Private groups work to identify & report #student #protesters for possible #deportation

When a protester was caught on video in January at a NY rally against #Israel, only her eyes were visible between a mask & headscarf. But days later, photos of her entire face, along w/her name & employer, were circulated online.

#Trump #immigration #law #FacialRecognition #technology #FreeSpeech #RightToProtest #FreedomOfAssembly #dissent #CivilRights
https://apnews.com/article/trump-foreign-students-campus-gaza-protests-deportation-9e2d4abc1c158454da1f68c01062c9ef

“They were the original distraction-free technology before we even needed such a thing. You didn’t spend the money on a Palm Pilot to play games or scroll social media. You spent the extra money on a Palm PDA because you had a job to do. Palm Pilots were the original productivity monsters, keeping us on schedule and connected through lightweight email programs and RSS feeds.”

I don’t think many of the youth today could visualise a really distraction-free and advert-free piece of technology. Today notifications keep popping up, adverts clutter pages, as well as pop-up cookie notices.

I remember using a Palm Pilot myself, and I used to sync my notes, e-mails, etc with my desktop PC. A Palm Pilot was one of the really early productivity devices, being able to run all sorts of 3rd party downloadable apps. I remember, too, the early database apps, I think mine was called HandyDB.

This is PURE productivity at its best. Technically, with the Pebble watches making a comeback, there is no real reason why Palm Pilots could not also do so. Big Tech would of course hate this as they still want to sell newer flashier devices to you, that can pop up all sorts of messages and disclaimers.

And look at this: “Surprisingly, the 25-year-old rechargeable battery still works well, holding a charge for over a month.”

See https://www.androidpolice.com/i-still-use-a-palm-pilot-editorial
#Blog, #palmpilot, #retro, #technology

‘Incel’ accounts using self-improvement language to avoid TikTok bans – study https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/29/incel-accounts-using-self-improvement-language-to-avoid-tiktok-bans-study #Violenceagainstwomenandgirls #Digitalmedia #Youngpeople #Socialmedia #Technology #Society #TikTok #Media #Men

Elon Musk’s xAI firm buys social media platform X for $33bn https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/29/elon-musks-xai-firm-buys-social-media-platform-x-for-33bn #Technology #ElonMusk #Media #X

Good Night, Tech Right!
PDF #Zine

„We’re excited to announce a new zine version of Good Night, Tech Right: Pull the Plug on AI Fascism, a deep-dive into the influence of far-Right and neo-fascist politics on the emerging bloc of tech billionaires within the Trumpian state, and its push to cement Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a new regime of capital accumulation.

With anger only rising against techno-fascists like #ElonMusk and calls for protests against #Tesla growing, we hope this zine offers people a resource and chance to start discussions around our shifting landscape.“

https://itsgoingdown.org/good-night-tech-right-pdf-zine/ via @igd_news

#Technology #Fascism #Musk #FckNzs #AI #KI #SurveillanceCapitalism #Capitalism #Protest #Sabotage #politics

Good Night, Tech-Right: Pull The Plug On AI Fascism

„The Tech-Right is united, but less by their scattered reactionary ideologies, and more by their shared class interests. They want us divided, thinking we’ll fight each other over the scraps they offer us, or by generating the latest outrage on social media platforms they control.

We need to organize and build around our shared class interests, reaching across divisions, around common goals and struggles. We want homes for everyone. We want a livable planet for our children. We want control over our labor. We want to abolish the systems that are destroying us.

In the 1990s, anarchists, labor unions, anti-sweatshop activists, and environmental groups helped mobilize thousands in militant protests against corporate globalization, all under a Democratic president. Using decentralized networks, independent media, and affinity groups, they helped to create a growing movement, rooted in anti-capitalist analysis and direct action. We did it before, we can do it again.“

The oligarchs want a king. Let’s give them a peasants’ revolt instead.“

Via @igd_news
https://itsgoingdown.org/good-night-tech-right-pull-the-plug-on-ai-fascism/

#Technology #Data #SurveillanceCapitalism #Surveillance #Musk #Zuckerberg #Trump #Fascism #Protest #AI #KI

Contactless ticketing hits 250,000 taps in record time http://dlvr.it/TJnF1c #RailNews #Stations #Technology #TrainOperatingCompanies

“There are a lot of self-hosted Google Drive alternatives out there, one of the biggest being Nextcloud. Complete with Nextcloud Office which aims to replace Google’s entire suite of document software, enthusiasts are spoiled for choice these days. However, one little-known alternative that I personally see as the best replacement for Google’s overall suite of services (if you care about privacy more than anything else, that is) is CryptPad. It’s a privacy-focused open-source end-to-end encrypted online collaboration application, and the myriad of options it has match and even surpass some of Google’s own offerings.”

I use CryptPad myself, mostly for sharing various spreadsheets in public posts. It provides a very private (to me) way of sharing like this.

CryptPad is to Google Docs or MS Office like SimpleX, Session, etc is to WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram. CryptPad is really private. It requires no real name or phone number to use the service. It is privacy done right.

If anyone wants to take it even further, they can also self-host it.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/reasons-cryptpad-best-privacy-focused-alternative-google
#Blog, #officesuites, #privacy, #technology

An interesting way to look at the influence of #China (#PRC) on other #countries: the #ChinaIndex.

The highest-"ranking" country in Europe is mine: #Germany.

»The China Index seeks to establish an interactive world map that visualizes the PRC‘s evolving influence in different countries. The Index captures PRC influence across nine Domains: #Academia, Domestic Politics, #Economy, Foreign Policy, #Law Enforcement, #Media, #Military, #Society, and #Technology. Each of these Domains contains 11 Indicators corresponding to an observable phenomenon of PRC influence, and presents comparable data collected by regional partners through collaboration with local experts.«

https://china-index.io/

“If there is one certainty of social media in 2025, it’s this: Rage clicks rule. Hyperbole, hate, brash deception—it’s all par for the course—and often rewarded with virality. On Sez Us, users who are intentionally inflammatory may score lower than those who gain influence through respectful dialog.”

I must say I do love this concept. The app is trying to build up trust, civility, transparency, and reputation. Because of this, I’m going to give it a try.

My early impressions are I do like having a 300 character post title and 15,000 characters available for the body text. An interesting point too, is you can link to X (yes I know…) as well as Bluesky, and set toggles on the post to send to those networks at the same time.

But don’t worry, the feed view only shows a few lines from the post, so the scrolling is quite easy.

Their business model says that Sez Us is built on advertisers working directly with creators and investing in great content. There is nothing I could see about their technology, but it appears to be a centralised platform. There are also mobile apps I see available.

See https://www.wired.com/story/this-platform-wants-to-return-civil-discourse-to-social-media-by-scoring-users/ and you can find Sez Us at https://sez.us/category/uncategorized/feed
#Blog, #SezUs, #socialnetworks, #technology

Almost half of Canadians have cut cable entirely
An estimated 46 per cent (7.35 million) of Canadian households didn't have a TV subscription with a cable, satellite, or telecom-based provider in 2024, according to a new report from Convergence Research.In its latest annual "Couch Potato" report on the streaming market, the firm notes that this was a fou...
#business #technology #media #politics #Canada #American
https://www.blogto.com/tech/2025/03/almost-half-canadians-have-cut-cable-entirely/

Mit der Digitalisierung von Gesundheitsdaten schafft der Staat nicht nur lukrative Geschäftsmöglichkeiten für große Konzerne, sondern nutzt dies auch für seine autoritäre, biopolitische Transformation. Auf Beschluss des Bundesrats soll die deutsche Polizei mit Hilfe von Software nun massenhaft die psychologischen Gesundheitsdaten der Menschen analysieren.

Hinzu kommt, dass dem Bundesrat vorschwebt, dass dafür ein Programm des vom rechten Tech-Oligarchen Peter Thiel gegründeten US-Konzerns Palantir zum Einsatz kommen soll. Palantir hat bereits verschiedene Softwares für Überwachungsstaaten entwickelt, die u.A. in Bayern und Hessen zum Einsatz kommen/kamen.

Nicht nur aus historischen Gründen ist die Verdächtigung und Kriminalisierung psychisch erkrankter Menschen und die Überwachung (nicht nur) von Gesundheitsdaten durch die deutsche Polizei etwas, gegen das wir uns unter allen Umständen wehren sollten!

https://www.br.de/nachrichten/netzwelt/durchleuchtet-us-software-palantir-bald-ganz-deutschland,UgNGC0P

https://www.golem.de/news/bundesratsbeschluss-analysesoftware-der-polizei-soll-gesundheitsdaten-auswerten-2503-194605.html

#Überwachung #Digitalisierung #Palantir #PeterThiel #Thiel #Polizei #Überwachungskapitalismus #Technology

X stands to benefit if UK pulls digital services tax in trade deal with US https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/24/elon-musk-x-stands-to-benefit-if-uk-pulls-digital-services-tax-in-trade-deal-with-us #Economicpolicy #Taxandspending #Digitalmedia #Tradepolicy #Technology #ElonMusk #Politics #UKnews #Media #X

Yes, FFmpeg is far from just being some plain copy or convert command. It is packed with powerful features and, in fact, sits in the background behind many fancy GUI applications, with FFmpeg during the work in the background.

The linked article discusses how FFmpeg can perform the following features:

• Playing a Video (yes, really!)
  
• Get Media Information
  
• Record Your Screen
  
• Extract Images From a Video
  
• Convert Images Into a Video
  
• Convert a Video to MP3 or GIF (or other video formats)
  
• Add Subtitles to a Movie
  
• Rebuild a Video’s Index Without Transcoding
  
• Resize Videos
  
• Trim and Crop Videos

Some of these functions can consume a lot of CPU and memory resources, so it is also worth having a look for versions of FFmpeg that specifically use the GPU for extra horsepower.

As one of my readers commented, when it came to malware, rather try to use existing OS tools to do what you need to. FFmpeg is one such tool when it comes to all things video and audio.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/tricks-you-can-do-with-ffmpeg-on-linux
#Blog, #FFmpeg, #technology, #video

New in our digital #collection:

➡️ Handbook of #children and screens: #DigitalMedia, development, and well-being from birth through adolescence

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69362-5

This #OpenAccess handbook synthesizes the current #research about the impacts of digital #media on children across development.

#Psychology #MassMedia #Internet #Parenting #Neuroscience #Technology #MentalHealth

“The FBI is warning that fake online document converters are being used to steal peoples’ information and, in worst-case scenarios, to deploy ransomware on victims’ devices. The warning came last week from the FBI Denver field office, after receiving an increasing number of reports about these types of tools.”

It seems that many of these relate mostly to creating to or from PDF files, but really most good word processors already do that as a built-in function, e.g. free LibreOffice.

See https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fbi-warnings-are-true-fake-file-converters-do-push-malware
#Blog, #malware, #security, #technology

A biodegradable glove that can be sprayed on. #Australia #science #PPE #technology

https://www.aumanufacturing.com.au/perth-developed-spray-on-ppe-gloves-see-early-interest-from-construction-sector

Romanian media watchdog defies Musk over censorship claims https://www.politico.eu/article/romanian-social-media-watchdog-defies-elon-musk-censorship-speech-claims/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication #CybersecurityandDataProtection #DigitalServicesAct #Contentmoderation #Disinformation #Illegalcontent #Lawenforcement #Intelligence #SocialMedia #Regulation #Technology #Elections #Platforms #Telecoms #Media

There is more to life than just HDMI, that’s for sure. It is well worth reading this linked article before buying any new monitor or graphics card.

Something interesting I learnt is that with DisplayPort there is the possibility of MST or Multi-Stream Transport where you can daisy-chain multiple monitors together with DP cables using only a single port on your GPU.

Also, it’s important, as it is with USB-C cables, to get HDMI cables that match the version of HDMI that the monitor supports.

See https://www.howtogeek.com/heres-everything-you-can-do-with-the-ports-on-your-monitor
#Blog, #monitors, #technology

The Weather Year Round Anywhere on Earth. Climate reports with the weather by month, day, even hour. Great for event and trip planning!

This site does not give actual daily weather reports, but gives a more detailed view of the climate for every city. It will give a good idea of what sort of weather to expect if you are planning on travelling somewhere in future. It can also do a comparison between two cities.

There is a toggle on the navigation bar to switch to metric values.

See https://weatherspark.com/map
#Blog, #technology, #weather

#Yahoo sells #TechCrunch to Regent, a #media #investment firm pulling together a portfolio of #tech #news sites

https://www.axios.com/2025/03/21/yahoo-techcrunch-regent

#business #technology #journalism #TechNews #SiliconValley

Meta confirms it is considering charging UK users for ad-free version https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/22/meta-confirms-it-is-considering-charging-uk-users-for-ad-free-version #Socialnetworking #Technologysector #Technology #Instagram #Facebook #Business #Media #Meta

BREAKING: Move over F-35, Boeing just unveiled its newest sixth-gen embezzlement vehicle! ✈️💸

Features include:

- Self-detaching doors (for surprise mid-air weight reduction)
- Cutting-edge cost overruns (now 500% over budget!)
- AI co-pilot programmed to ask, ‘Shouldn’t we fix the 737 MAX first?’

Boeing Innovation: Because why build functional planes when you can build shareholder value?

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/21/politics/trump-announces-new-us-sixth-generation-fighter-jet-that-will-be-built-by-boeing/index.html

#us #technology #boeing #comedy

Happy Friday, techies! Please check out these federated Flipboard sources and Magazines. Follow them for product reviews, trends, exclusive interviews and opinion, and the latest in technology news. 🤖 💾 🖥️

Keep up to date with social media trends and news with Lifewire, https://flipboard.com/@lifewiretech/social-media-beat-p1a7jmh1z

Gamers: IGN has you covered, with news and game reviews, https://flipboard.com/@ign/gaming-news-and-reviews-s4u82mu1z

AI news overwhelming you? Gizmodo can break it down, https://flipboard.com/@gizmodo/artificial-intelligence-7bv07f1uz

Engadget breaks down trends, news and deals on the newest gear, https://flipboard.com/@engadget/gear-nv6v86arz

#Tech #Technology #FollowFriday #Fediverse #Media #News #Journalism

No. Their interest is in getting rich. That's ALL '#techbros' #libertards are interested in. That's the ONLY REASON they're even interssted in #technology, #tech, AT ALL

Why do you think Tards like #Musk and #Trump are DISRUPTING MARKETS? Because it makes them aqnd their scumbag bffs rich as ordinary joe investors lose everything and jump from windows

Got that @gilduran? I WATCHED as scum like this forced all the creatives out in the 80s when you were still a child.

A tech-company CEO was full of crap!!! Also, the day of the week ends in "y". 🙄 Will we ever learn about these guys? #technology #journalism
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/20/nvidia-ceo-huang-says-was-wrong-about-timeline-for-quantum-computing.html

I just upgraded my main boot drive on my Linux desktop, from a 120 GB SATA SSD drive to a 500 GB NVMe SSD drive. Whilst it is true the Crucial CT120BX100SSD1 SSD was not the fastest SSD around, it shows a rating of max of 6Gb/s through the SATA interface. I’d expect many users also have slightly older SSD boot drives as well. Even though they are faster than spinning hard drives, the NVMe interface blows the socks off the SATA interface.

The NVMe drive that I just fitted is a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500 GB drive. It’s not the world’s fastest drive either, but sitting on the NVMe interface it is clocking a bit over 7x faster than the older SSD drive on the SATA interface.

The NVMe drive is showing a sequential read speed of 3,523 MB/s compared to 464 MB/s for the SATA drive. Sequential write speeds are 3,124 MB/s compared to 180 MB/s. Both tests were run using KDiskMark.

Samsung NVMe
Crucial SATA SSD

And just for context, here is also a speed test done on one of my spinning hard drives, a 2 TB WDC WD20EZRZ-00Z, on a SATA interface.

2 TB Spinning Hard Drive

Interestingly, the 4 TB spinning drive, a WDC WD40EZAZ-00S, is a bit faster.

4 TB Spinning Hard Drive

That all said, there are some things to keep in mind. On my motherboard, a NVMe interface will mean having two unused SATA ports, in my case SATA ports 5 and 6. I’d imagine newer boards would have more NVMe interfaces, but mine has 2 so that would mean losing 4 SATA ports if I mounted two NVMe drives.

The other thing is NVMe drives seem to run a bit hotter. Mine is showing around 43 to 45 deg C, whereas my SATA SSD is showing 29 deg C. This is something I’ll need to keep an eye on as it throttles from 70 C I think.

And lastly, make sure you have a NVMe mounting screw. The sockets on my board are about 1 mm (if that) and there were no screws included with my drive, nor with the motherboard. Two of my local computer shops had none of these screws. Luckily, I found one on an old laptop that I could use.

The whole point I am making is that the NVMe interfaces are really fast!
#Blog, #hardware, #NVMe, #SSD, #technology

“FilePizza isn’t the only application like this. There’s p2pfileshare.com and sharedrop.io, to name a couple. FilePizza stands out because of the simplicity—just share a file and copy the URL—and because it has a unique URL. These links only work as long as the computer is on and the browser window offering the file is open. Without a cloud service, it’s on your device to share the file with whoever might download it. Close the tab, and the file is gone.”

What is good about this app (as the article also says, not the only one that does this) is there is no uploading of your file to any remote service, and once you close the browser, the access to the file is gone. The best part is just having to remember the domain name and that is really all — no accounts, no login, no installations, no complications.

See https://lifehacker.com/tech/file-pizza-sends-file-without-using-cloud-storage
#Blog, #filesharing, #technology

U.S.A.F Uses Laser-Guided Rockets against Houthi Drones; Houthis Claim 16th MQ-9 Reaper Downed

The U.S. mentioned "FALCO," a new APKWS II variant under a BAE Systems program to enhance air-launched counter-drone operations.

https://defensemirror.com/news/39092/U_S_A_F_Uses_Laser_Guided_Rockets_against_Houthi_Drones__Houthis_Claim_16th_MQ_9_Reaper_Downed

#USAF #Military #Defense #Drones #UAV #AirForce #Iran #Houthi #MQ9Reaper #RedSea #MissileDefense #CounterUAV #Security #MiddleEast #CENTCOM #F16 #AirDefense #Technology #Geopolitics #laserguided #APKWSII #Israel #Reaper #PredatorB

Pressure mounts on Metsola to sideline lawmakers linked to Huawei bribery probe https://www.politico.eu/article/pressure-european-parliament-president-roberta-metsola-sideline-lawmakers-linked-huawei-bribery-probe/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication #CybersecurityandDataProtection #Cybersecurity #Transparency #Corruption #Technology #Technology #Exclusive #Politics #digital #Budget #Policy #Rights #Media #Trade #MEPs

The dystopian "freedom cities" dream fueling Elon Musk's destruction

Tech's plans for billionaire-rule expose why #Musk wants to end #government by the people
https://www.salon.com/2025/03/17/the-dystopian-freedom-cities-dream-fueling-elon-musks-destruction/

"what the #SiliconValley billionaire class considers "freedom cities" is simply neo-feudalism, a plan to end the concept of #citizenship & make every working person a serf whose entire life is controlled by the whims of their boss. "

#ElonMusk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #Politics #USPol #Technology #News #USA

Top broadband official exits Commerce Dept with sharp #Musk warning

“Stranding all or part of rural #America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman warned.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/16/official-exits-commerce-department-musk-warning-00232278

" #Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich #ElonMusk ’s satellite #internet company w/money for #rural broadband.

The #technology offered by #Starlink, Musk’s company, is inferior"

#Corruption #News

Qatargate reforms helped us identify Huawei bribery scandal, Parliament president says https://www.politico.eu/article/qatargate-reforms-helped-identify-huawei-bribery-scandal-parliament-roberta-metsola/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication #CybersecurityandDataProtection #Moneylaundering #Corruption #Parliament #Technology #Technology #Democracy #Politics #Media

As always, a great update. The #VIVALDI team has once again done a great job. That's a good reason to celebrate. 🥳🥂🍾🎈🎉🎊

#browser #bestbrowser #teamwork #update #release #web #technology

Contrary to what often gets surfaced in social media feeds, and many newspapers too, there is actually a lot of good news going around. Unfortunately, good news does not sell well at all, and it is usually clickbait headlines causing rage or anger, that seem to draw attention.

It is for this reason that some social networks make a point of pushing these posts into people’s feeds so that it increases engagement and drives comments etc. They design algorithms that analyse what buttons can be pressed to drive engagement and thereby surface posts that will do this driving.

The alternative is a cleaner chronological feed just based on who you follow, and when they posted. These users may have a more positive experience depending on who they follow.

Which is why many want to break away from watching traditional news channels and legacy social networks. There are actually many places dedicated to positive and uplifting news.

Some are websites like:
https://www.optimistdaily.com/
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
https://www.positive.news/

Whilst some are focussed Subreddits such as:
https://www.reddit.com/r/goodnews/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UpliftingNews/
Fediverse https://kglitch.social/m/positivenews
Fediverse upliftingnews@lemmy.world

Bluesky also has two curated feeds called ‘Positive News’ and ‘Uplifting and Good News’.

To make this easier, you could also install or use an RSS reader which will bring various sources to you in one place, without all the distractions of visiting the various sites.

There is also a hack at https://www.howtogeek.com/how-i-use-reddit-to-stay-on-top-of-the-news/ which explains how to cobble a couple of different positive news Subreddits into a single feed to follow.
#Blog, #goodnews, #positivenews, #technology

If you are involved in any way in helping to organize a conference in the US at this time, it is imperative that you offer online attendance and speaker options.

And not just because it's the right thing to do for environmental and accessibility reasons (but you should do it for those reasons, anyway).

#Professional #Education #ContinuingEducation #Academia #Science #Math #Art #Design #Theatre #Film #Media #Tech #Technology #History #Archaeology #Business #Literature #Library #Conference

Nice to see Vivaldi in the Mercedes-Benz CLA. All the cool cars get Vivaldi.

https://www.caranddriver.com/photos/g64124634/2026-mercedes-benz-cla-class-ev-interior-gallery/

#Vivaldi #browser #Mercedes #Cars #Technology @Vivaldi #automotive

There once was a man named Pavel Durov
Whose app, Telegram, was all the rave, oh
But arrested was he
For speaking out, you see
Defending privacy rights, a true brave soul

#GuardianLimerick #Media #Technology #Russia #France #Europe #Telegram

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/aug/26/what-is-telegram-why-has-founder-pavel-durov-been-arrested

I'm kinda curious how mechanical typewriters used to handle languages with diacritics. Did they need extra keys or did people have to backspace and type over the glyph?

#RandomThoughts #Linguistics #Technology

„Klinische Tests ohne Genehmigung, autonome Autos ohne Auflagen, Kernreaktoren und Nuklearenergie ohne staatliche Überwachung und eine Sonderwirtschaftszone, in der es kaum Steuern zu zahlen gibt und auch die Rechte von Arbeitskräften außer Kraft gesetzt werden. So stellen sich zahlreiche Chefs der Big-Tech-Unternehmen und US-Investoren die Zukunft vor – von Peter Thiel bis Sam Altman und Marc Andreessen. Donald Trump soll es möglich machen. Schon 2023 hatte er im Wahlkampf davon gesprochen, solche Freedom Cities in den USA zu ermöglichen.…“

Unregulierte Tech-Tests: Thiel, Altman und Co wollen Freedom Cities

https://www.heise.de/news/Unregulierte-Tech-Tests-Thiel-Altman-und-Co-wollen-Freedom-Cities-10309769.html?wt_mc=sm.red.ho.mastodon.mastodon.md_beitraege.md_beitraege&utm_source=mastodon

#Überwachungskapitalismus #Technology #Thiel #Trump #Musk #Usa #FreedomCities #AI #Surveillance