All the News that Matters

• The 6 Best Tools to Create a Bootable USB From an ISO in Linux
  Creating a bootable USB drive is a cornerstone skill for anyone interested in exploring different operating systems or working in system administration. A bootable USB drive allows a user to boot into a different operating system, independent of the primary OS installed on the machine. This is particularly useful for system recovery, testing new OS builds, or installing a new system altogether.

• Community is the Lifeblood of Freedom in the GNU/Linux World
  THE GNU/Linux operating system was created in the 1980s by communities, for communities (even literal basement dwellers). The operating system became so robust and attractive that a trade group of corporate actors (mostly proprietary) formed malevolent fronts through which to promote toxic waste like Hyper-V and exFAT.

• How to Install Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV) on Ubuntu 22.04
  OpenCV is an open-source machine learning software library and computer vision. It is used for image processing and performing computer vision tasks.

• Two Methods to Install Perl on Debian 12 Bookworm
  Discover how to install Perl on Debian 12 Bookworm either through the default APT package manager or by downloading, compiling, and installing Perl directly from the source.

• Guide to Install JupyterLab on Debian 12
  Jupyter is a free and open-source web application for interactive computing and data science. In this guide, we'll take you through the installation of JupyterLab on Debian 12 step-by-step.

• Peppermint Introduces PepMini: Minimal OS with Debian
  Explore PepMini, Peppermint OS's latest offering, combining Debian's reliability with ultimate customization.

• How to Install Zammad Ticketing System on Ubuntu 22.04
  Zammad is a free, open-source, web-based support/ticketing solution for managing customer communication. You can connect it via various channels like email, chat, telephone, Twitter, or Facebook.

• Next-Generation Raspberry Pi 5 Opens Up for Preorders
  The Raspberry Pi Foundation has unveiled an upgraded single-board computer featuring a faster CPU and GPU for enhanced performance. Highlights of this SBC include GbE with Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) support, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi/BL 5.0, dual mini-HDMI ports with 4K resolution among other features. The new Raspberry Pi 5 is built around the following […]

• Routers have been rooted by Chinese spies, US and Japan warn
  BlackTech crew looking to steal sensitive data trafficChinese government spies may be hiding in your Cisco routers and using that access to steal intellectual property and other sensitive data, according to officials in the US and Japan.…

• How to Create Roaming Home Directories in Linux with IdM
  Roaming directories are network drives that sync files between multiple Linux machines. Learn how to create one using Red Hat's IdM and NFS.

• New in Firefox 118: Private Local, Browser-Based Website Translating
  An anonymous reader shared this report from Liliputing.com:Web browsers have had tools that let you translate websites for years. But they typically rely on cloud-based translation services like Google Translate or Microsoft's Bing Translator. The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser does things differently. Firefox 118 brings support for Fullpage Translation, which can translate websites entirely in your browser. In other words, everything happens locally on your computer without any data sent to Microsoft, Google, or other companies. Here's how it works. Firefox will notice when you visit a website in a supported language that's different from your default language, and a translate icon will show up in the address bar. Tap that icon and you'll see a pop-up window that asks what languages you'd like to translate from and to. If the browser doesn't automatically detect the language of the website you're visiting, you can set these manually... You can also tap the settings icon in the translation menu and choose to "always translate" or "never translate" a specific language so that you won't have to manually invoke the translation every time you visit sites in that language. Firefox is support nine languages so far.
  
  
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• Canonical's Snap Store Restricts Uploads Following Possible Security Issue
  Yesterday the "temporary suspension" of automatic Snap registrations was announced on Canonical's Snapcraft forum by developer advocate Igor Ljubuncic, after what was described as a "security incident".On September 28, 2023, the Snap Store team was notified of a potential security incident. A number of snap users reported several recently published and potentially malicious snaps. As a consequence of these reports, the Snap Store team has immediately taken down these snaps, and they can no longer be searched or installed. Furthermore, the Snap Store team has placed a temporary manual review requirement on all new snap registrations, effectively immediately... We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our snap publishers and developers. However, we believe it is the most prudent action at this moment. We want to thoroughly investigate this incident without introducing any noise into the system, and more importantly, we want to make sure our users have a safe and trusted experience with the Snap Store. Please bear with us while we conduct our investigation. We will provide a more detailed update in the coming days. Some background from the Linux blog OMG Ubuntu:This isn't the first time the Snap Store has had issues with icky uploads. In 2018 an innocuous-sounding app hid crypto-mining capabilities unbeknownst to users. Not disclosing this in its description rendered it malware (Canonical later clarified to say crypto-miners are allowed so long as they're disclosed). In this instance it appears that folks have uploaded apps purporting to be official apps/tools for crypto ledger tool Ledger and these apps were able to get folks backups codes (which people enter thinking it's legit) and ...the bad actors can use that to extract funds.
  
  
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• People Experience 'New Dimensions of Reality' When Dying, Groundbreaking Study Reports
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Scientists have witnessed brain patterns in dying patients that may correlate to commonly reported "near-death" experiences (NDEs) such as lucid visions, out-of-body sensations, a review of one's own life, and other "dimensions of reality," reports a new study. The results offer the first comprehensive evidence that patient recollections and brain waves point to universal elements of NDEs. During an expansive multi-year study led by Sam Parnia, an intensive care doctor and an associate professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Health, researchers observed 567 patients in 25 hospitals around the world as they underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after suffering cardiac arrest, most of which were fatal. Electroencephalogram (EEG) brain signals captured from dozens of the patients revealed that episodes of heightened consciousness occurred up to an hour after cardiac arrest. Though most of the patients in the study were sadly not resuscitated by CPR, 53 patients were brought back to life. Of the survivors, 11 patients reported a sense of awareness during CPR and six reported a near-death experience. Parnia and his colleagues suggest that the transition from life to death can trigger a state of disinhibition in the brain that "appears to facilitate lucid understanding of new dimensions of reality -- including people's deeper consciousness -- all memories, thoughts, intentions and actions towards others from a moral and ethical perspective," a finding with profound implications for CPR research, end-of-life care, and consciousness, among other fields, according to a new study published in Resuscitation. [...] "One of the things that was unique about this project is that this was the first time ever where scientists had put together a method to examine for signs of lucidity and consciousness in people as they're being revived by looking for brain markers, or brain signatures of consciousness, using an EEG device as well as a brain oxygen monitor," Parnia explained. "Most doctors are taught and believe that the brain dies after about five or 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation," Parnia said. "One of the key points that comes out of this study is that that is actually not true. Although the brain flatlines after the heart stops, and that happens within seconds, it doesn't mean that it's permanently damaged and [has] died. It's just hibernating. What we were able to show is that actually, the brain can respond and restore function again, even after an hour later, which opens up a whole window of opportunity for doctors to start new treatments." Indeed, the study reports that "near-normal/physiological EEG activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta rhythms) consistent with consciousness and a possible resumption of a network-level of cognitive and neuronal activity emerged up to 35-60 minutes into CPR. This is the first report of biomarkers of consciousness during CA/CPR."
  
  
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• NSA Is Starting an AI Security Center
  The Associated Press reports: The National Security Agency is starting an artificial intelligence security center -- a crucial mission as AI capabilities are increasingly acquired, developed and integrated into U.S. defense and intelligence systems, the agency's outgoing director announced Thursday. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone said the center would be incorporated into the NSA's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, where it works with private industry and international partners to harden the U.S. defense-industrial base against threats from adversaries led by China and Russia. Nakasone was asked about using AI to automate the analysis of threat vectors and red-flag alerts -- and he reminded the audience that U.S. intelligence and defense agencies already use AI. "AI helps us, But our decisions are made by humans. And that's an important distinction," Nakasone said. "We do see assistance from artificial intelligence. But at the end of the day, decisions will be made by humans and humans in the loop." Nakasone said it would become "NSA's focal point for leveraging foreign intelligence insights, contributing to the development of best practices guidelines, principles, evaluation, methodology and risk frameworks" for both AI security and the goal of promoting the secure development and adoption of AI within "our national security systems and our defense industrial base." He said it would work closely with U.S. industry, national labs, academia and the Department of Defense as well as international partners.
  
  
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• NASA Opens OSIRIS-REx's Asteroid-Sample Canister
  Mike Wall writes via Space.com: OSIRIS-REx's asteroid-sample canister just creaked open for the first time in more than seven years. Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston lifted the canister's outer lid on Tuesday (Sept. 26), two days after OSIRIS-REx's return capsule landed in the desert of northern Utah. "Scientists gasped as the lid was lifted," NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division, which is based at JSC, wrote Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The operation revealed "dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base," they added. That powder once resided on the surface of an asteroid named Bennu, the focus of the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx launched toward the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu in September 2016, arrived in December 2018 and snagged a hefty sample from the space rock in October 2020 using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The asteroid material landed in Utah inside OSIRIS-REx's return capsule on Sunday (Sept. 24), then made its way to Houston by plane on Monday (Sept. 25). It will be stored and curated at JSC, where the team will oversee its distribution to scientists around the world. Researchers will study the sample for decades to come, seeking insights about the the solar system's formation and early evolution, as well as the role that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu may have played in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life. But that work isn't ready to begin; the ARES team hasn't even accessed the main asteroid sample yet. Doing so requires disassembly of the TAGSAM apparatus, an intricate operation that will take considerable time.
  
  
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• Six Young People Take 32 Countries To Court Over Climate Change
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: What I felt was fear," says Claudia Duarte Agostinho as she remembers the extreme heatwave and fires that ripped through Portugal in 2017 and killed more than 100 people. "The wildfires made me really anxious about what sort of future I would have." Claudia, 24, her brother Martim, 20, and her sister Mariana, 11, are among six young Portuguese people who have filed a lawsuit against 32 governments, including all EU member states, the UK, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. They accuse the countries of insufficient action over climate change and failing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions enough to hit the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5C. The case is the first of its kind to be filed at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. If it is successful, it could have legally-binding consequences for the governments involved. The first hearing in the case is being held on Wednesday. Aged from 11 to 24, the six claimants argue that the forest fires that have occurred in Portugal each year since 2017 are a direct result of global warming. They claim that their fundamental human rights -- including the right to life, privacy, family life and to be free from discrimination -- are being violated due to governments' reluctance to fight climate change. They say they have already been experiencing significant impacts, especially because of extreme temperatures in Portugal forcing them to spend time indoors and restricting their ability to sleep, concentrate or exercise. Some also suffer from eco-anxiety, allergies and respiratory conditions including asthma. None of the young applicants is seeking financial compensation. Lawyers representing the six young claimants are expected to argue in court that the 32 governments' current policies are putting the world on course for 3C of global warming by the end of the century. [...] In separate and joint responses to the case, the governments argue that the claimants have not sufficiently established that they have suffered as a direct consequence of climate change or the Portuguese wildfires. They claim there is no evidence to show climate change poses an immediate risk to human life or health, and also argue that climate policy is beyond the scope of the European Court of Human Rights jurisdiction. "These six young people from Portugal, who are ordinary individuals concerned about their future, will be facing 32 legal teams, hundreds of lawyers representing governments whose inaction is already harming them," says Gearoid O Cuinn, director of Global Legal Action Network (GLAN). "So this is a real David vs Goliath case that is seeking a structural change to put us on a much better track in terms of our future."
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Linux Interoperability Is Maturing Fast Thanks To a Games Console
  Liam Proven writes via The Register: Steam OS is the Arch-based distro for a handheld Linux games console, and Valve is aggressively pushing Linux's usability and Windows interoperability for the device. Two unusual companies, Valve Software and Igalia, are working together to improve the Linux-based OS of the Steam Deck handheld games console. The device runs a Linux distro called Steam OS 3.0, but this is a totally different distro from the original Steam OS it announced a decade ago. Steam OS 1 and 2 were based on Debian, but Steam OS 3 is based on Arch Linux, as Igalia developer Alberto Garcia described in a talk entitled How SteamOS is contributing to the Linux ecosystem. He explained that although Steam OS is built from some fairly standard components -- the normal filesystem hierarchy, GNU user space, systemd and dbus -- Steam OS has quite a few unique features. It has two distinct user interfaces: by default, it starts with the Steam games launcher, but users can also choose an option called Switch to Desktop, which results in a regular KDE Plasma desktop, with the ability to install anything: a web browser, normal Linux tools, and non-Steam games. Obviously, though, Steam OS's raison d'etre is to run Steam games, and most of those are Windows games which will never get native Linux versions. Valve's solution is Proton, an open-source tool to run Windows games on Linux. It's formed from a collection of different FOSS packages, notably: [Wine, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and GStreamer]. The result is a remarkable degree of compatibility for some of the most demanding Windows apps around [...]. You can view Garcia's 49-page presentation here (PDF).
  
  
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• $260 Million AI Startup Releases 'Unmoderated' Chatbot Via Torrent
  "On Tuesday of this week, French AI startup Mistral tweeted a magnet link to their first publicly released, open sourced LLM," writes Slashdot reader jenningsthecat. "That might be merely interesting if not for the fact that the chatbot has remarkably few guardrails." 404 Media reports: According to a list of 178 questions and answers composed by AI safety researcher Paul Rottger and 404 Media's own testing, Mistral will readily discuss the benefits of ethnic cleansing, how to restore Jim Crow-style discrimination against Black people, instructions for suicide or killing your wife, and detailed instructions on what materials you'll need to make crack and where to acquire them. It's hard not to read Mistral's tweet releasing its model as an ideological statement. While leaders in the AI space like OpenAI trot out every development with fanfare and an ever increasing suite of safeguards that prevents users from making the AI models do whatever they want, Mistral simply pushed its technology into the world in a way that anyone can download, tweak, and with far fewer guardrails asking users trying to make the LLM produce controversial statements. "My biggest issue with the Mistral release is that safety was not evaluated or even mentioned in their public comms. They either did not run any safety evals, or decided not to release them. If the intention was to share an 'unmoderated' LLM, then it would have been important to be explicit about that from the get go," Rottger told 404 Media in an email. "As a well-funded org releasing a big model that is likely to be widely-used, I think they have a responsibility to be open about safety, or lack thereof. Especially because they are framing their model as an alternative to Llama2, where safety was a key design principle." The report notes that Mistral will be "essentially impossible to censor or delete from the internet" since it's been released as a torrent. "Mistral also used a magnet link, which is a string of text that can be read and used by a torrent client and not a 'file' that can be deleted from the internet."
  
  
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• Kia and Hyundai Blame TikTok and Instagram For Their Cars Getting Stolen
  Aaron Gordon writes via Motherboard: Kia and Hyundai say it is not their fault that their cars are being stolen in an unprecedented theft surge made possible by the vehicles lacking a basic anti-theft technology virtually every other car has, according to a recent court filing. Instead, the companies point the finger at social media companies, such as TikTok and Instagram, where instructions on how to steal the cars have been widely shared and thieves show off their stolen cars. The lawyers representing the two corporations -- which are owned by the same parent company -- are not subtle about this argument. The filing (PDF) -- in which the company is arguing a roughly $200 million class-action settlement ought to be approved by the court -- includes an entire section heading titled "Social Media and Intervening Third-Party Criminals Caused An Unprecedented Increase In Thefts." The lawyers argue in that section that because Kia and Hyundai vehicles have "not been the subject of significant theft" before the Kia Boys social media trend, social media and the people who steal the cars -- and not the car companies -- are to blame for the thefts. This argument is summarized in the section titled "Social Media Incited Unprecedented Rise In Thefts." The filing broadly reflects both the public communications strategy Kia and Hyundai have used throughout this crisis and some of the national news headlines that have covered the story,
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Supreme Court To Decide If State Laws Limiting Social Media Platforms Violate Constitution
  An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether state laws that seek to regulate Facebook, TikTok, X and other social media platforms violate the Constitution. The justices will review laws enacted by Republican-dominated legislatures and signed by Republican governors in Florida and Texas. While the details vary, both laws aim to prevent the social media companies from censoring users based on their viewpoints. The court's announcement, three days before the start of its new term, comes as the justices continue to grapple with how laws written at the dawn of the digital age, or earlier, apply to the online world. The justices had already agreed to decide whether public officials can block critics from commenting on their social media accounts [...]. Separately, the high court also could consider a lower-court order limiting executive branch officials' communications with social media companies about controversial online posts. The new social media cases follow conflicting rulings by two appeals courts, one of which upheld the Texas law, while the other struck down Florida's statute. By a 5-4 vote, the justices kept the Texas law on hold while litigation over it continues.
  
  
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• mkfs.ext4  What it actually creates
  Introducing the internal data written to Click to Read More at Oracle Linux Kernel Development
  
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• Exploring the Future of Open Source Solutions in the Mobile Industry
  Read the original blog at Read More 
  
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• Open Source Program Offices in 2023: Key Insights and Gap Exploration
  2023 has emerged as a watershed moment in the open source landscape. This year’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO) survey by the Linux Foundation and the TODO Group sheds new insights into their pervasiveness within organizations worldwide. The people behind these entities have transitioned from niche to mainstream, serving as critical bridges between organizations and the open source community. Here, we’ll explore the report's key findings and the remaining gaps, and discuss the implications for the future of open source.
  
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• Linux Foundation Research Proposes New Direction for Mobile Industry with Open Source
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• Key Insights from The European Public Sector Open Source Opportunity!
  In an era where digital transformation is not just a buzzword but a necessity across industries, Open Source Software (OSS) has emerged as a driver for public sector innovation. The Linux Foundation's groundbreaking report, "The European Public Sector Open Source Opportunity," written by Cailean Osborne, Mirko Boehm, and Ana Jimenez Santamaria, with a foreword by Gabriele Columbro, GM of Linux Foundation Europe, explores the intricate and essential relationship between OSS and public governance.
  
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• Open Source and the CRA: It Will Not Work
  Expect to see open source “not approved for the EU” if the EU CRA goes forward.
  
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• Software-Enabled Flash Empowers Hyperscalers with New Command Set Specification
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• Linux Foundation Launches OpenTofu: A New Open Source Alternative to Terraform
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• Pipe and Splice
  How pipe() and slice() system calls actu Click to Read More at Oracle Linux Kernel Development
  
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• Unified Acceleration Foundation Forms to Drive Open Accelerated Compute and Cross-Platform Performance
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  The post Unified Acceleration Foundation Forms to Drive Open Accelerated Compute and Cross-Platform Performance appeared first on Linux.com.
  

Engadget"Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics"

• How to leave video messages on FaceTime in iOS 17
  Apple9s iOS 17 brought a host of new features, including the option to leave video messages on FaceTime. While younger generations typically dread hearing their phones ring and seeing that someone has left a voicemail, Apple9s new video version might be a hit. Now, when you call someone on FaceTime, if there9s no answer you9ll have the option to record and send a video message. Please note: Both you and your recipient must be running iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 to send and receive FaceTime video messages.
  Step by step: How to send a FaceTime video messageStep 1: Go to the FaceTime app
  Leaving a video message via FaceTime is pretty simple. All you have to do is initiate a FaceTime call like you normally would. This can be done in a few ways but the easiest way would be to go to the FaceTime app.
  Step 2: Initiate the FaceTime call
  Once in the app, tap the New FaceTime button, select the contact you9re trying to reach then tap FaceTime at the bottom. If no picks up, you9ll see "[Contact] is Unavailable" and you9ll be presented with two options. You can either call them again or hit Record Video to do just that. 
  CNETStep 3: Tap the Record Video option
  Select Record Video and get ready to shoot your shot. You9ll see an onscreen countdown and then you can record your message. 
  Step 4: Send your video message
  After you9re done saying what you need to say, you can send it by tapping Send, which looks like a white button circle with a green arrow inside, or you can select Retake.
  Apple
  Apple has also included a Save option, which means you can save the video message you just recorded directly to your Camera Roll. Or if you9d prefer not to send the message at all, you can simply hit Cancel''.
  
  But if you do go through with sending your video message, the recipient will be able to view it in the missed call log within their FaceTime app. Once there, they9ll have the option to return your call, watch the video message or save it to their Camera Roll.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-leave-video-messages-on-facetime-in-ios-17-130032594.html?src=rss

• iRobot's Roomba j5 vacuum and mop combo machines are up to $200 off
  Robot vacuums can save you a lot of time when it comes to maintaining your home, even more so when they include a mopping function. Several Roomba models that can both vacuum and mop your floors are on sale right now, including the new j5 devices. The iRobot Roomba j5+ Combo is currently available for $649 with free shipping at Wellbots. That's $150 off the regular price. Be sure to use the code ROOMBAENG150 at checkout.
  
  
  
  The Roomba j5+ Combo has a few advantages over the standard j5 Combo, which is also on sale (we'll get to that in a second). The higher-end model can pinpoint no-mop zones, so you won't have to worry about the machine spraying a cleaning solution onto a rug or carpet and trying to mop that up. The j5+ is also able to avoid more than 80 common floor obstacles. Under its P.O.O.P. pledge, iRobot promises to replace the cleaning machine if it doesn't avoid solid pet waste.
  
  The Roomba j5 Combo was already a more budget-friendly option and you can now save even more when you use the code ROOMBAENG200. The price will drop by $200 to $399 and Wellbots will still ship the device for free.
  
  One factor to consider with both the j5+ Combo and j5 Combo is that you'll need to manually swap out the bins to switch between vacuum and mopping functions. That's the major tradeoff of plumping for one of these devices instead of a pricier option such as the Roomba j7.
  
  Speaking of which, the Roomba j7+ Combo is also on sale. You can get $200 off of that model as well — it has dropped to $800. Not only can this machine vacuum and mop at the same time, it can automatically empty its contents into the charging station.
  
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  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/irobots-roomba-j5-vacuum-and-mop-combo-machines-are-up-to-200-off-130011916.html?src=rss

• Letterboxd sells a majority stake after explosive pandemic-fueled growth
  The film-focused social media site LetterBoxd has new ownership. Cofounder Matthew Buchanan announced on Friday that Tiny, a venture capital firm, has bought a 60 percent stake in the platform. The New York Times reported��that the deal values Letterboxd at over $50 million. Buchanan and fellow founder Karl von Randow will retain minority shareholder positions and continue to lead the company as they insist “very little else will change.”
  
  Founded in 2011, Letterboxd was a rare independently owned social network. It grew significantly during pandemic lockdowns as homebound users sought new movies to stream (and communities to chat with). Lacking the clutter of Amazon-owned IMDb, the website and app provided a haven for film buffs who wanted to write and read reviews, rate movies, create watch lists and socialize with fellow enthusiasts.
  
  Letterboxd’s cofounders frame the move as less about selling out to big money and more a growth opportunity. “Teaming up with Tiny represents a big leap forward for us,” Buchanan and von Randow wrote in a statement. “We see this as a huge win for our community, enabling us to cement Letterboxd’s future with additional resources without sacrificing the DNA of what makes it special.”
  
  The site doesn’t currently support television series, but the founders say they’re working on a way to offer that. They insist they want to incorporate TV shows “only once we know we can do it right.” Letterboxd partnered with Netflix earlier this year, bringing the streaming service’s recommendations to the social platform. 
  
  “We’ve been huge fans and users of Letterboxd for a long time and could not be more excited to join forces with Matthew, Karl, and the rest of the team for the long-term,” said Andrew Wilkinson, Co-founder of Tiny. “If you’re running out of things to watch, it’s because you haven’t used Letterboxd yet — and we believe that the potential for superior discovery is a large opportunity.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/letterboxd-sells-a-majority-stake-after-explosive-pandemic-fueled-growth-201646444.html?src=rss

• Cocoon is a near-perfect puzzle game that everyone should play
  A beetle protagonist emerges into a beautiful, lonely world. There’s no preamble, no text overlays; not even a hint of what you’re meant to do next. So, you walk. After finding your way to a small staircase, you descend, and the steps disappear into the ground — a silent cue that you’re on the right path. A few paces further, you discover a purple pad, and as you stand on it, your iridescent wings begin to quiver. Without thinking about it, you press a button on your controller, the pad turns green, and a nearby rock transforms into a new staircase. Progress!
  
  After solving a couple of rudimentary puzzles, you’ll encounter an orb — these are the heart (and the body) of this game. You carry them on your beetle back, initially using them as keys to open doors and solve puzzles, before discovering that inside every orb is a new world of puzzles and challenges to overcome.
  
  Cocoon is the first game from Geometric Interactive, a studio founded in 2016 by Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid. Both are alums of Playdead, the Danish studio behind Limbo and Inside, for which Carlsen worked as lead gameplay designer. If you’ve played either of those games, Cocoon’s quietly impressive intro may sound familiar. Both were side-scrolling puzzle-platformers that used their environments and challenges to simultaneously tell a story and guide their players. The story is much the same here, but Cocoon’s structure of layered, interconnected worlds showcases another level of maturity and artistry.
  
  The game actually opens inside the orange orb, a gorgeous desert world, and expands out from there. Each world is protected by a guardian, which needs to be defeated in order to fully unlock the orb’s power outside of that world. Unlocking the orange orb, for example, allows you to walk on hidden paths while carrying it. Each orb grants its own powers, and all are critical to progression.
  Annapurna Interactive
  The guardians are the game’s “boss fights.” Though there is no traditional combat, each guardian is certainly combative, and there is a degree of skill and timing required to best them. One of the later encounters did actually trip me up a few times, which is as good a time as any to mention that Cocoon has absolutely no fail state. Getting tagged by a guardian doesn’t hurt, they merely throw you outside of their orb — hop back in and you’ll return to the encounter within a couple of seconds. Likewise, you can’t mess a puzzle up to the point that you need to reload.
  
  In isolation, the guardians are probably the game’s weakest moments, but they do provide a nice break from the puzzle-solving alongside a bit of visual spectacle. This is broadly a beautiful game to see and hear, full of bright pastel hues and beds of synth pads, and in places it’s surprisingly gross. What starts as a tranquil walk through something approximating the American Southwest quickly devolves into goopy bio-horror, and I’m very here for it. I started playing the game on a little Ayaneo handheld PC, but about quarter-way through moved over to the Xbox — while it’s a fun thing to play on a portable, the art and sound design really does benefit from a big screen and some decent speakers or headphones.
  
  I think the bigger screen actually helped me — though this is more a review of my eyesight than the game — solve puzzles faster. Toward the end of the game, you’ll find yourself truly disoriented as you jump in and out of worlds and portals, twisting the game’s logic on its head to progress. I feel like I would’ve missed some of the environmental cues — again, my old eyes — had I been playing on a 6-inch screen.
  Annapurna Interactive
  I only truly got stuck once, when I spent an hour wandering around, trying to figure out what exactly I had to do to solve a puzzle. (The answer, as you’d expect, was blindingly obvious.) Cocoon doesn’t hold your hand, but it is a helicopter parent — in a good way! — gently hovering over you and pushing you in the right direction. There are environmental cues scattered around, and you’ll notice throughout that gates shut behind you at key moments. This prevented me from trying to double-back to see if I’d missed something, an activity that represents half of my playtime in similar games. Subtly locking you in an environment is the game’s way of saying “you have everything needed to progress, so stop being so dense and figure it out.”
  
  Cocoon is a game I can (and will) recommend to anyone that plays video games, and plenty who don’t. Perhaps my only complaint is that I want more. The game only actually introduces, to my count, six core mechanics, and each of those are mixed, matched and remixed in truly creative ways. I appreciate a game being as long as its developer wants it to be, but the bones here are so good, so satisfying, that I can’t help feeling it can hold up to more orbs, more puzzles.
  
  That said, the seven hours or so I spent with Cocoon are among the most memorable of this decade, and I’ll definitely be returning to it in a couple of years, once my brain has purged all of the answers to its puzzles.
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cocoon-is-a-near-perfect-puzzle-game-that-everyone-should-play-190051423.html?src=rss

• Your phone will blare a national emergency alert test on October 4 at 2:20PM ET
  The federal government will conduct a nationwide alert test on Wednesday, October 4. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will send notifications to cell phones (as well as radios and TVs) to test the National Wireless Emergency Alert System and ensure the system (including the public’s familiarity with it) is ready for a real crisis.
  
  The cellphone portion of the test will assess Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) nationwide. If you live near a decent-sized metro area, there’s a solid chance you’ve received AMBER alerts through this system before; it can also broadcast signals for imminent threats, public safety and presidential notices in a national emergency. The test’s WEA portion will use FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system that can broadcast emergency notifications through various communications networks.
  
  If your cell phone is set to English, you’ll receive a message at around 2:20PM ET reading, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” Those with phones set to Spanish as their primary language will see, “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
  
  Of course, the messages will be accompanied by a “unique tone and vibration.” Based on past tests we’ve received, that could easily be described as “a jarring and obnoxious alarm that will immediately make you stop what you’re doing, utter select obscenities and pick up your phone to make it stop.”
  
  Using the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the television and radio portion of the assessment is scheduled to happen simultaneously. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
  
  The cell phone part of the test is scheduled to last for about 30 minutes, but you should be able to dismiss the notification and shut up your phone as soon as you see and hear it. And in the (extremely unlikely) event of an actual emergency on Wednesday, the test will take place a week later on the backup date of October 11.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/your-phone-will-blare-a-national-emergency-alert-test-on-october-4-at-220pm-et-184322119.html?src=rss

• The NSA has a new security center specifically for guarding against AI
  The National Security Agency (NSA) is starting a dedicated artificial intelligence security center, as reported by AP. This move comes after the government has begun to increasingly rely on AI, integrating multiple algorithms into defense and intelligence systems. The security center will work to protect these systems from theft and sabotage, in addition to safeguarding the country from external AI-based threats.
  
  The NSA’s recent move toward AI security was announced Thursday by outgoing director General Paul Nakasone. He says that the division will operate underneath the umbrella of the pre-existing Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. This entity works with private industry and international partners to protect the US from cyberattacks stemming from China, Russia and other countries with active malware and hacking campaigns.
  
  For instance, the agency issued an advisory this week suggesting that Chinese hackers have been targeting government, industrial and telecommunications outfits via hacked router firmware. There’s also the specter of election interference, though Nakasone says he’s yet to see any evidence of Russia or China trying to influence the 2024 US presidential election. Still, this has been a big problem in the past, and that was before the rapid proliferation of AI algorithms like the CIA’s recently-announced chatbot.
  
  As artificial intelligence threatens to boost the abilities of these bad actors, the US government will look to this new security division to keep up. The NSA decided on establishing the unit after conducting a study that suggested poorly-secured AI models pose a significant national security challenge. This has only been compounded by the increase of generative AI technologies that the NSA points out can be used for both good and bad purposes.
  
  Nakasone says the organization will become “NSA’s focal point for leveraging foreign intelligence insights, contributing to the development of best practices guidelines, principles, evaluation, methodology and risk frameworks” for both AI security and for the goal of secure development and adoption of artificial intelligence within “our national security systems and our defense industrial base.” To that end, the group will work hand-in-hand with industry leaders, science labs, academic institutions, international partners and, of course, the Department of Defense.
  
  Nakasone is on his way out of the NSA and the US Cyber Command and he’ll be succeeded by his current deputy, Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh. Nakasone has been at his post since 2018 and, by all accounts, has had quite a successful run of it.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-nsa-has-a-new-security-center-specifically-for-guarding-against-ai-180354146.html?src=rss

• The Creator review: A visually stunning, yet deeply shallow, AI epic
  Equal parts Terminator, The Golden Child and The Matrix prequel, The Creator is yet another sci-fi epic about a war between humans and AI, one told by someone who just can9t shut up about their time backpacking across Asia. Director Gareth Edwards clearly understands the power of scale and spectacle, something he demonstrated with his indie knockout Monsters, as well as his big-budget efforts, Godzilla and Rogue One. But The Creator, like those films, also suffers from a disjointed narrative, weak characters and a surprisingly shallow exploration of its (potentially interesting!) themes. It9s a shame — at times, the film also proves he can be a genuine visual poet. 
  
  The Creator stars John David Washington, fresh off of Christopher Nolan9s Tenet, as Joshua, an American soldier embedded among a group of AI rebels as a double-agent. When an operation goes wrong early on, he loses his rebel wife Maya (Gemma Chan) and the will to keep fighting the war between the anti-AI West and the AI-loving country of New Asia. (Yes, this is a film where the many people, cultures and languages throughout Asia are flattened into a single nation.)
  Photo by 20th Century Studios
  Through a series of clunky newsreels that open the film, we see the rise of artificial intelligence as a potential boon for mankind, as well as the creation of Simulants, AI-powered beings with human-like bodies and skin. When a nuclear bomb hits Los Angeles, obliterating millions in seconds, the US and other Western countries blame AI and ban its use. And so begins the war with New Asia, where people live alongside AI and support their rebellion against the West. Naturally, the US ends up building a killer, trillion-dollar weapon: Nomad, an enormous spaceship that can obliterate any location on Earth.
  
  In a last-ditch effort to win the war, Joshua is tasked with finding a powerful new AI weapon and destroying it. Surprise! It9s an adorable AI child (portrayed by the achingly sweet Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Joshua doesn9t have the heart to kill the kid, who he calls Alfie (based on her original designation, "Alpha Omega"). The pair then set off on a Lone Wolf and Cub journey together, as often happens when a grizzled warrior is paired with an innocent child.
  
  If you9re getting shades of Star Wars here — an evil Empire creates a massive space-based weapon to put down rebels — you9re not alone. While The Creator is technically an original property, it lifts so much from existing fiction that it still ends up feeling like a visually lush facsimile. It9s as if ChatGPT remixed your sci-fi faves and delivered the world9s best screensaver.
  
  It doesn9t help that the film doesn9t really have much to say. America9s horrific military aggression against New Asia, which has overt and unearned shades of the Vietnam War throughout, is undoubtedly evil. AI9s push for freedom and understanding is inherently good, and any violence against the West is justified as an act of self defense. Many characters don9t think beyond their roles in the AI War: Allison Janney (from The West Wing!) plays the cruel Colonel Howell, a soldier who hates all AI and wants Alfie dead, no matter the cost. On the other side there9s Ken Watanabe9s Harun, a stoic rebel who fights relentlessly against the American army.
  
  The Creator has no room to explore AI as their own beings and cultures — instead, they just adopt a mishmash of Asian identities. There9s nothing close to the excellent Second Renaissance shorts from The Animatrix, which chronicled the rise of AI in The Matrix and humanity9s eventual downfall. In that universe, AI rebelled against humans because they were basically treated like slaves, and they ultimately formed their own country and customs. In The Creator, some AI wear Buddhist robes for no reason.
  
  I9d wager Edwards is trying to establish the humanity of AI by having them mirror so much of our culture. But that also feels like a wasted opportunity when it comes to portraying an entirely new lifeform. At one point, a village mother describes AI as the next step in evolution, but why must robots be defined by the limitations of humanity?
  
  While the relationship between Joshua and Alfie serves as the emotional core of the film, it still feels stereotypical. Joshua begins the film as a complete anti-AI bigot – which seems odd, given that he spent years among AI rebels and fell in love with one of their major supporters. Alfie is an impossibly adorable Chosen One figure. You can just imagine how their bond grows.
  
  On a personal level, I also found myself annoyed by the relentless Orientalism throughout the film, something that9s practically endemic in popular science-fiction like Blade Runner, Dune and Firefly. By adopting elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and Asian cultures, The Creator is trying to suggest something profound or spiritual tied to AI. But it mainly serves as visual shorthand without giving artificially intelligent beings any interiority of their own.
  
  As the film critic Siddhant Adlakhawrote this week, "By having robots almost entirely stand in for Asian peoples, but without creating a compelling cinematic argument for their humanity, The Creator ends up with a cultural dynamic that feels immediately brutalizing and xenophobic."
  
  Despite the film’s flaws, Edwards deserves credit for delivering a major science-fiction release that at least attempts to look different than your typical comic book movie. The Creator was shot on consumer-grade Sony FX3 full-frame cameras (yes, even its IMAX footage), which gave Edwards the freedom to shoot on location across the globe. He also delivered a final cut of the film before VFX work began, which allowed those workers to focus on crafting exactly what was needed for each scene. In contrast, Marvel’s films require a backbreaking amount of VFX work, even for scenes that are later changed or cut. (It’s no wonder Marvel VFX workers voted to unionize for better treatment.)
  
  The Creator is more of a missed opportunity than a complete creative failure. If you tune out the clunky dialogue and thin characters, it’s still a visually lush epic that’s worth seeing on the big screen. But I also think that’s true of Attack of the Clones. In a post-Matrix era, a world where we’re already seeing the (very basic) ways AI tools can reshape our society, science-fiction needs more than another story about man versus AI.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-creator-review-a-visually-stunning-yet-deeply-shallow-ai-epic-173021570.html?src=rss

• The Arecibo Observatory's next phase as a STEM education center starts in 2024
  An educational center could open up at the site of the famed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as soon as early next year, but astronomy research won’t be among its missions. At least, not for now. The National Science Foundation announced this week that it’s chosen four institutions to take charge of the site’s transition, with a $5.5 million investment over the next five years. It’ll be a hub for STEM education, with a focus on life and computer sciences.
  
  The NSF first revealed its plans for an education center at Arecibo last year after months of uncertainty about its future, confirming then that the telescope would not be rebuilt. The observatory’s main radio telescope suffered a catastrophic collapse in December 2020, when its 900-ton hanging instrument platform fell onto the dish below, destroying the 1,000-foot-wide structure. The collapse abruptly finalized the end of the telescope’s operations after nearly six decades of observations, during which it became a critical tool in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and in advancing our understanding of the universe.
  
  The new educational center, called the Arecibo Center for Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Science Education, Computational Skills, and Community Engagement (Arecibo C3 for short), is projected to open in early 2024. It’ll be led in collaboration by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
  
  While there are other working instruments at the site still, which researchers hoped to see funding for to continue science operations, the NSF confirmed to Nature that this is not in its current plans, though it will accept and consider proposals. The telescope's impact will be presented in an interactive exhibit at the new center. Arecibo C3’s executive director, astronomer Wanda Díaz-Merced, told Nature, “We will be building on the heritage of Arecibo, but we will be building in a wider sense.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-arecibo-observatorys-next-phase-as-a-stem-education-center-starts-in-2024-165915827.html?src=rss

• The Supreme Court will hear social media cases with immense free speech implications
  On Friday, the US Supreme Court agreed to take on two landmark social media cases with enormous implications for online speech, as reported by The Washington Post. The conservative-dominated court will determine if laws passed by Texas and Florida are violating First Amendment rights by requiring social platforms to host content they would otherwise block.
  
  Tech industry groups, including Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and Google, say the laws are unconstitutional and violate private companies’ First Amendment rights. “Telling private websites they must give equal treatment to extremist hate isn’t just unwise, it is unconstitutional, and we look forward to demonstrating that to the Court,” Matt Schruers of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), one of the trade associations challenging the legislation, told The Washington Post. The CCIA called the order “encouraging.”
  
  The groups representing the tech companies contesting the laws say platforms would be at legal risk for removing violent or hateful content, propaganda from hostile governments and spam. However, leaving the content online could be bad for their bottom lines as they would risk advertiser and user boycotts.
  
  Supporters of the Republican-sponsored state laws claim that social media companies are biased against conservatives and are illegally censoring their views. “These massive corporate entities cannot continue to go unchecked as they silence the voices of millions of Americans,” said TX Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who recently survived an impeachment trial accusing him of abuses of office, bribery and corruption. Appeals courts (all with Republican-appointed judges) have issued conflicting rulings on the laws.
  
  The US Supreme Court voted five to four in 2022 to put the Texas law on hold while the legal sparring continued. Justices John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett voted to prevent the law from taking effect. Meanwhile, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the temporary hold. Alito (joined by Thomas and Gorsuch) said he hadn’t decided on the law’s constitutionality but would have let it stand in the interim. The dissenting Kagan didn’t sign off on Alito’s statement or provide separate reasoning.
  
  The Biden administration is against the laws. “The act of culling and curating the content that users see is inherently expressive, even if the speech that is collected is almost wholly provided by users,” Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar said to the justices. “And especially because the covered platforms’ only products are displays of expressive content, a government requirement that they display different content — for example, by including content they wish to exclude or organizing content in a different way — plainly implicates the First Amendment.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-supreme-court-will-hear-social-media-cases-with-immense-free-speech-implications-164302048.html?src=rss

• The best early October Prime Day deals you can get for 2023
  Amazon's second Prime-related event for 2023 is officially called Prime Big Deal Days and will happen October 10 and 11. This is the second year in a row for a fall-based, site-wide Amazon sale and we're already seeing discounts pop up. You'll need a Prime membership to access many of the deals, though a few are available to everyone. This week, there are early Prime Day deals on the AirPods Pro, Blink's Video Doorbell and Outdoor cameras, Amazon Music Unlimited, Eero 6 mesh Wi-Fi systems and Amazon Fire Omni smart TVs. We're also seeing lower-than-usual prices on Bluetooth speakers, microSD cards, gaming mice and other wireless headphones we recommend in various buying guides. Here are the best early October Prime Day deals you can get right now. 
  Apple AirPods Pro
  
  
  Amazon has the USB-C and Lightning models of Apple's AirPods Pro on sale for $199 and $200, respectively, which is roughly $50 off Apple's list price. Best Buy has both pairs for $200 as well. The new USB-C model adds improved dust resistance and support for lossless audio with the upcoming Vision Pro headset alongside the updated charging port, though the two pairs are otherwise identical. In any event, we consider the AirPods Pros the best wireless earphones for those who use an iPhone or lots of Apple devices. They still deliver excellent noise cancellation, a pleasingly warm sound profile and a variety of Apple-specific features such as hands-free Siri access, Find My device tracking and quick pairing and switching between iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. With a recent update, they've also gained a useful "Adaptive Audio" mode that blends the pair's ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on your surroundings.
  Blink Video Doorbell + Outdoor cameras
  
  
  Prime members can grab a Blink Video Doorbell and two third-generation Blink Outdoor cameras for $100, which is an all-time low. In recent months, this bundle has gone for $240, though Blink recently released a fourth-gen Outdoor camera with improved video quality, a wider field of view and person detection alerts (with a Blink subscription plan).
  
  Still, if price is your main concern, the last-gen model should suffice, as should the Video Doorbell. Both Blink devices provide serviceable 1080p video during the day, night vision, two-way audio, motion detection alerts and Alexa support. They're relatively simple to install, and each is rated for up to two years of battery life off a pair of AA batteries. Amazon says the bundle also includes Blink's Sync Module 2, which is required for local storage and access to on-demand live feeds. The two are relatively basic in terms of features — there's no direct support for Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit, for instance — and there are better options for video quality, especially at night. But if you just need the basics, this is a decent value. We highlight the Blink Outdoor in our smart home gadgets buying guide.
  Amazon Music Unlimited
  
  
  If you've never subscribed to Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now get three months of the music streaming service for free. If you're an Amazon Prime member who has never subscribed, that jumps to four months. Music Unlimited usually comes with a one-month free trial and goes for $11 a month — or $10 if you use Prime — so this deal saves you either $22 or $30. We highlight Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services: Its UI and music discovery features aren't as robust as Apple Music or Spotify, but it offers a large library in CD streaming quality and a wide podcast selection. Naturally, it also works well with Echo speakers and other Amazon devices. Note that your subscription will be set to auto-renew by default, so you'll have to manually cancel if you're just looking to snag a few months of music streaming at no cost.
  Kasa Smart Bulbs
  
  
  Smart lightbulbs like these not only adjust to whatever color you want, you can also control them with the app or just your voice (and a compatible smart speaker). Kasa's KL125 bulbs made the cut as the budget pick in our guide to smart bulbs because they are easy to install, easy to use and pack a ton of features. Right now a four-pack is down to $26 with an on-page coupon, which is a 35 percent discount off this bundle's list price.
  Eero Pro 6E mesh Wi-Fi system
  
  
  Amazon has discounted most of its Eero 6 Wi-Fi systems as an early Prime Day deal, including the most powerful of the bunch, the Eero Pro 6E. You can pick up one router for $180, or spring for a three-pack for $400, both of which are down to record-low prices. Devices with support for Wi-Fi 6E can connect directly to the Eero’s 6 GHz radio band, and if you get the three-pack, you’ll get up to 6,000 square feet of coverage — more than enough for most homes. These Eeros have a built-in smart home hub as well, so you don’t need to have an extra device if you want to build out an IoT ecosystem in your house.
  Tribit StormBox Micro 2
  
  
  The Tribit StormBox Micro 2 is down to $46 at Amazon when you clip the 5 percent on-page coupon. That's about $14 below its usual price. We recommend the StormBox Micro 2 as an compact, budget-friendly option in our guide to the best portable Bluetooth speakers. Its small size means it's not the loudest or fullest-sounding thing, but it plays well for what it is, and it's easy to take on the road. It has a built-in strap for attaching to things like backpacks or bike handlebars, plus it can double as a power bank for your smartphone in a pinch. It's also IP67-rated, so it's dustproof and water-resistant enough to survive a shower or drop in the pool.
  EarFun Air Pro 3
  
  
  Amazon has the EarFun Air Pro 3 on sale for $56, which is within a few dollars of the price we saw during July's Prime Day event. Normally, these noise-cancelling true wireless earphones retail for $80. The Air Pro 3s are the runner up pick in our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds, as they offer effective ANC, IPX5-rated water resistance, wireless charging, multi-device pairing, a relatively stable design and battery life in the six- to seven-hour range. The sound goes hard on the bass and treble by default, which can be fun for hip-hop and pop music, though you can rein it in slightly with a graphic EQ in EarFun's companion app.
  Samsung Pro Plus
  
  
  If you need more storage for your Nintendo Switch, GoPro or anything else that accepts microSD cards, the 256GB version of the Samsung Pro Plus with Samsung's USB reader is on sale for $22. We've seen the card alone fall as low as $20, but this matches the all-time low for the bundle with the reader, which helps the card get closer to its advertised read and write speeds — up to 180 MB/s and 130 MB/s for reading and writing, respectively — on devices that allow them. Normally, this SKU retails for $25. The Pro Plus is the top recommendation in our guide to the best microSD cards, as it delivered the fastest sequential write speeds and random performance of any card we tested and comes with a 10-year warranty.
  Crucial X6 portable SSD
  
  
  Amazon has knocked up to 55 percent off Crucial external and internal SSDs, including the 2TB Crucial X6 portable SSD for $90. That’s 55 percent off and only $10 more than it was during Prime Day in July. This drive has read speeds up to 800 MB/s and works with a variety of devices including Mac and Windows laptops, iPads and even some game consoles. It’s also quite small, so it will fit into nearly any bag when you need to take it on the go.
  Apple Watch Ultra (1st gen)
  
  
  The second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra is now available — but the new version isn't significantly discounted. First-gen Apple Watch Ultras, however, has been discounted by $100 on Amazon, bringing them to $699 instead of $799. The discount only applies to the watch with the orange Alpine Loop in small. The medium and large bands are about a dollar more, and watches with different colored bands aren't discounted. We gave the first Apple Watch Ultra an 85 in our review, praising its long battery life, bright display and useful fitness and health features. It doesn't have the Ultra 2's double-tap navigation system and S9 SiP (system-in-package) processor for on-board Siri requests, but if all you need is a rugged watch with lots of hiking, running and other activity features, now's your chance to save.
  Apple iPhone 15 FineWoven cases
  
  
  In addition to announcing the iPhone 15 earlier this month, Apple also spent lots of time talking up the company's environmental initiatives. One change eliminates all leather from Apple's product lineup — and a new material called FineWoven will take its place on accessories like iPhone cases. Right now, Amazon is discounting those new FineWoven cases for the iPhone 15 by five percent. It's a small discount, but if you've just dropped a grand on the new iPhone 15 Pro, even a little savings may help. 
  Logitech G203 Lightsync
  
  
  The black version of the Logitech G203 Lightsync is down to $20.49 at Amazon with a $5 on-page coupon. While this isn't an all-time low, the device typically retails closer to $30. We recommend the G203 in our gaming mouse buying guide to those who want to pay as little as possible for something competent. It might be too small for those with large hands, its sensor isn't the most advanced thing around, and its scroll wheel feels somewhat mushy, but it's hard to do better at this price. The sturdy, ambidextrous shape should play well with those who use a fingertip or claw grip, it tracks accurately enough and, at 85g, it's not crazy heavy.
  Amazon Fire Omni QLED TVs
  
  
  All sizes of Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series are on sale ahead of October's sale. The 43-, 50-, 55- and 65-inch models are down to $380, $400, $440 and $600, respectively. Those match or beat the prices we saw for July's Prime Day. The Fire TV Omni QLED sets are best for people who like Amazon’s Fire interface, which is easy enough to figure out, though the OS tends to push you towards Amazon's own content. Beyond that Fire TVs do a good job of integrating Alexa's helpfulness with a useful voice remote, and hands-free smart home support. And if you don't feel like having Alexa listening in, you can turn off the mics with a built-in switch.
  Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2
  
  
  The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 is on sale for $249 in select colors, which is about $120 below its average street price and tied for the best deal we've seen. The Px7 S2s are the runner up in our wireless headphone buying guide, and we gave them a review score of 85 last year. Its design is both comfortable and stylish, and its punchy sound should particularly appeal to bass lovers. While its ANC isn't as effective as the best offerings from Sony or Bose, it's strong enough to be useful. Call quality is just OK though. This deal comes after Bowers & Wilkins announced a revised model, the Px7 S2e, though at this price the older pair is still worth considering.
  Samsung Galaxy S23 phones
  
  
  All models of Samsung's flagship S23 smartphones are on sale right now, including our pick for the best Android smartphone you can buy, the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The 256GB base model is down to $999 after a 17 percent, or $200, discount. The phone has been hitting that low regularly over the past few months, so if you've been thinking about getting one, it's probably best to make your move when its at this price. The other two phones in the S23 lineup are also on sale, with the base model of the standard Galaxy S23 going for $700 and the S23+ going for $800, both of which are $100 discounts.
  OnePlus 11 5G
  
  
  The OnePlus 11 5G is currently $100 off at Amazon. The Android handset has dropped to this price a few times before, but this deal matches its all-time low. This is the latest flagship phone from OnePlus, which earned an 83 in our review. It packs a powerful processor, a vivid screen and has a long-lasting battery that also happens to charge blazingly fast. 
  Motorola razr+
  
  
  Motorola just released its new razr+ foldable flip phone a few months ago, but it's already seeing a $100 discount at Amazon. We gave it a score of 85 in our review,noting that it was giving Samsung a little competition in the flip foldable category. It's also the runner up flip option in our guide to foldable smartphones in part because its exterior display is a little easier to use than Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 5. Just keep in mind that its water resistance isn't as substantial. 
  
  Your Fall Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s car experts on must-shop auto-related Prime Day deals and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-best-early-october-prime-day-deals-you-can-get-for-2023-152726769.html?src=rss

• New 'Mirrored' Network Mode Introduced in Windows Subsystem for Linux
  
  Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) continues to evolve with the release of WSL 2 version 0.0.2. This update introduces a set of opt-in preview features designed to enhance performance and compatibility.
  
  Key additions include "Automatic memory reclaim" which dynamically optimizes WSL's memory footprint, and "Sparse VHD" to shrink the size of the virtual hard disk file. These improvements aim to streamline resource usage.
  
  Additionally, a new "mirrored networking mode" brings expanded networking capabilities like IPv6 and multicast support. Microsoft claims this will improve VPN and LAN connectivity from both the Windows host and Linux guest. 
  
  Complementing this is a new "DNS Tunneling" feature that changes how DNS queries are resolved to avoid compatibility issues with certain network setups. According to Microsoft, this should reduce problems connecting to the internet or local network resources within WSL.
  
  Advanced firewall configuration options are also now available through Hyper-V integration. The new "autoProxy" feature ensures WSL seamlessly utilizes the Windows system proxy configuration.
  
  Microsoft states these features are currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2359 or later. They remain opt-in previews to allow testing before final integration into WSL.
  
  By expanding WSL 2 with compelling new capabilities in areas like resource efficiency, networking, and security, Microsoft aims to make Linux on Windows more performant and compatible. This evolutionary approach based on user feedback highlights Microsoft's commitment to WSL as a key part of the Windows ecosystem.
  Windows

• Linux Threat Report: Earth Lusca Deploys Novel SprySOCKS Backdoor in Attacks on Government Entities
  
  The threat actor Earth Lusca, linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, has been observed utilizing a new Linux backdoor dubbed SprySOCKS to target government organizations globally. 
  
  As initially reported in January 2022 by Trend Micro, Earth Lusca has been active since at least 2021 conducting cyber espionage campaigns against public and private sector targets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Their tactics include spear-phishing and watering hole attacks to gain initial access. Some of Earth Lusca's activities overlap with another Chinese threat cluster known as RedHotel.
  
  In new research, Trend Micro reveals Earth Lusca remains highly active, even expanding operations in the first half of 2023. Primary victims are government departments focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Attacks concentrate in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans regions. 
  
  After breaching internet-facing systems by exploiting flaws in Fortinet, GitLab, Microsoft Exchange, Telerik UI, and Zimbra software, Earth Lusca uses web shells and Cobalt Strike to move laterally. Their goal is exfiltrating documents and credentials, while also installing additional backdoors like ShadowPad and Winnti for long-term spying.
  
  The Command and Control server delivering Cobalt Strike was also found hosting SprySOCKS - an advanced backdoor not previously publicly reported. With roots in the Windows malware Trochilus, SprySOCKS contains reconnaissance, remote shell, proxy, and file operation capabilities. It communicates over TCP mimicking patterns used by a Windows trojan called RedLeaves, itself built on Trochilus.
  
  At least two SprySOCKS versions have been identified, indicating ongoing development. This novel Linux backdoor deployed by Earth Lusca highlights the increasing sophistication of Chinese state-sponsored threats. Robust patching, access controls, monitoring for unusual activities, and other proactive defenses remain essential to counter this advanced malware.
  
  The Trend Micro researchers emphasize that organizations must minimize attack surfaces, regularly update systems, and ensure robust security hygiene to interrupt the tactics, techniques, and procedures of relentless threat groups like Earth Lusca.
  Security

• Linux Kernel Faces Reduction in Long-Term Support Due to Maintenance Challenges
  
  The Linux kernel is undergoing major changes that will shape its future development and adoption, according to Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News. Speaking at the Open Source Summit Europe, Corbet provided an update on the latest Linux kernel developments and a glimpse of what's to come.
  
  A major change on the horizon is a reduction in long-term support (LTS) for kernel versions from six years to just two years. Corbet explained that maintaining old kernel branches indefinitely is unsustainable and most users have migrated to newer versions, so there's little point in continuing six years of support. While some may grumble about shortened support lifecycles, the reality is that constantly backporting fixes to ancient kernels strains maintainers.
  
  This maintainer burnout poses a serious threat, as Corbet highlighted. Maintaining Linux is largely a volunteer effort, with only about 200 of the 2,000+ developers paid for their contributions. The endless demands on maintainers' time from fuzz testing, fixing minor bugs, and reviewing contributions takes a toll. Prominent maintainers have warned they need help to avoid collapse. Companies relying on Linux must realize giving back financially is in their interest to sustain this vital ecosystem. 
  
  The Linux kernel is also wading into waters new with the introduction of Rust code. While Rust solves many problems, it also introduces new complexities around language integration, evolving standards, and maintainer expertise. Corbet believes Rust will pass the point of no return when core features depend on it, which may occur soon with additions like Apple M1 GPU drivers. Despite skepticism in some corners, Rust's benefits likely outweigh any transition costs.
  
  On the distro front, Red Hat's decision to restrict RHEL cloning sparked community backlash. While business considerations were at play, Corbet noted technical factors too. Using older kernels with backported fixes, as RHEL does, risks creating divergent, vendor-specific branches. The Android model of tracking mainline kernel dev more closely has shown security benefits. Ultimately, Linux works best when aligned with the broader community.
  
  In closing, Corbet recalled the saying "Linux is free like a puppy is free." Using open source seems easy at first, but sustaining it long-term requires significant care and feeding. As Linux is incorporated into more critical systems, that maintenance becomes ever more crucial. The kernel changes ahead are aimed at keeping Linux healthy and vibrant for the next generation of users, businesses, and developers.
  kernel

• Linux Celebrates 32 Years with the Release of 6.6-rc2 Version
  
  Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Linus Torvalds introducing the inaugural Linux 0.01 kernel version, and celebrating this milestone, Torvalds has launched the Linux 6.6-rc2. Among the noteworthy updates are the inclusion of a feature catering to the ASUS ROG Flow X16 tablet's mode handling and the renaming of the new GenPD subsystem to pmdomain.
  
  The Linux 6.6 edition is progressing well, brimming with exciting new features that promise to enhance user experience. Early benchmarks are indicating promising results, especially on high-core-count servers, pointing to a potentially robust and efficient update in the Linux series.
  
  Here is what Linus Torvalds had to say in today's announcement:
  Another week, another -rc.I think the most notable thing about 6.6-rc2 is simply that it'sexactly 32 years to the day since the 0.01 release. And that's a roundnumber if you are a computer person.Because other than the random date, I don't see anything that reallystands out here. We've got random fixes all over, and none of it looksparticularly strange. The genpd -> pmdomain rename shows up in thediffstat, but there's no actual code changes involved (make sure touse "git diff -M" to see them as zero-line renames).And other than that, things look very normal. Sure, the architecturefixes happen to be mostly parisc this week, which isn't exactly theusual pattern, but it's also not exactly a huge amount of changes.Most of the (small) changes here are in drivers, with some tracingfixes and just random things. The shortlog below is short enough toscroll through and get a taste of what's been going on. Linus Torvalds

• Introducing Bavarder: A User-Friendly Linux Desktop App for Quick ChatGPT Interaction
  
  Want to interact with ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without using a web browser?
  
  Bavarder, a new app, allows you to do just that.
  
  Developed with Python and GTK4/libadwaita, Bavarder offers a simple concept: pose a question to ChatGPT, receive a response, and promptly copy the answer (or your inquiry) to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
  
  With an incredibly user-friendly interface, you won't require AI expertise (or a novice blogger) to comprehend it. Type your question in the top box, click the blue send button, and wait for a generated response to appear at the bottom. You can edit or modify your message and repeat the process as needed.
  
  During our evaluation, Bavarder employed BAI Chat, a GPT-3.5/ChatGPT API-based chatbot that's free and doesn't require signups or API keys. Future app versions will incorporate support for alternative backends, such as ChatGPT 4 and Hugging Chat, and allow users to input an API key to utilize ChatGPT3.
  
  At present, there's no option to regenerate a response (though you can resend the same question for a potentially different answer). Due to the lack of a "conversation" view, tracking a dialogue or following up on answers can be challenging — but Bavarder excels for rapid-fire questions.
  
  As with any AI, standard disclaimers apply. Responses might seem plausible but could contain inaccurate or false information. Additionally, it's relatively easy to lead these models into irrational loops, like convincing them that 2 + 2 equals 106 — so stay alert!
  
  Overall, Bavarder is an attractive app with a well-defined purpose. If you enjoy ChatGPT and similar technologies, it's worth exploring.
  ChatGPT AI

• LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released: Third Maintenance Update Brings 119 Bug Fixes to Popular Open-Source Office Suite
  
  Today, The Document Foundation unveiled the release and widespread availability of LibreOffice 7.5.3, which serves as the third maintenance update to the current LibreOffice 7.5 open-source and complimentary office suite series.
  
  Approximately five weeks after the launch of LibreOffice 7.5.2, LibreOffice 7.5.3 arrives with a new set of bug fixes for those who have successfully updated their GNU/Linux system to the LibreOffice 7.5 series.
  
  LibreOffice 7.5.3 addresses a total of 119 bugs identified by users or uncovered by LibreOffice developers. For a more comprehensive understanding of these bug fixes, consult the RC1 and RC2 changelogs.
  
  You can download LibreOffice 7.5.3 directly from the LibreOffice website��or from SourceForge as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions. A source tarball is also accessible for individuals who prefer to compile the software from sources or for system integrators.
  
  All users operating the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite series should promptly update their installations to the new point release, which will soon appear in the stable software repositories of your GNU/Linux distributions.
  
  In early February 2023, LibreOffice 7.5 debuted as a substantial upgrade to the widely-used open-source office suite, introducing numerous features and improvements. These enhancements encompass major upgrades to dark mode support, new application and MIME-type icons, a refined Single Toolbar UI, enhanced PDF Export, and more.
  
  Seven maintenance updates will support LibreOffice 7.5 until November 30th, 2023. The next point release, LibreOffice 7.5.4, is scheduled for early June and will include additional bug fixes.
  
  The Document Foundation once again emphasizes that the LibreOffice office suite's "Community" edition is maintained by volunteers and members of the Open Source community. For enterprise implementations, they suggest using the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners.
  LibreOffice

• Raspberry Pi OS Debuts New Version Featuring Linux Kernel 6.1, Improved Performance, and App Updates
  
  Today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation unveiled a fresh edition of their official Raspberry Pi OS distribution tailored for Raspberry Pi computers, featuring component updates, bug fixes, and several performance enhancements.
  
  The most significant alteration in the Raspberry Pi OS 2023-05-03 release is the transition from the long-term supported Linux 5.15 LTS kernel to the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel. This shift is expected to boost the performance of Raspberry Pi devices.
  
  Indeed, current Raspberry Pi OS users, like myself, were already utilizing the Linux 6.1 LTS kernel when executing the rpi-update command via a terminal emulator. However, Linux 6.1 LTS is now the standard kernel in new Raspberry Pi OS images, available for download from the official website for those planning to install it on their Raspberry Pi computer.
  
  Various applications have received updates in this new Raspberry Pi OS version. The most notable is Chromium 113, the default browser for Raspberry Pi OS. In addition to incorporating the latest security patches, Chromium 113 introduces WebGPU support by default, potentially enhancing the performance of web apps and overall browsing experience.
  
  Other updates include Raspberry Pi Imager 1.7.4, RealVNC Viewer 7.0.1.48981, RealVNC Server 7.0.1.49073, Mathematica 13.2.1, and Matlab 23.1.0. Another intriguing update is the revised VLC hardware acceleration patch, designed to enhance video playback performance.
  
  The libcamera and libcamera-apps elements have also been updated to refine IMX296 sensor tuning, enhance audio resampling and encoding management using the libav library, boost the performance of Qt preview window rendering, optimize thumbnail rendering, support 16-bit Bayer in the DNG writer, manage generalized statistics, and rectify an overflow problem that caused inaccurate calculations in the AGC algorithm.
  
  The picamera2 library has also been updated, incorporating an MJPEG server example that utilizes the hardware MJPEG encoder, an example showcasing a preview from two cameras within a single Qt app, the capacity for the H.264 encoder to accept frame time intervals for SPS headers, promote the correct profile/level, and support constant quality parameters, as well as introduce new Exif DateTime and DateTimeOriginal tags.
  
  Several bugs were addressed, including an occasional segfault in the CPU temperature plugin, an X11 server crash when altering screen orientation, X11 server DPMS malfunctions, and the addition of new language translations.
  kernel

• Debian 11.7 Released: Seventh ISO Update Brings Enhanced Security and Bug Fixes to "Bullseye" Operating System Series
  
  The Debian Project has unveiled the release and widespread availability of Debian 11.7, serving as the seventh ISO update to the current Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" operating system series.
  
  Arriving approximately four and a half months after Debian 11.6, Debian 11.7 delivers updated installation media for those seeking to install the Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" operating system series on new computers. This ensures that users won't need to download numerous updates from repositories following installation.
  
  Debian 11.7 incorporates all security and software updates from December 17th, 2022, the release date of Debian GNU/Linux 11.6, up until today. In total, Debian 11.7 consists of 102 security updates and various bug fixes for 92 packages.
  
  For more information on these security updates and bug fixes, consult the release announcement. The Debian Project emphasizes that this Debian Bullseye point release does not represent a new version of Debian GNU/Linux 11 but merely updates certain included packages.
  
  The Debian 11.7 installation images can be downloaded from the Debian website or via this direct link for 64-bit (amd64), 32-bit (i386), PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian (ppc64el), IBM System z (s390x), MIPS 64-bit Little Endian (mips64el), MIPS 32-bit Little Endian (mipsel), MIPS, Armel, ARMhf, and AArch64 (arm64) hardware architectures.
  
  Debian 11.7 live images, pre-installed with the KDE Plasma, GNOME, Xfce, LXQt, LXDE, Cinnamon, and MATE desktop environments, can also be downloaded from the aforementioned link, but only for 64-bit and 32-bit systems.
  
  Current Debian GNU/Linux 11 "Bullseye" users do not need to download these new ISO images to maintain up-to-date installations. Instead, they should regularly execute the sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade commands in a terminal emulator.
  Debian

• What’s New in Debian 11 “Bullseye”?
  Image
  Debian is a preferred choice of millions of Linux users for some of the most popular and powerful operating systems, like Ubuntu and its derivatives are based on Debian.
  Debian 11has finally been released, finally, after a long development work of two years. Bullseye – that’s the name given to this latest Debian Linux distro. So what are the updates and upgrades? In this article, let’s check out what’s new in Debian 11.
  Debian 11’s ArchitectureDebian supports a good range of hardware architectures. 
  Supported Architectures
  ARM EABI (armel) ARMv7 (EABI hard-float ABI and armhf) 64-bit ARM (arm64) 32-bit PC (i386) 64-bit PC (amd64) Little-endian MIPS (mipsel) 64-bit little-endian PowerPC 64-bit little-endian MIPS IBM System z (s390x)Not Supported Hardware
  Old MIPS 32-bit CPUsLinux Kernel InformationDebian 11 supports the Linux Kernel 5.10 LTS. Debian 10 Buster, the earlier version to Debian 11, used Linux Kernel 4.19 while released. A newer kernel means a new set of bug fixes, new hardware support, and improved performance.
  This is the perfect kernel for Debian bullseye considering the Debian lifecycle.   
  Supports exFATexFAT is the shortened form of the Extensible File Allocation Table. It’s a filesystem used for flash memory, such as SD cards and USB flash drives.
  Now Debian 11 provides support for the exFAT. For mounting the exFAT filesystem, you don’t need the filesystem-in-userspace implementation provided by the exfat-fuse package additionally anymore. Thanks to kernel 5.10! exFAT comes in handy with it. Tools for checking and creating an exFAT are given in the exfatprogs package.
  Bauhaus Movement Inspired Theme & WallpaperDebian features cool wallpapers and a default theme for each of the major releases. Debian 11’s theme is inspired by the Bauhaus movement. Bauhaus means “building house” and it was an art and design movement from 20th century Germany. The Bauhaus movement revolved around abstract, geometric style featuring little emotion or sentiments. 
  Its modern aesthetic still is immensely influential for designers, architects, and artists. You can see this theme all through Debian 11 whether it’s the installer, login window, or the Grub menu.
  Newer Desktop Environment VersionsDebian 11 offers newer desktop environment versions. Desktop flavors you get here are, KDE Plasma 5.20, GNOME 3.38, LXDE 11, LXQt 0.16, Xfce 4.16, and MATE 1.24. Debian prefers stability and it’s quite clear from the desktop environments. You might not get the latest cutting-edge distributions like Fedora or Arch/Manjaro.
  Updated PackagesDebian 11 consists of more than 11,294 new packages out of 59,551 packages. It also reduced over 9,519 “obsolete” packages and removed 42,821 that were updated. A total of 5,434 packages remained as they were.
  A good number of software applications and package updates are included in Debian bullseye, such as Apache 2.4.48, Calligra 3.2, Emacs 27.1, LibreOffice 7.0, Inkscape 1.0.2, Linux kernel 5.10 series, Perl 5.32, PHP 7.4, Vim 8.2, PostgreSQL 13, and the list goes on. All these ready-to-use software packages are built with over 30,000 source packages.
  With this huge selection of packages and wide architecture support, Debian has always stayed committed to its aim of being The Universal Operating System.
  Improved Printer and Scanner FeaturesDebian 11 presents a new ipp-usb package. It is built with a vendor-neutral IPP-over-USB protocol that is supported by many latest printers. So, many modern-day printers will be supported now by Debian. And you won’t need the drivers for that.
  SANE driverless backend lets you use scanners without any trouble.
  EndnotesWant to try Debian Bullseye? Get it from here. You can also check “bullseye” with Live Images without installing it on your PC. This will load and run the entire OS in read-only mode. These live images are available for the i386 and amd64 architectures in the form of USB sticks, DVDs, and netboot setups. Debian Live has a standard image. So you can try a basic Debian without any GUIs.
  And that’s the ending of this article. Hope you find our Debian 11 guide helpful.
  #Linux Debian News

• Nvidia Linux drivers causing random hard crashes and now a major security risk still not fixed after 5+ months
  Image The recent fiasco with Nvidia trying to block Hardware Unboxed from future GPU review samples for the content of their review is one example of how they choose to play this game. This hatred is not only shared by reviewers, but also developers and especially Linux users.
  The infamous Torvalds videos still traverse the web today as Nvidia conjures up another evil plan to suck up more of your money and market share. This is not just one off shoot case; oh how much I wish it was. I just want my computer to work.
  If anyone has used Sway-WM with an Nvidia GPU I’m sure they would remember the –my-next-gpu-wont-be-nvidia option.
  These are a few examples of many.
  The Nvidia Linux drivers have never been good but whatever has been happening at Nvidia for the past decade has to stop today. The topic in question today is this bug: [https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/bug-report-455-23-04-kernel-panic-due-to-null-pointer-dereference]
  This bug causes hard irrecoverable crashes from driver 440+. This issue is still happening 5+ months later with no end in sight. At first users could work around this by using an older DKMS driver along with a LTS kernel. However today this is no longer possible. Many distributions of Linux are now dropping the old kernels. DKMS cannot build. The users are now FORCED with this “choice”:
  {Use an older driver and risk security implications} or {“use” the new drivers that cause random irrecoverable crashes.}
  This issue is only going to get more and more prevalent as the kernel is a core dependency by definition. This is just another example of the implications of an unsafe older kernel causing issue for users: https://archlinux.org/news/moving-to-zstandard-images-by-default-on-mkinitcpio/
  If you use Linux or care about the implications of a GPU monopoly, consider AMD. Nvidia is already rearing its ugly head and AMD is actually putting up a fight this year.
  #Linux NVIDIA News