Technology

WikiLeaks founder speaks in first public appearance after being freed from jail

Guessing they don't pray. Star Wars reference aside, learning about rampant Android piracy really made be rethink the pay devs receive for their effort. Per Business of Apps:

• Consumers spent $47 billion on Google Play apps and games in 2023
• Over 113 billion apps and games were downloaded on Google Play last year
• 2.61 billion apps and games are available to download on Google Play
• The top grossing app on Google Play in 2023 was Google One, a cloud storage service Instagram was the most downloaded app on Google Play last year, with 521 million downloads

The rest of the report is paywalled, so the number I was curious about -- MAUs (ideally DAUs, but that's a lot of time in Calc) for paid apps with at most 10,000 downloads -- is probably out there, but it's a Beehaw post. That report was the only result on DDG's first page relevant to the query "google play store apps by downloads."

All this to say, Apple's 30% and, well, walled garden that covers piracy to a sufficient extent is starting to look like the better choice for my next phone. And I have been an ardent avoider of Apple products since college.

I buil(t) my rigs, with every component suited to my needs (or budget; YMMV -- winning an i7-8086K gave me a lot of breathing room on the GPU side), but my life on a 24VDC electrical system has convinced me that a laptop need to replace my rig, and Apple seems to have my needed "lots of power with incredible battery life" nailed. But I now have to pick a final product that I didn't build and thus have no idea how to troubleshoot a hardware problem.

Except, I'm a light gamer, building factories and such. Being on ARM doesn't work.

I don't want to be in the iPhone-x86 crowd. Most things are doable, but hardly seamless. But giving up Factorio is a bridge too far.

I'm no longer seduced by Google's lie that app makers are rolling in the dough when it's actually slave wages supporting freeloaders. Sure, this is only one example, but as the issue is with Google policy, it's likely representative. That's why I wanted to see the figures.

Part of me thinks this rant could have also worked in Politics. 🤣

This GitHub repository has the technical details.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/23941424

Blue ticks, but for business web links.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3451147

Archived link

European Union countries failed to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs during a closely watched vote that ended with too many abstentions, forcing the European Commission to overcome the political impasse and push its proposal over the finish line.

The outcome of Friday's vote was not publicly available, although several diplomats told Euronews how each member state positioned itself:

• 10 were in favour: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. (45.99% of the EU population)
• 12 abstained: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Finland. (31.36%)
• Five were against: Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia. (22.65%)

The high number of abstentions reflects long-standing qualms about how Europe should stand up to China. Although the political consensus says that Beijing's unfair trade practices merit a forceful, united response, threats of commercial retaliation appear to have dampened the resolve of many capitals as the make-or-break date neared closer.

It was up to the Commission, which has exclusive powers to set the bloc's commercial policy, to break the gridlock and ensure the duties go through.

Can anyone recommend an e-commerce platform that they like, somewhere I can sell both physical and virtual goods, isn't too expensive, allows some degree of design customization, isn't too hard to use, and (gasp) is even open source? The last part is probably asking too much.

I currently sell ebooks on Gumroad, which has actually been pretty good, but they lack customization options and the ability (as far as I can tell) to do something like a blog (although they do have a mailing list which is something I definitely need!).

There is an old Wordpress.ORG site I have that was made by someone else who is no longer able to update it, and is something of a black box to a clueless oldster like myself. I've heard enough negative things about Wordpress that led me first to Ghost.org, which, as far as I can tell, is really just for blogs and nothing else, and then Webflow, which may have too many deisgn option (as well as fuzzy pricing), and finally back to WordPress.COM which was very pushy about me upgrading (and then upgrading again) before I could even try out their Woo Commerce plugin (also their site just plain doesn't work; if I watch their tutorials and then try to follow them, I'll end up on screens that have buttons and drop down menus that appear in the videos but not on the site itself!).

So anyway, I'm in search of recommendations. I need something that can sell physical and virtual items, has a blog, a mailing list, monthly billing, at least some ability to customize, and, if at all possible, is open source. Would be much obliged for any suggestions.

EDIT: Anyone tried Thirty Bees?

The free version regularly scans your device for remote connection tools such as TeamViewer which are commonly used by scammers to get on your computer and steal your personal information. It also blocks all of these websites. This version is why I'm posting because I want people to be protected from scams that my own family have been victims of.

The premium version is only 2 dollars a month and has other features such as blocking thousands of scam websites and notifying select family members if your loved on tries to install one of these connection tools.

If you have elderly or vulnerable family members, consider installing the free version! It's so quick and could protect everything they have someday.

Seraphsecure.com

(Crossposted to other tech communities and Reddit, trying to get the word out!)

Over the past year, software developer turned security researcher Jason Parker has found and reported dozens of critical vulnerabilities in no fewer than 19 commercial platforms used by hundreds of courts, government agencies, and police departments across the U.S. Most of the vulnerabilities were critical.

[...]

"These platforms are supposed to ensure transparency and fairness, but are failing at the most fundamental level of cybersecurity,” Parker wrote recently in a post he penned in an attempt to raise awareness. “If a voter’s registration can be canceled with little effort and confidential legal filings can be accessed by unauthorized users, what does it mean for the integrity of these systems?”

It's not like they couldn't put a stop to blackouts before, as seen with the third-party app fiasco, but Reddit has now made that tactic entirely impossible. Mods will now need to get permission from Reddit admins before they can make a sub private. Makes me wonder if they're about to do something controversial again soon.

Archived link

The pager and walkie-talkie explosions that occurred in Lebanon on September 17 and 18 resulted in serious casualties and shocked the world. False information quickly circulated over social media among Chinese language users. [...] For Chinese nationalists, the explosions provided an opportunity to justify the concerns about Western products and demonstrate that only Chinese-made electronic equipment can provide consumer safety.

Several themes emerged from the Chinese disinformation pieces:

1. The scenes that falsely depicted the explosions

2. The incorrect allegation that Taiwan, Israel, Japan, and the United States were part of a conspiracy network

3. Concerns that iPhones could also explode

4. The claim that wealthy Middle Eastern countries have quickly abandoned Western-made electronic devices in favor of Chinese products, particularly those made by Huawei

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3355025

Archived link

Beijing has published its proposed regulations for satellite broadband, including a requirement that operators conduct censorship in real time.

It has been suggested that the constellation system will help run and export the nation's content censorship system, known as the Great Firewall.

[...]

In its latest draft rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposes any organization or individual using terminal equipment with direct connection to satellite services is not allowed to "produce, copy, publish, or disseminate content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power, overthrows the socialist system, endangers national security and interests, damages the national image, incites secession of the country, undermines national unity and social stability, promotes terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, pornography, and false information."

It clarifies that terminal equipment includes civilian handheld, portable, and fixed terminals, as well as terminals installed on aircraft, ships, and vehicles – essentially any device that enables users to access satellite communication systems for voice calls, text messaging, and data exchange.

[...]

The draft rules further include articles that would make tracking of providers and users easier. This includes requiring providers to:

• Obtain licenses and approvals, whether telco, radio frequency related or otherwise;
• Collect real identity information from those using its services, as China already requires of telcos;
• Integrate monitoring and supervision into their platforms to allow Beijing's oversight;
• Locate ground facilities – such as gateway stations and Earth stations – and user data on Chinese soil. Any data that does need to go overseas must be processed through a gateway approved by the telecommunications regulatory department of the State Council.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://feditown.com/post/705775

YouTube: https://youtu.be/w5ebcowAJD8

Invidious, alternative YouTube link without YouTube: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=w5ebcowAJD8

Video description:

How do QR codes work? The checkerboard patterns taking over the world, demystified. Go to Saily.com/veritasium and use the code ‘veritasium’ to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase.

Special thanks to Mashiro Hara and Yuki Watanabe.

00:00 I was wrong 00:49 How Morse Code revolutionized communication 03:57 How barcodes work 10:34 How QR codes store information 18:16 Why damaged QR codes still work 29:54 Why are QR codes so common? 31:21 How safe are QR codes? 32:25 The future of QR codes

The Tor Project, a global non-profit developing tools for online privacy and anonymity, and Tails, a portable operating system that uses Tor to protect users from digital surveillance, have joined forces and merged operations.

Incorporating Tails into the Tor Project's structure allows for easier collaboration, better sustainability, reduced overhead, and expanded training and outreach programs to counter a larger number of digital threats, Tor says in a blog post. In short, coming together will strengthen both organizations' ability to protect people worldwide from surveillance and censorship.

Microsoft says it has “listened to feedback” following a privacy row over a new tool which takes regular screenshots of users’ activity.

It was labelled a potential “privacy nightmare” by critics when it was unveiled in May 2024 - prompting the tech giant to postpone its release. It now plans to relaunch the artificial intelligence (AI) powered tool in November on its new CoPilot+ computers.

[...]

When it initially announced the tool at its developer conference in May, Microsoft said it used AI "to make it possible to access virtually anything you have ever seen on your PC", and likened it to having photographic memory. It said Recall could search through a users' past activity, including their files, photos, emails and browsing history.

[...]

But critics quickly raised concerns, given the quantity of sensitive data the system would harvest, with one expert labelling it a potential “privacy nightmare."

[...]

[Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows and devices says] that "Windows offers tools to help you control your privacy and customise what gets saved for you to find later".

However a technical blog about it states that “diagnostic data” from the tool may be shared with the firm depending on individual privacy settings.

[Microsoft says in a blog post that users can remove Recall entirely by using the optional features settings in Windows.]