keverets @keverets@librem.one

I would just like to say #fuckHP printers and their shameful ink racket

To protect your privacy and shield yourself against 0-days and malicious advertisers, an adblocker is an important part of your security stance.

The FBI, NSA, CISA, and UK National Cyber Security Centre all recommend adblocking as a protective measure.

You'd never disable your firewall or antivirus because a site asked you to. NEVER DO THIS WITH YOUR ADBLOCKER.

That's the only pertinent point here. Everything else is noise.

#adblock

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's #AndroidAppRain brings you 87 updated and 1 added apps:

* WallFlow Plus: beautiful wallpapers from wallhaven.cc with object detection feature

Several of the updated apps contain security fixes for the WebP vulnerability (CVE-2023-4863) you probably heard about, so make sure to update ASAP.

And as always: enjoy your #free and #libre #Android #apps with #FDroid

Did you know Murena 2 comes with a Privacy Switch button?

Your privacy, your control!

Pre-order on Kickstarter to get this groundbreaking phone:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/murena/murena-2-switch-your-privacy-on

#SwitchYourPrivacyOn
@e_mydata @gael

I never realized till now…. From another source…

So, I spoke to people getting food at a food bank and here are some things I learned from those in need:
1. Everyone donates Kraft Mac and Cheese in the box. They can rarely use it because it needs milk and butter which is hard to get from regular food banks.
2. Boxed milk is a treasure, as kids need it for cereal which they also get a lot of.
3. Everyone donates pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles.
4. They cannot eat all the awesome canned veggies and soup unless you put a can opener in too or buy pop tops.
5. Oil is a luxury but needed for Rice a-Roni which they also get a lot of.
6. Spices or salt and pepper would be a real Christmas gift.
7. Tea bags and coffee make them feel like you care.
8. Sugar and flour are treats.
9. They fawn over fresh produce donated by farmers and grocery stores.
10. Seeds are cool in Spring and Summer because growing can be easy for some.
11. They rarely get fresh meat.
12. Tuna and crackers make a good lunch.
13. Hamburger Helper goes nowhere without ground beef.
14. They get lots of peanut butter and jelly but usually not sandwich bread.
15. Butter or margarine is nice too.
16. Eggs are a real commodity.
17. Cake mix and frosting makes it possible to make a child’s birthday cake.
18. Dishwashing detergent is very expensive and is always appreciated.
19. Feminine hygiene products are a luxury and women will cry over that.
20. Everyone loves Stove Top Stuffing.

In all the years I have donated food at the Holidays, I bought what I thought they wanted, but have never asked. I am glad I did. If you are helping a Family this Christmas, maybe this can help you tailor it more. It does for me!

I've been talking about how AI will directly lead to an Idiocracy (2006) scenario for some time, but today's update to the "can you melt eggs?" saga is as clear an illustration of how as I think it's possible to ever have.

Quora's AI answers made up the melting point of eggs, and then Google picked it up and responded affirmatively that you can indeed melt eggs.

Then people wrote articles about how stupid it is that Google says eggs can melt. The Google fixes the answer.

Then Google ingests an article about how stupid it is that Google says you can melt eggs, and suddenly Google starts answering affirmatively again that you can melt eggs, citing the article about how stupid Google is for thinking you can melt eggs.

my perpetual advice to new university students: go the fuck to class and go the fuck to bed. almost all student crises stem from not doing those two things

@ian

8675309 (as in, Jenny's number from the Tommy Tutone song) is a prime number. What's more, it's the bottom half of a twin prime pair: add 2, and you get 8675311, which is ALSO prime.

If you're writing software that implements number-theoretic algorithms, it can be problematic to test it using small primes like 7 or 11, because small primes tend to have a lot of weird properties tend to trigger exceptions and edge cases. Having a pair of easy-to-remember, "big enough" prime numbers like the Jenny primes is really useful.

Airbus open sourced their new cockpit font. Make it the default for all your embedded projects, because it's REALLY good and has real testing in difficult environments!

https://b612-font.com/

@GeePawHill @mariyadelano This is why I go on and on about making cooperatives and non-profits the default business model. I can't make it happen by myself, but I sure as hell can tell people my idea and try to get them on board. Imagine if our laws promoted and prioritized the non-profit, cooperative business model over the for-profit model that is the norm today. The world would be such a better place if it weren't in the best interests of the vast majority of execs to actively look for ways to screw workers and customers out of their cash. Imagine if instead of creating value for shareholders/investors, it benefitted them to create value for *us*.

I love my smart TV. I love the way it takes a long time to boot up because it's trying to refresh the advertisements on the home screen. I delight in the way it randomly restarts because it's downloaded an update without asking me, each of which makes the TV slower and slower with every subsequent install. I adore the way it buries the apps that I want to use, and that I use without fail every single time, below the apps that it's being paid to promote and which I have never touched in my life and would never use without the cold metal of a glock pressed hard against my sweating temple. I am infinitely thrilled by the way the interface lags constantly, due to the need to have one thousand unnecessary animations rendered on hardware ripped wholesale from a ten year old phone. I feel myself borne aloft on wings of pure joy when I am notified that my data will be collected and analysed to determine my useage patterns. Even now I am writing this from a field of beautiful flowers and soft luscious grass as I lie and look up happily at the bright blue sky, smiling happily to know that this is the future of technology

Amazing review in WIRED: "Ring cameras are cheap and ubiquitous, but contributing to a just society is also a factor in keeping your family safe." https://www.wired.com/story/why-we-do-not-recommend-ring/

Turns out you on a #Librem5 you can install android in a container and it runs at native speed. The android window shows as an app, so I can just use an android app if I find a native version lacking, neat!

Mozilla's new report on the data privacy of modern cars is nightmare fuel. Enshittification has definitely hit the car industry: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft

These are the first 6 companies designated as ‘gatekeepers' under the Digital Markets Act.

They have 6 months to ensure their core platform services comply with our rules, including:

✔ Allowing users to unsubscribe and remove pre-installed services
✔ Allowing the download of alternative app stores

❌ Banning tracking outside of their services without consent
❌ Stopping ranking their products more favourably

➡ https://europa.eu/!NbfBbn

#DMA

Today many devices have add internet connection and rebranded as “smart”, where smart is actually a euphemism for collecting and selling your data. Smart TVs are big offenders here but new cars are just as bad.

VW collects your driving behaviors such as your seatbelt and braking habits and pairs that with info such as age and gender for targeted advertising.

Mozilla found brands including BMW, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, and Subaru similarly collect data about drivers.

https://gizmodo.com/mozilla-new-cars-data-privacy-report-1850805416

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7s-BgfcFXw

What they said.

This may be obvious, but I recently started routinely adding "-youtube" to google searches. This eliminate most pages with links to garbage YouTube-monetized videos that try to attract people looking for basic instructions on how to do simple things. Greatly improves the quality of search results.