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Links 12/2/2021: SolidRun CuBox-M, KernelCare for Raspberry Pi and More
Posted in News Roundup at 2:11 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Devices/Embedded
Free Software/Open Source
System76 tease shots of their custom Keyboard and release the source code
Linux hardware vendor and Pop!_OS Linux distribution maker System76 are getting closer to releasing their custom Keyboard, and they've begun teasing out a lot more info on it.
Firstly it looks like the entire code for it is now live on GitHub which goes over quite a lot of detail about it. The System76 Launch Configurable Keyboard is "designed to provide the ultimate user controlled keyboard experience, with open source mechanical and electrical design, open source firmware and associated software, and a large number of user configuration opportunities".
Audiocasts/Shows
The Linux Link Tech Show Episode 893
cold psa, google pixel 4a, macpi case, air frying
Kernel Space
Story Behind Tux Penguin as the Official Linux Mascot
We cannot 100% declare ourselves as complete Linux users or enthusiasts without having boarded the same train with the famed official Linux Mascot, Tux Penguin. There is more to why Linux chose Tux Penguin as its brand ambassador other than the fact that a Penguin has a big head and can adapt to the survival of inhumanely cold weather.
We can relate the size of its head to the numerous adaptive commands they share with the Linux operating system. The Penguin's adaptation to extremely uncomfortable weather is evident in the Linux operating system's endurance.
Other than these correlations that we just brewed from the North Pole, only Linus Torvalds, the name behind the creation and development of the Linux kernel, settled this debate. His casual declaration of Tux Penguin, in May 1996, as the winner of the Linux Mascot debate was due to his fondness of these cute, composed, and flightless birds.
Linux 5.12 To Support USB4 "Security Level 5″ To Disable PCIe Tunneling – Phoronix
The USB4 / Thunderbolt changes slated for the upcoming Linux 5.12 merge window have been queued into the USB-next tree.
Queued into USB-next yesterday were the Thunderbolt changes from Intel for the next kernel window, which also include the latest USB4 work as part of it. One of the new security options with Linux 5.12 is supporting USB4′s Security Level 5 (SL5). With this new security level, PCIe tunneling is disabled. This higher security level to disable PCI Express tunneling is normally a BIOS configuration option with supported USB4 hardware. This "nopcie" option is also being enforced when in the DisplayPort-only "dponly" mode.
AMD Is Currently Hiring More Linux Engineers – Phoronix
It looks like thanks to AMD's increasing sales and continuing successes in the enterprise space with more HPC wins and the like, AMD is hiring more Linux engineers. AMD currently has several interesting job openings on the Linux front.
While AMD has been delivering reliable Linux support with their recent launches, there is room for improvement in areas like more timely compiler support for new processors, better alignment of their new hardware enablement for getting the code not only upstreamed but into distributions for launch-day, and similar areas. Based on recent job postings, it looks like AMD is working to make such strides.
Intel's Project ACRN To Upstream More Code With Linux 5.12 – Phoronix
Announced nearly three years ago by Intel was the ACRN reference hypervisor framework intended for IoT/embedded use-cases with real-time capabilities and safety-critical computing. More of the kernel bits to this "Big Little Hypervisor for IoT Development" are set to see mainline with the imminent Linux 5.12 kernel cycle.
Back in 2019 with Linux 5.3 was initial ACRN guest support. Ultimately this ACRN Hypervisor has been continuing along not only with Intel but also organizations like LG, APTIV, Neusoft, and others under the "Project ACRN" umbrella. Now with the upcoming Linux 5.12 cycle, more of the ACRN hypervisor support is set to land.
It's 2021 and the Linux kernel's floppy driver is still seeing the occasional patch – OSnews
Floppies are awesome and I'm sure there's tons of older machines out there – especially in corporate settings – that are still rocking a floppy drive for backwards compatibility reasons. Might as well keep the code up to snuff.
The Origin of Linux and Reasons to use Linux
In the start, the Linux kernel was used along with the GNU operating system. You can say that the GNU system was incomplete without the kernel. A kernel is defined as an integral component of Linux.
Graphics Stack
Mir 2.3.2 Released With Better XWayland HiDPI, Copy/Paste Between Wayland/XWayland – Phoronix
Mir, Canonical's Wayland compositor designed for various Ubuntu-focused use-cases for easily constructing new shells, is out with a new point release that packs a fair amount of improvements as well as fixes.
With Ubuntu 21.04 aiming to use Wayland by default there seems to be an uptick in Mir activity as well even though the Ubuntu desktop is set to run GNOME 3.38 Shell with its Mutter Wayland compositor. Mir remains an important part of Ubuntu Core and related efforts around self-contained applications, embedded / IoT, and more. Mir is being used with Ubuntu on hardware like smart exercise wall mirrors.
Mesa's LLVMpipe Flips On ARB_gl_spirv, Help Sought For Lavapipe Windows Port – Phoronix
Mesa's LLVMpipe OpenGL software driver has now enabled ARB_gl_spirv and ARB_spirv_extensions, which now rounds it out of the major extensions needed to advertise OpenGL 4.6.
This OpenGL software driver building atop LLVM and Gallium3D now handles the OpenGL SPIR-V extensions for being able to ingest SPIR-V shaders. The SPIR-V support was one of the big additions for OpenGL 4.6.
Zink Now Supports OpenGL 4.5 Over Vulkan With Mesa 21.1 – Phoronix
It was just yesterday we were talking about Zink achieving OpenGL 4.3 support and wondering if OpenGL 4.4 or potentially even 4.5 could be buttoned up in time for Mesa 21.1… Well, as of a few minutes ago Zink now is advertising OpenGL 4.5 support for this graphics API layer built atop Vulkan.
As noted previously there have been experimental patches going back months bringing Zink to OpenGL 4.5/4.6 albeit various hacks and improvements were needed before upstreaming. Now though Mike Blumenkrantz has been on quite a spree working under contract for Valve and getting this material straightened out and suitable for upstreaming.
Two Year Ubuntu Linux Performance Comparison For Intel Xeon "Cascade Lake"
With this spring marking two years already since Intel introduced the 2nd Gen Xeon Scalable "Cascade Lake" processors plus with Ice Lake Xeon processors being on the horizon, here is a look at how the flagship Xeon Platinum 8280 2P performance has evolved atop open-source Linux during that duration. The benchmarks today are looking at the performance of Ubuntu 19.04 for that of roughly the shape the Linux performance/optimizations were at launch and then the performance today if moving to the in-development Ubuntu 21.04 and also shifting to the latest Linux 5.11 kernel and GCC 11 code compiler.
Thunderbird 78 is being ported to Ubuntu 20.04
The Ubuntu developers have made the decision to port the latest release of Thunderbird to the LTS version of the platform.
One of the most important aspects of Ubuntu is stability. Because of this, the platform doesn't generally ship with the latest releases of software. And initially Ubuntu 20.04 shipped with Thunderbird 68. However, because that version is no longer supported by upstream, it would no longer be receiving security updates.
So the Ubuntu developers had to choose between two options. Fortunately, they opted to go with porting the latest version of Thunderbird. This will cause an issue for some users, as not all Thunderbird extensions will work with the latest release. For example, now that Thunderbird has native encryption, the Enigmail extension is not only redundant, it simply won't install on the client. This means users accustomed to Enigmail must now get up to speed on Thunderbird's built-in encryption technology.
Best Map Viewers for Linux
This article will list useful online and offline navigation and map viewer applications for Linux. These applications use a number of different API service providers to fetch maps and other real time information.
Webcamoid, The Best Webcam App For The Linux Desktop
One of the areas of the Linux Desktop that has left me with just a bit of disappointment is the available application options for the web camera. Sure, there are some decent options out there but my issue is that, there hasn't been anything as intuitive as what one would experience on the mobile platforms. Some of those decent applications, Kamoso and Cheese, work well enough but I have had some crashing issues with Cheese and Kamoso lacked some of those features the kids rave about on their phones and tablets.
On one of those days of aimlessness, where I am staring at my computer as I obviously had real things I need to do, I stumbled upon this application, Webcamoid. I poked around a bit, became familiar with its fantastic features and I am now convinced it is the best web camera application, not only on Desktop Linux but on any device I have ever seen or used.
Use Linux to do your taxes
In 2021, there are more reasons why people love Linux than ever before. In this series, I'll share 21 different reasons to use Linux. Here's how to use Linux to do your taxes.
Unless you want to be arrested, you generally have to pay taxes. If you live outside your country of birth, you probably even have to pay taxes twice or thrice. However unpleasant, taxes are a common thread among all computer users, and so it stands to reason that a computer ought to be able to help you pay your taxes. One of the complexities of this, though, is that each country is different in its requirements. For instance, in New Zealand, my income taxes are calculated automatically by my employer and the IRD. I don't have to account for tax rates, much less file taxes the way US citizens do.
Voice Chat App Mumble 1.3.4 Released with Important Bug-fixes
Mumble, voice chat app for gamer, released version 1.3.4 with important bug-fixes.
Mumble is a free and open-source VoIP application designed for use by gamer and is similar to programs such as TeamSpeak.
Before, the public server list registration script doesn't have an URL scheme whitelist for the website field. So a malicious server can register itself with a dangerous URL in an attempt to attack a user's machine. In Mumble 1.3.4, now it only allows http and https schemes in both client-side and public server lists.
The new release also fixed an issue that applying a noise gate generates significant packet loss. Due to the mitigation for vulnerabilities discovered in OCB2, it allows some packets with specific characteristics to be dropped during encryption. It however causes packet loss issue. Now it is fixed by a workaround from contributor.
Top 3 Command Line Ubuntu Package Manager tools
A Package manager is a tool that automates the management process ( installing, updating, configuring, and removing) of computer programs on operating systems.
Although we can use Ubuntu's GUI package manager that is its Software manager app, many programs are only available through the command line or in the third-party repository. Apart from using Ubuntu's default package manager such as APT in GUI, many powerful features that are easy to use in Terminal.
Ubuntu consistently uses APT ( Advanced Packaging Tool ) or dpkg for package management. This means that software can be reliably installed and uninstalled in packages. Event the GUI software manager on Ubuntu uses APT. And because of its popularity among desktops and servers than other Linux distros, a huge collection of programs are available such as additional software, applications, and drivers that can be installed with the help of just a few commands.
However, here we will not only discuss APT but also other package managers, for example, SNAP that has been another option in Ubuntu since 2014 to install the software in parallel to normal package management without conflicts. All packages that belong to the system and the desktop are still installed (exclusively) via apt.
Paleta Changes Terminal Colors On The Fly, Independently Of The Used Terminal Emulator
Paleta is a tool for changing terminal colors on the fly, independently of the used terminal emulator. It supports VTE terminal emulators (GNOME Terminal, Xfce Terminal, Mate Terminal, Guake, Termite, etc.), Konsole, Alacritty, Kitty, Xterm and urxvt (and probably others).
Daniel Stenberg: curl –fail-with-body
This is a brand new command line option added to curl, to appear in the 7.76.0 release. This function works like –fail but with one little addition and I'm hoping the name should imply it good enough: it also provides the response body. The –fail option has turned out to be a surprisingly popular option but users have often repeated the request to also make it possible to get the body stored. –fail makes curl stop immediately after having received the response headers – if the response code says so.
5 of the Best Web RSS Readers You Should Use – Make Tech Easier [Ed: This directs people in the wrong direction. Better to run such software locally on one's own machine.]
When Google Reader shut down in 2013, internet users across the Web were dismayed by its closing and began desperate hunts for a replacement. Since then, numerous Web-based RSS readers have debuted in the hopes of capturing the same passion Google Reader did. With more content available on the Web than ever before, managing it all so you can read it is equivalent to moving mountains. That's where RSS feed readers become so helpful. Let's take a look at some of the web-based RSS readers you should be using today.
Linux Release Roundup: Flowblade, Shutter, Kdenlive + More
This week's Linux release roundup covers a wide range of apps, so you may want to grab a coffee — and if you're currently enduring arctic temperatures like I am, do make it an extra hot one — before you scroll on.
As always, these roundups serve to highlight smaller Linux releases that aren't quite "news-y" enough for the full article treatment. As I rely on readers like you to let me know about app releases to include, if something is missing it's because no-one has told me about it!
Gomuks
There is a new application available for Sparkers: Gomuks
A terminal Matrix client written in Go using mautrix and mauview.
Instructionals/Technical
How to Download Files from the Command Line Using the Wget Command?
The Wget is a command-line utility that is used to download files and webpages from the web. Various internet protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP can be used to access and retrieve the files. We can specify the different options with the Wget command in order to perform different options.
This article explains the use of the Wget command to download the file from the command-line. Moreover, we have explained the use of various common options with their practical examples too.
How to install and configure Apache Tomcat on Fedora Linux – Linux Hint
Apache Tomcat is one of the most widely used web application servers in the world. It is an open-source project of Apache Software Foundation. It is written in Java. It is used for implementing servlet containers and Java Server Pages(JSP) in Java.
Earlier, Tomcat required a high level of expertise for configuring and administering its services, as only advanced users and developers were able to work it out. With Tomcat's GUI installer, it has become just a matter of a few commands to administer the server as a system service.
How to Install and configure Apache httpd on Fedora Linux – Linux Hint
Apache web server is one of the most used web servers in the world. It is very easy to configure. It is open-source software and maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. Apache supports numerous features. Many of these features are implemented as compiled modules to expand the core functionality.
httpd is an apache web server in Red Hat-based distros, while it is called apache on Debian distros. It depends on the OS you use. For example, in RHEL 6.2, it is called httpd, and in Ubuntu, it is called apache2.
How to fix sudo: add-apt-repository: command not found error on Linux Ubuntu – Linux Hint
The software applications can be installed on Ubuntu and Debian systems in many ways. The one common way to install applications is through the Personal Package Archive (PPA) Repository. The PPA's are the external repositories that are created and maintained by developers.
How to remove a snap package on Ubuntu – Linux Hint
Snap packages are used in Linux distributions to offer multiple options like installing, deploying, and removing software. Snap package is beneficial for developers to use the newest versions of apps on their Linux machine.
How To Install Grafana on Debian 10 – idroot
In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Grafana on Debian 10. For those of you who didn't know, Grafana is an open-source data visualization and monitoring suite. It offers help for Graphite, Elasticsearch, Included, Prometheus, and much more databases. The application offers a stunning dashboard and metric analytics, with the potential to manage and create your personal dashboard to possess apps or infrastructure performance monitoring.
This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add 'sudo' to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of the Grafana monitoring system on a Debian 10 (Buster).
A Guide to Network Traffic Analysis Utility: TCPDUMP – Linux Hint
Tcpdump is a network packet sniffing command-line utility. It is most commonly used for troubleshooting networks and testing security issues. Despite the absence of a graphical user interface, it's the most popular, powerful, and versatile command-line utility.
It is native to Linux such that most of the Linux distributions install it as a part of the standard OS. Tcpdump is a libpcap interfaced program, which is a library for network datagram capture.
This article will demystify tcpdump by showing how to capture, read, and analyze captured network traffic in this utility. We will later use our understanding to inspect data packets with the advanced TCP flag filters.
How to upgrade Gentoo kernel – Linux Hint
Gentoo is a rolling release, meaning that you have new updates available at regular intervals, but there are no major updates. The idea behind this is never to have incompatible parts of the system because they belong to different major releases. You upgrade as you need to. In many other distributions, the new kernels come with the new release. In Gentoo, you have new kernels when it has been tested. You can, of course, take the latest kernel out there and run that. With the caveat that you may be quite lonely on the forums if you have problems.
Writing a Résumé in LaTeX – Michael Lustfield
Way back in my college days, I was trying to write the first version of my résumé. As a pedantic IT guy, I wanted to get everything perfect so that I could stand out despite having very little practical experience.
Trying to write my résumé in OpenOffice–yes, I'm that old–proved to be quite difficult. Attempting to select text sometimes resulted in selecting the background which made it impossible to select text; trying to highlight text would sometimes result it that text disappearing; moving one little object could sometimes destroy formatting and alignment of everything else; maintaining consistent text formatting was challenging; so many other issues…
How to Manage Startup Services with Systemd in Fedora
Systemd is a software suite that offers an array of system components for Linux systems that can perform service configuration and system behavior management. It consists of an init system, various tools for device management, network connection management, login management, and event logging.
In this guide, check out how to manage startup services with systemd in Fedora.
Ways to Determine the File System Type in Linux – Linux Hint
In computing, a filesystem is a layout or format used to store files in a storage device. A filesystem is used to logically divide a storage device to keep different files organized nicely in the storage device to be searched, accessed, modified, removed, etc. easily from the storage device.
There are many filesystems available today. Different filesystems have different structures, logics, features, flexibility, security, etc. Some of the most common filesystems are Ext4, Btrfs, XFS, ZFS, NTFS, FAT32, etc.
There are times when a Linux system administrator will need to determine the filesystem type to simply mount the filesystem or to diagnose problems with the filesystem. Different filesystems have different tools for diagnosing problems, checking for errors and fixing them, etc. So, you have to know the filesystem a storage device is using to determine the maintenance tool/tools to use.
In this article, I will show you different ways you can determine the filesystem type in Linux. So, let's get started.
Linux Fu: Serial Untethered | Hackaday
Serial ports used to be everywhere. In a way, they still are since many things that appear to plug in as a USB device actually look like a serial port. The problem is that today, the world runs on the network. Sure, you can buy a terminal server that converts a serial port to an Ethernet port, but what fun is that? In this article, I'm going to show you how to stream serial ports over the network using some available Linux tools. It isn't perfect, and it won't work for every case, but when it works it works well.
My original goal was to run Lightburn software for my laser cutter on a big machine using a remote desktop. I wanted the laser cutter plugged into the USB port on the local machine and have the software talk to a fake port on the bigger computer.
Alas, as of today, Lighburn is too smart for my naughty tricks and refuses to show my virtual serial ports. There's no way that I know of to force it to use a file name of my choice, so I can't even try to see if it would work. However, I was able to test the setup with some other G code software and it does work. I've mentioned this to Lightburn, so maybe it will be fixed by the time you read this.
The paradigm that "everything is a file" is very powerful. Unfortunately, every year it gets less true and that causes more hoops to jump through when you want to do something interesting like this. Still, in true Linux fashion, there's always a way to get there. I have no doubt that I could trace the calls Lighburn is making to open the port and find a way to fake them for the serial client. I'm hoping, though, that I don't have to.
eBook: Introducing KVM Virtualization Setup Guide for Linux
The concept of virtualization has been around for a while now and has proved quite resourceful and cost-effective technologies. Operation teams and desktop users alike can spin up multiple virtual machines and run a wide selection of operating systems without the need of installing each on a separate physical server. Virtual machines are created using a hypervisor. Two commonly used Hypervisors are VirtualBox and KVM, both of which are free and opensource.
Dual Booting Ubuntu With Windows 10 Pro With BitLocker Encryption
I have written about dual booting Windows and Ubuntu in the past. The process has improved so much in the last few years. Ubuntu and other Linux play very well with secure boot and UEFI now.
So, why I am I writing about installing Ubuntu with Windows 10 once again? Because these days Windows 10 Pro version comes with BitLocker encryption and hence when you try to dual boot like normal, it either refuses or creates issue.
Bypassing Deep Packet Inspection: Tunneling Traffic Over TLS VPN
In some countries, network operators employ deep packet inspection techniques to block certain types of traffic. For example, Virtual Private Network (VPN) traffic can be analyzed and blocked to prevent users from sending encrypted packets over such networks.
By observing that HTTPS works all over the world (configured for an extremely large number of web-servers) and cannot be easily analyzed (the payload is usually encrypted), we argue that in the same manner VPN tunneling can be organized: By masquerading the VPN traffic with TLS or its older version – SSL, we can build a reliable and secure network. Packets, which are sent over such tunnels, can cross multiple domains, which have various (strict and not so strict) security policies. Despite that the SSH can be potentially used to build such network, we have evidence that in certain countries connections made over such tunnels are analyzed statistically: If the network utilization by such tunnels is high, bursts do exist, or connections are long-living, then underlying TCP connections are reset by network operators.
Thus, here we make an experimental effort in this direction: First, we describe different VPN solutions, which exist on the Internet; and, second, we describe our experimental effort with Python-based software and Linux, which allows users to create VPN tunnels using TLS protocol and tunnel small office/home office (SOHO) traffic through such tunnels.
Adventures in Vim: Lee and Jim figure out how to change comment colors | Ars Technica
One fine Monday morning, Ars Technica Senior Technology Editor Lee Hutchinson came to me with a problem: the colors in his text editor, in his humble opinion, had Begun To Suck.
In Lee's 20 years or so of Vim usage, he'd gotten accustomed to comment lines in his code and configuration files being rendered in dark blue. But after upgrading a machine to Ubuntu 20.04, Vim started rendering comments in cyan—and since the "Identifier" syntax category also rendered in cyan, he was unhappy enough about it to decide to change the defaults.
At first blush, Vim seems to adhere to roughly the same configuration standard that many if not most Unix-like systems and applications do—there's a set of systemwide configurations in /etc, which can be overridden individually per user by changes made in an optional configuration file in that user's home directory. In Vim's case, that's ~/.vimrc—just like Bash configurations can be overridden in ~/.bashrc.
But when Lee tried to make his One Simple Change to Vim's syntax highlighting—turn comments from the new cyan back into the dark blue, which he preferred—things got interesting.
Top commands Linux admins need to know – TechRepublic
Linux admins have a love affair with information. The more information they can gather the better. And that's a good thing, as the more informed you are, the more apt you'll be to make smart decisions. This applies to administration tasks, security, development, and just about anything else you can imagine.
Ubuntu: reset root password or user password [Guide]
Are you having trouble logging into your Ubuntu PC with the root password or your user password? Want to learn how to reset these passwords? We can help! Follow along and learn how to reset your root password or user password on Ubuntu!
How to Check Linux Network Statistics from Command Line
Network Load refers to the amount of data being transferred or received over a network. Since Linux distributions are very commonly used as servers, the network load on the server becomes a topic of prominence for Linux server admins or system admins.
How to install Medibang Paint 26 on a Chromebook
Today we are looking at how to install Medibang Paint 26 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.
How to Check Java Version On Linux | Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS – LinuxBuz
Java is one of the most popular and widely used programming languages around the globe. If you are a Java developer then you must have a knowledge of "how to check java version". There are several methods to check which Java version installed in your system.
If you don't know how to install Java, you should read my guide on How to Install Java on Ubuntu 20.04.
In the post, we will show you how to check java version on CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian operating systems.
How to Reset Forgotten Root Password in Ubuntu 20.04
In systems based on the Linux platform, the root account is first in the user role hierarchy. The root user has the most power over the Linux system. In these systems, users need the root user's permission to make changes. The root user, by virtue of his exclusive rights, is authorized to change and override the permissions of other users. In the case of an Ubuntu system, the default root user account is initially disabled, but users can still make relevant changes if they know the system's root password. The real problem occurs when users forget the root user password in their system. In this article, I will show you how to reset the root password on an Ubuntu 20.04 system by modifying the Grub boot loader configuration and booting Ubuntu into a rescue mode.
How to Set Up Remote Access to Docker Daemon [Detailed Guide]
I have written in detail about how to SSH into a docker container. This tutorial takes the same concept to another level by enabling remote access to Docker.
With docker remote access, whenever you run a docker command on your local host, the effects take place on the remote server.
Let me explain that in detail.
How to install Google Chrome on Linux Mint 20.1 – YouTube
In this video, we are looking at how to install Google Chrome on Linux Mint 20.1.
How to install a LAMP stack on Oracle Linux – TechRepublic
Since the CentOS debacle, you might be scrambling to figure out what you're going to use as a base for a web server going forward. Fortunately, you have plenty of options, such as the soon-to-be released AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. Or, you could opt for a similar distribution that's been around for some time and offers yet another drop-in replacement for CentOS. That distribution is Oracle Linux.
Oracle not only offers an enterprise-quality server distribution, they also offer support contracts. Although you can use their Linux variant for free, the support contracts do come with a price, but we're not here to talk about support. We're here to talk LAMP.
How to keep your Linux disk usage nice and tidy and save space | Ubuntu
Everyone loves a clean, tidy home (hopefully). This also includes your other home – slash home, the Linux home directory. Disk cleanup and management utilities are extremely popular in Windows, but not so much in Linux. This means that users who want to do a bit of housekeeping in their distro may not necessarily have a quick, convenient way to figure out how to get rid of the extra cruft they have accumulated over the years. Let us walk you through the processing of slimming down your home.
How to Install Kanboard Project Management Software on CentOS 8
Kanboard is an open-source project management software that helps you to manage your projects and visualize your workflow. It uses Kanban methodology and is specially designed for small teams that focus on minimalism and simplicity. Kanban provides a simple and easy to use web interface that allows you to manage your project through a web browser. You can also integrate Kanban to external services using the plugins.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Kanban with Nginx and Let's Encrypt SSL on CentOS 8.
How to Get File Name Only With Linux Find Command – Putorius
The Linux find command is a powerful tool with many options. However, the output always displays the full path of the file. Sometimes it is desirable to only get the filename itself. In this Linux quick tip we will discuss some methods for formatting the output to show the file name only.
Let's take a look at an example of find output. Here we are searching for a song named Mother in the Music directory.
How to Access Manual Pages for Linux Commands – LinuxConfig.org
Regular, when writing a command – both easy and complex ones – one will want to access more detailed information about the command and it's available options. There is a wealth of information available in the Linux manual pages, and this is provided free of charge, and is available with just a few keystrokes.
Linux Essentials – APT – YouTube
In my "Linux Essentials" series, I go over a very specific command to give you an overview of how it works. In today's episode, I go over the basics of the apt command, which is the official package manager for Debian, Ubuntu, and others.
For The King: Lost Civilization Adventure Pack out now | GamingOnLinux
For The King: Lost Civilization Adventure Pack is the first ever expansion to For The King, a challenging blend of Strategy, JRPG styled combat, and roguelike elements.
Released originally back in 2018, For The King is actually really good and its certainly a game that deserved to have a whole lot more content to play through. Popular too, as they confirmed they've now seen over 3 million players (although that is across all platforms).
"This hard-as-nails fantasy experience melds challenging turn-based combat, deep roleplaying game progression and procedurally generated maps, quests and events to ensure no playthrough is the same. This potent gameplay mix is matched with a captivating artstyle and options for players to tackle the campaign on their own or in co-op with friends."
Crayta now free to play on Stadia and gets Crowd Play, Little Nightmares II free on Pro | GamingOnLinux
While Google hasn't seen the best news with Stadia lately after stopping first-party games and Terraria being cancelled, the store continues on with some fresh announcements of new games, updates and some sales.
Firstly, a quick look at the new games. For those subscribing to the optional Stadia Pro, the just released horror adventure Little Nightmares II is going to be another game you can claim free with the sub. Additionally, Pikuniku, the colourful and quirky platformer is now live to buy in the Stadia store.
Crayta will also be heading to the Epic Store for the main Windows release, so no Linux desktop support – Stadia only. It will have cross-platform play and cross-progression so either way a nice boost in player numbers perhaps.
An interview with Decemberborn Interactive for their game Cathedral
"I've always been interested in writing my own games; It's a long and weird story which has followed me through all my computers, consoles and programming languages that I've dabbled in over the years. When I was 9 years old, my parents had an Atari 600XL. It came with a binder full of programming examples in BASIC which I happily typed in to see what happened. I made my first (extremely crude and unfun) text adventures back then. A few years later, I got an Atari ST, where I dabbled a bit with Motorola 68k assembler. I modified existing examples that I got my hands on through magazines and shareware floppy disks, but ultimately it was a bit too much for me at that age. Later, I got a hold of STOS – an implementation of BASIC made just for games! I created a few really simple platformers and demos with this and had a lot of fun throughout the years. Even later, when my Atari got switched out for a PC, I continued games in QBasic for a while and switched more and more into C (and later C++) and assembly in DOS, where things got way more interesting. All of this of course became even more exciting when you started getting access to OpenGL and DirectX a few years down the line.
Apart from that, we're actually building a completely new game engine, based loosely on the engine we wrote for Cathedral, incorporating all the things we learned along the way. It's at the point where it's mature enough to build prototypes in, and that's exactly what we are doing. We have a few different ideas that we want to explore for our next game. It'll take some time before we have anything to announce, but rest assured that it'll have day 1 Linux support!"
Run Prop, Run! will offer up a fun twist on prop hunting, demo available now | GamingOnLinux
Every played the prop hunt games? Most players hide themselves as an object, with a seeker trying to pick them out. Run Prop, Run! plans to offer up another unique take on it. In development by PlayTogether Studio who previously released Mad Experiments: Escape Room.
While the basic idea is the same, it's been adjusted to have a bit more to it. There's some platforming involved and a few special skills too, like props having an ability of shooting out a cloud of smoke to confuse the seeker. Different phases of each game too with props hiding, trying to escape and then becoming an extra hunter.
Chess with lasers? That's sort-of what you'll get with DEFLECTION | GamingOnLinux
Always on the look out for the next fun strategy game to sink some time into, I came across DEFLECTION and it looks pretty much like a game of Chess with a whole lot of lasers.
Inspired directly by the classic laser chess game Khet, the idea is to move around the board and annihilate enemy pieces with your lasers. There's a number of different pieces that have their own advantages, abilities and weaknesses you need to utilize to take them down. At the end of each turn, you have to shoot and so placement is key to victory.
Steam Lunar New Year Sale has officially begun with tens of thousands discounted | GamingOnLinux
Have you prepared your wallet and stocked your wishlist full of games? The Steam Lunar New Year Sale 2021 has officially begun and so there's a lot to pick from that's currently discounted.
Before getting into the games, this year Valve has updated their Points Shop with a bunch of bundles so if you have plenty of points ready you can now buy big packs ans save 10%. Bundles include: Lunar New Year Oxen Bundle, CS:GO Bundle, DOTA Bundle, Half-Life Bundle and a Portal 2 Bundle.
Two With One Blow
To that end, as I hinted at yesterday, I began with Wolfenstein: The New Order, as chosen by Daniel Schuermann, the lucky winner of the What Steam Game Should Zink Use As Its Primary Test Case And Benchmark contest that was recently held.
Early tests of this game were unimpressive. That is to say I got an immediate crash. It turns out that having the GL compatibility context restricted to 3.0 is bad for getting AAA games running, so zink-wip now enables 4.6 compat contexts.
But then I was still getting a crash without any clear error message. Suddenly, I was back in 2004 trying to figure out how to debug wine apps.
Things are much simpler now, however. PROTON_DUMP_DEBUG_COMMANDS enables dumping scripts for debugging from steam, including one which attaches a debugger to the game. This solved the problem of getting a debugger in before the almost-immediate crash, but it didn't get me closer to a resolution.
The problem now is that I'd attached a debugger to the in-wine process, which is just a sandbox for the Windows API. What I actually wanted was to attach to the wine process itself so I could see what was going on in the driver.
Understanding Path of Exile's Unique Approach to Endgame Content
For players unfamiliar with the genre, titles like Path of Exile (PoE) can be hard to place. This is especially true as the heyday of the top-down action RPG is long passed. As an online-only experience PoE becomes even more perplexing with many assuming it to be chock full with MMO-type features.
While PoE may be somewhat linked to modern MMOs and the old school action RPG, it is most certainly its own beast—and what a beast it is. Split into two relatively distinct half the game will first see players venture through a well-crafted story-driven adventure, then dropping them into a relatively endless amount of endgame content through the Atlas of Worlds. What's more is that PoE offers up these hundreds of hours of content within its truly free-to-play model, meaning that there are few games to rival how much it gives you for, quite literally, nothing at all.
That said, there has always been a little confusion over this split between PoE's main narrative and endgame experience. And this was made all the more intense given its recent Echoes of the Atlas overhaul which has made the endgame even more complex—but thankfully for good reason.
Steam Becomes Available In China, Offers 53 Whole Games To Customers
There is no shortage of critiques for Valve's online PC game store, Steam. That's to be expected, frankly, given how big the platform is. Still, on the ground with individual gamers, one of the most common complaints you hear will be that the sheer volume of games on Steam is somewhat paralyzing for customers deciding where to spend their money. Steam tried to combat this for years with its Steam Curators program, where gamers put their trust in curators to pare down game search results. It never really worked, though, as the program encountered the same issue as the game: the sheer volume of curators.
Desktop Environments/WMs
Xfce 4.16 Review – Keeping the Classic Desktop Legacy Alive
Things are looking stable in the Xfce world after the recent Xfce 4.16 release. I believe it's the perfect time for a quick Xfce 4.16 review. Here's the Xfce 4.16 review from DebugPoint.
GNOME Desktop/GTK
Pop Shell Gets Improved Mouse-Based Window Tiling
Pop Shell, the GNOME Shell extension for window tiling used by default in Pop!_OS 20.04 and newer, has recently been updated with improved support for mouse-based window tiling.
With auto tiling enabled, you'll now be able to see where you can place a window, while dragging it using your mouse. You can even create window stacks using the mouse now.
You can preview this feature in a tweet by System76 (credits for the image at the top of this page are also for System76)…
We are now at 6.9-beta, go for snapshots, test!
You may have missed the event during the weekend, but with this commit, OpenBSD -current turned 6.9-beta.
PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family
LibreWolf Browser updated to 85.0.1
LibreWolf is designed to minimize data collection and telemetry as much as possible. This is achieved through hundreds of privacy/security/performance settings and patches. Intrusive integrated addons including updater, crashreporter, and pocket are removed too. LibreWolf is NOT associated with Mozilla or its products.
Gentoo Family
lzip decompression support for xz-utils
As of today, the most common implementation of the LZMA algorithm on open source operating systems is the xz format. However, there are a few others available. Notably, a few packages found in the Gentoo repository use the superior lzip format. Does this mean you may end up having to have separate decompressors for both formats installed? Not necessarily.
SUSE/OpenSUSE
New openSUSE Step Project Looks to Build SUSE Linux Enterprise on More Architectures
We're delighted to announce a new project in the openSUSE Project family called openSUSE Step. openSUSE Step is a community effort to rebuild SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) from the released SLE sources packages. This is done openly in the openSUSE instance of the Open Build Service (OBS) with the intention to stay fully binary compatible and to be as closely source-compatible as possible with SLE.
openSUSE Leap 15.3 inherits its base from SLE 15 SP3. On aarch64, powerpc64, and x86_64, openSUSE directly uses binary packages from the enterprise side. In addition, openSUSE also supports architectures that SLE does not provide, such as armv7hl and 32-bit x86, which is relatively popular with openSUSE users, according to results from a recent community survey. For those, we now build fully compatible binary packages from the published SLE sources in OBS.
openSUSE Step is not intended to be an end user distribution. It does not replace, or provide an alternative to openSUSE Leap. Step is an intermediate building block ("step") to enable derived community distributions like openSUSE Leap or other community derivatives.
Accelerating Atmospheric Research at NCAR with HPE and SUSE | SUSE Communities
Having lived through many harsh winters in the mountains of Pennsylvania and dangerous hurricanes that have hit the Carolinas, I admire the research involved in monitoring climate change, data simulations and predictive analysis. As one shining example at the center of that research, NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) performs weather modeling to climatology, spanning seconds to centuries. Their research demands high performance, long-term application repeatability and high reliability.
Community is key at all levels, from interoperable software with HPE and SUSE to collaboration with other centers (e.g., NOAA, NASA, DOE). In fact, NOAA's EPIC (Earth Prediction Innovation Center) relies on Cray supercomputers which are at the heart of its global prediction system. NOAA and NCAR collaborate in producing global weather simulations to predict future climate shifts.
The cohesive platform provided by HPE Cray and SUSE Linux Enterprise enables seamless U.S. and global weather simulations. Today, NCAR's "Cheyenne" supercomputer enables scientists across the country to study phenomena ranging from weather and climate to wildfires, seismic activity, and airflows that generate power at wind farms. Their findings lay the groundwork for better protecting society from natural disasters, lead to more detailed projections of seasonal and longer-term weather and climate variability and improve weather and water forecasts that are needed by economic sectors from agriculture and energy to transportation and tourism. Later this year, NCAR will make another giant leap forward with a new HPE Cray EX supercomputer with a 19.87 peak petaflops system that will work alongside the "Cheyenne" system.
IBM/Red Hat/Fedora
The NeuroFedora Blog: NeuroFedora at the INCF/OCNS Software WG dev sessions
This was originally posted on the INCF / OCNS Software Working Group (WG)'s blog here. It is a great opportunity to learn how NeuroFedora is developed.
Ankur Sinha will introduce the Free/Open Source Software NeuroFedora project and discuss its development in this developer session.
About me and my life …: Fedora 33 : Meson build system.
Meson is a build system that is designed to be as user-friendly as possible without sacrificing performance. The main tool for this is a custom language that the user uses to describe the structure of his build. The main design goals of this language has been simplicity, clarity and conciseness. Much inspiration was drawn from the Python programming language, which is considered very readable, even to people who have not programmed in Python before., see the official webpage.
Fedora Community Blog: Fedora Linux 35 development schedule
Fedora Linux 34 branched from Rawhide on Tuesday. While there's still a lot of work before the Fedora Linux 34 release in April, this marks the beginning of the Fedora Linux 35 development cycle. Work you do in Rawhide now will be in the Fedora Linux 35 release in October.
Basic concepts of encryption in cryptography | Enable Sysadmin
To make your way in the IT industry, a fundamental understanding of cryptography concepts is vital. However, many still struggle when it comes to handling TLS certificates, certificate requests, and all sorts of keys. Before I start with those, let's talk about the basic concepts of encryption in cryptography. In this article, I explain the basics of symmetric and public key cryptography to lay a strong foundation to build on. I focus on the key concepts and leave the math to the experts.
Our protagonists throughout this article are Alice, who wants to communicate with Bob over a public channel. We also have Eve and Trudy. The following techniques should make eavesdropping impossible. Messing up the content of a message shouldn't go unnoticed.
Open Source Cloud Skills Set Developers Apart
Results from a recent survey, commissioned by IBM and conducted by O'Reilly Media, suggest that developers can benefit more from building skills around open source cloud technologies rather than focusing on skills related to a proprietary solution.
"Over the long term, a knowledge of the most fundamental open source projects will provide major benefits in job growth and other professional activities," the survey report says.
What's the next Linux workload that you plan to containerize?
I'm sure many of my fellow sysadmins have been tasked with cutting costs, making infrastructure more usable, making services more accessible, enhancing security, and enabling developers to be more autonomous when working with their test, development, and staging environments. You might have started your virtualization efforts by moving some web sites to containers. You might also have moved an application or two as well. This poll focuses on the next workload that you plan to containerize. What's next on your workload list to move from an underutilized piece of hardware to a more leveraged, multi-hosted environment, such as a container host system?
The Level Up Hour (E24): OpenShift Tools, available everywhere, via Quay.io
Canonical/Ubuntu Family
EdgeX Foundry based edge software adds AI support
Like EdgeX Foundry, Edge Xpert is billed as a cross-platform, OS/architecture agnostic platform. However, Linux is typically the OS in play here, and the EdgeX Foundry development kits are based on Ubuntu.
The key new feature in Edge Xpert is the addition of computer vision and edge AI support via an add-on built around Intel's OpenVINO AI toolkit. The computer vision capability builds on the product's existing support for IP camera and video device connectivity and the ability to aggregate and fuse data from many industrial protocols and devices.
Canonical Re-Releases Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS Desktop Images Due to OEM Install Bug
A couple of days ago, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution informed users on Twitter that the ISO images of the Desktop flavor of its recently released Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa) are affected by a bug causing OEM installations via the Ubiquity installer to fail to boot due to missing kernel.
As a reminder, Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS comes with updated kernel and graphics stacks backported from the more recent Ubuntu 20.10 (Groovy Gorilla) operating system series. As such, this Focal Fossa point release is powered by the Linux 5.8 kernel and Mesa 20.3 graphics stack.
Ubuntu Blog: Can AI help redefine the future of finserv?
The last few years has been a time of major disruption in the Finserv sector. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has emerged as an important tool for providers of financial products and services to deliver more personalised and more sophisticated services to customers faster. The financial services sector is at the beginning of an exciting journey with AI – a journey that we believe will spark a revolution and redefine financial services. Kris Sharma, Financial Services Lead at Canonical has approached this subject from various perspectives.
Users Upset as Raspberry Pi OS Now Pings a Microsoft Server During Updates
Any Raspberry Pi users concerned about having the Microsoft repo installed on their computer does have options to avoid it by selecting an alternative OS. Wikipedia offers an extensive list of options. There's also now a big question mark hanging over what else will be added to the official operating system without warning in future, and what that means for trust.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation secretly installed a Microsoft repository
Several days ago the news was released that as part of a recent update in Raspberry OS, the Raspberry Pi Foundation installed a Microsoft repository on all single board computers that trusted it, without the knowledge of their owners.
The maneuver has not gone unnoticed within the community of Linux that is stepping up to oppose lack of transparency and telemetry and Raspberry Pi board users are discussing including a call to the Microsoft repository on Raspberry Pi OS, plus the addition of a Microsoft GPG key for reliable package installation.
Raspberry Pi is calling up Microsoft
Linux people dont like it when the sources.list in Linux is modified without consent — putting it right up there with killing your first born, so they are extremely miffed.
Does your Raspberry Pi phone call home at Microsoft?
"People didn't have the opportunity to learn about the new rap until it was added to their sources, along with the Microsoft GPG key. To put it mildly, not very transparent. And in my opinion, not how to act in the world of open source, "- wrote a Reddit user Fortysix_n_2.
Raspberry Pi OS, update install Microsoft repo: here's how to delete it
And here's the Microsoft repository added silently.
CuBox-M: A tiny mini-PC that supports machine learning, natural language processing, Android and Linux
SolidRun has announced a mini-PC that rivals the size of devices like the LarkBox. While the latter runs on an Intel processor, SolidRun has equipped its mini-PC with an NXP i.MX 8M processor, along with up to 4 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The CuBox-M is available in two variants, although both have a quad-core i.MX 8M Plus chipset and 8 GB of eMMC flash storage.
The cheapest of the two costs US$99 and comes with 1 GB of RAM, with SolidRun charging US$160 for 4 GB of RAM and Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connectivity. All models come with a Gigabit Ethernet connection though, and two USB 3.0 ports for connecting peripherals. Meanwhile, an HDMI 2.0 port handles video output; SolidRun has included a microSD card reader and a micro USB port, too.
This cube-shaped Raspberry Pi alternative can run both Android and Linux
The CuBox-M is a micro desktop computer, much like the Raspberry Pi, that's stuffed into a cube-shaped box that's small enough to fit in your palm.
Designed by Tel Aviv-based SolidRun, the CuBox-M measures just 2″x2″x2″, but still packs enough juice to make it usable for all kinds of uses, from IoT to edge computing.
"Not everyone working on Arm-based IoT software wants an exposed SBC (single-board computer) lying on their desk with wires hanging out of it. Sometimes a software developer or machine learning researcher just wants a streamlined system to test their product on, be it an Android application or a new Edge-based AI inference algorithm," said SolidRun's chief systems architect Jon Nettleton.
SolidRun CuBox-M 2-inch Arm Linux/Android mini PC packs a 2.3 TOPS AI accelerator
SolidRun first introduced the tiny CuBox Arm Linux mini PC in 2011, with the device based on a Marvell Armada 510 dual-core Armv7 processor, and followed in 2013 with the launch of the CuBox-i family powered by Freescale i.MX 6 single to quad-core Cortex-A9 processor.
The company moved to NXP i.MX 8M processor in 2018 with the introduction of CuBox Pulse, and now they've introduced their first Cubox mini PC with a built-in AI accelerator. Meet CuBox-M mini PC powered by NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with a 2.3 TOPS NPU.
Dev boards showcase Rockchip's new RK3568 and RK3566
Geniatech's "RK3568 Development Board" runs Android or Linux on Rockchip's new quad -A55 RK3568, featuring SATA III and M.2 with PCIe 3.0. There is also a similar board based on the slightly lower-spec RK3566.
Rockchip's premiere system-on-chip launch for 2021 will be the octa-core -A76 and -A55, NPU-equipped Rockchip RK3588, due in Q3, which we covered at the end of the intro to our catalog of 150 Linux hacker boards. Yet, perhaps even more embedded Linux systems will tap two other new quad-core, Cortex-A55 Rockchip SoCs: the RK3568 and slightly stripped down RK3566. First to show its cards is Geniatech, which has posted product pages for a pair of SBCs that tap the new NPU-equipped SoCs.
Software configuration tips for Raspberry Pi clusters & parallel-ssh command
I missed that linux.conf.au 2021 took place on January 23-25 2021, and while browsing the schedule I noticed a talk entitled "Building Raspberry Pi Supercomputers" by Federico Lucifredi, Product Management Director for Ceph Storage at Red Hat.
Keeping secrets and writing about Raspberry silicon
CloudLinux KernelCare Now Supports Raspberry Pi Platform
CloudLinux KernelCare service now supports the Raspberry Pi platform providing live patching for the running kernel with zero downtime — improving security for IoT deployments.
CloudLinux KernelCare now supports Raspberry Pi, improving security for IoT deployments
CloudLinux announced that its KernelCare service now supports the Raspberry Pi platform providing live patching for the running kernel with zero downtime — improving security for IoT deployments.
KernelCare for Raspberry Pi is a free service ensuring that IoT devices and assemblies are automatically updated and always available.
CloudLinux Expands Extended Lifecycle Support Beyond CentOS | IT Pro
CloudLinux's Extended Lifecycle Support, which offers support for CentOS 6, is being expanded to include Oracle Linux, Ubuntu and Debian.
Open Hardware/Modding
microZERO is a compact, Arduino compatible Microchip SAMD21 module (Crowdfunding)
The module is not only compatible with the Arduino IDE, but also Microchip/Atmel Studio 7 and Zephyr real-time operating system. The documentation and bootloader are currently finalized and everything will be published/released in March.
Arduino Blog » International Day of Women and Girls in Science: 6 scientists you should know about
Science and technology empower people to change the world. At Arduino, we work every day to make them simple and accessible to anyone regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, background, nationality, and sexuality. Unfortunately, not all contributions are given the same visibility, that's why we are celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science by highlighting six scientists who were not honored enough for their achievements. Giving these women the visibility they deserve, we hope to inspire our community to innovate in a more inclusive way and to create a better future together.
Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
Android 12 beta updates, features and what to expect from the new OS | Tom's Guide
Galaxy A51 5G, A71 5G, M30s, and M31s receive Android 11 update with One UI 3.0
4 apps you need to clean your Android to help it run like new
Top 15 Open World games for Android | Articles | Pocket Gamer
Android Auto now has wallpapers, here's what they look like – 9to5Google
Google Photos for Android gets advanced video editor
Samsung Galaxy A series One UI 3.0 (Android 11) update status
T-Mobile and AT&T rolling out Android 11 updates to the Samsung Galaxy S10 series – PhoneArena
T-Mobile updates Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ to Android 11 – PhoneArena
Galaxy M31s is getting Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update
Samsung Galaxy M31s has begun to receive One UI Core 3.0 (Android 11) update – Gizmochina
Micromax says 5G phone launch soon, Android 11 rollout for IN Note 1 in April – Technology News
Google working on Android feature that could be exclusive to Pixel | Express.co.uk
Google: This Kotlin tool will help your Android apps build faster | ZDNet
Malasyian company admits to selling piracy-facilitating Android boxes in first for country – Digital TV Europe
Download New Android 12 Wallpapers for Any Device Right Now
Samsung brings Android 11 to Galaxy A51 5G, A71 5G, and M30s
Samsung Galaxy M30s starts receiving Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update – Gizmochina
One UI 3.0 with Android 11 rolls out for Samsung's Galaxy A71 5G and A51 5G phones | Android Central
Micromax 5G Phone to Launch 'Very Soon', In Note 1 to Receive Android 11 in April: Co-Founder Rahul Sharma | Technology News
[Update: Feb. 11] Xiaomi Android 11 update bugs & issues tracker: Here's the current status
TCL to soon launch first Android 11-based Smart TV in India – Technology News
Motorola Android 11 update: List of eligible devices & release date
Samsung Galaxy M31s, Galaxy A71 5G Getting Android 11-Based One UI 3.0 Update: Report | Technology News
Android barcode scanner with 10 million+ downloads infects users | Ars Technica
Android App Infects Millions of Devices With a …
Android app with over 10 million installs suddenly becomes adware — what to do | Tom's Guide
Popular Android app with 10 million installs turned into adware
Barcode Scanning Android App Might Have Infected 10 Million Android Devices With Malware | Ubergizmo
Delete this malicious Android app from your phone right now – BGR
How to Tell Which Android 'Barcode Scanner' Is Malware
Barcode Scanner App Infects 10 Million Android Users With One Update
Lookout Unmasks State-sponsored Android Spyware Tied to India-Pakistan Conflict
Samsung's excellent Android tablets just got a lot more affordable, with deals offering up to $300 off
The best Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab S7, is now available in Mystic Navy
Major Google Fi feature finally deemed ready for primetime both on Android and iOS – PhoneArena
5 best fitness apps for android and iphone users in 2021 – Information News
Huawei's HarmonyOS Preview is Out, But it is Just Another Android Fork
Honda add Android Auto functionality to their Africa Tw… | Visordown
Motorola Moto E6i goes official with 6.1″ screen and Android Go – GSMArena.com news
Android 12: Release date, previews, betas, and everything you need to know
TCL P-Series with Android 11 TV OS to launch soon in India, could be P725 4K HDR TV – Gizmochina
Nintendo Switch gains Android 10 w/ LineageOS 17.1 – 9to5Google
PSA: Slack for Android may have exposed your password – 9to5Google
How to use dark mode and custom themes in Telegram for Android and desktop – Neowin
How to Check if Your Android Device Is Certified
Android Auto is rolling out a selection of wallpapers to fancy up your dash
The Best Android TV Boxes | Shopping | Empire
Android launchers are officially exciting again | Computerworld
Best Free Android Apps
We're compiling the best free Android apps you can download today, so you can find exactly the best apps without spending an inordinate amount of time exploring the Google Play Store.
There are apps for everything you can imagine, and many of them on the Google Play Store are free to download and use. While there's a large range to choose from, only some are quality apps. And most free apps in the Google Play Store don't meet our eligibility criteria. The ones featured here are the cream of the crop!
Given that finding apps that meant our high standards can be difficult, we hope you appreciate this series.
This is a new series with apps being added on a regular basis.
Best Free Android Apps: Google Earth – explore your planet
There's an eligibility criteria for inclusion in this series. See the criteria section at the bottom of this article.
Google Earth is an app that lets you discover the world in depth.
What can you do with Google Earth? For starters, the app lets you travel the world and explore new places with satellite imagery, 3D terrain of the entire globe, and 3D buildings in hundreds of cities around the world.
Free, Libre, and Open Source Software
31 open source text editors you need to try
Computers are text-based, so the more things you do with them, the more you find yourself needing a text-editing application. And the more time you spend in a text editor, the more likely you are to demand more from whatever you use.
If you're looking for a good text editor, you'll find that Linux has plenty to offer. Whether you want to work in the terminal, on your desktop, or in the cloud, you can literally try a different editor every day for a month (or one a month for almost three years) in your relentless search for the perfect typing experience.
10 Top Open Source API Gateways and Management Tools
Are you searching for an open-source API management solution for your company? Then this guide is made just for you, continue reading.
Below, we have shared the 10 top open-source API gateways and API management solutions you can use in your IT infrastructure. Note that the following list is organized in no particular order.
Your Service is not Open Source
Open Sourcing the code to your SaaS is insufficient to make it actually be Open Source. Sounds self-contradictory?
Most services that espouse "Open Source", do so by simply throwing the code over the wall. It's better than nothing, but really misses the point that powers Open Source: enabling users to make a change to the software they're using.
Some other popular services powered by Open Source software, such as GitLab.com or ElasticSearch do include the tools used to operate/deploy their service. Pause for applause
Intel Dynamic Load Balancer 2.0 Support For Linux Inches Closer To Mainline – Phoronix
The Intel Dynamic Load Balancer is a PCIe accelerator designed for use with their Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) Event Device Library and provides load-balanced, prioritized scheduling of core-to-core communication. Intel DLB aims to provide greater performance than software-based load balancing and the current generation Dynamic Load Balancer is found within the Atom P series for performance / latency optimizations for edge computing workloads. Public information still appears limited but Intel describes the current DLB simply as "Intel Dynamic Load Balancer (Intel DLB) improves performance and reduces latency by dynamically and efficiently distributing processing across up to 24 CPU cores."
Innovators in the Open: Lessons learned telling our customers' stories
Our customer reference team was born out of necessity. It was the early days of Linux, and Red Hat needed to prove that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) could stand up to the competition. We needed validation that enterprises were taking this operating system seriously and that mission-critical workloads could run on top of Red Hat technology. From the beginning of the customer reference team, we knew that customer content was going to be a key part of Red Hat's marketing mix. This is how our team adapted and evolved over the years to tell innovative stories of customer success, and the four lessons we learned that can help you focus on customer storytelling.
Peter Czanik: The syslog-ng insider 2021-02: proxy protocol; sudo JSON; Kafka;
This is the 88th issue of syslog-ng Insider, a monthly newsletter that brings you syslog-ng-related news.
What's new with ownCloud in 2021?
The newest version of ownCloud, ownCloud Infinite Scale (OCIS), is a complete rewrite of the venerable open source enterprise file sharing and syncing software stack. It features a new backend written in Go, a frontend in Vue.js, and many changes, including eliminating the need for a database. This scalable, modular approach replaces ownCloud's PHP, database, and POSIX filesystem and promises up to 10 times better performance.
Traditionally, ownCloud was centered around the idea of having a POSIX-compatible filesystem to store data uploaded by users—different versions of the data and trash files, as well as configuration files and logs. By default, an ownCloud user's files were found in a path on their ownCloud instance, like /var/www or /srv/www (a web server's document root).
Every admin who has maintained an ownCloud instance knows that they grow massive; today, they usually start out much larger than ownCloud was originally designed for. One of the largest ownCloud instances is Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet), a company that stores more than 100,000 users' data.
Tomas Tomecek: Open Service as a Service in Practice
Containers and OpenShift are clear at this point and that should narrow our scope.
The next main tool which will help you is… Automation!
If you need to do manual steps to achieve parts of the development workflow, it's just a burden which is holding you back to progress further. The automation doesn't need to be perfect – in fact, it will never be, just make sure it's implemented, you can always improve it with spending further development cycles on it once you are aware of the main drawbacks.
Actual tooling? Whatever fits you and your team: e.g. we are using Ansible to achieve most of the automation paired with OpenShift Jobs and expanding into GitHub actions.
Some (Red Hat) teams are using Argo CD, Tekton and Kustomize. Make sure to do your research and pick tooling which is best for your use cases.
The principle remains the same though: use continuous integration to verify the change passes automated tests and continuous delivery for users and developers to try the change before (or after) it's merged with as little disruption in production as possible.
Microservices and APIs (short for Application Programming Interfaces) have become almost commonplace in sustainable modern application development. APIs drive microservices (an architectural design that structures an application into small, self-contained, and manageable services/pieces) and they define how a consumer (of the API) can interact with and use the underlying service.
To businesses and other organizations, APIs have become the core of digital transformation strategies. The growth in the use of APIs has increased the use of API management solutions by developers to publish their APIs to the public or external developers, internal developers as well as other partners.
Remote Software Dev: What Can Be Learned From Open Source World | IT Pro
We talked with open source developers with years of experience with remote software dev to find out what proprietary developers can learn.
Mastodon Instances, Everywhere
I knew Mastondon was popular among the Free Software world, and I'm aware of individuals who run their own private or public instances. One thing I discovered is how these instances reveal themselves to website owners, like me! This isn't a secret, or 'hack' or whatever, I just found it interesting, so I'm sharing it.
When I publish a blog post, I tend to share it on Twitter, Mastodon, LinkedIn (sometimes) and Facebook (rarely). I don't use a tool for this, unless "my hands" and "the keyboard" are "tools" (they are). I basically type the entry on one site and paste it on the others. Yes, tedious, but it takes seconds, and I don't end up annoying people with stuff shared in a weird broken way that leaks back to another social network.
Device Tree 101 webinar slides and videos
As we announced back in January, we have offered in partnership with ST on February 9 a free webinar titled Device Tree 101, which gives a detailed introduction to the Device Tree, an important mechanism used in the embedded Linux ecosystem to describe hardware platforms. We were happy to see the interest around this topic and webinar.
Brave browser adds native support for uBlock and Fanboy annoyances lists and social list – gHacks Tech News
Brave browser's built-in ad-blocker has been boosted by some additional options. The Chromium fork's Brave Shield now supports three popular privacy-friendly filter lists, namely uBlock Annoyances List, Fanboy Annoyances List and Fanboy Social List.
Mozilla Localization (L10N): L10n Report: February 2021 Edition
Hacks.Mozilla.Org: MDN localization update, February 2021
Previously on MDN, we allowed translators to localize document URL slugs as well as the document title and body content. This sounds good in principle, but has created a bunch of problems. It has resulted in situations where it is very difficult to keep document structures consistent.
If you want to change the structure or location of a set of documentation, it can be nearly impossible to verify that you've moved all of the localized versions along with the en-US versions — some of them will be under differently-named slugs both in the original and new locations, meaning that you'd have to spend time tracking them down, and time creating new parent pages with the correct slugs, etc.
As a knock-on effect, this has also resulted in a number of localized pages being orphaned (not being attached to any parent en-US pages), and a number of en-US pages being translated more than once (e.g. localized once under the existing en-US slug, and then again under a localized slug).
Karl Dubost: Whiteboard Reactionaries
I simply and firmly disagree and throw my gauntlet at Bruce's face. Choose your weapons, time and witnesses.
The important part of this tweet is how Mike Taylor points out how the Sillycon Valley industry is a just a pack of die-hard stick-in-the-mud reactionaries who have promoted the whiteboard to the pinnacle of one's dull abilities to regurgitate the most devitalizing Kardashianesque answers to stackoverflow problems. Young programmers! Rise! In front of the whiteboard, just walk out. Refuse the tiranny of the past, the chalk of ignorance.
Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra
Developers Continue New Push With LibreOffice In The Web Browser Via WebAssembly
While there has been LibreOffice Online as a collaborative, web-based version of LibreOffice making use of the HTML5 Canvas for its UI, there hasn't been much activity there recently outside of the Collabora Online commercial variant. But developers are working on a current port of LibreOffice to the web browser using WebAssembly.
Developers Thorsten Behrens and	Jan-Marek Glogowski presented at last weekend's FOSDEM Online 2021 on the work being done to port LibreOffice to work gracefully with WebAssembly for running the open-source office suite within the web browser.
[LibreOffice] QA/Dev Report: January 2021
Ilmari Lauhakangas (TDF) reimplemented the MediaWiki Bugzilla integration as a widget, so the unmaintained extension could be removed. He also made the Help content regarding keyboard shortcuts more accurate for macOS users
People of WordPress: Pooja Derashri
Pooja Derashri shares the story of how she went from being an introvert from a small village in India to becoming a developer and working on international projects, thanks to the WordPress community.
As her interest grew, Pooja started following some WordPress-based groups on Facebook, where she first heard about conference-style WordPress events known as WordCamps. She later joined her first WordCamp in Ahmedabad, India. This three day event in 2017 opened up a new world—the WordPress community—and what would become a life changing moment. "WordCamp Ahmedabad has one of the best WordPress communities in India," she said, "and everyone, including organizers and attendees were so humble and welcoming."
Show your love for free software using LibreOffice Draw
Free Software Foundation Europe has developed an "I Love Free Software" template for the upcoming Valentine Day, to allow free open source software advocates to express the reason why they love FOSS, and they support it as volunteer contributors, or as simple users. FSFE template was developed using Inkscape, which is an outstanding FOSS application to create and manage vector images, but is also rather difficult to use if your graphics skills are limited. So, I imported the Inkscape SVG template into LibreOffice Draw, and tweaked it a bit by using Liberation Sans and Liberation Sans Narrow fonts – which are installed by LibreOffice and as such are always available to LibreOffice users, and by replacing the lines of text with a text box, to make it easier to write the personal notes and the name. I have also added a text box with instructions on how to fit the user portrait inside the heart shape, which is a rather easy operation with LibreOffice Draw.
SFP#9: I Love Free Software Day
For this episode of the Software Freedom Podcast we talk about the background of the "I Love Free Software Day" and how it all began 11 years ago. Discover together with Bonnie why Free Software developers, advocates, activists and contributors think this special day is so important for Free Software.
LibrePlanet needs you: Volunteer remotely!
LibrePlanet, the world's premier free software conference, is coming up soon. We have two great days of talks planned, with over forty speakers from all over the globe, on March 20th and 21st, 2021. One keynote speaker has been confirmed, copyleft activist Julia Reda, and more keynote will be announced shortly. There will be workshops and lightning talks as well, and all of it will be presented remotely.
Please help us have the best online free software conference ever — we can't do it without you!
Programming/Development
IPCDump: Open-source tool for tracing interprocess communication on Linux
The tool covers most interprocess communication (IPC) mechanisms, including pipes, fifos, signals, Unix sockets, loopback-based networking, and pseudoterminals, and is useful for debugging multi-process applications and gaining transparency into how they communicate with one another in their IT environment.
Modern applications have distinct processes that plug into one another in a black box, creating significant challenges for developers when something breaks. This issue is particularly true for debugging complex multiprocess applications. IPCDump solves this problem by tracing both the metadata and contents of apps' communication and tracing IPC between short-lived processes.
POSIX vs UNIX: Understanding the Difference
POSIX is an IEEE standard that acts as a standard UNIX version. It is a consortium of vendors that helps users easily port applications across different platforms. POSIX is considered a subset of UNIX and is used to cover different Unix-like environments for many other operating systems. POSIX initially contained different environments, such as Eunice for Virtual Machines, POSIX Personality, and NT from Windows OS. POSIX is portable between different variants of UNIX. In general terms, we can call POSIX as an operating system of UNIX.
POSIX Spawn with C Programming
Spawn is a function used in POSIX to load and execute child processes. The currently running process in POSIX will then either continue or not continue to execute these child processes and other processes asynchronously. Whenever a new sub-process is created, it requires some specific memory that will allow the parent and child process to execute. In Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux, there is a certain family of spawns; and other families of spawn functions are considered an optional extension.
POSIX Message Queues with C Programming
IPC is used for real-time extensions. These message queues are a part of Linux. These calls are used as a standard now but might be a part of contemporary versions. These calls are easy to implement with a much cleaner interface.
Lambda Expressions in C++
How to Use PyQtGraph?
The scientific or numerical visualization tasks can be done in python easily using various Python libraries, such as Plotly, Matplotlib, Seaborn, ggplot, PyQt, etc. PyQtGraph is a useful module of the PyQt library to create a graph. This module can create graphs very fast. 2D and 3D graphics can be created by using this module. How to use the PyQtGraph module to draw different types of graphs has shown in this tutorial.
How to Use PyQt Checkbox?
The checkbox is used to select zero or more options from many options using the graphical user interface. A form with a checkbox can be created by using QCheckBox class in a Python script or using the QCheckBox widget of Qt Designer without writing any script.
When a form with a checkbox is created using QCheckBox class, then stateChanged.connect() function is called to apply the action done by the user's input. If the user checked any checkbox option, then the value of QtCore.Qt.checked will be True. Multiple checkboxes with a single selection like Radio Button can be created using QbuttonGroup class.
How a form with a checkbox can be created by writing a Python script is shown in this tutorial.
The Programming Foundation is on a mission to make technology inclusive
In 2018, during his college days, Subhajeet Mukherjee from Kolkata realised that a lot of students were being taught computer programming through drag and drop tools.
Moreover, at a time when data security is of utmost concern, Subhajeet wanted to keep the users anonymous, and democratise computer science education. This was in a bid to foster people at the grassroot level, and create a self-sustaining community of developers worldwide.
Founded in February 2020 in Sunnyvale, California, The Programming Foundation (TPF) focuses on providing computer science education free-of-cost, without compromising data. Theodore Rolle, a Technical Account Manager with Google Cloud Professional Services Organization joined TPF as the Secretary and Technical advisor.
KDSingleApplication: a class for single-instance policy applications – KDAB
Another day, another blog about some of KDAB's utility classes. Now it's the turn of KDSingleApplication, a class that helps implement applications that follow the single-instance policy.
Dirk Eddelbuettel: td 0.0.1 on CRAN: New Finance Data Package
Thrilled to announce that a new package of mine just made it to CRAN: the td package accesses the twelvedata API for financial data.
Currently only the time_series REST access point is supported, but it is already supported with all meaningful options (we skipped only 'JSON or CSV' which makes no sense here) so for example any resolution between 1 minute and 1 month can be requested for any stock, etf or currency symbol for a wide array of exchanges. Historical access is available too via (optional) start and end dates. We return either raw JSON or a data.frame or an xts object making it trivial to call high-end plotting functions on the data–the project and repo pages show several examples.
Debugging C code on macOS
I started to write C 25 years ago now, with many different tools over the year. As many open source developers, I spent most of my life working with the GNU tools out there.
As I've been using an Apple computer over the last years, I had to adapt to this environment and learn the tricks of the trade. Here are some of my notes so a search engine can index them — and I'll be able to find them later.
5 Questions to Help You Learn the Fundamentals of Programming – Make Tech Easier
Programming is no longer a "geeks' domain." In reality, it never was, but more people are now taking up coding – it's even included in some mainstream grade-school curriculums. However, to be a well-rounded programmer, you'll need to learn a few different languages – and be able to use them.
Fortunately, there are five questions you may ask yourself when starting to learn a new language. This article will look to answer them and set you up with a new arrow for your quiver!
How to read and create csv files using Python
CSV is the acronym of "Comma Separated Values". A csv file is a just plain text document used to represent and exchange tabular data. Each row in a csv file represents an "entity", and each column represents an attribute of it. Columns are usually separated by a comma but other characters can be used as field separator instead of it. In this tutorial we will see how to read and create csv files using Python and specifically the csv module, which is part of the language standard library.
[Older] How to read and create csv files using Python – LinuxConfig.org
Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh
Exporting Bash Variables
Understanding variables in the Bash shell is essential in working with Linux in a professional manner. It is one of the key requirements for programming as well as achieving the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) Level 1 [2].
The previously published article by Fahmida Yesmin [4] gives you a wonderful introduction into Bash variables. Here we step further, and explain how to declare variables in Bash in such a way that you can use them in other environments on your Linux system, and which corresponding side effects you have to take into account.
Mercurial Revision Control System Continues Rust'ing For Better Performance
The Mercurial distributed revision control system continues to see use particularly around some large code-base projects and the developers continue working to optimize its performance in part by transitioning more of it to the Rust programming language.
With Mercurial traditionally being a Python program and supporting C extensions in some areas, in recent years they have been turning to making use of Rust code for achieving better performance and maintainability. Mercurial's "Oxidation Plan" ultimately calls for the main command (hg) to become a Rust binary that embeds and uses a Python interpreter when needed while Mercurial's Python code will call into Rust code.
This Week in Rust 377
Rust 1.50.0 released
Version 1.50.0 of the Rust language has been released. "For this release, we have improved array indexing, expanded safe access to union fields, and added to the standard library."
Announcing Rust 1.50.0
The Rust team is happy to announce a new version of Rust, 1.50.0. Rust is a programming language that is empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.
Enhancing the development loop with Quarkus remote development – Red Hat Developer
Kubernetes is an established foundation layer for cloud-native microservices and serverless architectures. By automating application deployment, scaling, and management, Kubernetes changes the developer's daily workflow in terms of inner loop development (local coding, building, running, and testing the application) and outer loop development (integration testing, continuous deployment, and security). Developers using Kubernetes also must plan for containerization, debugging code inside pods, and automating test cases.
In this article, you'll see how using Quarkus remote development enhances the development loop on Kubernetes. We will set up a new Quarkus project then configure it for live coding on a remote Red Hat OpenShift cluster, just like you would in your local development environment.
Standards/Consortia
The W3C and IETF make WebRTC an official standard
Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) is now an official World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard. WebRTC is a platform that provides real-time communication and collaboration services such as audio and video calling to browsers, mobile apps, and desktop apps. According to the organizations, this is especially important as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and businesses remain remote.
Why Did Mark Cuban Fold?
It was just recently noticed that the Dallas Mavericks haven't been playing the national anthem before their games. As one might imagine, the response was not exactly tepid, especially from the right-wing blathosphere. Yet, immediately following a comment from the league offices, the pugnaciously outspoken franchise owner Mark Cuban buckled like a belt; the team issued a statement that the anthem would play. When NBA VP Michael Bass was asked about Cuban's move, he said, "With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy." And with that, Cuban was done playing the billionaire rebel.
Opinion | I'm Here Live. I'm Not A Cat.
Container-shipping costs have surged in recent months
Containers are the building blocks of global trade. And at the moment, shippers cannot get enough of them. Surging demand for goods and a shortage of empty containers at Asian ports have sent container-shipping costs rocketing. Since November the cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Asia to Europe has risen more than three-fold, from around $2,200 to over $7,900. The price of shipping goods from North America to Asia has doubled. The Freightos Baltic Index, a measure of container-freight rates in 12 important maritime lanes, has increased from $2,200 to $4,000 per container (see chart).
Rennie Davis: Not the Boy Next Door
Unlike Abbie, Jerry and Tom, Rennie's roots were patrician. Born in Michigan and raised in Virginia, he belonged to a 4-H Club as a boy. His father worked in President Truman's administration as chief of staff for the Council of Economic Advisers. I remember him as boyish, with a certain naivete.
Still, the more one looked, the less all-American he appeared to be. Something was going on beneath the surface that even he didn't recognize. The Vietnamese did.
Without Fear
Kali Uchis's musical approach is redolent of the past—mostly thanks to the smoky, nostalgic quality of her voice, which often feels like it's being broadcast live from a hazy, tobacco-stained lounge. "La Luna Enamorada," the opener from her sophomore album, Sin Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios), takes full advantage of her vocals as she purrs over a rich, undulating bolero rhythm. But the song isn't simply a chance for Uchis to show off her singing chops. It's a cover of the Cuban classic "La Luna en Tu Mirada," written by the composer Luís Chaniveky and performed in 1964 by Los Zafiros, a Cuban filin quartet that took inspiration from American doo-wop and harmony groups. Here, it serves as an introduction to the way Uchis explores her Latinx roots on this album, her very first release almost entirely in Spanish.
How Ethernet Works – Linux Hint
Ethernet is a networking technology that allows computers and other devices in the same network to communicate with each other. Unlike wireless communication, signals pass through wires in an Ethernet network. This is the type of networking behind Local Area Networks (LAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), and Wide Area Networks (WAN). As the demand for faster networking speeds continues to rise, Ethernet technologies also continue to reach new heights. In its earlier days, the Basic Ethernet standard was widely implemented, but the speed that it was crawling at was a slow 10Mbps. The speed of Ethernet later significantly improved to 100Mbps with the Fast Ethernet standard. Although Fast Ethernet is still the most common standard in use today, standards supporting faster speeds, such as the Gigabit Ethernet, which can handle up to 1000 Mbps or 1Gbps, and the 10 Gigabit Ethernet are already being implemented, especially in large industries.
Why I Wrote "Educational Strategies for Youth Empowerment in Conflict Zones"
In this book, my purpose is to call attention to non-Western societies, "beyond what might be considered the geographical bounds of a western paradigm," that are fractured and traumatized, and that will continue to sabotage themselves unless they actively engage in the process of healing (Edkins 9-10). It is also my purpose to employ the "strategy of comparison" between traumatic histories "in order to forge links" among those "histories" that would raise the "historical" consciousnesses of peoples "and promote their sense of civic responsibility" (Ball 15). The discourse of human rights, as I underline in my classes, does not have the universality that it should. As anthropologists Didier Fassin and Richard Rechtman point out, "the social processes of the recognition of persons as traumatized effectively chooses its victims. Although those who promote the concept assert that it is universal, since it is a mark left by an event, study reveals tragic disparities in its use" (282). While several non-Western nations have been mangled and pummeled by discord, and some constituencies in the West have been "Otherized," they are not all "'regarded' as potentially grievable, and hence . . ., are made to bear . . . differential exposure to violence and death" (Butler 25). After quoting Judith Butler on the unethicality and "precarity" of the politicization of the discourse of human rights, Craps fittingly argues that "the sufferings of those belonging to non-Western or minority cultures must be given due recognition" (13).
While I admit that I have greatly benefitted from the exploration of issues of trauma in Holocaust literature and testimony, my purpose is not to give greater space or credence to "Euro-American events and experiences." On the contrary, my attempt is to highlight the heterogeneity of the identities and histories of children of the victims as well as survivors of the Holocaust. There is, nonetheless, much to learn from "qualitative" and "interpretive" studies of "survivors and their children, and the making of Holocaust consciousness" (186). Members of various victim groups can communicate with one another and learn about strategies of healing psychological traumas in parts of the world that have been degraded by the instruments of militarization, increasing influence of the military in civilian affairs, normalization of sexual violence, insidiousness of institutional discrimination, hegemonic narratives of the state as well as insurgent movements, dehumanizing effect of incarceration and custodial torture, and those having difficulty reengaging with society. We learn to recognize cultural traumas, which occur "when members of a collective feel they have been subjected to a horrendous event that leave indelible marks upon their group consciousness, not because it is in some way naturally ineffaceable but because it generates a structure of discourse that normalizes it in collective life over time" (1). Cultures that internalize those negative historical events are motivated to "overcome the emotions and sentiments that accompany them," which include "the desire to repair a damaged reputation; the aspiration to recover respect in the eyes of the world; the wish to mourn losses and recover from censure; the longing to find meaning and dignity in the face of failure; the hope to shield family and relatives from recrimination; and the urge to minimize the event and pretend it never happened (Hashimoto 5).
Fauci: Vaccines for Kids as Young as First Graders Could Be Authorized by September
Children as young as first graders may be able to get the coronavirus vaccine by the time school starts in September, presuming trials are successful in those age groups, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with ProPublica.
"We're in the process of starting clinical trials in what we call age de-escalation, where you do a clinical trial with people 16 to 12, then 12 to 9, then 9 to 6," Fauci said. When asked what was the youngest age group that might be authorized for the vaccine by September, he said, "I would think by the time we get to school opening, we likely will be able to get people who come into the first grade."
New Lancet Report: 40 Percent of US COVID Deaths Could Have Been Avoided
Instagram Bars Robert F. Kennedy Jr. For Spreading Vaccine Misinformation
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now blocked from Instagram after he repeatedly undercut trust in vaccines. Kennedy has also spread conspiracy theories about Bill Gates, accusing him of profiteering off vaccines and attempting to take control of the world's food supply.
"We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines," a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told NPR on Thursday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Banned From Instagram Over Promoting Debunked COVID-19 Vaccine Claims
"We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines," a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement, cited by CNN. His Facebook page with similar claims is still up, as is his Twitter account.
Hopes of Achieving Herd Immunity by Fall Look Dim, Biden's Health Experts Warn
Hospitalizations for Liver Disease Soar With Pandemic-Fueled Alcohol Use
Opinion | We Can Push Biden for Fundamental Change at the USDA and Beyond
Here's a chance for progressives to rally a broad grassroots constituency to refocus the work of this huge public resource and make it The People's Department again.
Grifters gonna grift: Cancer quacks Ty and Charlene Bollinger pivot to antivaccine and "Stop the Steal" conspiracies
Not too long ago, I wrote about how all science denial is a form of conspiracy theory. Ever since that concept crystalized in my mind, I've been finding more and more examples that reinforce just that conclusion: All science denial is conspiracy theory. Last week, CNN did a story about just one such example, the case of Ty Bollinger and his wife Charlene. I've written about them before, as this pseudoscience- and quackery-loving couple represent two of the most prominent members of what I like to call the "Cancer Truth" movement. That CNN story struck me as an excellent reason to check in on the Bollingers to see what they are doing in the age of COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, they're grifting, and they've conveniently glommed on to the conspiracy theories of 2020 and beyond, the better to profit from promoting misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Baby food allegedly riddled with poisonous metals—and the Trump administration did nothing about it
The House Oversight Committee released a report on Thursday based on a congressional investigation into the potential presence of toxic heavy metals — including lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury — in baby foods. Four baby food manufacturers provided Congress with information about the amount of toxic heavy metals in their foods based on their own internal testing, including Beech-Nut Nutrition Company, Gerber, Hain Celestial Group, Inc. and Nurture Inc. Between those four companies, Congress found that the companies allow dangerously high levels of toxic heavy metals in their foods and that the foods sold by the companies frequently exceed even those standards.
Integrity/Availability
Frame.io Introduces 'Camera to Cloud' Production System
At launch, the system is intended to provide proxy (low resolution) uploads to the Frame.io cloud each time a camera stop rolling, so editorial and other postproduction tasks can begin in parallel while footage is still being shot (the master and back ups would be saved on set to hard drives that would be later delivered where needed.)
Pseudo-Open Source
Privatisation/Privateering
Unikraft: Pushing Unikernels into the Mainstream
While not all unikernel projects suffer from all of these issues (e.g., some provide some level of POSIX compliance but the performance is lacking, others target a single programming language and so are relatively easy to build but their applicability is limited), we argue that no single project has been able to successfully address all of them, hindering any significant level of deployment. For the past three years, Unikraft (www.unikraft.org), a Linux Foundation project under the Xen Project's auspices, has had the explicit aim to change this state of affairs to bring unikernels into the mainstream.
Getting to Know the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA)
With the recent surge in popularity of cryptocurrencies and related technologies, Square felt an industry group was needed to protect against litigation and other threats against core cryptocurrency technology and ensure the ecosystem remains vibrant and open for developers and companies.
The same way Open Invention Network (OIN) and LOT Network add a layer of patent protection to inter-company collaboration on open source technologies, COPA aims to protect open source cryptocurrency technology. Feeling safe from the threat of lawsuits is a precursor to good collaboration.
Understanding Open Governance Networks – Linux Foundation
Throughout the modern business era, industries and commercial operations have shifted substantially to digital processes. Whether you look at EDI as a means to exchange invoices or cloud-based billing and payment solutions today, businesses have steadily been moving towards increasing digital operations. In the last few years, we've seen the promises of digital transformation come alive, particularly in industries that have shifted to software-defined models. The next step of this journey will involve enabling digital transactions through decentralized networks.
A fundamental adoption issue will be figuring out who controls and decides how a decentralized network is governed. It may seem oxymoronic at first, but decentralized networks still need governance. A future may hold autonomously self-governing decentralized networks, but this model is not accepted in industries today. The governance challenge with a decentralized network technology lies in who and how participants in a network will establish and maintain policies, network operations, on/offboarding of participants, setting fees, configurations, and software changes and are among the issues that will have to be decided to achieve a successful network. No company wants to participate or take a dependency on a network that is controlled or run by a competitor, potential competitor, or any single stakeholder at all for that matter.
Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)
Collabora Online Community Roundup #9 (New Year Edition!) [Ed: Epic mistake! Collabora Online has outsourced to Microsoft's proprietary software trap… to develop competitor of Microsoft. Stop with the Stockholm Syndrome.]
On 1 October 2020, Collabora Online moved to its new home on GitHub, and started settling in the new infrastructure, expanding its fantastic community, and continuing the work to deliver the latest and greatest developments in productivity and collaboration together. Check our new community website for all the details!
Popular open-source library SDL moving development to GitHub despite 'calamitous design choices' in git [Ed: Microsoft Tim promotes Microsoft imprisonment]
The Simple DirectMedia Library (SDL) project is moving development to GitHub today despite what a core developer calls "calamitous design choices" in git, for the sake of familiarity and wide tool support.
SDL is a cross-platform and open-source multimedia library mainly written in C and widely used in game development. Previously it used Mercurial for source code version control and Mozilla's Bugzilla for bug tracking, hosted on their own Linux Server co-located at Digital Ocean, according to a core developer Ryan Gordon.
What's most interesting about the Florida water system hack? That we heard about it at all.
Stories about computer security tend to go viral when they bridge the vast divide between geeks and luddites, and this week's news about a hacker who tried to poison a Florida town's water supply was understandably front-page material. But for security nerds who've been warning about this sort of thing for ages, the most surprising aspect of the incident seems to be that we learned about it at all.
Turns out that Florida water treatment facility left the doors wide open for [attackers]
The reality? The water treatment plant itself left off-the-shelf remote control software on these critical computers — and apparently never, ever bothered to change the password.
FBI Called In After [Intruder] Tries To Poison Tampa-Area City's Water With Lye
It started with a cursor moving on its own, sliding across a computer screen at the water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Fla. Someone had taken remote control of a plant operator's machine – and in just a few minutes, they increased the level of sodium hydroxide in the city's drinking water by a factor of 100. After spiking the caustic substance to unsafe levels, the hacker immediately left the system.
The plant operator quickly reset the sodium hydroxide level back to normal parameters before the rogue action posed a threat to the water supply, officials say. But the incident, which took place Friday, is now being investigated by local authorities as well as the FBI and Secret Service, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
Security vs. Compliance: What's the difference?
The first two posts in our compliance blog series focused on managing compliance through automation. In this third post, we take a step back to explore a more foundational — but no less important — topic: What's the difference between compliance and security? Is compliant infrastructure secure infrastructure?
People often talk about compliance and security as though they're one and the same. To a certain extent, this makes sense; there is a lot of overlap between the two concepts. But compliant infrastructure is not necessarily secure infrastructure, and vice versa. I'll use an analogy to explain the difference.
Microsoft issues additional patch to fix Zerologon vulnerability
Microsoft has released an additional patch to fix the Zerologon vulnerability that surfaced last year, having first issued a patch for the flaw in August 2020 and then updated it the following month.
Security updates for Thursday
Security updates have been issued by Debian (firejail and netty), Fedora (java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-11-openjdk, rubygem-mechanize, and xpdf), Mageia (gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad, nethack, and perl-Email-MIME and perl-Email-MIME-ContentType), openSUSE (firejail, java-11-openjdk, python, and rclone), Red Hat (dotnet, dotnet3.1, dotnet5.0, and rh-nodejs12-nodejs), SUSE (firefox, kernel, python, python36, and subversion), and Ubuntu (gnome-autoar, junit4, openvswitch, postsrsd, and sqlite3).
Intel fixes vulnerabilities in Windows, Linux graphics drivers
Intel addressed 57 security vulnerabilities during this month's Patch Tuesday, including high severity ones impacting Intel Graphics Drivers.
40 of them were found internally by Intel, while the other 17 were externally reported, almost all through Intel's Bug Bounty program.
Patched sudo privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2021-3156
A rather nasty sudo vulnerability has been making news for a couple of weeks now, apparently most of Unix and Unix-like operating systems were affected:
sudo package had heap-based buffer overflow, allowing any user on the system to use sudoedit -s command and become root.
Kushal Das: Defending against side channel attacks via dependencies
Yesterday Alex Birsan posted a blog explaining how he made a supply chain attack on various companies via dependencies. I was waiting for this blog from last August when we noticed the mentioned packages on PyPI (and removed). I reached out to Alex to figure out more about the packages, and he said he will write a blog post.
Breached water plant ran Windows 7, used single password for TeamViewer
The water treatment plant in a Florida city, that was breached last week and had its sodium hydroxide levels changed temporarily before they were reversed back to normal, was running an outdated version of Windows and the password for its TeamViewer application was shared among all employees, according to an advisory from the Massachusetts state government.
[Cracked] psychotherapy centre Vastaamo files for bankruptcy
"It very quickly became clear that the company's clear, undisputed debts exceed the amount of its assets. That does not of course include possible damages that it may have to pay due to the data breach," Nyyssönen told Yle.
Anyone can [crack] your Mac unless you patch it now — here's how
The vulnerability, detailed in our report on February 3, permits full system takeover by remote attackers or malware. The attackers or malware would have to first use other methods to first gain access to a Mac, but that's not as hard as it sounds.
Privacy/Surveillance
Biden Administration Reviewing Trump's Stalled TikTok Ban
The Biden Administration wants to pause the court battle with TikTok it inherited from Donald Trump's DOJ.
TikTok sued after Trump issued an Aug. 6 executive order that would bar "any transaction by any person" with its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, or any of its subsidiaries. The order cited concerns about national security, corporate espionage and censorship and relied upon authority granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Senate panel criticises bill to give AFP, ACIC additional online powers
A Senate panel chaired by Tasmanian Labor Senator Helen Polley has it considers the authorisation of coercive search powers for the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission in a current bill — the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 — could unduly trespass on personal rights and liberties.
Code is law: why software openness and algorithmic transparency are vital for privacy
That might look like a routine application of DNA matching in order to pinpoint an individual allegedly involved in a crime. But in this case, something interesting happened. The legal defense team wanted to analyze how the TrueAllele software had arrived at the conclusion that Pickett's DNA was present in the sample. The reasoning was that without checking the underlying software code, it was impossible to know whether that implicit accusation was valid. However, both the prosecutors and the software vendor claimed this code was a trade secret. The vendor had a commercial interest in preventing competitors from understanding and copying its approach, and claimed that this outweighed the right of the accused to check the inner logic of the program. Fortunately, an appeals court in New Jersey agreed with the defendant:
South Africa's highest court bans bulk internet surveillance
The Concourt found that many aspects of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA), such as lack of disclosure even post-surveillance are unconstitutional. The Concourt has given the South African government three years to draft new legislation to replace RICA – but in the meantime, RICA will remain active.
Defence/Aggression
Biden Adopts a Trump Approach to Iran
Some good news when it comes to foreign policy as well. You'll remember that in Trump's determination to "make "American great again" (MAGA), the former president decided that international organizations and cooperation were impediments to national greatness. Thus, he systematically withdrew from a number of alignments and also scorned international law. This approach appears to have been part of a MAGA scheme to subvert international order. Its nihilistic undertones were highlighted by the creepy leaders who seemed to warm Trump's heart. He found men such as the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, along with a long list of dictators ranging from Rodrigo Duterte in Philippines to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi inEgypt, to be really congenial. There was also Trump's warm admiration for the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
President Biden has saved us from this sort of delinquency. He is now operating under new and saner marching orders: "diplomacy is back" and multilateralism is in. The U.S. has recommitted to the international effort to slow down global warming and has rejoined the World Health Organization. Biden has ended all participation in the immoral Yemen civil war and, so it is reported, told the Russians to keep their invasive cyber-fingers to themselves.
Queen of Chicken Hawks: Victoria Nuland Had A Hand in Every US Intervention in the Past 30 Years
President Joe Biden's nomination of Victoria Nuland for Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the third-highest position at the State Department, is a dangerous sign. Nuland exemplifies the neoconservatives who have led American foreign policy from one disaster to another for the past 30 years, all while evading any shred of accountability.
Russia agrees to pay Alexey Navalny compensation for his detention amid the 2012 Bolotnaya Square protests
The Russian Justice Ministry has declined to appeal a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling from November 2020, obliging Russia to pay opposition politician Alexey Navalny compensation for his detention amid the Bolotnaya Square protests in 2012. This was reported by Interfax, citing the Justice Ministry's press service.
Capitol Attack: Impeachment Managers Build Case vs. Trump with Chilling New Video of Mob's Violence
On the second day of former President Trump's second impeachment trial, House impeachment managers presented detailed documentation of the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection and shared dramatic new footage of the violence as it unfolded. We air excerpts of video from security cameras, which show the pro-Trump mob searching the Capitol building for lawmakers, including Republicans like Vice President Mike Pence, coming within about 100 feet of the room where he was sheltering with his family. House impeachment managers also played audio of Capitol Hill police officers seeking backup.
Rioters' Own Words Show Incitement By Trump, Impeachment Managers Argue
Many of those statements appear in the criminal cases against the alleged [insurrectionists]. NPR's Investigations team has been tracking those cases — more than 200 so far — and has created a searchable database with information about the known defendants and the charges they face. So far, NPR has found, at least 26 defendants have made specific and explicit statements that they stormed the Capitol because they believed Trump wanted them to.
Trump impeachment trial video means GOP can't pretend the former president is innocent
Wednesday's opening argument exposed a president who gleefully ratcheted up his acid rhetoric to the point of violent insurrection, and a Republican Party mostly unwilling to face the terrible cost of their attempts to undermine the integrity of our recent election. The GOP's blindness isn't merely symbolic: When footage was played of [insurrectionists] reading Trump's tweets through a megaphone, multiple Republicans turned away rather than accept what their party enabled. The impeachment prosecution means GOP senators can no longer feign ignorance.
The Case Against Donald Trump, the 'Inciter in Chief'
Wednesday's arguments recreated with forensic-level detail the months, weeks, and days leading up to January 6th, as well as the sequence of events on the 6th itself, all of it through the lens of Trump's campaign to reverse the election outcome and prevent the peaceful transfer of power. But the crux of Wednesday's arguments wasn't how chilling and damning the video footage was. After all, there almost surely wasn't a senator-cum-juror in that room who doubts the severity of what happened in Washington, D.C., on the 6th. The centerpiece of Wednesday's hearing, instead, was the effort to prove that former President Trump was responsible for the violence and mayhem on Capitol Hill that day — that he was not the commander-in-chief but the "inciter-in-chief," as lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) put it.
The Suffering Underclass of War-Torn Yemen
Last week, President Biden pledged to end United States support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. He also reversed a Trump-era terrorist designation of an Iran-allied rebel group known as the Houthis whom the Saudis are fighting. Both moves were heralded by human rights groups as a good first start in trying to bring peace to this shattered country, which is in its sixth year of war.
The Unreliable Superpower
That, at least, is the story the incoming Biden administration is telling. "America is back, multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back," as Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the administration's nominee for U.N. ambassador, put it shortly after the election. According to this narrative of redemption, the globe's Atlas shrugged off its burden during the four years of Donald Trump's tenure but is now ready to reassume its global leadership responsibilities.
Don't believe it, though. Much of the rest of the world seems visibly queasy at the prospect of sitting on America's shoulders, since who's to say that Atlas won't shrug again?
Biden admin smears Nicaragua as 'dictatorship' for forcing US-funded, coup-plotting NGOs to register as foreign agents
New US Military Base in Northeast Syria Latest of Biden's Warlike Moves
The U.S.-government funded outlet Voice of America has confirmed rumors that a new military base is being built in northeastern Syria. A convoy of 40 troop carriers and other vehicles arrived and began setting up shop in the city of Hasakah near the Turkish and Iraqi borders over the weekend. "The U.S. flag is now raised over a building," said journalist Jindar Berekat, a native of the city, "it is not clear how many American soldiers will be stationed at this location, but their armored military vehicles are here and it looks like they are still constructing parts of it."
A Death on the Anniversary of the Iranian Revolution
Lajevardi was educated inside the country and received her Ph.D. from Tehran University in political theory. Her brilliance was noted when the same department that granted her degree hired her as an assistant professor after she submitted her doctoral dissertation. In addition to her own scholarship, she established herself as an influential public intellectual with her work at Aarghanun, a journal dedicated to literary criticism, philosophy, art critique, and political theory.
From 1995 to 2006, as a board member, she regularly contributed to the journal by careful translations of texts by theorists who influenced her own work. The long list of her translations include works by Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Richard Rorty, Paul Ricoeur, Hand Georg Gadamer, Paul Valéry, and many others. She played a key role in introducing a whole new generation of Iranians to critique as an intellectual vocation.
China, Papua New Guinea and Australia's Backyard Blues
Last week, the Australian press were particularly excited by "leaked" documents revealing a proposal from Hong Kong registered company WYW Holding Limited to create a "New Daru City" comprising an industrial zone, seaport, business and commercial zone. To this would be added a resort and residential area. In total, the entire enterprise would cover 100 square kilometres. A very PRC sort of thing in terms of massive promise.
The proposal was apparently outlined in a letter to PNG Prime Minister James Marape in April 2020 by the company's chief executive Terence Mo, containing an "investment and development plan" stressing the development of PNG's Western Province. It would involve "an agreed Sovereign Guarantee based on a long-term BOT [Building Operate Transfer] contract."
When It Seemed as If the World Took Notice
The death of protester and Chicago 7 (Chicago 8 with Bobby Seale) defendant Rennie Davis is yet another example of how long the echoes of the antiwar movement sends ripples into the present ("Rennie Davis, 'Chicago Seven' Antiwar Activist, Dies at 80," New York Times, February 4, 2021). The Chicago trial of protesters was in answer to the antiwar protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention and resulting police riot. The guilty verdicts against protesters were overturned on appeal.
Some criticized Rennie Davis' post-antiwar interests, but that is beside the point here, because the power of the antiwar movement was so great for so many of the post-World War II baby boom generation that it was almost impossible to escape its grasp and the incessant criticisms of its former members.
Biden: "Boxed-In" by the Military Establishment?
Senior general officers are lobbying for increased defense spending even before President Biden has expressed his own budget preferences. The Washington Post last week carried an oped by the U.S. Air Force chief of staff and the U.S. Marine Corps commandant, both four-star generals, bemoaning the fact that the "U.S. military no longer enjoyed global primacy" and advocating that it "build a more lethal and modern force." In order to justify increases for an already bloated defense budget, the generals rewrote the rules for "readiness," applying readiness to future wars instead of the commonly accepted view of the availability of forces for immediate deployment.
The mainstream media, particularly the New York Times, is relying on general officers with their worst-case views to justify increased military deployments around the world. Last week, Eric Schmitt, a veteran reporter, quoted the commander of the Central Command, another four-star general, taking credit for deploying additional fire power to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf in order to deter Iran. This provocative "fire power" included sending B-52 strategic bombers on 36-hour round-trip, show of-force missions from North Dakota to the Gulf. An aircraft carrier was kept in the Middle East far beyond its normal rotation. The commander explained that these moves were designed to "tell [Iran] this is not the time to provoke a war." In actual fact, Tehran for the past several months has been signaling interest in working with the Biden administration to restore the Iran nuclear accord in return for sanctions relief.
Trump impeachment: Democrats say Trump left those at Capitol 'for dead'
Using Mr Trump's own words and tweets against him, Democrats prosecuting the case argued he had acted as "inciter-in-chief" on the day and beforehand.
In at times emotional testimony, impeachment managers methodically pieced together the violence.
Unreleased security footage also showed how close [insurgents] came to US lawmakers.
Graphic New Videos Show Violence at US Capitol Last Month
The videos showed hundreds of insurgents – Trump supporters the former U.S. leader had urged to go to the Capitol to try to stop the official certification of his reelection loss – storming through the building and into both chambers of Congress. Some of the rioters rifled through documents lawmakers had left behind as they fled to safety.
Syria 'finds body of archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad beheaded by IS'
Syrian authorities believe they have found the body of a top archaeologist who was killed by the Islamic State (IS) group in 2015 while he tried to protect the ancient city of Palmyra.
Militants publicly beheaded Khaled al-Asaad, 82, after he refused to disclose the location of valuable artefacts.
Denmark: "Our Goal is Zero Asylum Seekers"
"The fight against Islamism is about the survival of the welfare state. Denmark must not adapt to Islam. Islam must adapt to Denmark." — Danish Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye.
How Long Can Democracy Survive QAnon and Its Allies?
A central question, then, is how distant from the rest of the American electorate the voters who align themselves with the radical wing of the Republican Party are.
Suspected Islamists kill ten in eastern Congo machete attack
Reprisal attacks against civilians increased sharply since the army began an operation against the ADF in November 2019, dislodging it from several bases in mountainous jungle near the Ugandan border.
The New Humanitarian | 25 years of sexual exploitation and abuse
Last year, our investigation with the Thomson Reuters Foundation uncovered allegations of extensive sexual exploitation and abuse during the 2018-2020 Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was far from the first time we had reported on this widespread, chronic problem – whether at the hands of aid workers or UN peacekeepers.
From Bosnia to Haiti to Central African Republic, such abuses have long stained the reputation of the UN and international NGOs, undermining basic trust in the institutions meant to protect and assist people in crisis. The crux of the issue often comes down to imbalances of power – and the power relations between those providing the aid and those receiving it could not be more stark in humanitarian relief.
Beginning in the 1990s, this timeline exposes a long cycle of impunity: grave abuses followed by statements of shock and outrage, then belated efforts to stem the problem before another revelation of abuse, either in the same country or in a different part of the world.
The New Humanitarian | Humanitarian access stalled in Ethiopia's Tigray region
Lack of humanitarian access is fast becoming a defining issue in Ethiopia's three-month conflict in Tigray: The UN and aid agencies say they're not allowed to move sufficient personnel and goods into and around the region, and are being denied visas to bring in new international staff.
Aid workers, NGO managers, and others involved in the response told The New Humanitarian the rules on access keep changing, and agreements with the government have not delivered as hoped, leading to a state of paralysis in the relief effort.
In a statement today, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said: "Ending the suffering in Tigray and around the country is now my highest priority. This is why I am calling for the United Nations and international relief agencies to work with my government."
But even the Ethiopian Red Cross, which enjoys relatively good access, said this week that it could only reach 20 percent of the people in need in the Tigray region.
Transparency/Investigative Reporting
To Conspiracy Theory or to Not Conspiracy Theory (That is the Question)
Whether the CIA did or did not intentionally use those words, conspiracy theory, to discredit those who were non-believers of the official Warren Report line, we will never know. And that's the thing about a conspiracy theory, as to its truth, we may never know. What should be known however, what we would be better to believe, is that in this world of intrigue, deception, black-ops and lies, that there are without a doubt conspiracies. If the CIA ever had the desire to de-legitimize someone or some entire group, then or especially now, this moment is certainly ripe for supplying them with all the necessary ingredients for pulling off a grand conspiracy of mass de-legitimization of those they see as being political rabble-rousers.
The group who stormed the capitol on Jan.6th is one such group who follow conspiracy theories but although they are unique in being the ones who stormed the capitol, they are not unique in their beliefs in conspiracy theories. It might be hard, if one were to look, to find someone who does not believe in some conspiracy theory or another and it would be right for that to be the case because surely, one or the other of those theories is true, based on facts and even provable if the right material evidence could be produced. In this world of intrigue, deception, black-ops and lies however, it is sometimes very hard, impossible even for most of us, to get our hands on the right material evidence and those shady CIA operators are loving it. Nothing produces the environment where conspiracy theories thrive like reams of hidden or redacted evidence.
Clapper permanently bans QAnon-related content
Clapper CEO Edison Chen told The Verge on Thursday that the company will permanently ban QAnon-related content going forward. As of publication, Chen said Clapper has removed over 400 videos and 20 accounts for spreading QAnon or anti-vax misinformation and has increased its number of content auditors from around a dozen to 20. It will take Clapper up to 10 days to complete a full audit of its over 1 million videos, Chen said.
Fox News Should Pay for the Lies and Slander It Helped Promote
What makes Smartmatic's case particularly strong is that the technology was not widely used during the 2020 election. Only one county, Los Angeles county, used Smartmatic, and that county was not actually disputed by Trump or the Republican party. So even if a person somehow believed that there was massive election fraud, led by the makers of voting machines, lumping Smartmatic in with that conspiracy was incredibly irresponsible. (Dominion has filed a separate lawsuit against Giuliani, Powell, and Newsmax, but not Fox.) It's like accusing Dominos and Pizza Hut of putting loneliness in your pizza when there's no Pizza Hut operating within 100 miles of your house.
Twitter permanently suspends 'Project Veritas' group
Founded in 2010, Project Veritas is a right-wing group that routinely published undercover sting videos, some of which have been accused of deceptive editing. Last October the group was criticized after claiming to have uncovered a witness to voter fraud in Minnesota only for the witness to backtrack on his claims days later and accuse Project Veritas operatives of trying to bribe him, according to multiple reports.
Outgoing Washington Post editor finally, begrudgingly admits mistakes in Trump coverage
On his way out the door, Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron is conceding that he, the Post and other top journalists failed to sufficiently hold Donald Trump accountable for his lies.
But the admission, in which Baron used the vague pronoun "we," was grudging. There was no sign of remorse. Baron cast journalists as the victims of a president who exploited their "good principles." And then he insisted that it didn't really matter anyway.
Carbon-free future is in reach for the US by 2050
America could have a carbon-free future by 2050 with a big switch to wind and solar power, say US government scientists.
After 9th Circuit Decision, Youth Climate Campaigners Vow to Take Landmark Case to Supreme Court
"The 9th Circuit failed to correct the legal errors in the panel decision," said the lead attorney in the case, who added that the case is now up to the nation's highest court.
Opinion | With Environmental Justice, the Devil Is in the Details
If we invest enough, and we invest right, our communities—Black, Indigenous, Latinx, all of us—will finally get a taste of the good life that America has forever promised.
Small may prove beautiful for the nuclear industry
The nuclear industry in much of the world is struggling to survive. Reverting to small reactors may be its best hope.
'The US Has Been Obstructionist in Chief in Global Climate Talks'
Janine Jackson interviewed IPS's Basav Sen about rejoining the Paris accords for the February 5, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Utility Companies Owe Millions to This State Regulatory Agency. The Problem? The Agency Can't Track What It's Owed.
The California Public Utilities Commission does not have a good understanding of how much money it's owed or even who owes it money, a new state audit found, validating some of the concerns raised by the agency's former executive director, who was fired last year after alleging that $200 million in fines and fees was missing.
The audit, conducted by the state's Department of Finance, found that much of the $200 million that former executive director Alice Stebbins said could not be accounted for had been collected, but it called the agency's billing system "inaccurate and incomplete."
The Fire Next Time: Climate Change, the Bomb, or the Flame of Hope?
With each passing year, the state's fire season arrives earlier and does greater damage. In 2013, a mere eight years ago, fires consumed about 602,000 acres and started significantly later. That January, CalFire reported only a single fire, just two in February, and none in March. Fire season didn't really begin until April and had tapered off before year's end. This past December, however, 10 fires still burned at least 10,000 acres. In fact, it almost doesn't make sense to talk about a fire "season" anymore. Whatever the month, wildfires are likely to be burning somewhere in the state.
Clearly, California's fires (along with Oregon's and Washington's) are getting worse. Just as clearly, notwithstanding Donald Trump's exhortations to do a better job of "raking" our forests, climate change is the main cause of this growing disaster.
Colorado's Fracking Secessionists
According to the associated press, Colorado's Weld County, the state's fracking epicenter, has once again had enough of us freedom-hating scoundrels living to the south of them. They're tired of our belly aching about air quality. If you want pickups and diesel fuel, you gotta have gas, and Weld is gassing us. And don't forget the jobs, and the children's lunch buckets, and the backpacks, and the pencils the oil industry provides to kids in Weld. Is this not a wondrous bonding of industry and people in pursuit of the common good? Why do we want to destroy all that?
Tired of the criticism from Denver parents who are jealous their kids don't get free lunch buckets and pencils from the industry, they want liberation, and they want it now. They want to be Wyoming where coal is cheap, gun-racks are bountiful, and all the children leave as soon as they can drive. We don't know how many "they" is, but it's at least one ruffled gentleman who threatens secession, once again.
Bitcoin consumes 'more electricity than Argentina'
Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year – and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps.
Critics say electric-car firm Tesla's decision to invest heavily in Bitcoin undermines its environmental image.
Bitcoin's wild ride renews worries about its massive carbon footprint
Bitcoin has a carbon footprint comparable to that of New Zealand, producing 36.95 megatons of CO2 annually, according to Digiconomist's Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, an online tool created by data scientist Alex de Vries. It consumes as much power as Chile — around 77.78 TWh — according to Digonomist's estimates.
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a separate tool from researchers at Cambridge University, shows a much larger figure of 110.53 TWh — more than the entire annual energy consumption of the Netherlands.
Bitcoin to Come to America's Oldest Bank, BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon said it would allow digital assets to pass through the same plumbing used by managers' other, more traditional holdings—from Treasurys to technology stocks—using a platform that is now in prototype. The bank is already discussing plans with clients to bring their digital currencies into the fold.
Oldest US bank BNY Mellon to hold Bitcoin for clients
Regelman noted to the Journal that before this development, banks had used separate custodians for cryptocurrency holdings.
Why Indigenous Knowledge Matters to the Future of Fisheries
Of Mexican Wolves and Their Habitat
What the Department hasn't been readily admitting is that predicted habitat availability and restoring a sustainable wolf population on the ground are separate things. Models that predict suitable habitat and sufficient prey do not address the question of the feasibility of wolf recovery success in Mexico. Mexico has far fewer protected public lands than the United States. Most of the best habitats in Mexico are on private lands and long-term protections in place on those lands vary. Mexico's wolf recovery program is staffed by tenacious, dedicated biologists, but it is only recently succeeding again after a few years of uncertainty with regard to federal priorities and funding. These complexities cannot be overlooked because the ESA requires that conservation efforts are "sufficiently certain to be implemented and effective." The United States has no authority over the sovereign nation of Mexico and should not expect them to shoulder the weight of species' recovery as a way to avoid thorny politics in our own country.
We need to put our own house in order – and soon – if we intend to meaningfully recover this subspecies north of the international border. The wolves in the wildlands of Arizona and New Mexico are, on average, as closely related as brothers and sisters. The genetic bottleneck facing this population is real and threatens their persistence.
SF Giants Owner Rakes in $815 Million During the pandemic
Workers at Oracle Park, where the Giants play, have been taking it on the chin during the pandemic, but the pandemic apparently hasn't taken any skin off Johnson's nose.
These numbers come from a February 2021 report by the Institute for Policy Studies (ITEP), aptly titled Pandemic Super Bowl 2021: Billionaires Win, We Lose.
Texas Teen Was Forced to Use College Savings to Prevent Mom's Eviction
Explaining India's farmer uprising, the largest strike in human history
The American Example Is Shakier Than Ever
The nightmare is over. The vanquished beast has crawled back to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds. The heroes are hard at work repairing the damage. As America returns to the international stage, the world heaves a collective sigh of relief.
Media Frames Teen Using College Savings To Save Mom From Eviction as Uplifting Puff Piece
A Texas teenager has been forced to use her entire college savings to prevent her single mother from being evicted after she lost her job amid a raging pandemic. Alondra Carmona of Houston made the appeal on crowdfunding site GoFundMe, noting that she had been accepted into prestigious New York university Barnard College, but that she used the money she had saved for tuition in order to save her mother.
The Drive for a Wealth Tax in Washington State
According to the state's Department of Revenue, the tax would raise an estimated $2.25 billion in 2023 and $2.5 billion in 2024. At a February 2 hearing, House Finance Committee chair Noel Frame said it's time to put a new "tool in the toolbox for comprehensive structural tax reform." The state's current tax system places an enormous burden on Washington's working class.
At the February 2 virtual hearing, over 40 witnesses lined up to testify in support of HB1406, an act to "improve the equity of Washington state's tax code" by creating a wealth tax and "taxing extraordinary financial intangible assets."
'Maybe We Ought to Go to $20 an Hour. Why Stop at $15?' Scoffs House Republican Arguing Against Wage Hike
The Republican lawmaker didn't acknowledge that had the federal minimum wage kept pace with productivity, it would be around $24 an hour today.
Opinion | GameStop Fiasco Proves We Need a Financial Transaction Tax
America is over-financialized and needs a tax on speculation.
America 'Should Be Ashamed': Texas Teen Forced to Use College Savings to Prevent Mom's Eviction
"Americans owe $70 billion in back rent that they won't be able to pay. If we don't get them relief, there will be millions of stories like these."
Opinion | Why Should U.S. Citizens' Tax Dollars Be Diverted to Enriching the Manufacturing Base of Other Nations When Americans Need Jobs?
The President's plan to reinforce the Buy American Act is the first step in reviving the U.S. industry.
With Nods to Country's Free Tuition and Paid Maternity Leave, Norwegian University Delivers Epic Response to Will Ferrell's Super Bowl Ad
After the comedian noted that per-capita sales of electric vehicles are higher in Norway than in the U.S., a video from the Scandinavian country pointed out a few more reasons why life is better with social democracy.
NYC Taxi Drivers Shut Down Brooklyn Bridge in Demand for Debt Forgiveness
"We shut down the Brooklyn Bridge because only direct action will get us what we need: medallion debt forgiveness now!"
AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
The GOP Is Over
George H.W. Bush won it back in 1988, thanks to his campaign's use of the black parolee Willie Horton's committing rape to upend what had been a sure victory for Michael Dukakis. Prior to the Horton campaign ad, Dukakis had a 17 point lead, but went on to lose by 8 percentage points in the popular vote. The only GOP win of the presidential popular vote since 1988, George W. Bush's 2004 victory, was fueled by pro-war, post-9/11 propaganda. Both father and son used racialized fear to win the popular vote, the latter towards African Americans and W. towards dark-skinned Muslim "terrorists."
In recent history Republicans have struggled to win presidential elections, due to their decrease in national popularity. Nevertheless, the electoral college system has allowed the GOP to eke out presidential victories in 3 out of 8 presidential elections since 1988.
The Legal Attempt to End the Fabiani Farce
Lady Dorrian in the High Court this morning described a position taken by the Scottish Parliament's legal advisers, on the publication and inclusion of Geoff Aberdein's and Alex Salmond's evidence, as "an absurd interpretation of the court order". She also stated that "The answer is for the committee to take a robust attitude to the question of publication and redaction. But this is not the place for that. It is not my job to tell them that."
'Independent, Culturally Relevant, Trusted Local Sources Are the Way'
Janine Jackson interviewed Movement Alliance Project's Hannah Sassaman about Prometheus v. FCC for the February 5, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
Impeachment: Why the Senate Will Acquit Trump
Even Trump's most ardent opponents hold out little hope of conviction. That would require the votes of 67 US Senators, at least 17 of whom would have to be Republicans. And 45 of 50 Republican Senators have already voted against holding the trial at all, on grounds that it would be "unconstitutional" because Trump is no longer president.
It's not unconstitutional. The Constitution's plain language, precedent in both US and pre-revolutionary British practice, and a common sense holding that the founders would not prescribe a penalty (disqualification from future office) that could be rendered toothless by resignation, make it clear that an official can be tried (and impeached) after leaving office. In fact, some Republicans advocated doing exactly that to former Vice-President Joe Biden only months ago over his alleged corruption vis a vis Ukraine and Burisma.
How Has The Nation Changed Since The Insurrection At The Capitol?
Today's topic: How has the nation changed (or how has it not) since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump?
Facebook oversight board received 9,000 comments on Trump suspension case
Facebook, along with other social media giants such as Twitter, suspended Trump's access to his account following the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol breach, which some say he incited.
Facebook Helped Government Identify Capitol Rioters From Photos
Bickert said Facebook removed posts from several militant groups in the lead-up to the violent event and continued to remove content celebrating the riots and planning future violence after Jan. 6. The company said it didn't use its facial recognition software to help the government identify people, but passed along data in response to requests.
Trump's Senate Trial "Goes to the Heart" of Why Impeachment Was Created
Trump Call Shows He Kept Inciting Capitol Mob After Learning Pence Was in Danger
Michigan GOP Leader Caught on Tape Saying Capitol Attack Was a "Staged" Event
Trump's Lawyers Mocked Democracy and Reasoned Debate
On the opening day of Donald Trump's second impeachment trial there was a striking chasm, a gulf as large as the Grand Canyon, between the two legal teams. The House managers, a team of congressional Democrats who made the case for conviction, were well-briefed, cogent, focused, and eloquent. Trump lawyers were fun-house mirror opposites: ill-prepared, meandering, incoherent, and, perhaps worst of all, threatening.
Keep America
Trump Must Be Held Accountable for Inciting the Capitol Insurrection
Jamie Raskin's Passionate Prosecution Is Convicting Trump in the Eyes of History
When students of the American story ask 100 years from now how the United States began to find its way back from the mob violence, destruction, and death that Donald Trump unleashed on this country, they will recall the prose and poetry with which Representative Jamie Raskin damned the former president who incited insurrection against democracy.
Opinion | Co-Conspirators, All
At Confirmation Hearing, Bernie Sanders Calls Out Neera Tanden's History of 'Vicious Attacks' on Progressives
The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee also pressed Tanden on her think tank's prolific fundraising from such corporate giants as Amazon, Walmart, and JPMorgan Chase.
Media outlet founded by journalist Irina Slavina shuts down months after her death
The Nizhny Novgorod-based outlet Koza.Press, founded by independent journalist Irina Slavina, has shut down four months after her death. This was announced by Slavina's daughter, Margarita Murakhtaeva, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, February 10.
Local Georgia Prosecutor Launches Criminal Probe Into Trump's Request to 'Find' the Votes
The former president also faces the ongoing U.S. Senate impeachment trial as well as civil and criminal probes in New York.
Only One GOP Senator Changed His Mind About Trump's Trial After Haunting Video
Trump's Legal Defense Is Embarrassingly Bad, But the GOP Is Still Backing Him
Watch: Dramatic Video of Capitol Attack & Trump's Incitement Kicks Off Impeachment Trial in Senate
The Senate has voted 56 to 44 to proceed with the impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Six Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting arguments from Trump's defense team that it is unconstitutional for a former president to face an impeachment trial. Trump is the first president to ever be impeached twice and the first to be tried after leaving office. We air highlights from the first day of Trump's historic second impeachment trial, including clips from a dramatic video mixing Trump's words on January 6 with scenes of rioters breaking into the Capitol.
WATCH LIVE: On Day Two of Trump Trial, House Dems Set to Unveil New Footage of 'Extreme Violence'
The new footage, said one Democratic aide, "shows a view of the Capitol that is quite extraordinary."
Fossil Fuel and Other Polluters Gave Tens of Millions in Campaign Cash to GOP Lawmakers Opposing Biden's Leasing Freeze
"Our elected officials are sold out to Big Oil," said Public Citizen.
For Russian leftists, Western favorite Navalny represents same corrupt elitism
Opinion | Washington Post Curates the Memory of George Shultz
By exclusion or distortion, establishment obituaries rewrite history to make the official heroes fit for adoration.
The Socialist Glossy That Wants You to Have It All
Sarah Leonard and Marian Jones met at the Democratic Socialists of America's socialist-feminist reading group (held in The Nation's conference room!) in 2017, after Donald Trump's election prompted a surge in membership in the 40-year-old organization. Now, along with several other editors and an art director, they are members of the Lux collective, named for the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. The first issue of its print magazine hits mailboxes this month. I spoke with Leonard and Jones about the future of left feminism, solidarity versus sisterhood, and why Lux is a glossy.
'I loved this country': Meduza talks to the architect behind 'Putin's palace' about his career in Russia — and how it came to a sad end
For many years, Italian architect Lanfranco Cirillo had a brilliant career in Russia — most notably, he designed the luxurious residence featured in Alexey Navalny's "Putin's Palace" investigation. But despite the president granting him Russian citizenship and the fact that he had many lucrative business projects in Russia, the 62-year-old left the country several years ago. For Meduza, journalists from the media project "Sector Four'' spoke to Lanfranco Cirillo to find out more about how "Putin's palace" was built and why he decided to leave his Russian career behind and return to his native Italy.
A Pro-Cairo Lobby is Spending Big to Make Sure Biden Doesn't Cut Aid to Egypt's Dictatorship
Under Donald Trump's presidency, Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE, and other repressive regimes, had virtually free reign to commit unchecked human rights abuses without worry that they might be chastised or lose U.S. diplomatic and financial support. But when Joe Biden won the 2020 election, President Sisi of Egypt started to worry. That's when he contracted lobbying powerhouse Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for $65,000 a month.
Trump Campaign Paid Millions to Organizers of Rally That Led to Capitol Rampage
Journalists Praising Psaki Should Remember: Spin Doctors Are Not on Your Side
One arena of US executive power that the media establishment is glad to have return to its pre-Trump mode is White House press relations, embodied in Joe Biden press secretary Jen Psaki. Former President Donald Trump's press secretaries, like Sean Spicer with his iffy Holocaust history (Vox, 4/11/17) and mendacious Kayleigh McEnany (Vanity Fair, 1/26/21), turned any given White House press conference into a Terry Gilliam fever dream. Any spokesperson for the new administration might seem like a bit of fresh air after such lunacy. But let's be cautious.
The Questionable Characters Behind the Kushner-Linked Insurance Giant Oscar Health
Why are the founders of the largest gaming company in Latin America building a telehealth giant in the United States? The answer to this question will not be readily apparent for another few years when the links between big business and the gamified marketplace are clear for everyone to see. In the meantime, Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up co-founded by Jared Kushner's brother and a German-born computer scientist, filed for an initial public offering last week in what is expected to be one of the largest IPO hauls in history, projected to rake in almost $34 billion.
Hidden in Plain Sight: The "Unimpeachable" Offenses
The question is the flip side of one that Republican Gerald Ford candidly addressed when he was the House minority leader 50 years ago: "What, then, is an impeachable offense? The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history."
By narrowly defining which offenses are impeachable, political elites are implicitly telling us which offenses aren't.
Brexit, One Month After
The government describes these as "teething problems", but it is clear that some of them are inbuilt into the Brexit deal, and will be there for the duration.
As expected, the Northern Irish border is one of them. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but remains in the EU's economic orbit because it shares a border with the EU-member Republic of Ireland.
On the Relative Vileness of George W. Bush and Donald Trump, Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene
There is no great moral distance between Bush as Texas governor mocking the plea for mercy by a death row female prisoner who'd become a born-again Christian in 1998, and Trump as candidate mocking a handicapped reporter for criticizing him in 2016.
Or between Bush as president ordering, in a threatening tone, his international terrorism advisor Richard Clarke in 2001 to "look into Iraq, Saddam" in connection with 9-11 and Trump's order to the Georgia secretary of state to find the missing votes he needs to win the election. Both former presidents are ignorant, callous, amoral, misanthropic monsters. Human scum, in the pithy Korean expression.
The Case for Blue-State Secession
On January 6, an armed mob sought to overturn an election and install a president who had lost the popular vote. But this was just a violent version of the pervasive constitutional embedment of minority rule in our country. The Confederate flags waved during the Capitol Hill riot followed planning for the insurrection in a Facebook group called Red-State Secession, amid a wave of demands for secession by red-state leaders and conservative commentators.
On Trump's Next Absurd Acquittal
On Wednesday, January 6th of this year, with 14 days left in his fascist presidency, after months of trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election, a rabid Donald Trump sent thousands of his frothing minions to the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. The animating idea behind the Trumpist rampage that broke into the Capitol complex was belief in the baseless fascist lie that Biden and the Democrats had stolen the election from its supposed rightful winner, the demented oligarch Donald Trump.
Five people died in the assault while members of Congress hid for their lives. The body and casualty count could easily have been much higher. The overwhelmingly white male mob, including Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, neo-Nazis, military veterans, and law enforcement personnel, spoke of lynching Congresspersons and Vice President Mike Pence. The marauders were equipped to kill and take hostages for the purpose of keeping their Dear Leader, Donald Trump, in power.
"This Cannot Be the Future of America": Rep. Jamie Raskin Gives Moving Account of Capitol Attack
Congressmember Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead Democratic impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, closed the first day of proceedings in the Senate with an emotional speech describing the terror of the January 6 Capitol attack. "All around me people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones, to say goodbye," said Raskin.
Opinion | If You Want Healing, Get Off My Bike
Do we, as a people, want the events of January 6th to be seen by history as the beginning of national healing, or will we allow it to be the start of an even worse time of division and violence in our nation?
Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha Blain on Impeachment, White Supremacist Violence & Holding Trump Accountable
As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump proceeds, we speak with two historians about the importance of accountability for the January 6 insurrection and white supremacist attacks in the United States. The scenes of violence at the U.S. Capitol were "familiar" to Black people, says Ibram X. Kendi, author, professor and founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. "We have consistently, over the course of 400 years, faced white supremacist mob violence." We also speak with Keisha Blain, an author and associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, who says Trump must be held accountable for inciting the Capitol insurrection. "We cannot hold back and play games here," she says. "Whatever decision we make in this moment will determine the future of this nation."
'Shameful': Fox News Cuts Away From Senate Trial as Shocking Footage Emerges
Instead, the network aired segments on a viral kitten filter video and the Dallas Mavericks national anthem controversy.
A Little Light Into The Murky World of the Guardian
Nathan Robinson lost his employment as a Guardian columnist on US politics for these tweets:
Star Wars severs ties with The Mandalorian star Gina Carano
Carano has recently come under scrutiny for several posts published on social media, including an anti-Semitic post on her Instagram. Some of the content from Carano's tweets are captured in screenshots, seen below in this tweet. Lucasfilm's spokesperson denounced Carano's social media posts, telling The Verge, "her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."
Two Iranian [cracking] groups appear to be actively snooping on critics around the globe
Two suspected Iranian government-connected [cracking] groups are actively spying on dissidents around the world in renewed eavesdropping campaigns, researchers said in reports out Monday morning.
One of the groups, known as Domestic Kitten or APT-C-50, notched victims in seven countries, Check Point Research found: Iran, the U.S., the U.K., Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey,and Uzbekistan.
The other, known as Infy or Prince of Persia, snooped on dissidents in 12 countries, Check Point found in joint research with SafeBreach. Both companies were founded in Israel, which counts Iran as one of its chief nemeses. The U.S. also counts Iran among the handful of its biggest adversaries in cyberspace.
Censorship/Free Speech
China Bans BBC World Service, Following U.K. Ban Of Chinese Network
China's broadcasting regulator has banned the BBC World Service from airing there, according to a report in Chinese state media. The news follows a move by Britain's communications regulator last week to strip the state-run China global television network of its broadcast license in the U.K.
How To Think About Online Ads And Section 230
There's been a lot of consternation about online ads, sometimes even for good reason. The problem is that not all of the criticism is sound or well-directed. Worse, the antipathy towards ad tech, regardless of whether it is well-founded or not, is coalescing into yet more unwise, and undeserved, attacks on Section 230 and other expressive discretion the First Amendment protects. If these attacks are ultimately successful none of the problems currently lamented will be solved, but they will create lots of new ones.
Content Moderation Case Study: Twitter Attempts To Tackle COVID-related Vaccine Misinformation (2020)
Summary: Following on its efforts in tamping down on election-related misinformation, Twitter's latest moderation efforts target misleading posts about COVID and the coronavirus, with a specific focus on vaccine related information.
Saudi Activist al-Hathloul Released After 1,000 Days in Prison"
Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul was released from a Saudi prison Wednesday, after spending nearly three years behind bars, according to her family.
Hathloul, a 31-year-old activist who has called for reforms to laws governing women, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to six years in prison on terrorism charges that the United Nations had deemed "spurious.
Hustler founder and free-speech activist Larry Flynt dies aged 78
Flynt then won the case with a unanimous 8-0 verdict, which reinforced free speech rights and protections for satire in the US.
His business empire extended into other areas of entertainment and was thought to have a $150m turnover at one point, according to Reuters.
Larry Flynt 'Hustler' Founder Dead at 78
Many of these First Amendment battles were chronicled in the Oscar-nominated 1996 film, "The People vs. Larry Flynt," starring Woody Harrelson.
Why questions of free speech – and its limits – roil US politics
However, free speech is not an absolute right, note First Amendment experts. Mr. Trump's words would not be protected if a court case determined they led to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Prosecution of incitement is not easy, however. Ken White, a First Amendment litigator and criminal defense attorney at Brown, White & Osborn LLP, says that in court the former president would be held to the same standard as all Americans: the Brandenburg test.
Under Brandenburg the government may prohibit advocating the use of force or crime if the speech meets both elements of a two-part test: The speech is "directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action," and the speech is "likely to incite or produce such action."
Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press
Loujain al-Hathloul: Released Saudi activist's family 'want real justice'
They want the travel ban lifted, reparations for time spent in prison, and Saudi newspapers held accountable for what they say was a campaign of defamation.
But above all Loujain al-Hathloul wants those who she maintains tortured her in prison held accountable. Chief among them, she claims, is Saud al-Qahtani, the former close aide to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Alexey Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has reportedly left Russia for Germany
Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of imprisoned opposition politician Alexey Navalny, has left Russia, Interfax reported on Wednesday, February 10, citing an informed source.
Russian court arrests Navalny's chief of staff in absentia
On Wednesday, February 10, Moscow's Basmanny District Court arrested in absentia Leonid Volkov, the chief of staff to imprisoned opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
'Free Assange' Demands Grow as Biden DOJ Says It Will Continue to Seek Extradition
"None of this is inevitable. At every step of the way, individuals with agency are actively choosing to continue the political case against Julian Assange that will have alarming consequences for journalism around the world."
Ignoring First Amendment Pleas, Biden's DOJ Will Seek Extradition of Assange
Civil Rights/Policing
Fatou Bensouda: A Daring Prosecutor Who Challenged the US, Israeli Impunity
Pro-establishment sovereigntists (pests)—political elites, the corporate media, money-pouring lobbyists, and conservative think tanks—operate in unison to claim sovereign immunity for the international crimes that the US and Israeli nationals perpetrate in the Middle East and Asia. However, the same Pests work overtime to undermine other nations' sovereignty through invasions and air attacks, champion spiteful sanctions against countries that confront the US-Israel hegemony, and propose to criminalize, overthrow, and kill the "terrorist" leaders of defiant nations.
Undoubtedly, the Pests will join hands, as they have done before, to resist and disrupt the prosecutorial investigations under the ICC's auspices.
Alexander Hamilton Meets RBG and the Supremes
Contrary to Hamilton's wishes, the judiciary, and especially the U.S. Supreme Court, has exercised both force and will for hundreds of years. While it has rubber stamped freedom for corporations and the few, it has often annihilated life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the many.
In fact, the court has acted not only as judge, but also as a jailer and as executioner. Five days before Biden became president, the Supremes issued an order that made possible the execution of Dustin J. Higgs, a 48-year old African-American sentenced to death for murder. Higgs was the 13th person executed by the state between July 2020 and January 21. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called it "a spree of executions."
Police Deployed Potentially Lethal Chemical During Black Lives Matter Protests
'Cycling for a Free Tibet' campaign takes off in Taiwan
The Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), a coalition of NGOs based in Taiwan, on Wednesday (Feb. 10) launched the annual Cycling for a Free Tibet event to raise awareness of Beijing's human rights violations in the autonomous region.
During a press conference held outside the Legislative Yuan, HRNTT President Tashi Tsering (札西慈仁), independent legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), and Democratic Progressive Party legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) expressed hope that both the coronavirus and the ill-treatment of Tibetans can end soon. They also said they hope for a visit by the Dalai Lama following the pandemic.
With Feb. 10 marking the 62nd anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day, a dozen Taiwanese bicyclists took to the streets of Taipei early Wednesday morning, traveling from 228 Peace Memorial Park to Taipei 101. Each of them carried a Tibetan flag and shouted "Free Tibet," reported CNA.
Impeachment Won't Stop Threat Trump's Allies Pose to Global Reproductive Rights
Latest Anti-Accountability Move By Cops Involves Playing Music While Being Recorded In Hopes Of Triggering Copyright Takedowns
Cops tend to dislike being recorded. They don't care much for their own recording devices. They routinely disable equipment or conveniently "forget" to activate body cameras.
ID demand was unconstitutional, but sheriffs get "qualified immunity"
[Dashcam video of George Wingate being wrongly arrested by Stafford County, VA Deputy Sheriffs, April 2017]In its 2004 decision in Hiibel v. Nevada, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a demand for a pedestrian to identify himself to police only on the basis that (1) there was already a reasonable articulable basis for suspicion that he had committed some crime before the police demanded that he identify himself, and (2) the state law at issue, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, required only verbal self-identification ("My name is John Smith") and not the production of ID credentials or other evidence of his identity.
You might think that a precedent established by the Supreme Court would be "clearly established". But that would often be wrong, at least in the topsy-turvy world "qualified immunity".
Some Federal Court of Appeals have held that police who unconstitutionally demand ID can be held liable for violating the civil rights of their victims — as, of course, they should be.
Loujain al-Hathloul Released After Over 1000 Days in Prison
Loujain Alhathloul is a hero. She successfully campaigned for women to have the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. Her arrest for campaigning for womens' driving rights occurred just before the Kingdom gave women the right to drive. From her arrest in May 2018, Loujain was mostly held in pre-trial detention where she has faced immense abuse, including waterboarding, electroshock, beatings, and threats of sexual assault. If those injustices were not enough, the Specialised Criminal Court of Saudi Arabia sped through her trial. This included sudden hearings, where Loujain's family was only given a day's notice before the next step of her trial.
"Loujain's family is asking people to not use the term 'freedom' to describe Loujain's release. It's true that she is not free just yet, we need to keep advocating for the conditions of her release to be dropped so Loujain can speak and move freely," Danaka Katovich, the Yemen coordinator for CODEPINK, said.
'The Fight Is Not Over': Prominent Women's Rights Activist Loujain al-Hathloul Released From Saudi Prison
"Her ordeal remains a flagrant miscarriage of justice."
Opinion | All Undocumented Americans Deserve a Pathway to Citizenship
Years of advocacy have made DACA the floor of what's possible, not the ceiling.
Historians Say "Decades of Medical Racism" Led to Unequal COVID Impact on Black & Latinx People
Historians Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain dedicate their new book, "Four Hundred Souls," to the "Black lives lost to COVID-19." They put the content of their book in the context of the disparate impact of the pandemic on the African American community in the United States. "This has been in the making for decades. Even though this is a new virus, … it connects to a larger history of racial inequality, and we wanted to make sure that was clear," says Blain. Kendi is a cancer survivor and notes Black and Latinx are more at risk from preexisting conditions because of a history of racist policies, but "Americans don't know that history."
Protest Song Of The Week: 'Stoned Love' By The Supremes
Mary Wilson, a founding member of The Supremes, sadly passed away at the age of 76 on February 8.Along with being apart of one of the most successful vocal groups of all-time, she was considered a style icon and an activist.
Billboard published her final interview, where she discusses the challenges of touring during the days of segregation. She also draws comparisons to the civil rights movement of the 1960s with what is currently taking place with the Black Lives Matter protests.
"Four Hundred Souls": Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha Blain on History of African America from 1619 to Now
As the U.S. deals with the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, we speak with Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain, co-editors of a new book that situates the white supremacists who rallied around Trump in the longer arc of U.S. history. "Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019" brings together prominent Black writers to collaborate on what they call a "choral history" of Black American life in 80 short essays, including by the renowned scholar and activist Angela Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and others. "We wanted to bring together so many different voices from so many different backgrounds within the Black community to really share the history of this incredibly diverse and complex community," says Kendi, director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Blain, associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, says despite the mammoth undertaking in the midst of the pandemic, all the contributors were excited to take part. "They shared our enthusiasm," she says. "They recognized the significance of this project as a work of history — being history in and of itself."
Why are the toilets in Russian jails such shit? Human rights activists have spent 30 years fighting for better privacy and cleaner facilities, but 'holes in the floor' persist
In recent weeks, the Russian authorities arrested thousands of demonstrators at protests across the country, sentencing hundreds to several days or weeks in jail. For many of these people, behind bars for the first time in their lives, state custody was a uniquely upsetting experience — particularly the "hole-in-the-floor" squat toilets located in plain sight of all the other cellmates. Meduza special correspondent Maxim Solopov looks at Russian jails' failure to keep pace with modern comfort and privacy when it comes to pooping and peeing.
Ex-governor Sergey Furgal reportedly under investigation for suspected misappropriation of state bank funds
The Russian Investigative Committee is actively looking into jailed former governor Sergey Furgal for alleged involvement in misappropriating funds from MSP Bank, reports Kommersant.
Don't Make Parents Raise Kids in a World without Encryption
Luckily, encryption has our back. Whether it's sending a confidential message to a friend, videoconferencing with grandparents, or submitting an assignment to a teacher, platforms and services that use end-to-end encryption can help keep our children safe by keeping the line of communication private between the sender and receiver.
Despite this, some governments, law enforcement agencies, and even some child protection agencies are trying take away the strongest digital tool we have as parents to keep children safe online. The United Kingdom, Germany, the European Commission, and the United States are all considering proposals threatening to ban or weaken encryption – by requiring companies to create ways for law enforcement to get "backdoor access" to communications to catch the bad guys.
Here's the problem: there's no way to create access to encrypted communications for the good guys without also giving it to the bad guys. So what does that mean? Think of all the private information about your children's interests, schedule, health, and activities being shared over the Internet with people in positions of trust: parents, educators, friends, and healthcare providers. Do we really want any government saying we can't use the strongest locks possible to keep that information private?
Mother of 2 Girls Killed in Honor Killing Speaks Out
It was New Year's Day 2008 when investigators say Yaser shot and killed his daughters in his taxicab. Though Owens initially denied claims it was an 'honor killing,' she now believes the crime was motivated by Yaser's anger over their daughters dating non-Muslim boys.
Middle East: Murdered because of Snapchat?
This week, a hashtag reading "Save Manal, sister of Qamar," circulated widely on Arabic-language social media. The activists who spread the it were referring to a woman in the central Saudi Arabian province of Al-Kharj whose 26-year-old sister, Qamar, was reported missing on January 19.
Qamar's body was later found buried in the desert and Manal suspected her conservative brothers of killing her, writing online that they had murdered Qamar because she had a public Snapchat account.
Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
Senate panel not expected to propose changes in news media code bill
A Senate committee that has held public hearings into the Federal Government's news media code is unlikely to propose any changes to the bill before it.
Microsoft president backs Australian media code for other countries too
Microsoft would support the implementation of a law similar to the Australian news media code in other countries, including the US, the company's president, Brad Smith, says.
'Lex Luthor Of The Internet': Meet The Man Keeping Far-Right Websites Alive
While Epik provides domain registration to Parler, it also has the capability to host Parler. Monster would not comment on why Epik is not doing so.
16 States Ask The FCC What The Hell Is The Point Of The Verizon Tracfone Merger
Late last year, Verizon announced it would be acquiring Tracfone for around $6.2 billion. As we noted when the deal was first announced, it was yet another example of the "growth for growth's sake" mindset that has long infected US industry, particularly the telecom sector. There are really no real benefits to be gleaned from further consolidation in the space (especially in the wake of a T-Mobile Sprint merger that immediately resulted in layoffs and reduced US wireless competition by around 25%). Yet we really adore pretending otherwise as the government rubber stamps deal after deal.
Toronto could build a city-wide broadband internet network
Toronto might soon be building its own broadband internet network.
The program, called ConnectTO, has already been adopted by an executive committee and tomorrow (February 2), city council is set to debate the idea.
As the pandemic has shown, there is a major digital divide in the city leaving many of the most vulnerable residents out of education, employment and general social connection.
Municipal broadband would offer cheaper, faster internet and extend connectivity to people in the city falling between the cracks of the major telecom companies.
Monopolies
Google does not rule out pulling additional services from Australia
Google has refused to rule out the possibility that it will pull other services apart from search from Australia in the event that the Federal Government goes ahead and legislates its News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code which was introduced into Parliament in December last year.
Snippet Taxes Not Only Violate The Berne Convention, But Also Betray The Deepest Roots Of Newspaper Culture
Last week Techdirt wrote about Australia's proposed News Media Bargaining Code. This is much worse than the already awful Article 15 of the EU Copyright Directive (formerly Article 11), which similarly proposes to force Internet companies to pay for the privilege of sending traffic to traditional news sites. A post on Infojustice has a good summary of the ways in which the Australians aim to do more harm to the online world than the Europeans:
Trump And Oracle's Dumb TikTok Cronyism Falls Apart
Remember when America spent a year and a half hyperventilating about a Chinese teen dancing app instead of securing American infrastructure from Russian hackers or other threats? Remember when a bunch of GOP officials with a long track record of not caring whatsoever about consumer privacy or internet security exploited xenophobic fears about the app to land political allies Oracle and Walmart a major windfall? Remember when 90% of the press couldn't be bothered to inform readers this was all performative cronyism by an unqualified nitwit? Good times.
FOSS Patents: European Commission's expert group report on standard-essential patents uses misnomers "license to all" and "access to all"
Yesterday evening by Central European Time, the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Internal Market (DG GROW) published (expand the part entitled "Group of experts on licensing and valuation of Standard Essential Patents") the long-awaited standard-essential patent (SEP) expert group report.
When the expert group was formed in 2018, I was extremely skeptical. It looked to me like the deck was stacked against SEP implementers. I was very vocal about that concern, but the report that has been published is all about pluralism, not a particular agenda. It reflects a diversity of views and ideas, an Ericsson executive wrote an official dissent, which I regards as a very positive sign as I tend to disagree with Ericsson on SEP matters. Maybe I was wrong in 2018 to suspect an effort to rubberstamp pro-SEP-holder policies–or, which I can't rule out for lack of knowing what exactly happened in all those expert group meetings, the dynamic changed at some point. One way or the other, my concerns were unfounded, a fact that I simply have to acknowledge in all fairness.
On a similar note, no matter how much I may disagree with EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton on SEP matters, I like his Digital Market Acts proposal (a bill that will hopefully be improved in the further legislative process, but which is a great starting point and tackles the most important tech policy issue at this time). I hope he'll fight for that potential game changer of historic proportions even harder than he's been fighting for Nokia and Ericsson's patent monetization interests.
Implementors must be given access to FRAND agreements: Delhi High Court, Part 1
Recently, the High Court of Delhi passed a decision in the heated FRAND dispute between InterDigital and Xiaomi concerning confidentiality clubs. [1]
The Court held that that Xiaomi's employees must necessarily have access to InterDigital's third party patent license agreements, so that Xiaomi may put up an adequate defense in the suit filed by InterDigital with respect to the infringement of its 3G, 4G Standard Essential Patents (SEPs).
The Court also held that though InterDigital can redact information from confidential documents, it cannot rely on any information which is redacted, while establishing its case for an injunction against Xiaomi.
The order and the reasons cited by the Court has the potential of harming the interests, both commercial and contractual, not just of owners of SEPs as implementers who have executed or engage in bona fide negotiations for the execution of a license on Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) terms.
This article provides a quick overview of the facts before the Court, the reasons behind the Court's decision, the errors which the authors consider exist in the decision and finally, the Pandora's box that the decision has burst open.
Customer Value Not Just Limited to the 20 Year Patent Term.
Maritz is in the business of designing employee incentive plans and other reward programs. The company's U.S. Patent No. 7,134,087 claims a computer system for using "award points" to purchase goods at a regular store by using a "shadow credit card." cxLoyalty is a competitor — focusing primarily on customer loyalty. Their creepy motto: "we increase customer lifetime value." At least they're not focused on true zombies.
Maritz sued cxLoyalty for infringement back in 2018. In response, the defendant filed a petition for covered-business-method review (CBM) and argued that the claims lack patent eligibility.
On appeal, the Federal Circuit has reversed — finding that none of the claims recite patent eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101 and Alice.
Skinny-labels; Carveouts; and Inducing Infringement
In 2020, the Federal Circuit issued an odd decision in this ANDA case. The patent on the drug at issue (carvedilol) has expired, but GSK holds a patent on using the drug for treatment of congestive heart failure. Teva began selling the drug for other approved uses, such as hypertension and ensured that congestive heart failure was not part of its product label. Of course, its generic product is still prescribed for that purpose. AND, in 2011 the FDA required Teva to list congestive heart failure as one of the drug treatments — since Teva's approval was based on GSK's original new drug application the FDA required a label that was identical-in-content. The result — $234 million in lost profit damages for inducing infringement. That damage award included pre-2011 acts even with the label carveout since Teva had (accurately) described its product as the generic equivalent of GSK's product. On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed (split decision).
The Court has not asked for new briefs and will be holding oral arguments later this month. The case has already generated substantial amici support.
Skyventure and ISG overcome turbulence in skydiving centres dispute
Skyventure withdrew the appeal in the grant procedure for European patent EP 22 87 073, which protects vertical wind tunnel freefall simulators
The Toolgen Interference: Preliminary Motions Lists [Ed: It's incredible that even in 2021 it's still not clear that patent law should not cover nature and life and was never supposed to be corrupted in this way, either]
Senior Party Toolgen and Junior Parties The Broad Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University (collectively, "Broad") in Interference No. 106,126 and University of California/Berkeley, the University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier (collectively, "CVC") in Interference No. 106,127, each filed Lists of Proposed Motions that the Board considered last week and responsive thereto will issue its rulings shortly (see "The CRISPR Chronicles: Enter Toolgen"). The Toolgen lists have sufficient similarities that they will be the subject of this post, with the individual Junior Parties' lists being the subject of later posts.
As a reminder, an interference proceeds in two stages. The first stage involves the parties presenting motions that can modify the count, have certain claims declared outside the scope of the count (or vice versa), seek to establish an earlier priority date, and ask for a finding that their opponents' claims are invalid under any of the provisions of the patent statute. If these motions are not decided in a way that would disqualify one or both parties, then the interference will move to a second stage, where in each Interference the Junior Party (Broad, in the '126 Interference and CVC in the '127 Interference) will present its proofs of conception and reduction to practice and the Senior Party Toolgen will be permitted to oppose and/or present its own priority evidence. The Senior Party is under no obligation to present proofs earlier than its earliest filing date unless the Junior Party evinces evidence of (at least) earlier conception. In practice, the parties can both be expected to submit their priority evidence.
Diagnostics firms want American Axle to drive S 101 change [Ed: When they say "clarity" they always mean to say they pretend not to understand that patents in some domains are simply disallowed]
In-house patent teams hope SCOTUS will resolve a case from the Federal Circuit and bring much-needed clarity to diagnostic patent eligibility
WB Games' Nemesis System Patent Was Approved This Week After Multiple Attempts
Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, publishers of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its 2017 sequel, Shadow of War (both developed by Monolith Entertainment), have finally managed to secure a patent for the franchise's signature Nemesis System.
The US Patent and Trademark Office released an issue notice on February 3, 2021, stating that the patent would go into effect on February 23 of this year. Warner Bros. has the option to maintain the patent through 2035, providing they keep up with the necessary fees.
ETRI Chinese patent challenged
On February 10, 2021, Unified Patents filed a Chinese invalidity challenge against CN104219523. The CN'523 patent is owned by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). The CN'523 patent is related to patents that are designated essential to the HEVC Advance patent pool as well as SISVEL's AV1 and VP9 patent pools. It is also related to U.S. Patent 8,867,854, which Unified challenged in the recently instituted IPR2020-01048.
Another GEVC Chinese patent challenged
On February 10, 2021, Unified Patents filed a Chinese invalidity challenge against CN105187829. The CN'829 patent is owned by GE Video Compression (GEVC) and is related to the CN'755 challenge that Unified filed on February 4, 2021. The CN'829 patent is related to patents that are designated essential to the HEVC Advance patent pool as well as SISVEL's AV1 and VP9 patent pools.
KCG Technologies LLC patent held unpatentable
On February 10, 2021, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. KCG Technologies LLC holding all challenged original claims of U.S. Patent 9,671,955 unpatentable. The PTAB also denied their motion to amend, finding proposed substitute claims 14-26 unpatentable as well. The '955 patent is generally directed to virtual smart phones used in in-vehicle systems.
KCG had asserted this patent against CarMax. The case is now closed. The '955 patent has been held to be directed to patent ineligible subject matter by the Federal Circuit.
Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime's 'Santeria' to Avoid Being Live-Streamed?
Assuming that Fair wasn't just trying to share his love of '90s stoner music with the citizens of Beverly Hills, this seems to be an intentional (if misguided) tactic to use social media companies' copyright protection policies to prevent himself from being filmed.
Instagram in particular has been increasingly strict on posting copyrighted material. Any video that contains music, even if it's playing in the background, is potentially subject to removal by Instagram.
Court Orders Telegram To Block Pirated Movies, TV Shows and Music
A court has ordered Telegram to block access to pirated movies, TV shows and music following a lawsuit filed in Israel. Local anti-piracy group ZIRA complained that the messaging platform does not properly respond to takedown notices, contrary to Telegram's claims that it does. Telegram is now working with rightsholders to implement the injunction.
Are Cops Playing Music While Being Filmed to Trigger Copyright Filters?
Copyright helps creators to protect their works from being used without permission. However, this right can also be abused. According to Los Angeles activist Sennett Devermont, a Beverly Hills cop used copyrighted music to prevent being filmed, perhaps hoping to trigger copyright filters. While the true motive remains unconfirmed, this isn't an isolated incident.
Open Sharing Is Caring: A Valentine's Day Challenge
This Valentine's Day, we want you to share something a little different: your creative work.
A Snapshot in Time: A Look at the Creative Commons Global Network
We drafted a research brief in April 2019 which set out what aspects we wanted to learn about and how to collect the information. Open community member Isla Haddow-Flood from South Africa conducted a survey and interviews between December 2019 and February 2020. Many of our CCGN members were involved in this and we are grateful! In this blog, we've outlined some of the findings. For the full report, please follow this link. For the executive summary, follow this link.
New copyright chief reveals plans for office she's 'always loved'
More collaboration with the USPTO and implementing the CASE Act are some of Shira Perlmutter's priorities as register of copyrights
[Guest post] Is it a sculpture or a monument? Copyright litigation reaches Russian Supreme Court
Following a competition for the best design of a city monument, a contract was signed between the administration of one of the major Russian cities and a local sculptor to create a sculptural and artistic object – a monument to the founders of the city (pictured below).
The Court of First Instance confirmed that a photo of the monument had been placed in the guidebook without the consent of its author and sided with the plaintiff. The Court of First Instance also noted that the agreement concerning the creation of the monument was a commissioning agreement, by which the sculptor would be regarded as the creator and owner of the exclusive rights to the monument. The exclusive rights to the monument had thus not thus been transferred to the administration of the city.
Subsequently, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision at first instance, also accepting the counterclaim for invalidation of the contract regarding the transfer of powers to the plaintiff to manage the exclusive rights to the monument. The Court of Appeal found that the objective form of expression of the disputed monument, in accordance with the terms of the contract, was a group of sculptures in soft material (clay, loam, plasticine). In this regard, the sculptor had the exclusive rights to that part of the monument. It was declared that the sculptures included in the guide were the result of the work of the author's team: the monument as a whole includes both the group of sculptures related to an object of fine art and an object of architecture (a plinth) created by a team of authors. Simultaneously, the Court of Appeal stated that the objective form of expression of the group of sculptures, in accordance with the terms of the contract, was the sculptures in soft material. In this regard, the sculptor had the exclusive rights to the group of sculptures in soft form.
The Court of Cassation upheld the findings of the Court of Appeal, noting that the monument included both an object of fine art (the group of sculptures) and an object of architecture (a plinth), and the image used by the publishing house included both objects.
Still Life: Art That Brings Comfort in Uncertain Times
For many, our lives have become more still—the patterns of daily existence are bounded more than ever by the interior walls of our homes. Therefore, finding comfort in the everyday can bring about some internal peace. At its essence, the still life form has meaning far beyond the physical objects it depicts: it deals with the human condition and life itself. For most of human history, the comfort found in still lifes during precarious times would have been exclusive to those who owned these paintings, hanging them on their walls or keeping them locked away in safes. Today, however, due to the internet and the public domain, millions more have access to these comforting images.
Search Engine Ordered To Pay Copyright Damages For Embedding Sports Clips
A court has ordered leading Russian search engine Yandex to pay damages to sports rightsholder TeleSport for copyright infringement. According to TeleSport, Yandex embedded clips from Italian soccer matches in its own pages and monetized them with advertising, rather than sending visitors to the source sites where the content was licensed for distribution.
Hollywood Warns Against Jailbreaking Exemption for Video Streaming Devices
A coalition of copyright holder groups, including Hollywood's MPA, are urging the US Copyright Office not to grant a jailbreaking exemption for video streaming devices. The proposal, which was submitted by the EFF last year, will harm creators and copyright holders by making it easier to transform ordinary streaming boxes into piracy tools, they argue.
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Patrick Breyer, Unlike Most German Politicians, Highlights the Fact That Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Unitary Patent Are Incompatible With EU Law
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Gemini Clients: Comparing Moonlander, Telescope, Amfora, Kristall, and Lagrange (Newer and Older)
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2022 Starts With Censorship of Christmas and Other Greetings at the EPO
The nihilists who run the EPO want a monopoly on holiday greetings; to make matters worse, they're censoring staff representatives in their intranet whilst inconsistently applying said policies
Links 14/1/2022: FFmpeg 5.0 and Wine 7.0 RC6
White House Asking Proprietary Software Companies That Add NSA Back Doors About Their Views on 'Open Source' Security
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Scientific Excellence and the Debian Social Contract
The Debian Project turns 30 next year; in spite of it being so ubiquitous (most of the important distros of GNU/Linux are based on Debian) it is suffering growing pains and some of that boils down to corporate cash and toxic, deeply divisive politics
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2022 Commences With Microsoft-Themed (and Microsoft-Connected) FUD Against GNU/Linux
A psychopathic Microsoft, aided by operatives inside the mainstream and so-called 'tech' media, keeps spreading old and invalid stigma about "Linux" and Free software; few people still bother responding to these fact-free FUD campaigns, which boil down to 'perception management' PR/propaganda
Between January 2021 and January 2022 the Number of Active Gemini Capsules Nearly Quadrupled Based on Publicly-Available Catalogue of Capsules
Geminispace has grown to about 2,000 known capsules and 1,600 of them are active, permanently online, fully accessible; in January last year these numbers were about 4 times smaller
Links 13/1/2022: NetworkManager 1.34 and Everett 3.0.0
Links 13/1/2022: Sparky 5.16, Fwupd 1.7.4, and KDE Plasma 5.24 Beta Released
Call a Spade a Spade (Microsoft 'Contributions' to Linux)
Call a spade a spade; Microsoft does not love Linux and doesn't try to help Linux, as it's still all about Windows and proprietary software with surveillance, back doors, and worse things
No Excuses for Using GitHub Anymore
Software developers become living witnesses to more and more reasons to abandon Microsoft for good
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