AnActOfCreation

HBO defended J.K. Rowling's involvement in its upcoming "Harry Potter" TV series, emphasizing her creative contributions and her right to express personal views despite controversy over her anti-trans statements.

Rowling's outspoken gender-related beliefs have deeply divided the Harry Potter fanbase, with some advocating for boycotts and others finding ways to reconcile their love for the franchise while opposing her views.

Despite fan backlash and fractured enthusiasm, the "Wizarding World" franchise remains commercially strong, and Rowling appears unfazed by criticism, continuing to focus on her advocacy and involvement in the new series.

Social media platforms like Meta and X (formerly Twitter) tolerate a wide range of content but restrict public tracking of celebrities' private jet routes, citing privacy concerns.

Meta suspended accounts run by Jack Sweeney, who used public data to track jets of prominent figures like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, highlighting privacy risks for powerful individuals.

The article points out the irony of Meta's selective privacy enforcement, given its ongoing issues with protecting users from harmful content like disinformation and predatory behavior.

Firefox users criticized the permanent 'List All Tabs' button introduced in version 131.0, leading Mozilla to make it removable.

The button, designed to manage hidden tabs and prevent add-ons from hiding them, received backlash for being unnecessary alongside Firefox View.

Mozilla responded with a fix in version 131.0.3, allowing users to remove the button through toolbar customization.

Linus Torvalds expressed frustration over the use of passive voice in merge commit messages, preferring active and imperative language instead.

He provided an example of how commit messages should be rewritten for clarity and consistency across the project.

Torvalds noted that while it's not a major issue, it does add extra work when he has to rewrite messages to match his preference.

Two Boston Public School administrators, Natasha Halfkenny and Coreen Miranda, used donated "Hamilton" tickets intended for students to take their sons, who were not Boston Public School students.

Both administrators paid $4,000 civil penalties for violating the state's conflict of interest law by denying three students the opportunity to attend the show.

Coreen Miranda and her sons had already attended and enjoyed the same "Hamilton" performance a month prior to taking the tickets again for the March 1, 2023 show.

Mozilla Thunderbird for Android is now available in beta, built upon the K-9 Mail app.

The beta includes core email features like account setup, email organization, and notifications, with feedback encouraged from users.

Thunderbird for Android will remain a separate app from K-9 Mail, requiring users to migrate if they previously used K-9.

Marques Brownlee, known as MKBHD, faced backlash over his new wallpaper app, Panels, due to its high subscription cost ($49.99/year) and concerns over excessive data permissions.

Brownlee acknowledged user feedback, promising to adjust ad frequency for free users and address privacy concerns, clarifying that the app's data disclosures were broader than intended.

The app, which offers curated wallpapers and shares profits with artists, aims to improve over time, despite criticisms of its design and monetization approach.

Open source software is essential to the global economy, public services, and international organizations, yet many critical projects remain underfunded, highlighting the need for sustainable support.

The United Nations and other public institutions are increasingly recognizing the importance of open source, with initiatives like the Global Digital Compact and various national funds dedicated to supporting open source projects.

GitHub is actively involved in bridging the sustainability gap through initiatives like GitHub Sponsors, the FOSS Sustainability Fund, and resources for open source maintainers, emphasizing the need for collaborative investment from both public and private sectors.

Plex introduced an Auto-Sync Subtitles feature that aligns subtitles with audio using an algorithm that detects voices, supporting external SRT files and those from OpenSubtitles.com.

The feature requires a Plex Pass subscription, voice activity detection, and media analysis enabled on the server, but won't work on some systems like FreeBSD, Nvidia Shield, and certain NAS servers.

Plex is expanding its app offerings, including a new dedicated photos app in open beta, and currently offers a 20% discount on Lifetime Plex Pass subscriptions.

The DeCENC attack, developed by security researcher David Buchanan, can bypass the Common Encryption Scheme (CENC) used by streaming platforms like Amazon and Netflix, allowing decrypted but compressed video to be captured and saved, posing a theoretical risk to DRM protection.

Although DeCENC offers a novel method to exfiltrate protected video data, Buchanan notes it's largely impractical compared to simpler piracy techniques, such as HDMI capture or exploiting existing vulnerabilities like the Microsoft PlayReady client compromise.

Buchanan criticizes the CENC specification's lack of authentication, highlighting the challenge of conducting security research due to paywalled and complex technical documents, and calls for greater accessibility of these standards for researchers.

Windhawk is a free, open-source app that functions like an app store for Windows mods, allowing users to customize almost anything about their Windows experience easily.

Users can browse and install a variety of mods that range from visual tweaks, like changing the taskbar style, to functional changes, such as modifying taskbar volume controls or disabling grouping of taskbar icons.

Each mod includes a caution to review its source code on GitHub, ensuring users can make informed decisions before installing any customizations.

A former Twitter employee, Gary Rooney, won about $600,000 for unfair dismissal after Twitter assumed he resigned by not responding to Elon Musk's "hardcore" work email.

The case highlighted the importance of clear communication between employers and employees, especially regarding significant changes in employment terms.

Rooney’s private Slack messages, where he discussed leaving, were used as evidence by Twitter, underscoring that internal communication on platforms like Slack is not always private and can be used in legal disputes.