If you ask someone for a piece of received opinion about Bernese mountain dogs, the chances are that the tale of their carrying barrels of brandy round their necks for the revival of those lost in the snow. It’s a story of uncertain provenance and may indeed be a myth, but that hasn’t stopped [Saren Tasciyan] 3D printing one for their faithful hound. In its own way it too is a saviour, for as well as a small camera, it carries a supply of dog poop bags.

It’s a two part print, held together with strong magnets. Waterproofing is achieved using liberal quantities of hot glue. There’s a protrusion on one side designed to take an action camera for a dog’s-eye-view of the world. The files are downloadable, so your pooch can have one too if you like. We are wondering whether a couple of miniatures of brandy might just fit in there as well.

It’s is part of the 2025 Pet Hacks contest, so if this has whetted your appetite, expect more. If your dog carries around something you’ve made, how about making it an entry of your own?

hackaday.com/2025/05/26/2025-p…

This is a contributed article by a member in the USPP Discord. You can join and contribute as well.

Part ofA Guide to Being Anonymous

One advanced method many aspiring pirates or privacy concerned folks can take nowadays is using a proxy to mask your IP.

The Onion Router, or TOR, is a proxy system that uses a chain of proxies, or relays, to further hide your IP behind multiple layers.

Tor can be used for basic private browsing, more anonymous communications, and is a tool used by many journalists and activists globally to keep themselves private and secure. It’s one of the best tools for avoiding online surveillance and censorship.

For more advanced use is Tails OS. Famously used by Edward Snowden during his whistleblowing, Tails OS is a Debian based operating system that routes everything through Tor for more complete anonymity.

How does Tor work?

Tor is a global network of computers run by volunteers, designed to provide online anonymity to its users. It accomplishes this through a combination of innovative features and a unique network infrastructure known as onion routing. The Tor network consists of thousands of servers, called Tor relays, operated by volunteers worldwide, making it extremely difficult to trace the origin and destination of internet activity.

Tor’s functionality is based on the principle of onion routing. This process creates a private network pathway with layers of encryption, similar to the layers of an onion. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how it works:

1. Circuit Establishment

When you connect to the Tor network, your Tor client downloads a list of all available Tor relays. It then selects three relays to create a circuit: a guard node, a middle (relay) node, and an exit node.

2. Layered Encryption

Your request is encrypted in multiple layers, with each layer only decryptable by its corresponding node. This ensures that no single node knows both the origin and destination of the data.

3. Data Transmission

The encrypted request is sent through the selected nodes:

+ The guard node (entry node) only knows your IP address and the middle relay. It decrypts the outer layer of encryption.

• The middle node only knows the guard relay and the exit relay. It decrypts the next layer of encryption.
• The exit node knows what you’re requesting from the internet and the middle relay, but not your identity or the guard relay. It decrypts the final layer and sends your request to its destination.

A single relay never knows both where the encrypted connection is coming from and where it is going to:

+ The 1st relay only knows where you are coming from but not where you are going to.

+ This 3rd relay only knows where you are going to but not where you are coming from.

+ The connection to the final destination is encrypted whenever possible to prevent the 3rd relay from reading its content.

This way, Tor is secure by design even if a few relays are malicious.

Organizations running Tor relays include universities like the MIT, activist groups like Riseup, nonprofits like Derechos Digitales, Internet hosting companies like Private Internet Access, and so on. The huge diversity of people and organizations running Tor relays makes it more secure and more sustainable.

4. Response Routing

The response from the website follows the same path back through the Tor network, with each node encrypting the data before passing it to the previous node.

5. Circuit Renewal

To further enhance anonymity, Tor creates a new circuit every 10 minutes for new connections, making long-term traffic analysis even more challenging.

This process effectively separates the content you’re requesting from anything that can be used to establish your identity, providing a high degree of anonymity.

Downloading and Installing Tor Browser

The best way to start using Tor for your online uses is todownload The Tor Browser from The Tor Project and use it for your daily browsing. They have packages and installation files for various operating systems listed there. You can download it for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android!

For the more secure, you can also download their PGP keys and check the signatures and hashes to ensure the integrity of your downloads.

Downloading for iPhone

The Tor Project recommends installing two applications to effectively use Tor for your browsing needs on iPhone:Orbot andOnion Browser. WikiHow hasa great guide on how to use them effectively together.

Well, what about Tails?

Tails OS is an operating system you install onto a USB that always starts on a clean slate when you turn it on.

Amnesia

Tails always starts from the same clean state and everything you do disappears automatically when you shut down Tails. Nothing is written to storage unless you set up secure and encrypted persistent storage.

Without Tails, almost everything you do can leave traces on the computer:

• Websites that you visited, even in private mode
• Files that you opened, even if you deleted them
• Passwords, even if you use a password manager
• All the devices and Wi-Fi networks that you used

Tor for everything

Everything you do on the Internet from Tails goes through the Tor network. As discussed above, that’s pretty awesome.

Downloading and using Tails

Downloading, verifying, and installing Tails requires about an hour of your time and:

• A USB stick of 8 GB minimum or a recordable DVD.

All the data on this USB stick or DVD is lost when installing Tails.

• The ability to start from a USB stick or a DVD reader.
• A 64-bit x86-64 IBM PC compatible processor.

Tails does not work on ARM or PowerPC processors.

Tails does not work on 32-bit computers since Tails 3.0 (June 2017).

• 2 GB of RAM to work smoothly.

Tails can work with less than 2 GB RAM but might behave strangely or crash.

A detailed guide for each operating system you may be using to download and install tails is available from the Tails Website. This includes a browser based download verification tool for additional security.

For Mac

Unfortunately, we don’t know of any Mac model that works well in Tails and can run the latest macOS version.

For Android

Tails doesn’t work on smartphones or tablets. The hardware of smartphones and tablets is very different from the hardware of computers. For now, it’s impossible to make smartphone and tablet hardware work with Linux distributions like Tails.

Further reading:

The Tor Project: About Tor

Wikipedia: About The Tor Network

TailsOS: How Tails Works

uspirates.org/a-pirates-guide-…

To paraphrase The Simpsons: plastics are the solution to – and cause of – all of mankind’s problems. Nowhere is this more clear in the phenomenon of microplastics. Some have suggested that alternative bioplastics made out of starch, like PLA, could be the solution here, as the body might be able to digest and disassemble these plastic fragments better. Unfortunately, a team of Chinese researchers put this to the test using mice, with the results suggesting that starch-based plastics do not change the harm to tissues and organs.

We previously looked at this harm from micro- and nanoplastics (MNP), with humans and their brains at autopsy showing a strong correlation between disease and presence of MNPs. In this recent study mice were split up into three groups, for either no, low or high levels of these bioplastics in their food. At autopsy, the mice exposed to the bioplastics all showed damage to organs, including the same gene-regulation issues and inflammation markers as seen with other plastics.

Despite these results, researchers question how useful these results are, as they pertain to modified PLA starches with known biodegradability issues, while starch by itself is absolutely digestible when it’s in the form of potato chips, for instance. Perhaps the trick here is to make bioplastics that are still useful as plastics, and yet as harmless to ingest as said potato chips.

Not that we recommend eating bioplastics, mind you; potato chips are definitely tastier.

hackaday.com/2025/05/26/mouse-…

[ChrisJ7903] has created two Ardiuno programs for reading Victron solar controller telemetry data advertised via BLE. If you’re interested in what it takes to use an ESP32 to sniff Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transmissions, this is a master class.

The code is split into two main programs. One program is for the Victron battery monitor and the other is for any Victron solar controller. The software will receive, dissect, decrypt, decode, and report the data periodically broadcast from the devices over BLE.

The BLE data is transmitted in Link-Layer Protocol Data Units (PDUs) which are colloquially called “packets”. In this particular case the BLE functionality for advertising, also known as broadcasting, is used which means the overhead of establishing connections can be avoided thereby saving power.

Decryption is handled with the the wolfSSL library and [ChrisJ7903] had nice things to say about the helpful people over at wolfSSL. The AES-CTR algorithm is used and seeded with the per-device encryption key, a nonce/salt in little-endian format, and the encrypted data.

[ChrisJ7903] relied heavily on technical documentation provided by Victron in order to decode the received data; some of that documentation is made available in the Git repo and ultimately everything is revealed in the code itself.

We’ve done heaps of BLE stuff here at Hackaday in the past. If you’re interested in BLE tech check out this rain gauge and this doorbell.

hackaday.com/2025/05/26/interc…

Il Pakistan sta lanciando un’importante iniziativa volta a utilizzare l’elettricità in eccesso per alimentare i centri dati dedicati al mining di Bitcoin e all’intelligenza artificiale.

Secondo il Ministero delle Finanze del Paese, nella prima fase saranno stanziati 2.000 megawatt di energia elettrica per questi scopi. Il nuovo progetto nasce in un momento in cui il Paese si trova ad affrontare sfide crescenti nel settore energetico, dove i prezzi dell’elettricità restano elevati e la capacità produttiva supera notevolmente la domanda.

Negli ultimi anni, il rapido sviluppo dell’energia solare non ha fatto altro che peggiorare la situazione: sempre più consumatori stanno passando a fonti di energia alternative per ridurre i propri costi. Di conseguenza, il mercato energetico del Paese si è ritrovato con un surplus significativo e ora il governo sta cercando modi per monetizzare efficacemente l’energia in eccesso.

L’iniziativa è stata coordinata dal Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), un ente governativo che promuove lo sviluppo di infrastrutture digitali e l’introduzione di nuove tecnologie.

Gli obiettivi principali del progetto non sono solo quelli di ricavare denaro dalla produzione in eccesso, ma anche di creare nuovi posti di lavoro ad alta tecnologia nel Paese, nonché di attrarre investimenti stranieri in questo promettente settore.

L’annunciata distribuzione di 2.000 megawatt di energia è considerata la prima fase di un progetto più ampio, ideato per implementare gradualmente un’infrastruttura digitale moderna in Pakistan.

Le autorità del Paese sperano che l’attuazione con successo di questa strategia contribuisca a stabilizzare il mercato energetico e allo stesso tempo a trasformare il Paese in uno dei centri regionali dell’estrazione mineraria e dell’elaborazione dati.

L'articolo Hai energia elettrica da buttare? Il Pakistan ha trovato la soluzione: minare bitcoin! proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

La parte di premio di risultato che viene convertito in "flexible benefit" ha un trattamento fiscale diverso da quella che viene convertita in "fringe benefit".

Esiste una definizione univoca dei due termini (e comprensibile a chi non abbia una formazione specifica in ambito tributario), per capire cosa rientri in un benefit e cosa nell'altro?

Ho trovato diversi articoli in rete, ho letto anche qualche circolare dell'Agenzia delle Entrate, ma capire quale sia la differenza non è banale.

Mi servirebbero anche le fonti su cui si basa la risposta.

Grazie mille.

#fisco #fringe-benefit #flexible-benefit

Germany’s ability to ensure societal resilience has significantly declined in recent decades according to political scientist and PPI alternate board member Schoresch Davoodi. In a working paper, he warns that political complacency and socio-economic mismanagement expose the country to multifaceted vulnerabilities.

Germany celebrated the stability of the 1990s and early 2000s without preparing for the disruptive forces of digital transformation, globalization, and geopolitical shifts. The nation’s overdependence on exports, Chinese markets, and Russian energy, coupled with a slow digital transition, creates strategic weaknesses. Neglecting critical infrastructure, particularly information technology and public services, renders Germany susceptible to cyberattacks and external shocks.

Davoodi also highlights growing domestic inequality, social fragmentation, and political alienation, particularly among low-income communities. Urban gentrification, rising debt, and unequal access to education fuel this divide, threatening social cohesion. He warns that, if left unaddressed, these tensions could destabilize German democracy, echoing the unrest seen in other European nations.

He critiques Germany’s media landscape for lacking social diversity, resulting in biased narratives and underrepresentation of disadvantaged voices. Moreover, he stresses the need for structural reforms, such as inclusive education, fair media practices, and new civic platforms to rebuild trust and solidarity across classes.

Political complacency and socio-economic mismanagement expose the country to multifaceted vulnerabilities. Artificial intelligence will not protect Germany. Our society must first fix itself with domestic support programs. Will Germany seize this warning as its moment to reform or risk repeating the mistakes of its past?

pp-international.net/2025/05/r…