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● 01.17.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 17/01/2023: VirtualBox 7.0.6 and Uruk 3.0 (Iraqi GNU/Linux) ‘Cinnamon’ Released

Posted in News Roundup at 8:11 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux vs Windows: Which Operating System is the Best?

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ 8 Reasons Why Linux Is Perfect for Older People

• Some mainstream operating systems are not ideal for seniors and older users. So what makes Linux distros stand out from the crowd?

• Linux distributions pride themselves on being extremely efficient, flexible, and user-friendly. Given these qualities, different Linux distros continue to please users with their tailor-made applications, user-friendliness, and customizations, making them an instant hit with the masses.

• The younger population loves using Linux in its different shapes and forms; the older generation is just a little behind, as they are also beginning to use these multi-faceted distributions. What are some of the features that make Linux distros stand out for the older generation?

• Whatever the case, you can learn more about how Linux distributions are becoming the next big deal for older people.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ How to install Linux Mint 21.1 “Vera” Xfce. – Invidious

• In this video, I am going to show how to install Linux Mint 21.1 “Vera” Xfce.

=> ↺ Demystifying Hostnames and Domain Names in Linux, and How Server Naming Benefits You – Invidious

• Were you every confused regarding the differences and use-cases between a hostname and domain name for a device within your network? How does naming your servers benefit you?

=> ↺ UPTIME – How long has Linux been up? – Invidious

=> ↺ Biggest Misconception About Linux Flatpaks – Invidious

• I see a lot of people discussing linux flatpaks nowadays but there’s a lot of people who completely misunderstand how they function leading to confusion when certain issues occur, namely dependency issues.

Applications

=> ↺ 12 Best Free and Open Source Linux Markdown Editors

• Markdown can be composed in any text editor. But I recommend an editor purposely designed for this syntax. The software featured in this roundup allows an author to write professional documents of various formats including blog posts, presentations, reports, email, slides and more. All of the applications are, of course, released under an open source license. Linux, OS X and Windows’ users are catered for.

• This article does not include general purpose text editors like Vim or Emacs. Of course, they are capable Markdown editors. There are also packages/plugins available for these editors (and others) that add Markdown functionality. But this Group Test focuses instead on dedicated markdown editors.

=> ↺ VirtualBox 7.0.6 Adds Initial Support for Linux 6.2, RHEL 9.1, and UEK7 Kernels

• Oracle released today VirtualBox 7.0.6 as the third stable update to the latest and greatest VirtualBox 7.0 series of this powerful open-source and cross-platform virtualization software that brings support for newer kernels and various improvements.

• VirtualBox 7.0.6 comes two months after VirtualBox 7.0.4 and introduces initial support for the upcoming Linux 6.2 kernel series, as well as initial support for the kernel of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 operating system, and initial support for building the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel 7 (UEK7) kernel on Oracle Linux 8.

=> ↺ Yum vs Apt: A Comparison of Package Managers for Linux

• A package manager is an important tool in the Linux environment. It allows users to install, update, and remove software packages with a single command. Two of the most popular package managers available today are yum and apt. They both have unique features and allow system administrators to manage application installations more efficiently. Red Hat-based distributions rely on Apt package management, while Debian-based systems use Yum to manage their packages.

=> ↺ How to Create Mind Maps Within the Linux Terminal With h-m-m

• Mind maps help you brainstorm ideas or plan things out in detail. Here’s how to create mind maps on Linux with Hackers Mind Map.

• Coming up with new ideas and keeping track of them is hard. Mind maps make the process easier by allowing you to chart ideas from their origin, explore related concepts, and track through a visual tree, taking different forks to get you to your goal.

• Hackers Mind Map is complete mind mapping software to help you hack through the forking paths of creativity from your terminal.

=> ↺ Whisker Menu 2.7.2 released

• Fix missing version number Fix memory leak when adding launchers to panel Fix skipping first treeview item when switching modes Fix clipping when changing application icon size Fix missing NULL checks with String class Use Thunar for adding launchers to desktop Translation updates: Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Taiwan), Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Esperanto, French, Italian, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian

=> ↺ Thomas Lange: FAI 6.0 released and new ISO images using Debian 12 bookworm/testing

• After more than a year, a new major FAI release is ready to download.

=> ↺ 3 Best VPNs for Linux

• VPN (Virtual Private Network) is one of the methods of safe encrypted connection to the Internet when a standard connection provides only limited access, or you want to stay anonymous. In addition, VPN is a good solution to access essential files through a secure connection if you work remotely.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to install GoLand on KDE Neon – Invidious

• In this video, we are looking at how to install GoLand on KDE Neon.

=> ↺ How to Install Flutter and Dart on Any GNU/Linux Distro

• Flutter is a Framework/ToolKit and Dart is a scripting language, both from Google.

=> ↺ How to Get the Most Out of DuckDuckGo on Your Linux Terminal

=> ↺ Microsoft proxy

=> ↺ Commands and setting for managing user accounts on Linux | Network World

• To manage user accounts on Linux systems, you’ll need to be familiar with some important files and commands.

=> ↺ How to test website speeds with curl

• Website speed reductions may be too small to view, but you know it happens. Here’s how to get actionable details on website speed with curl.

=> ↺ How to configure automated security updates on Debian automatically

• How do I keep my server/cloud computer powered by Debian Linux 11.x/10.x current with the latest security updates automatically? Is there is a tool to update security patches automatically?

• Yes, you can download and install all security updates/upgrades automatically in the background. It is done in an unattended way and installs security updates for you. Let us see how to configure automated security Debian Linux updates.

=> ↺ How to get qBittorrent working on your Chromebook

• if you use torrents to download open-source software (which saves projects bandwidth,) download open-source operating system ISO files, or use the torrent protocol for large files (like a personal photo collection), and want to do all of this on your Chromebook, you’ll want to install a torrent client like qBittorrent.

• Please note: AddictiveTips does not advocate downloading unauthorized software with qBittorrent. Please only use this torrent client to download legitimate, legal software on your device.

=> ↺ How To Install Atom Text Editor on Rocky Linux 9

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Atom Text Editor on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, Atom is a highly customizable and powerful text editor that is designed for developers, but it can also be used for general-purpose text editing. One of the main features of Atom is its flexibility and customizability. Users can install and use packages and themes to customize the look and functionality of the editor. There is also a wide range of community-made packages available, such as code linkers, debuggers, and autocomplete tools, which can be easily installed and configured. Atom is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

• This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Atom Text Editor on Rocky Linux. 9.

=> ↺ How to install ReRun on a Chromebook

• Today we are looking at how to install ReRun on a Chromebook.

=> ↺ How to install Discord on a Chromebook in 2023

• Today we are looking at how to install Discord on a Chromebook in 2023. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

=> ↺ What is File Globbing in Linux?

• If you have ever used wildcard characters like (*) or (?) for global selection, then you are already interacting with file globbing, but let’s get a proper picture of it with its introduction.

Games

=> ↺ Dev snapshot: Godot 4.0 beta 13

• With the first Godot 4.0 Release Candidate on the horizon we continue to release beta snapshots frequently and relentlessly! Such cadence allows us to better measure the overall stability and quickly catch regressions, especially when a lot of features are worked on at the same time.

• This week we release a new batch of improvements and fixes, as well as some new features. Unfortunately, we also have to rollback one of the core animations features. After a lot of testing and consideration we’ve decided to postpone improvements to the inverse kinematics system until a future Godot 4.x release, removing the currently unstable SkeletonModificationStack3D. This decision allows us to better focus efforts of the Animation team on stabilizing other features.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ KDE Plasma 5.27: Top New Features and Release Details

• The list of impressive features and enhancements of the KDE Plasma 5.27 desktop is arriving in February.

• In a way, KDE Plasma 5.27 is a milestone release.

• Firstly, it is the final LTS release of the Plasma 5 version and the last instalment of the Plasma 5 series. Initial porting work has already started for Plasma 6 series, which would be based on Qt 6 version.

• Release number-wise, it is the 29th version of the KDE Plasma desktop, followed by the prior plasma 5.26 release.

• Visible feature-wise, it’s of moderate size. However, the bug fixes, code refactoring, cleanup, and optimization are significant. Most are not visible on the deck, but you can feel the changes when using this fluid desktop.

=> ↺ Architecture Slideshow – Kdenlive + Glaxnimate Proof of Concept – Kockatoo Tube

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ Weather O’Clock GNOME Extension Does What it Says – OMG! Linux

• Weather O’Clock is a new GNOME extension that does something super simple, yet so supremely satisfying.

• See, like many, I want to know what the weather is doing as I use my computer (despite often being next to a window I could look out of). Rational or not; being able to look up and see the current weather conditions and temperature at-a-glance is something I like to do.

• Of course, being a user of GNOME Shell I am spoilt for choice in this regard.

• There are a ton of weather extensions for GNOME Shell that will, amongst other abilities, put the current conditions and temperature in the top panel, to the left or the right of the clock in a standard GNOME setup.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ Interview: Continuing the original native OS for Arm chips • The Register

• The mid-1980s codebase for RISC OS, the original native OS for the Arm processor, is still run on present-day hardware and actively maintained and developed. We spoke to RISC OS Open boss Steve Revill about its 26-bit origins, working to bring it to newer 32-bit Arm chips, efforts to update its BSD-based network stack, and more.

=> ↺ Haiku is an open-source operating system for those who miss NeXTStep | ZDNET

• At the same time, Jean-Louis Gassée left Apple to create a company called Be Inc., who developed BeOS, which focused on creating the fastest disk I/O, rendering, and kernel on the market.

• Instead of competing with Jobs’ other company, Apple bought NeXT and then modified the OS to become the new OS X and iPhone OS 1.

• But what happened to BeOS? It now lives on as the Haiku Project.

• I first tested Haiku years ago and was thrilled that an OS opted to offer an AfterStep-like interface. Of course, it turns out AfterStep (which was my favorite Linux desktop back in the day) was actually based on NeXT, so it all kind of comes full circle.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ The importance of automating the hybrid cloud

• During AnsibleFest 2022, Red Hat announced its hybrid cloud automation initiative. This is a focused product effort to better support automation use cases across public cloud, private cloud and cloud-native infrastructures.

• The Ansible content ecosystem team, together with Red Hat’s partners, has been working on a new set of Red Hat Ansible Certified Content Collections and Ansible validated content to address the most common automation use cases across best-of-breed cloud technologies.

=> ↺ New deep threat intelligence in Red Hat Insights: Helping to prioritize what matters the most with system vulnerabilities

• Red Hat Insights has added new functionality that helps users determine which of their registered Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems are “affected” with a vulnerability but are not “vulnerable.” Yes, “affected but not vulnerable” is a thing, and having this level of threat intelligence is meaningful and can make a significant difference when time is of the essence and you have to protect your organization against the next big vulnerability.

• Let’s break this down and look at it systematically. We’ll first define what “affected” and “vulnerable” mean in the context of Insights. We’ll then review the most common challenges enterprises typically face, and finally we’ll review how having this level of threat intelligence will help. Let’s define these terms:

=> ↺ Anaconda Web UI storage feedback requested! – Fedora Magazine

• As you might know, the Anaconda Web UI preview image has a simple “erase everything” partitioning right now because partitioning is a pretty big and problematic topic. On one hand, Linux guru people want to control everything; on the other hand, we also need to support beginner users. We are also constrained by the capabilities of the existing backend and storage tooling and consistency with the rest of Anaconda. Anaconda team is looking for your storage feedback to help us with design of the Web UI!

• In general, partitioning is one of the most complex, problematic, and controversial parts of what Anaconda is doing. Because of that and the great feedback from the last blog, we decided to ask you for feedback again to know where we should focus. We’re looking for feedback from everyone. More answers are better here. We’d like to get input if you’re using Fedora, RHEL, Debian, OpenSUSE, Windows, or Linux, even if it’s just for a week. All these inputs are valuable!

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu’s New Installer is Shaping Up Nicely – OMG! Ubuntu!

• Ubuntu’s been working on its new OS installer for a couple years, now it looks like the upcoming Ubuntu 23.04 ‘Lunar Lobster’ release will finally ship it by default.

• The latest pending Ubuntu 23.04 daily builds use the reworked installer by default, and is expected to power the default install experience of the Ubuntu 23.03 beta in March.

• Thing is, despite the fact the installer is built using an entirely different toolkit (Flutter) and now leverages the Ubuntu’s server-based Subiquity and Curtin efforts, it doesn’t look that different to the existing one.

• In fact, if no-one told you the installer was rebuilt you’d probably never tell.

• The new installer was available to test in previous versions of Ubuntu using a special ‘canary’ ISO, and is also available as a Snap app you can run (but shouldn’t) on an existing Ubuntu install.

=> ↺ Kernel 6.1 (6.1.6) Available to Install in Ubuntu 22.04 via Mainline PPA | UbuntuHandbook

• For those who want to try out the latest Linux Kernel 6.1.x, the Mainline Kernel PPA finally works again.

• Ubuntu developer team maintains the Mainline Kernel PPA with latest Kernel packages. It however failed to build for all the Kernel releases since v6.0.10.

• After more than a month until the release of Kernel 6.1.4, the maintainers finally fixed the issue and built the kernel packages correctly for Ubuntu 22.04 +.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ What We All Want – Purism

• What we don’t want is equally simple: We don’t want to be spied on, controlled, oppressed, forced nor exploited.

=> ↺ Multi-function device displays PC data and news | Arduino Blog

• While the typical computer user doesn’t need to worry about it, those of us who overclock our computers or run them hard like to know how they’re performing. If, for example, you overclock your CPU, then you probably want to keep an eye on its temperature to ensure that it doesn’t exceed a safe level. This multi-function device, designed by Mirko Pavleski, displays all kinds of PC data and even current news.

• This Arduino LCD Info Panel works with open source software (LCD Smartie) running on a Windows PC. That software monitors many data points, including CPU load, free disk space, memory usage, and much more. It can also download RSS news feeds and sync with other software, like Winamp. The software then sends the relevant data to the Arduino LCD Info Panel device via a USB connection. The unit displays the data on a 16×2 character backlit LCD screen and a pair of potentiometer knobs let the user flip through the data.

=> ↺ The Arduino Launch Control System is a model rocket enthusiast’s dream | Arduino Blog

• Conventional hobby model rockets get their thrust from disposable motors containing an explosive propellant, like black powder. But unlike the gun powder in a firearm’s cartridge that uses a concussion-activated primer to ignite, model rocket enthusiasts ignite their motors using an electric arc. Simple launch controllers consist of little more than a battery, boost converter, and cables. But if you want something fancy, you should check out the Arduino Launch Control System.

• This robust launch controller provides environmental data and a great deal of safety. Its built-in sensors provides three key data points: temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. That information can convey valuable insight when evaluating the performance of a rocket. On the safety side, this launch controller forces several layers of redundancy and checks. To launch a rocket, the user must connect two power supplies, insert and turn a key, push the safety and fire buttons at the same time, and hold those buttons for the entire countdown. That focus on safety makes this launch controller perfect for younger hobbyists.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ A startup privacy-oriented OS wants to replace Android on your phone, but also wants you to pay for it – PhoneArena

=> ↺ LineageOS 20 hits the Poco X3 and the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2

=> ↺ OPPO Find X6 Pro leaks as a premium Android smartphone with new two-tone finish – NotebookCheck.net News

=> ↺ How to Check Your AirPods Battery on Android

=> ↺ How to Install Any Add-on in Firefox for Android – Make Tech Easier

=> ↺ How To Forward Text Messages On Your Android Phone

=> ↺ Backdrops on Android gets a Material Design update w/ Collections

=> ↺ Eyes on the Road: 7 Android Auto Tips Every Driver Needs | PCMag

=> ↺ Best of Android 13 features on Nokia smartphones | Nokiamob

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Events

=> ↺ Learn More About openSUSE, ALP at FOSDEM – openSUSE News

• The openSUSE Project is planning activities for this year’s FOSDEM, which will take place Feb. 4 and 5 in Brussels.

• The project will be in with operating systems space in Hall H and at its exhibit will have contributors available to discuss all openSUSE related projects to include ALP, MicroOS, Tumbleweed, Leap, Open Build Service, openQA and more.

• SUSE released its second prototype late last month of its Adaptable Linux Platform (ALP). There will be experts from the on hand to discuss ALP.

• Two ALP prototypes have been released so far; Les Droites was the first one released in October and Punta Baretti is the current available prototype for testing. More prototypes are expected for spring and summer.

=> ↺ Free Software Directory meeting on IRC: Friday, January 27, starting at 12:00 EST (17:00 UTC)

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, January 27, from 12:00 to 15:00 EST (17:00 to 20:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory.

=> ↺ Free Software Directory meeting on IRC: Friday, January 20, starting at 12:00 EST (17:00 UTC)

• Join the FSF and friends on Friday, January 20, from 12:00 to 15:00 EST (17:00 to 20:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory.

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Firefox 109 released [LWN.net]

• Version 109.0 of the Firefox browser has been released. The headline feature this time is the enabling of Manifest Version 3 support — a new extension mechanism that, among other things, gives a higher degree of control over what extensions can do.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ E-ink Dev board to track Fetal Development

• Partner is pregnant, ultrasound looked cool. Had an e-ink dev board collecting dust. So here we are. Pretty simple stuff, the board is an Adafruit MagTag. And all we needed to do was have a progress bar, some graphics, and some text. There are some useful guides to making a progress bar and graphics for this e-ink board HERE and HERE.

=> ↺ Get Dumber – Mike Blumenkrantz – Super. Good. Code.

• Had one of those moments when you looked at some code, looked at the output of your program, and then exclaimed COMPUTER, WHY YOU SO DUMB?

• Of course not.

• Nobody uses the spoken word in the current year.

• But you’ve definitely complained about how dumb your computer is on IRC/discord/etc.

• And I’m here today to complain in a blog post.

• My computer (compiler) is really fucking dumb.

=> ↺ Nibble Stew: PDF, text and fonts, a design by The Devil & Associates

• PDF has a fairly straightforward model for rendering text. Basically you specify a font to use, define a transformation matrix if needed and specify the text string to render. The PDF renderer will then load the embedded font file, extract the curves needed for your letters and render them on canvas. And it works quite nicely.

• Assuming you are using plain ASCII. Because 127 glyphs should be enough for everybody.

• If, for some weirdo reason, you belong to that ~80% minority population of planet Earth whose native tongue uses characters beyond ASCII, you are not going to be in a happy place. The whole situation is nicely summarized in this Computerphile video.

=> ↺ Learning SDL v1.2 Lesson 08

• If compiled for the desktop, with SDL using X11, then the example app runs in a window, and can be closed via the window close-box. On the framebuffer though, there is no close-box.

=> ↺ A brave new world: building glibc with LLVM

• Common wisdom argues against putting all eggs in one basket, and this type of diversification is also important in software. Just like how programming languages ideally have multiple independent compiler implementations, a software project written in a specific language should ideally have multiple independent toolchains capable of building the project.

• Considering how many C language implementations and toolchains have been developed in the past 45+ years (yes, it’s been that long!), it is surprising that such a critical, central, and long-lived component of our modern systems, such as glibc, is still only buildable with a single toolchain, the venerable old GNU/GCC, despite LLVM becoming the clear dominant alternative.

• There are more technical and non-technical reasons for choosing GNU or LLVM, and it is up to each project and developer to decide. To be able to decide, however, a choice must be possible in the first place. This is what is changing and we believe that having this choice is worthwhile.

=> ↺ Labeling tools are great, but what about quality checks?

• Modern datasets contain hundreds of thousands to millions of labels that must be kept accurate. In practice, some errors in the dataset average out and can be ignored – systematic biases transfer to the model. After quick initial wins in areas where abundant data is readily available, deep learning needs to become more data efficient to help solve difficult business problems.

• [...]

• The video below shows a user quickly scrolling through 40 objects belonging to 5 classes and finding 6 mislabeled examples.

Perl / Raku

=> ↺ My Family and Other Fish (PerlayStation Part 2) | Saif [blogs.perl.org]

• So the resultant path that Term::Graille has taken is this. It avoids the fancier toolkits that rely on libcurses or libtickit. It starts off as a graphical tool for a non-graphical interface. For practical applications it emulates real-time interactivity (instead of using things like libev) for an environment that is principally asynchronous using Term::Graille::Interact. This is inevitably weak and has to be to be stressed to to become optimised, and game development perhaps allows this stress, highlighting failures in other existing code. Just developing one game is a dead end, however and the diverse set of problems one might face requires more specialised assets. Term::Graille::Sprite, like my daughter’s roller skates, does not outwardly have any of the features that will be required for serious, useful applications. But who knows, it might reasonably stress the platform and may offer secondary entertainment for others.

Python

=> ↺ Last week for #CircuitPython2023

=> ↺ Dan’s thoughts for #CircuitPython2023 – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers!

• I didn’t write a #CircuitPython2022 post, partly because a number of my #CircuitPython2021 wishes were still unfulfilled. But I think we are closer to some of those goals for 2023. I’ll revisit some and add some new ones.

Leftovers

Hardware

=> ↺ iTWire – Oppo kicks off new year with release of budget smartphone

• Chinese smartphone vendor Oppo has released another model from its budget range in Australia, aiming to attract buyers to the A17 through a combination of price and decent specs, plus a 30-day mobile subscription.

• As usual, the new model is built atop an SoC from MediaTek, with the MediaTek Helio G35 being the one in question. It has 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage and supports two SIMs.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Lessons from China and Africa

• Infections, 900 million (64% of population)

• Major cities, infection rates, 70% to 90%

• Infection rates up to 91% in some provinces

• [...]

• One death per 15,015 infections

Proprietary

=> ↺ HC3 Publishes Threat Brief on Royal and BlackCat Ransomware

• The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center published a new threat brief on Jan. 12 regarding Royal and BackCat Ransomware—the groups are known to target the U.S. healthcare sector and are considered especially sophisticated

• [...]

• Royal Ransomware was first observed in early 2022 and is believed to have experienced operators that previously belonged to other cybercriminal groups, including Conti Team One. The U.S. is the most targeted country for Royal Ransomware. The group uses a 64-bit executable, writes in C++, and encrypts files and appends “.royal” or “.royal.w” extensions to filenames and creates a “README.TXT” type ransom note.

Linux Foundation

=> ↺ AgStack: Linux Foundation Project Will Bring Farms Online – The New Stack

• Food sustains all of us, yet the information systems that support our food supply are 100 years old — if not older. The Linux Foundation plans to change that with its AgStack Project, said Sumar Johal, who is the executive director of the initiative. AgStack will create a common, neutral and open digital infrastructure, which can “in turn enable content creation and consumption at scale in the agricultural ecosystem,” Johal added.

Security

=> ↺ CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Catalog

=> ↺ Control Web Panel under attack or exploit attempts

• CISA has added one new vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, based on evidence of active exploitation. This type of vulnerability is a frequent attack vector for malicious cyber actors and poses a significant risk to the federal enterprise. Note: To view the newly added vulnerabilities in the catalog, click on the arrow in the “Date Added to Catalog” column, which will sort by descending dates.

=> ↺ CISA Releases Four Industrial Control Systems Advisories | CISA

• CISA released four Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories on January 17, 2023. These advisories provide timely information about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits surrounding ICS.

=> ↺ CISA Updates Best Practices for Mapping to MITRE ATT-CK® | CISA

• Today, CISA updated Best Practices for MITRE ATT&CK® Mapping. The MITRE ATT&CK® framework is a lens through which network defenders can analyze adversary behavior and, as CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric Goldstein noted in his June 2021 blog post on the framework, it directly supports “robust, contextual bi-directional sharing of information to help strengthen the security of our systems, networks, and data.” CISA highly encourages the cybersecurity community to use the framework because it provides a common language for threat actor analysis.

=> ↺ Security updates for Tuesday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (tor) and SUSE (python-setuptools, python36-setuptools, and tor).

=> ↺ Git 2.39.1 (and more) released

• Git 2.39.1 has been released with a set of security fixes; there are also updated versions of many older Git releases available.

=> ↺ Consider Open Source Software While Evaluating The Security Of Cloud Applications

• The pace of software development is accelerating. Devops teams are under more pressure to launch products rapidly, and they are able to do so in part because of open-source software (OSS) tools.

• According to estimates, OSS now makes up between 80 and 90 percent of all current software. However, OSS produces a big surface area that needs to be controlled because there are millions of packages published anonymously that developers utilise to build software, even though it has been a fantastic accelerator for software development.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Is the EU protecting people from Pegasus spyware? – Access Now

• Spyware is an extremely invasive surveillance tool and a global threat to human rights and democracy. Since the initial Pegasus Project revelations, we’ve learned that governments and private actors in over 46 countries worldwide, including EU member states, have used invasive spyware to target and silence journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents, and dissidents.

• Scandals involving European governments should have been a wake-up call for European institutions. Yet so far, they have taken very little action to prevent future abuses of power and to protect people from the harmful impact of such surveillance tools.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ On growing up in old places

• A few days ago I visited Bruges. Bruges is a city that was very prosperous during the end of middle age. Then it declined, mostly because it lived off trading, and the rivers went dry so the ships could not come the city anymore.

• In 500 years, the population was decreased by half.

• Now the city is more or less a museum, living from tourism off the greatness of it’s history.

=> ↺ Star Wars

=> ↺ 3/3/3

• I’m not big on New Years’ resolutions. I’ve been known to set myself up with some resolutions at the beginning of the year, and then a year goes by and I found that I’ve somewhat accomplished a few of them in a different way, not like I originally intended to. Like those stories where you get to ask a wish to a genie and the genie makes it true in a twisted way, with unforeseen consequences.

• I’m saying this as a preface to what comes next, because it might sound like a new years’ resolution, but it’s not.

=> ↺ Train trip day 1

• I’m on my way to the Southwest for some sightseeing! I saved some money and decided to take the train down. Unfortunately, this means that I’m already “late” by 6 hours (yay Amtrak!). The train had electrical problems where a car wasn’t routing power from the engines to the rest of the train, like a burned out bulb on a string of Christmas lights.

=> ↺ The Virgin Suicides

• When albums like today’s roll around, I’m more intrigued than ever to read the book. It’s not that I demand or deserve an explanation. It’s just hard to imagine how someone could rate this album so highly? Perhaps I’m taking the ‘Albums you should hear before you die’ title too literally. Billions of our ancestors died before this album was recorded. Are our lives so much better?

Technical

=> ↺ Breaking Free From Google Maps

• Over the holidays I did about 22 hours of driving altogether and finally hit my breaking point with Google Maps.

• We had carefully planned a route in Google Maps through an area we weren’t super familiar with to try and avoid the worst of the winter weather. At some point during our navigation Google Maps without notifying us did a major reroute which undid the route we had planned. This ended up adding a couple hours to our trip by getting us stuck in some mountains during a sudden winter storm. At least we made it out alright.

• Later when planning for the next leg of our trip, Google Maps really wanted us to take a route through some more mountains and just wouldn’t show any alternatives. I’d had it and started looking for other Android navigation apps (though I think all of these are also available for iOS).

Internet/Gemini

=> ↺ Re: Perception of what the Internet looks like today

• The one thing I’ve noticed when using reduced clients and services is just how generally deficient the content is on the internet today. It becomes very apparent very quickly just how much garbage is pushed as useful information.

• For example when running an console based RSS feed reader all of the noise in HTML deployed content goes away. Not just bad fonts and colors but all the ads, all the suggestions of other related content. You’re left with just the blog post or news article. Sadly, once the noise is gone you realize there really isn’t much there. You start to see that the sole reason for so much junk “information” is to sell ads and make money.

=> ↺ Where are the borders of a Gemini Capsule? A proposal for “docks”

• As we know, the whole gemini protocol is full of nomenclature from spaceflight. The name “Gemini” refers to a NASA manned spaceflight Programme in the 1960s, the sum of all content here is the “gemini space”, we, the publishers, are “geminauts” and we fly around in our capsules. So far, so good. But no, there is one detail I found: While in manned spaceflight it is clear, what a capsule is (a small enclosed structure where astronauts can reside in savely, while flying around in space, which is a “shitty place” [1]), it is actually not that clear in geminispace. There is some inconsistency in what a “capsule” actually is.

• Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink  Send this to a friend

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