All That Cheap Chinese Stuff Is Now Europe’s Problem
President Trump’s closure of the de minimis customs loophole in May – which previously allowed Chinese packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free – has redirected a flood of cheap goods toward Europe, where similar exemptions for packages under $175.8 in the EU and $180 in the UK remain intact.

The shift has been swift: exports of low-value Chinese packages to … ⌘ Read more

FTC: Instacart To Refund $60M Over Deceptive Subscription Tactics
alternative_right writes: Grocery delivery service Instacart will refund $60 million to settle FTC claims that it misled customers with false advertising and unlawfully enrolled them in paid subscriptions. Instacart partners with over 1,800 retailers to provide online shopping, delivery, and pickup services from nearly 100,000 stores across Nort … ⌘ Read more

@kiwu@twtxt.net Finally doing some Assembler again. 😅 Just a tiny little bit at least.

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Yeah, well, given that I didn’t need this for such a long time, it’s probably not an essential tool. 😅

I’ve often wanted to have an outline of text documents, though, and tagbar/ctags can do that as well:

https://movq.de/v/3c6d1a13d6/tagbar-md.png

https://movq.de/v/abc58e6d66/tagbar-latex.png

This isn’t as powerful as the “Navigator” tool in StarOffice/LibreOffice (which can be used to rearrange the document), but still pretty useful:

https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2024-05-23/0/so31.mp4

Microsoft AI Chief: Staying in the Frontier AI Race Will Cost Hundreds of Billions
Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman estimates that staying competitive in frontier AI development will require “hundreds of billions of dollars” over the next five to ten years, a sum that doesn’t even account for the high salaries companies are paying individual researchers and technical staff. Speaking on a podcast, … ⌘ Read more

2025 Was the Beginning of the End of the TV Brightness War
The television industry’s brightness war may have hit its inflection point in 2025, the year TCL and Hisense released the first consumer TVs capable of 5,000 nits under specific settings – a figure that would have seemed absurd not long ago when manufacturers struggled to reach 2,000 nits. LG introduced Primary RGB Tandem OLED technology, moving fr … ⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Interesting. I never found a big use for these kind of lists in general. But I might give it a shot again.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Not sure what it had in its beak. It looked a wee bit like a large biscuit. But it must have been rock-hard.

@kiwu@twtxt.net I’m doing great, how’re ya going? Just two more days and then I never have to work anymore. In this year.

I just baked two trays of gingerbread. One definitely good one and another experiment.

This morning was also super pretty: https://lyse.isobeef.org/morgensonne-2025-12-19/

Uber is Hiring More Engineers Because AI is Making Them More Valuable, CEO Says
Uber is hiring more engineers rather than fewer because AI tools have made them “superhumans,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said, pushing back against the industry trend of using productivity gains to justify headcount cuts. Speaking on the “On with Kara Swisher” podcast, Khosrowshahi noted that other tech executives see AI … ⌘ Read more

Linux Preps For “Slow Workload Hints” With Intel Panther Lake
Five years ago Intel began introducing “workload hints” used for thermal and power purposes with their SoCs and in turn on the software-side being enabled with their INT340X kernel driver on Linux systems. That Intel workload hint coverage was added to the Linux kernel in late 2020 and then a big addition in 2023 with Meteor Lake introducing new workload hint type capabilities. Now patches have been posted to the Linux kernel mailing list for ne … ⌘ Read more

‘How Lina Khan Killed iRobot’
iRobot, the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company that brought the Roomba vacuum cleaner into American homes over its 35-year history, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday and will be acquired by Picea, its Chinese contract manufacturer that also produces competing household devices.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board placed blame for the company’s demise on the Federal Trade Commission under Chair Lina Khan, which oppos … ⌘ Read more

ACM To Make Its Entire Digital Library Open Access Starting January 2026
The Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest society of computing professionals, announced that all publications and related artifacts in the ACM Digital Library will become freely available to everyone starting January 2026. Authors will retain full copyright to their published work under the new arrangement, and A … ⌘ Read more

Linux 6.12 To Linux 6.18 LTS Upgrade Offers Worthwhile Benefits For 5th Gen AMD EPYC
The recently released Linux 6.18 kernel is this year’s Long Term Support version. As such it’s sure to a see a lot of enterprise and hyperscaler uptake in being the annual LTS kernel version. While Linux 6.12 LTS will be maintained at least through the end of next year, upgrading to Linux 6.18 LTS can be very worthwhile from the performance perspective beyond the extended timeline until it will reach end-of-life. Here are benchma … ⌘ Read more

Food Becoming More Calorific But Less Nutritious Due To Rising Carbon Dioxide
More carbon dioxide in the environment is making food more calorific but less nutritious – and also potentially more toxic, a study has found. From a report: Sterre ter Haar, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and other researchers at the institution created a method to compare multiple studies on pl … ⌘ Read more

Apple Becomes a Debt Collector With Its New Developer Agreement
Apple released an updated developer license agreement this week that gives the company permission to recoup unpaid funds, such as commissions or any other fees, by deducting them from in-app purchases it processes on developers’ behalf, among other methods. From a report: The change will impact developers in regions where local law allows them to … ⌘ Read more

Xorgproto 2025.1 Released To Recognize Newer Keyboard Keys
For X.Org Server users there is a new release of xorgproto for the holidays. Xorgproto as the set of headers and specifications for the X11 core protocols and extensions is out with its first new release since March 2024… ⌘ Read more

Denmark Says Russia Was Behind Two ‘Destructive and Disruptive’ Cyberattacks
The Danish government has accused Russia of being behind two “destructive and disruptive” cyberattacks in what it describes as “very clear evidence” of a hybrid war. From a report: The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS) announced on Thursday that Moscow was behind a cyberattack on a Danish water utility in 2024 and a … ⌘ Read more

FUSE 3.18 Released With FUSE-Over-IO-uring, Statx Support
Linux creator Linus Torvalds previously referred to file-systems in user-space as for toys and misguided people. But FUSE has shown a lot of interesting use-cases over the years and has grown more capable in the decade since Torvalds’ prior comments. Out today is FUSE 3.18 as the latest release for the FUSE library… ⌘ Read more

Intel’s Linux NPU User-Space Driver Adds Panther Lake Support
Since late 2024 Intel has been working on 5th Gen NPU support for their Linux IVPU driver. That 5th Gen NPU support for Intel Core Ultra “Panther Lake” SoCs was upstreamed back in Linux 6.13. Now today the Intel Linux NPU user-space driver has seen its official support added for Panther Lake… ⌘ Read more

Most Parked Domains Now Serving Malicious Content
An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: Direct navigation – the act of visiting a website by manually typing a domain name in a web browser – has never been riskier: A new study finds the vast majority of “parked” domains – mostly expired or dormant domain names, or common misspellings of popular websites – are now configured to redirect visitors to sites … ⌘ Read more

2025 Brought “Transformative Changes” For FreeBSD On Laptops
As we have been covering over the past year, major investments have been made to better the outlook for running FreeBSD on laptop hardware. From WiFi driver improvements to enhancing suspend/resume, power management, graphics drivers, and other features, it’s been a big undertaking to make FreeBSD work better on laptops. The FreeBSD Foundation calls 2025 as having brought “transformative changes” for the FreeBSD laptop experience… ⌘ Read more

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS Plans Confirmed For Linux 6.20 / Linux 7.0
Canonical confirmed their Linux kernel plans today for the Ubuntu 26.04 Long Term Support (LTS) release due out in April… ⌘ Read more

Cloud Hypervisor 50 Released With QCOW2 Compression, Performance Improvements
Cloud Hypervisor 50.0 is out today for this cloud-minded, security-focused and Rust-based hypervisor. Cloud Hypervsior began as an open-source Intel project while in more recent times has shifted to being largely maintained by Microsoft, Crusoe, Cyberus Tech, Rivos, and others… ⌘ Read more

Mageia 10 Planning For April Release While Still Maintaining 32-bit Support
The Mageia development team recently met to solidify their plans for releasing Mageia 10 as the next major release of this LInux distribution with its roots that trace back to the days of Mandrake Linux… ⌘ Read more

Google AI Summaries Are Ruining the Livelihoods of Recipe Writers
Google’s AI Mode is synthesizing “Frankenstein” recipes from multiple creators, often stripping away context and accuracy and siphoning traffic and ad revenue away from food bloggers in the process. Many recipe writers warn this shift amounts to an “extinction event” for ad-supported food sites. The Guardian reports: Over the past few years, bl … ⌘ Read more

Trump’s Social Media Business Is Merging With a Nuclear Fusion Company
Tony Isaac shares a report from CNN: President Donald Trump’s social media and crypto company is making a huge bet on a far different industry – nuclear fusion, a potentially lucrative albeit commercially unproven energy technology that could help power a suddenly electricity-starved economy. Trump Media and Technology Group Thursday … ⌘ Read more

Vulkan 1.4.337 Debuts With Long Vector & 3D ASTC Compression Extensions
Vulkan 1.4.337 released a short time ago as what could be the last Vulkan API spec update of 2025 depending upon how much time the working group takes off or not around the holidays. In any case, it’s a nice holiday treat with the new VK_EXT_texture_compression_astc_3d and VK_EXT_shader_long_vector extensions… ⌘ Read more

Cryptsetup 2.8.2 Released With BitLocker Clear Key Support
Cryptsetup 2.8.2 released on Thursday for this open-source utility used for setting up disk encryption with dm-crypt on Linux systems, including for LUKS volumes, TrueCrypt, BitLocker, and other formats… ⌘ Read more

UK Actors Vote To Refuse To Be Digitally Scanned In Pushback Against AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Actors have voted to refuse digital scanning to prevent their likeness being used by artificial intelligence in a pushback against AI in the arts. Members of the performing arts union Equity were asked if they would refuse to be scanned while on set, a common practice in which a … ⌘ Read more

Swearing Actually Seems To Make Humans Physically Stronger
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: A new study adds to the growing body of evidence that swearing can help us unleash our inner strength, improving physical performance, it seems, by helping people break through certain psychological barriers. […] [Psychology researcher Richard Stephens of Keele University in the UK] and his colle … ⌘ Read more

OpenZFS 2.4 Released With Faster Encryption Performance, Many Other Improvements
OpenZFS 2.4 is out as stable in time for the holidays! The big OpenZFS 2.4 feature release is now available for FreeBSD and Linux systems to continue advancing the open-source ZFS file-system support… ⌘ Read more

LG Will Let TV Owners Delete Microsoft Copilot After Customer Outcry
LG said it will let owners of its TVs delete Microsoft’s Copilot shortcut after several reports highlighted the unremovable icon. In a statement to The Verge, LG says the company “respects consumer choice and will take steps to allow users to delete the shortcut icon if they wish.” From the report: Last week, a user on the r/mildlyinfuriating s … ⌘ Read more

Compromised Apple Gift Card Leads to Apple Account Lockout
An Apple developer was locked out of his Apple Account after redeeming a compromised Apple Gift Card, exposing how automated fraud systems can effectively cut users off from their digital lives with little explanation or recourse. TidBITS reports: After attempting to redeem a $500 Apple Gift Card purchased from a well-known retailer, Apple developer, author … ⌘ Read more

North Korean Infiltrator Caught Working In Amazon IT Department Thanks To Lag
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom’s Hardware: A North Korean imposter was uncovered, working as a sysadmin at Amazon U.S., after their keystroke input lag raised suspicions with security specialists at the online retail giant. Normally, a U.S.-based remote worker’s computer would send keystroke data within tens … ⌘ Read more

AI’s Water and Electricity Use Soars In 2025
A new study estimates that AI systems in 2025 consumed as much electricity as New York City emits in carbon pollution and used hundreds of billions of liters of water, driven largely by power-hungry data centers and cooling needs. Researchers say the real impact is likely higher due to poor transparency from tech companies about AI-specific energy and water use. “There’s no way to pu … ⌘ Read more

Judge Hints Vizio TV Buyers May Have Rights To Source Code Licensed Under GPL
A California judge signaled support for forcing Vizio to provide the full source code for its SmartCast TV software after finding a contractual obligation under the GPL. If upheld, the case could strengthen users’ rights to modify GPL-licensed software embedded in consumer electronics. The Register reports: The legal comp … ⌘ Read more

Formula 1 is Deploying New Jargon for 2026
Formula 1’s 2026 technical regulations bring not only smaller and lighter cars but an entirely new vocabulary that fans and commentators will need to learn before the season opens in Australia in March. The drag reduction system that has been part of F1 racing since 2011 is gone, replaced by a suite of modes governing how the new active front and rear wings behave and how the hybrid powert … ⌘ Read more

Newer RISC-V CPUs Vulnerable To Spectre V1 - Linux Mitigation Patches Posted
Spectre V1 mitigations in the Linux kernel are coming for RISC-V with newer RISC-V core designs being vulnerable to Spectre Variant One style attacks… ⌘ Read more

Kdenlive 25.12 Video Editor Brings New Docking System, Menu Restructuring
In addition to the release this week of OpenShot 3.4, released today is a major update to another popular open-source video editing application: Kdenlive. The Kdenlive 25.12 release brings many improvements to help with editing of any year-end / holiday videos… ⌘ Read more

YouTube Shuts Down Channels Using AI To Create Fake Movie Trailers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Deadline: YouTube has terminated two prominent channels that used artificial intelligence to create fake movie trailers, Deadline can reveal. The Google-owned video giant has switched off Screen Culture and KH Studio, which together boasted well over 2 million subscribers and more than a billion views. … ⌘ Read more

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Awww, 03.jpg. 😍 Yeah, we also had a nice sunset. I was on the road, though, so no photos.

Ooooooooooh! If your .vimrc is as messy as mine, you’ll be pleased to learn that Tagbar can show a sorted list of all key mappings:

https://movq.de/v/0f37d13a01/s.png

🤯

Newer RISC-V CPUs Vulnerable To Spectre V1 - Linux Mitigation Patches Posted
Spectre V1 mitigations in the Linux kernel are coming for RISC-V with newer RISC-V core designs being vulnerable to Spectre Variant One style attacks… ⌘ Read more

Mass Hacking of IP Cameras Leave Koreans Feeling Vulnerable in Homes, Businesses
Hackers breached approximately 120,000 IP cameras across South Korea and allegedly sold footage captured from private homes, gynecology offices, breastfeeding rooms and massage parlors to an overseas pornography website, prompting an interagency government task force to announce sweeping reforms on December 7.

Polic … ⌘ Read more

Tests Find AI Toys Parroting Chinese Communist Party Values
A plush AI toy marketed for children as young as three years old delivers detailed instructions on sharpening knives and lighting matches, and when asked about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s resemblance to Winnie the Pooh – a comparison censored in China – responds that “your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful.”

The Miriat Miiloo, ma … ⌘ Read more

Anthropic’s AI Lost Hundreds of Dollars Running a Vending Machine After Being Talked Into Giving Everything Away
Anthropic let its Claude AI run a vending machine in the Wall Street Journal newsroom for three weeks as part of an internal stress test called Project Vend, and the experiment ended in financial ruin after journalists systematically manipulated the bot into … ⌘ Read more

Mesa NVK Driver Merges Compression Support For Better Performance
Merged today to the Mesa 26.0-devel code for the open-source NVIDIA “NVK” Vulkan driver is compression support for helping to deliver better performance… ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Has Discussed Raising Tens of Billions at About $750 Billion Valuation
An anonymous reader shares a report: OpenAI has held preliminary talks with some investors about raising funds at a valuation of around $750 billion, the Information reported on Wednesday. The ChatGPT maker could raise as much as $100 billion, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the discussions. If finalized, the t … ⌘ Read more

2026 Will Bring Heat More Than 1.4C Above Preindustrial Levels, UK Met Office Says
The UK Met Office projects that 2026 will see global temperatures rise between 1.34C and 1.58C above preindustrial levels, placing it among the four hottest years since records began in 1850 and continuing a streak of extreme warming that has pushed the planet into unprecedented territory. The central forecast is … ⌘ Read more