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@pulsewidth@lemmy.world
- Comment on Coles and Westpac in a battle against corporate greed 2 hours ago:
Great article, well written and researched. I think everyone is tired of the oligopoly of major supermarkets crying ‘we have tiny margins’ to investigators and courts only to turn around and report record profits for the 10th quarter in a row the next week. The banks are even worse.
After looking at a couple others articles I’ve added Independent Australia to my regular news sources, cheers.
- Comment on Ultra rare floppy disk game twisted and slashed into shards by US Customs or DHL checkers — ruined Tsukihime 1999 demo was one of only 50 ever produced 1 day ago:
Intentional vandalism by a dickhead on a power trip.
- Comment on Meta Employee Deleted 9TB of Torrented Files, Adult Film Producers Claim 4 days ago:
Your casual 9 TB of porn.
- Comment on EA invents new microtransaction nightmare as it breaks paywall promise on Skate: rent a playable area for 24 hours or buy a premium pass, bucko 1 week ago:
Fucking lol… This is the Metaverse with extra steps.
- Comment on Jack Dorsey's New Company Falling Apart as It Forces Employees to Use AI 1 week ago:
Agree with all points. Additionally, compilers are also incredibly well specified via ISO standards etc, and have multiple open source codebases available, eg GCC which is available in multiple builds and implementations for different versions of C and C++, and DQNEO/cc.go.
So there are many fully-functional and complete sources that Claude Cowork would have pulled routines and code from.
- Comment on Youtube frontend, Grayjay is coming to Steam 1 week ago:
I’m sure I donated back in version 0.1 or 0.2, maybe a year ago, but looking now it doesn’t seem to show me as being a registered user, so perhaps I was wrong.
I’m pretty sure it still falls under the definition of ‘donationware’, though?
Donationware is a licensing model that supplies fully operational unrestricted software to the user and requests an optional donation be paid to the programmer or a third-party beneficiary (usually a non-profit).[1] The amount of the donation may also be stipulated by the author, or it may be left to the discretion of the user, based on individual perceptions of the software’s value. Since donationware comes fully operational (i.e. not crippleware/freemium) when payment is optional, it is a type of freeware.
- Comment on Youtube frontend, Grayjay is coming to Steam 1 week ago:
I wasn’t t aware of the Curtis Yarvin link at all. I’ve just read that blog article and it’s not possible to remain cautiously optimistic or give them benefit of the doubt… the FUTO founder (Eron Wolf) seems very clearly ideologically-aligned with fascists.
Well, now I’m really hoping they change their license to true open source, so a group less ideologically disastrous can fork it and take the helm for interested contributors and supporters to join.
- Comment on Youtube frontend, Grayjay is coming to Steam 1 week ago:
Probably for additional exposure to the public and to monetize via paid DLC as a ‘supporter tier’ style offering (with limited or no added features).
Grayjay is donationware - “FOSS”, but with a strong encouragement to donate if you use it regularly and have the means to support.
I put FOSS in quotes because Grayjay is not really OSS. It has a custom license that does not allow commercial reuse of its code.
This has caused significant discussion of concerns and ire from some.
discuss.privacyguides.net/t/…/14616
- Comment on Reality of the Discord and its alternatives 1 week ago:
Good advice. I’d add that a good message to take from all the issues exposed with Discord is that people should treat it like a data and privacy-hostile service like Facebook and use it as little as possible.
Don’t share personal shit, don’t share shit at all if you don’t have to. Just use it for whatever you’ve deemed necessary like memes or game voice chat for your wide circle of gaming friends, not as some kind of social media replacement to post your life to.
- Comment on Race to find source of carcinogenic Pfas in Cumbria and Lancashire waters 2 weeks ago:
Gosh its just a race to figure out the source. Could be an old paper mill maybe that left waste paper on grounds, could be old landfill or maybe from fire stations in the area. Who knows?!
Do these journos not read their own goddamn paper?
The Guardian identified it as AGC Chemicals in their own investigative report three years ago - they’ve been pumping chemical effluent to the equivalent of many tonnes of solid chemical waste into the River Wyre which runs through Lancashire that are know to include PFAS. They followed this up with a report late last year that pointed out that regulators are turning a blind eye to AGC Chemicals continued pollution by not even testing for PFAS in their output effluent.
It seems The Guardian is now turning a blind eye too, because they didn’t mention AGC Chemicals once in this FUD story that seems to be raising plenty of concerns and anxiety from residents while saying nobody is sure where any PFAS are coming from.
Have I missed something or misread?
This is stupid? - Comment on Notepad++ users take note: It's time to check if you're hacked 3 weeks ago:
If you’re worried that this may have hit your PC I’d say first of all be aware that this is a state-level backdoor, intended to be persistent and evade detection. You are likely not the target and are very unlikely to find any teaf
Actions I’d suggest if you’re worried this could have hit your PC:
- Grab the list of Indicators of compromise from the bottom of this article. Disconnect the PC from the Internet now that you have the list.
- Search for any instances of these files locally and SHA-256 hash them if found, and match to the hashes on the list. If you find any matches, your system is compromised.
- Check the DNS cache for any hosts mentioned in the indicators, and if you have network traffic logging you could check there also. Indicators are very likely signs of prior/active attack on your PC.
- If nothing found, reconnect to the net and continue…
- uninstall Notepad++, or if you want to keep using it, update Notepad++ via a method other than their internal update method. I suggest powershell using winget as its preinstalled in Win10 & 11.
PS > winget upgrade - q Notepad++ (will show you available updates) PS > winget upgrade - q Notepad++ (
- (Optional) disable Notepad++ internal update mechanism, and use winget or another method moving forward. Settings -> Preferences -> MISC: Auto-updater: Disable.
- Comment on Notepad++ users take note: It's time to check if you're hacked 3 weeks ago:
This advice is not accurate:
The Rapid 7 post says if you have a hidden folder in “%AppData%” named Bluetooth. You got hacked. So if you don’t have said folder, you’re good.
Their post says that the Bluetooth hidden folder in AppData was only used as the initial access vector.
After initial access, an advanced persistent backdoor they’ve named “Chrysalis” is delivered and installed via significantly obfuscated methods to minimize chance of detection. The backdoor allows arbitrary code execution via a CMD.exe reverse shell, with additional modes for remote file write, read, and a full self-removal mechism that attempts to delete any trace it was ever on the system.
The Indicators of compromise section at the bottom contains a list of any files you can check for on your system, and their corresponding SHA-256 values, as well as network indicators if you have logging or wish to check your DNS cache. If you have any files that match or other indicators, then your system is/was compromised. But there is a very good chance that many systems which were compromised now have no remaining trace of breech.
- Comment on [deleted] 3 weeks ago:
Its likely this is designed with a plan to push advertising or self-promotion.
Eg: step one is done - figure out how to both find threads early & get your content picked up as a good answer regularly and consistently. Step 2 - start inserting ‘first hand’ recommendations or even just mentions of products and services.
I’ve already seen webpages with the most esoteric or niche product/service recommendations (like some random Indian consultancy with 2 people listed in it, and no other significant web footprint) pop up in first page web results. Its another AI deathblow to the utility of search engines.
- Comment on [deleted] 4 weeks ago:
Nobody reads them except recruitment bots, so it’s probably fine.
- Comment on We can't even pump fuel anymore without holding a digital billboard (Netherlands) 4 weeks ago:
Does the screen at least have some other functionality - like telling you when the tank is full, or something?
Or is it just a little digital billboard of sadness.
- Comment on Microsoft lost $357 billion in market cap as stock plunged most since 2020 4 weeks ago:
The same Melius Finance that gave Tesla stock its highest rating of “must own” due to Elon lying again that Full Self Drive is being deployed imminently to Teslas via their in-house “AI chips” eta Dec 2025?
…yahoo.com/…/tesla-stock-must-own-melius-22072193…
Tesla stock is currently at $416 after a high of $474 in November, around when this call was made.
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- Comment on Deuterostomes 4 weeks ago:
Skin, probably. Everyone forgets that your skin is an organ.
- Comment on New York Startup Builds Fridge-Sized Machine That Can Turn Air Into Gasoline 4 weeks ago:
Oh, they’re not but I guess you’d have to ask him for the answer. Those videos are both still up if you want to watch a long stream of misogyny and logical fallacies dressed up as an ‘owning’.
- Comment on 4 weeks ago:
Yes please. We go from ANZAC day in April to fucking December 25th before we get another public holiday in most of Australia.
I dread that ‘public holiday drought’ every year.
Move it to early September or something. Skips the worst of winter and breaks up the work year better.
- Comment on New York Startup Builds Fridge-Sized Machine That Can Turn Air Into Gasoline 4 weeks ago:
The “Why ‘Feminism’ is poisoning atheism”, “Feminism Vs FACTS” chud?
I’m surprised he still has an audience tbh. Well, sadly not that surprised.
- Comment on Growing demand for local products in Africa's €1bn baby food market 4 weeks ago:
I’m well aware, another of Nestlé’s evils. Nothing about either of our points in the article though, which assumes its purely a supply problem and doesn’t offer the obvious solution: public education programs to encourage mothers to prioritize breast milk over formula. They speak of it primarily as a business problem.
- Comment on If someone tells you "you support socialism, yet you use products of capitalism", what would you say? 5 weeks ago:
Tell them they’re using one of the oldest logical fallacies, and Ancient philosophers would be embarrassed by them.
- Comment on Growing demand for local products in Africa's €1bn baby food market 5 weeks ago:
Gosh if only there was some kind of breast milk 90%* of people could use instead of powdered formulated, sugary cow’s breast milk.
*I understand a small percentage of women cannot produce their own breast milk, or not enough due to medical issues - for them formula is a necessity. However, over 60% of babies under 6-months in Africa use formula.
- Comment on Fear that quantum computing is on the cusp of cracking cryptocurrency's encryption spurs a global investment firm to remove Bitcoin from recommendations 5 weeks ago:
Businesses that have smart leaders are already implementing (or have already completed implementing) post-quantum encryption systems into their business to protect them for when quantum computers and quantum programming mature and make their existing encryption defeatable. For most systems it’s just a matter of a software update and re-encrypting any data.
Eg: arstechnica.com/…/why-signals-post-quantum-makeov…
This is a problem for public proof-of-work systems that cannot change their encryption, eg: all crypto. Bitcoin cannot change how their coins are encrypted without redesigning and completely rebuilding their public blockchain - it would require concensus from all major bitcoin users and businesses (coin exchanges etc), and could potentially leave any prior-minted bitcoin vulnerable anyway. It will not happen anytime soon - and when it does happen, it may be too late.
Hence, its actually pretty high on the list of quantum targets, and will likely be attacked as soon as it’s available. Some people might be able to steal a bunch of Bitcoin and exchange it for other new (secure) coins or for cash, and get out before the Bitcoin public realize its been cracked. At which time the Bitcoin price will crash hard and may not recover (depending on what action they take to resolve the issue), so the cautious are getting out asap.
- Comment on Amazon is forcibly upgrading Prime members to Alexa Plus, and users are not happy 1 month ago:
Its a CIA-style listening device that people pay for and proudly install and display in their home, gathering data on them, sharing it with Amazon and anyone they care to sell or make that data available to - including police.
Ostensibly all to provide short voice answers and actions they could do privately with their phone in seconds.
- Comment on Circumcision classed as possible child abuse in draft CPS document 1 month ago:
Well, of course, that’s crazy behaviour.
But if you did it in a religious ritualistic ceremony and sucked the blood off the tip of the babies dicks afterwards, well that wouldn’t be weird now, would it.
You could even call it “Metzitzah B’peh” and it would happen so regularly and kids would get herpetic infections from the mohel’s so often (sometimes even dying that the New York Health department would have to issue warnings about it, and it would still not be weird, even when the families of the babies affected would refuse to name the mohel’s to allow the health dept to investigate and have them banned from performing the practice on future babies.
- Comment on Circumcision classed as possible child abuse in draft CPS document 1 month ago:
Literally the same thing that female genital mutilators say about their ‘cultural right’ to circumsize their daughters.
What are kids anyway in your eyes beyond property that parents should have the right to permanently brand with their mark of religion.
- Comment on Innocent African-American child George Stinney executed after being falsely accused of murdering two white girls | 1944 1 month ago:
They thought, “ah shit, he’s not tall enough - grab that bible, we can boost him up higher.”
The USA was far too kind to the Confederate states post-war. The racism has been allowed to fester - and in many cases thrive ever since.
- Comment on 'Microslop' is heading for Edge – major browser redesign is inspired by Copilot, and it's already seriously unpopular 1 month ago:
Internet Copilot One X.
- Comment on CD PROJEKT and GOG co-founder Michał Kiciński acquires GOG from CD PROJEKT 1 month ago:
It’s a badly-worded title. Better titles:
- “GOG Is Being Acquired by Original Co-Founder Michał Kiciński” - techraptor.net/…/gog-acquired-original-co-founder
- “Co-founder of CD Projekt Michał Kiciński has acquired GOG, the company’s game storefront” - engadget.com/…/co-founder-of-cd-projekt-michał-ki…