https://linuxiac.com/zorin-os-says-no-to-mandatory-age-verification-in-linux/
ZorinOS joins the ranks of Linux Distro's that will not tolerate Age Checks
Remote
James House-Lantto (He/Him)
@Theeo123@mastodon.social
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Father of three human children and one crazy cat child, life-long gamer, appreciator of art and architecture, appreciator of science and music, lover of movies and dice.
@lancaban:matrix.org
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Joined February 08, 2020
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https://itsfoss.com/news/collabora-online-26-04/
Collabora Online is celebrating 10 years of being a great, Open-Source, privacy first competitive alternative to MS Office and Google Workspace
#Collabora #Office #OpenSource #Privacy
https://www.theverge.com/news/908401/propublica-union-strike-negotiations-ai-layoffs
The Employees of #ProPublica, one of the few, remaining independent #news sources in America, are on Strike starting Today (Wed, April 8, 2026), Their main points of contention are the use of #AI, and Layoff Protection.
Boosted by @PhilipCJames@mas.to
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-brussels-launched-age-checking-app-hackers-say-took-them-2-minutes-break-it/
The EU’s age verification app is already proving why these systems are problematic.
Within hours, researchers found insecure data storage, trivial hacks, and bypassed biometrics. Even verified accounts can be reused by others.
These failures expose how fragile and unreliable age verification tech is in practice.
#Privacy #DigitalRights #AgeVerification
https://www.howtogeek.com/pinta-beats-photoshop-any-day/
How Pinta can replace most peoples needs for photoshop & similar products. Striking a good balance between average home user Tasks and professional grade tools which most of us never use 1/10th of. Essentially a halfway point between paint.net & GIMP
https://proton.me/blog/what-does-google-know-about-me
How much does google really know about you? a lot, probably a lot more than you think. the above linked article, which also has a video, goes over exactly how far googles reach extends, and what you can do about it.
https://linuxiac.com/the-last-mpeg-4-visual-patent-has-expired/
MPEG-4 Part 2, best known through DivX and Xvid, has officially exited its patent-licensing era. With the final known patent expiring on July 19, 2026, developers, Linux distributions, multimedia projects, and hardware manufacturers can now implement support without paying MPEG-4 Visual patent royalties.
#OpenSource #Linux #Video #VideoCodec #DivX #Xvid #Multimedia #FOSS #Mpeg4 #MP4
https://www.wired.com/story/websites-can-now-spy-on-you-through-your-hard-drive/
Sites have a new way to spy on their visitors: by measuring subtle interactions with their solid-state drives. The technique, named FROST (fingerprinting remotely using OPFS-based SSD timing), allows sites to monitor other sites a visitor is viewing and what apps are open on their devices.
#Privacy #Tech #FROST #Security #Fingerprinting
Codeberg bans AI-slop.
they aren't banning the use of AI-tools in coding, or any & all AI code, but apps that seem to be mostly vibe-coded will not be allowed on the site
https://www.theverge.com/tech/967983/lg-monitors-mcafee-adware-gamers-nexus
Gamers Nexus has uncovered a new tactic by LG, plug in one of their monitors, and windows immediately installs drivers & their app, which contains no special controls, but does give you pop-up adds for McAffee.
Additionally, it gets rights to all user data, net connection, internet activity and geolocation info
LibreOffice reminds us: DOCX, XLSX, PPTX are proprietary formats that create vendor lock-in. When you save in these formats, you're subject to MSFT's decisions. If they change specs, your documents could become unreadable. They also contain hidden/undocumented features such as tracking, and private extensions. Microsoft can intentionally degrade output on 3rd-party apps, or worse.
https://circuitos.github.io/inn-menu-simulator/
A generator for an inn or Taverns food menu.
the menu is based of criteria you select such as Biome: (heartland, highland, frostlands etc.) Season, quality (common noble, fine), Wartime, peacetime, etc.
From the original creator of Jessica Rabbit:
https://itsfoss.com/news/german-state-ditches-sharepoint/
The German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is done with Microsoft SharePoint, ditching it for a self-hosted Nextcloud deployment that is already serving around 5,000 employees.
Eventually, that number will be scaled up to 50,000 public sector workers, covering agencies ranging from ministries down to municipal offices.
#OpenSource #Microsoft
Noctua now offers public 3D cad fields for all its fans and tells users "go ahead and 3D print them all you want"
EmuDeck now runs on the steam Machine.
This means all the Systems Emudeck supports (https://manual.emudeck.com/supported-systems/) are now playable on your Steam Machine. That's 20+ systems from EmuDeck itself and another 100+ through RetroArch.
https://www.howtogeek.com/codec-setting-makes-phone-bluetooth-audio-so-much-better/
How to switch from AAC to LDAC/LHDC for better Bluetooth audio on your phone/tablet.
Of course if your device supports the codec, but your speaker/headphones don't you won't notice much difference.
https://lifehacker.com/tech/best-privacy-hacks-browser-cookies
10 great tips for managing cookies on your browser. the first 3 are browser specific, (Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, respectively)the rest of the tips are more generic.
https://www.theverge.com/design/967606/google-open-source-3d-emoji
Google is releasing the source, .obj files, and design process of it's 3D emoji
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/07/flathub-ai-slop-ban-data
and
- 73% of Flathub apps labeled as "AI Slop" were abandoned within months.
- Many were deleted or received no updates after release.
Looking at 120 code repositories whose pull requests for inclusion on Flathub were rejected because of their heavy AI usage and given an “AI Slop1” tag.
88 are no longer under active development, Just 32 still show signs of life.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/04/eff-leaving-x
The EFF is leaving twitter, They mention the takeover by Elon Musk and a general decline of Twitter, (EFF posts got 100-million impressions per month in 2018 vs 13-million for the entire year of 2024)
https://linuxiac.com/federal-bill-would-bring-os-level-age-verification-to-the-entire-us/
There is a new Federal bill being proposed, that would Force OS level Age verification For the entire US.
Filed as H.R. 8250 on April 13, 2026, the measure is titled “To require operating system providers to verify the age of any user of an operating system, and for other purposes.”
https://www.change.org/p/don-t-fight-your-community-lead-it-open-the-protocol-for-bmcu-in-bambu-lab
A change.org petition to open source the BMCU
https://itsfoss.com/news/kde-plasma-per-screen-virtual-desktops/
I'm not a fan of the phrasing of this article Title. In truth, the "bug" was more of a feature request.
The following is my (limited) understanding of the issue
To have a different Virtual Desktop displayed on Each monitor. Something that couldn't be done, because of an X11 limitation. It is possible to do on Wayland, but no one actually sat down & did it until now.
An independent webXray audit of more than 7,000 California websites found that Google, Meta, and Microsoft often continued tracking users even after opt-out signals were sent. The report says 55% of sites still set ad cookies after opt-out, with reported failure rates of 87% for Google, 69% for Meta, and 50% for Microsoft.
Monitor your games for Steam Achievements, even if you didn't get the games from Steam!!
#Linux #Gaming #GamingOnLinux #LinuxGaming #Gaming #VideoGames #Steam #OpenSource #FOSS
https://www.howtogeek.com/everyday-devices-that-secretly-run-linux/
7 everyday devices, that you might not realize run Linux
- SmartTv's
- Wi-Fi Routers (usually)
- Car infotainment systems
- Streaming Devices (roku, FireTv etc.)
- Android Phones
- Pretty much any smart home appliance
- Emulation Gaming Handhelds
https://proton.me/blog/age-verification-alternatives
Proton talks about some of the Alternatives to the current implementation of Age-Verification
- Attribute-based verification
- Zero Knowledge Proofs (not really an alternate, but an addition)
- Age-Appropriate Design Code
- Device- and OS-level parental controls
- Education and digital literacy
https://www.howtogeek.com/windows-features-that-tattle-on-browsing-history-turn-them-off/
Remember it's not JUST your browser that tracks you across the web, if you're on Windows, it's your OS as well:
- Disable Activity History
- Disable all of the telemetry
- The DNS Cache is a record of everywhere you've been (But isn't very vulnerable)
- Get Bing out of the Start Menu
Look at the scariest part of various apps Service agreements all in one window
https://lifehacker.com/tech/10-hacks-every-pixel-user-should-know
10 Tips every Pixel owner should know
- "App Pinning" to prevent snooping
- "Private Space" to hide data
- "Circle to Search" for live translation
- "Hold for Me" for customer service calls
- "Take a Message" for real-time missed call transcripts
- "Quick Tap" use the back of your phone as a button
- "Desktop Mode" for external Monitors
- Use your Pixel as a webcam
- "Advanced voice typing" for better voice-to-text
- Optimize battery life with adaptive preferences
https://itsfoss.com/news/session-call-for-donations/
Session has issued a plea for help and donations.
as it is right now in 90-days session will essentially be no more.
All paid staff have already been let go, and everything is being run completely by volunteers, so it remains available on app-stores and websites, but that will change if they don't get help.
https://youtu.be/GqBzVuW2cnM?si=V9FGA62vcw8ojcOH
There is talk of stepping back from the broad "autism Spectrum Disorder" as a diagnosis, and going back to using specific sub-categories, however, not the old ones. The new groupings would be based not just on behavior, but also on genetics, and age of diagnosis. The new categorization might help people find better/more-effective support
#Autism #ASD #AutismSpectrumDisorder
The Autism Spectrum Diagnosis Might Not Last
A Fediverse Weekly photography challenge.
The idea is to have a challenge, that's open to the whole Fediverse, regardless of specific network/platform/app, to help bring together photography lovers, and promote the Fediverse as a whole
https://www.howtogeek.com/unlimited-data-plan-how-and-why-to-manage-usage/
Your unlimited plan isn't really "unlimited"
- many services throttle your "unlimited" data after a certain point, to as low as 256k/s making it practically unusable, or requiring a premium fee to retain full speed
- many services track "hotspot" data separate, and may cut it off, even if you have unlimited data on your "main" device
#Cellphone #Smartphone #Internet #tech #data #WirelessCarriers
Apple and Google have been ordered to take down apps that can “nudify” or “undress” people and told that they must stop profiting from the harmful technology, according to cease-and-desist letters sent to the companies by San Francisco city attorney David Chiu
https://www.theverge.com/streaming/912898/youtube-shorts-feed-limit-zero-minutes
YouTube’s time management settings now have an option to put a zero-minute time limit on Shorts, effectively removing them from your app
https://www.wired.com/story/how-the-internet-broke-everyones-bullshit-detectors/
AI and how the internet ruined everyone's bullshit detectors.
Replying to
Add windscribe to the list as well
https://www.theverge.com/tech/909308/mastodon-collections-bluesky-starter-packs
Mastodon is preparing to roll out “Collections” in the next few weeks, a feature that allows you to find and create lists of accounts worth following.
Collections, which take inspiration from Bluesky Starter Packs, will come with the ability to add up to 25 accounts to a single list.
https://www.howtogeek.com/the-killer-android-apps-you-wont-find-on-the-play-store/
8 Great #android apps that aren't on the Play Store
- F-Droid
- Breezy Weather
- Fennec Browser
- TapTap
- Cromite
- Linksheet
- SmartSpacer
- Heliboard
Bonus, most of these are #OpenSource
- Microsoft used an Xbox 360 emulator to emulate original Xbox games via Xefu on PC.
- This means that Windows machines already have officially supported tech to emulate Xbox 360 games.
by digging through the code it was discovered it used an Xbox 360 emulator running Xefu.
Xefu is what the Xbox 360 used to emulate original Xbox games, so it's basically an emulator running within an emulator.
Replying to
@Photo55@mastodon.social
on the other hand demonstrating to the world, how utterly futile and useless and unfixable it is, we can try to convince them to change the policy, instead of just trying to find ways around the policy.
Replying to
@loke@functional.cafe
Agreed I remember Keychron did the same for their Keyboards not long ago
Replying to
@knowprose
"Zorin OS Says No to Mandatory Age Verification"
If you have issues with statements made directly by the article, take it up with the people who wrote the article
https://www.howtogeek.com/these-4-chrome-extensions-started-clean-then-turned-into-malware/
4 chrome extensions that started off good, but then turned into malware
- The Great Suspender
- Hover Zoom
- Nano Adblocker
- Copyfish