Linux – Tech Freedom

Weekend Edition 50

by admin FOSS News, Linux, Tech Freedom, Weekend Edition

Weekend Edition 50: Trojan Apps, Teams Now Separate in EU, NVIDIA News, AI, and Tesla Nonsense

Be Careful, Little Droids, What You Install

Remember that Fine? Microsoft Doesn’t Want to Fight it Anymore

Nvidia AI Chip Restrictions Expand

Nvidia Closes Deal with Google

OpenAI Violates GDPR? You Don’t Say…

Protect Some of Your Data on Meta… Or Just Delete Your Account

‘Enterprise-Grade’ ChatGPT, Right….

NHTSA Raising Cain over Elon Mode Autopilot Mode

WE 1 – Chinese Trojan Apps Detected in Play Store

ESET, one of the premier antivirus providers, recognized two fresh CCP malware-embedded communications apps in the Play Store last month. They have been taken down, now, but they were also uploaded to the Samsung Galaxy Store. They were Signal Plus Messenger and Flygram. The first is a modification of the popular encrypted messaging app, Signal. This one can “collect similar sensitive data, such as the phone’s contact list, while also spying on a victim’s communications. “It can extract the Signal PIN number that protects the Signal account,” Stefanko wrote. In addition, the malicious code can allow the hacker to exploit the “link device” function to view their messages on the Trojanized Signal app.” What’s that mean? If you installed this modified app, your data would be anything but secure or private, in fact, it would be funneled to some server or servers in China. The malicious code injected into these apps is familiar to industry professionals, and is called BadBazaar. Here’s how you can avoid these sorts of apps, though, even if they make it through the screens and onto trusted stores: 1) make sure that the name of the app actually matches the official name, without modifications or tweaks; 2) Check the reviews for the app before you install it on your phone or computer; and 3) Make sure that you are properly sourcing your apps, direct from the developers, if possible (you can easily download and install Telegram from telegram.org and signal from signal.org if you’d like to do that, I actually suggest you do that, rather than depending on Google or Samsung, as those apps have extra censorship anyway).

https://www.pcmag.com/news/chinese-hackers-uploaded-trojanized-signal-app-to-google-play-store

WE 2 – Remember How Microsoft was About to Get Fined in the EU?

Well, they decided to split Teams off from MS365 in the EU to avoid the cost of litigation and fines. I’m somewhat shocked, to be honest. Then again, many municipalities and governments in the EU have gotten away from Microsoft products already, so MS is on its back foot in the EU. They do not want to make themselves any more odious in the Euro Zone than they already are. As of October, business, education, and private users will be able to select a cheaper Teams-less subscription option (saving $26/ year per user), or to buy Teams on its own for $65/ user per year. I made hay on the story about the potential fines to be assessed about a month ago, but MS kind of took the wind out of my sails here, by preemptively moving to split up its bundles in the Eurozone. Darn it all. Darn it all to heck. Will they voluntarily do this elsewhere? Here, perhaps? What would that do to businesses which depend on Teams and its integrations with the rest of O365? Many businesses depend on this collaboration suite, in all its facets, so if they did, it might hurt those small businesses. On the other hand, there is another aspect to this: MS is also set to provide easier API integration access to Slack and Zoom with O365 (calendars, email, etc).

https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-to-sell-teams-separately-in-eu

WE 3 – Nvidia to Face Stricter Limits on AI GPU Sales

You know how the US has put restrictions on which and how many GPUs Nvidia could sell to China recently? Well, Depends’ handlers are concerned about Chinese diplomats and corporate getting their hands on this technology in the Middle East and shipping it back home. Thus, they are poised to apply similar limits in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, and others. This could really hurt the chip designer. They could topple from their lofty perch as a $1 trillion dollar market cap company. Yes, AI has shot them to the moon that much. Their shifted focus could also trickle down in the form of GPU shortages to the consumer sector because all of their emphasis is on handling the demand for these insane number crunchers for AI development. Even with a company as massive as Nvidia, you have to remember that they only have so much time and resources that they can purchase in the form of “fab” time at TSMC. Remember, TSMC also makes chips for AMD and Intel, and must make time for that as well.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/nvidia-faces-more-restrictions-on-ai-chip-sales-this-time-in-the-middle

WE 4 – Speaking of Nvidia and AI, Nvidia Has Just Inked a Major Deal with Google

Just what we needed, right? Nvidia partnering with yet another of the abusive tech giants, arguably one of the worst. Then again, they already have deals with Microsoft and Amazon to have severs based on the H100 GPUs running to power their various AI models and tools. This news caused a 4.2% spike in the stock value for Nvidia. It closed at $493.55 on Thursday August 31, 2023, which is its highest close ever. That is huge for the chip maker, as their stock has historically tended to be closer to the $100-200 per share range, and in the last year, they have seen a >100% stock price value boom. This has sent them over into the trillion+ dollar market cap club, with the likes of companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. That is nuts. Understandable with Microsoft driving the AI boom, not to mention Windows and Office/ MS 365 sales, along with hardware and Azure and their big cash cow, OpenAI. There is a part of me that wants to speak ill of their success, but aside from when they pop up in the news for doing something stupid, these titans just keep on trucking, almost no matter what happens.

As an aside: because of their horrible business practices (here’s looking at you, Microsoft, Apple, and Google), I cannot be entirely happy with their success, as they hock typically sub-par products which spy on and treat their users like data mines rather than people who have rights to privacy and the like. Microsoft products are terrible, both on a functional level and in terms of privacy and security, and they spy on you like there is no tomorrow. Their telemetry is so embedded that it is almost impossible to root it out without impairing the already limited functionality of their OS and other software as a service options that my suggestion is to ditch it altogether and learn Linux so you can be free again.

As far as Google, we all know that they are a spy company by now. They exist to scrape data from your search queries, gmail messages, youtube histories, android usage history, and Maps data, among their other “free” products. There are alternatives for their services which do not entail bowing the knee to the monster Gates bred. Ones which will not force ads down your throat or scrape your usage data.

And Apple… don’t get me wrong, the Apple silicon hardware is a thing to behold and deserves the spotlight, but I do not like how they lock their users into a walled garden. Notice I called them users, not device owners. Apple does not treat people who buy their hardware as though they had bought it, but as though they were simply leasing these devices.

But I digress… Good job, Nvidia, for being astute enough in your planning to see this AI thing coming far enough ahead to capitalize on it the way that you have in the last year. That is not to say that Nvidia is a perfect company, either… They have stiffed their most loyal customers so many times, extorting them for marginal gains in their rigs, down to spiking the prices for those crucial parts to the moon. I’m still not convinced that RTX is that important, but because of the mindshare that Nvidia enjoys among PC enthusiasts, they have been able to steer the market in a very Apple-like way and set the tone for the other GPU makers (AMD, and lately, Intel).

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/29/nvidias-stock-closes-at-record-after-google-ai-partnership.html

WE 5 – ChatGPT Doesn’t Respect the GDPR? You Don’t Say…

A Polish researcher has filed a 17-page complaint with the local privacy watchdog relative to his experience with using ChatGPT to write a biography of himself and found mistakes in the results. Not sure how that made him question the privacy here, but he did dive into the terms of service and whatnot. When he did that, he found what appeared to be GDPR violations in regard to vagaries around how they handle personal data. Gee whiz, I wonder why they would have to be vague about privacy, given Microsoft’s involvement and attitude toward AI as a whole. Remember the last couple of weeks when we have talked about the “wild west of AI”, the responsibility for which is squarely at the feet of Microsoft, who bought OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT. They took a, “do it now” approach to AI development, and discarded most of the safeguards which had been in place by the developers at OpenAI, among others. This has radically, and I would say, negatively, impacted AI development as a whole, as they chose to throw safety, functionality, and privacy concerns, burn them, and piss on the ashes. This infected the rest of the companies who had already invested r&d time and money into AI, because now they had to play catch-up with Microsoft’s new data mining toy, ChatGPT.

I think that that is the main draw for these mega corporations to blindly rush into generative AI models and tools. While this has spurred much rapid development in the space, which is good on some levels, it has also made this data grab that much more transparent. After all, if they can train their models and algorithms well enough, they can accurately predict our decisions and preferences and feed us ads and information to keep us in those patterns. This is about control. If knowledge is power, and data equals knowledge, and control comes through power, which is data in this equation, then data plus egomania equals control over the masses. That control leads to panics which we have seen in the last few years, from masking, vaxing, and social distancing, to lockdowns and runs on toilet paper and other commodity items. What is the solution? Refusing to participate. Do not use these generative AI tools any more than you already have, opt out of Microsoft, Apple, and Google products wherever you possibly can, and learn to live free.

https://www.techradar.com/computing/openai-accused-of-string-of-data-protection-breaches-in-gdpr-complaint

WE 6 – How to Protect Your Data from Llama2 on Meta

Now you can opt out of your data being used to train this open source monstrosity. It allows you to delete or exclude some of your personal data from being used to train LLAMA 2. This only pertains to info not scraped from Meta properties (Facebook posts, comments, pictures, etc, as well as posts on Instagram or the DOA Threads platform). They do claim that they have yet to roll out any AI products or services on their platforms, but how can we take them seriously, anyway? This is all about data they scrape from other sources for their LLM. Do you believe that this opt-out or delete option is something that will actually be respected, at least here in the US, where our privacy laws and regulations aren’t hardly up to the task? I think that people in the EU have a good chance, or at least a better chance, of being respected by Meta in this, because they know that if they fail to do so, they will have hell to pay from the boys and girls in Brussels. My best advice is to ditch these platforms if you are able to in the least. If not, then you’ll need to dig around in the privacy policy a bit to find the “Generative AI Data Subject Rights” form there, and click “Learn More and Submit Requests Here” link, then pick option two to delete any gathered third-party data from Llama 2. After you click submit, you will be required to pass a security check, which may or may not work. At least you will have done your best to limit their data gathering, whether it winds up meaning anything or not.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/how-to-stop-meta-from-using-personal-data-to-train-generative-ai-.html

WE 7 – “Secure” and “Private” ChatGPT? Press “X” to Doubt

Well, now the world has “enterprise-grade” ChatGPT, with access to GPT-4 and all. So, why should big business want this? It is allegedly personalized, more or less a one-off of the GPT-4 LLM (large language model) which can privately be trained by each enterprise licensee. They say that it is secured with 256-bit AES encryption when the data is at rest, and TLS 1.2+ while in transit. That sounds all well and good, but how can I trust that my “version” of ChatGPT won’t make the whole thing more better by using my company’s inputs to train it? This reminds me of Bedrock, the AWS equivalent. Perhaps this is my anti-Microsoft bias showing through again, but I don’t trust anything that they have their grubby paws involved with. I dare you to try to convince me that they are actually trustworthy. Is this data truly end-to-end encrypted? Does OpenAI have access to each customer’s version? How much access do they have? 32k tokens in a company of 30-50k people seems rather constrained to me. That is what they are targeting, the whales of the world, those Fortune 500+ type of companies who have massive budgets to throw at automation and AI, to “stay at the bleeding edge” in terms of competition. It removes the 50 messages / 3 hours limit that regular Plus users have to contend with. I’m sure that Connor will have more to say about this than I do at the moment, but this, while I’m sure that it is true that these “whale” corporations do mostly use it to some extent, feels monumentally stupid to me right now. Given, most companies in that rarefied air already use O365 and the rest of the MS software stack, but why give them any more data than they already have? Again, I recognize my bias against Microsoft, here, but come on. You guys must see that this is at least problematic.

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3705551/openai-launches-enterprise-grade-chatgpt.html

WE 8 – “Elon Mode” Autopilot Is a Thing, Apparently…

So usually when a Tesla occupant engages “Full Self-Driving” Mode, there is a nag which is in place to remind you to put your hands back on the wheel and pay attention to the road. This “nag” starts as a blinking symbol on the giant touchscreen in the dash, if you ignore it, the car will start to beep at you until you put your hands back on the wheel. “Elon Mode”, also known as, “Look ma, no hands” mode (not really), turns the nag off entirely. The NHTSA is not happy with this, as self-driving tech has not been proven safe as yet, and in communities where autonomous taxis have become a thing, they are being removed because they have had more wrecks than human drivers do. Given, those are not Tesla systems, but the ability, no matter how “secret”, to turn off safety features like that is a rather disconcerting back door, if you ask me. Musk used it in his livestreamed demo on X, almost as if to rub the government’s nose in it. I could get into how little I trust Elon right now, but that is besides the point, isn’t it? My cynical side sees all of this “self-driving” and “AI” stuff as a tool to control us more fully, but then, that is the point of govern-ment, isn’t it? To control the minds of the populace… Maybe I need to get my fin foil hat back out, but even as a tech guy, I am uncomfortable with these things. I want to own, control, and be able to manage all of my stuff as much as possible, particularly when it comes to tech. Call me paranoid, but I think that you will see that I’m right if we let this timeline spool out too much further in the direction it is headed right now. We need to jump tracks, y’all. This ends here, and now. If there were a way to do these things effectively without reference to something centralized and out of our control, then I’d be more amenable to it by far. The problem is that anything that is electronic and has open network ports anywhere can be hacked. Anything electronic can be shut down via EMP, so low-tech is the best way to go if you want to avoid that sort of nonsense. Inconvenient? Absolutely. Painful? At times. Am I something of a hypocrite in talking about this as I type on my MS Surface (running Linux since I got it) and post through my T-Mobile home internet connection? Probably. Thus is life, and at least I fully admit to hypocrisy where it exists.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/30/tesla-ordered-by-nhtsa-to-provide-data-on-elon-mode-for-autopilot.html

Weekend Edition 49

by admin FOSS News, Linux, Tech Freedom, Weekend Edition

Weekend Edition 49: Malware, Autistic Hackers, AI & More

Weekend Edition 49: Malware, Big Tech, AI, and More

Smoke Loader Malware

Danish Cloud Companies Smashed by Ransomware Attack

Google Adding MFA to Sensitive Settings

Windows 11 Update Causes Instability (yawn)

Good Guy Apple?

GPT-4 Could Moderate Your Content on Social Media…

SBF on “Bread & Water”

Lapsus$ Cybergang Ringleader in Prison Again

WE 1: Say Hello to Whiffy Recon, the Latest Smoke Loader Payload

Before I get into the new payload, which while creepy enough, is not a common type of attack vector, let’s cover what Smoke Loader is. It is a vehicle which can be used to install other malicious code onto targeted machines. Whiffy Recon, a new payload for the venerable Smoke Loader program, can tap into Google’s geolocation API to triangulate a machine’s approximate location via wifi triangulation. It can poll WiFi networks in range every 60 seconds on Windows machines to give attackers that info. On its own, this is not that big of a deal, but in conjunction with other attack vectors, it could be quite something in terms of monetization for bad actors. It has been spotted in the wild, in the US, UK, Germany, and France. It often comes through phishing attacks, and the payload shows up as wlan.lnk in your user’s startup folder. It is safe to delete if you come across it there.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/new-malware-component-can-use-wi-fi-triangulation-to-determine-pcs-location

WE 2: Ransomware Attack Levels Two Danish Cloud Providers

CloudNordic and Azero Cloud got obliterated by a ransomware attack on both of their datacenters. It appears that one system which was recently (sometime last week) physically transferred from one facility to the other had a dormant piece of malware, and when they reconnected the system, the piece of malware activated and set to work in both datacenters, encrypting all of the data on all of those servers and in their infrastructure as well. Ouch. They expect that they won’t have any clients left after this, and understandably so. They should have had better security practices in place to prevent such a horrible breach. It almost makes me wonder if it was something of an inside job, because how would the attackers have breached the server(s) they did initially without some help? Perhaps I’m missing something here, but this doesn’t sit right with me, you guys. What do you think?

https://www.pcmag.com/news/ransomware-wipes-out-data-access-for-majority-of-cloud-providers-customers

WE 3: Google Beefing Up Security Around Email Settings

Gmail looks to be getting more MFA rolled out, now the focus is potentially forcing users to verify themselves when tweaking filtering, forwarding, and IMAP access. This feels invasive, but then Google owns your emails in gmail anyway, so yeah… It makes sense to me that they would want to protect their data from others’ eyes. Forwarding could leave your inbox empty moving forward, if an attacker gets overzealous. Filtering could make it less visible to you in your own account, by setting up folders, and or archiving which obscures your access to your emails… IMAP allows third party apps to retrieve your emails, so an attacker, if this deep in your business, could also set that up and snoop that way, similarly to forwarding. I guess this is a “Good on you, Google” kind of situation. At the same time, my cynic alarms are blaring and my spidey sense is more than tingling. I want to bash Google whenever possible, after all, that is part of my schtick, but I’m torn here. These MFA prompts can be quite irritating, but could help keep you safe from a nosy neighbor, or from a legitimately bad actor snooping on your gmail account.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/google-to-protect-sensitive-gmail-settings-with-a-multi-factor-challenge

WE 4: MS Bones Windows 11 Update, Causes BSODs

To be clear this isn’t ENTIRELY Microsoft’s fault… MSI seems to have released a firmware update bungling Intel 14th-gen support. If you guys haven’t been keeping track, Microsoft recently weeded out a bunch of old, entry-level server chips from the “supported processors” list in Windows 11. The error with these motherboards pops up as a BSOD claiming that your processor is no longer supported in Windows. At this point, the solution is to rollback your updates to before you installed that one for Windows, and Microsoft has pulled those updates from circulation pending further investigation. That was surprisingly quick, since the update in question was just rolled out on August 22. I will update with more info as it is available, for those of you with MSI based 12th or 13th generation Intel systems.

Well, well, well… Good job, Microsoft. You managed to roll out an update that directly caused BSODs for some of your users, given, only a small segment of the user base, but then you quickly did the right thing. Perhaps due to the negative press they’ve been getting lately in the face of terrible security policies which have finally affected the wrong people? What do you guys think? Are they feeling as though they are on the hot seat, here?

https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-released-a-windows-11-update-thats-causing-pcs-to-bsod

WE 5: Good Guy Apple?

Wait a minute… Did I just write that? Yes I did. Apple is finally starting to cave to the right-to-repair movement after having loudly opposed it in every possible way for 10 years. They fought hard against this in California and in other places, but now, as other states have passed similar consumer rights legislation, California is poised to do the same, and even the trillion dollar behemoth with the damaged fruit on its products is realizing that it is no longer worth fighting it. Wow. This is a HUGE feather in the caps of people like Louis Rossmann and so many others who have advocated and lobbied for these sorts of bills around the country and the world. Right to repair is fundamental, as I see it, and is why I so strongly encourage everyone to learn Linux and move away from the Big Tech options. I believe that everyone should be able to do basic repair on their computers and phones without needing someone like Rossmann or even myself to help them. But I digress, let’s take a look at this bill, shall we? (if you’s like to do so, here is a link to the Bill itself: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB244 and to analysis of it: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnalysisClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB244) It sounds like a solid step in the right direction to me, but I’m no lawyer. Is it perfect? No. Too many fingers are in the pie, here, including Apple’s. Some basics on it run like so: if your device is worth between $50 and $99.99, those tools, parts, and documents would need to be available for three years. If it is worth $99.99 or more, then tools, parts, and docs would need to be available for seven years. Aside from that, Apple is requiring some slightly shady things be included:

The bill does not require security features to be disabled on devices.

The issue I have with this bit is that sometimes, such as in situations involving something like TPM, where there are moments when the security measures actually prevent repair attempts for devices in question.

The focus remains on manufacturers to supply the tools, parts, and documentation to enable repairs by authorized repair channels.

Ok, this works, but still keeps too much control in the hands of these mega corporations. I understand that they are concerned about things like corporate espionage and the like, but if an outlet like iFixit is able to produce parts which allow more people to service their phones more readily because the price isn’t so high, it seems like this is an all around win for consumers.

Repair providers must disclose if they are using non-genuine or used parts.

Makes perfect sense. I want to know what kind of parts are being put into my device, not just the bottom line. I want to have options, rather than being forced into something.

Prospective application that allows manufacturers to build new products that comply with the proposal.

I get why they want this. I do, however, this strikes me as too much control, after all, we consumers BOUGHT these devices, didn’t we? I also am uncomfortable with empowering the government to police much more than they already do, otherwise I would say that like the EU, we should FORCE compliance. There is a part of me that wants to say that anyway, though, just out of spite toward Apple et al. What do you guys think? Am I off base, here, or right on target?

https://www.pcmag.com/news/apple-pledges-support-for-californias-right-to-repair-act

WE 6: They’re Finally Telling Us About This…

Tell me we haven’t had some sort of short-bus quality AI moderating leftist social media for a while now. I’m waiting… Convince me. Well, now we are supposed to look, and gasp, and wonder, and fear this new Frankenstein’s monster we have created. GPT4 will be put to work parsing and enforcing content moderation policies very soon. Who knows, maybe this will actually be a reasonable usecase for this generative AI. I doubt it. Too much bias and too much snowflakitis, as my wife would say.

First, the moderation policies are draconian in many places. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the dynamics of these being ostensibly private enterprises, and the owners/operators have the right to refuse service to anyone (thank you, Apu) , but then they shouldn’t bill themselves as “public squares” or say ANYTHING about freedom of speech in their literature, marketing, or policies, other than qualifying what they mean by freedom of speech. If they make it painfully clear what they consider “ok” speech, then adhere to their standards, no matter who is availing themselves of the provided platform, then fine. They can do whatever they want. They have not done that in the least. Their rules and policies are almost always so full of legalese that no average human being could read and comprehend them fully without something like a Black’s Law Dictionary at hand… Not only that, but these rules seem to change with the wind, so they don’t dare to spell it out fully at any given time, for the public to see. This, as I have said in the past, is unfair and capricious of them. I don’t know that I would want them to become like a utility, with that much more government oversight and embeddedness. The truth is that I do not have a solid solution for the problem, but will shout from the rooftops until the world hears and starts to work it out.

Second, I do not trust OpenAI and their overlords at Microsoft and Blackrock & Vanguard group (remember that together, those firms/ funds own about 1/4 of Microsoft, and Microsoft bought OpenAI last year, not long before ChatGPT was unleashed on the world). I think that their biases are hard to the Left, which is not what we need right now. I do not think that it is possible for a human to exist without biases, therefore anything we create will wind up inherently biased in some way, shape, or form. Chasing the holy grail of “neutrality” or “objectivity” is laudable, but is unobtainable, just as perfection is, this side of heaven. That said, do you think that it is reasonable to expect either of those things?

For these reasons, I do not see a bright future for AI moderation of internet content. It is a nice, fluffy thought for about 10 seconds, until we realize how ugly we have a tendency to be as humans, and how that has to affect any LLM we may create to power something like GPT-4. What do you guys think?

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3704618/openai-to-use-gpt-4-llm-for-content-moderation-warns-against-bias.html

WE 7: SBF on “Bread & Water” in Jail

The former “king of crypto” has found himself in prison once again after violating the terms of his bail agreement by tampering with witnesses, among other things. His lawyer is claiming that lack of adequate food is limiting his ability to prepare for his October court date. They are claiming that the bureau of prisons is not providing appropriate vegan food for him, but not only that, they are not staying on top of his Adderall and Emsam to treat his ADHD and depression, respectively. I shouldn’t laugh at this, but it is hard not to. All he would have had to do was keep his nose clean until the trials, but he couldn’t manage that, so now he’s in jail again, and whining about conditions. Poor baby. If you can’t handle doing the time, you shouldn’t have done the crime(s) you’ve been accused of. True, our justice system is allegedly based on the notion of, “Innocent until proven guilty”, but only if you are an elite or an ally or brownnoser of the elite. However, if you stand up to them, you seem to get run out on a rail. See: Donald J. Trump. I digress, though, health, whether physical or mental, is crucial to maintain, and is a human right for inmates. We cannot go back to how it was back in the old days, when prisoners got next to nothing, starved, and did not get adequate care. I could launch into a big tirade on this issue, but I won’t.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66589797

WE 8: Lapsus$ Cyber Gang *Mostly* Behind Bars

These autistic kids went on a few hacking sprees and were really good. Makes sense that autists would be excellent at pattern recognition, as that is most of what is necessary to be a good hacker or developer. These kids hacked some really huge companies, like Nvidia, Uber, and Rockstar Games. These were the ones who leaked all of that stuff on GTA 6 a couple of years ago. They even hit Microsoft itself. Their first attack was more or less a ransom attack on a couple of British telco providers, who did not give them the $4 million they requested, but the kids did make about $100k through stealing crypto from the crypto accounts they breached via stealing sim card data. They were arrested, but continued hacking away, hitting Nvidia in February of 2022, they spammed, phished, and managed to get access to the company’s data. The main kid even got doxxed and had to be moved into a motel to keep him and his family safe. Later, he broke his bail conditions by buying a Fire Stick, smart phone, keyboard, and mouse. Can’t seem to help himself at this point. During that time was when he/they (the gang) hit the rest of the bigger US based companies mentioned earlier. I’m sorry, as wrong as this is, it makes me laugh. These mega-corporations, with their billions, if not trillions of dollars in revenue can’t manage to defend themselves against some determined, autistic kids. That is sad. Pitiful, really. We need to do better. Digital hygiene and a little discernment go a long way to limiting attack surfaces, but as long as people assume that they are safe and wouldn’t be targeted in an attack, they won’t change their practices, and will continue being “low-hanging fruit”.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66549159

Weekend Edition 46

by admin FOSS News, Linux, Tech Freedom, Weekend Edition

Weekend Edition 46 – LK99, MS Lazy, and More

FTC Slams Robo-dialing Scammers
FCC Rural Broadband In Trouble?
Tenable Slams MS for Unethical, Slow, and Lazy Handling of Security Concerns
X Tries to Shut Down Critics
Undersea Cables? What About Them?
Incandescent Bulb Ban
LK-99: Worth Getting Worked Up Over?

WE 1 – Remember Those Robo-Calls About Your Auto Warranty?
The tandem behind this scheme, Roy M. Cox and Aaron Michael Jones, orchestrated more than 5 billion calls to about 500 million phone numbers in the course of 3 months in 2021. That is about 643 calls per second, if it was exactly 90 days. Holy crap. I’m struggling to wrap my head around the sheer volume, here. Because this is not the first time they have been caught doing similar things, the FTC laid the smack down on them, to the tune of a $299,997,000 fine. I suppose with robocalling via VOIP, it is really only a matter of 1’s and 0’s and bandwidth. Even still, to have it “just work” for that long. I have to wonder what the investment was up front, in order to access the phone number database, and the servers to host the files for the robot system. They also masked their caller ID to encourage people to pick up. These clowns sound like they ran a pretty tight ship. Hats off. Shoot, I think my wife and I got something like a couple calls a day from these jokers. I wonder if we can get a piece of that fine action, once they pay it.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/pair-of-scammers-hit-with-fccs-biggest-robocalling-fine-300-million-dollars

WE 2 – ISPs Underbid Themselves To Get Contracts
The FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund looks to be in trouble after several of their ISP partners did not estimate their costs properly when they sought to drive their bids down to get the contracts for providing 100MBs broadband service to much of rural America. This would be HUGE, once completed. However, Biden-flation has hit all of us hard, and demand, on top of that, shot the construction and material costs for these new Fiber lines through the roof. They are complaining that they couldn’t possibly have foreseen that costs would skyrocket so high. This has led a significant group of them to send a letter as a coalition, to the FCC, who manages the RDOF. That is one thing that you can always count on with the government, an ever-growing proliferation of stupid acronyms. The FCC has stated that they will hold these ISPs to the bids they submitted and will not give them an easy way out, at least not automatically. These businesses need to sort things out better for themselves when they put forth their bids. My uncle ran a general contracting company for something like 30 years (it was done in by some bad deals, coupled with the 2008 crash), and I remember hearing about the bidding process from time to time. You had to be really on point in order to give a good, accurate bid so that there weren’t cut-rate shenanigans happening in order to actually make money for the company and their sub-contractors. I do not pity these ISPs who zealously under-bid themselves chasing these contracts.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/fccs-rural-broadband-fund-faces-trouble-isps-want-more-money

WE 3 – Cybersecurity Firm Tenable Slams Microsoft
Just a few days after Sen. Wyden’s letter last week, Amit Yoran, the CEO of cybersecurity firm, Tenable, released a blog excoriating the giant for its practices. One of his researchers discovered a critical vulnerability in the Azure cloud infrastructure which “could allow a hacker to access applications and sensitive data, including authentication secrets, from enterprise customers that use Azure.” Using this exploit, they were able to easily and quickly discover the authentication secrets to a bank which uses the Azure Cloud. They uncovered this and reported it back in March. Now, more than 90 days later, it has yet to be fully patched. We are looking at more than 4 months after it was discovered, and any client whose applications were launched before the partial patch are still vulnerable, including the bank which was used as a test case. MS, of course, claims that it has fully taken care of the problem for everybody, now. However, the patching process was incredibly slow, allegedly because they wanted to develop a “quality patch”. I’m sorry, the FOSS community would take care of something like this with a minimum of fuss, in probably half the time. Microsoft’s excuses are as poor as their ethics appear to be around this issue. Yes, I will make hay on this issue for as long as it exists. This is still more reason why everyone needs to get as far away from Microsoft products as quickly as they can. Linux is the best option, though unfortunately is still not a 100% thing for many, as certain software simply will not function on Linux, because developers are stubborn and publishers are unwilling to take a chance on the scrappy underdog of the desktop space, though most of them run their cloud services on Linux servers. That, at least, is the best excuse I can come up with, from outside the halls of these institutions. If you want to learn more about switching, take a look at my website: https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://www.pcmag.com/news/cybersecurity-firm-blasts-microsoft-for-slow-incomplete-bug-patches

WE 4 – Undersea Cables: The Unsung Heroes of the Information Age
What are they? How do they work? Why can you watch a concert live from overseas with minimal lag? These are the backbone of the internet. There are over 500 undersea fiber optic cables which crisscross our oceans, each handles a different batch of throughput. The average one is about as thick as a garden hose, and can handle anywhere from 50-400 terabits per second of data per cable, and companies who are working to improve the underlying tech see a potential path forward to creating cables which could handle up to 5 petabits of data per second (10x more bandwidth than today’s best cables). This is based on multiplying the number of cores per cable, and moving toward hollow core cables, as the speed of light is up to 47% faster in air vs glass, which would reduce latency and increase the overall speed of transfers.
This article observes that these cables, while vulnerable to breakages and intentional attacks, can not only bring faster internet speeds, and lower prices, but a 3% to 4% boost in employment and a 5% to 7% boost to economic activity in areas where they are installed but hadn’t been present before. The most frequent causes for breakages are unintentional, via anchor dragging during storms, or fishing-related incidents. However, other natural disasters, such as major storms and earthquakes are also common causes for breakage in these fragile cables which enable so much of the modern world to be as it is. You might be thinking, “well what about Starlink and other satellite-based communications?” Those only handle perhaps 1% of the world’s traffic right now. It makes far more sense to further improve and perfect the undersea cable network we have than it does to throw too much more effort into satellite communications, which can be interfered with by weather, and have far greater latency than the cable-based options which currently exist.
About 2/3 of the traffic comes from and through the hyperscalers. These are companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Ones whom I have a tendency to hate on whenever possible. However, their investments in laying, maintaining, and developing the new forms of these undersea fiber optic cables is immense, as data is their business. A new transatlantic cable costs between $250-300 million to install. They operate something like 400 of the 552 extant or planned cables, spanning 870,000 miles. There is a slated $10 billion in cables planned to be laid in the next couple of years as well. As you can imagine, it is a big deal to have a cut cable, but with around 500 active at any given time, the load sharing is not that big of a deal. At any given time there are 10 cables in need of repair. These repairs involve fishing out a damaged end of a cable, splicing in a new length, then running it to the other damaged end and splicing it all together. This is costly, as you need a similar craft to those which do the installs to actually fix these cables. Those ships house multiple mega-spools of the cable, and depending on the thickness of a given cable, that could mean up to 600 miles of the cable per spool. The thicker cables, which are being developed now, house multiple fiber optic cores, and this cuts down on the length which will fit on one of these massive spools for obvious reasons. With conventional fiber optic cables, one of these ships can handle up to 1800 miles of cable per trip.
What makes these so expensive, other than the fact that you’re talking about several hundred miles of fine, optically perfect glass tubes at the core of these cables? Every 30-60 miles, a repeater, has to be included in the cable, so that the signal doesn’t get lost, as with any other kind of cable. The law of entropy says that every signal, whether photons or electrons, will lose cohesion if pushed too far at a shot. This loss of cohesion will cause loss of data, so is unacceptable. If you want more information, just read the article linked below.

https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/features/the-secret-life-of-the-500-cables-that-run-the-internet/

WE 5 – Elon and X Using Lawfare to Shut Down Critics
Mr. Free Speech Absolutist himself can’t take the heat. A small non profit which exists to combat online hate speech (whatever the hell that actually means, since so much seems to change almost daily in the definition of that term). Musk & company is suing the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of “unlawful acts” to “improperly gain access” to its data. What unlawful acts do they allege? More or less committing libel against the tech company through multiple reports published which state that X (formerly Twitter) has seen an explosion in what is categorized as “hate speech” because according to the data it gathered, the platform has been ignoring up to 99% of complaints against Blue Check accounts. The platform alleges that CCDH illegally scraped data from it, and improperly had access to a Brandwatch (a tool which allows companies to keep tabs on the conversations around them, their products, and services) account. These are big deal issues, and perhaps Elon & Co are right to sue for damages, as many advertisers paused spending when these reports were released, hurting the profitability of the platform. On the other hand, this is a really bad look for him. We’ll see what happens here, will the billionaire Goliath be vindicated, or will the David in this story win out? Do we want the David to win here? Is Hate Speech a valid concern, or do we simply need to grow some thicker skin and disconnect from the programming that tells us that outrage = rightness? What do you guys think?
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66376988

WE 6 – No More Glowy-Glowy Hot Lightbulbs
This is DUMB. Incandescent bulbs just work. They may not last as long as some other more recent tech, but at least they aren’t toxic (usually). They are inefficient and can be dangerous, but they don’t flicker, are easily adjusted, and generally have a more pleasant color temperature than many other options. Now, retailers are no longer allowed to sell regular, old incandescent bulbs any more. The primary concern here is energy usage, and the authorities, in their infinite wisdom, and likely well-lined pockets, courtesy of companies who make LED light fixtures and others in that space. I can understand banning CFLs, those things are terrible. But incandescent bulbs are classic and cozy, even if they are inefficient and wear out more quickly than alternatives do, because they are so simple and literally have a burning filament in the middle of a glass enclosure. So your general purpose lamp bulbs have been banned (those you would put in most lighting fixtures), but “specialty bulbs, three-way bulbs, chandelier bulbs, refrigerator bulbs, plant grow lights and others” have not been. This all reeks of special interest money from the mega corps who manufacture LED fixtures and “bulbs”, as well as government overreach. Trump was right to pause this piece of crap back in 2019. Say I’m just wanting to live in the past, but LED tech is not all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve never seen an LED bulb that didn’t flicker, and that can cause eye strain and headaches to be exasperated. There has to be a better way to do this. Besides, many people already made the switch to LED for the most part, years ago, right? Many were brainwashed by the Eco-cult into valuing the environment more than their own health and pocketbooks. There have not been enough studies done on the effects of LED on health and well being.
https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/incandescent-lightbulb-ban-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

WE 7 – Heard About LK-99 Yet?
It is alleged to be a room-temperature superconductor. This is a holy grail for materials science. Something that scientists have been trying to discover and develop for 50 years. What’s the big deal? Right now, in order for something to offer next to no electrical resistance (thus the term “super” conductor) it has to be supercooled to near absolute zero, or -473º Kelvin. This is a VERY expensive proposition, if/when we figure out a material which can function similarly at ambient temperatures would save a whole lot of energy and effort to achieve things like faster, more stable computers, including quantum computers, as well as maglev trains, and the like. Now conductors have to be constantly super cooled with something like liquid helium in order to achieve this electron-pairing property which greatly improves efficiency for those materials. A South Korean team claims they have found just such a combination of materials, which they have dubbed “LK-99”. There is a problem, though, no one has been successful in replicating their results. We will see what happens with this substance and if it is found to be this holy grail, or perhaps it might lead to it. This would change the world in a big way, you guys. That is why X has been on fire with speculations about it since it was announced. The team has uploaded a pair of related papers to arXIV, which is one database used by scientists to get their work peer-reviewed before it is published elsewhere. What do you guys think about this? Epic? Lame? Huh?

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/lk-99-superconductor-maybe-a-breakthrough-maybe-not-so-much/

FOSS News – Big Show 5

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, Foss News, Linux, Tech Freedom

FOSS News Big Show 5

FOSS News 5 – Big Show

Distro News

Ubuntu PSA

Debian Bookworm Released

Ultramarine Linux

Freedom Consultation

openSUSE 15.543,254

FOSS News

postmarketOS 23.06

OnlyOffice 7.4 Out

Degoogled

Linux Founder Opinionated (not really news)

FOSS Fun

Big Steam Client Updates

AMD Moving Toward FOSS

Freed Computer/ Free Your PC

Better Wayland Support for NVIDIA

#FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #Distros #releaseenws #torvalds #libertarian #steam #AMD #NVIDIA #TechFreedom

FOSS News, Linux, FOOS releases, Torvalds a “wokist”, talk, FOSS Fun, Tech Freedom

DN 1: Ubuntu Update PSA

Kinetic Kudu support ending July 20. Upgrade your systems now to Lunar Lobster, if you want to continue receiving security updates. That is all.

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-10-kinetic-kudu-to-reach-end-of-life-on-july-20th-2023

DN 2: Debian Bookworm Out Now

Lots of big things in this major update, which will be supported until December of 2028. The biggest of which is that they are adding new non-free repositories to the default mix: non-free-firmware is the newest and most important of these, as it contains things like NVIDIA and Broadcom drivers which many of us need in order to easily get our systems running properly. It will ship with the latest LTS kernel (but you can always choose to install a different, newer kernel if you need to), APFS support (huge), ntfs2btrfs (to easily convert NTFS drives to BTRFS), a new malloc implementation developed by Microsoft (yikes)(malloc stands for Memory Allocation), and many other things, such as: secure boot functionality on ARM with UEFI support, a new shiny-server package to simplify scientific web apps using the R language, and an update to GCC 12.2. They have also created all-new artwork, called Emerald. Aside from that, they have over 64,400 packages in the Debian repos, nearly 11,100 new packages were added, about 43,250 were updated, and close to 6,300 were removed. That is a crazy string of stats, but that is what you get with Debian, as it is the daddy of the 800 lb gorilla, Ubuntu, and the granddaddy of distros like Pop!OS and Mint. It is the most commonly used server distro as well. Beware if you are dual-boot kind of person, as they have deprecated os-prober to check for other OSes present on a system. You will need to use dpkg-reconfigure in order to tell GRUB that you have another OS on the system after you get set up with Bookworm.

It is available as live images with KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS, GNOME 43, Xfce 4.18, Cinnamon 5.6, MATE 1.26, LXDE 11, and LXQt 1.2.0 (but these are only available for 64-bit systems).

Debian is not sexy, but it generally just works and is simply stable, perfect for production environments and servers. You can download it here: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/12.0.0/

https://9to5linux.com/debian-12-bookworm-officially-released-heres-whats-new

Freedom Consultation

Free call.

60-90 minutes.

Q&A

Leave with Actionable Steps to take, whether you work with me or not.

Schedule today.

https://techfreedom.pro/freedom-consultation

#distromonday #freedom #consultation #Linux #degoogleyourlife #TechFreedom

DN 3: Ultramarine Linux

What is that? It is Fedora with some tweaks: the Pop!OS system scheduler (however this is only fully implemented in the GNOME flavor). It comes in KDE, GNOME, Budgie, and Pantheon flavors, by the way. Its primary version is Budgie, though. You might like Budgie, but it’s not my cuppa tea. This one is vaguely interesting to me because it is a slight Frankenstein’s monster of Linux distros; with elements from Fedora (most of the core), Pop!OS (system scheduler), and even Solus (its flagship desktop). If you want to check it out, you can do so by downloading it from their site: https://ultramarine-linux.org/download/.

https://9to5linux.com/ultramarine-linux-38-launches-with-system76s-scheduler-based-on-fedora-38

DN 4: openSUSE Leap 15.5

This is the point-release version of openSUSE Tumbleweed, and is a bit of an odd duck, really. It is apparently a favorite of system admins and developers, but I fail to see why with the way it seems cobbled together in a more odd way than most distributions are. Connor used Tumbleweed for about a month or so, and enjoyed it, but then got majorly turned off when he noticed the way systemd worked in that distro. So here are some of the highlights: KDE 5.27, added default repositories for OpenH264 video codecs, VIM 9.0, Fully functional Python 3.11 stack, in parallel to the system Python (python36), Improvements to the Kate text editor, Fixes for crashes on Kdenlive, Qt 5.15 LTS netavark 1.5.0, Flatpak 1.14.4, fwupd 1.8.6, Ugrep 3.11.0, Network Manager 1.38.6, Mozilla Firefox 102.9.0, and Thunderbird 102.8.0.

You can peruse the release notes here: https://en.opensuse.org/Release_announcement_15.5?ref=news.itsfoss.com

Or download the latest here: https://get.opensuse.org/leap/15.5/?ref=news.itsfoss.com

Or read the article this piece is based on here: https://news.itsfoss.com/opensuse-15-5-leap/

FN 1: A Glance at Linux Mobile

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen both a new Mobian and a new postmarketOS release, both of which look to be excellent. Each one target different aspects, and approach the problems in keeping with their respective root distros: Debian and Alpine, respectively. Mobian released a new stable version based on Bookworm, just as it was released for the rest of us. It seems to promise more package stability than a slightly more rolling style release like Alpine. Bookworm sounds like an excellent base for Mobian, as the developers feel that it is the first one that is really mobile-friendly. That is something, y’all. Mobian sounds like a very sensible option, but as with Debian, if something just doesn’t work in that release, you’re kinda stuck until the next major update. On the other hand, if it just works for you, and that is what you need, then Mobian may be a good option for you. Take a look at Mobian here: https://blog.mobian.org/posts/2023/06/10/bookworm/

PostmarketOS, with its Alpine base, is systemd-free, and has a stable release roughly biennially along with Alpine. It is tiny on its own, and supports most if not all of the major, functional mobile DE options: Phosh, Plasma Mobile, GNOME Mobile Shell 44, and Sxmo. I am pretty excited about GNOME Mobile, if I’m honest. I don’t think that KDE is suited well for touch screens, as much as it pains me to admit. Glance at postmarketOS here: https://postmarketos.org/

Capyloon (FirefoxOS descendant), PureOS, and the Manjaro Mobile flavors have all each had releases as well. PureOS is based on Bookworm, but has some special sauce baked in for the Librem 5 to work as well as it does. Take a look here: https://capyloon.org/releases.html#jun-09-2023

Manjaro Mobile is still in beta for both the Plasma and Phosh flavorings. Check out the Phosh one here: https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/phosh/releases and the Plasma flavor here: https://github.com/manjaro-pinephone/plasma-mobile/releases

Capyloon is built on top of Mobian, but functions a bit like ChromeOS, only with a Firefox base. This release introduces a feature called Web Tiles to replace classical web apps, and here are the highlights about them:

Immutable: a Tile is a bundle of resources identified using content addressing. Our current implementation uses a tile:// protocol which is similar to the ipfs:// one.
Safe by default: a tile can’t fetch foreign content. This is enforced by a default CSP applied to all tile:// url loads.
Powerful: because they can’t leak data to external parties, tiles can be granted access to what are usually considered “dangerous” APIs.
Installable and usable offline: being content addressed and local-only, tiles are naturally suited for offline use.
Composable: being installed, tiles can register Web Activities like other installed Capyloon apps. This make them ideal candidates to bridge the Http web with new capabilities.

Capyloon also now has prebuilt images for both the Pinephone Pro and the Librem 5. Check out Capyloon here: https://capyloon.org/releases.html#jun-09-2023

https://linmob.net/weekly-update-23-2023/

https://9to5linux.com/postmarketos-23-06-arrives-for-linux-phones-and-tablets-with-gnome-mobile

FN 2: OnlyOffice 7.4 Out Now

I use this office suite myself, these days. I find Libre Office a bit cludgy, but wish that OnlyOffice had more tweakability at the same time, though. The overall approaches seem to be analogous to GNOME vs KDE, where GNOME is functional, but you have to learn it more or less as-is (barring extensions and the like) [that is OnlyOffice], and KDE is functional but exposes all of the possible levers and knobs and can be a bit awkward sometimes because of it [Libre Office]. So what are some highlights with this update?

Drawing Support
Is what it sounds like, you get to draw in your documents now, if you have a touchscreen device
Save Docs/Sheets as Images
Save as either jpg or png, to make sharing docs easier via social media.
Plugins Upgrade
Unlimited windows… Not helpful to me, but perhaps to some
Spreadsheet Improvements
Various chart improvements, as well as editing protection built right in
Radar Charts
New type of chart, might be easier to use than some others, particularly for multivariate datasets
Combine Documents
Merge two document versions into one, with tracked changes being carried over which you can either accept or reject at will.
Save Objects as Pictures
Save charts and other objects as pictures with transparent backgrounds
And more

https://news.itsfoss.com/onlyoffice-7-4-release/

Tech Freedom Freed Phones

Google Pixel 5+ device with Graphene OS and all you need in order to pick it up and use your phone more privately.

https://techfreedom.pro/degoogled/

#degoogleyourlife #grapheneOS #privacy #security #TechFreedom

FN 3: Linus Torvalds Not a Conservative (duh)

Ok, so I know that many people who watch my content are conservatives, and it may shock you that the man behind the OS I champion is anything but conservative in his social and political stances. He railed against the NYT for having a poor web experience and requiring people to call in to cancel, then someone commented about woke communist ideologies, and Linus went OFF. He has always been very opinionated, and had this almost autistic bluntness about him. Let’s take a look at the exchange:

Well, Mr. Torvalds minces few words here, huh? Let’s face it, he has chosen to not work in the context of most of the software development world because he has a distaste for capitalism and the greed implied by it. He has done this for 30+ years. That sounds pretty communistic to me. He also sounds like a man who has a very loose morality, other than in that regard. He is a nerd without God, so why would he have issues with any of the moral failings he mentioned in his tirade, here? If there is no God, then abortion is and should be a matter of the woman’s choice, similar to LGBT+ demonizations. As for guns in America, I have to wonder who qualifies as “a moron with a pulse” in his book. All in all, this feels fairly anarchical, other than the need for a strong gov’t to handle the gun licensure issues he sees. Not the point of highlighting this exchange, though. I knew that Linus was not a conservative, and I don’t need him to be. As long as he stays all about freedom within reason, I will continue to use and encourage others to use the OS that he has created the kernel for for 32 years now.

https://news.itsfoss.com/linus-torvalds-woke-communists/

How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:

https://rumble.com/v179s8e-how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3-xl-with-grapheneos.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y

#TechFreedom #techtips #howto #tutorial #Truth

How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:

https://tv.gab.com/channel/tech_freedom/view/how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3xl-629bcda174999572f23b5032

#definitionsthursday #TechFreedom #techtips #howto #tutorial

FOSS Fun

FF 1 – Steam Client Update for Linux

Lots of really good stuff here, though I hardly remember the Steam interface at this point… I never play games that need Steam these days. At least not until some major things change in our lives. Let’s talk highlights, shall we?

Refreshed UI Design
Enable client hardware acceleration
Caveats: not on NVIDIA GPUs, as it can cause x11 to crash
New Compatibility tab to make switching versions of Proton and WINE easier
Improved flatpak app support
Better KDE support
Uses global scaling factor to determine what the scaling should be for Steam
New game overview panel in the in-game overlay
And more

Sounds like good stuff for Linux gamers, here.

https://9to5linux.com/steam-client-now-lets-you-enable-hardware-acceleration-on-linux

FF 2 – NVIDIA Drivers: Now With Better Wayland Support

NVIDIA has released the 535.54.03 driver which should help your system do wayland better, thanks to the updated linux-dmabuf Wayland protocol. Also helps out those with AMD integrated GPUs (Ryzen laptops with NVIDIA GPUs in them) by fixing a bug in PRIME render offloading which essentially broke the feature. Also enables Extended Dynamic Boost support on AMD-powered laptops with older Renoir and Cezanne chipsets, suspend/resume support when using GSP firmware, as well as the ability to sync a Quadro Sync II graphics card to different House Sync signal rates. If you want a list of further changes, take a look at: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/nvidia-driver-535-54-03-stable-linux/

Otherwise, take a look at: https://9to5linux.com/nvidia-535-54-03-linux-graphics-driver-released-with-better-wayland-support

Sounds like we should be getting better Wayland support and a whole host of other bugs squashed in this updated driver release. All good.

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/

https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FF 3 – AMD Moving Toward Open Source with Open Arms

I think I mentioned this development when it was first announced a couple of months back. I am all for this. Intel needs to take notes. This is the future, boys & girls. AMD is committing further to migrating from AGESA (their proprietary firmware for their CPUs) to openSIL. They have now released their first proof of concept to GitHub for the community to pick through and improve. The goal at the moment, is to implement openSIL over AGESA sometime in 2026, so we are a few years out still. This process means that at the end of it, AMD should be more secure than Intel, as if they go full-open source, here, we won’t have any IME type nonsense in AMD chips anymore. That excites me. No more firmware backdoors… Doesn’t mean that there won’t still be silicon-level back doors, though. One step at a time, Matt.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/amd-reveals-initial-open-source-opensil-code-to-replace-agesa-firmware/

What Do You Need to Know about Tech Freedom?

https://rumble.com/v19elx6-10-things-about-tech-freedom.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y

#TechFreedom #top10 #explainer #wifeysauce

FOSS News Big Show – Systemd Special

by admin Distro Monday, Linux, Tech, Tech Freedom

FOSS News Big Show - Systemd Special

SystemD Free Distros For Those Who Want Full Freedom and Privacy
Last week, I mentioned SystemD as being problematic in relation to privacy, this week, we are going to talk about a handful of options (and there really are just a handful of viable options at this point). Some of these are almost bespoke in their uniqueness, such as Chimera Linux. Others are so hard to use that I can’t suggest them to anyone (Void, Gentoo, Alpine, Venom, KISS, Slackware). Devuan, Peppermint, Nitrux Linux, Artix, AntiX, and PCLinuxOS are usable, but each have their quirks and things to be aware of. This will wind up being a listicle of sorts, based on another listicle, but with my own thoughts about each. I will order them from most user friendly to least.

Peppermint Devuan

This is an older, intentionally lightweight distro, built for webapps, something along the lines of ChromeOS. It is very performant, and just works, even for gaming, a bit. It was recently rebased from Ubuntu to Debian/ Devuan. We are concerned with the Devuan base, here, as Debian has a systemD problem. Being based on Devuan, you can choose at install time whether you want OpenRC, dinit, runit, or SysVinit. All that said, this, coupled with ease of install and ease of use causes this one to rise to the top.

Devuan

This is Debian minus SystemD. Whatever problems you might have installing vanilla Debian, you will probably have with Devuan. It is usable, but many things are broken out of the box. It, like many, later in the list, is meant for advanced users.

Nitrux Linux

This one runs on OpenRC, but has significant UI issues, because even the currently default NX Desktop (based on KDE) has stability issues (for example, it uses Latte Dock for the bottom dock configuration, and it crashes multiple times per minute). They are also working on their own desktop, which I have mentioned in the past, called Maui Desktop. This is a promising project, as it is meant to provide convergence between desktop and mobile UI, but is a far cry from being done, yet.

AntiX

If you don’t want to be preached at from the Communist Manifesto, don’t bother with this one. It is based on Debian Stable, but only offers a series of window managers, as this is a super lightweight option. It gives you the choice of either SysVinit or runit for an init system, and has 0 systemd garbage in it.

PCLinuxOS

This one is an indie. It uses APT (from Debian) to access curated rpm packages (from Fedora), ships with a choice of the usual suspects in terms of desktop environments, and runs SysVinit rather than systemd, which is why this is on the list.

MX Linux

Related, somehow, to AntiX, but not truly systemd-free, unfortunately. The devs simply chose to use sysVinit to do the actual init tasks at boot, but once you are into the desktop, it shims into systemd. Other than that, it is probably the most polished and easy to use so far, but it doesn’t technically belong on this list, though.

Artix Linux

Our only Arch based option today, as it is vanilla Arch, with a GUI installer, and no systemd to gum up the works and spy on you. They have opted for choice, so you can use just about any other init system out there, from OpenRC, to Runit, S6, Suite66, elogind or SysVinit. My brother has used this and loves it, currently, even for playing games. Try one of the community versions, whether KDE, GTK (something like Mate), XFCE, Cinnamon, LXDE, LxQt, or Mate. It should install cleanly, and you should have any DE (other than GNOME) to choose from, so if you like Arch more than Debian, this may be your best option on the list.

Chimera Linux

Complex blend of the Linux kernel with BSD tooling and a focus on building from source. Not user friendly, but at least starts with the option of running GNOME. Uses dinit for init and service management. Do not recommend for an inexperienced user. (this will be a refrain for the rest of this piece)

GoboLinux

Another indie effort, this time with a novel approach to the file system, so every package/app gets its own subtree in the file system. This one is another that emphasizes on building from source, rather than providing end-user pre-packaged binaries (.deb, .rpm, etc). It runs SysVinit for init. It sounds intriguiging, but I don’t know that I would ever really try it, much less suggest it to anyone.

Venom Linux
Focused on being lightweight and giving users a choice between init systems: sysV and Runit are your options here. It is another source-built distro, thus is not meant for new users. However, if you can roll Void or Gentoo successfully, then this should be more or less up your alley.

KISS Linux
Not named for Gene Simmons’ band… but for Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is a meta-distro. If that takes you aback, then it ain’t for you. If it makes you curious, then this might actually mean something to you: its repos are meant to be an extensible base for you to build on. This looks to be terminal only, at least in the beginning. Not user friendly. In order to use it, you actually wind up learning how to maintain the distro, which is designed to be doable by a team of 1.

Slackware

This is a truly venerable distro. It is the oldest that has been consistently developed, yes, older than Debian even. They just had a new release on Thursday, and switched to a rolling release model, run sysVinit and defaults to KDE for ease of use. It doesn’t obscure anything, which makes sense with the choice to roll with KDE, which pulls very few punches, itself.

Tiny Core Linux

This is ultra minimalistic. The smallest on the list, by a good deal. A full install can be as small as 23 MB. It is designed to live in RAM, no matter how you try to run it. It uses Busybox for init, and is lightning fast because it is all in RAM and has next to nothing to it.

Gentoo Linux

This one is all about building from source. Runs OpenRC for init. If you can get it running. Connor can tell you about how non-friendly this distro is. It can be excellent, once you have time and patience to learn portage, the package manager, which build EVERYTHING from source.

Void Linux

a. Another build-from-source indie distro. Runit is their init of choice, I know of a few people who swear by Void, for anything but gaming. Not user friendly.

Alpine Linux

Alpine is an indie distro meant for servers and IoT devices, so it is minimalistic, though you can easily install most of the major desktop environments using a simple script after you install the rest of the system. I have both done it successfully and failed miserably. It is something of a crapshoot, depending on your hardware and which version you choose (my experience). It runs OpenRC and busybox, may not be AS small as Tiny Core, but is still much smaller than the average mainstream offering.

Guix

Pronounced: Geeks. Made by the GNU Foundation, has an available ISO, but probably will not run on your system because they insist on absolute purity from all proprietary blobs and software, so you cannot get the firmware that your system probably needs in order to function properly. Also, GNU Shepherd is a strange beast in terms of init, as it is written in GNU Guile, rather than Python or C, it is very verbose and declarative.

Non-Guix

Project designed to bring non-free firmware and software into the Guix orbit. Does not have a pre-built ISO, but one of Matt’s friends took the time to compile and package one. It is available from his proton drive, linked above.

Nix OS

Not strictly a distro in and of itself, but can be built into one from its unique package manager. I’ve talked about this over on the Altha Tech Blog before, so take a look at my piece over there, if you are interested to know more. Because you can build it from the ground up, you can easily choose which init system you want to use. Not for the faint of heart. You will need some CLI skills in order to get this one up and running well, but once it is, you can simply save your config, then use it as a script to reproduce your system. Cool stuff, that.

https://itsfoss.com/systemd-free-distros/
#distronews #systemd #nosystemd4me #alpine #void #artixlinux #listicle #TechFreedom #FOSSNews

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FOSS News
FN Special: SystemD and its issues…
What started, 15 years ago, as a needed replacement for sysVinit has suffered so much bloat and so much feature creep that the plethora of distros which use it might as well start being called SystemD distros rather than Linux distros. Sure, they still use Mr. Torvalds’ kernel, but so much functionality (in the name of almighty convenience) has been handed over to it that it basically is your system, so when it crashes, so does your system. Connor has something prepared for us, and I will simply chime in during his presentation as I see fit. Connor, would you mind sharing with us now?
#FOSSNews #PSA #systemd #Linux #concerned #TechFreedom
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How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:

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How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:

https://tv.gab.com/channel/tech_freedom/view/how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3xl-629bcda174999572f23b5032

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Last week, I mentioned Systemd as being problematic in relation to privacy, this week, we are going to talk about a handful of options (and there really are just a handful of viable options at this point). Some of these are almost bespoke in their uniqueness, such as Chimera Linux. Others are so hard to use that I can’t suggest them to anyone (Void, Gentoo, Alpine, Venom, KISS, Slackware). Devuan, Peppermint, Nitrux Linux, Artix, AntiX, and PCLinuxOS are usable, but each have their quirks and things to be aware of. This will wind up being a listicle of sorts, based on another listicle, but with my own thoughts about each. I will order them from most user friendly to least.

Peppermint Devuan
This is an older, intentionally lightweight distro, built for webapps, something along the lines of ChromeOS. It is very performant, and just works, even for gaming, a bit. It was recently rebased from Ubuntu to Debian/ Devuan. We are concerned with the Devuan base, here, as Debian has a systemD problem. Being based on Devuan, you can choose at install time whether you want OpenRC, dinit, runit, or SysVinit. All that said, this, coupled with ease of install and ease of use causes this one to rise to the top. https://peppermintos.com/guide/downloading/
Devuan
This is Debian minus SystemD. Whatever problems you might have installing vanilla Debian, you will probably have with Devuan. It is usable, but many things are broken out of the box. It, like many, later in the list, is meant for advanced users. You can check it out and download if you wish, here: https://www.devuan.org/os/
Nitrux Linux
This one runs on OpenRC, but has significant UI issues, because even the currently default NX Desktop (based on KDE) has stability issues (for example, it uses Latte Dock for the bottom dock configuration, and it crashes multiple times per minute). They are also working on their own desktop, which I have mentioned in the past, called Maui Desktop. This is a promising project, as it is meant to provide convergence between desktop and mobile UI, but is a far cry from being done, yet. https://nxos.org/
AntiX
If you don’t want to be preached at from the Communist Manifesto, don’t bother with this one. It is based on Debian Stable, but only offers a series of window managers, as this is a super lightweight option. It gives you the choice of either SysVinit or runit for an init system, and has 0 systemd garbage in it. Read up more on it here: https://antixlinux.com/about/
PCLinuxOS
This one is an indie. It uses APT (from Debian) to access curated rpm packages (from Fedora), ships with a choice of the usual suspects in terms of desktop environments, and runs SysVinit rather than systemd, which is why this is on the list.
MX Linux
Related, somehow, to AntiX, but not truly systemd-free, unfortunately. The devs simply chose to use sysVinit to do the actual init tasks at boot, but once you are into the desktop, it switches over to systemd. Other than that, it is probably the most polished and easy to use so far, but it doesn’t technically belong on this list, though. https://mxlinux.org
Artix Linux
Our only Arch based option today, as it is vanilla Arch, with a GUI installer, and no systemd to gum up the works and spy on you. They have opted for choice, so you can use just about any other init system out there, from OpenRC, to Runit, S6, Suite66, elogind or SysVinit. My brother has used this and loves it, currently, even for playing games. Try one of the community versions, whether KDE, GTK (something like Mate), XFCE, Cinnamon, LXDE, LxQt, or Mate. It should install cleanly, and you should have any DE (other than GNOME) to choose from, so if you like Arch more than Debian, this may be your best option on the list. Check it out here: https://artixlinux.org/download.php
Chimera Linux
Complex blend of the Linux kernel with BSD tooling and a focus on building from source. Not user friendly, but at least starts with the option of running GNOME. Uses dinit for init and service management. Do not recommend for an inexperienced user. (this will be a refrain for the rest of this piece) Take a look at it here: https://chimera-linux.org/
GoboLinux
Another indie effort, this time with a novel approach to the file system, so every package/app gets its own subtree in the file system. This one is another that emphasizes on building from source, rather than providing end-user pre-packaged binaries (.deb, .rpm, etc). It runs SysVinit for init. It sounds intriquiging, but I don’t know that I would ever really try it, much less suggest it to anyone. https://gobolinux.org/index.html#content
Venom Linux
Focused on being lightweight and giving users a choice between init systems: sysV and Runit are your options here. It is another source-built distro, thus is not meant for new users. However, if you can roll Void or Gentoo successfully, then this should be more or less up your alley. https://venomlinux.org/
KISS Linux
Not named for Gene Simmons’ band… but for Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is a meta-distro. If that takes you aback, then it ain’t for you. If it makes you curious, then this might actually mean something to you: its repos are meant to be an extensible base for you to build on. This looks to be terminal only, at least in the beginning. Not user friendly. In order to use it, you actually wind up learning how to maintain the distro, which is designed to be doable by a team of 1. https://kisslinux.org/
Slackware
This is a truly venerable distro. It is the oldest that has been consistently developed, yes, older than Debian even. They just had a new release on Thursday, and switched to a rolling release model, run sysVinit and defaults to KDE for ease of use. It doesn’t obscure anything, which makes sense with the choice to roll with KDE, which pulls very few punches, itself. Check it out, in all its glory here: http://www.slackware.com/getslack/
Tiny Core Linux
This is ultra minimalistic. The smallest on the list, by a good deal. A full install can be as small as 23 MB. It is designed to live in RAM, no matter how you try to run it. It uses Busybox for init, and is lightning fast because it is all in RAM and has next to nothing to it. Check it out here: http://tinycorelinux.net/welcome.html
Gentoo Linux
This one is all about building from source. Runs OpenRC for init. If you can get it running. Connor can tell you about how non-friendly this distro is. It can be excellent, once you have time and patience to learn portage, the package manager, which build EVERYTHING from source. https://www.gentoo.org/
Void Linux
Another build-from-source indie distro. Runit is their init of choice, I know of a few people who swear by Void, for anything but gaming. Not user friendly. https://voidlinux.org/
Alpine Linux
I’m going to let Connor take this one, entirely. He recently joined their dev team, and is positively goofy over this distro. In short, it is an indie distro meant for servers and IoT devices, so it is minimalistic, though you can easily install most of the major desktop environments using a simple script after you install the rest of the system. I have both done it successfully and failed miserably. It is something of a crapshoot, depending on your hardware and which version you choose (my experience). It runs OpenRC and busybox, may not be AS small as Tiny Core, but is still much smaller than the average mainstream offering. https://alpinelinux.org/

https://itsfoss.com/systemd-free-distros/

FOSS News Big Show 2

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Linux, Tech Freedom

FOSS News Big Show 2

Special Guest: Connor Needling of Needling Worldwide

Distro News
Top 15 Rolling Distros
Alpine 3.18
RHEL 9.2

FOSS News
How to Delete a Directory with 1000’s of Files in it
QEMU 8.1
Plasma 5.27.5

FOSS Fun
No More Roblox on Linux
Steam Deck Competitor?
Arcane Wilds

Distro News
DN 1 – 16 Rolling Distros to Consider
This is a listicle of rolling release distros you might want to look at if you’re curious about having more frequent updates. I’ll comment on each one, similar to how I did with the privacy listicle last week.
1) Vanilla Arch
a) Had to be #1 on the list. It is the quintessential rolling release distro, and serves as the base for many of the options later in the list. This is not, however, for the faint of heart. It uses a script-based installer (or you just have a list of all the packages you want to install, in the correct order, and you handle it all yourself. It gives you a level of control over your system that is otherwise more or less unheard of. However, you can break it by looking at it in a way that it doesn’t like. (https://archlinux.org)
2) Solus Linux
a) Much more user-friendly than Arch, independent, though in the process of merging with SerpentOS, which is headed up by the original developer on the Solus project. This is the team that brought us Budgie. I’ve poked at Solus a little, but was not taken by it. (https://getsol.us)
3) Manjaro
a) Loosely based on Arch, quasi-rolling, but also has a semi-point release cadence. Every few months, they roll a fresh ISO version with the latest stable packages. It is like Arch with training wheels. I’ve used it for years, where I’ve yet to successfully install Arch on even a VM, to be quite honest. (https://manjaro.org) It is easy to install, easy to use, but still has the customizability of Arch at the core. Solid distro.
4) Void Linux
a) Another indie distro like Arch, only more focused on raw performance and security than Arch is. It is ultra-customizable. Did I mention fast? I’ve never tried it, but have friends who have sworn by it in the past. (https://voidlinux.org)
5) openSUSE Tumbleweed
a) I have a friend who ran it in a production environment while trying to get Alpine to work for his purposes. He enjoyed it and was surprised by the volume of updates that sometimes came in hourly, but also at the fact that it was rock stable. The thing that turned him off about it was that it has some systemd quirks that drove him up the wall and made it harder for him to do what he needed to do. I had Tumbleweed on a flashdrive and tried it once, but was not happy with it then (a couple of years ago). Give it a shot if you want to learn a new distro, you may be surprised at the outcome. (https://get.opensuse.com/tumbleweed)
6) Fedora
a) Community-based upstream for Red Hat and RHEL. This puts it in close proximity to IBM, who is one of the major contributors to Red Hat. They also lead development for GNOME, as well as systemd. I could go off on systemd, but feel like I’d be wasting my breath. It more or less controls your system from behind the scenes. They recently made a change to the way it handles DNS such that you can no longer control which DNS servers your system uses. That feels like a big deal to me. (https://fedora.org)
7) NixOS
a) I did a piece on NixOS over on the Altha Tech blog ( https://althatech.com/it-work/nixos-and-altha-tech/ ) last month, as it is the primary OS they use in their server infrastructure. It is more or less just an indie package manager which provides a high degree of reliability and reproducibility due to the fact that all configurations are resident in a single file, so once you commit changes there, if you have a whole fleet of machines or server running NixOS, they all get that change automagically. (https://nixos.org)
8) Debian Testing
a) Yes, there is a branch of that venerable distro which is rolling release. If you know Linux, you are probably familiar, at least in passing, with grandaddy Debian. It is the base of Ubuntu, after all, so all of the Ubuntu flavors and derivatives owe their existence to Debian. Debian is not terribly exciting, but it is stable once down-stream from Testing. (https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting)
9) Sparky Linux
a) Been around for a while, based on Debian Testing. Stable and simple. Haven’t tried it, so I can’t speak to how good it is, personally. (https://sparkylinux.org/)
10) EndeavourOS
a) NASA-themed Arch derivative which is relatively light, fast, and certainly rolling. It comes with the latest Calamares installer and most of what you need in order to make your system run well out of the box. One thing you have to keep in mind with this distro is it will require you to become much more comfortable with the terminal than others will, as it does not ship with a GUI package manager, so you have to use CLI pacman to get that done, at least until you install something like Octopi (which feels a bit like aptitude in Debian distros). (https://endeavouros.com)
11) Ka OS
a) Indie distro which only ships with the latest versions of all things KDE Plasma. Think of it as an indie version of KDE Neon (which is based on Ubuntu… It is basically Kubuntu unstable, where much of the KDE package testing happens). Ka OS is intentionally limited in scope, as their focus is on quality not quantity. It is a great option for those of us who are hardcore KDE fans. I’ve not tried it, but have talked about it quite a bit over the last year (I typically cover each new ISO release). (https://kaosx.us)
12) Gentoo Linux
a) Another indie distro, but not one that is intentionally user-friendly. This one is built by developers and system admins for developers and system admins. It has its own package manager, and actually serves as the base on which ChromeOS is built. But Gentoo, on its own, is about as easy to use and maintain as Arch is. Not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy building packages from source. (https://gentoo.org)
13) Chakra Linux
a) Arch-based hybrid distro which offers rolling for non system-critical packages, but periodic updates for core system packages. I’d never heard of this one, and it is no longer being developed, so don’t bother with this one, boys and girls. Doesn’t even have its own webiste.
14) Sabayon became Mocacchino OS
a) It is more or less Gentoo + containers and layers and all sorts of other current buzz words. I don’t have the desire to try this one, but if containerization sounds beneficial in your usecase, add this to the container-driver distro list. (https://www.mocaccino.org/)
15) Rolling Rhino Remix
a) Ubuntu, only rolling. I covered this distro briefly when it was announced several months back they track all of the devel series updates and roll them out to users. I’m not clear as to whether it is really daily driver ready or not, so take your chances if you wish. It looks interesting, is all I’m going to say. (https://rollingrhino.org/)
https://www.geeksveda.com/rolling-release-linux-distributions/
#distronews #FOSSNews #rollingrelease

DN 2 – Alpine Linux 3.18
A new version from this minimal, OpenRC, MUSL based distro. This will matter more to you if you are aware of just how much control you lose of your system to run systemd. Systemd used to simply be an init system, but in the last 5 years, especially, it has ballooned out into controlling most aspects of your system behind the scenes. It is still technically FOSS, but very few people who are not developers even have the desire to look at release notes and the like to see what kind of feature creep has invaded that stack of protocols and firmware hooks. One thing that was recently brought to my attention, courtesy of friend of the channel, Connor Needling, is that systemd has now been rewritten in such a way that we no longer have control over what DNS servers our systems use. Let’s start to migrate away from systemd-based distributions. Alpine is one, but it is not particularly user friendly on the front end, unfortunately. Connor is a huge fan of Alpine, and I am testing it on my kids’ machine, as it is very lightweight and performant, and their machine is over 10 years old, so it seems like a match made in heaven, to a certain extent. Devuan, MX Linux, Salix, Artix, and AntiX are a few other non-systemd options out there that might be a bit more user friendly (MX is excellent in that respect, if you are ok with Debian based distros. Check this list for even more options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_distributions_without_systemd
There of course were some key updates in 3.18, such as moving up to the Linux 61 LTS series, musl libc 1.2.4, Python 3.11, Ruby 3.2, Node.js 20.1, Go 1.20, and Rust 1.69. Remember, this is a lightweight distro. Don’t expect a ton of bells & whistles. You’ll even need to install and configure networking for your machine. Beware the install script, though. It will try to force you to set up WiFi, when your system may not be 100% supported. I suggest plugging in hardline, via a lan cable. Worry about WiFi later. You’ll also need to use their setup-desktop script to pick your DE poison, so to speak. You’ll also need to wrap your head around doas vs sudo, at least until you install and configure sudo (which I suggest you do quickly), as well as their package manager (Alpine Package Keeper, or APK). 3.18 does ship with support for GNOME 44 and Plasma 5.27LTS, just need to pick which one you want, but you also have the option of Xfce. The bottom line when installing Alpine is that the wiki is your best friend, unless you have a friend who has done it and is good at explaining things.
https://9to5linux.com/alpine-linux-3-18-is-out-with-linux-6-1-lts-experimental-support-for-unattended-installs

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DN 3 – RHEL 9.2 Out Now with Some Interesting Goodies
Last week, we talked about a couple of distros which are based on RHEL, but now we’re gonna talk about the main source for those distros, RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). This is the preeminent enterprise distro in the world. Red Hat is trusted because it has always enjoyed a close relationship with Big Blue (IBM), who have supplied funding and software contributions to the organization and its products for many years. Fedora is somewhat clean, as it is community driven, as far as I know. RHEL and CentOS Stream are decidedly less so than Fedora is, in my opinion, but take that with a grain of salt, as this is pure opinion based on circumstantial evidence at best. I went off about systemd earlier, so I won’t harp on that, but GNOME is also developed by teams at Red Hat. Anyway, back to RHEL and why I am sharing this article in the first place… RHEL got an update. Podman got a huge leg up (podman is a container management tool) in that now, it doesn’t require so much CLI knowledge to operate and take care of your container needs in your fleet. It seems to be geared more and more for automation, which is a welcome piece of news for network admins everywhere. So much more besides that, but you’ll have to read the article in the description if you care to see all of that.

https://9to5linux.com/red-hat-enterprise-linux-9-2-adds-64k-page-sizes-support-for-arm-new-system-roles

FOSS News
FN 1 – Ever Wondered How to Delete Files in Linux?
Well, if you’ve been around for a minute, you’re probably yelling at your screen about the trusty old rm command. If you are, you’re right. If you were wondering if I’ll mention stat or ls –i or find, you won’t be disappointed, my friend. If you are completely at a loss as to what I’m talking about, that’s ok, too. This is a brief rundown of how to use these commands to get rid of files in the Linux command line interface/terminal. Say you have a huge directory that is simply stuffed with files and perhaps sub-directories, etc, and you need to free up some space on your computer, then you may try to simply select the directory in question in your file manager of choice (Dolphin, Nemo, Nautilus, etc…) and hit the delete key. This MAY work for you, but will only move your directory and its contents to the Trash bin (assuming it isn’t too big, as there is a file size limit placed on the Trash Bin). If it is too big, you can expect an error stating as much. Deleting in Linux does not work the same way as it does in Windows. When you delete a file in Linux, you are simply removing a link to the file from your computer, then later on, when you aren’t using the file you just unlinked to, the contents get cleaned up. In Windows, due to the way the FAT partitioning system used to work, one must make entirely separate copies of a file in order to have it in multiple places, as FAT is kind of dumb that way. At any rate, time to talk commands, yeah?

Everybody’s favorite is rm. It quickly and relatively painlessly removes the link to the file or directory in question. Here’s the basic syntax for rm:
rm -<options> <name of file or directory> —<flag>
For example, if I wanted to delete the pacman lock file ( a frequent enough scenario in Arch based distros) it would go: sudo rm –f /etc/pacman/db.lck the –f option will force it to delete the file, and adding sudo in front will elevate your privileges so that you can take out that system file.
If you want to get rid of a whole directory, though, how would you do that? That is what the –r option is for. –r stands for recursive, so it will get rid of the directory and all that is in it (files, sub-directories, etc). Say you had a directory called Test in your Documents directory, and it has a whole bunch of random junk in there that you don’t need to have around anymore. You would run an rm command like this: rm –r /Documents/Test, and that will get rid of the directory and anything that was inside of it. You experienced users might be wondering if I’ll mention rmdir, well, don’t worry. There’s your mention. It isn’t terribly useful in this case, as it is only capable of removing said directories if they are empty.
Next, we turn to find. Find is a bit more complex than rm, so is probably used less. So here’s the situation: you have a directory called “Test 2” in your Downloads directory, and you don’t want to use rm. What do you do? Find to the rescue! Here’s the command you need: find /Downloads/Test 2 –delete
You could also use find in concert with ls –li or stat to find the inode number (the unique file number for each file or directory in Linux), then write something like this:
find /path/to/file -inum INODE_NUM -exec rm -i {} + (where you would plug in the inode number you found by running either stat or ls –li beforehand for the file in question where it says INODE_NUM), then hit y to confirm the action. This seems extremely specific, which is good, but at the same time, if you know the name of the file or directory anyway, then why bother with the inode thing anyway?

https://www.tecmint.com/delete-large-directory-linux/

FN 2 –QEMU 8.1 Announced
Though 8.0 just shipped, here is a sneak peek at what is coming in the next version of this crucial emulation back end for handling things like running your classic Nintendo or PlayStation games on your Linux PC. It is also useful for more important things, such as testing ARM or RISC-V compatibility for a piece of software. It can also help you to run regular x86 software on an ARM or RISC-V based system. This is incredibly useful for developers so that they can make 100% sure that their software will work on any platform, so the changes made in 8.1 will make it that much more pleasant to use. They added better pipewire support for audio and video backends, as well as a handful more chips that it can emulate for both ARM and RISC-V. It is unlikely that most of you will need this, but I thought I’d cover it, because it will likely indirectly effect you in the future. Lots of good stuff with this release, so if you want to know more, read the article and the announcements, down below.
https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu
https://9to5linux.com/qemu-8-1-promises-pipewire-audio-backend-improved-risc-v-support

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FN 3 – Another KDE Maintenance Update
Here’s KDE Plasma 5.27.5, with a bevy of useful changes and bug squashings, as usual. 5 weeks after the release of 5.27.4, we have the next maintenace update, so what’s new here?
• Even more better flatpak support
◦ No more broken configs
◦ New flatpak permissions page in system settings
◦ And more
• Task Manager can now do better with text for windows which do not have text in the titlebar
• Emoji selector window invokes more quickly from kb shortcut
• Scrolling in Task Manager and Pager widgets works better
• Touchscreen
◦ Long press on system tray icons for context menus works now
• Bug fixes
◦ Plasma Discover
▪ Correctly applies firmware updates
▪ Many flatpak issues
• Crash when dealing with a missing .flatpakref file
◦ Plasma Wayland
▪ no longer crash the KWin window and composite manager when hovering the cursor over Task Manager icons or when closing windows (that was annoying)
▪ System Settings app should no longer crash during startup if the Activities database is corrupted
▪ Plasma should no longer crash due to excessive memory usage when searching for unusual things with KRunner (how do they define an unusual search term?)
◦ Multimonitor Support
▪ No more screens-overlapping-by-one-pixel issue
▪ Many other random issues were fixed as well
◦ Random bits
▪ fixes Plasma Calendar’s “Months” views
▪ updates the mouse acceleration profiles to work properly with libinput 1.3 or later
▪ fixes long notification title text in the Notifications history
▪ improves the Bluetooth connection experience
▪ improves importing of VPN configurations
▪ plugs a major memory leak when plugging in an external display
▪ addresses a recently discovered regression in the size and sharpness of GTK CSD windows’ minimize, maximize, and close buttons when not using a scale factor
▪ improves the centered arrangement of Plasma widgets between two flexible Panel spacers places on vertical panels
As usual, the KDE team have been hard at work to make Plasma that much better, even as they have been devoting many resources to KDE 6, which is due to drop later this year. When 2-in-1 touchscreen support is closer to GNOME level, I very well may go back to KDE on my surface, but not until then. It’s funny, since I put GNOME on my Surface, It almost feels jarring to go back to KDE, though I know I could make it behave similarly. If you want a clearer picture of what this update did, take a look at the announcement page in the description below. (https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.27.5/)
https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-5-27-5-improves-flatpak-permissions-page-system-settings-and-more
#FOSSnews #bigshow #KDE #updates #fixes #TechFreedom

FF 1 – Roblox h8s Penguins
The Roblox developers have hammered the last nail into the coffin for compatibility and support on Linux. They are adopting Hyperion anti-cheat, as the Roblox team bought the company behind Hyperion last October. Their logic for blocking WINE usage is tenuous at best, in my view. They also refuse to countenance the concept of a Linux port, claiming that the gaming community on Linux is neither large nor cohesive enough to bother devoting company resources to developing or supporting. Will this affect Linux adoption rates? I don’t know. I know that Roblox is nearly as popular as Minecraft, particularly with the younger set, however, as this article states, we have Heroic and the Steam Deck, as well as Proton which still enable us to play many games, and those tools are only getting better. I don’t see this as a huge detractor from the appeal of getting away from Windoesn’t and MacOS, if for nothing other than privacy and security reasons. For that matter, Linux is stable, now, particularly if you choose a point release distro like Pop!OS or Mint. It pretty much “just works” for most things, these days. Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course, just like anything else in life. I do not see this making that much of a difference for people who are motivated to make the change anyway.

https://news.itsfoss.com/roblox-linux-end/

FF 2 – ASUS ROG Ally Formally Announced
Well, we have more information about this Steamdeck competitor now, from specs to pricing. It will indeed be running AMD’s new Z1 chips, but it ships with Windoesn’t 11. *throws up in mouth* Why are they inflicting that privacy nightmare on their customers? Oh wait, massive subsidies from MSFT, no doubt. That, and running Windoesn’t entails fewer compatibility issues. Let’s keep an eye on this gear and see about perhaps getting it working on Linux, shall we? So, here are the specs for this piece of kit: AMD Z1 capable of up to 2.8 TFlops for the base model, both ship with a .5 TB Gen4 SSD, 16 GB DDR5 RAM, a 7” FHD touchscreen display capable of 500 nits brightness, and dual cooling fans. Raw power, this thing sounds promising, and it will cost $599. The upgraded model comes with the Z1 Extreme chip, which is about 3x more powerful than the regular Z1, capable of pushing 8.6 TFlops (you might be wondering what a TFlop is: a teraflop, 1 Trillion FLoating point OPerations. A FLOP is a measure of computing performance which gives a more accurate picture of the capabilities of a chip than simple instructions per second). The extreme version is comparable with the processor in the PlayStation 5, clocking in less than half a TFlop/s lower than the P5 in a smaller package that is also more efficient. By the way, the more capable version is slated to sell at $699. To put it into perspective, the top spec Steam Deck sells for $649, and has the same size ssd, and a AMD Zen 2 chip, and 16 GB RAM, with a 1280*800 resolution 7” screen. Its processor can only manage ~1/2 TFlop/s and its integrated GPU can only manage up to 1.6 TFlop/s. That is pretty weak in comparison to the Z1, but it does natively run SteamOS, which is based on Arch Linux. Here’s a link for the Steam Deck: (https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck)

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/asus-rog-ally-releases-in-june-priced-competitively-to-the-steam-deck/

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc

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FF 3 – What’s Arcane Wilds?
A Western-themed fantasy RTS game that is cross-platform and currently in beta testing. It has
3 factions which each have their unique features, strengths and weaknesses, Army (a Civil War era US Army-alike), Colony (wild west-style gunslingers and the like), and Tribes (similar to native Americans). Who vie for resources and territory. The difference here is that two of the key resources (Supplies and Essence) are actual physical things which need to be transported and can even be stolen. That is novel to me. I like that idea, it makes the whole thing much more realistic and potentially engaging. The combat system sounds like it should be really fun, as it is designed to be very fast-paced, but not at the expense of strategy. Units get ordered via the port, which is where you start every game. In order to order certain units, you do need to build certain buildings, but units are not directly produced by their associated buildings, but those buildings do allow you to order them at the port. Interesting mechanics, y’all. Not just build base, harvest resources, make units, and attack your enemies. We’ll see what shape this game finally realizes once it is out of beta.

I will take a look at it and see if my system can handle it and stream & record the whole thing or not. If it can, I will test it out on the Weekend Edition.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/arcane-wilds-kicks-off-with-some-refreshing-rts-ideas/

#FOSSNews #FOSSFun #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

FOSS News – April 2-6, 2023

by admin Distro Monday, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Linux, Uncategorized, Weekend Edition

Distro Monday 52

DM 52.1 – Straight Ubuntu or Mint?

What’s the difference anyway? Isn’t Mint based on Ubuntu? Actually, there are quite a few noticeable differences. Yes, Mint is derived from Ubuntu, just as Ubuntu is derived from Debian. There is also a Debian edition of Mint (which, personally, I would point you to). Personal preferences aside, what are the big differences?
· Mint
o Has only 3 Desktop environments (all are GNOME forks from yesteryear)
§ Cinnamon (in-house development, flagship option)
· Easy to use, instantly familiar for windoesn’t users, fairly lightweight
§ Xfce for the very resource-conscious
· Extra lean, bare-bones, may remind you of windoesn’t 9x by default
§ Mate which is also relatively light and quick, based on an older version of GNOME than Cinnamon is
o Has Timeshift to allow you to undo dumb choices on the computer easily
o Update manager is very easy to use
o Flatpak rather than Snap support by default
o Community based
· Ubuntu
o Supported by Canonical, LTD.
o This is “Linux” to most people who are not familiar with Linux
o By default, ships a heavily tweaked version of GNOME, with modded dash-to-dock and a few other things as well
§ Also has numerous other desktops, from LxQt to Xfce, Budgie, KDE, Cinnamon, Unity, and a host of other options which are community supported rather than being official iterations from Canonical
o Snaps, because no one else wants them
o Easy to use, I suppose, but not as easy as Mint
o Vanilla Ubuntu is disorienting because of the tweaked GNOME they ship, but if you want a more windoesn’t feel, as I said earlier, they have several other possible flavors with different desktop environments available, which is far more extensive than Mint.
I do not put any stock in Ubuntu, personally because I do not appreciate the deals they’ve made with the Devil in order to build their business to where it is today. On one hand, I suppose it has helped to raise the profile of Linux, and Ubuntu has become a more commonly used platform for servers and other enterprise-level applications. However, they compromised deeply and are almost treating their branch of the Linux family tree like a proprietary OS. I respect the Mint team for stripping out much of that garbage, and having the foresight to start a Debian edition of Mint. Is Mint perfect? No. Due to the bases on which they build, they are slow on the uptake for updates and upgrades, but that makes them more stable and less prone to break than my personal preferences, currently.

https://linuxiac.com/linux-mint-vs-ubuntu/#main

#distromonday #Linux #LinuxMint #ubnuntu #better #newbies #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

DM 52.2 – New ISO for OpenMandriva rolling edition out now

I talked about OpenMandriva a couple of months ago, but it is the descendant of a legendary Linux distro, Mandrake Linux. I talked about it a then because they just rolled out the first version of their rolling release edition, codenamed “Rome”. Well, this one is roughly on par with Arch in terms of being bleeding edge, so let’s find out what changes they’ve made here:

· Linux 62 kernel series
· Latest From
o KDE
o Mesa graphics stack,
o Wayland
o XOrg Server
o LLVM/Clang
o GNU Binutils
o GCC
o GNU C Library
o systemd 253
· LibreOffice 7.5.1 office suite
· Firefox 111
· Chromium 110
· Krita 5.1.5
· digiKam 7.9
· GIMP 2.10.34
· Calligra Suite 3.2.1
· SMPlayer 22.7.0
· VLC 3.0.18 video players
· VirtualBox 7.0.6
· GNOME 43.3
· LxQt 1.2

OpenMandriva Lx 23.03 Released with Linux 6.2, Mesa 23, and KDE Plasma 5.27

#distromonday #openmandriva #Linux #indie #rollingrelease #Rome #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

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DM 52.3 – blendOS: One Distro to Rule Them All?

I talked about this when it first came out, and even daily drove it on my Surface (not a representative sample) for about a month. The concept is cool. It is based on Arch, which gives you the rolling feel along with the excitement of being on the bleeding edge of development for the OS, but also gives you access to containerized ways to use APT and DNF package managers if you really want or need to. This, in concept, as I said, is a sweet setup, almost ideal, really. However, I do not think that it is ready for mass adoption yet, as on my system (again, not any kind of representative sample for computers in general, as it has been a thorn in my backside since I bought it about 2 years ago), it became unstable and sluggish far more quickly than it should have in my opinion. Perhaps I didn’t use it as intended, as I used the basic, standard pacman to install packages most of the time. I didn’t take advantage of the semi-immutability offered by the containerized version of pacman, though I did play with DNF and APT just a little. Which package managers are in play, here?
· apt
· dnf
· yum
· pacman
· yay
· Blend

It currently uses a distrobox implementation, and this is admittedly in the early stages of development, so my experience will not necessarily be representative in your case, either. I installed the KDE version (big shock, I know), and used it as normal for about a month, when it started to break pretty badly on me and I couldn’t get what I needed to do done easily because of instability. It also ships with the Flathub store app as an app which can fully install flatpaks, rather than simply downloading their flatref files for something else to install. I mentioned distrobox, but it will not be around in this distro for much longer, as it will be replaced with podman very soon. They will also soon be shipping a GUI config tool for the containers, rather than relying on CLI to get the job done. It is a cool option, and perhaps when it is more stable, I will try it again, and do it more properly this time. Is it the One? Not at this time, but I will keep an eye on it as it develops. I like the idea of an immutable Arch install, though that kinda messes with my head, to be honest.

https://news.itsfoss.com/blendos/

#distromonday #Linux #blendOS #arch #onedistrotorulethemall #goodstuff #notreadyyet #FOSS #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

Tech Freedom Intro: What to expect from my channels and website.

#intro #TechFreedom #telegram #truthsocial #publicsq #gab #Truth

TTT 52: Ubuntu PSA & Linux Mobile News

TTT 52.1 – Running Ubuntu? Here’s Another Reminder to Keep it Updated
Well, Canonical has released a new round of CVE (Critical Vulnerability Exploit) Patches, so run your updates to close these 9 attack surfaces down for your machine:
· CVE 2022-2196
o Could leave your VMs open to leaking private data from either the host or a fellow guest OS
· CVE-2022-42328 and CVE-2022-42329
o Which are both race conditions in the Xen networking backend and could cause the kernel to crash
§ What’s a race condition?
· A situation where two drivers are trying to access the same resource at the same time, and do not get scheduled properly by the kernel and it causes problems, often a denial of service (crash, etc)
· CVE-2023-0266
o a use-after-free vulnerability discovered in the ALSA subsystem that could allow a local attacker to crash the system by causing a denial of service
· CVE-2023-0469
o a use-after-free vulnerability discovered in the io_uring subsystem
· CVE-2023-1195
o another user-after-free vulnerability found in the CIFS network file system. Both vulnerabilities could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash) or execute arbitrary code
· CVE-2022-4382
o A race condition in the USB Gadget file system implementation, which could lead to a use-after-free vulnerability in some situations and allow a local attacker to crash the system by causing a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code
· CVE-2023-0045
o a flaw in the prctl syscall implementation that made the kernel fail to protect against indirect branch prediction attacks and allowed a local attacker to expose sensitive information
· CVE-2023-23559
o an integer overflow vulnerability found in the RNDIS USB driver that could allow a local attacker with physical access to cause a denial of service (system crash) or execute arbitrary code by plugging in a malicious USB device

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-10-users-get-new-linux-kernel-security-update-9-vulnerabilities-patched
#TTT #patches #ubuntu #security #Linux #PSA #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
TTT 52.2 – UB Touch OTA-1 Out Now for you Linux Mobile Devotees
Wow, I just talked about OTA 25 last week, and the devs shocked us with the first rebased OTA update already… Welcome to Focal Fossa, everyone. What else is new with this surprise (limited) release? Which devices is it currently available for?
· Devices
o Fairphone 4
o Google Pixel 3a
o Vollaphone 22
o Vollaphone X
o Vollaphone
· New Stuff
o Focal Fossa LTS
o Lomiri UI
o The systemd init system
o Ayatana Indicators
o Waydroid
o a new porting style for device porters
o support for building many components against GCC 12 and Qt 5.15 LTS
· Improvements
o fix for an issue when trying to mute the phone’s microphone during phone calls
o a fix for a context menu issue in the Morph Browser
o fixes for various issues when receiving MMS messages.
o XWayland integration
o support for running legacy X11 apps on Lomiri,
o support for PIN codes between 4 and 12 digits
o updates broadband provider data
o adds support for USB-C USB-PD
o improves PAM/logind integration
o and refreshes various Lomiri effects.
· New
o Morph Browser
§ received hardware-accelerated video decoding with support for up to 2K video playback and video chat support
o Camera app
§ supports barcode reading
o Messaging app
§ now lets you zoom in on conversation text using a pinch and spread gesture, and the Addressbook app now lets users add notes for a contact and a URL address

https://9to5linux.com/first-ubuntu-touch-ota-release-based-on-ubuntu-20-04-lts-is-out-now
#TTT #UBTouch #Linuxmobile #updates #FOSS #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

Free Your Internet

Internet Freedom

One-stop shop for getting you and your business transitioned off of Big Tech online platforms and tools, so that you have control of your data once again. I will also help you to find better alternatives.

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TTT 52.3 – Ventoy 1.0.90 With Support for Even More Stuff
The boys and girls on the Ventoy team have expanded support even further by adding updated LibreElec and Chimera Linux to their repertoire. That means that the easiest USB/SD Card/ external storage bootable media creation and management solution that much better. If you ever

https://9to5linux.com/ventoy-1-0-90-adds-support-for-libreelec-11-0-and-chimera-linux
#TTT #FOSS #Linux #crossplatform #ventoy #multiusb #TechFreedom #FOSSnews
a.
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FFW 37: Counter-Strike 2: Confirmed and More

FFW 37.1 – Counter-Strike 2 is For Real

I covered the likelihood that it would be coming soon about a month ago… Valve has confirmed and told us that it, along with a huge upgrade for Source 2 would drop by this summer. I suggest you look at the videos in the article below if you want more of a tease. I don’t play, but know that many do, and there will be lots of good stuff being improved and changed in the new game vs CS:GO. Here is a short list:
· responsive smoke
· sub-tick updates for more responsive gameplay
· overhauled maps
· Source 2 tooling for the community
· your whole inventory carries over from CS:GO
· higher resolution models for basically everything
· improved visual effects
· an upgraded UI
· And more

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/counter-strike-2-from-valve-releasing-summer-2023/

#FFW #Linux #FOSSnews #CS2 #valve #steam #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

FFW 37.2 – What Happened to AMD GPUs in DOTA2?

If you play DOTA2 and run it on a Linux box with an AMD GPU, you may have noticed reduced fluidity in the game of late. This is due to an updated Graphics Pipeline Library issue causing the driver, while in game to consume a ridiculous 3GB of RAM. Luckily, this bug has been squashed after it was demonstrated to developers working on the project, and it now takes a more reasonable 450MB RAM vs the 3 GB they were seeing. On the other hand, unless you are adventurous, you may not have seen it anyway. However, that feature will be enabled by default in the next version of the MESA stack, so getting that bug squashed now is excellent. Good on you, Devs.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/amd-radv-driver-will-soon-stop-eating-ram-with-some-games/

#FFW #Linux #DOTA2 #AMD #gfxdirvers #bugssquashed #performance #FOSSnews #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc/

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FFW 37.3 – NVidia Graphics Driver News

We have a new full version of drivers from Dr. Huang and team Green. What’s new in this one?

· Indirect Branch Tracking support
· Better Xfce support
o New profile to prevent degradation when
§ OpenGL compositor backend is enabled along with G-SYNC
§ suspend and resume support when using GSP firmware
· ZSTD compression to shrink the installer and make it quicker
· Better flatpak support
· improved support for Wayland apps running on using the PRIME render offload feature on a system with an integrated AMD GPU
· And more…
As always, check the link if you want more information on this driver release.

NVIDIA 530.41.03 Graphics Driver Brings Better Xfce Support, Faster Installer

#FFW #Linuxgaming #nvidia #graphics #drivers #updates #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

What to use instead of Big Tech online:

#techtips #TechFreedom #justsayno #nomorespying #advice #Truth

WE 31: Violence, Banks, and AI, Oh My!

Bob Lee Stabbed to Death in SF
Credit Suisse Buyout News
Amazon Vs Labor and UK May Sue Over Cloud Monopoly
AI News
Tiktok News

Weekend Edition, Cashapp founder stabbed to death in SanFran, Credit Suisse & UBS, Amazon Labor Union Woes, UK signals lawsuit over AWS and Azure in UK stifling competition, pResident Depends holding meetings on AI, chatGPT makes wild accusations, Head of Signal Foundation reaffirms dedication to never adopt AI tech in the Signal system, Other popular Chinese Apps, TikTok opinions

WE 31.1 – Bob Lee, Founder of CashApp Stabbed to Death
Sad story to start off the day, but I’m committed to doing some sort of human interest piece at the top of the weekend edition from now on. It would appear that Bob Lee, who was a fixture in Silicon Valley for the last 20 years or so, first as an engineer at Square, then when he founded CashApp later, was stabbed to death in the Rincon District of San Francisco. Many will miss him, he sounded like a genuinely great guy. Good bye, Bob.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/tech/bob-lee-tech-executive-death/index.html
#cashapp #boblee #rip #sadday #square #cashapp

WE 31.2 – Shotgun Wedding in Switzerland
UBS and Credit Suisse tied the knot, so to speak, in a very rushed ceremony due to the failing health of Credit Suisse over the last handful of months. Swiss authorities pushed them together, and both parties were willing, for the most part, however, others around them are questioning the pairing. some are concerned that it concentrates too much risk in UBS specifically and Switzerland generally. We will see what becomes of this union which apparently will take 3-4 years to completely effect, due to the gargantuan nature of both partners. It looks like there will be significant layoffs as these two big banks become one, after all it doesn’t make sense to have reduplication of efforts when part of the point of mergers like this is to streamline operations. Some shareholders were pretty mad at the meetings which each bank held in the beginning of the week. Markedly moreso on the Credit Suisse side than on the UBS side, but no one was really happy that they didn’t get a vote in the matter. Sure, the UBS shareholders were happy to have one fewer competitors in the world, but having a major deal like that crammed down their throats tempered their enthusiasm a bit.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/05/ubs-holds-first-shareholder-meeting-since-controversial-credit-suisse-takeover.html
#UBS #creditsuisse #mergers #banking #highfinance

WE 31.3 – Amazon in Trouble More?
31.3a – Ever Hear About the Amazon Labor Union?
Well, they won their court case a year ago, but Amazon still refuses to acknowledge that they exist. A guy named Christian Smalls, who was let go from one of the NY Amazon warehouses back in 2020, decided that workers needed to unionize to protect themselves from the increasingly poor working conditions they faced in the warehouses. As you can imagine, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses for the fledgling union, because even though they won the first battle, which is simply to be able to organize at all, there have been other hurdles. Personality conflicts, differences of opinion, and of course resistance from the behemoth that they are trying to organize in order to have a voice in order to bargain with. Amazon has hardly bothered to notice that this ragtag, grassroots group, headed by an individual whom Amazon lawyers thought was “not smart or articulate” a few years ago. It will be interesting to see what happens with the ALU’s efforts to move any further than they have already, which is quite something. I’m neither a huge fan of mega-corps like Amazon nor of the overtly socialist nature of unions, which is already starting to manifest itself in Mr. Smalls. He travels all over the country, wearing Versace, and hobnobbing with celebrities, then passes down pronouncements as if from on high.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/tech/amazon-labor-union-one-year-later/index.html

31.3b – AWS and Azure to Face Anti-trust Litigation in UK
OFCOM, the UK communications regulator looks poised to bring a case against both tech monsters’ cloud divisions for being anti-competitive. What are they looking at here, though? In the words of the Ofcom’s director, they have found, “High barriers to switching are already harming competition in what is a fast-growing market. We think more in-depth scrutiny is needed, to make sure it’s working well for people and businesses who rely on these services.”
In light of that, they have decided to refer the matter to the Competition and Markets Authority, who is ready to do an investigation of their own, actually seems to be champing at the bit, so to speak. They have already reviewed preliminary findings from Ofcom and is primed to look into the matter. The issues that led to Ofcom referring them to the CMA center around high egress fees, artificial technical barriers to interoperability with other providers, as well as incentive fee structures meant to encourage clients to only use one cloud provider for all their needs. This strikes me as a fairly open & shut case, as far as I’m concerned, but the giants, including Google, which speak for between 65-75% of the cloud market in the UK are all using these tactics (not all that differently from here in the States). Well, we will see what these regulators do and can do to these big dogs. I have my doubts that it will wind up as anything more than a slap on the wrist for these tech giants, but who knows, maybe they’ll be out for a pound and a half of flesh this time instead of 3 ounces. I’ll keep an eye on it, but it sounds like the earliest there is likely to be more movement on this issue will be something like November.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/tech/amazon-microsoft-uk-cloud-services/index.html
WE 31.4 – AI News
31.4a – Johnathan Turley: Falsely Accused of Harassing a Student by a ChatGPT Hallucination
Wow… Dr. Turley is a rare “conservative” within the halls of legal academia, and has never done anything like what chatGPT hallucinated he did to a student, this thing even fabricated a WaPo article about the incident. I have to wonder how much of this happens on a regular basis as people overuse that damned thing for crap it was never intended to do. So a colleague of Dr. Turley’s from UCLA, who was doing some research on harassment accusations against law professors via chatGPT. It manufactured this whole thing, which strikes me as about the same level of nonsense as a hit piece in a tabloid, a blatant example of libel, only there is no one to sue over it. Of course, Dr. Turley has never taken students on trips in 35 years of teaching law, much less has he ever even been accused of anything untoward… Obviously there was never a WaPo article about a non-existent incident. So, if it can make things up whole cloth like that and no one is available to refute the spurious claims, then that gets added to the list of sources for future research. Dr. Turley is trying to say that these tools are untrustworthy in this opinion piece, and I have heard of other similar things happening, so I tend to agree with him on this.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/04/03/chatgpt-misinformation-bias-flaws-ai-chatbot/11571830002/

31.4b – pResident Depends Holds Meetings About AI
Wow, his handlers must really be trying to focus everybody on this issue for some reason, just like the Trump indictment earlier this week. This article is kind of unfocused and feels a bit rushed, to me, but that is beside the point, it is a story about Brandon Depends. He can’t even pay a visit to the necessary on his own successfully (see stain on his pants at the Vatican, lol), much less speak coherently about any topic, not even ice cream. “You know, the thing…” this clown is a colossal embarrassment and humiliation for our country. We were at least semi-functional under Trump and his admin. The cracks were certainly beginning to show then, but the level of dysfunction in this country now is almost incomprehensible to me. I digress, though. They are supposed to meet and talk about the “risks and opportunities” of AI, in the face of the runaway success of tools like chatGPT. They are also likely to push congress to pass legislation to allegedly limit the data collection of Big Tech companies in America. As long as that bill isn’t as much of an inversion of the rights of US citizens enshrined in our Constitution, or is not really about something else, like limiting free speech in the name of protecting us from “misinformation” which is anything that an administration chooses to deem as “wrongthink” or inconvenient, such as in the RESTRICT Act. That monstrosity needs to be shouted down harder than Dinesh D’Souza at U Mass Amherst a few years ago. If it were really what it claimed to be instead of a blank check for the Secretary of Commerce to sign whenever they feel like it to shut down inconvenient information being shared on social media, because apparently bans and shadow bans aren’t enough, shoot, even jailing someone over a meme and a joke shared during the 2016 election is apparently not enough for them, they want absolute control of the internet, just like the CCP has with their “Great Firewall”. But again, I digress. I am glad to hear that the privacy of Americans is suddenly on the radar for Resident Depends.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/04/biden-to-discuss-ai-risks-and-opportunities-in-meeting-with-advisors.html

31.4c – A Bright Spot for Signal
The president of the Signal Foundation is making lots of noise about how they will never incorporate AI tools into the encrypted messaging app. Does she want a cookie or a ribbon? The app is meant to be a tool for more private communications, not a data farming enterprise like social media is in general. She also made it clear that they hold onto as little user information as possible to still be able to provide the services that they do through the app. This puts me a bit more at ease about using Signal, however, I am very uncomfortable with the people who endorse it, such as people with thoroughly mixed reputations such as Edward Snowden. However, that is not the point right now. The point is that they are standing up to pressure to incorporate some of those God-awful privacy violators called “generative ‘AIs’” into their non-profit based private communication app. Good on them.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/31/signal-president-meredith-whittaker-learned-what-not-to-do-from-google.html

WE 31.5 – Tiktok Thoughts
31.5a – Public Sentiment About the Ban
As of a week ago, half of the people surveyed by Pew Research were behind the idea of ban, overall, and most (64% of) respondents were aware of the CCP connections for TikTok and ByteDance, most (60% of) GOP-aligned people were in favor of the ban, while only 43% of Dem-aligned respondents were favorable toward the idea. I feel like there is a huge influence operation underway about this issue, precious little real information on either side of the issue, and I am finding myself leaning toward supporting TikTok’s continued operation in the country, but not because I actually like the platform, which I don’t, I think it can be and often is used to manipulate people in certain ways which are counter to their well being. Rather because I get very, very uneasy when the two wings of the political bird of this country come together on anything, as 95% of the time, whatever that issue that got overwhelming bipartisan support winds up stripping us of freedoms and rights which should be guaranteed by the limits placed on the government by the documents upon which this country allegedly rests (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution).
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/tech/tiktok-ban-pew-survey/index.html

31.5b – Is TikTok the ONLY Popular Chinese App in the US and UK?
Simple answer: No.
What else is there? CapCut (a popular video editor often used to create videos for TikTok), Shein (a fashion app aimed at younger millennials and Gen Z), and Temu (an online shopping app which has quickly overtaken WalMart and Amazon for the younger set). If we are really concerned about China getting our data, then we need to be consistent and ban all of these other big China-related apps – these are just the 3 biggest, other than TikTok, though, out of thousands of others. Ooh, how many mobile games which are little more than shinier, more engaging methods of data harvesting are there that should be banned similarly, if we are to be concerned with TikTok purely due to its alleged CCP ties? Either it all needs to be shut down faster than a nerd asking a prom queen out, or our gov’t needs to shut its increasingly corrupt and inept trap about all of this.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65072407