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● 07.19.23

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● Links 19/07/2023: Vanilla 4.0, Cython 3.0.0, and VirtualBox 7.0.10

Posted in News Roundup at 2:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Kernel Space

=> ↺ It’s FOSS ☛ The systemd Controversy: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding the Debate

• In the world of Linux, few debates have stirred as much controversy as the battle between the traditional System V init system, often known as SysVinit, and the newer systemd.

• In this article, I’ll briefly discuss what systemd is, what advantages and disadvantages it has over the traditional init systems and why it is controversial.

• As a Linux user hailing from the older days of UNIX, my preference leans toward the traditional init system. However, I’ve come to accept systemd, seeing some of its benefits despite my initial resistance. Each system has its own place in the Linux world, and it’s important to understand both.

• The systemd debate continues. What is your take on it?

Applications

=> ↺ Neowin ☛ VirtualBox 7.0.10

• VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software. Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x and 4.x), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2, and OpenBSD.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to encrypt a file within seconds in Linux!

• The art of Cryptography consists of two parts Encryption and Decryption. One is the exact reverse of the other and they are both powered by some serious math. The purpose of Cryptography is to hide the content of a message so that if someone, other than the receiver of the message, finds it, they won’t be able to read it.

• In this article I will show you the easiest way to encrypt a file in Linux in just a few seconds using the GNU Privacy Guard(gpg tool).

=> ↺ Make Tech Easier ☛ How to Install 32-Bit Linux On An Old Mac

• The launch of macOS Catalina ended Apple’s support for 32-bit hardware, an event that was a long time coming but rendered millions of systems unable to run an up-to-date version of the operating system they were designed for. In another universe, this may have spelled doom for you if you owned an old Mac system, but in this one, there’s always Linux to come to the rescue!

=> ↺ Make Use Of ☛ How to Set Up a Rust Development Environment on Linux

• According to Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey 2022, Rust has been the most-loved programming language for the last seven years. It’s safe, efficient, and versatile for handling applications of all levels of complexity, from system programming to chatbots and more.

• If you haven’t had the chance to start developing in Rust yet, you should start by setting up a Rust development environment on Linux.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Change Hostname on Debian 12

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to change the hostname on Debian 12. A hostname is a label assigned to a device within a network, aiding in system identification and network communication.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install ExifTool on Debian 12

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install ExifTool on Debian 12. ExifTool is an open-source software developed by Phil Harvey, designed to extract, manipulate, and edit metadata information embedded within digital files.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install 7-Zip on Debian 12

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install 7-Zip on Debian 12. 7-Zip is an open-source file compression and archiving utility known for its high compression ratio and support for multiple file formats. It offers a user-friendly interface and command-line support, making it suitable for both novice and advanced users.

Games

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ New PC Console Looks Like a Steam Machine, is Smaller Than Xbox Series S

• ThundeRobot, a Chinese laptop manufacturer is launching a new PC gaming console that looks like a Steam Machine clone. The console will cost roughly 6000 Yuan (or roughly $830), and will come in a size substantially smaller than a Xbox Series S.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ [GNOME/Outreachy] Jose Hunter: My Career Goals

• I have been increasingly disillusioned and disappointed by corporate technology. The absolute dumpster fire of Twitter and the issues present at Reddit has also reminded me how absolutely horrible these massive tech companies are. I do not want to be another underpaid cog in a massive contraption that is only making our world worse.

• I hope that one day in the future I could make a living as an independent developer. I envision a career where I am not just building software, but creating tools that respect users’ freedom and privacy while contributing to the common good. I want my work to reflect my values, and to stand for something more than just profit.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Reviews

=> ↺ ZDNet ☛ This beautiful Linux distribution makes it easy to migrate from any OS | ZDNET

• Within the realm of technology, I’ve been claiming for years that Linux isn’t nearly as hard as people assume it is. And with each new release of the major distributions (such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora) I’m given even more reason to espouse that opinion.

• But it’s not just the major distributions that are pushing the limits of simplicity. Even the minor distributions are helping to make the Linux ecosystem one that anyone can enjoy. In fact, I’d go so far as to say some of the minor distributions take the idea of user-friendliness even further.

New Releases

=> ↺ Unicorn Media ☛ Solus Is Back, but Can It Survive Its Troubled Past?

• A Linux distribution that many thought was probably gone for good has risen from the dead.

• On July 8, the Solus project announced that its once popular distro, which had given birth to the popular Budgie desktop environment that’s now the default DE in several other distros including an official Ubuntu spin, had released version 4.4, code named Harmony, as its first release in two years.

• That’s a long time for a distro to go without a release. Long enough that in April the website Distrowatch, which earns its keep by tracking the comings and goings of Linux distros, changed Solus’s status to “dormant” and took it off its list of active distros.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu ☛ Vanilla 4.0 release

• Last week we released a new major version of the Vanilla framework. Vanilla 4.0 introduces the elements of the new style used for a current rebranding of Canonical’s brochure websites, including typography changes of headings utilising new variable Ubuntu font, wider grid width, removed rounded corners, some updated colours, and updates to any related components.

• We treat Vanilla 4.0 as an interim release that includes elements of new branding but keep the support for the old style of components as well to allow for easier and more granular migration on our biggest websites. Therefore there are no significant breaking changes or removed components.

• But even without breaking changes, because of quite significant visual differences introduced by updated typography and wider grid, it is recommended to properly QA templates and pages, especially if there are any custom styles built on top of Vanilla.

• Below we explain in a bit more detail the most important aspects of the Vanilla 4.0 release.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Aetina introduces fanless NVIDIA Jetson Orin embedded box PCs with Ubuntu 20.04

• All embedded box PCs run Ubuntu 20.04 as part of the NVIDIA JetPack SDK and support the various machine learning and artificial intelligence SDKs provided by NVIDIA. The new fanless models have the same specifications as the actively-cooled ones introduced in January, so they may last longer in industrial environments with plenty of dust, consume a little less since a fan is not required, and also operates more quietly although I’m not sure it’s that important for this type of hardware. So the main reason to still use the actively cooled embedded systems from Aetina is the wider temperature range from -25°C to +70°C, while the fanless systems are not guaranteed to work properly over +55°C. The fanless model also appears to lack the RS232 DB9 port for some unknown reason and is taller.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Espressif ESP-SR enables on-device speech recognition framework on ESP32-S3 and ESP32 WiSoCs

• Espressif ESP-SR is a speech recognition framework enabling on-device speech recognition on ESP32 and ESP32-S3 wireless microcontrollers with the latter being recommended due to its vector extension for AI acceleration and larger, high-speech octal SPI PSRAM. The ESP-SR framework was first released on December 17, 2021 with version 1.0, before the v1.20 update was introduced in March of this year, but I only found out about ESP-SR offline speech recognition solution through a tweet by John Lee showing an ESP-SR demo video by @ThatProject. Comrades of the world, liberate your hands from the chains of typing and touching germy switches! Embrace the revolutionary power of speech recognition with ESP32-S3 + ESP-SR.>

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Polos CH32Vxx 32-bit RISC-V MCU boards starts at $1.99

• XPU Labs, a subsidiary of AnalogLamb, has designed three inexpensive “Polos” development boards based on WCH CH32VXX RISC-V microcontrollers with pricing starting at just $1.99. The three development/breakout boards have the same form factor and only differ in the specific RISC-V MCU used with three parts selected: the 48 MHz CH32V003F4U6 microcontroller, the 144 MHz CH32V203F8P6 MCU, and the CH32V305FBP6 that’s similar to the former but add more memory (32KB) and flash (128KB). You can see also three boards side-by-side in the photo below along with the Amnos LinkE CH32Vxx debugger & programmer board.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ 9to5Google ☛ Boox Tab Ultra C and Mini C pair color e-ink and Android

=> ↺ The Sun ☛ Billions of Android users warned to delete bloatware apps that drain battery and storage space | The US Sun

=> ↺ Android Police ☛ Android 14′s latest work profile change means you’re never truly away from work

=> ↺ Notebook Check ☛ RedMagic 8S Pro unleashed on rest of world to lead Android gaming smartphone market in mid-2023 – NotebookCheck.net News

=> ↺ 9to5Google ☛ Android apps continuously crashing for some Pixel owners

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Events

=> ↺ LWN ☛ SambaXP 2023 videos posted

• The 2023 sambaXP conference was held May 10 and 11 in Goettingen, Germany. Videos of the talks held there have now been posted on YouTube; topics covered include an io_uring update, fuzzing, passwordless services, GPL compliance, and much more.

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Ten Four Fox ☛ Cameron Kaiser: Floodgap downtime

• Just a quick note: Floodgap is down due to upstream issues beyond their control. I’m hoping we’ll be back up in a day or two more. Sorry about that. E-mail still works, so anything you’ve sent me will still get through; this only affects the Web and gopher servers.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

=> ↺ WordPress ☛ WP Briefing: Episode 60: Sneak a Peek at WordPress 6.3 with Special Guest Mike Schroder

• Join WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden Chomphosy and Core Tech Lead Mike Schroder as they discuss their favorite new features and enhancements coming in WordPress 6.3.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ 42 Open-source Laravel Packages To Enrich Your Laravel Project

• Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web application framework with expressive, elegant syntax. It was created by Taylor Otwell in 2011. Laravel has become one of the most popular PHP frameworks, with a large and growing community of developers.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ 40 Open-source Laravel Projects

• Laravel is an innovative and powerful web application framework that is completely free and open-source. This PHP-based framework was created by Taylor Otwell in 2011 as an alternative to CodeIgniter, with a focus on simplicity and ease of use.

=> ↺ Josef Strzibny: Running SASS and Tailwind side by side in Rails

• What if you want to incrementally switch to Bulma? Or build a marketing site with Tailwind while keep using SASS for your main application? It’s not as hard as you think.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Lingo3D: Open-source 3D Game Development Framework with React

• Lingo3D is a comprehensive game development framework built on React/Vue that enables developers to create immersive and visually stunning 3D games. With its complete visual editor, game development has never been easier.

=> ↺ Qt ☛ TextToSpeech improvements for Qt 6.6

• When we announced the Qt 6 port of Qt Speech for Qt 6.4, one of the comments pointed out that the module would be more valuable if applications could access the generated speech audio data. Qt 6.6 introduces exactly that, plus a few more features and API improvements.

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ AQEMU GUI for QEMU compiled in OE

• This morning I posted about compiling QtEmu:

• https://bkhome.org/news/202307/qtemu-gui-for-qemu-compiled-in-oe.html

• Prior to that, I had tried a few other GUIs for QEMU, with limited success. I did try AQEMU, but it crashed at startup, with “Segmentation fault”. The official project is here:

• https://github.com/tobimensch/aqemu

• …but the latest source from there crashes. I also tried version 0.9.4 from here, which also crashed at startup:

• https://github.com/TBK/aqemu/

• The Debian package maintainers are still on 0.9.2, but with several patches: [...]

Python

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ Pretty Print a JSON String in Python

• JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a popular data format used extensively in data interchange. It is compact, easy to read, and easy to parse, making it a common choice for data storage and transmission over networks.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ ESP32-S3 based Arduino Nano ESP32 board supports Arduino and MicroPython programming

• The Arduino Nano ESP32 is an ESP32-S3-based WiFi and Bluetooth microcontroller board designed for IoT applications for hobbyists and enterprise use cases. The new Nano board comes with 8 MB  PSRAM and 16 MB flash storage and can be programmed with either the Arduino or MicroPython languages. It’s not the first ESP32 board from Arduino, as the Nano RP2040 Connect pairs a Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU with an ESP32 module from u-Blox and the just-released Arduino UNO R4 WiFi marries a Renesas RA4M1 Arm Cortex-M33 MCU with an ESP32-S3-MINI-1 module.

=> ↺ Cython 3.0.0

• Since Cython 3.0.0 started development, CPython 3.8-3.11 were released. All these are supported in Cython, including experimental support for the in-development CPython 3.12. On the other end of the spectrum, support for Python 2.6 was dropped.

• Cython interacts very closely with the C-API of Python, which is where most of the adaptation work happens. Independently, Cython strives to be able to parse newer Python constructs for use with its pure python mode, which has been a focus. In short, this allows to compile a wider range of Python code into optimized C code.

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Cython 3.0 released [LWN.net]

• Version 3.0 of Cython (described as “”a programming language that makes writing C extensions for the Python language as easy as Python itself””) has been released. Changes include support for Python through 3.11 (but 2.6 support was dropped), the implementation of a number of PEPs, initial support for the CPython limited API, better exception handling, and more.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

=> ↺ DebugPoint ☛ Linux Shells: Bash, Zsh, and Fish Explained

• Linux is powerful because of its versatile command line interface to interact with the system. Central to this experience are the shells, which act as the bridge between users and the Linux kernel. This article will explore three popular Linux shells – Bash, Zsh, and Fish – and delve into their unique features and capabilities.

=> ↺ It’s FOSS ☛ Bash Basics Series #6: Handling String Operations

• In this chapter of the Bash Basics series, learn to perform various common string operations like extracting, replacing and deleting substrings.

Leftovers

Science

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Earth’s Day Was Stuck at 19.5 Hours Long For Over a Billion Years

• Blame the Sun.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Air Quality Worsens Again as Canada Wildfires Smoke Returns to U.S.

• Wildfires in western Canada are expected to create smoky conditions in the United States this week. Parts of the U.S. had unhealthy air in June from wildfires in other parts of Canada.

Hardware

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Chinese chip firm wins trade secrets case against US company

• AMEC filed the first instance suit in the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in December 2010. It won this case in March 2017 and the case was then appealed to the Shanghai High Court.

• {loadposition sam08}”The second-instance judgement follows a six-year battle to protect and safeguard AMEC’s valuable intellectual property,” the company said.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Restaurant association obtains exemption from anti-smoking law

• The association (Canirac) was granted a definitive suspension in favor of its members, who claimed the strict law affected their businesses.

Security

=> ↺ Cybernews ☛ Linux-friendly email program hit by zero-day bug [Ed: "Linux-friendly": how Microsofters blame on "Linux" things that have nothing to do with it]

• Zimbra has issued a warning that its email platform and supporting software are prone to a security glitch that’s being actively exploited by threat actors, a cyber watchdog warned today.

• CybersecurityHelp quoted the email services provider on July 17th as saying: “A security vulnerability in Zimbra Collaboration Suite Version 8.8.15 that could potentially impact the confidentiality and integrity of your data has surfaced.”

• The bug is fresh enough that it has yet to be assigned a CVE docket number, although Zimbra claims it has patched the system flaw.

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

• Security updates have been issued by Fedora (java-1.8.0-openjdk), Red Hat (bind, bind9.16, curl, edk2, java-1.8.0-ibm, kernel, kernel-rt, and kpatch-patch), SUSE (iniparser, installation-images, java-1_8_0-ibm, kernel, libqt5-qtbase, nodejs16, openvswitch, and ucode-intel), and Ubuntu (linux-oem-6.0 and linux-xilinx-zynqmp).

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ No Need to Hack When It’s Leaking.. and Leaking… and Leaking…

• In 2022, DataBreaches filed a watchdog complaint with HHS about a leak of patient information. The patient data appeared to be from a Florida nursing services entity and was exposed in an unsecured Amazon bucket. Attempts by multiple entities to alert the Florida firm to the leak were unsuccessful, as outlined in our previous post.

• This week, I learned that the entity was telling HHS investigators that they had never been contacted by any of the entities I named in my complaint and that it wasn’t their bucket and maybe I had the wrong entity.

• HHS asked me if I could send them evidence to support my claims.

• So I started searching thru my files and contacted Jelle Ursem, one of the researchers who had reported discovering that leak and who had called the entity twice trying to disclose responsibly, to no avail. I also contacted Blue Cross Blue Shield and asked if they had logged their phone call to the entity.

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Phoenician Medical Center notifying 162,500 patients of attack that “disrupted” IT systems

• And while Henry Ford Health is notifying 168,000 patients who are possibly affected by a phishing attack, Phoenician Medical Center in Arizona is notifying 162.500 patients about sounds like it may be a ransomware attack although they don’t say exactly what caused the “disruption” in their IT systems on March 31.

• Their press release makes no mention of offering patients any mitigation services. Perhaps they are offering services to those who call them, or perhaps they think it’s unnecessary for the types of information that was potentially compromised?

=> ↺ CalPERS CEO gives update on data hack that exposed Social Security numbers, birth dates

• The California Public Employee and Retirement System launched its three-day offsite meeting in Monterey with a long-awaited update on a June data breach that exposed Social Security numbers, birth dates and other personal information on nearly 1.2 million retirees and other beneficiaries.

• The update follows a call from California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, who sits on both the CalPERS and CalSTRS boards, for the nation’s two largest public pension funds to hold special meetings and provide members with an update on the organization’s response to the breach.

=> ↺ Click On Detroit ☛ Henry Ford Health confirms data breach affecting 168,000 patients

• Henry Ford Health has confirmed that an email phishing scheme led to a data breach affecting 168,000 patients.

• Patients were told Monday that someone conducting an email phishing scheme gained access to business email accounts on March 30, 2023. That access was quickly discovered, and the email accounts were secured, according to officials.

• Some patient information was contained in the affected emails, but it’s unclear if that information was accessed, according to Henry Ford Health. This discovery was made on May 16. The affected information might have included name, gender, date of birth, age, lab results, procedure type, diagnosis, date of service, telephone number, medical record number and/or internal tracking number.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Wireshark 4.0.7 Released, (Sat, Jul 15th)

• Wireshark version 4.0.7 was released with 2 vulnerabilities and 22 bugs fixed.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ DShield Honeypot Maintenance and Data Retention, (Thu, Jul 13th)

• Some honeypot changes can maintain more local data for analysis, ease the process of analysis and collect new data. This diary will outline some tasks I perform to get more out of my honeypots:

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Loader activity for Formbook “QM18″, (Wed, Jul 12th)

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Controlling network access to ICS systems, (Mon, Jul 3rd)

• After 6 years, I have returned to the world of operating technologies. One of my main concerns at that time regarding the use of new technologies was to seek access control via the network to the different devices that make it up, because unlike the world of information technologies where access is sought to be widespread and there are multiple ways to perform access control at the application and network level, the world of industrial control has limitations depending on the version of the supervision and control protocols that are supported.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ DShield pfSense Client Update, (Fri, Jun 30th)

• The SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) developed the DShield pfSense client in 2017 [1] to support the ingestion of pfSense firewall logs into the DShield project. The pfSense project has also evolved over the years, with some changes in the offerings [2]. With the advent of pfSense Community Edition (CE) 2.7.0 [3, 4] and pfSense Plus 23.01, updates to the DShield client were required to fix unintended issues.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ GuLoader- or DBatLoader/ModiLoader-style infection for Remcos RAT, (Thu, Jun 29th)

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ RFA ☛ Junta blames ‘terrorist drones’ for Sagaing bombing

• Locals say Myanmar’s military shelled the market, injuring 8 civilians.

=> ↺ Reason ☛ A South Korean Apology

• A 27-year-old apologizes for the massacre led by his grandfather.

Environment

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US-China cooperation needed in face of global warming, says John Kerry

• Global warming poses a threat to all humankind and requires a new kind of cooperation between China and the United States, US climate envoy John Kerry told Chinese officials on Tuesday.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ No, Spain’s environment minister didn’t take a private jet to a climate conference

• A video that has garnered tens of millions of views claims to show Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera using a private jet to travel to a climate conference and then hopping on a bicycle to travel the last few kilometres – just in time for the cameras, of course. Some social media users think that they’ve even identified the jet that the minister used. However, in reality, the jet story is fake – Ribera travelled by car to the town where the conference was being held and then biked from her hotel to the conference centre the next day.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US special envoy Kerry holds talks in China aimed at reviving climate diplomacy

• US climate envoy John Kerry held four hours of talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday, reviving stalled diplomacy on reducing planet-warming emissions.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ New Zealand PM Calls for Deepening Cooperation With China

• Prime Minister Hipkins pointed out that his country looks to work together with China to tackle critical global issues such as climate change and environmental protection.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Finland must do more to meet climate goals despite drop in emissions in 2022

• FINLAND remains off track to meet its climate targets and obligations despite a roughly four-per-cent drop in emissions in 2022, reveals the government’s annual climate report published on Friday.

• “Emissions have decreased in both the emission-trading sector and the burden-sharing sector, which covers road transport, agriculture, building heating and also waste,” Outi Honkatukia, the director of the climate department at the Ministry of the Environment, stated to YLE on Friday.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ Florida’s Vanishing Sparrows

• A group of eccentric endangered birds serves as a bellwether of the climate crisis.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ US envoy John Kerry says climate cooperation could redefine US-China ties

• Mr Kerry told China’s top diplomat Wang Yi that talks could provide a fresh start for the two countries.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Why We Should Politicize the Weather

• Climate-related disasters are very much a partisan issue.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Kerry Says U.S. and China Must Set Aside Politics to Tackle Climate Change

• John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, is in Beijing for three days of talks between the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollution.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ At No Labels Event, a Few Disagreements on Policy Seep In

• Senator Joe Manchin III and former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. stressed that they were not a third-party presidential ticket — yet. And on issues like climate and guns, they debated their views.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ “Relentless” heat wave spreads across southern U.S.

• A “relentless” and historic heat wave continues to bring potentially deadly temperatures from the West and Southwest across the South Central states, with more records forecast to fall.

• The big picture: Over 104 million people were under heat alerts on Tuesday morning, stretching across a dozen states from Nevada to Florida, according to heat.gov.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Extreme weather shows how climate is going off the rails

• Monitoring the planet’s climate this summer can give one the impression that the climate system — which includes the oceans, atmosphere, ice sheets and more — has gone off the rails.

• Why it matters: The blitz of extreme weather events is posing dangers to life and infrastructure, and exposing our vulnerabilities even at today’s relatively modest level of warming, about 1.2°C (2.16°F) above preindustrial levels.

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Clean energy gets dirty as politics of transition flare

• As the nation’s clean energy industry ramps up to join the global race to build new power sources, a cabinet minister has reignited the decades-long climate wars in Australia.

• Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Tuesday overshadowed a long-awaited and important announcement about sector-by-sector net-zero plans by taking a swing at his political opponents.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ Turkey sees record-breaking electricity, water consumption amid heatwave

• On Saturday, the country witnessed a new daily high with electricity consumption and İstanbul saw a record-high water usage.

=> ↺ Nineteen forest fires erupt in a day in Turkey’s south, west

• As the summer months roll in, fires have ravaged several areas in the provinces of Hatay, Mersin and Çanakkale.

=> ↺ Highest-ever increase on fuel taxes sparks outrage in Turkey

• The recent surge in fuel taxes is anticipated to exacerbate the already high inflationary pressures.

=> ↺ European Commission ☛ Brazil: EIB lends €300 million to Banco Santander Brasil for small-scale solar energy investments

• European Commission Press release Brussels, 17 Jul 2023 The European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest multilateral public bank, and Banco Santander (Brasil), the largest foreign bank in Brazil, have signed an agreement to foster the use of renewable energy in Brazil

=> ↺ Michael West Media ☛ Renewable energy projects not immune to inflation sting

• Renewable energy remains Australia’s cheapest option for new sources of electricity but cost pressures are eating into capital, the national science agency says.

• Modelling released on Tuesday shows renewables construction and installation costs rising by one-fifth on average, but the energy source remains more cost effective than new gas or coal plants.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ Cybercriminals stole $666 million from cryptocurrency projects in first half of 2022

• The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was launched way back in 2009. That means cryptocurrencies are a teenager now and yet it still feels like the Wild Wild West in cryptoland. It is ironic that cryptocurrency, a new digital currency often touted as being more secure than traditional currencies, has been hacked so frequently.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Pro Publica ☛ FEMA Has Paid Out Less Than 1% of What Congress Set Aside for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire Damages

• A couple months after two planned fires escaped to become the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, President Joe Biden promised to “fully compensate survivors.” Late last year, Congress allocated $3.95 billion to do so.

• Seven months later, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid only about $3 million in claims.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Canada’s massive wildfire problem is worsening

• Orange skies in New York City may have faded, but the wildfires in Canada have not. Those blazes keep raging and have worsened over the past month, bringing more smoke to the US—along with more air quality alerts.

Finance

=> ↺ Mexico News Daily ☛ Supreme Court rules airlines must partly refund overbooked flights

• Airlines must partially refund passengers who are denied boarding due to overbooking, rules Mexico’s top court.

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ The G20 isn’t taking the debt of poor countries seriously

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ DeSantis, Haley and Pence Attack Democrats in Speeches Supporting Israel

• President Biden and progressive congresswomen were the focus of Republican presidential hopefuls’ criticism at the Christians United for Israel Summit.

=> ↺ Zimbabwe ☛ When govts and citizens wage Twitter wars – can we learn anything from Saudi Arabia? [Ed: Don't overlook the fact Saudi Arabia partly owns Twitter (and has for over a decade); it has moles inside the sniff out dissidents and it censors the platform for the entire planet. You cannot advocate human rights in Twitter because the mere act of posting in Twitter is an affront to human rights.]

• Election season is in full swing in Zimbabwe, and politicians are working overtime to drum up support. However, it is interesting to note that social media is not playing as big a role in this effort as radio and television.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ In Congress, Democrats’ Rift Over Israel Flares on Eve of Herzog Visit

• After a leading progressive called Israel “a racist state,” Democratic leaders criticized the statement. But a planned boycott of the Israeli president’s speech by liberals underscored tensions.

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ Elon Musk’s Twitter: Everything you need to know, from layoffs to verification

• Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter, where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter.

• The Tesla and SpaceX CEO first announced his bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, zealously driven to rid the platform of spam bots and protect free speech.

• “This is just my strong, intuitive sense that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization,” Musk said at a TED conference on the day he made his offer. “I don’t care about the economics at all.”

=> ↺ Quartz ☛ Elon Musk said Twitter’s ad revenue has halved

• Back in March, Twitter owner Elon Musk said there was a chance the company would report positive cashflow in the next quarter. A month later, Musk suggested most advertisers who’d fled the site had returned. But June has come and gone, and Twitter still has cashflow issues, by Musk’s own admission.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Threads Reaches One-Fifth the Number of Weekly Active Users on Twitter — In A Week

• Threads has achieved more than 150 million downloads in just a week—reaching one-fifth of Twitter’s weekly active user base in the process. The app has been an overnight success for parent Meta, who saw an opportunity in the wake of Twitter’s newly Musk-induced floundering.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Twitter’s Elon Musk reports ‘negative cash flow, due to 50% drop in advertising revenue’

• Twitter owner Elon Musk said Saturday that the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last October has lost roughly half of its advertising revenue.

=> ↺ Axios ☛ DeSantis fires staff, scales back travel as polls dip below 20%

• Signs are piling up that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is hitting “reset” on his 2024 presidential bid, including by firing campaign staff, scaling back his travel and shaking up his media strategy.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ New Jersey Supreme Court: If Cops Are Going To Digitally Wiretap A Facebook Account, They Need A Wiretap Order

• Gathering evidence has never been easier than it is now. So much is created so easily and so often. And there are so many access points for law enforcement.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ Free Speech Upsets Powers That Be

• The Biden administration, along with mainstream politicians and journalists, are really upset that U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty has forbidden the executive branch of the central government from communicating with social-media platforms for the purpose of censoring or otherwise suppressing constitutionally protected speech.

=> ↺ RFA ☛ From exile, ‘Crazy Zhang’ vows to keep putting out hard-hitting music

• Chinese officials demand satirical singer-songwriter delete his Twitter account

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ The Guardian UK ☛ TechScape: ‘Lives are ruined in an afternoon’ – social media and the Huw Edwards story

• Content moderation and algorithmic safeguards are meant to help protect the privacy of people in legally contentious cases. So what went wrong?

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Internet Society ☛ An Internet Champion for Africa: Remembering Pierre Ouédraogo

• On 13 July 2023, the African Internet technical community lost one of its stars, Pierre Ouédraogo, fondly known by his peers as “Pierre O.” Pierre was such an important part of the community that it is difficult to imagine it without him.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Spain Fines Apple and Amazon $218 Million for Elbowing Out Small Retailers

• Amazon and Apple were fined a total of 194 million euros ($218 million) Tuesday for colluding to box out competitors by favoring sales of Apple products directly from the online retail giant, Spain’s antitrust watchdog said.

• Amazon and Apple reached agreements in 2018 that limited the free competition of third-party sellers who hawk Apple goods through Amazon’s platform for smaller retailers, according to Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission, which oversees Spanish markets for antitrust violations.

• “The investigated behaviors could be restricting competition in the sectors of the Internet sale of electronic products, and the provision of marketing services to third-party retailers through online platforms (Marketplace) in Spain,” the regulator said.

• The tech giants also limited the capacity for third parties to advertise Apple products on Amazon, according to Spanish regulators. In addition, the companies are accused of reaching a deal that limited Amazon’s ability to direct advertising toward customers of Apple products or offer them products of competing electronics makers.

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