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Submission + - KDE Plasma 5.19 released (kde.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: KDE community have release Plasma 5.19 , the popular free and opensource desktop environment. In this release developers have prioritized making Plasma more consistent, correcting and unifying designs of widgets and desktop elements; worked on giving you more control over your desktop by adding configuration options to the System Settings; and improved usability, making Plasma and its components easier to use and an overall more pleasurable experience. The first change you will see is the new wallpaper, Flow. Another personalization detail you will probably appreciate is that there is a completely new collection of photographic user account avatars. The panel spacer, can now automatically center widgets. Users that want more control over the file indexing process will appreciate the new configurable file indexing options for individual directories. You can also completely disable indexing for hidden files if you so wish. Display settings page now shows the aspect ratio for each available screen resolution. The KWin window manager includes subsurface clipping. This feature greatly reduces the flickering in many apps. The Default Applications, Online Accounts, Global Shortcuts, KWin Rules and Background Services settings pages have all been overhauled.

Submission + - Linux Mint Dumps Ubuntu Snap (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mint's programmers, led by lead developer, Clement "Clem" Lefebvre, has dropped support for Ubuntu's Snap software packing system. Snap, along with its rivals Flatpak and AppImage, are alternative ways to install applications on Linux systems. The older ways of Linux apps, such as DEB and RPM package management systems for the Debian and Red Hat Linux families, include the source code and hard-coded paths for each program.

While used for decades, these traditional packages are troublesome for developers. They require programmers to hand-craft Linux programs to work with each specific distro and its various releases. They must ensure that each program has access to specific libraries' versions. This annoyance even has a name: Dependency hell. Snap avoids this problem by incorporating the application and its libraries into a single package. It's then installed and mounted on a SquashFS virtual file system. When you run a snap, you're running it inside a secured container of its own.

Submission + - France, Germany Back European Cloud Computing 'Moonshot' (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: France and Germany threw their weight on Thursday behind plans to create a cloud computing ecosystem that seeks to reduce Europe’s dependence on Silicon Valley giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google. The project, dubbed Gaia-X, will establish common standards for storing and processing data on servers that are sited locally and comply with the European Union’s strict laws on data privacy. German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, speaking in Berlin, described Gaia-X as a “moonshot” that would help reassert Europe’s technological sovereignty, and invited other countries and companies to join. “We are not China, we are not the United States, we are European countries with our own values and with our own economic interest that we want to defend,” his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire said in Paris in a joint video news conference.

In an initial step, 22 French and German companies will set up a non-profit foundation to run Gaia-X, which is not conceived as a direct rival to the “hyperscale” U.S. cloud providers but would instead referee a common set of European rules. “Building a European-based alternative is possible only if we play collectively,” said Michel Paulin, CEO of independent French cloud service provider OVHcloud. One important concept underpinning Gaia-X is “reversibility”, a principle that would allow users to easily switch providers. First services are due to be offered in 2021.

Submission + - Musk Says 'Time To Break Up Amazon,' Escalating Feud with Bezos (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said it’s “time to break up Amazon” in a tweet Thursday, escalating a rivalry with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, another billionaire investing in space exploration. “Monopolies are wrong,” Musk tweeted while tagging Bezos, the world’s wealthiest man. Musk’s post came in response to a tweet from a writer who said his book titled “Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and The Lockdown” was being removed from Amazon’s Kindle publishing division for violating unspecified guidelines.

Submission + - EA releases source code for CnC (github.com)

Submitted by UnknownSoldier
UnknownSoldier writes: EA has released the source code for two of their classic RTS games in the Command and Conquer series: CnC: Red Dawn and CnC: Tiberian Dawn on GitHub. Interesting trivia:
  • Source code is around 5 MB.
  • There are no art of sound assets.
  • Filenames are all in capitals. This makes it easy to tell what was added for the Remaster.
  • The path finding is NOT using the usual A* algorithm but the "Crash and Turn" algorithm.
  • Searching the source for PETROGLYPH_EXAMPLE_MOD shows an example of how to add a mod.

Submission + - From Earth to orbit with Linux and SpaceX (zdnet.com)

Submitted by mrflash818
mrflash818 writes:

The Falcon 9's onboard operating system is a stripped-down Linux running on three ordinary dual-core x86 processors. The flight software itself runs separately on each processor and is written in C/C++.

Submission + - Firefox 77 Arrives With Faster JavaScript Debugging And Optional Permissions

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 77 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Firefox 77 includes faster JavaScript debugging, optional permissions for extensions, and Pocket recommendations in the U.K. You can download Firefox 77 for desktop now from Firefox.com, and all existing users should be able to upgrade to it automatically. According to Mozilla, Firefox has about 250 million active users, making it a major platform for web developers to consider.

Submission + - SPAM: Trump announces US to designate Antifa as terrorist organization 5

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told "Fox News Sunday" he has evidence that people from out-of-state were involved in violent behavior in Minneapolis, but he did not specify whether they were affiliated with any particular group or ideology.

A resolution to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization was introduced in the Senate in 2019, stating that Antifa "represents opposition to the democratic ideals of peaceful assembly and free speech for all[.]"
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Tunguska Meteor that blasted millions of trees only 'grazed' Earth (space.com) 3

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A new explanation for a massive blast over a remote Siberian forest in 1908 is even stranger than the mysterious incident itself.

Known as the Tunguska event, the blast flattened more than 80 million trees in seconds, over an area spanning nearly 800 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) — but left no crater. A meteor that exploded before hitting the ground was thought by many to be the culprit. However, a comet or asteroid would likely have left behind rocky fragments after blowing up, and no "smoking gun" remnants of a cosmic visitor have ever been found.

Now, a team of researchers has proposed a solution to this long-standing puzzle: A large iron meteor hurtled toward Earth and came just close enough to generate a tremendous shock wave. But the meteor then curved away from our planet without breaking up, its mass and momentum carrying it onward in its journey through space.

Submission + - EU's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Continue To Fall As Coal Ditched (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU continued their fall in 2018, the latest year for which comprehensive data is available, according to a new report from Europe’s environment watchdog. Emissions fell by 2.1% compared with 2017, to a level 23% lower than in 1990, the baseline for the bloc’s emission cuts under the UN’s climate agreements. If the UK is excluded, the decline since 1990 was smaller, standing at 20.7%.

The continuing fall, revealed in a report by the European Environment Agency, came as the result of EU-wide and country-specific policies, with energy generation showing the biggest decline in emissions as coal was phased out further and renewable power increased. Carbon dioxide emissions from transport flattened off in 2018, after rising for the previous four years, giving hope that this major source of emissions may be brought under control. However, emissions must be brought down much further and faster to satisfy the EU’s obligations under the Paris agreement, campaigners said. Annual falls of about 7% are estimated to be needed to keep global heating within the Paris upper limit of 2C above pre-industrial levels. https://www.iea.org/commentari...

Submission + - Google Launches Android Studio 4.0 With Motion Editor, Build Analyzer

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google today launched Android Studio 4.0, the latest version of its integrated development environment (IDE). Android Studio 4.0 is supposed to help developers “code smarter, build faster, and design apps.” The new release comes right before Google’s Android 11 Beta 1 launch next week. Google delayed its Android 11 beta schedule due to the coronavirus.

Android is a massive platform with over 2.5 billion monthly active devices. While developers can use other IDEs to build on Android, the latest features arrive first in Android Studio. Version 4.0 includes a new Motion Editor, a Build Analyzer, and Java 8 language APIs. Google also overhauled the CPU Profiler user interface and improved the Layout Inspector.

Submission + - Raspberry Pi launching 8GB board (raspberrypi.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new 8GB version of the Raspberry Pi 4 is now available. Also Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit is now in beta

Submission + - Proposed Bill Would Ban Microtargeting of Political Advertisements (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Internet-based advertising has been a boon for both political campaigns and disinformation campaigns, which love to take advantage of the ability to slice and dice the electorate into incredibly tiny and carefully targeted segments for their messaging. These ads—which may or may not be truthful and are designed to play very specifically on tiny groups—are incredibly difficult for regulators, researchers, and anyone else not in the targeted group to see, identify, analyze, and rebut. Google prohibits this kind of microtargeting for political ads, while Twitter tries not to allow any political advertising. Facebook, on the other hand, is happy to let politicians lie in their ads and continue microtargeting on its platform. Members of Congress have challenged Facebook and its CEO to explain this stance in the face of rampant disinformation campaigns, but to no avail.

Lawmakers now want to go further and make this kind of microtargeting for political advertising against the law. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) today introduced a bill (PDF) that would amend federal election law to do just that. The proposed Banning Microtargeted Political Ads Act would do exactly what it says. Platforms and campaigns covered by the law, and their agents, would be prohibited from targeting "the dissemination of a political advertisement" to "an individual or specific group of individuals on any basis." The text includes a few exceptions. For example, geographic targeting—aiming for people in a certain region, instead of matching a certain demographic profile—would be fair game. But the proposed bill also includes a loophole you could fit the White House through: anyone who has provided "express affirmative consent" to receive microtargeted political advertising would be subject to it. In other words, anyone who ticks off a check box somewhere without actually reading the terms and conditions—which is everyone—could find themselves added to an "opt in" list.

Submission + - Dell G5 15 SE Gaming Laptop With All-AMD Ryzen 4000 And Radeon Config Impresses (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Though AMD could be likened to David taking on the giant Goliath, when you consider its chief rivals are Intel and NVIDIA, the company currently has a potent combination of both CPU and GPU technologies in its arsenal. This unique position can play well in the laptop market especially, where a tight coupling of the two processing engines can mean both performance and cost efficiencies when they're combined for a total solution. In that regard, one of the first all-AMD laptops to hit the market powered by the company's new Ryzen 4000 mobile processors is the Dell G5 15 SE, which also happens to have AMD Radeon RX discrete mobile graphics on board. With a retail price of $1199 (starting at $879), the model tested at HotHardware is powered by an AMD Ryzen 4800H 8-core processor that boosts to 4.2GHz and an AMD Radeon RX 5600M mobile GPU with 6GB of GDDR6 memory. It's a 5.5 pound, 15-inch machine that sports an understated design for a gaming notebook but with an interesting glittery finish that resists fingerprints well. In the benchmarks, AMD's SmartShift technology load-balances CPU and GPU power supply for optimal performance and very respectable numbers that are competitive with any similar Intel / NVIDIA powered machine. The Dell G5 15 SE put up north of 60 FPS frame rates at maximum image quality in current-gen game titles, but with a significantly better price point, relatively speaking.

Submission + - Linus Torvalds drops Intel and adopts 32-core AMD Ryzen on personal PC (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by williamyf
williamyf writes: From TFA:
In his weekly State of the Kernel post Torvalds released Linux 5.7 rc7, [...] then offered this remark:
“In fact, the biggest excitement this week for me was just that I upgraded my main machine, and for the first time in about 15 years, my desktop isn't Intel-based. No, I didn't switch to ARM yet, but I'm now rocking an AMD Threadripper 3970x. My 'allmodconfig' test builds are now three times faster than they used to be, which doesn't matter so much right now during the calming down period, but I will most definitely notice the upgrade during the next merge window.”

Good endorsement for AMD, a PR blow for Intel.

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