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9to5Linux

System76 Teases COSMIC Theme Constellations for Its COSMIC Desktop

After Frosted Glass, System76 is now working on another cool feature that will probably boost the adoption of the COSMIC desktop environment amongst Linux users. The feature is called COSMIC Theme Constellations and consists of bundled themes with wallpaper, accent colors, icons, and fonts.

GStreamer 1.28.9 Multimedia Framework Adds Support for mpph264enc Encoder

Coming a month after GStreamer 1.28.8, the GStreamer 1.28.9 release adds 24-bit support to the level element, support for the mpph264enc (Rockchip) encoder to webrtcsink, and enables cross-compilation with sysroot for Rust plugins in the Meson build.

Calibre 9.18 Open-Source E-Book Manager Adds New Tool to Make Books Accessible

Coming two weeks after Calibre 9.17, the Calibre 9.18 release adds a new tool to make e-books accessible and check for accessibility problems, and adds support for viewing color previews in the e-book editor as an underline and allows Ctrl-clicking on colors to change them using a color wheel.

Sigil 2.8.5 Open-Source EPUB Editor Released with Modern CSS Parsing

Sigil 2.8.5 is here to replace the outdated CSS parser with a modern, spec-compliant parser based on Lexbor, and adds support for AVIF and JPEG XL images, along with support for polyfilling JPEG XL images in the Preview window using a URL scheme handler and the JPEG format.

schestowitz.com

Enzo Loses His Mojo

Arsenal happy

“Sacrifices”

You live once, make it count

After Two Consecutive Losses in the PL

Back to winning streak? (In PL, not CL)

Manchester City Council Report Card – Part 5 – Private Businesses, Not Public Services

For profit, against citizens?

Manchester City Council Report Card – Part 4 – Moving Towards “Network States” With Corporations, Not Public Servants

Like G4S in Manchester

Techrights at 20

Soon

Transnational Swatting

Need to raise awarness among ministers

Another SLAPP: “Russian billionaire Vitaly Orlov lawsuit against the Barents Observer is absurd and dirty”

Reproduced in full for more exposure and to make censorship harder

Finding New Whistleblowers

Promising times ahead

Manchester City Council Report Card – Part 3 – Unfriendly Staff

“Customer Service” 101 is something like “Customer is Always Right”

LinuxGizmos.com

Home Assistant-compatible board pairs ESP32-S3 and ESP32-P4

Crowd Supply has introduced a campaign for LocalDot, an open-hardware board developed by AAElectronics that converts third-generation Amazon Echo Dots into Home Assistant voice devices. The 83 × 37mm PCB uses an ESP32-S3 and ESP32-P4 for connectivity and audio processing while retaining the original microphones, speaker, buttons, and LEDs.

ESP32-P4 development boards combine RISC-V with Wi-Fi 6 or PoE

SparkFun today launched two ESP32-P4-based IoT RedBoards, offering either dual-band Wi-Fi 6 through an ESP32-C5 companion or wired Ethernet with Power over Ethernet. Both boards feature dual-core RISC-V processing, 32MB PSRAM, 16MB flash, MIPI camera and display connectors, and Arduino-style expansion headers for embedded and HMI applications.

ESP32-S3 USB dongle adds microphone, IR and hardware security

LILYGO has expanded its T-Dongle lineup with the T-Dongle S3 Plus, an ESP32-S3 development board housed in a transparent USB flash-drive enclosure. The device combines a 0.96-inch color display, 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM, and microSD storage with additional features including a microphone, infrared functionality, and an optional hardware security chip.

news

Today in Techrights

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Aug 19, 2025

Southern Three-banded Armadillo

Updated This Past Day

  1. Overly Maximalist, Expensive, Localised Patent Law is Dooming Western Companies, Argue 3-D Printing Champions
    We've long warned (over 7 years already!) that China's approach to patents will impress WIPO by gaming the totals but will doom the West
  2. GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
    4.86% that is

    New

  3. English Law Misused by Americans and Irishmen Against Brits is Unfair
    There's always a way to improve existing laws
  4. Links 18/08/2025: "Microsoft Store" Gets Increasingly Hostile, "Cracking Abandonware DRM"
    Links for the day
  5. Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Summer "Gone" and Web Reposts in Gemini
    Links for the day
  6. Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
    Links for the day
  7. Geeks Like GNU/Linux
    The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
  8. End of Reliable Media
    it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
  9. Over at Tux Machines...
    GNU/Linux news for the past day
  10. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
    IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
  11. GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
    Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
  12. We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
    we just never used an LLM
  13. "Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
    These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
  14. Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
    Links for the day

    The corresponding text-only bulletin for Monday contains all the text.

    Top-read articles (excluding bot/crawler visits):

    Span from 2025-08-12 to 2025-08-18
    7477 /n/2025/03/19/Sami_Tikkanen_Explains_on_Rust_Language_and_Its_Goals.shtml
    4165 /about.shtml
    3851 /n/2025/03/19/Is_Ubuntu_Compromised_Push_Away_From_GNU_and_GPL_Led_by_Army_Of.shtml
    2917 /n/2025/08/13/Internet_Relay_Chat_and_Gemini_Protocol_Help_Us_Relive_the_Net_.shtml
    2139 /n/2025/08/12/Our_Predictions_Were_Right_GitHub_Dying_as_Losses_Pile_Up_as_a_.shtml
    1611 /n/2025/08/18/Secure_Boot_is_a_Security_Problem_Not_a_Solution.shtml
    1583 /n/2025/08/18/GitHub_Won_t_Last_Much_Longer.shtml
    1545 /n/2025/08/14/Reddit_Deletes_Stuff_But_Not_for_Being_False_or_Misleading.shtml
    1377 /index.shtml
    1143 /irc.shtml
    1088 /n/2025/08/14/Slopwatch_Google_News_and_Other_Slopfarms.shtml
    699 /n/2025/08/17/Reddit_Funded_by_Microsoft.shtml
    690 /n/2025/08/16/Links_16_08_2025_Chatbots_Bad_for_Kids_Software_Patents_Apple_B.shtml
    673 /n/2025/08/17/Working_Whilst_Away_From_Home.shtml
    666 /n/2025/08/13/AI_Hype_or_LLM_Slop_is_Not_About_Efficiency_It_s_About_Lowering.shtml
    648 /n/2025/08/14/Links_14_08_2025_Second_hand_ThinkPad_and_Enhanced_Surveillance.shtml
    606 /browse/latest.shtml
    596 /n/2025/08/12/GitHub_the_Company_Has_in_Effect_Just_Died_Time_to_Look_for_Alt.shtml
    572 /n/2025/05/24/Free_Software_as_a_Culture_of_Resistance.shtml
    571 /n/2025/08/12/Links_12_08_2025_WinRAR_Zero_Day_SonicWall_Does_More_Harm_Than_.shtml
    565 /n/2025/08/13/Links_13_08_2025_GitHub_Trouble_and_Openwashing_by_Microsoft_OS.shtml
    554 /n/2025/08/13/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    552 /n/2025/08/15/Links_16_08_2025_Hey_Hi_AI_Data_Centers_Are_Driving_Up_Electric.shtml
    546 /n/2025/08/12/Linux_Foundation_Says_Housekeeping_Hung_Normal_Native_Feature_S.shtml
    540 /n/2025/08/15/Maybe_the_Problem_is_You.shtml
    535 /n/2025/08/13/Microsoft_Swallows_GitHub_Losses.shtml
    534 /n/2025/08/12/It_Looks_More_Like_Microsoft_GitHub_Layoffs.shtml
    533 /n/2025/08/14/Links_14_08_2025_Data_Brokers_Hiding_Opt_Out_Pages_From_Google_.shtml
    525 /n/2025/08/16/Links_16_08_2025_Science_Besieged_Confidentiality_Standards_Bre.shtml
    514 /n/2025/08/12/Links_12_08_2025_More_Sabotage_of_Underwater_Cable_Ahead_of_Rus.shtml
    512 /n/2025/08/16/Don_t_Talk_to_Bullies.shtml
    511 /n/2025/08/13/Links_13_08_2025_The_Incriminating_Video_Scam_and_Corruption_in.shtml
    508 /n/2025/08/14/Moral_Standards_From_the_Masters_of_Linux.shtml
    501 /n/2025/08/15/Microsoft_is_getting_ready_to_cause_many_employees_to_resign.shtml
    499 /n/2025/08/12/Google_News_is_Dying_Most_of_Its_Top_Stories_Now_Are_LLM_Slop_W.shtml
    495 /n/2025/08/14/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    494 /n/2025/08/13/If_Free_Libre_Software_is_Adding_Trillions_in_Value_to_the_Euro.shtml
    493 /n/2025/08/15/National_Day_of_Action.shtml
    493 /n/2025/08/14/Articles_Promoting_and_Celebrating_Wayland_Are_LLM_Slop.shtml
    483 /n/2025/08/15/GNU_OS_Powered_by_Hurd.shtml
    481 /n/2025/08/13/Currys_PCWorld_Hates_GNU_Linux_Even_Though_It_Runs_the_World.shtml
    479 /n/2025/08/13/Personal_Attacks_From_Rust_People_Serve_to_Confirm_They_Have_Lo.shtml
    478 /n/2025/08/14/Gemini_Links_14_08_2025_Reading_Journal_and_LLM_Fatigue_Revisit.shtml
    473 /n/2025/08/15/Article_52_PATENTABLE_INVENTIONS_in_the_European_Patent_Convent.shtml
    470 /n/2025/08/16/Links_16_08_2025_mRNA_Being_Abandoned_Putin_Plant_Flags_in_Alas.shtml
    460 /n/2025/08/15/Gemini_Links_15_08_2025_ADHD_and_Random_Weird_Things.shtml
    458 /n/2025/08/15/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    454 /n/2025/08/12/Microsoft_Can_Now_Stop_Reporting_the_GitHub_Layoffs_Even_When_T.shtml
    454 /n/2025/08/12/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    451 /n/2025/08/04/Links_04_08_2025_Very_Bad_Weather_and_Travel_Restrictions_in_Ch.shtml
    448 /n/2025/08/12/Slopfarms_Slopping_Away_at_Linux_and_Spreading_Microsoft_Misinf.shtml
    448 /n/2025/08/13/Physical_Meters_and_Purely_Mechanical_Meters_Aren_t_Dumb_It_s_D.shtml
    446 /n/2025/08/12/Richard_Stallman_Will_Not_Miss_Microsoft_GitHub_It_Was_Only_Goo.shtml
    445 /n/2025/08/12/As_Europe_Gets_Increasingly_Serious_About_Software_Freedom_and_.shtml
    444 /browse/index.shtml

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