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Links 23/01/2023: mozilla.org's 25th Anniversary and IceWM 3.3.1 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

    • Applications

      • Linux Links8 Meritorious Free and Open Source Modelers

         Linux offers a rich platform for anyone with an artistic inclination. With low cost hardware, quality open source software, and an ounce of talent, artists can produce professional-looking computer graphics.

        There is a relatively small range of open source software that offers the ability of rendering images with Linux. Rendering is the process of taking a 3D model and displaying it as a two-dimensional image. Unfortunately, some of the applications have not seen any development in recent years, abandoned by their developers with no one coming forward to step into their shoes. Nevertheless, there are still some high quality, open source Linux modelers which are worth investigating.

      • OMG! LinuxTangram for Linux is a Browser Built for Web Apps - OMG! Linux

        For an ordered way to use your favourite web apps on Linux check out Tangram, a GTK-based web browser.

        Oh, I know what you’re going to say: “Dude, I already have a web browser” — and for most people a regular web browser (like Firefox, Chrome, etc) is a solid way to use web apps on Linux desktops.

        But what if you want to keep your web apps separate apps from the rest of your browsing?

        Enter Tangram, an open-source GTK4/libadwaita app powered by the the same Webkit engine as GNOME Web (aka Epiphany). As such, pretty much all modern web content works in it.

      • 9to5LinuxHandBrake 1.6.1 Fixes Intel QSV Hardware Detection on Linux, Adds Missing Translations

        HandBrake 1.6 was released about three weeks ago, but it looks like some bugs and crashes managed to squeeze into the final release. For Linux users, HandBrake 1.6.1 is here to address the detection of Intel QSV hardware, though the devs note the fact that this is only a partial fix, for now.

        Also for Linux, the HandBrake release addresses a potential crash that occurred when canceling an Intel QSV encode operation, adds missing format strings to allow you to build the software from sources with the -Werror=format-security option, and adds missing translations (Bulgarian, Corsican, Dutch, German, and Spanish).

      • IceWM 3.3.1 Released

        The latest released version is 3.3.1 (2023-01-23).

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Set Up a Kubernetes Cluster Using Minicube on Debian 11

        Minikube is a free and open-source tool that comes with a set of built-in add-ons that helps you to set up a Kubernetes cluster in your local system.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install Drupal with Docker on Ubuntu 22.04

        Drupal is an open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP.

      • ID RootHow To Install 7-Zip on Debian 11 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install 7-Zip on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, 7-Zip is a popular open-source file-archiving software that can be used to compress and decompress files on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. It supports a wide range of file formats, including .7z, .zip, .rar, and .tar, and offers both command-line and graphical user interface (GUI) options for interacting with compressed files.

        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 7-Zip archiving software on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

      • TecAdminGetting Started with Linux Screen Command: A Beginner’s Guide - TecAdmin

        Have you ever heard of the Linux Screen Command? It’s an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to take control of multiple programs in a single terminal window. With the Linux Screen Command, you can easily manage multiple programs, even if they’re running in different directories. You can even switch between programs without having to close or restart them. It’s an incredibly efficient way to work in Linux.

      • ID RootHow To Install Magento on Rocky Linux 9 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Magento on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, Magento is a popular open-source e-commerce platform that offers a wide range of features and functionalities. One of the key features of Magento is its flexibility and scalability. It is designed to be highly customizable, allowing developers to create unique and customized online stores. It also supports multiple languages, currencies, and tax rates, making it suitable for businesses operating in different regions.

        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 Magento open-source e-commerce platforms on Rocky Linux. 9.

      • KifarunixHow to Install Docker Resource Usage Extension - kifarunix.com

        How can you install Resource usage extension on Docker desktop? In this guide, you will learn how to install Docker Resource Usage extension.

      • Make Use OfHow to Install and Use HACS in Home Assistant

        Home Assistant Community Store, or HACS, is a powerful integration for Home Assistant that allows users to download and install custom add-ons, integrations, themes, elements, etc. Discover how to install HACS on both the Supervised Home Assistant server running on a Raspberry Pi HASS OS and a non-supervised Home Assistant Server running in a Docker container on a Linux OS.

      • Linux HintHow to Remove Docker Images

        Docker images contain instructions to manage and run Docker containers. Users can create as many docker images as they want. But these Docker images can take up most of the storage in the Docker engine. Therefore, developers are occasionally required to remove the unused Docker image to keep the Docker engine clean.

      • Network WorldWorking with image files on the Linux command line | Network World

        There's a lot to learn about image files on the command line, from verifying file format to finding out where and when photos were taken and maybe even getting an unusual view of what they look like.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • KDE OfficialSeason of KDE 2023: Mentees and Projects | KDE.news

          This year Season of KDE has several projects focusing on the accessibility and sustainability goals. There are three projects focused on accessibility, three on sustainability and three additional projects in other areas.

          The sustainability projects had fifteen excellent applicants for just three projects, so selecting mentees was challenging. The time mentee applicants invested in applying is much appreciated, and any applicants who have not been selected are encouraged to continue contributing to KDE and open source. It is possible to make smaller contributions to KDE projects that allow possible mentors to see your work and then mentor you informally.

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • GNOMECrosswords 0.3.7: Adaptive Layout, Animations, and Arrows - Jonathan Blandford

          It’s GNOME Crosswords release time again! This is a big release with a lot of changes. Most importantly, I was able to find some time over the holidays to do some long-overdue refactoring of the core game code.

          [...]

          Adaptive Layout and Animations

          In the previous release, I tried to make Crosswords adapt to different screen sizes. It wasn’t all that usable, so I worked more on it this cycle.

          First, the good news: I cleaned up a lot of the layout bugs, and (thanks to Carlos) got some form of touch screen keyboard input working. The end result is that I changed the appinfo file to indicate we supported all screen sizes and inputs, which means it should be available on all platforms.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • New Releases

      • It's FOSSNetrunner 23 "Vaporwave" Release Combines the Stability of Debian 11 and Linux Kernel 5.10 LTS

        Netrunner is a Debian-based Linux distro for PCs/ARM-based computers that has been around since 2010 and has been getting a steady flow of updates.

        In a recent announcement, they released Netrunner 23 “Vaporwave” with a few improvements.

      • Linux MagazineNetrunner OS 23 is Now Available

        The latest version of this Linux distribution is now based on Debian Bullseye and is ready for installation and finally hits the KDE 5.20 branch of the desktop.

        Netrunner "Vaporware" version 23 has been made available by Blue Systems, arriving some two years after the previous milestone release. Unlike Netrunner 21, version 23 migrates to Debian Bullseye, which means it also includes the 5.10.19 Linux kernel.

        As well, Netrunner 23 includes KDE Plasma 5.20, Qt 5.15.2, Firefox 102 ESR, LibreOffice 7.0.4, VLC 3.0.18, Audacious 4.0.5, Thunderbird 102.6.0, GIMP 2.10, and much more. But don't think you'll be getting a stock KDE desktop.

        The developers have added a number of customizations to the desktop, such as an overview-like main menu, a unique theme that helps to make it stand out, simplified System Settings with Plasma Tweaks, a unified look for both KDE and non-KDE applications, GTK apps with standard Kwin borders, Task Manager with expanding icons, Show Desktop hot-spot in the lower right corner, and more.

      • ZDNetNetrunner 23 'Vaporware' is a Linux distribution ready for productivity and gaming | ZDNET

        I cannot even count the number of Debian-based Linux distributions there are on the market. But when you whittle that list down to those that are both productive and game-ready, the options are much fewer. One of those options is Netrunner.

        According to the official website, "Netrunner is a complete Linux Operating System for PCs, laptops/netbooks and ARM microcomputers, that makes exclusive use of the KDE Plasma desktop environment." I find that description quite lacking because the distribution isn't just a complete Linux operating system, but a platform for fun and work.

        With plenty of applications pre-loaded, you can immediately start playing and working without having to install much in the way of third-party software.

        The only tools you might have to add would be the likes of Spotify and Slack. The caveat to that is you would need to first install either Snap or Flatpak.

      • Happy New Year! OSMC's January update is here - OSMC

        We hope that you had a good Christmas and New Year.

        Our first update of the year brings Kodi v19.5, which is the final version of Kodi 19.x (Matrix). We are now working on preparing Kodi v20 (Nexus) for OSMC users. This update brings the last stable version of Kodi v19 with a few improvements to improve the upgrade process.

      • 9to5LinuxFreespire 9.0 Released with Xfce 4.18, Based on Xubuntu 22.04 LTS

        Based on Canonical’s Xubuntu 22.04.1 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) operating system, the Freespire 9.0 release is here to offer users a rock-solid Ubuntu experience with the addition of the latest and greatest Xfce 4.18 desktop environment.

        Under the hood, Freespire 9.0 is powered by Xubuntu 22.04’s long-term supported Linux 5.15 kernel series, and, according to its developers, it does not include any proprietary codecs or software code that is not open source.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • UbuntuUbuntu Blog: What is MLOps going to look like in 2023?

        While AI seems to be the topic of the moment, especially in the tech industry, the need to make it happen in a reliable way is becoming more obvious. MLOps, as a practice, finds itself in a place where it needs to keep growing and remain relevant in view of the latest trends. Solutions like ChatGPT or MidJourney dominated internet chatter last year, but the main question is…What do we foresee in the MLOps space this year and where is the community of MLOps practitioners focusing their energy? Let’s first look back at 2022 and then explore expectations for 2023.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • AdafruitComposite PAL Video on an RPi Pico

        The RaspberryPi Pico can deliver gorgeous composite video!

      • AdafruitCircuit Playground Express Lo-fi Cap Touch Nintendo Controller Tutorial

        This excellent Physical Computing lesson series from the University of Washington includes a section on learning to use capacitive touch on Circuit Playground Express using MakeCode.

        The Making a Lo-fi Capacitive Touch Nintendo Controller project looks great, and includes instructions on building a large paper, cardboard, and conductive tape/foil NES controller.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Make Use OfYou Don't Trust Open-Source Software? 6 Reasons Why You Should

      Open-source software is usually free. But is free software better than proprietary? Here are some reasons why you should trust open-source software.

      You might feel hesitant to use free and open-source software, especially since so much of the code comes from volunteers. In most areas of our lives, having a product come from a reputable company is a plus. It’s how you trust that something is well-made.

      Why trust code from some volunteers over the high-quality software from the experts at Microsoft, Apple, and Google?

      As the tech giants have shown us, their software may be reliable, but it often comes with all sorts of tracking and other forms of exploitation. Open-source software is actually much safer to use, and here’s why.

    • Events

      • FSFEReady for FOSDEM 2023?

        FOSDEM 2023 is taking place in Brussels the first weekend of February. The FSFE team will be participating at the main Free Software convention in Europe with a booth and giving some keynotes. Are you going to be there? Come to our booth and do not miss our talks!

        After two years without the chance to meet in person and spend time talking with other Free Software friends -- and newcomers -- around our booth, we are almost there: FOSDEM is back as an “in situ” event.

        FOSDEM brings together thousands of Free Software enthusiasts for one weekend in Brussels to discuss current topics and developments in the Free Software world. This year we are back at the Université Libre de Bruxelles with our booth and several talks to encourage and raise awareness on wider issues that impact our movement. Networking is equally important. We have prepared social gatherings to get to know each other a bit better during the evenings in some informal venues.

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • Jamie Zawinskimozilla.org's 25th anniversary

          Big Tech layoffs are in the news, you say?

          On January 20th, 1998, Netscape laid off a lot of people. One of them would have been me, as my "department", such as it was, had been eliminated, but I ended up mometarily moving from "clienteng" over to the "website" division. For about 48 hours I thought that I might end up writing a webmail product or something.

          That, uh, didn't happen.

          At 8am on January 22, 1998, Netscape put out a press release announcing that the source code to the web browser would be released to the public at the end of March. This was the first that I had heard that this was even being considered.

        • LWNZawinski: mozilla.org's 25th anniversary [LWN.net]

          Jamie Zawinski reminds us that the 25th anniversary of the Netscape open-source announcement — a crucial moment in free-software history — has just passed.

        • Bleach 6.0.0 release and deprecation | Will's Blog

          Bleach is a Python library for sanitizing and linkifying text from untrusted sources for safe usage in HTML.

        • MozillaStart this year fresh with Mozilla’s tech challenge

          If you’ve already ditched your new year’s goals, we’re here to help. How about a refreshening of your online life with new habits and routines?

          Are there newsletters you don’t read anymore? Mobile apps you no longer use? Or social media platforms you’ve left (ahem, Twitter)? We want to help.

          We’ve put together a month-long challenge to refresh your online life. Each week, we’ll update this blog post with three easy tasks, all of which will take less than 10 minutes to complete. We want to help you build healthy online habits, so you can spend 2023 with fewer worries and more time to enjoy the best of what the internet has to offer.

    • Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

      • Community Member Monday: Afshin Falatooni - The Document Foundation Blog

        Today we’re talking to Afshin Falatooni, from the Persian-speaking LibreOffice community!

        [...]

        I write regularly on the Persian LibreOffice blog. My goal is to provide educational contents around LibreOffice there. Additionally, if I find a bug that is either directly or indirectly related to Persian language, in addition to reporting it to Bugzilla with the necessary screenshots and documents, I post it to the blog to make others aware of the important bugs.

        We also have a Persian-speaking group in Telegram, where I answer questions as far as I can, alongside the other admin of the group.

        Many years ago, I added a large collection of Persian words to OpenOffice.org project, which were likely to be written incorrectly. Using that word list, the Persian language was added as part of the OpenOffice.org auto-correction feature. The word bank continues to exist in LibreOffice, and is useful for the Persian speaking users.

    • GNU Projects

      • GNUtexinfo - GNU documentation system - News: Texinfo 7.0.2 released [Savannah]

        We have released version 7.0.2 of Texinfo, the GNU documentation format. This is a minor bug-fix release. It's available via a mirror (xz is much smaller than gz, but gz is available too just in case): http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/texinfo/texinfo-7.0.2.tar.xz http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/texinfo/texinfo-7.0.2.tar.gz

      • GNUMeet Guix at FOSDEM

        GNU Guix will be present at FOSDEM next week, February 4th and 5th. This is the first time since the pandemic that FOSDEM takes place again “in the flesh” in Brussels, which is exciting to those of us lucky enough to get there! Everything will be live-streamed and recorded thanks to the amazing FOSDEM crew, so everyone can enjoy wherever they are; some of the talks this year will be “remote” too: pre-recorded videos followed by live Q&A sessions with the speaker.

    • Programming/Development

      • Razor Agile – a GIT Integrated Software Development Solution for Windows or Linux

        Razor uses GIT to store revisions of issues, files, and baseline history. MariaDB is used to store (settings, configuration, user information, encryption profile, license, etc.). Open-Source and Spawned from MySQL. Runs in a VMware Virtual Machine.

      • QtProduct Analytics With Qt Insight – Make Business Decisions Based on Real Usage Data [Ed: Qt went proprietary; now it promotes telemetry (surveillance)]

        How are critical product-related decisions made at your company? Whilst other areas of business may rely on years of experience, generic data gathered on the way, or even competitor analysis, digging deeper into how your products or digital solutions perform is required in order to optimize the product development lifecycle. Without an understanding of user flows, customer pain points, or the elements going unused, the product development lifecycle can't be fully optimised, leading to wasted time and resources. Sure, you can always conduct endless feedback loops and research surveys, or even interview your customers to understand how they feel about your products, but the results may not be providing you with an unbiased view – not to mention the time it takes to commit to overseeing qualitative research.

      • Perl / Raku

        • Rakulang2023.04 Thank you, JJ - Rakudo Weekly News

          JJ Merelo has been very active for the Perl and Raku communities for many years. Organizer of the YAPC::Europe in Granada, giving many Raku presentations, working on the Raku documentation, and a regular helper at FOSDEM. The past years, also as a Raku Steering Council member and the Raku Community Affairs Team. Earlier last year, JJ indicated that the Raku activities became too much, with all the other tasks JJ was performing.

      • Python

        • AdafruitThe Python on Hardware Newsletter: join for free
        • Adafruit400 CircuitPython Libraries!

          The CircuitPython community reached a big milestone together! There are 400 CircuitPython Libraries!

          The CircuitPython Library Bundle and Community Library Bundle contain all the current libraries available for CircuitPython. CircuitPython libraries are separate files designed to work with CircuitPython code. CircuitPython programs require a lot of information to run.

  • Leftovers

    • Andrea Corbellini: What time is it? A simple question with a complex answer. How computers synchronize time

      ver wondered how your computer or your phone displays the current date and time accurately? What keeps all the devices in the world (and in space) in agreement on what time it is? What makes applications that require precise timing possible?

      In this article, I will explain some of the challenges with time synchronization and explore two of the most popular protocols that devices use to keep their time in sync: the Network Time Protocol (NTP) and the Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

    • Hardware

      • CNX SoftwareFanless Alder Lake network appliance comes with six 2.5GbE interfaces - CNX Software [Ed: "Windows 11 Pro apparently preinstalled on the system", so why does CNX cover this?]

        The design looks very similar to another white brand fanless network appliance with six 2.5GbE ports and an Intel Gemini Lake processor that we covered last year. Besides the faster processor, the new system replaces i225-V controllers with i226-V controllers, some of the USB ports have been upgraded to “USB 3.2”, and DisplayPort output was added for dual display setups.

      • CNX SoftwareStoraxa is a 3-in-1 5-bay NAS, WiFi 6 router, and 4K media center (Crowdfunding) - CNX Software

        It’s unclear to me what are the advantages of having SSD drives in the Storaxa, as one of the advantages of SSD-based NAS like the QNAP TBS-464 and upcoming TBS-574X is their thin design, but it’s obviously not the case here. QNAP says the TBS-574X will also be suitable for real-time 4K video production and business IT applications, so maybe the SSDs may help here too although the Intel Celeron N6005 used in the Storaxa will not be quite as powerful as the Intel Core i3-1220P 10-core Alder Lake-P processor found in the QNAP NAS.

    • Pseudo-Open Source

    • Security

      • Wladimir PalantBitwarden design flaw: Server side iterations | Almost Secure

        In the aftermath of the LastPass breach it became increasingly clear that LastPass didn’t protect their users as well as they should have. When people started looking for alternatives, two favorites emerged: 1Password and Bitwarden. But do these do a better job at protecting sensitive data?

        For 1Password, this question could be answered fairly easily. The secret key functionality decreases usability, requiring the secret key to be moved to each new device used with the account. But the fact that this random value is required to decrypt the data means that the encrypted data on 1Password servers is almost useless to potential attackers. It cannot be decrypted even for weak master passwords.

        As to Bitwarden, the media mostly repeated their claim that the data is protected with 200,001 PBKDF2 iterations: 100,001 iterations on the client side and another 100,000 on the server. This being twice the default protection offered by LastPass, it doesn’t sound too bad. Except: as it turns out, the server-side iterations are designed in such a way that they don’t offer any security benefit. What remains are 100,000 iterations performed on the client side, essentially the same protection level as for LastPass.

      • Bruce SchneierNo-Fly List Exposed - Schneier on Security

        I can’t remember the last time I thought about the US no-fly list: the list of people so dangerous they should never be allowed to fly on an airplane, yet so innocent that we can’t arrest them. Back when I thought about it a lot, I realized that the TSA’s practice of giving it to every airline meant that it was not well protected, and it certainly ended up in the hands of every major government that wanted it.

        The list is back in the news today, having been left exposed on an insecure airline computer. (The airline is CommuteAir, a company so obscure that I’ve never heard of it before.)

        This is, of course, the problem with having to give a copy of your secret list to lots of people.

      • LWNSecurity updates for Monday [LWN.net]
      • USCERTCISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Catalog | CISA [Ed: "Multiple Zoho ManageEngine products contain an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability due to the usage of an outdated third-party dependency, Apache Santuario."]

        CISA has added one new vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. This type of vulnerability is a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and poses a significant risk to the federal enterprise. Note: To view the newly added vulnerabilities in the catalog, click on the arrow in the "Date Added to Catalog" column, which will sort by descending dates.

      • LinuxSecurityHow to Check if Your Linux System is Infected with a Virus | LinuxS...

        Linux is undoubtedly the best open-source operating system, and is arguably the most secure OS by design. Most computers these days are Linux-based. Android OS, which is the most commonly used mobile operating system, is also Linux-based. The same goes for Chromebooks and a variety of tablets.

      • Bleeping ComputerHackers now use Microsoft OneNote attachments to spread malware
      • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • AdafruitHome security drone [Ed: Surveillance gadgets for Bezos and the cops. And YOU PAY FOR IT.]

          A couple weeks back at CES 2023 Ring showed off a prototype drone that would surveil your home. While the idea is super neat it doesn’t sound the most practical for security, maybe if you tie a sheet to it you could scare the burglars away

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Michael West MediaMurdoch’s wailing old white man scribes get Jacinda Ardern dead wrong, again - Michael West

        As the world is thanking Jacinda Ardern profoundly for her 14 years in New Zealand’s Parliament and more than five as prime minister, a large number of white male scribes have joined in a frenzy of extraordinarily bitter attacks. Alan Austin reports on her economic performance.

        Jacinda Ardern announced on Thursday her intention to retire from the prime ministership in February and from the parliament at the October election. Condemnations from the conservative media are remarkably fact-free.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • Notice in Lumen reveals Indian Government’s attempt to remove references to BBC’s documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’

        A notice contributed to Lumen by Twitter as a part of Twitter’s transparency efforts revealed that on January 21, 2023, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting sent Twitter an online content blocking order requiring the removal of fifty tweets that discuss ‘India: The Modi Question’, BBC’s recent documentary critical of PM Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat communal riots, where more than 1000 people were killed. Twitter has withheld the tweets in India in response to this request. The order includes tweets made by multiple members of the Indian Parliament, journalists and news channels.

        The legal justification for the blocking order is Rule 16 of the recently enacted Information Technology Rule, 2021. Under Rule 16, in situations where “no delay is acceptable”, an Authorised Officer can examine content and submit a written recommendation to the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who enjoys the unilateral power of providing mandates to online platforms to remove content. The Mumbai and Madras High Courts in India have in the past noted that parts of the IT Rules ‘threaten independence of media’ and violate freedom of speech.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Politics

      • The Limit of Compound Interest

        A common point of focus for analysis and finance students is the question of continual compound interest: how will a principal amount grow if an arbitrarily-small amount of compound interest in applied arbitrarily frequently? At the core of this question is the limit...

    • Technical

      • Hey, hey, 2FA

        In which I talk about the problems with suddenly not being able to do 2FA in the modern world.

        I woke up this morning and as usual, checked the time on my phone by the bedside. Blank - ah - didn't take a charge overnight, perhaps. Unfortunately not so, the phone is dead. Either it won't take a charge through a cable and the wireless charger, or the on/off button is broken, or the battery is kaput, or ... let's face it, it's dead.

      • Home Automation and Zigbee

        So I've been dabbling a little in home automation this week.

        Ever had to signal your SO by flashing on and off the sofa light because you're stuck outside in the cold since you forgot your keys, and she's not answering the phone?

        Until yesterday, this was not something I'd have had to do, but I've crossed this threshold now in the relationship and I expect full retribution sometime later when I'm seemingly home alone.


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



Recent Techrights' Posts

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Links for the day
The Company Run by Former (and Last Proper) Red Hat CEO, Promoting Microsoft Mono, Faces Shock as Senior Partner Jailed for 33 Sexual Offenses Including Pedophilia
"As reported by The Oxford Mail in April 2025, the offenses include rape, sexual assault, engaging in non-penetrative activity with a child, and more."
Microsoft Lost 29% of Windows Users, Based on Microsoft, Now Come Massive Layoffs
Microsoft collapse is today
Slopwatch: Google Serves to People Linux Slop and Linux FUD (Made by Bots)
"Slopwatch" finds it difficult to ignore Google's role in encouraging LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 01, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 01, 2025
"Wayland People" Behave Like the Googles and Microsofts of This World
Published yesterday by Igor Ljubuncic
Gemini Links 02/07/2025: Arch Linux and Fulfillment in Gemini
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2025: "Independence Day in Taiwan", Bounties on Software Patents
Links for the day
What Happens When Your Law Firm is Preoccupied With Harassing and Trying to Extort a Humble Couple in Manchester, Even on Behalf of Violent Microsoft Staff From Another Continent
It's good to see that law firms which operate in bad faith are perishing
Lawyer X, Law Firm X and Elon Musk's X: scandals linked by Old Xaverian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Distraction-Free Writing and Hytale Mismanagement
Links for the day
Links 01/07/2025: "Beauty of Blogging" and "Etiquette of Collapse"
Links for the day
Microsoft Uses LLM Slop to Defraud (or Rob) Shareholders
Microsoft is basically defrauding its shareholders by LLM slop
The Web is a Dead End
We need to adopt alternatives
When Words Lose Their Intended Meaning
examples of words that, at least in the technical spheres, don't mean what they sound like
People Who Disagree With You on Technical Matters May or May Not Agree With You on Political Things (But Usually They Do)
What bothers me a great deal is seeing left-leaning people accusing other left-leaning people of being "nazis"
"Too Much Choice" and "Too Many Programming Languages"
What IBM and its apologists aim for was attempted in the 1930s and it failed
Microsoft Lost 400,000,000 Windows Users, According to Microsoft
more people adopt smaller computers and many people replace Windows with GNU/Linux, as they don't really need a new computer
The "Davos Effect": Tarnishing the Reputation of Places Not by Overtourism But by Oligarch Infestation
The last Venice needs is an affiliation with Venetian oligarchs
Half a Year Gone, What's to Come Next
In the second half of 2025 we expect to be done with the Microsoft SLAPPs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 30, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 30, 2025
People at the Very Top of Microsoft Know How Bad Things Really Are
There's no product that can replace the former profitability of Windows licensing and stuff that went on top of Windows
Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Mid Year and a Tour of Old Languages
Links for the day
EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
Links for the day
Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
Links for the day
Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
Intel Lays Off 20% of Its Workforce, Microsoft is Doing the Same This Year
Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
GNU/Linux Rises to New Highs in Angola, Africa in General is Abandoning Windows
Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
massive layoffs at Microsoft
Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
GNU/Linux Growing in Sierra Leone This Year
Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
Links for the day