Futurology Today

It's unclear what "small" means in this context, considering Microsoft's size and the various divisions and companies under its umbrella. When it laid off 1,900 employees in January 2024, the company noted it had 22,000 staff in its video game division.

I'm just wondering - how many of us are from ex-soviet countries trying to push for the return of the glory days?

Error description: "Something went wrong with a file."
Error code: BLZBNTAGT00000840

I think I have found a workaround: Set the Wine prefix's Windows version to Windows 11.

Details:

• This can be done on the winecfg Applications tab, or by running winetricks win11. Note that it requires a fairly recent version of Wine (and winetricks if using that method) so it might require temporarily upgrading Wine/Proton in order to choose that option. Battle.net might lose your saved password if you do this, in which case you would have to log in again.
• Once the games are updated, returning to the previous Wine version should be safe, at least until a better solution is found.
• ~~This seemed to be what solved it for me, but it's possible that a side effect of my experimenting was the actual fix.~~ I have reproduced this workaround since my original post, so I am now more confident that it works.
• Side note: I used GE-Proton9-22 in order to temporarily make the Windows 11 option available, despite the fact that Proton builds are not meant for use outside of a Steam-like environment. I'll try a non-Proton build next time.

Alternative approach:

Mert Eren on the Codeweavers forum relayed another workaround. Summary: The problem apparently lies in the latest version of the Battle.net "Agent" program. If your installation is old enough to still have the previous Agent version installed, it is possible to remove the new one and block it from being reinstalled, relying instead on the old version to update your games and make them playable.

CodeWeavers are investigating for the sake of their customers, but have not yet announced a fix.

Ongoing discussions:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/couldnt-update-after-111-now-cant-install/2044960

https://old.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1i1on1i/unable_to_update_world_of_warcraft_retail_error/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24330389

Known as Xiaohongshu in China, RedNote is a social media platform that includes images, short-form videos, community building tools, shopping and more. It is not a one-to-one TikTok clone, and it is not owned by ByteDance. It is owned by Shanghai-based Xingyin Information Technology.

American TikTokers who fear losing the platform have suggested their followers join them in downloading RedNote to send a message to the U.S. government, as well as the social media company Meta, which stands to gain new users of its TikTok-like product, Reels, if the ban goes into effect. Meta reportedly used a Republican lobbying firm to spread ill will toward TikTok in 2022.

On Monday, RedNote was the top free-to-download app on the Apple App Store, followed by TikTok’s sister app Lemon8.

On TikTok, some videos of people joking about saying goodbye to their “Chinese spy” (some in Mandarin) have racked up millions of views and likes. The memes are part of a deeper resentment some users feel toward the U.S. government for moving to ban TikTok in the name of security and safety even though some lawmakers use it themselves, as well as toward the continued politicization of other social media companies, like X and Meta.

“I’m going to download it on my phone. I’m going to let it track other apps. I’m going to give it permission to see my location and all of my contacts and then I’m just going to let it sit there,” a TikTok user posted. “I’m going to let it sit there as a little window through which my personal Chinese spy can see everything that I’m doing.”

“Our government, I’m convinced, loves and thrives seeing us unhappy and seeing us struggle and seeing us poor,” another TikToker said. “Seeing that RedNote, another Chinese app, which is owned and hosted in China, is the No. 1 app in the App Store today is just beautiful.”

Experts noted that the law gives the executive branch the authority to deem a country a “foreign adversary” and that in doing so it can choose to ban an app that comes from that country. In this case, China is already deemed a “foreign adversary” in the TikTok ban, and therefore the executive branch could theoretically decide that other apps from China must be banned.

What is your expeience with the Porlex Mini II manual grinder?
It's the only grinder I've ever used, I find it quite handy and consistent in the grinding but I have actually no benchmark to judge it objectively. Is it actually good?
@coffee@lemmy.world

[Democratic] Gov. Maura Healey is proposing a residency requirement in the state’s right to shelter law, a dramatic overhaul that has long been called for by Republicans.

In a letter sent to legislators today, Healey asked to add a mandate to the law that would limit shelter to those who prove they have been in the state for three months. Applicants would be required to verify their “identity, residency, and status” through documents or “physical presence in the state” prior to being approved for the system and placed in an emergency assistance shelter.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250116125647/https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-01-15/healey-wants-to-limit-state-shelter-to-massachusetts-residents

No sir, you are

Meta’s CEO tells employees he’s “raising the bar” ahead of “an intense year.”

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/steamdeck by /u/MrFriskers on 2025-01-17 04:14:18+00:00.

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1i0gzhs/danubes_population_datavisualisation_of_central/

We all know this. We need to do a specific task and with the help of the internet we find a specific tool alongside command line parameters to do the job right from the shell.

What is a good way of collecting/documenting these snippets on your own for future reference and use? Just a text file in the home folder?

DeSantis announced Monday he’s scheduling the special session for the week of Jan. 27, the week after Trump is sworn in, so that state lawmakers will be poised to help implement the incoming president’s policies immediately.

...

The Republican governor said he’s prepared to suspend elected officials from office if they are “neglecting their duties” under the new immigration mandates. DeSantis has removed multiple officials from office, including two state attorneys, arguing they were failing to prosecute certain crimes.

...

In a strongly-worded joint statement released Monday afternoon, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Danny Perez said that without any specific guidance from the incoming administration and only “fragments of ideas” from the governor, it’s too soon for lawmakers to hold a special session.

“It is completely irresponsible to get out ahead of any announcements President Trump will make, especially when uninformed or ill-timed state action could potentially impair or impede the success of President Trump’s forthcoming efforts to end illegal immigration,” the Republican leaders said.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250116125719/https://apnews.com/article/florida-special-legislative-session-immigration-desantis-trump-5d15e20effb7a0c5eba523a833dca8c8

I'll preface this by saying that these issues are on a Surface Tablet that I've been using to play around with, so I haven't been too diligent in documenting what changes were made when.

I've got a Surface Go 2 tablet with the LTE modem that I installed Linux Mint onto several months ago. When I first made the switch, cellular connectivity seemed very "touch and go" but Wi-Fi had been solid.

At some point in time (roughly 6 months ago), I switched my home network to using Control D for DNS resolution for about 2 months until I decided it wasn't what I wanted and went back to my default setup which is a Unifi UCG Max gateway using the AdGuard public DNS servers coupled with the built-in ad blocking of the Unifi gateway. This feeds to a separate Wi-Fi mesh network in my home.

About a month ago I noticed that I could no longer reach internet locations on my tablet when connected to my home Wi-Fi network, but I could still access other computers on my LAN just fine, so Wi-Fi was working. Cellular connectivity seemed to have stopped working entirely even though I ran the "lte_modem_fix" that is on github and was seeing several bars of connectivity in the status bar.

Even though websites were inaccessible (Firefox gave me an error saying there was no network connection), in my attempt to try anything I found that I could visit the Control D website even though I stopped subscribing months ago.

On a lark I pulled up my Mullvad VPN app which I have an active subscription to and it let me connect to a server. As soon as I did this, ALL internet sites became available.

Next I took the tablet with me away from home, disabled Wi-Fi and activated the cellular network. Again the bars appeared but I couldn't access any sites. I loaded up Mullvad and was able to connect, after which I could reliably connect to all internet sites. Again, cellular connectivity was never 100% but Wi-Fi was.

How do I even begin troubleshooting and fixing this? Needing a VPN isn't the end of the world, but when at home it gets in the way of accessing local computers so I'd like to get to where the tablet works on Wi-Fi or cellular, with and without a VPN active.

I'm sure those who have run and maintained a mail server, and cryptologists, would probably want to throw something at me for spouting crap, but please bear with me.

Firstly, the Fediverse appealed to me because I knew it was the true answer to these centralised social media platforms. But the problem is that cross server encryption is difficult. For example, I hear that Mastodon servers cannot federate with each other properly if end-to-end encryption was rigorously implemented.

Secondly, there are EU laws that are proposing that messenger services should be interoperable. So in theory, Signal users can chat with WhatsApp user and Telegram users. They say it is possible with open protocols and API tooling.

So together, I wanted to know if this was possible for email. I know that some of the ancient protocols (in computing timelines) don't lend themselves very well for the hostile encryption heavy requirements of the modern internet, but I think it is possible to envision an grassroots alternative.

Am I completely missing something super critical? or are there already federated, end-to-end encrypted emailing services that can be easily spun up?