The Fedora Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Fedora 30 Beta, the next big step on our journey to the exciting Fedora 30 release.
Or, check out one of our popular variants, including KDE Plasma, Xfce, and other desktop environments, as well as images for ARM devices like the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3:
Fedora 30 Beta includes two new options for desktop environment. DeepinDE and Pantheon Desktop join GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, and others as options for users to customize their Fedora experience.
DNF performance improvements
All dnf repository metadata for Fedora 30 Beta is compressed with the zchunk format in addition to xz or gzip. zchunk is a new compression format designed to allow for highly efficient deltas. When Fedora’s metadata is compressed using zchunk, dnf will download only the differences between any earlier copies of the metadata and the current version.
GNOME 3.32
Fedora 30 Workstation Beta includes GNOME 3.32, the latest version of the popular desktop environment. GNOME 3.32 features updated visual style, including the user interface, the icons, and the desktop itself. For a full list of GNOME 3.32 highlights, see the release notes.
Other updates
Fedora 30 Beta also includes updated versions of many popular packages like Golang, the Bash shell, the GNU C Library, Python, and Perl. For a full list, see the Change set on the Fedora Wiki. In addition, many Python 2 packages are removed in preparation for Python 2 end-of-life on 2020-01-01.
Testing needed
Since this is a Beta release, we expect that you may encounter bugs or missing features. To report issues encountered during testing, contact the Fedora QA team via the mailing list or in #fedora-qa on Freenode. As testing progresses, common issues are tracked on the Common F30 Bugs page.
A Beta release is code-complete and bears a very strong resemblance to the final release. If you take the time to download and try out the Beta, you can check and make sure the things that are important to you are working. Every bug you find and report doesn’t just help you, it improves the experience of millions of Fedora users worldwide! Together, we can make Fedora rock-solid. We have a culture of coordinating new features and pushing fixes upstream as much as we can. Your feedback improves not only Fedora, but Linux and free software as a whole.
More information
For more detailed information about what’s new on Fedora 30 Beta release, you can consult the Fedora 30 Change set. It contains more technical information about the new packages and improvements shipped with this release.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-02-2019, 10:23 PM - Forum: Windows
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The future of manufacturing is open
With the expansion of IoT across all industries data is becoming the currency of innovation. Organizations have both an opportunity and a business imperative to adopt technologies quickly, build digital competencies, and offer new value-added services that will serve their broader ecosystem.
Manufacturing is an industry where IoT is having a transformational impact, yet which also requires many companies to come together for IoT to be effective. We see several challenges that slow down innovation in manufacturing, such as proprietary data structures from legacy industrial assets and closed industrial solutions. These closed structures foster data silos and limit productivity, hindering production and profitability. It takes more than new software to drive transformation—it takes a new approach to open standards, an ecosystem mindset, the ability to break out of the “walled garden” for data as well as new technology.
This is why Microsoft has invested heavily in making Azure work seamlessly with OPC UA. In fact, we are the leading contributor of open source software to the OPC Foundation. To further this open platform approach, we have collaborated with world-leading manufacturers to accelerate innovation in industrial IoT to shorten time to value. But we feel we need to do more, not just directly between Microsoft and our partners but across the industry and between the partners themselves. It’s not about what any one company can deliver within their operations – it’s about what they can share with others across the sector to help everyone achieve at new levels. It’s clearly a much bigger task than any one organization can take on, and today, I’m pleased to share more about the investments we are making to advance innovation in the manufacturing space by enabling open platforms.
Announcing the Open Manufacturing Platform
Today at Hannover Messe 2019, we are launching the Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP) together with the BMW Group, our partner on this initiative. Built on the Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT cloud platform, the OMP will provide a reference architecture and open data model framework for community members who will both contribute to and learn from others around industrial IoT projects. We’ve set up an initial approach and are actively working to bring new community members on board. BMW has an initial use case focused on their IoT platform, built on Microsoft Azure, in the second generation of autonomous transport systems in one of their sites, greatly simplifying their logistics processes and creating greater efficiency. More information about this and the partnership can be found here.
The OMP provides a single open platform architecture that liberates data from legacy industrial assets, standardizes data models for more efficient data correlation, and most importantly, enables manufacturers to share their data with ecosystem partners in a controlled and secure way, allowing others to benefit from their insights. With pre-built industrial use cases and reference designs, community members will work together to address common industrial challenges while maintaining ownership over their own data. Our news release, shared jointly with the BMW Group this morning, can be found here.
A rising tide that lifts all boats
The recognition of the need for an open approach is taking hold across the industry, as evidenced by SAP’s announcement today of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. This alliance – focused on factories, plants and warehouses – between SAP and a number of European manufacturing leaders will help create an open ecosystem for the operation of highly automated factories.
OMP and the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance are complementary visions. Both recognize the need for an open platform for the cloud and intelligent edge on the ground in the factory. Both highlight an open data model and standards-based data exchange mechanisms that allow for cross-company collaboration.
We’ve been working closely with SAP on efforts like the Open Data Initiative and across the industry on a wide range of initiatives including the Industrial Internet Consortium, the Plattform Industrie 4.0 and the OPC Foundation. We look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership and working to align OMP and the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. Collaboration is the lifeblood of future manufacturing and the more we work together, the more we can accomplish.
Apple employee Andreas Gal, former executive of Apple acquisition Silk Labs, was allegedly harangued and penalized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials when he demurred to device search requests.
Andreas Gal co-founded AI startup Silk Labs, which was acquired by Apple in 2018.
Gal’s run-in with CBP was detailed in an American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California complaint filed on Tuesday, reports Fast Company.
According to the filing, Gal was stopped at an unnamed checkpoint and questioned about his work and advocacy for online privacy. Whether officials followed the line of questioning before or after it was established that Gal was an Apple employee is unknown. It is also unclear where Gal was traveling to or from when he was stopped by CBP officers.
Officials subsequently requested passwords to access Gal’s Apple-issued phone and computer, presumably an iPhone and Mac. As the hardware, and contents therein, are covered by a nondisclosure agreement, Gal asked if he could speak with Apple or a lawyer prior to handing over the information. The request was declined and Gal was threatened with prosecution, the report said.
CBP allowed Gal to pass, but confiscated his Global Entry card and said he would be removed from the expedited screening program.
“CBP’s baseless detention and intrusive interrogation of Andreas Gal and the attempted search of his devices violated his Fourth Amendment rights,” said William Freeman, ACLU of Northern California senior counsel, in a statement. “Furthermore, CBP’s policies lack protections for First Amendment rights by allowing interrogation and device searches that may be based on a traveler’s political beliefs, activism, nation of origin, or identity.”
Gal came to Apple through the acquisition of Silk Labs, a startup focused on the development of on-device artificial intelligence technology. Previously Mozilla’s chief technology officer, Gal teamed up with fellow Mozilla platform engineer Chris Jones and Qualcomm alum Michael Vines to form Silk Labs in 2015.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-02-2019, 05:40 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Watch 20 Minutes Of Outer Worlds Gameplay Footage From PAX East
The Outer Worlds is one of 2019's most anticipated games, and developer Obsidian Entertainment showed off a lot more of it at the gaming convention PAX East over the weekend.
During a panel, developers from Obsidian gave a 20-minute walkthrough demo of the game. It's a fantastic, deep-dive look at the game, and hearing directly from the developers provides an even better understanding of what you're seeing and the thinking behind various elements. The video showcases a number of unique and beautiful environments, as well as a series of weapons and numerous characters. Take a look for yourself in the video below from YouTube channel MrRedRivers.
The Outer Worlds is in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Even though Microsoft owns Obsidian, the title will still be released on competing systems such as PlayStation 4. One noteworthy detail about the PC edition is it'll be released on the Epic Store and Windows Store first, before coming to Steam a year later.
Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, who worked on the original Fallout, are heading up the team making The Outer Worlds. The game is showing a lot of promise, and as mentioned, it's set for release sometime in 2019.
Powernode is marketed as a “zen” puzzler, but I didn’t feel very zen when I started playing. Immediately, it began to take its toll on me as I struggled in vain to make quick calculations with small numbers multiplying around me, all meant to go to various stations in need of ‘charging’. It’s a confusing, frustrating operation if you don’t know what you’re doing at first, and can turn anyone who isn’t great with organizing things or making neat pathways off.
That was at first. Over the course of the time I spent with it, I found myself getting a bit better with each session. Where I began to break down with simple number puzzles, I was gradually improving and quickening my pace, creating even better energy networks than I had before.
That’s where Powernode excels: Helping you get a little bit better each time you play, even if you come into the game thinking there’s no way you could possibly be good at it.
Powernode will look immediately familiar to anyone who’s ever spent modicum of time with Mini Metro, a strategy simulation game that has you designing your own subway map between train stations.
Instead of getting passengers where they need to go by way of meticulously-organized train lines, however, you’re working to organize nodes, or number stations that fill with some sort of green substance when you successfully “power” them with the right sum. For instance, if you have a node marked “6” and two smaller energy crystals, we’ll call them, you need to figure out a way to use both of those crystals (perhaps they’re both “3” crystals) to get juice flowing to the node to satisfy its number requirements.
The diamond shapes emit pulses every few seconds that you can connect to the number stations in need of power. When the liquid has completely filled up a station, it will disappear. Of course, you’re not done there. As you continue to play, your micromanagement skills will need to kick into high gear, because additional numbers will sprout up like popcorn without any regard to where you are in your thought processes or whether you’re quick enough. When enough stations “die off,” you’re screwed, and it’s game over.
Any node outside of your “network” will disappear as well, though. This makes things a bit more difficult. So if you had a 4 and a 2 node here and there creating a 6 node to power one across the map, those are now gone, as additional stations continue to pop up at random.
It becomes extremely challenging as the game ramps up. Early on, when you deal with smaller numbers, trying to get nodes together efficiently makes you feel like a champ. But as soon as things start going faster, the game can begin to stress you out considerably.
There are a few things other than the demanding gameplay that might annoy you, too. The more you rely on one node, the slower its efficiency. This forces you to continually re-evaluate how you’re going to power every station without having to make some sort of complicated web that looks more like a rat’s nest than power lines.
But when you lay the power lines down, there’s no way to rearrange them unless the nodes disappear. This means whatever mistakes you make, with nodes in the way of others will be there for the long haul, forcing you to stare right at your foul-ups for the rest of each session. Powernode could have used some sort of “undo” method, but I didn’t see a way to do so aside from restarting the entire game.
It’s all very exciting as the game begins upping the difficulty. When you accomplish some particularly impressive feats later on, you’ll feel like an absolute genius. But if you’re not good at multitasking, or it potentially frustrates or stresses you out, this is not the game for you, as it won’t hold your hand in any way or offer any assistance.
If you need a puzzler that’s beautifully minimalistic, numbers-based, and extremely challenging, pick up Powernode – you won’t regret it.
Reddit's r/Games Closes For April Fools' Day, And Here's Why
Reddit's r/Games, one of the biggest gaming communities on the internet, is closed today for April Fools' Day. In a message posted on the popular subreddit today, mods explained that they're taking things "a little more seriously" this year, and that means closing down /r/Games for the day.
"In recent times, it's come to our attention that what has been intended to be a forum for the potential spread of knowledge and involvement in video games has instead become a battleground of conflicting ideas," the mods explained. "Ordinarily, this isn't an issue; discussion by its very nature is certain to bring argument, but when that argument descends into vitriolic attacks between individuals on a regular basis with no chance at deescalation, that's when, put simply, something’s got to give."
The mods went on to say that r/Games is becoming "increasingly responsible" for perpetuating the "combative and derogatory schools of thought" surrounding misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and racism, among other things. "Now is the time to stymie the flow of regressive ideas and prevent them from ever becoming the norm," the mods said.
"Though certain memes (such as 'gamers rise up') surrounding gaming are largely viewed as a humorous interpretation of a mindset, at the core of the humor is a set of very serious issues that affect all gaming enthusiasts," they explained. "By showing disdain or outright rejecting minority and marginalized communities, we become more insular. In this, we lose out on the chance to not only show compassion to these people, but also the chance to grow our own community and diversify the demographics of those involved in it."
While the mods do take action against perpetrators by removing comments and banning bad actors, an underlying fundamental issue persists: "the notion that it's okay or acceptable to ridicule and demonize traditionally disenfranchised and marginalized members in the gaming community," the mods said. "This is not just an issue in r/Games or on Reddit alone; this is an issue deeply embedded in the ranging depths of the internet, frequently in communities that center around the discussion of games."
The mods went on to say that they continually see "condescending, dismissive, vindictive, and pessimistic attitudes" on r/Games, and they posted examples of some of the problematic comments and threads they witness regularly. "We must closely examine our own communities, in an effort to encourage acceptance and inclusion, to foster a healthy community in which we value empathy and respect."
While there are many deep issues, the mods said, there are also reasons to be optimistic.
"Though the industry as a whole has suffered a great deal of trials and tribulations, we also are fortunate enough to be at a point in time in which there seem to be a glut of fantastic games, from major AAA titles down to near-anonymous indie projects that come out of nowhere.
"So let's revel in what's available to us, and also appreciate the myriad of backgrounds that we as gamers come from. Our differences in experiences comprise the diversity in the content that we consume, and by allowing ourselves to appreciate those differences, we change our perspectives and interpretations; this applies not only in games, but life as a whole."
This April Fools' Day, the r/Games mods are asking people to consider contributing to charitable organisations that support LGBT+, women's health, POC, and other groups. You can see a full list of the charities and find out how to support them in this Reddit post.
r/Games is expected to re-open on April 2, and on that day, the mods will hold a discussion regarding the decision to close the subreddit.
Early Mortal Kombat 11 Switch Impressions Sound Promising, 60fps Is The Target
Mortal Kombat 11‘s release is really starting to creep up on us now, but very little (well, nothing really) has been shared to show off the Switch version. All video footage we’ve seen so far has been for other, shinier versions, and if we’re being honest, we were starting to get a little concerned.
The game was playable at PAX East over the weekend, but reports quickly came flooding in stating that footage of the Switch version wasn’t allowed to be shared. Another concern, then. But, as luck would have it, it actually appears that first impressions are mightly positive.
The general consensus seems to suggest that the Switch version is currently running as well as you’d hope for, sacrificing some of the pure graphical detail available on other versions to ensure high level – and consistent – performance.
USGamer notes that the game didn’t appear to ever drop below 60 frames per second, and that “some jaggy character outlines” during each fight’s intro were “quickly cleared up when the battle began”. Gamespot also reports that the fighting mechanics are clearly the priority, with Shiver Entertainment – the team behind the Switch version – being set a mission to have the game running smoothly at 60fps (something Gamespot says has been achieved “with some visual compromises”).
Many would argue that fighting games are all about the ‘feel’ of the gameplay, with a solid frame rate and fluid controls being much more important than being able to see every bead of sweat running down Johnny Cage’s face. It would be foolish to hope for a Switch version that can match PS4 and Xbox One in the graphics department, so this performance-focused approach sounds very promising to us.
Are you excited to get your hands on this one when it finally arrives? Do these early impressions sound good to you? Let us know in the comments.
Writing and receiving email is a big part of everyone’s daily routine and choosing an email client is usually a major decision. The Fedora OS provides a large choice of email clients and among these are text-based email applications.
Mutt
Mutt is probably one of the most popular text-based email clients. It supports all the common features that one would expect from an email client. Color coding, mail threading, POP3, and IMAP are all supported by Mutt. But one of its best features is it’s highly configurable. Indeed, the user can easily change the keybindings, and create macros to adapt the tool to a particular workflow.
To give Mutt a try, install it using sudo and dnf:
$ sudo dnf install mutt
To help newcomers get started, Mutt has a very comprehensive wiki full of macro examples and configuration tricks.
Alpine
Alpine is also among the most popular text-based email clients. It’s more beginner friendly than Mutt, and you can configure most of Alpine via the application itself — no need to edit a configuration file. One powerful feature of Alpine is the ability to score emails. This is particularly interesting for users that are registered to a high volume mailing list like Fedora’s devel list. Using scores, Alpine can sort the email based on the user’s interests, showing emails with a high score first.
Alpine is also available to install from Fedora’s repository using dnf.
$ sudo dnf install alpine
While using Alpine, you can easily access the documentation by pressing the Ctrl+G key combination.
nmh
nmh (new Mail Handling) follows the UNIX tools philosophy. It provides a collection of single purpose programs to send, receive, save, retrieve, and manipulate e-mail messages. This lets you swap the nmh command with other programs, or create scripts around nmh to create more customized tools. For example, you can use Mutt with nmh.
nmh can be easily installed using dnf.
$ sudo dnf install nmh
To learn more about nmh and mail handling in general you can read this GPL licenced book.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 04-01-2019, 11:23 PM - Forum: Windows
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Meet the 2019 Imagine Cup Americas regional finalists
Our last group of finalists competing in 2019 Imagine Cup Regional events have been announced! 12 student developer teams from countries across the Americas have been selected to travel to Seattle this May and pitch their projects at the Americas Regional Final. They will compete for USD15,000 and the chance to win the last spot in the World Championship at Microsoft Build.
Microsoft’s Imagine Cup empowers student developers with the tools and resources to turn their technology ideas into reality. We believe that the next great thing could come from anyone, at any time. Now in its 17th year with nearly 2 million competitors across the globe, Imagine Cup combines the chance to develop key business and technology skills through hands-on competition, plus the opportunity to win mentoring, travel, cash, and more.
Students this year were challenged to develop an original idea built on Azure in teams of up to three and submit a project proposal and video pitch for the chance to advance in the competition. Hundreds of students submitted projects to the Americas Online Semifinal, and we are excited to introduce the teams who will be moving forward to the Americas Regional Finals in Seattle this May! Follow along with their competition journey on Twitter and Instagram.
Meet our Americas Finalists!
Easy2Pet
Brazil
Easy 2 Pet – Share Love, Sow Life: Easy 2 Pet is an IoT project which, through the partnership of socially responsible companies, aims to feed street animals using a system of Convolutional Neural Network and Azure Storage Services.
Speex
Brazil
Speex: The team’s project helps the user improve their presentations through mixed reality. The user can empower themselves, while acquiring experience and confidence in speaking to their audience.
SafeTrip: SafeTrip is a reactive car-accident app that tracks the eyes of a driver to monitor if they are impaired; alerting first responders of the exact location of the driver if they are deemed inattentive.
Accutrack
Canada
AccuTrack: The team created an IoT device for tracking and improving the ergonomic efficiency of blue-collar workers.
nekoTap
Canada
nekoTap: nekoTap is an easy-to-use solution to help patients better engage their medication therapy. Pharmacists can record counselling sessions and attach them to the prescription bottles through NFC tags. At home, patients can review the recordings.
Smart Eyes: Smart Eyes is a mobile application that uses video processing and object detection to inform the visually impaired or legally blind users of their surroundings using audio feedback.
EasyGlucose
United States
EasyGlucose: EasyGlucose is a low-cost, non-invasive, painless blood glucose level monitor for diabetics using deep learning and smartphone-based ophthalmic imaging.
EcoSort
United States
EcoSort: EcoSort is a smart waste-disposal container. The hardware uses Microsoft cloud tools to predict which item is tossed into the bin. Based on the response, the machine knows how to sort the item.
Packop
United States
Packop: Packop is developed for solving package theft issues. Packop is a service that not only monitors suspicious activities outside the home, but also actively engages in monitored situations by detecting and recognizing people and packages.
Solar fund/strong>
United States
Solar Fund: Built on blockchain and IoT, the team’s project showcases a new and innovative financial model. Built ground up for financing rooftop solar power projects, it not only makes the investment in solar projects more viable, but also more flexible.
SpeakEasy: SpeakEasy is an intelligent and personalized public speaking trainer. SpeakEasy takes advantage of speech and gesture recognition to provide detailed feedback on each user’s presentation skills.
Vocapture
United States
Vocapture: The team developed a mobile application that enables users to identify objects around them, quickly and intuitively see the objects’ translations, and practice their foreign language skills with handwriting recognition.
Don’t miss the chance to see who will move forward to the World Championship at Microsoft Build to compete against Team Caeli from India and Team Finderr from the UK. Who will take home the trophy and USD100,000? Sign up for updates to follow the 2019 competition action.
By Mikey Campbell Monday, April 01, 2019, 02:48 pm PT (05:48 pm ET)
Apple on Monday announced plans to report quarterly earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2019 at the end of trading on April 30, with company executives expected to detail the period’s highs and lows in an ensuing investor conference call.
Announced in an update to Apple’s Investor Relations webpage, the forthcoming conference call is scheduled for Tuesday, April 30, at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern.
Company CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri are expected to provide an in-depth breakdown of segment financials for the three-month period ending in March, potentially offering an early look at the performance of newly released iPad and AirPods models. The pair is also anticipated to field questions from select analysts.
Following a rare guidance revision in January, Apple posted earnings of $84.3 billion in revenue on the back of $52 billion in iPhone sales. Despite a handset revenue contraction of 15 percent year-over-year, the company touted a 19 percent uptick in overall growth driven in large part by solid sales in other sectors.
“While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide,” Cook said during last quarter’s conference call.
In line with recent quarters, Apple’s services arm continued to follow an upward trajectory during the three-month period ending in December. The segment raked in $10.9 billion, an all-time high. Services are expected to boom throughout 2019 and 2020 as Apple introduces a slate of new products to its existing App Store, AppleCare, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud and iTunes offerings.
For the current quarter, Apple is forecasting revenue between $55 billion and $59 billion, with gross margin estimated to fall between 37 percent and 38 percent. Operating expenses are expected to lie between between $8.5 billion and $8.6 billion.
AppleInsider will offer full coverage of the earnings call on Tuesday, April 30, starting at 2 p.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. Eastern.
