Tsunami 10 years later: Is the world better prepared for disaster?
cbsnews.com/news/tsunami-10-ye…
The Indian Ocean tsunami came without warning in 2004; now a mix of technology and outreach has helped make the world saferMichael Casey (CBS News)
Yet another example of a 'Smart device' company deciding that - No. You Don't actually Own The Thing.
"Smart home device maker Futurehome is forcing its customers’ hands by suddenly requiring a subscription for basic functionality of its products.
“You lose access to controlling devices, configuring; automations, modes, shortcuts, and energy services,” a company FAQ page says." - ArsTechnica
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/0…
The connected devices now only work manually without a subscription.Scharon Harding (Ars Technica)
So, does this "goo.gl" problem actually mean all the goo.gl stuff, or is it just third-party URLs getting cut? Gmaps is still creating maps.app.goo.gl links.
mastodon.social/@jpmens/114937…
(For the record I think URL shorteners are very dumb and very bad, but regardless here we are so.)
Update: @denschub points out that Google Apps are getting a pass: mastodon.schub.social/@denschu…
@mhoye@mastodon.social > Note that goo.gl links generated via Google apps (such as Maps sharing) will continue to function. is explicitly stated [in their announcement](https://developers.googleblog.Mastodon
Is Decarbonization Dead? — The Ezra Klein Show
Fascinating discussion about the impacts of the "Big Beautiful Bill" & it's impact on renewable energy.
The generative AI that stole the book you wrote, the picture you shared, the post you're writing, and the music you composed, without your consent, just to train, is not--and will not--make its way to The Kuloran Players creative assets. You will not see generative AI sfx, AI writing, AI music nor AI voice acting in Kirandur (our MMO in development) or any of our other productions. See our complete AI statement in this blog post: kpguild.games/posts/on-ai-and-…
On AI and Kirandur Hello, friends. This is Sir Howard, The CritterPup, creator of Kirandur, speaking on behalf of the Kuloran Players. Kirandur has been a passion project of mine for years now. I've pThe Kuloran Players
Xbox is the first video game maker to introduce new tags designed to make it easier for people with disabilities to know if games are accessible, but many others in the industry are set to follow suit.Shaun Heasley (Disability Scoop)
streaming movies on Netflix uses more energy than ChatGPT queries
> One hour of Netflix watching equals the energy required for between 300 and 3000 ChatGPT prompts.
epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-…
This Gradient Updates issue explores how much energy ChatGPT uses per query, revealing it’s 10x less than common estimates.Josh You (Epoch AI)
@hj additional discussion here
andymasley.substack.com/p/indi…
And a plea to think seriously about climate change without getting distractedAndy Masley (The Weird Turn Pro)
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Please never ever do this: ergaster.org/posts/2025/07/28-…
When working on my homelab, I regularly need to pass credentials to my tools. A naive approach is to just store the token in clear text, but there's a better alternative.ergaster.org
Meta pirated and seeded porn for years to train AI, lawsuit says
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
Meta may have seeded porn to minors while hiding piracy for AI training.
Wow 🍿
Lawsuit: Meta may have seeded porn to minors while hiding piracy for AI training.Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
> The porn site operator explained to the court that BitTorrent's protocol establishes a "tit-for-tat" mechanism that "rewards users who distribute the most desired content." It alleged that Meta took advantage of this system by "often" pirating adult videos that are "often within the most infringed files on BitTorrent websites" on "the very same day the motion pictures are released."
Well that's not true at all; that's not part of the protocol. That's how some private trackers work, though.
> including potentially distributing the videos to minors for free without age checks in states that now require them.
Who cares? The laws weren't on the books back then. You don't get to retroactively enforce laws like that, and this information has no value.
Another sewer quality tech "journalism"
Searched for a picture of Heidelberg city hall.
Got this AI-generated result:
🎉 Here are some faces you will see in 3 days at FediCon!
...
🌐 FediCon
📍 Vancouver (Canada)
🗓️ August 1-2
ℹ️ fedicon.ca
🎟️ lu.ma/p4bbb941
#FediCon #FediCon2025 #Fediverse
Privacy is Calling You, Will You Answer?—Looking for a smartphone and service that puts you in control of your data, privacy, and security?
Try the Librem 5 paired with Librem AweSIM, powered by PureOS—a fully open-source OS.
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I want to defend Wayland here and explain a crucial piece that I think people are missing...
The splitting of protocols in Wayland and compositor reimplementation were to allow for new form factors. It had to sacrifice the guarantee of all desktop app functionality being present to achieve that.
The idea (as I see it) was never to have 500 desktop compositors all trying to reimplement the same thing with slight differences. Iinstead, it was for 500 different interfaces for different platforms that are compatible with the same apps (e.g. desktop, laptop, phone, car screens, AR/VR, watch). Different form factors have totally different ways of dealing with interface, but share enough common features where it makes sense to have 1 base protocol and many other ones for device/form specific features.
Problem is, while in 2008-2016 we had a ton of new experimental UIs coming out on a semi-regular basis (that was the peak of the whole convergent phone/tablet craze, smartwatches started, fancy car UI, touch tables, early AR/VR) things have quieted down. The purpose of Wayland's insane modularity hasn't been visible to most people given it's almost always complained about in a desktop contest vs X11. But X11 was literally only designed for a desktop form factor and has been refined for that 1 purpose for decades!
As an example of different form factors, Wayland lets IVI (in-vehicle infotainment) systems work way better than Xorg could have. Desktop window layouting on that platform would inherently produce massive amounts of unnecessary complexity, and the ability to direct scanout saves on power/expensive compute. Automotive Grade Linux and COVESA maintain reference interfaces for cars so companies can iterate a ton faster. Wayland gives the app compatibility and they can make the system UI work with more flexibility and ease than an X11 window manager.
Take Linux Mobile too, the compositor can reliably enforce window layout and boundaries and composition. While this could technically be done with an X window manager and compositor, doing it with Wayland guarantees reliability as the app simply doesn't have a choice or room for error. Some things like drag and drop of toolbars doesn't make much sense on mobile given how small the screens are.
There's some interfaces where X11 is basically impossible to use. In AR/VR (where i am making a Wayland compositor) the concept of a screen simply does not exist. How is an app supposed to position itself when the very concept of 3D is not part of the protocol? In Wayland I don't have to implement the protocols that don''t work (e.g. layer shell) and therefore any apps that don't need it will be compatible..
Wayland has allowed for insane levels of flexibility, things that no other display server architecture can do reasonably. Total flexibility between app and screen, direct scanout without hacks, AR/VR support, etc.
Here's some fun and useful stuff that's been done with Wayland, stuff that X11 could never reasonably do:
Now, could Wayland devs maybe have distributed features across protocols better? Worked with app toolkit devs to ensure the protocols they made actually fit what the apps and compositors needed? Stopped bikeshedding (though imo many cases of "bikeshedding" are simply accounting for other form factors)? Absolutely!
My point here is simple: there was a reason for making it this modular, for not having a standard implementation. It wasn't just devs trying to impose some ideology, it wasn't some corporate takeover. It's good reasons that people using X11 on their desktop/laptop don't encounter. If we made something that wasn't universal, most apps wouldn't be compatible with it and therefore everything but the desktop form factor would lack apps.
A wayland compositor to explore 3D windowing. Contribute to evil0sheep/motorcar development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
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🆕 blog! “I'm never going back to Matrix”
I should love Matrix. It is a decentralised, privacy preserving, multi-platform chat tool. Goodbye Slack and your ridiculous free limits. Adiós Discord and your weird gamification. Suck it IRC with your obscure syntax and faint stench of BO. WhatsApp and Telegram can stick their heads in a bucket of lukewarm sick and sing sea …
👀 Read more: shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/07/im-ne…
⸻
#foss #Matrix #OpenSource #rant
More than 60% of adults use AI for search! We live in a post truth era.
Fire destroys 140-year-old building in downtown Montreal
cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/st…
I wouldn't be surprised it's arson commissioned by the developers.
We're happy to announce Contributor Covenant 3.0, a major revision to the most widely adopted code of conduct for open source and other online communities!
The most widely adopted code of conduct in open source.www.contributor-covenant.org
Something to always be aware of: Many wheelchair users can stand and move around for brief periods of time. Not all wheelchair users are paralysed. Reasons for wheelchair use are numerous and varied.
Some wheelchair users choose not to stand in public because chances are they will be chastised and harassed if they do. With more awareness and understanding this risk can hopefully diminish over time.
For example, if a wheelchair user is able to retrieve their own wheelchair from the boot/trunk of their car, this does not mean they are ”faking”, and accusing them of this is ableist in itself.
”Ambulatory wheelchair user” is something you can search for to learn more, as many are sharing their experiences online, like Lauren:
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In case anyone was wondering:
That’s utter bullshit.
Recently @sarahtaber debunked the hogwash about farmer suicides in the US. She has also written about the poor-mouthing of objectively wealthy “family” farmers. defenseofliberty.social/@Malco…
Attached: 1 video #Trump: "I speak to farmers, I say 'Would you like to live in my penthouse in #Manhattan?' 'No sir, I want this farm.' And what happens is, we were losing a lot of people to suicide.Defense of Liberty Foundation
![Screenshot of a terminal window running the ‘ls’ command to list the contents of a directory. The output says:
Verification Required
Files on your filesystem may contain mature content or reference mature topics. In compliance with the UK Online Safety Act, you must verify your age before you can list the contents of this directory.
Please select one of the following options to continue.
[1] Submit photo ID
[2] Estimate age from selfie
[3] Cancel
Enter your choice:](https://fedi.ml/photo/preview/640/690463 "Screenshot of a terminal window running the ‘ls’ command to list the contents of a directory. The output says:
Verification Required
Files on your filesystem may contain mature content or reference mature topics. In compliance with the UK Online Safety Act, you must verify your age before you can list the contents of this directory.
Please select one of the following options to continue.
[1] Submit photo ID
[2] Estimate age from selfie
[3] Cancel
Enter your choice:")
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We're growing our community team! Thunderbird has been so lucky to have a community that's helped us survive and now thrive, and we want a team that can help everyone who contributes to Thunderbird thrive just as much. Meet the members of the team and learn what they have planned!
#Thunderbird #Community #OpenSource
blog.thunderbird.net/2025/07/w…
Thunderbird is all about community, and we're growing a community team to better support it. Get to know the team and our road ahead!Michael Ellis (The Thunderbird Blog)
There is really no comparison in American history to the blatant corruption.
nytimes.com/2025/07/29/opinion…
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics
We should live in a world where selling out to corporate money or being completely spineless and ineffective in office is what threatens re-election.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics
It's been almost two years since my piano was last tuned, so I thought it was time to rectify this.Thanks to the amazing Paul from 'To The Tune Of Pianos' fo...YouTube
Who Says You Can’t Have Privacy and Security in an Operating System?
Meet PureOS — The OS That Respects You
Supported on Purism’s Librem 5 and Liberty Phone, PureOS gives you the power to break free from the eye of Big Tech.
✅ No targeted ads
✅ No trackers
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Just freedom, transparency, security, and full control over your device—the way it should be.
Read more at Purism: puri.sm/posts/what-is-pureos-a…
Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.Purism SPC
"I did not come here seeking wealth or running from poverty. In fact, I had a stable life back in my country, Yemen. I had a job, a house, a car, and everything I needed to live with dignity. What forced me to leave was not economic hardship, but persecution & fear for my safety & the safety of my family.
We refugees are not here to take advantage of the system. We are here to rebuild our lives, to work & to contribute"
Asylum seeker in the Epping Hotel.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/j…
Man housed at hotel targeted in protests writes letter urging people not to resort to harmful stereotypesBen Quinn (The Guardian)
Dennis Schubert
in reply to mhoye • • •is explicitly stated in their announcement.
Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available
Sumit Chandel (developers.googleblog.com)mhoye
in reply to Dennis Schubert • • •I'd overlooked that, thank you.
Seems like a genuinely petty move, honestly. I wonder what the actual reason for doing it is.
Dennis Schubert
in reply to mhoye • • •