These days ‘AI’ is everywhere, including in software development. Coming hot on the heels of approaches like eXtreme Programming and Pair Programming, there’s now a new kind of pair programming in town in the form of an LLM that’s been digesting millions of lines of code. Purportedly designed to help developers program faster and more efficiently, these ‘AI programming assistants’ have primarily led to heated debate and some interesting studies.

In the case of [Jj], their undiluted feelings towards programming assistants like GitHub Copilot burn as brightly as the fire of a thousand Suns, and not a happy kind of fire.

Whether it’s Copilot or ChatGPT or some other chatbot that may or may not be integrated into your IDE, the frustration with what often feels like StackOverflow-powered-autocomplete is something that many of us can likely sympathize with. Although [Jj] lists a few positives of using an LLM trained on codebases and documentation, their overall view is that using Copilot degrades a programmer, mostly because of how it takes critical thinking skills out of the loop.

Regardless of whether you agree with [Jj] or not, the research so far on using LLMs with software development and other tasks strongly suggests that they’re not a net positive for one’s mental faculties. It’s also important to note that at the end of the day it’s still you, the fleshy bag of mostly salty water, who has to justify the code during code review and when something catches on fire in production. Your ‘copilot’ meanwhile gets off easy.

hackaday.com/2025/07/04/why-gi…

Here’s a clever hack. Simple, elegant, and eminently cost-effective: using an SMD capacitor to hold your flash media in place!

This is a hack that can pretty much be summed up with just the image at the top of the page — a carefully placed SMD capacitor soldered to a routed tab makes for an extremely cost effective locking mechanism for the nearby SD card slot. There’s just enough flexibility to easily move the capacitor when its time to insert or eject your media.

It’s worth noting that the capacitor in this example doesn’t even appear to be electrically connected to anything. But there’s also no reason you couldn’t position one of the capacitors in your existing bill of materials (BOM). This form of mechanical support will be much cheaper than special purpose clips or mounts. Not a big deal for low-volume projects, but if you’re going high-volume this is definitely something to keep in mind.

If you’re just getting started with SMD capacitors then one of the first things to learn is how to solder them. Also, if you’re hoping to salvage them then try to look for newer equipment which is more likely to have SMD components than through-hole. If you’re planning to use your capacitors for… “capacitance” (how quaint), you can start by learning the basics. And if you want to know everything you can learn about the history of capacitors, too.

Thanks to [JohnU] for writing in to let us know about this one. Have your own natty hacks? Let us know on the tipsline!

hackaday.com/2025/07/04/smd-ca…

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

It’s the 100th day that Rümeysa Öztürk is facing deportation by the United States government for writing an op-ed it didn’t like. Now, Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara could be deported after being arrested while trying to report on a protest. Read on for more press freedom news.

Paramount’s spineless capitulation

For a while, it looked like Paramount might come to its senses. After warnings from Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) as well as several state and federal lawmakers, directors were reportedly worried that settling President Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit to grease the wheels for approval of a merger could subject them to liability for bribery.

But ultimately, majority owner Shari Redstone — who stands to make a fortune if the merger with Skydance Media closes — got her way, and Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle. We said in a press release that the settlement “will be remembered as one of the most shameful capitulations by the press to a president in history. But we are not done fighting. We’ve already filed a shareholder information demand and … we will continue to pursue our legal options to stop this affront to Paramount shareholders, CBS journalists, and the First Amendment.”

Legendary First Amendment lawyers Floyd Abrams and James Goodale also gave us their reactions. They both recall a time when news outlets were owned by news companies that had both economic and principled interests in defending the First Amendment. They’re alarmed by what they’re seeing today. Read more here.

Atrocities against Palestinian journalists

Advocating for Palestinian journalists from the United States is tougher than ever these days, with an administration that doesn’t even pretend to care about dead reporters.

But sometimes journalism itself is the best way to effect change, and that’s why we partnered with The Intercept and independent journalist Neha Madhira to tell the stories of journalists who have been targeted by the Israeli military — often after receiving warnings to stop their reporting, or else. Their testimonials speak for themselves. Read more here.

Don’t let ICE work in secret

Interested in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement is up to? Step right up to read ICE’s many press releases touting their accomplishments, watch “Dr. Phil” McGraw’s ICE ride-alongs on his new TV network, and, of course, follow ICE on social platform X.

Just don’t expect to read independent reporting about ICE activity — at least not if government officials get their way. Journalists and members of the public who report on ICE are increasingly under attack by officials who would prefer to silence them so government propaganda can fill the information void. Read more here.

Wiretap Act can’t criminalize routine journalism

We joined a coalition of free-speech groups and filed an amicus brief in the case against journalist Tim Burke for publishing unaired Fox News footage of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Prosecutors are using the Wiretap Act, which prohibits “intercepting” “electronic communications,” in an attempt to convict Burke for publicizing Ye’s antisemitic rant, among other things. Their position is that they can charge Burke regardless of whether the footage was publicly available — he needs to prove that as a defense.

“Police, prosecutors and thin-skinned politicians would love the ability to harass and punish journalists who use the internet for routine reporting whenever they so please. The government’s construction of the Wiretap Act would give them the perfect excuse to do so,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern said in a press release. Read more here.

What we’re reading

Tulsi Gabbard is hunting for “deep-state criminals.” Is she even following the law? (The Intercept). “The leak — and the official FOIA release — didn’t damage national security at all. It informed the public about one of the administration’s most pernicious lies to date,” FPF’s Lauren Harper told The Intercept.

Trump’s attacks on CNN, Fox underscore effort to stifle questions, put media on back foot (The Hill). Recent White House crackdowns on leaked intelligence “have nothing to do with national security and everything to do with saving themselves from embarrassment,” FPF’s Stern told The Hill.

ICE hardens: Masked agents intimidate reporters while seizing more immigrants at Lower Manhattan court (AMNY). Harassing journalists might rank pretty low on the list of awful things masked ICE goons are doing these days. But without journalists we wouldn’t know about the rest of them, and the administration is well aware of that.

freedom.press/issues/paramount…

We would like to share the amazing news that the European Citizen initiative created by the Stop killing games community has reached the required threshold of 1 million signatures across Europe! And you can still add your signature until the end of the month!

At the European Pirate Party, defending digital rights is at the heart of our mission. We believe that when people purchase a videogame, they should be guaranteed the right to use it – not left at the mercy of arbitrary shutdowns by publishers. Consumers should not be treated as renters of entertainment they’ve paid for. That’s why we decided to endorse the Initiative after it launched.

As we noted before, this campaign calls for clear legal obligations: once a game is sold, it must remain in a playable state, even if the publisher steps away. No one should wake up to find their purchased game disabled by a remote switch. We find this unacceptable. We’re encouraged by the grassroots energy behind this effort. From independent developers to influential streamers like Ross Scott, who spearheaded the push, to public figures like PewDiePie, who has previously expressed support for Pirate Party values – this is a powerful coalition of gamers, creators, and digital freedom advocates.

While it seemed unclear for months if the initiative would gather enough signatures before the deadline, it suddenly gathered a huge wave of support in the last week, and today it reached the target of 1 million signatures! At this point it is clear that the European Union will have to address the initiative, and the more signatures we get above the required threshold the bigger the chance that they will decide to actually address the problem with games being killed by the publishers. You can easily see the current numbers of signatures with this tracker.

Let’s further ensure that the voices of European gamers and citizens are heard loud and clear in Brussels! Let’s protect digital ownership! Let’s defend access! Let’s stop the silent destruction of the digital heritage!

Sign the European citixens inititative here: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home

If you are a UK citizen there’s a separate petition there: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074/

If you want to join the Stop killing games community for the end stretch of the campaign, they have a lovely discord server that you can check out.

The post Today is the day to stop killing games! first appeared on European Pirate Party.

Continua la raccolta firme QUI

L’Associazione Luca Coscioni ha tenuto oggi una conferenza stampa per illustrare i contenuti e le gravi conseguenze del testo sul fine vita approvato dal Governo, che di fatto cancella il diritto all’aiuto medico alla morte volontaria, restringendo drasticamente i criteri di accesso in violazione della Costituzione e delle sentenze della Corte.

Filomena Gallo, avvocata e segretaria nazionale dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni, ha dichiarato: “vi pare possibile che una persona che vorrebbe accedere al suicidio assistito si troverebbe a non essere più protetta da leggi in vigore, come quella sulle disposizioni anticipate di trattamento? Il testo della maggioranza, infatti, prevede che non siano più applicabili gli articoli 4 e 5 della legge 219 del 2017e presenta evidenti profili di incostituzionalità già nel suo impianto iniziale perché mira a cancellare diritti riconosciuti dall’ordinamento e ribaditi dalla Corte costituzionale. Fin dall’articolo 1 si parla di indisponibilità del diritto alla vita in modo assoluto, in contrasto con la ‘sentenza Cappato’ 242/2019 e con gli articoli 2, 3,13 e 32 della Costituzione. La vita è un bene fondamentale, ma non è e non può essere un dovere se una persona, in condizioni di piena capacità, sceglie consapevolmente di porvi fine a fronte di sofferenze intollerabili”.

Gallo ha spiegato che “si introduce l’obbligatorietà delle cure palliative come condizione di accesso, trasformandole in un trattamento sanitario obbligatorio, e si istituisce un Comitato Nazionale di Valutazione di nomina governativa che escluderebbe il Servizio sanitario nazionale dalle procedure di verifica dei requisiti e dalla assistenza. Vengono introdotti tempi di attesa incompatibili con le condizioni di chi soffre, non rispettando nemmeno la legge 219/17 sulle disposizioni anticipate di trattamento. La Corte costituzionale ha chiesto al Parlamento una legge che regolamenti l’aiuto medico alla morte volontaria, rispettando e applicando le sentenze della Corte – che hanno valore di legge e che non possono essere ignorate dal legislatore. Serve una legge che rispetti la libertà e i diritti delle persone, non che le neghi”, ha concluso Gallo, ricordando che l’8 luglio la Corte costituzionale discuterà per la prima volta dell’incostituzionalità dell’articolo 579 del codice penale esprimendosi per la prima sul tema dell’eutanasia attiva.

Marco Cappato, Tesoriere dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni, ha dichiarato: “il testo non mira a privatizzare l’aiuto alla morte volontaria, ma a vietarlo. Questa legge infatti cambia i parametri stabiliti dalla Corte costituzionale, perché restringe l’accesso solo alle persone collegate a macchinari (‘dipendenti da trattamenti sostitutivi di funzioni vitali’), escludendo chi dipende dall’assistenza di terzi, come famigliari e caregiver (previsti invece dalla Consulta, con il risultato di escludere in partenza la quasi totalità delle persone che ne hanno bisogno. Non solo: introduce il coinvolgimento preventivo dell’autorità giudiziaria, in modo da bloccare le procedure. Non è una legge che regola l’aiuto alla morte volontaria, è una legge che lo cancella”, ha ribadito Cappato.

L’Associazione Luca Coscioni ha infine ricordato che prosegue la mobilitazione in tutta Italia per la raccolta firme sulla legge di iniziativa popolare “Liberi Subito”, per legalizzare l’eutanasia e difendere un diritto che la proposta del Governo intende cancellare.

L'articolo Il testo del Governo sul Fine vita è incostituzionale e cancella il diritto per chi non è attaccati ai macchinari proviene da Associazione Luca Coscioni.