Newly released documents highlight the bureau's continued secrecy around cell-site simulators—spying tech that everyone already assumes exists.
![Docs Show FBI Pressures Cops to Keep Phone Surveillance Secrets](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/2a757ef9-2ef7-4805-b035-faebe5fa8379.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
The federal charges against Hunter Biden arose from an investigation by David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in the Democratic president's home state of Delaware who was appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump.
![Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax crimes, reaches deal on gun charge](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/5e53f566-79fa-43dc-8178-3f12aee46962.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
> U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two charges of willfully failing to pay income taxes in a deal with the Justice Department, according to court documents on Tuesday. > > The federal charges against Hunter Biden arose from an investigation by David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in the Democratic president's home state of Delaware who was appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump. > > According to the deal, Biden also entered the pretrial diversion agreement on one firearm offense.
Apple Music launched high-quality lossless audio streaming all the way back in May 2021, available to Apple Music subscribers at...
![Spotify will finally catch up to Apple Music with lossless audio quality option, but you'll have to pay extra](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/bd92d4f6-b990-4190-9113-4a1b76660762.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
US government warns encryption chipmaker Hualan has suspicious ties to China’s military.
![The US Navy, NATO, and NASA are using a shady Chinese company’s encryption chips](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/d58330d2-c051-44b9-846c-a027a964ef7b.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
> “I appreciate concerns with using Chinese technology, but we’re very confident that even though we’re using these chips, our products cannot be hacked, even by Initio or Hualan,” iStorage's CEO John Michael says. (Michael also noted that some of iStorage products use a chip sold by Taiwanese firm Phison instead of Hualan or Initio, but didn't specify which products.) > > Even if a bridge controller chip doesn't create a secret key and isn't intended to store it, however, it still has enough access to it to enable a backdoor, says Matthew Green, a cryptography-focused computer science professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Japan plans to stoke competition in smartphone app payments, dominated by Apple and Google, by banning major app store operators from forcing software developers to use the operators' own payment systems, a government panel said.
![Japan to open up Apple- and Google-dominated phone apps to competition](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/a7d01b24-809e-453d-8abb-4bbfe637fd33.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Drives automatically get a "warning" flag if powered on for 3 years.
![“Clearly predatory”: Western Digital sparks panic, anger for age-shaming HDDs](https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/pictrs/image/xSTTdfpZop.jpg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
I was that kid too. I'd sneak out of church with my best friend and we'd find a vending machine across the street and buy candy to eat behind the church before sneaking back in.
As an adult, I do see that tradition and ritual are important to people though. And there are some beautiful things in the Book of Common Prayer. I feel like if religion were just about tradition and ritual and mindfulness, those would be valuable. But it's not. And often in the world, religion is a force for division and suffering.
Wait till you google Richard M. Stallman.
Whether it's biotech or software, there's always tension between creating incentives for innovation vs fostering wide availability and openness.
The Free Software / Open Source world exists on the openness side, and while some business (including Apple) have made a business while contributing to open source projects, there is sometimes a catch. For example, Google gives away the core of Android (the Android Open Source Project), but if an OEM wants Google Maps, Google Play, etc, they have to play by Google's rules.
Anyone who tells you it's just as easy to make a living selling free software (what GNU calls it) as it is selling proprietary software is full of shit. It's not as easy. It can be done, and Open Source can be a selling point, but it's nowhere near as straightforward as just selling a thing for a price. Copyrights, like the copyrights protecting iOS and macOS, let companies just sell a thing for a price. No bullshit.
Apple, like any corporate interest, has reason to support or oppose various laws. I'm an Apple fanboy as much as anyone, but I'll readily admit they're on the wrong side of history with right-to-repair. Apple's an excessively litigious company. They're bullies in some markets. But I still prefer their simple transactional value proposition, which is that you pay for goods and services. Software is a good.
Open Source software is great too, and often as good as the proprietary stuff, but a world without copyright (basically what he is suggesting) would have a very hard time promoting the useful arts. For that matter, Open Source licenses typically function through copyright law. The GNU GPL, for example, only works because it has copyright as a backstop if you refuse to accept the license.
The iPhone 15 Ultra could have an ultra-high price tag
![The iPhone 15 Ultra could be every bit as expensive as we feared](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/e046362e-3a78-4c91-a3af-9af1d9916803.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Well, shit...
In truth, it's a new highest end product, and presumably you can keep buying the lower end ones, but still.
"I was positively surprised how well it worked," said one attendee.
![AI-powered church service in Germany draws a large crowd](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/bdf89905-74a8-4a70-86ad-c7f963047133.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
The “alpha” version of the EV company’s first pickup had problems with braking, handling, noise, and leaks, according to an internal presentation.
![A Leaked Tesla Report Shows the Cybertruck Had Basic Design Flaws](https://partizle.com/pictrs/image/8656e03d-6f7f-4ce2-b6d4-a0e395d6f0f1.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
The new Chromecast and Fire TV can already install VPN apps.
Instead of scanning iCloud for illegal content, Apple’s tech will locally flag inappropriate images for kids. And adults are getting an opt-in nudes filter too.
![Apple Expands Its On-Device Nudity Detection to Combat CSAM — WIRED](https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/pictrs/image/Ngrnd1RW5c.jpg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)