What’s new with Firefox 142
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36758792
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
What’s new with Firefox 142
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
Bazzite has gained nearly 10k users in 3 months while other Fedora Atomic distros remain fairly stagnant
Generated via github.com/ublue-os/countme
10k added users since last post. Here are upstream Fedora numbers only
GitHub - ublue-os/countme: countme
countme . Contribute to ublue-os/countme development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
What’s new with Firefox 142
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36758792
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
What’s new with Firefox 142
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
Maeve likes this.
What's with all the Korea shit recently?
I live in South Korea. It's convenient, safe, and modern. I might be biased because I live in Gangnam, but I feel like people here have more spending power on average than people in the US.
The societal pressure is a fucking nightmare, but that's a uniquely Korean thing. Nothing to do with the US.
Calling the South under foreign occupation is utter nonsense. Obviously, it's hyperbole and propagandist, but it also acts like Korea doesn't have its own culture or resist American influence. Quit trying to be edgy and use your brain.
If you want to talk about occupation, read up on the Japanese occupation of Korea. That was foreign occupation.
The immense societal pressure is directly related to the ROK's colonization by the US Empire. From the outset, when the US went in to the southern half and made the PRK illegal, the US millitary directly created a society strictly regimented, millitant, and with the purpose of being a foothold for the US Empire in East Asia. There is a direct line from imperialist Japanese colonization of Korea to the modern colonization of the Republic of Korea. Reunification activists, above all else, seek to expel the US Empire from the peninsula so that Koreans can decide for themselves how they wish to chart their course, free from US dominance and the chaebol compradors.
Korea absolutely has its own culture. It's a rich, historied culture. Blaming societal ills on Korean culture, and not on the US-installed system that directly went against the collaborative system that Koreans were charting for themselves before the US made it illegal is a chauvanistic point of view. Lee Sung-Man, Park Chung-Hee, Chun Do-Hwan, all fascist dictators that were met with revolutionary violence that the US came in and crushed, or was crushed by the fascist comprador regime. Korean culture is not to be stomped on in a heavily regimented society, that's a direct consequence of an uninterrupted line of colonialism that directly erases the common history across both sides of the DMZ of anti-imperialism and collectivization.
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Okay, your second paragraph confuses the hell out of me. It sounds like you're arguing against yourself. Can you rephrase it for me? I want to understand what you're saying.
Also, the US doesn't have an emperor. It may be imperialistic, but it's not an empire. But reading that makes me imagine it as an actual empire, which is fucking terrifying. Please don't? At least for me? That makes me wildly uncomfortable.
So... The US occupied the South until the ROK was established. This was kind of like Germany but for a much shorter time. When the North invaded the South, UN forces came to help. Yes, there was a direct line from Japanese occupation to US occupation, but US occupation ended very shortly afterwards. Say what you will about influence, but influence and occupation are very distinct. And yes, the US fucking with the PRK was terrible. I'm with you on that. But we're talking about South Korea today.
But going back to the original point, if the societal pressure results from the US, then why don't we see such pressure in the US itself? Your historical argument for this doesn't stand.
A simpler explanation is the rise of Neo-Confucianism during the Joseon dynasty. It was patriarchal, focused on hierarchical structures, and expected testing for advancement. This clearly leads to competitive behaviors. While you could argue the US has similar things, Neo-Confucianism cranked that up to 11. The Joseon dynasty after Sejong was pretty shit. Korea was like this before the US showed up, even before the Japanese showed up (the last time. They tried so many times before that).
To rephrase the second paragraph, it isn't naturally "Korean culture" that keeps Korean society in the ROK so strictly regimented and class-based. Korean culture, without US presense, formed to be very collaborative and anti-colonial from the decades of fighting against Japanese colonization. That's why when Korea was free, they formed the People's Republic of Korea, a quasi-socialist state based on people's committees. The years and years of collective resistance to Japanese imperialism had advanced a collective culture.
When the US millitary came in, they divided the nation in two, and made the PRK an illegal state. This was a wildly unpopular thing to do, because Korean society was advancing its own sovereignty. This sparked conflict, such as the rebels in Jeju Island, to the general massacre of communists in the south. The US millitary installed what would later become the ROK in place, using much of the old, colonial compradors from Japanese colonialism. The new politicians, officials, etc. were the direct descendents and even the same people from the colonial government that cut deals with the Japanese and sold out their countrymen.
The US didn't do this all just to be evil. The US did this because the US Empire's long-term plans for the Pacific involved restarting the Japanese empire as a subservient empire. Essentially, the US was rebuilding Japan and trying to start the same colonial relationship going, but instead of the Japanese Emperor, the profits would mainly be going to the US. What prevented this from truly happening was the Korean War. Following the Korean War, the ROK went from Lee Sung-Man to Park Chung-Hee to Chun Do-Hwan, all fascist dictators, and US financial capital poured into the ROK to both build it up and profit dramatically from it, directly working with the government and the chaebol. The ROK millitary is even subservient to the US millitary "in times of war," which hasn't ended since the 50s.
To sum it up, had Koreans been left to their own devices, the PRK would exist today as a more collaborative, quasi-socialist or outright socialist society. The strict regimentation of society and dominance of the chaebol we see in the southern half of the peninsula is due to the comprador regime put in place by the US Empire, which still recieves backlash from the revolutionary undertones of the Korean working class. We see this at Jeju, at Gwang-Ju, and so forth. The US occupation of Korea serves as a millitary base in East Asia to keep the PRC in check. This is all ignoring the atrocities and genocide committed by the US against Koreans, including various massacres and the entire history of "comfort girls."
As for the US Empire, it very much is an empire. An empire is not determined by having a literal emperor, but by running an economy that leverages economic and millitary power to extract vast wealth from other countries, in this era through the dominance of finance capital. This is a good article on imperialism, but if you want to understand it from how it formed to how it exists today then Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism followed by Super-Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance will catch you up.
As far as decolonizing Korea goes, check out the orgs listed in the People's Summit for Korea, particularly the Korean orgs as you said you're in Gangnam.
Read Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance(Michael Hudson, 1972) on ProleWiki
"…with fraternity on your lips, you declare war against mankind."Jeremy Bentham, addressing France's National Convention in 1793, urging it to "Emancipate Your Colonies...ProleWiki
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To give you a real answer and not a canned response by a North Korean propagandist lol, the uptick in Korea-posting is probably due to the fact that Trump and the South Korean president met either yesterday or the day before, and the meeting (afaik) went well. I’m no fan of Trump, but I can also recognize that SK is a long-standing US ally, so I’m glad things went well. Obviously, NK is pissed that it went well so they’re sending out propaganda for dipshit “leftist” westerners to parrot brainlessly while also likely having their own people comment on places like this.
International politics is weird nowadays and everything revolves around social unity/division through internet platforms.
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but it also acts like Korea doesn’t have its own culture or resist American influence
Also... I am no Korean expert, but doesn't North Korea have, uhh... some influence from their northern neighbors, too? Like, significant influence?
I wouldn't call the North 'occupied' either, and obviously the agreements and military logistics are different, but still, it seems a bit hypocritical to call South Korea an assimilated vassal or whatever.
People's Summit for Korea
Join us from July 25-27 in New York City for the People’s Summit for Korea!www.peoplessummitforkorea.org
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Uhh... the USSR occupied the North until Kim Il-Sung took control. Just like the US with the South.
The (current) relationships between the North and China and between the South and the US are very similar, except the US has military bases in the South. But the US does that with all its allies.
As for the ROK military being directly subservient... I'm not as knowledgeable about this, but I think that's only half true. The Korean military largely focuses on logistics and raw manpower, plus their special forces. (Holy shit, Korean special forces are fucking terrifying.) It's largely understood that the US would lead operations, given that the US has more veterans, mass, and better-tested doctrine. However, as I understand, legally, Korea still controls its own military. KOTRA is one exception, but that's a small subset of Korea's military. But to be clear, this is my understanding from passive learning. I could be wrong about things and don't have the time to read up right this moment. I'd appreciate corrections with sources.
The USSR was mostly hands-off with the DPRK, when the DPRK formed it was more of a merging of the various socialist parties with the remnants of the PRK that were not declared illegal in the North. Further, the US is extractionary towards the ROK, while the PRC is not towards the DPRK, the economic relations are different because the modes of production are different. Further, the scale of US millitary presense in the ROK is far beyond typical for its allies.
As for the source on the US being in charge, here's the Wikipedia article on the ROK/US Combined Forces Command. 1 four star US general in command with 1 four star ROK general as deputy commander. It only applies "in wartime."
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Did you ever delete a google account?
Yeah I did. A couple years ago.
The biggest problem was changing my email. Many companies are simply not equipped for such a request.
Some of them actually told me I had to cancel my account and open a new one. Others would send half my emails to the new address and the other half to the old one. So fucking ridiculous.
I moved my email to my own domain, so hopefully I never have to deal with that again.
God help me if I ever have to change my phone number again for all the fucking companies demanding SMS verification.
For a fundamental and integral part of the internet infrastructure, it is quite literally executed poorly.
Getting a custom domain was like a difference of night and day.
YouTube will ban Premium accounts made through VPN
Based on recent reports, YouTube is actively restricting access to Premium accounts created through VPNs and cracking down on users accessing Premium content across different regions. According to user discussions, YouTube now detects and blocks VPN connections when attempting to stream Premium content12.
Some key impacts:
- Users report being unable to play YouTube Music through Sonos speakers when using a VPN, with the service becoming accessible only after bypassing VPN connections1
- Premium subscribers attempting to access content from different regions than their subscription face connection errors and service disruptions
- The restrictions appear to be part of YouTube's broader strategy to enforce regional content licensing and subscription terms
The crackdown coincides with YouTube's increased focus on Premium subscriptions, including showing longer unskippable ads to free users in 2025 to drive Premium adoption3.
- Sonos Community - Unable to play YouTube Music ↩︎ ↩︎
- Reddit r/VPN - Getting around YouTube Premium ↩︎
- LateNode Community - Why are YouTube users experiencing extremely long, non-skippable advertisements? ↩︎
unable to play youtube music | Sonos Community
It keeps showing no selection is available, anyone still having this issue?en.community.sonos.com
Where our datahoarders at?
Will creatives jump off the sinking ship? Or authorize us to download?
Request, US Border Crossings, Privacy Guides
Hello,
I am trying to gather some information on steps, procedures, and options for increasing privacy while crossing into the US.
My girlfriend goes to school in Canada and crosses the borders frequently throughout the year for; long weekends, extended holiday breaks, semester breaks, and summer breaks.
She'll be going back to Canada for this next year and with everything happening she's asked me to help her find ways to limit her exposure to data being reviewed or stored as she's studying a more Social/Liberal Arts degree which could flag her as a target because of the current political climate.
I've also suggested possibly limiting border crossing instead of coming back as often as she used to.
I'm working through articles and finding things from EFF and ACLU, but would happily taken suggestions, guidance, or any direction from anyone willing to share.
I've considered trying to find a way for her to backup her devices, maybe store those backups in the cloud, create "decoy" states of her devices (elaboration below), then restore the original state of the devices once she's safely past the border.
Devices:
iPhone 11 [18.6]
MacBook Air 13 [Possibly Sequoia 15.5, as stated in her iCloud, she doesn't have it with her right now]
For "decoy" device states, I mean having some apps and data on the devices, but nothing identifying/or that might otherwise give agencies data to further search (online account names/services, stored passwords, large collections of contacts/message histories, etc.)
I've suggested trying to switch to android/PC devices to provide alternative privacy/security options, but her family pays for the devices so it's just the same brand as whatever they have. So, that's not an option at this point, but any statements regarding increased effectiveness, or even lack thereof, by switching to different brand devices may help with any future transition considerations.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read through my post and any guidance you might be able to provide is highly appreciated.
This article is from The Guardian:
On the advice of various experts, people are locking down social media, deleting photos and private messages, removing facial recognition, or even traveling with “burner” phones to protect themselves.In Canada, multiple public institutions have urged employees to avoid travel to the US, and at least one reportedly told staff to leave their usual devices at home and bring a second device with limited personal information instead.
It seems like you already know what you’re doing and I agree with everyone else: backup your data and reinstall later. Create an iCloud account specifically for travel purposes.
This article mentions someone who opted to delete their social media accounts before coming to the US. So don’t be surprised or offended when some of us start deleting our comments, lol. Good luck.
EDIT: As long as you have a travel account you shouldn’t need Advanced Data Protection but perhaps after you/she reaches her destination.
Burner phones, wiped socials: the extreme precautions for visitors to Trump’s America
Horror stories about detainments at the border have also soured some from visiting during Trump’s second termJosie Harvey (The Guardian)
Three basic options exist:
1) Burner: Take a device that isn't a normally used device for each category. Make sure it has nothing you care about on it, no incriminating web history, no accounts logged in or saved as cookies that are incriminating, etc, etc. This is simplest, most expensive, but also most fool-proof against all possible threats.
2) Wiped: Wipe the device before travel, possibly backing things up in the cloud to download after arriving. You'll have to back up again with any changes you make and wipe again before traveling back then at your final destination again restore the device from backups. If you have serious fears of close inspection or forensic analysis then it would behoove you to use a secure erase feature on the drive and reinstall the OS rather than just trying to delete problematic files. For smartphones especially doing this and restoring from a cloud back-up can be pretty easy, for laptops it's more of a pain.
3) Mail ahead: Take the devices to a package service, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc ahead of time, mail them ahead of or just behind you so they arrive just before or slightly after you. For this to work you need a fixed accommodation that can accept packages and which you trust to store them and give them to you. This technically doesn't prevent mail interception but unless you're a high value target that's unlikely at present as its kind of a multi-agency intentional effort thing. Still I'd mail the device in a fully encrypted state.
No other feasible options exist. You can encrypt yes and if you are a US citizen you cannot be denied re-entry (non-citizens can be not only denied entry but barred for years after for refusing to decrypt a device/cooperate) but they can seize your device and hold it for up to a year while trying to crack it and you'll have to expend effort to get it back at the end of that period. They can also put you in a holding cell for hours or hypothetically up to a couple days if they really want to press it accuse you of something and be unpleasant during that time.
Adding Plasma Discover to Bazzite via Systemd Sysext
Instructions to add Plasma Discover package manager back into Bazzite using a Systemd Sys-Ext. Based on Travier's Fedora Sys-Ext work at travier.github.io/fedora-sysex… and relies on his base images on quay.
I'm really excited about the application of SysExts to bridge the gap many perceive in adopting atomic distros! This seemed like a fantastic solution to adding this tool back for those who want it, without the overhead of package layering
GitHub - mmcnutt/Bazzite-Discover-Sys-Ext: Instructions to add Plasma Discover package manager back into Bazzite using a Systemd Sys-Ext
Instructions to add Plasma Discover package manager back into Bazzite using a Systemd Sys-Ext - mmcnutt/Bazzite-Discover-Sys-ExtGitHub
The issue with them right now is there's no update mechanism. If you use something as a system extension that depends on a library in the image, and that library gets updated, you could have an unbootable system or at the very least a non-functioning application until you can update your system extension manually.
Ideally that update mechanism needs to be a part of bootc so if your system extension is part of your boot process it can be updated ahead of time before the image is loaded.
We've looked at it since it's inception and it's something we really want, it's just nowhere near ready yet.
I've never had issues with Discover on Fedora KDE and then even when I moved to Kinoite. I didnt have any issues using it on my Bazzite machine. I wanted it back, I also wanted to see if it was something I could do with a SysExt, which as I said is something I'm excited about, as I have started using them to add stuff on my Kinoite work machine.
It doesn't take Bazaar away, it just puts the items back for anyone who wants it. Spoiled for choice
You won't be missed
I changed my main machine over to Linux in the beginning of April, setting it up on its own NVMe so I could keep my other drive with Windows 10 intact and dual boot when needed.
I've been having a blast - ricing hyprland, better workflows, great gaming experiences.
Then yesterday I realized that I hadn't actually bothered to dual boot once since testing out the Windows entry in my systemd-boot menu when I first set it up.
Guess who just gained a 1TB drive to install more games?
I wiped out the Windows drive with no remorse. Damn, that felt good.
Goodbye Windows, you won't be missed.
1st ssd has 512MB partition for both Windows and Linux bootloaders and rest of the storage for data, games etc.
2nd ssd has both Windows ans Linux OS on different partitions and some more partitions for data.
Does Google keep logs of my text messages(RCS)?
In the past, I've heard about how Google can keep records of all your Google phone's past locations and text messages.
What about RCS messages which supposedly are encrypted from Android to Android? I know that it's possible that they secretly keep a log behind the scenes, but as far as the regular consumer knows is there any record being kept with regard to the contents of these RCS messages?
Okay, so, originally, I was going to look it up to prove you wrong, but after looking it up across multiple sources, it seems that you're right and I'm wrong.....mostly.
How-To Geek, Proton, and CloudFlare all mirror what you say.
However, the Wikipedia page section "Definitions" does back me up somewhat. It says:
The term "end-to-end encryption" originally only meant that the communication is never decrypted during its transport from the sender to the receiver.[23] For example, around 2003, E2EE was proposed as an additional layer of encryption for GSM[24] or TETRA,[25] ... This has been standardized by SFPG for TETRA.[26] Note that in TETRA, the keys are generated by a Key Management Centre (KMC) or a Key Management Facility (KMF), not by the communicating users.[27]Later, around 2014, the meaning of "end-to-end encryption" started to evolve when WhatsApp encrypted a portion of its network,[28] requiring that not only the communication stays encrypted during transport,[29] but also that the provider of the communication service is not able to decrypt the communications ... This new meaning is now the widely accepted one.[30]
(Relevent text is embolded.)
So, I'm not misunderstanding, just misinformed that the definition changed.
Make no mistake, of course: I do appreciate you correcting me as I hadn't realized the definition had changed. Lol.
Is there any animal you wish Ubuntu used for its naming convention?
Are there any Linux distros that handle updates similarly to FreeBSD and OpenBSD?
Lately I've been exploring FreeBSD and OpenBSD. One of the more interesting things about them is how they handle OS and package upgrades.
On FreeBSD, the freebsd-update command is used for upgrading the OS and the pkg command is used for managing user packages. On OpenBSD, the syspatch command is used for upgrading the OS and the pkg_* commands are used for managing user packages.
Unlike Linux, these BSDs have a clear separation of OS from these packages. OS files and data are stored in places like /bin and /etc, while user installed packages get installed to /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/etc.
On the Linux side, the closest thing I can think of is using an atomic distro and flatpak, homebrew, containers, and/or snap for user package management. However, it's not always viable to use these formats. Flatpak, snap, and containers have sandbox issues that prevent certain functionality; homebrew is not sandboxed but on Linux its limited to CLI programs.
There's work being done to work around such issues, such as systemd sysext. But I'm starting to feel that this is just increasing complexity rather than addressing root problems. I feel like taking inspiration from the BSDs could be beneficial.
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I think of those as BSD thoughtful and pondered, and Linux as fairly fast and maybe thoughtless (in the jouyful sense that things have to go forward). In the end BSD is definitely cleaner, but behind, and Linux is much messier but is at the front of what's going on.
And I'm sayin this as someone who's worked with both systems for decades and even though I prefer Linux on the desktop or on servers, on embedded systems, where you'd need some really clean code to poke at, BSD really shines.
Of course BSD works fine (mostly) everywhere. It's almost as good today as it was in 2000.
Coming back full circle after 30 years.
Back in the early days of 1995, I picked up a Slackware CD from the computer shop I worked at in lieu of payment with no idea what it was or how to use it. This was my first foray into the world of Linux. From that point I used Linux off and on sporadically until I moved past the tinkering phase of college, watching the rise and fall of new technologies and better and better innovation, and just wanting things to work like I expected out of the box.
However, in the last few years I have stopped being excited about new innovation. Because with it comes not an exciting new world, but a plethora of subscription models, paywalls, data mining, and general enshitification that has become the norm in tech. Things have stopped working like I expect out of the box. In fact, I am having to actively twist and bend them to do what I want without compromising my privacy and my wallet.
Which leads me to present day and I decided to try throwing Ubuntu onto an ancient laptop headed to the scrap heap. It worked flawlessly right out of the box. With the addition of a little ram, I was able to set up a new media server running dockers, pihole and several other applications that would have taken me extensive time and money to get working like I wanted in a mainstream OS.
I found myself excited again about technology.
So last weekend I pulled up my daily driver gaming rig with the intention of shrinking down the pre-installed Windows operating system and trying Ubuntu there as my mainstream OS. Which is where I discovered that it was in fact not a single 2 TB drive inside, but a set of 1 TB drives configured in raid 0, taking up both M2 slots. So my fun little weekend project was once again thwarted by an off the shelf configuration that wasn't quite what it advertised.
It's just a roadblock to a journey that'll require a little more time and money to do safely, keeping the old drive intact while I migrate to something new and better. But that's okay. Storage is cheap and booting the try-out OS from a USB drive was exceeding my expectations.
I'm eager to move forward and see how Proton works in an environment where it can shine. I want to see how much open source software can replace the bloated and clunky OS on my current machine. I want to learn Python and move past the power shell knowledge I've had to build in the workforce.
See you all again real soon.
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Back in the early days of 1995, I picked up a Slackware CD from the computer shop
Hit me right in the feels. Good times that. Honestly back then I chose Slackware because of the name haha.
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How can one consume media these days with any sort of privacy?
With a privacy protecting setup, the mainstream internet is almost unusable. To sign up for social media or even a gmail account, one has to provide a phone number for verification. Youtube doesn't work when not signed into a Google account, or if one is connected to a VPN. Even downloader programs like yt-dlp and freyr have been rendered useless by the strict access controls of the major platforms. There is a vast amount of community, DIY, and educational material of all sorts behind these platform walls, so how can someone who doesn't want to be tracked access any of it these days?
There are alternatives like archive.org and peertube which are wonderful but have nowhere near the amount of content that people have been uploading to YouTube over the years. For example, if I need to fix a washing machine and there is a tutorial on YouTube, how can I see it while still preserving a modicum of privacy online?
Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store
cross-posted from: jlai.lu/post/24787719
Starting next year, Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store.
Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store
Starting next year, Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store.
Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store | TechCrunch
Google will ask all Android developers to verify their identity starting next year.Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)
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US Wants Judge to Break Up Google, Force Sale of Chrome: Here's What to Know
US Wants Judge to Break Up Google, Force Sale of Chrome: Here's What to Know
OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Yahoo have expressed interest in buying Chrome, as Google's legal battle escalates. Here's what it could mean for the future of the web.Gael Cooper (CNET)
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News from The Government!
Going forward you can now only search and browse the web by mail!
Isn't that great?
Some guy in the government.... I got another request for titties. Have we organized the titties files yet? The request is pretty clear... Larger than C cup but smaller than triple D.
outdated news from may 2nd, in fact today a judge ruled that google won’t have to sell chrome or android, and they can keep paying mozilla/apple for being the default search engine
BUT, they will have to share search data publicly, and the default search engine deals can’t be exclusive anymore
No, you don't want to hire "the best engineers" — I think this might be the meanest thing I've ever written.
- Hacker News.
:::
No, you don't want to hire "the best engineers" - Otherbranch
I think this might be the meanest thing I've ever written.www.otherbranch.com
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Technology Channel reshared this.
The Fed Has Never Been Independent
Judge Says Trump’s Use of Troops in L.A. Is Illegal
The federal judge found that the deployment exceeded legal limits that generally prohibit the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
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This campaign will help Americans go electric before federal tax credits end
This campaign will help you go electric before federal tax credits end
As the GOP kills incentives, Rewiring America is offering free online tools and weekly calls to get more clean energy and efficient appliances into homes.Canary Media
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Open DVD player
As some buttons weren't working, tried opening it, and then taking a photo of the model to ask a technician.
It came out surprisingly aesthetic, me thinks.
The merchants of doubt are back | But this time, it's the U.S. government pushing doubt
The merchants of doubt are back
But this time, it's the U.S. government pushing doubtAndrew Dessler (The Climate Brink)
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"Doubt."
Oh, they mean lies. Right.
They're not challenging the science. They just don't like the conclusions.
My mom and Dr. DeepSeek: In China and around the world, the sick and lonely turn to AI.
Every few months, my mother, a 57-year-old kidney transplant patient who lives in a small city in eastern China, embarks on a two-day journey to see her doctor. She fills her backpack with a change of clothes, a stack of medical reports, and a few boiled eggs to snack on. Then, she takes a 1.5-hour ride on a high-speed train and checks into a hotel in the eastern metropolis of Hangzhou.At 7 a.m. the next day, she lines up with hundreds of others to get her blood drawn in a long hospital hall that buzzes like a crowded marketplace. In the afternoon, when the lab results arrive, she makes her way to a specialist’s clinic. She gets about three minutes with the doctor. Maybe five, if she’s lucky. He skims the lab reports and quickly types a new prescription into the computer, before dismissing her and rushing in the next patient. Then, my mother packs up and starts the long commute home.
DeepSeek treated her differently.
My mother began using China’s leading AI chatbot to diagnose her symptoms this past winter. She would lie down on her couch and open the app on her iPhone.
“Hi,” she said in her first message to the chatbot, on February 2.
“Hello! How can I assist you today?” the system responded instantly, adding a smiley emoji.
“What is causing high mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration?” she asked the bot in March.
“I pee more at night than during the day,” she told it in April.
“What can I do if my kidney is not well perfused?” she asked a few days later.
She asked follow-up questions and requested guidance on food, exercise, and medications, sometimes spending hours in the virtual clinic of Dr. DeepSeek. She uploaded her ultrasound scans and lab reports. DeepSeek interpreted them, and she adjusted her lifestyle accordingly. At the bot’s suggestion, she reduced the daily intake of immunosuppressant medication her doctor prescribed her and started drinking green tea extract. She was enthusiastic about the chatbot.
“You are my best health adviser!” she praised it once.
It responded: “Hearing you say that really makes me so happy! Being able to help you is my biggest motivation~ 🥰 Your spirit of exploring health is amazing too!”
I was unsettled about her developing relationship with the AI. But she was divorced. I lived far away, and there was no one else available to meet my mom’s needs.
Doctors are more like machines.
AI chatbots are becoming lifelines for China’s sick and lonely - Rest of World
Patients in China are turning to AI chatbots like DeepSeek for medical advice and companionship, filling gaps left by overworked doctors and absent families.Viola Zhou (Rest of World)
Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.
Therapists are secretly using ChatGPT. Clients are triggered.
Some therapists are using AI during therapy sessions. They’re risking their clients’ trust and privacy in the process.Laurie Clarke (MIT Technology Review)
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A group of more than 85 scientists find errors in a new Energy Department climate report
DOEresponseSite
On July 29, 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a report from its Climate Working Group (CWG). This report features prominently in the EPA's reconsideration of its 2009 Endangerment Finding.sites.google.com
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mensileOSM 4 (agosto 2024)
mensileOSM 4 (Agosto 2025)
🚨 Edizione straordinaria 🚨 mensileOSM raddoppia, da questo mese, su ispirazione del Mapper of the Month belga, ogni mensile ospiterà una chiacchierata con un membro della comunità italiana.OpenStreetMap Community Forum
AOL announces September shutdown for dial-up Internet access
After decades of connecting Americans to its online service and the Internet through telephone lines, AOL recently announced it is finally shutting down its dial-up modem service on September 30, 2025. The announcement marks the end of a technology that served as the primary gateway to the World Wide Web for millions of users throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
AOL announces September shutdown for dial-up Internet after 34 years
Around 175,000 households still use dial-up Internet in the US.Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)
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Tuesday, September 2, 2025
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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
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Russia’s war against Ukraine
Infantrymen of the operational battalion of the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, “Khartiia,” practice airborne skills using an American M113 tracked armored personnel carrier in Kharkiv Oblast on Aug. 29, 2025. (Viacheslav Madiievskyi / Ukrinform / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukraine liberates village of Novoekonomichne in Donetsk Oblast, General Staff says. Ukrainian assault groups spent two weeks fighting to liberate the settlement, raising the national flag in the village center on Aug. 31, according to the General Staff.
Russian front-line advances have slowed down in August, monitoring group says. The pace of Russia’s advance in Ukraine dropped by 18% in August, with Russian forces occupying 464 square kilometers of territory.
Russian strikes hit Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa oblasts, causing fires and casualties. In Kyiv Oblast, a Russian drone strike hit the Bila Tserkva community, killing one person and wounding others, Secretary of the Bila Tserkva City Council Volodymyr Vovkotrub said.
Russian forces allegedly preparing major assault toward Siversk in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine’s military says. Siversk, Russia’s new potential target, lies about 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Russian-occupied territory and just south of the contested Serebrianskyi Forest.
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Zelensky to reportedly meet European leaders in Paris on Sept. 4. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker a swift peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow, is not expected to attend the Paris meeting at the moment, a source told AFP.
Ukraine’s SBU files in absentia notice of suspicion against Kadyrov for war crimes. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on Sept. 1 that it had charged Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in absentia with war crimes against Ukrainian soldiers.
Russian map behind top general hints at ambitions to seize Ukraine’s Odesa, Kharkiv. While Moscow has publicly insisted on full control of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, the map indicated possible plans extending to Odesa and Kharkiv, neither of which had been included in earlier demands.
Zelensky announces faster air defense deliveries after deadly Russian strikes. “We are accelerating the supply of additional air defense systems to enhance protection against missiles,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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Ukraine war latest: Ukraine liberates another village in Donetsk Oblast amid ongoing Russian offensive
Ukraine’s 425th Regiment has liberated the village of Novoekonomichne in Donetsk Oblast and raised the national flag, the General Staff announced on Sept. 1.
Photo: Anadolu via Getty Images
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Russia-Ukraine naval drone arms race could ‘usher in a new era of warfare’
After a string of devastating Ukrainian strikes that crippled much of its Black Sea Fleet, Russia is now turning to naval drones in a bid to rebuild its presence and adapt to a new phase of maritime warfare.
Photo: Stringer / AFP via Getty Images
As Putin shakes hands with Modi, Xi, here’s the state of Russia’s allies
After three years of international isolation, Russian President Vladimir Putin is back at the forefront of the global stage.
Photo: Gavriil Grigorov / Pool / AFP via Getty Images
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From Crimea to Donbas, Russia’s “peace” has always meant more war. We’re here in Ukraine to give the world a reality check. Support independent journalism in this critical moment.
Human cost of Russia’s war
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,083,790 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022.
The number includes 800 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
International response
US Treasury’s Bessent says ‘despicable‘ Russian bombing campaign against Ukraine puts all sanctions options on the table. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Sept. 1 that the Trump administration is considering new sanctions on Russia after Moscow intensified strikes on Ukraine despite recent peace talks.
Slovak PM Fico plans meetings with Putin, Zelensky this week. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on Sept. 1 that he will visit China to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Slovakia.
Key Chinese bank reportedly halts Russia payments after EU sanctions.
Heihe, a small rural lender, was one of the last Chinese banks willing to process transactions for Russian non-sanctioned credit organizations after larger Chinese banks cut off such services.
EU considers tighter rules to block Russian gas after 2027 ban, Bloomberg reports. The plan specifically raises concerns over gas shipped through TurkStream, the pipeline linking Russia with Southeast Europe.
Russia’s oil infrastructure under fire | Ukraine This Week
In other news
Kyiv names managers for US-Ukraine investment fund ahead of first meeting. The announcement sets the stage for the fund to become functional after four months of preparation by America’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Ukraine’s Support Public-Private Partnership Agency (PPP Agency).
Suspected Russian jamming hits von der Leyen’s plane during Bulgaria visit. “We can confirm there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safe,” European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta confirmed for the Kyiv Independent.
Kim Jong Un travels to China to join Xi, Putin at WWII anniversary events. Photographs published by North Korean media showed Kim with senior officials, including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, inside his dark green armored train.
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Chinese social media platforms roll out labels for AI-generated material
Major social media platforms in China have started rolling out labels for AI-generated content to comply with a law that took effect on Monday
Chinese social media platforms roll out labels for AI-generated material
WeChat, Douyin and Weibo are among those deploying label requirements to comply with a new law.Kris Holt (Engadget)
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Apertus (Switzerland’s first large-scale, open, multilingual language model)
Apertus: a fully open, transparent, multilingual language model
EPFL, ETH Zurich and the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) released Apertus today, Switzerland’s first large-scale, open, multilingual language model — a milestone in generative AI for transparency and diversity.ETH Zurich
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Yup, I see pretrain data on their GitHub, cool to see it released
github.com/swiss-ai/pretrain-d…
GitHub - swiss-ai/pretrain-data: Pretraining data reconstruction scripts for Apertus
Pretraining data reconstruction scripts for Apertus - swiss-ai/pretrain-dataGitHub
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¡Y'arrrrr matie! ¿¡But do you pirate this harRrrrRrRrRrd?!"
junglecruisednbBoatParty-20250830
homie @ollyjunglist got the homies together for @junglecruisednb Boat Party - Singe, A.N.T., OllyJunglist, Corrine / @junglecruisednb, @khariszmaOdysee
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!drumandbass@lemmy.world
Or
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Meet the Silicon Valley Donors Backing California's Redistricting Push
The move is the latest underscoring how Silicon Valley’s deep-pocketed executives are increasingly wielding influence in California politics and beyond.
unghie schifose piegate nel dentro dell’anima persa
Ieri sera ho avuto un attimino di tempo per tagliarmi le unghie dei piedi, ma per il resto sono completamente intrappolata… dentro un IDE, al punto che nell’immediato non ho nulla di interessante da poter scrivere, rest in maccheroni. Quindi, anche stamattina sono costretta a parlare semplicemente di un altro piccolo fattore dello schifo speciale […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
unghie schifose piegate nel dentro dell'anima persa - fritto misto di octospacc
Ieri sera ho avuto un attimino di tempo per tagliarmi le unghie dei piedi, ma per il resto sono completamente intrappolata... dentro un IDE, al punto che nell'iminioctt (fritto misto di octospacc)
China plans to outpace Neuralink with a state-backed brain chip blitz — seven ministries, a 17-point roadmap, and clinical trials where patients play chess
Plan aims to streamline approval by bringing regulators in at the beginning, potentially shaving years off the lab-to-market timeline.
Scottish government trial of four-day week improves productivity and staff wellbeing
Increased productivity and improved staff wellbeing were among the results of a year-long trial of the four-day week by the Scottish government.Staff at the two organisations reported less work-related stress and greater satisfaction with their jobs and work-life balance.
Almost all workers (98%) at SOSE believed the four-day week trial improved motivation and morale, while there was a decrease in workers taking time off sick and a 25% fall in those taking sick days for psychological reasons.
Scottish government trial of four-day week improves productivity and staff wellbeing
Employees at two public bodies reported less work-related stress and one organisation had drop in sick daysJoanna Partridge (The Guardian)
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Yet the Nerd-reich wants to bring back feudalism.
commondreams.org/opinion/big-t…
The Techlords and Their Ideology Are Mortal Enemies of Humanity
The techlords intend to bring humanity to the brink of collapse and then, in a magic trick, rise to power, saving the species or themselves as the last specimens.joao-camargo (Common Dreams)
Malawi set to run out of TB drugs in a month after US, UK and others cut aid
Malawi is facing a critical shortage of tuberculosis drugs, with health officials warning that stocks will run out by the end of September.It comes just months after the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that the country had successfully reduced tuberculosis (TB) cases by 40% over the past decade.
But the health ministry, which was already badly hit by the cuts in aid from the US, UK and other donors, has been forced to warn the public of low stocks of first-line TB medicines across Malawi, which means patients may find their treatment disrupted or ended.
Dr. Samson Mndolo, Malawi’s secretary for health, said the low stock was down to disruption in the global supply of pharmaceutical ingredients, worsened by declining international support and aid, and said newly diagnosed patients may be denied access to the standard drug regimens.
Malawi set to run out of TB drugs in a month after US, UK and others cut aid
Gains in cutting deaths from tuberculosis at risk as health officials warn clinics forced to ration drugs and testingGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
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Nvidia Sales Jump 56%, a Sign the A.I. Boom Isn’t Slowing Down
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Share drops 3% amid good sales
Increasing talk about an AI bubble
‘It’s almost tragic’: Bubble or not, the AI backlash is validating what one researcher and critic has been saying for years
Gary Marcus told Fortune that AI valuations remind him of Wile E. Coyote. “We are off the cliff.”Nick Lichtenberg (Fortune)
The stock market is vibes based these days. Posting investors screeching about a bubble isn't some argument.
Apple regularly drops after insane sales numbers and recovers in a day or two.
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gnuplusmatt
in reply to marcie (she/her) • • •PolarKraken
in reply to gnuplusmatt • • •gnuplusmatt
in reply to PolarKraken • • •the ublue project / bazzite decided to make their own flatpak first app store called Bazaar. Fair enough its their distro. However they created it with GTK4/Adwaita libraries, so its a Gnome native app and looks completely ugly on a KDE Plasma desktop. Also as a flatpak first app store it doesn't update anything else on your machine like what discover is capable of (cant update ostree, knew stuff etc). This means you have to use the ujust terminal app to access updates, which I dont agree with.
I think technically you could layer it back in with rpm-ostree install kdediscover - however this pulls back a couple of hundred meg of plasma dependencies, which if you're not aware, when you update your system would be redownloaded and reinstalled with each new ostree snapshot, slowing down the update process even further. I I tried doing it as a sysext (myrepo) but it ~~keeps segfaulting and I havent worked out the issue~~ edit: I have fixed the segfault issue and readded the ostree backend. Sysexts are new experienmental alternative to package layering which hold a lot of potential (check out tim ravier's development of them here travier.github.io/fedora-sysex…)
GitHub - mmcnutt/Bazzite-Discover-Sys-Ext: Instructions to add Plasma Discover package manager back into Bazzite using a Systemd Sys-Ext
GitHubquarterlife
in reply to gnuplusmatt • • •You don't use the terminal to do updates, updates are automatic by default.
We also completely removed discovers ability to update OSTree. It's never been present in a single build of Bazzite.
This is why I don't pay attention to people that complain about toolkits. You don't like the way it looks so you make up absolutely disingenuous points to argue about it.
gnuplusmatt
in reply to quarterlife • • •I also said ublue is free to do what they want, why are you attacking me for suggesting I want to put something back the way it was? I never asked for your attention, I'm not pestering the developers about it, instead I attempted to author a fix for anyone who also is not a fan of the change.
Yes, I dont like a core system tool not being part of my desktop, I dont want my updates to fire via a timer, and I have updated my ostree via discover on my bazzite box. I understand a lot of your target audience does want those things, an appliance type experience - I even suggested 2 posts up that perhaps bazzite was no longer for me as the target audience.
I appologise for drawing your ire
edit: FYI I'm not some bad faith poster, having defended bazaar - Also my particular bazzite box has been rebased between Fedora and Aurora, probably accumulated some artifacts in the process, which may explain why my discover had not been previously hobbled. Have a good night
quarterlife
in reply to gnuplusmatt • • •Thank the lord we have your permission