Israel Slaughters Dozens in Attack on Popular Gaza Cafe as Trump Claims a Ceasefire Deal is Moving Forward
GAZA CITY—The Israeli military bombarded Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday with airstrikes and artillery, killing at least 80 since dawn.
In northern Gaza, at least four schools that shelter hundreds of families were bombed, in addition to homes and other civilian areas. In Deir al-Balah, the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital complex was also struck.
One of the worst attacks came when Israeli warplanes bombed al-Baqa, a seafront cafe, reportedly killing more than 30. Perched on the water and popular for its internet access, the cafe was frequented by families as well as journalists. Among those killed was Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Ismail Abu Hatab. Another journalist, Bayan Abu Sultan, was injured.
Maher Banat was an eyewitness who arrived on the scene soon after the strike. “I was nearby, and I heard the bombing. We thought maybe they hit a tent or something else. We were shocked to find a calamity, a massacre,” he told Drop Site. “This place, Baqa cafe, is known for entertainment only, it’s on the sea. People come and sit and talk….someone wants to come and relax. It’s not a place for any military operations or the resistance, as you can see. This was a criminal act.”
The outdoor cafe became a scene of carnage: all broken concrete and shredded wood, bodies strewn on the ground, plastic chairs torn apart, and blood soaked on the floor. A large crater in the ground in the cafe showed the missile impact. At al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, fresh corpses in body bags were lined up outside.
Israel Slaughters Dozens in Attack on Popular Gaza Cafe as Trump Claims a Ceasefire Deal is Moving Forward
Israel is intensifying its mass-killing operations in Gaza as Netanyahu plans White House visit. Hamas says no real progress on a dealAbdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)
Israel bombs Gaza aid sites, cafe and school, killing 95 Palestinians
Israel bombs Gaza aid sites, cafe and school, killing 95 Palestinians
Victims include at least 39 people who were killed in an Israeli strike on a seaside cafe in Gaza City.Al Jazeera
This Week in KDE Apps
This Week in KDE Apps
Welcome to a new issue of "This Week in KDE Apps"! Every week (or so) we cover as much as possible of what's happening in the world of KDE apps. As you might have noticed, the frequency of "This Week in KDE Apps" has not been very consistent lately.This Week in KDE Apps
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Google Gemini is about to control your messages and calls, even if you say no
Google Gemini is about to control your messages and calls, even if you say no
Google’s AI assistant is about to get full access to your calls, texts, and WhatsApp — even if you’ve disabled activity tracking.Luke James (Laptop Mag)
Interestingly, the same mentioned article from Android Police sells it as a "privacy win". I've tried to read it as a positive spin, and I seriously don't understand what these guys have been smoking.
androidpolice.com/upcoming-gem…
Upcoming Gemini for Android change lets you use more apps with fewer privacy concerns
Gemini Apps Activity is no longer requiredRajesh Pandey (Android Police)
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I completely agree, I guess what they call "privacy win" is that this feature can now work without storing data on Google (highlighted by me):
Based on Google's email, it seems the company will allow Gemini to access messages, WhatsApp, and control device system settings without requiring that you enable the Gemini Apps Activity setting for your account. This setting saves your Gemini history to your Google account, potentially allowing for better personalization.Previously, if you had this setting disabled for your Google account, you weren't able to use the Messages, Phone, Utilities, or WhatsApp extensions in Gemini (via 9to5Google). Once this change rolls out to your account, you will be able to access these features without having to save your Gemini history on Google's servers.
When they say
potentially allowing for better personalization
they sound like the companies trying to sell you these features without mentioning the privacy implications of said features. :/
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If you don't want this stuff on your phone, lemme point you to:
GrapheneOS (Pixels only, has Most Security at Tinfoil Hat level while also providing compatibility for Google Play (optional, sandboxed) and SafetyNet)
CalyxOS (Pixels, Some Moto G 5G, Fairphone 5, 4, SHIFTphone 8, less Security than GrapheneOS but has Security)
LineageOS (Many older devices, runs unlocked boot so least Security but still can run sans google)
GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS
GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.GrapheneOS
If we are on an old pixel (eg pixel 4) is it more or less secure to switch to graphene? Neither Google nor graphene are doing updates for that model anymore
I've thought of getting an 8 to put graphene on but the recent news from the project about Google making it harder on them has me pausing since I don't fully understand what is affected.
I don't want Gemeni anywhere near my messages and phone content.
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...How about a 3?
Edit: Nevermind, just checked. I swear this is still a great phone.
I was considering a switch but due to recent policy changes at Google, I'm now concerned about long-term (or even short-term) support for GrapheneOS and other custom ROMs:
grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/…
Google has released a statement claiming AOSP is not being discontinued. This should be taken with a grain of salt, especially considering that they made similar public statements recently followed by discontinuing significant parts of AOSP on June 10.x.com/seangchau/status/1933029…
Depends. Do you want the possibility of an AI model being able to fork over some private details in your convos? The potential for someone that doesn't like what you believe in to subpoena google for this data?
As for bricking, it won't, and the whole process is on the website, using a chrome-based browser and usb cable (it detects which pixel you have and does all the hard stuff) but you do have to back up your stuff as it will erase when it gets graphened.
There's a lineagoOS fork that comes prepackages with microG as well, helping to keep google services style stuff working (maps links etc) without using any actual google services. It's my daily driver, would recommend!
YMMV - some stuff still flat out doesn't work if it's too reliant on google services. Graphene is definitely better in that regard, if you have a pixel.
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Honestly I think that AlternativeOS will always be possible, the main issue is how compatible it will be with everyday apps that people rely on. We've started to see some compatibility issue with Play Integrity on GrapheneOS, with Revolut (has been fixed) and Alternate AppStore such as AuroraStore having some apps refusing to launch if not installed from PlayStore itself.
On the Linux side of thing you could see how your plugins performs on a VM and or see how Ardour plays with your hardware.
GrapheneOS attestation compatibility guide
Guide on using remote attestation in a way that's compatible with GrapheneOS.GrapheneOS
Yes.
Revolut prevented new users to login in a specific version of their app (the newer). Users that were already logged in could update the app without issue and users could use an older APK of Revolut to sign in. However the PlayIntegrity process that was banning their GrapheneOS users have been resolved and now the harden OS is whitelisted from Revolut.
At least that's what I have followed/understood from the whole thing but I am not a Revolut user.
RE: Audio stuff
I switched to bitwig long before I switched to Linux. Having familiarity with a DAW that ran natively was awesome; I also had a lot of plugins that ran as windows only VSTs. Yabridge + Wine was the answer.
You do have to downgrade wine to an older version (but this also helps you learn some Linux stuff) and works fairly well. I can even run omnisphere through yabridge (I do have a wild desktop tho so maybe not. the best point of comparison).
Mint is the first distro I used and most everything was really easy for getting audio stuff up and running quickly. I'm now using Garuda which I mostly like; there are issues that I'm still trying to work out.
GitHub - robbert-vdh/yabridge: A modern and transparent way to use Windows VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugins on Linux
A modern and transparent way to use Windows VST2, VST3 and CLAP plugins on Linux - robbert-vdh/yabridgeGitHub
hacking windows has just becoming getting rid of nuisances instead of customizing my computing experience
I can totally relate to this! Perfectly sentenced.
If you'd be interested in a tracker-like DAW, Renoise has a native Linux version.
For more traditional DAWS, Bitwig and Reaper are the two best Linux native options. Reaper is quite cheap, and also offers a trial version that just nags you like winrar.
I mean I like Garuda, but I would say it has taken a bit more to set up. I think if you're running AMD you'll be fine, it just depends on how much tinkering you want to do. Honestly the biggest reason I switched was that I had moved to Debian and games were not working too well for me - gaming has been much smoother but my desktop environment is a bit glitchy and buggy (likely due to my nvidia / Intel stuff)
Bitwig has better support on debian-ish distros, which mint kinda is (at least it is able to download and run .deb files).
Bitwig has been my favorite DAW since I began using it more in 2019, and as my only DAW fully but EoY '19; I enjoy all the flexibility I have with modules and the like.
I am unfamiliar with the Black Lion audio interface from what I'm reading it looks like they have class compliant interfaces so it should work with pipewire.
Ubuntu studio with the audio suite may be a good way to go too.
Depends on the total use case tho. I'm a newbie too in Linux but am happy to answer what I can
GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.GrapheneOS
Also they have paranoid-level security model and beside a few company like Google, Apple and maybe Samsung few devices would meet their requierments... And you know, Samsung introduced Knox to prevent their users to flash other firmware or mod their hardware and the other one, Apple, is the company that killed the FOSS Cydia Store...
grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/…
Many companies and individuals are trying to mislead people about the future of GrapheneOS to promote their insecure products and services. GrapheneOS is not going anywhere. We've made it clear we're shipping Android 16 soon and that the supported devices will remain supported.
GrapheneOS will continue supporting the current devices we support until their end-of-life dates. We'll also add support for new Pixels as long as they meet our requirements. We've tried to make that clear, but recent posts about changes to AOSP have been widely misrepresented.
Prior to Android 16, Pixels had first class support in the Android Open Source Project as the official reference devices. This was never one of our requirements and no other device provides it.
From my understanding yes but maybe not in this thread
i believe assistant only became gemini this year (or with the latest android update)
previously you could install and uninstall gemini as you wish.
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I went outside my comfort zone and installed Lineage on my old Pixel, only to find out I couldn't get wi-fi calling, so I reverted to my Google OS. Oh no. Any options other than Lineage or a new phone? This 6 year old phone works great except for the lack of updates, and except for the upcoming Gemini updates 🙁 I'm struggling.
Edit: Ubuntu Touch, anybody?
Edit 2: Looks like VoLTE isn't supported on Ubuntu, either. Any idea why?
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That's what I expected, but had hoped there would be additional legacy support. Google previously only supported Pixels for 3 years, right? They may be more competitive with Apple now, but that's still only 6-7 years. In that case, if I buy an old Pixel on ebay it's not likely to have much of a run left.
My issues with Lineage are related, although they obviously try to give legacy support (perhaps without the ability to make full security updates), but we still run into functionality issues like my lack of wi-fi calling. I don't think that is so much about the age of the phone as it is due to tech/frequency updates that are non-compatible with some older devices, and proprietary opaqueness in the Google code. I wish Lineage would at least list this issue on their wiki, phone by phone, as that would make it easier for me to decide on my next step.
I hear a tiny dev team made some VoLTE progress in the Linux world, but I am way over my head in trying to understand exactly what's going on. I think they've got an Ubuntu Touch device working with VoLTE for the first time? Does it work in the US? Does it have Wi-fi calling? I have many questions but need to keep reading. (I know VoLTE is different from VoWiFi, but I see them used interchangeably at times.)
I don't believe they support the 3a. I'm really vintage.
Any idea how long support will last for the 8? I feel a little burned by the lack of support for the 3a, though I understand that a) 6 years for a phone is a good run in this wasteful world, and b) wifi calling on the 3a hasn't been dropped by choice, but is actually a complicated issue that small #s of devs are still working on.
Any idea how long support will last for the 8?
Google Pixel 8 October 2030 7 years
grapheneos.org/faq#device-life…
GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.GrapheneOS
Gemini now has a second set of toggles buried in its settings menu. You can go to Profile → Apps inside the Gemini app and manually disable access to Phone, Messages, WhatsApp, or Utilities. But these are turned on by default, even if you’ve disabled tracking in the past.
So I just went to the app in my neighbor's phone, and it asked me to switch. I said no, and it won't let me do anything else. So will this need to be done next week?
Only for Google Pixel phones. The install process is right there. You just need a chromium-based browser (chrome, edge, vivaldi, opera, brave, etc.), an Unlocked Pixel, and the usb cable.
Also, back up your stuff. Flash Unlocking your phone to install a different OS erases everything on it (for security reasons).
GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS
GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.GrapheneOS
What kind of backwater hospital/healthcare company uses chromebook
I was at a specialist's office and noticed they were using Windows XP. This was 3 years ago.
Alright, is there some super-populated center for enthusiast nerds who make Androids less 1984 and shit? Like, the fdroid sub or something? I’m still on the ol’ Tim Cooker but when this thing croaks I’m switching teams. I don’t need Google getting sloppy seconds, though.
I mean, feels like everyone has a phone these days. Surely some niche sect of Internet nerds has a cutting edge solution for this shit.
Is it just GrapheneOS with FDroid apps? What about Google Play Store apps, can I use those without getting fucked? Can I retain nearly every stock feature on an Android without selling my soul to Google? Which Android phone should I buy if I want things to run smoothly with the modifications I need to make? (Are those new touch flip-phones on the menu? Are they more durable now? I fantasize about DS emulation, and slapping my phone together to hang up on people. I just remember hearing all about the highly scratch-able screens and hinge problems.)
GrapheneOS puts Play Services in a sandbox so it's no longer rooted. You can restrict what parts of your filesystem each app has access to very strictly.
For now people still send me emails on Gmail, so I still have Gmail installed, but very limited permissions.
It's a huge improvement.
You can also start sessions that entirely shut down Play Services so you're living entirely with FOSS products.
I'm not quite there yet because I still use maps and drive and photos. Gonna figure out replacements, unfortunately nobody else has the traffic and live rerouting that Google maps does, even if you are willing to pay.
If you've got a pixel, highly recommend.
If you have a different relatively recent phone check out lineage or e/os.
Random aside, I switched from Android to iOS a year ago. I miss Android already.
The UI is more convoluted an clunky than iOS from years ago, just as uncustomizable, and performs shockly bad on heavy webpages on a brand new 16+. It's got no freaking RAM, no sd card slot. Some free FOSS apps are nonexistant or paid only.
Security and OOTB privacy is better and app support is generally better, but that's about it? I'd probably keep an iPhone around to bank on when I eventually switch...
Weird, I have the opposite experience. After an S3 Mini and a Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro, my gf let me try her iPhone 8 for a bit and I was amazed by how smooth it was running. I've bought a 11 Pro in early 2020 and have been using it ever since. Still works like on the day I've bought it, no slowdowns, smooth as hell. I did do a battery swap after the fourth year though.
I wouldn't mind trying a Pixel with GrapheneOS though. But all Pixels are so large compared to the iPhone Pro lineup.
My last Android phone was a Razer Phone 2, SD845 circa 2018. Basically stock Android 9.
And it was smooth as butter. It had a 120hz screen while my iPhone 16 is stuck at 60, and I can feel it. And it flew through some heavy web apps I use while the iPhone chugs and jumps around, even though the new SoC should objectively blow away even modern Android devices.
It wasn't always this way; iOS used to be (subjectively) so much faster that it's not even funny, at least back when I had an iPhone 6S(?). Maybe there was an inflection point? Or maybe it's only the case with "close to stock" Android stuff that isn't loaded with bloat.
Pro is 120hz.
But they are expensive as heck. I only got the 16 Plus because its a carrier loss leader, heh.
And wouldn't fix some of my other quibbles with iOS's inflexibility. My ancient jailbroken iPhone 4 was more customizable than now, and Apple is still slowly, poorly implementing features I had a decade ago. It's mind boggling, and jailbreaking isn't a good option anymore.
When they say WhatsApp I gotta think that would be the same for any third party conversation app right? I would never use whatsapp, and I would hope any security minded person wouldnt either. But I do rely on an opensource sms launcher and signal. I would assume the framework would make it mess with those too.
This sucks. Horribly sucks. I can't stand apple products, they cant do anything. I know that even having google play on my android device means I am fucked anyways, but this is a new low from google.
Feels weird to buy a google pixel, only to be able to expect it is the best way to not have google on it. (grapheneos or similar).
It doesn't seem that way. After reading through the article a couple of times, it looks like the "no" they are referring to is regarding data recording of one's actual use of the assistant. And since I don't use the assistant and have completely disabled it, the shouldn't be any data to record.
Though I do have to admit that I may be completely off base in my interpretation.
But to be honest I kind of like the idea of an AI assistant that keeps track of my schedule, knows about my friends and what I am doing.
Of cause I would not use gemini and am happy that i dont have to care about it with e/OS.
But something that helps me keep track of things and can help me with stuff seems interesting. I'm interested to hear reviews of it
I hear you, it's the same reason why I still have google maps in my e/OS phone, to see my history and give me more restaurants I can try.
But the compromise in my case and what everyone in this thread also knows is that the data you share will not only be yours.
I think no one here is against a powerful AI assistant that will help is with personal stuff and keeping track of everything, but having to share all your life with someone else is a huge fuck no. They would know way more than even your life partner.
If there was something mostly offline that we could use I think we'd be all up for it.
Personally only used graphene OS but I heard the others are similar.
Curious about performance of nouveau on old laptops with discrete graphics
Got myself a Dell Latitude ~~E4310~~ E6410 and Thinkpad T510 for free, both with discrete Nvidia graphics soldered to the mainboard. I've installed Linux on them and just went with the nouveau driver since the proprietary Nvidia driver for such old cards is no longer in the Debian 12 repo. Not going to do anything cutting edge on them, but it does leave me wondering:
- I read that I could, with some effort, install the proprietary driver manually. Am I missing out on anything at all without them, or is nouveau mature enough and the graphics old enough that I wouldn't notice?
- Is nouveau with old discrete graphics better or worse than having just Intel's integrated graphics?
- Does power consumption vary significantly between nouveau and proprietary drivers?
EDIT
Answering myself after going down a rabbit hole with the T510:
- The dGPU is the NVS 3100M, which does have some level of hardware acceleration support under nouveau, so at least it isn't draining power for zero benefit. However, the dGPU is unable to go past its lowest power state without manually manipulating
/sys/kernel/debug/dri/0/pstate(I did not try to) and I suspect that this is what kneecaps 3D performance. There should be a marked difference, but I won't be doing any serious work on these machines, so I'm leaving everything as-is. - This situation is worse than having just integrated graphics due to the inherent power consumption of the GPU core while unable to benefit from higher power states and other optimizations.
- Power consumption is probably less, but for much worse performance. At least it is a much better fallback than leaving at maximum.
- A later variant has the BIOS option to disable the dGPU, mine is an early variant with no options
1) No, you can't install the drivers manually if they aren't supported. Nvidia does rolling driver releases removing aged out hardware, and the drivers do not support new versions with older hardware. Same with Windows.
2) Nouveau is the only option you have as far as hardware acceleration goes, but if these are laptops, you'd be better off just using the Intel graphics, because that's what's available, and they are very power efficient.
3) Power consumption is immediately bad once you engage the Nvidia hardware. Disable it in the BIOS. You won't have better performance in any meaningful way, just horrible battery life, especially since these are devices so old the modern drivers won't support the hardware.
Are you sure? I know the successor the T420 supports disabling the graphics. I dont think my 410 ever had it though. It's under display settings in the bios. Not sure about dell though, they might not have had it.
download.lenovo.com/bsco/index…
Lenovo's bios simulator sadly only goes as old as the T530. But it's config > display > graphics device.
Unfortunately, I'm only given a choice between Boot Display Devices under that menu.
edit: Apparently, there is a menu for it if the T510 is a later model with Optimus support. Early dGPU variants like mine are forced to use the discrete graphics, even if the BIOS is hacked to reveal the menu.
Perhaps just uninstalling Nouveau and falling back to the Intel driver, if it's already installed, is sufficient? Or if that doesn't work, worst case OP could blacklist Nouveau and and update initramfs? I'm just guessing as long as the Nvidia driver is never actually active perhaps that's enough to avoid excess power consumption.
OTOH there isn't much harm in OP keeping Nouveau enabled and seeing how things go though I'm in agreement with you, on an older laptop there's not much advantage to be gained with the older Nvidia hardware.
voidlinux still has the 390 drivers available. I'm sure others do too:
[-] nvidia390-390.157_6 NVIDIA drivers (GeForce 400, 500 series) - Libraries and Utilities
[-] nvidia390-dkms-390.157_6 NVIDIA drivers (GeForce 400, 500 series) - DKMS kernel module
[-] nvidia390-gtklibs-390.157_6 NVIDIA drivers (GeForce 400, 500 series) - GTK+ libraries
[-] nvidia390-libs-390.157_6 NVIDIA drivers (GeForce 400, 500 series) - common libraries
[-] nvidia390-opencl-390.157_6 NVIDIA drivers (GeForce 400, 500 series) - OpenCL implementation
For Arch.
Check here for your card: nouveau.freedesktop.org/CodeNa…
Check here for which driver to install: wiki.archlinux.org/title/NVIDI…
In my experience, nouveau is painfully slow and crashes constantly to the point of being virtually unusable for anything. The developers agree, as in the last couple months nouveau has been phased out of Mesa entirely. More recent Mesa versions now implement OpenGL on Nvidia using Zink on NVK, and the result is quite a bit faster and FAR more stable.
If your distribution currently still ships a Mesa version which uses nouveau, I would personally recommend you just stick with the Intel graphics for now.
One thing to keep in mind about older versions of the nvidia proprietary drivers is that they will only work with specific kernel versions (and specific X versions—not sure about Wayland). Once the driver series your card needs stops being updated, you can't update your kernel without patching the driver. Assuming you have the skills to patch the driver, or someone who does makes their patches public.
I went through this song-and-dance with a very old laptop that had a card of the NV40 generation as its only GPU (no integrated graphics). Eventually I did install nouveau on it, and used it for several years without any issues.
nouveau.freedesktop.org/Featur…
nouveau.freedesktop.org/PowerM…
So you can see almost other things has been done but the power management especially Automatic Reclocking still unfinished. So the feature set and stability should be fine and the performance will be bad.
Anyone have experience with Zen Privacy app? (not the browser)
Zen
Zen is a simple, free and efficient desktop application that helps you browse the internet and use your apps without annoying ads, trackers, or hidden threats.zenprivacy.net
TLDR; risks far outweigh the benefits. See bottom of response for recommendations.
Should you use it?
It works by setting up a proxy that intercepts HTTP requests from all applicationsDuring the first run, Zen will prompt you to install a root certificate
Zen will be able to decrypt and analyze your entire traffic. And then it'll encrypt what it allows before letting it leave/enter the device. This means even if you trust Zen, that one certificate is the only thing standing between your traffic staying encrypted. It gets compromised, you're compromised.
Do not trust an app with your entire traffic, ever. Even if its not malicious there are going to be bugs, vulnerabilities, leaks, etc.
Moreover, something being open source does not mean its audited by people who know what they're doing - neither for hidden malicious code or mistakes. I did not see any formal audits being mentioned in the readme.
grapheneos.org/faq#ad-blocking…
What can you use instead?
You should instead use ublock in the browser and system wide DNS blocking on your device. You can use an adblocking public DNS server (e.g. Mullvad) or setup pihole locally. You do not have to self host pihole, you can just set it up on your computer and use on that device only which would be the same thing as using Zen on that device.
Note that using a public, blocking DNS will block less domains because they have to make sure it does not break anything for anyone but it will make you less fingerprintable. OTOH, using a custom blocklist you can get the most out of blocking but you're probably the only person blocking that specific subset of domains which will make you more fingerprintable. Take your poison.
What about content filtering on desktop/mobile apps DNS blocking cannot solve
DNS blocking merely stops the application from accessing certain domains. It won't be able to block malicious content served from the same domain as the content you actually need (e.g. YouTube serves both ads and videos from the same domain so you can't block their ads without blocking the video itself).
You should not install applications you don't trust on your device and use them on the browser as much as you can or use and alternative FOSS frontend (e.g. Reddit, Discord, YouTube etc.)
But some applications might be circumventing system DNS
Yes, there's nothing stopping an application from doing its own DNS resolution or using hardcoded static IPs. You should not run applications trying to be actively malicious in this way. Neither Zen, nor anything else will be able to protect you from untrusted code doing suspicious things on your machine.
GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about GrapheneOS.GrapheneOS
Anyway it's always good to use this and similar apps on the PC, in Mobile maybe InVizible Pro (F-Droid version please).
Safing Portmaster - Easy Privacy
Portmaster is a free and open-source application that puts you back in charge over all your computer's network connections. Increase your privacy and security. Get peace of mind.safing.io
I would still download a car if I could. 🚗
Instance setting for extra email text
Some instances like lemmy.zip and lemmy.world send custom registration emails which include info like support email address and appeals pathways. It would be reasonable to specify these directly in...Nutomic (GitHub)
Ajax homeless population sees ‘significant’ increase of 23% over one year
Ajax homeless population sees ‘significant’ increase of 23% over one year
Region of Durham staff say homelessness is increasing across the country.Durham Region
UN Report Exposes Torture of Russian POWs in Ukraine
UN Report Exposes Torture of Russian POWs in Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers have executed at least 26 Russian military personnel, either taken prisoner or wounded on the battlefield since February 2022, according to a report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).Sputnik International
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They know the torture is happening, they think it's reprisal, not that bad, perhaps even good
"Bet you can't prove it" is frequently said by people who appear to 180⁰ on the issue instantly, it's gaslighting behavior
They downvoted reports on Ukrainian conscripts being tortured by their superiors, as well as Ukrainian teachers being dumped into a pit by Zhorin. All on their own telegrams. They know
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The article does not specify which publication it refers to, but this is the only recently published report
ohchr.org/en/publications/annu…
During the year, a central priority of the HRMMU’s work was monitoring and reporting on the treatment of POWs. This led to conclusions that the Russian authorities inflicted torture in a widespread and systematic manner against almost all Ukrainian POWs and that many Russian POWs were subjected to torture or ill-treatment in the initial stages of their captivity. Findings and tailored recommendations fed into advocacy documents for high-level meetings with Member States, in June. In Ukraine, the HRMMU’s advocacy supported the launch of a criminal investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) regarding the use of torture at a transit facility for Russian POWs. The HRMMU is unaware if its reporting resulted in similar investigations in the Russian Federation. Its monitoring and advocacy also resulted in Ukrainian authorities improving the treatment and internment
conditions of Russian POWs
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Ukrainian soldiers have executed at least 26 Russian military personnel, either taken prisoner or wounded on the battlefield since February 2022, according to a report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
‘We View What Is Happening With Sputnik’s Staff in Baku as Injustice’ – Dmitry Kiselev
‘We View What Is Happening With Sputnik’s Staff in Baku as Injustice’ – Dmitry Kiselev
Dmitry Kiselev, general director of the Sputnik News Agency's parent organization Rossiya Segodnya commented on the events in Azerbaijan.Sputnik International
Make Lugansk Russian Again: Moscow delivers on key objective of Ukraine conflict
Make Lugansk Russian Again: Moscow delivers on key objective of Ukraine conflict
From the uprising of 2014 to the total liberation of 2025, Lugansk’s return to Russia traces a long arc of defiance, war, and statehoodRT
Best YouTube Frontend for iOS
It would be nice if it also had features like SponsorBlock.
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Hm, I wonder why that is...
Can't be at all to do with the fact that Android has a much more open development and installation platform than a famously locked down device. Most FOSS developers use Android, and write app's for devices like those ones that they own. The better question is, why not just use Android and use something like LibreTube? In terms of cost, Android devices are much cheaper, and in terms of capability, they're more capable.
Can't be at all to do with the fact that Android has a much more open development and installation platform
Less to do with the "development platform" and more to do with the fact that you literally can't install them on iOS devices because Apple would never approve them, and you need their blessing to get it installed.
In terms of cost, Android devices are much cheaper
Used to be. Not so much anymore. At least not the high end ones. Google reached price parity with Apple in the last generation.
I’ll get a Google Pixel with Graphene when my phone dies or gets lost.
ONE OF US, ONE OF US
I'm not sure how effective that no tracking thing is
Not sure what you mean but you can disable tracking in any YT account. It's in the settings.
I'd say use the website through Safari. Install AdGuard, SponsorBlock, and Vinegar, and it should be smooth sailing. Return YouTube Dislike is available as a UserScript.
Brave and DuckDuckGo also provide nice experiences with YouTube, but thry sadly do not have SponsorBlock or Return YouTube Dislike.
If you really need an app, though, give uYouPlus a try.
Invidious does not have recommendations aswell.
Well, I don't need recommendations for a start. I can see the appeal, but my subscription feed is good enough for me.
Also, YouTube is incredibly heavy in comparison, and I personally believe it's better to avoid tracking in the first place than to jump through hoops to cripple or block it, so Invidious and yt-dlp are the obvious solutions for me.
With one exception, all of my machines have 8GB or less, and I use a Firefox-based browser on desktop (Goigle deliberately slows down their services on non-Chrome browsers). Also, YouTube does have server-side tracking, and I need to be able to manage my subscriptions. I could use RSS, but I already have a reader installed for news and I don't want it getting cluttered.
uBlock and Mullvad is a great combo, and I am known to use the main site if both Invidious and yt-dlp aren't working; but the fact remains that Invidious is the inherently more private option.
I just watch YouTube signed out in Safari. It is very easy to build your algorithm from there. I don't mind the ads since I don't watch YouTube mainly on my phone and I occasionally clear cookies.
You can also install Orion Browser, made by Kagi creators of a privacy focused paid search engine, which supports Firefox extensions like uBLock but I don't think it is open source right now but It will be soon.
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Vinegar - Tube Cleaner
Vinegar is a Safari extension that replaces the YouTube player with a minimal HTML video tag. It removes ads, restores picture-in-picture, and keeps videos playing in the background.App Store
Andi - AI Search for the Next Generation
Andi is AI search for the next generation. Instead of just links, Andi gives you answers - like chatting with a smart friend.andisearch.com
Orion Browser on iOS/iPadOS is compatible with (some, not all) Firefox/Chrome addons. Add SponsorBlock for YouTube, uBlock Origin and Video Background Play Fix from addons.mozilla.org and use the YouTube website as is?
Used to run my own Invidious instance I used with Yattee but it got banned and then for some reason ate shit and died completely.
add-ons on Orion
It's great to know that they are working better now, last time I tried almost none was functionnal and it was quite a pain to install / uninstall / switch source (Firefox / Chrome version) in the hopes of it finally working. I’ll have a look, since then I’ve been using Brave + piHole and it was more or less decent.
The future is now
LibRedirect - Privacy-friendly Redirector
A web extension that redirects YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. requests to alternative privacy-friendly frontendslibredirect.github.io
Please make an effort to avoid X.
If you're looking for someone's or an organization's feed, look for alternatives such as:
* Look for that person's Mastodon account,
* Look for a blog or website. It may have a RSS feed, if not try fetchrss.com/generator/generat…
* Look for a bluesky account, and get its RSS feed with a tool like fetchrss.com/generator/generat…
Invalid - FetchRSS
FetchRSS.com is an online RSS feed generator. Create RSS for any website. Select blocks you want to convert to RSS. Get RSS generated by your rules.fetchrss.com
Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine (2012)
A quattro anni dal loro ultimo disco "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings", i Counting Crows ritornano con un nuovo lavoro e questa volta è un disco di cover, spiazzando ancora una volta i loro fan. Ad Adam Duritz & co. infatti, una cosa su cui non si discute è la libertà di "scelta", in poche parole fanno quello che gli pare senza filtri e costrizioni di sorta... Leggi e ascolta...
Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine (2012)
A quattro anni dal loro ultimo disco “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings”, i Counting Crows ritornano con un nuovo lavoro e questa volta è un disco di cover, spiazzando ancora una volta i loro fan. Ad Adam Duritz & co. infatti, una cosa su cui non si discute è la libertà di “scelta”, in poche parole fanno quello che gli pare senza filtri e costrizioni di sorta. Questa loro “scelta” gli permette di spaziare non solo con dischi variegati; dal vivo, in studio, di cover ma soprattutto con i tempi da loro scelti in base alle loro esigenze e non quelli dettati dalle Majors di turno. Dimostrazione è la scelta dei quindici brani che non appartengono ad un repertorio di canzoni famose o di facile ascolto ma scelte tra quelle che più piacevano a loro. Come risponde Duritz in una intervista: “Io sono un grande credente di una semplice regola, che qui non ci sono regole”. Insomma un gruppo “indipendente” nelle scelte e nelle esecuzioni della serie “prendere o lasciare”... artesuono.blogspot.com/2014/08…
Ascolta: album.link/i/1169968863
Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit
Counting Crows - Underwater Sunshine (2012)
di Silvano Bottaro (or What We Did On Our Summer Vacation) A quattro anni dal loro ultimo disco "Saturday Nights and Sunday Mo...Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)
Me too!
I used Gentoo almost exlusively from like 2003 to maybe 2012 or 2013. I switched to Arch about then. But quite recently I made the switch back to Gentoo on my primary box and I'm happy I did.
Only thing I still need to do to really make it long-term sustainable for my particular use is to set up a build server on my network. My "primary box" is in the room where I sleep and I need it dark and quiet when I'm sleeping. Can't have MOBO color-shifting LEDs and fan sounds overnight. And I can't compile something like Chromium in less than the 15-to-16-ish hours I'm awake in a given day. (And I'd prefer to compile it myself rather than using a binary package.) Hence the need for a build server.
Interested in why you went back to Gentoo after Arch.
I use Arch (btw) and tried Gentoo back in the day, but it's always in the back of my mind that compiling source could be "better"...?
and more about having a lot of choice and really nice tooling.
it's in some ways a bunch more stable and declarative than arch.
packaging your own stuff is even easier and you can just have most packages be stable while only running unstable version of the packages you explicitly care about 😀
So, I've been using Arch Linux ARM on Raspberry Pis for some "desktop systems" as well as for a janky-ass NAS solution, but that project is kindof dying. They go many months in a row sometimes without any package updates. It's wild. And when people ask WTF is going on and ~~offer~~ beg to be allowed to help in some way, the admins lock the thread.
So, I've been looking to switch my Raspberry Pi's to something that doesn't depend so much on some "project" out there to be able to continue to use.
The main Gentoo project fully supports ARM. And even if it didn't, it'd be a lot easier to use Gentoo without support than Arch.
Switching my main box (not a Raspberry Pi -- it's an x86_64 system) to Gentoo was basically for the purpose of trying out Gentoo again and evaluating whether I want to take the plunge and switch everything to Gentoo.
Aside from that, there's SystemD which is yucky. (Yes, I know about Artix, but when last I tried it, it didn't really feel "ready for prime time". It depends a lot on the main Arch repos.)
Plus, I do kindof like the idea of "more control over my system(s)". Configuring/compiling my own kernel (yes, you can do that on Arch, it's much less "in the spirit of" Arch) to make it as minimal as possible and disable everything I don't need. And of course USE flags are a plus if you want a light system.
Anyway, those are my main reasons.
Ah, Ok, yeah Arch on ARM is struggling at the moment
I have / had some Ras Pis on it, but they wrapped up .. Pi0? a while back, so had to look at Raspbian (or whatever it's called now)... I'd not considered Gentoo for them... hmmm
Maybe I'll check that out
Thanks
The “fun” aspect was what drew me to BeOS when it was near its heyday. What that thing would do in comparison to Winbloze at the time and the user experience in general was astonishingly more pleasant.
I remember their simple web server called Diner I had a website hosted on an older machine running Diner in my lab and it was just always on and when my office got DSL I felt like a king having that site up and accessible from anywhere, knowing it was on a box in my office and running Diner on BeOS.
I tried to make this logo from scratch in Blender for a wallpaper and kinda couldn't get the shape right because the angle of the actual logo is a bit weird.
Good to know that I can use this official model.
That would make a huge difference.
I ran Gentoo back in the early aughts; it was hella better than Redhat, but it felt like I was constantly compiling stuff, and new installs and upgrades could sometimes take more than a day. I don't remember what I jumped to after Gentoo, but I've never considered it again because of the lack of prehbuilt binaries. It seemed bitcoinish to have thousands of people wasting CPU cycles compiling the same package when it could be compiled once and redistributed.
Where Gentoo is nice is in the build flags: there's really no way to get around compiling yourself if you want to exclude optional dependencies, and Gentoo had that in spades. I am just not sure how much that's actually used anymore, but having binaries gives you the best of both worlds.
Thanks for posting that; I may have to re-investigate Gentoo.
it's also waaay better documented.
it's comfy.
but having binaries
For big packages like browsers and office suites, not all packages.
Still a win if you're so inclined. I prefer to compile 100%.
new installs and upgrades could sometimes take more than a day
Laughs in Windows...
The most popular Linux distros are binary based. Gentoo upgrades build all new software from source. If you don't want long install times, don't usr one of these compile-everything-from-source distros.
There's no option to install Windows from source, and it doesn't really come with anything more than the OS, anyway, so it's apples yto oranges. Windows might not even be compilable on consumer hardware.
Still extremely customizable, and peerless rolling release features.
You can mix and match stable and bleeding edge packages very easily and switch at any time.
When packages make breaking changes, Gentoo will warn you and guide you through the migration before you update and only if you have the affected package installed.
Why is the rust compiler so terrible?
Trump leaves Maria Bartiromo speechless after suggesting US is hacking China
Trump leaves Maria Bartiromo speechless after suggesting US is hacking China: ‘You don’t think we do that?’
‘That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world,’ president says during sit-down interviewGustaf Kilander (The Independent)
Oxfam: UK government complicit in war crimes in Israel
Oxfam’s UK chief executive, Dr Halima Begum, expressed disappointment at a British court ruling which refused to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, which it’s using in its war on Gaza, on Monday. Oxfam submitted evidence in the case.
“The judgment is surprising and deeply disappointing,” Begum said.
“The Court and the Government have both acknowledged that UK arms are at risk of being used in breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza yet prioritise the supply chains of fighter jets over the lives of Palestinians,” she added.
“It is unconscionable that the Government would continue to license the sale of components for F35 jets knowing that they are used to deliberately attack civilians in Gaza and destroy their means of survival, including vital water supplies.
Syrian forces massacred 1,500 Alawites. The chain of command led to Damascus.
A Reuters investigation found 40 distinct sites of killings, looting and arson during three days of sectarian massacres following an Assad loyalist insurgency. The chain of command led from the attackers directly to men serving alongside Syria’s new leaders in Damascus. The killings now threaten Syria's fragile transition.
Among the units Reuters found to be involved were the government's General Security Service, its main law-enforcement body back in the days when HTS ran Idlib and now part of the Interior Ministry; and ex-HTS units like the elite Unit 400 fighting force and the Othman Brigade.
As the massacres of Alawites unfolded, the Defense Ministry spokesman Abdel-Ghani said publicly the operation on the coast was proceeding as planned with the goal of keeping control of the region and “tightening the noose on the remaining elements of officers and remnants of the fallen regime,” according to the state-run news agency SANA.
Behind the scenes, Abdel-Ghani was running the Telegram chat of militia leaders and military commanders that coordinated the government response to the pro-Assad uprising, according to a dozen text and audio messages in an exchange between him and a senior commander from another faction.
Two people confirmed the Telegram handle was Abdel-Ghani’s and that Abu Ahd is his nom de guerre. Reuters contacted him directly on Telegram at the handle. He told Reuters he has been questioned by the committee investigating the killings but declined to comment further.
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Oxfam: UK government complicit in war crimes in Israel
Oxfam’s UK chief executive, Dr Halima Begum, expressed disappointment at a British court ruling which refused to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, which it’s using in its war on Gaza, on Monday. Oxfam submitted evidence in the case.
“The judgment is surprising and deeply disappointing,” Begum said.
“The Court and the Government have both acknowledged that UK arms are at risk of being used in breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza yet prioritise the supply chains of fighter jets over the lives of Palestinians,” she added.
“It is unconscionable that the Government would continue to license the sale of components for F35 jets knowing that they are used to deliberately attack civilians in Gaza and destroy their means of survival, including vital water supplies.
Palantir's Shadow War On Iran
Palantir's Shadow War On Iran
All my investigations are free to read, thanks to the enormous generosity of my readers.Kit Klarenberg (Global Delinquents)
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Wafrn: a tumblr clone that federates with fedi and now also has opt in native bluesky
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Under Israeli Strikes, Hezbollah Leader Refuses Call To Lay Down Arms
Under Israeli Strikes, Hezbollah Leader Refuses Call To Lay Down Arms
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem stressed on June 28 that the group would not lay down its arms while Israel continued...Anonymous1199 (South Front)
Challenges meeting new people without an Instagram account
I’ve been trying to meet new friends and new people to hang out with so have been going to a lot of social events.
I noticed that everyone seems to ask for my instagram account and when I say I don’t have one that connection kind of dies, and it feels too personal to ask for someone number when I just met them.
I don’t want to create an instagram because of the privacy invasions of meta but I also don’t want to feel left out when trying to make new connections. Anyone have any advice?
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Privacy is subjective. Use it but dont use it for things you don't want Facebook to know about. Don't use it on your phone. Don't use it on a computer with things you care about. Keep it in a container tab in your browser but don't keep it open all the time.
It's kind of a pain but you can definitely be mindful and only give meta crumbs where others are giving them truckloads of data.
Sadly there is a lot of good content on Instagram
Don't use it on your phone
There's also the option of using Private Space (Android 15+) or its multiple clones in manufacturer OSes. It effectively creates a new user profile which can be deactivated at will. The new user profile also has no access to any data from the main profile that can't already be controlled by permissions, like the app list. It has its own instance of Play Services, so AFAIK it shouldn't be linkable to the main profile. It's the best middle-ground I've found this far if the app needs to be installed in one way or the other.
An IG account isn't a phone number or email, and I think it's weird that young people treat it like it is.
Just say you don't do social media, and if they can't respect that, it's a quick test as to if they're your people or not.
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Or come across as a weirdo, conspiracy theory, antisocial, tech obsessive nerd.
I mean, it's not inaccurate, but not maybe how to present initially when you meet someone.
That is a good point, when I say I don’t have any social media more than half the time people respect it, almost like I’m saying I’m X years sober from alcohol.
But I still feel like I’m tempted to make an account to avoid this additional social friction. Maybe I won’t use it for anything except getting people’s contact info in these situations. I’m not sure I’m a bit torn.
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Maybe I won’t use it for anything except getting people’s contact info in these situations.
This is exactly what I did. I posted like three pics of my dog, and put it on private and never really use it except for that purpose.
I have never used any social media before or had an account on anything else, but something changed and people started treating instagram like a phone number, which is weird to me but 
Don't feel like you must do this, but just wanted to say you're not the only person to do no social media, but felt the need to open an instagram
quick test as to if they’re your people or not
Absolutely... it's like when during job interview the recruiter ask if you code on the weekend. Some people treat that like the absolute worst question ever. Yes, in most cases I would argue it's to probe if you can be abused by working over time for free... but maybe you are into that or rather you do have found a way to make it work, e.g. NOT work during some weekdays. The point is that the question itself is a way to discover BOTH ways, for them AND for you. It is perfectly fine to stop right there and then if any of you is now aware that it's a show stopper because of whatever difference. The entire purpose of dating or interviews is to engage in a more involving relationship ONLY if it's worth it for both. It's a discovery phase, not a "let's close the sale" phase.
I mean again my initial reaction would be that indeed ... BUT it depends. If they genuinely offer say 3x rate, it's on demand from MY side (not the client), double vacations, etc then maybe. Again it has to be something that's actually interesting.
Sadly this is not even .001% the case, usually companies consider the weekend an extension of the week and such cases, they can absolutely go get fucked.
when during job interview the recruiter ask if you code on the weekend
I think it's more to see if you're actually passionate about what you do and you don't "just" do it for work, which definitely is a bit of a twisted view, when on average you'll already be spending 40 hours a week doing that, but I think people tend to make this sort of evaluation, because people who love programming so much to also do it on their free time will usually be better, since they simply have more experience than those who only do what they're assigned to do
If it's such an obstacle for social life, I'd just give in and make an account. Given the alternative is "exchanging phone numbers" (with the intent to text or call, presumably) I'd say Instagram is no worse privacy-wise - both offer absolutely no privacy protection. If a phone number is required to register (I don't know if it is), I'd get a bootleg sim specifically for it. I would treat all communications on any proprietary platform (even 1-on-1) as though they are happening in public (Twitter-style). Avoid using apps if at all possible as they have more access to your device. If that's not possible, at least do not give those apps any permissions, however hard they are trying to eek them out of you. Do not use it for anything but chatting with your acquaintances - merely looking at your feed, even without any explicit interactions like opening a post, gives Meta a lot of data about you.
If the connection moves on from "acquaintance" to "friendship", perhaps try pushing them towards a better platform - I recommend Matrix as it is federated (unlike Signal), and has pretty nice clients/UX nowadays (unlike Tox and XMPP), and is e2e-encrypted (unlike almost everything else).
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Back when Craigslist had personals ads I answered one saying that I had 10 laptop computers and no facebook account, and I actually got a couple of dates that way. Not everyone wants corporate media.
I've been chatting (non romantically) with someone I met on another forum, who is about the same way. No facebook or reddit or anything, not even Lemmy, just a few niche forums.
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This is, IMO, the biggest problem with FB and IG. They've replaced personal connections. I know some women who say they won't date anyone without an IG account.
and it feels too personal to ask for someone number when I just met them
Someone's number is literally just a series of digits. Social Media has their fuckin' life's story. I'd say it's far less personal.
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I think it's mainly two things:
- people fear reverse phone numbers look up tools more then the equivalent tools for social media.
- It's viewed as less replaceable then just blocking somone on social media
I don't really agree with either of these but it is what seems to be common.
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Get a new phone number and never sign it up on anything. It is very easy to replace a phone number. If you have had a phone number for multiple years and signed it up multiple times and still using it, it is time to change it now.
Blocking somebody on social media doesn't really mean anything, they still have your account, can still see your posts, comments, and even liked videos if they use another account. You would have to delete your account if some random person has your personal Instagram that you don't want anybody knowing, even if it is private.
They both have there downsides though.
yeah i feel you. I'm in a band, so instagram is basically a necessity for promotion and communication. getting the word out about shows, other bands will message me for gigs etc
just try to use it a little as possible, and try to lock it down as much as possible in the os. you can do alot in the android app settings.
basically treat it as you would having a conversation near a security camera.
The band TOOL literally never did any interviews before (or after) the internet.
Worked well for them.
Anyone have any advice?
Yes: recognize what you’re trying to accomplish and change your actions.
Privacy requires shutting people out of your life. Meeting new people requires letting people into your life.
If people expect that the first “gate” into your life is your social media then meet that expectation. Have a social media presence. Post shit that you want people to see on it.
If you’re afraid of letting the companies that operate social media see your life, examine why. It may be that you’re perfectly fine with the trade off of a limited hang out in exchange for looking normal. Most people are.
It doesn’t have to be instagram. You could have a snapchat or a tiktok or whatever.
I disagree. You are normal if you have social media and not if you don't?
Dunno man, if people need IG to interact with you and you are not comfortable with it, maybe they are not your people, you know?
Why should one go into uncomfortable territory for others, people should interact from positions of comfort, otherwise its a stretch for one side and just a bad time all round.
One thing is for sure @ElectricWaterfall@lemmy.zip , you will have a harder time, make less connections, but I'm pretty sure the ones you will make, will be solid.
One word of advice as a fellow non-socialmedia-person. If you want to meet new people, make sure you are in the same place at a certain time on certain days. That way people know where you might be during certain hours and that is also a way to make connections. Just be sure you like said place.
Social media is literally normal.
It has gone through a process called normalization in order to become an expected part of social interaction. The op even said that people expect them to have a particular type of account and they feel like not having one excludes them from having more friends.
Yes, you are normal if you have a social media account and abnormal if you don’t.
The ol’ sarcasm detectors’ flashing red, ringing the bell and pouring black smoke out of all the panel joints but yes: if you want to fit into society it’s important to have social media.
If you wanted to live a private life in the 1970s, would it be better to descend from your cabin hundreds of miles from civilization with a wild mane of shaggy hair wearing your homemade leather suit or with an unstylish but kempt haircut, nondescript jeans and shirt and military duffel bag looking like any other of the myriad characters wandering the roads at the time?
Obviously you’d want the latter. Part of privacy is blending in so that you don’t arouse interest.
Nowadays if you want to be a private person and still interact in society, like the op, you need to have all the trappings of a someone who doesn't raise alarm bells. That includes, especially as your age drops, social media.
Social media is literally normal.
That's your bubble, not mine and not generally. Social media profiles is something 2010's here, maybe some still have it. What's in now is loose communities like Lemmy or Tiktok and chat apps for irl friends.
It’s also the ops bubble. My replies are generally directed at the op and their post.
I will also point to the requirement though, that us visa applicants give up social media account names or be subject to denial as evidence that it’s considered normal.
If it wasn’t considered normal to have social media then the cbp wouldn’t be so quick to implement that process.
Is this an age thing? I'm about 40 and I never had instagram, barely used facebook, and didn't use any others really. I don't think I've ever had a problem where someone backed out because I didn't have instagram. But I also don't have a big group of casual friends, and maybe that would be harder.
Discord sucks, but I've noticed a lot of social groups use it. A couple meetups I go to all use it for communication. Maybe that's more bearable than instagram?
I’m in my mid-thirties, and while I didn’t have the Instagram/Whatsapp problem as a late teen / young adult, the pressure to use Facebook was similar. When I decided to close my account, it was almost a social death. My friends organised all their outings there and didn’t want to bother reaching out to me. And many of those who did go out of their way to include me occasionally made passive-agressive remarks about how I was being ridiculous and making their life difficult.
That said, I would have loved being able to just say “I don’t have Insta” when men were bothering me in the street. 😀 But I’m sure that wouldn’t stop most of them even now.
Don't worry, I handed out my Instagram to some people who requested it and those connections fizzled out just as easily.
Could be down to me only ever checking it on a designated laptop once a week, but in my opinion, if it comes down to an Instagram account and regular app access, can't even exchange SMS numbers to text, then it's already a tenuous connection.
Funny enough, I didn't even make my own Instagram account. My friend really wanted me to be on Instagram so he went ahead, made it under my name, and handed me the keys. You probably can't do this nowadays due to security checks, unless you're Meta making a shadow profile kinda like my friend did for me. I'm just sitting on the shadow profile that would exist anyway, trying to contribute as little as possible.
Find a way to use Instagram to drive them to another app, like this: lemmy.world/post/21620691
PSA Help others escape WhatsApp using Watomatic auto reply (and how to write it)
watomatic.appExample
🤖 Automated Reply 💬 I reply faster on example.org ⁉️ WhatsApp is anti-libre software. We do NOT control it. It withholds a libre software license text file, like GPL.
ExplainedI reply faster on
Deleting the only way to reach someone online breaks your influence.example.org
A link and only one link, so (1) they see it's an app, not some random word or typo, (2) they can download it without searching, and (3) they don't have multiple choice–they don't need to do any thinking or research. Remove everything stopping them.anti-libre software.
Never say privacy, they've heard it all before (from you, no doubt). Say something different.We do NOT control it.
Make it simple and direct. Think of the most retarded person you know and break it down in a way they would understand. Think about every angle it could be misunderstood.It withholds
Libre software is normal, default. Anti-libre software is cringe, weird, dangerous. Act like it. Also, humans care less about getting and more about losing stuff.libre software license text file
Show them what to check for, for themselves, easily, obvious. Later, show them how to spread these ideas. Then, show them how to show others how to spread these ideas, make more of you.GPL
A keyword for them to web search for more, with better results than more complex terms like AGPL or misleading terms like 'open source'.Don't waste a word.
Lastly, make yourself someone everyone wants to talk to.
Anyone have any advice?
- Ask them for their number, and see how it goes? Worst case, they will say 'no', end of the story. Maybe the will ask why you don't have IG and that will be the start of an interesting conversation.
- Try to meet different kind of people? I mean it seriously. I know a lot of people around me who have IG/Facebook/X and so on but at the same time none of them make it a requirement to use it.
- Use a second phone/number for that crap content only? I barely use my 'real' phone (I have nothing installed on it beside what I'm required to use) still I do own a second phone just so I can easily share a number with all the services and various craps that ask for one. It's a phone I never answer to, despite it being constantly harassed by callers. And that peace of mind (my real number is almost spam free) only costs me the 2€/month (plus the phone, I purchased used). You should be able to do something similar for social networks: have a second phone without anything personal on it, just with IG.
- Accept that you're doomed to use IG because it's with those 'IG people' and no others you want to spend your time with? I like to spend time with people reading books, it's kinda expected we indeed read books. Would I not like to read, I would not spend as much time with them.
It’s a 2 € plan with a 2 € discount because the mobile operator is also my home internet provider. So 0 €/month.
And it’s my one and only mobile number, not an extra one for crap content. The plan only includes 50 MB of (4G) data per month, and I have to pay extra if I go over it, so barring emergencies I’m only using wifi — but I don’t mind not having access to internet everywhere and all the time, I find that healthier in a way.
It's just a perception thing we have, a phone number DOES feel more personal to me, even if most people's Instagram accounts are even more detailed. In my case, I literally never posted anything on Instagram, so there was nothing to gather about me besides what posts I liked.
Plus some people my interpret asking for a phone number as wanting to date them or smth (although the same could be said for any messaging service tbh).
Phone number can be problematic to share in some areas of the world, so it does depend on where you are, but email shouldn't be an issue in general. So easy to get an additional, private email address and use both at the same time.
I also don't have most mainstream social media anymore but have noticed a significant drop in people asking for it these days. Might just be my location in a city with a lot of progressive, tech savvy people, though.
I mostly use phone number and/or Signal these days.
Am Gen Z, and currently in college. Clearly am on Fediverse, and I was never a fan of using IG (only got it cause my middle school friends made me since COVID was happening) and I have completely deactivated my account as of last winter. I have met several people at my college who don't use Instagram for various reasons, and while my other friend is a little disappointed that she can't message them on insta, at the end of the day, we live and move on.
At my college a lot of clubs use GroupMe (owned by Microsoft unfortunately) and we have an official Discord Hub that a lot of clubs are on also. So there's two different methods of communication that aren't Insta that are common on my campus. Some of my friends do have Signal in fact (even my Instagram loving friend), but because more of them don't we unfortunately don't use Signal, even when I beg my one friend who has it. She says 'it sucks and who uses it", but I've never really had the chance to use it to judge her statement as true or not.
Anyway, yeah, you could do a bunch of crazy shit and make fake accounts on Insta to have superficial conversations with people who won't give you the time of day for having an app, or you could just not. It's not that hard to find better friends/people to hang out with, and if you really make a connection with them then they should be happy with any form of communication you offer. Not all Gen Z are adamant Instagram defenders, some even hate it for various reasons (Suckerberg, being data stalkers, promoting bigotry, promoting mental health disorders, etc.)
Just an anecdote, but every time I try to create an account on Instagram I get automatically banned after account creation before even login-in for the first time.
If I recal they then ask me for a copy of my ID to confirm my name is real (which it isn't).
I have no idea how they know, I've tried literally with different residential IPs, different emails and even on brand new devices. On my Instagram user friend's house.
Maybe it's just ~~bad~~ good luck, who knows. In don't need Instagram anyway, just an interesting fact.
You're on the 'privacy' community of an open source and federated alternative social media system designed to avoid corporate control and surveillance capitalism - and you're like "wtf everyone here is very privacy focussed and Linux nerds".
Do you complain about sand at the beach?
Iran envoy leaves meeting over presence of hostile US media
TEHRAN, Jun. 30 (MNA) – Iran's ambassador to Armenia has walked out of a National Press Club meeting, in protest over the presence of a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) correspondent, who "works for our enemies."
Mehdi Sobhani initially demanded the removal of the RFE/RL reporter from the National Press Club meeting, noting that “this outlet currently works for our enemies”.
As the moderator Narine Mkrtchyan said she could not remove the journalist and urged to begin the event, Sobhani replied “I will not participate,” and left the room, according to Press TV.
Eventually, the correspondent of RFE/RL, which is funded by the US and operates under the US Agency for Global Media, left the meeting, as his presence caused disruption.
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Aw, they got their little feelings hurt. Who knew genocidal assholes had feelings?
Edit: sorry promise I won’t post before coffee again.
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I love this part (end of the article):
As the Iranian Armed Forces pounded Israel and its military and industrial infrastructure, using many new-generation missiles that precisely hit the designated targets, the embattled regime was forced to unilaterally declare a truce deal on June 24.
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Talent agency UTA drop Bob Vylan following Glastonbury chant controversy
The punk band Bob Vylan has now officially been dropped by the talent agency UTA following the comments being made during their Glastonbury set.
During the performance, the band led a pro-Palestine chant with their crowd, proclaiming “death to the IDF”. Following comments from the festival staff as well as various politicians, UTA has announced their decision to part ways with the group.
Insiders have said that UTA senior executives agreed with the festival, saying that the band had taken their political beliefs too far when making their comments. Despite not coming out with any official statement, all images and information relating to the musical duo have been wiped from the company’s website.
The BBC continued in a statement, “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury’s condemnation of the performance.”
Bob Vylan ‘dropped by agents’ after controversial Glastonbury IDF chant
Rap punk duo no longer appear on agency’s website days after festival furoreJacob Stolworthy (The Independent)
If Israel is the "victim" then they are "Jews". And "The Jewish State"
If Israel is the perpetrator then it is the "secular only democracy in the Middle East.
Nato’s summit cannot disguise Ukraine’s plight
Nato’s summit cannot disguise Ukraine’s plight
Without more military aid, Kyiv’s situation on the battlefield could deteriorate rapidlyGideon Rachman (Financial Times)
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The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence
The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence
The data annotation company Scale AI that Meta splurged $14 billion to take ownership of was reportedly overrun with "spammers."Frank Landymore (Futurism)
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The research community already knows this.
Llama 4 (Meta's flagship 'AI' project) was as bad release. That's fine. This is interative research; not every experiment works out.
...But it was also a messy and dishonest one.
The release was pushed early and full of bugs. They lied about its performance, especially at long context, going so far as to game Chat Arena with a finetune. Zuckerberg hyped the snot out of it, to the point I saw ads for it on Axios.
Instead of Meta saying they'll do better, they said they're reorganizing their divisions to focus on 'applications' instead of fundamental research, aka exactly the wrong thing. They've hermmoraged good researchers and kept AI bros, far as I can tell from the outside.
Every top LLM trainer has controversies. Just recently Qwen (Alibaba) closed off their top base models just to spite Deepseek, so they can't distill them. Deepseek is almost certainly training on Google Gemini traces. Google hoards their best research for API models and has chased being sycophantic like ChatGPT. X's Grok is a joke, and muddied by Musk's constant lies about, for instance, open sourcing it. Some great outfits like 01ai (the Yi series) faded into the night.
...But I haven't seen self-destruction quite like Meta's. Especially considering the 'f you' money and GPU farm they have. They're still pushing interesting research now, but the trajectory is awful.
Step 1: Go to an Ivy League school
Step 2: Make friends with a failson/daughter of a prevailing plutocrat
Step 3: Put the Matrix-code screensaver on your laptop (apparently, this worked on Elon Musk in the early Twitter takeover days)
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Get a $10M Series A and a $100M Series B thanks to the family of your rich friends buying into your hair-brained Theranos knock-off.
You know how you have to pay extra to have insurance to pay to take care of your mouth bones and your face balls? Well, what if we did that but with all the bones and stuff? Like, why are your foot bones included in the same insurance that pays for you to have knee bones or neck giblets? Why not do all the bones and stuff a la cart? And then maybe skin can be a premium add-on. We could charge separate for the red goo that's all on the inside everywhere, and then it's like a subscription model for having parts. We can sell it like "don't pay for the parts you don't have," and people will think that they are saving money because each part costs less than the whole, but paying for everything costs more.
-some Health Insurance board member somewhere, probably.
I think there’s better and less racist ways to get your point across here
Edit: my mistake I confused this story with another one that was about mismanaged offshore labor.
How this Microsoft-backed billion-dollar London startup made 700 engineers sitting in India pose as AI tool
Tech News : Builder.ai, once valued at $1.5 billion and backed by tech giants, has filed for bankruptcy after being exposed for misleading investors about its AITOI Tech Desk (Times Of India)
Not racist: “A company was claiming a super smart AI was making decisions but it turned out to be a bunch of people in India doing all the work”
Racist: “haha I bet the AI is really good at phone support because it’s powered by Indians”
‘Explosive increase’ of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis
‘Explosive increase’ of ticks that cause meat allergy in US due to climate crisis
Unusually aggressive lone star ticks, common in the south-east, are spreading to areas previously too cold for themOliver Milman (The Guardian)
Central banks rush to gold as fears of US dollar crisis mount
Macroscope | Central banks rush to gold as fears of US dollar crisis mount
Central bank gold holdings are now back to where they were in the 1960s, before gold went out of official fashion.Anthony Rowley (South China Morning Post)
Dreamer
in reply to Dreamer • • •The following is an article about two of the writer's cousins that Israel murdered in the cafe:
War on Gaza: The world only saw my cousins' deaths. I want you to know their lives
I think it's important to not let these people become mere statistics. These oppressors are doing much more than merely killing people; they are snuffing out their present, robbing them of their futures, killing out their potential.
There are many brilliant and kind minds in Palestine that will never come to flourish because of the actions of the oppressors. Any possible advancement or contribution into this world--gone, ripped from this world, ripped from us. Every act of oppression made by these self-designated "peace-makers", is a desecration of the past, present, and future.
War on Gaza: The world only saw my cousins' deaths. I want you to know their lives
Middle East EyeDreamer
in reply to Dreamer • • •‘An absolute massacre’: Aftermath of Israeli attack on popular Gaza cafe
Video discussing some of the people that were killed. A photojournalist, female boxer, an old man, a few little girls (one of which was having a small birthday party where she was being gifted a teddy bear)--the usual targets.
I've heard this was done by an F16 missile strike. The Israeli pilot, the IDF, the Israeli government, the Israeli state-- they massacred 37 innocents in this terrorist attack, killing all but two that were in this cafe.
Death, death to the IDF
- YouTube
youtu.be