Russia orders state-backed Max messenger app to be pre-installed on new phones
A Russian state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets bought in the country starting next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.The decision to promote Max comes as Moscow, locked in a standoff with the west over Ukraine, is seeking greater control over the internet. The Kremlin said in a statement that Max, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all “gadgets”, including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia from 1 September.
Russia orders state-backed Max messenger app to be pre-installed on new phones
Critics say Max, a WhatsApp rival, could be used to track users, though state media says it is not a spying appGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
Alarming Report Finds US Bird Populations Are Still Crashing
Alarming Report Finds US Bird Populations Are Still Crashing
Alarming Report Finds US Bird Populations Are Still Crashing About one-third of all American bird species are of high or moderate conservation concern due to low populations, declining population …𝐆𝐫𝐫𝐥𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭, scientist & journalist (The Academic)
Here is the video’s thumbnail.
I use an Extension called vidIQ to find and use the video thumbnail easily. The current thumbnail will be shown just below the video view count.
Thousands of Grok chats are now searchable on Google | TechCrunch
Grok, Elon Musk's AI chatbot, has exposed hundreds of thousands of private user conversations through Google search indexing. When users click the "share" button to create a URL for sharing their chat, the conversation becomes publicly searchable - often without users realizing it12.
Google has indexed over 370,000 Grok conversations, including sensitive content like medical questions, personal information, and at least one password2. Unlike OpenAI's ChatGPT, which quickly removed a similar feature after backlash, Grok's share function does not include any warning that conversations will become public3.
According to Forbes, some marketers are already exploiting this feature by intentionally creating Grok conversations to manipulate search engine rankings for their businesses2.
- TechCrunch - Thousands of Grok chats are now searchable on Google ↩︎
- Forbes - Elon Musk's xAI Published Hundreds Of Thousands Of Grok Chatbot Conversations ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- Fortune - Thousands of private user conversations with Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot have exposed on Google Search ↩︎
Thousands of private user conversations with Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot have been exposed on Google Search
More than 370,000 Grok chats have been indexed by search engines, exposing hundreds of sensitive queries.Beatrice Nolan (Fortune)
Why do Waymos keep loitering in front of my house?
Why do Waymos keep loitering in front of my house?
Waymo vehicles have been loitering outside some houses in LA, leaving residents confused as to why their streets have become informal hangouts for the robotaxis.Rachel Kraus (The Verge)
For those of us with ADHD, if you are thinking about a task every second you're not doing it and desperately want to do the task more than anything else and are devastated that you can't do it so much that you use all your energy just on trying to make yourself do the thing that you want to do but can't, that is NOT procrastination. That is executive dysfunction. It only seems like procrastination to people who have never experienced executive dysfunction and those who have only ever experienced executive dysfunction.
Procrastination is when you fully have the ability to do something and choose not to do it but to do the thing you prefer doing instead. I hadn't experienced this until very recently, after a lot of therapy and medication.
Rozaŭtuno likes this.
reshared this
Israeli soldiers said to have shelled hospital after fearing camera being used to track them
Military officials tell Hebrew-language media outlets that an Israeli army tank team shelled a camera stationed at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis earlier today after believing the device was being used to track troops.
Two shells were fired by the tank, with the first targeting the camera and the second hitting rescuers who were operating at the scene. The strike killed 20, including five journalists, according to media reports and Hamas health officials.
Reuters and other news providers often deliver live video feeds to media outlets worldwide during major news events to show the scene from the ground in real time. A review of Masri’s live feed from before the strike did not appear to show any soldiers.
like this
The camera was very menacingly recording their war crimes.
Remember when Israel said they would never bomb a hospital?
Trial of Brazil’s Bolsonaro enters verdict phase over alleged coup plot
Trial of Brazil’s Bolsonaro enters verdict phase over alleged coup plot
The former president is charged with five counts, including plotting the assassination of senior officials.Al Jazeera
With the new Russian combat system, the end of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is only a matter of time
With the new Russian combat system, the end of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is only a matter of time: EADaily
EADaily, August 26th, 2025. The Russian army has established a systematic approach to many issues of tactical warfare. And as you know, individual, even well-trained specialists always lose to the system, the observer points out Pravda.EADaily
Russia Urges Israel to Prevent Deterioration of Situation in Gaza Strip
Russia Urges Israel to Prevent Deterioration of Situation in Gaza Strip
Russia calls on Israel to take urgent measures to prevent the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip and restore unhindered humanitarian access, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.Sputnik International
Ukraine Loses Up to 400 Soldiers in Battles With Russian Armed Forces
Ukraine Loses Up to 400 Soldiers in Battles With Russian Armed Forces
Russia's Tsentr group of forces has eliminated up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.Sputnik International
NATO states to send Kiev another $50bn in military aid – official
NATO states to send Kiev another $50bn in military aid – official
NATO plans to match last year’s military aid to Ukraine despite Russia’s warnings that it only prolongs the conflictRT
I do wonder when the communists here will learn that Russia isn't communist any more and is instead a capitalist...empire! You don't need to suck their dick all the time
Even if you're right about Russia being imperialist, the so-called "Russian empire" is objectively less evil than the US empire.
Why don't you support the lesser evil?
Russia is clearly imperialist, just ask chechnya, georgia, and indeed Ukraine. There was/is also the Wagner group which represented Russian presence in Africa.
Also the war crimes committed by Russia in the Kharkiv Region says everything I need to know about them.
In terms of holding preference towards Russia or America, I am tempted to choose neither. Clearly America has engaged in pretty blatantly evil shit over the decades its been a super power. However, I would argue the only reason why Russia could be viewed as not as "evil" as America is because Russia is simply unable to engage in the same levels of imperialism.
So given this, I do not support either America or Russia. I support Ukraine's independence, and the way to do that is to send military aid, which I fully support
just ask chechnya
States never tolerate separatist movements, so what you are saying is that your state is imperialist as well. Considering that you are fine with that, we can conclude that you are also fine with Russia.
But also, the part of the Russian government that did support the Chechen separatists was literally shelled with tanks by the NATO-backed forces.
georgia
Georgia literally attacked the South Ossetian separatists and the peacekeepers.
It's extremely silly to be both pro-Georgia and pro-Chechnya in this context. By your own logic, one should condemn Georgia as imperialist.
and indeed Ukraine
Ukraine tried to join the gang of torturers and genocidaires that is NATO, and to bring their personnel and weaponry close to the most populated areas of its designated enemy. That is an act of aggression and the rest of the world has every right to defend against that.
Furthermore, Ukraine has invaded at least Iraq and Syria, which you are completely fine with.
Furthermore, Ukraine has been fighting its own separatists, whom Russia has been helping. By your logic, you should support them.
There was/is also the Wagner group which represented Russian presence in Africa.
Were they attacking African countries the way your empire has been doing?
Also the war crimes committed by Russia in the Kharkiv Region says everything I need to know about them.
You are fine with war crimes when Ukraine commits them, so you are fine with the Russian war crimes as well.
So given this, I do not support either America or Russia. I support Ukraine's independence,
Currently, the Ukrainian government is a USian puppet.
and the way to do that is to send military aid, which I fully support
Military aid to the separatists and Russia, that is. Surely you don't support states that try to join NATO, the most prolific invader in the world, do you?
I'm not going to try to convince you that Russia isn't imperialist, you wouldn't listen anyway.
Instead, I'm going to point out the obvious.
So given this, I do not support either America or Russia. I support Ukraine’s independence, and the way to do that is to send military aid, which I fully support
And so you support the US/NATO bloc.
The military "aid" isn't free by the way. Ukraine is indebting itself to the US/NATO bloc in order to buy equipment, and however the war ends the debt collectors are going to come to ravage Ukraine and strip mine it for whatever is left. Ukraine will be a colony in all but name. Flag independence, but no sovereignty.
Yeah I'm a trans gender bisexual nazi.
I see that Ernst Rohm is back.
I do wonder when the communists here will learn that Russia isn't communist any more and is instead a capitalist...empire!
This 'argument' is bizarre. You do realise that NATO is not communist, either, right? And that NATO is orders of magnitude worse than every other polity on the planet, by virtue of being the most prolific invader in the world, engaging in at least one high-profile genocide, engaging in colonialism, etc., right?
When serfs stood up in Tibet is one of the most harrowing books I've ever read, and every time the corporate-evangelical government here () rolls out some new way of terrorizing people or keeping then ignorant and scared for profit, I see the ghost of an Iron Bar Llama smiling wickedly as he holds his hand out for all my money. That book should be required reading to understand just how brutal, ugly, and hideously unjust things can get when a bloated and cruel theocracy controls not just peoples outer world, but their inner lives as well, their very worldview.
I can't find the link for the full book right now, so here are two selections from the essay Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth by Micheal Parenti. CW slavery, sexual violence
Selection one, long:
Drepung monastery was one of the biggest landowners in the world, with its 185 manors, 25,000 serfs, 300 great pastures, and 16,000 herdsmen. The wealth of the monasteries rested in the hands of small numbers of high-ranking lamas. Most ordinary monks lived modestly and had no direct access to great wealth. The Dalai Lama himself “lived richly in the 1000-room, 14-story Potala Palace.”[12]Secular leaders also did well. A notable example was the commander-in-chief of the Tibetan army, a member of the Dalai Lama’s lay Cabinet, who owned 4,000 square kilometers of land and 3,500 serfs. [13] Old Tibet has been misrepresented by some Western admirers as “a nation that required no police force because its people voluntarily observed the laws of karma.” [14] In fact it had a professional army, albeit a small one, that served mainly as a gendarmerie for the landlords to keep order, protect their property, and hunt down runaway serfs.
Young Tibetan boys were regularly taken from their peasant families and brought into the monasteries to be trained as monks. Once there, they were bonded for life. Tashì-Tsering, a monk, reports that it was common for peasant children to be sexually mistreated in the monasteries. He himself was a victim of repeatedremoved, beginning at age nine. [15] The monastic estates also conscripted children for lifelong servitude as domestics, dance performers, and soldiers.
In old Tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who composed the “middle-class” families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. [16] The majority of the rural population were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care. They were under a lifetime bond to work the lord’s land — or the monastery’s land — without pay, to repair the lord’s houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. [17] Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location.
[18]As in a free labor system and unlike slavery, the overlords had no responsibility for the serf’s maintenance and no direct interest in his or her survival as an expensive piece of property. The serfs had to support themselves. Yet as in a slave system, they were bound to their masters, guaranteeing a fixed and permanent workforce that could neither organize nor strike nor freely depart as might laborers in a market context. The overlords had the best of both worlds.
One 22-year old woman, herself a runaway serf, reports: “Pretty serf girls were usually taken by the owner as house servants and used as he wished”; they “were just slaves without rights.” [19] Serfs needed permission to go anywhere. Landowners had legal authority to capture those who tried to flee. One 24-year old runaway welcomed the Chinese intervention as a “liberation.” He testified that under serfdom he was subjected to incessant toil, hunger, and cold. After his third failed escape, he was merciless beaten by the landlord’s men until blood poured from his nose and mouth. They then poured alcohol and caustic soda on his wounds to increase the pain, he claimed.
[20]The serfs were taxed upon getting married, taxed for the birth of each child and for every death in the family. They were taxed for planting a tree in their yard and for keeping animals. They were taxed for religious festivals and for public dancing and drumming, for being sent to prison and upon being released. Those who could not find work were taxed for being unemployed, and if they traveled to another village in search of work, they paid a passage tax. When people could not pay, the monasteries lent them money at 20 to 50 percent interest. Some debts were handed down from father to son to grandson. Debtors who could not meet their obligations risked being cast into slavery.
[21]The theocracy’s religious teachings buttressed its class order. The poor and afflicted were taught that they had brought their troubles upon themselves because of their wicked ways in previous lives. Hence they had to accept the misery of their present existence as a karmic atonement and in anticipation that their lot would improve in their next lifetime. The rich and powerful treated their good fortune as a reward for, and tangible evidence of, virtue in past and present lives.
Selection two, shorter: (CW sexual violence and mutilation)
The Tibetan serfs were something more than superstitious victims, blind to their own oppression. As we have seen, some ran away; others openly resisted, sometimes suffering dire consequences. In feudal Tibet, torture and mutilation — including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation — were favored punishments inflicted upon thieves, and runaway or resistant serfs.[22]Journeying through Tibet in the 1960s, Stuart and Roma Gelder interviewed a former serf, Tsereh Wang Tuei, who had stolen two sheep belonging to a monastery. For this he had both his eyes gouged out and his hand mutilated beyond use. He explains that he no longer is a Buddhist: “When a holy lama told them to blind me I thought there was no good in religion.” [23] Since it was against Buddhist teachings to take human life, some offenders were severely lashed and then “left to God” in the freezing night to die. “The parallels between Tibet and medieval Europe are striking,” concludes Tom Grunfeld in his book on Tibet.
[24]In 1959, Anna Louise Strong visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, gouging out eyes, breaking off hands, and hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disemboweling. The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery. There was the shepherd whose master owed him a reimbursement in yuan and wheat but refused to pay. So he took one of the master’s cows; for this he had his hands severed. Another herdsman, who opposed having his wife taken from him by his lord, had his hands broken off. There were pictures of Communist activists with noses and upper lips cut off, and a woman who wasremovedd and then had her nose sliced away.
[25]Earlier visitors to Tibet commented on the theocratic despotism. In 1895, an Englishman, Dr. A. L. Waddell, wrote that the populace was under the “intolerable tyranny of monks” and the devil superstitions they had fashioned to terrorize the people. In 1904 Perceval Landon described the Dalai Lama’s rule as “an engine of oppression.” At about that time, another English traveler, Captain W. F. T. O’Connor, observed that “the great landowners and the priests… exercise each in their own dominion a despotic power from which there is no appeal,” while the people are “oppressed by the most monstrous growth of monasticism and priest-craft.” Tibetan rulers “invented degrading legends and stimulated a spirit of superstition” among the common people. In 1937, another visitor, Spencer Chapman, wrote, “The Lamaist monk does not spend his time in ministering to the people or educating them. […] The beggar beside the road is nothing to the monk. Knowledge is the jealously guarded prerogative of the monasteries and is used to increase their influence and wealth.” [26] As much as we might wish otherwise, feudal theocratic Tibet was a far cry from the romanticized Shangri-La so enthusiastically nurtured by Buddhism’s western proselytes.
This is what the "Free Tibet wholesome 100 CIA-backed Dalai Llama fuck the CCP" crowd is supporting. Old Tibet wasn't the Holy Land of popular boomer imagination, it was the fucking Holy Nation from Kenshi.
Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth
Along with the blood drenched landscape of religious conflict there is the experience of inner peace and solace that every religion promises, none more so than Buddhism.redsails.org
marxists.org/reference/archive…
And there are some PDFs annas-archive, this one looks like it might be the best
When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet: From Serfdom to Socialism - Anna’s Archive
Anna Louise Strong « When Serfs Stood Up in Tibet » by Anna Louise Strong, first published in 1959, tells the dramatic Foreign Languages Pressannas-archive.org
The Peace That Isn't: NATO Flags Next Door
The Peace That Isn't: NATO Flags Next Door
Any peace plan that allows NATO or Western troops to remain in Ukraine will be seen in Moscow not as compromise but as outright defeat—ensuring escalationФил Батлер (New Eastern Outlook)
Regarding this “news” site as it’s the first time I am seeing this (the .su domain is for Soviet Union by the way):
Ownership information is not transparent; however, according to the NEO about page, its address is “12, Rozhdestvenka Street, office 111, Moscow.” The exact address is also used by “The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.” Typically, the Putin government gives the Research Institutes’ control to the Ministry of Education; therefore, the Russian government funds and owns this journal through the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Scientific studies[25] using its ratings note that ratings from Media Bias/Fact Check show high agreement with an independent fact checking dataset from 2017,[8] with NewsGuard[9] and with BuzzFeed journalists.[10] When MBFC factualness ratings of ‘mostly factual’ or higher were compared to an independent fact checking dataset's ‘verified’ and ‘suspicious’ news sources, the two datasets showed "almost perfect" inter-rater reliability.[8][20][26] A 2022 study that evaluated sharing of URLs on Twitter and Facebook in March and April 2020 and 2019, to compare the prevalence of misinformation, reports that scores from Media Bias/Fact Check correlate strongly with those from NewsGuard (r = 0.81).[9]
Yandex this one then
MBFC is ROFL, even when everything is clear, they publish some slop bordering on conspiracy theories.
If we click on the first link, we'll see that New Eastern Outlook is listed as a periodical of The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the website of said institution.
It looks like:
The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences: New Eastern Outlook is our periodical.
MBFC: Ownership information is not transparent!! You share the same adress!! That must mean something!!
Scientists Have Translated the Inner Monologue. The Implications Are Incredible.
Scientists Have Translated the Inner Monologue. The Implications Are Incredible.
This could be a game-changer for patients suffering from mobility issues, neurodegenerative diseases, or other speech related disabilities.Darren Orf (Popular Mechanics)
What is the best Android browser for privacy?
PrivacyBrowser is a really good browser in my opinion. But I cant do an analysis on its privacy.
I will add that I love how they handle bookmarks.
They're advertised to the public as "license plate readers" but can do way more than that. Fingerprinting cars based on bumper stickers, colors, dents, scratches, etc.
And if the ability to do all of that is baked into these cameras, it would be trivial to do the same for humans.
You will likely need some form of support structure. L Angle welded as a pitched frame is my plan. A d some seal between each panals.
But for a single story shed structure yes.
Also rent but social so I have a bit more stability and flexibility. Sorry an advantage of being old and disabled. Was able to get a place while it was still possible.
I fully understand how fucked over a high % over my age voters left your age group.
nvidia 470 on debian trixie (kernel 6.12). any ideas?
the context is: the 470 legacy driver doesn't compile on the linux 6.12 kernel. because of that, debian decided to officially drop support to that driver. i tried installing the driver myself using nvidia's official installer, but the installation indeed fails during the module compilation stage.
this means i am stuck with nouveau. it got better since i last tested it on bookworm, but one major pain in the ass is that nouveau has no support for performance levels for my card and it runs at the lowest clock bc of that (~400 megahertz instead of its max ~900 mhz).
this causes a noticeable performance hit, even for desktop usage, but it's good enough for work. waching full hd 60 fps video is a bit painful, but it's possible. but gaming, which was possible, got way worse. even a lightweight game like celeste got frustrating to play due to stuttering.
i guess i'll have to deal with it and maybe this is the cue to buy another graphics card and never buy nvidia again, but i'm thinking about what my options would be here:
- downgrade to bookworm. not easy to do, would only delay the problem.
- install an older kernel and use only that. not sure how, the official repos only have the 6.12 kernel. i could get the older kernel from the bookworm backports and pin it to prevent any updates, but mixing repos from different versions makes me uneasy.
- patch the driver. there are a few patches floating around that make nvidia's driver compile on the 6.12 kernel. applying the patch by hand is annoying and i would have to re-apply it at every kernel update.
- cope.
any ideas?
edit
and it runs at the lowest clock bc of that (~400 megahertz instead of its max ~900 mhz).
that was a mistake. i was reading the clock off of my onboard video chip, which also happens to be nvidia. the onboard chip is at .../dri/0
; my graphics card is at .../dri/1
. nouveau seems to support reclocking for my card, but i'm trying to change the clock and the video signal goes crazy when i do it
GitHub - polhdez/nouveau-reclocking-guide: How to reclock nvidia cards at boot on Linux using nouveau.
How to reclock nvidia cards at boot on Linux using nouveau. - polhdez/nouveau-reclocking-guideGitHub
you're right. i thought my card didn't support it because i might have misread the feature matrix. adding to the confusion, /dri/0
is my onboard video (which also happens to be nvidia) and that's where i got the 400 mhz number from
still, i just tried it reclocking seems to drive the video signal crazy
edit: yeah it's definitely unsupported, the display turns completely into scrambled eggs. i'll try a newer kernel just in case
edit 2: tried it on the 6.16 kernel (i have an opensuse tumbleweed installation laying around) just in case it had some development on that front compares to 6.12 (debian's version) and it's still a mess. so reclocking for my card is definitely a no-no on nouveau
I gave it some thought, I think that you are getting slowdowns because of some kind of a bug and not due to slow speed of the GPU.
I have actually daily-driven a MacBook Pro 15-inch 2009 with a GeForce 9600M GT and even at 279 Mhz core, it was usable on Manjaro KDE, animations were a bit laggy, but nothing compared to what you are describing.
I still remember trying kernel 6.7 or 6.8 and immediately seeing MUCH worse performance with constant lags. I have only consistently used kernels 6.1, 6.6 and 6.12 on Manjaro on that machine, all of them with decent experience. I would try some other kernel if that's possible, but considering that you have tried 6.12 and 6.16 at this point, I am not too hopeful.
I'm sorry if I'm dismissive but I gotta tell you, last time we talked felt an awful lot like being lectured. You didn't really engage with anything I said but rather regurgitated endless theories and facts.
And you are a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist, is that not true? Subscribing to a particular narrative is IMO exactly what "dogmatic" means. I'm not saying it's wrong, it's truer than most dogmas. But still a dogma.
I don't remember you at all, if I'm being honest. I apologize if I was acting obnoxious, but I talk to many people and don't remember them all.
Secondly, I am a Marxist-Leninist, yes, but not a dogmatist. Dogma necessarily implies a rigid and inflexible understanding, not simply an agreement with a frame of analysis. Otherwise, nearly everyone would be a "dogmatist" for saying the Earth is round against the Flat Earthers.
Using phrasing such as "necessarily implies" is exactly what makes me call your conversation style "lecturing".
Is it normal to talk like this in your circles? In my culture it's a certain way to antagonize anyone who doesn't already agree with you.
At a really general level - you do know that you're posting this to a forum, right? Are you posting here to engage with other people, or are you just posting to fulfill your vanity?
I don't mean this in a snide sort of way. I hope that you can consider opportunities in future to be more charitable to people who are spending their time reading what you've posted and writing responses. It's genuinely feels better to engage that way than to assume the worst of people, and to treat them like they are purposefully antagonizing you.
Journalist quits Reuters over 'role in Israel's assassination of Gaza journalists'
She made particular reference to Reuters' reporting on Israel's killing of prominent Al-Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif and six other media workers on August 10, saying the agency had "perpetuate[d] Israel's propaganda". She said it had been "wilfully abandoning the most basic responsibility of journalism" by publishing the "baseless claim" from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) that Al-Sharif was an operative for Hamas.
An initial report published by Reuters received backlash after running with the headline: "Israel kills Al Jazeera journalist it says was Hamas leader".
Zink said she could no longer wear her press pass without feeling "shame and grief", as she shared an image of her press card snapped in half alongside her statement.
Journalist quits Reuters over coverage of Gaza media killed by Israel
A REUTERS journalist has quit the news agency alleging it had a "role in justifying and enabling" Israel's "assassination" of…Lucy Jackson (The National)
like this
You should know then that this has been happening ever since the terrorist state was created, and it’s terrible because every time there’s an exodus of decent human beings, be it just one person or dozens, at Reuters or NYT or anywhere else, the void is instantly filled by someone happy to oblige in propaganda.
Her resignation is a tragedy, just like the hundreds that came before hers, and it all helped get the world in this state.
the void is instantly filled by someone happy to oblige in propaganda.
That’s the part which makes this so hard. The position will get filled with some empty bootlicker eager to carry their water and curry favor.
“Add initial support for preinstalling flatpaks” merged
Add initial support for preinstalling flatpaks, v2 by swick · Pull Request #6116 · flatpak/flatpak
This is based on work by Kalev, taking over the PR: #5832 The configuration format and priority has been changed. Tests have been added. This version is already in use in RHEL. This adds new Flatp...GitHub
Selhosted P2P File Transfer & Messaging
IMPORTANT NOTES (PLEASE READ!):
* These are NOT products. They are for testing and demonstration purposes only.
* They have NOT been reviewed or audited. Do NOT use for sensitive data.
* All functionality demonstrated is experimental.
* These are NOT meant to replace robust solutions like VeraCrypt, Simplexchat, Signal, Whatsapp, wetransfer. It's a proof-of-concept to show what's possible with browser APIs.
* Cyber security is full of caveats, so reach out for clarity on any details if they can't be found in the docs.
Aiming to create the worlds most secure messaging app.
positive-intentions.com/docs/p…
- Open Source
- Cross Platform
- PWA
- iOS, Android, Desktop (self compile)
- App store, Play store (coming soon)
- Desktop
- Windows, MacOS, Linux (self compile)
- Run
index.html
on any modern #browser
- Decentralized
- Secure
- No Cookies
- P2P E2EE encrypted
- Forward secrecy
- No registration
- No installing
- Messaging
- Group Messaging (coming soon)
- Text Messaging
- Multimedia Messaging
- Screensharing (on desktop browsers)
- Offline Messaging (in research phase)
- File Transfer
- Video Calls
- Data Ownership
- SelfHosted
- GitHub pages Hosting
- Local-only storage
For more information on "how it works", check out:
positive-intentions.com/blog/d…
(Degoogled links to the apps)
- P2P Chat: chat.positive-intentions.com/
- P2P File: file.positive-intentions.com/
- Encrypted drive storage: dim.positive-intentions.com/?p…
More:
- GitHub: github.com/positive-intentions
- Mastodon: infosec.exchange/@xoron
- Reddit: reddit.com/r/positive_intentio…
Decentralized Microfrontend Architecture
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital communication, decentralization has emerged as a powerful concept with diverse interpretations and applications.xoron (positive-intentions)
“private and secure chat app”
I don't think it's a solved problem. There are countless nuances to it. So it's good to have various approaches.
Google will require developer verification to install Android apps, including sideloading
Google will require developer verification to install Android apps, including sideloading
Google has announced that only apps from developers that have undergone verification can be installed on certified Android devices in 2026...Abner Li (9to5Google)
RFC 9839 and Bad Unicode
Unicode is good. If you’re designing a data structure or protocol that has text fields, they should contain Unicode characters encoded in UTF-8. There’s another question, though: “Which Unicode characters?” The answer is “Not all of them, please exclude some.”This issue keeps coming up, so Paul Hoffman and I put together an individual-submission draft to the IETF and now (where by “now” I mean “two years later”) it’s been published as RFC 9839. It explains which characters are bad, and why, then offers three plausible less-bad subsets that you might want to use. Herewith a bit of background, but…
Please · If you’re actually working on something new that will have text fields, please read the RFC. It’s only ten pages long, and that’s with all the IETF boilerplate. It’s written specifically for software and networking people.
Source code · I’ve written a little Go-language library to validate incoming text fields against each of the three subsets that 9839 specifies, here. I don’t claim it’s optimal, but it is well-tested.
Details · Here’s a compact summary of the world of problematic Unicode code points and data formats and standards.
Notes:
[1] XML allows C1 controls.
[2] XML and YAML don’t exclude the noncharacters outside the Basic Multilingual Pane.
[3] YAML excludes all the legacy controls except for the mostly-harmlessU+0085
, another version of\n
used in IBM mainframe documents.
RFC 9839: Unicode Character Repertoire Subsets
This document discusses subsets of the Unicode character repertoire for use in protocols and data formats and specifies three subsets recommended for use in IETF specifications.www.rfc-editor.org
Recommendations on a home alarm system
I am in the process of purchasing a home, and the house that it’s looking like I am likely to buy has a Ring alarm system and camera installed. I like the idea of having burglar alarms on the windows and doors, but I do not want to use Ring. Between their ownership from Amazon and sharing data with the cops, I don’t trust them.
Are there privacy-friendly home security systems out there that don’t require an ongoing subscription? Bonus points if the devices are HomeAssistant compatible.
For cameras look for NVRs that let you hook up wired cameras to. I have yet to try it but have heards that installing Frigate lets you have complete control over the recordings. Riolink and Lorex both offer systems that dont require subscriptions and supposedly let you keep your data local.
So you mean to tell me these camera companies usually do not allow you to keep you data local? And you put them in or around your house?
Many home camera companies use subscriptions as an excuse to store your recordings in the cloud and allow you to view or access them remotely on a phone app. I havent put up any that do that, but a shitload of other people have.
Frigate is a custom OS for NVRs. The NVR stores the recordings, and the OS ideally puts you in complete control of the cameras and associated data. I am working on getting hardware that will let me install it, so I am only saying its worth taking a look at but am not endorsing it since I have not successfully uses it yet.
The reason I say to use wired cameras is because they are more secure and can get continuous power instead of worrying about rechargung batteries. You can run them with no internet connection and control your local recordings that way. The drawback is that its only accessible by direct physical means. If someone breaks in and steals that hard drive then the whole system is worthless.
Australia expels Iranian diplomats, accuses country of directing antisemitic arson attacks
Melbourne, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of organizing two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country was cutting off diplomatic relations with Tehran in response on Tuesday.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization concluded the Iranian government had directed arson attacks on the Lewis Continental Kitchen, a kosher food company, in Sydney in October last year and on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne in December last year, Albanese said.
Iran's government denied the allegations.
Australia expels Iranian diplomats, accuses country of directing antisemitic arson attacks
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Iran directed two antisemitic attacks in the country, and diplomatic relations will now end.CBS News
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The impossibility of finding a Linux laptop that I like
I'm a Linux user since 1998 (my main desktop PC runs Debian), however I do have a couple of Macs around because I love their hardware (not so much the software though). In fact, I have three old MacBook Airs (mid-2011, 2012, 2015), all running Linux. The moment I got them, I erased MacOS and installed Linux pronto!
But my main laptop is a MacBook Air M1 with MacOS because it's much faster than these older Intel-based MacBook Airs. Modern web browsing and video editing requires a lot of processing power.
So, I want to move to have my main laptop running Linux too. I DON'T want to install Asahi Linux on my M1, because I don't consider it a proper solution for my needs (I want to run Resolve, you see, and most foss apps that I use would need recompiling). Also, I don't like that Asahi is dependent on MacOS to exist, because you can't boot with a usb to install it.
My issue is that I can't find ANYTHING on the PC market that is as slick or full featured as a MacBook Air (minus its limited ports). What I need is this:
- Screen no larger than 13.3" inches, Full HD at least, preferably good color gamut (but not a must). I still need the laptop to be portable though. Basically, I'm not even asking for HDR, as the MacBook Air features.
- Keyboard to have backlight, without the numpad (I hate these laptops where the touchpad is off center).
- The touchpad needs to be glass or of equivalent feel. The Apple touchpads slide/glide with ease. I find every PC touchpad I've used so far to be "sticky". My finger on some Chromebooks and Dell/Lenovo laptops is doing a "grrrkkk, grrrkkkk" when I slide my finger! There's something special about Apple's touchpads, I dunno.
- Intel 13th+ gen CPU, with passmark points over 17,000 on multi-threading. My M1 scores about 12,000 points, and it's 5 years old. So obviously I'd need something faster than what I have now.
- Intel GPU (no AMD or Nvidia please, I need Intel's superior video decoding abilities). On a Mac that isn't a problem, because Apple does support these 10bit 4:2:2 codecs I need, with hardware acceleration. But on the PC side, only Intel provides good support for these without headaches (only the newest nvidias support that, but I don't want to use Nvidia for too many reasons -- AMD is a disaster on that video front btw). I don't play 3D games.
- I need speakers that sound good. Every single PC laptop I've tried, had the worst sound ever. I need it to be hear-able on YouTube and not sound as if you're listening via a can. I bought a Thinkpad x280 a few months ago and I can't use it because its speakers are so bad! DELL (from 5 years ago that I tried) aren't better either.
- I need a (supported) fingerprint reader!
- 32 GB of RAM.
- 1 TB of storage.
- Below a $1800 price tag. That's the price I can get with a MacBook Air for all that.
Now, you might think that "well, it seems that you just want a new MacBook", but that's not true. I want a PC laptop so I can run Debian Linux instead of MacOS. But I need it to be a laptop that is "proper" by my own standards. The quality of the interaction between my palms, fingers, eyes and PC laptops IS NOT the same as with any Apple laptop I've ever used. The reason people buy Apple hardware is NOT because "MacOSX is lickable" (as it was suggested many years ago by Jobs). I've actually researched the "why". It's because the INTERACTION of your senses and the laptop's design/quality FITS. It's like a glove for one another. It's difficult to explain but I know it now to be true. It was never MacOSX itself (although MacOSX's gui smoothness helps the overall experience).
So the question is: am I missing that special, Linux-compatible, PC laptop somewhere? If you know that such a laptop exists, please reply with a link. I'll buy it in a heartbeat.
This is a serious post btw. I spent the whole weekend trying to find that mythical PC laptop, and I can't. I'm frustrated.
EDIT: I might end up with the Framework 13. Not 100% what I'm after, but probably the best solution right now.
EDIT 2: I bought a DELL 5640 16" laptop, 32 GB RAM, i7 cpu, that comes with Linux pre-installed (so I know it's compatible). It ticks all my boxes except the size and the trackpad being off center. Oh well.
On the off chance that you’re still reading responses to this post:
I repair electronics, everything from automotive to industrial to audio to computers and phones. Not just screwdriver work either, bga rework and microscopic trace repair. I’m speaking from years of hands in experience with lots of computers, tablets, phones, amplifiers, plcs, ecus, and anything else you can think of plus countless hours of exercise helping people figure out what to buy, weather to repair, what to change and how a failure happened.
Get the mac.
You are describing the choice as being between the linux support level and the quality of other laptops. One is constantly improving, currently only falling short of your expectations due to requiring the existence of the computers native os and requiring you to maybe compile some stuff, the other begins below your expectations and cannot meet them. No one’s gonna push a free update that fixes the fit and finish or shitty trackpad of a computer.
Get the hardware you need.
Also, macs are secretly extremely repairable. People don’t like that they can’t just get in there and fuck around with a jewelers screwdriver and guitar pick, but it’s easy to find a qualified shop around you to fix whatever’s wrong with the computer. There’s always tons of replacement parts available, first party support docs (for shops that can prove they are real businesses) and third party info of all kinds.
Does it get better?
I've tried switching to Linux from Windows 10 twice now. The first time went wonderfully (on Mint) until I found out that secure boot was stuck in the enabled mode and I had to completely reinstall my bios. This was absolutely necessary as everything was unbelievably slow, especially gaming (on a decent laptop). I understand this is totally my fault as almost every Linux guide says to make sure secure boot is disabled. After fighting with that for literal days, I finally reinstalled Linux mint. WiFi was suddenly completely nonfunctional, no networks were detected, and none of the proposed solutions I saw online worked. I have very little experience with Linux and other complicated tech nerd stuff besides that which comes with tinkering with computers occasionally. I do however have a great deal of patience and stubbornness. I spent maybe a week or 2 just working on this first attempt at making Mint work, until I ran out of patience. After coming back to it a month or 2 later, I decided to try Pop!_OS. Once again, it went incredibly at the start. Because I fixed the secure boot situation, I could now game better than I ever could when I had windows installed. Very few compatibility issues showed up that I couldn't conquer.
Suddenly, I try playing Enter the Gungeon after having already played it a couple of times. Nothing out of the ordinary, I had done this before. Suddenly the entire computer freezes and I can still hear just fine. I restart my computer and... no sound. Nothing from any possible source, not Discord, not Firefox, not even the media I have downloaded. I look up the problem, I see several people have had it before, and only a couple ever got a solution. I try EVERY proposed solution on any forum with even similar issues, and still nothing. I have been fighting with my computer for 3 or 4 hours now.
I've heard Linux praised for feeling like it is *your* computer that is subject to your will. I'd disagree right now, because it feels like there are spirits in my laptop trying to intentionally fuck me over every time I start enjoying the Linux experience.
Does it get better? Am I crazy? Am I haunted? How is this anyone's ideal experience?
edit: I'm on an MSI Thin GF63. Nvidia GPU, Intel CPU. Compatibility seemed fine WHILE this latest attempt was working, up until my sound got fucked. I have a hard time imagining if that could be related to anything besides my sound card and drivers, but I'm nowhere near savvy when it comes to Linux. I'm now installing Bazzite as some of you guys recommended so I can ease myself into this whole Linux thing. I'll give another update if this fixes it :3
edit edit: It's still happening. I can see the "Alder Lake PCH-P high definition audio controller" in my audio config GUI apps and I can see the meter moving when audio is playing. Still, nothing is played. I am not dual-booting. Ive seen people have had issues with this card before, but seemingly the only solution (that I've yet to try) is to buy a whole new laptop. I don't have the money to do that currently. If someone is particularly tech savvy I am willing to hear out proposed solutions, but know that I have tried nearly everything online even remotely related to broken audio on Linux. My computer is haunted and I'll need a proper qualified exorcist it seems.
note: it works with Bluetooth headphones. I haven't had a chance to test it with wired headphones but I will continue to give (near)real-time updates.
I have just seen your edit. I had a similar problem with no audio but meter levels working on my toughbook. Could you start terminal, type alsamixer and turn all the volumes up? Press F6 to swap through sound cards.
For me I had to adjust the headphone volume.
When I first moved to linux I used Mint for a week and then moved to something else. As always by EVERYONE it was suggested to me as a "starter" distro and I really wish people would stop doing that.
I, like you, had issues with it. Sound issues, Wifi issues, GPU issues, and doing personal research and digging the consensus was always "it's an issue with Mint." I was about to go back to Windows 11 cause I was like "none of this linux shit works"
THEN I decided to try a different distro, CachyOS, and suddenly the sound was fixed, the wifi didn't randomly drop out, and my GPU worked flawlessly. I've distro hopped since then and those Mint/Ubuntu issues never came back.
Try something other than Mint. if you still have the issues go back to Windows.
Japanese tourist deported for waving Chinese flag in Taipei
The National Immigration Agency said in a press release it launched an investigation immediately after learning of the video. It confirmed that both individuals involved were Japanese nationals who had entered Taiwan visa-free.
The NIA said the men violated Article 18, Paragraph 1, Clause 13 of the Immigration Act, which bars actions that “endanger the interests of the nation, public safety, or public order.” It ruled the incident required compulsory deportation and follow-up entry control.
Local media reported that one of the men is an online influencer and the other a Japanese-language teacher. Their actions were suspected to be an attempt to boost online traffic and influence among Chinese viewers.
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ likes this.
Is there still any hope for privacy phones? 2025 and beyond
Google has been trying to make Android proprietary for a few years now, and that's not news, as many AOSP default apps have been abandoned over time in favor of proprietary Google ones. This was never a huge problem for me, as you can still use those apps without network access or use open source alternatives like Fossify on a custom ROM.
However, the situation is quickly getting worse, now that Google is actively trying to prevent the development of custom ROMs and taking a page from Apple's book by forcing developers to beg them for permission to release apps on the Android platform, even outside of the Play Store - giving Google full control.
Is there still any hope left for privacy respecting Android ROMs?
What do you think will happen next? And what would be your suggestions for those looking for a phone in 2025?
If you have a different perspective on the situation, also please comment below!
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I think you still can have a Linux phone with GNOME, there's a GNOME version for mobile.
After all, what is a smartphone? Just a convenient computer that can make calls.
Linux + GNOME will do that for you.
This is from 2022 and it looks pretty good to me: blogs.gnome.org/shell-dev/2022…
GNOME Shell on mobile: An update
It’s been a while since the last update on GNOME Shell mobile, but there’s been a huge amount of progress during that time, which culminated in a very successful demo at the Prototype Fund Demo Day...Jonas Dreßler (GNOME Shell & Mutter)
Unbound as DNS resolver on a Linux laptop: tips/experiences?
[Edit: this question came out of my confusion. I thought Unbound could somehow substitute DNS servers (like CloudFlare), but it can't. Apologies for my ignorance.]
I've often heard about Unbound, and the possibility of using it as a DNS resolver on my laptop. So, to be clear, not as a DNS resolver in a local network; just in a single machine, also because I'd like to use it no matter where I bring my laptop.
The instructions given in the second link above seem quite complete. Does anyone here have other tips or experiences to share? I'm with Ubuntu on a Thinkpad.
Cheers!
Selhosted P2P File Transfer & Messaging
IMPORTANT NOTES (PLEASE READ!):
* These are NOT products. They are for testing and demonstration purposes only.
* They have NOT been reviewed or audited. Do NOT use for sensitive data.
* All functionality demonstrated is experimental.
* These are NOT meant to replace robust solutions like VeraCrypt, Simplexchat, Signal, Whatsapp, wetransfer. It's a proof-of-concept to show what's possible with browser APIs.
* Cyber security is full of caveats, so reach out for clarity on any details if they can't be found in the docs.
Aiming to create the worlds most secure messaging app.
positive-intentions.com/docs/p…
- Open Source
- Cross Platform
- PWA
- iOS, Android, Desktop (self compile)
- App store, Play store (coming soon)
- Desktop
- Windows, MacOS, Linux (self compile)
- Run
index.html
on any modern #browser
- Decentralized
- Secure
- No Cookies
- P2P E2EE encrypted
- Forward secrecy
- No registration
- No installing
- Messaging
- Group Messaging (coming soon)
- Text Messaging
- Multimedia Messaging
- Screensharing (on desktop browsers)
- Offline Messaging (in research phase)
- File Transfer
- Video Calls
- Data Ownership
- SelfHosted
- GitHub pages Hosting
- Local-only storage
For more information on "how it works", check out:
positive-intentions.com/blog/d…
(Degoogled links to the apps)
- P2P Chat: chat.positive-intentions.com/
- P2P File: file.positive-intentions.com/
- Encrypted drive storage: dim.positive-intentions.com/?p…
More:
- GitHub: github.com/positive-intentions
- Mastodon: infosec.exchange/@xoron
- Reddit: reddit.com/r/positive_intentio…
Decentralized Microfrontend Architecture
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital communication, decentralization has emerged as a powerful concept with diverse interpretations and applications.xoron (positive-intentions)
its a work in progress and hope to get to a point its comparable to Signal and OnionShare.
for now, the purpose is to present open-source code to demonstrate a concept. like mentioned in the post it isnt ready to replace any existing tools.
Debian, encrypted boot, how to increase password attempts?
Since Debian 13 (Trixie), when using the default FDE which uses grub to decrypt the luks partition, I have a single attempt
When the password is mistyped there is a long pause (over 10 seconds) and then the error appears.
I already tried increasing the max tries, which seems to be set to 1 when a keyfile is used.
The config/script seems to be in /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-top/cryptroot
.
I copied that to /etc/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-top/cryptroot
and replaced the value CRYPTTAB_OPTION_tries=1
with 10 using find/replace (ansible stuff).
I think this has no effect though and doing so (might be a different issue) breaks boot entirely 💀
More info:
- by default when legacy boot (BIOS) is available, Debian will install grub to the MBR. This is where it happens
- when forcing or prioritizing legacy boot and using GPT, debian somehow boots from a 300MB efi partition, the same happens though, one attempt
After you updated the config did you update-initramfs
or update-grub
(I forget which flags might be needed off hand).
Since this is happening pre-boot it isn't reading from /etc
.
Hm, I only ran update-grub
Ran update-initramfs
from the chroot trying to repair it
Found that there is a cleaner way in /etc/default/grub
with grub commandline arguments. But that wants a source=
variable which is weird to me as that hardcodes a drive in there that wasnt there first?
Tbh I will try this on a secondary laptop now, I reinstalled that thing like 5 times now and am a bit traumatized XD
Luckily we have more than enough
AlHouthi4President
in reply to merde alors • • •birdwing
in reply to AlHouthi4President • • •There's no russophobia when that country would want you killed for opposing authoritarianism. Or when that country routinely invades Europe. Or when it shoots down a plane and doesn't apologise nor extradite the criminals who did it (Girkin and Putler).
Or when it opposes your very existence as a person. Or when it infects your people with the disease of far-right hatred. And I could go on. Fuck Putler's Russia.
AlHouthi4President
in reply to birdwing • • •Citations needed
Love to see nato propaganda language on leftist platform ( ゚ー゚)