The USA v Google lawsuit is going to result in a massive shakeup for Web Browsers and Search Engines. Also: Will Google be forced to sell off Android (when they sell off Chrome)? We'll know next August.

A code change for new bcachefs features is being blocked not for technical reasons... but a CoC dispute. Seriously.

Kent Overstreet's blog post:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/116412665

Sanctions Hit Linux Kernel, Russian Programmers Banned:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/6263331/sanctions-hit-linux-kernel-russian-programmers-banned

70% of companies on the Linux Foundation Board are GPL violators:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5116049/70-of-companies-on-the-linux-foundation-board-are-gpl-violators

Python Bans Prominent Dev for Enjoying the Wrong Old SNL Sketch:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5985667/python-bans-prominent-dev-for-enjoying-the-wrong-old-snl-sketch

NixOS commits "purge" of "Nazi" contributors, forces abdication of founder
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5821513/nixos-commits-purge-of-nazi-contributors-forces-abdication-of-founder

Pokemon Go using your phone camera to build a CIA-backed 3D Map AI system.

It sounds like an insane movie plot. But it's real.

In 2016, this was "Lunduke's crazy conspiracy theory about Pokemon Go being used to spy on everyone, backed by the CIA". Now, in 2024, Niantic Labs (the makers of Pokemon Go), proudly brags about using Pokemon Go to spy on you... and using that covertly obtained information to build a massive, 3D artificial intelligence mapping system of private spaces.

"We receive about 1 million fresh scans each week, each containing hundreds of discrete images."

In other words: Lunduke was right.

The CIA, NSA, and Pokémon Go:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5756204/the-cia-nsa-and-pok-mon-go

Building a Large Geospatial Model to Achieve Spatial Intelligence:
https://nianticlabs.com/news/largegeospatialmodel

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

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Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

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I saw another article about how Microsoft's recall feature is almost ready for the primetime. This is a feature that basically everyone said they didn't want, but Microsoft persists. Why?

Considering how much telemetry and other data Microsoft grabs, it is not lost on them that MOST computers the world over are using Windows. This gives them access to advertising data like crazy.

What better way to paint an advertising picture of you than by analyzing your exact usage of the system? And why else would Microsoft be so insistent on a feature nobody appears to want?

Look, Linux is busted, because efforts to support it are splintering over an agenda that doesn't even matter in the context of software development. Windows just works, but Microsoft keeps getting worse and worse. Mac OS is more of the same, and with Apple behind it.

How did we go from computing is awesome, to man, what OS doesn't suck?

Interesting! The guy that Trump picked as Secretary of the Interior ran a software company for several decades. Doug Burgum provided the seed capital needed to start Great Plains Software. He bought out the other shareholders in 1984 (apparently he mortgaged farmland to pay for it) and ran the company until he sold it to Microsoft in 2001. I've got a couple of ads for their products. Have to add to the to-do list.

Do you have a problem with duplicate files? Czkawka ("hiccup" in Polish) is the answer to your problem. It certainly helped me get rid of 180 GB of extra files. https://github.com/qarmin/czkawka