Distributions and Operating Systems

• Fedora Family / IBM

  • Red Hat Official ☛ Succeeding with new technology: Breaking down adoption barriers

    Technology adoption is a key factor for achieving business goals and maximizing value, but many organizations face challenges when introducing or upgrading technology. In a previous blog post, I identified four common barriers to adoption. In this post, I'll provide a practical guide to overcome these barriers.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Content Management Systems (CMS)

  • Kev Quirk ☛ Migrating This Blog to Kirby

    Yes, that's right dear reader, this site has gone through yet another change - it's now based on Kirby and I think I've finally found my blogging utopia.

    Most regular readers will know that I struggle to stick with a single blogging platform. This is because I'm always on the hunt for something better, and I really enjoy learning new tools.

• Programming/Development

  • Rust

    • Niko Matsakis: Easing tradeoffs with profiles

      Rust helps you to build reliable programs. One of the ways it does that is by surfacing things to your attention that you really ought to care about. A classic example is the way we handle errors with Result: if some operation can fail, you can’t, ahem, fail to recognize that, because you have to account for the error case. And yet often the kinds of things you care about depend on the kind of application you are building. A classic example is memory allocation, which for many Rust apps is No Big Deal, but for others is something to be done carefully, and for still others is completely verboten. But this pattern crops up a lot. I’ve heard and like the framing of designing for “what do you have to pay attention to” – Rust currently aims for a balance that errs on the side of paying attention to more things, but tries to make them easy to manage. But this post is about a speculative idea of how we could do better than that by allowing programs to declare a profile.

      Profiles declare what you want to pay attention to

      The core idea is pretty simple. A profile would be declared, I think, in the Cargo.toml. Profiles would never change the semantics of your Rust code. You could always copy and paste code between Rust projects with different profiles and things would work the same. But it would adjust lint settings and errors. So if you copy code from a more lenient profile into your more stringent project, you might find that it gets warnings or errors it didn’t get before.

Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ FedEx Robot Solves Complex Packing Problems

  Despite the fact that it constantly seems like we’re in the midst of a robotics- and artificial intelligence-driven revolution, there are a number of tasks that continue to elude even the best machine learning algorithms and robots. The clothing industry is an excellent example, where the flimsy materials can easily trip up robotic manipulators. But one task like this that seems like it might soon be solve is packing cargo into trucks, as FedEx is trying to do with one of their new robots.

• Science

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Programmable DNA Offers Way to Accelerated General-Purpose Computing

    If humanity's future doesn't lie solely on semiconductor-based computing, DNA-based computing could provide immense cold storage capability. But there's also value to be extracted from DNA as a general-purpose processor.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia Outlines Jensen 'Huang's Law' of Computing

    Huang's Law for GPU performance has delivered 1000x improvements in the last decade and is chiefly driven by ingenuity, says Nvidia's Chief Scientist.

• Education

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Students learn through video games in the classroom

    Gaming in the classroom is uncommon.   Many students go to class and watch teachers present a PowerPoint presentation of the chapter they are covering.

  • New York Times ☛ The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers

    When Francesca Gino, a rising academic star, was accused of falsifying data — about how to stop dishonesty — it didn’t just torch her career. It inflamed a crisis in behavioral science.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Hackaday Prize 2023: Automated Shuttle Launcher Enables Solo Badminton Practice

    If you want to get better at your favorite sport, there’s really no substitute to putting in more training hours. For solo activities like running or cycling that’s simple enough: the only limit to your training time is your own endurance. But if you’re into games that require a partner, their availability is another limiting factor. So what’s a badminton enthusiast like [Peter Sinclair] to do, when they don’t have a club nearby? Build a badminton training robot, of course.

  • Hackaday ☛ Building A Human-Sized Pop-Pop Boat

    Pop-pop boats are a neat little science teaching tool that many children end up playing with at some point or other. They’re normally sized to float around a sink or bathtub. [Steve Mould] recently got the opportunity to board a much larger example,  sized for an actual human passenger.

  • Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: Where's my hard drive?

    This is the fourth in a series of Friday Tales From Tech Support. Some stories from the past featuring broken computers and even more broken tech support operatives - mostly me.

  • CNX Software ☛ PALMSHELL NeXT H2 SBC and micro server offers 10GbE for $199 and up

    PALMSHELL NeXT H2 is an affordable AMD Ryzen Embedded R1505G-powered micro server, also available as an SBC for developers, that features two 10GbE SFP+ cages and one 2.5GbE RJ45 port, as well as expansion sockets for wireless connectivity.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Blizzard Fires 10 Members from Its Hearthstone Team

    The team of Hearthstone at Blizzard Entertainment is reported to have 10 employees laid off. 2023 has been a good year for gamers with several major titles having been released this year and many more coming out this Fall and Winter, but that hasn’t kept the gaming industry away from layoffs. So far this year, Microsoft and Meta laid off 10,000 employees while EA laid off 1,000 employees, and CD Projekt RED laid off 30 employees.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘It’s impossible to organise a large-scale march now’: Hong Kong police step up surveillance to ‘tame’ activists

      By Xinqi Su Hong Kong unionist Joe Wong had applied for permission to hold a Labour Day march, but cancelled his request to police in an abrupt U-turn after he briefly went missing.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Democracy Now ☛ Fearing Ethnic Cleansing, 90,000 Armenians Flee Nagorno-Karabakh After Azerbaijan Military Blitz

    The government of Nagorno-Karabakh is dissolving itself after decades of struggle for autonomy from Azerbaijan, just days after Azerbaijani forces carried out a military blitz to seize the breakaway region, which has a majority of ethnic Armenians. More than half the territory’s 120,000 people have reportedly fled to Armenia, while thousands more remain without food, shelter and clean drinking water. “Basically, this is ethnic cleansing,” says Roubina Margossian, managing editor of EVN Report, an independent media outlet based in Armenia. “This is the victory of a dictatorship over a democracy.”

  • Meduza ☛ Armenia asks top U.N. court to order Azerbaijan to withdraw troops from civilian areas of Nagorno-Karabakh — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ Nearly 100K ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia since Baku’s assault on unrecognized Artsakh Republic in Nagorno-Karabakh — Meduza

  • The Straits Times ☛ Death toll from Pakistan blast rises to 59 as minister blames India

    The death toll from a large blast at a mosque in Pakistan rose to 59 on Saturday as the government vowed to find the perpetrators and accused India's intelligence agency of being involved.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Nazi Veteran Honored in Canada Was Part of Wave of Collaborators Harbored in West: Lev Golinkin

    Poland says it’s preparing to seek the extradition of a 98-year-old Ukrainian Nazi after he received a standing ovation in the Canadian House of Commons last week following a speech by visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka was invited by the speaker of the House, who has since resigned his post, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized for the episode on Wednesday. Hunka fought during World War II with a Nazi unit composed of Ukrainian volunteers who were involved in numerous atrocities, including massacres of Jewish civilians. But Hunka is not an outlier, according to Ukrainian American journalist Lev Golinkin, who says Canada took in many Ukrainian Nazi collaborators after the war. That includes the grandfather of Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who spent years painting him as a victim rather than the Nazi propagandist he was. “Of course Hunka didn’t think anything would happen, because you had the deputy prime minister who was caught whitewashing a Nazi collaborator, and nothing happened,” says Golinkin.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Top Cuban Diplomat Seeks Probe of D.C. Embassy Attack & End to “Unbearable” U.S. Sanctions

    Cuba has released footage showing an individual throwing two Molotov cocktails inside the Cuban Embassy compound in Washington, D.C., last Sunday, condemning it as a terrorist attack. An investigation is underway, but no arrests have been made. Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío says the country is demanding a speedy investigation, adding that it is the latest in a series of attacks against Cuban diplomatic missions in recent years. Meanwhile, international pressure continues to grow for the Biden administration to lift the embargo on Cuba and remove it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. “Cuba’s relationship with terrorism is as a victim,” Fernández de Cossío says of the terror designation. “The reason is not very clear to us, beyond the wish of trying to make life as unbearable as possible for the people of Cuba as a way of trying to extract from Cuba political concessions.”

  • France24 ☛ How Russia is recruiting Cuban mercenaries

    Pro-Ukrainian hackers posted images of the passports of 192 people on September 6 – all Cuban except for one Colombian – on Telegram. They also posted documents showing that these men had been recruited by a Russian army officer to fight for the Russian Army in Ukraine. The FRANCE 24 Observers team exchanged messages with two of these recruits, who said that they had agreed to fight for the Russians for financial reasons.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ On Anniversary of Illegal Annexation, Russia Strikes Ukrainian Region It Claims as Its Own

      As little territory changes hands on the battlefield, President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine both signal that they are prepared to keep fighting.

    • RFERL ☛ Top EU Diplomat Visits Odesa, Calls Russian Attacks On Ukrainian Port City 'Barbaric'

      EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited the embattled Ukrainian port city of Odesa on the Black Sea on September 30, lamenting that is has been in the news not because of its beauty and historical significance but because it has been targeted by Russian missile and drone attacks.

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky announces Defense Industries Alliance, companies from 19 countries have already joined — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ On annexation anniversary, Medvedev says ‘there will be more new regions within Russia’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘He wanted to belong there’: American journalist Evan Gershkovich has spent six months behind bars in the country his parents fled 38 years ago — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Putin signs executive order to conscript 130K into Russian army this fall, in seasonal conscription drive — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A popular theory with little evidence: Several Georgian doctors have linked the country’s recent HIV spike to migration from Russia and Ukraine. What does the data show? — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Putin gives speech on anniversary of annexation of Ukrainian regions, says referendums were ‘in full compliance with international norms’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Ukrainian assault units make use of the ‘Surovikin line’ and trenches dug by Russian troops last year Here’s what’s happening at the front as Ukraine’s summer offensive draws to a close — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘One country, one family, one Russia’: Live concert in Moscow’s Red Square celebrates anniversary of last year’s annexations — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s Big Data Association refuses to back regulation bill that would give law enforcement access to users’ personal data on corporate servers — Meduza

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Can US Abrams tanks help Ukraine achieve a battlefield breakthrough?

      The first US M1 Abrams tanks arrived in Ukraine in late September, writes Olivia Yanchik. Will these American tanks help Ukraine to achieve a breakthrough against Vladimir Putin's deeply entrenched Russian invasion force?

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine seeks to attract arms manufacturers in bid to boost local production

      Ukraine is looking to expand its domestic arms production as Kyiv hosts its first International Defence Industries Forum. Speaking at the opening on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv aims to develop defence production in cooperation with global industry leaders. Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday marked the anniversary of the annexation of Ukrainian regions.

    • RFERL ☛ Putin, Medvedev Combine Spin With Threats On Anniversary Of Unilateral Annexations In Ukraine

      President Vladimir Putin and his lockstep deputy chairman of the federal Security Council Dmitry Medvedev issued separate statements on September 30 aimed at whitewashing the unrecognized annexation one year ago of four regions of Ukraine and seemingly threatening another land grab.

    • teleSUR ☛ Russia Advocates Strong, Independent Latin America -Putin

      The conference will last until Monday and will feature multiple panels and roundtables on various international issues.

    • France24 ☛ Slovakia votes in elections threatening Western unity on Ukraine

      Slovaks started voting on Saturday in a parliamentary election closely fought between former leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has pledged to end military aid for neighbouring Ukraine, and pro-Western liberals.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Unveils Defense Industries Alliance To Boost Military Manufacturing Might

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced the creation of a Defense Industries Alliance to manufacture weapons in his country and underscore its commitment to developing a modern defense industry as Russia's ongoing 19-month-long full-scale invasion grinds on.

    • RFERL ☛ Romania Issues Another Airspace Alert Amid Russian Attacks On Ukraine's Danube Region

      Romania's National Defense Ministry said on September 30 that an army surveillance system had detected a "possible unauthorized entry into national airspace" overnight around Galati.

    • RFERL ☛ Slovaks Choose Between Pro-Russian Ex-PM Fico And Pro-Western Liberals

      Slovaks have begun voting in parliamentary elections that are being closely fought between former leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has pledged to end military aid for neighboring Ukraine, and pro-Western liberals.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says Its Forces Repelled Attacks, Inflicted Losses On Enemy Across Front Line

      Ukrainian forces repelled attacks by Russian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions, fighting 24 combat clashes on the front, the General Staff said on September 30.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine’s War of Drones Runs Into an Obstacle: China

      As the war with Russia stretches on, so too does a contest to make more and deadlier flying machines. That means a fight over global electronics supply chains that run through China.

    • New York Times ☛ Slovakia’s Election Could Echo in Ukraine. Here’s What to Expect.

      A leader who has railed against NATO and sanctions on Russia appears poised for a strong showing. That could threaten Europe’s unity on support for Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Russian and Belarus Paralympians to compete at Paris 2024

      Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 under a neutral flag after officials voted on Friday against an outright ban.

    • JURIST ☛ Norway announces ban on Russian passenger cars in line with EU sanctions

      The Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday that there will be a ban on Russian-registered passenger vehicles starting in the upcoming weeks.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Senators Demand Russia Free 'Wrongfully Detained' Americans Gershkovich And Whelan

      The bipartisan leadership of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee has led the introduction of a call by 27 senators for the immediate release by Russian authorities of journalist Evan Gershkovich, who they say has been "wrongfully detained in Russia for merely doing his job."

    • JURIST ☛ Former Belarusian SOBR member acquitted in landmark Swiss trial

      On Thursday, former Belarusian military SOBR member Yuri Harauski was acquitted of charges of enforced disappearance in a decision made by the Swiss District Court of Rorschach.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Techdirt ☛ Feds Probing Tesla For Lying About EV Ranges, Bullshitting Customers Who Complained

      Back in July, Reuters released a bombshell report documenting how Tesla not only spent a decade falsely inflating the range of their EVs, but created teams dedicated to bullshitting Tesla customers who called in to complain about it. If you recall, Reuters noted how these teams would have a little, adorable party every time they got a pissed off user to cancel a scheduled service call. Usually by lying to them:

• Finance

  • RFERL ☛ Public Administration Employees In Republika Srpska Demand Pay Rise

    Six unions representing public administration employees, including in health care, internal affairs, and justice, protested on September 29 in Bosnia-Herzegovina demanding a salary increase from the government of the Republika Srpska entity.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Nation ☛ You Made Your Bed, My Kevin. Now Toss and Turn in It.

    “I never give up,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters Thursday morning, writing off the likelihood of a Republican-driven government shutdown. He repeated it on Friday. McCarthy never gives up, all right—never gives up on trying to placate the wing nuts in the GOP caucus, in order to hold on to his office at the expense of the country.

  • France24 ☛ US Congress scrambles to avoid impending government shutdown as House passes bipartisan bill

    Last-gasp moves to prevent a US government shutdown took a dramatic step forward Saturday, as Democrats overwhelmingly backed an eleventh-hour Republican measure to keep federal funding going for 45 days, albeit with a freeze on aid to Ukraine.

  • Federal News Network ☛ On the brink of a federal shutdown, the House passes a 45-day funding plan and sends it to Senate

    On the brink of a federal government shutdown, the House has swiftly approved a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open. House passage came after Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped plans for steep spending cut and relied on Democratic help. The measure now goes to the Senate, which also is meeting Saturday. The bill drops aid for Ukraine but adds U.S. disaster assistance. Without a deal in place by midnight, millions of federal workers will face furloughs and programs and services that Americans rely on will begin to face disruptions. Senators are expected to pass it later Saturday. House passage came on a 335-91 vote, with most Republicans and almost all Democrats supporting the bill.

  • RFA ☛ US condemns China for Uyghur scholar’s life sentence

    Rahile Dawut was targeted for her work to protect and preserve Uyghur culture, State Department says.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says US 'empire of lies', rejects State disinformation report

    A State Department report claimed Beijing spends billions of dollars to spread disinformation globally.

  • RFA ☛ Zoned out: China-Myanmar Economic Corridor still going nowhere

    Min Aung Hlaing hopes big projects will enmesh China in Myanmar, forcing Beijing to underwrite the junta.

  • France24 ☛ Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency

    Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday's presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago's relationship with traditional benefactor India.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pro-China candidate wins presidential vote in Maldives

    October 01, 2023 12:03 AM
    
    

    Mohamed Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation.

  • New York Times ☛ In Maldives Election, Mohamed Muizzu Defeats President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

    Mohamed Muizzu, the mayor of the capital city pushing for closer ties with China, won a runoff against the pro-India incumbent, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Worrying Democratic Erosions in South Korea

    In recent months, authorities have raided offices of press outlets publishing critical reports on President Yoon Suk-yeol.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Techdirt ☛ Let’s Go! Supreme Court Grants Cert To Hear Cases About Social Media Moderation Laws In Florida & Texas

    This isn’t exactly a surprise. Everyone has expected this pretty much from about the time that Ron DeSantis insisted he had a plan to regulate social media, but it got delayed by a year, because it seemed that the Supreme Court just didn’t want to deal with it yet, and punted by asking the White House to weigh in. And weigh in they did, telling the Court to take the case, but not all of it. And that’s now what the Supreme Court has done, agreeing to hear the NetChoice/CCIA challenges to Florida and Texas’s laws regulating social media moderation.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Techdirt ☛ Ohio Cops Respond To Online Sexual Exploitation Report By Offering To Arrest The 11-Year-Old Victim

    The most cynical take on this period of historic lows in US crime rates isn’t that we’ve locked up so many people that most crime now takes place in prisons where no one cares (or tabulates) how many criminal acts are still being committed.

  • Techdirt ☛ NLRB Files Complaint Against Ridiculously Overbroad Non-Compete As An Unfair Labor Practice

    We’ve been on this soapbox for over 15 years now. There are reams upon reams of evidence that the single greatest reason why California became the innovation hub that it became (in both Silicon Valley and Hollywood) was because it effectively outlawed non-compete agreements in the late 19th century. I have long been a vocal advocate for outlawing all non-compete agreements. The benefit is clear and the data is unquestionable. Non-competes are not just a tax on labor, it’s a huge and damaging tax on innovation.

  • Techdirt ☛ Court: Apparently Vindictive Detainment And Strip Search Are, Yep, Constitutional Violations

    You can be a law enforcement officer without being a complete asshole. I know it rarely seems to be the case, but it’s completely possible to command respect while still treating others with respect. And while assholery tends to go hand-in-hand with enforcing the law far too often, the end result of being vindictive and rude is almost always a handful of violated rights.

  • New York Times ☛ Police Investigate About 100 Suicides Linked To Canadian Man

    The Canadian police charged Kenneth Law with aiding 14 suicides, including that of Ashtyn Prosser, and 88 other deaths are being reviewed by Britain’s National Crime Agency.

  • teleSUR ☛ UAW Expands Strike to GM and Ford SUV Plants

    This way the total number of UAW members on strike at the three automakers will reach more than 25,000.

  • YLE ☛ Poll reveals gender split over restrictions on right to strike

    A political historian told Uutissuomalainen that men in Finland tend to be more right-leaning politically.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Federal agency sues Chipotle after a Kansas manager allegedly ripped off an employee’s hijab

    A federal agency has sued Chipotle, accusing it of religious harassment and retaliation. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in its lawsuit that a manager at a Chipotle restaurant in Kansas forcibly removed a Muslim employee's hijab in 2021. The complaint alleges that the manager repeatedly harassed the employee by asking her to show him her hair, despite her refusal. The lawsuit claims this created a hostile working environment based on religion.

• Monopolies

  • Copyrights

    • Off Guardian ☛ Figuring Out Their Angle

      A federal law was recently passed in Canada called the Online News Act, or Bill C-18. Basically, this bill stops major online giants such as Google or Facebook (Meta) from posting news articles or links from any source deemed a “news outlet.”