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6 sudo tricks every Linux user needs to know - plus 1 just for fun  ZDNET

I Discovered the Wonderful Compose Key After 15 Years of Using Linux  It's FOSS

Using technology to identify and address leaks means less water waste, lower costs for universities, schools and public buildings and a more sustainable future in our da…

SpecFive Strike Handheld Linux Workstation with LoRa Mesh  linuxgizmos.com

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Some people are simply mosquito magnets while others emerge relatively unscathed. But why is this so? One explanation, according to scientists from the Netherlands, is beer. To find out why the blood-sucking critters prefer some people over others, a research team led by Felix Hol of Radboud University Nijmegen took thousands of female Anopheles mosquitoes to Lowlands, an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. Researchers set up a pop-up lab in connected shipping containers in 2023, and around 500 volunteers took part. First, they filled out a questionnaire about their hygiene, diet and behavior at the festival. Then, to see how attractive they are to mosquitoes, they placed their arm into a custom-designed cage filled with the pesky insects. The cage had tiny holes so the mosquitoes could smell the person's arm but couldn't bite them. A video camera recorded how many insects landed on a volunteer's arm compared to a sugar feeder on the other side of the cage. By comparing the video footage and questionnaire answers, researchers saw some clear results emerge. Participants who drank beer were 1.35 times more attractive to mosquitoes than those who didn't. The tiny vampires were also more likely to target people who had slept with someone the previous night. The study also revealed that recent showering and sunscreen make people less attractive to the buzzing menace. "We found that mosquitoes are drawn to those who avoid sunscreen, drink beer, and share their bed," the researchers wrote in a paper uploaded to the bioRxiv preprint server. "They simply have a taste for the hedonists among us."

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Cindy Cohn, who has led the Electronic Frontier Foundation as Executive Director for the past decade and has been with the organization for over 25 years, will step down by mid-2026. The digital rights group is launching a search for her successor. From a press release: "It's been the honor of my life to help EFF grow and become the strong, effective organization it is today, but it's time to make space for new leadership. I also want to get back into the fight for civil liberties more directly than I can as the executive director of a thriving 125-person organization," Cohn said. "I'm incredibly proud of all that we've built and accomplished. One of our former interns once called EFF the joyful warriors for internet freedom and I have always loved that characterization." "I know EFF's lawyers, activists and technologists will continue standing up for freedom, justice and innovation whether we're fighting trolls, bullies, corporate oligarchs, clueless legislators or outright dictators," she added. [...] Cohn said she made the decision to step down more than a year ago, and later informed EFF's Board of Directors and executive staff. The Board of Directors has assembled a search committee, which in turn has engaged leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates to conduct a search for EFF's new executive director. Inquiries about the search can be directed to EFF@russellreynolds.com. The search committee hopes to hire someone next spring, with Cohn planning to remain at EFF for a transition period through early summer.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft is diversifying its AI portfolio by integrating some of Anthropic's AI features into Office 365 apps. "The move will blend Anthropic and OpenAI technology in the apps, after years in which Microsoft primarily used OpenAI for the new features in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint," reports Reuters. From the report: Developers making Office AI features found Anthropic's latest models performed better than OpenAI in automating tasks such as financial functions in Excel or generating Powerpoint presentations based on instructions, the report said, citing one of the two people involved in the effort. Microsoft will pay its cloud rival Amazon Web Services to access the Anthropic models, according to the report. AWS is one of Anthropic's largest shareholders. OpenAI's launch of GPT-5 is a step up in quality but Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4 performs better in creating Powerpoint presentations that are more aesthetically pleasing, the report said. Microsoft plans to announce the move in the coming weeks, while the price of AI tools in Office will stay the same, the report said. "As we've said, OpenAI will continue to be our partner on frontier models and we remain committed to our long-term partnership," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linux 6.17 Successfully Lands In Ubuntu 25.10  Phoronix

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Employees at Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s Department of Health and Human Services received an email Tuesday morning with the subject line "AI Deployment," which told them that ChatGPT would be rolled out for all employees at the agency. The deployment is being overseen by Clark Minor, a former Palantir employee who's now Chief Information Officer at HHS. "Artificial intelligence is beginning to improve health care, business, and government," the email, sent by deputy secretary Jim O'Neill and seen by 404 Media, begins. "Our department is committed to supporting and encouraging this transformation. In many offices around the world, the growing administrative burden of extensive emails and meetings can distract even highly motivated people from getting things done. We should all be vigilant against barriers that could slow our progress toward making America healthy again." "I'm excited to move us forward by making ChatGPT available to everyone in the Department effective immediately," it adds. "Some operating divisions, such as FDA and ACF [Administration for Children and Families], have already benefitted from specific deployments of large language models to enhance their work, and now the rest of us can join them. This tool can help us promote rigorous science, radical transparency, and robust good health. As Secretary Kennedy said, 'The AI revolution has arrived.'" [...] The email says that the rollout was being led by Minor, who worked at the surveillance company Palantir from 2013 through 2024. It states Minor has "taken precautions to ensure that your work with AI is carried out in a high-security environment," and that "you can input most internal data, including procurement sensitive data and routine non-sensitive personally identifiable information, with confidence." It then goes on to say that "ChatGPT is currently not approved for disclosure of sensitive personally identifiable information (such as SSNs and bank account numbers), classified information, export-controlled data, or confidential commercial information subject to the Trade Secrets Act." The email does not distinguish what "non-sensitive personally identifiable information" is. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from 404 Media. [...] The agency has also said it plans to roll out AI through HHS's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that will determine whether patients are eligible to receive certain treatments. These types of systems have been shown to be biased when they've been tried, and result in fewer patients getting the care they need.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

5 operating systems I love testing in a VM, but would never install on my PC  xda-developers.com

Hackabone Project Offers BeagleBone-Based Embedded Linux Training with Emulated Framework  linuxgizmos.com

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux

Wheel World adds a Native Linux version for Steam Deck with a "significant performance improvement"  GamingOnLinux