GNU/Linux

• Desktop/Laptop

  • Embracing the Power and Versatility of Linux: A Comprehensive Exploration of Its Benefits

    The Linux community is a vibrant and supportive ecosystem, characterized by its inclusivity and knowledge sharing. Countless forums, mailing lists, and online communities provide platforms for users to seek assistance, exchange ideas, and collaborate on projects. The community's collective expertise serves as a valuable resource for both beginners and experienced users alike. This strong community support fosters a sense of camaraderie among Linux users, empowering individuals to overcome challenges and learn from each other's experiences.

  • Open VFS Framework for the free Desktop

    A few days ago Volker Krause posted this blog about the Nextcloud conference - a very interesting read.

    One of the topics is the VFS (Virtual Filesystem-) API for the Linux desktop. Indeed that is a topic for us at ownCloud as well, and I like to share our perspective on it, discussing it in the scope of the free desktop.

• Instructionals/Technical

• WINE or Emulation

  • CodeWeavers CrossOver 23.5 for macOS Linux and ChromeOS has been released

    This release offers an alternate way to run DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 games through CrossOver, using components from the Apple game porting toolkit. It can be enabled by toggling on “D3DMetal” in the right bottle sidebar.

Distributions and Operating Systems

• Barry Kauler ☛ devx SFS fixed

  Oh that was dumb. The devx SFS file in Easy 5.5.3 is broken. Fixed, see commit in woofQ: [...]

• SUSE/OpenSUSE

  • SUSE's Corporate Blog ☛ It’s a New Dawn for SUSE Manager

    Announcing SUMA PAYG for AWS   SUSE Manager (SUMA) has been a part of the SUSE Business for a very long time.  From its humble beginnings in the early 2000’s to its availability as a BYOS (Bring your own subscription) on AWS in 2021.  And there’s no wonder why. 

• Fedora Family / IBM

  • CentOS ☛ CentOS Newsletter, September 2023

    September 2023 Newsletter The board approved the Integration SIG to verify that products and services built on top of RHEL or CentOS Stream will continue to work on CentOS Stream and the next release of RHEL and will not break on package updates.

• Canonical/Ubuntu Family

  • Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu AI podcast: Understanding MLOps and Observability [Ed: Canonical is all about buzzwords and cargo cults now]

    The podcast Welcome to Ubuntu AI podcast! From fun experiments to enterprise projects, AI became the center of attention when it comes to innovation, digital transformation and optimisatation. Open source technologies democratised access to state of the art machine learning tools and opened doors for everyone ready to embark on their AI journey.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Programming/Development

  • Medevel ☛ 16 Open-source Laravel Administration and Backend Systems for Serious Developers

    Laravel is a popular PHP framework for building web applications. It provides a powerful backend infrastructure and control panel managers that allow developers to efficiently manage and control their application's data and functionality.

  • Nikhil Marathe ☛ Racket Beyond Languages

    Chris Krycho, a person I really respect, is learning Racket to build programming languages. Racket is generally slotted as a language to build languages. The popular books focus on Racket innovations related to constructing Domain Specific Languages. This include hygienic macros, the Racket loading and evaluation phases and the module system. While it is uniquely suited for creating languages 1, Racket is also a research vehicle for a large body of programming language research.

  • Mozilla ☛ Mozilla Localization (L10N): Localizer Spotlight: Meet Reza (Persian locale)

    The growing community of Persian users highlighted the need for a browser created by the people for the people. Thus, I began assisting the community in translating Firefox into Persian. Subsequently, we expanded our efforts to include other products like Firefox for phones.

    The entire endeavor with Mozilla was driven by volunteering and a strong motivation to provide safe and open-source tools to the community. Given the substantial Persian (Farsi) population of over 110 million people, ensuring their access to interactive and helpful tools became a significant priority. We also focused on addressing issues related to Mozilla extensions, particularly the text-reader (Readaloud), to assist individuals with visual disabilities.

    We discovered that a substantial number of people with visual impairments were utilizing Mozilla’s text-reader because it was one of the few free and open tools that catered to their specific needs. One day, I received an email from a Persian user with visual impairment, in which she highlighted the widespread utility of such tools for her and her friends. This instance made me realize that we needed to broaden our perspective beyond ordinary users, especially concerning localization, and emphasize accessibility as a key aspect of our work.

  • Evan Hahn ☛ Conditional Express middleware

    This post is written for people familiar with Express.js. It was last updated for Express version 4.18.2.

    Often, you want to use Express middleware for every request. For example, you want to log every time someone hits your server.

  • Porting Godot

    I just took the time to start porting the epic Mattemonster app to Godot 4.1, as Google thinks it is getting a bit too old.

    You can tell that the Godot developers have done a stellar job. Up until now I’ve just fiddled with Godot 4, so I haven’t really done anything proper in it – until today.

  • Python

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas DataFrame from CSV

      In Python, the “pandas.read_csv()” method of the “pandas” module is utilized to read CSV data and convert it into Pandas DataFrame.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Dataframe Transpose

      The “DataFrame.transpose()” method or the “DataFrame.T” attribute is utilized to transpose the DataFrame index and columns.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas DataFrame from Dict

      The “DataFrame.from_dict()” method in Python takes the dictionary object as an argument and retrieves the Pandas DataFrame.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Concatenate Two DataFrames

      The “pandas.concat()” method of the “pandas” module is used to concatenate two DataFrames objects along the axis such as rows and columns.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Columns to List

      The “Series.values.tolist()”, “list()” and “Square Bracket” notation methods are used to convert the Pandas columns into a list.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Fill NaN with 0

      In Python, the “df.fillna()”, “df.replace()” and the “df.apply()” methods are used to fill or replace the NA/NaN values with zeros.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Select Row by Value

      The “Comparison Operators”, “isin()”, “np.where()”, “df.apply()”, “df.loc[]” and “DataFrame.query()” methods are used to select a Pandas row by value.

  • Java

    • Red Hat ☛ How we solved a HotSpot performance puzzle

      Have you ever enabled a HotSpot Java virtual machine (JVM) debugging option and had performance drastically improved? Totally unexpected and confusing. We had that very problem during a JVM warm-up investigation, and this article will detail the steps, options, and tools used to get to the bottom of the issue. Hopefully our journey will help you better understand how to debug unexpected warm-up behavior.

  • Rust

    • Niko Matsakis: Polonius revisited, part 2

      In the previous Polonius post, we formulated the original borrow checker in a Polonius-like style. In this post, we are going to explore how we can extend that formulation to be flow-sensitive. In so doing, we will enable the original Polonius goals, but also overcome some of its shortcomings. I believe this formulation is also more amenable to efficient implementation. As I’ll cover at the end, though, I do find myself wondering if there’s still more room for improvement.

• Standards/Consortia

  • European Commission ☛ State aid: Commission approves modifications to Belgian capacity mechanism

    European Commission Press release Brussels, 29 Sep 2023 The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, modifications to the Belgian capacity mechanism to safeguard security of electricity supply.

Leftovers

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ CHIPS Act Tries to Keep Quantum Away From China

    The final version of the CHIPS and Science Act introduces clarified provisions regarding what technologies can't cross the US border toward those of a "foreign country of concern," and quantum is one of them.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Latvia ☛ Restaurants in Latvia report dire lack of workforce in summer

    For restaurants and bars during the summer season, when both domestic and foreign tourism increases, the workload is increasing significantly. Finding additional workforce is not easy, Latvian Radio reported on June 28.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • EuroGamer ☛ Epic Games is reportedly laying off around 900 employees | Eurogamer.net

    Epic has confirmed reports of widespread layoffs at the company...

  • Decrypt ☛ Fortnite Maker Epic Games Cuts 830 Staff as CEO Calls Layoffs 'Only Way' - Decrypt

    Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said the Fortnite studio is going through “a major structural change” due to tighter margins and new revenue models.

  • Bloomberg ☛ US FTC Revives Microsoft-Activision Deal Challenge

    The US Federal Trade Commission is continuing its challenge of Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard Inc., in yet another attempt to fight the deal even after it closes.

  • Cointelegraph ☛ French police raid Nvidia offices amid antitrust investigation: Report

    Nvidia, one of the global leaders in artificial intelligence (AI) chip production headquartered in California, reportedly faced a police raid in its French offices this week. The action came as a part of a general inquiry of French antitrust authorities into the cloud computing sector.

    The Wall Street Journal reported the raid on Sept. 28, although neither Nvidia nor the French enforcement agencies have officially commented on what happened.

  • Binance: the train wreck in slow motion?

    No doubt, when Binance CEO CZ took to Twitter in the early moments of the FTX failure last year, he felt that the crypto world was now his for the taking. Binance’s largest competitor was on the ropes, and the internet looked to be hanging on CZ’s every word. But alas, how the mighty have fallen.

    This year, Binance has been hit from all sides. Regulators have cracked down on the exchange, causing activity to plummet, and executives seem to be dropping like flies. The company’s handling of mass layoffs likely didn’t help their trajectory. Other exchanges are gaining on Binance and, while its lead is significant, pressure is mounting, its market dominance is dwindling.

  • Byju's To Layoff 4,000 Employees Amidst CEO Change

    Beleaguered edtech firm Byju's is planning to cut close to 4,000 of its employees' jobs in a huge restructuring exercise. The move comes after the appointment of new CEO Arjun Mohan.

    The layoffs will cover both permanent and contractual workers and are aimed at controlling high fixed costs on the company. The job cuts will also include senior executives, in order to reduce the company’s high cost of senior management-related costs, according to a report by M

  • The Verge ☛ Microsoft reportedly pitched Apple on buying Bing to no avail

    Executives from Microsoft and Apple met in 2020 to discuss a possible sale of Bing, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

  • New York Times ☛ What I’m Reading: Apples, Private Actors and Marina Abramovic

    A retrospective of the performance artist’s work at the Royal Academy of Arts in London captures boundaries being violently tested and redrawn.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: The surveillance advertising to financial fraud pipeline (29 Sept 2023)

      Of all the parenting mistakes I've made, none haunt me more than the times my daughter caught me watching her while she was learning to do something, discovered she was being observed in a vulnerable moment, and abandoned her attempt: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2014/may/09/cybersecurity-begins-with-integrity-not-surveillance It's hard to be your authentic self while you're under surveillance.

    • New York Times ☛ How Palantir Became a Front-Runner for the UK’s Multimillion-Dollar NHS Contract

      Palantir, the analytics company led by Peter Thiel, has courted N.H.S. England with pandemic help and assertive lobbying. Its big reward may be yet to come.

    • Security Week ☛ A Key US Government Surveillance Tool Should Face New Limits, a Divided Privacy Oversight Board Says

      A sharply divided privacy oversight board is recommending that the FBI and other agencies be required to get court approval before reviewing the communications of U.S. citizens collected through a secretive foreign surveillance program.

    • NYOB ☛ € 5,8 million fine for Grindr confirmed

      € 5,8 million fine for Grindr confirmed

      The Norwegian Privacy Appeals Board (Personvernnemnda) today announced that it upholds the Norwegian DPA’s fine of NOK 65 million (approximately € 5,8 million).

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFERL ☛ NATO Says It Will Send More Troops To Kosovo Amid Deteriorating Security Situation

    NATO on September 29 said it would beef up its KFOR peacekeeping Kosovo force amid rising tensions in the predominantly ethnic-Serb north.

  • BIA Net ☛ Turkey 'surrounded by terror threats,' according to National Security Council

    The statement after the meeting painted a picture of Turkey being surrounded by regional tensions and threats.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan says China knows armed threats to influence elections will backfire

    Taiwan will hold its next election in January 2024.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China launches first cross-sea bullet train line near Taiwan Strait

    China launched its first high-speed rail line that will travel across several bays and skim along the coast of the southeastern province of Fujian near the Taiwan Strait, state media reported on Thursday.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ [Old] NATO planes train over Latvia

      Latvian Television (LTV) reported June 27 on NATO training flights which have been taking place in Latvian and Baltic airspace in recent days.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky visits Babyn Yar site to mark 82nd anniversary of Jewish massacre

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday visited the site of the Babyn Yar massacre to mark the 82nd anniversary of one of the largest mass murders of Jews in the Holocaust. His visit came as Russian President Vladimir Putin met Andrei Troshev, formerly a top Wagner mercenary commander, and tasked him with overseeing volunteer fighter units in Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement.

    • RFERL ☛ Kremlin Tasks Senior Ex-Wagner Commander With Forming Volunteer Corps

      The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with Andrei Troshev, the former chief of staff of the Wagner mercenary group, and handed him the responsibility for establishing new volunteer fighting units.

    • YLE ☛ Russian-owned cars gather dust at Helsinki Airport

      The Finnish government has given the owners of Russian-registered vehicles six months to get their cars out of Finland.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine War: Putin Meets With Former Wagner Deputy as Questions Linger

      The Russian leader asked a founding member of the mercenary group to set up volunteer units of fighters to carry out combat missions in the war.

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Meets With Former Wagner Deputy Troshev

      The Russian leader assigned Andrei Troshev, a veteran of wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya, with the task of forming volunteer units to perform combat missions for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    • Latvia ☛ Criminal proceedings started against former MEP Mamikins

      On Friday, September 29, the State Security Service (VDD) said it had started criminal proceedings against former politician and MEP Andrejs Mamikina for allegedly glorifying and justifying the crimes committed by the aggressor state Russia in Ukraine.

    • AntiWar ☛ Volodymyr Zelensky, Between a Rock and a Hard Place

      A year and a half into the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may be finding himself back in the same dilemma he was confronted with at the beginning of his presidency, only magnified by the disaster of war.

    • Off Guardian ☛ Soul Muscles

      Oh, the changing definitions of words we’re being subjected to these days. It boggles the best of minds. Ukrainian refugees are now Ukrainian draft dodgers. Vaccines e.g. used to be weak or inactive germs mixed and injected but now they’re also mRNA technology.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Jets and rockets are important, but Ukraine also needs faster munitions deliveries

      Today’s battlefield chews up ammunition and equipment at extraordinary rates. The US “arsenal of democracy” needs to start working overtime.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Five takeaways on the state of economic statecraft

      Sanctions and export controls have played a central role in the West’s response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, but there are other tools of economic statecraft, too.

    • RFERL ☛ Britain Slaps More Sanctions On Russian Officials One Year After 'Sham' Votes In Ukraine

      The United Kingdom announced a fresh set of sanctions against Russian officials and Moscow's electoral authority on the one-year anniversary of "sham" elections held in occupied Ukrainian regions.

    • RFERL ☛ Russians Allowed To Take Part In Paris 2024 Paralympics As Individual, Neutral Athletes

      The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) voted on September 29 to allow Russian para-athletes to compete as individual and neutral athletes at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

    • New York Times ☛ UEFA Opens a Door to Russia’s Return in Soccer, and Faces a Backlash

      The angry reactions to a vote by European soccer’s governing body to partly lift its ban on Russian teams could be a preview of fights in other sports.

    • teleSUR ☛ Slovakia Holds Elections After 5-Year Political Crisis

      The candidate who leads the voting intention polls maintains a nationalist position and opposes continuing aid to Ukraine.

    • YLE ☛ Ukraine awards Halla-aho medal of honour

      The award is the nation's second highest honour that can be given to a foreign citizen.

    • New York Times ☛ In Izium, Ukraine, Fear Remains a Year After Russian Retreat

      In Izium, in eastern Ukraine, the buildings are in ruins and services are spotty. Barely recovered, its residents worry that more mayhem may lie ahead.

    • New York Times ☛ A U.S. Army hospital has quietly started admitting troops wounded in Ukraine.

      The Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center has quietly started admitting Ukrainian Army soldiers who were wounded in combat, most of them American volunteers.

    • France24 ☛ Moscow, Baku to decide future of Russian peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh

      The Kremlin said Monday that the future of its peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh would be determined by Russia and Azerbaijan, which last week took control of the territory from Armenian separatists.

    • New York Times ☛ Armenia Finds Itself Cast Adrift in a Tough Neighborhood

      While the Caucasus nation might want to reduce its reliance on Russia for a more reliable ally, Western nations have offered moral support but little else.

    • New York Times ☛ Transactions Between Bernard Arnault and Russian Businessman Face Scrutiny

      French prosecutors are looking at a 2018 real estate deal between the head of the LVMH luxury empire and Nikolai Sarkisov, a Russian insurance magnate.

    • France24 ☛ French billionaire Arnault, Russian oligarch investigated in money laundering probe

      French billionaire Bernard Arnault and Russian oligarch Nikolai Sarkisov are under investigation for alleged money laundering at a luxury Alpine resort, according to Paris prosecutors.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania to bar people working with classified info from going to Russia, Belarus

      People working with classified information in Lithuania will be barred from travelling to Russia, Belarus and other countries that pose a threat, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the head of the country’s National Crisis Management Center (NKVC) has said.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania gives 6 months for Russian cars to leave

      The Lithuanian customs has said that cars with Russian license plates currently in the country must leave the EU territory within six months of their entry.

    • RFERL ☛ German Chancellor Scholz, Five Central Asian Leaders Meet As Berlin Looks To Blunt Moscow's Influence

      German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and five Central Asian nations' leaders have discussed cooperation and ties as Berlin looks to gain influence in the region that has been traditionally a sphere of dominance for Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Prosecutors Seek Up To Five Years In Prison For Russian-Swede Accused In Spying Case

      Swedish prosecutors have asked a court to sentence a Russian-Swedish citizen, Sergei Skvortsov, to up to five years in prison on a charge of passing Western technology to Russia.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian citizen reportedly on trial in Belarus

      Only limited and delayed information about the progress of a criminal process in Belarus against Latvian citizen Alla Sokoļenko has been received from the Belarusian authorities, stated the press secretary of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MA) Diāna Eglīte September 29.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian natural gas consumption continues to decline

      The amount of natural gas consumed in Latvia has decreased by 14.2% in the first five months of this year compared to the relevant period of last year, according to data published by the Central Statistical Bureau on June 26.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Hotter climate leads to big drop in hydropower in China, India

      Asia is relying more on fossil fuels after hydropower generation in China and India declined at the fastest rate in decades after record heat. The two countries account for around three-fourths of Asia’s power generation but are struggling to produce.

    China, India lead Asia's biggest hydropower crunch in decades ☞ https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/china-india-lead-asias-biggest-hydropower-crunch-in-decades

    • The Straits Times ☛ China, India lead Asia's biggest hydropower crunch in decades

      Intense and prolonged heatwaves led to low reservoir levels and the need for alternative sources of power to help meet demand.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Off Guardian ☛ Where Have All the Lanternflies Gone?

      Remember the spotted lanternfly? Barely a year ago, this colorful winged insect was supposed to be a harbinger of national disaster.

    • The Straits Times ☛ First panda college opens to protect loved species

      The college was established by the Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Sichuan Province and China West Normal University.

• Finance

  • Off Guardian ☛ WATCH: How To Defeat BlackRock – #SolutionsWatch

    After watching How BlackRock Conquered the World, we know all about the problem: a financial behemoth is flexing its monetary muscle to shape society in its image. So what’s the solution? Boycotts? Buycotts? Can we strive for something different, or are we condemned to forever be out of credit at the karma bank?

  • The Kent Stater ☛ United Auto Workers’ strike creates ripple effect across community

    On Sept. 15, the United Auto Workers, also known as the UAW, launched their walkouts against the big three automakers: General Motors, Stellantis and Ford. Since then, the UAW has halted operations at one assembly plant from each company and 38 parts distribution centers for GM and Stellantis nationwide.

  • New York Times ☛ U.A.W. Expands Strikes at Ford and G.M.

    The United Automobile Workers union said 7,000 more of its members would walk off the job two weeks after it began strikes at the Big Three automakers.

  • LRT ☛ Several thousand teachers begin strike in Lithuania

    On Friday, the Lithuanian Education Workers’ Trade Union (LŠDPS) started a strike. Some of the striking teachers are walking from their schools to the government building in Vilnius.

  • New York Times ☛ Baltimore Archdiocese Files for Bankruptcy

    The nation’s oldest Catholic archdiocese made the move days before the start of a new law removing the statute of limitations on lawsuits from abuse victims.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank halves growth forecast for 2023

    The Latvian central bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) released its updated prognoses for the national economy September 29 which show that economic growth will be weaker than previously thought while inflation will remain higher than previously thought.

  • YLE ☛ Inflation in Finland drops slightly while Eurozone sees dip to two-year low

    Inflation cooled slightly this month in Finland.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Mayorkas warns Latin American leaders of Beijing’s technology influence

    The Biden administration sees Chinese investments in Latin America as a potential precursor to cyber operations.

  • RFA ☛ US diplomat: ‘We’re in an undeclared information war’

    China spends billions of dollars a year to manipulate global information flows, a new US government report says.

  • RFA ☛ China builds roads, provisions its ships – in US ally Micronesia

    Beijing calls attention to its Micronesia projects with ubiquitous China Aid signs but rejects scrutiny.

  • New Yorker ☛ Remembering Dianne Feinstein, and Biden Clashes with the Hard Right

    The Senate has lost its longest-serving female member; plus, President Joe Biden warns that MAGA Republicans threaten American democracy.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ One of Dianne Feinstein’s Greatest Legacies: Documenting CIA’s Torture

    As we remember Dianne Feinstein, let's remember one of her most important legacies: documenting CIA's torture program.

  • New Yorker ☛ So Long, “Strike Force Five”

    As the W.G.A. strike ends, so does the chatty, chops-busting podcast from Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers. What, if anything, did it teach us?

  • NYPost ☛ Federal investigators explored charging Hunter Biden for sex trafficking crimes

    Federal investigators raised the possibility of charging first son Hunter Biden for crimes related to sex trafficking, according to IRS whistleblower documents made public this week.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • The Straits Times ☛ US accuses China of global media manipulation

      Trend could lead to a “sharp contraction” of global freedom of expression, the US says.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New Yorker ☛ A Russian Theatre Director in Exile

    Dmitry Krymov starts from scratch in New York.

  • Reason ☛ S. Ct. Will Consider Constitutionality of Laws Limiting Social Media Platform Moderation Decisions

    The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear these cases, limited to these questions (as articulated by the Solicitor General's brief for the federal government): These cases concern laws enacted by Florida and Texas to regulate major social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly known as Twitter).

  • RFA ☛ Hammered: Vietnamese gets 6 years after cursing Uncle Ho when drunk

    Case is the latest example of clamping down on freedom of speech.

  • New York Times ☛ Supreme Court to Hear Challenges to State Laws on Social Media

    The tech industry argues that laws in Florida and Texas, prompted by conservative complaints about censorship by tech platforms, violate the First Amendment.

  • Reason ☛ Supreme Court Will Consider Cases Challenging Florida and Texas Social Media Laws

    The laws require major social media platforms to host content they disapprove of for substantive reasons.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • New York Times ☛ WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich’s Russian Detainment Reaches 6 Months

    Evan Gershkovich’s father says “the feeling of helplessness is quite horrific,” but the family clings to hope.

  • BIA Net ☛ MPs bring Sputnik strike to parliament

    Sputnik Turkey journalists have been on a strike for 44 days.

  • Federal News Network ☛ An ex-investigative journalist is sentenced to 6 years in a child sexual abuse materials case

    A former investigative journalist for ABC News has been sentenced to six years in prison for possessing and transporting child sexual abuse images.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • EDRI ☛ Development of EU border police watchlist is “progressing well”

    The development of a new watchlist for “identifying connections” between people seeking authorisation to travel to the EU and terrorist or criminal suspects is “progressing well”, according to a Europol report obtained by EDRi member Statewatch.

  • EDRI ☛ Civil liberties MEPs warn against undermining or circumventing encryption in CSAR

    MEPs from the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties committee have thrown down the gauntlet with their amendments to one of the EU’s most controversial proposals: the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR). These amendments show a clear majority for fully protecting the integrity of encryption. Content warning: contains discussions of child sexual abuse and child sexual abuse material

  • RFA ☛ Cambodian court upholds verdicts in deadly 2014 garment strike

    Judge’s decision keeps the convictions but drops fines against 10 defendants.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong court grants bail to woman charged over allegedly removing evidence from activist’s home

    A Hong Kong woman charged with perverting justice over allegedly removing evidence from the home of an activist arrested under the national security law has been granted bail. Marilyn Tang appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • CS Monitor ☛ End of an era: Netflix to send out its last DVDs after 25 years

    Netflix revolutionized entertainment 25 years ago, but now it’s the end of the show for the once-iconic DVD-by-mail service. The service will shut down its five remaining distribution centers after they mail out final discs to subscribers who can keep them.

• Monopolies

  • New York Times ☛ The Flaw in the Case Against Amazon

    Is the retailer a monopoly? It depends on how you define its competition.

  • Patents

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Helsinki division Unified Patent Court clarifies (reversal of) opt-out provision [Ed: UPC is patently illegal, but this blog is controlled by the firms that pushed for this illegal agenda (for financial gain)]

      The Helsinki division of the Unified Patent Court rejected an injunction request by AIM Sport against Supponor, because the reversal of the opt-out of the patent in dispute was deemed in contradiction with the UPCA.

    • JUVE ☛ Sisvel IoT patent pool welcomes Huawei as new member [Ed: Sisvel is a nasty thing, but JUVE takes money from firms that break the law and lie to everyone, so surely Sisvel isn't properly being reported on.]

      Huawei is the latest company to sign up as a licensor to Sisvel’s Cellular IoT technology patent pool, becoming one of 25 companies to have joined. It now resides alongside members such as Koninklijke KPN N.V., Sony Group and Deutsche Telekom. Sisvel has also announced new per-unit royalty rates.

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Enovsys geotracking patent prior art

      A new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 7,199,726, owned by Enovsys, LLC, an NPE. The ‘726 patent generally relates to a mobile location reporting communication system consisting of a network of communication sources and targets managed by one or more control stations.

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Safety Direct loss prevention patent prior art

      A new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 10,115,292, owned by Safety Direct, LLC, an NPE. The ‘292 patent generally relates to a device, where if the mobile device or important small item is removed beyond a user-defined distance, a visual and noise alarm will activate, thus immediately letting the owner and others know that a theft has occurred.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Dialect natural language patent challenged

      On September 27, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 9,495,957, owned and asserted by Dialect, LLC, an NPE. The ‘957 patent relates to natural language human machine interactions using context information.

  • Trademarks

    • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Which of These Three Genericness Refusals Was/Were Reversed on Appeal?

      A genericness refusal is the USPTO's nuclear option and should be employed with caution. Here are three recent appeals from genericness refusals. At least one of them was reversed. How do you think they came out? Answers will be found in the first comment.

  • Copyrights

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Discovering the Limit: Calculating the Copyright Damages Timeline

      The Copyright Act has a seemingly simple three year statute of limitations:

      No civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued.