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● 01.07.17

● Links 7/1/2017: Linux 4.9.1, Wine 2.0 RC4

Posted in News Roundup at 3:14 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ 2017 And The FUD Still Flows

• Well, here it is 2017 and folks are still trotting out the arguments against GNU/Linux they were using fifteen years ago.

=> ↺ Do People Really Use That? 15 Weird Linux Operating System Names

• When you see the word Windows capitalized, do you even think about the glass panes that let you see outside your house? How often does the “mac” in macOS make you think of burgers? Once a name gets popular enough, we all collectively disregard how peculiar it is.

• Linux isn’t that popular, so it doesn’t get this pass. For those of you unfamiliar with the open source operating system, you don’t install Linux itself — you install one of its many versions, which are known as distributions (“distros”). Many of these distros have odd names.

• I’ve put together a list of 15 distros with odd or comical names, in no particular order. Some of them are relatively popular in the Linux world. Others, even if they were mainstream, would still sound downright silly. Tell me if you agree.

=> ↺ These Linux myths need to die

• A Reddit user recently started a thread in which they asked which myths and misconceptions about Linux annoy users the most.

• The post spawned a lively discussion with points being raised for and against Linux.

• The prominent myths raised in the Reddit thread, along with several which have been doing the rounds for a while, are listed below.

=> ↺ Linux Marketshare Up To 3% According To One Popular Website

• According to one popular NSFW web-site, the 53rd most popular web-site in the world ranked by Alexa, their Linux traffic went up 14% in 2016.

Desktop

=> ↺ $89 Pinebook Linux Laptop Expected to Launch in February

• If you’ve heard the name Pine64 before, it’s most likely in relation to the Pine A64 single-board computer sold by the company as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi$40.99 at Amazon. However, Pine64 is branching out and will launch a couple of extremely cheap laptops next month.

• The so-called Pinebook laptop will ship in two forms, both offering the same internal components while one has an 11.6-inch screen and the other a larger 14-inch panel. Inside you’ll find a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex A53 processor running at 1.2GHz coupled with 2GB DDR3 RAM. Graphics will be handled by the embedded dual-core Mali 400 MP2 GPU, and storage, as with most cheap laptops, is limited to a 16GB eMMC flash drive. According to OMG!Ubuntu!, power is provided by a 10,000mAh LiPo battery and there will be two USB 2.0 ports, a MicroSD card slot, headphone jack, and mini HDMI out.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Linux 4.9.1

• I’m announcing the release of the 4.9.1 kernel.

• All users of the 4.9 kernel series must upgrade.

• The updated 4.9.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.9.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser:

• http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-st…

=> ↺ Linux 4.8.16

=> ↺ Linux 4.4.40

=> ↺ Heterogeneous Memory Management v15 For The Linux Kernel

• Jerome Glisse of Red Hat has published his first set of Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) revisions for 2017.

• This long-in-development work for the Linux kernel to implement Heterogeneous Memory Management allows device memory to be used inside any process transparently and without modification. The HMM patches also allow mirring a process address space on a device. NVIDIA is one of the vendors working on support for their binary NVIDIA Linux driver and Nouveau open-source to make use of HMM with their latest GPUs.

=> ↺ VMware joins Open-O project targeting NFV, SDN orchestration

• The Linux Foundation-based open source group Open-O snares VMware as “premier” member joining the likes of China Mobile, Huawei.

• The Open-O Project recently welcomed new member VMware to the open source organization hosted by The Linux Foundation.

=> ↺ 10 years with util-linux project!

• Yes, we had util-linux before (and many thanks to Adrian Bunk and Andries E. Brouwer), but I believe that with git and close collaboration between Linux distributions and Linux kernel community it better now

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ AMD Kaveri vs. Intel Skylake With The Latest Linux/Mesa Open-Source Drivers

• I’m in the process of testing a lot of my different CPUs/APUs in preparation for some Kaby Lake Linux benchmarks next week with the Core i5 7600K and Core i7 7700K. Along the way with the different CPU benchmarks I’ve also been running some fresh integrated Linux graphics tests on the newer and interesting hardware.

• The integrated graphics tests are still early on and will have much more data when the weekend is through. But so far with numbers from an AMD A10-7850K “Kaveri” APU compared to Skylake-based Core i5 6500 and Core i5 6600K, those numbers alone were interested so I figured I’d share those early numbers this morning.

=> ↺ How AMD Kaveri’s Graphics Performance Has Evolved Under Linux

• As mentioned earlier when posting some fresh AMD Kaveri vs. Intel Linux graphics benchmarks, I have some fresh AMD A10-7850K “Kaveri” APU numbers with running the latest Ubuntu 16.10 + Linux 4.10 + Mesa 13.1-dev stack on many of my benchmarking systems in the basement server room. With having an A10-7850K Kaveri system running with the latest Linux open-source driver code, I figured I’d compare it to some of my older Kaveri results.

• [...]

• Following these initial results in this article are some more numbers going back further to then look at the Ubuntu 14.10 and fglrx 14.20/14.50 performance. All of these OpenGL benchmarks were done in a fully-automated manner using the open-source Phoronix Test Suite benchmarking software.

=> ↺ AMD Developer Posts X.Org Modesetting “MS_ALL_IN_ONE” Patches

=> ↺ PlayStation 4 Running Linux Can Now Use AMDGPU-PRO With Vulkan

• The work to run Linux on the PlayStation 4 continues to advance and previously we reported on those behind it managing to exploit the Radeon graphics found on the AMD APU powering the PS4. The latest milestone is they now have Vulkan running on the PS4.

=> ↺ Deus Ex: Mankind Divided On Linux With Latest RadeonSI – Up To 2~3x Faster

• With Marek’s latest set of RadeonSI Gallium3D patches, which are said to improve the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided performance by around 70%, having landed in Mesa Git, here are some fresh benchmarks with a Radeon RX 480 and R9 Fury.

• The “before” results were from the Christmas-timed 31-Way NVIDIA GeForce / AMD Radeon Linux OpenGL Comparison – End-Of-Year 2016 and then the “new” results are using Linux 4.10 and Mesa 13.1-dev Git as of today. The RX 480 and R9 Fury were used for benchmarking.

=> ↺ There Are A Few More Performance Changes With RadeonSI From Mesa Git

• With Marek’s optimizations having landed in Mesa Git that targeted Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I ran benchmarks and found Deus Ex: MD is generally much faster and can be 2~3x faster, much more than the 70% originally thought by Marek. Now that more time has passed, I have carried out some more Linux gaming tests.

=> ↺ Polaris 12 Support Being Sent In To Linux 4.10 Kernel

• AMD is looking to land initial support for upcoming “Polaris 12″ graphics processors into the in-development Linux 4.10 kernel.

• AMD published initial Polaris 12 open-source Linux driver support back in December. This new revision of Polaris is expected to be for lower-end GPUs while waiting for Vega on the high-end. Details on Polaris 12 remain scarce. But in terms of the Linux driver support, it’s basically adding in the new PCI IDs and sharing the existing code-paths with Polaris 10/11.

=> ↺ RADV Vulkan Driver Gets Its First Fix From A Valve Developer

• It appears Valve Linux developers are doing a bit more tinkering with the RADV Radeon Vulkan driver.

Applications

=> ↺ Linux Twitter App Corebird Just Got an Update

• Corebird, the GTK+ desktop Twitter app for Linux, has been updated. The app made our list of must-have apps for Ubuntu — and it’s easy to see why. It’s a well made, well designed app, and offers all the features Twitter users need, but inside a native desktop frame with tight system integration.

Proprietary

=> ↺ iguazio’s Enterprise Data Cloud

=> ↺ Zazu Is a Launcher for Windows, Mac, and Linux That Lets You Create Your Own Plugins

• You’ve got plenty of choices for app launchers, but if you don’t mind getting your hands messy and adding your own features, Zazu is an app that’s worth a look.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ What Is Tor Browser? How To Install And Setup Tor In Linux?

• ​Tor is a free software that helps to many users to keep their privacy safe on the Internet. When you are surfing the web, your privacy is very weak and your data are vulnerable. It is because many websites get data from you using cookies or scripts (javascript).

=> ↺ Process API for NoFlo components

=> ↺ How to change MAC address using macchanger on Kali Linux

=> ↺ 12 Useful Commands For Filtering Text for Effective File Operations in Linux

=> ↺ How fast are Unix domain sockets?

=> ↺ Multi-arch Docker Images

=> ↺ Ten minute hacks: Process pause & resume

=> ↺ How to Extend Ansible Through Plugins

=> ↺ Outreachy- Week 3 Progress

=> ↺ Virtual Machines in Kubernetes? How and what makes sense?

=> ↺ Installing GNOME Shell extensions using the Fedora package manager

=> ↺ Search And Browse Stack Overflow Website From Commandline

=> ↺ inxi – A Great Tool to Check Hardware Information on Linux

Wine or Emulation

=> ↺ Wine Announcement

• The Wine development release 2.0-rc4 is now available.

=> ↺ Wine 2.0-rc4 released, fixing 28 bugs to make sure the final release is solid

• It fixes some Halo: Combat Evolved graphical glitches, fixes some performance issues with Heroes of Might and Magic IV, fixes issues with running The Sims 3 in a window and more.

=> ↺ Wine 2.0-rc4 Fixes 28 Bugs

• Wine 2.0-rc4 fixes 28 known bugs, including some issues with SWAT 4, .NET 4.0 applications, Halo, Heroes of Might & Magic VI, and various other applications. Overall, the changes aren’t too interesting though with Wine 2.0 having been in its code freeze now for over the past month. The list of changes can be found via WineHQ.org.

Games

=> ↺ If you act fast you can grab a key for the demo of Disgaea 2 and it runs on Linux already

• I assume the Linux/SteamOS beta came and went, as I didn’t get a key to it, so it’s pleasing I can at least test this out.

• At the time of writing 4250 keys are left, so act fast.

=> ↺ 99Vidas, a fun-looking beat ‘em up, is now available

• It released late last month with day-1 Linux support.

=> ↺ The AMD Patches To Boost Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Have Landed In Mesa Git

• For those that have been looking forward to running Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on Linux with the RadeonSI Gallium3D driver, you’ll want to fire up Mesa Git.

• The work covered previously about RadeonSI Patches Boost Deus Ex: MD Performance By ~70%, have now landed in Mesa Git. The SDMA changes to RadeonSI landed in Mesa Git yesterday, making room for much better performance with this newer Linux game port by Feral Interactive. But even a 70% improvement will likely still leave RadeonSI much slower than the NVIDIA Linux driver stack, so hopefully Marek has some more patches he’s working on for better optimizing this demanding game.

=> ↺ Mesa git has pulled in the patches from Marek to improve Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on Linux

• It was 12 patches in total and all of them were reviewed and accepted into Mesa. You can follow the Mesa git log quite easily here.

=> ↺ My thoughts on the MMO Albion Online on Linux, many months later

• I’ve been playing Albion Online [Official Site] on and off since November 2015 and since then it has evolved into something much bigger.

• Note: Albion Online is in beta and it will have a player-wipe just before the final release. Only purchase it if you’re okay with that. The final wipe doesn’t have a specific date yet, other than “Q1 2017”.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Plasma 5.8.5 and Applications 16.12 by KDE now available in Chakra

• The latest updates for KDE’s Plasma and Applications series are now available to all Chakra users, together with other important package upgrades.

• Plasma 5.8.5 provides another round of bugfixes and translation to the 5.8 release, with changes found mostly in the plasma-desktop, plasma-workspace and kscreen packages.

• Applications 16.12.0 is the first release of a new series and comes with several changes. kdelibs has been updated to 4.14.27.

=> ↺ KaOS 2017.01 released as new year’s gift

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ Weather updates with OpenWeather GNOME Shell extension

• If you have ever wanted weather updates on your Desktop, one of the easiest and neatest ways with the OpenWeather GNOME Shell extension. This nifty extension provides an always-visible display of the current weather status and temperature in the top bar of Fedora Workstation. If you open up the weather status monitor, it will also provide you with more details on the current weather, including a forcast for upcoming days, wind, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and sunrise & sunset times for the current location.

Distributions

=> ↺ The Best Linux Distros for 2017

• The new year is upon us, and it’s time to look toward what the next 365 days have in store. As we are wont to do, Linux.com looks at what might well be the best Linux distributions to be found from the ever-expanding crop of possibilities.

• Of course, we cannot just create a list of operating systems and say “these are the best,” not when so often Linux can be very task-oriented. To that end, I’m going to list which distros will rise to the top of their respective heaps…according to task.

• With that said, let’s get to the list!

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva Family

=> ↺ Epson XP 231 vs Mageia 5… The Final Chapter

• I was truly feeling like giving up on getting the Epson XP 231 to scan properly on Mageia. I tried pretty much everything, even Megatotoro’s solution, to no avail.

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ Red Hat Improves Hybrid Cloud Management With CloudForm 4.2

• Red Hat is updating its CloudForms hybrid cloud management platform with the new 4.2 release, providing users with enhanced capabilities. CloudForms enables organization to manage multiple types of cloud deployments including private and public clouds, as well as container-based platforms.

• The CloudForms 4.2 release is based on the open-source ManageIQ Euwe release that debuted in December. Another difference between ManageIQ and CloudForms is the software lifecycle.

=> ↺ Red Hat Extends IT Management Reach into PaaS Environments

• One of the issues most IT organizations find themselves wrestling with is a need to master a wide variety of different tools to manage multiple aspects of the IT environment. Red Hat, for some time now, has been making the case for rationalizing all those tools via Red Hat CloudForms, a suite of management tools that IT organizations can use to manage disparate IT infrastructure.

Finance

=> ↺ Tracking the Numbers for Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

=> ↺ Hot Tech Stocks To Watch Right Now: Red Hat, Inc. (RHT), Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP)

=> ↺ Stocks Tumbling on Lethargic Results: Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT), Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

=> ↺ Market Check: Narrowing in on Shares of Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)

=> ↺ Analyst Activity – William Blair Reiterates Outperform on Red Hat (NYSE:RHT)

Fedora

=> ↺ FEDORA and GNOME on VBOX at USIL

• I have started Linux classes at University as a professor this 2017! and the course is a review of the GNU/Linux story, followed by the installation and the use of commands to manage the terminal. At the end of the course, some services are also set to prepare students into the IT Infrastructure world.

=> ↺ PHP version 5.6.30RC1, 7.0.15RC1 and 7.1.1RC1

=> ↺ Tools I use daily

• I use Fedora rawhide on my laptop, which is my primary client machine. I don’t have a desk and desktop and monitors, just the laptop and a comfy chair. At home I have two dell CS24 servers (one is a test instance and has all my test instances for Fedora maintainers on it, the other is my ‘production’ server and is the firewall and hosts the primary server vm that handles all my email and other services for scrye.com). I have various small arm devices, some of which are on and some of which are off at any given time.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Release update: Soft freeze for stretch

=> ↺ Debian Stretch Enters Its Soft Freeze, Full Freeze In One Month

• The soft freeze is now upon us for Debian 9.0 “Stretch” while the full freeze will happen in February.

• The soft-freeze means that no new source packages will enter Stretch. The full freeze will then happen on 5 February, after which point all changes will require approval to land.

=> ↺ RFH: screen that hurts my eyes

• Two years ago, I bought myself a new fancy motherboard (a Asus B85M-G C2) with a new fancy Intel-based processor with built-in graphics (an Intel Core i7-4770) and memory to go with it. I installed it in the place of my old AMD-based motherboard, keeping everything else (my hoard of hard drives and such) excepted the graphics card, which was not needed anymore. I immediately noticed my eyes were aching when using the computer. I was quite surprised since I had been using the screen very heavily for almost 10 years before that, without any problems. I attributed that to Intel Graphics, so I tried putting back the old graphics card, but it did not help. The situation was very frustrating, since working on the computer for an hour or so was making my eyes hurt for several days. This problem was specific to this computer, I could keep on using my computer at work and my laptop without problems.

=> ↺ Getting to know diffoscope better

• Let me just say that I was a Debian user for years when I discovered it is taking part in Outreachy as one of organisations. Their Reproducible Builds effort has a noble goal and a bunch of great people behind it – I had no chances not to get excited by it. Looking for a place where my skills could be of any use, I discovered diffoscope – the tool for in-depth comparassion of files, archives etc. My mentor, Mattia Rizzolo, supported my decision to work on it, so now I am concentrating my efforts on improving diffoscope.

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

Flavours and Variants

=> ↺ Mint 18.1 Xfce Nearing, Weird Names, Die Linux Myths

• Clement Lefebvre today announced a beta release of Mint 18.1 Xfce with updated software, refinements, and “many new features.” MakeUseOf chuckled at some of the crazy names folks pin on Linux distributions and Jan Vermeulen picked up on a Reddit conversation discussing Linux myths that “need to die.” Elsewhere in Linux news, Bruce Byfield compared and contrasted Debian and Ubuntu while Mark Shuttleworth discussed Snappy vs. Flatpak.

=> ↺ Linux Mint 18.1 “Serena” Xfce – BETA Release

• This is the BETA release for Linux Mint 18.1 “Serena” Xfce Edition.

Devices/Embedded

Intel

=> ↺ Intel reveals dozens of 7th Gen Kaby Lake CPUs

• Intel revealed dozens of 7th Gen “Kaby Lake” CPUs and four Kaby Lake NUC mini-PCs — but benchmarks show only minor boosts over Skylake.

• After quietly unveiling some of the lower powered U-series 7th Generation Kaby Lake processors in September, Intel this week rolled out the full line of dozens of Linux-friendly Kaby Lake processors at the CES show in Las Vegas. The product line includes dual-core Y-series parts for 2-and-1s and compute sticks that run at a low 4.5W TDP, as well as more dual-core U-series models with 15W and 28W TDPs. The previously revealed U-series chips re already being tapped by Congatec’s Conga TC175 and MSC’s MSC C6C-KLU COM Express Compact modules.

=> ↺ What Open-Source/Linux Kaby Lake CPU Benchmarks Would You Like To See?

=> ↺ Intel NUC mini-PCs set sail on Kaby Lake

• Like the three other new NUCs, the NUC7i7BNH supports Windows 10 and “various Linux distros.”

=> ↺ Haswell On Mesa Now Has Nearly Complete OpenGL ES 3.2 Implementation

• It’s been a good week for users of older Intel Haswell graphics on Linux: beyond landing FP64 support and then exposing OpenGL 4.0 support, this older generation of Intel graphics now has a couple more OpenGL ES 3.2 extensions.

=> ↺ Kaby Lake board lineup includes a Mini-ITX SBC and two COMs

Phones

=> ↺ World Has 5.8 Billion Mobile Phone Handsets used by 5.0 Billion unique human beings, out of 7.4 Billion people alive

• Lets explore the world’s mobile phone handset population today. I just released the newest edition of the TomiAhonen Phone Book 2016 statistical volume exactly one week ago. This is the sister volume to my popular TomiAhonen Almanac series that comes out every year around February. Where my Almanac looks at the total 1.7 Trillion-dollar sized mobile industry including its mobile services, the Phone Book focuses only on the 380 Billion dollar sized handset market, as a slice of the total mobile industry. Both ebooks have about 100 charts and tables with about 30% overlap but the Phone Book obviously gives its full attention to the handsets side. In the Almanac the handsets only get one chapter.

Tizen

=> ↺ Developer: Tizen SCM Tools Release – Version 17.01

• Hey Tizen Developers, Tizen SCM Tools and Tizen SCM Services packages have been updated and released to version 17.01. The package versions have been updated to gbs 0.24.4, Mic 0.27.3 and Repa 0.4.

• The majort release changes are that gbs 0.24.4 has many bug fixes as well introducing a new enable kvm build function and other enhancements. MIC Image creator 0.27.3 now supports vdfs and squashfs image creation.

Android

=> ↺ I switched from Android to iPhone 7 Plus — and I regret it wholeheartedly

• I can pinpoint the exact moment I realised buying an iPhone 7 Plus was a mistake: When I tried to interview a London venture capitalist over the phone.

• Apple has rigged the iPhone so that you cannot record a phone call. It is not illegal to tape phone calls, especially if you disclose to the other person that your call is being recorded. And phones have had call-recording functions on them for more than a decade. But for some reason Apple just does not allow call-taping to happen on the iPhone.

=> ↺ Hands on: Casio’s latest rugged Android Wear smartwatch runs Android Wear 2.0, somehow got even bigger [Video]

• Android Wear has made its way to quite a few styles of smartwatches, but few have been as, striking as those from Casio. The Casio WSD-F10 rugged smartwatch certainly turned heads at last year’s CES and for 2017, Casio has refreshed that watch with a few key additions.

• First and foremost, Casio has somehow made the biggest Android Wear smartwatch on the market even bigger. The difference isn’t huge, but this watch is noticeably huge on the wrist, even compared to the already large Samsung Gear S3 (as shown below).

• Filling in that extra space is an altimeter, barometer, and GPS which were all absent from last year’s model. Thankfully, during my brief try-on I found the watch is slightly thinner compared to the previous model which makes it a bit less insane and more comfortable on the wrist.

=> ↺ What is Google Daydream and what devices support it? Google’s Android VR platform explained

• When it comes to virtual reality, Google has been very active in getting cheap devices into people’s hands, thanks to Google Cardboard, and even supplying them with plenty of content to view, through YouTube.

=> ↺ Misfit’s first smartwatch could give Android Wear a run for its money

• Wearable maker Misfit is finally jumping into the smartwatch game.

• The company, which was acquired by watchmaker Fossil in 2015, introduced its new Vapor smartwatch, which will be the company’s first wearable to have a touchscreen.

=> ↺ The Google Assistant Is Coming to Android TV

• Google has talked about bringing its AI assistant to as many places as possible ever since it was first revealed at the company’s I/O developer conference back in May. Right now, it’s in the Pixel smartphone, Google Home device and the Allo chat app. Today, Google announced that its next destination will be Android TV devices, including the new NVIDIA Shield (as NVIDIA just confirmed at its CES press conference).

=> ↺ Blitab is a Braille device for visually impaired people

• Meet Blitab, an Android tablet combined with a smart Braille surface. It’s one of the most affordable Braille devices out there and could change the way visually impaired people use computing devices. The company is participating in TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield at CES.

• The devices for this niche market are really disappointing. There are specialized devices called Braille notetakers that are clunky, not that powerful and cost up to $5,000. They even run an outdated version of Windows CE. These might be fine, as some health insurance companies will help you pay for these devices. But what if you live in a country without proper health insurance to pay for such a device? That’s where Blitab shines; it’s only going to cost $500.

• In addition to being a cheaper version of an existing product, it’s a much more useful device. At heart, it’s an Android tablet, so it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and can run all sorts of Android apps. It also supports all the cool accessibility features in Android, such as voice over.

=> ↺ Nvidia Adding Google Assistant, Hands-Free Voice Control to Shield Android TV

=> ↺ Hands-on with Nvidia’s new 4K HDR-streaming Shield with Android TV

• Nvidia’s Shield set-top streaming device got an update at this year’s CES, and it was a big one: The new hardware is 40 percent smaller than the original, with a new Android 7.0 Nougat-based operating system and a redesigned UI that groups games together and just generally organizes things a bit more logically. It also handles 4K HDR content streaming, and boasts the most sources available for such content of any set-top streaming device currently available.

=> ↺ CES 2017: Panasonic Announces Android-Based Car Infotainment Platform

• Panasonic, Qualcomm, and Google are working together to create an Android-based in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system, the former has announced at CES 2017. It will be based on the latest version of Android, v7.0 Nougat, and use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820Am processor.

• Before you get confused, this is entirely different from Android Auto, which projects an optimised version of your smartphone’s UI onto your car’s dashboard. It’s better to think of this as an Android-based car platform, which Google talked about during its I/O event last year. That means it enables all the functions of a car, while providing drivers with “a unified experience across an automaker’s entire vehicle lineup”.

=> ↺ First Six Mega Man Games Now Available On Android

=> ↺ iDevices becomes Android-compatible at CES 2017

=> ↺ Android had a tough year compared to iOS in one crucial area

=> ↺ Here’s why

=> ↺ Google Updates: Chromebooks for Android, Assistant for TV, Daydream for Moto

=> ↺ Google Patches Security Holes in Android Bootloader for Nexus Devices

=> ↺ Google’s January Android patch packet tackles Qualcomm and Linux vulnerabilities

=> ↺ Google Patches Android Custom Boot Mode Vulnerability

=> ↺ How to tell if your Android phone has been hacked

=> ↺ Google makes its essential Android modding tools easier to get

=> ↺ T-Mobile Releases Android 7.0 Nougat Update For HTC 10 And LG G Pad X 8.0

=> ↺ Android Nougat Galaxy S7 Update: Features, Easter eggs and everything we know

=> ↺ Amazon’s Alexa moves in on Google’s Android system

=> ↺ Android Circuit: Galaxy S8 Launch Date Leaks, Galaxy Note Returns, Fixing Google Pixel Problems

=> ↺ Android 7.1.1 image and OTA files finally available for the Nexus 6

=> ↺ ZTE will launch an Android Wear watch with LTE Connectivity later this year

• It looks like ZTE wants to broaden its horizons a little. In an interview with CNET, Lixin Cheng, ZTE USA CEO, mentioned that the company is in the final stages of developing an Android Wear device — and it even has a carrier lined up in the U.S.

• So why would the company need a carrier for the watch? Well, when it launches later this year, it will be one of the few that has its own LTE connection, and it will be able to run completely independently of your smartphone.

=> ↺ My WATCH runs GNU/Linux And It Is Amazing

• In 2015, I found myself becoming a very independent smart-watch reviewer. Due to some lucky conditions, I ended up with a free LG Watch Urbane. It was very snazzy, but I just didn’t get the point of smartwatches. One day in 2016, I forgot to put it on. From then on I realized that smartwatches were just a fad (for me at least), and this was a device I could experiment with.

• How can I experiment with a smartwatch? Having tried (and failed) to run Ubuntu on another device (nexus 9), the obvious answer was to install GNU/Linux on it! It is an amazing piece of hardware with a stunning circular touch screen. Since I know how to write apps for GNU/Linux (it even runs a web browser!), I was excited by the possibilities.

• Then I found Asteroid OS:

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ What is Open Source Software and How Can You Use it For Business?

• Small businesses are always looking for ways to save time and cut the operating costs of their business. One way to do this is by using open source software (OSS) to run their business.

=> ↺ AT&T now an open source believer

• Networked data traffic will only grow moving forward, said Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin, and making ECOMP open-source will allow the network to adjust.

• For many of those giants looking to modernize, open source has been the answer, as it allows for flexibility and a vast trove of material to draw from.

• Other legacy companies like GM and GE have also been working hard to reinvent themselves for the digital age, recognizing that they must evolve or face potential extinction. GE CEO Jeff Immelt wants to make GE a leading software company by 2020, while General Motors CEO Mary Barra is working to shift that company to become more of a tech innovator and incubator.

=> ↺ The impact of Open Source on operators, systems integrators and vendors

• Open source refers to the ability to access and modify source code, develop derived works, and sell or distribute software. Open source does not imply free of charge. In the context of telecom networks, open source builds on Network Function Virtualisation (NFV). While open source refers traditionally to software, it can apply to hardware in which case a reference design is shared in an open community. The construct of open source leads to collaborative communities, and a product development philosophy that is based on a relatively fast iterative process. This contrasts with the relatively slow ‘waterfall’ process used in the development of telecom network equipment and services.

=> ↺ Hyperledger Blockchain Project Announces ‘Technical Working Group China’ Following Strong Interest

• The Hyperledger Project, a cross-industry collaborative effort to study, develop and implement open-source blockchain solutions and standards has set up a working group as an extended arm in China.

=> ↺ In the 2017 Tech Job Pool, Open Source Skills Rule

• Here it is: 2017. As the year gets going, the cloud computing and Big Data scenes are absolutely flooded with talk of shortages in people with deployment and management expertise. There just are not enough skilled workers to go around. The OpenStack Foundation, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and other organizations are now taking some important steps to address the situation.

• Here are some of the best ways to start the new year by getting certified for the open source cloud and Big Data tools that are makng a difference.

• As part of its efforts to grow the OpenStack talent pool and global community, the OpenStack Foundation has announced professional certification programs that are meant to provide a baseline assessment of knowledge and be accessible to OpenStack professionals around the world. Some of the first steps in advancing the program are taking place now, and Red Hat is also advancing OpenStack certification plans..

=> ↺ Ford, Toyota to challenge Apple CarPlay, Android Auto

• Wednesday’s announcement establishes the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, a non-profit group that will manage the open source software in SmartDeviceLink. Ford’s AppLink, a part of Ford Sync, is the underlying software in SmartDeviceLink. Ford deeded AppLink to the open source community in 2013. The idea is individual automakers can then build their own center stack display interfaces that look and feel different, while still retaining the voice and instrument panel controls already created by SDL. Right now, Apple CarPlay looks about the same on a $25,000 Chevrolet Cruze (image above) and a $60,000 Audi, to the annoyance of all automakers.

=> ↺ Riot: An open team collaboration tool for everyone

• How many times have you wished you had a quick access to a collaboration tool in the palm of your hands? And how many times have you wished that same tool could not only reach out to a team of your choosing, but to a community of similar users?

• Such is the way of Riot. This particular open source take on collaboration (available on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and Linux) makes working with others on ideas and issues as easy as possible. Not only can you join the myriad available rooms, you can create your own rooms and make them either public or private. Riot even allows for room encryption, to ensure security.

=> ↺ CyanogenMod’s death and rebirth, new open source automotive group, and more news

• In this edition of our open source news roundup, we take a look at Cyanogen Inc. pulling the plug on CyanogenMod, Toyota and Ford forming the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, and more.

=> ↺ Haiku OS Gaining Ground On UEFI, FreeBSD Compatibility Layer, Remote Debugging

• For those interested in the BeOS-inspired Haiku open-source operating system, they have issued their latest monthly progress report to end out 2016.

Events

=> ↺ Crossing the AI chasm

• I recently presented those learnings at ApacheCon, and in this article I’ll share my top four lessons for overcoming both the technical and product chasms that stand in your path.

=> ↺ Call for Presentations at LinuxFest NorthWest, May 6-7, 2017

• Freedom, Friends, Features, First. The theme of this years LinuxFest NorthWest is ‘The Mechanics of Freedom’.

• Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things are becoming even more integrated in the lives of regular citizens. Along with these changes comes concern over the trade-offs between convenience and privacy. For example: Privacy in the age of relentless online tracking, How bots can help you onboard new community members, Training driverless vehicles, How the Internet of Things took down DNS.

Web Browsers

=> ↺ 2016 sees Internet Explorer usage collapse, Chrome surge

• At the start of 2016, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was still the most commonly used browser on the Web; it finished 2015 being used by about 46 percent of Web users, with 32 percent preferring Chrome, and 12 percent using Firefox. But Explorer’s days have been numbered ever since Microsoft essentially ended its development. While the venerable browser is still supported and still gets security updates, its features and standard support have been frozen since 2015. Instead, Microsoft shifted active development to Edge, its new browser. While Edge is faster, more secure, and boasts much better support for Web standards, it’s only available for Windows 10, which greatly limits its audience.

CMS

=> ↺ Launching a Site or Blog? Open Source Creation Tools Give You Many Choices

• Late last year, Datamation came out with an extensive evaluation of which open source content management systems (CMS) really stand out, which is a topic near and dear to us here at OStatic. Our site runs on Drupal, which is an open source platform that powers many sites around the web, but there are key differences between CMS offerings, and if you’re looking for the right solution, we have some good resources for you.

• The Datamation story provides a nice overview of the open CMS space, but here are some of our newly updated, favorite ways to go about evaluating which is the right CMS for you.

• Marking a true renaissance for tools that can help anyone run a top-notch website or manage content in the cloud, open source content management systems (CMS) have come of age. You’re probably familiar with some of the big names in this arena, including Drupal (which Ostatic is based on) and Joomla. As we noted in this post, selecting a CMS to build around can be a complicated process, since the publishing tools provided are hardly the only issue.

Microsoft Cuts

=> ↺ Apple and Google remove LinkedIn app from Russian app stores

=> ↺ Microsoft plans big reorganization of partner and services groups starting Feb. 1

• Microsoft said in a statement that no layoffs will occur as a direct result of the reorganization, which is being announced internally today. Microsoft added that “like all companies, Microsoft reviews its resources and investments on an ongoing basis.”

=> ↺ Microsoft formally shuts down its TechRewards program

• A few months ago, Microsoft announced that it was shuttering its TechRewards program in 2017. The project, that was originally started by Nokia under the name DVLUP rewards program, aimed to reward developers with badges, XP, gift cards and other prizes for developing or incorporating new features in their apps. When Microsoft acquired Nokia’s devices and services division back in 2014, the program was rebranded to Microsoft TechRewards.

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ GNU Officially Boots Libreboot

• FSF and GNU decide to grant Libreboot lead developer Leah Rowe’s wishes. The project is no longer a part of GNU says RMS.

Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ SiFive rolls out fully open source chip for IoT devices

• SiFive has also released an Arduino based software development board called HiFive1, along with the FE310 chip. In addition to that, the company has also released the RTL (register-transfer level) code for FE310 under an open source license that will allow chip designers to customize their own SoC on top of the base FE310.

• I talked with Jack Kang, VP of Product and Business Development at SiFive, to understand the chip’s impact on IoT world.

=> ↺ CES 2017 – Renault create world’s first open-source mass market vehicle

• The new vehicle POM, based on Renault’s popular Twizy, will be available to start-ups, independent laboratories, private customers and researchers, allowing them to customise the software and driving experience.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Top 50 Developer Tools of 2016

• It took a bit of time to comb through the data, but there are some killer insights in here. To piece this list together, we aggregated usage from 40K+ tech stacks, over a million unique visits, and thousands of developer comments, reviews, and votes across all of 2016 (more on methodology below). Through it, we found some of the top tech trends coming into 2017 and what should be on your bucket list. Let’s get started!

=> ↺ Keynote: State of the Union: node.js by Rod Vagg, NodeSource

• During his keynote at Node.js Interactive in November, Rod Vagg, Technical Steering Committee Director at the Node.js Foundation talked about the progress that the project made during 2016.

=> ↺ Node.js: The State of the Union

• By all metrics, it has been a good year for Node.js. During his keynote at Node.js Interactive in November, Rod Vagg, Technical Steering Committee Director at the Node.js Foundation talked about the progress that the project made during 2016.

=> ↺ RcppTOML 0.1.0

• Big news: RcppTOML now works on Windows too!

Leftovers

Science

=> ↺ Finnish brain drain picks up speed, entire research groups now moving abroad

• Cuts to universities and state-funded research centres are contributing to growing brain drain from Finland and increasing unemployment among the highly educated, says Petri Koikkalainen, the head of the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers.

• The incidence of highly-educated people moving abroad has increased by one-third in the last few years, while the increase in the number of researchers leaving Finland behind is only slightly behind this percentage. According to Statistics Finland, 2,223 individuals with top academic degrees moved abroad in 2016.

• This brain drain has grown steadily since 2011, the researcher and teacher’s union president Koikkalainen said in a Radio Suomi interview on January 5.

• “The problem is not that people are moving abroad from Finland; the problem is that they never come back. We can’t attract highly-educated international experts to Finland, either,” Koikkalainen said.

• “There’s no use debating whether the shrinking university resources are contributing to the growing brain drain. At this point, we should just concede the obvious.”

Health/Nutrition

=> ↺ China’s Airpocalypse Paves a Path for New Cancer Medicines

• The thick haze of pollution blanketing northern China this winter is a grim reminder of the nation’s new growth industry: lung cancer drugs.

• China logged more than 700,000 new cases of the disease in 2015, the product of a surge in air pollution, high smoking rates and unhealthy lifestyles as China has prospered in recent decades. Lung cancer is now the most common type of cancer in the country and its spread has spawned new listings as well as billion-dollar market values for Chinese companies like Betta Pharmaceuticals Co. and Hutchison China MediTech Ltd., which are attempting to build blockbuster treatments.

• Zhejiang, Hangzhou-based Betta Pharma, which sells just one lung cancer drug called Conmana, shot up to as much as $5.6 billion in market value late last year after raising about $110 million in a public offering on the Shenzhen exchange in November. Hutchison China MediTech, whose pipeline of experimental therapies is also heavily focused on lung cancer, also attracted $110 million in a new listing on the Nasdaq in March.

=> ↺ ‘Elephants are not the only victims’: the lament of China’s ivory lovers

• In a tiny workshop at his home in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, 84-year-old Au Yue-Shung shows me an ivory carving he has been working on for months. Measuring just 5×10 inches, Nine Sages in Mount Xiang depicts the 9th-century poet Bai Juyi and eight of his peers in full creative flow in Henan province, far from the imperial court that Bai once served. The point of the story is that the sages tried to maintain their integrity by staying close to nature and art, and away from the ugly politics of the time. This is a piece that Au created for himself rather than a client. It is his statement about life after going through many ups and downs.

• Born during the Japanese occupation of China in the 1930s, Au joined Guangzhou’s Daxin ivory carving factory at the age of 13 as an apprentice. With only one year’s formal education and with no one caring to teach him, he taught himself drawing and carving in his spare time. Unable to afford drawing paper, he drew on toilet paper. His gift was soon recognised and by the late 1960s he had become a key carving artist at Daxin. Later, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, he decided that he had had enough of the political and artistic repression.

=> ↺ State cannot shut people out when it comes to Flint water crisis

• How many more insults can the state lob at the city of Flint?

• The latest came this week when the state Michigan Department of Environmental Quality tried to sneak through an invitation-only town hall meeting on the condition of Flint water.

• In a city where no one can safely drink the water without a filter, the state apparently thought it was perfectly acceptable to hold a public session with a handpicked selection of people.

• A city spokeswoman said the state dropped the invite-only rule Tuesday, Jan. 3, at Flint Mayor Karen Weaver’s urging after city and state officials were asked about the program by MLive-The Flint Journal.

=> ↺ 2016 was the worst year in NHS history – we must fight for its survival

• The last 12 months have been the worst in the history of the NHS. Our health system is under pressure like never before. The moment of crisis many warned of has arrived, and it is not clear that the NHS can be retrieved from this state of affairs.

• We used to say that flailing A&Es represented an early warning sign that the health service was under pressure. And so that has proven to be. England’s major A&Es are under record strain with black alerts being regularly sounded, and in some instances wards turning patients away. Last year the A&E crisis spread to other sectors.

=> ↺ The Breakthrough: The $2 Drug Test

• We’re calling it The Breakthrough. We’re kicking things off today with two ProPublica reporters, Ryan Gabrielson and Topher Sanders, talking about how they discovered police departments nationwide use a $2 test for detecting drugs that can send innocent people to jail.

Security

=> ↺ Security updates for Thursday

=> ↺ $247000 KillDisk ransomware demands a fortune, forgets to unlock files

=> ↺ Deadly KillDisk malware: Now in Linux

=> ↺ KillDisk System Destructive Malware Now Targeting Linux

=> ↺ KillDisk cyber sabotage tool evolves into ransomware

=> ↺ Machines Running Linux Infected by KillDisk Malware

=> ↺ Insane blackhats behind world’s most expensive ransomware ‘forget’ to backup crypto keys

=> ↺ KillDisk Malware Encrypts Linux

=> ↺ UK Cops Punish Suspected Hacker By Having Him Work With The Organization He Hacked To Patch Up Security Holes

• We’ve seen lots of companies (and prosecutors) go after researchers and hobbyists who have exposed security holes in websites and software. Rather than simply fix the problem and alert those who might be affected, too many see fit to shoot the messenger as well.

• We’ve also seen some disturbing over-prosecution of less well-intentioned hackers, presumably meant to act as a deterrent toward others who might feel like taking a poke at a company’s firewall. This tends to result in sentences completely divorced from the reality of the situation. So, it’s somewhat refreshing to see law enforcement officials handle a hacking case in a much more proactively positive way. (via the Office of Inadequate Security)

=> ↺ Security updates for Friday

=> ↺ Linux KillDisk Ransomware Can’t Decrypt

• Disk-wiping malware known as KillDisk, which has previously been used in hack attacks tied to espionage operations, has been given an update. Now, the malware works on Linux as well as Windows systems and also includes the ability to encrypt files, demand a bitcoin ransom and leave Linux systems unbootable.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ FBI dispute with DNC over hacked servers may fuel doubt on Russia role

• The FBI may have been forced into a misstep when investigating whether Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee — the agency never directly examined the DNC servers that were breached.

• Instead, the FBI had to rely on forensic evidence provided by third-party cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which the DNC hired to mitigate the breach.

• “The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed,” the agency said on Thursday in a statement.

• [...]

• CrowdStrike didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But it wasn’t the only private security firm to examine the breach. Fidelis Cybersecurity was brought in to look at the malware samples, and concluded that suspected elite Russian hackers were behind the intrusion.

• Nevertheless, the FBI should have conducted its own review of the hacked servers, Bambenek said. “This is a highly political case, and perception matters,” he said. “In this situation, they need to be building credibility.”

• Critics might now question if the FBI missed pieces of evidence in its investigation or if U.S. intelligence agencies rushed to blame Russia for the hack.

=> ↺ Fort Lauderdale shooting leaves ‘mutiple people’ dead, eight hospitalized: authorities

• As many as five people may have been killed and eight people wounded following a shooting by a reported lone gunman at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport on Friday afternoon, according to law enforcement authorities, social media, and local and national media reports.

• The suspected gunman, who has not been identified, is in custody, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. It confirmed via Twitter that “multiple people are dead” and that “eight people were injured and transported to an area hospital.”

• BSO officials said they received a call around 12:55 p.m. about shots fired at the airport. Airport officials tweeted that “there is an ongoing incident in Terminal 2, Baggage Claim,” but gave no other details.

=> ↺ The Ft. Lauderdale Airport Shooter And How TSA Dumbthink Makes Us Less Safe

• And then there’s the photo of him making that one-fingered salute that’s the sign of the tawhid — “the absolute unity of the godhead.”

• If we actually had real security — security that was meaningful in any way — the guy wouldn’t be running around with a gun…checking his gun in at the airport, no less.

• So, we have this expensive, huge bureaucracy, and people being put on the no-fly list because they have the same name as some terrorist, but nobody thinks to put any little notiepoo in the TSA files about a guy who’s reportedly hearing voices from ISIS?

• Think about that, the next time some repurposed mall food court worker is (screw probable cause!) batting at your balls or sticking her hand up your hoohoo.

=> ↺ Alleged Target of Drone Strike That Killed American Teenager Is Alive, According to State Department

• The U.S. State Department confirmed on January 5 that the man the U.S. government once claimed was the target of the drone strike that killed American teenager Abdulrahman Awlaki in 2011 in Yemen is alive. The department announced that it has designated Ibrahim al Banna “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.” The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to al Banna’s killing or capture.

• Al Banna’s name was floated by anonymous U.S. officials as the target of the October 14, 2011, drone strike that killed Awlaki, a 16-year-old U.S. citizen born in Colorado. Awlaki’s family insists he was having dinner with his teenage cousin and some others in Shebwah, Yemen, when they were killed in the strike. The Obama administration has never explained why Awlaki was killed, other than anonymous officials implying he was with a terror target at the time or that it was a lethal mistake. Awlaki’s estranged father, Anwar al Awlaki, was a radical pro-al Qaeda imam whose sermons influenced and inspired many terrorists in the English speaking world. The elder Awlaki, who was also a U.S. citizen, was an enigmatic figure who supported George W. Bush’s 2000 election campaign, spoke at the Pentagon shortly after 9-11, and went on to become an important propaganda figure for the growing radical Islamist movement after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. He was killed in a U.S. drone strike two weeks before his son was killed.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ ‘Hannity’ Exclusive: Wikileaks’ Assange: Governments ‘Hate Transparency. They Loathe It’

• “We’re in the business of publishing information about power,” Assange said. “Why are we in the business of publishing information about power? Because people can do things with power, they can do very bad things with power. If they’re incompetent, they can do dangerous things. If they’re evil, they can do wicked things.”

=> ↺ WikiLeaks or US Intelligence?: CNBC journalist trolled for asking ‘who Americans believe’

• CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood, whose cosy relationship with the Clinton campaign was exposed in the Podesta Leaks, asked which source Americans believe regarding the hacking of the Democratic National Committee – WikiLeaks or US Intelligence.

• The Twitter poll comes as President-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to accept US Intelligence reports that claim Russia is behind the DNC hacking escalated tensions between the incoming and outgoing White House administrations.

=> ↺ Christmas tale from CIA, NSA and FBI: Elusive ‘Russian hacker’ is Putin

=> ↺ WikiLeaks Is What It Is Today Because Of U.S. Government And Media

• If a report from the United States intelligence community is to be believed and WikiLeaks knows the Kremlin used their organization to undermine a United States election, then the U.S. government and press bear some responsibility for the organization’s lack of concern about it.

• The U.S. government launched a grand jury investigation into the media organization and held the grand jury’s first session in 2011. According to a “Manhunting Timeline,” it encouraged Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries to file criminal charges against the organization’s editor-in-chief, Julian Assange.

• WikiLeaks’ most prominent and arguably important source in the organization’s history, Chelsea Manning, was abused by the Marines in pretrial confinement and zealously prosecuted by the U.S. military as if she were a spy, who aided al Qaida terrorists. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison for Espionage Act-related offenses. Her disclosures were motivated by whistleblowing and yet, as her legal team argues, she received “far and away the most severe sentence ever adjudged.”

• For the most part, U.S. establishment media outlets went along with the U.S. government’s commitment to criminalizing and isolating WikiLeaks. Even with the revelation of Google search warrants against WikiLeaks staff, editorial boards and journalists remained largely silent about an investigation that could have profound implications for freedom of the press, particularly now that someone like Trump will be president for the next four years.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ London breaches annual air pollution limit for 2017 in just five days

• London has breached its annual air pollution limits just five days into 2017, a “shameful reminder of the severity of London’s air pollution”, according to campaigners.

• By law, hourly levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide must not be more than 200 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) more than 18 times in a whole year, but late on Thursday this limit was broken on Brixton Road in Lambeth.

• Many other sites across the capital will go on to break the annual limit and Putney High Street exceeded the hourly limit over 1,200 times in 2016. Oxford Street, Kings Road in Chelsea and the Strand are other known pollution hotspots.

• NO2 pollution, which is produced largely by diesel vehicles, causes 9,500 early deaths every year in London. Most air quality zones across the country break legal limits and the crisis was called a “public health emergency” by MPs in April. This week scientists said that one in 10 cases of Alzheimer’s in people living near busy roads could be linked to air pollution.

=> ↺ US energy analysis sees renewable electricity passing coal by 2030

• Yesterday, the US Energy Information Administration released its energy outlook for 2017. These annual reports provide projections of current energy trends out to 2040, and they provide policymakers with a sense of where the country could be decades from now, should things continue as they have been.

• Anyone who’s up on current trends wouldn’t be surprised by many of the EIA’s results. With coal’s continued decline, natural gas becomes the dominant source of energy in the US, followed by renewable generation. Most of the scenarios the report considers see the continued growth in US energy production far outstripping a sluggish growth in demand. This pattern will transform the country into a net exporter of energy by the 2030s.

• But EIA reports are notoriously conservative in their projections, and this can lead to completely unrealistic results. In the past, for example, the EIA’s projections didn’t foresee the radical drop in photovoltaic prices, and so the organization had solar playing little role in US energy markets. This year’s version is no exception, as it suggests installation of wind power in the US will essentially stop once tax incentives run out in the early 2020s.

=> ↺ Giant iceberg poised to break off from Antarctic shelf

• A thread of just 20km of ice is now preventing the 5,000 sq km mass from floating away, following the sudden expansion last month of a rift that has been steadily growing for more than a decade.

• The iceberg, which is positioned on the most northern major ice shelf in Antarctica, known as Larsen C, is predicted to be one of the largest 10 break-offs ever recorded.

=> ↺ The Stuff You Buy Is Destroying Animals Around the World

• There are certain products that everyone knows are directly destructive to wildlife. As such, most people and countries around the world generally try to avoid them. Using ivory for trinkets causes elephant slaughter; eating shark fins—you guessed it—is not good for sharks. But those are easy to give up, because a.) we don’t need any of them, and b.) they very blatantly come from certain wild animals.

• Much of the things we use in daily life, however, from iPhones, to jeans, to Ikea furniture, also have negative impacts on endangered wildlife around the globe. But how can you tell? In an attempt to answer that question, scientists from Norway and Japan used a global trade model to trace consumer demands around the world to threats on endangered wildlife. They’ve created a series of maps based on their findings that show the threat “hotspots” around the world and what countries are endangering them. The rationale is that if you know where in the supply chain you’re doing the most damage, you can take steps to alleviate it. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

=> ↺ Warmer Winters

=> ↺ Another pipeline through Indian land – this time in Mexico

• The Yaqui community is less that pleased about the Agua Prieta pipeline’s projected route, which goes straight through their territory. Things went from bad to worse on October 21, when the pipeline’s supporters attacked a group of protesters, killing one, wounding eight, and causing substantial property damage.

• The Yaqui tribe, which has endured a long history of repression, has also a history of resistance. Like other indigenous communities in Mexico, several members of the Yaqui tribe have lost their lives fighting against invasive private companies and non-indigenous authorities. Just two years ago, before the conflict over the Agua Prieta pipeline, the Yaquis protested against a large-scale aqueduct that would have diverted what was left of their sacred river to the city of Hermosillo.

=> ↺ Exxon predicts 25% rise in energy demand

• The world’s biggest oil conglomerate says it expects global energy demand to increase by a quarter in the next 23 years.

• ExxonMobil is the largest of the world’s big oil companies, the supermajors. Up to the end of 2016, Rex Tillerson, who has been nominated by US President-elect Donald Trump as his Secretary of State, was Exxon’s chairman and CEO.

• In this year’s annual Outlook for Energy, a look-ahead to 2040, Exxon says: “Over the next 25 years, growing economies and an expanding middle class will mean better living standards for billions, through increased access to better education and health care as well as new homes, appliances and cars. This means the world will need more energy, even with significant efficiency gains.”

• With world population expected to grow by 1.8 billion people to a total of 9bn by 2040, the company believes global energy demand will increase by 25% – and that India and China together will account for 45% of that increase.

Finance

=> ↺ Farmers could ‘reap a post-Brexit bonus when Britain leaves the EU’

• Farmers will reap a post-Brexit bonus as Britain is liberated from “over-bureaucratic” European Union rules on agriculture, according to a new report.

• It argued that departure from the bloc will enable the government to better target financial help at the farmers who need it most.

• The report from the Centre for PolicyStudies (CPS) said that Theresa May has a “strong hand” to deploy in Brexit negotiations because of the UK’s £16.7bn annual deficit in food and drink with the EU.

=> ↺ Finland Will Give 2000 Unemployed People $590 Every Month, No Strings Attached, Even After They Get A Job

• As that indicates, this isn’t a universal basic wage, since it’s aimed at just a few of those receiving unemployment benefit, and the money will replace existing financial support. On the other hand, it isn’t just some kind of creative accounting, because they will continue to receive the monthly sum even if they find work. There are already plans to roll it out more widely.

• As the Guardian notes, other parts of the world, including Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland, are also looking to try out the idea. At a time when there are fears that automation may well reduce the total number of workers needed in industry, it’s great to see these experiments exploring an approach that could help to alleviate social problems arising from this shift.

=> ↺ Sir Ivan Rogers, UK’s ambassador to the EU quits

• Sir Ivan, the man who would play a main role in the negotiations with the EU during the UKs extraction has resigned, sending a 1400-word thank you letter to his staff setting out his problems with why he felt his position was untenable and the current Governments position with regards to leaving the EU.

=> ↺ Kamala Harris Fails to Explain Why She Didn’t Prosecute Steven Mnuchin’s Bank

• Former California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Wednesday vaguely acknowledged The Intercept’s report about her declining to prosecute Steven Mnuchin’s OneWest Bank for foreclosure violations in 2013, but offered no explanation.

• “It’s a decision my office made,” she said, in response to questions from The Hill shortly after being sworn in as California’s newest U.S. senator.

• “We went and we followed the facts and the evidence, and it’s a decision my office made,” Harris said. “We pursued it just like any other case. We go and we take a case wherever the facts lead us.”

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ NYT Makes the Case for Trump Via Racialized Rural Mythology

• Washington Post‘s Paul Farhi wrote a piece last month (12/9/16) reporting that “major newspapers, from the Washington Post to the New York Times, have struggled to find and publish pro-Trump columns for months.” Perhaps that explains why some of the Trump-sympathizing columns they do manage to turn up—like a piece that ran today in the Times (1/5/17)—leave a lot to be desired in terms of logic and accuracy.

• To be fair, the Times op-ed wasn’t written by a self-professed Trump fan, but by Robert Leonard, the news director for an Iowa country music station, who says, “I consider myself fairly liberal,” and confesses that he has “struggled to understand how these conservative friends and neighbors I respect—and at times admire—can think so differently from me.”

• [...]

• Voting for Trump, though, with the idea that he will do something about the hospitals-too-far-away problem would be childish. If op-ed pages can’t find writers who can make a grown-up case for Trump, perhaps they should be willing to allow the case to go unmade.

=> ↺ Speaker Paul Ryan, After Passing Regulatory Rollback, Parties With Lobbyists at Fundraiser

• Just hours after passing the very first bill of the new Congress on Wednesday — one designed to roll back a range of environmental and consumer regulations — House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., celebrated with a corporate lobbying firm at a fundraiser for his campaign committee.

• The vote on the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2017 took place at 4:48 p.m. on Wednesday. The fundraiser, at the offices of the BGR Group, a major lobbying firm, started at 7 p.m.

• The bill would amend existing law to allow Congress to repeal en masse multiple regulations finalized since the end of May last year. The law is believed to be aimed at rolling back a rule designed to deter mining companies from polluting drinking water sources, rules designed to curb hazardous methane emissions from fracking sites, and a rule that extends the threshold for overtime pay to workers, among others.

=> ↺ Clinton quite effective at discrediting herself’ Ex-CIA analyst blasts hacking claims

• Larry C Johnson branded the newly declassified US intelligence report “as a farce and a charade”, adding Russian attempts to discredit the Democrat candidate Hilary Clinton were unnecessary because “she was quite effective at it herself”.

• On Friday, intelligence officials published their findings into alleged Russian hacking during November’s US election.

• The report claimed the Russian president personally ordered an online campaign to influence the outcome of the ballot in Trump’s favour.

• It said Mr Putin’s goal was to undermine the democratic process and denigrate Mrs Clinton, by using intermediaries such as DCLeaks.com, Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks to publicly expose private emails acquired from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and top level Democrats.

=> ↺ Trump Already Demanding Leak Investigation and He’s Not Even President Yet

• President-elect Donald Trump isn’t waiting until his inauguration to push for investigations of leaks to the press — an indication that he’ll emulate and possibly surpass President Obama’s practice of criminalizing disclosures to the media.

=> ↺ Underwhelming Intel Report Shows Need for Congressional Investigation of DNC Hack

• After President Obama and Donald Trump were briefed on a classified report explaining the United States Intelligence Community’s belief that Russia hacked the Democratic Party, the public has received its own, declassified version. Unfortunately for us, it appears virtually anything new and interesting was removed in the redaction process, leaving us without the conclusive, technical evidence we were hoping for — and that the American people are owed. Failing a last minute change of heart, the next best (and perhaps last) hope for the government to show us its work would be a formal, bipartisan probe.

=> ↺ Conservatives Plot Their Course on the Rising ‘Sea of Red’ in State Capitals

• The American Legislative Exchange Council — a nonprofit better known as ALEC — briefed its members and allied groups on the bright future for its agenda now that Republicans will effectively control 68 of the nation’s 99 state legislative bodies, as well as 33 governor’s mansions. Among other things, group members said they would push bills to reduce corporate taxes, weaken unions, privatize schooling and influence the ideological debate on college campuses.

=> ↺ Glenn Greenwald: Democrats Eager to Blame “Everybody But Themselves” for Collapse of Their Party

• As Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies at a Senate hearing on Russian cyberthreats ahead of a highly classified briefing today with President-elect Donald Trump, we speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has faced an onslaught of criticism for questioning the premise of Russian hacking of the U.S. election. “Because Democrats are so desperate to put the blame on everybody but themselves for the complete collapse of their party, they’re particularly furious at anybody who vocally challenges this narrative,” Greenwald says. “And since I’ve been one of the people most vocally doing so, the smear campaign has been like none that I have ever encountered. I have been accused of being a member of the alt-right, of being an admirer of Breitbart, of being supportive of Donald Trump, of helping him get elected and, of course, of being a Kremlin operative.”

=> ↺ Facebook’s New Head of News Partnerships, Campbell Brown, Has Deep Ties to Trump Nominee

• Facebook announced Friday that former CNN host and education reform activist Campbell Brown will be leading its news partnership team.

• Brown wrote in a statement on her Facebook page that she will “help news organizations and journalists work more closely and more effectively with Facebook. I will be working directly with our partners to help them understand how Facebook can expand the reach of their journalism, and contribute value to their businesses.”

• Brown’s hiring should raise eyebrows given her close ties to Betsy DeVos, the president-elect’s nominee to lead the Education Department. DeVos is a Michigan-based billionaire heiress who has poured millions of dollars into organizations supporting school vouchers and charter schools.

=> ↺ Donald Trump Demonstrating How Much Of Our Political System Is Based On Tradition & Custom, Not Rules

• And… that’s really quite interesting, because of how little many people — especially policy experts — have really stopped to consider how much of the way we do things is based on custom, and not actual rules. There are two ways of looking at this. First, there absolutely are serious problems with “the way things have always been done.” So there’s potential value in having someone who doesn’t feel hamstrung by traditions and customs that might not make sense. But, the flip side of that is that there are often really good reasons for the way many of these things are done. And, so far, the customs and traditions that Trump has been indicating he’ll ignore, are ones that do seem to be based on solid reasoning, rather than just silly legacy reasons. Intelligence reports, secret service protection, and anti-nepotism rules make sense.

=> ↺ The Internet Archive is building up a Trump presidential library — of everything he’s ever said, on video

• The Internet Archive launched Thursday a huge Trump Archive dedicated to housing videos of everything Trump’s said on video: in everything from broadcast speeches, debates, interviews, and newscasts about the President-elect. The archive currently contains more than 700 videos — that’s more than 520 hours of Trump — compiled by way of the TV News Archive, the Internet Archive’s broadcast tracking resource, and currently dates back to December 2009 (Trump formally announced his candidacy June of 2015).

=> ↺ Ignoring anti-Trumpers: Why we can expect media blackout of protests against Trump’s inauguration

• On Jan. 20 — 16 years ago — thousands of protesters lined the inauguration parade route of the incoming Republican president. “Not my president,” they chanted. But despite the enormity of the rally, it was largely ignored. Instead, pundits marveled over how George W. Bush “filled out the suit” and confirmed authority.

• “The inauguration of George W. Bush was certainly a spectacle on Inauguration Day,” marvels Robin Andersen, the director of Peace and Justice studies at Fordham University, in the 2001 short documentary “Not My President: Voices From the Counter Coup.”

• It’s nearly impossible not to anticipate the eerie parallels between George W. Bush’s inauguration and that of Donald Trump.

=> ↺ Drunk tweets? Foul-mouthed Vicente Fox challenges Trump, ‘I’m not paying for that f**kin’ wall’

• Fox tweeted: “I am not paying for that f*cken wall. Be clear with US taxpayers. They will pay for it.”

=> ↺ Betraying Campaign Promise, Trump Now Says US Taxpayers Will Pay for Wall

• Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), congressional liaison for the Trump transition team, doubled down on Trump’s position in comments to CNN: “When you understand that Mexico’s economy is dependent upon U.S. consumers, Donald Trump has all the cards he needs to play,” Collins said. “On the trade negotiation side, I don’t think it’s that difficult for Donald Trump to convince Mexico that it’s in their best interest to reimburse us for building the wall.”

• However, Mexico’s president has vociferously and repeatedly said that the country will not pay for Trump’s promised wall. “We’re not going to pay for that fucking wall,” former president Vicente Fox added last March, as Common Dreams reported.

=> ↺ ‘US intel community lost professional discipline’: Ex-NSA tech director on ‘Russia hacking’ report

• The undisguised and clearly politically motivated report on the alleged 2016 US “election hack” displays a severe lack of “professional discipline” in the intelligence community, former NSA technical director and whistleblower William Edward Binney told RT.

=> ↺ Poor People, Don’t You Know You Have Jobs?

• It’s not Trump you have to worry about. You’re thinking short-term.

• As people struggle to find third-parties to blame for Hillary Clinton’s defeat (pick one or more: Putin, Bernie Bros, Comey, The Media, Electoral Collegians, the Racist/Misogynist Hordes), an amorphous group has emerged as a popular domestic target: stupid poor white people who do not understand how much better they have had it over the last eight years.

• These slack-jawed yokels just can’t seem to grasp that they have great jobs in a growing economy. The numbers prove it: the U.S stock market is at record highs and unemployment at its lowest level since the Great Recession.

=> ↺ Circus of Liars: How Trump & GOP are Twisted into Pretzels over Putin Hack

• The US NSA hacked the whole world for many years until Ed Snowden blew the whistle on them.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Could a patent attorney (prosecution or litigation) lend pro bono help to Techdirt’s Mike Masnick?

• There must be enormous pressure on Techdirt to settle, which Dr. Ayyadurai would be able to portray as an indication of his claim of email inventorship being legit. Primarily, Techdirt needs help from a defamation lawyer. However, I believe Techdirt’s defense would benefit immeasurably from the early involvement of a patent prosecution attorney or patent litigator. The key legal question will be whether or not the freedom of speech covers Mike’s accusations, and that means the question of whether the plaintiff actually “invented email” will be at the heart of the case.

• Patent law is the law of inventions. Even though the defamation question here will not come down to a patent validity analysis (there is no patent in play, just a copyright registration and earlier documents), I believe patent professionals are in the best position to perform the inventorship-related analysis that is needed for Techdirt to defend itself or, hypothetically speaking, to realize that there’s no reasonable alternative to a settlement. Patent attorneys know how to determine whether the prior art fully anticipated something or whether any delta is (non-)obvious (and to compare this to what is nowadays deemed to constitute email). Even courts would likely be receptive to references to certain principles of patent law in this context.

• In the ideal scenario for Techdirt, the case for total anticipation would be so strong that the case might be resolved in their favor even without a jury trial. If there was only partial anticipation, it would come down to whether the delta (if any) justified a claim of having invented email or whether it would only have supported a narrower claim such as (whatever may be the case here) having invented a particular feature or having independently come up with something that existed before.

• The complaint cites all sorts of credit that was given to Dr. Ayyadurai, who has every reason to be proud of what those people said, but what is needed–and lacking so far–is a solid, professionally-crafted feature-by-feature analysis of the relevant prior art (see this email for a starting point) and the claimed invention. Also, it’s a typical patent law question to determine what a person skilled in the art would have considered essential characteristics of “email” at the relevant point(s) in time.

=> ↺ The Coming Speech Wars Online

• More than ever, online political communication mattered. In the brave new world, a candidate’s tweet, a YouTube video from some obscure group, a cheeky Facebook post, or an underground trolling operation could move the needle. High-budget television and radio advertising campaigns became less effective. Big-spending campaigns and super PACs employing commission-earning consultants often languished or were irrelevant.

• Traditional advertising can still help unknown candidates gain name identification or respond to a specific attack. And it can be effective when targeted toward specific demographics, such as Republican primary voters. But it gets brushed aside by organic grassroots enthusiasm generated online. There the crowd ignores image-driven advertising; memes and witticisms delivered in 140 characters rule. Ironically, the old-fashioned rally, perhaps the oldest American campaign tactic, is still an enthusiasm generator.

=> ↺ A “Safe Space” Is One Where There’s Free Speech — Even By People Whose Views You Might Find Seriously Wrong

• Tyranny is what many unelected, self-proclaimed representatives are trying to impose on campuses across America — the tyranny of the removal of due process rights from men (typically men) accused of sexual misconduct on campus, for one.

• Men and women who are guilty of this should be prosecuted and punished — through the legal system, not through campus kangaroo courts.

=> ↺ Using real names online doesn’t improve behavior

• J.Nathan Matias takes a clear-eyed look at The Real Name Fallacy, the belief that forcing users to communicate using real names will improve online conduct. In my experience, the biggest problems come on platforms like Twitter where it’s a mix of real and pseudonymous users.

=> ↺ How Archivists And Coders Plan To Stop Censorship Under Trump

• Archivists, coders and other volunteers will gather on the sixth floor of the library at the University of Pennsylvania on Jan. 13 and 14 to preserve federal data that they believe could be at risk after Donald Trump is sworn in.

• Their work, dubbed DataRefuge, is part of an effort that began with a tweet by meteorologist Eric Holthaus. Other volunteers are working in Toronto, Indianapolis, San Diego and other cities.

• “We think of censorship in a very specific way like book burning,” said Bethany Wiggin, the associate professor who is leading the effort in Philadelphia. “But a lot of times it isn’t as spectacular. One person’s censorship is another person’s precautionary measure.”

=> ↺ “Rebel Nerd of Meteorology” has Twitter meltdown over Trump election

=> ↺ Apple is not the only tech company kowtowing to China’s censors

=> ↺ China Internet Censorship: New York Times Apps Removed

=> ↺ Shiva Ayyadurai Gets $750000 in Settlement, Files a New Law Suit Against TechDirt for $15 Million

=> ↺ LA Lawyer Who Toppled Gawker Lobs New Libel Suit at Techdirt

=> ↺ Lawyer who sued Gawker for Hulk Hogan now represents Melania Trump and claimed email inventor

=> ↺ Man who says he invented e-mail sues Techdirt for disputing claim

=> ↺ Self-Proclaimed ‘Inventor Of Email’ Is Back With Another Defamation Lawsuit

=> ↺ Singapore activist Amos Yee confirms being held in US jail; makes appeal for donations

=> ↺ Amos Yee posts on Facebook from US jail with help from activist friend

=> ↺ Painting-Gate: GOP Congressman Removes Controversial Capitol Art In Act Of Censorship

=> ↺ GOP Rep. Removes Student’s Painting Depicting Police As Pigs From Capitol

=> ↺ #ANC105 says censorship allegations are disingenuous

=> ↺ #ANC105 organisers deny censorship allegations

=> ↺ #ANC105 agrees to relax broadcast conditions

=> ↺ ‘South African’s are no longer interested in quasi- revolutionary discourses’

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Court Says 791 Days Of Warrantless Location Tracking ‘Unreasonable,” But Refuses To Toss Evidence

• A confusing and disturbing conclusion has been reached by a New York federal court. The court has decided that 791 days of location tracking with a GPS ankle bracelet is unreasonable, but somehow not worthy of evidence suppression. (via FourthAmendment.com)

• Kemal Lambus — the defendant challenging the evidence — was granted parole, but with certain conditions. One of those was imposed a few months after his release: wearing an ankle bracelet to ensure he abided by his curfew. This was in addition to the normal amount of diminished privacy afforded parolees, which includes any number of warrantless searches by parole officers.

=> ↺ Michael Rogers: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

• Another reason that Rogers has drawn criticism is that he failed to prevent further security breaches in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations.

• In August 2016, for example, the FBI arrested an NSA contractor named Harold T. Martin III who they believed had stolen and disclosed 50 terabytes of data, according to The New York Times.

=> ↺ NSA seeks pay bump for its ‘high-end, exquisite civilian talent’

• NSA Director Michael Rogers recently authorized the introduction of a specially tailored compensation package for the spy agency’s “high-end” cybersecurity workers.

=> ↺ Belgium Wants EU Nations To Collect And Store Personal Data Of Train, Bus And Boat Passengers

• It’s become pretty common for the authorities to collect personal information about passengers from airlines, supposedly to ensure security. It’s a sensitive area, though, as shown by the many years of fraught US-EU negotiations that were required in order to come up with a legal framework for transferring this data to the US when EU citizens were involved. However, not all EU countries are so concerned about that privacy thing. Belgium, for example, thinks that the current approach doesn’t go far enough, and that it should be extended to include all forms of mass transport. As this EurActiv article notes, the Belgian parliament has already voted to bring in a national system for trains, buses and boats by May 2018, and the country is calling for the rest of the EU to follow suit…

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ FBI Dismisses Child Porn Prosecution After Refusing To Hand Over Details On Its Hacking Tool

• The FBI has decided to let one of its Playpen defendants walk rather than turn over information on its Network Investigative Technique. The NIT, deployed all over the world on the back of a single warrant obtained in Virginia, unmasked Tor users by dropping code on Playpen visitors’ computers that sent back IP addresses and other information about the user’s computer.

• The warrant itself has been ruled invalid by a number of judges presiding over Playpen prosecutions, although not all of them have determined that the evidence obtained by the NIT should be suppressed. The FBI not only sent malware to site visitors, but it also ran (and possibly improved) the child porn website for two weeks while pursuing its investigation.

• Michaud’s lawyer asked the court to force the FBI to hand over information on the NIT. The FBI countered, saying it wouldn’t turn over the information even if ordered to do so. Judge Bryan, after an in camera session with the agency, agreed with the government that there was a law enforcement need to keep the details of the tool secret. But he also made it clear the government couldn’t have both its secrecy and its evidence. He ordered all evidence suppressed.

=> ↺ Judge Tells DOJ It Can’t Un-Suppress Evidence By Starting The Indictment Process All Over Again

• Sure, we like the DOJ when it’s handing down scathing reviews of local law enforcement agencies and belatedly issuing warrant requirements for IMSI catchers, but we’re not nearly as thrilled when it argues against warrant requirements for cell phone searches, demands backdoors in phone encryption, or beats mild miscreants over the head with the CFAA.

• In fact, there’s very little to like about the DOJ outside of its civil rights division. Here’s yet another reason why the Department of Justice often seems like a misnomer. (h/t Brad Heath)

• A decision [PDF] has been handed down by a federal court in Puerto Rico, presumably with an eyeroll and an exasperated sigh.

• In 2014, Homeland Security agents searched Jose Silva-Rentas without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or a warrant. Silva happened to be next to somebody HSI agents did search with probable cause. Rentas moved to suppress the evidence and the court agreed that the government’s theory of probable cause osmosis wasn’t enough to salvage the search.

=> ↺ Jenna Jameson, newly Jewish, launches anti-Islam rant: ‘I don’t care about your false prophet’

• Jenna Jameson launched into an anti-Islam rant on Twitter this week, slamming the religion as one that “promotes child rape, female genital mutilation, butchering non believers and polygamy.”

• The former porn legend, who converted to Judaism last year ahead of her upcoming marriage to Israeli boyfriend Lior Bitton, spent the better part of the week defending her attacks against Islam and “spending all [her] free time” watching YouTube videos about the Quran by Christian apologist David Wood.

=> ↺ Briton ‘jailed for adultery in Bahrain’ released from prison

• A British woman jailed in Bahrain after being accused of adultery has been released amid a fundraising appeal by her mother to bring her home.

• Hannah James, said to originally be from Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, moved to the country with husband Jassim Alhaddar and their young son, but her mother, Shelley James, claims she was a victim of domestic abuse and wanted to leave Bahrain.

=> ↺ Six essays on media, technology and politics from Data & Society

• danah boyd writes, “Yesterday, a group of us at Data & Society put out six essays on ‘media, technology, politics.’ Taken together, these pieces address different facets of the current public conversation surrounding propaganda, hate speech, and the US election. Although we only allude to specifics, we have been witnessing mis/disinformation campaigns for quite some time as different networks seek to manipulate both old and new media, shape political discourse, and undermine trust in institutions and information intermediaries. In short, we are concerned about the rise of a new form of propaganda that is networked, decentralized, and internet-savvy. We are also concerned about the ongoing development of harassment techniques and gaslighting, the vulnerability of old and new media to propagate fear and disinformation, and the various ways in which well-intended interventions get misappropriated. We believe that we’re watching a systematic attack on democracy, equality, and freedom. There is no silver bullet to address the issues we’re seeing. Instead, a healthy response is going to require engagement by many different constituencies. We see our role in this as to help inform and ground the conversation. These essays are our first attempt to address the interwoven issues we’re seeing.

=> ↺ Obama Picks Up the Pace on Commutations, But Pardon Changes Still in Limbo

• Near the start of his second term, President Obama had granted clemency at a lower rate than any president in recent history. He had pardoned 39 people and denied 1,333 requests. He had used his power to commute a prisoner’s sentence just once.

• But as Obama enters the final days of his administration, he has dramatically picked up the pace. He’s now issued commutations to 1,176 people since entering office — more than George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan put together. In December, Obama commuted the sentences of 231 people in a single day.

• Much of Obama’s increased activity can be attributed to an initiative begun in 2014 to shorten sentences of non-violent offenders who would likely have received less time for their crimes under current law and who had already served at least 10 years of their prison sentences. Low-level drug offenders have received most of the commutations, part of a broader push by the administration to reform sentencing guidelines.

=> ↺ Alleged Chicago Assault Reignites Issue of Hate Crimes Against Whites

• The meaning and enforcement of the Illinois hate-crimes statute seems destined for intense scrutiny with the arrest this week of four young black adults in Chicago in connection with the assault of a mentally disabled white man. The arrests by the Chicago Police Department resulted in part from what appeared to a livestreamed video of the disabled man being abused while bound and gagged. The recording captures one or more of the attackers making references to Donald Trump and white people.

=> ↺ Ellen Schrecker on the New McCarthyism

• This week on CounterSpin: The “what could possibly go wrong?” meme might be overused, but it’s hard not to think it, watching the government create new tools and powers for countering “disinformation” that will be handed to a president-elect who calls journalists “the lowest form of life.” Donald Trump didn’t create the present terrain, however, and pretending that fearmongering and watchlists and looking the other way are all newly minted will not serve us. In fact, we can look to history to help us understand what’s happening, and what we can do to resist it.

=> ↺ Signs Look Grim for Media Picking the Side of Liberty and Dissent

• This is a kind of “which side are you on?” moment for journalists. Will they defend the rights and liberties of the many communities under threat—Muslims, women, those reliant on government assistance? Will they keep alive a space for dissent and critical questioning in the face of a White House that declares itself indifferent to rules about conflicts of interest, among many other things, and that threatens revenge on those it calls “enemies”?

• [...]

• USA Today solved the problem, we’re told, by getting Trump and Pence themselves to write for them. Maybe the New York Times will adopt that strategy, given its editor’s statement that his paper “could have done better.”

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Canadian Regulators Declare 50 Mbps To Be The New Broadband Standard

• A few years back, the FCC here in the States bumped the base definition of broadband from 4 Mbps downstream, 1 Mbps upstream, to 25 Mbps downstream, 4 Mbps upstream. This was done in large part to highlight the lack of competition (two-thirds lack access to speeds of 25 Mbps from more than one provider) at faster speeds, largely thanks to telcos that no longer really want to be in the residential broadband business and are refusing to upgrade their networks at any scale. Needless to say, neither ISPs — nor the politicians paid to love them — were happy with the new standard.

• Recently the Canadian government took things further, announcing new rules that make 50 Mbps downstream, 10 Mbps upstream the new industry standard. In addition to declaring that this 50 Mbps option should be considered “basic telecom service” moving forward, the CRTC announced that it’s requiring that Canadian ISPs at least offer users the ability to purchase an uncapped, unlimited broadband connection.

=> ↺ Utterly Tone Deaf To Cord Cutting, Cable Contract Feuds And Blackouts Skyrocket

• We’ve noted for years that as broadcasters and cable companies bicker over new programming contracts, already-annoyed customers are left in a lurch. Usually these feuds go something like this: a broadcaster demands a huge rate increase for the exact same content. The cable company balks, and the content is usually pulled out of the cable lineup. Customers aren’t given any sort of refund for this missing content, they’re just inundated with PR pitches from both sides trying to get them pissed at the other guy. Ultimately a new, confidential contract is struck, and the rate hikes are then passed on to the consumer.

• In short, consumers are repeatedly punished with blackouts and petty PR bitching between companies incapable of responsibly signing new contracts, after which they get a lovely new price hike. It’s no wonder that 2016 was a record year for cord cutting.

Intellectual Monopolies

=> ↺ UN Establishes Technology Bank For Least-Developed Countries, Including An IP Bank

• The United Nations has established a “technology bank” for least-developed countries that aims to strengthen the science, technology and innovation capacity of LDCs that includes better management of intellectual property rights.

Trademarks

=> ↺ Bushy’s Brewery, Isle Of Man Govt. Have Trademark Hissy Fit Over Two Letters: TT

• If there is one lesson you take away from writing about trademark law and disputes, it’s how simple it would be to avoid a massive percentage of the conflicts by holding trademark applications to a far higher standard then they often are. If the world’s many trademark offices kept in mind that the entire point of this form of intellectual property is supposed to be keeping the public confident in their ability to determine the source of a given product or service by its trademarked branding, then it would be obvious that approved trademarks should be unique and distinct.

• As a counterexample to that line of thinking, consider the current dispute going on between Bushy’s Brewery, located on the Isle of Man, and the Manx government, all over the government’s trademark for exactly two letters: TT.

Copyrights

=> ↺ FACT Lawyer Reveals Challenges of Kodi Box Seller Prosecutions

• A lawyer who has worked on piracy cases for the Federation Against Copyright Theft has revealed the challenges posed by Kodi and IPTV box prosecutions. Ari Alabhai says that copyright can be complicated for a jury to understand, so prosecutions under the Fraud Act may be preferred. Even that has its complications, however.

=> ↺ Pirates across Europe… What can we expect in 2017?

• There are good reasons to keep an eye on the performance of the Pirates across Europe – as we know from the Icelandic experiance, strong showings in other countries can help support the UK Pirate Party as it brings knowledge of Pirate Politics to new people. There are also opportunities to ‘Pirate’ each others ideas and bring the best of what works in campaigns to the UK.

=> ↺ Polls suggest Iceland’s Pirate party may form next government

• The Pirate party, whose platform includes direct democracy, greater government transparency, a new national constitution and asylum for US whistleblower Edward Snowden, will field candidates in every constituency and has been at or near the top of every opinion poll for over a year.

• As befits a movement dedicated to reinventing democracy through new technology, it also aims to boost the youth vote by persuading the company developing Pokémon Go in Iceland to turn polling stations into Pokéstops.

• “It’s gradually dawning on us, what’s happening,” Birgitta Jónsdóttir, leader of the Pirates’ parliamentary group, told the Guardian. “It’s strange and very exciting. But we are well prepared now. This is about change driven not by fear but by courage and hope. We are popular, not populist.”

• The election, likely to be held on 29 October, follows the resignation of Iceland’s former prime minister Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson, who became the first major victim of the Panama Papers in April after the leaked legal documents revealed he had millions of pounds of family money offshore.

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