When Comfort Comes From Code: Understanding AI Chatbots And Relevant Regulations
Volvo invented the three-point seat belt 67 years ago; now it has improved it
Volvo invented the seat belt 67 years ago; now it has improved it
The EX60 senses a passenger's size and weight, determining how much force to use.Ars Contributors (Ars Technica)
Do You Suddenly Need to Stop Using WhatsApp?
Legal action and renewed public criticism are once again raising questions about WhatsApp’s privacy and end-to-end encryption claims. Recent developments suggest that the way encrypted messaging platforms operate at massive scale may not be as straightforward as many users assume.
The debate gained wider attention after high-profile commentary pushed the issue into the mainstream, highlighting ongoing concerns about transparency, metadata collection, and user trust in closed messaging ecosystems.
🔗 digital-escape-tools-phi.verce…
Do You Suddenly Need To Stop Using WhatsApp On Your Phone?
A new lawsuit and sharp criticism from security figures are raising fresh questions about WhatsApp’s encryption.Digital Escape Tools
Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda
Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week posted a photo of the arrest of Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of three activists who had entered a St. Paul, Minn.Electronic Frontier Foundation
Do You Suddenly Need to Stop Using WhatsApp?
Legal action and renewed public criticism are once again raising questions about WhatsApp’s privacy and end-to-end encryption claims. Recent developments suggest that the way encrypted messaging platforms operate at massive scale may not be as straightforward as many users assume.
The debate gained wider attention after high-profile commentary pushed the issue into the mainstream, highlighting ongoing concerns about transparency, metadata collection, and user trust in closed messaging ecosystems.
Do You Suddenly Need To Stop Using WhatsApp On Your Phone?
A new lawsuit and sharp criticism from security figures are raising fresh questions about WhatsApp’s encryption.Digital Escape Tools
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Debian's FreedomBox Blend promises an easier home cloud
Debian's FreedomBox Blend promises an easier home cloud
Hands On: There are other home server, NAS, and media-streaming distros, but this aspires to much moreLiam Proven (The Register)
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That's interesting. I didn't know about blends at all.
I like the home server idea, but it looks like it would install software I wouldn't use, plus my home server is general purpose - file server, web server, database server, etc. I do need to look more into nextcloud though.
Emmabuntüs DE 6: A Linux to help those in need
Emmabuntüs DE 6: A newbie-friendly Linux to help those in need
: A distro aimed at helping people, reducing e-waste – and helping a charity, tooLiam Proven (The Register)
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“IG is a drug”: Internal messages may doom Meta at social media addiction trial
“IG is a drug”: Internal messages may doom Meta at social media addiction trial
A loss could cost social media companies billions and force changes on platforms.Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock
Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock
The documents show law enforcement sees themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people it is supposed to protect.Jason Koebler (404 Media)
Tech Workers Coalition 101 - Onboarding & Overview event Feb 10th
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: TWC 101. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Welcome to Tech Workers Coalition 101 call! In this call you will learn more about the history of TWC, as well as meaningful ways you can plug in. If you have ideas of your own, we would love to hear them and make them happen!Zoom
Trump’s Pal Mark Zuckerberg Censoring Site That Names ICE & Border Patrol Goons
Trump’s Pal Mark Zuckerberg Censoring Site That Names ICE & Border Patrol Goons
ICE List says Meta is blocking its links after a leak that exposed the details of 4,500 federal immigration employees.Tom Latchem (The Daily Beast)
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ATproto: The Enshittification Killswitch That Enables Resonant Computing
Last month, I helped release the Resonant Computing Manifesto, which laid out a vision for technology that empowers users rather than extracting from them. The response was gratifying—people are genuinely hungry for an alternative to the current enshittification trajectory of tech. But the most common piece of feedback we got was some version of: “Okay, this sounds great, but how do I actually build this?”It’s a fair question. Manifestos are cheap if they don’t connect to reality.
So here’s my answer, at least for anything involving social identity: build on the ATProtocol. It’s the only available system today that actually delivers on the resonant computing principles, and it’s ready to use right now.
ATproto: The Enshittification Killswitch That Enables Resonant Computing
Disclosure: I’m on the board of Bluesky, which was inspired by my “Protocols, Not Platforms” paper. But this post isn’t about Bluesky the app. It’s about the underlyin…Techdirt
LG's new subscription program charges up to £277 per month to rent a TV
LG's new subscription program charges up to £277 per month to rent a TV
Significant discounts come with committing to 1- to 3-year rental periods.Scharon Harding (Ars Technica)
The US drew up a plan to invade Canada in 1930. Now Trump is reviving old fears
The US drew up a plan to invade Canada in 1930. Now Trump is reviving old fears
Now the US is vying regional dominance, experts point to War Plan Red as proof its Canadian allyship has always been flimsyLeyland Cecco (The Guardian)
What's the deal with these slop-y Linux tutorial "blogs"?
In the recent days I've been stumbling upon weird, new ~~so-called "AI"~~ Mathy-math-slop sites, like linuxv*x.com1. Some other was called something like "tutorialsipedia", or whatever.
Have you noticed these? Is that some weird new Startup that wants to leverage CEO and "AI"? I'd use them, but my eyes glaze off the page. It's like a drop on a Lotus leaf and I can't really read that garbage. What's up with those?
- Don't want to give them the traffic. ↩︎
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Lately I've been seeing websites that steal content from Stack Overflow verbatim rank higher than the same SO page itself.
Anthropic CEO important, but evil, essay: The adolescence of technology.
Dario Amodei — The Adolescence of Technology
Confronting and Overcoming the Risks of Powerful AIwww.darioamodei.com
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doodoo_wizard
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ
in reply to doodoo_wizard • • •pedz
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •Aside from specific dependencies that may want some installed packages even if you don't use them, yes, it's fine.
I have used Debian for 15 years, with Gnome 2 then MATE, and now I'm using Cinnamon, while mixing with any GTK apps I can find.
MotoAsh
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •Unless the programs in question rely on conflicting core dependencies that actually have to have hooks into the system, like KWallet and other credential managers, and other similarly "system" level tools, you'll be totally fine. Worst case while avoiding those, you might have to install some hefty frameworks (eg: KDE's dependencies are >1gb), but that's about it.
If they need to integrate with specific core utilities, it can get weird. Though as long as you check for conflicting stuff before actually installing, you'll be fine.
monovergent
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •Certainly. I've had setups with FVWM as a pure window manager while using XFCE's
xfce4-terminal, MATE's Caja file browser, and GNOME's Evolution mail client. Some utilities will pull a few extra dependencies from their native DE, but they won't get in the way either.Display manager won't matter too much, most should be configurable to point at your WM of choice. LightDM integrates nicely with GTK themes, SDDM for Qt, and GDM for GNOME.
The biggest pain point from my experience was configuring power management and lid close actions manually, if using a laptop, since those often are only done for you if you install an entire DE at once.
Also grab a copy of qt5ct if you're interested in making your Qt packages look more integrated next to GTK packages.
rhythmisaprancer
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •PointyFluff
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •taco_daemon
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •sure, but in doing so you have to follow the rules:
nyan
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •98% of everything should Just Work, although some software may drag in heavyweight dependencies. I've used TDE's versions of konqueror and konsole from inside fluxbox and other lightweight setups, called up thunar from within TDE, etc. At most, you might have some theming issues. The only thing that would be 100% incompatible would be trying to run a wayland-only program from inside an X environment.
Most display managers should be able to handle different window management sessions without issue. If you're looking at an X environment and really want to start from the WM level, I'd recommend sticking with something like fluxbox, fvwm-crystal, or even enlightenment (which is somewhere between a WM and a very lightweight DE). Avoid anything described as "minimalist", unless you like the idea of running around adding other software like dmenu and feh to get basic functionality (and like reading documentation).
mazzilius_marsti
in reply to IndigoGolem • • •Yes it is very much doable and you can get a functional system. But there can be 2 main problems for your case:
1) you would literally install Debian and choose nothing (no DE just a bare minimum). On Arch, this is easy because it came with some packages or you can install during live to get wifi working. On Debian , last I heard you need to do some dhcp wizardry.
2) cross apps compatibility. This is very serious. Even "lightweight" DE like xfce has a lot of hidden stuff that helps to run your notifications , powers and brightness/volume. And that does not count it you want stuff from Gnome or KDE: they even have more special libraries. In your case, the worst scenario would be to have multiple libraries/configs from different DE and they try to do the same thing. This is very hard to debug and maintain.
Point 1) is not as bad, if you use an Ethernet or somehow connects to the internet. It is only for the 1st phase where you install stuff though. After that you can just use the DE's network manager.
Point 2) should not be a problem IF you are running a wind
... show moreYes it is very much doable and you can get a functional system. But there can be 2 main problems for your case:
1) you would literally install Debian and choose nothing (no DE just a bare minimum). On Arch, this is easy because it came with some packages or you can install during live to get wifi working. On Debian , last I heard you need to do some dhcp wizardry.
2) cross apps compatibility. This is very serious. Even "lightweight" DE like xfce has a lot of hidden stuff that helps to run your notifications , powers and brightness/volume. And that does not count it you want stuff from Gnome or KDE: they even have more special libraries. In your case, the worst scenario would be to have multiple libraries/configs from different DE and they try to do the same thing. This is very hard to debug and maintain.
Point 1) is not as bad, if you use an Ethernet or somehow connects to the internet. It is only for the 1st phase where you install stuff though. After that you can just use the DE's network manager.
Point 2) should not be a problem IF you are running a window manager. The reason is that in these setups you can choose exactly what you want without messing up...On DE you can too, but you migght break things. For eg, choose dunst for notitication or xfce4-notifyd. On a mixed DE setup? Bad idea imo.