The Brave web browser has carved out a niche over the past few years as an alternative to Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and other mainstream web browsers. Some of that has come from its marketing as a privacy-preserving web browser, and it has also been repeatedly evangelized by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. If someone recommends Brave to you, you should ignore them, because they are wrong. Brave Browser is a mess of a software project, and the company building it is even worse. Do not use Brave. It’s a Chrome skin from a slimy company peddling crypto schemes, building an ad network, hijacking the URLS you type to get affiliate money, ran by a homophobe. There are so many better and less sleazy alternatives. Use those instead.

The GNU/Hurd is the Sagrada Família of the Software World: having started to develop in 1990, the GNU/Hurd has yet to reach version 1.0. The Linux kernel, on the other hand, began development in 1993 and was initially considered a “kludge” until the Hurd was completed. It is now matured and widely used. Like the Loch Ness Monster, many believe that GNU/Hurd is vaporware and does not exist. It does exist and continues to evolve, albeit at a slow pace. Just recently, the Debian GNU/Hurd 2023 has been released. You can use the GNU/Hurd right now. This article takes a look at what it’s like to use Debian GNU/Hurd in a virtual environment in the cloud, to sidestep the lack of driver support, and highlights some of the unique features of this platform.

Which is precisely how it feels using using the Beepy from SQFMI. The handheld device, which was formerly known as the Beepberry before its creators received an all-to-predicable formal complaint, is unabashedly designed for Linux nerds. Over the last couple of weeks playing with this first-run hardware, I’ve been compiling kernel drivers, writing custom scripts, and trying (though not always successfully) to get new software installed on it. If you’re into hacking around on Linux, it’s an absolute blast. There’s a good chance that you already know if the Beepy is for you or not, but if you’re still on the fence, hopefully this in-depth look at the hardware and current state of the overall project can help you decide before SQFMI officially starts taking new orders for the $79 gadget. This isn’t for me, but it surely is one hell of a cool device. The pricing is low enough I might still nab one, though, as it’s almost in impulse buy territory.

The latest version of Intel Arc GPU Graphics Software introduced an interesting change that isn’t reflected in the Release Notes. The installer of the 101.4578 beta drivers add a “Compute Improvement Program” (CIP) component as part of the “typical” setup option that is enabled by default. Under the “custom” installer option that you have to activate manually, you get to select which components to install. The Compute Improvement Program can be unchecked here, to ensure data collection is disabled. The benignly named CIP is a data collection component that tracks your PC usage and performance in the background (not just that of the GPU), so Intel can use the data to improve its future products. Intel created a dedicated webpage that spells out what CIP is, and what its scope of data collection is; where is says that CIP “does not collect your name, email address, phone number, sensitive personal information, or physical location (except for country).” NVIDIA’s and AMD’s drivers also contain telemetry collection software, and only AMD tries to be as transparent as possible about it by offering a check box during installation, whereas Intel and NVIDIA hide it behind the “custom” option. Needless to say, Linux users don’t have to worry about this.

Today, we’re announcing some important new features in Google Search to help you stay in control of your personal information, privacy and online safety. There’s improved tools to remove results about yourself, such as those containing phone numbers and such, as well as easier ways to remove explicit content about yourself, such as photos. Of course, tools such as these merely remove the results from Google Search – they don’t actually remove them from the web.

The DisplayPort altmode is semi-proprietary, but it can absolutely be picked apart if we try. Last time, we found a cool appnote describing the DisplayPort altmode in detail, switched the FUSB302 into packet sniffing mode and got packet captures, learned about PD VDMs (vendor-defined messages), and successfully replayed the captured messages to switch a USB-C port into the DisplayPort altmode. Today, we will go through the seven messages that summon the DisplayPort altmode, implement them, and tie them all into a library – then, figure out the hardware we need to have DisplayPort work in the wild. USB-C might have its problems, but it’s also incredibly cool and versatile.

Bram Molenaar, the original author, maintainer, release manager, and benevolent dictator for life of vim has passed away today. His family announced his passing through a message using Molenaar’s account. :q

Pixel Binary Transparency responds to a new wave of attacks targeting the software supply chain—that is, attacks on software while in transit to users. These attacks are on the rise in recent years, likely in part because of the enormous impact they can have. In recent years, tens of thousands of software users from Fortune 500 companies to branches of the US government have been affected by supply chain attacks that targeted the systems that create software to install a backdoor into the code, allowing attackers to access and steal customer data.  One way Google protects against these types of attacks is by auditing Pixel phone  firmware (also called “factory images”) before release, during which the software is thoroughly checked for backdoors. Upon boot, Android Verified Boot runs a check on your device to be sure that it’s still running the audited code that was officially released by Google. Pixel Binary Transparency now expands on that function, allowing you to personally confirm that the image running on your device is the official factory image—meaning that attackers haven’t inserted themselves somewhere in the source code, build process, or release aspects of the software supply chain. Additionally, this means that even if a signing key were compromised, binary transparency would flag the unofficially signed images, deterring attackers by making their compromises more detectable. I’m sure thus greatly benefits the six people who have a Pixel phone.

Arm is facing down its biggest competition ever, with the up-and-coming RISC-V architecture threatening to unseat it as the CPU at the center of almost every portable device. Now, one of Arm’s biggest customers is trying out RISC-V, as Qualcomm is getting involved in a joint venture dedicated to the architecture. The joint venture doesn’t have a name yet, but Qualcomm, NXP, Nordic Semiconductor, Bosch, and memory giant Infineon are all teaming up to form a new company that Qualcomm’s press release says is “aimed at advancing the adoption of RISC-V globally by enabling next-generation hardware development.” At first, the group will be focused on automotive uses, with an “eventual expansion” to IoT and mobile, Qualcomm’s biggest market. Statements of intent are easily written, so let’s hope this is more than a fart in the wind.

While casually looking for updates in the Microsoft Store, I noticed a new update for Cortana after a long time. But, instead of improving things, the latest update caused the app to stop working on Windows 11. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, considering that Microsoft’s assistant hasn’t received a single feature update in the past two years Microsoft has finally killed Cortana on Windows 11 – its Windows Phone-era assistant that debuted on desktop with Windows 10. Cortana app was the tech giant’s response to Siri in 2014, and Microsoft published a series of advertisements targeting Apple’s powerful assistant. Did anyone even use this feature? It always felt like an awful “me too!” feature trying to be edgy.

Supporting the open web requires saying no to WEI, and having Google say no as well. It’s not a good policy. It’s not a good idea. It’s a terrible idea that takes Google that much further down the enshittification curve. Even if you can think of good reasons to try to set up such a system, there is way too much danger that comes along with it, undermining the very principles of the open web. It’s no surprise, of course, that Google would do this, but that doesn’t mean the internet-loving public should let them get away with it. Fin.

Microsoft has accidentally leaked its internal “StagingTool” app that is used by employees to enable secret unreleased Windows 11 features. The software giant typically tests experimental or hidden Windows 11 features in public builds of the operating system, but Windows enthusiasts have until now had to rely on third-party tools to get access to secret features that Microsoft hasn’t yet enabled for all testers. StagingTool is a command line app that lets you toggle feature IDs that enable certain unreleased parts of Windows 11. It’s particularly useful for when Microsoft uses A/B testing for features, where only a small subset of Windows Insiders will get access to a feature before Microsoft rolls it out more broadly to testers. Useful, but similar third-party tools already exist, such as ViVe.

Have you ever wanted to do more with your phone, like setting up a Webserver or a Node.js server and running a web app directly on your phone? Or doing some coding on the go? Yes, I have too. With Termux, you can run a full Linux Desktop on your Android device, and here’s how. Even without resorting to a full X desktop, Termux is oretty great. I’m not really a terminal user, so for me it’s just for the novelty of it all, but it certainly seems to work very well on my Galaxy S21.

Microsoft Edge has slowly crept its way up as one of the more popular web browsers people use every day, especially on Windows 11. In 2022, it even overtook Safari as the second-most-popular browser in the world behind Chrome (although it has since dropped back to third). Despite running on Chromium, the same engine as Chrome, it has a lot of features even Chrome lacks, like collections and shopping features that can help you save money. And, of course, there’s the recent rise of Bing Chat. There’s a reason why I use it every day on some of the best laptops I review, And even with all this popularity, it still feels like Microsoft is trying too hard with Edge. The company has gotten way too aggressive with its web browser recently, and it’s very concerning to see this behavior. Microsoft really wants you to try the browser no matter what, so it puts it in so many areas of Windows 11. The concept of my operating system “pushing” anything on me, as is the norm on Windows and macOS, is entirely foreign to me these days. Fedora or Linux Mint aren’t advertising their services in the settings application, or pushing their browser through pop-ups or by secretly changing the default browset setting, or whatever other sleazeball tactics Microsoft and Apple are up to these days. I don’t understand how people put up with that nonsense.