Sometimes Open Systems Beat Those Who Try To Lock Them Up: Spotify’s Podcast Colonization Flops

We wrote a few times about the problems of Spotify’s attempt to colonize the podcast market. While it was, perhaps, an understandable move driven by the economics of our totally broken copyri…

Spotify’s new AI-powered DJ builds and commentates on custom playlists

Spotify has launched an AI-powered “DJ” feature that curates and provides radio-style commentary on a custom playlist as you’re listening to it.

Man beats machine at Go in human victory over AI

Amateur exploited weakness in systems that have otherwise dominated grandmasters.

Canonical Announce Availability of Real-Time Ubuntu

Got a time-sensitive workload that would benefit from the reliability and security of Ubuntu? Well, you're in luck – Real-time Ubuntu is now available.

This wearable navigation system assists visually impaired individuals with walking - COOL BLIND TECH

In Japan, the number of people with visual impairment including low vision was estimated to be 1.64 million as of 2007, and the number is forecast to increase to nearly 2 million by 2030.

OneButtonPIN improves security for blind and low-vision users - COOL BLIND TECH

Researchers at the University of Waterloo and the Rochester Institute of Technology have developed a new authentication method that could help blind and low-vision (BLV) users more securely access their devices.

TransLink launching accessibility pilot project using NaviLens - COOL BLIND TECH

New Westminster and Vancouver are part of a TransLink pilot project to help customers with sight loss.

Panasonic announces 'smart glasses for the visually impaired at CES 2023 - COOL BLIND TECH

Panasonic and Biel Glasses have announced a new pair of smart glasses to aid mobility for the visually impaired Panasonic is partnering with Barcelona-based start-up Biel, the two companies have announced a pair of ‘life-changing’ smart glasses for a…

Want to Delete Your Twitter DMs? Good Luck With That

People in Europe are making GDPR requests to have their private messages erased, but Elon’s team is ignoring them.

Xfce 4.20 Desktop Environment Will Bring Wayland Support

Work on Xfce 4.20 kicked off earlier this month with the release of libxfce4windowing, a new dependency for the Xfce desktop environment.

Google’s new AI turns text into music

Google’s MusicLM is like a DALL-E that generates snippets of songs, or even minutes-long compositions, based on text inputed by the user.

Biden Administration Declares War On The Internet, Clears Path For Offensive Hacking Efforts By Federal Agencies

It’s impossible to be the “aggressor” of the free world. Those words just don’t make sense together. “Defender of the free world,” maybe. If you’re going o…

Elon Musk Caves to Pressure From India to Remove BBC Doc Critical of Modi

Apple’s Music and TV apps for Windows are now available in preview

Plus an app for managing your iPods and iPads, since you can’t use iTunes with the apps installed.

Elon Musk’s Biggest Success Story: Convincing People To Try Out An Open, Distributed Social Network

A few months ago, I attended a wonderful conference put on by the “Global Freedom of Expression” program at Columbia University discussing decentralized social media and regulations aro…

Why Would Anyone Use Another Centralized Social Media Service After This?

So, it’s been quite a year for legacy, centralized social media — and all without any really big change to the laws that govern it (yet — the EU’s are coming into force shortly, but pos…

Hypocrisy and Fear All the Way Down at Twitter

After you’ve drawn such a strong distinction on speech and human freedom, you can’t make any mistake about the side on which you belong.

Thinking about taking your computer to the repair shop? Be very afraid

Not surprisingly, female customers bear the brunt of the privacy violations.

OpenAI's new ChatGPT bot: 10 dangerous things it's capable of

OpenAI's newly unveiled ChatGPT bot is making waves when it comes to all the amazing things it can do—from writing music to coding to generating vulnerability exploits, and what not.

OpenAI's new ChatGPT bot: 10 coolest things you can do with it

From precisely spotting security vulnerabilities in your code, to writing an entire block of functional code on a whim, to opening portals to another dimension, OpenAI's newly launched ChatGPT is a game changer with its possibilities seeming lim…

Sharing advice and assisting with the great Mastodon migration

Sections: Current News Quick Start Tips Cool Features: Lists, Filters and Followed Hashtags Post Images Like a Pro — Solving the Image Posting Puzzle Threading and Pinning Help and Guidance Tools…

Google says Google should do a better job of patching Android phones

Project Zero calls out Android and Pixel for not fixing a GPU vulnerability.

Mercedes Puts Faster Acceleration Behind A Subscription Paywall

Back in July, BMW raised a bit of a ruckus when the company announced that it would be making heated seats a luxury option for an additional $18 per month. Now, Mercedes aims to take the concept on…

WhatsApp data breach sees nearly 500 million user records up for sale

PRH, S&S deal scrapped | Books+Publishing

Purchase a subscription to view job ads and other premium content on Books+Publishing.

People with disabilities gained a voice in global climate talks. Here's what that means

A group of climate activists who focus on disability rights have been pushing for several years for inclusion of disability rights in international climate action pledges.

Google One VPN now available on Mac and Windows

Following iOS availability earlier this year, the Google One VPN is now available for Mac and Windows users through new desktop apps...

QAnon influencers are trying to use Twitter’s new subscription service to regain a foothold on the platform

The Ball and Supply Chain Part 2 – Purism

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.

Breath Lets You Run Regular Ubuntu on Modern Intel Chromebooks

This post is not a tutorial or a walkthrough or comprehensive introduction or anything else that would probably be beneficial or helpful to those you reading it. Instead, it’s a bit of a waff...

The Weekly Wrap for Saturday, 9 July 2022

Boris Johnson has gone. He won't soon be forgotten.

Google may be breaking the law when it convinces you to sign up for an account

It's hard to say 'no' to Google

Firefox kills another tracking cookie workaround

URL query parameters won't work in version 102 of Mozilla's browser

Firefox now automatically removes tracking parameters from URLs to enhance privacy

In the release of Mozilla Firefox 102 comes an important new privacy feature for users. This new tool strips parameters from URLs that track your internet usage.