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Google Creates “Open Usage Commons”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

From <https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/08/google_trademarks_open_usage_commons/>, Google is creating an organization specifically to deal with trademark issues, entirely separate from code. FSF Europe’s Alexander Sander says: “Trademarks issues are becoming more and more relevant for Free Software. This development is mainly due to the fact that Free Software is increasingly and successfully used in the commercial sector.” True, that. Consider the stoush between Debian and Mozilla over the “Firefox” trademark and branding, and the consequent creation of the “Iceweasel” fork. (Looks like that was eventually resolved amicably.) However, note this counterpoint from the Linux Foundation: "Under US trademark law you are not able to effectively separate ownership of a project mark from control of the underlying open source project."

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Over 100 Wi-Fi Routers Fail Major Security Test -- Protect Yourself Now
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

'Tom's Guide: Using its own analytical software, the [Fraunhofer Institute] tested the most recently available firmware for 117 home Wi-Fi models currently sold in Europe, including routers from ASUS, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, TP-Link, Zyxel and the small German brand AVM. The models themselves were not physically tested. A full list of the tested models and firmware is on GitHub. The institute was not able to examine the firmware of 10 more models, mostly from Linksys. The report notes (PDF) that many firmware updates are issued without fixing known flaws. So what can you do? You can make sure that the next router you buy automatically installs firmware updates. You can check to see whether your current router does so, or makes it fairly easy to install firmware updates manually. You should also make sure that the administrative password for your router has been changed from the factory default password. (Check the list of default passwords at https://www.routerpasswords.com.) You should also check its administrative interface to make sure that UPnP and remote access are disabled. And if your router was first released more than 5 years ago, consider buying a newer model unless it meets all of the above criteria. Alternatively, you could try to "flash" your older router to run more secure open-source router firmware such as OpenWrt, DD-WRT or Tomato. "The worst case regarding high severity CVEs [widely known flaws] is the Linksys WRT54GL powered by the oldest kernel found in our study," the report said, noting that this model uses the 2.4.20 kernel from 2002. "There are 579 high severity CVEs affecting this product." "That particular model last had its firmware updated in January 2016, one of the oldest firmwares in the study," adds Tom's Guide. "The Linksys WRT54GL was first released in 2005 and is still sold today, even though it handles Wi-Fi protocols only up to 802.11g. However, the WRT54G series is possibly the best-selling family of Wi-Fi routers ever..."' -- source: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/20/07/08/2058240 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google and Canonical Bring Flutter Apps To Linux and the Snap Store
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

'Google is partnering with the Ubuntu Desktop team at Canonical to bring Linux support to its open source UI framework Flutter. Today's Linux alpha announcement also means Flutter developers can now deploy their apps to the Snap Store. Flutter group product manager Tim Sneath argues this is a big milestone because UI frameworks rarely become versatile and powerful enough for an operating system to depend on. He pointed to Windows being written in C++ rather than .NET, even for applets like the Calculator. Sneath also believes this shows Canonical is willing to invest in a first-class way to build apps for Linux, making Flutter on Linux an official part of Ubuntu. Additionally, enterprises can feel confident about picking Flutter -- it's more evidence of its longevity and technical excellence, Sneath said.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/08/1722203 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Company SUSE Outbids Competitors for Fast-growing Startup Rancher Labs
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

'SUSE, a Linux distribution company controlled by private equity firm EQT, has agreed to acquire Rancher Labs, a start-up with technology that helps organizations run software in virtual containers across many servers. From a report: The companies announced the deal Wednesday but didn't disclose the terms. Two people familiar with the deal said SUSE is paying $600 million to $700 million. The transaction suggests that even during a recession, demand remains high for technology that can enable companies to operate more efficiently. Talks between the companies began in the spring, and the process became competitive with additional bids, Ursheet Parikh, a partner at Rancher backer Mayfield Fund, told CNBC on Tuesday. There were "lots of Zoom calls," Parikh said. In the past few years, with the rise of start-ups such as Docker, containers became a trendy alternative to more traditional virtualization technology for running applications on each computer server in a company data center. Amazon, Microsoft and other cloud providers came out with services that developers can use to place code in containers, and in 2017 SUSE introduced its own service for managing containers. The companies haven't finalized integration plans as the deal still faces regulatory approval.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/08/147202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mozilla Suspends Firefox Send Service While It Addresses Malware Abuse
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jul '20

09 Jul '20

'Mozilla has temporarily suspended the Firefox Send file-sharing service as the organization investigates reports of abuse from malware operators and while it adds a "Report abuse" button. The browser maker took down the service today after ZDNet reached out to inquire about Firefox Send's increasing prevalence in current malware operations. Since last year, several malware operations have hosted payloads on the service. This includes ransomware gangs like REvil/Sodinokibi, financial crime crews like FIN7, the Zloader and Ursnif banking trojans operations, and government surveillance groups targeting human rights defenders. Reasons include the fact that Firefox Send doesn't have an Report Abuse mechanism, all file uploads are encrypted (useful to dodge malware scanners), and the Firefox URL is whitelisted in most orgs (useful for bypassing email filters).' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/07/08/1811228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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LibreOffice Getting More Commercial?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 08 Jul '20

08 Jul '20

Seems that a major policy announcement is coming up from The Document Foundation (the outfit behind LibreOffice) on July 15th. In the meantime, some hints have (unintentionally) leaked out <https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/07/libreoffice_community_protests_at_in…>, such as the about-box in LO 7.0 saying “The personal edition is supported by volunteers and intended for individual use”.

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New H.266 VCC Codec Up To 50% More Efficient Than Previous Standard
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jul '20

07 Jul '20

'The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute on Tuesday announced the H.266 Versatile Video Coding codec, which will power more data-efficient video capture and transmission on future iPhones. AppleInsider reports: Apple adopted the predecessor to the new codec, H.265/HEVC, in iOS 11. The updated video codec, which was developed after years of research and standardization, will bring a number of tangible benefits to future iPhone users. In its announcement, the Fraunhofer HHI said that H.266 will reduce data requirements by around 50% thanks to improved compression. With the previous HEVC codec, it took about 10GB of data to transmit a 90-minute ultra-high definition (UHD) video. H.266 can do that with 5GB. The codec, as detailed in a 500-page specification, was designed from the ground up for use with 4K and 8K streaming. It'll allow users to store more high-definition video and reduce the amount of data on cellular networks.' -- source: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/20/07/06/219225 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linus Torvalds Likes His New AMD Threadripper System
by Peter Reutemann 06 Jul '20

06 Jul '20

'This week Linus Torvalds and Dirk Hohndel re-created their keynote conversation for a special all-virtual edition of the Open Source Summit and Embedded Linux Conference North America. ZDNet reports: While COVID-19 has slowed down many technologies, while speeding up other tech developments, it hasn't affected Linux development much at all. "None of my co-developers have been hugely impacted either. I was worried for a while because one of our developers was offline for a month or two.... [But,] it turned out that it was just RSI [repetitive strain injury], and RSI is kind of an occupational hazard to deal with." He added. "One of the things that is so interesting about the Linux community is how much it has always been email-based and remote, how rarely we get together in person...." Torvalds trusts this new build. Indeed, he ran his end of the videoconference from his new developer machine running the first release candidate of 5.8. Thinking of his new AMD Threadripper 3970x-based processor-powered developer desktop, Torvalds later added that, although he had been concerned about its fan noise it actually works well for him. Torvalds moved to this new homebrew computer because he needed the speed. "My 'allmodconfig' test builds are now three times faster than they used to be." That's important because Torvalds "strives to do about 20 to 30 [pull requests] a day, which is above my limit, ... [but] in order to do that, [he needs] a lot of computing power. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/07/03/2349231 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Mexico Bans Home PC Repair, Non-OEM OS Installs
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Jul '20

04 Jul '20

The Mexican “Cámara de Diputados” (“Chamber of Deputies” or lower house of the Mexican Congress) has just passed a law, according to DistroTube <https://www.youtube.com/post/UgyENs4zc_xx-uyL3-N4AaABCQ> (referencing this <https://twitter.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1278172057486766080> Twitter thread), seemingly making any kind of modifications to your own electronic devices illegal. This includes things like changing the hard drive or installing a non-OEM OS (e.g. a Linux distro).

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Ads Are Taking Over Samsung's Galaxy Smartphones
by Peter Reutemann 02 Jul '20

02 Jul '20

'Max Weinbach, writing for Android Police: I have been using Samsung phones every day for almost 4 years. It was because Samsung had fantastic hardware paired with --depending on the year -- good software. 2020 is the first year in a while I'm not using a Samsung phone as my daily driver. The reason? Ads. Ads in Samsung phones never really bothered me, at least not until the past few months. It started with the Galaxy Z Flip. A tweet from Todd Haselton of CNBC is what really caught my eye. Samsung had put an ad from DirectTV in the stock dialer app. This is really something I never would have expected from any smartphone company, let alone Samsung. It showed up in the "Places" tab in the dialer app, which is in partnership with Yelp and lets you search for different businesses directly from the dialer app so you don't need to Google somewhere to find the address or phone number. I looked into it, to see if this was maybe a mistake on Yelp's part, accidentally displaying an ad where it shouldn't have, but nope. The ad was placed by Samsung, in an area where it could blend in so they could make money. Similar ads exist throughout a bunch of Samsung apps. Samsung Music has ads that look like another track in your library. Samsung Health and Samsung Pay have banners for promotional ads. The stock weather app has ads that look like they could be news. There is also more often very blatant advertising in most of these apps as well. Samsung Music will give you a popup ad for Sirius XM, even though Spotify is built into the Samsung Music app. You can hide the SiriusXM popup, but only for 7 days at a time. A week later, it will be right back there waiting for you. Samsung will also give you push notification ads for new products from Bixby, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Push Service. ' -- source: https://slashdot.org/story/20/07/01/196224 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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