Category: Blog

If you’ve used Linux for any amount of time, you’ve noticed that one of the most common methods to install third-party applications is via a .Deb package. Often times this is the only way to get this software, as the developers can’t be bothered to go through the process of packaging in the dozens of different formats the Linux platform offers.

The AUR is the first place to check when looking for software that isn’t officially supported in Arch Linux. Always check here first. It’s a service that allows anyone to upload a PKGBUILD script, designed to automatically take software from various places, download some or all of the needed dependencies to run them and compile a native Arch Linux package.

See How to Install Deb Package in Arch Linux – Make Tech Easier

#technology #Linux #opensource #Debtap #ArchLinux

If you have a need to install Deb packages in Arch Linux, here we outline a few ways that you can install the application.

Despite fierce competition, PUBG: Battlegrounds has remained popular, having sold 75 million copies since its release, Krafton creative director Dave Curd told The Verge in an interview. And on mobile, PUBG is one of the biggest franchises around; the free-to-play PUBG Mobile has been downloaded more than 1 billion times, and Krafton recently released a second free-to-play mobile PUB game, PUBG: New State.

See The original PUBG is going free-to-play

#technology #gaming #PUBG

Play the battle royale hit for free starting January 12th.

Wordfence analysts report having detected a massive wave of attacks in the last couple of days, originating from 16,000 IPs and targeting over 1.6 million WordPress sites.

The threat actors target four WordPress plugins and fifteen Epsilon Framework themes, one of which has no available patch.
Some of the targeted plugins were patched all the way back in 2018, while others had their vulnerabilities addressed as recently as this week.

You certainly always want to ensure you have a good security plugin installed which prevents brute force attacks, and that you only have the active themes and plugins installed, and that they are all set to auto update enabled.

See Massive attack against 1.6 million WordPress sites underway

#technology #security #wordpress

Wordfence analysts report having detected a massive wave of attacks in the last couple of days, originating from 16,000 IPs and targeting over 1.6 million WordPress sites.

So says a Study on the Internet’s Technical Success Factors commissioned by APNIC and LACNIC – the regional internet address registries for the Asia–Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean regions respectively – and written by consultancy Analysys Mason.

The document states that “a significant fraction of global IP traffic now consists of data that is moved between the datacentres and edge networks of large internet companies.” Those companies’ needs, and growing networks, lead the analysts to suggest that “over time, we could see the internet transform into a more centralised system with a few global private networks carrying most of the content and services.

Another risk is that when private networks break, many users suffer. Exhibit A: yesterday’s AWS brownout, which hurt Netflix and Disney+, among others.

Yet, if you look at nearly all the alternative social networks springing up, you’ll see decentralisation, openness, interoperability, chronological feeds, no Big Tech…

See Big Tech’s private networks and protocols threaten the ‘net

#technology #interoperability #BigTech #openstandards #decentralisation

APNIC and LACNIC worry about who will set the rules of future internetworking

Hirsch said that although consumers can buy second-hand tech goods through online classifieds websites, they are often reluctant to do so – they can’t be sure they’re not buying a dud, and there are security concerns when strangers have to meet to conclude a deal.

It is hoped that TechMarkIT will bring credibility to the used/refurbished technology market in South Africa. The company checks all the products it sells for defects and other problems, and also cleans them thoroughly before making them available for sale. It has a 45-point checklist to ensure everything is in working order, including the battery (if the product has one). If the battery is showing signs of age, it is replaced before being sold. There’s a warranty of six months on goods sold, though this excludes battery-related problems.

Essentially, this would also help cut down on e-waste.

See Ex-Incredible Connection director in new tech retail venture

#technology #southafrica #secondhand #used #ewaste

Former Incredible Connection executive director David Hirsch has launched a new retail venture specialising in refurbished technology.

One of the best photo processors is Darktable, and one of its advanced features is masks. A mask in photograph processing gets used to limit adjustments you make to an image to just one area of the image. The linked article shows how this is used.

See Open source photo processing with Darktable

#technology #photography #opensource #darktable #masking

It’s hard to say how good photographs happen. You have to be in the right place at just the right moment. You have to have a camera at the ready and an eye for composition. And that’s just the part that happens in the camera. There’s a whole other stage to great photography that many people don’t think about. It used to happen with lights and chemicals in a darkroom, but with today’s digital tools, post-production happens in darkroom software.

The Unreal Engine is used to create those vast virtual open worlds for games (and anything else). Version 5 especially is a thing of real beauty and detail (as the intro to the video shows).

It’s a lengthy tutorial, but does take you through all the beginner steps to get going and create your world. It’s a great tool to unleash unlimited creativity, whether for a game, or to share with friends, or to have a place to escape to that is better than the real world.

It’s completely free to use (until you exceed $1 million in gross revenue for a game you’ve published), and there is even multi-user editing, where you can connect multiple instances of Unreal Editor together to work collaboratively in a shared editing session, building a single virtual world together with your teammates and colleagues in real time.

See

Unreal Engine 5 Beginner Tutorial – UE5 Starter Course!
by Unreal Sensei on YouTube

#technology #gaming #unrealengine5 #tutorial #virtualworlds

I’ve noticed the last few weeks my webpage about checking whether a phone is stolen or not, has really been trending. Clearly people are worried about being scammed, and especially around those “I’m making an instant EFT payment to you” and similar moves. When it comes to online ordering and marketplaces (yes, looking at you Facebook Marketplace), no-one is your friend.

It’s very real, and my own daughter has been scammed twice (once when I was present and even checking the item, which was the topic of a previous post).

So these tips by SABRIC (The South African Banking Risk Information Centre) should be mandatory reading for anyone intending to respond to online offers. They also have a link to an excellent slideshow that businesses may want to distribute to their employees.

See https://www.sabric.co.za/media-and-news/press-releases/protect-your-money-this-festive-season/

#technology #scams #phishing #socialengineering #fraud

Life360, a popular family safety app used by 33 million people worldwide, has been marketed as a great way for parents to track their children’s movements using their cellphones. The Markup has learned, however, that the app is selling data on kids’ and families’ whereabouts to approximately a dozen data brokers who have sold data to virtually anyone who wants to buy it.

Through interviews with two former employees of the company, along with two individuals who formerly worked at location data brokers Cuebiq and X-Mode, The Markup discovered that the app acts as a firehose of data for a controversial industry that has operated in the shadows with few safeguards to prevent the misuse of this sensitive information.

“We have no means to confirm or deny the accuracy” of whether Life360 is among the largest sources of data for the industry, Life360 founder and CEO Chris Hulls said in an emailed response to questions from The Markup. “We see data as an important part of our business model that allows us to keep the core Life360 services free for the majority of our users, including features that have improved driver safety and saved numerous lives.”

Supposedly the data should be aggregated and anonymised, but like we know from many backdoor vulnerabilities, as well as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, this not always what happens when a “capability” is put in place. “Prohibiting selling or marketing data to any government agency” is no real guarantee. This is just not going to go down well, especially with Tile users after their service was bought out by Life360.

See The Popular Family Safety App Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Tens of Millions of Users – The Markup

#technology #tracking #privacy #life360 #tiletracker

The app is a major source of raw location data for a multibillion-dollar industry that buys, packages, and sells people’s movements