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Three Years in, JawnCon Continues to Grow and Impress


Make no mistake, just getting a hacker con off the ground is a considerable challenge. But the really hard part comes after. To be more than a one-off success story, you’ve got to expand the event year after year in a manageable way. Go too slow, and attendees might lose interest. Move too fast, and you run the risk of going broke if your ticket sales don’t keep up with your ambitions.

Luckily for hackers living in the Philadelphia area, the folks behind JawnCon have once again demonstrated they’re able to thread the needle. While the ticket price remained the same as in 2024, this year an additional track of talks was introduced as well as expanded activities throughout the con. Even though it only wrapped this past weekend, there’s already buzz about what the event will look like in 2026.

Until then, let’s take a look at some of the projects that were on display at this year’s JawnCon. If it’s the talks you’re after, they’ll be edited and uploaded to the event’s YouTube page in the near future. In the meantime, the Friday and Saturday live streams are still available.

Meshtastic Spreads its Web


While it wasn’t officially part of JawnCon’s considerable network infrastructure playground, Meshtastic ended up being a big part of the two-day event. Members of Philly Mesh had a table where they were showing off a wide array of commercial and DIY nodes, the crew behind the Hacker Pager were offering up a special edition of the faux-retro portable communicator, and it seemed like every other attendee had brought their own mesh-capable gadget with them.

The end result was easily the most active Meshtastic environment I’ve ever personally found myself in. Wandering the con venue you could expect to see more than 100 individual nodes in the area, with the majority of them happily chattering away. Even during the off-hours on Friday and Saturday night, there was still plenty of mesh activity between the two main hotels where many of the attendees were staying.

Having a relatively active mesh added a new dynamic to the con. Occasionally, pieces of real-time information would make its way through the net, such as what time the nearby cafe was opening, or which talk was currently taking place. A few times it allowed for quick response to semi-emergencies, such as when some hackers which shall remain nameless ended up causing a minor spill, and found themselves in need of cleaning supplies.

It also provided even more data to pore over — since the con wrapped, an SQLite database containing every packet that went through the mesh has been floating around for anyone who wants to analyze it. Hope nobody said anything they’ll regret…

Wardrive All the Things


This year, [BusySignal] returned with another big box of radio hardware. Unlike the impressive wardriving rig he showed off during the first JawnCon, this new build isn’t limited to just WiFi and Bluetooth. The concept has now evolved to include other wireless signals thanks to a bank of software-defined radios (SDRs), ranging from a handful of RTL-SDRs for the easy stuff like 433 MHz wireless sensors, and a HackRF for when things get a bit more serious.

The rig, enclosed in a rugged orange case and powered by batteries, exists at least in part so that [BusySignal] can show off the considerable capabilities of Kismet. He argues that the open source wireless sniffing suite is capable of much more than casual users may realize, and wants to inspire developers and hackers to add new protocols to the already impressive array of signals that it’s able to ingest and display.

This exploration of Kismet’s capabilities was the subject of his Saturday talk, Get More Radio Frequency Curious. Definitely one to keep an eye out for when the edited talks start hitting the JawnCon YouTube channel.

GameTank Comes Out to Play


Tucked away in one corner of the chill out area was an 8-bit game system that the passerby might have thought was a relic from the 1980s. But on closer inspection, its 3D printed shell quickly gives away the fact that is no classic machine.

The GameTank is an open source hardware retroconsole designed around the 6502, more specifically, the modern W65C02S variant. Clyde Shaffer created the system in the spirit of other fantasy consoles like the Pico-8, with the key difference being that he started from the physical console and worked his way forward from there. It features a modernized development and debugging environment for both C and Rust, including an emulator that will run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS. In fact, if you can take a hit to the performance, the emulator can even run right in the web browser — making it easy to check out the GameTank’s library of games.

We’ve actually covered the GameTank here on Hackaday in the past, but seeing it in person, you really appreciate all the little details. The cartridges specifically are a very nice touch. Of course, we know that a single modern SPI flash chip could allow the GameTank to hold hundreds (if not thousands) of games internally. Yet there’s just something so nostalgic about rummaging through pile of cartridges, searching for a particular game, and then slamming it home into the console.

But is it any fun to play? To that end, I’m happy to say it passed the test with a few of the kids that ended up coming to JawnCon with their parents. I overheard someone at the lock picking table saying that their son had abandoned his expensive Nintendo Switch on the table in favor of pulling up a chair to the GameTank and basking in its CRT glory. Maybe the kids will be alright after all.

The Next Jawneration


It’s obviously very early to predict what the next JawnCon will look like. After all, a lot can happen in the next 359 days.

But having had the good fortune to attend all three of these events and see its trajectory, I can say in my mumble opinion that JawnCon is approaching an inflection point of sorts. While the area of Arcadia University that’s been made available for the con since its inception has never been particularly large, this was the first year it actually started to feel small. It’s no exaggeration to say that on several occasions, I struggled to find a surface flat enough to put my laptop down — whether it was lock picks, stickers, payphones, or even just cabling — literally every table in the room had something on it.

Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If the worst that can be said about a hacker con was that it had a lot of people and so much interesting stuff on display that you couldn’t find a place to sit down, count me in. But in the same way keeping a plant in a pot that’s too small can stunt its growth, I think JawnCon will need to find a way to stretch its legs if it’s to remain healthy over the long term.

That being said, I plan on being there in 2026, and if you’re in the Philadelphia area, so you should you. Even if it means we might have to take turns sitting in each other’s laps.


hackaday.com/2025/10/16/three-…



Live Coding Techno With Strudel


The super talented [Switch Angel] is an electronic music artist, with a few cool YouTube videos to show off their absolute nailing of how to live code with Strudel. For us mere mortals, Strudel is a JavaScript port of TidalCycles, which is an algorithmic music generator which supports live coding, i.e. the music that is passed down to the synthesizer changes on-the-fly as you manipulate the code. It’s magical to watch (and listen!) to how you can adapt and distort the music to your whims just by tweaking a few lines of code: no compilation steps, hardly any debugging and instant results.

The traditional view of music generators like this is to create lists of note/instrument pairs with appropriate modifiers. Each sound is specified in sequence — adding a sound extends the sequence a little. Strudel / Tidalcycles works a little differently and is based on the idea of repeating patterns over a fixed time. Adding an extra sound or breaking down one sound slot into multiple sounds squeezes all the remaining slots down, causing the whole pattern to repeat in the same period, with the sounds individually taking up less space. This simple change makes it really easy to add layer upon layer of interest within a sequence with a few extra characters, without recalculating everything else to fit. On top of this base, multiple effects can be layered—more than we can mention here—and all can be adjusted with pop-in sliders directly in the code.

You see, the code is also the visualizer. As the sequence runs, the notes and time periods are highlighted, with piano rolls and oscilloscope views adding to the visuals to help guide you. Tweaking the various components of the sound composition in real time with embedded sliders is a quick and easy way to smoothly hear the impact of settings. It just makes sense. Additionally, since Strudel is written in JavaScript, you can pull in external libraries of customized functions to make your code more straightforward to read, like this short library from [Switch Angel].

On the back end, the built-in web-based synthesizer is basic but functional for roughing out. Still, for absolute control, you’re going to want to send the notes over to something like SuperCollider or Sonic Pi. This is easy because Strudel supports OSC, making it a simple, configurable item.

If you were thinking that you’ve seen a JavaScript-based generative music thing before, you’d be right. Whilst we’re thinking about generative music and generative art in general, what about having a look at this neat sound-and-light sculpture?

youtube.com/embed/GWXCCBsOMSg?…

youtube.com/embed/aPsq5nqvhxg?…

Thanks to [JohnU] for sending this in!


hackaday.com/2025/10/16/live-c…



A Tale of Two Car Design Philosophies


As a classic car enthusiast, my passion revolves around cars with a Made in West Germany stamp somewhere on them, partially because that phrase generally implied a reputation for mechanical honesty and engineering sanity. Air-cooled Volkswagens are my favorites, and in fact I wrote about these, and my own ’72 Super Beetle, almost a decade ago. The platform is incredibly versatile and hackable, not to mention inexpensive and repairable thanks to its design as a practical, affordable car originally meant for German families in the post-war era and which eventually spread worldwide. My other soft-spot is a car that might seem almost diametrically opposed to early VWs in its design philosophy: the Mercedes 300D. While it was a luxury vehicle, expensive and overbuilt in comparison to classic Volkswagens, the engineers’ design choices ultimately earned it a reputation as one of the most reliable cars ever made.

As much as I appreciate these classics, though, there’s almost nothing that could compel me to purchase a modern vehicle from either of these brands. The core reason is that both have essentially abandoned the design philosophies that made them famous in the first place. And while it’s no longer possible to buy anything stamped Made in West Germany for obvious reasons, even a modern car with a VIN starting with a W doesn’t carry that same weight anymore. It more likely marks a vehicle destined for a lease term rather than one meant to be repaired and driven for decades, like my Beetle or my 300D.

Punch Buggy Blue

Vintage Beetles also make excellent show cars and beach buggies. Photo courtesy of Bryan Cockfield
Starting with the downfall of Volkswagen, whose Beetle is perhaps the most iconic car ever made, their original stated design intent was to make something affordable and easily repairable with simple tools. The vehicles that came out of this era, including the Beetle, Bus, and Karmann Ghia, omitted many parts we’d think were absolutely essential on a modern car such as a radiator, air conditioner, ABS brakes, a computer, or safety features of any sort. But in exchange the vehicles are easily wrenched on for a very low cost.

For example, removing the valve covers only requires a flat screwdriver and takes about five seconds, and completing a valve adjustment from that point only requires a 13 mm wrench and maybe an additional half hour. The engines can famously be removed in a similar amount of time, and the entire bodies can be lifted off the chassis without much more effort. And some earlier models of Beetle will run just fine even without a battery, assuming you can get a push. As a result of cost and simplicity the Beetle and the other vehicles based on it were incredibly popular for almost an entire century and drove VW to worldwide fame.

This design philosophy didn’t survive the 80s and 90s, however, and this era saw VW abandon nearly everything that made it successful in the first place. Attempting any of the maintenance procedures listed above on a modern Jetta or Golf will have one scratching one’s head, wondering if there’s anything left of the soul of the Volkswagen from the 50s and 60s. Things like having to remove the bumper and grille to change a headlight assembly or removing the intake manifold to change a thermostat are commonplace now. They’ve also abandoned their low-cost roots as well, with their new retro-styled Bus many multiples of even the inflation-adjusted price of a Bus from the 1960s, well beyond what modern safety standards and technology would have added to the cost of the vehicle alone. Let’s also not forget that even when completely ignoring emissions standards, modern VWs have still remained overpriced and difficult to repair.
Besides design cues, there are virtually no similarities between these two cars. Photo courtesy of Bryan Cockfield

VW Is Not Alone


The story of Mercedes ends up in almost exactly the same place but from a completely opposite starting point. Mercedes of the 60s and 70s was known for building mostly indestructible tanks for those with means who wanted to feel like they were riding in the peak of luxury. And that’s what Mercedes mostly delivered: leather seats, power windows, climate control, a comfortable ride, and in a package that would easily go hundreds of thousands of miles with basic maintenance. In the case of the W123 platform, this number often extended to a million miles, a number absolutely unheard of for modern vehicles.

This is the platform my 1984 300D was based on, and mine was well over 300,000 miles before we eventually parted ways. Mercedes of this era also made some ultra-luxury vehicles that could be argued to be the ancestors of modern Mercedes-Maybach like the Mercedes 600, a car with all of the power electronics replaced with hydraulics like the windows, power reclining rear seat, and automatic trunk.
Nothing lets you blend into the Palm Beach crowd as seamlessly as driving a Mercedes. Photo courtesy of Bryan Cockfield
While the Mercedes 600 isn’t exactly known for being a hobbyist car nowadays, the W123s certainly are. My 300D was simple by modern Mercedes standards with a mechanical fuel injected diesel engine that was excessively overbuilt. The mechanical climate control systems made out of springs, plastic, and hope might not be working anymore but I’d be truly surprised if the engine from this car isn’t still running today.

Even plenty of gas-powered Mercedes of that era are wrenchable (as long as you bought one from before Chrysler poisoned the company) and also deliver the luxury that Mercedes was known for and is still coasting on. And this ability to repair or work on a car at a minimum of cost didn’t mean Mercedes sacrificed luxury, either. These cars were known for comfort as well as reliability, something rarely combined in modern cars.

Indeed, like Volkswagen, it seems as though a modern Mercedes will make it just as far as the end of the first lease before it turns into an expensive maintenance nightmare. Mercedes at least has the excuse that it never recovered from infecting itself with Chrysler in the 90s, but Volkswagen has no corporate baggage as severe, instead making a conscious choice to regress towards the mean without the anchor of a lackluster American brand tied around its neck. But a few other other less-obvious things have happened that have crushed the souls of my favorite vintage auto makers as well.

Toyota


Japanese automakers disrupted everything in the 70s and 80s with cars that had everything Volkswagen used to be: simple, inexpensive, repairable, and arguably even more reliable. And, with the advent of Lexus in the 80s and their first model, the LS400, they showed that they could master the Mercedes traits of bulletproof luxury as well. They didn’t need nostalgia or marketing mythology; they just quietly built what Volkswagen and Mercedes once promised, and Volkswagen, Mercedes, and almost every other legacy automaker at the time were simply unable to compete on any of these terms. Many people will blame increasing safety and emissions requirements on the changes seen in the last three decades, but fail to account for the fact that Japanese brands had these same requirements but were able to succeed despite them.

Marketing

Photo courtesy of Bryan Cockfield
Without being able to build reliable vehicles at a competitive price to Toyota, or Honda, or others, these companies turned to their marketing departments and away from their engineers. Many car makers, not just Mercedes and VW, chase gadgetry and features today rather than any underlying engineering principles. They also hope to sell buyers on a lifestyle rather than on the vehicle itself. With Mercedes it’s the image of luxury rather than luxury itself, and for Volkswagen especially it’s often nostalgia rather than repairability or reliability.

This isn’t limited to car companies, either. The 80s and 90s also ushered in a more general time of prioritizing stock holders and quarterly earnings rather than customers, long-term thinking, and quality. Companies like Boeing, GE, Craftsman, Sony, and Nokia all have fallen to victim to the short-term trend at the expense of what once made them great.

Designing for Assembly Rather than Repair


And, if customers are only spending money on a lease term it doesn’t really matter if the cars last longer than that. So, it follows that the easiest way to trim costs when not designing for longevity is to design in ways that minimize assembly cost rather than costs of ownership. That’s partially how we get the classic “remove the bumper to replace the headlight” predicament of many modern vehicles: these cars are designed to please robots on the assembly line, not humans with wrenches.

Dealerships


The way that we’ve structured car buying as a society bears some of this burden as well. Dealerships, especially in North America, are protected by law and skew the car ownership experience significantly, generally to the detriment of car owners. Without these legal protections the dealership model would effectively disappear overnight, and their lobbying groups have fought tooth-and-nail to stop newer companies from shipping cars directly to owners. Not only do dealerships drive up the cost of purchasing a vehicle compared to if it were legally possible to buy direct from a manufacturer, they often make the bulk of their profits on service. That means their incentives are also aligned so that the more unreliable and complex vehicles become, the more the dealerships will benefit and entrench themselves further. This wasn’t as true when VW and Mercedes were making the vehicles that made them famous, but has slowly eroded what made these classics possible in the modern world.

Hope? Probably Not.


There’s no sign that any of these trends are slowing down, and to me it seems to be part of a broader trend that others like [Maya] have pointed out that goes beyond cars. And it’s a shame too as there’s a brand new frontier of electric vehicles that could (in theory) bring us back to a world where we could have reliable, repairable vehicles again. EVs are simpler machines at heart, and they could be the perfect platform for open-source software, accessible schematics, and owner repair. But manufacturers and dealers aren’t incentivized to build anything like the Volkswagens or Mercedes of old, electric or otherwise, even though they easily could. I also won’t hold my breath hoping for [Jeff Bezos] to save us, either, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
Buick Park Avenue: the last repairable luxury car? Photo courtesy of Bryan Cockfield
And I also don’t fault anyone for appreciating these legacy brands. I’ve picked on VW and Merc here because I’ve owned them and appreciate them too, or at least what they used to represent. The problem is that somewhere along the way, loyalty to engineering and design ideals got replaced by loyalty to the logo itself. If we really care about what made cars like the Beetle and 300D special in the first place, we should be demanding that the companies that built them live up to those values again, not making excuses when they don’t.

So for now, I’ll keep gravitating toward the vehicles that came closest to those ideals. Others at Hackaday have as well, notably [Lewin] and his Miata which certainly fits this bill. Although I don’t have my VW or Mercedes anymore, I currently have a ’19 Toyota pickup, largely designed in the early 2000s, which isn’t glamorous but it’s refreshingly honest by modern standards and is perhaps a last gasp from this company’s soul, as Toyota now risks following the same path that hollowed out Volkswagen and Mercedes: swapping durability and practicality for complexity, flashy features, and short-term profits. I was also gifted an old Buick with an engine I once heard described as “the time GM accidentally made a Toyota engine.” The rubber bits may be dry-rotting away, but it’s a perfect blend of my Beetle and my 300D because it’s cheap, comfortable, reliable, and fixable (and the climate control actually works). The only thing missing is that little stamp: Made in West Germany.


hackaday.com/2025/10/16/a-tale…



Un autobus diventa un museo itinerante di computer retrò nel Regno Unito


Nel Regno Unito, Jason e Luke Stoner, padre e figlio, hanno trasformato un vecchio scuolabus in un museo itinerante dedicato ai computer e alle console di gioco retrò. L’ispirazione è nata quando Luke ha visitato il celebre Computer Museum di Cambridge, decidendo di rendere la tecnologia vintage accessibile a un pubblico più ampio.

Così è nata Retro Reset, un’organizzazione no-profit che dall’autunno 2024 ha avviato il restauro completo del mezzo. Il progetto è stato portato a termine in appena un anno, con il museo di Cambridge tra i principali sponsor dell’iniziativa.

Attualmente, l’autobus percorre l’East Sussex facendo tappa in scuole, college e centri giovanili, con l’obiettivo di far conoscere a bambini e adolescenti la storia dell’informatica.

All’interno, gli spazi ospitano non solo console di varie epoche, ma anche una vasta gamma di componenti informatici: vecchi server, moduli di memoria, schede video, hard disk, floppy disk e altri dispositivi che permettono di osservare l’evoluzione dei PC nel tempo.

La mostra, compatta a causa delle dimensioni del mezzo, presenta circa dieci sistemi attivi contemporaneamente, aggiornati periodicamente.

Tra gli oggetti più pregiati vi è un computer utilizzato in passato per il montaggio di film di Hollywood. I visitatori hanno l’opportunità di interagire direttamente con le console, smontare PC e studiare i singoli componenti, partecipando ad attività pratiche di ingegneria.

Retro Reset non si limita a esporre oggetti storici: si tratta di una piattaforma interattiva che consente di vivere la storia del mondo digitale in prima persona. L’iniziativa potrebbe ispirare nuovi progetti simili, diffondendo la passione per i computer retrò e mantenendo viva la memoria tecnologica per le generazioni future.

Vi lasciamo con le parole dell’iniziativa:

“La nostra missione è far rivivere ai giovani l’affascinante storia dei computer e dei videogiochi. I nostri laboratori mobili, ospitati in un autobus splendidamente ristrutturato, offrono un viaggio pratico nel mondo della tecnologia retrò, esplorando l’evoluzione del gaming e dell’informatica dagli anni ’70 a oggi. Cosa ci rende unici? Non solo offriamo l’opportunità di giocare con le console classiche e di esplorare gadget vintage, ma diamo anche ai giovani la possibilità di maneggiare, smontare e sperimentare da vicino la tecnologia d’epoca. Dai computer retrò alle console di gioco iconiche, i ragazzi potranno comprendere appieno il funzionamento di queste macchine e come hanno contribuito a plasmare il mondo digitale che conosciamo oggi.”

L'articolo Un autobus diventa un museo itinerante di computer retrò nel Regno Unito proviene da Red Hot Cyber.



La laurea in informatica non è più una garanzia di lavoro. l’AI ruba i posti (e i colloqui)


Un tempo, una laurea in informatica rappresentava una garanzia di successo. Stipendi competitivi, benefit generosi e possibilità di impiego immediato erano la norma. Oggi, però, per molti giovani laureati nel 2025 la realtà si è rivelata ben diversa.

Azka Azmi, neolaureata in primavera, ha raccontato al Toronto Star di aver inviato centinaia di candidature senza ottenere nemmeno una risposta. «È come parlare con una macchina», ha spiegato, descrivendo un processo di selezione sempre più impersonale e frustrante.

Le statistiche confermano questa tendenza. In Ontario, le opportunità di lavoro nel settore dello sviluppo software e della programmazione sono diminuite del 25% tra il 2020 e il 2024. Le posizioni entry-level – tradizionalmente il primo passo nel mondo IT – stanno scomparendo, schiacciate da una combinazione di fattori: l’automazione spinta dall’intelligenza artificiale, l’incertezza economica e la crescita esponenziale dei laureati in informatica.

Alla Toronto Metropolitan University, ad esempio, il numero di studenti iscritti a corsi di informatica è passato da circa 690 nel 2016 a oltre 2.000 nel 2024. Incrementi simili si sono registrati anche in altri atenei canadesi come Waterloo, York e Wilfrid Laurier.

Eric Alexander, direttore senior dell’agenzia di reclutamento tecnologico Arcadia, ha sottolineato che negli ultimi dieci anni i giovani sono stati fortemente incoraggiati a scegliere la carriera informatica. Tuttavia, oggi il mercato è saturo: ci sono troppi candidati e troppo poche posizioni disponibili.

A complicare ulteriormente la ricerca di lavoro interviene l’intelligenza artificiale, impiegata dalle aziende per filtrare i curriculum e persino per redigere le risposte ai candidati. Alcune imprese inseriscono dettagli specifici o “trappole” nei propri annunci per smascherare le candidature generate automaticamente: una presentazione a tema golfistico o la ricetta di un dolce francese, per esempio, diventano test nascosti per verificare l’autenticità delle candidature.

Nel frattempo, cresce la pressione tra gli studenti. Un dottorando dell’Università di Toronto ha raccontato che molti colleghi vivono in uno stato di ansia costante, tanto da rischiare il burnout. La competizione accesa e l’ambiente accademico estremamente competitivo stanno incidendo sulla salute mentale di molti giovani.

Chrisee Zhu, studentessa della stessa università, ha deciso di ridurre la propria specializzazione in informatica a un semplice corso minore, sopraffatta dallo stress legato agli stage e alla preparazione continua per i colloqui di lavoro. «Durante i lavori di gruppo nessuno riusciva a concentrarsi», ha raccontato, «tutti pensavano solo a come esercitarsi per le selezioni o candidarsi per un nuovo tirocinio».

Anche Elliot Chen, laureato in informatica, ha vissuto difficoltà simili: dopo aver inviato centinaia di curriculum e ricevuto solo rifiuti per la scarsa esperienza, ha scelto di iscriversi a un master. Tuttavia, ha ricevuto ancora meno risposte dai datori di lavoro rispetto a quando era studente universitario.

Eyal de Lar, presidente del Dipartimento di Informatica dell’Università di Toronto, offre però una visione più ottimistica. Secondo lui, l’intelligenza artificiale non ridurrà drasticamente i posti di lavoro nel settore, ma potrebbe anzi generarne di nuovi. Ricorda che dopo la crisi delle dot-com, circa 15 anni fa, le iscrizioni ai corsi di informatica erano crollate, ma il mercato si è poi ripreso, superando in seguito la domanda di competenze.

«Questo è solo un momento di transizione, non la fine di un’era», ha dichiarato, invitando i giovani a non perdere di vista l’importanza dei rapporti umani e della comunicazione diretta.

Tuttavia, per molti neolaureati, la realtà resta dura. Oggi l’intelligenza artificiale non solo sostituisce il lavoro umano in azienda, ma sembra anche aver preso il posto dell’umanità stessa nei processi di selezione. Quando il destino professionale di un candidato viene deciso da un algoritmo e le offerte richiedono “un anno di esperienza” a chi ancora non ha avuto occasione di lavorare, il mito dorato dell’informatica sembra dissolversi.

L'articolo La laurea in informatica non è più una garanzia di lavoro. l’AI ruba i posti (e i colloqui) proviene da Red Hot Cyber.



Colpire l’informazione al cuore


@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/colpire…
L’attentato di questa notte contro Sigfrido Ranucci è un salto di qualità. Dalle informazioni disponibili, hanno fatto esplodere un ordigno rudimentale davanti alla sua casa di Pomezia: distrutte 2 sue auto. È successo nel giorno dell’anniversario dell’assassinio di Daphne Caruana



IL SUONO DELLA DISTANZA



«Il suono della distanza» rappresenta un viaggio in cui si esplora un tema vivo, che ha profondamente coinvolto, con la sua poetica, la cantautrice Martina Lupi e il pianista Alessandro Gwis.

Ogni brano di questo progetto racconta storie dense di vita, dall’isolamento forzato all’obbligo di lasciare il proprio Paese per andare a combattere, dalle pandemie agli amori impossibili, dalle lontananze alla convivenza con la disabilità in molteplici forme, alle reclusioni e coinvolge emotivamente l’ascoltatore conducendolo a immedesimarsi in vissuti ispiratori.

La musica di Alessandro Gwis, con le sue innumerevoli sfumature, si fonde con la voce di Martina Lupi, che ama esprimersi interpretando testi e melodie dal sapore mediterraneo, talvolta con timbri e colori di sonorità extraeuropee, attraverso l’uso di strumenti, di tecniche e lingue di diverse parti del mondo.

Introduce P. Claudio Zonta S.I., scrittore de La Civiltà Cattolica

  • Alessandro Gwis, pianoforte
  • Martina Lupi, voce e strumenti dal mondo

Ingresso libero fino a esaurimento posti
No Parking

The post IL SUONO DELLA DISTANZA first appeared on La Civiltà Cattolica.



Bomba distrugge l’auto di Sigfrido Ranucci


@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/bomba-d…
Nella notte un ordigno è stato piazzato sotto l’auto parcheggiata del giornalista e conduttore di Report, Sigfrido Ranucci. L’auto è saltata in aria, danneggiando anche l’altra auto di famiglia e la casa accanto. Sul posto carabinieri, Digos,




Non ho parole... Certa gente dovrebbe avere il buon senso di autoestinguersi

liguriaoggi.it/2025/10/16/lors…



Videos demoing one of the sites have repeatedly gone viral on TikTok and other platforms recently. 404 Media verified they can locate specific peoples' Tinder profiles using their photo, and found that the viral videos are produced by paid creators.

Videos demoing one of the sites have repeatedly gone viral on TikTok and other platforms recently. 404 Media verified they can locate specific peoplesx27; Tinder profiles using their photo, and found that the viral videos are produced by paid creat…#News


Viral ‘Cheater Buster’ Sites Use Facial Recognition to Let Anyone Reveal Peoples’ Tinder Profiles


A number of easy to access websites use facial recognition to let partners, stalkers, or anyone else uncover specific peoples’ Tinder profiles, reveal their approximate physical location at points in time, and track changes to their profile including their photos, according to 404 Media’s tests.

Ordinarily it is not possible to search Tinder for a specific person. Instead, Tinder provides users potential matches based on the user’s own physical location. The tools on the sites 404 Media has found allow anyone to search for someone’s profile by uploading a photo of their face. The tools are invasive of anyone’s privacy, but present a significant risk to those who may need to avoid an abusive ex-partner or stalker. The sites mostly market these tools as a way to find out if their partner is cheating on them, or at minimum using dating apps like Tinder.

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#News #x27


Flock has built a nationwide surveillance network of AI-powered cameras and given many more federal agencies access. Senator Ron Wyden told Flock “abuses of your product are not only likely but inevitable” and Flock “is unable and uninterested in preventing them.”#News #Flock


ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock's Nationwide Network of Cameras


A division of ICE, the Secret Service, and the Navy’s criminal investigation division all had access to Flock’s nationwide network of tens of thousands of AI-enabled cameras that constantly track the movements of vehicles, and by extension people, according to a letter sent by Senator Ron Wyden and shared with 404 Media. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the section of ICE that had access and which has reassigned more than ten thousand employees to work on the agency’s mass deportation campaign, performed nearly two hundred searches in the system, the letter says.

In the letter Senator Wyden says he believes Flock is uninterested in fixing the room for abuse baked into its platform, and says local officials can best protect their constituents from such abuses by removing the cameras entirely.

The letter shows that many more federal agencies had access to the network than previously known. We previously found, following local media reports, that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had access to 80,000 cameras around the country. It is now clear that Flock’s work with federal agencies, which the company described as a pilot, was much larger in scope.

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Oggi #16ottobre è la Giornata Mondiale della Rianimazione Cardiopolmonare. Al Salone dello Studente...

Oggi #16ottobre è la Giornata Mondiale della Rianimazione Cardiopolmonare. Al Salone dello Studente si stanno svolgendo le dimostrazioni di primo soccorso a cura di INAIL, nell’ambito della campagna ministeriale #MiStaiACuore volta a sensibilizzare #



BNI notizie 2-2025


Per la soggettazione del fascicolo n. 2-2025 della Bibliografia Nazionale Italiana, serie Monografie, abbiamo introdotto nel Thesaurus del Nuovo soggettario i seguenti nuovi termini di soggetto:

• Fonti cartografiche IT 2025-1968
• Mercanti bolzanini IT 2025-1421
• Scrittrici italo-canadesi IT 2025-​1784

Per i fascicoli precedenti rimandiamo alla pagina BNI dedicata.

L'articolo BNI notizie 2-2025 proviene da Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze.



Il #16ottobre è la Giornata Mondiale dell’Alimentazione, istituita dalla FAO per sensibilizzare sui problemi legati alla malnutrizione e per promuovere la sicurezza alimentare basata su una dieta bilanciata.



Dopo quattro anni di ascolto, confronto e discernimento, il Cammino sinodale della Chiesa italiana giunge a una tappa decisiva con la pubblicazione del Documento di sintesi, che sarà sottoposto al voto della terza Assemblea sinodale il 25 ottobre.



È disponibile online, su chiesacattolica.it e camminosinodale.net, “Lievito di pace e di speranza”, il Documento di sintesi del Cammino sinodale delle Chiese che sono in Italia, che sarà votato dalla terza Assemblea sinodale in programma a Roma il 25…


Public records expert: ‘We can do better’


If fewer newspapers exist to request public records, does the government become less transparent? That’s the question at the heart of “Dark Deserts,” a new research paper by David Cuillier of the Freedom of Information Project at the Brechner Center for Advancement of the First Amendment and law student Brett Posner-Ferdman.

Cuillier, who’s taught more than 10,000 journalists, students, and citizens how to wrest public records from government agencies, told us about what he and Posner-Ferdman found and what it means for the public’s right to know.

Let’s start with the big finding of “Dark Deserts”: States with fewer local papers and weaker press associations are more likely to break public records laws. Why does that matter for everyday people?

This is incredibly important for all of us because we are reaching the transparency tipping point — where we will lose any effective ability to see what our governments are up to.

We know from research that public record laws directly lead to less corruption, cleaner drinking water, and safer restaurants. According to Stanford economist James Hamilton’s research, for every dollar spent on public records journalism, society benefits $287 in saved lives and more efficient government. Freedom of information ensures concrete benefits for all of us.

Yet, we are losing it very quickly. According to the Department of Justice’s own statistics, if you asked for a record in 2011, you would get it about 38% of the time. Now it’s down to 12%. We see the same downward trends in the states. What happens when it gets to 0%?

The death of transparency will affect all of us in the pocketbook, in the quality of government services we receive, and in the loss of liberties we hold sacred as Americans.

The death of transparency will affect all of us in the pocketbook, in the quality of government services we receive, and in the loss of liberties we hold sacred as Americans.


David Cuillier

Surprisingly, you found that having more digital-only media outlets doesn’t result in better public records request compliance. Why do you think that is, and what advice would you give to digital outlets trying to hold government accountable?

It is difficult to know for sure. For one, there aren’t as many data points to effectively measure their effects as well as we would like. For example, the Institute for Nonprofit News membership stands at about 500 so far and there are 3,143 counties in the country. A strong, local, independent digital outlet might have an effect on local compliance with public record laws, but there probably aren’t enough to have an impact on state agencies.

Also, while many are doing great work, I suspect they have less influence at a statewide level than newspapers. A lot of digital-only outlets don’t have the funds to sue for public records. Also, my sense is that government officials don’t take digital-only media outlets as seriously, and that politicians are essentially blowing them off and not considering them “real” journalism. That is too bad, because many are doing better journalism than legacy media.

Digital-only outlets will need to double down on public records. And support organizations like Freedom of the Press Foundation, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, MuckRock, state FOI coalitions, and others can help.

Beyond subscribing to their community’s newspaper or supporting funding for journalism, what can people who care about press freedom and transparency do to encourage state governments to take their public record laws seriously?

Of course, write to your local city council, legislator, governor, and congressional representatives. They listen if enough people speak up. But everyone says that, right? And how many people actually act?

The solutions will take much more work than strongly worded letters. It’s time for other institutions to fill the gap. Nonprofits with an agenda are probably our last hope — American Oversight, Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch, ACLU, League of Women Voters, etc. A new citizen-driven nonprofit in Jacksonville, “Nassau County DOGE,” has been pushing for public records. Environmental groups and those seeking police reform and rights for transgender Americans are pushing for records. Whatever your passion is, join an organization that will fight for your right to know.

The solutions will take much more work than strongly worded letters. It’s time for other institutions to fill the gap.


David Cuillier

Then, we need strong coordinating bodies, such as state freedom of information coalitions, to help direct these energies toward real legislative reform and litigation. One thing I’ve noticed is that all it takes is one or two passionate people in a state to make a huge difference in freedom of information. It really is doable!

What states have the strongest public records law, and what sets them apart? If you had the power to rewrite public records laws, what’s the one thing you’d add or fix right away?

No state is perfect. But most of the studies indicate that the states with the best compliance overall with public record laws tend to be Washington, Idaho, Connecticut, and some others. The most effective changes to public records laws rely on four things.

First, we need mandatory attorney fee-shifting in every state, where agencies are required to cover the attorney fees of people who sue for public records and prevail. In the third of the states that have this, there are attorneys happy to sue on behalf of journalists and others, with the hope they will get paid.

Second, strong financial penalties for noncompliance are critically important. Washington is probably the most transparent state overall, because if an agency breaks the law, is sued, and loses, it can be forced to pay up to $100 per record per day that it dinged the requester around. That can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Third, elimination of search and redaction fees, which are abused terribly. There are some countries where no fees are charged at all, and it works very well. In reality, fees collect very little of the actual cost of administering public record laws — less than 1%-3% according to most studies. Yet, they are wielded by agencies to make people go away, particularly journalists.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, we need alternative enforcement mechanisms in addition to court. Not everyone can afford to hire an attorney and sue. We need independent information commissions in every state to enforce the law and punish bad agencies, as they have in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and in more than 51 nations across the planet.

You’re also a member of the federal Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee. What’s something you’d fix in the federal FOIA?

So many fixes, so little time.

The FOIA Advisory Committee, since its inception in 2014, has provided 67 recommendations to improve the law and process, yet the most substantive suggestions have mostly been ignored. Amendments every decade or so tweak the law but are insufficient in keeping up with increasing secrecy.

I’ve noticed that in Washington, D.C., there tends to be a culture of exceptionalism, that we are the king of democracy in the world and have the best law on the books. In reality, FOIA’s strength on paper is rated in the bottom half of the 140 nations that have public record laws — 78th, to be exact. That is embarrassing. So many improvements could be made if we swallow our pride and look to other countries for guidance.

FOIA’s strength on paper is rated in the bottom half of the 140 nations that have public record laws — 78th, to be exact. That is embarrassing.


David Cuillier

For example, we need an independent agency with the power to enforce the law on behalf of citizens, like we see in dozens of other countries. We need stiff penalties — even firing and jail time — for intentional noncompliance of FOIA, as they have in Ghana, Barbuda, and Finland. We need direct funding of FOIA offices by Congress to carry out the FOIA mission, particularly now as agencies are gutting staff. We need better technology to search for records and redact. We need FOIA to be applied to all branches of government, and to private corporations that conduct taxpayer-funded business on behalf of the government, as in South Africa, Armenia, and Colombia.

A lot of people consider these ideas extreme, yet they are common in other countries. We can do better.


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EDRi-gram, 16 October 2025


What has the EDRi network been up to over the summer? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: Digital protection at stakes – and how we are fighting back.

The post EDRi-gram, 16 October 2025 appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).



Judge in the Bits of Freedom vs. Meta lawsuit: Meta must respect users’ choice


On 2 October 2025, the Dutch court made clear that users should be in control of content they see on Meta’s apps. In a landmark victory for digital rights, the judge sided with Bits of Freedom against Meta, ruling that the company is violating the law and it has to adjust its app to respect users’ choices.

The post Judge in the Bits of Freedom vs. Meta lawsuit: Meta must respect users’ choice appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).




The DMA is a success, it should be strengthened and expanded


Despite its somewhat disappointing enforcement so far, the EU’s Digital Market Act has become a global role model for modern antitrust policy. While Europe figures out its implementation, we should already work on expanding the law’s scope and strengthen its provisions. Here is how to make the DMA even better.

The post The DMA is a success, it should be strengthened and expanded appeared first on European Digital Rights (EDRi).

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scusate ma mettetevi nei panni di chi ha già perso tutto, vive quasi come un animale, ha solo un tetto e le sue mucche, nessuna speranza di poter migliorare la propria vita, uno che si sente pure vittima del sistema corrotto e ingiusto. andate li per portargli via la causa. non dovrebbe essere violento? no, nessuno dovrebbe esserlo mai. ma in quel contesto onestamente cosa vi aspettate ragionevolmente che possa succedere? davvero c'è da stupirsi? cosa altro poteva succedere? e quindi la salis ha detto qualcosa di strano? no. chi è adesso che vuol fare il political correct a tutti i costi? purtroppo è successo quello che chiunque dotato di intelletto poteva prevedere, senza che nessuno abbia davvero cercato di evitarlo.


‘The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks.’#News


Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’


Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren sent letters to the Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, raising concerns about the $55 billion acquisition of the giant American video game company in part by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Specifically, the Senators worry that EA, which just released Battlefield 6 last week and also publishes The Sims, Madden, and EA Sports FC, “would cease exercising editorial and operational independence under the control of Saudi Arabia’s private majority ownership.”

“The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks, beginning with the PIF’s reputation as a strategic arm of the Saudi government,” the Senators wrote in their letter. “As Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the PIF has made dozens of strategic investments in sports (including a bid for the U.S. PGA Tour), video games (including a $3.3 billion investment in Activision Blizzard), and other cultural institutionsthat ‘are more than just about financial returns; they are about influence.’ Leveraging long term shifts in public opinion, through the PIF’s investments, ‘Saudi Arabia is seeking to normalize its global image, expand its cultural reach, and gain leverage in spaces that shape how billions of people connect and interact.’ Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has ‘stagnated for half a decade’ in an unpredictably volatile industry.”

As the Senators' letter notes, Saudi Arabia has made several notable investments in the video game industry in recent years. In addition to its investment in Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, the PIF recently acquired Evo, the biggest video game fighting tournament in the world (one of its many investments in esports), was reportedly a “mystery partner” in a failed $2 billion deal with video game publisher Embracer, and recently acquired Pokémon Go via its subsidiary, Scopely.

“The deal’s potential to expand and strengthen Saudi foreign influence in the United States is compounded by the national security risks raised by the Saudi government’s access to and unchecked influence over the sensitive personal information collected from EA’s millions of users, its development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and the company’s product design and direction,” the Senators wrote.

The acquisition, which is the largest leveraged buyout transaction in history, includes two other investment firms: Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the latter of which was formed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Senators letter says that Kushner’s involvement “raises troubling questions about whether Mr. Kushner is involved in the transaction solely to ensure the federal government’s approval of the transaction.”

These investments in the video game industry are just one part of Saudi Arabia’s broader “Vision 2030” to diversify its economy as the world transitions away from the fossil fuels that enriched the Saudi royal family. The PIF has made massive investments in aerospace and defense industries, technology, sports, and other forms of entertainment. For example, Blumenthal and other Senators have expressed similar concerns about the PIF’s investment in the professional golf organization PGA Tour.

The Senators don’t specify what this “foreign influence” might look like in practice, but recent events can give us an idea. The comedy world, for example, has been embroiled in controversy for the last few weeks over the Saudi hosted and funded Riyadh Comedy Festival, which included many of the biggest stand-up comedians in the world. Those who participated in the festival, despite the Saudi government's policies and 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, defended it as an opportunity for cultural exchange and freedom of expression in a country where it has not been historically tolerated. However, some comedians who declined to join the festival revealed that participants had to agree to certain “content restrictions,” which forbade them from criticizing Saudi Arabia, the royal family, or religion.


#News


Strade sbagliate


Viviamo in un tempo che idolatra l’andare avanti. L’avanzare, il progredire, il “non mollare mai”. Siamo educati a pensare che tornare indietro equivalga a fallire, a perdere terreno, a mostrarsi deboli. Ma questa è una narrazione incompleta, e talvolta pericolosa. Perché ci sono strade che, una volta intraprese, ci allontanano da chi siamo veramente. E non importa quanto lontano ci si sia spinti: puoi sempre tornare indietro. Questa frase ha il potere di ribaltare il pensiero comune. Ci ricorda che il vero atto di forza non è sempre resistere, ma avere la lucidità di fermarsi, guardarsi intorno, e ammettere che si è andati fuori rotta. In un’epoca dove ogni click, ogni scelta, ogni relazione sembra pubblica e definitiva, fare marcia indietro sembra impensabile. Ma è proprio lì che si nasconde la vera rivoluzione personale. Pensa a chi ha investito anni in un lavoro che lo prosciuga, lo svuota, lo allontana dai suoi valori. Ogni giorno si sveglia con un nodo allo stomaco, ma continua perché “ormai è tardi”, perché “non si può ricominciare da zero”. Ma chi ha detto che dobbiamo restare fedeli ad un errore solo perché ci abbiamo investito molto? Tornare indietro, in questo caso, non è arrendersi, ma scegliere la propria vita anziché subirla. Oppure pensa ad una relazione tossica, in cui l’amore ha lasciato spazio alla paura, al controllo, alla perdita di sé. Si resta perché “cambierà”, perché “ci siamo fatti promesse”, perché “non si può buttare tutto”. E invece sì, si può. Si può riconoscere che quella promessa era fatta da due persone diverse, e che le cose sono cambiate. Anche qui, tornare indietro è salvare sé stessi. Il nostro tempo è segnato da mappe GPS, ma nella vita reale non esistono voci elettroniche che ci dicono “ricalcolo del percorso”. Tocca a noi, con fatica, con coscienza. Fermarci. Riconoscere il paesaggio sbagliato. E scegliere. Sempre scegliere. E qual è la meraviglia? Che ogni volta che torni indietro da una strada sbagliata, ti riavvicini un po’ di più alla tua verità. Al tuo centro. Alla vita che vuoi davvero. Perché il cammino giusto non è mai quello tracciato dagli altri, ma quello che ha senso per te, anche se è più impervio, più lento, più incomprensibile agli occhi altrui. Nel 2025, tra algoritmi che decidono cosa vedere, app che suggeriscono cosa fare, e società che grida “non fermarti mai”, scegliere di fermarsi e invertire la rotta è un atto radicale. È una dichiarazione di libertà. È affermare che sei tu, e solo tu, l’autore del tuo percorso. Quindi, ovunque ti trovi, qualunque sia la distanza che hai percorso su una strada che non ti appartiene più, sappi questo: non è mai troppo tardi per tornare. Non sei in ritardo. Non sei finito. Sei semplicemente pronto a riscrivere la tua mappa.
E in questo, non c’è niente di più umano. E di più potente.


quando dico che mi pare di essere passata a universo distopico, molti potrebbero non capire. c'è una teoria della meccanica quantistica secondo cui la realtà è composta da un cosiddetto "multiverso". in pratica ogni volta che viene fatta una scelta, si crea c'è un universo on cui viene fatta quella scelta, e un altro in cui viene fatta quella opposta. non posso sapere ovviamente se tutte o quali scelte sono "così influenti" da splittare la realtà in 2 universi distinti. tutto questo è per lo più fantascienza, e infatti è proprio nella fantascienza che appare questo multiverso. è così che, ad esempio, i tedeschi vincono la seconda guerra mondiale, ma trame un modo/luogo di fragilità del tessuto dell'universo, cercano di invadere anche le realtà dove sono stato sconfitti.

tutto questo pippone per dire che nella testa di una persona con l'idea, creata dalla fantascienza, del multiverso, questo diventa quasi credibile. e così se l'universo proprio appare "normale". quelli "alternativi hanno spesso regole assurde e incredibili, e sono spesso quegli universi che io chiamo "distopici".

ora... non che il nostro universo o la nostra realtà fosse idilliaca anche 20 anni fa... tanto che pure sul cazzone che ha fatto l'universo avrei da dirne un po' se lo vedo, prima o poi, gliene dico 4, ma con trump e da un 4-5 anni pare davvero che le regole siano cambiare radicalmente e siano diventare incredibili e assurde.






Crosetto lancia l’esercito cyber, 1.500 unità per la sicurezza digitale italiana

@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo

Il governo prepara una nuova struttura militare interamente dedicata alla difesa informatica. Il ministro della Difesa Guido Crosetto ha annunciato la nascita di un “esercito cyber” composto da 1.500 unità, destinato a operare nel campo della sicurezza digitale



Bruxelles presenta la roadmap per la difesa fino al 2030, ma gli Stati frenano. I dettagli

@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo

A sette mesi dalla pubblicazione del piano ReArm Eu – poi ribattezzato Readiness 2030 – e dopo settimane di attacchi ibridi verso il continente, la Commissione europea ha presentato la roadmap che, nei prossimi anni, dovrebbe rappresentare la bussola comune degli Stati



MADAGASCAR. Deposto Rajoelina, al potere i militari


@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
Dopo due settimane di proteste popolari e di crescente dissenso all’interno delle forze armate, il capo dello stato è stato ufficialmente deposto da un intervento del Capsat
L'articolo MADAGASCAR. Deposto pagineesteri.it/2025/10/16/map…



In an example of egregious planned obsolescence, as many as 400 million computers will soon hit the waste stream.#RighttoRepair #Windows10


The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making


Wednesday’s end of free Windows 10 support is an environmental disaster in the making, with as many as 400 million computers that cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 set to be cut off from receiving free security updates. The move is an egregious example of planned obsolescence that will inevitably result in the early deaths of millions of computers that would have otherwise had years of life left, and it is set to affect as many as 42 percent of all Windows computers worldwide.

“There’s 400 million computers that are going to enter the waste stream. That’s a disaster, just in terms of the sheer volume,” Nathan Proctor, director of consumer rights group PIRG’s right to repair campaign, said on the 404 Media Podcast. “And then you have people who are going to ignore the warnings and use a computer that’s insecure, so there’s going to [eventually] be some widespread security problems with these older, unsupported, no longer getting security updates computers.”

Microsoft has said it “will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10. Your PC will still work, but we recommend moving to Windows 11.” The problem with this is that millions of computers don’t have the technical specs to move to Windows 11, and some large, unknown number of Windows 10 devices are owned and operated by businesses, governments, and large organizations like schools and nonprofits whose procurement rules do not allow them to operate devices that are no longer getting security updates. This means that these organizations will necessarily have to buy new devices, which has become a big topic of conversation on the r/sysadmin subreddit, a community of IT professionals who manage big fleets of computers.
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This inevitably means that many of those devices are going to end up in landfills and e-waste facilities, and that people are going to have to buy new computers, one of the more egregious examples of planned obsolescence in recent memory. Experts have repeatedly made clear that extending the use of any given device, either through repair, software updates, or just keeping a device for longer, is extremely important, because it delays all the carbon emissions associated with mining the raw materials needed to produce a new device and the energy and emissions associated with manufacturing and shipping that new device.

Notably, Microsoft is going to continue offering security updates to customers who pay for them, meaning that it would be trivial for the company to continue to offer critical security updates for free. This is notable because we have seen unpatched Windows computers and devices turned into ransomware and botnets, most notably the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack, in which repurposed, leaked NSA hacking tools attacked computers running Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. WannaCry was one of the most devastating widespread cyberattacks in history.

Microsoft’s decision to sunset Windows 10 support is particularly concerning considering that more than 42 percent of all Windows users are currently using Windows 10. When Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 8, just 3.7 percent of computers were using it, and just 2.2 percent of Windows users were using Windows 8.1 when Microsoft stopped supporting that operating system.

“More than 40 percent of Windows users still use it,” Proctor said. “So to cut support for something that is legitimately a flagship product is bizarre. No one expects Microsoft to do software updates forever, but when 43 percent of your customers are using it, it’s not obsolete.”

Proctor and PIRG have launched a campaign pressuring Microsoft to extend support. Petitions and open letters of this sort aren’t known for being terribly effective, but when it comes to shaming companies into extending support for environmental and security reasons, there is one very big, very important precedent. In 2023, after widespread outrage from right to repair advocates, consumer rights groups, school districts, and enterprise buyers, Google agreed to extend automatic updates for Chromebooks to 10 years. The move saved millions of devices from going into landfills and ewaste facilities.

“What happened with Google and Chromebooks is an example that gives me hope that we can win,” Proctor said. “During the pandemic, schools bought massive quantities of Chromebooks, then it turns out that Chromebooks have this thing called the AUE [automatic update] date, which is a preset end of support date, which in some cases was just a couple years after the computers were brought brand new. There were photos from the Oakland Unified School District in California of thousands of working Chromebooks that were headed to the recycler because the AUE date had passed and they weren’t getting security updates, which meant they were ineligible to get some of the enterprise software they needed.”

“And so they were getting replaced by the thousands, and we organized a bunch of these school districts and institutional purchasers of Chromebooks,” he added. “Google initially resisted what we were doing, but then after a couple of months, they just flipped and said, ‘OK, we’re going to have 10 years minimum support timeline for all Chromebooks from here on out.’”

You can listen to and watch 404 Media’s full interview with Nathan Proctor here.




Meta tells its metaverse workers to push harder with AI; the massive Discord breach; and what happened when AI came for craft beer.#Podcast


Podcast: Meta Tells Workers to ‘Go 5x Faster’ with AI


We start this week with Jason’s article about an internal Meta message telling workers to increase their output by 5x with AI. That’s five times, not five percent. After the break, Joseph and Sam tell us all about the catastrophic Discord breach. In the subscribers-only section, Joseph explains what happened when AI came for craft beer (nothing is sacred).
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Listen to the weekly podcast on Apple Podcasts,Spotify, or YouTube. Become a paid subscriber for access to this episode's bonus content and to power our journalism. If you become a paid subscriber, check your inbox for an email from our podcast host Transistor for a link to the subscribers-only version! You can also add that subscribers feed to your podcast app of choice and never miss an episode that way. The email should also contain the subscribers-only unlisted YouTube link for the extended video version too. It will also be in the show notes in your podcast player.
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più vedo la gente e più mi convinco che non esista alcun senso di giustizia collettivo. poi magari facciamo le manifestazioni pro plaestinesi ma non pro ucraini o non pro curdi, e ci sentiamo buoni. ma non lo siamo, sia ben chiaro. perché conta più la giustizia che mostri verso le persone che incontri ogni giorno, la tua onestà, la tua voglia di servizio e non di sopraffazione, che fare una manifestazione. che un genitore insegni ai fligli il rispetto verso tutti i suoi compagni di scuola, che un genitore insegni il valore dello sport, specie verso gli avversari, che dimostri umanità insomma, quella che proprio manca. o a mostrare ai figli quando si guida il rispetto delle strisce pedonali, e di tutte le basilari regole di convivenza. se avessi un telecomando per cancellare l'umanità intera l'avrei già cancellata da un pezzo. (e non certo per la dieta onnivora)...


Roccella sui viaggi della Memoria: un ODG a Reggio Emilia


Abbiamo avuto modo di ascoltare le parole della Ministra Roccella sui Viaggi della Memoria, ridotti nella sua narrazione a semplici “Gite ad Auschwitz”. Evidentemente la Ministra non ha mai partecipato ad uno di essi, perché altrimenti saprebbe che le società storiche, che si occupano della formazione degli studenti e delle studentesse prima del viaggio, si soffermano sempre sulla storia dell’antisemitismo in Europa e di come si sia arrivati a considerarlo un pilastro fondante in alcune ideologie politiche. Esattamente Ministra, perché per il Nazismo prima, e per il Fascismo poi, adeguandosi alla volontà dell’alleato, l’antisemitismo era una base importante per mantenere il potere.

Al contempo, forse, la Ministra nasconde dietro l’accusa di odio religioso (antisemitismo) la volontà di censurare la critica all’agire politico di uno Stato nazionalista (antisionismo) come previsto dal DDL 1627, un’equiparazione e una pulizia della coscienza inaccettabile. Già, perché a firmare le Leggi Razziali, vorremmo ricordare, non furono Pertini o Gramsci, ma personaggi come Almirante il quale scriveva: “Il razzismo ha da essere cibo di tutti e per tutti, se veramente vogliamo che in Italia ci sia, e sia viva in tutti, la coscienza della razza”. Nello stesso articolo, uscito nel 1942, parlava degli ebrei come persone che simulavano l’essere italiani e che andavano ricercati perché avevano avuto l’ardire di mischiarsi, come i meticci, con il sangue italiano. I Viaggi della Memoria servono a questo, a capire la Storia, a non ripeterla, ad ammettere che in Italia l’odio razziale verso gli ebrei è esistito soprattutto sotto il fascismo che lo vedeva come un’estensione della lotta al comunismo militante, seguendo così le teorie naziste.

Proprio per questo, nella giornata di ieri, il gruppo “Verdi e Possibile” ha presentato un OdG urgente a firma del nostro consigliere Alessandro Miglioli in cui si chiedeva di prendere le distanze dalle affermazioni della Ministra. La Storia è una materia delicata che va capita e non abusata per lanciare la palla da una parte all’altra del campo politico o per ripulire la propria memoria storica fondata sulla violenza e sull’odio.

L'articolo Roccella sui viaggi della Memoria: un ODG a Reggio Emilia proviene da Possibile.



📣Il 16 e 17 ottobre il #MIM sarà al #SalonedelloStudente di Milano, presso il Parco Esposizioni Novegro, con uno spazio istituzionale dedicato a studenti, famiglie, al mondo della scuola e all’innovazione didattica.