● 04.27.23
Gemini version available ♊︎
● Links 27/04/2023: Microsoft Down Sharply on the Web and Weston 12.0.0 Alpha
Posted in News Roundup at 2:16 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
GNU/Linux
Server
↺ Kubernetes v1.27 Update Brings Chill Vibes
- Kubernetes v1.27, the first K8s release of 2023, has been announced. The v1.27 release includes 60 enhancements, 18 of which are alpha, 29 are beta and 13 are stable at the time of writing. Due to a surprisingly easy release process, the maintainers have coined v1.27 the Chill Vibes release.
Kernel Space
↺ Process-level kernel samepage merging control
- The kernel samepage merging (KSM) feature can save significant amounts of memory with some types of workloads, but security concerns have greatly limited its use. Even when KSM can be safely enabled, though, the control interface provided by the kernel makes it unlikely that KSM actually will be used. A small patch series from Stefan Roesch aims to change this situation by improving and simplifying how KSM is managed.
- As its name would suggest, KSM works by finding pages of memory with identical contents and merging them into a single copy that is shared by all users. An early use case, as described by Avi Kivity in 2008 when the feature was first proposed, was “”the typical multiuser gnome minicomputer with all 150 users reading lwn.net at the same time instead of working””; this workload would generate a lot of identical cache pages that could be shared rather than duplicated across the system. There are other use cases, such as virtual machines or containers running the same software, that could also be optimized once the important workloads have been addressed.
- The kernel subsystem maintainers out there probably have a deep understanding of the sinking feeling that results from opening one’s inbox and seeing a response from Linus Torvalds to a pull request. When all goes well, pull requests are acted upon silently; a response usually means that all has not gone well. Several maintainers got to experience that feeling during the 6.3 merge window, which seemed to generate more than the usual number of grumpy responses related to merge commits. Avoiding that situation is not hard, though, with a bit of attention paid to how merges are done.
- When using a distributed system like Git, development is done in numerous parallel tracks, each of which has its own starting point. Even if a particular project starts at the tip of the mainline tree, the mainline itself is almost certain to have moved on by the time that work is ready to land there. Bringing independent lines of development back together is called “merging”; depending on what has changed, any given merge can be simple or a nasty mess of conflicting changes.
Graphics Stack
- Hi all,
- This is the alpha release for Weston 12.0.0.
Instructionals/Technical
↺ Optimise your ROS snap – Part 6
- Welcome to Part 6 of our “Optimise your ROS snap” blog series. Make sure to check Part 5. This sixth and final part will summarise every optimisation that we did. We will provide a critique for every optimisation that we tried along this series of blogs.
↺ How To Install Bitwarden Password Manager on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
- In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Install Bitwarden Password Manager on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
↺ How to Create a SuSE rpm Package From a Directory
- To create an RPM package from a directory such as /opt/asd in SuSE, you can follow these general steps…
↺ How to install TradingView app for Ubuntu Linux desktop
- Whether you are using Ubuntu 23.04/22.04/20.04, if you want to install the TradingView app on your Ubuntu Linux using GUI or command terminal then here are the steps to follow.
↺ How to Install Curtail on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04
- If you’re an Ubuntu user seeking a powerful and efficient image compression tool, look no further than Curtail. This software offers a unique, user-friendly approach to file size reduction, making it an excellent choice for those who want to optimize their images without sacrificing quality.
↺ How to Install Strapi CMS on Rocky Linux 9
- Strapi is an open-source, headless Content Management System (CMS), built with the JavaScript programming language. In this tutorial, you will learn how to install the community version of Strapi CMS on a Rocky Linux 9 server along with Nginx as a reverse proxy server.
↺ How to Install Wike on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04
- Wike is a powerful and user-friendly Wikipedia reader explicitly designed for Ubuntu users seeking an alternative to more popular existing software. Wike offers a unique browsing experience that is both elegant and efficient.
↺ How to switch from root to another user in Ubuntu terminal?
- In Ubuntu and any other Linux you are using, the root user is a superuser and quite important. Because this Linux user account has all files and service access.
↺ How to Install Foliate on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04
- Foliate is a modern, open-source eBook viewer designed specifically for Linux platforms. Its user-friendly interface, customizable features, and lightweight design make it a fantastic choice for Ubuntu users looking to enhance their reading experience. While there are several popular eBook readers available, Foliate has carved its niche as a powerful and versatile alternative.
↺ How to Install LibreWolf Browser on Debian 12/11/10
- In the age of digital surveillance and data collection, privacy has become a top concern for many internet users. One way to ensure online privacy is to use a secure and privacy-focused browser.
↺ How to List Users in Linux (4 Methods)
- As a Linux administrator, it is an important job to ensure that access to directories and files is granted to select, trustworthy users. This prevents unintended users from accessing the entirety of the Linux file system, thus, safeguarding the integrity of the system. Therefore, it becomes essential to learn about the commands that help you list all users in your Linux system.
- There are multiple ways to list users in Linux. Some of them are using commands such as cat, more, less, which are used to read and alter files in Linux. The other method is by using pattern scanning methods with tools such as Awk and Getent. In this guide, let’s look at how to list all users in Linux.
↺ How to install and use ADB on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Chromebooks, or even in a browser
- The Android Debug Bridge, or ADB for short, is one of the most powerful tools for your favorite Android phone. While it may take some time to learn all the options the command-line tool offers, like installing your favorite custom ROM, activating it, and using it with guidance is as easy as running a simple line of code on your computer. The best part is that it doesn’t matter which device you use to send ADB commands to your phone. ADB works on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, and even on the web or your phone, at least to an extent.
↺ Fast And Easy Explanation of sudo apt update Command
- The sudo apt update command is one of the first commands a Linux newbie learns to use. The command instructs a Linux machine to download and update all the package information from every source configured on the machine.
- But what are packages? What are the sources we are referring to? And where are we supposed to run this command?
- We explain how the sudo apt update command works in this brief guide.
Games
↺ Exploring Game Development on Linux: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Game development is an exciting field that can pay off as big for you as it does for the players who play your games. But game development on Linux? That’s an entirely different story. Linux is a great platform for game dеvеlopmеnt, because it has a large user base, a large number of games, and a large number of tools available for use. Linux is especially good for indie developers who want to make games for multiple platforms.
- You’ll want to choose a game engine that is compatible with Linux. There are many options, but here are some of the most popular…
Distributions and Operating Systems
↺ Vanilla OS shifting from Ubuntu to Debian
- Vanilla OS, a lightweight, immutable operating system designed for developers and advanced users, has been using Ubuntu as its base. However, a recent announcement has revealed that in the upcoming Vanilla OS 2.0 Orchid release the project will be shifting to Debian unstable (Sid) as its new base operating system. Vanilla OS is making the switch due to Ubuntu’s changes to its version of the GNOME desktop environment along with the distribution’s reliance on the Snap packaging format. The decision has generated a fair amount of interest and discussion within the open-source community.
- Other distributions have explored making a similar switch; for example, Linux Mint, as Hacker News user “pyrophane” pointed out in a comment on the Vanilla OS announcement. The Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) was created “”to ensure Linux Mint can continue to deliver the same user experience if Ubuntu was ever to disappear””.
SUSE/OpenSUSE
↺ Are you meeting SUSE and Microsoft at SAPPHIRE Orlando
Fedora Family / IBM
↺ Red Hat Focuses Konveyor Efforts for Kubernetes on App Modernization
- Red Hat has revamped the open source Konveyor project it launched in collaboration with IBM to focus more specifically on tools and processes that enable existing legacy Java applications to run on Kubernetes clusters. Previously, Konveyer was an effort to aggregate the development of multiple open source projects that are
↺ How to add public Ingress to a Private Link ROSA cluster
- This article demonstrates how to expose applications to the internet by deploying in a PrivateLink Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA) cluster within a truly private Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) that doesn’t have a network address translation (NAT) gateway or an internet gateway attached to it. We will be using a single VPC for Ingress and Egress traffic. However, you might choose to have separate VPCs for Ingress and Egress traffic to provide more security control of this traffic.
↺ Red Hat Insights Upgrade Risks for Red Hat OpenShift
- Red Hat Insights powers a number of services that improve your operational, business and security experiences with Red Hat products, including Red Hat OpenShift.
↺ The future of healthcare is in the cloud
- Across life sciences and health care (LSHC), cloud adoption is rising as organizations accelerate their business and digital transformation efforts.
- Some seek the traditional benefits that the cloud offers – scalability, flexibility, the ability to optimize costs, and access to the latest technology. However, many organizations have realized that the bigger potential of the cloud may lie in creating seamless consumer-centric experiences for patients and customers and in building workflows that drive better outcomes while fostering greater collaboration.
- What’s in the cloud for LSHC organizations?
- Although each LSHC organization has its own goals for the cloud, key workloads across the LSHC sector are commonly being moved there. Typically, moving these workloads can help improve operational efficiency and optimize IT costs, which can ultimately help enhance the patient experience.
Open Hardware/Modding
↺ Pimoroni Stealthily Announce RP2040 Yukon Modular Robotics Platform
- At Cambridge Raspberry Jam, Pimoroni sneakily announced a new RP2040 based modular robotics board.
Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
↺ Google is bringing an awesome Android phone feature to your Chrome browser | TechRadar
↺ Delete these 34 malware apps from your Android device right now
↺ Daam Android malware can hold your phone hostage — what you need to know | Tom’s Guide
↺ The Xperia 1 V Could Bring the Next Flagship Camera to Android Smartphones Next Month
↺ Android TV: Must-have apps for 2023 [Video]
↺ How to View WhatsApp Messages Deleted by the Sender on Android
↺ How to use Android’s Find My Phone feature – Geeky Gadgets
↺ Samsung owns Google and other Android brands in software updates – SamMobile
↺ Upcoming Android Games will Feature 4K 60 FPS – Gizchina.com
↺ Nokia XR30 rugged Android phone detailed press images leak – GSMArena.com news
↺ 15 Best Strategy Games For Android Phones, Ranked
↺ Honor Magic5 Pro: A Nicely Balanced Android Flagship
↺ One UI 6.0 based on Android 14 destined for imminent launch in 2023 – NotebookCheck.net News
↺ Android 14 Beta 1.1 is here to help save your phone from Google’s most frustrating bugs
↺ People are just realizing common Android app mistake speeds up destruction of battery | The US Sun
Free, Libre, and Open Source Software
↺ Run a virtual conference using only open source tools
- n this article, I’ll share some background on the conference, why using open source tools to run it was important to us, and the specific tools and configurations our team used to make it all work. I’ll also talk about what worked well and what will need improvement at our next summit in 2024.
↺ 3 key open source challenges in developing countries
- When I go back home and talk to people in the tech industry, or any other industry for that matter, about what I do and the topics I’m involved in daily, I’m usually met with bemusement at the idea of an Open Source Programs Office (OSPO). The concept of a company contributing to an open source project without obvious immediate financial benefit can be culturally strange to understand or explain.
- As someone born and raised in a country that has been trying to develop for quite some time, I understand and relate to that. There was a point in time when my only understanding of open source was that it was software that I could use without paying and without needing to wait for a specific issue or additional feature to be released. I could just do whatever I needed myself, locally.
Events
- A month ago, I had the opportunity to head down to Pasadena, California to join members of the open source community at SCaLE20X. This was my second SCaLE, and the first time I had been to one held in the original Pasadena location. On the first day of the conference,
Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra
↺ Don’t know how to code – how to contribute? LibreOffice at the FLISOL-DF Brasília
- The Brazilian Community Gave a Presentation at the FLISOL-DF event (Festival Latino Americano de Instalação de Software Livre) about the LibreOffice Project.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
↺ Create a Great-Looking Static Blog From Your Linux Terminal With Bashblog
- Blogging is a therapeutic way to spend time. You can put your thoughts out into the world, without needing to worry about clicks or the kind of toxic response you’d get on social media. But setting up a blog can be hard, and maintaining a full content management system is a security risk.
- [...]
- Content management systems are unnecessarily complicated for most blogs. Every time a visitor accesses an article on your site, the entire web page is assembled from its components to be ephemerally displayed, and then destroyed. It’s a waste of computing resources, and web-based logins are a security risk that can lead to your site being taken over.
- Static websites address both of these problems by serving HTML pages from a directory. Because the HTML already exists, there’s no additional resource overhead, and because you don’t need to expose a login page over the internet, your security is improved too.
- A well-put-together static blog can be every bit as attractive and function as one produced by a CMS, and you can easily create one from the Linux terminal.
GNU Projects
- Other changes include the removal of support for the STABS debugging-information format, addition of a number of C++23 features, a number of static-analyzer improvements, support for a number of recent CPU features, and more. See this page for details.
Programming/Development
- Background of Shaders One particular facet of modern graphics development that is often a pain – even for AAA games — is shader variants!
↺ Andy Wingo: structure and interpretation of flutter
↺ GNU Guix: The Full-Source Bootstrap: Building from source all the way down
- We are delighted and somewhat relieved to announce that the third reduction of the Guix bootstrap binaries has now been merged in the main branch of Guix! If you run guix pull today, you get a package graph of more than 22,000 nodes rooted in a 357-byte program—something that had never been achieved, to our knowledge, since the birth of Unix.
- We refer to this as the Full-Source Bootstrap. In this post, we explain what this means concretely. This is a major milestone—if not the major milestone—in our quest for building everything from source, all the way down.
- How did we get there, and why? In two previousblog posts, we elaborated on why this reduction and bootstrappability in general is so important.
- One reason is to properly address supply chain security concerns.
↺ Textual: a framework for terminal user interfaces
- For developers seeking to create applications with terminal user interfaces (TUIs), options have been relatively limited compared to the vast number of graphical user interface (GUI) frameworks available. As a result, many command-line applications reinvent the same user interface elements. Textual aims to remedy this: it’s a rapid-application-development framework for Python TUI applications. Offering cross-platform support, Textual incorporates layouts, CSS-like styles, and an expanding collection of widgets.
- While colors, interactivity, and all sorts of widgets are standard features in graphical applications, terminal applications are often a bit more basic. And although many terminal applications support the mouse, it’s an exception to see scroll bars, clickable links, and buttons. Python developer Will McGugan saw an opportunity there, and started working on Textual in 2021.
Rust
↺ This Week In Rust: This Week in Rust 492
- Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust!
Leftovers
Hardware
↺ AMD Ryzen 7000 Burning Out: EXPO and SoC Voltages to Blame (AMD Responds)
- We reached out to industry contacts to find out why AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are burning out.
↺ Corsair MP600 Mini M.2 2230 NVMe SSD delivers up to 4800 MB/s read/write performance
- Corsair MP600 Mini is a high-performance M.2 2230 SSD based on the Phison E21T controller that delivers up to 4800MB/s sequential read and write performance and designed to be used in Valve’s Steam Deck, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 and 9, and other products that won’t take a M.2 2280 SSD.
Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
↺ Covid-19 sub-variant, haze fuel demand for test kits, face masks in Penang
- Pharmacies in the state have seen a 10 to 20 per cent increase in sales of test kits, and more adults are buying face masks.
↺ Malaysia eyes return of mask mandate in schools as Arcturus subvariant surfaces
- Health and education ministries are set to issue new guidelines before schools reopen on May 2.
Proprietary
↺ April 2023 Web Server Survey
- In terms of web-facing computers, nginx led this month with a 6,541 increase (+0.14%), whereas Microsoft saw the largest decrease with a 20,360 loss (-1.66%). The standings for market share by computer count are now: 38.88% nginx (+0.11pp), 27.02% Apache (+0.01pp) and 9.99% Microsoft (-0.15pp).
↺ best alternative to Microsoft Teams (Classic aka Free not available after 2023.04.12 #wtf)
- Jitis Meet is based on an Open standard WebRTC
↺ Apple Slices Bitcoin Manifesto Out of Latest macOS Beta
- Apple has removed the Bitcoin whitepaper from macOS Ventura 13.4 beta 3.
↺ SD Memory Card Formatter Supports Linux with Update from Tuxera
↺ Opera Launches New Browser ‘Opera One’ for Windows, MacOS and Linux
- San Francisco, April 25: Web browser company Opera on Tuesday launched a new, redesigned browser — ‘Opera One’, which will replace the company’s flagship browser for Windows, MacOS, and Linux later this year.
Security
↺ Security updates for Wednesday [LWN.net]
- Security updates have been issued by Fedora (chromium, lilypond, and lilypond-doc), Oracle (java-1.8.0-openjdk), Red Hat (emacs, java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-11-openjdk, java-17-openjdk, kernel, kernel-rt, pesign, and virt:rhel, virt-devel:rhel), Scientific Linux (java-1.8.0-openjdk and java-11-openjdk), Slackware (git), SUSE (fwupd, git, helm, and runc), and Ubuntu (firefox, golang-1.18, linux-hwe-5.15, and openssl, openssl1.0).
↺ TOTP authentication with free software
- One-time passwords (OTPs) are increasingly used as a defense against phishing and other password-stealing attacks, usually as a part of a two-factor authentication process. Perhaps the most commonly used technique is sending a numeric code to a phone via SMS, but SMS OTPs have security problems of their own. An alternative is to use time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs). The normal TOTP situation is to have all of the data locked into a proprietary phone app, but it need not be that way.
- The TOTP approach is simple enough; it starts with a secret shared between the client and server sides. The algorithm used to generate an OTP starts by looking at the current time, usually quantized to a 30-second interval. That time is combined with the secret, hashed, and used to generate a six-digit code that is used as the password. Both the client and server sides will generate a code at authentication time; if the client can provide the same code that the server calculates, then authentication succeeds. The code can only be used once and, in any case, is only valid for a short period.
↺ Nunn announces bipartisan plan to prevent school cyberattacks
- Third District Congressman Zach Nunn is supporting federal legislation aimed at preventing school cyberattacks like the one that canceled classes for Des Moines students for two days earlier this year.
- The measure would make federal officials available to advise school districts on ways to improve network security and respond to hacking attempts. Nunn described it as a 911 call center for school cyberattacks. The bill would also create a voluntary registry to gather information about attacks happening nationwide.
↺ Jackson school gives update on November cyberattack
- The November ransomware attack forced Jackson and Hillsdale schools to shut down for days.
- At the time details were limited, but now officials say the ones behind the attacks were international, adding it was a Jackson technician that first discovered something wasn’t right.
- […]
- With the investigation now complete officials believe the international group known as the ‘Hive’ found a window into the network and looked for personal information to sell on the dark web.
↺ How PureOS Can Stop Devices From Being Infected With Intrusive Adware!
- It has been reported by TechRadar and other publications that over 100 million devices, such as smartphones, have been infected with an intrusive adware that operates in the background without the knowledge of the device owner and/or end user.
- The intrusive adware has been identified as Goldoson malware by cybersecurity researchers at McAfee and was distributed by Google Play via intrusive apps intentionally designed to spread the adware.
- Adware such as Goldoson are only a symptom of a much larger problem that needs to be addressed which is predatory surveillance and data mining business practices rooted in surveillance capitalism. Solving this is easy when all the source code is transparent and released for audit.
- According to cybersecurity researchers, the Goldoson malware is an intrusive adware that clicks on ads in the background without the consent of the device owner who has no idea that their device has been turned into a “zombie” client.
↺ Sen. Warner: AI firms should put security at the center of their work
- The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee wants answers to questions ranging from supply chain security to privacy.
↺ Microsoft removes LSA Protection from Windows settings to fix bug
- Microsoft has fixed a known issue triggering Windows Security warnings that Local Security Authority (LSA) Protection is off by removing the feature’s UI from settings.
↺ Event Wrap: PITA Working Group Meeting on Cybersecurity and Protection Initiatives
- Adli Wahid shares ways the Internet community can collaborate on cybersecurity at the PITA Working Group Meeting on Cybersecurity and Protection Initiatives, held online on 6 April 2023.
Defence/Aggression
↺ Why China’s coercion of Australia failed
- China’s campaign of economic coercion against Australia failed because of support from other Asian trading partners who turned to Australia to secure their energy supplies.
↺ Two Lithuanian workers unintentionally cross into Belarus – border guards
- Two Lithuanian workers unintentionally crossed the border with Belarus illegally while carrying out work at the Medininkai border checkpoint on Tuesday, the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) has confirmed.
↺ Palantir Demos AI to Fight Wars But Says It Will Be Totally Ethical Don’t Worry About It
- The company says its Artificial Intelligence Platform will integrate AI into military decision making in a legal and ethical way.
↺ Lithuania broadens criteria for declaring extreme situation over migration
- The Lithuanian government on Wednesday expanded the criteria allowing to declare the extreme situation over the influx of irregular migrants based on the legislative amendments recently adopted by the Seimas.
↺ UN Personnel Evacuated to Red Sea Port From Sudanese Capital
- The United Nations has set up a hub in Port Sudan, where a core team of UN staff will lead humanitarian operations in the country.
↺ South Sudan Receives 10,000 People Fleeing Conflict in Sudan
- South Sudanese President engaged the warring Sudanese parties to ensure that the ceasefire is held to allow foreign missions to evacuate their diplomatic staff and nationals.
↺ Founder of Taiwan’s Foxconn Terry Gou says China won’t attack if he’s president
- China’s priority is not striking Taiwan, says Mr Terry Gou, as he criticised international media for portraying the island as a ticking time bomb.
↺ Chinese Ship Blocks Philippine Vessel as Journalists Watch
- A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway
Environment
↺ Climate change behind ‘devastating drought’ in Horn of Africa, report says
- A devastating drought that has struck the Horn of Africa could not have occurred without global warming, according to a new report released Thursday from an international team of climate scientists.
↺ Scientists: Climate Change Worsened Eastern Africa Drought
- An international team of climate scientists says the ongoing drought in Eastern Africa has been made worse by human-induced climate change
↺ Climate Change Made East African Drought More Likely, Study Finds
- Droughts like the one that has ravaged Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are now 100 times as likely as in the preindustrial era, a new study has found.
↺ The Climate Crisis Gives Sailing Ships a Second Wind
- Cargo vessels are some of the dirtiest vehicles in existence. Can a centuries-old technology help to clean them up?
↺ Call for energy ratings to shut the door on leaky homes
- Buyers and renters could know the energy efficiency of their home before moving in if all housing is required to have a performance rating. “The energy rating on your fridge tells you if you are cooling your food and drinks efficiently,” Property Council of Australia chief executive Mike Zorbas said.
Energy/Transportation
↺ Global hydrogen electrolyser projects grow to over 1TW but just 1% are in construction
- Aurora Energy Research has said, global hydrogen electrolyser projects currently under development total 1,125GW, having grown by 168GW (18%) in the past six months, however, just 1% are in construction.
↺ Risky tunnel project promises security, prosperity in northern India
- As Delhi fast-tracks infrastructure projects near the India-China border, a new tunnel is set to bring all-weather connectivity to the long-isolated region of Ladakh.
↺ What should governments consider when getting involved with blockchain?
- Last September, Principal Security Engineer Dr. Evan Sultanik was on a panel hosted by the Naval Postgraduate School’s Distributed Consensus: Blockchain & Beyond (DC:BB) movement, where faculty and students there are seeking opportunities to learn and share knowledge, research, funding, and events focused on distributed consensus technologies.
↺ New Rules for Power Plants Could Give Carbon Capture a Boost. Here’s How.
- The technology has struggled to gain traction, but strict new emissions limits for gas and coal stations could encourage broader adoption.
↺ Bank: Asia Must Quit Coal Faster to Stem Worst Climate Woes
- Asia must rapidly cut fossil fuel subsidies and plow more money into a clean energy transition to avoid catastrophic climate change that puts its own development at risk
↺ The critical minerals end-game?
- Climate breakdown is becoming more apparent with frequent extreme weather events around the world.
↺ California to vote on ambitious locomotive emission rule
- The California Air Resources Board plans to vote on a first-in-the-nation, ambitious rule limiting rail pollution. The goal is to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions from locomotives. The standards would also reduce a group of chemicals that contribute to the formation of smog. They could improve air quality for people living near railyards and ports. The standards would need approval from the Biden administration. They follow rules approved by the Environmental Protection Agency to cut emissions from heavy trucks. The proposed locomotive rule is part of the state’s plan to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.
↺ Why is Big Oil afraid of state courts?
- For more than five years, oil companies have attempted to fend off climate change-related lawsuits by filing appeals to move the cases from state courts to the federal system.
Wildlife/Nature
↺ Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon Jumps 129 %In 2013-2021
- “…resulted in an estimated 96 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions…”
↺ Scientists Recording Ocean Sounds Picked Up a Mysterious ‘Buzz’ They Can’t Identify
- The unexplained sound could be a species we’ve never seen before.
↺ 150,000 hens killed in fire at Ibaraki farm amid shortage of eggs in Japan due to bird flu
- Japan has culled over 17 million egg-laying hens since bird flu was first detected in October 2022.
Finance
↺ Bolivia Takes Control of Banco Fassil, Executives Arrested
- LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivia’s government took control of one of the country’s largest banks, Banco Fassil…
↺ Suggested Entrance Fee for LA Landlord Conference: A Can of Food for the Homeless
- The conference featured talks titled “Is the Eviction Moratorium Over? Can We Take Back Our Property?,” and “Evictions and Tenant Protections: Where Do Landlords Stand?”
↺ Chinese police question US consultancy giant Bain’s employees
- The news fuelled concern among US companies in China that Beijing might take retaliatory action against them for Washington’s moves against Chinese firms.
↺ Stock market today: Global shares up ahead of US GDP update
- Global shares are mostly higher ahead of the release of U.S. economic growth data. They are expected to show the world’s biggest economy slowing in the first quarter of the year. Shares rose in Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai but fell in London and Sydney. U.S. futures and oil prices were higher. The U.S. economy stood firm last year but is expected to weaken and slip into a recession in coming months. Worries over the impact of higher interest rates aimed at vanquishing high inflation have offset relatively strong earnings reports for many companies.
↺ Local startup shakes up banking sector with banking software as a service platform
- At its core, banking is the same across the world. What started as a gold custodian service evolved into what it is today. The core may be similar across the world but each country has to tweak the service to meet the specific needs of its people.
↺ Jobless young Chinese seek solace in temples as China claws way to post-Covid recovery
- Temple visits are up 310 per cent so far in 2023 compared to 2022.
↺ First Republic lost more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter
- First Republic, which found itself at the center of a brief banking panic in March following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, now holds $104.5 billion in deposits, down more than 40% from the $176.4 billion it held at the end of last year.
↺ ‘Arrogant’ banks leaving bush residents at the bus stop
- In the West Australian wheatbelt town of Carnamah, some locals could be forced to take a 120km bus ride to the closest bank and wait for two days before a return service can bring them home.
↺ Some 3.8 percent of Lithuanian population live below absolute poverty line
- Around 107,000 people in Lithuania, or 3.8 percent of the population, lived below the absolute poverty line last year, down from 3.9 percent in 2021, the country’s State Data Agency said on Thursday.
↺ The 401(k) generation enters a retirement minefield
- Americans retiring now are going it alone: They’re the first generation to rely on private savings instead of pensions to navigate the financial vortex of retirement.
↺ Temporary migrants win wage rise, residency in shake up
- Wages for temporary skilled migrants will be raised by about $16,000 and thousands will be eligible for permanent residency by the end of the year under a major overhaul of Australia’s “broken” system.
AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
↺ Estonia mulls giving 16-year-olds the vote
- <
- Estonia’s new ruling coalition is considering giving 16-year-olds the right to vote in national elections, the country’s public broadcaster ERR News reports.
Censorship/Free Speech
↺ Disney sues Ron DeSantis on First Amendment grounds
- The Walt Disney Company is suing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis alleging that he and his political allies have discriminated against the company (pdf) for exercising its constitutionally protected right to free speech.
- Walt Disney Parks and Resorts on Wednesday sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his hand-picked oversight board, accusing the Republican 2024 presidential prospect of weaponizing his political power to punish the company for exercising its free speech rights.
↺ Disney Sues Ron DeSantis, Claiming ‘Targeted Campaign of Retaliation’
- The lawsuit says Disney has been subject to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.”
↺ China probes Taiwan-based book publisher for ‘endangering state security’
- Taiwan says Beijing is trying to exert ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ on the democratic island.
↺ Disney Sues DeSantis for Violating Its Free Speech Rights
- Disney claims in part that it is suing Florida officials “to take a stand” for “smaller businesses and individuals.”
Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
↺ Exclusive: Time to remove digital paywall
- Time is fully removing its digital paywall beginning June 1, its CEO Jessica Sibley told Axios.
↺ UK government silence over detention of Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai ‘an outrage’
- The British government is yet to call for Lai’s release.
Civil Rights/Policing
↺ UK House of Commons passes controversial Public Order Bill
- The UK Parliament Wednesday passed the Public Order Bill, which is set to become law. According to the government, the bill “protects the fundamental right to protest,” as well as “brings new penalties for disruptive and dangerous so-called ‘guerrilla tactics’” whilst “reducing delays to the law-abiding majority.
↺ Leaked memo shows top Communist Party officials intervened in sentencing of Fang Bin
- Party’s law enforcement arm ordered Wuhan court to remove ‘subversion’ from the charge sheet and keep trial quiet
↺ Baton-wielding Vietnamese police crush protest against drainage project
- Members of the Ede minority fear wastewater will be channeled into a lake
↺ Police give no information on detained Vietnamese blogger after end of custody period
- Duong Van Thai has been held since April 14 for ‘illegally entering’ the country from Laos.
Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
↺ China tests 300Gbps wireless internet, yes, 300 GIGS per second
- Earlier this month Econet whitelisted all its customers for 5G and we ran speed tests on it and got an impressive 266Mbps down and 27.8Mbps up. A few days ago, we got to play with a Starlink kit and it gave us 131Mbps down and 2.83Mbps up. This is all in Zimbabwe, my friend.
↺ Everything you need to know before you bring your Starlink kit to Zimbabwe
- Ok. So the question of whether or not Starlink will work in Zimbabwe even though it’s not officially available yet has been answered. It works and the speeds are pretty good. Now the question is how does one buy it and use it in the motherland.
Monopolies
↺ Antitrust regulators in the UK blocked Microsoft’s takeover of Activision
- British regulators blocked Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision, the popular video game company, on Wednesday (April 26), putting the future of the landmark deal in doubt.
↺ UK blocks Microsoft’s Activision deal over competition fears
- British regulators have blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report Wednesday that “the only effective remedy” to the significant loss of competition that the deal would result in “is to prohibit the Merger.” The all-cash deal was set to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. But it faces stiff opposition from rival Sony and is being scrutinized by global regulators over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty.
↺ UK regulator knocks back Microsoft’s proposed Activision deal
- In its statement, the CMA said it had weighed up whether having Activision’s content available on GamePass would nullify the downsides of the merger in the UK.
- Coleman said: “Gaming is the UK’s largest entertainment sector. Cloud gaming is growing fast with the potential to change gaming by altering the way games are played, freeing people from the need to rely on expensive consoles and gaming PCs and giving them more choice over how and where they play games. This means that it is vital that we protect competition in this emerging and exciting market.
- “Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming and this deal would strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors.
- “Microsoft engaged constructively with us to try to address these issues and we are grateful for that, but their proposals were not effective to remedy our concerns and would have replaced competition with ineffective regulation in a new and dynamic market.”
↺ British Regulators Block $68.7B Microsoft/Activision Acquisition
- UK regulators have blocked Microsoft’s proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of the video game giant Activision. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) analyzed more than 3 million Microsoft and Activision documents and more than 2,100 comments from the public about the proposed deal.
↺ UK regulators block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, citing cloud gaming concerns
- The United Kingdom’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, has stifled Microsoft Corp.’s deal to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. in a dramatic move after a monthlong investigation, stating that the deal would “alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market.”
↺ As Regulators Block Tech Deals, They Increasingly Look to the Future
- British regulators cited the newness of the cloud gaming field to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision, a shift in antitrust strategy.
Patents
↺ Jeffrey M. Gross entity Hyperquery patent prior art found
- Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 9,529,918, owned by Hyperquery, LLC, an NPE and Jeffery M. Gross entity.
↺ Patent Law Primer: A Newsletter Series on Key Patent Law Topics
↺ Questions and Answers on Standard Essential Patents
- European Commission Questions and answers Brussels, 27 Apr 2023 Why is intellectual property important and why is the Commission proposing a new initiative on patents today?
- European Commission Press release Brussels, 27 Apr 2023 Today, the Commission has proposed new rules to help companies, especially small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), make the most of their inventions, leverage new technologies and contribute to the EU’s competitiveness and technological sovereignty.
↺ NautaDutilh partner Anne Marie Verschurr to succeed Gertjan Kuipers at De Brauw
- Anne Marie Verschurr is one of the best-known patent lawyers in the Netherlands and will join De Brauw as a partner from NautaDutilh. She is not only active in the patent litigation field but also advises in the life sciences and tech sectors.
↺ UPC Presidium confirms presiding judge selection for all divisions
- Florence Butin, Edger Brinkman, Sabine Klepsch, Peter Michael Tochtermann, Ulrike Voß, Matthias Zigann. All six judges are renowned in patent circles across Europe; all are probably the best-known names among the 15 presiding judges, which the UPC Presidium yesterday confirmed.
↺ EPO and EIB to conduct a study on clean and sustainable technologies
- The study will assess how sustainable- and clean-tech companies in Europe and the US commercialise products and services and create economic value.
Trademarks
↺ TTABLOG Test: Is “JIGUANI” Primarily Geographically Deceptively Misdescriptive of Coffee?
- The USPTO refused to register the proposed mark JIGUANI for coffee, finding the term to be primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive under Section 2(e)(3). Do you know where Jiguani is? How do you think this appeal came out? In re Ruta Maya Royalty, Ltd, Serial No. 90453034 (April 14, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas W. Wellington).
Gemini* and Gopher
Personal
↺ 🔤SpellBinding: CGWLORI Wordo: ALIEN
- I am not a hacker or a programmer. Doing something seemingly as trivial as a visual portfolio in Hugo* while wanting to minimally customize an existing theme proved to be a tough nut to crack. It’s been probably six months since I took the first steps in this direction. Countless hours were spent by trial and error, and searching for tutorials. At some point, after a tentative request for help that I posted on the mastodon social network, I was joined by mr_glitch**, who, also not being a specialist but knowing himself a bit better than me, also quite selflessly devoted countless hours to understand the operation of the various components of the site and make the add-ons I wanted to use fully compatible. I hope this will soon result in his own portfolio created in Hugo and/or a tutorial for beginners like me on how to achieve the results we achieved.
- As you will recall, I’m working on a Myrkheim setting generator for Halberts and Knives. It’s all untested, but here’s the gist of it.
- It can become frustrating winding up revisiting gemini sites, and yet nothing is worse than gamed search results married in hell to advertising. Every time following links to often too-familiar places in gemini feels clunky, I need to remember how I feel seeing obviously gamed top search results regardless the engine, with gobs of advertising lurking about the edges, no doubt prelude to popups, cookie-acceptance requests, and my browser – if not entire computer – slowing down to an even clunkier crawl than following gemini links manually.
↺ Vaneigem’s “Revolution of Everyday Life”
- Having read Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle” last year, i’ve gone on to read Raoul Vaneigem’s “Revolution of Everyday Life” (1963-1965)[a]. As with my collection of quotes from the former[b], the following quotes are simply those that stood out to me, for whatever reason.
Politics
- I recently read an article on the ABC news site that gave me a lot to think about.
Technical
Internet/Gemini
- I just implemented a simple weather page for the Gemini community
↺ The death of the uncurated internet
- We are nearing the end of a period of time between the dawn of the internet and the rise of humanlike machine generated content. For a brief moment, it was possible to quickly find an answer written by a human to nearly any question you had. The answer might not have been high quality, but with a little bit of digging and some critical thinking, the better answers were identifiable. However, the rise of machine generated content has begun to radically change this. For the first time, machines are capable of generating arbitrary content which sounds like it was written by a human. I predict that, within a few years time, the uncurated internet will be dead as we know it.
- First, machine generated content will flood the internet. Search results will be full of generated content about trending topics, which will make it difficult to find accurate information. This problem will be exacerbated for political or otherwise controversial topics. Obscure topics, however, will be relatively safe from generated content. Search engines will have a hard time keeping up with the influx of machine generated spam.
↺ Celebrating an Occasion on LinkedIn
- I’m getting tired of those posts I see posted by my disconnected connection. They celebrate an occasion such as getting promoted, and I am invited to say “congrats”. Why should I? Do I see anything from their achievements? Do they celebrate the occasions with me?
- Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink Send this to a friend
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