• Un-Googled Chromium update for Slackware 14.2 and -current | Alien Pastures

  After nearly two weeks of pulling my hair out I finally was able to build the newest Chromium in its un-Googled variant. You can find packages for Slackware 14.2 and -current in my repository on slackware.nl.

  It’s a jump from the 92 to the 94 release (94.0.4606.81 to be precise) but I simply did not have the opportunity to build a 93 release. In part because the un-googled repository maintained by Eloston did not offer release tarballs for a while. Extended leave of absence of the maintainer seems to be the issue which by now has been resolved by giving more people commit access to that repository.

  The un-Googled version of Chromium is incapable of “phoning home” to Google, by altering the source code and stripping/mangling all occurrences where that might happen. This is basically what Eloston’s project does.

• Adobe Gives a Free PDF Editor for Google Chrome and Edge Users

  Adobe announced via a blog post that Acrobat extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge now have basic PDF editing features, right inside the browser.

• Google Trumpets The Success Of Their Chrome "RenderingNG" Performance Initiative - Phoronix

  For the better part of the past decade Google has been pursuing performance improvements to their Chrome/Chromium web browser as the "RenderingNG" initiative to provide faster web page performance, lower memory consumption, and better battery life. This current work is finally wrapping up in 2021 to great success.

  In a new blog post on Wednesday, Google is talking up "150% or more faster graphics rendering" compared to older versions of Chrome along with a "6x reduction in GPU driver crashes on problematic hardware". Or even with the new Chrome 93 to 94 transition alone they are proclaiming up to 8% more responsive web pages, up to 1400 years of CPU time per day saved, and up to 0.5% improved battery life.

• DIY compile chromium

  The saga has been going on for a couple of weeks. I am compiling chromium in EasyOS. Each build takes 13 hours, running on a Lenovo PC with Intel 8th gen. i3 CPU, 32GB RAM, swap partition on internal SSD, the source on an external USB3 SSD.

  [...]

  I don't recommend installing in a container, as video playing is choppy, with audio out of sync. I think that the other chromium SFS, the official build, does play OK in a container -- from memory -- but as it runs with the "--no-sandbox" option you get that warning message.
  Note to pup and *dog users. SFSs in EasyOS are a bit different, the SFS won't work for you, as-is. EasyOS has glibc 2.33, and if your pup has an older glibc then it probably won't work. Also, you would need to open it up and modify /usr/bin/chromium script so that it runs as 'spot'. There is folder '.control' that you won't need.
  Very ambivalent about compiling chromium. So many issues, so many patches. Think maybe should just use the official build from Google. I read some comments, some other distro maintainers are thinking the same thing, mostly because of the API keys problem.

• DMA-BUF Support In WebRTC

  It will be almost three years since we landed initial support for screensharing on Wayland with the use of PipeWire in the WebRTC project. This enabled screensharing support in both major Linux browsers. Last year I implemented support for window sharing, added support for PipeWire 0.3 and added support for DMA-BUF and MemFD buffer types. Problem was, as it turned out, the DMA-BUF support was not implemented in a correct way.

  The original implementation was using mmap() to get the buffer content. This worked correctly for current Intel GPUs, but was terrifically slow on e.g. AMD GPUs. Proper solution is to use OpenGL context to get the content from buffer. However, there were many implementations using mmap() already, including WebRTC and we needed a way how to properly communicate between the server and the client that when the client advertises DMA-BUF support, it means it doesn’t use mmap() and goes through OpenGL context instead.

• Chrome 96 To Feature Improved WebRTC Code, Better Wayland Screensharing

  Jan Grulich has been working on a new DMA-BUF implementation within the WebRTC code as the original DMA-BUF buffer sharing code was found to be inadequate. In particular, the original DMA-BUF mmap-based approach was found to perform very slow with the AMD Radeon Linux graphics driver and instead this new implementation allows using an OpenGL context to get the context from the buffer. Long story short, after a lot of work that new WebRTC DMA-BUF code is now good to go.

• Cloud [cracking]: India now 2nd most targeted nation after US [iophk: Windows TCO]

  The most targeted sectors by ransomware in Q2 of 2021 were the government, followed by telecom, energy, and media and communications.

  Spam showed the highest increase of reported incidents -- 250 per cent -- from Q1 to Q2 2021, followed by Malicious Script with 125 per cent and Malware with 47 per cent.

• The case of the insecure printer

  The latest way to make sure the vendor calls the shots is to insist that printers won't print a page unless they have internet connectivity and are linked to an "HP Smart" account. According to HP, you must connect your HP LaserJet M209dwe, MFP M234dwe, M234sdne, and M234sdwe printers to an HP Smart account before they'll work. (I expect other printers will soon face the same annoying requirement.)

  I'm not happy about this. And it's not just because I'm sure this will monitor my ink or my laserjet cartridge. I'm ticked off because this is a major security hole in my network. I do not want an unauthorized connection to printers in my network reporting who knows what to HP.

• Github Removes GTA Fan Projects re3 & reVC Following New Take-Two DMCA Notice

  After Take-Two Interactive sent a legal letter to Github referencing a copyright infringement lawsuit against the people behind the popular re3 and reVC Grand Theft Auto fan projects, Github has now removed the repositories for a second time. Take-Two has also demanded the removal of many project forks and wants Github to take action under its repeat infringer policy.

• Google commits $1M to new Linux Foundation open source security rewards program | VentureBeat

  Google has announced that it’s sponsoring a new open source security program hosted by the Linux Foundation. The Secure Open Source (SOS) Rewards pilot program provides financial incentives for developers working on security around critical open source projects.

  Open source software plays a key role in many essential infrastructure and national security systems, but recent data suggests “upstream” attacks on open source software have increased in the past year as bad actors seek new ways to infiltrate the software supply chain. Moreover, countless organizations — from government agencies to hospitals and corporations — have been hit by targeted software supply chain attacks, leading U.S. President Biden to issue an executive order outlining measures to combat them.

• Google’s New Spyware in Chrome 94

  Google’s at it again.

  A few weeks ago when Google released Chrome 94 for desktop and Android, a new “feature” added by Alphabet all but slipped under the radar. The feature takes the form of a new API the company is calling Idle Detection. It’s not a feature added to benefit users, but is another way for website owners to keep tabs on you.

  Google says the feature is primarily designed for collaborative multi-user applications such as online games, meetings, and chat boxes.

  “The Idle Detection API notifies developers when a user is idle, indicating such things as lack of interaction with the keyboard, mouse, screen, activation of a screensaver, locking of the screen, or moving to a different screen. A developer-defined threshold triggers the notification,” the company said on a web page devoted to all of the gee-whiz stuff that’s included in its ad serving platform web browser.

DuckDuckGo doesn’t put any of my posts on the front page of its results even when you specifically search for them.

According to Wikipedia, DuckDuckGo has an “anti-content farm” policy that was created by CEO Gabriel Weinberg, and it was designed to filter out “sources of low quality articles”.

While there’s nothing wrong with this in theory, in fact, I am quite angry that they don’t think that what I have to say should be in their results at all, even if you search specifically for me.

Techrights has a page about DuckDuckGo’s shifty practices. Also, another one updated with more nasty things they do in 2021.

GNOME Web defaults to DuckDuckGo as a way to earn search royalties, and some others do too. They pay very little, but more than Google will to some smaller projects, and so unfortunately Tor also uses it and this after the pittance of something like $40,000 in a one off donation, if memory serves correctly.

Interestingly, GNOME Web has been making the Google experience better lately. In addition to lying to it with UA hacks to make it think you use Chrome and to silence the Get Chrome spam, they’ve added a YouTube ad blocker in the version “41” release and also, the option (disabled by default) in the privacy settings to get instant search results if you use Google.