It’s official: Microsoft is acquiring Github

That is why we are so excited about today's announcement. More than 28 million developers already collaborate on GitHub, and it is home to more than 85 million code repositories used by people in nearly every country. From the largest corporations to the smallest startups, GitHub is the destination for developers to learn, share and work together to create software. It's a destination for Microsoft too. We are the most active organization on GitHub, with more than 2 million "commits," or updates, made to projects.

Microsoft has been a developer-focused company from the very first product we created to the platforms and tools we offer today. Building technology so that others can build technology is core to our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

It's official now.

Android Developers Blog: insider attack resistance

In the past, device makers have focused on safeguarding these keys by storing the keys in secure locations and severely restricting the number of people who have access to them. That's good, but it leaves those people open to attack by coercion or social engineering. That's risky for the employees personally, and we believe it creates too much risk for user data.

To mitigate these risks, Google Pixel 2 devices implement insider attack resistance in the tamper-resistant hardware security module that guards the encryption keys for user data. This helps prevent an attacker who manages to produce properly signed malicious firmware from installing it on the security module in a lost or stolen device without the user's cooperation. Specifically, it is not possible to upgrade the firmware that checks the user's password unless you present the correct user password. There is a way to "force" an upgrade, for example when a returned device is refurbished for resale, but forcing it wipes the secrets used to decrypt the user's data, effectively destroying it.

How to Android without Google

This guide shows how to install LineageOS without GApps with the help of signature spoofing and microG, so that you can have Push Notifications, Location Services and the like, without needing to have Google Play Services installed (without Google-anything for that matter).

It was made possible by the hard work of creators, maintainers and community around LineageOS, microG, XPosedFramework, F-Droid, Yalp Store and many others.

Exactly what it says on the tin.

GrafX2: a bitmap paint program inspired by Deluxe Paint

GrafX2 is a bitmap paint program inspired by the Amiga programs ​Deluxe Paint and Brilliance. Specialized in 256-color drawing, it includes a very large number of tools and effects that make it particularly suitable for pixel art, game graphics, and generally any detailed graphics painted with a mouse.

The program is mostly developed on Haiku, Linux and Windows, but is also portable on many other platforms.

This program has been around since the early '90s, and runs, among other platforms, on Haiku today. Amazing.

Microsoft has been talking about buying GitHub

Microsoft has recently held talks to buy GitHub, reviving on-and-off conversations the two have had for years, according to people close to the companies.

The talks have come as GitHub, a popular platform for software developers, has struggled to hire a new CEO.

Even as a non-developer, I 'use' GitHub almost daily to check out new projects or download some piece of software. This would be a pretty major acquisition.

Game Boy Camera Canon EF lens mount

I designed and built a Canon EF Mount for my Game Boy Camera. The GBC has a sensor size of about 3.6mm² which seems equivalent to a 1/4" sensor. This gives the GBC a crop factor of about 10.81. With my 70-200 f4 mounted on a 1.4x extender, this gives me a max equivalent focal distance of about 200x1.4x10.81=3,026.8mm.

I always wanted a Game Boy Camera when I was a kid. It still looks like magic to me today.

Apple leaks macOS 10.14 dark mode, Xcode 10

Developer Steve Troughton Smith today tweeted photos of macOS 10.14 with some very juicy details about Apple's upcoming operating system. The OS is very clearly sporting a fresh new dark theme, presumably a toggle-able setting, with the dark UI affecting all application chrome. You can also see an icon for a Mac News app in the Dock, as well as a first look at Xcode 10.

Smith explains that the API the Mac App Store uses behind-the-scenes is including a video preview for Xcode, something that the current Mac App Store does not support. It represents a pretty big leak on Apple's part ahead of Monday's keynote.

Another major leak because Apple just uploaded a video to a place where everyone can find it. Good work, Apple.

As far as dark modes go - I'm generally not a fan, because they often feel like tacked-on afterthoughts, without designers really taking the implications into consideration. The only time where I saw "dark mode" work well was Windows Phone, because that UI was designed for it from the ground-up. Also, dark modes tend to be "dark", and not black. With today's modern displays with deep blacks, dark mode should really be black mode.

VLC becomes one of first ARM64 Windows apps

Although ARM-based PCs are now available, apps that utilize native 64-bit architectures on Microsoft's Windows 10 on ARM have been relegated to legacy support for 32-bit apps. Microsoft introduced the proper frameworks for 64-bit apps at its recent BUILD conference, allowing developers to port their apps and begin native app integration. After a small wait, apps are starting to appear; VLC - the swiss army knife of multimedia players - is one of the first to launch a dedicated ARM64 app.

I'm obviously not going to cover every single major Windows application that gets ported from x86 over to ARM, but I do find there's something fascinating about seeing the first few applications getting the ARM treatment. It makes me think of the very early days of Windows NT, when it was available for not only x86, but also for Alpha, MIPS, PowerPC, Clipper, and SPARC (although those last two were never actually released).

Steam’s unclear pornography rules hurt small game developers

"The issue is, isn't going to remove The Witcher or Grand Theft Auto or anything like that from Steam ," says Rasmussen. "We're the smallest kind of demographic without any kind of lobbying power. We can't influence Valve to leave us alone." While we still don't (and may never) know exactly why Steam sent and then retracted those takedown notices, it has left many visual novel creators even less confident about what sexual content is acceptable on the platform, and more concerned that their work will unexpectedly be categorized as pornography. That's going to hurt visual novel developers the most, but it's going to make things worse for the vitality and diversity of gaming at large, too.

Being Dutch, America's obsession with trying to curtail nudity, sex, and pornography, all the while allowing the most grotesque forms of brutal violence without so much as batting an eye, will never cease to amaze me. Steam is filled to the brim with overly violent video games with the most realistic rendering of gore, yet it's the cartoon-style content with boobs everybody seems to stumble over.

It's just sex. Nobody's going to get scarred for life from seeing naked women and men, so stop obsessing over it, slap an 18+ label on it, and be done with it.

Google plans not to renew its contract with the US military

Google will not seek another contract for its controversial work providing artificial intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defense for analyzing drone footage after its current contract expires.

Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene announced the decision at a meeting with employees Friday morning, three sources told Gizmodo. The current contract expires in 2019 and there will not be a follow-up contract, Greene said. The meeting, dubbed Weather Report, is a weekly update on Google Cloud’s business.

Google would not choose to pursue Maven today because the backlash has been terrible for the company, Greene said, adding that the decision was made at a time when Google was more aggressively pursuing military work. The company plans to unveil new ethical principles about its use of AI next week. A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about Greene's comments.

A good move, and it shows that internal pressure can definitely work to enact change inside a corporation.

Arm Cortex-A76 unveiled: taking aim at the top for 7nm

The Cortex A76 presents itself a solid generational improvement for Arm. We've been waiting on a larger CPU microarchitecture for several years now, and while the A76 isn't quite a performance monster to compete with Apple's cores, it shows how important it is to have a balanced microarchitecture. This year all eyes were on Samsung and the M3 core, and unfortunately the performance increase came at a great cost of power and efficiency which ended up making the end-product rather uncompetitive. The A76 drives performance up but on every step of the way it still deeply focused on power efficiency which means we'll get to see the best of both worlds in end products.

In general Arm promises a 35% performance improvement which is a significant generational uplift. Together with the fact that the A76 is targeted to be employed in 7nm designs is also a boost to the projected product.

This seems like a solid next step.

Apple is blocking Telegram updates following Russian ban

Russia ordered a ban of the Telegram secure messaging app back in April, and the knock-on effects continue to cause issues for users outside of Russia. Following the messy block of 15.8 million IPs on Amazon and Google's cloud platforms, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov says Apple has been blocking updates for the app globally. The lack of Telegram app updates mean some features, like stickers, aren't working correctly in the recently released iOS 11.4 update.

"Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store," explains Durov in a Telegram message. "While Russia makes up only 7 percent of Telegram's userbase, Apple is restricting updates for all Telegram users around the world since mid-April."

Apple's so-called love of privacy only extends to people in the west, and only matters as long as it's not too troublesome to the bottom-line. Apple has no qualms about handing over the data of Chinese Apple users to the Chinese government, and apparently, the company is all too eager to please the Russian government by selling out not only Russian Telegram users, but all Telegram users. It seems like Apple is just fine with undermining one of the primary tools with which dissidents in Russia communicate, because whatever, who cares about morals and principles, right?

Apple's privacy advocacy is a thin veneer designed to trick rich, comfy westerners into believing Apple actually cares about them. I can't believe it seems to be working, too.

Sailfish OS 2.2.0 released

This update, nicknamed Mouhijoki, introduces a new simpler single item view in Gallery and Camera app, adds fingerprint unlock support and emoji keyboard layout. VPN and MDM have become more robust. Android Support has been updated for Xperia X and Jolla C devices. There are several improvements for Email app. Remorse timers can be swiped away to commit immediately. We have dropped continuous focus from Xperia X camera - the camera stays out of focus when it starts until you either tap or try to take a shot - but the pictures seem to be better focused now. Last but not least Sailfish X now officially supports the Xperia X dual SIM phone (F5122).

It's only for early access subscribers for now, but assuming no gamebreaking issues are found, it should roll out to everyone else soon enough.

Samsung won’t be forced to update old phones

Samsung will not be forced to update the software on its mobile phones for years after their release, after it won a court case in the Netherlands.

A consumer association had argued that Samsung should update its phones for at least four years after they go on sale.

Regular software updates can address security problems but older models do not typically receive all the latest updates.

However, the court rejected the association's claims.

The fact that it might be difficult for poor Samsung to update phones weighed heavier than the safety and longevity of devices.

Cool.

How a Pentagon contract became an identity crisis for Google

Dr. Li's concern about the implications of military contracts for Google has proved prescient. The company's relationship with the Defense Department since it won a share of the contract for the Maven program, which uses artificial intelligence to interpret video images and could be used to improve the targeting of drone strikes, has touched off an existential crisis, according to emails and documents reviewed by The Times as well as interviews with about a dozen current and former Google employees.

It has fractured Google's work force, fueled heated staff meetings and internal exchanges, and prompted some employees to resign. The dispute has caused grief for some senior Google officials, including Dr. Li, as they try to straddle the gap between scientists with deep moral objections and salespeople salivating over defense contracts.

"Don't be evil" and drone strikes simply don't mix. There's not much more to it, and it makes perfect sense that Google employees are having issues with this. How Google handles this will mark an important turning point for the company.

Intel launches Optane DIMMs up to 512GB

Intel today announced the availability of their long-awaited Optane DIMMs, bringing 3D XPoint memory onto the DDR4 memory bus. The modules that have been known under the Apache Pass codename will be branded as Optane DC Persistent Memory, to contrast with Optane DC SSDs, and not to be confused with the consumer-oriented Optane Memory caching SSDs.

The new Optane DC Persistent Memory modules will be initially available in three capacities: 128GB, 256GB and 512GB per module. This implies that they are probably still based on the same 128Gb 3D XPoint memory dies used in all other Optane products so far. The modules are pin-compatible with standard DDR4 DIMMs and will be supported by the next generation of Intel's Xeon server platforms.

Are these supposed to speed up access to hard drives/solid state drives like the existing Optane SSDs, or can these be used as standalone storage? It's a little unclear to me what advantages these would offer over regular drives.

Atari launches Indiegogo campaign for VCS, reveals its specs

The Atari VCS, the new gaming console from Atari, has been launched as an Indiegogo campaign with preorders available today, with a shipping date set for early 2019.

Along with the launch, the company has also revealed the technical specs of the console, which include 32GB of internal storage, 4GB of RAM, and AMD's Bristol Ridge A1 CPU and Radeon R7 GPU.

That's certainly not a bad set of specifications, but one has to wonder just how much third party interest there is to go around. Still, even without a ton of original games, this machine is basically a very nicely designed Linux machine, which in an of itself makes it a really tempting product. That being said - it's a crowdfunding project, so take all the warnings that comes with that into account.