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● 07.24.23

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● Links 24/07/2023: Sparky 2023.07 Special Editions

Posted in News Roundup at 8:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linuxiac ☛ Juno Tab 2 Linux Tablet Ships with Debian, Ubuntu, Manjaro, or Mobian

• Juno Tab 2, a Linux-powered tablet with an 11″ screen and Intel N5100 CPU is now available for pre-order. The price starts at $525.

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: July 23rd, 2023

• This week we got some pretty cool news, starting with our exclusive article about Firefox 116’s upcoming hardware-accelerated video playback for Raspberry Pi 4 devices, Debian Bookworm’s highly-anticipated first point release with lots of bug fixes, and Inkscape’s major 1.3 release with lots of goodies for SVG fans.

• On top of that, I show you how to upgrade to Linux Mint 21.2 and tell you all about the new VirtualBox, SparkyLinux, Qt Creator, Proton, NVIDIA, and Shotwell releases. You can read this week’s hottest news and access all the distro and package downloads in 9to5Linux’s Linux weekly roundup for July 23rd, 2023, below.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Linux User Space Episode 4:01: RHEL Tough Choices

• Coming up in this episode

• • The Catchup Episode (We’ve missed so much!)

• • The Red Hat Recap

• • Browser Watch…ing!

• • Some feedback, and a focus

=> ↺ Jupiter Broadcasting ☛ [Older] Our Essentials Apps | Self-Hosted 100

• We cover our must-have self-hosted apps, reflect on the state of Self-Hosting now, and discuss what’s new in Proxmox 8.

=> ↺ Jupiter Broadcasting ☛ To Infinity and Berlin | LINUX Unplugged 520

• Do they build them better in Germany? We try out the next-generation InfinityBook Pro 14 and dig into TUXEDO OS.

=> ↺ GNU World Order (Audio Show) ☛ GNU World Order 522

• gamin , gc , gcr , gd , gdbm , gdk-pixbuf2 , **gdk-

• pixbuf2-xlib** , gegl , gexiv , giflib from the l software set

• in Slackware, and a disussion of the state of Free Software.

• shasum -a256=983446dd3fb8abe357a95f61a0c1166d710b102858e1a3939d83e1ed4782183b

Kernel Space

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 6.4.6

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 6.1.41

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 5.15.122

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 5.10.187

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 5.4.250

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Linux 4.19.289

=> ↺ Linux Plumbers Conference (LPC) ☛ Linux Plumbers Conference: All microconferences are now accepting topics!

• Here are the list of microconferences at the 2023 Linux Plumbers Conference: [...]

Applications

=> ↺ Real Linux User ☛ How Ulauncher can give you superpowers in Linux

• While the various Linux distributions allow you to neatly organize your applications into categories so that you can easily find and launch them later…

=> ↺ Linux Links ☛ Awesome Linux Game Tools: ProtonUp-Qt

• ProtonUp-Qt is software which helps you install custom builds of Proton such as GE-Proton. ProtonUp-Qt sports a graphical front-end

• [...]

• Anyone that plays games on Linux will be familiar with tools like Wine and Proton. This software lets you play Windows-only games on Linux. Many people use Wine through a game launcher (Steam, Heroic Games Launcher, or Lutris) which let you run software such as Proton Experimental, a ‘cutting edge’ or ‘bleeding edge’ version which includes more recent updates.

• But there are other forks of Proton and Wine available which sometimes address bugs and offer additional support for games.

• ProtonUp-Qt is software which helps you install custom builds of Proton such as GE-Proton. ProtonUp-Qt sports a graphical front-end (yes, you guessed it using Qt) and is published under an open source license.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Cerebro: Desktop Search Assistant (Free software)

• Cerebro is a multi-platform desktop app that helps the user to search their machine or the internet with no more than a few clicks.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Helix: A post-modern text editor. (Free app)

• Helix is a Kakoune / Neovim inspired editor, written in Rust.

• The editing model is very heavily based on Kakoune; during development

• • Vim-like modal editing

• • Multiple selections

• • Built-in language server support

• • Smart, incremental syntax highlighting and code editing via tree-sitter

• macOS Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, NixOS, AppImage, Flatpak), Windows

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Dia: Design flowcharts, UML diagrams and Databases (Free software)

• Dia is a free open-source program for designing and building technical diagrams. It is fairly easy to use and can be installed on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ cool-retro-term: terminal emulator which mimics the old cathode display (Free app)

• cool-retro-term is a terminal emulator which mimics the look and feel of the old cathode tube screens. It has been designed to be eye-candy, customizable, and reasonably lightweight.

=> ↺ Linux Links ☛ 5 Best Free and Open Source Web Based Genome Browsers

• A Genome browser provides a graphical interface for users to browse, search, retrieve and analyze genomic sequence and annotation data.

=> ↺ OMG! Linux ☛ Shotwell 0.32.2 Adds Support for HIF (Yes, HIF) Images

• Photographers rejoice — a new stable version of open-source photo manager Shotwell has been released.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Beekeeper Studio: Modern and easy to use SQL client for MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, SQL Server, and more (Free app)

• Beekeeper Studio is a cross-platform SQL editor and database manager available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Beekeeper Studio Community Edition is GPL licensed so it is free (libre) and free (gratis).

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Calibre: ebook reader (Free app)

• calibre is an e-book manager. It can view, convert, edit and catalog e-books in all of the major e-book formats. It can also talk to e-book reader devices.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ PDF4Teachers: The PDF Editor That Every Teacher Should Have (Free app)

• PDF4Teachers is a free open-source app specifically designed for teachers to annotate assessments returned in PDF with high productivity. As of V1.1.0, PDF4Teachers is now fully translated into English, making it even more accessible.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ OCRmyPDF: OCRmyPDF adds an OCR text layer to scanned PDF files, allowing them to be searched (Free software)

• OCRmyPDF is a free open-source command-line tool that adds an OCR text layer to scanned PDF files, allowing them to be searched or copy-pasted. It is already being used to scan and search millions of heavy PDF files.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ MarkText: A Simple and elegant markdown editor (Free software)

• MarkText is an MIT licensed open source project, and the latest version will always be downloadable for free from the GitHub release page.

• Realtime preview (WYSIWYG) and a clean and simple interface to get a distraction-free writing experience.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Onivim: Native, lightweight modal code editor (Free software)

• Onivim 2 is a reimagination of the Oni editor. Onivim 2 aims to bring the speed of Sublime, the language integration of VSCode, and the modal editing experience of Vim together, in a single package.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ qutebrowser: A keyboard-driven, vim-like browser based on Python and Qt. (Free software)

• qutebrowser is a keyboard-focused browser with a minimal GUI. It’s based on Python and Qt and free software, licensed under the GPL.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Colorpicker: A mininal but complete colorpicker desktop app (Free software)

• Colorpicker is a desktop tool with Electron to get and save colors code quickly for OSX, Windows and Linux!

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ neovim: hyperextensible Vim-based text editor (Free app)

• neovim is a free open-source hyperextensible Vim-based text editor

• • Modern GUIs

• • API access from any language including C/C++, C#, Clojure, D, Elixir, Go, Haskell, Java/Kotlin, JavaScript/Node.js, Julia, Lisp, Lua, Perl, Python, Racket, Ruby, Rust

• • Embedded, scriptable terminal emulator

• • Asynchronous job control

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Helpy: GDPR-Compliant Free Self-hosted Tickets Management System for Agencies and Teams

• Helpy is a highly advanced helpdesk platform which has been developed using the powerful Ruby on Rails framework, and is available for use under the MIT license.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ micro: a modern and intuitive terminal-based text editor (Free software)

• micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive, while also taking advantage of the capabilities of modern terminals. It comes as a single, batteries-included, static binary with no dependencies; you can download and use it right now!

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ 3dfier: The open-source tool for creating 3D models (Free program)

• Takes 2D GIS datasets (e.g. topographical datasets) and “3dfies” them (as in “making them three-dimensional”) by lifting every polygon to 3D. The elevation is obtained from a point cloud (we support LAS/LAZ at this moment), and the semantics of every polygon is used to perform the lifting.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ ImageOptim: makes images load faster (Free software)

• ImageOptim allows you to remove bloated metadata. Save disk space & bandwidth by compressing images without losing quality.

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ Bdash: Simple SQL Client for lightweight data analysis. (Free program)

• Simple SQL Client for lightweight data analysis.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Crack Hashes with rcracki_mt: A Complete Guide to Generating Rainbow Tables in Kali Linux

=> ↺ TecAdmin ☛ How to Allow GET and POST Methods Only in Apache

• Apache HTTP Server, colloquially known as Apache, is one of the most popular and widely used web server software systems in the world. It offers numerous features, including the ability to restrict access to resources based on HTTP methods.

=> ↺ Vitux ☛ Install PHP IP Address Management Software (phpIPAM) on Debian

• In this guide, we’ll show you how to install and configure the latest version of phpIPAM on Debian to manage your companies’ IP addresses.

=> ↺ DNS Enumeration: A Comprehensive Guide Using dnsenum in Kali Linux

• You have lots of questions when you visit a website, one of them is DNS (Domain Name server).

=> ↺ OSNote ☛ Install PHP Server Monitor on Debian

• In this guide, we will learn how to install and configure the latest version of PHP Server Monitor on Debian to monitor websites or services.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ Install and Configure Filebeat on Raspberry Pi ARM64 to Parse DShield Sensor Logs, (Sun, Jul 23rd)

• Follow the step-by-step instructions provided to install our DShield Sensor using Raspberry Pi Imager with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit).

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

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Kubernetes on Debian 12. For those of you who didn’t know, Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration platform, has revolutionized the management and scalability of containerized applications. Installing Kubernetes on Debian 12 “Bookworm” allows you to harness the power and flexibility of this cutting-edge technology.

=> ↺ ID Root ☛ How To Install Timeshift on Fedora 38

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Timeshift on Fedora 38. For those of you who didn’t know, Timeshift is a revolutionary system restore utility for Linux, designed to create incremental snapshots of your system at regular intervals.

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

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install CodeIgniter on Debian 12. CodeIgniter, a powerful PHP framework, is the go-to choice for developers seeking to build feature-rich and dynamic web applications.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Remove Empty Lines from Text Files in Python

• Python, a high-level, interpreted programming language, is celebrated for its simplicity and versatility. It offers a wide array of built-in functions and modules that make it a powerful tool for various tasks, including text file manipulation. One common task in text file manipulation is the removal of empty lines.

=> ↺ Net2 ☛ How to use symbolic links on Linux

• Symbolic links (or Symlinks) are files that act as shortcuts or references to another file or directory.

=> ↺ Own HowTo ☛ How to Install Thunderbird on Debian 12 “Bookworm”

• Thunderbird is an open source email app that you can use to manage your emails on Linux. The good thing about thunderbird is that, it is a cross-app, which means you can use it on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

=> ↺ Vitux ☛ How to Install EFK Stack (Elasticsearch, Fluentd and Kibana) on Ubuntu

• Elasticsearch is an open-source search engine based on Lucene, developed in Java. It provides a distributed and multitenant full-text search engine with an HTTP Dashboard web interface (Kibana).

=> ↺ nixCraft ☛ How to check for ssh connectivity in a shell script

• Let us see how to check for ssh connectivity in a shell script running under macOS, FreeBSD, or Linux/Unix desktop using BatchMode=yes and ConnectTimeout=$VALUE options. This simple trick helps write a wrapper script that does other things, such as making a backup or running external command agents such as Salt or Ansible to do other tasks.

=> ↺ Unlocking Remote Access: A Step-by-Step Guide to Enable SSH in Ubuntu

• Do you know what is SSH? If yes then move to the next step how to enable ssh in ubuntu.

Games

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Upgrading and Testing the Steam Deck’s SSD: Seven Drives Benchmarked

• The Steam Deck comes with a base configuration offering just 64GB of eMMC storage, with upgraded models providing 256GB and 512GB SSDs. We’ve tested a collection of M.2 2230 SSDs that are all 1TB or 2TB in capacity and checked SSD performance on the Steam Deck.

=> ↺ Linux Links ☛ Awesome Linux Game Tools: ProtonUp-Qt

• Anyone that plays games on Linux will be familiar with tools like Wine and Proton. This software lets you play Windows-only games on Linux. Many people use Wine through a game launcher (Steam, Heroic Games Launcher, or Lutris) which let you run software such as Proton Experimental, a ‘cutting edge’ or ‘bleeding edge’ version which includes more recent updates.

• But there are other forks of Proton and Wine available which sometimes address bugs and offer additional support for games.

• ProtonUp-Qt is software which helps you install custom builds of Proton such as GE-Proton. ProtonUp-Qt sports a graphical front-end (yes, you guessed it using Qt) and is published under an open source license.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ This Week in GNOME ☛ Felix Häcker: #105 Legendary Saturday Edition

• Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from July 15 to July 22. [...]

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ Menu fully translated

• What this means, is whatever language you choose at first bootup, the menu at bottom-left of the tray will have all entries in your chosen language.

• Apart from menu translations already submitted, there also translations for all languages supported by Google Translate. This has been done automatically, over a few days. Here are recent commits to show what has been happening: [...]

=> ↺ Barry Kauler ☛ Rebuild ROX-Filer right-click menu when update

• Rox file manager has a right-click menu that offers mime-appropriate apps to launch the file being clicked on. For example, right-click on a HTML file will offer Chromium and Geany. If there are appropriate user-installed apps, they will also be offered, for example Firefox and SeaMonkey.

• However, it goes wrong when there is a version update; the user-installed apps are no longer in the right-click menu.

• I have been aware of this bug for a long time, but never got around to fixing it. You can fix it yourself after doing a version update, just run this in a terminal: [...]

=> ↺ HaikuOS ☛ [GSoC 2023] .NET Developer Platform – Progress Report #4 [Ed: Why is Google funding .NET encumbrances? Does Google refuse to recognise a threat?]

• C# bindings for some parts of the Haiku API is now available, along with basic .NET SDK support for building Haiku applications, in a .NET workload (more details below).

=> ↺ Gentoo ☛ Week 8 Report, Automated Gentoo System Updater [Ed: Why is Gentoo stuff being outsourced to Microsoft proprietary prisons? Is Google OK with it?]

• This article is a summary of all the changes made on Automated Gentoo System Updater project during week 8 of GSoC.

=> ↺ Gentoo ☛ Week 8 report on porting Gentoo packages to modern C

• Hello all, I’m here with my week 8 report on Modern C porting of Gentoo’s packages.

• Testing environments are set. I now have three environments to test my PRs on. – GCC 13 with glibc – Clang-16 with llvm profile – Clang-16 with musl-llvm profile

• Much of it goes to juippis who gave me the instructions for creating custom lxc images using gentoo stage-3 tar balls. This has helped me immensely, I can now have testing environment ready in only couple of minutes and keep untouched clean environments at ready.

• Coming to my work, it’s has remained the same, I’ve picked up various random bugs from the tracker list and worked on them. But I’ve come to the realization that my work isn’t just limited to c99 or c11 porting. It’s is mix between c99 porting, using Clang-16 as the default compiler and perhaps using lld as the system linker as well. Which of course I’m very happy about.

• Another thing that Sam brought up is that it’s always the best to inform him whenever I’m or I’m not sending patches upstream, because it’s in my initial proposal to send patches upstream and sometimes it’s very important because often times the developers of the packages know better about the codebase and can offer more in sights about what would be the best practice.

• Coming next week, I plan to work more on reducing the bug from the tracker, mainly picking up bugs from the tracker and send patching them.

• Also, work with Sam and Joonas on my already submitted patches as they have started to review my PRs. Not to mention I’ve to take care about sending patches upstream whenever possible, as Sam mentioned.

• Till then, see ya!

New Releases

=> ↺ ZDNet ☛ Elive 3.8.34 is a thing of beauty that any old-school Linux user would love

• The Enlightenment desktop holds a special place in my heart. You see, back in my earlier days of starting out with Linux, Enlightenment was the window manager, compositor, and minimal desktop that helped me to transition from AfterStep into a more modern world of the open-source operating system. Although I truly enjoyed my time with AfterStep, it became clear it wasn’t going to stand the test of time.

• Ergo…Enlightenment.

• Enlightenment was a minimal desktop that offered maximum configurations and was lightweight enough that even slower machines seemed far faster than they really were.

=> ↺ Linuxiac ☛ Neptune 8.0 “Juna” Released Based on Debian 12

• Regarding operating systems, Debian-based distributions offer a rich and varied landscape for users to explore.

• From the user-friendly Ubuntu to the robust Debian itself and an extensive list of others like MX Linux, Deepin, Kali Linux, etc., each distribution brings its blend of features, design philosophies, and target audiences.

BSD

=> ↺ DragonFly BSD Digest ☛ Lazy Reading for 2023/07/23

• No theme this week. All the Nerds Are Dead.  “But maybe the most characteristic feature of nerd culture is its total lack of irony.”  (via) Hidden BeOS installs. A bit of Unix history on ‘su -‘.

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

=> ↺ Linux Magazine ☛ Mageia 9 RC1 is Now Available for Download

• The first release candidate of Mageia 9 is now available. This first look at the latest release follows the last beta release from May 2023 and has resolved several “stubborn” issues as well as included a number of security fixes and updates.

• As far as updated packages are concerned, you’ll find kernel 6.4.3, glib 2.36, gcc 12.3.0, rpm 4.18.0, Chromium 114.0.5735.198, Firefox ESR 102.13, LibreOffice 7.5.4.2 and Mesa 23.1.3.

• As far as desktops are concerned, Mageia 9 makes available the following: KDE Plasma 5.27.5, GNOME 44.2, Xfce 4.18.4, and LXQt 1.3.0.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ SUSE’s Corporate Blog ☛ openSUSE, choosing your own destiny during the install

• When you embark on the journey of installing openSUSE Leap 15.5, one of the first milestones you’ll come across is a screen prompting you to select your System Role. This screen, while seemingly straightforward, can often leave users scratching their heads.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ RHEL source availability: Questions over whether Red Hat is violating GPL

• This licence allows modification and redistribution of source code, but makes it obligatory for such distributors to provide a means for the targets of the distributing to obtain a copy of the modified code. In Red Hat’s case, it now appears to be an open question of whether the company is really meeting this requirement.

• Moderated by SFC policy fellow Bradley Kuhn, the panel included AlmaLinux board chair Benny Vasquez, Samba co-founder and CIQ software engineer Jeremy Allison, and Oracle chief architect for Open Source Policy, Strategy, Compliance, and Alliances, James Wright.

=> ↺ Finextra Research ☛ How to design a payments system that never fails [“This content has been created by the Finextra editorial team with inputs from subject matter experts at the funding sponsor.” So Red Hat probably paid for this puff piece, then Red Hat Official ☛ linked to it]

=> ↺ Finextra Research ☛ How to design a payments system that never fails [“This content has been created by the Finextra editorial team with inputs from subject matter experts at the funding sponsor.” So Red Hat probably paid for this puff piece, then Red Hat Official ☛ linked to it]

=> ↺ The New Stack ☛ How We Built an MLOps Platform and the Lessons We Learned [Ed: "INSIGHTS FROM OUR SPONSOR"... Red Hat buying space in sites, then links to its promotional stuff from this "marketing manager"]

=> ↺ Red Hat Official ☛ Application modernization: The importance of an opinionated workflow

• In earlier discussions, we highlighted the importance of aligning modernization efforts with business outcomes and corporate strategic alignment. We also explored the challenges associated with modernizing applications in an enterprise environment, including siloed culture and unexpected regulation or policy problems. Considering these factors, it becomes clear that achieving the desired value from modernization requires an approach that takes into account enterprise-specific details. It’s important to note that this approach may not always result in the ideal or perfect technical solution. To help us navigate these challenges and achieve the desired outcome, let’s explore the concept of opinionated workflows.

=> ↺ Red Hat ☛ Troubleshooting Open vSwitch: Is the kernel to blame?

• Often, when troubleshooting Open vSwitch (OVS) in the field, you might be left wondering if the issue is really OVS-related, or if it’s a problem with the kernel being overloaded. The kernel_delay.py tool can help you quickly identify if the focus of your investigation should be OVS or the Linux kernel.

=> ↺ Red Hat ☛ How to integrate Spring Boot 3, Spring Security, and Keycloak

• Quite some time ago, Keycloak deprecated its adapters, including OpenID connect for Java adapters. For Spring Boot developers, this means we need to use Spring Security for OpenID and OAuth2 connectivity with Keycloak instead of relying on Keycloak adapters.

• In this article, we’ll create a sample Java application on top of Spring Boot 3 and protect it by using Spring Security and Keycloak, without having to use Keycloak adapters.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian 12.1 “Bookworm” Released with 89 Bug Fixes and 26 Security Updates

=> ↺ OMG! Linux ☛ Debian 12.1 Released with Package Updates, Security Fixes

• Debian 12 ‘Bookworm’ has just received its first sizeable update.

=> ↺ 9to5Linux ☛ Debian GNU/Linux Is Now Officially Supported on the RISC-V Architecture

• If you wanted to run Debian GNU/Linux on the RISC-V architecture, an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) based on the established reduced instruction set computing (RISC) principles, you had to rely on a Debian port for 64-bit little-endian RISC-V hardware running the Linux kernel.

• Not anymore, as the RISC-V (riscv64) architecture is now officially supported and you can browse the archive here or if you want to add it in your sources.list file. However, RISC-V is only available for the Debian Sid (Unstable) and Debian Experimental suites and the archive is almost empty at the moment of writing.

=> ↺ Daniel Pocock ☛ Italy visa & residence permit: Albanian Outreachy, Wikimedia & Debian tighten control over woman

• At the time of the Debian Bug Squashing Party (BSP) in early 2018, the Albanian woman told me she was learning Italian and she wanted to spend the summer working as a waitress in Italy. Some cousins were already there and she hoped to live closer to them. In subsequent conversations with this woman, she reminded me of her search for employment in Italy to qualify for a residence permit. Even after working there on a temporary permit in the holiday season, she really wanted to find an ongoing job to qualify for residence.

• She was controversially given an Outreachy internship with Debian at the end of 2019.

• A few weeks after becoming an Outreachy, the woman from Albania was given a job with Wikimedia Italy. This job would appear to qualify her for a permanent residence in Italy.

• According to LinkedIn, she started the Wikimedia job shortly after Outreachy. They have employed her as a community manager or program manager, not as a developer.

• The woman told us that she was trained to use basic tools like Git during her Debian-funded Outreachy. Did Debian funds pay to train a woman for another organization? Why can’t every volunteer use Debian funds to train their girlfriend to use Git?

• The woman’s Wikimedia profile states that she has been seconded to OpenStreetmap. Her former boyfriend (before Debian) was from OpenStreetmap Belgium.

• Is open source a community of professionals or a community of couples?

=> ↺ Sparky GNU/Linux ☛ Sparky 2023.07 Special Editions

• There are new iso images of Sparky 2023.07 Special Editions out there: GameOver, Multimedia and Rescue. The March update of Sparky Special Edition iso images features Linux kernel 6.3.7, updated packages from Debian and Sparky testing repos as of July 22, 2023, and most changes introduced at the 2023.07 release.

=> ↺ Wouter Verhelst: Debconf Videoteam sprint in Paris, France, 2023-07-20 – 2023-07-23

• The DebConf video team has been sprinting in preparation for DebConf 23 which will happen in Kochi, India, in September of this year.

• Present were Nicolas “olasd” Dandrimont, Stefano “tumbleweed” Rivera, and yours truly. Additionally, Louis-Philippe “pollo” Véronneau and Carl “CarlFK” Karsten joined the sprint remotely from across the pond.

• Thank you to the DPL for agreeing to fund flights, food, and accomodation for the team members. We would also like to extend a special thanks to the Association April for hosting our sprint at their offices.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Linux Hint ☛ How to Download the Official Windows 10/11 ISO Image without Any Extra Tools – The Easy Way

• Comprehensive guide on how to download the official Windows 10/11 ISO image without using the Windows Media Creation Tool or other third-party software/apps.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ CZUR ET24 Pro book scanner review with Ubuntu 22.04 Linux

• If you haven’t already, I strongly recommended reading the unboxing part of the CZUR ET24 Pro review, as we go through the specifications, show the various interfaces of the scanner, showcase the various accessories, and also try it out with the HDMI interface in presentation/preview mode. It will help you better understand the second part of the review, where we’ll connect the CZUR ET24 Pro scanner to a Ubuntu 22.04 laptop using the provided USB cable.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ India Times ☛ Android: You can now run Android phone apps on Chromebooks without installing them – Times of India

=> ↺ Gizmo China ☛ These Samsung devices will not get Android 14-based One UI 6.0 update

=> ↺ SlashGear ☛ 8 Smart Home Devices Every Android User Should Use

=> ↺ Mirror UK ☛ Quick Android tricks to speed up your phone take seconds – but could save you hours – Mirror Online

=> ↺ Business Insider ☛ Instagram Boss Says ‘Android’s Now Better Than iOS’

• Instagram head Adam Mosseri’s best tech “hot take”? He believes Google’s Android platform has surpassed Apple’s iOS.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Content Management Systems (CMS)

=> ↺ WordPress ☛ WordPress 6.3 Live Product Demo – Highlights & Recording

• Watch a demonstration of some of the newest features of WordPress 6.3, recorded live on July 20, 2023.

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk Eddelbuettel: #41: Another r2u Example – Really Simple CI

• Welcome to the 41th post in the $R^4 series.

=> ↺ Qt ☛ What’s new in QML Language Server (qmlls) shipped with Qt 6.6

• The QML Language Server shipped with Qt 6.6 comes with exciting new code-navigation features that we will demonstrate in this blog post. But first things first, what is QML Language Server?

Python

=> ↺ Python Installation on Linux with Hands-on Examples

• Python is a high-level, interpreted, and general-purpose programming language known for its simplicity and readability. Top universities have adopted it widely as the primary language to introduce students to programming. Even the top MNCs like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and more rely on Python as the

Leftovers

=> ↺ Tedium ☛ The Gloss of Americana

• Our latest set of glossary entries, on the nature of American culture, aims to move well beyond the stars and stripes. American culture is way too nuanced for that.

=> ↺ Tedium ☛ Running With The Devil

• The tale of the Jersey Devil, a cryptid whose background moved from feudal byproduct to museum hoax to sports-team mascot in the span of about 250 years.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ RoboPianist Is A Simulation For Advancing Robotic Control

• Researchers at Google have posed themselves an interesting problem to solve: mastering the piano. However, they’re not trying to teach themselves, but a pair of simulated anthropomorphic robotic hands instead. Enter RoboPianist.

Science

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Giant Swirling Plasma Waves Detected at The Edge of Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

=> ↺ Science Alert ☛ Landmark Trial Suggests Hearing Aids Help Reduce Cognitive Decline

• This could make a real difference.

Education

=> ↺ Axios ☛ The Republican war on colleges

• Former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the two GOP presidential frontrunners, have both promised a crackdown on colleges should they occupy the White House — a stark reflection of the right’s growing skepticism of higher education.

Hardware

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Khadas Mind Raptor Lake portable mini PC supports desktop dock, laptop dock, and external GPU dock

• Khadas Mind “portable workstation” is an ultrathin mini PC powered by an Intel Core i7-1360P 12-core Raptor Lake processor, with 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, and a “Mind Link” connector with a PCIe 5.0 interface designed for docking to a desktop dock, a laptop shell, an external GPU for gaming, and so on. The mini PC itself has a limited number of ports with two USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.0 video output, and two USB 3.0 ports, but that’s sufficient when traveling, and the Mind Dock can add extra ports at home for multiple display setups and 2.5GbE networking, while the Mind xPlay battery-powered portable display can convert it into a 2-in-1 laptop, and the Mind Graphics eGPU into a high-end gaming station.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ ButtonBoard is a 3cm round WiFi IoT board with BME280 and IMU sensors (Crowdfunding)

• ButtonBoard is a tiny round-shaped board based on the ESP-01F WiFi IoT module (ESP8285), equipped with a BME280 air pressure, humidity, and temperature sensor, an IMU sensor, and designed for wearables electronics projects. ButtonBoard specifications: Wireless module – ESP-01F module with ESP8285 Tensilica L106 microcontroller @ 80/160 MHz with 2.4GHz WiFi connectivity, PCB antenna; package: 11 x 10 mm USB – Micro USB port Sensors Bosch Sensortec BME280 pressure, temperature, and humidity sensor, and altimeter.

=> ↺ Hackaday ☛ Proper Decoupling Capacitors

• If you’ve been building circuits for any length of time, you probably know you need decoupling capacitors to keep your circuits stable. But even though it’s a favorite technique of ours, just scattering some around you PCB and hoping for the best isn’t necessarily the best approach. If you want to dig deeper into the why and how of decoupling, check out [Stephen Fleeman’s] post on the topic.

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ Feature-rich, low-profile Rockchip RK3588 SBC is made for digital signage displays, industrial PCs, NVR, and more

• Shenzhen Runwelltec RWA027-RK3588 is a low-profile SBC powered by a Rockchip RK3588 and equipped with plenty of connectors and ports.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

Axios ☛ McCarthy agenda divides Democrats on crime, COVID, Israel and moreOne of the defining skills of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) tenure is his ability to identify issues that divide moderate Democrats from their more progressive counterparts.Why it matters: On issues ranging from crime, immigration, energy policy, COVID-19 mandates and, most recently, Israel, McCarthy has brought bills to the floor that win bipartisan support from Republicans and a sizable number of Democrats — while both marginalizing and raising the profile of polarizing progressives.McCarthy rose to power in the GOP conference as a political operator, not a policy wonk. He’s more attuned to how Republicans can keep the House majority than crafting consequential legislation in a divided Congress.While many of these votes are symbolic, they’re designed to re-emerge in campaign advertisements against vulnerable Democrats in 2024.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ MN urges Medical Assistance recipients to complete eligibility check

• States are checking Medicaid eligibility for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ If computer games are making Hong Kong kids miserable, make the real world a more attractive place to live

• Hong Kong kids are not happy. This distressing conclusion was a by-product of a survey conducted by the Hong Kong College of Technology Institute of Higher Education and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, aimed at discovering the extent of gaming disorder. Gaming disorder is apparently an unreasonable obsession with computer games.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

=> ↺ Windows Central ☛ Is it time to move on from Surface Duo? [Ed: The "original" Surface, a "big ass table", died fast; now this one two is dead]

• There has been a battle raging in my mind ever since the first Duo was announced as to whether I should invest in another Microsoft mobile effort. I was excited about the hardware on offer and the vision for what the device was meant to be, and I nearly went for it. Nearly. It has been in my shopping cart numerous times, but it never happened. Congrats to myself for some self-restraint for once!

• Even though I’ve not owned a Surface Duo I’ve been able to build a solid perspective on it through a number of friends and content creators who have used both of the Duo’s since their respective releases. It was very clear to me that having two screens instead of one that folded was rather beneficial in many ways.

Security

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ SentinelLabs chief slams Microsoft response to Azure breach

• The attackers gained access through an Azure vulnerability discovered last month by the State Department, according to anonymous officials who spoke to the Washington Post.

• Microsoft has been obfuscating about the incident, most recently denying a detailed technical post about the breach by cloud security firm Wiz, after having given its blessing to the post.

• Guerrero-Saade said he had the “utmost respect” for the Microsoft Threat Information Centre. “I can’t overstate my strong support for the folks at MSTIC (MISTY now?), DART, and past MSRC, admirable researchers and caring folks who do amazing things with little credit, making outsized impact on multiple fronts (like Ukraine), I admire and respect all of you,” he wrote.

• “Mind you most of these folks don’t get much recognition, they aren’t paid nearly as well as they should be, they’re dealing with a litany of lawyers, they don’t have conference travel budgets; if they’re not doing it for the love of their work, I’m not sure why they would.”

• He clarified he was not commenting on the incident because someone had asked him to. “Let me also make it clear that none have asked me to speak up, if anything I’m sure they’d probably prefer I shut my mouth and not rock a rickety boat further. However, I see an administration, leadership, and legal regime with little concern for their expertise or public good.”

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Stolen Microsoft key offered widespread access to Microsoft cloud services

• The Microsoft consumer signing key stolen by Storm-0558 Chinese hackers provided them with access far beyond the Exchange Online and Outlook.com accounts that Redmond said were compromised, according to Wiz…

=> ↺ IT Wire ☛ Errata Rob says US’ Cyber Trust Mark will be of little use

• Announced last Tuesday, the initiative claims it will help people choose smart devices that are deemed less prone to attack, with the White House saying devices covered would be smart refrigerators, TVs, climate control systems and fitness trackers among others.

• A number of manufacturers have said they would support the scheme, among them Amazon, Best Buy, Google, LG Electronics, Logitech and Samsung Electronics.

=> ↺ Researchers Find ‘Backdoor’ in Encrypted Police and Military Radios

• The TETRA standard is used in radios worldwide. Security researchers have found multiple vulnerabilities in the underlying cryptography and its implementation, including issues that allow for the decryption of traffic.

=> ↺ SANS ☛ YARA Error Codes, (Sat, Jul 22nd)

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Daniel Pocock ☛ Daniel Pocock: Le Bouveret ED412 & Thyon ED531 80th anniversary ceremony, RAF and ANZAC casualties in Switzerland

• 13 July 2023 was the 80th anniversary of these aircraft crashes in Swiss territory. ED412 crashed on a mountain above Le Bouveret, one of the seven crew being an Australian. ED531, with five Australian crew members, crashed further down in the canton of Valais at the Thyon ski resort. I wrote an earlier blog about Thyon.

• The mission had planned to fly south as far as Annecy before turning to cross the alps. Due to bad weather, approximately one hundred aircraft went the wrong way, entering Switzerland over the Jura.

War in Ukraine

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ If Ukraine Joins NATO, Does the U.S. Know What It’s Bargaining For?

• The recent NATO summit in Lithuania has concluded and it has been announced that Ukraine will not be invited to join the alliance. This is obviously not what Ukraine wanted, considering that they have been lobbying hard for an invitation for the past several years.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Moscow drone attack was Ukrainian ‘special operation’ says Ukraine defence source

• A Ukrainian defence source has reportedly confirmed Kyiv’s involvement in a drone attack on Moscow early Monday morning, calling the incident a “special operation” by Ukraine’s military intelligence. Russia said 17 Ukrainian drones also attacked Crimea on Monday, and that neither attack resulted in casualties.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ ‘Metal detectors are no use.’ Challenge of removing landmines slows Ukraine counteroffensive

• Ukraine’s counteroffensive is being led by deminers working to remove the massive amounts of landmines planted by Russian forces in Ukrainian soil. It’s slow-paced and dangerous work. “Our groups often get fired upon, from grad rockets, mortars, artillery. But what can you do?” Andriy, a deminer in Ukraine’s 128th Territorial Defence Brigade, told FRANCE 24.

=> ↺ LRT ☛ Despite warm welcome, Ukrainians in Lithuania eye home: ‘it’s a different culture, different customs’

• More than 70,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Lithuania since the full-scale Russian invasion. Some of them have returned home, others travelled on to other countries, and the rest are trying to integrate into Lithuanian society. Some find it easier than others.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russia Says Drones Hit Central Moscow, Defense Ministry Blames Ukraine

• Two drones were reported to have hit buildings in Moscow early on July 24, according to the mayor of the Russian capital, with media reports saying debris was found not far from Defense Ministry headquarters.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Blinken Says Moscow ‘Failed A Long Time Ago’ In War Goals, But Sees ‘Very Hard Fight’ Ahead

• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia “failed a long time ago” in what it sought to achieve in its war against Ukraine and that Kyiv’s current counteroffensive has retaken substantial territory initially seized by Moscow, but he also warned of a long, “very hard fight.”

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Russian Missile Strikes On Odesa Kill At Least One, Wound 22, Damage Orthodox Cathedral

• At least one person was killed and 22 wounded, including four children, in fresh Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said on July 23.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Seeking Full Honors, Some Ukrainian Families Wait to Bury Their Dead

• Thousands of families have buried soldiers in cemeteries across Ukraine in “Alleys of Heroes.” But some have held off, awaiting a version of Arlington National Cemetery.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Senators Kelly and Duckworth: Why Ukraine Needs U.S. Military Aid

• The war in Ukraine is changing fast. The U.S. must also be ready to pivot in its military assistance.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Weary Soldiers, Unreliable Munitions: Ukraine’s Many Challenges

• A month of reporting by New York Times journalists found the fighting mostly stalemated and Ukraine facing an array of obstacles against a determined foe.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Foreign Ministry repeatedly warns public against travel to Russia, Belarus

• Buses are still traveling regularly from Rīga to Belarus and Russia. This is not forbidden, and people are free to move. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still strongly recommends refraining from trips to these countries, Latvian Radio reported July 22.

=> ↺ Defence Web ☛ More questions on Russian “delivery” aircraft at AFB Waterkloof

• Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Groenewald, while noting the Lady R judicial inquiry is preparing its report, will again question the Defence and Military Veterans Minister on another suspect Russian visitor to a South African military base.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Kyrgyz President Defends Language Law Following Kremlin Criticism

• Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has defended a new law obliging all officials to be able to speak Kyrgyz for official purposes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov publicly called the legislation “undemocratic” and “discriminatory.”

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Wagner Troops In Belarus ‘Want To Go West’ Into Poland, Lukashenka Quips During Meeting With Putin

• Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in St. Petersburg with Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who was quoted as saying in an apparent joking tone that fighters of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who are now training Belarus’s army were keen to push into NATO member Poland.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Russian Missiles Strike Odesa Cathedral and Apartment Buildings

• Moscow has renewed its attacks on the port city since pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal last week.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Funny Leak Denials of the So-Called IRS Whistleblowers

• Gary Shapely and Joseph Ziegler kept answering questions about the October 6, 2022 leak to the Washington Post by talking about a different leak to the Washington Post.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Navy scrambling to find ammo thief after ‘Thai Wikileaks’ bombshell

• The navy staffer suspected of the theft is on the run.

=> ↺ Shadowproof ☛ What’s Next In The Julian Assange Case

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his legal team believe that Assange may be extradited to the United States before the end of summer. It is unfortunately time for us to prepare for court proceedings, and so far, you came through for us marvelously.

Environment

=> ↺ Axios ☛ Historic and enduring U.S. heat wave, by the numbers

• Hot, dangerous conditions that parts of the West, Texas and Florida have endured for weeks will expand across the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. this week — starting in the north-central states and Plains, the National Weather Service warns.

Finance

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Experts: Latvia’s food prices should continue to fall in coming months

• In the near future food prices in Latvia will continue to fall,  although in the longer term, it should not be expected that they will return to the level of before the Russian war in Ukraine, according to expert opinions in LETA’s discussion on July 24.

=> ↺ WhichUK ☛ Shrinkflation on the rise: Which? reveals the items that have shrunk in size, but not in price

• Magnum ice creams and Whiskas cat food are just two of the examples we’ve found

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ There’s No Escaping Trump

• He has turned Republicans into the opposite party.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Hun Sen’s ruling party claims landslide win in Cambodian election after opposition was suppressed

• The ruling party of Cambodia’s longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen has claimed a landslide election victory that was virtually assured after the suppression and intimidation of the opposition. Hun Sen posted on Telegram that unofficial results showed his party won 120 seats and a royalist party won five. Many democracies refused to send observers to an election they didn’t consider free and fair. That left officials from Russia, China and Guinea-Bissau to watch as Hun Sun held his ballot high for all to see before depositing it into the metal box at his local polling station. Hun Sen has consolidated power with strong-arm tactics over 38 years but has suggested he will hand leadership to his son, Hun Manet, in the coming term.

=> ↺ Techdirt ☛ Elon Musk Can’t Pay Twitter Severance, But He And The Tesla Board Just Agreed To Pay Back $735 Million In Excess Compensation

• Apparently, Elon Musk has little to no interest in paying ex-employees the $500 million in severance he owes them (which was included in the purchase agreement he signed, but which it’s unclear if he ever read), but he (and the close friends and family he stuffed the Tesla board with) need to pay back $735 million in excess compensation that Tesla paid them.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Orban Says Romanian Foreign Ministry Gave Him A List Of Topics To Avoid In Speech

• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a large audience in central Romania on July 22 that the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest has given him a list of sensitive topics he should avoid in his public addresses at an annual event held by leaders of Romania’s Hungarian minority in Transylvania.

=> ↺ Scheerpost ☛ Open Letter to Cornel West

• I was just sitting here thinking about your presidential campaign and started wondering whether you have any plans to launch a national university system.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Threads Interest Is Waning After Initial Record Surge

• Is Threads worth the investment for promotion? Maybe not—engagement rates have fallen 70% since launch. Meta introduced Threads as an upstart Twitter alternative tied to its Instagram platform, but a lack of features has left users unhappy.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Why the Early Success of Threads May Crash Into Reality

• Mark Zuckerberg has used Meta’s might to push Threads to a fast start — but that may only work up to a point.

=> ↺ Twitter Renamed as X on Micro-Blogging Platform, Blue Bird Logo Replaced Too

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Re:Baltica provides recent disinformation digest

• The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re: Baltica, has published a new report on disinformation efforts in the Baltic states, many of them emanating from Russia or taking up Kremlin-friendly themes.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ AntiWar ☛ FBI Serves as a Conduit for Ukraine’s Censorship Campaign

• The U.S. government has long tolerated and excused Ukraine’s authoritarian behavior even as Washington and its NATO partners have lavished financial and military aid on Kyiv. Evidence has now emerged, though, that the US national security apparatus has actively assisted Volodymr Zelensky’s regime to undermine the Constitutional rights of Americans.

=> ↺ RFERL ☛ Former Russian Navalny Campaigner Sentenced To Nine Years In Prison

• The former head of a local branch of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s team has been sentenced to nine years in prison for participating in an “extremist community,” Navalny’s team said on July 24.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ Malaysian Government Cancels Good Vibes Festival After Matty Healy On-Stage Protest

• The Malaysian government cancelled the rest of the Good Vibes Festival after English singer Matty Healy kissed a male in protest of anti-gay laws. Healy publicly criticized the Malaysian government while on stage, using profanity in his speech against the government’s stance on homosexuality.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Malaysia cuts short music fest after British band slams anti-gay laws, singer kisses male bandmate

• Malaysia’s government has cut short a music festival after the lead singer of British band The 1975 slammed the country’s anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate during their performance. Malaysia’s communications and digital minister has slammed Matty Healy’s conduct late Friday at the start of the Good Vibes Festival as “very rude.” Healey used profanity in his speech criticizing the government’s stance against homosexuality before kissing bass player Ross MacDonald. Footage of the fiasco was posted on social media and sparked a backlash in the predominantly Muslim nation. The minister met with festival organizers Saturday and announced that it would be canceled. Homosexuality is a crime in Malaysia punishable by up to 20 years in prison and caning.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ JURIST ☛ Russia war journalist killed in alleged Ukraine attack

• Russian journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev was killed and three others were wounded on Friday in an alleged cluster munitions strike. Zhuravlev and one other were a wartime correspondents for RIA Novosti, a state-owned Russian news agency. Two others were correspondents for Russian news agency, Izvestia. The attack took place in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Actors and writers strikes enter second week with no signs of a deal to get Hollywood working again

• The combined strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters is entering its second week with no sign of a swift ending. For a week, actors including household names like Tina Fey, Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra Sedgwick, Rosario Dawson, David Duchovny and other stars have joined working class performers and writers on picket lines outside studios and corporate offices of streaming giants Amazon, MAX and Netflix. In London on Friday, British actors held a solidarity event. They chanted “One struggle, one fight, we support SAG-AFTRA fight” and “The luvvies, united, will never be defeated,” using a British slang term for actors.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Egyptians aren’t racist. They’re frustrated with Western appropriation of their ancient history.

• Afrocentrists claim ancient Egypt was a predominantly black civilization, but this has been refuted by many Egyptians and their government.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Hollywood Actors Join Writers on Strike, Bringing Industry to a Standstill

• The dual walkouts pit more than 170,000 workers against old-line studios like Disney and Sony, as well as tech juggernauts like Netflix and Amazon.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Amateur videos show Turkish police violence against African migrants

• Amateur videos sent to the FRANCE 24 Observers team show police in Turkey stopping and questioning African migrants as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. The videos, sent in by migrants from Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea and Angola, show officers shouting at the migrants and in some cases using physical violence against them. A Senegalese man seen in one of the videos being slapped by a police officer told the FRANCE 24 Observers he was in Turkey legally.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Video of two naked women being harassed draws attention to tribal conflict in India’s Manipur

• A video showing two naked women being assaulted by a mob of men in Manipur, in northeastern India, has shocked the nation and brought renewed attention to a deadly tribal conflict. It has also prompted Prime Minister Modi to make a statement on the violence that is tearing Manipur apart. According to our Observer, the video is a stark reminder of how women’s bodies have been used as a “site of conflict” since martial law was imposed on the state in the 1970s.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Jonathan Faber ☛ Right of Publicity stars in Black Mirror episode Joan Is Awful

• Art imitates life imitates art. Or in the case of Netflix’s Black Mirror, episode 1, Joan Is Awful, perhaps Artificial Intelligence imitates Right of Publicity?

Patents

=> ↺ Reuters ☛ Google owes $338.7 mln in Chromecast patent case, US jury says | Reuters

• Alphabet’s Google violated a software developer’s patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided on Friday.

=> ↺ Unified Patents ☛ The Public Has Spoken: Stakeholders Overwhelmingly Oppose Proposed Restrictions on Patent Trial and Appeal Board Review

• Before Congress in April, Director Vidal testified that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) recent Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “contains a myriad of options, and we want to hear from stakeholders not only on how those provisions might affect them, how we should evolve them, but whether we even have the authority to move forward with them.” And boy, did the public respond. The Office heard from more than 14,500 comments, the most on record for any administrative patent-related action in the USPTO’s long history.

• The response was overwhelming, broad-based opposition to the ANPRM’s proposals. More than 95% of all public comments—and more than 75% of unique comments—opposed the proposals, according to analysis by Unified Patents.*

=> ↺ New dashboard reveals demand for Unitary Patents [Ed: Unitary Patents are illega; EPO boasts of something illegal again]

• Requests for unitary effect come from applicants in many countries and across all technology sectors.

=> ↺ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Vernacare’s patent c-hallen-ged at the Court of Appeal by Hallen v Brabantia principle

• On 18 July 2023, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Vernacare Limited v Moulded Fibre Products Limited [2023] EWCA Civ 841, an appeal from the decision of Nicholas Caddick QC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court).

=> ↺ ‘Slippery road’: in-house say EPO quality concerns not abating

• Counsel from a range of industries say they remain concerned by the quality of patents granted by the EPO and how much time its examiners have…

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is PLAYBOOK for Sports Trading Cards Confusable With PLAYBOOK for Sports Magazines?

• Well, sports fans, how would you bet on the outcome of this Section 2(d) appeal? The USPTO refused to register the mark PLAYBOOK for “Collectible trading cards; Sports trading cards,” on the ground of likely confusion with the identical mark registered for “Magazines featuring sports information.” The marks are identical, but how strong is the registered mark? And are the goods sufficiently related? What say you? In re Panini America, Inc., Serial No. 88960212 (July 12, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Peter W. Cataldo).

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is “EL BANDIDO YANKEE” for Blue Agave Liquor (Tequila) Confusable with BANDIT for Alcoholic Beverages?

• Rebel Wine, owner of the registered mark BANDIT for “[a]lcoholic beverages except beers,” opposed an application to register the word mark EL BANDIDO YANKEE and the word-and-design mark shown below, for “[b]lue distilled agave liquor” on the ground of likelihood of confusion under Section 2(d). Applicant ROAR argued that the involved goods are widely disparate: it uses its mark only on tequila, while Rebel uses its mark only on wine and wine-based cocktails, the packaging is different, and the process for making tequila is not the same as that for making wine. Furthermore, ROAR contended that its marks are vastly different from the single word mark BANDIT. How do you think this came out? Rebel Wine Co., LLC v. ROAR Spirits, LLC, Opposition No. 91268314 (July 18, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis).

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is BLACK BELT Confusable with KURO-OBI for Restaurant Services?

• The USPTO refused to register the proposed mark BLACK BELT for, inter alia, “restaurant,” finding confusion likely with the registerd marks KURO-OBI and the Japanese characters for KURO-OBI for, inter alia, “restaurants.” The second and third DuPont factors – similarity of the services and overlap of the channels of trade/classes of consumers – weighed heavily in favor of affirmance of the refusal. Applicant Samjen argued that the doctrine of foreign equivalents should not apply because “it is unlikely that a consumer would translate the mark due to the marketplace circumstances or the commercial setting in which the mark is used.” How do you think this came out? In re Samjen of Tampa, Inc., Serial No. 90501155 (July 11, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christen M. English).

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Upholds Failure-to-Function Refusals of “15″ and “377″ for Air Intake Filters

• Finding that the proposed marks 15 and 377 fail to function as trademarks for “Machine part, namely, air intake filter element as a part for air compressors or blowers,” the Board affirmed the USPTO’s refusals to register under Sections 1, 2, and 45 of the Lanham Act. Reviewing the specimens of use, the Board agreed with Examining Attorney Michael L. Engel that the terms serve merely as model numbers for the goods, not source indicators. In re Solberg Mfg., Inc., Serial Nos. 88456014 and 88456147 (July 14, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinions by Judge Albert Zervas)

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual Updated to Include New Precedents

• The June 2023 update of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP) is now available (here). This revision includes precedential citations to legal opinions from the TTAB, the Federal Circuit, and federal courts made between March 4, 2022 and March 3, 2023.

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Are MERCADO LIBRE and MERCADO LIVRE Confusable With FREEMARKET for Online Marketplace Services?

• The USPTO refused to register the marks MERCADO LIBRE and MERCADO LIVRE in the word-and-design forms shown below, for “Operating online marketplaces for sellers of goods and services,” finding confusion likely with the registered mark FREEMARKET for “operating online marketplaces for downloadable electronic media; online trading services in which sellers post items to be auctioned and bidding is done electronically. The involved services overlap, but what about the marks? How about the translations? How do you think this came out? In re MercadoLibre, Inc., Serial Nos. 88950207 and 889504201 (July 17, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Robert H. Coggins).

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