AnActOfCreation

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.

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.

• Former President Trump defended his actions regarding the 2020 election, claiming he had the right to interfere and criticizing the charges against him as politically motivated.
• Trump argued that the legal actions against him set a bad precedent and accused prosecutors of bias, specifically mentioning federal charges and a Georgia case involving alleged election interference.
• The Harris-Walz campaign condemned Trump's remarks, stating that he is pushing false narratives and emphasizing Vice President Harris's commitment to upholding the rule of law.

• Senator JD Vance used a viral clip of Caite Upton's 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant mistake to mock Kamala Harris, sparking backlash.
• Upton criticized Vance's actions on social media, calling for an end to online bullying, and expressed that the viral clip had previously led to depression and suicidal thoughts.
• Vance stated he was unaware of Upton’s past mental health struggles and refused to apologize, dismissing the incident as a joke.

• Paleontologists found matching Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints in Brazil and Cameroon, showing where dinosaurs walked before Africa and South America split.
• The footprints, mostly from three-toed theropods, date back 120 million years and reveal how dinosaurs migrated across the supercontinent Gondwana.
• Geological evidence supports that these areas were connected before the continents drifted apart, forming the South Atlantic Ocean.

• Sonos's botched app rollout is a significant leadership failure, resulting in widespread customer dissatisfaction and technical issues that undermine its brand.
• Over 100 employees were laid off, likely due to the mishandling of the app, reflecting poor leadership priorities and decisions.
• Sonos now faces potential long-term damage to its customer loyalty and market confidence, with upcoming updates needing to address these issues urgently.

• Peloton is introducing a $95 "used equipment activation fee" for bikes purchased from outside its official channels in the US and Canada, aiming to boost revenue and maintain onboarding quality for new subscribers.
• The fee has sparked criticism as it reduces the cost savings typically associated with buying secondhand equipment and diverges from practices in other industries, potentially discouraging used market purchases.
• Peloton's hardware sales continue to decline, but subscription revenue has seen slight growth; the company still faces financial struggles despite cost-cutting measures and layoffs.

• Firefox is a privacy-friendly alternative to Chrome, using its own browser engine (Gecko) and offering strong privacy protections compared to Chromium-based browsers.
• Despite its benefits, Firefox relies on Google for funding, raising concerns about its future, and some recent privacy decisions have drawn criticism.
• Switching from Chrome to Firefox is simple, and alternatives like Mullvad Browser offer even stronger privacy for those seeking more protection.