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Links 15/05/2022: Pika Backup 0.4



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • Asahi Linux on Apple Silicon shows progress in graphics drivers

        Alyssa Rosenzweig, who is leading development of the Panfrost and Asahi Linux graphics drivers, showed off her continuing work in a succession of tweets involving Glmark2, an OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics performance benchmark tool for GNU/Linux, successfully rendering the bunny in 3D detail.

    • Graphics Stack

      • HackadayWho Is Thinking About Open Source Firmware?

        Yesterday, we ran a post on NVIDIA’s announcement of open-source drivers for some of its most recent video cards. And Hackaday being huge proponents of open-source software and hardware, you’d think we’d be pouring the champagne. But it’s trickier than that.

    • Benchmarks

      • Linux Nvidia GeForce GPU drivers move to become open source

        Nvidia GeForce GPU drivers on Linux are finally set to become open source, as the company has announced it will now publish kernel modules. While AMD is better known for openness when it comes to software, the green team has uploaded source code for its R515 drivers onto Github, facilitating a better experience for gaming PCs using the Unix-like operating system.

    • Applications

      • Pika Backup 0.4 Released with Schedule Support – Sophie's Blog

        Pika Backup is an app focused on backups of personal data. It’s internally based on BorgBackup and provides fast incremental backups.

        Pika Backup version 0.4 has been released today. This release wraps up a year of development work. After the huge jump to supporting scheduled backups and moving to GTK 4 and Libadwaita, I am planning to go back to slightly more frequent and smaller releases. At the same time, well-tested and reliable releases will remain a priority of the project.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Computers Are Badamateur hour

        So we've talked about radio spectrum regulation in some detail, including the topic of equipment authorization (EA)---the requirement, under 47 CFR, that almost all electronics receive authorization from the FCC prior to sale. We've also talked about the amateur radio service (ARS, 47 CFR 97), and I've hinted that these two topics collide in an unusual way. So this of course raises the question: does amateur radio equipment require authorization? Or, more fun to type, does EA apply to ARS?

      • Barry HessHTML Only

        My site is now an HTML & CSS website, just like the old days. I've had a blast rebuilding it in this way. The approachability of making updates to the site is off the charts, and the speed that it is served by GitHub Pages makes me smile. For some reason it's just more fun to make this sort of site in HTML & CSS.

      • uni TorontoWhy I'm considering some use of NetworkManager (and I probably have to)

        It's possible to make NetworkManager ignore devices entirely (also), and I've set this up on both my home and my work desktops for all of the connections I definitely don't want NM touching, as something between preparation and a precaution. I've also told NetworkManager not to touch resolv.conf, because I'll manage all of that myself by hand.

      • H2S MediaHow to install Webmin on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish

        Let’s learn the steps to install the Webmin Control panel on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish using the command terminal.

        To manage a server efficiently for hosting a variety of web applications we can use web-based server management control panels such as Webmin. It is a free and open-source software used as a control panel to manage a server. It is based on Perl and uses port number 10000 to let users access the web GUI dashboard for managing various server services, configuration files, disk quotas, and key platforms for running web applications such as Apache, PHP, and MySQL. We can configure an SSL certificate to access Webmin securely, also due to modular design, users can extend the Webmin functionality using modules.

      • H2S Media3 Ways to Install Ruby on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy - Linux Shout

        Learn the different commands and steps to install Ruby on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish using the command terminal.

        Ruby is an object-oriented high-level interpreted programming language that is easy to use and productive to use. Inventor Yukihiro Matsumoto wanted to develop a language in which functional and imperative programming is balanced, hence, this dynamic, free and object-oriented programming language Ruby enjoys great popularity among programmers.

        Everything in Ruby is an object that allows any programmer to customize the language to their preferences. In contrast to some others, the syntax is easier to read and write. It is similar to C and Java, so Java and C programmers can easily learn Ruby.

      • H2S MediaHow to Install Ubuntu 22.04 Linux on Windows with Hyper-V
      • How to Install Lynis on Ubuntu 20.04

        The process of auditing a system can give you concrete answers about the state of your system. In addition to this, you can also get a series of recommendations to improve the system’s performance. In this sense, on Linux, there are also applications that allow us to have this audit. That is why today we will show you how to install Lynis in Ubuntu 20.04.

      • Linux HintHow to install Sketchup3D in Ubuntu 22.04

        Sketchup3D is one of the most widely utilized software for 3D modeling and designing software. It is a simple 3D modeling program that is used for creating designs and presentations in several industries, including architecture, construction, interior design, industrial design, video game design, and more. The software is offered in two versions: Sketchup3D Free (with limited features) and Sketchup3D Pro, which comprises the whole tool-set.

        This write-up will discuss the procedure to install Sketchup3D on Ubuntu 22.04. So, let’s start!

      • H2S MediaSteps to Install MySQL on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Linux - Linux Shout

        This tutorial will show the simple steps to install the MySQL Database Server on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish using the command terminal.

        Oracle MySQL is the popular open-source database server common to have in LAMP or LEMP environments. This relational database management system is used for many content management systems that are used to store the data, for example, WordPress.

        The abbreviation “SQL” means Structured Query Language and the abbreviation “My” stands for the first name of the daughter of a developer of MySQL. There is no separate graphical user interface within MySQL, but this can be implemented using external programs. There are numerous free programs for this, which provide a graphical interface for administration and operation such as Workbench.

      • ID RootHow To Install vnStat on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install vnStat on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, VnStat is a console-based network traffic monitoring tool designed for Linux and BSD. vnStat keeps a log of hourly, daily, and monthly network traffic for the selected interfaces.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the vnStat network traffic monitor on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

      • Install and Setup NTP Server on Ubuntu 22.04/Debian 11
      • Install and Configure NTP Client on Ubuntu/Debian systems
      • Install Zabbix Server on Ubuntu 22.04
      • Install Zabbix Server on Rocky Linux
      • Install Rundeck on Rocky Linux
      • Install Java 11|Java 17|Java 18 on Debian 11
      • VideoThis Is A Growing Standard To Disable Terminal Color - Invidious

        There's tons of terminal apps with color nowadays but no consistent standard for disabling that color in the many cases where it isn't needed, NO_COLOR aims to fix that.

      • Make Use Of10 Keyboard Shortcuts That Work on Both Windows and Linux

        Transitioning to a new operating system may seem overwhelming or daunting but the joy of learning something new is worth the effort.

        Let's take a look at some of the important keyboard shortcuts that work similarly on both Linux and Windows. Although Windows and Linux are inherently different, you can still use most of the shortcuts that you are familiar with, in either of the operating systems.

    • Games

      • GamingOnLinuxDeck Builders Round Up

        Deckbuilders! I love 'em. Slay the Spire got me into this genre digitally, after originally feeling the pull of Magic the Gathering in the late 90's. After over a hundred hours playing Slay the Spire, the classic that invigorated the whole genre, I had the bug, bad. So since late 2019 I’ve been hunting for more. MOAR! Here’s a round up of a few favourites.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Crosswords 0.3 – Jonathan Blandford

          I’m pleased to announce Crosswords 0.3. This is the first version that feels ready for public consumption. Unlike the version I announced five months ago, it is much more robust and has some key new features.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • BSD

      • Digital JournaliXsystems Builds on Global Leadership in Open Storage With New TrueNAS Releases

        iXsystems€®, an Open Source pioneer and the company behind TrueNAS, today announced the availability of two major updates to TrueNAS Open Storage software editions. The launch of TrueNAS 13.0 brings significant performance improvements to the world’s most deployed scale-up storage software. The availability of the latest version of TrueNAS SCALE (22.02.1) marks the first major update to the newly released scale-out and hyperconverged edition. Both versions of TrueNAS are designed and tested for their respective data-intensive workloads and made available so all organizations can benefit from true Data Freedom and open source economics.

      • Frederic CambusCustomizing NetBSD boot banners

        I recently discovered that it’s surprisingly easy to customize the NetBSD boot loader banner, simply by adding some directives in the boot.cfg configuration file.

    • Fedora Family / IBM

      • CentOS Successor Rocky Linux Gets $26M to Fund Push Into Enterprise Space - Slashdot

        "CIQ has landed $26 million in funding to support its plans to expand the use of Rocky Linux in the enterprise space," reports ZDNet.

      • The New StackRed Hat Embraces DevSecOps [Ed: "Red Hat is a sponsor of The New Stack." Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes paid-for puff pieces for sponsors instead of actual journalism]

        When DevOps sped up deployment and update rates to unheard-of speeds. We loved it. When our security blunders accelerated at the same pace, we weren’t so happy. So, DevSecOps was created to bring security into the production cycle’s beginning. Now, at Red Hat Summit in Boston, Linux and cloud power Red Hat is embracing DevOpsSec security throughout its product and service lineup.

    • Debian Family

      • Barry Kaulermksquashfs in initrd updated with lz4 support

        I mentioned in a recent post, that QuickSetup has a checkbox to rebuild 'easy.sfs', changing from xz to gz compression. Would prefer that to change to lz4, for much faster decompression when in use.

        I also mentioned that the kernel 5.15.39 has been compiled with lz4 support in the squashfs driver.

      • Barry KaulerGalculator missing dep in Easy Bookworm

        Galculator is a calculator, found in the "Business" menu. It won't run, because 'libquadmath.so.0' is missing. I found that to be package 'libquadmath0' and installed it via the package manager.

        However, as Debian Bookworm is a very long way from being released (mid-2023), the online repository is a moving target. Click on "pkgget" on the desktop, then go into configuration and click the "Update" button.

      • Barry KaulerCelluloid deps missing in Easy Bookworm
    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • [Older] What to look out for in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS “Jammy Jellyfish”

        It is Ubuntu time! Our favorite open-source Linux operating system is seeing yet another Long-Term Support version with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. This means that this version will receive ongoing app updates and critical security fixes for the next 5 years.

        This version will also receive periodical new Linux kernel releases and graphics driver updates. But that’s all fine and all but for the average Ubuntu user that doesn’t care about the under-the-hood stuff, what’s new with the Jammy Jellyfish?

    • Devices/Embedded

      • Notebook CheckRock Pi 4 Model C+ released with HDMI 2.0 ports, LPDDR4 RAM and M.2 SSD support

        Radxa has revealed the Rock Pi 4 Model C+, a single-board computer that resembles the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. However, the former comes with a Rockchip RK3399-T SoC and an M.2 2230 connector, among other features. The Rock Pi 4 Model C+ is already orderable with and without an active cooler, starting at US$59.99.

      • HackadayRunning ARM Chips On Algae Power

        What’s the size of an AA battery and can run an ARM Cortex M0+ for six months? Well… probably an AA battery, but obviously, that wouldn’t be worth mentioning. But researchers at Cambridge have built a cell of blue-green algae that can do the job.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Programming/Development

      • A new emacs lisp tiny project



        For the most part, every software project I work on is massive, and it's for someone else. I really have fun working on small projects that solve a problem for me specifically. This is what I want to do next. Unfortunately, I am not an emacs list (elisp) pro. I will stumble through this, and it will be very un-lispy. I hope I'll gain a better understanding of lisp doing this.

        I have written a few elisp programs in the past, but so much time passes between opportunities, it feels like I have alot of relearning to do. Perhaps I'll go through the elisp tutorial directly in emacs.

      • Matt RickardNull Programming Philosophy

        The Null Programming Philosophy (inspired by Hoare's "hack") flips the hierarchy upside down. It says that a simple program is better than a correct one. Design a simple interface with a simple implementation. A program might not cover all edge cases. A correct feature might be excluded because it requires an inconsistent input or output compared to the rest (against simplicity).

        This tradeoff goes against our intuition, but technologies that we believe to be designed on the "right" side of the pyramid (completeness over simplicity) were products of the quick-and-dirty side of the pyramid (simplicity over completeness). For example, Unix, C, and TCP/IP fit the Null Programming Philosophy.

      • HackadayElectronics And C++ Education With An ATTiny13

        When [Adam, HA8KDA] is not busy with his PhD studies, he mentors a group of students interested in engineering. To teach them a wide range of topics, he set out to build a small and entertaining embedded project as they watch and participate along the way. With this LED-adorned ATTiny13A project, [Adam] demonstrated schematic and PCB design, then taught C++ basics and intricacies – especially when it comes to building low-footprint software – and tied it all together into a real-world device students could take home after the project. His course went way beyond the “Hello world”s we typically expect, and some of us can only wish for a university experience like this.

    • Leftovers

      • Balthazar RouberolCan't enough be enough?

        About 2.5 years after I was hired, Datadog became a publicly traded company.

        In this article, I will explain the impact this had on me, both financially and psychologically, as transparently as I can. The intention is to examine how such an event can change one's life, positively and not, and give you some return of experience on the choices that I made.

      • Science

        • HackadayTapType: AI-Assisted Hand Motion Tracking Using Only Accelerometers

          The team from the Sensing, Interaction & Perception Lab at ETH Zürich, Switzerland have come up with TapType, an interesting text input method that relies purely on a pair of wrist-worn devices, that sense acceleration values when the wearer types on any old surface. By feeding the acceleration values from a pair of sensors on each wrist into a Bayesian inference classification type neural network which in turn feeds a traditional probabilistic language model (predictive text, to you and I) the resulting text can be input at up to 19 WPM with 0.6% average error. Expert TapTypers report speeds of up to 25 WPM, which could be quite usable.

        • HackadayAttack Of The Magnetic Slime Robots

          [Li Zhang] and his colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have developed a blob of goo that can navigate complex surroundings, grow an ‘arm’, grasp a wire and move it, encapsulate a small object and carry it. As explained in the research paper, the secret is in the non-Newtonian material the bots are made of.

      • Education

        • Barry HessAre Straight A's Worth It?

          Where it gets more interesting, I think, is when considering how valuable straight A’s are to the student’s growth and happiness. For most students, that amount of grade excellence would require a lot of hard work. Most societies around the world consider a strong work ethic to be a positive moral characteristic. (There is a lot of social engineering behind that fact, but this isn’t the time to delve into that topic.)

      • Hardware

        • HackadayBalloon Guitar Is An Absolute Gas, Helium Or Not

          Guitars are most typically built out of wood. Whether it’s an acoustic guitar with a big open cavity, or a solid-body electric, there’s generally a whole lot of wood used in the construction. However, [Mattias Krantz] shows us that alternative construction methods are entirely possible, by building his own balloon guitar.

        • HackadayMiniDisc Player Supports Full Data Transfer

          Between the era of the CD and the eventual rise and domination of streaming music platforms, there was a limbo period of random MP3 players mixed in with the ubiquitous (and now officially discontinued) iPod. In certain areas, though, the digital music player of choice was the MiniDisc, a miniature re-writable CD player with some extra digital features. Among them was the ability to transfer music to the discs over USB, but they did not feature the ability to transfer the songs back to a computer. At least until now, thanks to this impressive hack from [asivery].

        • The Register UKArm wrests back control of its rogue China limb ● The Register

          The Chinese arm (as it were) has been of concern since June 2020 when CEO Alan Wu was fired over conflicts of interest. But Wu refused to go or to hand over the documents that would allow the appointment of a new leader.

          SoftBank owns 49 percent of the Chinese venture, and as a minority stakeholder could not order Wu’s removal.

        • The Register UKArm says microcontroller price hikes helped fuel sales ● The Register

          With Arm looking to re-enter the public market at some point, the British chip designer is hoping to get would-be investors excited with figures that indicate it achieved record revenues and profits in 2021.

          Arm on Thursday said its fiscal 2021 revenue grew 35 percent year-on-year to $2.7 billion, serving as one of the few bright spots in what was an otherwise dreadful year for its owner, Japan-based SoftBank Group, which failed to sell the chip designer to GPU giant Nvidia after facing pushback from regulators.

        • The Register UKArm China website posts letter from staff opposing change of management
        • The Register UKArm China CEO refuses to go despite SoftBank taking control

          The Arm saga is continuing with the ousted CEO of Arm's renegade Chinese division still refusing to step down, despite being fired again recently.

          Both SoftBank and Arm were last week seeking an agreement that would allow them to regain control of Arm China, the chip designer's subsidiary in the Middle Kingdom. SoftBank has only a 49 percent stake in the company, with the rest held by a consortium of various organizations that have ties to the Beijing government.

        • The Register UKAMD approaches '30%' x86 CPU market share, thanks to servers 'n' laptops

          Here's a new data point that will rile Intel up: AMD now accounts for nearly 30 percent of x86 CPU market share, and the chip designer got there during an industry downturn.

          This is according to analysts at Mercury Research, which said on Wednesday that AMD's x86 market share reached 27.7 percent against Intel in the first quarter of 2022. This beat the 25.6 percent record AMD set in the previous quarter, which, notably, surpassed the 25.3 percent shipment milestone it achieved against Intel back in 2006.

      • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

        • uni BathSocial media break improves mental health – new study

          Asking people to stop using social media for just one week could lead to significant improvements in their wellbeing, depression and anxiety and could, in the future, be recommended as a way to help people manage their mental health say the authors of a new study.

          The study, carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Bath (UK), studied the mental health effects of a week-long social media break. For some participants in the study, this meant freeing-up around nine hours of their week which would otherwise have been spent scrolling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

          Their results - published today (Friday 6 May 2022) in the US journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking - suggest that just one week off social media improved individuals’ overall level of well-being, as well as reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.

        • ABCIndia bans exports of wheat, citing threat to food security

          A key aim is to control rising domestic prices. Global wheat prices have risen by more than 40% since the beginning of the year.

          Before the war, Ukraine and Russia accounted for a third of global wheat and barley exports. Since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, Ukraine’s ports have been blocked and civilian infrastructure and grain silos have been destroyed.

          At the same time, India’s own wheat harvest has suffered from a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting production.

      • Security

        • Privacy/Surveillance

          • The Register UKGoogle chases sovereignty market with EU Workspace Data product
          • The Register UKBank for International Settlements calls for reform of data governance

            The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) – a meta bank for the world's central banks and facilitator of cross-border payments – has advocated new governance systems that promote owner control of data and transparency over its use.

            In a report released on Thursday, the BIS argued that market failures mean that restoring de facto control of data to those who generate it has become necessary – along with requiring permission before service providers collect, share, and process it.

      • Defence/Aggression

        • The HillFinland, Sweden’s NATO moves prompt fears of Russian cyberattacks

          While it is too early to judge how Russia might try to use its cyber capabilities against Finland, Sweden or other NATO members, including the U.S., experts said it will likely launch unsophisticated and small-scale cyberattacks as a form of protest against the expansion.

          Such attacks would not have the severity of cyber efforts Moscow launched against Ukraine amid the Russian invasion of that country.

        • Eesti RahvusringhäälingForeign Intelligence Service: Russia preparing for long war in Ukraine

          Looking at the behavior of Russia's leadership, the Kremlin is preparing to prolong the war which means the West needs to be ready to support Ukraine in the long run, the head of Estonia's Foreign Intelligence Agency said on Friday.

        • MedforthBREAKING: Islamist terrorist attack in German regional train – Refugee from Iraq stabs passengers

          There were approximately 270 passengers on the train, Reul said. A police officer who happened to be among the passengers overpowered the 31-year-old suspect with the help of two other passengers, state police confirmed.

        • Hindustan TimesPak-based Jaish behind the killing of Kashmiri Pandit Rahul Bhat

          According to intelligence inputs, the Jaish-e-Mohammad group has been desperate to take action against the minority community in order to keep the terror plot boiling. "After the fall of Afghanistan to Islamist Taliban and globally designated Haqqani network the Jaish-e-Mohammad leadership based in Bahawalpur believes that they can also take on the might of Indian security forces," said a senior security official.

        • MedforthParis: Magassa O. tries to kill two police officers, whom she calls “crusaders”, shouting “Allah akbar

          A 21-year-old woman was charged and detained for trying to kill police officers at Lariboisière Hospital in Paris (Xe) on May 5. It is a strange case that has been investigated by the anti-terrorist justice system without any jihadist trail being investigated so far.

        • BBCNigeria student killing: Round-the-clock curfew in Sokoto after protests

          A 24-hour curfew has been declared in Sokoto, Nigeria, after protesters took to the streets demanding the release of two suspects in the murder of a Christian student last week.

          Deborah Samuel was beaten and burned by Muslim students who accused her of posting "blasphemous" statements about Islam in a WhatsApp group on Thursday.

        • Site36American Dragnet: Immigration and Customs authority sets up unprecedented surveillance

          For €2.7 billion, ICE has bought information and spying technology in recent years. Data from private brokers and government agencies has been used to create warrantless mass surveillance that affects a large proportion of US residents.

        • Common Dreams'A Horror Movie': 10 People Murdered During Mass Shooting by White Supremacist in Buffalo

          Ten people were killed and another three people wounded in Buffalo, New York on Saturday afternoon by a gunman who opened fire inside a supermarket, a pre-planned shooting that he live-streamed on the internet and evidence indicates was motivated by racial hatred and white supremacist ideology.

          “This was pure evil."

        • Common DreamsRussia Cuts Off Electricity to Finland as Tensions Grow Over NATO Expansion

          The small portion of electricity supplied to Finland by Russia was cut off Saturday just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Finnish counterpart directly that it would be a "mistake" for his country to join NATO.

          The call between Finland President Sauli Niinistö and Putin was the first direct talks between the two leaders since Finland said it will soon apply for NATO membership after decades of neutrality that has kept it out of the U.S.-European military alliance.

      • Environment

        • SalonThe secrets to passing climate legislation — even in red states

          Many Republican legislators still deny the scientific consensus around climate change and oppose policies to address the problem outright. But a recent study found that these red-state successes weren't a fluke. The analysis, recently published in the journal Climatic Change, shows that states approved roughly 400 bills to reduce carbon emissions from 2015 to 2020. More than a quarter — 28 percent — passed through Republican-controlled legislatures.

        • Energy

        • Wildlife/Nature

          • Falklands' inshore waters globally recognized as Key Biodiversity Areas — MercoPress

            A Falklands Conservation project has identified the Falklands Islands’ inshore waters as globally recognized Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) for breeding seabirds, driving forward their aim for quality marine management practices in the Islands.

            The inshore waters of the Falkland Islands are important breeding grounds for numerous seabird populations, however, these are coming under increasing pressure from climate change and the potential threats of environmentally unsustainable development.

            The work hopes to support the development of quality marine management practices in the Islands and could support the Falklands in achieving its commitments under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) 2020.

      • Finance

      • The NationHow Economic Sanctions Shaped Today’s Global Powers

        The week after Vladimir Putin decided to send troops into Ukraine, Western newspapers were filled with analysis about the economic sanctions that might be imposed on Russia. After a few days, the sheer number and severity of those sanctions surpassed the expectations of almost every previous analysis—and rightly so, because the speed in implementing them and their scale and implications had little precedent when it came to an economy the size of Russia’s. Despite this surprise, however, new questions arose about the consequences that this new set of sanctions could have, both for the war itself and at the level of the global economy.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • As Musk buyout looms, Twitter searches for its soul [Ed: This repeats false numbers about Twitter's usage]

        A toxic cesspool. A lifeline. A finger on the world's pulse. Twitter is all these things and more to its over 229 million users around the world — politicians, journalists, activists, celebrities, weirdos and normies, cat and dog lovers and just about anyone else with an internet connection.

      • The VergeTech industry appeals the bad Texas social media law to the Supreme Court

        Tech industry trade organizations NetChoice and the Computer Communications Industry Association have appealed directly to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Texas social media law known as HB 20. The law, which creates liability for content moderation decisions that are based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person,” could make it impossible to enforce bans on hate speech — or to even moderate platforms at all. HB 20 was successfully blocked in court late last year, and then unblocked by an appeals court on Wednesday without explanation.

        “Texas HB 20 strips private online businesses of their speech rights, forbids them from making constitutionally protected editorial decisions, and forces them to publish and promote objectionable content,” said NetChoice counsel Chris Marchese in a press release. “The First Amendment prohibits Texas from forcing online platforms to host and promote foreign propaganda, pornography, pro-Nazi speech, and spam.”

      • NBCHow a push for equity turned Detroit into a dead zone for legal weed

        At the time, he said, he was focused on changing the fact that the medical dispensaries existed in a legal gray area — people could be licensed as “caregivers’’ to provide marijuana to a limited number of patients with medical conditions, but businesses weren’t formally permitted by the city or state. Tate noticed that of the roughly 240 semi-legal dispensaries the city counted then, only a handful were owned by Detroiters.

        “It was a concern,” he said. “Many of the establishments were making pretty good money,” but the proceeds weren’t staying in the community.

      • The EconomistThe war in Ukraine is spurring transatlantic co-operation in tech

        It is a momentous task. The TTC is the West’s response to efforts by China and others (notably Russia after its invasion of Ukraine) to build an autocratic digital world and bring the physical supply-chains that underpin it under their control. “The big question is whether democratic governments can develop a meaningful alternative,” explains Marietje Schaake of the Cyber Policy Centre at Stanford University. If America and the EU resolve their differences in tech, other countries are bound to follow their lead: the pair account for 55% of the global market for information technology, whose value is expected to reach a staggering $4.4trn this year, according to Gartner, a consultancy.

      • MIT Technology ReviewA quick guide to the most important AI law you’ve never heard of

        Some of the bill’s requirements are technically impossible to comply with at present. The first draft of the bill requires that data sets be free of errors and that humans be able to “fully understand” how AI systems work. The data sets that are used to train AI systems are vast, and having a human check that they are completely error free would require thousands of hours of work, if verifying such a thing were even possible. And today’s neural networks are so complex even their creators don’t fully understand how they arrive at their conclusions.

        Tech companies are also deeply uncomfortable about requirements to give external auditors or regulators access to their source code and algorithms in order to enforce the law.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Sahara ReportersSokoto-based Islamic Preacher Urges Muslims To Kill Blasphemers, Says It's the Least They Can Do For Prophet Mohammad

        The cleric urged his congregation to kill the suspect once he was released.

        SaharaReporters reported on Thursday how Ms Deborah, a student of the Shehu Shagari College of Education in‪ Sokoto State was burnt to death by her colleagues for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.

        In a viral video obtained by SaharaReporters, the preacher said, "He wrote on Facebook. He said a lot of things that are not right about the prophet of Allah and in Sokoto, I said he was courageous. For us, we kill such a person. For the prophet of Allah, the least we can do is to kill.

      • Daily PostDeborah Samuel: Nigerians fume over killing of student who ‘insulted’ Prophet Mohammed

        Nigerians on social media have condemned the killing of a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education Sokoto State.

        Daily Post had reported that the student identified Deborah Yakubu was lynched by some male Muslim students and burnt, for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • VOA NewsChilean Journalist Dies After Being Shot During May Day Protests

        Sandoval was shot in the head during violent clashes on the sidelines of a union demonstration organized to mark International Workers' Day on May 1. Two other people were also injured by the gunfire.

      • Common Dreams'An Outrage': Sanders Condemns Attack by Israeli Soldiers on Shireen Abu Akleh's Funeral Procession

        Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday called the attack on the funeral procession of slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh that took place earlier in the day "an outrage" that must be condemnation by the U.S. government as he also called for an investigation into the killing.

        Friday's attack was described as "horrific" and "grotesque" across the world after footage emerged of Israeli Defense Forces and security personnel hitting and otherwise assaulting the pallbearers of Abu Akleh's coffin and other mourners as they made their way through the streets of occupied East Jerusalem.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Hindustan TimesMuslim man arrested for conversion bid, assault of woman: TN police

        On January 14 this year, he called and threatened to leak more photos and videos on social media. “He has been calling my parents and relatives and threatening to kill me,” she claimed in her complaint.

        The accused has been booked under sections 354 A (assault) and 506(I) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Information Technology Act, police said.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | The Super Immunity of Our Fabulously Wealthy Corporate Dictators

        Ever since the heads of East India Trading Company (1600) and Hudson Bay Company (1670), were incorporated by English Royal charters, there have been corporate dictators. Their range and actions, have varied widely however. Today’s new corporate dictators shatter past restraints.

      • Scheerpost2024

        "2024," a new original cartoon by the inimitable Mr. Fish, depicts a call to action that only a genuine people’s revolution based on peace, love, equality, and justice might avert.

      • TruthOutStop Comparing Leaked “Roe” Reversal to Sharia Law and Taliban's Rules
      • The NationAborting Reality
      • ScheerpostObama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights

        The revelation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision has not motivated left-wing democrats to effectively mobilize on an issue they claim to care about. They are made powerless by their dependence on liberalism and loyalty to people like Barack Obama who undermine them.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Populism, Freedom, and the Current Threats to Democracy

        Much ink has been spilt on the subject of populism, so it would be a fool's errand for me to presume to settle the debate over the meaning of the term. I will simply confine myself to pointing out two well-established facts. First, the original 19th century U.S. populists sought to forge a multi-racial movement of the producing classes to challenge the abuses of power by big corporations and wealthy individuals. They believed that business interests such as railroads and banks as well as wealthy individuals constituted a plutocratic threat to democracy in gilded age America.€ 

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Internet SocietyTwo Months of War: The Impact on the Internet’s Core

        The Internet shouldn’t become a battleground. The Internet Society has been saying this for years. More recently, we called upon stakeholders to make sure that the sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine do not impact the global Internet infrastructure.

        We’re not alone. The G7 made similar declarations, stating that access to Internet infrastructure is exempt from sanctions, and companies can continue to operate in these sectors in Russia. We hope that all other nations, including all nations involved in conflict, will also implement this declaration.

      • The Register UKBiden deal with ISPs: Low to no cost internet for 40% of US

        The Biden White House has put forward a plan that could see 40 percent of households in the United States getting subsidized high-speed internet, with some having service free of charge.

        The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was created as part of the recently passed infrastructure law, and will reimburse bills from internet service providers (ISPs).

        Households covered by the ACP will have internet service costs reduced by up to $30 a month, or up to $75 a month if they live on tribal lands.

    • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

      • The VergeNetflix is reportedly looking into livestreaming

        So far, we don’t know much about the upcoming feature yet, and Netflix didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment. Disney Plus, one of Netflix’s biggest rivals, has already gotten into livestreams. In February, Disney Plus aired a live showing of the Academy Awards, a first for the service. It has also become the new home of the celebrity dance competition series, Dancing With the Stars, which is set to debut as a live series on the platform later this year.

      • The Register UKJohn Deere tractors 'bricked' after Russia steals machinery from Ukraine

        Millions of dollars worth of John Deere agricultural machinery stolen from a dealership in Ukraine by Russian Federation forces has been traced to the Chechen Republic and bricked, it is reported.

        In this instance, the Moline, Illinois-based Deere & Co.'s penchant for proprietary digital access controls may have worked out well from a public-relations standpoint, if the account is true. The looted tractors and combine harvesters have been remotely disabled, according to an unidentified Ukrainian interviewed by CNN, leaving those responsible looking for ways to bypass the machinery's digital locks.

    • Monopolies



    Recent Techrights' Posts

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    Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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