05.23.22

GNU/Linux

• 9to5Linux ☛ 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: May 22nd, 2022

  
  This week hasn’t got much Linux news, but there were some very exciting ones, such as the release of the Linux 5.18 kernel series, Ubuntu 22.10 (Kinetic Kudu) finally switching to PipeWire for audio by default, and a new Mesa graphics stack branch that promises another layer of performance improvements for gamers.

  On top of that, I take a look at Pika Backup as the “Flatpak App of the Week”, and talk about the latest distro and software releases, including Kali Linux 2022.2, RHEL 9, Inkscape 1.2, and KDE Plasma 5.25 beta. You can enjoy these and much more in 9to5Linux’s Linux Weekly Roundup for May 22nd, 2022, below!

• Server

  • Kubernetes 1.24: Avoid Collisions Assigning IP Addresses to Services | Kubernetes

    In Kubernetes, Services are an abstract way to expose an application running on a set of Pods. Services can have a cluster-scoped virtual IP address (using a Service of type: ClusterIP). Clients can connect using that virtual IP address, and Kubernetes then load-balances traffic to that Service across the different backing Pods.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • Better than Butter | LINUX Unplugged 459

    We take a sneak peek at some future tech coming to Linux, and share details on HP’s new laptop that runs POP!

  • Episode 324 – WTF is up with WFH – Open Source Security

    Josh and Kurt talk about the whole work from home debate. It seems like there are a lot of very silly excuses why working from home is bad. We’ve both been working from home for a long time and have a chat about the topic. There’s not much security in this one, but it is a fun discussion.

• Kernel Space

  • Its FOSS ☛ Linux Kernel 5.18 Released with Graphics Driver Changes and New Hardware Support – It’s FOSS News

    Linux Kernel 5.17 came loaded with support for next-gen hardware, including improvements for the Steam Deck.

    Not to forget, every Linux Kernel release is technically exciting, and Linux Kernel 5.18 is no exception.

    [...]

    While the support for FreeSync video was good enough, it was a temporary solution to improve the user experience with FreeSync monitors.

    Now, with Linux Kernel 5.18, the FreeSync video mode is enabled by default (changelog). You do not have to do anything from your side to enable it with supported monitors.

  • Linux Kernel 5.18 Released. This is What’s New

    Linux Kernel 5.18 is released with improved hardware support and core kernel module refinements. Here’s a quick synopsis of the new features with download and installation details.

  • CNX Software ☛ Linux 5.18 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures – CNX Software

    The earlier Linux 5.17 release brought us the Real-Time Linux Analysis (RTLA) tool, a new P-state driver for modern AMD Zen processors, mitigation for straight-line speculation attacks, a faster random number generator, and many other changes.

  • The Register UK ☛ Linus Torvalds debuts ‘boring old plain’ Linux kernel 5.18 • The Register [Ed: By Microsoft booster Simon Sharwood]

    Linus Torvalds has released version 5.18 of the Linux kernel.

    The maintainer-in-chief’s post announcing the release was typical of those he made for each of the eight release candidates: this time around he found no nasty surprises, additions were neither major nor complex, and no glitches impacted the development process.

    Torvalds called for developers to “run boring old plain 5.18″ before getting excited about the forthcoming version 5.19.

    That description is a little harsh on the new cut of the kernel, which offers notable additions such as the software-defined silicon code that verifies cryptographically signed licenses to enable dormant features in Intel silicon.

    We asked Intel about this, again, and the company still won’t share specifics. We were told that Intel is “committed to developing flexible solutions that meet the unique demands of our customers and partners and lead the industry” and “At this time we have no specific product details to share regarding feature activation.”

    The mention of “feature activation” is at least new, and admission of intent from Intel. The Register will keep watching this one.

• Applications

  • Linux Hint ☛ 100 Best Applications for Ubuntu 2022

    Since its publication in 2018, this article received enormous views from our readers. Now that we’re in 2022, there have been various changes in Ubuntu and its ecosystem. So, to address that we’re updating this article to match present needs of modern-day users, creators, influencers, developers and system administrators of Ubuntu.

    Many users who have recently switched to Ubuntu from Microsoft Windows or any other operating system face the problem of finding best alternative to application software they have been using for years on their previous OS. Ubuntu has thousands of free to use and open-source application software that perform way better than many paid software’s on Windows and other OS.

  • Its FOSS ☛ ‘Speek!’ An Open-Source Chat App That Uses Tor

    Speek is an internet messaging service that leverages multiple technologies to help keep your internet chats private.

    It is end-to-end encrypted, decentralized, and open-source.

    Undoubtedly, it aims to pitch itself as one of the WhatsApp alternatives and a competitor to Signal on Linux.

    So, what is it all about? Let us take a closer look at the details.

• Instructionals/Technical

  • Citizix ☛ How to use Terraform to create a vpc network and a GKE in GCP

    In this guide, we will build a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) instance in Google cloud platform using terraform. Terraform allows you to develop cloud infrastructure by automating repetitive tasks.

    Creating a GKE cluster in the console can be tiring, especially if you have to create multiple instances with different parameters such as node types, node sizes etc. Terraform was created to solve that problem. It allows you to have the instructions as code that can be used to plan, deploy, modify, and destroy the clusters programmatically.

  • UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Django on Fedora 35/36

    In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Django on Fedora 36

    Django is a Python-based web framework, free and open-source, that follows the model–template–views (MTV) architectural pattern. It is maintained by the Django Software Foundation (DSF), an independent organization established in the US as a non-profit.

    Django is a free and open-source high-level Python Web framework built by experienced developers to encourage rapid development and pragmatic design of web applications for programmers and developers.

  • UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Visual Studio Code on Fedora 36

    In this tutorial we will show you how to install Android studio in Fedora 36.

    Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Google’s Android operating system, built on JetBrains’ IntelliJ IDEA software and designed specifically for Android development. It is available for download on Windows, macOS and Linux based operating systems or as a subscription-based service in 2020. It is a replacement for the Eclipse Android Development Tools (E-ADT) as the primary IDE for native Android application development.

    Android Studio provides the fastest tools for building apps on every type of Android device and is currently the official Google Android IDE.

  • UNIX Cop ☛ Setup Drupal Using Docker Platform

    This post is about Setup Drupal Using Docker

    Drupal is a free, open-source web content management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide.

  • UNIX Cop ☛ Setup Standalone NTP Server on Ubuntu 22.04

    This post is about Setup Standalone NTP Server on Ubuntu 22.04

    NTP is a Network Time Protocole server used to synchronize the time of network devices within the LAN, cloud tenant, or within your LAN.

    One of the examples is Real-Time communication APPs. The Infrastructure (Machines, VMs, Kubernetes Cluster, PODs, etc) time should be synced; otherwise, the app will not work correctly.

  • How to Restart Ubuntu From the Terminal

    The most basic tasks of an operating system such as shutting it down or restarting it can also be done from a terminal in Linux. This gives us versatility so that in various configuration scripts we have more control over the system. Today, you will learn how to restart Ubuntu from the terminal.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install Yandex Browser on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS – idroot

    In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Yandex Browser on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, as well as some extra required packages by Yandex

  • Linux Hint ☛ How to Install OpenToonz – Animation Maker on Ubuntu 22.04

    OpenToonz is an open-source 2D animation software that you can download for free either you want it for your personal use, or you want to use it commercially in Ubuntu 22.04. As the name suggests, the application is specifically designed for cartoon-based animations but with the recent updates, you can create other types of animations as well. It has a very clean interface that is very easy to understand, and it also comes with lots of additional plugins that can help you save time and create the animations more efficiently.

  • Linux Hint ☛ How to Install Docker on Linux Mint

    Docker is an open-source platform to streamline the development, shipment, and deployment of the software. Docker is a cross-platform utility and is widely used in the software developers’ community around the globe.

    Docker allows you to package and run a software application in a container (Docker container). A Docker container comprises all the essentialities for software, such as; source code, tools, libraries, or any settings. Moreover, Docker provides the continuous integration of the software modules at the development time.

    This descriptive post demonstrates several methods to install Docker on Linux Mint.

  • How to Change Timezone on Ubuntu 22.04 – Cloudbooklet

    How to Change Timezone on Ubuntu 22.04. In this guide you are going to learn how to configure or setup your own timezone on Ubuntu server.

    Having a local time is necessary on your server for some cronjob or any system related processes. By default, when a server is provisioned a default timezone will get configured automatically with the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). You can change the timezone later using the below method.

Distributions and Operating Systems

• Fedora Family / IBM

  • Distro Watch ☛ Review: Fedora 36

    The first rule of criticism is never to judge something before you taste it or listen to it or whatever. This applies whether you’re reviewing restaurants or music or Linux distributions; an open mind is all – otherwise, what’s the point?

    But Fedora 36? It has rarely been more difficult for me to keep an open mind, and the more I worked with it, the crankier I got.

    Know, first, that the distro was released three weeks late, missing two new release dates in the process. That’s so late that it was launched just a week before Fedora 34 hit end of life. If I ran my freelance writing business like that, I’d be working as a greeter at Walmart. This is Fedora, which is affiliated with Red Hat, a company owned by IBM, and not a three-person volunteer effort making time to code around jobs and families and all the rest. Where’s the professionalism one expects from one of Linux’s most important and respected distros?

    Know, second, that the delays didn’t seem to do much to make Fedora 36 that much better or more interesting. Yes, Wayland is the default display protocol, and it worked seamlessly, as did PipeWire for sound. I wouldn’t even have known either was there unless I was looking for problems.

    Otherwise, Fedora 36 is adequate at best, and certainly not the very pleasant surprise that was Fedora 34. And I had high hopes, given how well Fedora 34 worked. But there are still a variety of nicks and scrapes, the distro equivalent of a broken shoelace – it works, certainly, but you get awfully tired of having to knot the lace every time it breaks.

  • ERP Transitions Loom for SAP on IBM i Customers/a> [Ed: Missing disclosure that IT Jungle is funded by IBM]

  • Guru: IBM i *USRPRF Security – IT Jungle

• Canonical/Ubuntu Family

  • Ghacks ☛ Ubuntu 22.10 is dropping PulseAudio – gHacks Tech News

    The news was confirmed officially by Canonical Employee and Ubuntu Desktop Developer, Heather Ellsworth, on the Ubuntu Discourse thread about the topic,

    “That’s right, as of today the Kinetic iso (pending, not yet current since the changes were just made) has been updated to run only pipewire and not pulseaudio. So @copong, you can look forward to this for kinetic.

• Open Hardware/Modding

  • Linux Gizmos ☛ Multi sensor device packed with Raspberry Pi RP2040 chip

    Sfera Labs released the Exo Sense RP which is a compact module that combines sensors to monitor air quality, humidity, temperature, light, motion and audio sensing. Unlike the SENSE board by Nexus Electronics and presented by LinuxGizmos a few days ago, the Exo Sense RP integrates a Raspberry Pi RP2040 IC.

    Featuring a dual core ARM Cortex-M0+ processor (up to 133MHz), with 16MB of Flash and 264kB of RAM, the MCU offers more than enough speed and supports several data protocols to interface with various types of sensors efficiently. 

  • Andrew Hutchings ☛ Amiga 1000 Restoration: The Keyboard

    In the previous instalment I found that the keyboard on the Amiga 1000 was not fully working, and it needed a clean anyway. So, I went ahead and started working on it.

    Some of the keys were not registering so it had to be opened up to see what we could do about that. I flipped it over and there are some screws on the back, also this label. I guess I now know where this Amiga originally came from!

• Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Bryan Quigley: Small EInk Phone

    Aside in 2022-05-22. it’s not the same.. but there is a renewed push by Pebble creator Eric Migicovsky to show demand for a SmallAndroidPhone. It’s currently at about 29,000.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Web Browsers

  • Nolan Lawson ☛ The balance has shifted away from SPAs

    Hip new frameworks like Astro, Qwik, and Elder.js are touting their MPA capabilities with “0kB JavaScript by default.” Blog posts are making the rounds listing all the challenges with SPAs: history, focus management, scroll restoration, Cmd/Ctrl-click, memory leaks, etc. Gleeful potshots are being taken against SPAs.

• Programming/Development

  • Daniel Lemire ☛ Avoid exception throwing in performance-sensitive code

    There are various ways in software to handle error conditions. In C or Go, one returns error code. Other programming languages like C++ or Java prefer to throw exceptions. One benefit of using exceptions is that it keeps your code mostly clean since the error-handling code is often separate.

    It is debatable whether handling exceptions is better than dealing with error codes. I will happily use one or the other.

    What I will object to, however, is the use of exceptions for control flow. It is fine to throw an exception when a file cannot be opened, unexpectedly. But you should not use exceptions to branch on the type of a value.

    Let me illustrate.

  • DJ Adams ☛ Exploring JSON with interactive jq

    I often use ijq, or “interactive jq”, to explore JSON, and also to improve my jq fu, because it gives me immediate visual feedback. Here’s an example.

    There’s a wrapper around jq called ijq (short for “interactive jq”) which is a bit like a REPL in that it affords immediate feedback. It’s a lovely program, and I use it a lot.

  • Python

    • Geeks For Geeks ☛ 10 Python In-Built Functions You Should Know

      Python is one of the most lucrative programming languages. According to research, there were approximately 10 million Python developers in 2020 worldwide and the count is increasing day by day. It provides ease in building a plethora of applications, web development processes, and a lot more. When it comes to making a program short and clear, we use in-built functions which are a set of statements collectively performing a task. Using in-built functions in a program makes it beneficial in many ways such as: [...]

Leftovers

• CBC ☛ Accused Buffalo killer got weapons tips in chat group, prompting calls for online oversight

  The recent deadly racist attack in Buffalo, N.Y., planned with tactical advice from online chat groups, is sparking calls in Canada and beyond for better oversight of internet content. But civil liberties activists say trying to effectively sanitize the web of hateful or violent material is logistically difficult.

  The massacre at Tops supermarket left 10 dead and three injured. Officials believe the attack was a racially motivated hate crime.

  An online cache of disturbing posts suggests the alleged Buffalo shooter was seeking advice from like-minded individuals on loosely moderated online discussion forums.

• Hackaday ☛ Bi-Color Filament Kicks 3D Printed Optical Illusions Up A Notch

  A new video from [Make Anything] shows off a nice combo that has a real visual impact: ambiguous shapes that look different depending on what angle they are viewed at, combined with an unusual filament that enhances the effect greatly. As you can see in the image above that shows off just such an object in front of a mirror, the results are pretty striking.

• Hackaday ☛ Receive Virtual Postcards On This Beautiful E-Ink Photo Frame

  Sending postcards to loved ones used to be standard procedure for travelers back when travel was glamorous and communications were slow. While some travelers still keep this tradition alive, many have replaced stamps and post offices with instant messaging and social media — faster and more convenient, but a lot less special than receiving a postcard with a handwritten message from a faraway land.

• Hackaday ☛ Expedient Jig Lets You Crank Out Chain Link Fence

  After the zombie apocalypse or whatever is coming, folks like us will be in high demand as the people who know how to fix things, generate electricity, and scavenge parts. But keeping out marauding zombies and neighbors requires fencing. Can you make your own chain link fence? If you watch [Diamleon]’s recent video, you might be able to. Admittedly, the bulk of the video is about fabricating the jig and you should expect to do some welding and cutting.

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ Truly Giant Telescope Could Image Exoplanets

    Have you ever wished we could peek at all these exoplanets that have been recently discovered? We aren’t likely to visit anytime soon, but it would be possible to build a truly giant telescope that could take a look at something like that. At least according to [SciShow Space] in a recent video you can see below.

• Hardware

  • TruthOut ☛ Supply Chain Failures Prove Growing Need for Localized Economies

  • Hackaday ☛ Do Flat Tyres Make Your Speedo Lie?

    There are some engineering questions that may not have huge importance in the world, but which become the subject of intense idle speculation. A good example is the question of whether a lower tyre pressure on a motor vehicle would make a difference to the indicated speed. There are several contrasting intuitive theories as to what should happen, so [mechatronicsguy] has taken the time for a bit of experimentation in order to find out what really happens.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Common Dreams ☛ UN Agency Condemns ‘Homophobic and Racist’ Monkeypox Reporting

    As the World Health Organization said it expects more cases of monkeypox to be identified around the world, the United Nations HIV/AIDS agency on Sunday denounced what it and numerous public health experts called bigoted Western media coverage of a disease that “can affect anyone.”

    “Lessons from the AIDS response show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can rapidly undermine outbreak response.”

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • I ungoogled my phone.

      I’ve kind of in principle wanted to install a Google-free version of Android for a while, but I’ve kept putting it off. The vendor Android on my phone is pretty close to stock, and I’d disabled most Google apps on it. The only Google app I used frequently was Maps, but for family and work reasons, I was still using quite a few proprietary apps — Netflix, Microsoft’s Office 365 apps, etc. But I had used LineageOS (an independent Android distribution) and microG (free replacement for parts of Google Play Services) a few years ago on an older device, and I had mostly figured out alternatives and workarounds for some things.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Frontpage Magazine ☛ Forgetting the Genocide of the Yezidis

    In the summer of 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) committed genocide of the Yezidis in their largest city in Iraq and the world, Sinjar.

    The Yezidis are a religious minority in the Middle East; their main center is Iraq. At the time that the genocide began, their number was no more than 550,000 people, according to the United Nations when it was evaluating the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yezidis, which were classified as genocide and crimes against humanity.

    It seems clear that what happened at the time had a goal, namely to wipe out the presence of the Yezidis. While it appeared initially that the world had grasped the significance of these crimes, now the Yezidi cause is largely being neglected amid the many crises and regional wars around the world.

  • Scheerpost ☛ The Ukraine War’s Collateral Damage: Planet Earth

    Michael Klare makes clear that the war in Ukraine is the last thing on Earth (so to speak) that we need right now.

  • Counter Punch ☛ Remembering the Palomares Disaster

    On January 17, 1966, a collision occurred during a routine refueling operation of a B-52 bomber over Spain’s Mediterranean coast.28 The Associated Press reported first on the incident, writing that a KC-135 tanker with jet fuel had collided in mid-air with a B-52.29

    “At least five of the eleven crewmen aboard the two planes died in the crashes,” wrote the AP. “They collided miles above the earth. School children walking to their classes heard the rending of metal, then watched as smoke clouds erupted from the big planes as they spiraled down, scattered burning wreckage over a wide area.”

  • Common Dreams ☛ Opinion | Real Patriots Eat Nuclear War for Breakfast

  • Common Dreams ☛ Opinion | Initially Silent, Biden Now Moving to Free Jailed WNBA Star Brittney Griner

    A week before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian authorities arrested American basketball star Brittney Griner at the Moscow airport. She was charged with drug smuggling after Russian officials allegedly found vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis in her luggage.

  • Counter Punch ☛ America’s Role in the Syrian Civil War

    A second and more minor goal of this interview is as follows. There has been some controversy over Noam Chomsky’s views on Syria. Since Chomsky has not had much to say about Syria, the controversy is befuddling. It appears to be based on quoting bits and pieces of interviews out of context, rather than an examination of his core arguments. As such, this interview is an attempt to capture Chomsky’s core views of American involvement in the Syrian civil war. His views are necessarily brief owing to the relatively marginal nature of US involvement. Yet, this interviewer found them to be interesting and original. People who criticize his views can at least examine his views in their entirety and decide for themselves the exact nature of their disagreement. Those who read it with an open mind might even be surprised to discover areas of agreement.

  • Scheerpost ☛ Biden Redeploys Troops to Somalia While Humanitarian Crisis Looms

    Military Options By Washington Are Primary In The Horn Of Africa And Eastern Europe.

• Environment

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Common Dreams ☛ Opinion | India and Nepal’s New ‘Wildlife-Friendly’ Infrastructure Rules Ignore Birds

      Nepal’s government has recently adopted guidelines to make infrastructure such as roads, dams and railway lines wildlife-friendly, following pressure from conservationists and NGOs.

• Finance

  • Common Dreams ☛ ‘Tax the Rich,’ Say Millionaire Activists Protesting at Davos Amid Record Wealth, Inequality

    As some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people—sans the usual Russian oligarchs—descend upon the swank Swiss ski resort of Davos for the start of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting on Sunday, a multinational coalition of millionaires of conscience took direct action to demand that governments #TaxTheRich.

    “Any millionaire who has sense enough to see that our current economic model is failing will support these protests.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Saudi Arabia ☛ Women TV presenters defy Taliban order to cover faces on air

    “Our female colleagues are concerned that if they cover their faces, the next thing they will be told is to stop working,” said Shamshad TV head of news Abid Ehsas.

  • Frontpage Magazine ☛ ‘Loyalty to Allah’ Prompted Muslim Man to Murder Coptic Christian

    Validating these dismal observations is the fact that it has been two days since Faisal Abdul Nasser offered this public confession, and police—who have supposedly been “investigating” this case for over three weeks—have yet to apprehend him.

  • Scheerpost ☛ ‘Arbitrary, Racist, and Unfair’: Judge Blocks Biden From Ending Title 42

    Immigrant rights advocates on Friday denounced a federal judge’s injunction blocking the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden from lifting Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that both presidents have invoked to deport around two million asylum-seekers under the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • TruthOut ☛ Graduate Student Workers Across the Country Are Helping Each Other Unionize

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Scheerpost ☛ We Need a Functional FCC

    Right now, the agency is deadlocked — which is just peachy for the corporations it regulates. Here’s how to unblock.

  • IT Wire ☛ iTWire – Labor needs to make high-speed broadband more affordable: Budde

    The Australian Labor Party’s pledge during the election campaign to offer 90% of broadband users in the country higher speeds will not have the intended effect unless the price of the technology is lowered, the independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde says.

    He made the statement on Monday as Labor edged closer to towards governing in its own right following Saturday’s elections, with the party having picked up its 75th lower-house seat, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

  • Dance, Monkey

    Social media turns everyone into an entertainer.

    Social media is a dumpster fire, yes, but it’s *the dominant force* in communications right now, with tons of resources keeping it in that position. Most people are aware that it’s bad. But you simply can’t escape it if you want to have anything resembling a social life. Social media is just how people keep in touch these days. I myself haven’t truly *abandoned* social media, but just drastically reduced my exposure to it, because I have friends I want to stay in touch with.

    Yes, social media sucks. Yes we’d all be better off without it. Yes, you, who left it, are better off now. But “better off” doesn’t mean “better than”. Go deflate your ego.

  • The Human Web

    Neocities is a website hosting service in the style of the now-defunct Geocities: users can host static HTML pages, optionally styled with CSS or featuring Javascript, but the service does not allow any server-side scripting. Neocities has gained quite a bit of traction among fans of retro sites and services, and they now host over four hundred thousand sites. Dima noted that many Neocities users seem to share some common sentiments: a desire to have complete control of one’s online presence, a desire to express themselves without limitations, and a distrust of large, highly-centralized, profit-driven Web services.

  • IT Wire ☛ Sims says Facebook must sign deals with SBS, The Conversation

    Former ACCC chair Rod Sims says under the terms of an ongoing Treasury review into the News Media Bargaining Code, social media giant Facebook should be forced to negotiate and strike content deals with outlets like SBS and The Conversation.

    Sims made the comments in a report issued by the Judith Neilson Institute on Monday, in which he analysed the NMBC, its success or lack thereof and also future directions it could take to stay in line with its original purpose.

    The code was derived from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Digital Platforms Inquiry report which was handed to the government in June 2019.

• Monopolies

  • Bloomberg ☛ Wall Street Is Betting Microsoft-Activision Deal Will Fail

  • FOSS Patents: BREAKING: Google blinks in in-app payments antitrust fight with Epic Games, will keep Bandcamp music marketplace on Google Play Store to moot Epic’s motion for preliminary injunction

    It sometimes appears that the “A” in “Apple” means “adamant” (about certain principles as well as non-principled pretexts). By comparison, Google has always tried to strike a less belligerent tone with respect to app distribution antitrust issues. Google wasn’t necessarily much softer on substance, but at least more diplomatic. This Friday, however, Google made the first significant concession in the app store antitrust context: between 1 and 2 AM Pacific Time, Epic Games and Google submitted, by stipulation, a proposed order to Judge James Donato, who really really didn’t want to have to adjudicate Epic’s motion for a preliminary injunction over this issue.

  • Patents

    • Senate Confirms Kathi Vidal as USPTO Director [Ed: Conflict of interest overlooked, as usual]

      President Joe Biden nominated Vidal for the post last October. The position had been vacant since Andrei Iancu resigned in January 2021. The duties of the Director have been handled by Drew Hirschfeld, the commissioner for patents in the interim.

    • Thaler v. Vidal: Will Patentability be Negated by the Manner of Invention? [Ed: Thaler is a provocatiove troll seeking attention from the media by peddling "Hey Hi" crap]

      Oral arguments in the AI-inventorship case of Thaler v. Vidal are set for June 6, 2022. Prof. Ryan Abbott is set to argue on behalf of the patent owner (and AI creator) Stephen Thaler. Assistant US Attorney Dennis Barghaan will argue on the USPTO’s behalf.

      Thaler developed an AI that he calls DABUS. DABUS apparently created two inventions–a “neural flame” and a “fractal container.” But, Thaler refused to name himself as inventor. Rather, he says that it was DABUS who did the inventing. But, the PTO refused to issue the patent without a human listed inventor. After being rejected by the PTO, Thaler filed a civil action in the E.D. Va. That court dismissed the case–holding that a non-human device cannot quality as an “inventor.” Abbott and Barghaan litigated the case below as well.

    • What Vidal has done and should do to improve US pro bono [Ed: The patent trolls’ voice, Patrick Wingrove, is trying to give “instructions” to Microsoft Vidal]

      Shortly before Kathi Vidal was confirmed as the USPTO’s new director last month, office sources told Managing IP that pro bono work would be a big focus for her once she arrived. Vidal had highlighted her desire to make this subject one of her priorities during pre-confirmation meetings at the office, they said.

    • Remarks by Director Vidal at the Fordham IP Conference [Ed: Microsoft Vidal already goes to Microsoft-funded patent maximalists think tanks [1, 2, 3, 4]]

    • Amgen Inc. v. Vidal (Fed. Cir. 2022)

      Earlier today, the Federal Circuit reversed the Final Written Decision, and reconsideration of that decision, by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which determined that claims 1-24 of U.S. Patent No. 8,952,138 were unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a).

    • Dir. Vidal’s First Steps [Ed: Cross-pollination with the court is not a good sign; the Office opposes patent quality because it makes more money by granting anything]

      Kathi Vidal is now the USPTO Director after being sworn-in by Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly Moore. Congratulations!

    • Axios ☛ Google asks new Patent Office director for systemic change [Ed: Microsoft Vidal is there to serve corporation masters, not innovation]

      Google sees an opportunity for reform in the U.S. patent system, through the office’s new, Silicon Valley-bred leader.

  • Copyrights

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Bogus DMCA Notices Sent to Google By Fake Google….To Protect Google?

      If the title of this article has caused any confusion, please direct any blame towards the architects of some of the most absurd DMCA abuses of recent times. People with an apparent interest in delisting Android APK sites are sending bogus DMCA notices in Google’s name, ostensibly to protect Google’s rights. Who are they sending them to? Google, of course.