Circles do not exist
However almost every “circle” you can see in printed media (and most purely digital ones) are not, in fact, circles. Why is this? Since roughly the mid 80s all “high quality” print jobs have been done either in PostScript or, nowadays almost exclusively, in PDF. They use the same basic drawing model, which does not have a primitive for circles (or circle arcs). The only primitives they have are straight line segments, rectangles and Bézier curves. None of these can be used to express a cir … ⌘ Read more

UK has not backed down in tech encryption row, minister says
Over the past few days, there have been a lot of reports in the media that the UK government was backing down from its requirement that every end-to-end encrypted messenger application inside the country had to give the government backdoor access to these messenger applications. However, after reading the actual words from the UK’s junior minister Stephen Parkinson, it seemed like all she did was give a “pinky p … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft announces new Copilot Copyright Commitment for customers
To address this customer concern, Microsoft is announcing our new Copilot Copyright Commitment. As customers ask whether they can use Microsoft’s Copilot services and the output they generate without worrying about copyright claims, we are providing a straightforward answer: yes, you can, and if you are challenged on copyright grounds, we will assume responsibility for the potential legal risks invo … ⌘ Read more

Android 14 blocks all modification of system certificates, even as root
We’ve come a long way since then, steadily retreating from openness & user control of devices, and shifting towards a far more locked-down vendor-controlled world. The next step of Android’s evolution is Android 14 (API v34, codename Upside-Down Cake) and it takes more steps down that path. In this new release, the restrictions around certificate authority (CA) certificates become significa … ⌘ Read more

A list of OpenBSD innovations
This is a list of software and ideas developed or maintained by the OpenBSD project, sorted in order of approximate introduction. Some of them are explained in detail in our research papers. That’s an impressive list. ⌘ Read more

Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud
Microsoft has been increasingly moving Windows to the cloud on the commercial side with Windows 365, but the software giant also wants to do the same for consumers. In an internal “state of the business” Microsoft presentation from June 2022, Microsoft discuses building on “Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device.” Who wants this? ⌘ Read more

Edge sends images you view online to Microsoft
Edge has a built-in image enhancement tool that, according to Microsoft, can use “super-resolution to improve clarity, sharpness, lighting, and contrast in images on the web.” Although the feature sounds exciting, recent Microsoft Edge Canary updates have provided more information on how image enhancement works. The browser now warns that it sends image links to Microsoft instead of performing on-device enhancements. The biggest problem w … ⌘ Read more

Debian GNU/Hurd 2023 released
It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2023. This is a snapshot of Debian “sid” at the time of the stable Debian “bookworm” release (June 2023), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release. Debian GNU/Hurd is probably the easiest, most accessible way to try out Hurd. ⌘ Read more

Microsoft leak hints show labels on taskbar and more features coming to Windows 11
Speaking of Windows, here’s something I’m pretty sure many of you will be very happy about: In March, we exclusively confirmed the tech giant’s plan to restore classic taskbar features in the fall as part of the Windows 11 version 23H2 update. One of the features set to return is “never combine” for the taskbar. As the name suggests, this new toggle would let you ungr … ⌘ Read more

Deleting system32\curl.exe
I just want to emphasize that if you install and run Windows, your friendly provider is Microsoft. You need to contact Microsoft for support and help with Windows related issues. The curl.exe you have in System32 is only provided indirectly by the curl project and we cannot fix this problem for you. We in fact fixed the problem in the source code already back in December 2022. If you have removed curl.exe or otherwise tampered with your Windows installation, the curl project can … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot is massive copyright infringement
Before you read this article – note that Codeium offers a competitor to GitHub Copilot. This means they have something to sell, and something to gain by making Copilot look bad. That being said – their findings are things we already kind of knew, and further illustrate that Copilot is quite possibly one of the largest, if not the largest, GPL violations in history. To prove that GitHub Copilot trains on non perm … ⌘ Read more

The Bitcoin Whitepaper is hidden in every modern copy of macOS
While trying to fix my printer today, I discovered that a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper apparently shipped with every copy of macOS since Mojave in 2018. I’ve asked over a dozen Mac-using friends to confirm, and it was there for every one of them. The file is found in every version of macOS from Mojave (10.14.0) to the current version (Ventura), but isn’t in High Sierra (10.13) or earlie … ⌘ Read more

Framework unveils major upgrades to their 13″ laptop, and new 16″ model
Today, we’re introducing a major set of upgrades to the Framework Laptop spanning two new models – the Framework Laptop 13 (13th Gen Intel® Core™) and the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series). We’ve not only scaled up performance and enabled an AMD-powered version for the first time, but we’ve also delivered refinements to the day-to-day user experience with a higher capacity battery, … ⌘ Read more

Do not use services that hate the internet
As you look around for a new social media platform, I implore you, only use one that is a part of the World Wide Web. If posts in a social media app do not have URLs that can be linked to and viewed in an unauthenticated browser, or if there is no way to make a new post from a browser, then that program is not a part of the World Wide Web in any meaningful way. Consign that app to oblivion. Yep. ⌘ Read more