Notices by Liam Proven (lproven@social.vivaldi.net)

One too many words on AT&T's $2,000 Korn shell and other Usenet topics

https://blog.gabornyeki.com/2025-12-usenet/

<- I recently wrote a short piece about the early days of PC Unix. This is what Unix was like before then, in the minicomputer era.

@Suiseiseki @ECityMom @Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith I don't know WTF you are on about because none of these random posts are replies to anything.

Either reply properly or STFU & GTFO.

@Flick That's not a defect in a QR code or its security though. That's a defect in someone not turning their bloody brain on.

@Suiseiseki @ECityMom

There you go. If you think of them as demon rectangles, if you know what the difference is between a Mac and a MAC, then this advice is not aimed at you.

And TBH if your answer involves terms like MACs then your advice will go over the heads of the people who need it -- at the height of an intercontinental 747.

You're not wrong in any way. I am not disagreeing!

But turning off your Bluetooth doesn't stop _Them_ tracking you. It barely even slows Them down.

It does stop your smartwatch working, though. It stops you listening to music, because the "demon rectangles" for the masses don't have headphone ports any more.

So they won't, making it pointless advice.

Don't give pointless advice. Work out what the advice could be that will in fact help.

I Work For an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I’m Actually a Really Good Person
(by Emily Bressler for McSweeney's Internet Tendency)

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-work-for-an-evil-company-but-outside-work-im-actually-a-really-good-person

An open letter: stop spreading outdated advice about internet security

https://www.hacklore.org/letter

All this is BAD ADVICE. Don't…

• Avoid public WiFi
• Never scan QR codes
• Never charge devices from public USB ports
• Turn off Bluetooth & NFC
• Regularly “clear cookies”
• Regularly change passwords

I think this #smbc_comics could be called...

The ones who walk away from touching-racks.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/blame

Latest Servo release hints at a real Rust alternative to Chromium

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/18/servo_002_arrives/

As Mozilla stumbles into 'AI everywhere,' you might be glad of a non-Google browser engine

<- by me on @theregister

Retro Games opens pre-orders for THEA1200, a full-size working Amiga replica

https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/14/thea1200_fullsize_amiga_replica/

Company behind THESPECTRUM brings the holiday season early for retro computing fans

<- by me on @theregister

NordVPN open sources its Linux GUI client under GPLv3

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/nordvpn_linux_gui/

Joins its command-line client from a couple of years ago

<- by me on @theregister

@nixCraft A Linux phone you say?

Like a Furilabs phone?

https://furilabs.com/

Or a Fairphone with postmarketOS?

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Fairphone_5_(fairphone-fp5)

Or a Jolla phone?

https://jolla-devices.com/jolla-jolla/

Or a Pinephone?

https://pine64.org/devices/pinephone/

Or any supported device with UBports?

https://ubports.com/

Seriously, there are multiple options out there.

I didn't back the Ubuntu phone because it didn't offer anything to me that existing phones didn't already do. Like, say, a physical keyboard, which I'd happily pay for. (I own a Gemini.)

The great Dr Jane Goodall, ethologist and campaigner for great apes and much else, has died at the age of 91.

She loved this _Far Side_ cartoon, and wrote a foreword for a later Gary Larson collection.

Seen two people talking about a new, paid-for "AI" powered browser from "Norwegian browser company Opera" today.

1. Opera sold out to China in 2016. It's a Chinese browser company now.

2. This is a key indicator the "AI" bubble is about to pop: when they start charging the rubes for the snake oil that was previoiusly free...

In the British Isles, it looks like 2025 is a mast year.

https://ribbletrust.org.uk/what-is-a-mast-year/

Please help the trees. Gather as many acorns & other big, easy to find tree seeds as you can find, & scatter them on any waste land you can reach.

The world urgently needs more trees.

Yesterday I nuked the Windows partition on another of my Thinkpads & replaced it with Windows 10 IoT LTSC.

Now I have a clean Win10 system, no Modern apps, no Windows store, no OneDrive, & it'll get updates until 2032.

The download & the tools to activate it are here:

https://massgrave.dev/

Need Windows? Do it. Do it now.

Key KDE developer Jonathan Riddell quits

https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/16/key_kde_dev_quits

Former head of Kubuntu and neon says adiós after 25 years

<- by me on @theregister

@Flick As Chris Tregenza put it on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/tregenza.bsky.social/post/3lykgsglofc24

@Flick Disclaimer: not read. Don't want to.

Nobody is dehumanising Kirk. He did that all to himself.

He spread, promoted and glorified hatred and violence, and he got what he endorsed.

@Tutanota I have tried several alternative phone OSes and de-Googled Androids, and written about some.

I do not know of anywhere that I can go and see a list of all of them.

Here is a nice easy non-coding project for anyone who is interested in this area.

* A list of FOSS phone OSes

* Better still, with strengths/weaknesses comparisons: what each one is good for

* Better still, some tool where you can enter your phone model and it tells you you could run.

The Baba Yaga licence

https://smallandnearlysilent.com/baba-yaga/LICENSE.txt

<- I like this. I like the style, the language, and the concept.

I wonder if it qualifies as a Free Software or open source licence?