The AI problem we can’t ignore

Posted on by Michael G

In August 2020, as the pandemic confined people to their homes, the U.K. canceled A-level exams and turned to an algorithm to calculate grades, key for university admissions. Based on historical data that reflected the resource advantages of private schools, the algorithm disproportionately downgraded state students. Those who attended private schools, meanwhile, received inflated grades. […]

The post The AI problem we can’t ignore appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Dealing with the heat

Posted on by Michael G

This Week in F-Droid

TWIF curated on Thursday, 31 Oct 2024, Week 44

F-Droid core

F-Droid and F-Droid Basic were updated to 1.20.1 as suggested and to 1.21.1 still in testing.

Some updates on last weeks fires:

  • Nextcloud was updated to 3.30.3 and Nextcloud Dev was updated to 20241026, as some users still reported issues, was this fire extinguished for you?
  • Codeberg polished their filters and F-Droid server could finally build apps hosted there again.
  • Fennec F-Droid and Mull made waves in the Fediverse and beyond as they were marked as vulnerable. We answered most of the questions, it was just a bad timing between new releases fixing critical bugs, tooling issues preventing F-Droid to build these apps and our main contributors being caught up in Real Life. Mozilla source code is just the starting point, and F-Droid must clean it up and build it from open-source code with trusted build tools, and this takes time before it even reaches the build server.
  • We will reword the banner message in the Client to make it sound less scary and use the existing Anti-Features app details field to give as much info as possible.
  • Regarding the new update 132, while everything was in place for a build, and an issue caught early at the start of this cycle was promptly fixed, we are still seeing it fail later on and we are investigating. So this update will be delayed for another cycle.

While all these fires were raging on, we also overhauled our workflow for checkupdates (the bot that pulls in all the autoupdated apps versions) touching upon fdroidserver, fdroiddata and many Gitlab configurations. These changes might not be visible from a user perspective, but they should yield some improvements in helping contributors manage the metadata repository, and catching app issues early on, before they reach the build server.

Community News

Micro REPL, MicroPython IDE, is back with a new developer key, do the uninstall and reinstall dance so you can get future updates too!

The Fossify Suite just got two new entries this week:

  • Fossify Calculator, Simple and open-source calculator for quick and easy calculations
  • Fossify Camera, Lightweight open-source camera app for quick, easy, and secure photography

And some updates:

Are these all? Not quite, we are still waiting for Draw and Flashlight.

Syncthing-Fork was updated to 1.28.0.0, and if you’ve read last week’s Community News section maybe you want to take a look and plan a transfer.

Removed Apps

2 apps were removed
  • AndroidIDE: AndroidIDE is an IDE for Android to develop full featured Android apps (We featured it in a TWIF, really sad that it has no future)
  • FreshRSS: Client for freshrss.org

Newly Added Apps

4 more apps were newly added
  • BiliDownOut: Export videos downloaded from the Android version of Bilibili App
  • Chaka Book Reader: An excellent Android book reader based on MuPDF Android Viewer
  • Dahdidahdit: An actual Morse code trainer, not just a Morse code generator
  • RomanDigital: Digital Clock App and Widget with Roman Numeral Display

Updated Apps

200 more apps were updated

(expand for the full list)

Thank you for reading this week’s TWIF 🙂

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You are welcome to join the TWIF forum thread. If you have any news from the community, post it there, maybe it will be featured next week 😉

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Microsoft just delayed Recall again

Posted on by Michael G
Another day, another Windows Recall problem. Microsoft is delaying the feature yet again, this time from October to December. “We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders,” says Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, in a statement to The Verge. “Originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs by December.” ↫ Tom Warren at The Verge Making Recall secure, opt-in, and uninstallable is apparently taking more time than the company originally planned. When security, opt-in, and uninstallable are not keywords during your design and implementation process for new features, this is the ungodly mess that you end up with. This could’ve all been prevented if Microsoft wasn’t high on its own “AI” supply.

Cláudio Castro pede fim das regras que limitam operações policiais nas favelas

Posted on by Michael G

Video by via Dailymotion Source Cláudio Castro, governador do Rio de Janeiro, defendeu a exclusão de gastos em segurança pública do regime fiscal e pediu o fim da limitação de operações policiais nas favelas. Assista ao Jornal da Manhã completo: https://youtube.com/live/axu_8TEIAaw Baixe o app Panflix: https://www.panflix.com.br/ Inscreva-se no nosso canal:https://www.youtube.com/c/jovempannews Siga o canal “Jovem Pan…

How to Remove Login Password from Your Windows

Posted on by Michael G

Video by via Dailymotion Source Want instant access to your Windows computer? Learn quick and easy methods to remove the login password and skip the login screen entirely. Simplify your setup with these fast, secure steps! • Registry Editor LocationHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionPasswordLessDevice Go to Source

#KuyaKimAnoNa? – Freediver, sugatan matapos atakihin ng barracuda, Bahay sa Ozamiz, tila…

Posted on by Michael G

Video by via Dailymotion Source 24 Oras is GMA Network’s flagship newscast, anchored by Mel Tiangco, Vicky Morales and Emil Sumangil. It airs on GMA-7 Mondays to Fridays at 6:30 PM (PHL Time) and on weekends at 5:30 PM. For more videos from 24 Oras, visit http://www.gmanews.tv/24oras. #GMAIntegratedNews #GMANetwork #KapusoStream Breaking news and stories from…