GNU/Linux

• Instructionals/Technical

  • Nate Graham ☛ PSA: enable 3D acceleration in your VirtualBox VMs

    It’s come to our attention that some changes made for KWin in Plasma 6 aren’t compatible with the old and outdated software-rendering graphics drivers in VirtualBox. Thankfully there’s a solution: enable 3D acceleration in the machine settings. It not only resolves the issue, but also enables all the fancy graphical effects you would expect to see on a bare-metal installation. This is especially important if you’re using a VM for a review, screenshots, or videos of Plasma 6!

    I’ve reached out to the VirtualBox devs regarding the possibility of making this happen automatically. But in case that doesn’t happen, it’s up to VirtualBox users to manually enable 3D acceleration in their machine settings.

  • Steven Pritchard: Burn-in Testing for Spinning Disks - Data Recovery with Open-Source Tools (part 4)

    This is part 4 of a multi-part series.  See part 1 for the beginning of the series.

    Note that this was written long before solid state drives were common (or possibly before they existed), so when I say "drive", I mean traditional spinning hard drives.  Burn-in testing like this on SSDs makes a lot less sense and will likely only reduce their useful lifespan.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Education

  • Stanford University ☛ DOJ investigator unveils Stanford’s $1.9 million settlement deal

    Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Corcoran, a lead DOJ investigator of the case against Stanford, provided extensive details in an interview with The Daily. Faculty members shared concerns about racial profiling and anti-China sentiment under government policies.

Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Alternative GoTek drive mounting options

  The GoTek (often mistyped as Gotek) is a virtual floppy drive device that can emulate hundreds of virtual disks on a single USB key. Like my FloppyEmu, SD2IEC, and Pi1541, it has made working on older DOS-era machines much easier and more fun. I tend to prefer running period-correct hardware where I can, but storage is one area where I’m happy to cheat.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Cockpit window masks, and anti-dazzle paint

  Speaking of planes, Simple Flying posted an article about the trend of cockpit masks. This seems to be the default for modern Airbus aircraft, but they also cite airlines like Air Canada and Northern Pacific that have retroactively added the schemes to their fleets.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Good News and Bad News for Astronomers’ Biggest Dream

    The National Science Foundation takes a step (just one) toward an “extremely large telescope.”

  • Science Alert ☛ Should You Let Your Dog Lick Your Face? Here's The Science

    Where's that tongue been?

  • Ars Technica ☛ Study finds that we could lose science if publishers go bankrupt | Ars Technica

    A scan of archives shows that lots of scientific papers aren't backed up.

• Education

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia mid-ranked for women in STEM education

    In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the representation of women in STEM education fields: natural sciences, mathematics and statistics, information and communication technologies, engineering, manufacturing and construction.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ AMD announces the Spartan UltraScale+ FPGA family for cost-sensitive and IO-intensive applications

    The Spartan UltraScale+ FPGA family is the latest inclusion to AMD’s Cost-Optimized portfolio, a series of FPGAs designed to balance cost, power, and form factor with affordability.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Hidden Waves Wash Fluid Through The Brain While You Sleep

    Better than a lullaby.

  • New York Times ☛ With Cyberattack Fix Weeks Away, Health Providers Slam United

    Hospitals, doctors and clinics expressed frustration that they will have to wait even longer for reimbursements after hackers paralyzed the largest U.S. billing clearinghouse.

  • New York Times ☛ Traumatic Brain Injury Found in Maine Gunman Could Have Wide Ramifications

    Exposure to blasts, even at low levels, may play a much greater role in veterans’ mental health struggles than has been known, with implications for treatment strategies and for criminal justice.

  • teleSUR ☛ El Salvador: 12 Women and a Baby Have Died Inside Prisons Since 2022

    Since March 2022, when the state of emergency came into force, 12 women have died inside the prisons themselves, mostly because of poor health conditions.

  • France24 ☛ In northern Gaza, ‘people have nothing left to eat’

    At least 20 people have died from malnutrition and dehydration in Gaza, the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry said on Wednesday. It reported that most of those dead are children. With limited access to food and healthcare, aid officials have warned for months that Palestinians in the enclave are at risk of famine.

  • Zimbabwe ☛ Tell 15 to 20-year-olds about this Learning Factory hackathon to prevent infant deaths in hot cars

    Here is a hackathon that you should tell the 15-20-year-olds in your life about.

  • New Yorker ☛ Arguing Ourselves to Death

    To a degree that we have yet to fully grasp, what rules our age is the ideology of the Internet.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • EuroGamer ☛ Former EA exec Peter Moore has "serious questions" about the future of video game consoles

    "I've got my phone, I'm enjoying what I've got on my phone. There's plenty of games I can play."

  • CNBC ☛ How Sony Beat Microsoft And Nintendo With PlayStation

    The Sony PlayStation changed the gaming industry’s landscape when it was introduced to players 30 years ago. The PlayStation 2 went on to become best-selling console of all time, a title it still holds today. But the company has its fair share of challenges ahead with the ever-changing gaming sector. Just last year, Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard threatened the landscape of gaming exclusivity. And Sony faces some headwinds with lower demand and industry-wide layoffs. Sony has continually adapted and evolved over the span of the past three decades, but can it continue to hold strong in the console wars? CNBC spoke with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan, former SIE Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden and other experts to find out. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:55 An early hit 6:08 Rough patch 8:15 Content is king 12:05 Looking ahead Produced by: Ryan Baker Technology Correspondent: Steve Kovach Edited by: Nic Henry Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt Additional Camera: Andrew Evers Animation: Uma Sharma, Christina Locopo, Jason Reginato Additional Production: Liam Mays Additional Footage: Sony, Getty Images

  • The Gamer ☛ PlayStation-Backed Studio Shut Down Before Launching A Single Game

    Deviation Games, a studio formed by former Call of Duty developers and in a partnership with PlayStation, has shut down. The company only opened in 2020 and did not release a single game, but was working on an unannounced PlayStation exclusive.

    This comes shortly after PlayStation announced plans to lay off 900 workers across its own studios, joining other industry giants in a seemingly endless stream of cuts and job losses. Deviation hasn't provided a reason for its studio closure, so it's not clear if this is in response to the layoffs at PlayStation.

  • NBC ☛ New Activision QA union is the largest in the video game industry

  • Vox Media ☛ 600 Activision QA workers unionize, Microsoft voluntarily recognizes

  • PC Gamer ☛ 600 Activision QA workers just formed the biggest videogame union in the US

    First reported by The Verge, 600 Activision QA workers have formed a new union at the publisher. It was organized through the Communications Workers of America (CWA), like other unions at the company, and this new union is now the largest in the American gaming industry, surpassing the 300-person Zenimax Workers United, a fellow CWA union at another Microsoft subsidiary.

  • Cloudbooklet ☛ Microsoft Staffer Warns Lawmakers, FTC on Harmful Hey Hi (AI) Content

    Learn how Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Staffer Warns Lawmakers regulator about the risks and opportunities of AI-generated content.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ The OpenAI-Elon Musk battle intensifies and Hey Hi (AI) trust sinks, but investors don’t seem to care

    The escalation of the fight between Proprietary Chaffbot Company and Elon Musk over what kind of artificial intelligence company the phenom should be is creating even more uncertainty over who’s going to lead the generative Hey Hi (AI) era.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Record ☛ Dozens of data brokers disclose selling reproductive healthcare info, precise geolocation and data belonging to minors

      New information made public by the state of California shows that a significant portion of data brokers collect and sell sensitive information on topics like reproductive health, as well as data belonging to children.

      Out of 480 data brokers registered with the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), 24 indicated they sell data belonging to minors. Seventy-nine brokers sell precise geolocation and 25 sell reproductive health information, the registry shows. Of that number some but not all sell data in all three categories. It is not clear what type of data belonging to minors the brokers sell.

    • YLE ☛ Court remands Vastaamo hacking suspect in custody to await April verdict

      Aleksanteri Kivimäki stands accused of almost 9,600 counts of aggravated invasion of privacy, more than 21,300 counts of attempted aggravated extortion and 20 counts of aggravated blackmail.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Dan Wootton: Daily Mirror follows Guardian with privacy payout and apology

      Mirror says it was wrong to report on police investigation against Dan Wootton.

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFA ☛ US Army analyst arrested for selling military secrets

    Korbein Schultz, 24, allegedly received $42,000 for documents that included plans for Taiwan's defense.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama prepares to mark 65 years in exile

    The Dalai Lama, the charismatic Buddhist spiritual leader celebrated worldwide for his tireless campaign for greater autonomy for his Tibetan homeland, has been a thorn in China’s side for decades.

  • France24 ☛ Asia-Pacific region: A new cold war brewing

    Long dominated by the United States, the Asia-Pacific region is grappling with an increasingly assertive China. Tensions are mounting around Taiwan and in the South China Sea, both in the air and on the water, with numerous incidents of late involving Chinese fighter planes, collisions between ships and reefs being turned into military outposts. Filmed in Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines, our documentary explores a new "cold war" pitting President Pooh-tin Jinping's authoritarian China against the US and its democratic allies in the region. This high-stakes conflict encompasses territorial, political, economic and ideological dimensions, as the threat of a third world war looms on the horizon.

  • YLE ☛ Finland to participate in Red Sea operations protecting cargo vessels

    Dozens of shipping vessels have been targeted by the Iranian-aligned militant Islamist Houthis since November.

  • LRT ☛ Strasbourg court takes up third case against Lithuania over CIA prison

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has taken up a third case against Lithuania over the alleged operation of the US Central Intelligence Agency prison in the country and the human rights violations committed there.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran’s 2022 Protest Crackdown Included Killings, Torture and Rape, U.N. Finds

    A fact-finding mission looking into the demonstrations that followed the death of Mahsa Amini found brutality and rejected Iran’s version of Ms. Amini’s death.

  • JURIST ☛ Jewish students sue MIT for alleged complicity in antisemitism on campus

    The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice (SCLJ) and two Jewish students filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), alleging that the university has violated the students’ rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by fostering an environment of antisemitism.

  • JURIST ☛ Haiti government extends state of emergency following increasing gang violence

    The government of Haiti extended the state of emergency around Port-Au-Prince Thursday following the increasing escalation of gang violence and the displacement of thousands.

  • New York Times ☛ The Crisis in Haiti, in Photos

    A photographic narrative of the growing upheaval.

  • Defence Web ☛ Northern Cameroon is losing the battle against arms trafficking

    Northern Cameroon has for decades been a hub for ammunition, small arms and light weapons trafficking in the Sahel. The problem has fuelled regional insecurity since 1980.

  • New York Times ☛ Address Showed Biden Seeking Tricky Balance on Immigration

    The president used his State of the Union speech to try to demonstrate that he could be tough on the border without demonizing immigrants.

  • New York Times ☛ In Two Speeches, Trump and Biden Offer Starkly Different Views of the Country

    President Biden’s State of the Union address and former President Donald Trump’s victory speech on Super Tuesday conjured diametrically opposed visions of America’s past, present and future.

  • RFERL ☛ Hungary's Orban, 'Banking' On Trump's Return To Power, Heads To Mar-A-Lago

    Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet with Donald Trump at the former U.S. president's luxury Florida resort on March 8 after the Hungarian leader endorsed the bid of his "good friend" in the November presidential election.

• Environment

  • Overpopulation

    • RFA ☛ ‘I want to be myself, not someone’s mom.’

      Young North Korean women see marriage and kids as hardship and misery and want to focus on their own happiness.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Make in India’: Can South Asian giant surpass China and become world’s biggest factory?

    India is looking to capitalise on the shift away from China as companies diversify their global supply chains.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China wants to rid itself of Western tech by 2027 -- outlines domestic alternatives in 'Document 79'

    China is reportedly making huge progress in becoming self-sufficient in the tech industry. China is on a beeline to get all of its state-wide institutions on domestic technology by 2027.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Wang Yi hardly persuasive in dispelling doubts on China economy

    China's overall message is that it is a responsible and benign growing power that does not discriminate.

  • CNN ☛ Banks are still fighting safeguards even as risks pile up | CNN Business

    With the help of a billion-dollar cash infusion and the market-soothing arrival of former government officials, New York Community Bank has come back from the brink.

  • CNN ☛ Customers are pulling their cash from NYCB, but it’s no bank run | CNN Business

    Customers of New York Community Bank pulled $6 billion worth of deposits between February 5 and March 5, leaving the bank's deposit base 7% lower, at $77 billion.

  • YLE ☛ UPM starts employee talks with plans for temporary layoffs

    The negotiations will affect over 2,200 employees at all the forestry firm's pulp mills, sawmills, and communication paper mills in Finland.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania records 0.7% monthly, annual inflation in February

    Both monthly and annual inflation in Lithuania stood at 0.7 percent in February, and the average annual inflation rate was 6.1 percent, the State Data Agency reported on Friday.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia's annual inflation level was 0.4% in February

    The latest data of the Central Statistical Bureau published March 8 show that in February 2024, compared to February 2023, the average level of consumer prices in Latvia increased by a modest 0.4 %.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How banking regulations affect US foreign policy

    Economics, finance, and national security overlap. Obvious areas include sanctions and trade policy. But US foreign policymaker are now also expected to develop some knowledge of critical minerals . Banking regulations may seem a step too far, but they too carry foreign policy implications.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kong reveals new security law with harsher penalties

    The law steps up an ongoing crackdown on political opposition and public dissent, targets 'foreign forces.'

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: Threshold for early release may be raised for national security prisoners, draft bill says

    Hong Kong’s existing early release schemes for prisoners may not apply to those who are serving time behind bars for an offence endangering national security, the draft of a new bill presented to the city’s legislature has revealed.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: Hong Kong proposes life sentences for treason, insurrection, sabotage under new security law

    Those found guilty of certain offences under Hong Kong’s proposed new security legislation, including treason and sabotage, may face life in prison, a draft bill unveiled on Friday has revealed.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: Hong Kong proposes dissolving organisations accused of ‘external interference’

    A new law under the city’s proposed homegrown national security legislation may see organisations accused of “external interference” dissolved if they are ordered to cease operations.

  • Reason ☛ Claim That University of Oregon Equity Blocked Ex-Twitter User for Tweeting "All Men Are Created Equal" Can Go Forward

    From Gilley v. Stabin, decided today by the Ninth Circuit, in an opinion by Judges Ryan Nelson and Daniel Collins: Using the University's @UOEquity Ex-Twitter account, tova stabin, then Communication Manager for the University's Division of Equity and Inclusion, tweeted a prompt purporting to show ways to respond to racist comments.

  • JURIST ☛ India Supreme Court holds expression of dissent against the government is constitutionally protected speech

    In a groundbreaking ruling delivered on Thursday, the Supreme Court of India declared that the lawful exercise of dissent is protected under the Indian Constitution. The verdict addressed a case involving Javed Ahmad Hajam, a resident of Baramulla in Kashmir, who faced charges under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

  • JURIST ☛ Germany authorities carry out raids against suspects of online misogynistic hate speech

    German prosecutors and law enforcement carried out raids against 45 individuals on Thursday who were suspected of posting hate speech against women online. The General Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt, along with the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and other law enforcement agencies, led the raids.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Journalist Arwa Damon on conflict reporting: ‘You will leave a part of yourself behind’

    The multi-award-winning journalist was interviewed by our MENASource editor to discuss her recent projects, mental health in journalism, and the importance of effective storytelling.

  • Reason ☛ Trump Media Libel Lawsuit Against Washington Post Dismissed, but Might Be Refiled With More Detailed "Actual Malice" Allegations

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ Chinese women largely excluded from highest echelons of power

    As the National People's Congress convenes, women are conspicuously absent from the ranks of senior leaders.

  • ACLU ☛ Breaking the Mold: Gender Discrimination in the Airline Industry

    As a child in New Jersey, I grew up hearing stories of my mother’s flight attendant days in South Korea. A few stuck out to me even at a young age – such as hearing she needed to maintain a certain weight to get into the flight attendant program and that she had to quit her job once she got married. I couldn’t understand why my mother had to quit her dream job, the job that allowed her to travel to Hawaii and Paris, the two places she had always wanted to go since she was little, just because she got married. My mother also told me how women either lied about being married to keep their jobs or were pressured to quit by their superiors if they were public about their marital status or were pregnant. Although airlines across the world have since rolled back official policies restricting marital status and pregnancy for flight attendants in response to federal civil rights laws, many still perpetuate gender discrimination through dress code restrictions and limitations on lactating.

  • Stanford University ☛ ‘Last Week Tonight’ motions to dismiss Supreme Court credibility

    John Oliver does not disappoint in the Season 11 premier of "Last Week Tonight," keeping the audience entertained with shameless punchlines that speak truth to power, Strawser writes.

  • Latvia ☛ Photos: Women's Solidarity walk against violence in Rīga

    Marking International Women's Day, “Center Marta” held a Women's Solidarity March against violence in Rīga on Friday, March 8. The move aims to appeal to the public to make choices in favor of action.

  • YLE ☛ Unions say strikes will go ahead despite PM Orpo's last-ditch call to cancel plans

    Finland's largest confederation of trade unions SAK is set to launch a fresh wave of political strikes next week in opposition to the government's planned changes to labour market legislation.

  • YLE ☛ SKAL: No widespread disruption to fuel supplies despite planned strikes

    The Finnish transport and logistics body said any impact on fuel supplies would remain at a local, and not national, level.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ The Women Behind the Internet

    We wouldn’t have the Internet we have today without women. We know and love the fathers of the Internet (just as a friend of the Internet Society Vint Cerf, I’m sure, would attest), but just as the Internet today is a team effort, its creation was, too.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Is a Streaming Crackdown Coming to South Korea? Regulator Weighs Targeting Music Platforms With Competition Law

    A music streaming crackdown could be coming to South Korea – complete with potentially massive penalties for certain business practices. The possible regulatory action involving streaming services just recently came to light in regional reports from outlets including Korea JoongAng Daily.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• New York Times ☛ Apple Reverses Course and Allows Epic Games to Start Competing App Store

  After an inquiry by European regulators, Epic Games said Fashion Company Apple would allow it to access the software tools necessary to develop a game store.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ Corrigent networking patent monopoly invalidated

    On March 5, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,330,431, owned and asserted by Corrigent Corporation, an NPE. The '431 patent monopoly is directed to bandwidth assignment in logical network topologies.

  • Unified Patents ☛ Mel NavIP automobile speech recognition patent monopoly challenge instituted

    On March 5, 2024, three months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,060,368, owned and asserted by Mel NavIP, LLC.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ Düsseldorf local division hears first proceedings over avalanche rescue devices [Ed: This speaks of "UPC local division", which is illegal and unconstitutional. JUVE took money to promote this crime. This is not OK.]

      At 167 meters above sea level, the Sandberg is the highest elevation in Düsseldorf. Snow is the exception rather than the rule in the mild Rhineland, in the heart of which Düsseldorf lies.

    • JUVE ☛ “The UPC is well-placed to advocate for gender equality among patent monopoly practitioners” [Ed: JUVE, which took money from Team UPC, is doing reputation laundering for this fake kangaroo court whose very existence is a crime. This is an insult to the press. The press was meant to expose crime, not abet crime for profit.]

      The UPC opening its doors last June heralded a golden opportunity for a legal institution to advocate for gender equality at the pan-European level.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: How Did These Three Recent 2(d) Appeals Turn Out?

    Here are the three Section 2(d) appeals recently decided by the TTAB. So far this year, the affirmance rate in Section 2(d) appeals is over 90%. How do you think these three came out? No hints this time. [Answers in first comment.]

    In re Bath Busters, Inc., Serial No. 90850908 (February 28, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christen M. English) [Section 2(d) refusal of BATH BUSTERS for "remodeling of residential and commercial bathroom[s]" in view of the registered mark TILE BUSTERS, in standard character and logo form, for dust free tile removal services.]

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Cloud gaming review using Geforce Now

      I'm finally done with ADSL now as I got access to optical fiber last week! It was time for me to try cloud gaming again and see how it improved since my last use in 2016.

      If you are not familiar with cloud gaming, please do not run away, here is a brief description. Cloud gaming refers to a service allowing one to play locally a game running on a remote machine (either locally or over the Internet).

    • Internet/Gemini

      • Hello, world

        It’s been two years since I got my own capsule, but except for a brief period in which I ran a meta blog for my tech blog, I’ve never managed to use it for anything.