Over the decades, my primary operating system of choice has changed a few times. As a wee child of six years old, we got out first PC through one of those employer buy-a-PC programs, where an employer would subsidize its employees buying PCs for use in the home. The goal here was simple: if people get comfortable with a computer in their private life, they’ll also get comfortable with it in their professional life. And so, through my mother’s employer, we got a brand new 286 desktop running MS-DOS and Windows 3.0. I still have the massive and detailed manuals and original installation floppies it came with. So, my first operating system of ‘choice’ was MS-DOS, and to a far lesser extent Windows 3.0. As my childhood progressed, we got progressively better computers, and the new Windows versions that came with it – Windows 95, 98, and yes, even ME, which I remarkably liked just fine. Starting with Windows 95, DOS became an afterthought, and with my schools, too, being entirely Windows-only, my teenage years were all Windows, all the time. So, when I bought my first own, brand new computer – instead of old 386 machines my parents took home from work – right around when Windows XP came out, I bought a totally legal copy of Windows XP from some dude at school that somehow came on a CD-R with a handwritten label but was really totally legit you guys. I didn’t like Windows XP at all, and immediately started looking for alternatives, trying out Mandrake Linux before discovering something called BeOS – and despite BeOS already being over by that point, I had found my operating system of choice. I tried to make it last as long as the BeOS community would let me, but that wasn’t very long. The next step was a move to the Mac, something that was quite rare in The Netherlands at that time. During that same time, Microsoft released Windows Server 2003, the actually good version of Windows XP, and a vibrant community of people, including myself, started using it as a desktop operating system instead. I continued using this mix of Mac OS X and Windows – even Vista – for a long time, while having various iterations of Linux installed on the side. I eventually lost interest in Mac OS X because Apple lost interest in it (I think around the Snow Leopard era?), and years later, six or seven years ago or so, I moved to Linux exclusively, fully ditching Windows even for gaming like four or so years ago when Valve’s Proton started picking up steam. Nowadays all my machines run Fedora KDE, which I consider to be by far the best desktop operating system experience you can get today. Over the last few years or so, I’ve noticed something fun and interesting in how I set up my machines: you can find hints of my operating system history all over my preferred setup and settings. I picked up all kinds of usage patterns and expectations from all those different operating systems, and I’d like to enable as many of those as possible in my computing environment. In a way, my setup is a reflection of the operating systems I used in the past, an archaeological record of my computing history, an evolutionary tree of good traits that survived, and bad traits bred out. Taking a look at my bare desktop, you’ll instantly pick up on the fact I used to use Mac OS X for a long time. The Mac OS X-like dock at the bottom of the screen has been my preferred way of opening and managing running applications since I first got an iBook G4 more than 20 years ago, and to this day I find it far superior to any alternatives. KDE lets me easily recreate a proper dock, without having to resort to any third-party dock applications. I never liked the magnification trick Mac OS X wowed audiences with when it was new, so I don’t use it. The next dead giveaway I used to be a Mac OS X user a long time ago is the top bar, which shares quite a few elements with the Mac OS X menubar, while also containing elements not found in Mac OS X. I keep the KDE equivalent of a start menu there, a button that brings up my home folder in a KDE folder view, a show desktop button that’s mostly there for aesthetic reasons, KDE’s global menubar widget for that Mac OS X feel, a system tray, the clock, and then a close button that opens up a custom system menu with shutdown/reboot/etc. commands and some shortcuts to system tools. Another feature coming straight from my days using Mac OS X is KDE’s equivalent of Exposé, called Overview, without which I wouldn’t know how to find a window if my life depended on it. I bind it to the top-left hotcorner for easy access with my mouse, while the bottom-right hotcorner is set to show my desktop (and the reason why I technically don’t really need that show desktop button I mentioned earlier). I fiddled with the hot corner trigger timings so that they fire virtually instantly. Waiting on my computer is so ’90s. It’s not really possible to see in screenshots, but my stint using BeOS as my main operating system back when that was a thing you could do also shines through, specifically in the way I manage windows. In BeOS, double-clicking a titlebar tab would minimise a window, and right-clicking the tab would send the window to the bottom of the Z-stack. I haven’t maximised a non-video window in several decades, so I find double-clicking a titlebar to maximise a window utterly baffling, and a ridiculous Windows-ism I want nothing to do with. Once again, KDE lets me set this up exactly the way I want, and I genuinely feel lost when I can’t manipulate my windows in this
OpenBSD 7.6, the release in which every single line of the original code form the first release has been edited or removed, has been released. There’s a lot of changes, new features, bug fixes, and more in 7.6, but for desktop users, the biggest new feature is undoubtedly hardware-accelerated video decoding through VA-API. Or, as the changelog puts it: Imported libva 2.22.0, an implementation for VA-API (video acceleration API). VA-API provides access to graphics hardware acceleration capabilities for video processing. ↫ OpenBSD 7.6 release announcement This is a massive improvement for anyone using OpenBSD for desktop use, especially on power-constrained devices like laptops. Problematic video playback was one of the reasons I went back to Fedora KDE after running OpenBSD on my workstation, and it seems this would greatly improve that situation. I can’t wait until I find some time to reinstall OpenBSD and see how much difference this will make for me personally. There’s more, of course. OpenBSD 7.6 starts the bring-up for Snapdragon X Elite devices, and in general comes with a whole slew of low-level improvements for the ARM64 architecture. AMD64 systems don’t have to feel left out, thanks to AVX-512 support, several power management improvements to make sleep function more optimally, and several other low-level improvements I don’t fully understand. RISC-V, PowerPC, MIPS, and other architectures also saw small numbers of improvements. The changelog is vast, so be sure to dig through it to see if your pet bug has been addressed, or support for your hardware has been improved. OpenBSD users will know how to upgrade, and for new installations, head on over to the download page.
Late last year, Google’s Play Store was ruled to be a monopoly in the US, and today the judge in that case has set out what Google must do to address this situation. Today, Judge James Donato issued his final ruling in Epic v. Google, ordering Google to effectively open up the Google Play app store to competition for three whole years. Google will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually. ↫ Sean Hollister at The Verge On top of these rather big changes, Google also cannot mandate the use of Google’s own billing solution, nor can it prohibit developers from informing users of other ways to download and/or pay for an application. Furthermore, Google can’t make sweetheart deals with device makers to entice them to install the Play Store or to block them from installing other stores, and Google can’t pay developers to only use the Play Store or not use other stores. It’s a rather comprehensive set of remedies that will remain in force for three years. Many of these remedies are taken straight from the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, but they will be far less effective since they’re only applied to one company, and only for three years. On top of that, Google can appeal, and the company has already stated that it’s going to ask for an immediate stay on these remedies, and if they get that stay, the remedies won’t have to be implemented any time soon. This legal tussling is far from over, and does very little to protect consumer choice. A clear law that simply prohibits this kind of market abuse, like the DMA, is much fairer to everyone involved, and creates a consistent level playing field for everyone, instead of only affecting random companies based on the whims of something as unpredictable as juries. In other words, I don’t think much is going to change in the United States after this ruling, and we’ll likely be hearing more back and forths in the court room for years to come, all while US consumers are being harmed. It’s better than nothing in lieu of a working Congress actually doing, well, anything, but that’s not saying much.
You have to wonder how meaningful this news is in 2024, but macOS 15.0 Sequoia running on either Apple Silicon or Intel processors is now UNIX 03-certified. The UNIX 03 Product Standard is the mark for systems conforming to Version 3 of the Single UNIX Specification. It is a significantly enhanced version of the UNIX 98 Product Standard. The mandatory enhancements include alignment with ISO/IEC 9989:1999 C Programming Language, IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 and ISO/IEC 9945:2002. This Product Standard includes the following mandatory Product Standards: Internationalized System Calls and Libraries Extended V3,Commands and Utilities V4, C Language V2, and Internationalized Terminal Interfaces. ↫ UNIX 03 page The questionable usefulness of this news stems from a variety of factors. The UNIX 03 specification hails from the before time of 2002, when UNIX-proper still had some footholds in the market and being a UNIX meant something to the industry. These days, Linux has pretty much taken over the traditional UNIX market, and UNIX certification seems to have all but lost its value. Only one operating system can boast to conform to the latest UNIX specification – AIX is UNIX V7 and 03-certified – while macOS and HP-UX are only UNIX 03-certified. OpenWare, UnixWare, and z/OS only conform to even older standards. On top of all this, it seems being UNIX-certified by The Open Group feels a lot like a pay-to-play scheme, making it unlikely that community efforts like, say, FreeBSD, Debian, or similarly popular server operating systems could ever achieve UNIX-certification even if they wanted to. This makes the whole UNIX-certification world feel more like the dying vestiges of a job security program than something meaningful for an operating system to aspire to. In any even, you can now write a program that compiles and runs on all two UNIX 03-certified operating systems, as long as it only uses POSIX APIs.
A YouTube channel has resurrected a programming language that hadn’t been seen since the 1980s — in a testament to both the enduring power of our technology, and of the communities that care about it. But best of all, Simpson uploaded the language to the Internet Archive, along with all his support materials, inviting his viewers to write their own programs (and saying he hoped his upstairs neighbor would’ve approved). And in our email interview, Simpson said since then it’s already been downloaded over 1,000 times — “which is pretty amazing for something so old.” ↫ David Cassel It’s great that this lost programming language, MicroText for the Commodore 64, was rediscovered, but I’m a bit confused as to how “lost” this language really was. I mean, it was “discovered” in a properly listed eBay listing, which feels like cheating to me. When I think of stories of discoveries of long-lost software, games, or media, it usually involves things like finding it in a shed after years of searching, or someone at a company going through that box of old hard drives discovering the game they worked on 32 years ago. I don’t know, something about this whole story feels off to me, and it’s ringing some alarm bells I can’t quite place. Regardless, it’s cool to have MicroText readily available on the web now, so that people can rediscover it and create awesome new things with it. Perhaps there’s old ideas to be relearned here.
Living with Parkinson’s can be a big challenge. This condition, which affects movement, balance, and more, makes everyday tasks tricky. But there’s good news! In-home care experts can make a huge difference. These skilled helpers support patients in their own homes, which makes life easier and happier. By receiving Parkinsons in home care services, patients often feel more at ease as they find themselves in a familiar setting. Let’s explore how these professionals help Parkinson’s patients feel better and live fuller lives. In-home care also allows for personalized, consistent attention that adapts to their changing needs. Improved Quality of Life First, let’s talk about quality of life. These experts understand that everyone has different needs, so they personalize their care. For Parkinson’s patients, this means getting support that fits their unique symptoms. With expert help, these patients can still do things they love, stay active, and enjoy their days. Feeling comfortable and safe at home boosts their happiness, too. Personalized care also means routines are respected, keeping patients at ease. Having support in a comfortable space promotes a sense of peace. Help with Everyday Tasks Simple daily activities, like getting dressed or making a meal, can be tough for people with Parkinson’s. These providers are there to help with these everyday things, like bathing, grooming, and even getting around the house. This assistance means that Parkinson’s patients can keep doing tasks with less frustration, and stay as independent as possible. When someone has a helping hand, it becomes easier to maintain dignity. Having this type of support encourages them to stay engaged in their day-to-day life. Support with Moving Around Moving can be difficult for someone with Parkinson’s. They might feel stiff, have shaky hands, or even find it hard to walk. In-home care workers help them move safely around the house. They assist with exercises and stretches, too. By helping them, these caregivers make sure that Parkinson’s patients stay strong and avoid injuries. They provide support with climbing stairs, going outside, or navigating through the home. This assistance keeps the patient active and mobile, reducing the risk of falls. Exercise and Therapy Staying active is vital for people with Parkinson’s. Exercise helps with movement, strength, and balance. These providers can guide simple exercises and therapies that keep patients moving. This might include light stretching, walking, or other gentle exercises. These activities help improve flexibility and keep muscles strong, which makes a big difference in handling Parkinson’s symptoms. Exercise routines are tailored to each patient’s needs, making them effective and safe. Regular movement can also boost mood and energy levels. Healthy Meals and Nutrition A balanced diet is crucial for staying healthy, especially for people with Parkinson’s. In-home caregivers can help plan and prepare meals, making sure patients get the nutrients they need. Some foods help with energy, while others support brain health. Caregivers understand what works best and encourage good eating habits, which can improve strength and focus. They might cook meals that are easy to chew and swallow if needed. Following a healthy diet supports overall wellness and symptom management. Giving Family Caregivers a Break Family members often help take care of someone with Parkinson’s. But being a caregiver can be tiring, both physically and emotionally. In-home care professionals provide family members with a break, allowing them to rest and recharge. This support keeps family relationships strong, as family members can enjoy quality time with their loved ones without feeling exhausted. By giving caregivers a rest, they help prevent burnout. Families also feel better knowing a trained expert is there to help. Round-the-Clock Help Parkinson’s symptoms don’t stick to a schedule. Sometimes, patients need help at odd hours, even during the night. In-home care providers can be available 24/7, offering assistance whenever it’s needed. Knowing there’s always someone there brings peace of mind to both patients and their families. It means help is just a call away, no matter the time. Around-the-clock support makes sure patients never feel alone. This level of care provides comfort and safety at all hours. Choosing the Right Provider With so many options out there, it’s essential to pick the right in-home care service. When looking for a provider, check if the caregivers are trained and experienced in working with Parkinson’s patients. It’s also good to ask about their approach to care, services offered, and how they handle emergencies. Finding a service that listens to the needs of both patients and their families ensures the best possible experience. Asking for referrals from friends can also be helpful. Choose a service that makes you feel confident and comfortable. Choosing parkinsons in home care has a lot of advantages for patients as they receive the help and treatment they need in a setting that is familiar to them. In-home care experts offer so much more than basic assistance. They bring kindness, patience, and skills that make a real impact on Parkinson’s patients and their families.
In ancient Greek mythology, Kassandra, priestess of Apollo and daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, was granted the gift of prophecy by Apollo, in return for “favours”. When Kassandra then decided to, well, not grant any “favours”, Apollo showcased that as a good son of Zeus, he did not understand consent either, and cursed her by making sure nobody would believe her prophecies. There’s some variations to the story from one author or source to the next, but the general gist remains the same. Anyway, I’ve been warning everyone about the fall of Mozilla and Firefox for years now, so here’s another chapter in the slow decline and fall of Mozilla: they’re now just flat-out stating they’re an online advertising company. As Mark shared in his blog, Mozilla is going to be more active in digital advertising. Our hypothesis is that we need to simultaneously work on public policy, standards, products and infrastructure. Today, I want to take a moment to dive into the details of the “product” and “infrastructure” elements. I will share our emerging thoughts on how this will come to life across our existing products (like Firefox), and across the industry (through the work of our recent acquisition, Anonym, which is building an alternative infrastructure for the advertising industry). ↫ Laura Chambers Pretty much every one of my predictions regarding the slow downfall of Mozilla are coming true, and we’re just waiting around now for the sword of Damocles to drop: Google ending its funding for Mozilla, which currently makes up about 80% of the former browser maker’s revenue. Once this stream of free money dries up, Mozilla’s decline will only accelerate even more, and this is probably why they are trying to get into the online advertising business in the first place. How else are you going to make money from a browser? In the meantime, the operating system most reliant on Firefox existing as a privacy-respecting browser, desktop Linux, still seems to be taking no serious steps to prepare for this seeming inevitability. There’s no proper Firefox fork, there’s no Chromium variant with the kind of features desktop users expect (tab sharing, accounts, etc., which are not part of Chromium), nothing. There’s going to be a point where shipping a further enshittified Firefox becomes impossible, or at the least highly contentious, for Linux distributions, and I don’t see any viable alternative anywhere on the horizon. I’m sure things will turn out just fine.
Remember earlier this year, when Android Authority discovered Google was experimenting with letting you run full Chrome OS on your Android device? In case you were wondering if that particular piece of spaghetti was sticking to the wall, I’m sorry to disappoint you it isn’t. Despite creating the Ferrochrome launcher app, which would’ve made the whole thing a one-click affair, Google has just removed the whole concept from the Android code base altogether. Unfortunately, though, Google has decided to kill its Ferrochrome launcher app. This was revealed to us by a code change recently submitted to the AOSP Gerrit. The code change, which hasn’t been merged yet, removes the entire Ferrochrome launcher app from AOSP. Google’s reason for removing this app is that it doesn’t plan to ship it or maintain its code. It seems that Google is shifting towards using the Linux-based Debian distro instead of Chrome OS as its testbed for AVF development. ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority I’m not really sure if people were really asking for something like this, and to Google’s credit – for once – the company never even so much as hinted at releasing this to the general public. Still, the idea of carrying just your phone with you as your primary computer, and plugging into a display and input devices as the need arises, remains something a lot of people are fascinated with, and putting Chrome OS on your Android phone would’ve been one way to achieve this goal. Despite decades of attempts, it seems not even the smartest people in Silicon Valley can crack this nut. Perhaps they should ask Gemini to solve it for them? It doesn’t involve pizza’s, glue, or rocks, so who knows – it might surprise them!
For nearly 15 years, FreeBSD has been at the core of my personal infrastructure, and my passion for it has only grown over time. As a die-hard fan, I’ve stuck with BSD-based systems because they continue to deliver exactly what I need—storage, networking, and security—without missing a beat. The features I initially fell in love with, like ZFS, jails, and pf, are still rock-solid and irreplaceable. There’s no need to overhaul them, and in many ways, that reliability is what keeps me hooked. My scripts from 20 years ago still work, and that’s a rare kind of stability that few platforms can boast. It’s not just me, either—big names like Netflix, Microsoft, and NetApp, alongside companies like Tailscale and AMD, continue to support FreeBSD, further reinforcing my belief in its strength and longevity (you can find the donators and sponsors right here). Yet, while this familiarity is comforting, it’s becoming clear that FreeBSD must evolve to keep pace with the modern landscape of computing. ↫ gyptazy It’s good to read so many articles and comments from long-time FreeBSD users and contributors who seem to recognise that there’s a real opportunity for FreeBSD to become more than ‘just’ a solid server operating system. This aligns neatly with FreeBSD itself recognising this, too, and investing in improving the operating system’s support for what are not considered basic laptop features like touchpad gestures and advanced sleep states, among other things. I’ve long held the belief that the BSDs are far closer to attracting a wider, more general computing-focused audience than even they themselves sometimes seem to think. There’s a real, tangible benefit to the way BSDs are developed and structured – a base system developed by one team – compared to the Linux world, and there’s enough disgruntlement among especially longtime Linux users about things like Wayland and systemd that there’s a pool of potential users to attract that didn’t exist only a few years ago. If you’re a little unsure about the future of Linux – give one of the BSDs a try. There’s a real chance you’ll love it.
In case you missed it at the 2024 Samsung Developer Conference today, our partners at Samsung Visual Display discussed the work they have been doing to port the Tizen operating system to RISC-V. Tizen is an open-source operating system (OS) that is used in many Samsung smart T.V.s and it makes sense that they would look to the fast growing, global open-standard RISC-V to develop future systems. The presentation showed the results of efforts at both companies to expand the capabilities of the already robust Tizen approach. At the event they also demonstrated a T.V. running on RISC-V and using a SiFive Performance P470 based core. ↫ John Ronco The announcement is sparse on details, and there isn’t much more to add than this, but the reality is that of course Samsung was going to port Tizen to RISC-V. The growing architecture is bound to compete with the industry standard ARM in a variety of market segments, and it makes perfect sense to have your TV and other (what we used to call) embedded operating systems ready to go.
Hot on the heels of releasing Redox 0.9.0, the team is back with yet another monthly update. Understandably, it’s not as massive of an update as other months, but there’s still more than enough here. There’s the usual bug fixes and small changes, but also more work on the port to RISC-V, the QEMU port (as in, running QEMU on Redox), a bunch of improvements to Relibc, and a lot more.
Windows 11 2024 Update, also known as version 24H2, is now publicly available. Microsoft announced the rollout alongside the new AI-powered features that are coming soon to Windows Insiders with Copilot+ PCs and Copilot upgrades. Unlike recent Windows 11 updates, version 24H2 is a “full operating system swap,” so updating to it will take more time than usual. What is going as usual is the way the update is being offered to users. Microsoft is gradually rolling out the update to “seekers” with Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2. That means you need to go to the Settings app and manually request the update. ↫ Taras Buria at Neowin I’ve said it a few times before but I completely lost track of how Windows releases and updates work at this point. I thought this version and its features had been available for ages already, but apparently I was wrong, and it’s only being released now. For now, you can get it by opting in through Windows Update, while the update will be pushed to everyone later on. I really wish Microsoft would move to a simpler, more straightforward release model and cadence, but alas. Anyway, this version brings all the AI/ML CoPilot stuff, WiFi 7 support, improvements to File Explorer and the system tray, the addition of the sudo command, and more. The changes to Explorer are kind of hilarious to me, as Microsoft seems to have finally figured out labels are a good thing – the weird copy/cut/paste buttons in the context menu have labels now – but this enhanced context menu still has its own context menu. Explorer now also comes with support for more compression formats, which is a welcome change in 2007. To gain access to the new sudo command, go to Settings > System > For developers and enable the option. For the rest, this isn’t a very impactful release, and will do little to convince the much larger Windows 10 userbase to switch to Windows 11, something that’s going to be a real problem for Microsoft in the coming year.
In 1999, some members from the MMC Association decided to split and create SD Association. But nobody seems to exactly know why. ↫ sdomi’s webpage I don’t even know how to summarise any of this research, because it’s not only a lot of information, it’s also deeply bureaucratic and boring – it takes a certain kind of person to enjoy this sort of stuff, and I happen to fit the bill. This is a great read.
Succeeding in trading usually depends on knowing market trends and understanding price changes. Data-driven decisions also play a big part. Exploring forex trading for beginners might be difficult, but technical analysis is a powerful tool to ease the work. It can significantly boost trading performance. This article explains how traders can make technical analyses to make better decisions. Traders can have a higher chance of success in the fast-paced forex market by looking at patterns and knowing key indicators. Understanding the Basics of Technical AnalysisTechnical analysis is a way to evaluate financial markets. It does this by using past price data and volume. Instead of considering economic or social influences, it focuses on chart patterns and indicators. These patterns help in predicting future price changes. This approach works well in forex trading since currency markets are highly liquid and often follow trends. For beginners, technical analysis can reduce the complexity of forex trading. Traders focus on chart patterns, candlestick shapes, and key indicators. This method offers a structured way to view the market. It helps new traders spot profitable opportunities with more ease. Key Technical Indicators to KnowIndicators are essential in technical analysis. They give insights into price trends and market energy. A popular indicator is the Moving Average. This indicator smooths out price data over a period. Moving averages help traders spot trends and choose entry and exit points. They also filter out unnecessary price noise. Another important indicator is the Relative Strength Index (RSI). RSI measures how fast and intense price movements are. When RSI hits 70 or more, it may show a currency is overbought. But if it reads below 30, the currency could be oversold. This might be a good buying opportunity. Using Candlestick Patterns to Understand Market SentimentCandlestick patterns are commonly used in technical analysis. They show market sentiment and possible price changes. A candlestick chart displays the open, close, high, and low prices within a set time. It simplifies the process of spotting price fluctuations. Patterns like Hammer, Engulfing, and Doji give hints about trends and reversals. For instance, a Hammer pattern has a long lower shadow and a small body. It often shows up at the end of a downtrend. This signals a possible reversal. The Engulfing pattern appears when a smaller candle is followed by a larger one. It indicates a strong shift in sentiment. Reading these patterns can help traders understand the emotions driving price moves. This knowledge leads to better trading choices. The Importance of Support and Resistance LevelsSupport and resistance levels are crucial in technical analysis. They mark price points where the market struggles to break through. Support levels act like a “floor,” where a currency’s price tends to stop falling and might bounce back up. Resistance levels, however, act as a “ceiling” where prices often can’t go any higher. Traders use these levels to decide entry and exit points. For example, when a currency pair’s price nears a support level, it could be a buying chance. Traders might expect a rebound. Knowing these levels helps traders manage risk and make smart decisions. Using Moving Averages to Filter Market NoiseMoving averages are helpful indicators. They smooth out price data to reveal trends. The Simple Moving Average (SMA) and Exponential Moving Average (EMA) are widely used. SMAs calculate an average price over a certain period. EMAs give more weight to recent prices, so they react faster to new market data. Moving averages help beginners determine if a currency is moving higher or lower. If a short-term moving average goes over a long-term one, it could indicate a chance to buy. Using moving averages simplifies the decision-making process. They display patterns without being influenced by brief price fluctuations. Through the utilisation of moving averages, traders are able to minimise the impact of market fluctuations, resulting in improved trend recognition and decision-making capabilities. How Technical Analysis Builds Trading ConfidenceTechnical analysis isn’t just a strategy; it boosts confidence. By using data and known indicators, traders avoid impulsive choices based on market emotions. A disciplined approach with technical analysis fosters consistency. It lets traders follow their plans, even when the market shifts. Technical analysis, if utilized correctly, decreases risks and enables traders to identify favorable trading chances. This structured method is advantageous for newcomers who could be daunted by the intricacies of the market. Over time, the trading performance gets better with the help of technical analysis. It further assists traders in obtaining a more profound comprehension of market behaviour. Technical analysis offers useful instruments for enhancing trading outcomes. Using indicators, candlestick patterns, trend lines, and support and resistance levels, traders have the ability to make educated decisions in the forex market. This methodical strategy helps newcomers identify patterns, manage potential dangers, and develop self-assurance. Through incorporating technical analysis into their trading approach, traders enhance their likelihood of success in the competitive forex market.
FreeBSD is going to take its desktop use quite a bit more seriously going forward. FreeBSD has long been a top choice for IT professionals and organizations focused on servers and networking, and it is known for its unmatched stability, performance, and security. However, as technology evolves, FreeBSD faces a significant challenge: supporting modern laptops. To address this, the FreeBSD Foundation and Quantum Leap Research has committed $750,000 to improve laptop support, a strategic investment that will be pivotal in FreeBSD’s future. ↫ FreeBSD Foundation blog So, what are they going to spend this big bag of money on? Well, exactly the kind of things you expect. They want to improve and broaden support for various wireless chipsets, add support for modern powersaving processor states, and make sure laptop-specific features like touchpad gestures, specialty buttons, and so on, work properly. On top of that, they want to invest in better graphics driver support for Intel and AMD, as well as make it more seamless to switch between various audio devices, which is especially crucial on laptops where people might reasonably be expected to use headphones. In addition, while not specifically related to laptops, FreeBSD also intends to invest in support for heterogeneous cores in its scheduler and improvements to the bhyve hypervisor. Virtualisation is, of course, not just something for large desktops and servers, but also laptop users might turn to for certain tasks and workloads. The FreeBSD project will be working not just with Quantum Leap Research, but also various hardware makers to assist in bringing FreeBSD’s laptop support to a more modern, plug-and-play state. Additionally, the mentioned cash injection is not set in stone; additional contributions from both individuals and larger organisations are obviously welcome, and of course if you can contribute code, bug reports, documentation, and so on, you’re also more than welcome to jump in.
Recently I came across a minor mystery—the model numbers of the original IBM PC. For such a pivotal product, there is remarkably little detailed original information from the early days. ↫ Michal Necasek Count me surprised. When I think IBM, I think meticulously documented and detailed bureaucracy, where every screw, nut, and bolt is numbered, documented, and tracked, so much so in fact this all-American company even managed to impress the Germans. You’d expect IBM, of all companies, to have overly detailed lists of every IBM PC it ever designed, manufactured, and sold, but as it turns out, it’s actually quite hard to assemble a complete list of the early IBM PCs the company sold. The biggest problem are the models from before 1983, since before that year, the IBM PC does not appear in IBM’s detailed archive of announcements. As such, Michal Necasek had to dig into random bits of IBM documentation to assemble references to those earlier models, and while he certainly didn’t find every single one of them, it’s a great start, and others can surely pick up the search from here.
When Valve took its second major crack at making Steam machines happen, in the form of the Steam Deck, one of the big surprises was the company’s choice to base the Linux operating system the Steam Deck uses on Arch Linux, instead of the Debian base it was using before. It seems this choice is not only benefiting Valve, but also Arch. We are excited to announce that Arch Linux is entering into a direct collaboration with Valve. Valve is generously providing backing for two critical projects that will have a huge impact on our distribution: a build service infrastructure and a secure signing enclave. By supporting work on a freelance basis for these topics, Valve enables us to work on them without being limited solely by the free time of our volunteers. ↫ Levente Polyak This is great news for Arch, but of course, also for Linux in general. The work distributions do to improve their user experience tend to be picked up by other distributions, and it’s clear that Valve’s contributions have been vast. With these collaborations, Valve is also showing it’s in it for the long term, and not just interested in taking from the community, but also in giving, which is good news for the large number of people now using Linux for gaming. The Arch team highlights that these projects will follow the regular administrative and decision-making processes within the distribution, so we’re not looking at parallel efforts forced upon everyone else without a say.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law (AB 2426) to combat “disappearing” purchases of digital games, movies, music, and ebooks. The legislation will force digital storefronts to tell customers they’re just getting a license to use the digital media, rather than suggesting they actually own it. When the law comes into effect next year, it will ban digital storefronts from using terms like “buy” or “purchase,” unless they inform customers that they’re not getting unrestricted access to whatever they’re buying. Storefronts will have to tell customers they’re getting a license that can be revoked as well as provide a list of all the restrictions that come along with it. Companies that break the rule could be fined for false advertising. ↫ Emma Roth at The Verge A step in the right direction, but a lot more is definitely needed. This law in particular seems to leave a lot of wiggle room for companies to keep using the “purchase” term while hiding the disclosure somewhere in the very, very small fine print. I would much rather a law like this just straight up ban the use of the term “purchase” and similar terms when all you’re getting is a license. Why allow them to keep lying about the nature of the transaction in exchange for some fine print somewhere? The software industry in particular has been enjoying a free ride when it comes to consumer protection laws, and the kind of malpractice, lack of accountability, and laughable quality control would have any other industry shut down in weeks for severe negligence. We’re taking baby steps, but it seems we’re finally arriving at a point where basic consumer protection laws and rights are being applied to software, too. Several decades too late, but at least it’s something.
A cart and payment process is a critical yet often overlooked part of the user journey that can make or break an ecommerce app. From the outset, cart design, user experience and flexible payment options should be at the top of the agenda for digital brands wanting to drive conversions. Understanding User Intent When users add items to their carts, they have shown a clear intent to purchase. To complete that transaction, the following checkout process needs to be as easy and seamless for them as possible. Higher abandonment rates occur due to unnecessary friction caused by a confusing interface, complicated payment flows, and the absence of preferred payment methods, among other things. Studies show that 76% of online shopping carts are eventually abandoned, and clunky checkout design is a big part of this. The cart and payment section is the last step in persuading users to buy. An optimized experience directly correlates with higher conversion rates and more revenue. Key Aspects to Optimize There are 3 key aspects of the cart and checkout process that need to be optimized for conversion-focused brands: 1. Cart Design and User Experience The cart should provide a simple, visual summary of items added for purchase along with quantity selected and total order value. Allowing users to easily edit item properties, apply discounts, and estimate shipping simplifies what can be an anxiety inducing process, especially on mobile. Advanced features like saved carts for returning users further facilitate purchases. Offering guest checkout alongside account creation streamlines the process for first-time customers. 2. Flexible Payment Options Research shows that cart abandonment is reduced on sites that offer preferred payment methods. The more payment modes you enable, the higher the chances that users will find an option they trust and feel comfortable with. Major credit cards, mobile wallets, Buy Now Pay Later schemes, bank transfers, and other must have options; location based popular payment methods like Sofort, iDeal if you are selling across geographies. PCI-compliant integration with payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal unlocks multiple payment methods while additionally ensuring transaction and sensitive user data security. Discover how to add payment gateway in app to enhance the payment capabilities of your mobile app. 3. Testing and Optimization No cart experience is perfect out of the box. Running A/B tests by tweaking design elements, flows, payment options, etc., provides data-backed insights on what users respond best to. Tools like Hotjar record user sessions directly in your live cart which surfaces pain points that can then be fixed. Analytics dashboards reveal drop off rates at each step, average order values and other trends that indicate scope for improvement if benchmarked periodically. Examples of Brands with Great Cart Experiences Some standout examples of brands that ace the cart and payment process: 1. Made.com Made.com offers a clean, distraction free cart with focus on only relevant details like items added, shipping estimates, order total, discounts and gift cards applied. Purchasing without account creation can be done through their guest checkout and the option to save details for faster repeat orders. At checkout, there are multiple payment methods clearly presented, along with clear messaging around security and returns policy – both essential to gain user trust for a furniture brand. 2. Bolt.com Bolt presents users with a single-page visual cart that provides details of services (food, rides, etc.) along with associated quantities, pricing and taxes. Pre-added tips can be edited before seamlessly checking out via integrated payment partner Stripe. Discounts and promo codes can also be applied directly on this page. The cart is optimized for speed, which is in line with Bolt’s brand promise of efficient deliveries and payments. 3. Amazon Amazon offers the gold standard for guided cart experiences, with persistent visibility into items added for purchase, alerts on discounts and delivery estimates. Their patented one-click buying option removes friction, allowing power users to skip checkout. However, multiple payment methods, including COD and EMI schemes, make it accessible for first-time buyers, too. The entire purchase process is geared towards user convenience, distilled through decades of testing and user data. Designing a Cart Experience from Scratch Creating an effective cart experience requires understanding user psychology, buyer journeys, and an iterative design approach. Here is a step-by-step process to follow: 1. Define Goals and Outcomes First, define what a successful cart and checkout flow needs to achieve from a business point of view. Typical goals include: So that design choices align with business impact and tie these to overall revenue and growth goals. 2. Map the Existing User Journey Analyze data around existing user behavior across the checkout process, e.g.: The above can be gleaned from tools such as Google Analytics and Hotjar. 3. Competitor Benchmarking Look at how competitor brands within your industry offer study cart experiences. Find out what flows, or features appeal most to users. For example, they can provide guest checkout or Apple/Google Pay for mobility apps or BNPL options for D2C brands. The right cart design combines learnings from data and real-world behavior. 4. Create and Test Hypotheses Using what has been researched so far, imagine what cart element and flow changes could positively impact your goals, e.g. Once you’ve tested these hypotheses with real users through interviews or prototypes, roll them out globally. Tools like UserTesting.com can be used to do quick user studies to find feedback. Choosing the Right Payment Partner To allow flexible payment options, though, one must interface with a payment service provider. Here are key aspects to evaluate when choosing a payment partner: The partner should advocate consistent checkout integration among several platforms, including web, mobile apps, POS systems, etc. For businesses selling cross-border, the partner must offer payment acceptance using local methods in 100+ markets, multi-currency processing and DCC. Using 3D security, risk-based analysis, artificial intelligence, etc., payment partners guard transactions. You should choose a mate with advanced competence in this field. The partner should support integration with credit cards, the most popular mobile wallets, UPI, BNPL schemes and
System76, the premiere Linux computer manufacturer and creator of the COSMIC desktop environment, has updated COSMIC’s Alpha release to Alpha 2. The latest release includes more Settings pages, the bulk of functionality for COSMIC Files, highly requested window management features, and considerable infrastructure work for screen reader support, as well as some notable bug fixes. ↫ system76’s blog The pace of development for COSMIC remains solid, even after the first alpha release. This second alpha keeps adding a lot of things considered basic for any desktop environment, such as settings panels for power and battery, sounds, displays, and many more. It also brings window management support for focus follows cursor and cursor follows focus, which will surely please the very specific, small slice of people who swear by those. Also, you can now disable the super key. A major new feature that I’m personally very happy about is the “adjust density” feature. COSMIC will allow you to adjust the spacing between the various user interface elements so you can choose to squeeze more information on your screen, which is one of the major complaints I have about modern UI design in macOS, Windows, and GNOME. Being able to adjust this to your liking is incredibly welcome, especially combined with COSMIC’s ability to change from ’rounded’ UI elements to ‘square’ UI elements. The file manager has also been vastly, vastly improved, tons of bugs were fixed, and much, much more. It seems COSMIC is on the right path, and I can’t wait to try out the first final result once it lands.
