Five weeks – and freedom, finally ;)

Today it has been 35 days or 5 weeks since we’ve brought Bella to our home. And according to the suggestions, if you move a cat, keep her in for 4-6 weeks to get accomodated to the new home, or else she could head out just to search for the old one. So we agreed on 5 weeks, meaning: today.

Here are some photos since last week, and from today:

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Zuleikha also made a nice collage with her phone, which she sent me with Signal lately:

Here’s one from this morning, looking out at the dimly lit dining area/window:

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Later, Bella slept a bit (or recharged, like babies do?):

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And finally, while us humans were hanging the laundry: freedom! Yay!

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She hasn’t been out for too long this first time, so let’s see how she’ll do during the next days. So much to explore…

… and like always, thanks for viewing.

Thanks to Gnome, computing became a lot less fun again

Got Gnome 45 on Arch today, and – as expected and even announced – none of the former extensions kept working. Looked like this:

Gnome 45 desktop on Arch Linux, with Conky and my own wallpaper photo

The workspace switcher still worked, but is redundant now because they made another pill-shaped one on the top left (not movable). Freon and Openweather extensions don’t have version 45 yet, and even Vitals – at least the one packaged in Arch’s User Repository (AUR) was too old. And GSConnect, the most important one for integrating your phone(s), is gone as well.

My solution, for the moment? Go to XFCE. I’ve tried Budgie but didn’t like it, and I never became friends with KDE again since leaving it 20+ years ago. So for now my Arch desktop looks like this:

XFCE4 desktop on Arch Linux, with default background and with added weather and sensor applets (built in, eat that, Gnome!)

So still no GSConnect (or KDE Connect), but still better than this forced-into-your face behaviour of Gnome. Seems like Linus was right, that is cancerous behaviour, thanks but no thanks.

Edit/Update:

I gave KDE another try. No love yet, but it’s growing on me. And KDE Connect works as well (that small phone icon in the lower right):

KDE Plasma desktop on Arch Linux, with Conky and some additional widgets

So let’s see…

Edit/Update from later the same day:

Back to Gnome by now. Like I said, I tried to love KDE or XFCE or other desktop environments, but just can’t. So for the moment I installed the latest nightly build of GSConnect from Github, and for a bit of weather info, I used another extension from AUR’s git. That relies on the installed weather app from Gnome which isn’t as good as OpenWeather, but it works (showing Frankfurt, not the place we live but close enough). For the moment, I can do without Vitals or Freon, I know that my CPU temp and fans speeds are good no matter what I’ll do. So back to minmalistic Gnome:

Gnome 45 desktop on Arch Linux, with GSConnect and a bit of weather info

Like always, thanks for viewing.

So many updates…

During the last month or so, quite a number of bugs have been found, some of them prominent, and some severe ones which are actively exploited already, meaning that more or less everyone is affected, no matter what operating system(s) they use. That’s why more or less every operating system and program vendor(s) are offering updates at the moment, and you should install all of them.

For instance: the webp image and vp8 video formats from Google, they are used in every major browser and even in programs you wouldn’t think of, like the Signal desktop and mobile clients which are basically Chrome browsers as well (just with another look). Or in-OS updates like libvpx on Linux and the equivalent ones on Windows, Macs, and so on – even “stable” operating systems like Debian 12 “Bookworm” are offering updates on almost a daily basis at the moment, and you should really care.

On Android phones, look for updates as well – the original Google Pixel devices which are still supported just got Android 14 (which has bug fixes), but ones on A13 or older should still get updates as well – and don’t forget to check the Google Play Store or its alternatives like F-Droid & Co. Play services as well in case you’re on standard Android. And for iPhones and the Apple iOS/MacOS world the same applies.

So do yourselves and us all a favour, and update your engines, ladies & gents. Thanks.

P.S.: older devices are potentially greater risks than newer ones, which is why Apple or Google and also 3rd party vendors like GrapheneOS only support their devices for a certain amount of time. Luckily, for the new Google Pixel 8 phones that supported time frame was now extended to 7 years, for these and older ones see here.

Older ones could still run at home with some risks accepted, and with OSs like DivestOS, like for instance our 11 year old Nexus 10 tablet or the Pixel 3a phone. That Pixel 3a for instance has Android 13 (which Google never gave it), and while the Nexus 10 tablet ist still on Android 7 (which Google also never gave it), it still can have the latest security patches at least for the software side (but not for Qualcomm, ARM, or any other 3rd party hardware vendors of course, blame it upon them):

At least a bit more peace of mind, and even if that’s not a 100% solution, it’s still better than nothing, so we have to thank people like Tad (DivestOS) or Daniel (GrapheneOS) for all of their work. Please support them if you can. And see a comparison table of Android ROMs at eylenburg. Thanks.

Four weeks of Bella…

… and she’s really sweet.

I started playing around with an older lens from the film camera, meaning I had to manually focus it. And since thinking “film”, I cropped this one into a 3:2 format and used Color Efex Pro (on Windows) to simulate a Fujichrome Provia 400F film:

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On this one – also with same same OM Zuiko 50mm/1.8 lens manually focused at f/1.8, she seems to see me as prey:

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I also took this one using my phone yesterday evening while we’ve had a visitor:

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And finally, one from today – back to my Panasonic Leica DG 25mm/1.4 “normal” lens (and with autofocus):

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And like always, thanks for viewing.

Bella, second week

Wow, how time is flying – it’s Tuesday evening, and tomorrow at 13:00 (1pm) Bella will be with us since 2 weeks already. She continues to be a constant joy, is interested in the neighbours’ cats (but they are not so amused to find a cat who lives here), and she loves to play and purrs like a kitten…

Took this photo on Sunday short before sunset:

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Bella, Mörfelden-Walldorf 2023

And like always, thanks for viewing, and for reading.

Wise men… (good one)

Today I’ve read an interesting thread about iPhones in a musician’s board, and much of it reminded me of the time when my last employer bought us all iPhones (SE 2020), just in case the internet would be down (that was during the pandemic).

One comment was:

Kluge Menschen kaufen Apple Aktien statt Apple Geräte.

which, translated by myself, means as much as:

“Wise men buy Apple shares instead of Apple devices.”

I had to smile a bit, but then I found this TechCrunch article, where someone calculated it (or rather, had it calculated with the use of ChatGPT).

Turns out that if you had bought Apple shares in the amount of what each consecutive Apple iPhone would have cost you, today you would have $147,000. Plus you would have done something good for Mother Nature… See also: here… 😉

Like always, thanks for reading.

Bella, first week

One week and some 5 hours ago, Wilma moved in with us. And it has been a constant joy to have her around. By now she trusts us enough to let me get close with my noisy macro lens while she is having a nap, like this:

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Bella, Mörfelden-Walldorf 2023

Okay, she got some chicken today, I guess it can’t get much better 😉 So let’s hush, and let her zzzzzzz…

Wispering: Like always, thanks for viewing

Sigh…

Just saw the first little parts of what will become Gnome 45 trickling in, like in:

:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (2) gnome-disk-utility-45.0-1  openpmix-4.2.6-1

Total Download Size:   1.87 MiB
Total Installed Size:  9.83 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      0.03 MiB

And why does that make me sigh, you might ask? Well, because the guys at Gnome think they know better again, and will again break existing and working desktops for you, me, or everyone (worst will be for “the big guys” who make desktops like Unity based upon Gnome). See this article in The Register:

GNOME 45 formalizes extensions module system

I’m using four Gnome extensions which I’d really like to keep, which are OpenWeather, Freon, the built-in Workspace Indicator, and GSConnect, so I looked up https://extensions.gnome.org/ to search for version numbers, and as expected, none of them has a 45 version yet. And while it’s all documented from the Gnome developers, I’d like to wait until all these – for me – important things have updates before I’ll get a desktop which again throws out the baby with the bath water, many thanks.

Looking for / thinking about alternatives? Nah, not really. I never really loved KDE, and XFCE isn’t an option for me either, nor are others which mostly mimic Windows (like Cinnamon & Co.), or Enlightenment. So let’s see how this turns out.

But there are worse news, especially for those of us who are using Android phones, namely Google’s planned “Privacy Sandbox”. See this article:

Google Chrome Privacy Sandbox open to all: Now websites can tap into your habits directly for ads

Time to look out for another browser, see also in https://www.androidauthority.com/chrome-ad-topics-rollout-3362364/ – and it’s getting worse, since this will probably end up in AOSP. Chatted a bit about that with Tad who is the lead developer of DivestOS, and he assured me that neither DivestOS nor GrapheneOS would include these bits. But Google with its former infamous “Don’t be evil” mantra seems to turn to Orwell’s Newspeak lately, which is really bad. There’s nothing “private” about their sandbox anymore, so dump these Chrome browsers, and get Mulch or Vanadium (or better, Firefox) instead. Best solution for Android phone users: install GrapheneOS in case you have a current Pixel phone, or DivestOS for those whose devices would also be covered by LineageOS, or whose devices are too old for GrapheneOS.

And no, Apple is not an alternative. Security based upon obscurity never worked, I’m only dealing with Open Source here, no time for walled garden crap.

Like always, thanks for reading.

Update, from September 12th, 2023:

Here are some more links, some new some old, but take your pick or read them all if you care for real privacy:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/google_privacy_sandbox/

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-disable-google-chromes-new-privacy-sandbox-track-1847276073

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2023/09/07/new-google-chrome-targeted-ad-tracking-heres-how-to-stop-it/

https://theconversation.com/google-chrome-just-rolled-out-a-new-way-to-track-you-and-serve-ads-heres-what-you-need-to-know-213150

https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/08/google-flips-the-switch-on-interest-based-ads-with-privacy-sandbox-rollout/

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22358287/privacy-ads-google-chrome-floc-cookies-cookiepocalypse-finger-printing

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-to-opt-out-of-google-chromes-privacy-sandbox-floc-trials/

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/17/privacy-sandbox-topics-api-criticism/

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_Sandbox

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea

https://www.howtogeek.com/724783/how-to-opt-out-of-google-floc-in-chrome/

By far not the only sites and articles I’ve found, but enough to give you an idea why this is bad. And as I wrote above, it could be even worse on Android phones, where Google almost always has the ‘WebView’ authority, which means that any link you’ll click will be opened in WebView (aka Chrome), no matter if you have Firefox or other browsers set as your default. Only way to mitigate that is to use more private operating systems on your phones, like GrapheneOS (which uses their hardened Vanadium WebView), or DivestOS (which uses their hardened Mulch WebView, partly based upon GrapheneOS’s Vanadium (plus a few other goodies like an ad-fighting hosts file)).

Like always, thanks for reading, and for considering in helping to make the web a safer place to be.

Update, from September 30th, 2023:

Here’s another one. Do yourselves and us all a favour, and don’t use that browser.