● 04.01.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 31/03/2023: Mozilla Turns 25 and OpenMandriva 23.03

Posted in News Roundup at 4:09 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ KDAB News 03/2023 – Calls for Speakers KDE Akademy, QtWS, Qt Desktop Days; EW23 Recap and more

• Welcome to KDAB News, the monthly update for developers working with Qt, C++ and 3D technologies.

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Mike Blumenkrantz: Developers Developers Developers

• As everyone expects, Khronos has recently done a weekly spec update for Vulkan.

• What nobody expected was that this week’s update would include a mammoth extension, VK_EXT_shader_object.

• Or that it would be developed by Nintendo?

Applications

=> ↺ Machine Learning in Linux: Dalai – LLaMA and Alpaca

• Dalai bills itself as “the simplest way to run LLaMA on your local machine”.

• Given that our Machine Learning in Linux series focuses on apps that make it easy to experiment with machine learning, Dalai looks an interesting project to spotlight.

• What’s LLaMA? It’s an acronym for Large Language Model Meta AI, a collection of open and efficient foundation language models designed to help researchers advance their work in this subfield of AI.

• Large Languages Models trained on massive amount of text can perform new tasks from textual instructions. They can generate creative text, solve maths problems, answer reading comprehension questions, and much more. Like other large language models, LLaMA works by taking a sequence of words as an input and predicts a next word to recursively generate text.

Instructionals/Technical

Enrico Zini: Things I learnt in March 2023str.endswith() can take a tuple of possible endings instead of a single stringAbout JACK and DebianThere are 3 JACK implementations: jackd1,jackd2, pipewire-jack.jackd1 is mostly superseded in favour of jackd2, and as far as I understand, can be ignoredpipewire-jack integrates well with pipewire and the rest of the Linux audio worldjackd2 is the native JACK server. When started it handles the sound card directly, and will steal it from pipewire. Non-JACK audio applications will likely cease to see the sound card until JACK is stopped and wireplumber is restarted. Pipewire should be able to keep [working as a JACK client[(https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/pipewire/pipewire/-/wikis/JACK) but I haven’t gone down that route yet [...]

=> ↺ How To Install Pidgin on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

• Pidgin is a popular open-source instant messaging application that allows users to communicate with friends and family on multiple chat networks simultaneously.

=> ↺ How To Install BlueMail on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

• Hi, in this post, you will learn how to install BlueMail on Ubuntu

=> ↺ How To Install SpiderFoot on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

• SpiderFoot is an open-source reconnaissance tool that automates the process of collecting and analyzing data from various sources, such as search engines, social media, and DNS records. It is a powerful tool for penetration testers, researchers, and security professionals.

=> ↺ How To Install 1Password on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

• In this guide, we will show you how to install 1Password on Ubuntu systems. 1Password is a popular password manager that helps users generate strong and unique passwords, store them securely, and autofill them on websites and apps.

=> ↺ How To Install Tig on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

• Tig is a text-mode interface for Git, a popular version control system used by developers to manage source code. It provides a simple and intuitive interface for viewing and browsing Git repositories, making it an essential tool for developers.

=> ↺ How to Install Cockpit Administration Tool on Debian Linux

• Cockpit is a server administration tool. Its main purpose is to replace the standard administration GUI of a web hosting company and enable remote administration.

• It offers methods not normally available in the Control Panel software, such as access to HTTP requests. With these advanced methods, it is ideal for server-side tasks such as setting up cron jobs or other tasks you need to do via shell script on Unix/Linux servers. In addition, other people (or even your own staff) can easily create their own scripts using one of the supported scripting languages.

=> ↺ How to Install Dotclear CMS on Ubuntu

• Dotclear CMS is open-source software that allows you to create a simple, powerful, and easy-to-maintain blog. It offers an intuitive interface for managing content from multiple categories in your blog.

• It was initially designed for running blogs but now includes support for photo galleries, polls, calendars and other features as well as extensive plugin architecture – there are more than thousands of plugins and themes available for Dotclear.

=> ↺ 3 Command Line Tools to Install Deb Packages in Ubuntu

• In this tutorial, you will learn how to install local software packages (.DEB) in Debian and its derivatives such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint using three different command line tools and they are dpkg, apt, and gdebi.

• This is useful to those new users who have migrated from Windows to Ubuntu or Linux Mint. The very basic problem they face is installing local software on the system.

=> ↺ How to Install and Use FFmpeg on Ubuntu

• FFmpeg is open-source and cross-platform that handles a variety of multimedia files. It holds several audio and video libraries such as libavdevice, libavformat, libswscale, and many more. It is an easy stream analyzer for multimedia. Besides being a popular developer tool, it offers a powerful command-line interface for multimedia tasks. This free computer software was developed in 2000. Youtube, Trell, Mux, VLC Media Player, and many popular websites and multimedia platforms use FFmpeg.

• This guide will help you to install FFmpeg on Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 and shows you how to perform video and audio file conversion using FFmpeg.

=> ↺ How to Install OpenEMR on CentOS and Rocky Linux

• OpenEMR is the world’s leading open-source electronic medical record (EMR) and medical documentation system. OpenEMR aims to provide a better alternative to its proprietary competitors. It is secure, customizable, scalable, feature-rich, and designed to meet the needs of small to large healthcare organizations.

• It has been used in over 200 countries/territories worldwide since 2002. The information below will help you better understand OpenEMR.

=> ↺ How to Install PgAdmin 4 on Debian

• PgAdmin is an open-source administration tool for Postgres databases. It has a graphical user interface written with the Qt application framework and uses libpq as its backend driver to communicate with the database server.

• It can be used to manage local or remote PostgreSQL servers, create new databases, execute SQL queries and scripts against those databases using an interactive query editor that provides syntax highlighting and intelligent autocomplete, among other things, import data from various sources into the database or generate reports from within the program about available space in tablespaces or indexes as well as many other things.

=> ↺ How to Create Colorful ASCII Arts in Your Linux Terminal With draw

• Paint programs have been an essential part of the computer experience for decades—giving you a creative outlet for doodles, as well as a way of sketching ideas, drawing portraits, and expressing your artistic appreciation for the world outside your window.

• Typically, you’ll need a machine with an X server to express your digital soul on a virtual canvas, but with draw, you can sketch colorful drawings without leaving your terminal.

=> ↺ How to install GitFiend on Linux

• GitFiend is an easy-to-use, simple Git client for Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. It is designed for “Humans,” and has tons of useful features. Here’s how you can install GitFiend on Linux.

• [...]

• If you use Ubuntu, you must install the GitFiend application on your system via their downloadable DEB package. To get your hands on this DEB package, start by launching a terminal window.

• You can launch a terminal window on Ubuntu by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, by searching for “Terminal” in the app menu and launching it that way. Once the terminal app is open, use the wget command to download the DEB package.

=> ↺ How To Install Xen Orchestra Appliance (XOA) In XCP-ng Server

• In this guide, we will discuss what is Xen Orchestra (XO), how to install Xen Orchestra Appliance (XOA), how to access Xen Orchestra Web UI, and finally how to connect to XOA via SSH.

=> ↺ How To Setup Kube State Metrics on Kubernetes

• In this article, we will learn what kube-state-metricsis, the importance of enabling kube-state-metrics in your cluster, some of its use cases, and how to implement it in your cluster.

=> ↺ How To Install Suricata on Rocky Linux 9

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Suricata on Rocky Linux 9. Are you looking for a network intrusion detection and prevention system that is both powerful and easy to use? Look no further than Suricata!

=> ↺ How To Remove Users on Linux: A Step-by-Step Guide

• Linux is known for its security and flexibility, but it also requires some basic knowledge to manage users and groups on the system.

=> ↺ How To Install FreeIPA on Rocky Linux 9

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install FreeIPA on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, FreeIPA is the ultimate open-source solution for identity, policy, and audit management.

=> ↺ Fixing Mount Point Does Not Exist Error in Linux

• Learn how to troubleshoot and fix the ‘mount point does not exist’ error in Linux with our step-by-step guide.

Games

=> ↺ Humble has a bundle of Survivors-Like games, including Boneraiser Minions (a favourite)

• Here’s your chance to jump into the Survivors-Like games phenomenon, so I guess that’s what we’re calling games like Vampire Survivors now? Survivors-Like? Humble Bundle has some good picks here but I do find it mildly amusing they didn’t manage to pull in the game that started the recent trend for a “best of” bundle.

=> ↺ Release candidate: Godot 4.0.2 RC 1

• With the GDC 2023 past us, we are getting ready for the 4.1 dev cycle. But that doesn’t mean current Godot 4.0 users have to wait, because here’s a release candidate for 4.0.2, with a handful of fixes and extra enhancements!

=> ↺ Vulkan gets a new extension to improve shaders with help from Nintendo

• Well this is a fair bit unexpected. As happens quite often there was a specification update to the Vulkan API, and with it came a brand new extension to help with shaders — which Nintendo contributed towards.

=> ↺ Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari DLC releases April 13th

• As if it hasn’t sucked away enough of our free time already right? Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari is arriving on April 13th. Giving you a bunch more content at a small price of $1.99 / €1.99 / £1.59.

=> ↺ GOG giving away Deep Sky Derelicts during the finale of their Spring Sale

• The fourth and final giveaway on GOG during their Spring Sale is for Deep Sky Derelicts, a tactical roguelike RPG set in a grim dystopian future, where mankind has scattered across the galaxy.

=> ↺ Stop an organism spreading and protect humanity in Xenospore, now with a big upgrade

• The free game Xenospore sees you try to stop the spread of a strange and deadly organism and there’s a big upgrade out now. At a very basic level it sort of reminds me of Into the Breach because of the small tile-based world, and the alien stuff. It’s very different though. Mentioned here on GamingOnLinux back in September last year, it’s come a long way.

=> ↺ Dark sci-fi roguelike Deadnaut: Signal Lost looks great and it’s out now

• Deadnaut: Signal Lost from the developer of Deadnaut, Zafehouse Diaries and Fear Equation is officially out now with Native Linux support. A game that was mentioned here on GamingOnLinux just recently, as the developer was looking for Linux testers. As they promised, a proper demo is also now available along with the full release.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ isoimagewriter 0.9.1

• Just out is isoimagewriter 0.9.1, an unstable alpha release of the ISO image disk writing tool for USB and flash drives.

• This adds udisks2 support and drops KAuth support. It also adds Qt6 and KF6 support. However I don’t think Windows support or signature checking is working currently.

• https://download.kde.org/unstable/isoimagewriter/0.9.1/isoimagewriter-0.9.1.tar.xz

• https://download.kde.org/unstable/isoimagewriter/0.9.1/isoimagewriter-0.9.1.tar.xz.sig

=> ↺ Scarlett Gately Moore: KDE Snaps! Many new releases, more to come.

• I have been extremely busy the last 2 weeks churning out KDE snaps! All of the have been tested and released on AMD64 and Arm64 architectures. If you run into any problems please file bugs @ http://bugs.kde.org and feel free to assign me. Thanks!

=> ↺ This week in KDE: it’s the little things that count

• This week a lot of people made a lot of fixes and improvements to a lot of small-to-medium yet longstanding issues. I challenge any reader to read through the whole post and not find any instances of things that had been annoying them being fixed this week!

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ AppImage Installer now using xdotool

• Also, there was a bug. ROX-Filer is supposed to have appropriate mime-handling for each AppImage. Fixed, now correctly extracts MimeType field from the .desktop file inside the .AppImage file.

• Added a new game, CroMagRally, and a paint program that is very good with graphics tablets, MyPaint.

• Thinking about what to do next with the Installer, I am concerned that it downloads and installs the latest AppImage from github. From my limited experience with AppImages, it would seem that a release may work now, but a later release may not.

• This potential problem is due, I think, to a lack in strictness of the rules required for constructing AppImages. A developer may release one, then later on update or change his host system, then when build the next release, it will be broken on EasyOS. This can very easily happen, and is a reason why I am not entirely happy with using AppImages.

• So, I am thinking of changing the Installer so that it downloads an AppImage release known to work, not necessarily the latest. Later on, the user can update to the latest, and if it doesn’t work, can roll back.

• Note, as a precaution, I have been archiving them, so if one disappears, we still have it:

• https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/packages/appimage/easyos/oe/kirkstone/

=> ↺ AppImage Installer now parsing json file

• This morning I posted about using xdotool, to obtain the AppImage to download:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202303/appimage-installer-now-using-xdotool.html

• Before that, I had fiddled around with downloading a json file, but wasn’t doing it right. Have now read up a bit more on the topic. For example, these sites: [...]

New Releases

=> ↺ Linux Lite 6.4: The Improved and Enhanced Version

• Still based on Xfce 4.16, Linux Lite 6.4 has a refreshed look, updated package base, and Linux Kernel 5.15.

• As the name implies, a Ubuntu-based Linux Lite is designed to be a lightweight, fast, and easy-to-use Linux distro. It is popular for users with older hardware or those who want a simple and user-friendly operating system.

• Linux Lite comes preinstalled with various software, including the LibreOffice suite, the Firefox web browser, and the VLC media player. It also includes multiple customization options and features, such as a system backup tool and a simple, intuitive interface.

=> ↺ Kick Microsoft Windows 11 out of your life and switch to Linux Lite 6.4 today

• Linux Lite is a popular Linux distribution that is designed to be easy to use for people switching from Windows. The latest version, Linux Lite 6.4, includes a number of new features and improvements, making it a great choice for anyone looking for a reliable and user-friendly Linux distribution.

• Linux Lite 6.4 is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS. The distro includes a number of bug fixes and security updates. The operating system is a smart choice for users who are new to Linux or who are looking for a more lightweight alternative to Windows or macOS.

• Linux Lite 6.4 uses kernel 5.15.0-69 and comes with some excellent software pre-installed. For instance, you get Google Chrome 111, GIMP 2.10.30, Thunderbird 102.9, VLC 3.0.16, and LibreOffice 7.4.6. This version of the operating system also offers an an updated Papirus icon theme, new wallpapers, and a larger hardware database.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

=> ↺ OpenMandriva Rome version 23.03 is out now

• The project known as OpenMandriva has released new installation images for its rolling-release edition, with the latest kernel and the latest KDE Plasma – among many other choices.

• OpenMandriva was the last to fork and continue the Mandriva distro when its eponymous parent company went under, meaning that it’s one branch of a closely-related family of distros we looked at about a year ago.

• It maintains two branches of its distro today: OpenMandriva Rome is a rolling-release distro, continually receiving updates. Its slower-moving stable-release sibling is OpenMandriva Lx, which is currently on version 4.3, with KDE Plasma 5.23 and kernel 5.16.

=> ↺ OpenMandriva 23.03 ROME is Released with Download Links, Mirrors and Torrents

• OpenMandriva, the French-origin general purpose operating system successor to Mandriva, has released the latest of its rolling release edition “ROME” version 23.03 to download. It improves the previously released ROME by adding more choices for the users including GNOME and Server. We listed things about the release in brief and we hope you will enjoy it. Happy downloading!

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ openSUSE Tumbleweed – Review of the week 2023/13

• Dear Tumbleweed users and hackers,

• This week we are fully back on track with 7 published snapshots. One significant change to mention again is:

• RPMs for i586 (intel 32bit systems) are no longer part of the regular Tumbleweed snapshots. This has been moved into a legacyx86 port in OBS and is published separately on download.opensuse.org. See also this announcement on the factory mailing list.

Fedora Family / IBM

as base packages

=> ↺ Rakuten + Rocky Linux = open RAN economics and sustainability at scale

• Switching lanes from Red Hat to Rocky Linux for its cloud telco OS is designed to keep Rakuten’s disaggregated network model sustainable at scale.

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: Friday’s Fedora Facts: 2023-13

• Here’s your weekly Fedora report. Read what happened this week and what’s coming up. Your contributions are welcome (see the end of the post)!

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: CPE Weekly update – Week 13

• This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any questions or feedback, please respond to this report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on libera.chat.

• We provide you both infographics and text version of the weekly report. If you just want to quickly look at what we did, just look at the infographic. If you are interested in more in depth details look below the infographic.

=> ↺ Remi Collet: PHP version 8.1.18RC1 and 8.2.5RC1

• Release Candidate versions are available in testing repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Alma / Rocky and other clones) to allow more people to test them. They are available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, perfect solution for such tests, and also as base packages.

• RPM of PHP version 8.2.5RC1 are available

=> ↺ Filipe Rosset: Fedora rawhide – fixed bugs 2023/02

• Bug 2161445 – converseen-0.9.10.1 is availablehttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2161445

• Opened Bug 2169129 – please update libofx to latest 0.10.9https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2169129

• Opened Bug 2169130 – please build libofx for epel9https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2169130

=> ↺ Filipe Rosset: Fedora rawhide – fixed bugs 2022/12

• Bug 2138951 – aime-8.20221031 is availablehttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2138951

• Bug 2142183 – sakura-3.8.6 is availablehttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2142183

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu Studio: Ubuntu Studio 23.04 Beta Released

• The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 23.10, codenamed “Lunar Lobster”.

• While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, mostly representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 23.04 is released on April 20, 2023.

• The Ubuntu Studio 22.10 disk image (ISO) exceeds 4 GB and cannot be downloaded to some file systems such as FAT32, and may not be readable when burned to a DVD. For this reason, we recommend downloading to a compatible file system. When creating a boot medium, we recommend creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO image, or burning to a Dual-Layer DVD.

=> ↺ Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster) Beta Released

• The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Beta release of the Ubuntu 23.04 Desktop, Server, and Cloud products.

• Ubuntu 23.04, codenamed “Lunar Lobster”, continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs.

• This Beta release includes images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, but also the Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Ubuntu Unity, and Xubuntu flavours.

=> ↺ Enough of it! Ubuntu to Ditch Snap Completely With 24.04 LTS Naughty Nightingale

• Despite putting so much weight behind Snap, Ubuntu continues to lose in the race of ‘universal Linux packaging’.

• While all kinds of distros are adopting Fedora’s Flatpak, Ubuntu’s Snap is being rejected even by Ubuntu-based distros like Linux Mint and elementary OS.

• Nitrux, Vanilla, gLinux, and many more distros have ditched Ubuntu for Debian, and Snap probably played a role in the decision-making.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Blog: Automotive industry trends for 2023 and beyond

• After the rough COVID-19 years, 2022 has seen the start of economic improvements. Although the automotive industry is experiencing its worst sales numbers in over a decade, it saw increased profits thanks to strong demand, allowing for higher prices. Geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine and microchip shortages are forcing analysts and OEMs to remain careful regarding their forecasted results. Indeed, as we are all beginning to feel the effect of inflation and uncertain energy supplies, production volumes may be lower than expected. Nevertheless, we are seeing a lot of innovations in the automotive space. Let’s dive a little deeper into the latest automotive industry trends and see how they match with the switch towards software-defined vehicles.

• With the willingness to reduce carbon emissions and the implementation of stricter emissions regulations, OEMs are investing more and more in the development of electric vehicles. In parallel, customers are turning to EVs in order to have cleaner alternatives but also cheaper costs compared to petrol and diesel. Whether this holds true in the future, is still to be determined as electricity costs are rising too. 

• What is certain is that EVs are giving rise to a lot of related technologies geared to help companies deliver on the promise of usability, sustainability and costs. Many of these technologies are undergoing research and ripe for investment. For example, battery technologies need improvements. There’s also the charging infrastructure, which is still one of the pain points preventing customers from switching from ICE vehicles to EVs.

• Software also plays a significant role in EVs compared to ICE vehicles. Indeed, the charging management, the engine performance, and the range optimisation of EVs relies heavily on software. Another type of vehicle that relies heavily on software is, of course, the elusive self-driving car. 

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Bring home Infinix Y1 43 inch Full HD Smart Linux TV available on Flipkart at massive discount of 38%

• If it’s about a smart LED TV that is available at an affordable price Infinix Y1 43-inch Full HD Smart Linux TV can be the best for you. The Infinix Y1 43-inch Full HD Smart Linux TV is available on Flipkart at a 38% of massive discount which lets users buy it for just Rs 15,499 in place of Rs 24,999. If you are looking for an EMI option that is also available that lets you grab it for just Rs 759 a month. An exchange offer of up to Rs 7,000 can also be availed on this LED.

=> ↺ Wago Implements Bosch Rexroth’s Linux-Based OS

• The German manufacturer, Wago, will use Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX OS in their controllers in the medium and high performance classes. They will be the first system and technology partner for this real-time capable, Linux-based operating system.

• In an unprecedented move, Bosch Rexroth has uncoupled its ctrlX OS operating system from their own control hardware and made it available for industrial use. This means that other companies and even competitors can use the operating system in their own applications and act as system and technology partners. According to Bosch, ctrlX OS is designed for real-time use and applicable at all layers – from the field level to edge devices to the cloud. By installing ctrlX OS, customers gain access to the entire ecosystem, including a wide range of apps available for download from the ctrlX Store.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Raspberry Pi NTP Server

• Setting up an NTP server on a Raspberry Pi to serve the LAN clients without them having to contact the Internet.

=> ↺ Old RC transmitter becomes new MIDI controller

• If you’re going to produce electronic music on a PC, you need some sort of input tool. That can be your keyboard and mouse, but most producers prefer to use a dedicated MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller.

=> ↺ Interfacing a Tilt Sensor with Arduino Uno

• In this tutorial, we will use a tilt sensor with the Arduino Uno to measure an object’s orientation or tilt. This sensor has wide applications

=> ↺ Metal enclosures for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO board

• Nevertheless, it turns out there are at least two of this type of metal enclosures for the CM4 IO board, and when buying full systems, they may provide a way to source Raspberry Pi CM4 system-on-modules since individual modules are so hard to purchase if you are not a company with some minimum monthly production volume.

=> ↺ Measure pi with a Raspberry Pi

• March 14th is celebrated around the world as Pi Day. Many people celebrate Pi Day by measuring pi with objects found around the house. I wanted to do something similar for this year’s Pi Day using my Raspberry Pi 3B. Read on to learn how I measured pi using my Raspberry Pi.

• What you’ll need:

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Google Keep letting you open notes side-by-side on Android

=> ↺ XGIMI Launches New Portable MoGo Projectors With Android Smarts And Innovative Auto Setup Systems

=> ↺ Android Circuit: Galaxy S24 Ultra Leaks, OnePlus And Oppo In Europe, Pixel Tablet Details

=> ↺ X88Pro 13 8K TV box runs Android 13 on Rockchip RK3528 SoC – CNX Software

=> ↺ Android Auto ‘GPS signal lost’ issue in Google Maps troubling users

=> ↺ What is the best android emulator? | NextPit Forum

=> ↺ GM confirms it’s dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from 2024 EVs | Ars Technica

=> ↺ GM is cutting off access to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for its future EVs – The Verge

=> ↺ Why Your Android Phone’s Keyboard Isn’t Showing Up, And How To Fix It

=> ↺ The 4 Best Alternatives to TWRP Recovery on Android

=> ↺ The best Nintendo 3DS emulators for Android – Android Authority

=> ↺ Check the Google Voice Material You Redesign on Android

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Site Under Construction

• 30-March-2023: Bruce is re-installing WordPress and will port sites to the new install, just to have a clean install

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

=> ↺ A quarter century of Mozilla

• March 31, or “three thirty-one,” is something of a talisman in the Mozilla community. It’s the date that, back in 1998, Mozilla first came into being — the date that we open-sourced the Netscape code for the world to use.

• This year, “three thirty-one” is especially meaningful: It’s Mozilla’s 25 year anniversary.

• A lot has changed since 1998. Mozilla is no longer just a bold idea. We’re a family of organizations — a nonprofit, a public benefit-corporation, and others — that builds products, fuels movements, and invests in responsible tech.

• And we’re no longer a small group of engineers in Netscape’s Mountain View office. We’re technologists, researchers, and activists located around the globe — not to mention tens of thousands of volunteers.

• But if a Mozillian from 1998 stepped into a Mozilla office (or joined a Mozilla video call) in 2023, I think they’d quickly feel something recognizable. A familiar spirit, and a familiar set of values.

• When Mozilla open-sourced our browser code 25 years ago, the reason was the public interest: We wanted to spark more innovation, more competition, and more choice online. Technology in the public interest has been our manifesto ever since — whether releasing Firefox 1.0 in 2004, or launching Mozilla.ai earlier this year.

=> ↺ A quarter century of Mozilla [LWN.net]

• The Mozilla project celebrates 25 years of existence.

=> ↺ Making the impossible possible — again

• Looking ahead at Mozilla’s next quarter century In the world of tech, some challenges can feel impossible to solve. That was the feeling many of us had 25 years ago — before we’d heard of Mozilla.

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

=> ↺ German LibreOffice community meeting, March 2023 in Essen

• LibreOffice is developed by a worldwide community, and many members of this community live in German-speaking countries. From 24 to 26 March, some of them met at the Linuxhotel in Essen. There was an informal meeting on Friday evening, while the main discussions started on Saturday.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ WebP: What is it? How do I work with it on Linux

• WebP image format has been promoted by Google since 2010, in particular through the Chromium project. Initially, WebP was promoted as an alternative to JPEG because the quality is the same, but the images weigh less. Gradually, the format developed and acquired features such as support for transparency, animation, and the ability to compress images without losing the quality.

• On average, the weight of images is reduced by around 30%, which allows webmasters to place more images on their platforms. Thus, there are a plethora of websites today, including YouTube, the Google Play Store, and the Facebook Android add-on, that use this image format.

• Since 2013, WebP was used in the Play Store for app screenshots, previews, and app logos, reducing the size of images by 35% without compromising quality. WebP is supported by most well-known browsers, making it a one-stop solution for working with images on the web.

Leftovers

Education

=> ↺ Democrats split over education in Chicago mayoral runoff

• In Chicago’s mayoral runoff Tuesday, Democrats Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas offer very different visions for fixing the city’s ailing schools.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

Axios ☛ Obamacare ruling gives Democrats new political ammoDemocrats may hate the substance of yesterday’s court ruling striking down elements of the Affordable Care Act — this time, its requirement that employers cover certain preventative care services. But politically, it feeds right into the party’s 2024 campaign narrative.Why it matters: Defending the ACA has been a tried-and-true strategy for Democrats since the GOP tried to repeal it in 2017. Judicial threats to the law easily fold into messaging about right-wing extremist judges that the party has been building on since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion. And while Republicans may still not be huge fans of the law, its preventative care provisions weren’t exactly topping their list of grievances.

=> ↺ Medicaid’s continuous enrollment ends today. Up to 14 million Americans could lose their coverage

• A thin silver lining of the pandemic in the US has been that more people have been insured than ever before.

=> ↺ Can’t live on buckwheat and noodles: cost-of-living makes Lithuanian students move in with parents

• Rising rents and prices of basic commodities are forcing some young people to move in with their parents. Students say it’s getting difficult to afford day-to-day life.

=> ↺ PHR Welcomes National Association of Medical Examiners’ (NAME) Policy Reversal on “Excited Delirium” as a Cause of Death

• Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) welcomes the new position statement from the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME), which states that the Association no longer endorses the term “excited delirium.”

=> ↺ Cookie lovers warned to stop eating raw dough amid salmonella outbreak: CDC

• Raw, or unbaked, flour could be contaminated with the bacteria, which causes foodborne illness and leads to upset stomach, fever, chills, vomiting and cramps.

Security

=> ↺ New Wi-Fi Protocol Security Flaw Affecting Linux, Android and iOS Devices

• A group of academics from Northeastern University and KU Leuven has disclosed a fundamental design flaw in the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol standard, impacting a wide range of devices running Linux, FreeBSD, Android, and iOS.

=> ↺ Chinese RedGolf Group Targeting Windows and Linux Systems with KEYPLUG Backdoor

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

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (joblib, json-smart, libmicrohttpd, and xrdp), Fedora (thunderbird and xorg-x11-server-Xwayland), Mageia (dino, perl-Cpanel-JSON-XS, perl-Net-Server, snort, tigervnc/x11-server, and xapian), SUSE (curl, kernel, openssl-1_0_0, and shim), and Ubuntu (glusterfs, linux-gcp-4.15, musl, and xcftools).

=> ↺ Tracking the Adelanto Healthcare Ventures breach on DataBreaches.net

• At the present time, we do not know numbers affected for each hospital or in total, but that data will also be added to the post as that information becomes available.

=> ↺ 3CX knew its app was flagged as malicious but took no action for 7 days | Ars Technica

• The support team for 3CX, the VoIP/PBX software provider with more than 600,000 customers and 12 million daily users, was aware its desktop app was being flagged as malware but decided to take no action for a week when it learned it was on the receiving end of a massive supply chain attack, a thread on the company’s community forum shows.

=> ↺ US commits $25 million to Costa Rica for Conti ransomware recovery

• The U.S. government is sending $25 million to the government of Costa Rica to help the country recover from a devastating ransomware attack last year that crippled several key agencies.

• In May 2022, Costa Rica’s newly elected president Rodrigo Chaves declared a state of emergency after the now-defunct Conti ransomware group severely damaged the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Costa Rican Social Security Fund. The gang posted messages openly calling for the overthrow of the government before demanding a $20 million ransom.

=> ↺ GMH under review for potential HIPAA breach

• The unauthorized access into Guam Memorial Hospital’s network is undergoing a detailed review for a possible Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA breach.

• The information came to light during the public hospital’s monthly board meeting Wednesday.

• GMH legal counsel Jeremiah Luther maintains that no patient or employee records were compromised, saying they got lucky.

=> ↺ ES: Secondary education center hit by Stormous

• After several months out of the public eye, the pro-Russian Stormous Ransomware group reappeared in February. Now they have claimed an attack on a secondary education center, the Instituto De Educación Secundaria Ies Emilio Canalejo Olmeda (IESCO) in Cordoba, Spain.

=> ↺ Attacked by Vice Society earlier this month, Lewis & Clark finds files with personal information have now been leaked

• It appears that Lewis & Clark in Oregon has been the victim of a ransomware attack by Vice Society.

=> ↺ Florida city water cyber incident allegedly caused by employee error

• In 2021, news broke of a cyberattack at the Oldsmar, Florida, water treatment plant, an event that sparked fears about the cyber vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure.

• At the time, reports suggested that a worker at the plant saw his computer being remotely accessed and controlled. His mouse moved to open functions to control water treatment protocols, and then the amount of sodium hydroxide, or lye, in the water was changed from about 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million. The operator immediately reduced the chemical to the proper level and alerted a supervisor.

• The alleged hack, which gained worldwide publicity from subsequent press conferences given by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and other leading officials, prompted an investigation led by the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, as well as a joint federal advisory warning water treatment facility operators of the dangers they faced from hackers and urging them to upgrade their security systems.

• [...]

• Braithwaite said that the various investigations spawned by the incident, including one by the Florida Office of Information Technology, were particularly critical of the staff in Oldsmar, which he said runs its water treatment facility on a network made up of five computers and a couple of iPads.

=> ↺ Consumer lender TMX discloses data breach impacting 4.8 million people

• TMX Finance and its subsidiaries TitleMax, TitleBucks, and InstaLoan have collectively disclosed a data breach that exposed the personal data of 4,822,580 customers.

• TMX is a public financial service that operates equities, fixed income, derivatives, and energy markets exchanges, with a business presence in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and China.

=> ↺ “A crucial learning experience.” – ICO calls for highest standards in HIV services after NHS Highland reprimand

• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Highland for a “serious breach of trust” after a data breach involving those likely to be accessing HIV services.

• The ICO has called for serious improvements to data protection safeguards amongst HIV service providers, stating that there is “simply no excuse”, and that “the stakes are just too high” given the impact on people’s lives.

• A formal reprimand has been issued to NHS Highland, which emailed 37 people likely to be accessing HIV services, inadvertently using CC (carbon copy) instead of BCC (blind carbon copy). The error meant recipients of the email could see the personal email addresses of other people receiving the email, with one person confirming they recognised four other individuals, one of whom was a previous sexual partner.

=> ↺ Setting up a VPN on Linux without a Native App

• In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to set up a VPN on Linux if your VPN provider doesn’t have a native app built for Linux.

• Sadly, support and availability for apps on Linux are scarce. Most of the time, if you’re using some service or app, chances are it’s available for Windows and Mac, not for Linux. This is a frequent case with VPN providers. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to set up a VPN on Linux on any distro from any VPN provider.

• Some VPN providers (for example, Mullvad and ProtonVPN) do have native apps for Linux. But even when they do, people still prefer setting up the VPN on their own directly from the distro.

• Another case (that I’m using) is VeePN. They do have support for various devices, but not for Linux. So when I’m using their VPNs, I just use a browser add-on or on rarer occasions network-manager. I’ll focus on Ubuntu in this tutorial, but the instructions are very similar for other distros.

=> ↺ Can a White House initiative compel tech companies to write safer code?

• Software liability reform is a centerpiece of the Biden’s recent national cybersecurity strategy. Implementing it will be a challenge.

=> ↺ Reproducible Builds (diffoscope): diffoscope 240 released

• The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 240.

=> ↺ German Police Raid DDoS-Friendly Host ‘FlyHosting’

• Authorities in Germany this week seized Internet servers that powered FlyHosting, a dark web service that catered to cybercriminals operating DDoS-for-hire services. Fly Hosting first advertised on cybercrime forums in November 2022, saying it was a Germany-based hosting firm that was open for business to anyone looking for a reliable place to host malware, botnet controllers, or DDoS-for-hire infrastructure.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ ‘Thousands of Dollars for Something I Didn’t Do’

• Because of a bad facial recognition match and other hidden technology, Randal Reid spent nearly a week in jail, falsely accused of stealing purses in a state he said he had never even visited.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Russian War Report: A new private military company emerges in Crimea

• Plus, Russia and its political allies in Moldova are inflaming the information space around Transnistria.

=> ↺ Russia and Ukraine Step Up Recruitment, Bracing for Fights Ahead

• After a winter of intense battles and heavy losses in Ukraine’s east, both Russia and Ukraine are taking steps to replenish their depleted forces.

Environment

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ The US is reducing tax credits for foreign-made EV models

• The US Treasury Department announced new electric vehicle (EV) tax rules that will reduce or cut tax credits on EVs primarily made in foreign markets in an attempt to combat China’s growing market share in emission-free automobile production.

=> ↺ Battery-related fires spark push for regulation

• Local, state and federal lawmakers have introduced a flurry of attempts to regulate lithium-ion batteries, following a spate of fires.

• Why it matters: Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the workhorse power source today for digital devices, and they’re increasingly providing a backbone for the climate-inspired electrification of everything.

• The big picture: In the past, batteries used in laptops or smartphones raised the most concern for fire risk. As their reliability has increased, fires started by the larger batteries used in vehicles and mobility devices such as scooters and e-bikes have captured public attention.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Orca whale starts ‘journey to freedom’ after 50 years in captivity

• Lolita, an orca whale, is being returned to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest after 50 years of captivity. “It’s a step toward restoring our natural environment,” said Howard Garrett, of the advocacy group Orca Network.

=> ↺ Police Traveled 500 Miles To Seize Girl’s Pet Goat for Slaughter

• A 9-year-old backed out of a deal to sell her pet goat for slaughter. Local officials and sheriff’s deputies used the power of the state to force her to go through with it.

Finance

Axios ☛ Wall Street’s bonus slumpData: Office of the New York State Comptroller; Chart: Axios VisualsAverage bonuses on Wall Street last year suffered their steepest fall since 2008′s market bloodbath — dropping 26% from the year before to an average of $176,700, according to the Office of the New York State Comptroller. Why it matters: It’s another headwind for New York City and New York State, where revenues are heavily reliant on personal income taxes, which in turn are driven by Wall Street pay packages. The drop in Wall Street bonuses will translate into estimated declines of $457 million in state income tax revenue and $208 million in city revenues compared with 2021.That slowdown will add to other budgetary pressures expected this year, like declining values for commercial office buildings, which are expected to cut NYC tax revenues by 1.3%, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office. Traditionally, Wall Street bonuses have also been important for the Manhattan-centric markets for high-end real estate and fine art.

=> ↺ Exactly who is the investor behind Virgin Orbit’s failed $200 million rescue?

• I definitely believe that a large part of it [is] as a space enthusiast.” That’s what Matthew Brown told CNBC on March 23, when asked why he was considering a $200 million investment into Virgin Orbit, a nearly bankrupt rocket company.

=> ↺ Why banks hate the Fed’s repo facility

• The year was 2013. The great concern among the Federal Reserve’s leaders was that, with the world awash in dollars they had created, they wouldn’t be able to raise rates even when they felt they needed to.

• Zoom out: Their solution was a tool that has now swelled to massive size — $2.3 trillion as of Wednesday — and is making banks angry, as they see it as a major factor in their loss of deposits.

• Why it matters: The “overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility” (ON RRP) enables money market mutual funds to accept vast sums of investors’ money and pay their customers higher interest rates than banks typically do.

=> ↺ How a Trump-Era Rollback Mattered for Silicon Valley Bank’s Demise

• An under-the-radar change to the way regional banks are supervised may have helped the bank’s rapidly growing risks to go unresolved.

=> ↺ Why Schwab Got Hit in the Panic Over Regional Banks

• Like Silicon Valley Bank, the company holds billions in bonds that have declined in value. But it has access to billions in cash, if needed, analysts say, and is much more diversified.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Freedom House: Turkey’s elections among most vulnerable in the world

• The low score reflects the government’s concentration of power, strict laws criminalizing online expression, and extra-legal efforts to stifle dissent and independent journalism, according to the report.

=> ↺ Banning TikTok alone will not solve the problem of US data security

• TikTok is just a symptom of a much bigger problem involving China-based technology. Here are some steps US policymakers can take now.

=> ↺ White House talks with TikTok stall after blistering congressional hearing

• TikTok’s general counsel said Friday the company hasn’t heard from the Biden administration since CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before Congress.

=> ↺ Sobering moment: Americans reflect on Trump indictment

• The historic indictment of a former president sparked a full range of reactions today, from concern to relief to a mixture of both.

=> ↺ McConnell is among few high-profile Republicans to stay silent on Trump’s indictment.

• Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, had previously been a vocal critic of the former president’s conduct in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

=> ↺ Donald Trump was just indicted…but why?

• Kit Knightly Last night it was announced that former-President Donald Trump was being indicted by the Manhattan Grand Jury, he is expected to surrender himself to authorities later today. The indictment is sealed until arraignment, but we do know the rough nature of the charge(s).

=> ↺ For Some G.O.P. Voters, Fatigue Slows the Rush to Defend Trump

• The Republicans who will pick their 2024 nominee expressed anger, defensiveness and also embarrassment about the indictment facing Donald J. Trump.

=> ↺ Biden’s Response to Trump’s Indictment? 4 Ways to Say No Comment.

• President Biden believes that presidents should not comment on pending legal matters. He also does not want to be baited into a reaction.

=> ↺ Trump indicted in first-ever criminal case against a former US president

• Donald Trump has been indicted on charges involving payments in 2016 to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter, the first ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.

=> ↺ Criminal indictment opens new stage in the Trump odyssey

• The indictment of former President Donald Trump brings a new act in the narrative arc of his political rise, fall, and hoped-for redemption in 2024.

=> ↺ A truth-bearing defense against China

• Democracies like Taiwan are learning from each other on how to reinforce their values against attempts to divide through digital propaganda.

=> ↺ Frothing in the fast lane

• Some days the world will make you spitting mad. This naturally brings us to the little understood but seriously important Philaenus spumarius aka the meadow spittlebug or froghopper.

=> ↺ Indictment of Donald Trump: He Had It Coming

• The indictment of Donald Trump was long overdue. In a constitutional democracy, nobody can stand above the law.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Fox News Suffers Major Setback in Dominion Case

• A judge said the suit would go to trial, for a jury to weigh whether the network knowingly spread false claims about Dominion Voting Systems, and to determine any damages.

=> ↺ Today’s Order Allowing Dominion Voting’s Case Against Fox to Go Forward

• The order, which denied Fox’s motion for summary judgment and partly granted Dominion’s motion for summary judgment as to certain elements of the claim, is here; it’s 130 pages long, and I’m likely not to have the time soon to get through the whole thing and digest it, but I thought I’d pass it along.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ There Was No Good Reason Offered, It Turns Out, for the Gag Order on Students in Doe v. UNC

• On Feb. 28, I blogged about Doe v. U.N.C. Sys. (W.D.N.C.), a case challenging the expulsion of plaintiff Jacob Doe for alleged sexual assault; in the case, the court issued a quite remarkable TRO that, among other things, required defendants “to direct all individuals, including but not limited to employees and students…

=> ↺ Ban on Knowingly False Statements During Emergencies Struck Down on First Amendment Grounds

• From Judge Pedro Delgado-Hernández’s opinion today in Rodriguez-Cotto v. Perluisi-Urrutia (D.P.R.): Article 5.14(a) criminalizes, after the Governor of Puerto Rico has decreed by executive order an emergency or disaster, to knowingly, purposely or recklessly: (1) give a warning or false alarm, knowing that the information is false…

=> ↺ Florida vs. Florence: Visitors to David statue weigh in on US school uproar

• In Tallahassee, Florida, parents pressured a school principal into resignation after an image of Michelangelo’s nude David statue was shown to a sixth grade art class.

=> ↺ Hillsdale College Revokes Curriculum License to “Classical” School Over Its Objections to Michelangelo’s David

• “This drama around teaching Michelangelo’s ‘David’ sculpture, one of the most important works of art in existence, has become … a parody of … the actual aims of classical education.”

=> ↺ Communications Can Be Defamatory Even If Readers Realize There’s a Considerable Risk of Error

• And AI programs’ “tendency [to, among other things, produce untruthful content] can be particularly harmful as models become increasingly convincing and believable, leading to overreliance on them by users. Counterintuitively, hallucinations can become more dangerous as models become more truthful, as users build trust in the model when it provides truthful information in areas where they have some familiarity.”

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Journalist investigated for describing ruling alliance as ‘racist, reactionary’

• After a Kurdish Islamist party joined the ruling alliance, Ruşen Takva described the bloc as “racist, right-wing and reactionary.”

=> ↺ Cold War echoes: US journalist arrested for espionage in Russia

• The Russian Federal Security Service arrested an American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, for espionage charges. The newspaper denies the allegations and demands his release, and the Biden administration has condemned the arrest “in the strongest terms.”

=> ↺ Espionage Charge Adds Hurdle to Freeing a Reporter Detained in Russia

• The Biden administration recently secured the release of two Americans convicted of criminal charges in Russia, but even fabricated charges of spying can raise the stakes.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ How the ACLU is Showing Up For Abortion Access Nationwide

• Across the country, the ACLU, allied organizations, volunteers, and organizers are mobilizing together in the ongoing battle for our reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy — regardless of which state we call home. When anti-abortion extremists attempt to enforce bans on abortion, we show up. When they prioritize abortion bans over legislation that would actually improve their constituents’ lives, we show up. When overzealous prosecutors go after health care providers and patients seeking abortion care, we show up. When it’s time to make our voices heard in the ballot box and the streets, we show up.

• Here are some of the ways we’ve shown up to protect abortion access in states across the country.

=> ↺ Douglass Mackey Convicted for Vote-by-Tweet Meme

• Here’s the E.D.N.Y. U.S. Attorney’s Office press release: Douglass Mackey, also known as “Ricky Vaughn,” was convicted today by a federal jury in Brooklyn of the charge of Conspiracy Against Rights stemming from his scheme to deprive individuals of their constitutional right to vote.

=> ↺ May Universities Revoke Degrees Based on Findings of Ex-Student’s “Academic Misconduct in Pursuit of That Degree”?

• Yes, says the Texas Supreme Court, applying Texas law.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Digital censorship in Punjab: internet shutdowns and account suspensions

• Internet services in Punjab were shut down from March 18 till March 21 (in some districts till March 24). Reportedly, around 120 twitter accounts were suspended/ withheld. We wrote to the Punjab government and MeitY raising concerns about the internet shutdown and withheld accounts, respectively.

=> ↺ Everything, everywhere, all the time (for the Internet at least)

• Will LEO Internet change Internet operations significantly in 2023?

Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Public Knowledge Opposes Faulty ‘Journalism’ Bill Undermining Open Internet and Free Speech Online

• Today, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) along with Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and other co-sponsors reintroduced the “Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.”

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Lockpicking house rules for D&D

• On the DM side, all you’ve got to do is add 8 to the DC listed in the module (use 23 (a.k.a. 15+8) if there’s no DC listed).

• The rogue’s goal is to put tension on the lock’s cylinder, and then bind the six pins.

• Five of the pins, you bind with d6‘s. Roll them carefully, one at a time, to find out which pins you bind. Keep track of the rolled numbers. The number you roll is the pin you bind. So if you roll a four, that means the fourth pin is binding. If you roll a three, that means the third pin is binding. If you have five dice, you can leave the rolled dice on the table to represent the bound pin.

=> ↺ The storm continues

• Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I last posted here

• Not much has changed. We’re approaching the year anniversary of a family death, and I’ll be out of town taking care of my father when the actual anniversary occurs.

• It’s hard to know how to feel about anything. The only thing I feel is tired.

• I’ve been practicing banjo more lately. I’m decent. Fingerpicks came in but they’re difficult to use and I don’t actually know how to play finger style.

=> ↺ Just Deserts

=> ↺ It’s Friday again

• Starting tomorrow we’ll be in April already. 2023 it starting to pick up speed, at least for me.

• I have become fond of reading a physical newspaper now, and I’m trying to decide which paper to subscribe to. It has become a daily ritual for me to sit in my quiet study and read. I’ve found that with a physical paper I don’t have any distractions, I’m not staring at a white screen, and I spend more time reading in silence.

=> ↺ “vampire boys” (2011)

• plot summary: caleb (looks like the platonic ideal of early 2010s fictional twink) moves to california for uni. jasin is a vampire nearing his 100th year, and he and his coven will die if he doesn’t find “the one” and transform them into a vampire soon. well luckily it all works out for everyone. that’s it that’s the movie.

=> ↺ you folks would probably like this

• watched Life After BOB a few days ago. and then again, and again, and I think a couple more times I had watched it over the course of the last couple of days, because I think it is so fascinating. 50-minute anime short film live-rendered in Unity, part of an upcoming series, based on the premise on if an AI could live your life better than you can… I encourage you to dive deeper into its surrounding ouevre; Ian Cheng’s work is freakishly inspiring, despite the dubiousness of his Twitter Blue subscription. either way, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the movie!

=> ↺ Sixty

• Ah, so bitter sweet. Reminds me of my travels in Latin America in 1985..1990. Wonder what Constanza Sofia is up to these days. Dreaming about time gone by. Do I regret? No. It took a while to realize that I made good decisions. But as I get old and fogey and my health is not what it should be, I can’t image traveling down South at this moment. Looked at the map today. Anyone been to Puerto Misahuallí these days? Or to San Pedro de Atacama? Fond memories, I have to say.

=> ↺ I found out what that one flower was called

• So, two years ago I made a post about flowers blooming in the park next to my house, and there was one I hadn’t identified yet. I now know: its name is Scilla mischtschenkoana. It is apparently native to the Caucasus, so someone (probably the municipality) must have planted them here.

=> ↺ no more routine for me

• Skincare routines do not make sense for me anymore. I think I got caught up in it the past few years because it was so ubiquitous online and it was presented as this prerequisite to having a good productive day and not looking like 90 when you’re 23 (rolls eyes).

• When you slather 5-12 products on your face twice a day, that uses them up so fast, and you’re constantly replenishing and buying, and all these companies and influencers are so grateful for that. But do all of us really need that? I think if there isn’t anything medical going on with your skin, you most likely don’t and it’s worth trying out to instead fit the care to your needs that day. It saves a lot of product, time, packaging waste and money. Maybe your natural skin barrier is better off being a little less treated and removed constantly. I really don’t like all this .. preventative care anymore? Obviously don’t let things get bad, but now that I am “out of it” I really don’t understand why we are treating skin with products it doesn’t seem to be needing at that time, just to avoid that it ever could? Like why apply moisturizer if the skin looks well moisturized in the mirror because I already did it that day? Just because it’s evening now?

Technical

=> ↺ Amateur Radio Update 2023-03-31

• I’m making good progress on journey into CW using the IC_746 PRO and a straight key. Using some koch trainer free software, I got up to a reliable effective 5WPM for all letters and numbers, and three punctuation marks. I’m using Farnsworth timing, where you tap out the characters quickly, but you add extra spacing in-between the characters to slow down the overall rate (Effective WPM). This gives you more time to mentally process the characters and write them out, until you get better at it. So right now I practice copy with 12 WPM tapping speed but effective 7 WPM. My idea was to keep bumping up the WPM until EWPM equals WPM.

=> ↺ about my notes

• Last night I did have time to look at how subscriptions work on Gemini. It’s just Atom feeds, an XML document with a list of links/dates/descriptions. That makes it pretty easy to add support. I just have to decide if I want my regular note additions to pop up in the atom feed, or just these main page posts.

• I also considered putting in a giant page of links to all content, since that would give me a starting point for reviewing my notes. But I could also create a CGI for returning random links… Now is a good time to explain how I planned on using the notes section of the capsule.

Internet/Gemini

=> ↺ Trying out 7off

• I’ve replaced my use of md2gemini with 7off. The main motivation being that I’m not happy with link rendering.

=> ↺ RE: On Mastodon DDoS’ing Sites

• Not sure how to announce a substantial update to an already published post, if I want to have it all in one place. I guess I just link to the post, create a thread on Cosmos, subsequently delete this post in a couple of days (gasp!), and redirect the URL to the older post.

• 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

=> Techrights

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