2019

There were 163 posts published in 2019 (this is page 9 of 17).

Kai Os

I was interested to learn that Firefox OS for mobile phones had been forked into a new system called Kai OS. With a multi-million dollar investment from Google it is trying to position itself as a player in the feature phone marked, by delivering services and content from the smart phone market to much cheaper phones. Their website is very off-putting because it talks about offering rich data streams from customers and provision of ads to new, presumably captive, audiences.

Those looking for an escape from surveillance capitalism need not apply. But I find this kind of sad, because I originally bought one of those early Firefox OS phones, hoping that this could be the beginning of a brighter future.

blogging

It looks like nice work that Aral Balkan has been doing on his Indie web server. I ‘m not sure I believe any longer in the open web and like Hubzilla’s model of privacy and access restrictions, but otherwise I might go for it. I found yesterday that there are plug ins that enable one to convert WordPress sites to static websites. I was thinking of importing my blog in that way to Hubzilla. But I’m also tired of this work of endless archiving and preservation. For me the value in writing is more in the process of it. It allows me to develop my thinking and imagination. Afterwards I rarely look at what I’ve written. So I wonder what is the value of trying to preserve it. Most of what I write is anyway in long hand, in Moleskines and Boleskines (cheap imitation made in Auroville).

Australian Labor candidate has pulled out after saying the way Israel treated Palestinians was “worse than the South African system of apartheid”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/apr/13/labor-candidate-melissa-parke-pulls-out-of-curtin-contest-over-israel-comments

“I’ve had 20 years’ experience in international relations and law including living and working in the Middle East,” Parke said. “My views are well known. But I don’t want them to be a running distraction from electing a Labor government which will take urgent and strong action on climate change. That’s why I have decided to withdraw my candidacy.”

International Keyboard

I found it hard to find descriptions of how to use the international keyboards available under Linux, so spent some time trying to figure out the key combinations to produce various diacriticals and international characters. On my mx linux box, which is set to US English with the Euro key, (though the standard way of getting the Euro doesn’t seem to work). These are some combinations that do work, with my compose key set to right-Alt (Alt-Gr)

á Alt+’ then a
à Alt+

then a
æ Alt +a then e
ç Alt+, then c
é Alt+ ‘ then e be quick with the Alt-‘
è Alt+

then e
ê Alt+Shift+^
€ Alt+e then =
ï Alt+i then shift + ” quickly on the second set
£ Alt+Shift+L then =
ñ Alt+- then n
ö Alt+o then shift+” quickly on the second set
ō Alt+- then o
ø Alt+/ then o
œ Alt + o then e
ú Alt+’ then u
ü Alt+u then shift+” quickly on the second set.

Facebook “morally bankrupt”

Facebook are ‘morally bankrupt liars’ says New Zealand’s privacy commissioner

“Facebook cannot be trusted,” wrote Edwards. “They are morally bankrupt pathological liars who enable genocide (Myanmar), facilitate foreign undermining of democratic institutions. “[They] allow the live streaming of suicides, rapes, and murders, continue to host and publish the mosque attack video, allow advertisers to target ‘Jew haters’ and other hateful market segments, and refuse to accept any responsibility for any content or harm.

“They #dontgiveazuck” wrote Edwards. He later deleted the tweets, saying they had prompted “toxic and misinformed traffic”.