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● 02.20.18

● Links 20/2/2018: Mesa 17.3.5, Qt 5.11 Alpha, Absolute 15.0 Beta 4, Sailfish OS 2.1.4 E.A., SuiteCRM 7.10

Posted in News Roundup at 1:48 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxGNU/Linux

=> ↺ Now Just Five Men Own Almost as Much Wealth as Half the World’s Population

• Why Do We Let Unqualified Rich People Tell Us How To Live? Especially Bill Gates!

• In 1975, at the age of 20, Bill Gates founded Microsoft with high school buddy Paul Allen. At the time Gary Kildall’s CP/M operating system was the industry standard. Even Gates’ company used it. But Kildall was an innovator, not a businessman, and when IBM came calling for an OS for the new IBM PC, his delays drove the big mainframe company to Gates. Even though the newly established Microsoft company couldn’t fill IBM’s needs, Gates and Allen saw an opportunity, and so they hurriedly bought the rights to another local company’s OS — which was based on Kildall’s CP/M system. Kildall wanted to sue, but intellectual property [sic] law for software had not yet been established. Kildall was a maker who got taken.

• So Bill Gates took from others to become the richest man in the world. And now, because of his great wealth and the meritocracy myth, MANY PEOPLE LOOK TO HIM FOR SOLUTIONS IN VITAL AREAS OF HUMAN NEED, such as education and global food production.

=> ↺ Hackers Turn the Nintendo Switch into a Linux Tablet with KDE Plasma Desktop

=> ↺ Nintendo Switch has been hacked to run full-fat Linux

• The fail0verflow nerds got Linux running on the Switch by using code execution, though they didn’t say how they got around Nintendo’s own operating system and boot process to load up Linux.

=> ↺ Hackers have turned the Nintendo Switch into a functional Linux tablet

=> ↺ Switch your OS on Nintendo’s portable gaming thingamjigger

=> ↺ fail0verflow Gets Linux GUI Running On Nintendo Switch

=> ↺ fail0verflow Transform The Nintendo Switch Into A Linux PC

=> ↺ Hackers Release Video Of Nintendo Switch Running A Linux Distro

• When it comes to porting software to potentially unsupported devices, hackers are quite comfortable to push themselves beyond the boundaries set by the manufactures.

Server

=> ↺ The best Linux web hosting services of 2018

• Linux hosting is everywhere. Whether you’re looking for a simple shared hosting account or a powerful dedicated server, the chances are that you’ll be offered a Linux-based option first.

• In many cases, you might not care. If your hosting needs are simple, you’ll probably choose an account based on the allocated web space, bandwidth and similar features – the operating system is so far down most people’s priority list that often it’s not even mentioned in comparison tables.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ What’s Holding Linux Back – Unleaded Hangouts

• What’s Holding Linux Back? Obviously we’ve seen some growth, but it does feel like there may be some things that hold Linux back a bit. We discuss.

=> ↺ ExeeLinux Show 18.9 | Mr. Desktop & Mr. Server Ep. 9 – PDisks

• ExeeLinux Show 18.9 | Mr. Desktop & Mr. Server Ep. 9 – PDisks

Kernel Space

=> ↺ AMD’s Raven Ridge Botchy Linux Support Appears Worse With Some Motherboards/BIOS

• With my launch testing of the Raven Ridge desktop APUs with the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G there were some stability issues to report and some hangs within games and mode-setting issues. It appears those issues are exacerbated with some motherboards: the past few days with two different AMD B350 motherboards have been a real pain getting the current AMDGPU driver stack working — and even Linux 4.17 AMDGPU WIP code — on either of these Raven Ridge APUs.

=> ↺ XDA’s First Full PC Build: An All-AMD Linux Desktop Featuring Ryzen and Polaris

• With GPU prices increasing exponentially over the past few months, it’s been hard to price out a PC. This particular build took us nearly a year to assemble; getting all the parts together was a challenge. (TK, our video producer, delivered the last piece of the puzzle after the Consumer Electronics Show in January.)

• Our goal was to show what a decent budget can get you in an all-AMD build, and what kind of performance you can expect from it. Thanks to AMD Ryzen and Polaris, we were able to do just that.

=> ↺ Ryzen 3 2200G Video Memory Size Testing On Linux

• One of the discussion items in the forums this week was about the video memory allowance for the Vega graphics on Raven Ridge APUs as well as efficiences or inefficiencies around the TTM memory manager as used by the AMDGPU kernel driver. Here are some vRAM size tests with the Ryzen 3 2200G.

Linux Foundation

=> ↺ How Kubernetes became the solution for migrating legacy applications

• In 2015, Google released Kubernetes as an open source project. It was an implementation of Google’s internal system called Borg. Google and the Linux Foundation created the Cloud-Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) to host Kubernetes (and other cloud-native projects) as an independent project governed by a community around it. Kubernetes quickly became one of the fastest growing open source projects in history, growing to thousands of contributors across dozens of companies and organizations.

• What makes Kubernetes so incredible is its implementation of Google’s own experience with Borg. Nothing beats the scale of Google. Borg launches more than 2-billion containers per week, an average of 3,300 per second. At its peak, it’s many, many more. Kubernetes was born in a cauldron of fire, battle-tested and ready for massive workloads.

=> ↺ Akraino, a New Linux Foundation Project, Aims to Drive Alignment Around High-Availability Cloud Services for Network Edge

• Akraino will offer users new levels of flexibility to scale edge cloud services quickly, to maximize the applications or subscribers supported on each server, and to help ensure the reliability of systems that must be up at all times. While several open source projects exist to help solve pieces of the puzzle, nothing currently meets the need for an edge infrastructure solution. Integration of existing efforts in this new project will help deliver ease of use, hardened reliability, unique features, and performance for carrier, provider, and IoT networks.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ New Wine-Vulkan Patches Are Under Review

• Roderick Colenbrander’s Wine-Vulkan work for Vulkan infrastructure support under Wine has been updated and is ready for review, making these initial bits a candidate for soon being incorporated into mainline Wine.

• Roderick has spent the past few months on the Vulkan infrastructure for Wine as a Vulkan layer with ICD driver support rather than the older Vulkan library (non-ICD implementation) found in Wine-Staging.

=> ↺ Vulkan 1.0.69 Released With Fixes & New AMD Buffer Marker Extension

• While waiting to see what Khronos could have in store for GDC 2018 next month around Vulkan, today marks the Vulkan 1.0.69 point release availability.

• With Vulkan 1.0.68 having shipped in the middle of January, there are a fair amount of documentation improvements/fixes over the past month. As usual, addressing issues with the documentation reflects a majority of the changes for these point releases. Of the issues addressed in Vulkan 1.0.69, it’s mostly a collection of over a dozen minor problems.

=> ↺ Vega Gets Its Last Fix For Dawn of War III On Linux With Vulkan

• Samuel Pitoiset of Valve has worked through the last of the Dawn of War 3 issues for Radeon Vega GPUs with the RADV Vulkan driver.

=> ↺ RadeonSI Now Offers NIR Shader Cache Support

• Earlier this month Valve Linux GPU driver developer Timothy Arceri landed NIR shader caching support within the Gallium3D Mesa state tracker as an alternative to the existing TGSI IR caching support. Arceri has now worked through implementing this NIR cache support for the RadeonSI driver.

=> ↺ mesa 17.3.5

• This is a emergency release fixing major a issue in the RADV driver.

=> ↺ Mesa 17.3.5 Released To Fix A RADV Bug

• While Mesa 17.3.4 was just released a few days ago with 90+ changes, Mesa 17.3.5 is now available as a quick follow-up release due to a serious bug.

Benchmarks

=> ↺ An Early Look At Linux 4.16 Performance On Five Systems

• Here are some preliminary benchmarks of the Linux 4.16 development kernel compared to Linux 4.15 stable on five different systems.

• Last week I began testing out the Linux 4.16 kernel on a few different boxes and it’s been going rather well (sans the ongoing AMD Raven Ridge Linux issues…). For some initial Linux 4.16 kernel benchmarks I have results today to share for a Core i5 6600K, Core i7 6800K, Xeon E3-1280 v5, Core i9 7980XE, and Ryzen 7 1800X as a few of the available boxes for testing. Tests on other hardware and a greater variety of tests will be coming in the days and weeks ahead as Linux 4.16 continues to stabilize.

=> ↺ Benchmarking Amazon EC2 Instances vs. Various Intel/AMD CPUs

• Given the recent performance changes following the Spectre/Meltdown CPU vulnerability mitigation and having just wrapped up some fresh CPU bare metal benchmarks as part of that testing as well as the recent AMD Raven Ridge launch, I’ve carried out a fresh round this week of benchmarks on various Amazon EC2 on-demand instance types compared to a number of bare metal Intel and AMD processors in looking at how the compute performance compares.

Applications

=> ↺ LXD Weekly Status #35

• This past week we’ve been focusing on a number of open pull requests, getting closer to merging improvements to our storage volume handling, unix char/block devices handling and the massive clustering branch that’s been cooking for a while.

• We’re hoping to see most of those land at some point this coming week.

• On the LXC side of things, the focus was on bugfixes and cleanups as well as preparing for the removal of the python3 and lua bindings from the main repository. We’re also making good progress on distrobuilder and hope to start moving some of our images to using it as the build tool very soon.

=> ↺ Performance Co-Pilot 4.0.0 released

• It gives me great pleasure to announce the first major-numbered PCP release in nine and a half years – PCP v4 – is here!

=> ↺ Performance Co-Pilot Sees First Major Version Bump In Nearly A Decade

• The Performance Co-Pilot open-source cross-platform monitoring/visualizing stack has reached version 4.0 as its first major version hike in almost ten years.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Linux command history: Choosing what to remember and how

• Linux history – the record of commands that you’ve used on the command line – can simplify repeating commands and provide some very useful information when you’re trying to track down how recent system or account changes might have come about. Two things you need to understand before you begin your sleuthing, however, are that the shell’s command memory can be selective and that dates and times for when commands were run are optional.

=> ↺ How to format academic papers on Linux with groff -me

=> ↺ How to run TeamViewer in LXD

=> ↺ Kubuntu 17.10 Guide for Newbie Part 5

=> ↺ Kubuntu 17.10 Guide for Newbie Part 6

=> ↺ Exodus – A Tool to Safely Copy Linux Binaries

=> ↺ Install Java 9 JDK/JRE on RHEL/CentOS 7/6 and Fedora 27-20

=> ↺ How to Copy File Permissions and Ownership to Another File in Linux

=> ↺ Ansible, Part III: Playbooks

=> ↺ Linux adduser/addgroup Command Tutorial for Beginners (7 Examples)

=> ↺ Cryptmount – A Utility to Create Encrypted Filesystems in Linux

=> ↺ Perl hashes and arrays: The basics

=> ↺ Learn to code with Thonny — a Python IDE for beginners

=> ↺ How to Install Varnish Reverse Proxy with Nginx on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

=> ↺ How to Install VLC 3 (Media Player) on Debian 9 / Ubuntu 16.04 / 17.10

=> ↺ How to Get Free Magazines on Your Kindle with Calibre

=> ↺ How to boot SPYRUS WorkSafe Pro Linux2Go drive

=> ↺ How To Make Good Use Of ‘grep’ Command

• ​Linux and UNIX systems come with a shell command known as ‘grep’. This simply looks for a specified text, or pattern, in a file or an entire directory. The most common usage is for quickly searching a file for occurrences of a pattern, which can be in plain text, or in the form of a regular expression. Here, the patterns used will be simple text rather than regular expressions.

Games

=> ↺ Sci-fi mystery ‘The Station’ has released, it’s a short but memorable experience

• What would happen if we discovered the existence of alien life? A question I’ve often asked and a question many games, films and books have covered in great detail. The Station [Steam] is a sci-fi mystery that sees you investigate The Espial, a space station sent to research a sentient alien civilization.

=> ↺ Halcyon 6: The Precursor Legacy DLC released, some good content for a small price

• Halcyon 6: The Precursor Legacy DLC [GOG, Steam] was released earlier this month, adding some really nice content at a small price to an already great game.

=> ↺ Parry and dodge your way to victory in ‘Way of the Passive Fist’, launching March 6th

• Way of the Passive Fist [Steam, Official Site] is a rather unique and very colourful arcade brawler and it’s releasing with Linux support on March 6th.

=> ↺ The challenging space sim ‘Deep Sixed’ has launched with Linux support, some thoughts

• If you’re the sort that laughs at a steep difficulty-curve and you enjoy the challenge of keeping a spaceship operational, Deep Sixed [Official Site, Steam] may just be for you.

=> ↺ Lazy Galaxy, the clicker & RTS hybrid adds Steam Workshop support and a new item system

=> ↺ Gladiabots, an interesting AI-driven robot fighting game has Linux support

• Always on the lookout for more interesting Linux games, I recently came across the AI-driven robot fighting game Gladiabots [itch.io].

• It’s quite a strange experience, but also quite fun. You don’t have direct control over any of your units, instead you set them a bunch of behaviours and then what each match play-out and see where you need to tweak your AI to eventually be the winner.

=> ↺ Railway Empire adds a free new scenario and plans a huge map for the free play mode

• One of the criticisms of Railway Empire [GOG, Steam] was that that map size and time period you could pick was limited, so the developers are addressing that. Along with plenty of other things…

=> ↺ Hypergate, a new space-combat sim will support Linux

• Not getting enough space-combat sims? Hypergate [Steam] is a pretty good-looking one that’s confirmed for Linux and due out in December this year.

• The developer recently tweeted out to announce the game and the release, along with a firm mention of Linux support. As a huge fan of space-combat flight sims, I’m pretty darn excited to give this one a go.

=> ↺ A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA Is Coming To Linux

• After announcing last week that they are bringing Rise of the Tomb Raider to Linux, Feral Interactive announced this morning they are also bringing A Total War Saga: THRONES OF BRITANNIA to Linux.

=> ↺ Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia is Coming to Mac and Linux

• Feral Interactive announced today that their port of A Total War Saga: Thrones Of Britannia will be released for macOS and Linux shortly after the Windows release on April 19th. Originally developed by Creative Assembly and published by SEGA for Windows, Thrones Of Britannia is the first in the new Total War Saga series of standalone games inspired by great turning points of history. That we’ll be getting the mac and linux port of the game shortly after the original windows release is pretty darn cool, as we normally have to wait quite a while to see them.

=> ↺ Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia confirmed for Linux, from Feral Interactive

• It seems we’re going to get more strategy game goodness, as Feral Interactive have confirmed Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia [Steam, Feral Store] will release for Linux. This is fantastic, as the Total War games are popular with a lot of people, having more of them on Linux is ideal.

=> ↺ A developer of ‘This Is the Police 2′ has confirmed plans for Linux support

• Despite This Is the Police 2 being announced without Linux support, a developer has confirmed they do have plans for a Linux version.

=> ↺ A Gummy’s Life is a fighting game for those with a sweet tooth

• A Gummy’s Life [Steam], an Early Access fighting game where you control some sort of gummy sweet has Linux support and it looks amusing. Discovered on one of my usual late-night browsing sessions for new Linux games.

=> ↺ PATHOS is a puzzle game made to fry your brain, now on Linux

• Think you’re smart? Puzzle game PATHOS [Steam] might make you think again and it’s now available on Linux to fry your brain.

• The developer, Broguelike, announced the “Expansion Update” yesterday which added Linux support, full gamepad support and some UI tweaks.

=> ↺ Murderous exploration game ‘In Celebration of Violence’ has left early access

• In Celebration of Violence [Steam] is a game about exploration and combat, lots of murderous combat it’s also out of Early Access and ready for the masses.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ KDE receives 200,000 USD-donation from the Pineapple Fund

• KDE e.V. is announcing today it has received a donation of 200,000 USD from the Pineapple Fund.

• With this donation, the Pineapple Fund recognizes that KDE as a community creates software which benefits the general public, advances the use of Free Software on all kinds of platforms, and protects users’ privacy by putting first-class and easy to use tools in the hands of the people at zero cost. KDE joins a long list of prestigious charities, organizations and communities that the Pineapple Fund has so generously donated to.

• “KDE is immensely grateful for this donation. We would like to express our deeply felt appreciation towards the Pineapple Fund for their generosity” said Lydia Pinscher, President of KDE e.V.. “We will use the funds to further our cause to make Free Software accessible to everyone and on all platforms. The money will help us realize our vision of creating a world in which everyone has control over their digital life and enjoys freedom and privacy”.

=> ↺ KaOS 2017.11 review – Chaotic and unfriendly

• KaOS 2017.11 feels like a very buggy product. While I do like the Nvidia setup right from the start, this little gem is offset by pretty much everything else. Most other recent distros rarely had any issues with the LG RD510 laptop – apart from the ATA link reset on wake after suspend, which affects all of them – but KaOS is an exception to that rule with a rather depressing hardware record – Bluetooth, Wireless no-reconnect, smartphone support. And let’s not even talk about Samba.

• The responsiveness was quite bad, Kaptan did not work, and I wasn’t enjoying the visual side of things one bit. In fact, I really do not understand the eye-killing choices that go with the default theme. All in all, there are very few redeeming factors to KaOS. If you’re looking for something avant-garde, the Arch-based Antergos or Manjaro fit the bill rather well. If you want mainstream, Mint or Ubuntu or whatever. This falls somewhere in between, with nothing amazing in return. 2/10. Perhaps next time.

=> ↺ Qt 5.11 Alpha Released

• Qt 5.11 Alpha is released today. As usual the official Alpha is a source code delivery only, but later we will offer development snapshots of Qt 5.11 regularly via the online installer.

• Please check Qt 5.11 New Features wiki to see what new is coming with Qt 5.11 release. Please note that the feature list is still in progress and not to be considered final before the first Beta release.

=> ↺ Qt 5.11 Alpha Released With Many Toolkit Additions

=> ↺ Kdenlive Café tonight and beta AppImage

• The last months for Kdenlive have been very quiet from the outside – we were not very active on the bugtracker, did not make a lot of announcements, and the 17.12.x release cycle only contained very few minor bugfixes.

• The main reason for this was the huge work that went behind the scenes for a major code refactoring that was required to allow further developments. So after more than a year working on it, we hope to get ready for the 18.04 release!

=> ↺ [Krita] Interview with Christine Garner

• I did Archaeology in University and I love history, mythology, folklore and nature. I’ve always been drawing from an early age. I graduated in 2003 with an archaeology degree. I taught myself digital art and web coding skills for fun and practical reasons. I used to do self-employed web design and admin type jobs, but in 2013 I became disillusioned with my life and had depression. I took a Foundation art course in 2013 deciding to pursue my artistic passions instead.

=> ↺ Qt 5.11 Brings New Accessibility Backend on Windows

• Accessibility technology encompasses assistive tools such as screen readers, magnifiers and braille displays, as well as APIs and frameworks that allow applications to expose elements of their UI to such tools.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME’s New System Monitor Tool is Available to Try in Bionic

• Cast you mind back to 2016 and you recall there were plans for a GNOME System Monitor redesign.

• The aim: to make checking system resource usage a little more accessible, ideally with historical data thrown into the mix for some added context.

• Two years on and the fruits of that redesigned effort are finally available to sample, albeit through a new app called (aptly enough) GNOME Usage.

=> ↺ CSS Grid

• This would totally have been a tweet or a facebook post, but I’ve decided to invest a little more energy and post these on my blog, accessible to everybody. Getting old, I guess. We’re all mortal and the web isn’t open by its own.

• In the past few days I’ve been learning about CSS grid while redesigning Flatpak and Flathub sites (still coming). And with the knowledge of really grokking only a fraction of it, I’m in love.

Distributions

New Releases

=> ↺ Absolute 15.0 Beta 4 released

• Based on Slackware64-current

• Another beta… with all the kernel updates, glib and such — trying to make things easier on beta testers

Red Hat Family

=> ↺ PodCTL #26 – Kubernetes Myths & Misperceptions – Part II

=> ↺ New Release of Red Hat JBoss Data Virtualization.

• JBoss Data Virtualization is a data integration solution that sits in front of multiple data sources and allows them to be treated as a single source, delivering the right data, in the required form, at the right time to any application and/or user.

Finance

=> ↺ Following the Trendspotter Signal for Red Hat Inc (RHT)

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (RHT) – Unusual Volume Activity on Watch List

=> ↺ What is the Analyst Sentiment on Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT)?

=> ↺ Head to Head Contrast: Red Hat (RHT) versus Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

=> ↺ Red Hat Receives Overall “Positive” Rating in Gartner’s 2018 Vendor Rating

=> ↺ Tremblant Capital Group Has Boosted By $52.88 Million Its Red Hat (RHT) Holding; Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) Had 4 Analysts Last Week

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE:RHT), Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE:ROK) Valuation According to Quant

=> ↺ Red Hat, Inc. (RHT) – Unusual Volume Activity on Watch List

=> ↺ State of Wisconsin Investment Board Has $33.92 Million Stake in Red Hat Inc (RHT)

Fedora

=> ↺ Fedora 27 Release Party at Mexico City

• On December 8, 2017, the ambassadors in Mexico City, Efren Robledo (srkraken) and Alberto Rodríguez (bt0dotninja) hosted a Fedora 27 Release Party. The party took place on the UAM Azcapotzalco in the basic sciences and engineering division. We had three main activities: Introducing Fedora 27 talk , Q&A session and a little trivia session with some gifts.

=> ↺ EMEA Ambassadors: 2017 Year in Review

• As 2018 is in full session now, people, companies and organizations are taking stock not only of what’s worked during the past year, but of budding trends and approaches to handling daily business. We also can let this chance pass by knowing that it could help us in our undertakings this year.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Freexian’s report about Debian Long Term Support, January 2017

Derivatives

Canonical/Ubuntu

=> ↺ A Simple App Menu Editor for Ubuntu

• If you’re looking for an easy way to edit application launchers and menu entries on Ubuntu you’ll want to check out AppEditor.

• AppEditor is an easy to use

• Alacarte has been the go-to menu editor for almost as long as I’ve been using Ubuntu. It’s still perfectly functional, but it hasn’t really changed since then.

• ‘AppEditor’ would probably be better named Menu Entry Editor or Launcher Editor, or something other than App Editor as, rather than edit apps, it lets you edit app menu entries for apps, rather than the apps itself.

=> ↺ Canonical got Juju eyeballs for storage

• Canonical’s is mixing new potions in its Juju charm store.

• Juju is Canonical’s open source modelling tool for cloud software — it handles operations designed to deploy, configure, manage, maintain and scale applications via the command line interface, or through its optional GUI.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Sailfish OS 2.1.4 is now available to early access

• After a few productive months of development, we are ready to release the next Sailfish OS update named Lapuanjoki to the early access group!

• Lapuanjoki is named after the town of Lapua, located in Southern Ostrobothnia region, flowing from lake Sampalampi to the Gulf of Bothnia.

=> ↺ Jolla Pushes Out Sailfish OS 2.1.4 Into Early Access

=> ↺ Fanless, Atom-based mini-PC offers stackable expansion

• ADL’s rugged, 94 x 86 x 58mm “ADLEPC-1520” mini-PC runs Linux or Windows on dual- or quad-core Bay Trail Atom SoCs, and offers 2x GbE, 2x SATA-ready M.2 sockets, and a choice of stackable PCIe I/O boards.

=> ↺ Simplify Industrial-Grade Linux® Designs with SAMA5D2 MPU-Based System On Module (SOM)

=> ↺ Rugged, Linux-friendly industrial PC serves up dual PCI or PCIe slots

• Axiomtek’s “IPC962-511-FL” industrial computer offers 6th or 7th Gen Intel CPUs, an extended temperature range, 2x swappable SATA drives, 2x PCI or PCIe expansion slots, and a choice of serial and DIO I/O configurations.

=> ↺ The top 10 pitfalls of embedded open source software

• Free is a good price, so the saying goes, so free, open source real time operating systems (RTOSs) might seem like a good deal. But they’re typically not worth the risks for developers of embedded and IoT devices such as home automation and wearable devices, medical instruments, and industrial control systems. Before you decide, make sure you understand the real costs and pitfalls of using an open source—rather than commercial—RTOS.

Android

=> ↺ How to restore the old Snapchat design on Android

=> ↺ The Fitbit Ionic is (still) a better fitness tracker than smartwatch

=> ↺ Android 8.0 Oreo update for the Galaxy Note 8 now one step closer to release

=> ↺ Split-screen Android apps could soon arrive on Chromebooks

=> ↺ Here’s how to reverse the controversial 2018 Snapchat update on Android

=> ↺ Nuance Discontinues Swype Keyboard for iOS and Android

=> ↺ Mega Man Mobile series for Android review: Malfunctioning robots

=> ↺ Say goodbye to Android Pay and hello to Google Pay

=> ↺ Chrome OS now supports split screen Android Apps in tablet mode

=> ↺ Honor 9 Lite review: Leader of the affordable Android pack

• As Huawei’s budget brand, Honor handsets are well known for offering good value for money. With the Honor 9 Lite the ‘good value’ theme is raised a notch, thanks to an 18:9 aspect ratio 5.65-inch screen and no fewer than four cameras.

• Judging by its name, you might expect the Honor 9 Lite to be a trimmed-down version of the Honor 9, but there are some significant variances that suggest the new handset is a step sideways rather than a step down.

• The Honor 9′s 5.15-inch 1,080-by-1,920 (16:9) screen is trumped here by a bigger, taller 5.65-inch 1,080-by-2,160 (18:9) display. There are also dual cameras front and back, whereas the Honor 9 only has dual rear cameras. At the time of writing the Honor 9 is selling for £349 (inc. VAT) direct from Honor, so the Honor 9 Lite’s £199.99 looks very appealing.

=> ↺ Why the iPhone Is Losing Out to Chinese Devices in Asia

• The iPhone X has set a new benchmark for smartphone prices and bolstered Apple Inc.’s bottom line, but its steep price may be hobbling its future in Asia’s biggest markets and allowing Chinese challengers to grab market share.

=> ↺ BlackBerry Patents ‘Conversion Lens’ Camera For Smartphones

• In a new patent granted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), BlackBerry invented a new camera design. The patent, originally applied for in 2016, outlines a new style of camera, presumably for smartphones, that operates with a second and alternating lens. This particular style of camera modification is called a conversion lens. In order to function as intended, the new camera design must be housed in a sliding host-device. Specifically, the sensor would reside in the rear of a screen display panel, and the auxiliary panel would bear a second translucent lens that modifies the first camera. In theory, the optical lenses would be aligned for fisheye, wide angle, or telephoto images and then the main lens would be used for normal shots and videos.

=> ↺ Samsung Galaxy S9 Leaks (Details And Pictures) — Places Fingerprint Reader Where It Should Be

• The Korean technology giant is expected to reveal Galaxy S9 on February 25. But, due to tons of leaks, it doesn’t seem that much mystery is left to the S9. There are tons of leaked images and details circulating on the web, thanks to German website WinFuture and Redditors.

=> ↺ Android P Won’t Let Malicious Apps Secretly Access Your Camera

=> ↺ Google Android App Adds New Screenshot Editing Tools

=> ↺ Android File Transfer for Linux – Send Files to Linux Without Size Limits

• If you’ve been following our posts over the past few months you must have come across EasyJoin, DAEMON Sync, or Wormhole – all applications users can use to transfer files between devices.

=> ↺ Huawei P Smart review

• With a decent 18:9 screen, the P Smart is a fine Android phone that should appeal to anyone looking for a cheap contract phone. However, the fact it’s so similar to the Honor 9 Lite (which costs £100 less when bought SIM-free) makes it hard to recommend, especially as the Honor has a couple of extra features – dual SIM and a second front camera – which the Huawei lacks.

=> ↺ Exclusive: Retail box confirms key HTC Desire 12 specs

=> ↺ Google is testing a splitscreen view for Android apps on Chromebooks

=> ↺ A Boon for Privacy: Android P will Prevent Idle Background Apps from Accessing the Camera

=> ↺ Android P camera requirements could be a double-edged sword

=> ↺ Google tests its answer to Apple’s screenshot-editing tools

=> ↺ Google Maps v9.72 beta prepares to warn you about packed mass transit, improve road closure reports, and more

=> ↺ Nothing But Respect for My President: Android Abe Lincoln

=> ↺ Will Android P be called Pistachio Ice Cream?

=> ↺ Best mid-range Android phones for 2018

=> ↺ Samsung could unveil new social network “Uhssup” with Galaxy S9

=> ↺ LastPass adds non-beta support for Android Oreo’s Autofill API, but keeps accessibility

=> ↺ Google adds Wi-Fi projection to Android Auto app for ‘Android Auto Wireless’ support

=> ↺ Android Wear will add support for an unread notification indicator in v2.9

=> ↺ Chrome OS Canary channel gains split-screen functionality for Android apps [Video]

=> ↺ How to build a custom launcher in Android Studio — Part One

Free Software/Open Source

=> ↺ Open source intelligent solutions to transform work, businesses

• New trends are opening up new opportunities and new ways to deal with IT, according to Thomas di Giacomo, SUSE CTO, speaking at the SUSE executive roundtable, which the open source company hosted in partnership with ITWeb last week.

• There are many new and innovative technologies that can help IT leaders meet these new demands, he added. Open source based technologies have become the driving force behind most of the technologically disruptive innovations, said Di Giacomo.

• “It is pretty clear that all the new innovation is coming from open source.

• “For example, open source progress with Linux and virtualisation a couple of decades ago, cloud in the last 10 years, and more recently, containers for applications, software-defined infrastructure, and platform-as-a-service, empowering DevOps principles.”

• However, these trends also present some new challenges, said Di Giacomo. Compared to a couple of decades ago, the number of open source projects today has skyrocketed – from hundreds in the different foundations like the Linux Foundation, Apache, Eclipse and others, to millions of projects on Github.

=> ↺ Choosing project names: 4 key considerations

• Working on a new open source project, you’re focused on the code—getting that great new idea released so you can share it with the world. And you’ll want to attract new contributors, so you need a terrific name for your project.

• We’ve all read guides for creating names, but how do you go about choosing the right one? Keeping that cool science fiction reference you’re using internally might feel fun, but it won’t mean much to new users you’re trying to attract. A better approach is to choose a name that’s memorable to new users and developers searching for your project.

• Names set expectations. Your project’s name should showcase its functionality in the ecosystem and explain to users what your story is. In the crowded open source software world, it’s important not to get entangled with other projects out there. Taking a little extra time now, before sending out that big announcement, will pay off later.

Events

=> ↺ FOSDEM 2018 Community DevRoom Recap: Simon Phipps & Rich Sands

• It’s been a few weeks now since FOSDEM and if you didn’t have a chance to attend or watch the livestream of the FOSDEM 2018 Community DevRoom, Leslie my co-chair, and I are doing a round up summary on posts on each of the talks to bring you the video and the highlights of each presentation. You can read the preview post of Rich Sands and Simon Phipps pre FOSDEM blog post here.

=> ↺ Scheduling Voxxed Days Zurich 2018 with OptaPlanner

• My name is Mario Fusco and I’m honored to be the Program Committee Lead of Voxxed Days Zurich for the third year in a row. Reading, evaluating, discussing, and selecting from the 200+ proposals that arrive every year is a long and challenging process. I must admit, I largely underestimated the task the first year I started doing it. It’s necessary to evaluate not only the quality of every submission, but also how they fit together. In the end, the worst part is having to reject so many incredible proposals because there are a limited number of slots.

• However, once all the talks have been selected and all the approval and rejection emails have been sent, the process is still not complete. Now it is time to take all the accepted talks and schedule the actual program. Even for a moderate sized event like Voxxed Days Zurich (the conference lasts only one day and we have four parallel tracks), this is not a trivial task. There are many constraints and nice-to-haves that you may need to consider. For example, some speakers will arrive late in the morning or will have to leave early in the afternoon. Some talks require different room capacities. Two talks belonging to the same track must not be scheduled at the same time. There are many more variables to this process.

Web Browsers

Mozilla

=> ↺ 20 Big Ideas to Connect the Unconnected

• Last year, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Mozilla announced the Wireless Innovation for a Networked Society (WINS) challenges: $2 million in prizes for big ideas to connect the unconnected across the U.S.

• Today, we’re announcing our first set of winners: 20 bright ideas from Detroit, Cleveland, Albuquerque, New York City, and beyond. The winners are building mesh networks, solar-powered Wi-Fi, and network infrastructure that fits inside a single backpack. Winning projects were developed by veteran researchers, enterprising college students, and everyone in-between.

• What do all these projects have in common? They’re affordable, scalable, open-source, and secure.

Databases

=> ↺ ArangoDB publishes industry-wide open source NoSQL performance benchmark

• ArangoDB, a provider of native multi-model NoSQL database solutions, announced the latest findings of its open source NoSQL performance benchmark series. To enable vendors to respond to the results and contribute improvements, ArangoDB has published the necessary scripts required to repeat the benchmark.

=> ↺ Can one ‘multi-model’ database rule them all?

• ArangoDB open source NoSQL performance benchmark series is one such open study.

Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

=> ↺ Oracle open-sources DTrace under the GPL

• Oracle appears to have open-sourced DTrace, the system instrumentation tool that Sun Microsystems created in the early 2000s and which has been beloved of many-a-sysadmin ever since.

• As noted by developer Mark J. Wielaard, this commit by an Oracle developer shows that something is afoot.

=> ↺ Oracle-Supported Port of DTrace?, Linux Foundation Announces Akraino, New Feral Interactive Game and Qt 5.11 Alpha

• For those of us who have been holding out to see an Oracle-supported port of DTrace on Linux, that time is nearly here. Oracle just re-licensed the system instrumentation tool from the original CDDL to GPLv2.

=> ↺ Kernel patch releases, WineHQ, OpenIndiana project, FreeBSD Unix distribution, Xubuntu community contest

• The OpenIndiana project is still alive and well with a recent announcement of migrating the project to GCC 6.4. Unfortunately, this version does not cover the Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilities, although the next version planned is 7.3 which will cover these hot issues.

CRM

=> ↺ How startups and SME’s can leverage open source CRM to increase business

• Prominent Open Source CRM in India:

• – SugarCRM Founded in 2004, Sugar CRM has over 7,000 customers and more than half a million users worldwide. Easily one of the largest open sources CRM in the world, SugarCRM offers versatile functionalities including sales-force automation, marketing campaigns, customer support, collaboration, Mobile CRM, Social CRM and reporting. While SugarCRM has released no open source editions since early 2014, its earlier community versions continued to inspire other open source software, namely Suite CRM, Vtiger CRM and SarvCRM.

• – SuiteCRM Suite CRM is a popular fork of SugarCRM and was launched as the latest version of the SugarCRM in October 2013. In a short period of its existence, it has won several awards and has been adopted by reputed clientele, including the Govt. of UK’s National Health Scheme (NHS) program. Suite CRM is an enterprise-class open source alternative to proprietary alternatives and offers a series of extension for both free and paid-for enhancements. Prominent additional modules available with SuiteCRM include Teams security, Google Maps, Outlook Plugin, Products, Contracts, Invoices, PDF Templates, workflow, reporting and Responsive Theme.

=> ↺ SuiteCRM 7.10 released

• SalesAgility, the creators and maintainers of SuiteCRM, are excited to announce a new major release of the world’s most popular open source CRM – SuiteCRM 7.10, including highly anticipated new features and many enhancements.

• SuiteCRM is a fully featured, highly flexible, open source CRM, which can be installed on-premise or in the cloud, and allows companies and organisations to have full control over their own customer data. It delivers actionable insights into customers, boosts conversions, helps increase sales, bolsters customer care and streamlines business operations. The CRM is as powerful as Salesforce and Dynamics, but with the unique benefit of being completely open source.

=> ↺ SuiteCRM 7.10 released

• SuiteCRM is a fork of the formerly open-source SugarCRM customer relationship management system.

=> ↺ SuiteCRM 7.10 Released For Open-Source Customer Relationship Management

• SuiteCRM 7.10 is now available as the latest major feature release to this customer relationship management (CRM) software forked from SugarCRM’s last open-source release.

Pseudo-Open Source (Openwashing)

=> ↺ Codefresh Launching Hosted Helm Repositories, Reiterating its Commitment to Open Source and Chart Museum

=> ↺ AT&T Sharpens Edge With New Open Source Effort, Test Lab Launch

=> ↺ Telstra to pursue ‘open telco’ experiment

=> ↺ Global Open Source Services Market, By End User, Service, Industry, and Geography – Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2017-2025

=> ↺ Global Open Source Services Market 2018-2022 by Service Type, and Industry – Market Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 23.65%

=> ↺ Global Open Source Services Market (2018-2022) to Grow at a CAGR of 23.65% to Reach $32.95 Billion by 2022

FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

=> ↺ Satoshi’s Vision? Bitcoin Cash Gets It Wrong, Says Max Keiser

• The movement was formally founded in 1983 by Richard Stallman with the launch of the GNU Project, which was founded on the idea that proprietary software harms users to the benefit of large corporations.

Licensing/Legal

=> ↺ Bitcoin’s Developers Are Debating A Change To Its Open License

• Ever since its launch last August, bitcoin has had an antagonistic relationship with its offshoot, bitcoin cash. But their battle may have provided a trigger to seek ways to protect bitcoin’s core code from indiscriminate use.

Openness/Sharing/Collaboration

Open Access/Content

=> ↺ A new Maryland bill would allow students to buy textbooks tax-free twice a year

• University of Maryland student Kayla Little has wanted to be a doctor since she was 11 years old — but a nationwide rise in textbook prices has proved to be an obstacle to her success.

• “I’ve wanted to go into medicine for the longest [time], and I really don’t want to give that up for books,” said Little, who hopes to go to medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon for a professional sports team.

=> ↺ How the Grateful Dead were a precursor to Creative Commons licensing

• From its founding in 1965, the Grateful Dead was always an unusual band. Rising amidst the counterculture movement in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Grateful Dead’s music had roots in multiple styles and genres but did not lend itself to easy categorization. Was it psychedelic? Folk? Blues? Country? Yes, it was all of these and more. The band frequently performed well-known public domain songs, but they made the songs their own.

• Members of the band could effortlessly play across traditional and diverse styles. At concerts, they often performed songs that sounded familiar at first but grew and evolved across styles and genres. Songs often turned into lengthy jam sessions in which musicians played off one another, discovering new musical motifs and expanding them together.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Rust things I miss in C

• Librsvg feels like it is reaching a tipping point, where suddenly it seems like it would be easier to just port some major parts from C to Rust than to just add accessors for them. Also, more and more of the meat of the library is in Rust now.

• I’m switching back and forth a lot between C and Rust these days, and C feels very, very primitive these days.

=> ↺ Learning to program is getting harder

• I have written several books that use Python to explain topics like Bayesian Statistics and Digital Signal Processing. Along with the books, I provide code that readers can download from GitHub. In order to work with this code, readers have to know some Python, but that’s not enough. They also need a computer with Python and its supporting libraries, they have to know how to download code from GitHub, and then they have to know how to run the code they downloaded.

• And that’s where a lot of readers get into trouble.

Leftovers

=> ↺ “Just an Ass-Backward Tech Company”: How Twitter Lost the Internet War

• Del Harvey, Twitter’s resident troll hunter, has a fitting, if unusual, backstory for somebody in charge of policing one of the Internet’s most ungovernable platforms. As a teenager, she spent a summer as a lifeguard at a state mental institution; at 21, she began volunteering for Perverted Justice, a vigilante group that lures pedophiles into online chat rooms and exposes their identities. When the group partnered with NBC in 2004 to launch To Catch a Predator, Harvey posed as a child to help put pedophiles in jail. In 2008, she joined Twitter, then a small status-updating service whose 140-character quirk was based on the amount of alphanumerics that could be contained on a flip-phone screen. She was employee No. 25, and her job was to combat spam accounts.

Science

=> ↺ Why even a moth’s brain is smarter than an AI

• These differences probably account for why machine-learning systems lag so far behind natural ones in some aspects of performance. Insects, for example, can recognize odors after just a handful of exposures. Machines, on the other hand, need huge training data sets to learn. Computer scientists hope that understanding more about natural forms of learning will help them close the gap.

• Enter Charles Delahunt and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle, who have created an artificial neural network that mimics the structure and behavior of the olfactory learning system in Manduca sexta moths. They say their system provides some important insights into the way natural networks learn, with potential implications for machines.

=> ↺ Can’t get new lungs? Try refurbished ones instead.

• Harald Ott, a surgeon at Harvard Medical School, thinks that his lab’s unusual methods might someday solve the organ- transplant crisis. On average, 20 people in the United States die every day awaiting donor organs for transplant, according to the American Transplant Foundation. If Ott’s idea works, it could one day eliminate the need for an organ waiting list.

=> ↺ Computers aid discovery of new, inexpensive material to make LEDs with high color quality

• A team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has used data mining and computational tools to discover a new phosphor material for white LEDs that is inexpensive and easy to make. Researchers built prototype white LED light bulbs using the new phosphor. The prototypes exhibited better color quality than many commercial LEDs currently on the market.

=> ↺ Pattern formation—the paradoxical role of turbulence

• The formation of self-organizing molecular patterns in cells is a critical component of many biological processes. Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have proposed a new theory to explain how such patterns emerge in complex natural systems.

• Many biological processes are crucially dependent on the formation of ordered distributions of specific molecules within cells. These patterns are self-organizing structures that evolve in a predictable fashion in time and space. Perhaps the best known example of intracellular protein patterning is the molecular machinery that orchestrates the regular segregation of complete chromosome sets to the two daughter cells during cell division.

=> ↺ Ocean array alters view of Atlantic ‘conveyor belt’

• Oceanographers have put a stethoscope on the coursing circulatory system of the Atlantic Ocean, and they have found a skittish pulse that’s surprisingly strong in the waters east of Greenland—data that should improve climate models.

• The powerful currents in the Atlantic, formally known as the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), are a major engine in Earth’s climate. The AMOC’s shallower limbs—which include the Gulf Stream—transport warm water from the tropics northward, warming Western Europe. In the north, the waters cool and sink, forming deeper limbs that transport the cold water back south—and sequester anthropogenic carbon in the process. This overturning is why the AMOC is sometimes called the Atlantic conveyor belt.

Hardware

=> ↺ Qualcomm raises bid for NXP to about $43.22B

• Qualcomm is raising its takeover bid for NXP Semiconductors by nearly 16 percent to about $43.22 billion, citing in part NXP’s strong results since the companies first announced their merger in October 2016.

• The move announced Tuesday comes as Qualcomm itself is in the crosshairs of Broadcom Ltd., which earlier this month raised its own cash and stock bid for Qualcomm to $121 billion.

Health/Nutrition

=> ↺ Woman billed $17,850 for dodgy pee test. Alarmed experts say she’s not alone

• In 2015, a college student in Texas named Elizabeth Moreno had back surgery to correct a painful spinal abnormality. The procedure was a success, and her surgeon followed it with just a short-term prescription for the opioid painkiller hydrocodone to ease a speedy recovery. Then came a “routine” urine drug test, ostensibly to ensure she didn’t abuse the powerful drug.

• A year later, she got the bill for that test. It was $17,850.

=> ↺ Breakthrough as scientists grow sheep embryos containing human cells

• Growing human organs inside other animals has taken another step away from science-fiction, with researchers announcing they have grown sheep embryos containing human cells.

• Scientists say growing human organs inside animals could not only increase supply, but also offer the possibility of genetically tailoring the organs to be compatible with the immune system of the patient receiving them, by using the patient’s own cells in the procedure, removing the possibility of rejection.

Security

=> ↺ ​Bogus Linux vulnerability gets publicity

• I am so sick and tired of crap security news about Android and Linux. In the latest example, GoSecure claims it’s discovered Chaos: a Stolen Backdoor Rising Again. Yeah. Right. Let’s look closer.

• First, we have a neat name. Can’t have a security bug these days without giving it a sexy name. But, what is it really?

• Well, it requires the attacker to break into the target system by “brute-forcing SSH credentials”. Wait. What? To get this you need someone to log in to your server!?

=> ↺ Security updates for Monday

=> ↺ A Hacker [sic] Has Wiped a Spyware Company’s Servers—Again

• Last year, a vigilante hacker [sic] broke into the servers of a company that sells spyware to everyday consumers and wiped their servers, deleting photos captured from monitored devices. A year later, the hacker [sic] has done it again.

=> ↺ Data breach law takes effect on Thursday

• Australia’s data breach notification law takes effect this Thursday and new resources for the public have been released by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner before the law comes into force.

=> ↺ Smart meters could leave Brits vulnerable to cyber attacks in their homes, experts worry

=> ↺ UK government backed smart meters could pose cyber risk – GCHQ

=> ↺ UK smart meters could be vulnerable to cyber attacks – GCHQ warns

=> ↺ Security bods slam ‘hackable’ smart meters as firms prepare for SMETS 2 rollout

=> ↺ New Saturn RaaS Lets Everyone Become a Ransomware Distributor for Free

• The authors of the newly-discovered Saturn ransomware are allowing anyone to become a ransomware distributor for free via a newly launched Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) affiliate program.

• The entire idea of this new RaaS portal is to allow easy access to a weaponized version of the new Saturn ransomware.

=> ↺ Free Saturn “Ransomware-as-a-Service” Allows Anyone To Become A Notorious Hacker

=> ↺ Election Security a High Priority — Until It Comes to Paying for New Voting Machines

=> ↺ systems are managed by Microsoft

• When poll workers arrived at 6 a.m. to open the voting location in Allentown, New Jersey, for last November’s gubernatorial election, they found that none of the borough’s four voting machines were working. Their replacements, which were delivered about four hours later, also failed. Voters had to cast their ballots on paper, which then were counted by hand.

• Machine malfunctions are a regular feature of American elections. Even as worries over cybersecurity and election interference loom, many local jurisdictions depend on aging voting equipment based on frequently obsolete and sometimes insecure technology. And the counties and states that fund elections have dragged their heels on providing the money to buy new equipment.

=> ↺ Congress Can Act Right Now to Prevent Interference in the 2018 Elections

• To create that confidence the SAFE Act would: [...]

=> ↺ America’s Election Meddling Would Indeed Justify Other Countries Retaliating In Kind

• There is still no clear proof that the Russian government interfered with the 2016 U.S. election in any meaningful way. Which is weird, because Russia and every other country on earth would be perfectly justified in doing so.

=> ↺ NSA Exploit Now Powering Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

=> ↺ Microsoft Windows back door

• You may have been asked if you’d like to try your hand at mining cryptocurrency. You may have demurred, citing the shortage in graphics cards or perhaps wary you were being coaxed into an elaborate Ponzi scheme. So much for opting out. Thanks to the NSA, you may be involved in mining cryptocurrency, but you’re likely not seeing any of the benefits.

=> ↺ Cryptocurrency-mining criminals that netted $3 million gear up for more

• Separately, researchers from security firm FireEye said attackers, presumably with no relation to the one reported by Check Point, are exploiting unpatched systems running Oracle’s WebLogic Server to install cryptocurrency-mining malware. Oracle patched the vulnerability, indexed as CVE-2017-10271, in October.

=> ↺ Epidemic of cryptojacking can be traced to escaped NSA superweapon

• It all started when the Shadow Brokers dumped a collection of NSA cyberweapons that the NSA had fashioned from unreported bugs in commonly used software, including versions of Windows. The NSA discovered these bugs and then hoarded them, rather than warning the public and/or the manufacturers about them, in order to develop weapons that turned these bugs into attacks that could be used against the NSA’s enemies.

=> ↺ Security updates for Tuesday

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Warning after Assange fans targeted MP for retweets by Wikileaks

• POLITICIANS have been urged to show more caution on social media after evidence emerged that Wikileaks supporters were encouraged to use an SNP MP to spread their message on Twitter.

• Followers of Julian Assange were told to try and persuade Paul Monaghan to retweet content as part of a wider campaign to use parliamentarians to amplify their views.

=> ↺ Denis’s Dreaming: Julian Assange And His Doppelganger

• The ubiquitous US empire, I realized, had become an omnipresent force capable of vacuuming up and silencing all who dared question the activities of a system promulgating political chicanery… and it doesn’t approve of unauthorized disclosure, as the Julian Assange case demonstrates. Particularly as the covert activities of the ever-expanding American Empire – criminal by any measure – have become ever more rabid and rancid in its’ quest for full spectrum dominance.

• Fat chance that the masters of the universe would give a fig about the UN vote – pigs might fly I thought – recalling that the UN findings reflected the injustice of a system that hounded a man whose only crime was speaking truth to power. As I exited Hans Crescent, I felt queasy upon realising that it’s the ‘poodles’ – in this case the British variety – who sustain the status quo. When I arrived at my office I felt somewhat dejected, and closing the door on the outside world, sat myself down at my desk and said aloud to nobody in particular, “compliance is the flip side of expediency”.

• As morning turned to afternoon, I continued to reflect on the life of Julian Assange. Here was a man who was in possession of 250,000 diplomatic cables which shone an uncomfortable spotlight on US foreign policy. He published material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report on toxic waste dumping on the Ivory Coast and Guantanamo Bay detention camp procedures and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julies Baer. He also revealed the ugly truth of crimes committed by US forces in Iraq and the West’s role in the destabilization of Ukraine in 2014 plus the destruction of Libya, etc, etc, etc, etc.

=> ↺ Alleged Trump-Assange Backchannel: ‘There Was No Backchannel’

• One of the most curious episodes of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is also one of its most intriguing: Did Roger Stone—the eccentric informal Trump adviser—have backchannel communications with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange?

=> ↺ How Trump took advantage of Russian interference: Amplifying Wikileaks

=> ↺ Razer: journalism is not a crime! Except, you know, when WikiLeaks does it.

• I know you guys remember the detention of journalist Peter Greste, held with Al Jazeera colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahm in Cairo from December 2013. I remember, but perhaps not as well as you. I didn’t know the guy’s name before he was arrested charges of spreading “false news”. This was my fault, and not that of the Australian who had offered the Anglophone world an understanding of a coup that powers in the West would not call a coup. I was dumped that year, so any affairs more foreign than the one the ex was enjoying in Balwyn North were of limited concern.

Environment/Energy/Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Alaska’s Bering Sea Lost a Third of Its Ice in Just 8 Days

• In just eight days in mid-February, nearly a third of the sea ice covering the Bering Sea off Alaska’s west coast disappeared. That kind of ice loss and the changing climate as the planet warms is affecting the lives of the people who live along the coast.

• At a time when the sea ice should be growing toward its maximum extent for the year, it’s shrinking instead—the area of the Bering Sea covered by ice is now 60 percent below its average from 1981-2010.

• “[Bering sea ice] is in a league by itself at this point,” said Richard Thoman, the climate science and services manager for the National Weather Service Alaska region. “And looking at the weather over the next week, this value isn’t going to go up significantly. It’s going to go down.”

=> ↺ China’s polar ambitions cause anxiety

• Chinese tourists going abroad must be used to it by now – the lists of dos and don’ts to prevent them from tarnishing their country’s image.

• “Do not spit phlegm or gum” and “don’t take a long time using public toilets” are just two of the exhortations in a 2013 pamphlet from the National Tourism Administration.

=> ↺ The carbon-capture era may finally be starting

• The budget bill that President Donald Trump signed into law earlier this month provides a huge incentive for capturing and storing carbon emissions.

• Energy researchers who have crunched the numbers in the days since have concluded that on many projects the boosted tax credit could finally tip the scales for a technology that’s long proved far too expensive.

Finance

=> ↺ Working remotely, 4 years in

• It worked out. It obviously hasn’t always been 100% perfect in every way, but working remotely has been a great career move for me. I’ve learned a ton from my coworkers and have been able to do some really cool projects that I’m proud of. So here are some thoughts about what I think has made it work for me.

=> ↺ “Blockchain” Stocks Completely Disintegrate

• I’ve never seen a sector skyrocket and totally collapse this fast – in four months – as these newfangled “blockchain stocks.” Now they’re surrounded by debris and revelations of scams. These fly-by-night or near-failure outfits used the hype of “blockchain” and the whole media razzmatazz about cryptocurrencies to manipulate up their stocks, sometimes by several thousand percent in a matter of days.

=> ↺ Sears brand name deteriorates in value as sales suffer

• If Sears fails to execute a turnaround and ends up in bankruptcy, the company’s storied brand name could yet live on.

• But as the company slowly descends deeper and deeper into red ink, the value of the company’s brand is also suffering.

• [...]

• The nearly half-a-billion-dollar writedown underscores the severity of the company’s financial crisis. Although President Trump’s tax cut likely carried the Sears to a fourth-quarter profit, that was a one-time benefit that won’t solve the company’s ongoing issues.

=> ↺ Trump administration recommends steep tariffs on steel and aluminum

• The Commerce Department is recommending steep tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

• The suggested tariffs, offered by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the name of national security, are the latest indication that President Trump’s trade talk is turning from bark to bite. They also raise the risk of a trade war with China and other nations.

• Ross suggested three options for Trump — impose across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminum, target select countries with even higher tariffs, or limit the total steel and aluminum coming into the United States.

=> ↺ Trump Contemplates Sanctions Against USA

• Think of it. If you slap on a tariff and importation instantly slows, it may take years to build new factories to take up the slack. Essentially, USA will be sanctioning itself. The tariffs won’t hurt China in the least. The world is hungry for its products and if USA ships fewer products made of aluminium and steel, China’s markets increase. So be it. USA, you reap what you sow. Trump adds this to the long list of stupid/crazy things he says and does.

=> ↺ Sorry, Brendan O’Neill, but we won’t be no-platformed on Brexit

• If you read Brendan O’Neill’s Coffee House article on Our Future, Our Choice! OFOC! – the campaign group of which I am co-president – you are left with the impression that we are a bunch of young fascists seeking a teenocracy. Brendan seems to believe that Britain’s youth see themselves as Nietzsche’s young warriors, and want to push out the ‘old men’. The ‘cult of youth’ wants to round up the walking-stick brigade, the village church congregations, the ageing Brexiteer army and send them where they belong: ‘peaceful’ correction camps.

• This is ludicrous. I wholeheartedly believe in ‘one person, one vote’. It goes without saying that we at OFOC! do not want to ‘dehumanise the old’. The concerns of the young should not override the concerns of the old. We all have an equal say. Brendan mistakenly assumes that we are making some grand philosophical point; that we are busy devising a voting system which would give a full vote to a healthy eighteen-year-old, and 0.4 of a vote to an 88-year-old on their deathbed. We are not. We are making a pragmatic argument rather than a philosophical one. Brexit is a national project which will take at least over half a decade to complete. In that time, according to demographic shifts alone, it will have lost its mandate. The British people will then clearly be inheriting a national project a majority didn’t ask for, and would rather not have.

=> ↺ Alibaba, Tencent rally troops amid $10 billion retail battle

• China’s tech giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), worth a combined $1 trillion, are on a retail investment binge, forcing merchants to choose sides amid a battle for shoppers’ digital wallets.

• Since the start of last year, the two companies have between them spent more than $10 billion on retail-focused deals, boosting their reach online and in brick-and-mortar stores.

=> ↺ Mutually Assured Contempt at 2018 Munich Security Conference

• Last year the biggest name in Munich was Chinese President Xi, who did not disappoint and stole the show by his robust defense of free trade, global cooperation to combat climate change and other leading issues of the day from which Donald Trump’s America seemed to be retreating. This year there was no one leader who commanded the attention of the audience and media. What special meaning the gathering had could be found in the Report of the organizers, which highlights the issues and guided the discussion in the various sessions over three days.

=> ↺ Irish Border issue is a legitimate threat to the Brexit talks

• One senior EU official is very pessimistic. The impasse over legally copperfastening the UK’s no-hard-Border commitment could shortly, single-handedly, bring the Brexit talks process to a crashing halt, the source warns. Could the Border issue be the rock on which the negotiations founder, propelling the UK into a no-deal departure? It’s an apocalyptic view not universally shared in Brussels but, as my colleague Pat Leahy reported recently, Dublin is also increasingly gloomy. “The Government fears that patience with the UK is running out in EU capitals.” It expects difficulties translating December’s guarantees on the Border into a legally binding agreement.

=> ↺ The bitcoin patent – only a matter of time?

• Given that no person (or group) has credibly claimed authorship of the 2008 Nakamoto paper or the bitcoin transaction method it describes, not surprisingly, no patent based on that original work has appeared.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Donald Trump and Facebook executive Rob Goldman’s tweets mislead about Russia’s election interference

=> ↺ Trump cites Facebook exec’s comments downplaying Russian ad influence on election

• Trump was citing Goldman’s own Twitter dump over the past week, responding to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s recent indictment of 13 Russian citizens charged with interfering in the presidential election.

=> ↺ Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now

• Our democracy is in serious danger.

• President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

• That is, either Trump’s real estate empire has taken large amounts of money from shady oligarchs linked to the Kremlin — so much that they literally own him; or rumors are true that he engaged in sexual misbehavior while he was in Moscow running the Miss Universe contest, which Russian intelligence has on tape and he doesn’t want released; or Trump actually believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when he says he is innocent of intervening in our elections — over the explicit findings of Trump’s own C.I.A., N.S.A. and F.B.I. chiefs.

=> ↺ San Juan Mayor Calls for End to Puerto Rico’s Colonial Status Amid Slow Hurricane Maria Recovery

• Five months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, swaths of the island still have no electricity, while food and water supplies have been slow to arrive. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, has been hit by a series of scandals, after it was revealed that only a fraction of the 30 million meals slated to be sent to the island after Hurricane Maria was actually delivered. FEMA approved a $156 million contract for a one-woman company to deliver the 30 million meals. But in the end, FEMA canceled the contract after she delivered only 50,000 meals, in what FEMA called a logistical nightmare. This came after FEMA gave more than $30 million in contracts to a newly created Florida company which failed to deliver a single tarp to Puerto Rico. For more, we speak with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.

=> ↺ Nunes: FBI and DOJ Perps Could Be Put on Trial

• Throwing down the gauntlet on alleged abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the Department of Justice and the FBI, House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) stated that there could be legal consequences for officials who may have misled the FISA court. “If they need to be put on trial, we will put them on trial,” he said. “The reason Congress exists is to oversee these agencies that we created.”

• [...]

• This was not supposed to happen. Mrs. Clinton was a shoo-in, remember? Back when the FISA surveillance warrant of Page was obtained, just weeks before the November 2016 election, there seemed to be no need to hide tracks, because, even if these extracurricular activities were discovered, the perps would have looked forward to award certificates rather than legal problems under a Trump presidency.

• Thus, the knives will be coming out. Mostly because the mainstream media will make a major effort – together with Schiff-mates in the Democratic Party – to marginalize Nunes, those who find themselves in jeopardy can be expected to push back strongly.

=> ↺ Ignorance and Prejudice in Laura Ingraham’s Tiff With LeBron James

• Next came a clip with James saying: “The number one job in America, the appointed person, is someone who doesn’t understand the people. And really don’t give a f*** about the people.” James then continued his criticism of Trump in a discussion that aired on The Uninterrupted (a media platform founded by James).

• Ingraham clearly didn’t like James’ comments. First, she said: “Must they run their mouths like that? Unfortunately a lot of kids, and some adults, take these ignorant comments seriously.”

• She then went on to say that getting paid millions to play basketball doesn’t mean you can talk politics, and closed with a zinger inviting James and fellow NBA star Kevin Durant, also present in the video, to stick to what they do best – basketball – rather than attempt to provide political commentary: “As someone once said: shut up and dribble.”

=> ↺ Trump ‘Blatantly Backs Gerrymandering’ in Call for GOP to Fight New Pennsylvania Maps

• Shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday issued a new congressional map that eliminates the state GOP’s partisan gerrymander, President Donald Trump implored Republicans to challenge the new district lines, arguing that the original map—which the state’s highest court said “clearly” violates the constitution—”was correct.”

=> ↺ Mueller Probe Heats Up: 13 Russians Indicted, Ex-Trump Aide to Plead Guilty, Focus on Kushner Grows

• There have been a number of significant developments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration. CNN is reporting Mueller is now investigating Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his attempts to secure financing for his family’s business while working on the president’s transition team. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times is reporting former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to plead guilty and testify against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. Under the deal, Gates will plead guilty to money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying. These developments come just days after the Justice Department indicted 13 Russians and three companies in connection with efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election by orchestrating an online propaganda effort to undermine the U.S. election system. We speak to Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties. She runs the website EmptyWheel.net.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ China Uses The Same Excuse As This CNN Analyst To Censor Social Media

• With fears of Russia soaring to new heights, a CNN national security analyst is employing a classic argument used by the Chinese government to support censorship, arguing that social media sites should be held accountable for the content their users…

=> ↺ The Case Against the Bell Coalition’s Website Blocking Plan, Part 6: Over-Blocking of Legitimate Websites

• As the public concern over the Bell coalition website blocking plan continues to grow (both the Canadian Press and CBC this weekend covered the thousands of interventions at the CRTC), the case against the plan resumes with a review of why it is likely that it will lead to over-blocking of legitimate websites. Last week’s post highlighted the probable expansion of the scope of piracy for blocking purposes, a theme that continues today with a look at the many incidents over-blocking of legitimate sites sparked by website blocking (other posts in the series include the state of Canadian copyright, weak evidence on the state of Canadian piracy, the limited impact of piracy, and why the absence of a court order would place Canada at odds with virtually all its allies).

=> ↺ Closing windows.. censorship of the internet in Egypt

• Egypt was not familiar with the practice of blocking websites in the past, and therefore the skill of bypassing censorship was not one of the basic skills acquired by Egyptian users during their normal use of the Internet; in contrast, in some Arab countries which have a history of blocking practices, this has resulted in their citizens acquiring skills of how to deal with internet censorship. With the increase in the number of blocked websites in Egypt, social networks were flooded with advice on how one can bypass a block and links to free services that enable users to access blocked websites such as Tor browser, VPN services, and proxy servers. Some blocked websites began to direct their audience through social networks to rely on proxy servers as a free and easy-to-use way to access the content of blocked websites, while many activists who are interested in countering internet censorship have written about how to rely on Tor browser and VPNs to bypass blocking. On the other hand, blocked websites have tried to find easy mechanisms to reach their audiences, such as relying on alternative platforms to publish their material, or relying on services such as AMP [Accelerated Mobiles Pages], one of the most important services provided by Google on which millions of websites depend.

=> ↺ Censorship is a slippery slope

• The issue at question is censorship of a book, “A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl,” by Tanya Lee Stone, currently in the high school library.

=> ↺ Andy Serkis says sex scene rules would be ‘censorship’

• Andy Serkis has said new rules being proposed this week for the filming of sex scenes could stifle creativity and amount to “censorship”.

• Actors’ union Equity is set to discuss new guidance for intimate scenes on film, TV and stage following the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood.

• In the wake of the accusations against the disgraced producer, many actresses have since come forward to detail uncomfortable or unscripted sex scenes they had felt pressured into doing.

=> ↺ Sex scene rules would be ‘censorship’ star says

• Hollywood star Andy Serkis says new rules surrounding the filming of sex scenes could amount to “censorship” and stifle creativity.

• Actors’ union Equity is considering bringing in guidance for intimate scenes on stage and screen in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

• The proposals, being discussed this week, could ban actors kissing with tongues and nudity in auditions.

• [...]

• But speaking on the Bafta awards red carpet on Sunday night, Serkis said of the proposals: “I think that kind of censorship is censorship of creativity.

• “It should be arrived at by the director and the actors involved. They have to find a comfortable way of doing it that will tell the story, because that’s what we are all there to do.

• “It would be a shame if actors become so self-conscious about relating to people. You’re there to use your imagination, to create a role. I don’t think that you should be stopped from telling the story.”

=> ↺ The government is fighting ISIS online – but could it censor journalists?

• The government has developed new technology which can “automatically detect terrorist content” online. Propaganda by Daesh (also known as ISIS) could apparently be blocked as soon as it is uploaded.

• The software was created by private company ASI Data Science, with £600,000 of government money.

=> ↺ Instagram gives in to Russian censors

• Instagram has removed a video posted by Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny following pressure from the country’s communications regulator.

• The video shows deputy prime minister Sergei Prikhodko meeting with wealthy Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska on a yacht populated with models and escorts.

=> ↺ Shut out: outcry over censorship of Inxeba

• The unthinkable has happened. The Film and Publication Board has banned the multiaward winning film Inxeba: The Wound from being screened in mainstream cinema outlets, restricting its distribution to “designated adult premises”.

• This reclassification of Inxeba by the board’s appeal tribunal in essence means that the film can only be seen at venues where pornographic films are also screened. Therefore, the banning has reduced Inxeba to a pornographic movie. When it opened it had an age restriction of 16 years.

=> ↺ Academics Protest China’s Censorship Requests

• James Millward, a historian at Georgetown University and supporter of the petition, also sees withholding peer review as a particularly fitting way to respond to censorship.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Letter to EU Commissioners: Concern over United Kingdom’s proposed ‘immigration exemptions’ from Data Protection Bill

• We, the undersigned, write to express our concern regarding the UK Government’s incorporation of the General Data Protection Regulation into domestic law. Setting aside other areas of concern, the UK’s Data Protection Bill proposes an exemption that would remove individuals’ fundamental right to data protection if it is likely to prejudice “effective immigration control”.

• This proposed exemption (‘the immigration exemptions’) will remove the right of individuals to receive information from a subject access request: a core mechanism in any immigration dispute. Further restrictions would remove the government’s responsibility to process an individual’s data in accordance with the principles of data protection including lawful, fair and transparent processing. The exemption would allow data to be shared across UK government institutions without accountability or opportunity for recourse.

=> ↺ Why the Internet of Things is designed for corporations, not consumers

• Let me drive this home: The way that consumer goods are evolving, any implement that can be connected back to the Net will be. Think of a world where the physical location of every single item is logged and known at every single moment. Imagine what that would look like on a three-dimensional grid; it would bring an engineer to religion. A wise man once said that not a sparrow falls without God knowing it. However, in a world where the Net keeps simultaneous watch on a thousand million spinning plates, the Lord will have a peer.

=> ↺ Epic Games Uses Private Investigators to Locate Cheaters

• After hiring the services of a private investigations firm, Epic Games discovered they’d sued another minor for alleged cheating. The gaming company asked the court to keep the personal information of the kid under seal. A private investigator was also used to locate another minor defendant in a separate case, who is now risking a default judgment.

=> ↺ Google on Collision Course With Movie Biz Over Piracy & Safe Harbor

• Google and one of Australia’s leading movie companies are on a collision course over piracy. Village Roadshow’s outspoken co-chief Graham Burke has twice this month accused Google of facilitating crime and is now inviting the company to sue him. Meanwhile, Google is fighting for new safe harbor protections that Village Roadshow insists should be denied.

=> ↺ Facebook ordered to stop tracking web users in Belgium

• Last week, a Belgian court ruled that it must stop tracking web users who have not given their consent for this behaviour or face fines of up to €250,000 per day for non-compliance.

=> ↺ Facebook will mail out postcards to verify US election advertisers

• This new verification system will be required for all advertising that mentions a specific candidate running for a federal office — such as the presidency. It will be implemented in time for the mid-term elections this coming November.

=> ↺ Facebook plans to use U.S. mail to verify IDs of election ad buyers

• Facebook Inc will start using postcards sent by U.S. mail later this year to verify the identities and location of people who want to purchase U.S. election-related advertising on its site, a senior company executive said on Saturday.

=> ↺ Swedish Public Healthcare Portal is sending your symptoms to Google

• We can see in the screenshot above that somebody has searched for “embarrassing symptoms”. With the Ghostery plug-in turned off, a call is made to Google Analytics (the ga.js script), to the host ssl.google-analytics.com highlighted in the screenshot above, which sends the data embarrassing symptoms in cleartext (the third highlight) as part of the Referer field.

• This happens even when you’re browsing over HTTPS/SSL, because of how bad this design is.

=> ↺ China’s mobile payment volume surges in 2017 to S$16.7 trillion by October

• Mobile payments in China totalled 81 trillion yuan (S$16.7 trillion) for the first 10 months of 2017, nearly 40 per cent more than the whole of the previous year as cashless transactions become increasingly popular in the country, official data showed.

• The 10-month figure represented a 37.8 per cent leap over the 58.8 trillion yuan recorded in 2016, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology cited by Xinhua news agency on Monday.

• China is one of the world’s leading players in mobile or e-payment, which has made it possible for Chinese to buy a pancake at roadside breakfast stalls, order food online, pay credit card bills, and manage stock accounts with just a smartphone.

=> ↺ Google files patent for robot that writes your Facebook posts, emails and tweets – but will need FULL access to scan your accounts

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Control your phone. Don’t let it control you

• Here are some simple tips — recommended by Harris — to work around the tricks phone designers use to keep us hooked

=> ↺ Passenger in NSA incident questions police use of force

• A 24-year-old Southeast DC man who says he was the passenger in that SUV that crashed at an NSA gate last Wednesday, is questioning police use of force.

• [...]

• “They was meant to kill us,” said Brown, “You know what I’m saying? This was fatal shots they were shooting. They could’ve killed him. They hit him in his head. If I didn’t grab him and throw him under the wheel, little man would’ve got killed.”

• The “him” is a 17-year-old, reportedly unlicensed driver, Brown says he put behind the wheel because he and another passenger were too tired to drive. After shots were fired, Brown says the teen was grazed in the head with what was believed to be a piece of shrapnel.

=> ↺ For Taiwanese, tests of loyalty to China bring trouble in Australian workplaces

• China’s assertiveness has set off alarms in Australia, with officials warning that Beijing has been meddling in Australian politics more than the public realises. But the experiences of Yang and Tuan – along with many others – reveal how Chinese nationalism is also affecting private enterprise and, in some cases, leading to accusations of discrimination.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ FCC Broadband Availability Data Derided As Inaccurate, ‘Shameful’

• We’ve long-noted how the government doesn’t do a very good job tracking broadband availability and pricing, in large part because incumbent ISPs like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T don’t want them to. ISPs (and the lawmakers paid to love them) whined incessantly about the last FCC’s efforts to raise the standard definition of broadband, given it only highlighted the fact that two-thirds of Americans can’t get “broadband” (25 Mbps) from more than one ISP. ISPs also fight revealing pricing data, which is why our $300 million broadband availability map doesn’t contain any price data whatsoever.

• ISPs have also routinely lobbied against efforts to improve broadband availability mapping, since more clearly highlighting competition and deployment shortcomings might result in somebody actually doing something about it. As a result, government reports on the health of the clearly-dysfunctional U.S. broadband market tend to have a decidedly unrealistic and rosy timbre, which is often worse if the regulators in question are of the revolving door variety (as we’re currently seeing under current agency boss Ajit Pai).

• And while Pai is busy insisting that he’s all about transparency, hard economics, and “closing the digital divide,” his policies repeatedly and consistently undermine those claims.

=> ↺ The Fight to Save Net Neutrality Is Heating Up

• The many bids to try to stop the FCC’s rollback of net neutrality rules are gathering momentum.

=> ↺ “What’s happening in US on net neutrality and internet freedom?”

• 149 Members of the European Parliament signed a letter to the US Congress in disapproval of an action taken by independent telecom regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The letter was organized by Mariete Schaake (D66/ALDE).

=> ↺ Wikipedia discontinues its “zero-rating,” will focus on research-driven outreach

• Wikimedia has since seen its zero-rated use dropping off a cliff, which has conclusively settled the argument. Wikimedia has a laudable goal: to incorporate input from all over the world, from all walks of life, into the canonical encyclopedia we all rely upon. But zero rating wasn’t doing that, so, to their eternal credit, Wikimedia is trying something different.

=> ↺ Building for the future of Wikimedia with a new approach to partnerships

• After careful evaluation, the Wikimedia Foundation has decided to discontinue one of its partnership approaches, the Wikipedia Zero program. Wikipedia Zero was created in 2012 to address one barrier to participating in Wikipedia globally: high mobile data costs. Through the program, we partnered with mobile operators to waive mobile data fees for their customers to freely access Wikipedia on mobile devices. Over the course of this year, no additional Wikipedia Zero partnerships will be formed, and the remaining partnerships with mobile operators will expire.

• In the program’s six year tenure, we have partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 countries to provide access to Wikipedia to more than 800 million people free of mobile data charges. Since 2016, we have seen a significant drop off in adoption and interest in the program. This may be due, in part, to the rapidly shifting mobile industry, as well as changes in mobile data costs. At this same time, we conducted extensive research [1][2] to better understand the full spectrum of barriers to accessing and participating in Wikipedia.

=> ↺ Free ‘Wikipedia Zero’ Is Shutting Down After Serving 800 Million Users

• The non-profit organization Wikimedia Foundation has been running their project called Wikipedia Zero. Started in 2012, it aims to provide free Wikipedia access to users mostly living in developing countries by partnering with carriers in those regions.

• Wikipedia Zero was inspired by Facebook Zero project which also allowed people to access a stripped down version of Facebook for free. Such services are given a zero-rating by the carriers and using them doesn’t count on users’ data bills. The service providers already pay the operation charges.

DRM

=> ↺ Flight Sim Company Embeds Malware to Steal Pirates’ Passwords

• Flight sim company FlightSimLabs has found itself in trouble after installing malware onto users’ machines as an anti-piracy measure. Code embedded in its A320-X module contained a mechanism for detecting ‘pirate’ serial numbers distributed on The Pirate Bay, which then triggered a process through which the company stole usernames and passwords from users’ web browsers.

Intellectual Monopolies

=> ↺ UKIPO launches trade secrets consultation

• The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) yesterday launched a technical consultation on the EU trade secrets directive and the draft regulations that will implement the directive into UK law.

• The directive obliges EU member states to ensure that victims of trade secret misuse are able to defend their rights in court and seek compensation. Provisions on ensuring trade secrets are kept confidential during legal proceedings are also covered.

=> ↺ Sharp and Hisense bury the patent hatchet as they move toward resolving acrimonious brand and commercial dispute

• A conflict over use of the Sharp brand name in the US market for televisions has pitted the Foxconn-owned display maker against Chinese licencee Hisense in IP and commercial lawsuits across multiple jurisdictions since last June. Now, disclosures made by Sharp in the process of withdrawing a patent infringement lawsuit and an ITC investigation suggest that the two parties have agreed to a patent truce as they move towards a broad resolution.

=> ↺ French Constitutional Court Rejects Challenge to Image Right in National Monuments

• France’s Constitutional Court has just ruled that a provision in the Code du patrimoine (Heritage Code) involving the use of images of buildings protected as national domains passes constitutional muster.

Trademarks

=> ↺ Japan Patent Office Decides “TE’ CON MIEL” (Tea With Honey) Is Distinctive In Relation To Tea

• In a recent trademark opposition, the Opposition Board of the Japan Patent Office (JPO) decided to overrule the opposition against TM Registration no. 5951823 for word mark “TÉ CON MIEL” designating tea in class 30 due to distinctiveness of the mark among relevant Japanese consumers.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Decision Over Tom Brady Tweet “Threatens Millions of Ordinary Internet Users”

• A new decision from a New York federal judge could have a chilling effect on how we use the internet. This past week, Judge Katherine Forrest of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that Vox, Time, Yahoo, and Breitbart, among other publications, infringed another’s copyright-protected image of football star Tom Brady simply by embedding another person’s tweet that contained the image on their websites.

• According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world, “if adopted by other courts, this legally and technically misguided decision would threaten millions of ordinary Internet users with infringement liability.”

=> ↺ Canadian Pirate Site Blocks Could Spread to VPNs, Professor Warns

• A group of prominent Canadian ISPs and movie industry companies are determined to bring pirate site blocking efforts to North America. This plan has triggered a fair amount of opposition, including cautioning analyses from law professor Michael Geist, who warns of potential overblocking and fears that VPN services could become the next target.

=> ↺ Sweden Considers Six Years in Jail For Online Pirates

• Sweden’s Minister for Justice has received recommendations as to how the country should punish online pirates. Heléne Fritzon received a proposal which would create crimes of gross infringement under both copyright and trademark law, leading to sentences of up to six years in prison. The changes would also ensure that non-physical property, such as domain names, can be seized.

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