTO of PhonicScore. # ⚓ Everyone_Fools_Around_with_Linux_in_College_|_Coder_Radio 396⠀⇛ Mike and Chris discuss the recent JetBrains FUD and ponder the impact of recent AWS policy enforcement. Plus a bunch of cool setups sent in by our audience. # ⚓ The_Linux_Link_Tech_Show_Episode_889⠀⇛ nuwave bravo xl, covid, resin printers o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ What_Is_‘Error-Correcting_Memory’_and_Why_Does_the_Creator of_Linux_Think_You_Need_It?⠀⇛ Does the average computer user need to care about memory with error-correction capabilities? Linus Torvalds seems to think so. The Linux lead developer and creator recently went off on Intel, claiming that the company’s choice to relegate ECC (error-correcting code) memory to the server room had harmed consumers. “ECC availability matters a lot—exactly because Intel has been instrumental in killing the whole ECC industry with its horribly bad market segmentation,” Torvalds wrote in a forum post, his natural habitat. This seems like a particularly nerdy thing to focus on to some degree, but Torvalds seems to be making the case that the reason why it is so nerdy is because Intel, a company whose entire business model is facing challenges from activist investors right now, decided to treat something fundamental as a high- end premium feature. Is it? And what should tech nerds know about ECC memory? Let’s explain what error correction is and why he just might be right. # § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ [Mesa-dev]_[ANNOUNCE]_mesa_21.0.0-rc1⠀⇛ Hi list, It's that time again, the mesa 21.0 release release candidate cycle has begun. The first release candidate is available, and the blocking milestone has already been created. Please be sure to add any issues you want resolved before 21.0.0 is released. Cheers, Dylan # ⚓ Mesa_21.0-rc1_Released_To_Get_The_Quarterly_Release Process_Underway⠀⇛ While normally the feature branching and first release candidate for new Mesa3D quarterly releases doesn’t begin until around the end of the first month of a new quarter, this time around with Mesa 21.0 it has begun today — half-way through the month of January. This should at least ensure Mesa 21.0 stable ships in February rather than March. Mesa 20.3.3 was also released today as the newest stable version for the time being. # ⚓ Mesa_21.0-devel_RADV_vs._AMDVLK_2021.Q1.1_Vulkan Driver_Performance_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ For those wondering how the open-source Radeon Vulkan drivers of Mesa’s RADV and AMD’s official AMDVLK are competing as we start the new year, here are some fresh benchmarks looking at the performance for various Linux games (native and via Steam Play with DXVK) as well as Vulkan compute tests. # ⚓ Desktop_OpenGL_3.1_on_Mali_GPUs_with_Panfrost⠀⇛ The open source Panfrost driver for Arm Mali Midgard and Bifrost GPUs now provides non- conformant OpenGL ES 3.0 on Bifrost and desktop OpenGL 3.1 on Midgard (Mali T760 and newer) and Bifrost, in time for Mesa’s first release of 2021. This follows the OpenGL ES 3.0 support on Midgard that landed over the summer, as well as the initial OpenGL ES 2.0 support that recently debuted for Bifrost. OpenGL ES 3.0 is now tested on Mali G52 in Mesa’s continuous integration, achieving a 99.9% pass rate on the corresponding drawElements Quality Program tests. Architecturally, Bifrost shares most of its fixed-function data structures with Midgard, but features a brand new instruction set. Our work for bringing up OpenGL ES 3.0 on Bifrost reflects this division. Some fixed-function features, like instancing and transform feedback, worked without any Bifrost-specific changes since we already did bring-up on Midgard. Other shader features, like uniform buffer objects, required “from scratch” implementations in the Bifrost compiler, a task facilitated by the compiler’s maturing intermediate representation with first-class builder support. Yet other features like multiple render targets required some Bifrost-specific code while leveraging other code shared with Midgard. All in all, the work progressed much more quickly the second time around, a testament to the power of code sharing. But there is no need to limit sharing to just Panfrost GPUs; open source drivers can share code across vendors. # ⚓ Rosenzweig:_Desktop_OpenGL_3.1_on_Mali_GPUs_with Panfrost⠀⇛ Alyssa Rosenzweig presents a progress report on the Panfrost driver for Arm Mali Midgard and Bifrost GPUs, which now provides non- conformant OpenGL ES 3.0 on Bifrost and desktop OpenGL 3.1 on Midgard. # ⚓ Open-Source_NVIDIA_Support_For_Recent_GPUs_Is_Poor But_Now_You_Can_Fake_It_For_Testing⠀⇛ The open-source NVIDIA “Nouveau” Gallium3D code within Mesa has wired up DRM shim support for basically faking the support in the absence of real hardware. This is mainly useful for testing the Nouveau OpenGL shader compiler code path without any actual code execution. Longtime Nouveau developer Ilia Mirkin wired up support for the Nouveau_Noop DRM shim. This basically allows the Nouveau Gallium3D code to function without submitting commands to any GPU or waiting on fences. # ⚓ Parsing_HID_Unit_Items⠀⇛ This post explains how to parse the HID Unit Global Item as explained by the HID Specification, page 37. The table there is quite confusing and it took me a while to fully understand it (Benjamin Tissoires was really the one who cracked it). I couldn’t find any better explanation online which means either I’m incredibly dense and everyone’s figured it out or no-one has posted a better explanation. On the off- chance it’s the latter [1], here are the instructions on how to parse this item. We know a HID Report Descriptor consists of a number of items that describe the content of each HID Report (read: an event from a device). These Items include things like Logical Minimum/Maximum for axis ranges, etc. A HID Unit item specifies the physical unit to apply. For example, a Report Descriptor may specify that X and Y axes are in mm which can be quite useful for all the obvious reasons. Like most HID items, a HID Unit Item consists of a one-byte item tag and 1, 2 or 4 byte payload. The Unit item in the Report Descriptor itself has the binary value 0110 01nn where the nn is either 1, 2, or 3 indicating 1, 2 or 4 bytes of payload, respectively. That’s standard HID. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Best_World_Clock_Applications_for_Linux⠀⇛ This article covers a list of graphical and command line “world clock” applications that can be used to view current time and date values at different time zones / locations around the world. There are only a limited number of world clock applications available for Linux. Apps listed in this article get the job done and some of them also come with handy extra features. If you know any command line application in Linux that can show current date and time, you can try prefixing it with the “TZ” environment variable explained in this article. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Allow_Or_Deny_SSH_Access_To_A_Particular_User_Or_Group_In Linux⠀⇛ This brief guide will walk you though the steps to allow or deny SSH access to a particular user or a group in Linux. A while ago, we discussed how to limit a user’s access to Linux system using Restricted shell. Once we have put the users in restricted mode, they can’t do anything except what they are allowed to do. It will be helpful when you want to allow a particular user to execute only a specific set of commands. Here in this article, we are going to enable or disable SSH access for an user or group by making a few changes in SSH default configuration file. # ⚓ LHB_#21.01:_Docker_Notify,_Ansible_e-book_and_Planned Improvements_for_2021⠀⇛ 2021 is here, and I hope it is not as dreadful as 2020 was. You probably have made your new year resolution. So have I, for Linux Handbook. Before I share the improvements planned for 2021, let me share the good news with you first. Ahmed worked hard to prepare # ⚓ [Older]_Bash_Background_Process_Management⠀⇛ There are many times when a Bash developer or user will want to run a process in the background, either from the command line or from inside a bash script, and then handle that same process again later. There are various command line tools which allow one to do so. Being able to start, manage and destroy background processes is a requirement for many more advanced level tasks, especially in the areas of advanced scripting and process control. # ⚓ Installing_Signal_for_Desktop_on_your_Chromebook_(2021 Edition)⠀⇛ Well, it seems that 2021 is shaping up to be the year of “mass exodus” to and from various tech platforms. I’ll save the politics for other websites but we are here to help users get the most out of Chromebooks and that has spurred this latest how-to. Thanks in part to a simple, two-word tweet from Elon Musk, the Signal messaging platform has seen a massive influx of new users. This migration was initially spurred by an upcoming change in Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s terms of service. I won’t get into the gory details but it has a lot to do with what and how WhatsApp shares its data with Facebook. # ⚓ Normalizing_audio_and_video_files_–_Lukáš_Zapletal⠀⇛ To normalize audio or video files without reencoding video stream, use ffmpeg-normalize script. In Fedora, it is available in the python3- ffmpeg-normalize package. # ⚓ Kafka_destination_improved_with_template_support_in_syslog- ng_–_Blog_–_syslog-ng_Community_–_syslog-ng_Community⠀⇛ The C implementation of the Kafka destination in syslog-ng has been improved in version 3.30. Support for templates in topic names was added as a result of a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) project. The advantage of the new template support feature is that you no longer have to use a static topic name. For example, you can include the name of your host or the application sending the log in the topic name. From this blog you can learn about a minimal Kafka setup, configuring syslog-ng and testing syslog-ng with Kafka. # ⚓ Turn_your_Raspberry_Pi_into_a_HiFi_music_system_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ For the past 10 years, I’ve worked remotely most of the time, but when I go into the office, I sit in a room full of fellow introverts who are easily disturbed by ambient noise and talking. We discovered that listening to music can suppress office noise, make voices less distracting, and provide a pleasant working environment with enjoyable music. Initially, one of our colleagues brought in some old powered computer speakers, connected them to his desktop, and asked us what we wanted to listen to. It did its job, but the sound quality wasn’t great, and it only worked when he was in the office. Next, we bought a pair of Altec Lansing speakers. The sound quality improved, but flexibility did not. Not much later, we got a generic Arm single-board computer (SBC). This meant anyone could control the playlist and the speakers over the network using a web interface. But a random Arm developer board meant we could not use popular music appliance software. Updating the operating system was a pain due to a non-standard kernel, and the web interface broke frequently. When the team grew and moved into a larger room, we started dreaming about better speakers and an easier way to handle the software and hardware combo. # ⚓ Openstack_RDO_&&_KVM_Hypervisor:_Adding_packaging_and refactoring_known_sample_of_Java_CRUD_Application_for_Tomcat 9.0.41_(_Mysql_8.0.22)⠀⇛ Why packaging is important ? That is pretty straight forward Java coding which looks and works pretty good . However , all compiled classes appear to be placed in one folder WEB-INF/classes/ and in some way this minor design issue hides a business logic of apps see https://www.javatpoint.com/crud- in-servlet . Once again Connection to mariadb- Server on F33 is encapsulated in separate class end matches the most recent requirements (8.0.22) # ⚓ How_to_Create_a_KVM_Virtual_Machine_Template⠀⇛ A virtual machine template is essentially a copy of the installed virtual machine that comes in handy when you want to deploy multiple instances of virtual machines. Creating a template is a 3 step process that involves creating a virtual machine, installing all the requisites packages that you want to be installed, and finally cleaning up the template. # ⚓ How_to_Use_Vim:_A_Guide_to_the_Basics⠀⇛ Vim is the most powerful and versatile code editor available for Unix-like systems. It is an extension of the Vi editor developed by Bill Joy. Vim is available by default on most Linux and BSD systems. Thus, you can use the same editor on all of your systems and remote machines. Vim’s rigorous vocabulary also makes it extremely efficient and expressive. # ⚓ How_to_install_Steam_on_a_Chromebook_in_2021⠀⇛ Today we are looking at how to install Steam on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. This tutorial will only work on Chromebooks with an Intel or AMD CPU (with Linux Apps Support) and not those with an ARM64 architecture CPU. Sadly not all Steam games work in Linux, here is a list of games that should work if you have enough space and computer power to run them. Also if any of these games are interesting for you, then you can play them via GeForce Now, a cloud gaming platform by Nvidia, with either a free or paid account. The games just have to be in your Steam, Epic Games, etc, libraries. # ⚓ How_to_install_Zoom_on_Linux_Mint_20.1_–_YouTube⠀⇛ In this video, we are looking at how to install Zoom on Linux Mint 20.1. # ⚓ How_to_install_the_newest_version_of_Firefox_on_your Chromebook_(2021)⠀⇛ Consumers love options. It’s just a fact and it’s what makes our buying decisions as unique and diverse as we are. For Chromebook users, the Google ecosystem is likely the first stop when it comes to finding and using applications on Chrome OS. That said, a little variety is nice and there are some that would like to use platforms outside of Google’s offerings. One area in which that rings very true is web browsers. When you log into your Chromebook, you’re inherently going to use the Chrome browser. It is, after all, Chrome OS. That does not mean that you have to be married to Google’s browser. You have options and we have covered a few of them in the past. # ⚓ Deploying_a_virtual_TripleO_standalone_OpenStack_system_| Enable_Sysadmin⠀⇛ A walk-through on how to deploy a virtualized TripleO standalone system, including creating the components need to launch and connect to a VM. Also included is how to cleanup the deployment. # ⚓ Centos_7_Linux_Forgot_Password_Solution-_How_to_Change_it_– Linux_Shout⠀⇛ Here is the proper step by step guide to reset the forgotten password of CentOS 7 or 8 Linux systems. You can use the same for RedHat 7/8 as well. If it is not stored in a certain file, it is easy to forget the login password for operations that are rarely used several times a week like logging in to the server. # ⚓ Getting_started_with_Tekton_and_Pipelines⠀⇛ Tekton is a powerful, Kubernetes-native framework for creating continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) systems. In this article, we’ll use real- world examples to show you how to install Tekton, create Tasks, and eventually create our own pipeline. What’s a pipeline? Great question! In software development, pipelines are automated processes that drive software through a process of building, testing, and deploying code. Such an efficient process can help minimize human error, as well as maintain consistency in deployment. Since Tekton is cloud-native, its pipelines are containerized and don’t have dependencies on other projects, mitigating potential issues and saving you time. # ⚓ Prevent_WordPress_From_Converting_Double_Hyphen_(‐‐)_Into Dash_(–)_–_ByteXD⠀⇛ This short post covers how to stop WordPress from converting double hyphens (–) to single dash (–) First, the solutions I use. They are, most likely, not the optimal ones, but have worked for me and I think and are user friendly, as they don’t require you to create a plugin yourself or edit WordPress core files. I consider them as a temporary solution to be able to get on with your work instead of spending time finding the ideal fix. # ⚓ 5_methods_to_open_the_Command_Terminal_in_Ubuntu_Linux_– Linux_Shout⠀⇛ Best possible different ways to open and run command terminal on Ubuntu Linux distros using variosu keyboard and GUI shortcuts # ⚓ Forward_and_Reverse_Proxy_Differences_Explained_|_FOSS Linux⠀⇛ Proxies are placed between various connections online. Because of the variations in the dimensions of the different connections, different types of proxies exist. While some proxies indicate a direct relationship between the proxy server and the client, some tell you which of the gadgets the proxy server is. In some cases, it can even show data management or how to deal with privacy in such a scenario. Depending on the proxy position, it can either be a forward proxy or a reverse proxy. A point to note is that a forward proxy is different from a reverse proxy. As a result, this makes direct comparison complicated. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Signal_on_Ubuntu_&_Other_Linux Distributions⠀⇛ It’s been more than a year since we covered Signal as an ideal choice for instant messaging. While privacy-aware and tech-savvy people were already aware of the existence of this awesome application, Signal got the much deserved fame after the latest WhatsApp privacy policy updates. Whatever maybe the reason if you are new to Signal and you are wondering if you can use Signal on desktop, the answer is yes. You can install Signal on Linux, Windows and macOS systems along with your smartphone. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Grab_some_indie_goodies_in_the_Devolver_Digital_Hidden_Gems Bundle⠀⇛ It’s not the first time the bundle has appeared and probably won’t be the last but it seems Devolver don’t like to keep it up all the time. It gives you multiple titles published by Devolver along with a top discount to get them all together. # ⚓ Kitsune_Tails_is_an_upcoming_Japanese_mythology_inspired adventure_platformer⠀⇛ From the developer of MidBoss and Super Bernie World (Kitsune Games) and 2064: Read Only Memories (MidBoss, LLC.) comes Kitsune Tails. An adventure platformer inspired by beloved classics steeped in Japanese mythology. “Play as a young female kitsune, one of Inari’s fox-eared and bushy-tailed messengers, and embark on a hero’s journey that begins while delivering your first message. Experience a romantic encounter with a kindly sorceress who comes to your aid in a time of need. Explore the complicated relationship with your former mentor turned antagonist and uncover her reasons for sealing your love interest inside an elemental prison. Unlock powers that manifest as cute outfits to help you run, jump, and dash across a land inspired by Japanese mythology in Kitsune Tails, the follow up to Super Bernie World.” [...] It’s slated to release in Q1 2022 with full Linux support and they will be gathering funding through a Kickstarter campaign, which will launch mid-2021. # ⚓ Steam_has_never_been_more_popular_–_and_Valve_promises_big things_for_Linux_gamers⠀⇛ Steam’s ‘year in review’ has just been published for 2020, complete with a raft of statistics which show that the gaming platform has never been more popular – along with some statements that Linux gamers will doubtless find exciting. Of course, it’s no great surprise to hear that more people were playing games on their PC last year – what with Covid-19 lockdowns and folks spending far more time inside at home – and indeed Steam’s stats show that there was a huge 50% increase in the number of hours spent gaming on the platform. # ⚓ Valve’s_review_of_2020_shows_off_pretty_big_numbers_–_120 million_monthly_active_users⠀⇛ # ⚓ Steam_Tops_120M_Monthly_Users_in_2020,_China_Launch,_UX Upgrades,_Linux_2021_Priorities⠀⇛ Linux – We’re continuing to invest in technology that improves game compatibility and performance through Steam Play. We’re also putting together new ways for prospective users to get into Linux gaming and experience these improvements. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ SoK_2021:_Post_1_–_Claudio_Cambra⠀⇛ I’ve written about FLOSS stuff for a while now, but recently I’ve been working on my coding skills too. I decided to help with documentation efforts as this would help newcomers and also allow me to learn more about how KDE’s best apps are made. I’ll be working under Carl Schwan, who will make sure that the upcoming content in the docs is the best it can be. Documentation is important for any project, and we have identified a few areas which I will be working on improving over the next few months. These include introductory tutorials, Kirigami’s docs, and more. My hope is that these efforts will ensure that the community of KDE developers keeps growing! # ⚓ Season_of_KDE_2021_–_Anjani’s_home⠀⇛ Hello people! I’m Anjani, an IT student from India. I’ve been contributing to KDE since last year. Thanks to the KDE community to have an engaging program like SoK. I got to know about this last year but couldn’t participate. Now I’m here. I’ll be working under the mentorship of Han Young on implementing a D-Bus daemon that will fetch/provide weather data using KWeatherCore to KWeather as well as other applications on Plasma mobile who would like to have weather data for some purpose. # ⚓ Season_of_KDE_Selection [Ed: Link no longer live]⠀⇛ Hey people from around the world !! I am Anubhav Choudhary, an engineering student from India. I recently got selected in Season of KDE 2021 to work under Calamares project. My work is to resolve numerous issues and complete some tasks mentioned on Calamares’ Issue page. And I am just too excited about that. Why? Because I have been contributing to open source (to KDE? yes) for sometime now. But It always felt very unordered and random contributions (which I was not happy about). # ⚓ Season_of_KDE_2021_–_The_start⠀⇛ Hello KDE people, I am Suraj an undergraduate student majoring in Information Technology from India. I have been contributing to KDE Websites for quite a while. KDE Web has been undergoing major changes in the past few years. We have seen many sites being ported to JAM Stack i.e particularly static site generators such as Hugo and Jekyll. Using static site generators sometimes are a great choice because it reduces server dependencies since the website rebuilds only when the site is updated. Also, updating is a lot easier when the content is written in markdown and simple data formats. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ 20+_Best_Lightweight_Linux_Operating_Systems_In_2021⠀⇛ This is the list of lifeline for your old gadget in your home. Yes, you can start playing with your old computers/laptops. There are plenty of Linux based operating system available that can easily run on computers with low specs. Let’s have a quick look into the list of some of the best lightweight Linux operating system for your old computers or laptop in 2021. # § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ From_Unix_to_Linux:_Key_Trends_in_the_Evolution_of Operating_Systems_(Part_3)⠀⇛ The developers and intense users of the BSD distributions I’ve talked to paint a complex portrait of BSD’s dilemma, with as many angles as a cubist still life. Warner Losh, a former member of the FreeBSD core team, said in his comments on this article that he believes BSD had a healthy environment under its original developers, the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG). That team finished its work and disbanded in 1995 with the intention that further development would take place in the BSDi company. Fragmentation started after that. The leadership started making decisions that other contributors found arbitrary. Forming cliques, team members could not always recognize which contributions from outsiders were worth including. 386BSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD—one by one, a small team of discontented developers would split off and create their own fork. The Linux community was immature by comparison, but kernel development stayed relatively united and the participants found their way forward to stability. One might accept the proliferation of different BSD variants as a gift to users. Each variant had its own strengths—so the argument goes—and users could choose what was right for them. But the forks left none of the variants, except possibly FreeBSD, with a large enough critical mass to thrive. Anyone who wanted to develop for BSD needed to choose one of the variants or do a lot of porting. From the standpoint of the publishing industry, I can attest that putting out a book about BSD was nearly impossible. We couldn’t cover all variants, and covering a single variant left us with too small an audience to make a profit. McKusick points out that three separate distributions are a fairly small number for a historic operating system and seem like nothing compared to the fecund proliferation of GNU/Linux distributions. Not only do the utilities in the GNU/Linux distributions differ in important ways—such as the tools used to build and install software packages—but their underlying kernels are different. This is all valid and worthy of discussion. But it’s natural for distributions to build different kernels frequently. The Linux development repository has managed to remain unitary. And GNU/Linux enthusiasts will back me up in saying that one can reasonably learn enough utilities to expertly manage all the well-known distributions. Mick Bauer, who wrote Building Secure Servers with Linux for O’Reilly in 2002 (Linux Server Security in a later edition), confirms my point in his review of this article. He writes, “I was surprised at how easy it was to cover Red Hat, Debian/Ubuntu, and SuSE for all my topics. Knowing just a few utilities (mainly package managers) and config-file locations was all it took.” Bauer also attributes the burgeoning of GNU/ Linux to two distinguishing traits: the strength of its distributions and the license under which it was developed. Regarding distributions, he says: “From very early on users could choose between militantly free distributions like Slackware and Debian, commercial distributions with structured training and support programs like Red Hat and SuSE, and all points between. But this diversity hasn’t (yet) led to any disruptive schisms in Linux kernel development. Early in Linux’s evolution, this combination of commercial support contracts and kernel- development stability helped make Linux a viable choice for hosting network services for large corporations.” # ⚓ Preliminary_OpenBSD_Support_Added_to_OBS_Studio⠀⇛ OpenBSD developer Vadim Zhukov (zhukov@) has added preliminary OpenBSD support to Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Studio release 26.1.0 and later. The changes come as part of an ongoing collaboration between the upstream OBS project and OpenBSD developers. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Flatpak_1.10_Officially_Released_with_GCC_11_Support, New_Features_and_Improvements⠀⇛ The biggest new feature in this the Flatpak 1.10 series is the implementation of a new format for the indexed summary file, which is being used when accessing an OSTree repository on the network. With this, the OSTree dependency was bumped to version 2020.8. This major change also makes several underlying enhancements to Flatpak’s behavior, such as faster fetching of the initial metadata required for most operations and therefore less network bandwidth usages, as well as the ability for Flatpak repos to scale to more apps and more architectures without having an impact on clients. # ⚓ Better_together:_Community_Blog_and_Discussion_– Fedora_Community_Blog⠀⇛ Yesterday, taking advantage of the post-New Year enthusiasm of our dear Fedora Project Leader, I enabled a WordPress plugin that connects this blog with the Discourse forum at discussion.fedoraproject.org. If everything works correctly, Community Blog posts will start a new thread in the Community Blog category on Discussion. Discussion will function as the comments mechanism for the post instead of the native WordPress comments. # ⚓ Restarting_regular_Fedora_India_meetings_– ankursinha.in/blog⠀⇛ The Fedora India community has always been quite an active group of people working in various Fedora teams and Special Interest Groups (SIGs). At some point in recent years, people got busy with projects as we tend to do, and we stopped having regular community meetings. This is unfortunate, since these meetings keep the community ticking, and provide a platform for new members to join in. # ⚓ The_NeuroFedora_Blog:_Next_Open_NeuroFedora_meeting: 18_January_1500_UTC⠀⇛ Please join us at the next regular Open NeuroFedora team meeting on Monday 18 January at 1300UTC in #fedora-neuro on IRC (Freenode). The meeting is a public meeting, and open for everyone to attend. # ⚓ Red_Hat_and_Intel_blaze_a_more_flexible_path_to_5G services,_from_hybrid_cloud_networking_to_edge computing⠀⇛ Communication service providers (CSPs) and enterprises looking to unleash the power of 5G are faced with a new set of operational challenges. They include how to architect and deploy a common infrastructure strategy across the network that can deliver cloud flexibility and automation, lower operational cost and allow for solution choice from a multi-vendor ecosystem. Building on a decades-long collaboration, Intel and Red Hat are announcing the evolution of their strategic relationship to accelerate the delivery of automated, cloud- native infrastructure for new 5G services. Together, Red Hat and Intel will align R&D efforts to help move 5G, networking innovation and related features more quickly into upstream open source projects (e.g. Kubernetes) while also bringing these new technologies to customers as commercialized, supported offerings for production deployment more swiftly. Our customers stand to benefit from more complete solutions as they transform their networks from cloud to network to edge for a range of new use cases and services. # ⚓ New_year,_new_features_in_Red_Hat_Runtimes⠀⇛ It has been a busy, productive year for Red Hat Runtimes, and we are excited to kick off 2021 with new features. Red Hat Runtimes, part of the Application Services portfolio, is a set of products, tools and components designed to develop and maintain cloud-native applications. It offers lightweight runtimes and frameworks that allow developers to build highly-distributed cloud architectures, like microservices. With Red Hat Runtimes, developers have options to choose the right tool for the job – they are not locked in to only one runtime or service. Here’s a rundown of what’s new. # ⚓ Transitioning_Red_Hat’s_global_sales_and_services leadership⠀⇛ As we start the new year, we wanted to share a leadership update within our sales and services organization. Later this year, Arun Oberoi, executive vice president of Global Sales and Services, has decided to retire after nine years with Red Hat. Larry Stack, most recently senior vice president of commercial sales for Red Hat in North America, will transition into the global sales and services leadership role beginning in April. Until his retirement in Q3, Arun will work with Larry to ensure a smooth transition. When Arun joined Red Hat in May 2012 to lead sales and services globally (spanning commercial, public sector, and channel sales, Red Hat’s strategic alliances; professional services; and consulting and training services), Red Hat had just reached an industry milestone as the first open source software company to achieve more than $1 billion in annual revenue. By the time IBM’s landmark acquisition of Red Hat closed, Red Hat’s revenue had more than tripled. # ⚓ Introduction_to_OpenStack’s_Distributed_Compute Nodes⠀⇛ As customers continue to expect customized, real time experiences, the applications that power those experiences require lower latency and near real time processing. Edge computing brings the application infrastructure from centralized data centers out to the network edge – as close to the consumer as possible. This use case stretches beyond just telecommunications to include healthcare, energy, retail, remote offices and more. Both the applications and their underlying infrastructures need to adapt themselves to this new edge model. One of Red Hat’s answers to that edge challenge was the introduction of an architecture called Distributed Compute Nodes (DCN) back in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13. This architecture allows operators to deploy the computing resources (compute nodes) hosting the workloads, close to the consumers’ devices (at edge sites, for example) while centralising the control plane in a more traditional datacenter such as a national or regional site. # ⚓ System_administration_is_dead,_long_live_system administration!_|_Enable_Sysadmin⠀⇛ Comparing the skillsets of sysadmins from the “Gilded Age” of administration to those of the “Industrial Age.” # ⚓ Kafka_Monthly_Digest_–_December_2020_and_2020_in review⠀⇛ In this 35th edition of the Kafka Monthly Digest, I’ll cover what happened in the Apache Kafka community in December 2020 as well as some of the milestones that the project and community reached in 2020. # § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Debian_discusses_vendoring—again⠀⇛ The problems with “vendoring” in packages—bundling dependencies rather than getting them from other packages—seems to crop up frequently these days. We looked at Debian’s concerns about packaging Kubernetes and its myriad of Go dependencies back in October. A more recent discussion in that distribution’s community looks at another famously dependency-heavy ecosystem: JavaScript libraries from the npm repository. Even C-based ecosystems are not immune to the problem, as we saw with iproute2 and libbpf back in November; the discussion of vendoring seems likely to recur over the coming years. Many application projects, particularly those written in languages like JavaScript, PHP, and Go, tend to have a rather large pile of dependencies. These projects typically simply download specific versions of the needed dependencies at build time. This works well for fast-moving projects using collections of fast-moving libraries and frameworks, but it works rather less well for traditional Linux distributions. So distribution projects have been trying to figure out how best to incorporate these types of applications. This time around, Raphaël Hertzog raised the issue with regard to the Greenbone Security Assistant (gsa), which provides a web front- end to the OpenVAS vulnerability scanner (which is now known as Greenbone Vulnerability Management or gvm). # ⚓ Debian_Discusses_Vendoring_—_Again⠀⇛ # ⚓ YunoHost_4.1_Release_Makes_DIY_Self-Hosting_Even_More Simple⠀⇛ If you don’t know what YunoHost is, it is a Debian-based operating system that aims to make self-hosting easy by simplifying the administration of the server and letting you easily deploy apps/services. Initially, it was developed by “Kload” but when interest around YunoHost and self- hosting started growing, more people joined in as volunteers and since then, they have been developing and maintaining the operating system. # § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Ubuntu_21.04_will_finally_fix_this_long-time_security concern⠀⇛ The next upcoming release of Ubuntu will close a security issue that’s been lingering around the popular desktop distro for more than a decade. The original bug report filed in lieu of this issue back in 2006 has finally been marked as fixed by Alex Murray, Ubuntu Security Tech Lead, at Canonical. Unlike many other distros, Ubuntu by default creates user home directories with world writable permissions. Murray once again flagged the issue late last year, arguing among other things that Ubuntu now has a significant customer and user-base in the public cloud and server space for whom the world-readable home directories are “more like a footgun than a feature.” # ⚓ A_hacker_managed_to_get_Ubuntu_up_and_running_on_an iPhone_7⠀⇛ newhacker1746 recently posted on Reddit about his attempt to get Ubuntu up and running on a jailbroken iPhone 7. The iPhone in question was jailbroken using Checkra1n, a procedure power users do to add in additional functionality to iOS. But newhacker1746 decided to take things several steps further by running a desktop OS (albeit in command line mode). iPhone critics have often pointed to iOS’s locked-down nature as a limitation. Initially, newhacker1746 was only able to get the Ubuntu CLI running. However, in a new update, the Redditor showcased the Ubuntu GUI functioning on his iPhone. Somewhat astonishingly, resolution scaling seems to work fine in portrait mode on the iPhone 7, and newhacker1746 posted the update on his progress from Firefox, on his iDevice. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Pine64_mailbag_–_PinePhone_postmarketOS_Edition,_PineCone BL602_board,_and_Pinecil_soldering_iron⠀⇛ Pine64 community was pretty busy last year with the launch of several products. Recently I’ve received a couple of packages with some of those products, namely PinePhone Community Edition: PostmarketOS, PineCone WiFi & BLE IoT board based on BL602 RISC- V SoC, and Pinecil soldering iron also based on a RISC-V chip for control, but this time GD32V generic-purpose MCU. I’ll most show what I have received without going into too many details, except for PinePhone which I have already set up and used for one hour or so. # ⚓ Supporting_teachers_and_students_with_remote_learning through_free_video_lessons⠀⇛ # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ At_Last:_an_Affordable_RISC-V_Board_With_Desktop Linux_Support⠀⇛ Tech tinkerers keen to tussle with RISC- V will be thrilled to hear there’s an affordable new ‘toy’ in town: the BeagleV. The BeagleV (pronounced ‘beagle-five’) is a small single-board PC (think Raspberry Pi) that uses a RISC-V processor, touts support for several different Linux distributions (including desktop Fedora), and is priced from a comparatively cheap $119. For more on this device, who it’s aimed at, and what it’s specs are like, keep reading. # ⚓ BeagleV_is_a_$150_RISC-V_Computer_Designed_To_Run Linux⠀⇛ Seeed Studios — the makers of the Odyssey mini-PC — have teamed up with well-known SBC vendor BeagleBoard to produce an affordable RISC-V system designed to run Linux. The new BeagleV (pronounced “Beagle Five”) system features a dual-core, 1GHz RISC-V CPU made by StarFive — one of a network of RISC- V startups created by better-known RISC- V vendor SiFive. # ⚓ BeagleV_SBC_runs_Linux_on_AI-enabled_RISC-V_SoC⠀⇛ BeagleBoard.org and Seeed unveiled an open- spec, $119-and-up “BeagleV” SBC with a StarFive JH7100 SoC with dual SiFive U74 RISC-V cores, 1-TOPS NPU, DSP, and VPU. The SBC ditches the Cape expansion for a Pi-like 40-pin GPIO. In our introduction to last week’s catalog of 150 Linux hacker boards we speculated that 2021 would reveal the first Linux-based community-backed board with a RISC- V processor under $200. We did not have to wait long. BeagleBoard.org, Seeed Studio, and chip designer StarFive have announced an open hardware, RISC-V based BeagleV SBC due to sample in April for $149 with 8GB RAM and ship in volume in September along with a $119 board with 4GB. # ⚓ BeagleBoard.org_and_Seeed_Introduce_the_First Affordable_RISC-V_Board_Designed_to_Run_Linux⠀⇛ Seeed and BeagleBoard.org® have announced an official collaboration with the leading RISC- V solutions provider, StarFive, to create the latest member of the BeagleBoard.org® series, BeagleV™ (pronounced Beagle five). BeagleV™ is the first affordable RISC-V board designed to run Linux. BeagleV™, pushes open-source to the next level and gives developers more freedom and power to innovate and design industry leading solutions with an affordable introductory price of $149 followed by lower cost variants in subsequent releases. BeagleV™ will be available for early access in March with larger availability in September. The early access version encompasses StarFive Jinghong 7100 SoC with powerful AI performance (3.5T NVDLA, 1T NNE), built-in ISP, 1 Gigabit ethernet, and a dual core 64-bit SiFive U74 RISC-V CPU with 8GB of LPDDR4 memory. It also has a dedicated hardware encoder/decoder supporting H.264 and H.265 4k@60fps, making it a perfect edge computing device with powerful AI capability. Supported by mainline Linux and a Debian- based BeagleBoard.org® open-source software image, BeagleV™ is ready for development out- of-the-box and prepared for the future. # ⚓ Librem_5_Update:_Shipping_Estimates_and_CPU_Supply Chain⠀⇛ It’s been a busy holiday and New Year’s season at Purism as we continue to ship out Librem 5s to backers each week. We know for those who haven’t received their Librem 5 yet, what they most want to know is when their Librem 5 will arrive. In summary, we will be providing shipping estimates within the next week to the backers within the original crowdfunding campaign (orders through October 2017), but not all backers yet, based on our confidence in the estimates. The rest of this post will explain what is going into our shipping estimates, and why we can’t yet provide shipping estimates to every backer. # ⚓ Purism_and_Linux_5.9_and_Linux_5.10⠀⇛ Following up on our report for Linux 5.8 this summarizes the progress on mainline support for the Librem 5 phone and its development kit during the 5.9 and 5.10 development cycles. Librem 5 updates One of the most notable additions is a first devicetree description for the phone. This is important to have upstream since it describes how the hardware is wired up. Without that, it’s impossible to boot a mainline kernel. We added descriptions for the various phone revisions themselves (up to the Dogwood board) and also for the MIPI DSI controller of the imx8mq SoC. From this point on, we’ll incrementally add the missing pieces, for example from the display stack, just like we’ve done for the devkit back in Linux 5.2. # ⚓ Hack_together_your_own_e-paper_smartwatch_with_this $50_open-source_kit⠀⇛ The battery life SQFMI estimates depends on your use case — it says if you’re just keeping time you should get five to seven days, but if you’re fetching data frequently you may only see two to three. Its open- source nature, however, means that you could always fit a larger battery into it, or try and make some software optimizations if there are features you’re willing to cut. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Android_phones_will_get_faster_and_bigger_in-screen fingerprint_scanners_in_2021⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google_is_working_on_an_app_hibernation_feature_for Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google:_Attacker_‘likely’_had_access_to_Android_zero- day_vulnerabilities⠀⇛ # ⚓ MelonDS,_a_Nintendo_DS_emulator,_is_now_out_on_beta for_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ PUBG_Mobile_announces_full_release_for_1.2_global update_iOS_and_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ PUBG_Mobile_releases_1.2_global_update_over_iOS_and Android_platforms⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_Cloud_Storage_—_The_Best_Cloud_Storage_for Photos_&_Documents⠀⇛ # ⚓ Qualcomm’s_latest_purchase_could_fix_Android’s iPhone-chip_envy⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_Auto_moves_closer_to_wallpaper_support_w/ collection_of_car-themed_backgrounds⠀⇛ # ⚓ Mobile_RAT_for_Android_Offered_on_Darknet_Forums⠀⇛ # ⚓ When_will_the_Android_and_iPhone_Bitlife_code_merge, and_how_does_it_work?⠀⇛ # ⚓ CES_2021:_Why_this_new_Android_tablet_is_great_news for_comic_book_fans⠀⇛ # ⚓ Verizon’s_Samsung_Galaxy_S20_FE_is_now_receiving_the Android_11_update_with_One_UI_3⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei’s_new_Android_rival_aims_to_take_a_huge_chunk of_marketshare_from_Google_this_year⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Update:_Live_in_Japan]_Asus_6Z/ZenFone_6_bags Android_11_stable_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ Verizon_LG_V60_ThinQ_5G_Android_11_update_looks_near as_kernel_source_code_goes_live⠀⇛ # ⚓ 5_best_games_like_GTA_5_for_low-end_Android_devices in_2021⠀⇛ # ⚓ Best_Android_Tablets_Of_Different_Budget_And_Brands To_Invest_In⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_download_and_install_Signal_on_Android_and iPhone⠀⇛ # ⚓ AnTuTu:_These_were_the_global_best_performing_Android smartphones_in_December_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ Alcatel_TKEE_Mini,_TKEE_Mid,_TKEE_Max_Rugged_Android Tablets_for_Kids_Launched_in_India:_Price, Specifications⠀⇛ # ⚓ Mi_Box_3_audio_&_video_playback_(freezing)_issues after_Android_TV_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ Galaxy_reality_check:_4_big_reasons_to_avoid Samsung’s_Android_phones⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # ⚓ 3_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Pandora_Radio_Clients⠀⇛ Music streaming services have fundamentally altered the way that people access music. Sales of CDs have been steadily falling year on year although they continue to remain a popular format for music purchases. Digital music sales have also been decreasing. These falls have come at the same time as a profound surge in popularity of music streaming services. Competition in this field is fierce, with music providers such as Spotify, Google Play Music All Access, Amazon Music, Rdio, and Pandora all offering a convenient way to access a huge library of music without having to store physical discs or wait for music to synchronise with devices. Pandora Internet Radio is a music streaming automated music recommendation service. The service is only available to listeners in the USA, although clients with proxy support enables individuals in other countries to use the service. Pandora plays musical selections of a certain type based on a user’s artist, song, or genre selection. Listeners give positive or negative feedback for the selected songs, which helps the music algorithm choose future songs to play. The service customizes playlists to individual listeners by analysing components of the songs they like, then playing them tracks with similar qualities or characteristics. Pandora has lost market share to Spotify. # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ New_Release:_Tor_Browser_10.0.8⠀⇛ Tor Browser 10.0.8 is now available from the Tor Browser download page and also from our distribution directory. This release updates Firefox for desktops to 78.6.1esr and Firefox for Android to 84.1.4. This version resolves instability on Apple macOS devices with the new M1 processor. # § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ Review:_Learn_LibreOffice_with_Raspberry_Pi⠀⇛ Phil King checks out the LibreOffice Getting Started Guide, and LibreOffice Help, both by The Document Foundation. As well as Udemy LibreOffice courses, by Udemy. # § CMS⠀➾ # ⚓ Kiwi_TCMS_9.0⠀⇛ We’re happy to announce Kiwi TCMS version 9.0! # § FSF⠀➾ # § GNU Projects⠀➾ # ⚓ Gnulib_provides_versatile_bit-set implementations⠀⇛ Gnulib features bitset, a module to support operations on lists of bits. Its API is rich, and includes: all the expected operations on single bit (set, toggle, test, etc.); all the traditional binary bitwise operators (and, or, xor), often in two flavors (return new values, or perform in place); some useful ternary operations, such as ((a ∧ b) ∨ c), ((a ∧ ¬b) ∨ c), etc. Also in two flavors; many predicates (empty, equal, intersects, disjoint, subset and so forth); and of course, object creation, destruction, printing, iteration, reverse iteration, etc. The following example, taken from Bison, shows the bitset module in action. It’s a fix-point computation of `N`, a bitset of the “useful” symbols (a symbol is useful if it can actually correspond to a piece of text. Think for instance of `a: a b; b: a;`, `a` and `b` are useless). # § Openness/Sharing/Collaboration⠀➾ # ⚓ Opinion:_What_open-source_software_can_teach_big pharma⠀⇛ At the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in Oxford, scientists shoot electrons through rings at near light speed to produce beams ten billion times brighter than the sun. These beams are used to study everything from painting fragments to viral structures. Last year researchers at Oxford University used the synchrotron, a large machine, to work out the molecular structure of COVID-19. Instead of selling off the discovery to the highest bidder, they put the information immediately into the open domain so that scientists globally could learn how COVID-19’s proteins infect the body. This sharing of information has been widely used by the software industry for decades. With open-source software, engineers share their source codes openly with their counterparts, who can then tinker with the codes and produce something new. Examples of open-source software products include the internet browser Mozilla Firefox and the Linux operating system. While this model has brought enormous benefits to the software industry, medicine has been slow to catch on. Matthew Todd, chair of drug discovery at University College London, likens open-source medicine to Wikipedia. All data and results are shared instantly and openly with the wider scientific community. This sharing of information could have real advantages for medicine because drugs are extremely expensive to research and most do not survive phase-one clinical trials. Rather than waste time experimenting with a molecule that a competitor has already proved to be unsafe, scientists could learn about failures instantly from a public data bank and then carry on experimenting with something new. Saving time and money by learning from others’ failures could lower drug prices and get new medicines to market sooner. New beginnings Some drug companies are beginning to experiment with open-source medicine. Pharma companies AbbVie, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson have partnered with the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC), a research organisation that studies less well-known areas of the human genome. The consortium is funded partly by drug companies and shares all of its findings openly with the public. Recently the SGC teamed up with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to have drugs ready for clinical trials when the next pandemic hits. Other drug companies are using the open- source model to help them begin researching rare diseases or illnesses that have high clinical failure rates. The associate director of global research at a pharmaceutical company says he has been given clear guidance to contact competitors and consortiums to develop shared risk models of innovation. The advantage, he says, is that by splitting the risk, more companies will be keen to invest their limited time and resources on less lucrative medicines. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Ruby_3.0.0_Now_Available⠀⇛ Version 3.0.0 of the popular Ruby programming language, which has been in development since 2015, has been released. # ⚓ Why_no-code_tools_in_startups_should_remain_niche⠀⇛ No-code is a broad term. It describes a vast set of products that help end-users assemble web pages and applications without hiring developers. In recent years, it has also become an ideology of sorts (praised, for example, in this Forbes column): a promise to get rid of all complications that are intertwined with IT development — its proverbial high costs, unpredictability, and difficulty to scale the teams fast enough. However, I’d argue the promise is often exaggerated, as the proposed approaches are oversold and/or not particularly new. Still, niche solutions from the no-code toolbox might get your tasks in certain pipeline parts done surprisingly well. So let’s pick apart the ideology and get into what startups and businesses should consider when thinking about no-code solutions. # § Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh⠀➾ # ⚓ Form_text_and_placeholders⠀⇛ The three miscellaneous demonstrations in this post all have something to do with form text and placeholders. Form text is text saved as a template and variable text is added as needed. A good example is a form letter. The basic text of the letter is stored as a document, and the date, the addressee and the salutation are variable bits that get added before the letter is sent. Sometimes the missing text is marked with a placeholder like “ {DATE}”. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Opinion_|_We_Have_Questions⠀⇛ o ⚓ A_Shimmering_Noise⠀⇛ Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, the latest album from Daniel Lopatin—who records under the name Oneohtrix Point Never—feels as though it’s been beamed from the antenna of a deep space probe directly into your ears. The album registers like a radio broadcast from another reality, perhaps one parallel to our own, almost inchoate and yet somehow fully formed. o ⚓ CNN_Grounds_Its_Long-Running_Airport_Network⠀⇛ CNN Airport, a long-running out-of-home media operation that became an integral part of the traveling experience for people flying through Chicago’s O’Hare, Dallas’ Love Field or even Fresno-Yosemite International Airport, is shutting down, the victim of shifts in consumer behavior that are moving more quickly than a Boeing 737. CNN said the operation, which aired a mix of news from CNN and snippets from other WarnerMedia networks in 58 different airports in the U.S., would close as of March 31. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ 2020_ACM_Fellows_recognized_for_work_that_underpins contemporary_computing⠀⇛ ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named 95 members ACM Fellows for wide-ranging and fundamental contributions in areas including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, computer graphics, computational biology, data science, human-computer interaction, software engineering, theoretical computer science, and virtual reality, among other areas. The accomplishments of the 2020 ACM Fellows have driven innovations that ushered in significant improvements across many areas of technology, industry, and personal life. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Betsy_DeVos’s_Resignation_Came_Four_Years_Too_Late⠀⇛ # ⚓ Trump_Loyalists_Aren’t_Going_Away,_They’re_Moving_to_New Social_Media_Platforms⠀⇛ # ⚓ Cost_of_College_Includes_Hidden_Expenses_for_Textbooks, Course_Materials⠀⇛ Every year, institutions determine a “cost of attendance,” which estimates the all-in average cost of being a student at a particular school. There is no federal requirement nor standardized process to determine what indirect expenses students will encounter. A June 2020 study released by UAspire called “Beyond the College Bill” focused on 820 colleges in California, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Texas; the authors said they couldn’t locate any indirect expense information on 39% of the schools’ websites. When they were included, 30 different terms were used to describe the category of “books and supplies.” Focus groups that UAspire spoke to concluded that “required course materials” was the most straightforward way to label “textbooks, printed materials, software, access codes, clickers, and additional course requirements in syllabi.” By including required course materials on college websites and financial aid packages, students can understand and prepare for this substantial additional cost. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Intel_does_what_was_expected_and_installs_a_new_chief executive⠀⇛ ANALYSIS In announcing the departure of Bob Swan as chief executive, Intel has made sure to mention that the announcement has nothing to do with either its financial performance in 2020 or its failure to introduce 7nm CPUs on time. o § Health/Nutrition⠀➾ # ⚓ As_COVID_Surges_in_LA,_Indigenous_Communities_Fight_to Preserve_Life_and_Culture⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_UK’s_Brexit-and-Covid_Languors⠀⇛ Overall, being in the EU neither reduced nor worsened the nature of this crisis. With regard to this systemic crisis, the EU, in this framework, has been neither problem nor solution. Being in the EU merely kept Ukania in what airline pilots call a “holding pattern”, by doing nothing to create conditions for ameliorating this crisis, and thus not providing the tools needed for its resolution. # ⚓ Uncertain_benefits:_Russian_authorities_issue_first-ever compulsory_license_for_controversial_coronavirus_treatment⠀⇛ For the first time ever, the Russian government has invoked compulsory licensing “in the interests of national security,” giving the domestic pharmaceutical company Pharmasyntez permission to mass produce its generic of the antiviral drug remdesivir. The American company that developed this coronavirus treatment — and owns the patent for it — didn’t consent to this decision. Moreover, studies of the drug’s effectiveness against COVID- 19 have yielded mixed results. # ⚓ Saint_Anthony_Fauci:_The_Hidden_History⠀⇛ Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top scientist on the Coronavirus taskforce, is being reproached after it was revealed last month that he was “moving the goalposts” on coronavirus herd immunity. But his long history of misleading the American public, or getting things completely wrong, remains unscrutinized — until now. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Covid-19_Under_Apartheid:_How_Israel_Manipulates Suffering_of_Palestinians⠀⇛ Long after the deadly pandemic is contained, the tragedy of occupied Palestine will, sadly, continue unhindered, until the day that Israel is forced to end its military occupation of Palestine and the Palestinians. # ⚓ Covid-19_under_Apartheid:_How_Israel_Manipulates_Suffering of_Palestinians⠀⇛ Israel’s decision to exclude Palestinians from its COVID-19 vaccination campaign may have surprised many. Even by Israel’s poor humanitarian standards, denying Palestinians access to life-saving medication seems extremely callous. # ⚓ RFK_Jr._doesn’t_like_being_called_antivacine_and_antimask⠀⇛ RFK Jr. (a.k.a. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) has long been antivaccine. Indeed, he rapidly became a prominent figure in the antivaccine movement in 2005. That was when when his publication of Deadly Immunity simultaneously in Salon.com and Rolling Stone (to their eternal shame, a shame I will never stop reminding them of) popularized the Simpsonwood conspiracy theory, which posited that in 2000 the CDC met in an Atlanta suburb to “cover up” the evidence that the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal was the cause of the “autism epidemic.” It was nonsense, of course, based on a misrepresentation of how in epidemiological studies seemingly “positive” associations disappear when confounders are properly taken into account. # ⚓ Putin_calls_for_‘mass_vaccination’_of_Russian_population against_COVID-19_starting_next_week⠀⇛ Russia needs to move “from large-scale to mass vaccination” of the entire population against the coronavirus, said President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with members of the government on Wednesday, January 13. Citing a government report, Putin noted that production of the vaccine has already exceeded its planning target. # ⚓ As_COVID_Surges_in_L.A.,_Hard-Hit_Indigenous_Communities Fight_to_Preserve_Life,_Culture_&_Language⠀⇛ As Los Angeles County reports record COVID-19 infections, overflowing hospitals and record death tolls, we look at how Indigenous communities there are among the hardest hit in working-class neighborhoods, where many are essential workers. “Indigenous people, we don’t have the privilege to stay home and not go to work,” says Odilia Romero, co-founder and executive director of Indigenous Communities in Leadership, or CIELO, an Indigenous women-led nonprofit organization in Los Angeles. Romero also laments “the loss of knowledge” that comes with the devastation of COVID-19. “Some of the elders have passed away, and there goes a whole worldview,” she says. CIELO recently published a book documenting the stories of undocumented Indigenous women from Mexico and Guatemala living in Los Angeles in the midst of the pandemic. # ⚓ Ex.-Michigan_Gov._Snyder_charged_in_Flint_water_crisis⠀⇛ Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was charged Wednesday with willful neglect of duty after an investigation of ruinous decisions that left Flint with lead-contaminated water… # ⚓ Michigan_Charges_Ex-Governor_Rick_Snyder_With_‘Neglect’_in Flint_Water_Crisis⠀⇛ A previous investigation into the Flint water crisis had led to charges against numerous city and state officials, but in June 2019 all those charges were dropped under the direction of the new attorney general, Dana Nessel. The new charges brought against Snyder are the result of a new investigation. The prosecutors’ findings will be detailed by Nessel on Thursday, officials said via the Times, and it’s expected that additional charges will be brought against other officials and associates of Snyder. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Privatisation/Privateering⠀➾ # § Linux Foundation⠀➾ # ⚓ Open_Source_Management_&_Strategy Training_Program_Launched_by_The Linux_Foundation⠀⇛ The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the availability of a new training program designed to introduce open source best practices to management and technical staff within organizations, Open Source Management & Strategy. # ⚓ Linux_Foundation_launches_free WebAssembly_course⠀⇛ Linux Foundation, the non- profit organization that works to promote the commercial adoption of Linux, has recently released a free training course to help individuals get up to speed with WebAssembly. WebAssembly is a new runtime that lives alongside the JavaScript virtual machine and is increasingly being referred to as the fourth official language of the web along with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Introduction to WebAssembly is a six-hour self-paced introductory course that is available for free on the edX non-profit learning platform. # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Microsoft_source_code_access:_assume_the_worst, says_Israeli_firm⠀⇛ The lack of timing and detail in Microsoft’s announcement about its source code being accessed by the attackers who used SolarWinds’ Orion network management software in a supply chain attack can only mean that this is bad news, the Israel-based source code control, detection, and response solution start-up Cycode, claims. # ⚓ Breaking_The_Browser_–_A_tale_of_IPC, credentials_and_backdoors⠀⇛ Web browsers are inherently trusted by users. They are trained to trust websites which “have a padlock in the address bar” and that “have the correct name”, This trust leads to users feeling comfortable entering their sensitive data into these websites. From an attackers stand point this trust is an amazing thing, as once you have compromised a users workstation there is a process (with close to zero protections) handling a relatively large amount of sensitive data while being used a great deal by a user. Throw in password managers with browser extensions and you have a natural target for red teams. So naturally when I found myself with some time to spend on a research project, I decided to spend it abusing this trust! # ⚓ Why_getting_voting_right_is_hard,_Part_IV: Absentee_Voting_and_Vote_By_Mail⠀⇛ From a technical perspective, absentee ballots and vote-by-mail work the same way; it’s just a matter of which sets of voters vote in person and which don’t. These lines also blur some in that some jurisdictions require a reason to vote absentee whereas some just allow anyone to request an absentee ballot (“no-excuse absentee”). Of course, in a vote-by-mail only jurisdiction then voters don’t need to take any action to get mailed a ballot. For convenience, I’ll mostly be referring to all of these procedures as mail-in ballots. As mentioned above, counting mail-in ballots is the same as counting in- person ballots. In fact, in many cases jurisdictions will use the same ballots in each case, so they can just hand count them or run them through the same optical scanner as they would with in- person voted ballots, which simplifies logistics considerably. The major difference between in-person and mail- in voting is the need for different mechanisms to ensure that only authorized voters vote (and that they only vote once). In an in-person system, this is ensured by determining eligibility when voters enter the polling place and then giving each voter a single ballot, but this obviously doesn’t work in the case of mailed-in ballots — it’s way too easy for an attacker to make a pile of fake ballots and just mail them in — so something else is needed. # ⚓ Critical_zero-day_RCE_in_Microsoft_Office_365 awaits_third_security_patch⠀⇛ A remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Online remains unresolved after security researchers bypassed two patches for successive exploits. Rated as critical, the zero-day flaw impacts multiple Software as a Service (SaaS) providers as well as on-premise installations of Exchange Server. The bug in Exchange Online, part of the Office 365 suite, could be exploited to gain “access to millions of corporate email accounts”, said Steven Seeley of the Qihoo 360 Vulcan Team in a blog post published yesterday (January 12). # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Not_going_dark:_personal_data_from_the Internet_of_Things_ushers_in_a_golden_age for_law_enforcement⠀⇛ Another issue concerns the huge amounts of personal data that they gather. A report from the Brennan Center for Justice provides a good summary of how the authorities are accessing that data in order to help them with their work: # ⚓ Ring_rolls_out_end-to-end_encryption_for select_doorbells_and_security_cameras⠀⇛ Motion verification and “people- only” mode, for example, scour your recorded video clips in the cloud for movement and people, so these features won’t work with end-to-end encryption enabled. You also won’t be able to view live feeds of your enrolled Ring cameras on an Amazon Echo Show or a Fire TV device. # ⚓ Snapchat_will_permanently_terminate Trump’s_account⠀⇛ Trump had attempted to violate Snapchat’s polices dozens of times, Snap tells The Verge. The company had also sent warnings to his team about content that violated the rules. The permanent ban officially goes into effect on January 20th. # ⚓ Twitter’s_Dorsey_Says_Banning_Trump_Was ‘Right_Decision’⠀⇛ Dorsey expressed concern about the collective power of technology companies to silence someone like Trump in unison. Other companies, including Facebook Inc., Snap Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch, also suspended the president’s accounts. Some of his supporters took their protests to Parler, an alternative social network, until Apple Inc. and Google pulled the service from their app stores and Amazon stopped providing cloud services. # ⚓ Twitter_CEO_says_platform_‘faced extraordinary_and_untenable_circumstance’ before_banning_Trump⠀⇛ Dorsey also noted that in the long-term, the actions of Twitter and other companies would be “destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open [Internet].” # ⚓ Twitter_Is_Helping_To_Build_An Alternative_To_Twitter,_Says_CEO_Jack Dorsey⠀⇛ Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said today in a tweetstorm that his company is exploring the development of a decentralized standard for social media. He revealed the initiative, dubbed @bluesky, in a long thread that attempted to explain Twitter’s recent and controversial deplatforming of President Donald Trump and other conservative commenters. # ⚓ Data_privacy_no_more_about_nerds, everyone’s_talking_about_it:_Signal_co- founder_Brian_Acton⠀⇛ Acton spoke to Digbijay Mishra and Reeba Zachariah about the impact of the past few extraordinary days on importance of user privacy–now and in the near future, impact of WhatsApp’s policy changes, Signal’s India plans, and, if given a chance, would he reconsider selling WhatsApp to Facebook. # ⚓ 96%_rise_in_Aadhaar_enabled_payment withdrawals_during_lockdown:_Study⠀⇛ The Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) saw a 96% uptick in usage by volume during the lockdown, according to a study by hyperlocal FinTech PayNearby. A further rise of 27% was recorded in the value of these transactions, said PayNearby, in tandem with the imposition of a nationwide lockdown as part of efforts by the Government to curb the spread of COVID-19. PayNearby attributed the rise, in both volume and value, due to funds disbursed by the Government as part of its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme, mainly in rural and semi-urban areas, which witnessed a growth of 61% and 60% in transaction volumes, respectively. # ⚓ Gmail’s_Privacy_Alternative_ProtonMail Makes_‘Undo_Send’_Feature_Available_for_All Users⠀⇛ Last month ProtonMail introduced the ‘Undo Send’ feature for its beta users. The feature is now available for both free and paid ProtonMail users. # ⚓ How_to_See_Who’s_Tracking_You_Online_(and Stop_It)⠀⇛ Have you ever searched for a product, only to be confronted with an advert for that exact same product on a completely unrelated website? This is an example of how companies are tracking you online and targeted advertising in action. Targeted ads are where advertising networks track your online movements. These networks can then use this information to target you with very specific, personalized ads. Are the Internet’s targeted ads starting to feel slightly too targeted? o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘They_Should_All_Resign’:_Here_Are_the_GOP_Lawmakers Dodging_Metal_Detectors_Installed_After_Capitol_Assault⠀⇛ “What you will learn is they are the same ones who refuse to protect American children from gun violence and Americans from Covid.” # ⚓ Dangerous_Curves_Ahead⠀⇛ 9/11 was a televised spectacle. There were the actual events of that day, where buildings collapsed in Manhattan, the Pentagon was attacked, and wreckage was strewn across the Pennsylvania countryside; and then there was the televised treatment of it, which had a life of its own. My impression from the spectacle of that day was a particular set of relentlessly repeated images: plane hits building, person jumps from building, an Arab face; plane hits building, person jumps from building, an Arab face; plane hits building, person jumps from building, an Arab face. And on and on. 9/11 revealed a nasty side in the US population, expressed in immediate calls for revenge and violence, including from many people with liberal politics and a formerly calm demeanor. I recall talking down a Green Party friend from her enraged demand for retaliatory military strikes. # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Houthi_Designation:_Tone-Deaf_Foreign_Policy for_a_Tone-Deaf_Administration⠀⇛ This public health crisis and the coinciding crisis surrounding basic resources constitute the humanitarian situation in Yemen today—a conflict that is completely manmade and caused by the poor decisions of non-democratic leaders in Yemen, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the United States. # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Case_For_Course_Correction_in_Yemen’s_Endless War⠀⇛ The crisis in Yemen is largely America’s making. America needs to fix it now. # ⚓ ‘One_State_is_a_Game_Changer’:_A_Conversation_with_Ilan Pappe_and_Awad_Abdelfattah_on_the_One_Democratic_State Campaign⠀⇛ This conclusion is, perhaps, gleaned from Israel’s behavior in recent years and months. The expansion of illegal Jewish settlements, the plan to annex large swathes of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the entrenching of the existing system of apartheid and perpetual colonialism are all evidence that demonstrates Israel’s renewed sense of empowerment. Israel is further emboldened by the fact that the so-called ‘international community’ has, thus far, failed to challenge American and Israeli intransigency. The European Union, which is fighting for its own identity, let alone survival, is proving to be a marginal force in Israel and Palestine. Without American guidance, the EU seems incapable of leading its own independent initiatives. # ⚓ Making_US_Propaganda_Exceptional_Again:_Mike_Pompeo’s_Voice Of_America_Speech⠀⇛ During the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo renewed his efforts to incite greater conflict between the United States and Iran. He also used Voice of America (VOA) to broadcast a speech that a group of whistleblowers described as “political propaganda.”“I read that some VOA employees didn’t want me to speak here today. I’m sure it was only a handful,” Pompeo declared on January 11. “They didn’t want the voice of American diplomacy to be broadcast on the Voice of America. “Think about that for just a moment.”Pompeo continued, “This kind of censorial instinct is dangerous.  It’s morally wrong. Indeed, it’s against your statutory mandate here at VOA.”  The dictionary definition of propaganda is “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.” VOA is United States government media, and on some level, VOA and its affiliates throughout the world are always broadcasting or publishing propaganda—what is in the interest of U.S. foreign policy.But in the case of VOA, which is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Pompeo’s speech was a particularly egregious example of propaganda.On January 8, days before the scheduled speech, whistleblowers at VOA sent a letter [PDF] through the Government Accountability Project to Michael Pack, CEO of USAGM, and Robert Reilly, VOA director.“A broadcast speech by the outgoing Secretary of State on topics on which he has been widely covered should be seen for what it is: the use of VOA to disseminate political propaganda in the waning days of the Trump administration. As proposed, the planned coverage by language services will be one-sided and lacking the necessary objectivity protected by the firewall. It is political meddling.”The letter additionally argued the event was a “gross misuse of government resources.”“We understand that currently 18 employees are working on event preparations. But for that assignment, they would not be producing editorial content for VOA services. On the day of the event, we further understand that eight employees have been assigned to work in the VOA auditorium and 10 elsewhere around VOA headquarters.”According to the whistleblowers, “$4,000 in taxpayer funds” were spent on the event. It was “plainly a publicity stunt devoid of public interest.”Pack was appointed by Trump and confirmed as CEO of the U.S. Agency of Global Media on June 4, 2020, despite concerns about the conservative documentary filmmaker. As USAGM CEO, Pack accused VOA of “being rife with anti-Trump sentiment.” He fired several VOA employees for producing news segments he disliked. NPR reported, “An editor was suspended.” Pack’s senior aides “pushed for the network’s White House bureau chief to be sidelined, alleging a tilt toward Democrats, despite policies barring USAGM executives from interfering in coverage.”A lawsuit against Pack was filed by another group of whistleblowers on September 29. One whistleblowing employee, who was a deputy director for operations at USAGM, alleged Pack had claimed he and others were forced out because of Pack’s belief that they were part of the “deep state.” He maintained they had delayed his confirmation to run the agency.“We’re all parts of institutions with duties and responsibilities higher and bigger and more important than any one of us individually, but this kind of censorial instinct is dangerous. It’s morally wrong,” Pompeo stated, as he addressed the whistleblowers who opposed his speech.“Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction—authoritarianism, cloaked as moral righteousness. It’s similar to what we’re seeing at Twitter, and Facebook, and Apple, and on too many university campuses today.” “It’s not who we are. It’s not who we are as Americans, and it’s not what Voice of America should be. It’s time that we simply put woke-ism to sleep,” Pompeo concluded. # ⚓ Amnesty_Urges_US_Mayors_and_Governors_to_Protect_People From_Armed_Right-Wing_Groups_Plotting_New_Attacks⠀⇛ The group warns the nation is “dangerously vulnerable to those who prefer inequity to fairness, hate over unity, and impunity over justice.” # ⚓ A_Nation_Imploding:_Digital_Tyranny,_Insurrection_and Martial_Law⠀⇛ This is what we have been reduced to: A violent mob. A nation on the brink of martial law. A populace under house arrest. A techno-corporate state wielding its power to immobilize huge swaths of the country. And a Constitution in tatters. # ⚓ More_Bad_Ideas:_Congressional_Rep_Suggests_Participants_In The_Attack_On_The_Capitol_Building_Be_Added_To_The_No-Fly List⠀⇛ Proving that 2020 wasn’t done with us yet, January 6, 2021 added a new horror to the long list of things that showed “may you live in interesting times” is a curse, rather than a blessing. Urged on by the guy less than ten days away from being escorted from the premises by security and his favorite legal advocate — one that advocated for “trial by combat” over the election results — Trump supporters invaded Washington, DC, hoping to somehow nullify the election through intimidation and violence. # ⚓ Trump_Fanatics_Invade_Capitol,_as_His_Presidency_Crumbles⠀⇛ The several hundred rightwing racist rioters – a small portion of the several thousands that Trump mobilized for a rally earlier in the day – carrying Trump and Confederate flags, an array of weapons paraphernalia, military gear and noxious gas explosives, easily breached the Capitol Police’s unusually thin line of security. The raging Trumpists, virtually unhindered for two-plus hours, smashed Capitol building windows with iron bars, entered the Capitol Dome and took possession of the Senate chambers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, among several others, was occupied and vandalized. The handful of overwhelmed security guards inside proved helpless to intervene; some literally took selfies and high fived the rioters, according to a report by Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! Senate security officials organized the hurried evacuation of the assembled members of the House and Senate while others barricaded the doors to the House in an armed standoff against the marauding intruders. This high drama violent spectacle was captured live and broadcast around the world including videos of frightened elected officials seeking refuge under desks or laying on the ground as the chamber was inundated with tear gas. # ⚓ Rumors_Spread_of_a_2024_Presidential_Run_as_Pompeo_Paves Way_for_Future_Wars⠀⇛ Yesterday, at an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State and former CIA director Mike Pompeo claimed that “al-Qaida has a new home base: it is the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Offering little evidence, he warned the journalists and other figures present that, “We ignore this Iran-al-Qaida nexus at our own peril…We must confront it. Indeed, we must defeat it.” “Iran is the new Afghanistan” he added, referencing the illegal U.S. invasion and 20-year occupation that began under the Bush administration. Far from pushing back on his assertions, those present applauded Pompeo as he finished his remarks, which came amid a flurry of increasingly outlandish and aggressive policy steps he has taken in the last days of the Trump administration. # ⚓ Lawyer_for_Lisa_Montgomery_Condemns_‘Craven_Bloodlust’_of Trump_Administration_as_DOJ_Executes_Mentally_Ill_Woman⠀⇛ “Our Constitution forbids the execution of a person who is unable to rationally understand her execution. The current administration knows this. And they killed her anyway.” # ⚓ The_Execution_of_Lisa_Montgomery_and_‘the_Craven_Bloodlust of_a_Failed_Administration’⠀⇛ At 1:31 am on Wednesday, Lisa Montgomery was pronounced dead. She was the first woman executed by the federal government in 67 years. “We should recognize Lisa Montgomery’s execution for what it was: the vicious, unlawful, and unnecessary exercise of authoritarian power,” her attorney Kelley Henry stated. # ⚓ Trump’s_Insurrection_Threatens_US_Democracy—and_Therefore Climate_Survival⠀⇛ This article is part of Covering Climate Now, a consortium of news outlets strengthening coverage of the climate story. # ⚓ Trump’s_Congressional_Co-Conspirators_Are_Just_As_Guilty_as the_President⠀⇛ President Trump violated his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States when he incited a seditious mob to attack the US Capitol as part of a failed attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. For this, Trump was impeached on Wednesday, by a 232-197 vote of the House of Representatives. # ⚓ Alexey_Navalny_announces_return_to_Russia_following poisoning⠀⇛ Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has announced that he will return to Russia from Germany five months after he was poisoned with a Novichok-type nerve agent. He’ll be flying to Moscow on a flight with the Russian airline Pobeda on Sunday, January 17.  # ⚓ Chaos_agent:_Right-wing_blames_US_Capitol_riot_on_notorious instigator_banished_by_Black_Lives_Matter⠀⇛ # ⚓ A_Record_of_Hawkish_Intervention:_Biden_Picks_Samantha Power_to_Head_USAID⠀⇛ President-elect Joe Biden has selected longtime Democratic insider Samantha Power to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “There is simply no one better to ensure our development agenda is a core pillar of our foreign policy,” the 78-year-old Delawarean said in a video statement, claiming that, under previous Democratic administrations Power, “fought tirelessly to prioritize human rights.” # ⚓ Cops_Love_Body_Camera_Footage…_When_It_Clears_Officers_Of Any_Wrongdoing⠀⇛ Cops have a “tell.” It’s so obvious and yet they still pretend it isn’t. Whenever something questionable goes down, all anyone has to do is ask for the recordings. # ⚓ Marina_Chaika’s_lawyer_confirms_attack_on_her_client outside_of_Moscow⠀⇛ Marina Chaika, the ex-wife of Russian businessman Artyom Chaika (who is the son of Russia’s former attorney general), was attacked outside of Moscow on the evening of January 12, her lawyer Ekaterina Gordon told Meduza.  # ⚓ Stop_the_Steal_denied_inciting_violence:_Now_its_leader wants_to_“bring_hell”_to_his_enemies⠀⇛ It’s a common refrain for Alexander, a convicted felon who shed his given name Ali Akbar years ago while trying to establish himself as a Muslim face in Tea Party circles. For the last two months, since the election, Alexander has popped up at “Stop the Steal” rallies around the country, peddling lies and conspiracy theories and telling people he was prepared to die for the cause — denying that he endorsed violence while walking his rally crowds right up to the edge of insurrection. But two days after he shrugged off allegations that he played a central role in the unprecedented political crime last week, with authorities apparently on his trail and his Twitter account suspended, Alexander live-streamed his open embrace and endorsement of political violence. “Rest assured in this,” he says at one point in the 24-minute monologue. “The lord says vengeance is his, and I pray that I am the tool to stab these motherfuckers.” # ⚓ Boogaloo_May_Get_Violent_At_Inauguration,_Intelligence Agencies_Warn⠀⇛ Specifically, the advisory singles out the Boogaloo — a movement fomented online with the explicit goal of murdering members of law enforcement in the hopes of sparking a second civil war — as a serious threat. The memo tracks with dispatches from corners of the internet where Boogaloo dwell. The Intercept, monitoring a Telegram channel called “Boogaloo Intel Drop,” reports that the channel’s more than 6,000 subscribers “have called for the murder of police officers with increased fervor and elevated Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran killed by Capitol Police during the riot, to the status of a martyr.” # ⚓ ‘This_isn’t_the_final_chapter’:_Analyst_warns,_again,_about rise_of_right-wing_extremists⠀⇛ In April 2009, a senior Homeland Security intelligence analyst named Daryl Johnson wrote an internal report warning that right-wing extremism was on the rise in the United States and that it could lead to violence. The report leaked, and the backlash was swift. Republican lawmakers were furious. Veterans advocates criticized a section raising concerns about service members returning with post-traumatic stress. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized for parts of it, and the unit ultimately was dissolved. Nearly 11 years later, a mob of right-wing extremists, spurred by President Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol in a deadly riot that highlighted the magnitude of the threat. # ⚓ QAnon_Has_Taken_Over_Far-Right_Platform_Gab⠀⇛ In the wake of the Capitol riots, where QAnon played a leading role, Twitter purged over 70,000 QAnon-linked accounts. Days later Parler, where many QAnon personalities had set up accounts, was de-platformed over its perceived role in fomenting violence ahead of last Wednesday’s attack. But a week after the unprecedented scenes in D.C., QAnon has already found a new home: Gab. # ⚓ AOC_Opened_Up_About_Capitol_Attack,_Called_Out_GOP Cowardice_on_Instagram_Live⠀⇛ For roughly 40 minutes, the second-term congresswoman known to many as AOC discussed what she called a “violent and traumatizing week” since last Wednesday’s attack. Here’s what she had to say. # ⚓ ‘We_Cannot_Be_Fearful’:_Ocasio-Cortez_and_Omar_Counsel_GOP Over_Death_Threats_From_Pro-Trump_Mob⠀⇛ “Courage is being scared to death, but remaining resolute.” o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ Another_Base_Attack_in_Afghanistan_Hushed_Up_to_Hurry_U.S. Exit⠀⇛ But neither local nor international media reported on the incident. Neither Washington nor the NATO- led mission in Afghanistan shared any information about the attack publicly or in response to requests. Immediately following the attack, both the Afghan Army and the Khost police were denied access to the scene. The Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the Criminal Technique department in Kabul both said they had no documentation of the incident. A spokesperson for the governor of Khost said that “the KPF did not share the information from the blast with us.” The attack came about six weeks before the United States’ deadline to drawdown its troops in Afghanistan—and underscores both the security vacuum those departing troops leave behind, and the many ways in which the Taliban appear to be violating the terms of their 2020 peace agreement with the Trump administration. The deafening silence around the attack on Camp Chapman is part of a pattern of lack of transparency and information about the U.S. mission in the country, as Washington is increasingly turning a blind eye to a surge in terrorist attacks in recent months, including attacks against bases long associated with U.S. forces. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Youth_Climate_Movement_Announces_Next_Global_Strikes⠀⇛ # ⚓ Opinion_|_Trump’s_Attacks_on_Democracy_Threatens_Climate Survival⠀⇛ Only a democracy that works can defuse the climate crisis. Without that expression of grassroots democracy, the world would likely be entering the climate nightmare of four more years of Trump. # ⚓ Rising_heat_forces_big_growth_in_electricity_demand⠀⇛ As temperatures increase, rising heat will mean many power stations falter, leaving homes dark, chilly and short of energy. # ⚓ Demanding_Immediate_Action_Over_‘Empty_Promises,’_Youth Climate_Movement_Announces_Next_Global_Strikes⠀⇛ “When your house is on fire,” says Greta Thunberg, “you don’t wait for 10, 20 years before you call the fire department; you act as soon and as much as you possibly can.” # ⚓ Past_Time_to_Remember_Thousands_Displaced_and_Left_Behind by_Hurricanes_Laura_and_Delta⠀⇛ Hurricane Laura, a category 4 storm with winds of nearly 150 miles an hour, hit on August 27, 2020 on the coast of southwest Louisiana. Forty-three days later, on October 9, Hurricane Delta, a category 2 storm with winds over 100 miles an hour, hit 10 miles away. Laura caused $19 billion in losses and Delta caused another $2.9 billion. The brunt of the destruction has been in Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes. Calcasieu has a population of 203,000, according to the Census. Lake Charles, home to 78,000 people and the sixth biggest city in Louisiana, is the biggest city in Calcasieu. Cameron Parish, south of Calcasieu on the Gulf of Mexico, is populated by about 6900 people. # ⚓ With_Dire_Assessment,_Scientists_Warn_Humanity_in_Denial_of Looming_‘Collapse_of_Civilization_as_We_Know_It’⠀⇛ “We aim to provide leaders with a realistic ‘cold shower’ of the state of the planet that is essential for planning to avoid a ghastly future.” # § Energy⠀➾ # ⚓ Latest_Lawsuit_Challenges_Trump_Sale_of_Montana Public_Lands_for_Fracking⠀⇛ Citing the failure of the Trump administration to protect the climate and clean water, a coalition today filed suit to overturn the sale of more than 58,000 acres of public lands for fracking in Montana. The lawsuit comes as President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to end the sale of public lands to the oil and gas industry. # ⚓ Lawsuit_Challenges_Permits_for_Some_of_Texas’_Largest Polluters,_Alleges_State_Fails_to_Enforce_Federal Laws⠀⇛ “For too long, EPA has turned a blind eye as Texas has routinely violated the federal Clean Air Act by rubber-stamping weak permits for the state’s biggest polluters,” Gabriel Clark-Leach, senior attorney for one of the groups, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), said in a statement as the lawsuit was filed on January 4. # ⚓ In_Louisiana_Where_Science_Denial_is_Commonplace, Support_Remains_Strong_For_Trump⠀⇛ Some spoke about their experience  on January 6 in Washington, D.C., when thousands of Trump supporters gathered at the president’s behest to try and stop the certification of the 2020 election for Joe Biden. They marched to the U.S. Capitol after Trump encouraged them to do so. # ⚓ Will_2021_Be_the_Year_Offshore_Wind_Power_Finally Takes_Off?⠀⇛ # ⚓ Bill_Gates_joins_Blackstone_in_bid_to_buy_British private_jet_services_firm⠀⇛ The Cascade and Blackstone offer came just hours after rival American private equity firm Carlyle made an approach to buy Signature, which handles more than 1.6m private jet flights a year. Cascade is already the biggest investor in Signature with a 19% stake. According to a study by academics at Lund University, Gates is one of the world’s biggest “super-emitters” due to his regular private jet travel. He took 59 flights in one year travelling more than 200,000 miles, according to the report, which estimated that Gates’ private jet travel emitted about 1,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide. That compares with a global average of less than five tonnes per person. Researchers have found that private jets emit up to 40 times as much carbon dioxide per passenger than commercial jets. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Alliance_for_the_Wild_Rockies_Sues_Over_Impacts_on Grizzlies_from_Widespread_Illegal_Motorized_Use_on National_Forests⠀⇛ National Forest motorized use restrictions are in place to protect grizzly bears, as well as other road-sensitive wildlife like elk and wolverines.  In 2019, we requested information from the Forest Service’s law enforcement division regarding known violations of road restrictions over the prior five-year period.  In particular, we were concerned about violations of road restrictions in wildlife habitat where threatened grizzly bears, lynx and wolverines may be present. In these areas, law enforcement records document hundreds of violations of road restrictions, including but not limited to the following regions: o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership_Agreement_ (RCEP)_and_the_Future_of_the_US_Dollar⠀⇛ After several years of negotiations, a regional trade and economic agreement—the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—was signed by 15 Asia-Pacific nations on November 16, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and all 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The RCEP agreement was signed in Vietnam during current period of the COVID-19 related economic depression. The combination of the global health pandemic, crisis of global warming, the global economic downturn, the weaponization of trade and finance and instability generated by the US political system, along with systemic racism continues to point to the necessity for a new international monetary and financial system (IMFS). For decades forces of both nationalist and progressive natures in Asia and the nonaligned world have been calling for the restructuring of international finance and now in the midst of COVID 19 the RCEP agreement, as one new step in the ongoing evolution of Asia’s trade and financial architectures, will serve as another action-forcing catalyst shaping the agenda in a post dollar world. Very soon after the Asian financial crisis in 1997/ 98 the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region[1] served as a regional center for Asian nations to explore pathways to escape the conditionalities of the IMF and the clutches of the US dollar, and build Asian led alternative institutions and frameworks such as the Chiang Mai initiative and the basic building blocks for the Asian Currency Unit. The Chiang Mai initiative (CMI) began as a series of bilateral swap arrangements after the ASEAN Plus Three countries (China, Japan and South Korea) agreed at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank that the countries should cooperate to manage regional short-term liquidity problems and to reduce their reliance on the International Monetary Fund for both macroeconomic surveillance and financial support. After the 2007/8 crisis when the US resorted to Quantitative Easing (QE) printed trillions of dollars to save Wall Street and the private equity elements, but sought to impose austerity based policy approaches to economic recovery in Asia, the CMI created a pool of foreign exchange reserves worth US$120 billion. This CMI foreign exchange pool was launched on 24 March 2010. That pool has been expanded to $240 billion in 2012 in what was then called the multilateralization of the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMIM). # ⚓ The_SEC_Undermined_a_Powerful_Weapon_Against_White-Collar Crime⠀⇛ After agonizing about the decision, the top financial adviser had finally gone to the Securities and Exchange Commission with proof of wrongdoing at his firm. He’s blunt about why: the roughly $50 million he stood to make under the agency’s whistleblower program, his calculation based on what kind of settlement he thinks the government could extract. It would be enough to offset any lost earnings in the likely event that his former colleagues figured out he’d turned them in and blacklisted him, even at the salary level he’d attained after a long career in a lucrative business. # ⚓ Opinion_|_A_Winning_Strategy_for_Joe_Biden:_Raise_the_Wage and_Tax_the_Rich⠀⇛ Despite our sharp divisions, a majority of Americans are united behind many policies to combat poverty and reduce inequality. # ⚓ How_the_United_States_Chose_to_Become_a_Country_of Homelessness⠀⇛ Advocates have been sounding the alarms for months—issuing reports, penning press releases, warning politicians as an increasing number of Americans made jobless by the pandemic have fallen behind on their rent. Now, the warnings unheeded, the United States is facing an unprecedented homelessness crisis, one that is as predictable as it was avoidable.1This article was written with the support of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. # ⚓ New_China_by-law_takes_a_page_out_of_the_American playbook⠀⇛ China has introduced a new by-law that will allow its companies to sue for damages in the event that their financial interests are affected by actions taken by third-party, non-American companies abroad. # ⚓ McAfee_To_Lay_Off_Up_To_60,_Close_Israeli_Development Center:_Reports⠀⇛ # ⚓ Restaurant_and_hotel_layoffs_are_soaring_again,_outpacing every_other_industry⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dropbox_to_layoff_11%_of_workforce,_COO_to_step_down⠀⇛ Dropbox to layoff 11% of workforce, COO to step downDropbox Inc on Wednesday announced the exit of operations chief and said it will cut 11% of its global workforce, or 315 people, as the file hosting service provider shifts business resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. # ⚓ CEO_Drew_Houston:_Dropbox_will_cut_315_jobs,_11%_of workforce_–_Business_Insider⠀⇛ CEO Drew Houston called the decision one of the toughest he’s had to make in 14 years as CEO: “To each of you who are affected, I am truly sorry.” o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ In_Historic_House_Vote,_Only_10_Republicans_Join_Democrats to_Impeach_Trump_for_Inciting_Insurrection⠀⇛ “If Congress had a shred of decency, this impeachment would be unanimous.” # ⚓ Our_Post-Trump_Democratic_Prospects:_What_the_Ming_Dynasty Can_Teach_Us⠀⇛ A global team of anthropologists from the United States and Mexico may be offering up just the sort of historical perspective we need. The team’s newly published research — on premodern societies — might at first glance seem more than a bit irrelevant. Wednesday’s mob violence has Americans by the millions, after all, worried about “democratic backsliding.” But we had no democratic nation states in premodern times. So how could the experiences of premodern states help us overcome today’s Trumpism, in any of its manifestations? # ⚓ Opinion_|_Small_Tweaks_Won’t_Be_Enough_to_Save_American Democracy⠀⇛ Fortunately, Joe Biden will assume the US presidency on January 20. But, as the shocking events of January 6 showed, it will take more than one person—and more than one presidential term—to overcome America’s longstanding challenges. # ⚓ ‘Have_They_Ever_Had_a_Job_Before?’_Cori_Bush_Tears_Into Republicans_for_Evading_Metal_Detectors_to_Enter_House Chamber⠀⇛ “If you work at McDonald’s and you don’t wear the uniform, you don’t work that day. If you won’t abide by the rules of this job, go find another one.” # ⚓ Twitter_Nukes_Trump⠀⇛ Is it ever wise for a social media platform to suspend the accounts of political representatives, especially if they are of such character as Donald J. Trump?  The question is a big tangle, though anything to do with the exiting US president encourages hotted up simple binaries, most of it emotive rather than cerebral.  As with any forms of expression, the inner censor starts taking hold against content that is disliked, considered offensive or, as in the recent round of Trump tweets, delusionary and inciting in character. The reaction of Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to Twitter’s suspension of Trump’s account was but one example of the censor writ large.  Bowman had taken to the platform to demand that Twitter suspend the president’s account, and asked why he was “still out there tweeting after inciting a fascist mob”.  This streakily hyperbolic statement was nothing compared to the joyous, ghoulish note he posted on learning of the suspension: banning the president from Twitter had been as significant as the capturing Saddam Hussein.  Wonderful of Bowman to remind voters of a catastrophic, illegal invasion of a country supposedly armed to the teeth with weapons of mass destruction, and eager to deploy them against the US and its allies. # ⚓ Africans_See_U.S._Ugly_That_America_Ignores⠀⇛ When that mob invaded the Capitol building members of the Congress, the Senate and the Vice-President were inside. America’s top legislative leaders were inside the Capitol for the certification of the Electoral College vote – a certification Trump urged mob members to disrupt. Video shows mob members threatening to kill Vice President Pence, who Trump had castigated during his speech that sparked the riot. Mob members trashed the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a frequent target of Trump’s criticism. That deadly Capitol Hill rampage by an overwhelmingly white mob of rabid Trump supporters that included far-right extremists, Nazi sympathizers and rancid racists, came a little less than three-years after Trump slandered nations in Africa as “shithole countries” during a White House meeting on January 11, 2018. # ⚓ ‘Fascist-Enabling_Coward’:_McConnell_Declines_to_Reconvene Senate_for_Trial_as_House_Moves_to_Impeach_Trump⠀⇛ “Regardless of what he leaks to the press, McConnell remains Trump’s ‘Enabler-in-Chief.’” # ⚓ Opinion_|_Biden_Must_Retire_the_Illogical_Great_Power Competition_Paradigm⠀⇛ There is no winning a nuclear arms race and no winning a nuclear war. The use of any nuclear weapon in conflict is a loss for humanity.  # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Irony_Of_Calling_America_A_‘Banana Republic’⠀⇛ The history of the banana republic reminds us that the notion of the United States as a beacon of human rights and democracy is, for all too many across the globe, a lie. # ⚓ WATCH_LIVE:_US_House_Debates_Historic_Second_Impeachment_of Donald_J._Trump⠀⇛ “Not one moment longer,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler. “The danger is too great. We must impeach.” # ⚓ Amid_Reports_McConnell_Backs_Trump_Impeachment,_GOP_Leader Urged_to_Prove_It_By_Starting_Trial_‘Immediately’⠀⇛ “We know the forces that attacked the Capitol last week are planning more attacks. We cannot afford to wait one more minute. Every moment Donald Trump is in the White House our nation is put in further danger.” # ⚓ The_Only_Thing_Scarier_than_QAnon_Is_the_Reaction_to_It⠀⇛ Some half of the active electorate voted for Trump, who believed the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. The other half of the active electorate was abhorrent about what happened in Washington on January 6, speaking with semi-religious reverence about the desecration of sacred institutions. They believed, in contrast, that it was the 2016 presidential election that was stolen. The Russians were the culprits then and, for the last four years, they supported politicians ever vigilant against détente breaking out with the second most powerful nuclear state. The meme, “Due to travel restrictions this year, the US had to organize the coup at home,” went viral. Rather than a coup, as claimed by many in mainstream media, what happened in DC was a riot. “There is a huge difference,” observes Glenn Greenwald, “between, on the one hand, thousands of people shooting their way into the Capitol after a long-planned, coordinated plot with the goal of seizing permanent power, and, on the other, an impulsive and grievance-driven crowd more or less waltzing into the Capitol as the result of strength in numbers and then leaving a few hours later.” # ⚓ Opinion_|_We_Must_Not_Allow_Violent_Pro-Trump_Insurrection to_Usher_in_New_Anti-Protest_Laws⠀⇛ The tools we create in response to the January 6 insurrection will be used to tamp down mass protest from the left. # ⚓ Denouncing_Republican_Evils_Can’t_Do_Much_for_the_Biden Presidency_Without_Demanding_Progressive_Policies⠀⇛ Economic injustice — disproportionately harming people of color — constantly propels U.S. society in a downward spiral. Poverty, economic insecurity and political disempowerment go together. Systemic racism continues to thrive, enmeshed with the predatory routines of corporate power. After becoming a member of Congress last week, Cori Bush wrote in the Washington Post: “Many have said that what transpired on Wednesday was not America. They are wrong. This is the America that Black people know. To declare that this is not America is to deny the reality that Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate incited this coup by treasonously working to overturn the results of the presidential election.” # ⚓ ‘Classic_Case_of_Crisis_Opportunism’:_Republicans_in_Three States_Introduce_Bills_Criminalizing_Protest_in_Wake_of Capitol_Attack⠀⇛ These proposed laws are “aimed at police brutality protests, not right-wing insurrection.” # ⚓ Sen._Josh_Hawley:_The_Face_of_New_American_Fascism?⠀⇛ On December 30, 2020, Hawley was the first senator to announce his plan to oppose the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win. He declared: According to the Kansas City Star, Hawley’s action was “motivated by ambition,” to get a jump start over other members of what is known as the “Sedition Caucus,” Republican senators who Democrats accused of backing Trump’s dubious objections to the election results and for “standing with the mob.” His action led other Republican presidential aspirants, notably Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to announce plans to challenge the Electoral College vote. # ⚓ To_Combat_Ongoing_‘Human_Rights_Crisis,’_600+_Groups_Urge Biden_to_Enact_Utility_Shutoff_Moratorium_on_Day_One⠀⇛ “Private power utilities are disconnecting thousands of families every month, while continuing to reward shareholders.” # ⚓ A_‘Daily_Show’_Cocreator_on_Karens,_Crickets,_and_Comedy After_Trump⠀⇛ A year ago, Lizz Winstead probably didn’t expect to be performing on a makeshift stage to fewer than two dozen people in kayaks on a lake in the woods of Minnesota, but then little about 2020 was foreseeable. The Daily Show cocreator and former head writer has been doing political comedy for decades, from one-woman shows about the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and 9/11 to a collection of essays that discuss her politicization to a stand-up tour benefiting Planned Parenthood and NARAL. In the midst of last year’s protests against racism and police brutality, Winstead filmed two stand-up shows—one in late September and another in November, after the election. They form the basis of her new special, Corona Borealis. In it, Winstead talks about the pandemic, racism, and the various ineptitudes of the Trump administration and also features a conversation with Minneapolis city councilwoman and poet Andrea Jenkins, who made history in 2017 as the first Black, openly trans woman to be elected to office in the United States. # ⚓ Rep._Mikie_Sherrill_Leads_Demand_for_Probe_of_GOP Colleagues_Who_Gave_‘Reconnaissance’_Tours_to_Capitol Invaders⠀⇛ “Those members who attempted to help our president undermine our democracy, I’m going to see that they’re held accountable.” # ⚓ GOP_Reps_Accused_of_Giving_“Reconnaissance”_Tours_of Capitol_Before_Mob_Attack⠀⇛ # ⚓ McConnell_Urged_to_Confirm_His_Support_for_Impeachment_by Starting_Senate_Trial⠀⇛ # ⚓ Big_Telecom_Wants_A_Cookie_For_Pausing_PAC_Donations_After Hoovering_Up_Billions_In_Trump_Favors⠀⇛ Outside from perhaps military contractors, you’d be pretty hard pressed to find a US business sector that benefitted more from Trumpism that the telecom sector. AT&T nabbed a $42 billion tax break in exchange for roughly 42,000 layoffs and a reduction in network investment. T-Mobile, after hiring Corey Lewandowski and throwing money at Trump’s DC hotel, nabbed approval for a Sprint merger most objective experts warned would result in tens of thousands of job losses, less competition, and higher prices. And telecom giants convinced the Trump FCC to effectively lobotomize its consumer protection authority. # ⚓ ‘We_Have_the_Receipts’:_Analysis_Details_$170_Million_in Corporate_Gifts_to_GOP_Lawmakers_Who_Voted_to_Overturn_Biden Win⠀⇛ “In public, corporate America says it’s disgusted. But behind the scenes, corporations and industry groups have heavily funded lawmakers who rejected election results and incited the insurrection.” # ⚓ Opinion_|_Impeaching_Trump_Is_Only_the_Beginning⠀⇛ Biden must rid the government of Trump holdovers wherever possible and reverse Trump’s attacks as quickly as possible. # ⚓ Cori_Bush_Booed_by_House_GOP_for_Denouncing_White Supremacy⠀⇛ “What does it mean when they boo the Black congresswoman denouncing white supremacy?” asked the freshman Democrat from Missouri. # ⚓ Bad_Idea:_President-Elect_Biden_Wants_To_Turn_1/6_Into_The New_9/11⠀⇛ Many of us watched in horror as Trump supporters — encouraged by the outgoing President’s insinuation that a “stolen” election could be overturned if VP Mike Pence was prevented from certifying election results — raided the Capitol building in Washington, DC. What may have started as simple MAGA stupidity ended with five people dead and two improvised explosive devices recovered. Welcome to Leroy Jenkinsville, USA. # ⚓ Opinion_|_The_Day_the_Confederate_Flag_Flew_in_the_United States_Capitol⠀⇛ What happened in the 1850s and what happened in the present are very similar in a number of ways, though the symbol of the insurrectionist Confederate army never flew in that nation’s capitol—not once—until January 6, 2021. # ⚓ Kicking_Trump_Off_Social_Media_Won’t_Save_Democracy,_Say Antitrust_Experts⠀⇛ “If these firms are so powerful that they can be the primary gatekeepers between a president and the public, then they have outgrown democratic control.”  # ⚓ Former_Ohio_officer_threatened_violence_in_DC_with_homemade guns,_police_say⠀⇛ # ⚓ In_a_Shocker,_Bill_Belichick_Spurns_Trump’s_Medal_of Freedom⠀⇛ Donald Trump has always viewed sports as central to his authoritarian political project. His attacks on Colin Kaepernick and LeBron James, his call to fire players for protesting police violence, and his bragging that he “saved” college football from those concerned that the sport would lead to super- spreading the coronavirus (it did) are all examples of the ways he has used our games as his own poisonous platform. # ⚓ Trump_Will_Be_Gone_Soon._Now_Comes_the_Hard_Part.⠀⇛ Those who instigated and participated in the violent trashing of the US Capitol—which ended in at least five deaths and dozens of injuries—must be brought to justice. Donald Trump faces impeachment and will leave office in disgrace, stripped even of his megaphones on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Prosecutors are pursuing the violent and destructive, with dozens already under indictment. Accountability for Trump’s lickspittle congressional acolytes will await the next elections, although many of their corporate donors are bailing out already. The unanswered question is whether that reckoning will include transforming the ruinous establishment policies that have stoked the frustration and rage that helped bring this country to this moment. # ⚓ Lee_Camp:_America_Condemns_One_Violent_Mob_While Celebrating_Another⠀⇛ Most rational Americans have correctly criticized and denounced the violent insurrection in the Capitol last week. Those moments of attack by a racist, disgusting mob have not lacked for condemnation and denunciation. They were violent. They were reprehensible. They called for the killing of lawmakers, demanded the hanging of Congress members. The liberal media and even most of Fox News have not held their tongues when it comes to excoriating the morally bankrupt people who took part. And I agree with those thoughts.  # ⚓ McConnell_Urged_to_‘Finish_the_Job’_and_Reconvene_Senate_to Put_Twice-Impeached_Trump_on_Trial⠀⇛ “The Senate must now move as quickly as possible to convict, remove, and disqualify Trump from ever seeking federal office again.” # ⚓ Reps_Say_Republicans_Are_Voting_Against_Impeachment_Out_of Fear⠀⇛ # ⚓ Trump_Is_Impeached_for_His_Role_in_Inciting_Mob_of Loyalists_to_Attack_Capitol⠀⇛ # ⚓ AOC_Describes_Capitol_Breach:_“I_Thought_I_Was_Going_to Die”⠀⇛ # ⚓ “American_Abyss”:_Fascism_Historian_Tim_Snyder_on_Trump’s Coup_Attempt,_Impeachment_&_What’s_Next⠀⇛ As the House votes to impeach President Trump, the FBI warns there could be a repeat of the violent insurrection he encouraged on January 6, with Trump loyalists planning to hold armed protests nationwide ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. We speak with Timothy Snyder, a historian of fascism, who says the riot at the U.S. Capitol was “completely and utterly predictable” given President Trump’s record of stoking extremism and undermining democratic institutions. “The American republic is hanging by a thread because the president of the United States has sought to use violence to stay in power and essentially to overthrow our constitutional system,” says Snyder. # ⚓ Without_Accountability,_the_Next_Coup_Will_Succeed⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘What_Happened_at_the_Capitol_Could_Not_Happen_Unless Police_Allowed_It_to_Happen’⠀⇛ Janine Jackson interviewed the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund’s Mara Verheyden-Hilliard on police responsibility for the January 6 insurrection for the January 8, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. # ⚓ Twitter_says_a_new_video_from_Trump_doesn’t_break_the rules⠀⇛ On January 8th, Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump, and proceeded to play whack-a-mole as he attempted to dodge that ban by using different Twitter accounts, each of which Twitter suspended in turn. And yet less than a week later, a Trump video has been posted on the official @WhiteHouse account delivering a new video speech. The speech is not inflammatory — quite the opposite. It features Trump denouncing violence, lawbreaking, and vandalism. # ⚓ Jack_Dorsey_defends_Twitter’s_Trump_ban,_then_enthuses about_bitcoin⠀⇛ Dorsey blamed Twitter’s failure “to promote healthy conversation,” acknowledged that Twitter needs to “look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement,” and said that social platforms needed more transparency around moderation. # ⚓ Trump_Banned_From_Snapchat_for_Trying_to_Incite_Violence⠀⇛ In the months since, Trump tried to post content that violated Snapchat’s community guidelines or terms of service dozens of times, according to the Santa Monica, California-based company. After each instance, Snap removed the content and sent a warning to Trump’s team. Snap’s permanent ban was reported earlier by Axios. # ⚓ Telegram,_a_recent_haven_for_the_far_right,_purges extremist_content⠀⇛ At least 15 extremist Telegram channels — akin to chatrooms where the founders have moderating power — have recently been banned, according to a tally by NBC News. Content has been censored on several others. # ⚓ Snapchat_Will_Terminate_Donald_Trump’s_Account,_Citing ‘Public_Safety’⠀⇛ In the latest deplatforming of President Trump, Snap said Wednesday that it will permanently ban his account on Snapchat in the “interest of public safety.” The move by Snap to boot Trump from the social app comes after Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Twitch and other internet platforms have issued similar bans. YouTube yesterday suspended Trump’s channel for seven days for a video violating its policies prohibiting incitement to violence. News of Snapchat’s ban of Trump comes as he became the first American president in history to be impeached twice, over his involvement in inciting a mob of rioters that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Content_Moderation_Case_Study:_Yelp_Attempts_To_Tackle Racism_On_Its_Platform_(2020)⠀⇛ Summary: Running a site that relies on third-party content means having to deal with the underside of human existence. While most people engage in good faith, a small minority of people engage with the sole purpose of disparaging others. # ⚓ Censorship,_Parler_and_antitrust⠀⇛ Which brings me back to Parler. It’s true that no one violates the First Amendment (let alone CDA 230) (get serious) when Parler is removed from app stores or kicked off a cloud. But we have a duopoly of mobile platforms, an oligopoly of cloud providers, a small conspiracy of payment processors. Their choices about who make speak are hugely consequential, and concerted effort by all of them could make some points of view effectively vanish. This market concentration didn’t occur in a vacuum. These vital sectors of the digital economy became as concentrated as they are due to four decades of shameful, bipartisan neglect of antitrust law. # ⚓ Tech_Giants_Can’t_Be_Trusted_to_Police_Speech⠀⇛ But those on the left who distrust the concentration of economic power have more principled grounds to be concerned. As the writer Anand Giridharadas likes to say, the social media crackdown on Trump is a case where arsonists are allowed to recast themselves as firefighters. Trump’s entire political career was fueled by social media: Twitter allowed him to define himself as a brash outsider not afraid to mete out insults against more conventional politicians like Crooked Hillary, Low-Energy Jeb, and Sleepy Joe. Facebook has been a torpid hothouse where countless Trumpian conspiracy theories, notably the QAnon fantasies, have flourished. There is something arbitrary and even cowardly about the fact that these social media outlets are turning on Trump in the very twilight of his presidency. It’s easy to take a heroic stance when the stakes are low. Earlier in Trump’s political career, social media companies were more than happy to profit from Trump in numerous ways: He was a reliable generator of clicks, his campaign was a generous purchaser of advertising, and his tax cuts made Silicon Valley billionaires even richer. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Building_Global_Labor_Solidarity⠀⇛ Indeed, there’s much to learn from any movement or organization that’s been able to stand the test of time, regardless of the sectoral, geographical, or political context in which they emerge, organize, and fight. Unfortunately, in my experience, activists and organizers in the U.S., particularly those in trade unions, rarely seek advice, lessons, or to better understand trade union movements in what some might refer to as the ‘Global South.’ This, of course, is a major problem, and one of the reasons why U.S. labor organizing, mobilization, and activism has been so abysmal. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Let’s_Burn_All_Illusions_in_2021⠀⇛ Expect nothing transformative from the governing class. The future depends on what We the People will choose to do. # ⚓ Protest_Song_Of_The_Week:_‘Weeping_in_the_Promised_Land’_By John_Fogerty⠀⇛ John Fogerty, the legendary former frontman of Creedence Clearwater Revival is no stranger to composing socially conscious tunes. Songs such as “Fortunate Son” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain” are timeless anthems that were written in response to the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon’s administration.Concerning “Fortunate Son,” Fogerty issued a cease-and-desist order to Donald Trump for playing the tune at his rallies in the fall. It is understandable why this would upset him. Donald Trump personifies what that song protested.At 75 years old, he wrote another song to comment on the current politicalclimate. The gospel-tinged “Weeping in the Promised Land” is his first new tune in eight years.The genesis of the song began 25 years ago when he wrote down the phrase “Weeping in the Promised Land” in his song-writing journal. A few years ago, he wrote a tune with that title, but never recorded itbecause he was unhappy with the result. But the pandemic and the Black protests in response to the murder of George Floyd provided him with the impetus to revisit the phrase.The lyrics touch upon several current issues such as the government’s failed response to the pandemic (“He dances on their bones/Pharaoh shoutin’ down the medicine man”).Fogerty also references the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd: Pharaoh’s army knockin’ on the doorWeepin’ in the Promised LandShoot you in your bed just like they done beforeWeepin’ in the Promised LandOut in the street, on your neck with a kneeAll the people are cryin’ your last words, ‘I can’t breathe’ And a white judge sayThere been no crime here todayIn these painful times, we need the healing power of music to help us get through. Fogerty is here to play some piano and help us along. # ⚓ Three_Sonnets_on_Being_Whiteness⠀⇛ The unbearable whiteness of being white   weighs on me   tortures me day and night — a self-loathing fat fuck Orpheus light, the ex I stiffed   pillar of salt   fleeing to Sister Ophelia’s nunnery seeking sinless blank canvassed nothingness, while I’m on the lam from wolves. I confess a fond   white    need for constant punnery, and when the poltergeists arrive to chew me out of my mind, like dead Eliot madmen   geraniums   shaking   my view, I’m Hamlet   the white king   and his zealot. I cry to see what the mourning will bring, self- lynching;  it’s an existential thing. # ⚓ I_No_Longer_Trust_Law_Enforcement_to_Keep_Biden_and_Harris Safe_on_Inauguration_Day⠀⇛ Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States on January 20. He could choose to observe this ritual in a bunker or on a plane or in a box with a fox. Instead, however, he will do it on an open-air platform erected just outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C. # ⚓ “Empowering_Law_Enforcement_Is_Not_the_Solution”_Says Former_FBI_Agent⠀⇛ # ⚓ Bill_Banning_Locked_Seclusion_and_Face-Down_Restraints_in Illinois_Schools_Stalls_as_Lawmakers_Run_Out_of_Time⠀⇛ Illinois lawmakers had the support to ban schools from locking students alone in a room or physically restraining them face down. But they didn’t have the time. A yearlong legislative effort to end decades of controversial practices that often left confined children crying for their parents and tearing at the walls ended without a vote in the Illinois House on Wednesday as the legislative session expired. # ⚓ Too_Many_Shoes⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pussy_Riot_member_Pyotr_Verzilov_detained_in_South_Sudan along_with_Russian_blogger_Ilya_Varlamov⠀⇛ Pussy Riot member and Mediazona publisher Pyotr Verzilov has been arrested in the town of Kapoeta in South Sudan, along with well-known Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov and his wife Lyubov, European Gymnasium director Ivan Bogantsev, and their friend Vadim Ginzburg.  # ⚓ FBI_Washington_field_office_got_an_F_for_fighting_domestic terrorism_from_bureau_officials⠀⇛ “They didn’t have (enough) intelligence analysts assigned, and the ones who had been assigned in the past weren’t doing intel work,” the former official said. “They had few sources or understanding of the threat in their area of responsibility.” The second former official, who was directly involved, said the evaluation also criticized the Washington field office’s procedures for sharing intelligence with other police agencies, including the Capitol Police. Capitol Police said they had no intelligence from the FBI about possible threats prior to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, in which a pro- Trump mob overwhelmed the agency’s officers and one officer died. # ⚓ Newly-Wed_Sudanese-South_Sudanese_Couple_Fear_Persecution⠀⇛ The dispute over the marriage has stirred a lot of conversation in Sudan about the Sharia requirement that a male guardian must preside over a woman’s marriage for it to be valid. Both Sudan and South Sudan are conservative patriarchal societies where marriage decisions are taken mostly by men on behalf of their daughters. In a couple of Facebook videos, the father recited verses from the Quran that instruct believers to obey their parents. He also cited Islamic law that states a maiden, or unmarried young woman, may not marry herself to a man without her guardian’s acceptance. # ⚓ How_Huawei_controls_its_employees_in_Europe⠀⇛ Their accounts paint a picture of a company that is celebrated in public for it’s seemingly modern management philosophy, but at the same time pushes employees to their limits. Ex-employees speak of a toxic corporate culture that is promoted by the company’s management. The enormous pressure to succeed also plays a role. Those who play along with all this are rewarded by Huawei with special payments linked to company shares. But what happens when workers refuse to put their lives entirely at the service of their employer is shown by internal emails and covert audio recordings obtained by netzpolitik.org and its media partners, as well as court cases in several countries. The cases dealt with discrimination and dismissals that should never have happened under the law. # ⚓ Huawei_expat_employees_that_marry_westerners_faced_being forced_to_leave_Europe_or_be_sacked,_investigation_reveals⠀⇛ The controversial telecoms giant, which has been classed as a national security threat by the US government, stated in its HR handbook that Chinese employees who have married Europeans or applied for citizenship must leave Europe “as soon as possible”, or be sacked from the company altogether. Several sources confirmed that the policy was in place at the company, and one said that marrying a local in Europe is informally viewed as an act of betrayal. # ⚓ Message_to_TUPOCC_members_regarding_process_of accountability_for_cultural_appropriation_|_National_Lawyers Guild⠀⇛ This week’s public revelations of cultural appropriation by the Guild’s former president have elicited expressions of outrage, hurt, dismay, and more from people across the country and world, including Guild members and members of The United People of Color Caucus. Beyond the reactions to the abuse itself, some have raised questions and sought information about the accountability process that was referenced in news accounts and a letter from the Guild’s Executive Committee. We write to you now as the task force for accountability for this cultural appropriation, to give you insight into our efforts over the past few months, and to share our proposals for seeking accountability for the harms we, and you, are experiencing. The group, initially seven BIPOC Guild members, convened outside any formal Guild body in the first week of October 2020, following one-on-one conversations in which some of us exchanged information which raised questions about potential cultural appropriation by this person. (The information ranged from rumor to comments made by this person, either publicly, or to some of us.) We have since met weekly or bi-weekly. Our chief concern was to act strategically within the Guild to ensure actual accountability for the harms this person has caused and is causing. As long-time BIPOC Guild members committed to building the power of BIPOC folks within the Guild, we have felt the weight of white supremacy culture within the organization. To us, this meant, first, that we had to gather evidence sufficient to trigger a serious commitment from leadership bodies across the Guild to pursue consequences for this conduct. Anything less, we feared, could make these legitimate claims vulnerable to being gaslit, minimized and manipulated, undermining the goal of seeking accountability for this grave harm. So, we gathered publicly available evidence, including representations made by this person, details about positions of power she occupied, and opportunities she’d benefited from, like fellowships. # ⚓ Update_on_Accountability_for_Natasha_Bannan’s_Cultural Appropriation⠀⇛ Last week’s revelations of cultural appropriation by an NLG past president, Natasha Bannan, have elicited expressions of outrage, hurt, dismay, from Guild members as well from people across the country and the world. We share in that outrage and commit to taking the necessary steps to support the healing justice and accountability that our members deserve. NLG leadership learned of these revelations last week and have since been discussing next steps with members who have been most impacted. This includes members of The United People of Color Caucus (TUPOCC), Anti-Racism Committee (ARC), National Executive Committee (NEC), and other committees and chapters of the Guild as well as the independent working group of BIPOC members who originally came together to address this issue. In October, this independent group convened outside any formal Guild body to exchange information about Natasha’s cultural appropriation. To be clear, this was the only group of NLG members aware of Natasha’s misrepresentations. This independent group provided helpful recommendations that we have reviewed. The members of this committee will continue their efforts through their involvement in TUPOCC. At this time a new committee of NEC, TUPOCC and ARC members will form to handle any accountability process that may follow. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Parler’s_Laughably_Bad_Antitrust_Lawsuit_Against_Amazon⠀⇛ As you may have heard, over the weekend Amazon removed Parler from its AWS cloud hosting services, causing the website to shut down. I’ve been working on a longer piece about all of this, but in the meantime, I did want to write about the laughably bad antitrust lawsuit that Parler filed against Amazon in response. Notably, this came just days after Parler’s CEO claims that his own lawyers quit (would these be the same “lawyers” who stupidly advised that the company doesn’t need Section 230?). Instead, they found a small time independent practitioner who doesn’t even have a website* to file what may be the silliest antitrust lawsuit I’ve seen in a long time. It’s so bad that by the end of it, Parler may very well be paying Amazon a lot of money. # ⚓ Tech_Scrutiny_to_Continue_Under_Biden,_DOJ_Antitrust_Chief Says⠀⇛ More cases could be in the pipeline. The Justice Department is investigating Apple Inc. over its App Store practices, Bloomberg has reported. Facebook Inc. disclosed in 2019 that the department is investigating the company in addition to the FTC, which sued Facebook in December. Delrahim, who is recused from the Google investigation, said Congress should consider new regulations for tech companies given how long it can take to resolve antitrust cases. The Google complaint won’t go to trial until 2023. # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Podcast:_BMS_and_Bird_&_Bird_on_doing_major_deals_in a_pandemic [Ed: Marketing spam in "Podcast" form (check sponsors)]⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_MIP_Awards_and_IP_STARS_rankings_2021 [Ed: More fake "awards" that are paid-for (or "sponsored" for) badges or endorsements; this is their business model]⠀⇛ # ⚓ German_UPC_ratification_on_hold [Ed: ‘On hold’ is grossly belittling what’s_going_on!]⠀⇛ As reported here, on 18 December 2020 two constitutional complaints were filed in the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht – BVerfG) against the draft legislation enabling Germany to ratify the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement and its Protocol on Provisional Application. [...] - The BVerfG has forwarded the complaint to the Bundestag, Bundesrat, Federal Chancellery, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, and Foreign Office, with the opportunity to comment on the interim injunction application. - The BVerfG asked the Federal President to refrain from signing the draft legislation (which is one of the final steps required to promulgate the law, which would have enabled German ratification) while it considers the interim injunction application, and the President agreed to do so. # § Software Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Boom!_You_Can’t_Patent_an_Escrow_Method ⠀⇛ I used to play golf fairly regularly and got into the habit of announcing “BOOM!” on every drive. It didn’t help my game. BOOM!’s great name here also didn’t save its patent from dancing the Alice Two Step. (Note: I was 15 years old at the time–on my high-school freshman team getting free-rounds for the season). This case is another affirmance of a dismissal for lack of patent eligibility. Under Alice/Mayo, the Supreme Court’s patent eligibility analysis is a two step process. At Step 1, the court asks whether the claims at issue are “directed to” a patent- ineligible concept, such as an abstract idea. Claims that fail Step 1 can be saved by Step 2, looks for “something more” beyond the ineligible concept sufficient to transform the claim’s nature into a patent eligible invention. The claims at issue here are somewhat similar to the exchange-settlement process found ineligible in Alice. In particular, Boom’s patents all claim “methods for confirming that a transaction has been consummated prior to releasing electronic payment.” U.S. Patents 8,429,084; 9,235,857; and 10,346,840. The ‘840 patent issued June 2019 and so the PTO should have gotten this one right. The examiner initially rejected claims 1 as ineligible (then listed as claim 21). The patentee made several minor “clarifying amendments” and the examiner then allowed the case. [...] The Federal Circuit identifies the assertion here as conclusory and thus gives it no weight in determining whether the complaint generates disputed material facts. # ⚓ $1,500_Awarded_for_Michael_Philip_Kaufman_prior art⠀⇛ Unified is pleased to announce the PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Ekta Aswal, who received a cash prize of $1,500 for her prior art submission for U.S. Patent 7,885,981. The patent is owned by Michael Philip Kaufman, an NPE. The ’981 patent generally relates to generating a user interface (UI) for a relational database, where the UI display includes various display modes. The ‘981 patent has been asserted in district court against companies such as Microsoft and Salesforce. To help the industry fight bad patents, we have published the winning prior art below. # ⚓ $2,000_Awarded_for_SMTM_Technology_Prior_Art⠀⇛ Unified is pleased to announce the PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Angelo Iannaccone, who received a cash prize of $2,000 for his prior art submission for U.S. Patent No. 9,973,622. The patent is owned by SMTM Technology, an NPE. The ’622 patent generally relates to suppressing notifications of incoming communications on a mobile device. To help the industry fight bad patents, we have published the winning prior art below. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Court_Confirms_$1_Billion_Piracy_Damages_Verdict Against_Cox⠀⇛ A federal court in Virginia has backtracked on an earlier order that allowed Cox to lower the damages amount in a piracy lawsuit filed by several record labels. Following the court’s instruction, Cox calculated that the damages should be reduced by $243 million. However, the record labels successfully countered that Cox already wasted its chance to bring this issue up during trial. # ⚓ Shakira_is_the_latest_star_to_sell_the_rights_to_her songs⠀⇛ Hipgnosis company did not disclose financial details of the sale, but it typically pays the equivalent of 15 years’ royalties up front. With tax relief, many walk away with “about 25 years worth of money in one fell swoop”, the company’s founder, Merck Mercuriadis, told the BBC last year. That provides the artists with immediate financial security, while Hipgnosis – which owns the songs in perpetuity – hopes to profit by building new revenue streams for the music via film and TV licensing, merchandise, cover versions and performance royalties. # ⚓ Nintendo_Manually_Targets_Game_&_Watch_Hacker’s YouTube_Video_Using_Content_ID⠀⇛ An IT researcher who hacked the recently released Nintendo Game & Watch allowing it to play additional games is feeling the corporate presence of the Japanese gaming giant on YouTube. After publishing a hacking video on the platform, someone working for Nintendo issued a curious and relatively rare manual Content ID copyright claim to have it taken down. # ⚓ Nintendo_Appears_To_Be_Using_A_Fan-Made_Drawing_Of Mario_Without_Artist’s_Permission_Or_Credit⠀⇛ Nintendo, of course, has an impressively long history of being IP protectionist in the extreme. But if there is one thing that Nintendo really cannot stand, it’s when its own fans choose to express their fandom with art and creativity. Cool ways to use Animal Crossing? Nintendo shut it down. Dedicated gamers porting an antique Mario title to the PC? Nintendo shut it down. Fan game, after fan game, after fan game? Nintendo shut those down too. In other words, the impression you’re left with is that fan creations using anything remotely close to Nintendo IP is the devil’s work in the eyes of the company. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 8025 ➮ Generation completed at 02:42, i.e. 21 seconds to (re)generate ⟲