RRF Caserta. Rassegna stampa del 06 12 25 a cura di Giuseppe Landolfi
Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000 as Israel keeps up attacks despite truce
Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000 as Israel keeps up attacks despite truce
Israeli drone attack kills two Palestinian children in southern Gaza, medics report, as humanitarian crisis deepens.Al Jazeera
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The Ukrainians Stuck in Russia’s New Gulag
Even if a peace can be reached, it won’t be easy to solve the problem of Ukrainian civilians languishing in Russian jails. This is one prisoner’s story.
US Progressives Accuse Trump of Interfering in Honduran Elections
The US Congressional Progressive Caucus on Friday accused President Donald Trump of “flagrantly interfering” in Honduras’ upcoming presidential election after Trump announced his endorsement of right-wing candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura and repeated threats he’s made previously ahead of other electoral contests in which he sought to secure a conservative win.On the social media platform X, Trump warned that only a victory for former Tegucigalpa Mayor Asfura and the National Party in Sunday’s election will allow Honduras and the US to “fight the Narcocommunists, and bring needed aid to the people” of the Central American country.
US Progressives Accuse Trump of Interfering in Honduran Elections
Trump endorsed right-wing presidential candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura and smeared his progressive opponent Rixi Moncada.Julia Conley (Truthout)
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Thank god he won't be in power for our next elections.
He won't be, right, America? *nervous laughter*
He doesn't matter, per se, it's the entire party and anyone that supports it.
And they aren't going anywhere and 93% of the opposing side has no gusto or passion to truly fight back. They think taking the high road will work. They think voter turnout will work. They think bumper stickers and signs will work.
Announcing Timeship v0.1.0: Self-hosted ZFS snapshot browser for TrueNAS
Hi everyone!
I've recently set up a NAS running TrueNAS Scale and learning about ZFS and associated machinery. ZFS has a pretty cool feature called snapshots, which allow for a kind of version control, but for the whole file system. I set up , which seem to be working great!
To my surprise, there didn't seem to be an easy way to actually browse these snapshots. Yes, you can use "Previous Versions" on Windows, but I'm running Fedora at the moment, so that doesn't help. You can also access .zfs/snapshot/ at the root of the dataset, which is fine if you know exactly which snapshot you want, otherwise it seems a bit clunky. There is also httm, which is a "CLI Time Machine" I've yet to learn more about, but I was looking for something a bit more graphical / browser-based.
Thus, with much hacking and vibing, the proof-of-concept Timeship was born! It has a thousand limitations and compromises for now, so I'm mostly reaching out to see if there is any interest from others on this.
If you use tiered snapshots which happen to be named similar to mine, you can try it out like this:
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v /mnt/tank/your/dataset:/mnt/:ro ghcr.io/smilyorg/timeship
For now, it has a very simple file browser, it detects and shows snapshots via the aforementioned .zfs/snapshot/ directories, allows you to preview the file system and text files at different points in time, and allows you to download a file at any snapshot.
Of course, extending it to support different ways to see the history would be nice, image preview, diffs, downloading archives of multiple files or directories, supporting histories beyond ZFS (e.g. git or borg backups), the list could go on and on. I can't claim I'll have the time to implement any or all of those, but you gotta start somewhere 😀
What do you think? Any ideas & comments very welcome!
GitHub - SmilyOrg/timeship: Self-hosted ZFS snapshot file browser
Self-hosted ZFS snapshot file browser. Contribute to SmilyOrg/timeship development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
Why Hong Kong’s latest fire is so deadly—and not the city’s first
cross-posted from: mander.xyz/post/42719582
Web archive linkAt least 128 people have died in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest-ever blazes that broke out Wednesday and devastated a multi-block housing estate.
...
But Hong Kong has been the site of many significant fires in the past, which, like the Wang Fuk Court incident, have had various specific causes, but have also often shared some factors that contributed to their deadliness.
...Density
Hong Kong ... is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with 6,900 residents per sq km. Many buildings are built close to each other, especially in Hong Kong Island and neighboring Kowloon, making it easy for fires to spread.
However, the city also owes much of its high population density to the prevalence of subdivided flats—small cut rooms, sometimes resembling animal cages—where residents can cram and reside in for a fraction of the cost of a standard Hong Kong flat.
In April 2024, a fire involving a 60-year-old tenement block in Yau Ma Tei in the Kowloon area left five people dead and dozens injured. In an op-ed at the time about the risks associated with these homes, the South China Morning Post explained that, while a cigarette may have caused the fire, firefighters said subdivided units and “structural alterations” in the building complicated rescue efforts.
Thirteen years earlier, a fire in Mong Kok, also in the Kowloon area, left nine dead, 34 injured, and more than a hundred people homeless. Authorities then pointed out that the danger was exacerbated by the subdivided flats cutting off points of access for the building.
**Economic struggle **
Hong Kong is also among the most expensive places to live globally, and both individuals and businesses in the Chinese enclave often seek cost-cutting shortcuts that, in the case of fires, have proven immensely costly in the end.
Subdivided flats are a response to an expensive housing market, and many residents have foregone safety requirements for the sake of having a place to live.
Fireproofing is also expensive. In the 2024 Yau Ma Tei fire, the building’s owners reportedly encountered difficulties in raising funds to comply with fire safety guidelines, with a district councillor noting that “the increasingly high cost of upgrading fire prevention facilities and equipment, especially in the bidding process, had not helped,” according to SCMP.
Bamboo scaffolding, which has been linked to the latest conflagration’s devastation, is also known as a cheap alternative for construction businesses despite the city’s Development Bureau pushing to “drive a wider adoption of metal scaffolds in public building works progressively,” with a bureau official citing bamboo’s “intrinsic weaknesses such as variation in mechanical properties, deterioration over time and high combustibility, etc, giving rise to safety concerns.”
...
Lax enforcement
Politicians in the city have flagged that many of the city’s buildings are rapidly aging and in need of better fireproofing.
But previous fires have shown that compliance with government orders has been poor. In the 2024 Yau Ma Tei fire, the city’s Buildings Department already issued fire safety orders to the owners of the block in question in 2008—including calling for them to replace fire doors and outfit the building with more fire-resistant material. But SCMP reported that despite the department’s follow-up, the order had not been followed ...
Latest government data show that more than 8,600 fire hazard abatement notices have been issued in Hong Kong as of January, following inspections of old, high-risk buildings. More than 300 of these notices involved prosecutions or convictions.
...
Why Hong Kong’s Latest Fire Is So Deadly—and Not the City’s First
Dozens have died in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest fires ever, but a number of factors have made the Chinese enclave susceptible to such tragedies.Chad de Guzman (Time)
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I'm so frustrated that this article, and many other sources - including news programs, are not talking about the lack of alarms in the buildings. I agree that the materials and density were terrible and created a catastrophic situation for the structures, but the lack of alarms to alert residents is absolutely ridiculous and is what made this such a huge tragedy for the people who died.
If the buildings' alarms aren't working, then they should be on "fire watch" with 24/7 personnel ready to alert people on every floor where the alarm isn't working. Does that cost too much? Then fix the fucking alarms as a top priority. This is especially true when there are no automatic sprinklers, which sounds like is often the case in Hong Kong.
There are reports that people were getting calls from their friends and relatives and that's how they learned about the fire. People were waking up to the smell of smoke without an alarm going off. WTF. That's so far beyond acceptable, I don't know what else to say.
I travel a lot and I always bring my own smoke and CO detector with me. This is an example of why.
Just read a [BBC article]https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8e5j20g27o():
... Several residents have revealed in interviews that the fire alarm did not sound when the fire broke out. Authorities said on Friday that they had checked the fire alarms in all eight blocks and found that they were not working properly ...
Reminder, you can subscribe/comment/like Peertube channels from PieFed
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Peru to declare state of emergency to block Chile border crossings
Peru to declare state of emergency to block Chile border crossings
The announcement comes as undocumented people flee neighbouring Chile in anticipation of an immigration crackdown.Joseph Stepansky (Al Jazeera)
Gatekeeper: The first open-source DDoS protection system. Has anyone tried mass hosting this as a group?
cross-posted from: discuss.online/post/31326102
Since it is not designed for individual selfhosters, I'm wondering if any groups are actively attempting to run it together? Idea sounds cool, but I'm wondering about practical execution.
GitHub - AltraMayor/gatekeeper: The first open-source DDoS protection system
The first open-source DDoS protection system. Contribute to AltraMayor/gatekeeper development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
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Germany’s far-right AfD sets up youth wing, drawing thousands of demonstrators
Thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday in the central German city of Giessen for the launch of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s new youth organisation. The meeting was delayed as some AfD supporters clashed with police.
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Trump’s $2 Trillion Plan to Cash in on Ukraine ‘Peace’ Leaks
Trump’s $2 Trillion Plan to Cash in on Ukraine ‘Peace’ Leaks
A Wall Street Journal report details how profit is at the center of Trump’s “peace” talks.Adam Downer (The Daily Beast)
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Deja vi
We've been exactly here before and nothing happened
This won't happen either. The Cheeto will be buried by the trump/Epstein files soon enough
Upvoting for hope. 👍
Rebellions are built on hope.
Trump says airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety
Trump says airspace above and surrounding Venezuela to be closed in its entirety
President Trump's latest comment marks another escalation in U.S.-Venezuela relations.Reuters (CNBC)
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Hong Kong begins three days of mourning after deadly apartment fires
Families are combing hospitals hoping to find their loved ones as about 200 people still listed as missing, and at least 128 killed
An outpouring of grief was set to sweep Hong Kong on Saturday as an official, three-day mourning period began with a moment of silence for the 128 people killed in one of the city’s deadliest fires.
City leader John Lee, along with senior ministers and dozens of top civil servants, stood in silence for three minutes on Saturday morning outside the government headquarters, where the flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half-mast.
Hours before that, citizens placed flowers near the charred shell of Wang Fuk Court, the residential complex that burned for more than 40 hours.
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The cloud is just someone else's computer, but the internet is just someone else's network
Self hosting helps make the internet more decentralized, but at the end of the day someone else owns that series of tubes.
This is probably a pipe dream, but I think it would be cool if we self hosted not just servers but networking infrastructure as well.
I have an extra class amateur radio license and one of the many niches within the ham radio hobby I'm interested in is packet radio and wireless mesh networking.
Packet radio could technically refer to any RF communication that uses packets, including wifi, but I mostly see it used to refer to the AX.25 protocol, which works like an old-school dial-up modem in that it converts data into audio tones that are transmitted using FM or single sideband radios built for voice communication. AX.25 is used mostly nowadays in Amateur Packet Reporting System (APRS) which is used to report location and status info. There's a website, aprs.fi, where you can track vehicles sending their location or weather stations reporting conditions and so on.
In the olden days there were tons of bulletin boards hosted over AX.25 all over the globe that you could reach either directly or through repeaters. There are a few hangers on, and I even hosted one for a while but nobody visited. You could by hardware terminal node controllers (TNCs) that had a BBS feature, and nowadays there are a few software TNCs available.
Several Wifi frequency bands overlap with ham bands, and various projects have arisen that modify commercial wifi gear to turn them into mesh nodes forming a wireless wide area network, operating under FCC part 97 rules rather than the unlicensed part 15 rules that they use out of the box. This allows higher power and channels otherwise off limits to wifi stations. The project I'm most familiar with is Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) which uses a fork of openWRT firmware. I've tried a couple times to get the other hams in my area interested in setting up a network, but it's slow going.
There are also ham-adjacent projects like Meshtastic that I'm not as familiar with.
This barely scratches the surface of what's out there. The ham bands are explicitly non commercial and there are limits on what you can transmit and how much bandwidth you can use, but I dream of a day when everyone's wifi router meshes with all the other routers in the neighborhood which is connected to all the other neighborhoods in the city which is connected via repeaters to all the other cities and so on. Sure it would be slow, but we'd be communicating on our own system that only costs as much as the hardware you run it on.
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I’m subscribing to self hosted and following you. I don’t have the tech background to sign up to assist at this point, but I do see a world where this will be the only way to send messages digitally — something like what you have described.
The corporations in their consolidation will absolutely break the internet. We have to have community originated back ups of something.
Airbus issues major A320 recall after mid-air incident grounds planes, disrupting global travel
Immediate software change on ‘significant number’ of jets to result in disruption to half the worldwide fleet
Airlines around the world cancelled and delayed flights heading into the weekend after Airbus announced on Friday that it had ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 of its A320 family of jets in a recall affecting more than half of the global fleet.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which is the main certifying authority for A320 aircraft, issued the instruction on Friday night as a precautionary action, saying that “safety is paramount”.
The US Federal Aviation Administration also issued an emergency airworthiness directive for certain Airbus planes, requiring the aircraft to replace or modify specific software.
The fix mainly involves reverting to earlier software and is relatively simple, but must be carried out before the planes can fly again, according to the bulletin to airlines seen by Reuters.
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Ukrainian soldiers see Trump plan as capitulation, even as they dream of peace
"Nobody will make concessions on the territories, because it’s our land and we stand here," one soldier told NBC News about the proposal's call for Ukraine to cede land to Russia.
From his position on the eastern front lines, the original peace plan backed by Donald Trump looked more like a proposal for Volodymyr Rzhavskyi’s surrender.
“It’s not a plan. It’s a real capitulation. There is nothing to discuss here,” said Rzhavskyi, a senior sergeant serving near Pokrovsk, a supply hub under intense pressure from Russian forces for some 18 months.
While Ukrainian officials fought for changes to the 28-point plan that emerged last week, NBC News spoke with soldiers in the country’s embattled military who expressed frustration at the idea Moscow would be handed its hard-line demands but also hope that they might soon be able to return to their lives.
Ukrainian soldiers see Trump plan as capitulation, even as they dream of peace
KYIV, Ukraine — From his position on the eastern front lines, the original peace plan backed by President Donald Trump looked more like a proposal for Volodymyr Rzhavskyi’s surrender.“It’s not a plan.Daryna Mayer (NBC News)
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Votre médecin sur TikTok est-il réel ? Le nouveau visage effrayant de l’arnaque aux compléments alimentaires
Imaginez la scène , vous faites défiler votre fil d’actualité sur TikTok ou Facebook et vous tombez sur une vidéo d’un médecin respecté. Il porte peut-être une blouse blanche, s’exprime devant un pupitre officiel ou semble donner une interview sérieuse. Il regarde la caméra et vous explique avec autorité que pour soigner vos symptômes de la ménopause, vous devez absolument acheter un nouveau supplément miracle. Vous faites confiance à la blouse blanche, vous faites confiance à l’expert. Pourtant, tout ceci n’est qu’une illusion numérique.
Une enquête récente et alarmante menée par l’organisation de vérification des faits Full Fact a révélé une tendance inquiétante qui envahit nos réseaux sociaux, l’utilisation de l’intelligence artificielle pour voler l’image et la voix de médecins réels afin de vendre des produits de santé douteux. Ce n’est plus de la science-fiction, c’est une réalité commerciale agressive qui cible les personnes vulnérables en quête de solutions médicales.
La mécanique du mensonge numérique
Le mode opératoire découvert par les enquêteurs est aussi simple qu’efficace. Les fraudeurs récupèrent des vidéos réelles de conférences médicales, d’interviews télévisées ou d’audiences parlementaires disponibles sur Internet. Grâce à des technologies de plus en plus accessibles, ils manipulent ensuite les mouvements des lèvres et clonent la voix de l’intervenant. Le résultat est un « deepfake », ou hypertrucage, où un expert reconnu semble prononcer des mots qu’il n’a jamais dits.
Dans le cas précis révélé par Full Fact, des centaines de vidéos ont été identifiées. Elles mettent en scène des versions clonées de médecins et d’influenceurs dirigeant les spectateurs vers Wellness Nest, une entreprise de suppléments basée aux États-Unis. Ces faux médecins encouragent vivement les femmes traversant la ménopause à se procurer des probiotiques, du shilajit de l’Himalaya ou d’autres extraits de plantes sur le site de l’entreprise. Léo Benedictus, l’enquêteur derrière ces révélations, qualifie cette tactique de sinistre et inquiétante, car elle exploite la crédibilité d’experts ayant une grande audience pour valider des traitements non prouvés.
Le cas surréaliste du Professeur Taylor-Robinson
Pour comprendre l’impact personnel et professionnel de ces arnaques, il faut se pencher sur l’histoire du professeur David Taylor-Robinson, expert en inégalités de santé à l’université de Liverpool. Ce spécialiste, dont le travail se concentre principalement sur la santé des enfants, a eu le choc de découvrir qu’il était devenu, à son insu, le visage d’une campagne marketing pour la ménopause sur TikTok. Au mois d’août, quatorze vidéos manipulées circulaient sur la plateforme, le montrant en train de recommander des produits aux bénéfices non prouvés. L’absurdité de la situation a atteint son paroxysme dans une vidéo où son clone numérique évoquait un prétendu effet secondaire de la ménopause appelé « jambe thermomètre ». Le faux professeur conseillait alors l’achat d’un probiotique naturel contenant du curcuma et de l’actée à grappes noires pour soulager ces symptômes fictifs, ajoutant même des témoignages inventés de collègues féminines.
La réalité derrière ces images est tout autre. Les séquences originales provenaient d’une conférence sur la vaccination donnée en 2017 et d’une audition parlementaire sur la pauvreté infantile en mai dernier. Pire encore, certaines vidéos allaient jusqu’à faire tenir au professeur des propos misogynes et vulgaires. Si ses enfants ont d’abord trouvé la situation hilarante, le professeur Taylor-Robinson a rapidement déchanté face à la difficulté de faire retirer ces contenus. Il décrit un sentiment croissant d’irritation à l’idée que des escrocs profitent de son travail pour propager de la désinformation médicale.
Une modération dépassée par les événements
La réponse des plateformes sociales face à ce fléau soulève de nombreuses questions sur leur capacité à nous protéger. Il a fallu six semaines et de multiples plaintes pour que TikTok retire enfin les vidéos du professeur Taylor-Robinson. La plateforme a affirmé au début que certaines vidéos ne violaient pas ses règles, une réponse jugée absurde par le médecin, étant donné qu’il s’agissait intégralement de faux le mettant en scène sans son consentement.
Ce problème ne se limite pas à un seul médecin. Duncan Selbie, ancien directeur général de Public Health England, a également été ciblé. Huit deepfakes le montrant en train de parler de ménopause ont été découverts sur TikTok, utilisant les mêmes images de l’événement de 2017 que celles de Taylor-Robinson. Selbie a qualifié l’imitation de stupéfiante de réalisme, soulignant que c’est un faux intégral du début à la fin, mais suffisamment convaincant pour tromper un public inattentif. D’autres figures médicales britanniques de premier plan ont également vu leur image détournée sur X, Facebook et YouTube.
La défense de l’industrie et l’appel à la régulation
Face aux accusations, la société Wellness Nest a adopté une ligne de défense classique dans le monde du marketing numérique opaque. L’entreprise a déclaré à Full Fact que ces vidéos étaient totalement indépendantes de leur volonté, affirmant n’avoir jamais utilisé de contenu généré par l’IA. Elle rejette la faute sur des affiliés à travers le monde qu’elle ne peut ni contrôler ni surveiller. C’est une excuse commode qui met en lumière les zones grises du marketing d’affiliation, où des tiers peuvent utiliser des méthodes sans scrupules pour générer des ventes et toucher des commissions, tout en permettant à la marque principale de nier toute responsabilité directe.
Cette situation a provoqué une levée de boucliers politique. Helen Morgan, porte-parole santé des Libéraux-Démocrates au Royaume-Uni, a vivement réagi en soulignant le danger que représente l’IA lorsqu’elle est utilisée pour exploiter les failles du système de santé. Elle pose une question fondamentale, si un individu se faisait passer pour un médecin dans la vie réelle pour vendre des médicaments, il serait poursuivi pénalement. Pourquoi tolérons-nous l’équivalent numérique ? Elle appelle à ce que les deepfakes se faisant passer pour des professionnels de santé soient éradiqués et que ceux qui profitent de la désinformation médicale soient tenus criminellement responsables.
Que pouvons-nous faire ?
TikTok a déclaré avoir supprimé le contenu incriminé et continuer d’investir dans de nouvelles méthodes de détection. Ils admettent cependant que le contenu généré par l’IA est un défi pour l’ensemble de l’industrie. En tant qu’utilisateurs, la vigilance est notre meilleure arme. Si vous voyez un médecin célèbre recommander un produit miracle sur une vidéo aux mouvements de lèvres légèrement décalés ou avec une intonation monotone, méfiez-vous. Vérifiez toujours les sources officielles et rappelez-vous que si un remède semble trop beau pour être vrai, c’est probablement parce qu’il n’existe pas. L’ère de la désinformation médicale assistée par l’IA ne fait que commencer et notre esprit critique est la seule barrière restante.
AI deepfakes of real doctors spreading health misinformation on social media
Hundreds of videos on TikTok and elsewhere impersonate experts to sell supplements with unproven effectsDenis Campbell (The Guardian)
Using of KI Pictures with perchance.org.
Convincing evidence Israel backed aid convoy looters in Gaza, historian says
A historian who spent more than a month in Gaza at the turn of the year says he saw “utterly convincing” evidence that Israel supported looters who attacked aid convoys during the conflict.
Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, entered Gaza in December where he was hosted by an international humanitarian organisation in the southern coastal zone of al-Mawasi.
Israel has blocked international media and other independent observers from Gaza but Filiu was able to evade strict Israeli vetting. He eventually left the territory shortly after the second short-lived truce during the war came into effect in January. His eyewitness account, A Historian in Gaza, was published in French in May and in English this month.
In the book, Filiu describes Israeli military attacks on security personnel protecting aid convoys. These permitted looters to seize huge quantities of food and other supplies destined for desperately needy Palestinians, he writes. Famine threatened parts of Gaza at the time, according to international humanitarian agencies.
Convincing evidence Israel backed aid convoy looters in Gaza, historian says
Account of visit to Gaza by French professor describes Israeli military attacks on security personnel protecting convoysJason Burke (The Guardian)
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The entirety of the evidence is the account of the historian Filiu.
“The [Israeli] rationale [was] to discredit Hamas and the UN at that time … and to allow [Israel’s] clients, the looters, to either redistribute the aid to expand their own support networks or to make money out of reselling it in order to get some cash and so not depend exclusively on Israeli financial support,” Filiu said.
That's pretty powerful to have an eye witness able to testify directly about Israel's rationale.
Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
Vast swathes of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, a new analysis using two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of the UK.
Scientists at University College London (UCL), working with Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, analysed 2002–24 data from satellites, which track changes in Earth’s gravitational field.
Because water is heavy, shifts in groundwater, rivers, lakes, soil moisture and glaciers show up in the signal, allowing the satellites to effectively “weigh” how much water is stored.
The findings reveal a stark imbalance: the north and north-west of Europe – particularly Scandinavia, parts of the UK and Portugal – have been getting wetter, while large swathes of the south and south-east, including parts of the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Romania and Ukraine, have been drying out.
Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implicationsRachel Salvidge (The Guardian)
Thousands of protesters gather as German far-right party sets up new youth organization
cross-posted from: lemmy.today/post/42655760
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in the western German city of Giessen on Saturday as the far-right Alternative for Germany’s new youth organization was set to kick off its founding convention.Groups of protesters blocked or tried to block roads in and around the city of some 93,000 people in the early morning. Police said they used pepper spray after stones were thrown at officers at one location.
The new youth organization of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is to be set up in a meeting at Giessen’s convention center. Its predecessor, the Young Alternative — a largely autonomous group with relatively loose links to the party — was dissolved at the end of March after AfD decided to formally cut ties with it.
More in the article.
The week Europe realised it stands alone against Russian expansionism
The week Europe realised it stands alone against Russian expansionism
Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, but many heard death knell sounded for European reliance on US protectionPatrick Wintour (The Guardian)
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Why China Can’t Sort Out Its Property Market Mess
cross-posted from: mander.xyz/post/42696039
Web archive linkOnce one of the country’s biggest growth drivers, China’s property market has been in a downward spiral for four years with no signs of abating. Real estate values continue to plummet, households in financial distress are being forced to sell properties, and apartment developers that racked up enormous debt on speculative projects are on the brink of collapse.
There was some optimism that government measures to end the crisis had been working to reinvigorate the market, but in March, government-linked developer China Vanke Co. reported a record 49.5 billion yuan ($6.8 billion) annual loss for 2024, showing just how deep the problems run. Then in August, property giant China Evergrande Group delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange — making the shares effectively worthless — marking a grim milestone for the nation’s property sector.
China is now considering further measures to revive its struggling property sector, particularly after new and resale homes recorded their steepest price declines in at least a year in October. The slump has heightened concerns that further weakening could destabilize the country’s financial system.
...
Evergrande’s downfall is by far the biggest in a crisis that dragged down China’s economic growth and led to a record number of distressed builders.
Founded in 1996 by Hui Ka Yan, Evergrande’s rapid expansion was from the outset fueled by heavy borrowing. It became the most indebted borrower among its peers, with total liabilities reaching about $360 billion at the end of 2021. For a time it was the country’s biggest developer by contracted sales and was worth more than $50 billion in 2017 at its peak. Founder and chairman Hui became Asia’s second-richest person. Over the years the company also invested in the electric vehicle industry and bought a local football club....
How did some Chinese developers get into this mess?
In 1998, China created a nationwide housing market after tightly restricting private sales for decades. Back then, only a third of its people lived in towns and cities. That’s risen to two-thirds, with the urban population expanding by 480 million. The exodus from the countryside represented a vast commercial opportunity for construction firms and developers.
Money flooded into real estate as the emerging middle class leapt upon what was one of the few safe investments available, pushing home prices up sixfold over the 15 years ending in 2022. Local and regional authorities, which rely on sales of public land for a chunk of their revenue, encouraged the development boom. At its peak, the sector directly and indirectly accounted for about a quarter of domestic output and almost 80% of household assets. Estimates vary, but counting new and existing homes, plus inventory, the sector was worth about $52 trillion in 2019 — about twice the size of the US real estate market.
The property craze was powered by debt as builders rushed to satisfy expected future demand. The boom encouraged speculative buying, with new homes pre-sold by developers who turned increasingly to foreign investors for funds. Opaque liabilities made it hard to assess credit risks. The speculation led to astronomical prices, with homes in boom cities such as Shenzhen becoming less affordable relative to local incomes than those in London or New York. In response, the government moved in 2020 to reduce the risk of a bubble and temper the inequality that unaffordable housing can create.
Anxious to rein in the industry’s debts and fearful that serial defaults could ravage China’s financial system, officials began to squeeze new financing for developers and asked banks to slow the pace of mortgage lending. The government imposed stringent rules on debt ratios and cash holdings for developers that were called the “three red lines” by state-run media. The measures sparked a cash crunch for developers that was exacerbated by the impact of aggressive measures to contain Covid-19, such as the suspension of construction sites.
Many developers were unable to adhere to the new rules as their finances were already stretched. In 2021, Evergrande defaulted on more than $300 billion, triggering the beginning of China’s property crisis. Two more property giants defaulted — Sunac China Holdings Ltd in 2022 and Country Garden Holdings Co. in 2023.
...
With household debt at a high of 145% of disposable income per capita at the end of 2023, homeowners are increasingly under financial pressure. The country’s residential mortgage delinquency ratio – which tracks overdue mortgage payments – jumped to the highest in four years as of late 2023. Some homeowners are being forced to sell their properties at a discounted rate, which is only exacerbating the problem.
...
Chinese banks’ bad debt — loans they no longer expect to recover — hit a record 3.5 trillion yuan ($492 billion) at the end of September. Fitch Ratings has warned the situation could deteriorate further in 2026 as households struggle to repay mortgages and other loans.
A prolonged property slump could also deepen deflationary pressures. Former finance minister Lou Jiwei recently warned that households’ worsening outlook — driven by falling home values — will affect consumption levels and intensify price declines.
According to economists at Morgan Stanley and Beijing-based think tank CF40, the property sector’s drag on inflation could even be greater than official data suggest. They argue that the methodology used to determine China’s official Consumer Price Index understates falling rents, and, by extension, the broader deflationary impact.
‘I didn’t even know this type of attack existed’: more than 200 women allege drugging by senior French civil servant
When Sylvie Delezenne, a marketing expert from Lille, was job-hunting in 2015, she was delighted to be contacted on LinkedIn by a human resources manager at the French culture ministry, inviting her to Paris for an interview.
But instead of finding a job, Delezenne, 45, is now one of more than 240 women at the centre of a criminal investigation into the alleged drugging of women without their knowledge in a place they never expected to be targeted: a job interview.
An investigating judge is examining allegations that, over a nine-year period, dozens of women interviewed for jobs by a senior civil servant, Christian Nègre, were offered coffees or teas by him that had been mixed with a powerful and illegal diuretic, which he knew would make them need to urinate.
Nègre often suggested continuing the interviews outside, on lengthy strolls far from toilets, the women say. Many of the women recall struggling with the need to go to the toilet and feeling increasingly ill. Some, in desperation, say they urinated in public, or didn’t reach a bathroom in time, wetting their clothes. Some felt a sense of shame and failure that has had an impact on their lives, they say.
The alleged assaults came to light in 2018, after a colleague reported Nègre allegedly attempting to photograph the legs of a senior official, prompting police to open an investigation. Officers found a computer spreadsheet titled “Experiments”, where he had allegedly noted the times of druggings and the women’s reactions.
‘I didn’t even know this type of attack existed’: more than 200 women allege drugging by senior French civil servant
In a case echoing the Pelicot trial, dozens of women allege they were given hot drinks mixed with a diuretic to make them urinate. Three of them speak out hereAngelique Chrisafis (The Guardian)
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she was led around the Tuileries gardens answering questions for a long time, with the entire interview process lasting several hours.
Even if you hadn't been drugged with a diuretic, this would be hard.
The CGT culture trade union said: “[...] there is a systemic problem, which enabled a senior civil servant to act like this for a decade.” The union said other staff had previously made allegations against him, accusing him of taking pictures of women’s legs in meetings.
It always starts small, as they see what they can get away with. They knew there was some kind of problem with him, yet they let him continue for over a decade.
women in the job interview drugging investigation said their case was taking too many years to come to trial, only increasing their trauma. “Six years later, we’re still waiting for a trial [...] For us, it feels like we’re being victimised a second time.”
And now it's been another six years for these women, waiting for any kind of justice. If I'd spent sixteen years waiting, I'd be angry too.
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La Libertaria, un esempio di anticapitalismo militante
Indice dei contenuti
Toggle
- Un piacevole incontro
- La torrefazione
- Il progetto
- Cooperativa di produzione e lavoro
- Il prefinanziamento
- Conclusioni
Un piacevole incontro
Il luogo in cui sorge la torrefazioneLa Libertaria è uno dei miei preferiti di Lecco. Sotto lo sguardo verde del Monte Barro e alla destra sud dell’Adda è un posto in cui l’architettura modernista e spesso raffazzonata dell’altra sponda della città lascia il posto a scorci più respirabili e più umani. Il ponte in ferro – con tutto l’ecocidio e il rifornimento all’industria bellica che questo minerale strappato alla terra ha rappresentato e rappresenta storicamente per la città – si interrompe qui con un muro. Un muro che non riesce a nascondere l’ipocrisia di un progresso aggressivo dal quale la società degli animali umani e non umani ha sempre più urgenza di staccarsi per recuperare il rapporto con la sua identità ancestrale e mutualistica.
La torrefazione
Una bellezza apparentemente semplice, mi accoglie all’interno della torrefazione. Inebriante profumo di caffè tostato, sacchi di juta, la macchina guardata con quel rispetto e quella cura che la elevano dall’asettico ruolo di mezzo di produzione. Quell’atmosfera sospesa — un po’ officina, un po’ laboratorio politico con meravigliose stampe alle pareti — che suggerisce che lì il lavoro è un pretesto, e che le vere materie prime sono dignità, resistenza e la coltivazione di un altro mondo; un mondo che contenga molti mondi.
Riccardo si presenta senza formalità. Toni e movimenti pacati, cosi differenti dai commerciali che promettono mondi. Nessuna ansia da prestazione. Non c’è nulla da dimostrare, nessuna impressione da fare. Sono artigiani, ma soprattutto cooperatori. Il caffè è il modo che hanno scelto per restare liberi.
Il progetto
Mentre inizia a parlare, Riccardo misura con precisione i chicchi della qualità “Sumatra” e seleziona la temperatura corretta della macchina per offrirmi una buona tazza di caffè. Dietro il bilancino noto un immagine con gli occhi di Errico Malatesta e un ammonimento fermo e gentile. Mi fa ripensare a Proudhon e al disvelamento etimologico della parola anarchia. Il progetto “La Libertaria” nasce infatti nel 2021 come evoluzione e recupero dei principi che erano già stati del “Caffè Malatesta”. Il bisogno di poter fare senza potere, senza padroni, senza quell’idea tossica che produttività significhi sacrificio umano. Anzi; esattamente il contrario.
Cooperativa di produzione e lavoro
Per questo motivo hanno scelto di associarsi in una cooperativa di produzione e lavoro nella quale gli stessi soci lavorano all’interno.
“Abbiamo scelto di organizzarci come cooperativa di produzione e lavoro, una forma che istituisce, seppur parzialmente, una proprietà collettiva indipendente dalla partecipazione dei singoli e che può garantire un equo riconoscimento del ruolo svolto da tutte le persone coinvolte nel progetto. Per evitare la formazione di dinamiche verticistiche e autoritarie, prevediamo che tutti i lavoratori si assumano pari responsabilità nella gestione della cooperativa diventando soci della stessa.” (dal sito)
Una scelta coerente con i principi ma ricca di difficoltà soprattutto per quanto riguarda l’inquadramento burocratico, come mi spiega un altro dei soci della cooperativa.
Il prefinanziamento
Le origini del caffè torrefatto presso la libertaria sono un viaggio intorno al mondo. Spiccano le collaborazioni con la Red ProZapa e la Roasters United. Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Uganda ed Etiopia. In tutti i casi si tratta di piccoli produttori e si privilegia il rapporto diretto nell’obiettivo comune di difendere i territori dal disastro climatico provocato dal sistema capitalista.
Il rapporto con i produttori fornitori è politico. Si basa infatti sulla pratica fiduciaria del prefinanziamento del caffè verde, che garantisce un anticipo sui ricavi del prodotto esportato prima del raccolto. Personamente ritengo questo principio fondamentale per far convergere l’idea con la pratica. Garantire un prezzo superiore a quello di mercato e prefinanziarlo, è l’assoluto contrario della parossistica ricerca del prezzo più basso; tipica del capitalismo. Si tratta di una pratica culturale che rappresenta un messaggio pedagogico chiaro rivolto ai consumatori. Decenni di discount e prezzi più bassi hanno solo creato un doppio ricatto che ha reso tutti più poveri, in diritti e salari reali. Prefinanziare il lavoro significa dare valore alle persone. Significa coltivare libertà, una tazzina alla volta.
Conclusioni
La libertaria è una realtà calata nel territorio e il suo esempio si innesta perfettamente nella resistenza di una città che sta prendendo sempre maggiore consapevolezza. Nonostante Lecco sia una provincia pesantemente interessata dal progresso distruttivo dell’industria bellica, c’è chi dice no e pratica proattivamente una visione altra. Movimenti culturali e pratiche di anticapitalismo militante si stanno espandendo portando un respiro e una cultura internazionalista, antispecista e transfemminista. Penso a realtà storiche come Il Galeone, l’Arrotino e ai più recenti la tassa degenere, la brigata di solidarietà Francesca Ciceri o all’assemblea permanente contro le guerre. Esempi tangibili in grado di fare rete e dimostrare che si può recuperare un mondo mutualista e giusto.
#caffe #lecco #libertaria #malatesta #mutualismo #zapatisti
La Libertaria, un esempio di anticapitalismo militante
La Libertaria, un esempio di anticapitalismo militante. Il bisogno di poter fare senza potere, senza padroni, senza produttività tossicaDaniele Fiorenza (Magozine.it)
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Keep these Stupid American Trucks out of Europe
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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Palestinian Embassy in London accuses UK of failing to protect its diplomats
Photos shared by the mission show demonstrators waving 'Israeli' and UK flags outside the building over the weekend, with several seen climbing the entrance steps and posing for pictures.
The images also captured stickers plastered across the embassy façade, including slogans such as “Anti-Zionism is racism,” “I love the Israeli army,” and “We are not Jews with trembling knees.” One sticker displayed a Union Jack merged with the Star of David.
The embassy says incidents targeting the mission have intensified since 'Israel' launched its war on Gaza, with diplomats reporting smashed windows, paint attacks, and groups attempting to barricade the entrance, all while staff were inside.
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, states are obligated to safeguard foreign missions from intrusion, damage, or disruption.
Palestinian Embassy in London accuses UK of failing to protect its diplomats
Pro-'Israeli' crowd in front of the Palestinian Embassy in the UK (Credit: @PalMissionUK via X)Roya News
Formation Activisme
Formation désobéissance civile non-violente 🔥
Au menu : discussion sur les actions non violentes, techniques de blocages, organisation de coordo d'actions, incidences juridiques (arrestation, garde à vue,...)Merci de vous inscrire, pour logistique, via ce formulaire : Formulaire - mer. 3 décembre 2025
Repas : chacun·e apporte quelque chose à manger, des couverts. Sur place : frigo, micro-onde, ... On partage
Bar sur place (Bière pression, boissons, vin, soft...).
Lieu : La Base 15 rue chaptal , Montpellier Tram L3 St Denis L4 Observatoire, L2-L1 Gare St Roch
Restez en ligne pour la confirmation de la formation, un nombre minimum de participant·e·s est requis. Prévoir des vêtements confortables (on va finir par s'assoir par terre)
Something to Think About this month
As well as everything else, each month I offer you something to think about and get the brain working. This month …
When a spider sits motionless in its web all day, what is it thinking?
#blog #logic #thoughts #zenmischief
RRF Caserta. Sport. Mondiali. F1. Napoli Juve . Sinner 06 12 25
The Sensory Biology of Plants
Sensory Biology of Plants
An edited book explaining plant communications via biochemical and molecular signaling. Plants have developed precise systems and mechanisms for sensing environmental changes, growth stimuli, counter pests and diseases and have learnt to communicate …SpringerLink
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And house plants would be chit chatting and making all kinds of noise inaudible to us, kinda like WiFi, but with sound instead of light. It's like a fantasy setting
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A blog requires a platform designed for blogging. Staying within the realm of federated software, the three natural alternatives are:
1) WordPress, which, thanks to the plugin that makes it compatible with Activitypub, has achieved a level of perfect integration with the Fediverse.
2) Ghost, which, federated a few months ago, is not only a blogging platform but is also specifically designed for creating mailing lists based on the Substack model.
3) Writefreely, which, despite being natively federated, is extremely focused on distraction-free writing and therefore has some seriously limiting features.
Friendica
As for Friendica, I'm a huge fan of that software and manage the second-most active instance in the entire Fediverse. I can assure you that I know it well and appreciate all its most important features. But don't be fooled by the fact that some call it macro-blogging software. In fact, if you visit a Friendica account's profile, it's not possible to filter the Timeline of their posts from the Timeline of the posts they've reshared. So, you could virtually create a page like this:
But you could only do that if you don't share too much other content, otherwise the result would be like this:
which would be much more confusing 😅
However, Friendica is a very powerful software that allows you to republish your blog feed, as well as automatically reshare your federated blogs. Here I've listed some very interesting Friendica features for blogging:
poliverso.org/display/0477a01e…
So, to recap, if you want to use Friendica to create your blog, you can: you can create a new account. Remember to define it as a "page account," if possible, but also remember that when you reshare content you like, it will appear on your profile page.
However, if you don't need the full suite of tools that characterize a social media platform, you're better off using WordPress.
Sharkey
We're talking about software with a very nice interface, but it's still a social networking software. Being essentially a fork of Misskey, it also has a section for creating static pages that can be easily viewed from outside the Fediverse, but these pages can't be federated with Activitypub 😭.
Ultimately, it seems even less suitable for creating a blog.
If you absolutely must use a Fediverse social media platform, then you'd be better off going with Friendica!
Hubzilla
PS: There's also a software called Hubzilla, which is compatible with Activitypub, although it has developed its own communication protocol. I'm only mentioning it because it's a feature-rich and well-designed product, but its interface is quite complex and unfriendly, so although I've chosen to mention it, I can't recommend it as an alternative.
Ho già un blog: a cosa potrebbe servirmi Friendica?
Friendica è un social molto particolare che consente di scrivere post lunghi, formattati, con immagini in linea e dotati di un vero titolo; inoltre presenta alcune primitive funzionalità di pubblicazione programmata che ricordano quelle delle piattaforme di blogging più utilizzate.
Ecco perché chi usa Friendica è spesso un utente proveniente da Mastodon, un sistema che con le sue limitazioni permette una fruizione passiva del Fediverso piuttosto completa, ma una capacità di pubblicazione attiva decisamente limitata.
Oggi cerchiamo di capire perché Friendica potrebbe essere una soluzione utile anche per chi possiede già un blog e che quindi dispone già di sistemi di pubblicazione avanzati o, addirittura, sta utilizzando piattaforme già federate, come Writefreely o come Wordpress con il fantastico plugin Activitypub for Wordpress.1) Impostare il proprio account Friendica per fare in modo che ricondivida automaticamente i post pubblicati dal proprio blog
Per attivare questa funzionalità (che funzionerà solo se il blog dispone di un feed RSS o se è federato con il Fediverso), è sufficiente inserire l'indirizzo del blog nella casella di ricerca di Friendica e premere il pulsante "Cerca". A quel punto bisognerà seguire il blog, che comparirà come un qualsiasi altro contatto, e selezionare tra le opzioni del contatto "Duplica come miei messaggi" (per i blog non federati) o "Ricondivisione nativa" (per i blog federati).
2) Sopperire alle mancanze di un blog Writefreely.
Writefreely è infatti la piattaforma di pubblicazione federata più semplice ma, nel suo obiettivo "distrazioni zero", l'utente che pubblica un post su Writefreely, in caso di risposta da parte di un qualsiasi utente del Fediverso, non solo non riceverà alcuna notifica ma addirittura non potrà vedere le risposte a meno che non disponga di un'utenza social. Per questo motivo consigliamo a tutti coloro che abbiano un'utenza social di inserire in fondo al post a mo' di firma il proprio identificativo social nella forma @nomeutente@istanza: in tal modo, chi risponderà al post Writefreely, risponderà anche a quell'indirizzo del fediverso. Purtroppo però l'utente, nella propria risposta, potrebbe anche cancellare il secondo indirizzo, per cui non ci sarebbe più alcuna possibilità di venire allertati su quella risposta! Proprio qui ci viene in aiuto Friendica: infatti, utilizzando il sistema spiegato nel punto 1), ossia la ricondivisione automatica, Friendica ci farà avere anche una notifica ogni volta che qualcuno risponde al post che il sistema ha ricondiviso! Questa limitazione di Writefreely può essere estesa a tutti i blog federati che hanno deliberatamente disattivato le risposte degli utenti: in quei casi, le risposte ci saranno lo stesso e saranno visibili dal Fediverso, solo che non verranno "viste" dal blogger.
3) Creare o usare un gruppo Friendica tematico
Un gruppo Friendica tematico (una sorta a metà tra una lista di distribuzione e un gruppo Facebook) che possa essere "menzionato" da tutti i blog Wordpress federati (il blog dovrà "seguire" il gruppo Friendica, una funzionalità prevista nei plugin di Wordpress). In tal modo, quando un post menziona il gruppo Friendica, il gruppo Friendica ricondividerà il post a favore di tutti coloro che già seguono il gruppo.
PS: approfittiamo per far sapere a tutti i nostri follower che esistono due account dedicati a chi è interessato ai blog federati
1) Il primo è @Il blogverso italiano di Wordpress dedicato a tutti i blog italiani wordpress che si sono federati attraverso il fantastico plugin sviluppato da @Matthias Pfefferle
Chiunque sia interessato a essere aggiunto tra i blog ricondivisi o a segnalare un nuovo blog Wordpress federato, può farci sapere direttamente a questo account2) Il secondo è @I blog di Writefreely dedicato ai blog italiani basati su Writefreely. L'account al momento non ricondivide i post degli account, ma rispecchia i loro feed RSS. Ah, l'account è anche un gruppo Friendica e quindi se volete segnalare nuovi blog Writefreely, potete farlo menzionando quell'account
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Broke spaghetti last night while cooking for dinner.
I also threw it against the cabinet to make sure it was done cooking.
I have a toddler so cooking "rules" go out the window for laughter.
I also threw it against the cabinet to make sure it was done cooking.
So you don't have a mouth?
Network Configuration Questions
I am rebuilding my system and I have a few questions related to network set up. I have installed a new Unifi system, set up IoT VLAN and opened port for HA. That part I THINK is right. My questions lie with setting up DuckDNS and Let's Encrypt. I plan on doing more self hosting stuff in the future. Can/Should I be doing things like Dynamic DNS and certificates via an entity outside of HA such as my router or some other container in the "system" or is it better to handle HA's requirements inside of HA itself?
Additionally, in my current config I can only reach the HA brain via the DuckDNS URL. What sort of set up is required to have the unit accessible when the internet is down? Seems with the mobile app it is the URL or nothing. What do I need to be doing for internal access when on local LAN?
I am running it on the HA Blue hardware and I plan to rebuild from scratch if that matters. I am sketchy on the network set up and making sure things are all secure. Bit paranoid lol. So if you have any good set up guides on this portion it would be appreciated. Thanks.
HA doesn't need either of these, but if you want an SSL certificate (to run over HTTPS instead of plain HTTP) it is bound to a domain name, which must be public unless you want to enter in the zone of adding our custom certification authority to each of your devices.
This name is resolved by a public DNS. You asked how to use it when internet is down, in this case a public DNS is not reachable so you need your own on the local network.
The reverse proxy is useful when you have a bunch of web services and you want to protect all of them with HTTPS. Instead of delivering the certificate to each of them, you add the HTTPS layer at your reverse proxy and it queries the servers behind in plain HTTP. The reverse proxy has also the benefit of making handling subdomains easier. So instead of distinguishing the different services because they have a different port number you can have a few ha.my.domain/ and feedreader.my.domain/
If you just have homeassistant and not care of HTTPS the easiest option is to use the local resolution: modern OSes advertise the name of the device on the network and it can be resolved on the .local domain. But, if you configured HTTPS to use name.duckdns.org/ you'll se an error when you try to use name.local/ because your browser sees a mismatch between the name in the certificate and the name that you are trying to connect to. You can always ignore this error and move on, but it mostly defeats the point of HTTPS.
Meta – Du rachat de Limitless à la conquête de l’information en temps réel
Le géant de la technologie ne cache plus ses ambitions. Dans une démarche visant à dominer l’écosystème de l’intelligence artificielle, Meta vient d’annoncer l’acquisition de la startup Limitless, créatrice d’un pendentif connecté dopé à l’IA. Mais ce rachat n’est qu’une pièce du puzzle. Parallèlement à cette expansion matérielle, la firme de Mark Zuckerberg modifie la manière dont nous consommons l’actualité via ses chatbots, soulevant de nouvelles questions sur l’avenir de l’information et de nos données personnelles.
Jusqu’à présent, la stratégie matérielle de Meta reposait essentiellement sur deux piliers, les casques de réalité virtuelle Quest et les lunettes connectées Ray-Ban. L’acquisition de Limitless montre une volonté de diversification. L’entreprise, anciennement connue sous le nom de Rewind, s’était fait connaître avec un logiciel de productivité capable d’enregistrer tout ce qui se passait sur un écran d’ordinateur pour le rendre consultable via un chatbot. Elle a ensuite pivoté vers le matériel avec le « Pendant », un clip microphone Bluetooth conçu pour enregistrer, transcrire et résumer les conversations du quotidien. Dan Siroker, son PDG, a justifié cette fusion en évoquant une vision commune avec Meta, apporter une « superintelligence personnelle » à tous. En rejoignant la division Reality Labs, l’équipe de Limitless ne continuera pas nécessairement à développer son pendentif, mais intégrera son expertise dans la conception des futurs « wearables » (technologies portables) du groupe.
Pour les utilisateurs actuels du pendentif (principalement américains), la nouvelle est en demi-teinte. Si l’entreprise promet de maintenir le support pendant au moins un an, la commercialisation du produit cesse immédiatement. En guise de compensation, les abonnements payants sont supprimés, offrant un accès gratuit aux fonctionnalités premium pour la durée restante du support. Consciente des enjeux de confidentialité, la société permet désormais aux utilisateurs d’exporter ou de supprimer totalement leurs données s’ils ne souhaitent pas suivre l’aventure chez Meta.
Au-delà des lunettes: la guerre des wearables audio
Ce rachat n’est pas anodin. Il confirme que l’industrie tech cherche le facteur de forme idéal pour l’IA, au-delà du smartphone. Les lunettes connectées ne conviennent pas à tout le monde, et le format badge ou pendentif émerge comme une alternative crédible pour l’enregistrement audio passif. L’audio est en effet le terrain de jeu où les modèles d’IA actuels excellent le plus avec la transcription précise et le résumé contextuel. En intégrant la technologie de Limitless, et en s’appuyant sur des recrutements stratégiques comme celui d’Alan Dye, ancien responsable du design chez Apple, Meta prépare le terrain pour une nouvelle gamme d’appareils.
On peut imaginer un futur où les Ray-Ban Meta seraient complétées par des accessoires plus discrets, capables de capturer le contexte sonore de notre vie pour alimenter un assistant personnel omniscient. Meta n’est pourtant pas seul sur ce créneau. Amazon a récemment acquis Bee, une autre startup spécialisée dans les wearables IA et d’autres acteurs tentent de percer, comme le pendentif « Friend ». Mais avec la puissance de frappe de Meta, la compétition devient féroce pour les petits acteurs. Comme le souligne Siroker, le monde a changé. Ce qui semblait être une idée marginale il y a cinq ans est devenu une course inévitable vers le futur.
L’IA pour s’informer – Le pacte avec les médias
Si Meta renforce ses oreilles avec Limitless, l’entreprise soigne aussi son cerveau. L’autre volet important de l’actualité récente du groupe concerne sa gestion de l’information. Après avoir longtemps entretenu des relations tumultueuses avec la presse, elle propose une nouvelle approche, délivrer les actualités de dernière minute directement via son chatbot, Meta AI. Elle a annoncé des partenariats avec plusieurs grandes organisations médiatiques, dont CNN, Fox News, Reuters, et le groupe Le Monde. L’objectif est de permettre à l’IA de fournir des résumés d’événements récents en temps réel, en puisant dans des sources plus diversifiées. La liste des partenaires inclut un spectre large, allant de publications lifestyle comme People à des médias politiquement marqués comme The Daily Caller, reflétant peut-être les affinités de la direction actuelle. Sur le papier, la promesse est séduisante, demander à son assistant IA ce qui se passe dans le monde et obtenir une réponse synthétique et sourcée. Mais l’histoire de Meta avec l’information incite à la prudence.
Le spectre du passé et les risques futurs
Il est difficile d’oublier les précédents échecs de Facebook dans le domaine de l’actualité. De la controverse du module « Trending News » en 2016, accusé de biais humains puis remplacé par un algorithme propageant la désinformation, jusqu’au désastreux pivot vers la vidéo qui a mis à genoux de nombreux éditeurs, le bilan est lourd. Les changements d’algorithmes opaques ont souvent détruit des audiences construites sur plusieurs années, laissant les médias exsangues.
Aujourd’hui, la crainte est que ce nouveau modèle basé sur l’IA ne cannibalise encore davantage le trafic des sites d’information. À l’image des « AI Overviews » de Google, si le chatbot fournit la réponse complète, l’utilisateur n’a plus besoin de cliquer sur le lien source. Pour les éditeurs, c’est le risque de voir leurs contenus ingérés par la boîte noire de l’IA sans retombées économiques directes, hormis le montant du chèque signé pour le partenariat initial.
De plus, confier la synthèse de l’actualité à une IA générative comporte des risques d’hallucinations ou de biais contextuels. Si l’outil est censé offrir quelque chose pour tout le monde, la frontière entre information factuelle et contenu partisan risque de devenir floue, surtout avec un panel de sources aussi hétéroclite.
Un écosystème fermé en construction
En mettant en perspective le rachat de Limitless et les nouveaux partenariats médiatiques, la stratégie de Meta apparaît clairement. L’objectif est de créer un écosystème fermé et autosuffisant. D’un côté, le matériel (lunettes, pendentifs) capture votre réalité immédiate et vos conversations. De l’autre, le logiciel (Meta AI) ingère l’actualité mondiale pour vous la restituer à la demande. Meta ne cherche plus seulement à connecter les gens entre eux, mais à devenir l’interface principale entre l’utilisateur et le monde, qu’il s’agisse de se souvenir d’une conversation privée ou de comprendre un événement géopolitique. Reste à savoir si les utilisateurs accepteront de confier autant de pouvoir, et autant de données, à une seule entité.
Advent Calendar 6
Advent Calendar
Zen Mischief Photographs
This year for our Advent Calendar we have a selection of my photographs from recent years. They may not be technically the best, or the most recent, but they’re ones which, for various reasons, I rather like.
© Keith C Marshall, 2013
Click the image for a larger view
Police Complaint Filed Against Israeli Eurovision Songwriter Over Sexual Misconduct
Police complaint filed against Israeli Eurovision songwriter over sexual misconduct
The accuser, an unauthorized resident, claims Israeli musician and songwriter Doron Medalie forced a sexual act on him after impairing his ability to resist.Shay Ringel (Haaretz)
Mount Eerie - Sauna (2015)
Parlare di Phil Elverum è come parlare del Papa, la sua musica è diventata talmente personale che è impossibile sbagliarsi durante l’ascolto di uno dei suoi dischi: disco dopo disco, è giunto ad essere uno dei cantautori americani più importanti della sua generazione... Leggi e ascolta...
Mount Eerie - Sauna (2015)
Parlare di Phil Elverum è come parlare del Papa, la sua musica è diventata talmente personale che è impossibile sbagliarsi durante l’ascolto di uno dei suoi dischi: disco dopo disco, è giunto ad essere uno dei cantautori americani più importanti della sua generazione. Le alte vette raggiunte con The Glow Pt.2 e Mount Eerie, quando era sotto il moniker The Microphones, sono un bel ricordo ormai cronologicamente distante. Il cambio di nome, avvenuto proprio successivamente a Mount Eerie, molto probabilmente, è stato un sintomo di rinascita artistica. Elverum doveva distaccarsi dal successo che aveva ottenuto, consapevole di non poter mai più raggiungere quei picchi... artesuono.blogspot.com/2015/02…
Ascolta il disco: album.link/s/4YvHV6TiYIVx1HDw6…
Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit
Mount Eerie - Sauna (2015)
di Gianluca Marian Parlare di Phil Elverum è come parlare del Papa, la sua musica è diventata talmente personale che è impossibile sbagl...Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)
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