Feed aggregator

The DistroWatch news feed is brought to you by TUXEDO COMPUTERS. The PorteuX development team has release PorteuX 2.4, the latest version of the project's set of lightweight and stripped-down Linux distribution featuring a number of popular desktop environments. This release presents a new desktop option, the COSMIC desktop developed by System 76: "This release brings the COSMIC desktop....

Blender 5.0 has been released with major upgrades including HDR and wide-gamut color support on Linux via Wayland/Vulkan, significant theme and UI improvements, new color-space tools, revamped curve and geometry features, and expanded hardware requirements. 9to5Linux reports: Blender 5.0 also introduces a working color space for Blend files, a new AgX HDR view, a new Convert to Display compositor node, new Rec.2100-PQ and Rec.2100-HLG displays that can be used for color grading for HDR video export, and new ACES 1.3 and 2.0 views as an alternative to AgX and Filmic. A new "Jump Time by Delta" operator for jumping forward/backward in time by a user-specified delta has been introduced as well, along with a revamped Curve drawing, which better supports the new Curves object type and all of their features, and a new Geometry Attribute constraint. Also new is a "Cylinder" option for curve display type that allows rendering thicker curves without the flat ribbon appearance, support for the Zstd (Zstandard) fast lossless compression algorithm for point caches, as well as a new "Curve Data" panel in edit mode that allows tweaking built-in curve attribute values. A full list of changes can be found here. You can download from the official website.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Apple's Power Mac and Mac Pro towers used to be the company's primary workstations, but it has been years since they were updated with the same regularity as the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. The Mac Pro has seen just four hardware updates in the last 15 years, and that's counting a 2012 refresh that was mostly identical to the 2010 version. Long-suffering Mac Pro buyers may have taken heart when Apple finally added an M2 Ultra processor to the tower in mid-2023, making it one of the very last Macs to switch from Intel to Apple Silicon -- surely this would mean that the computer would at least be updated once every year or two, like the Mac Studio has been? But Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says that Mac Pro buyers shouldn't get their hopes up for new hardware in 2026. Gurman says that the tower is "on the back burner" at Apple and that the company is "focused on a new Mac Studio" for the next-generation M5 Ultra chip that is in the works. As we reported earlier this year, Apple doesn't have plans to design or release an M4 Ultra, and the Mac Studio refresh from this spring included an M3 Ultra alongside the M4 Max. Note that Gurman carefully stops short of saying we definitely won't see a Mac Pro update next year -- the emphasis on the Mac Studio merely "suggests the Mac Pro won't be updated in 2026 in a significant way," and internal sources tell him "Apple has largely written off the Mac Pro." The current Mac Pro does still use the M2 Ultra rather than the M3 Ultra, which indicates that Apple doesn't see the need to update its high-end desktop every time it releases a suitable chip. But all of Apple's other desktops -- the iMac, the Mac mini, and the Studio -- have skipped a silicon generation once since the M1 came out in 2020.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft says SQL Server adoption on Linux is 'phenomenal', ends support for SUSE distro  Neowin

VKD3D-Proton Adds FSR 4, Even for Older Radeon GPUs  TechPowerUp

VKD3D-Proton Adds FSR 4, Even for Older Radeon GPUs  TechPowerUp

An anonymous reader shares a report: Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the city of San Jose, California over its deployment of Flock's license plate-reading surveillance cameras, claiming that the city's nearly 500 cameras create a pervasive database of residents movements in a surveillance network that is essentially impossible to avoid. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network and Council on American-Islamic Relations, California, and claims that the surveillance is a violation of California's constitution and its privacy laws. The lawsuit seeks to require police to get a warrant in order to search Flock's license plate system. The lawsuit is one of the highest profile cases challenging Flock; a similar lawsuit in Norfolk, Virginia seeks to get Flock's network shut down in that city altogether. "San Jose's ALPR [automatic license plate reader] program stands apart in its invasiveness," ACLU of Northern California and EFF lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. "While many California agencies run ALPR systems, few retain the locations of drivers for an entire year like San Jose. Further, it is difficult for most residents of San Jose to get to work, pick up their kids, or obtain medical care without driving, and the City has blanketed its roads with nearly 500 ALPRs."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Q4OS Linux brought my old laptop back to life and you mustn't ignore it  XDA

Klarna has claimed that AI-related savings have allowed the buy now, pay later company to increase staff salaries by nearly 60%, but hinted it could slash more jobs after nearly halving its workforce over the past three years. From a report: Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski said headcount had dropped from 5,527 to 2,907 since 2022, mostly as a result of natural attrition, with departing staff replaced by technology rather than by new staff members. The figures add to the impact of an internal artificial intelligence programme, which had steadily reduced its use of outsourced workers including those in customer service, with technology now carrying out the work of 853 full-time staff, up from 700 earlier this year. It meant the company, which was founded in Sweden in 2005, had managed to increase revenues by 108% while keeping operating costs flat. Siemiatkowski told analysts on an earnings call on Tuesday that it was "pretty remarkable, and unheard of as a number, among businesses."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: It's too soon to be talking about the Curse of OpenAI, but we're going to anyway. Since September 10, when Oracle announced a $300 billion deal with the chatbot maker, its stock has shed $315 billion in market value. OK, yes, it's a gross simplification to just look at market cap. But equivalents to Oracle shares are little changed over the same period (Nasdaq Composite, Microsoft, Dow Jones US Software Index), so the $15 billion loss figure [figure updated with stock price] is not entirely wrong. Oracle's "astonishing quarter" really has cost it nearly as much as one General Motors, or two Kraft Heinz.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Android Enterprise and Google Pixel devices are getting RCS archival to help IT admins easily configure and maintain compliant recordsAndroid Enterprise and Google Pixel devices are getting RCS archival to help IT admins easily configure and maintain compliant records

Intel LASS Feature Looks Like It Will Be Upstreamed For Linux 6.19  Phoronix

Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant in Windows 11 fails to replicate the capabilities shown in the company's TV advertisements. The Verge tested Copilot Vision over a week using the same prompts featured in ads airing during NFL games. When asked to identify a HyperX QuadCast 2S microphone visible in a YouTube video -- a task successfully completed in Microsoft's ad -- Copilot gave multiple incorrect answers. The assistant identified the microphone as a first-generation HyperX QuadCast, then as a Shure SM7b on two other occasions. Copilot couldn't identify the Saturn V rocket from a PowerPoint presentation despite the words "Saturn V" appearing on screen. When asked about a cave image from Microsoft's ad, Copilot gave inconsistent responses. About a third of the time it provided directions to find the photo in File Explorer. On two occasions it explained how to launch Google Chrome. Four times it offered advice about booking flights to Belize. The cave is Rio Secreto in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Microsoft spokesperson Blake Manfre said "Copilot Actions on Windows, which can take actions on local files, is not yet available." He described it as "an opt-in experimental feature that will be coming soon to Windows Insiders in Copilot Labs, starting with a narrow set of use cases while we optimize model performance and learn." Copilot cannot toggle basic Windows settings like dark mode. When asked to analyze a benchmark table in Google Sheets, it "constantly misread clear-as-day scores both in the spreadsheet and in the on-page review."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

SUSE’s Agama 18: Revolutionizing Linux Installs with Smarter Storage and Enterprise Edge  WebProNews

Updated new member bonuses. Wings Financial Credit Union continues to expand aggressively with a $300 checking bonus plus a doubled $100 refer-a-friend bonus for new members (along with some other promotions). Please note that each bonus has its own separate set of requirements.

Here are their official membership requirements, but anyone can join Wings Financial via partner organization (Wings Financial Foundation). When I joined, they even paid the $5 membership fee for that partner organization on my behalf. I did experience a hard credit check, which is (unfortunately) common amongst credit unions.

$300 Checking Bonus

• Join Wings and open a new checking account by 12/31/25.
• One offer per person; valid for U.S. residents only. Must be 18 years or older.
• Must use promo code WINGS25 at account opening.
• Within 60 days of account opening, have recurring Qualified Direct Deposit(s) totaling at least $3,000 to earn the $300 bonus.
• Complete at least 5 net PIN or signature-based debit card or credit card transactions over $25 each on your Wings Visa Debit Card.
• Enroll in Wings digital banking.
• Enroll in eDocuments. You must do this manually after logging into your account online, and they will send you an e-mail confirmation afterward. Enrollment in eDocuments must also be active on the Bonus Payout Date.

$100 Refer-a-Friend Checking bonus

• Register your information at member’s referral link (that’s mine). I have already registered on my end, and successfully referred members in the past. This form is independent of the $300 bonus above and does not require a promo code, and was stackable for me. I recommend you register your information at this link first, and then open the accounts with the proper promo code from above added.
• Become a Wings Financial member and open a Share Savings Account (minimum balance of $5.00 required)
• Open a new Wings Checking account (First Class or High-Yield).
• Enroll in eDocuments. You must do this manually, and they will send you an e-mail confirmation afterward.
• Complete one (1) direct deposit of $1,000 or more into new checking account OR complete five (5) debit card purchase transactions of $25+ each. (ATM transactions excluded.)
• Both referring and referred parties will receive a $100 Visa Reward card mailed to them upon completion. Wings has fulfilled this referral bonus as promised for me in the past, stacking with the new checking bonus.

Linux is getting this popular game library manager next year  How-To Geek

How Kubernetes Became the New Linux  The New Stack

An anonymous reader shares a report: The IRS accessed a database of hundreds of millions of travel records, which show when and where a specific person flew and the credit card they used, without obtaining a warrant, according to a letter signed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and shared with 404 Media. The country's major airlines, including Delta, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Southwest, funnel customer records to a data broker they co-own called the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which then sells access to peoples' travel data to government agencies. The IRS case in the letter is the clearest example yet of how agencies are searching the massive trove of travel data without a search warrant, court order, or similar legal mechanism. Instead, because the data is being sold commercially, agencies are able to simply buy access. In the letter addressed to nine major airlines, the lawmakers urge them to shut down the data selling program. Update: after this piece was published, ARC said it already planned to shut down the program. "Disclosures made by the IRS to Senator Wyden confirm that it did not follow federal law and its own policies in purchasing airline data from ARC," the letter reads. The letter says the IRS "confirmed that it did not conduct a legal review to determine if the purchase of Americans' travel data requires a warrant."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Meta did not illegally stifle competition when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp. The decision marks Big Tech's first major victory against antitrust enforcement that began during President Donald Trump's first term. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission had sought to force Meta to sell or restructure the platforms to restore competition among social media networks. Meta argued it faced competitive pressure from TikTok, YouTube, and Apple's messaging app.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Today, we are introducing Google Scholar Labs, a new feature that explores how generative AI can transform the process of answering detailed scholarly research questions…