Security, Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub), and Microsoft FUD

• Intel Makes ControlFlag Open-Source For Helping To Detect Bugs In Code - Phoronix

  Last year Intel announced ControlFlag as a machine learning tool for helping to uncover bugs within code. ControlFlag promised impressive results after being trained on more than one billion lines of code and at the end of 2020 was already being used internally on Intel's code-bases from firmware to software applications. We hadn't heard anything more about ControlFlag this year... Until today. Intel has now made ControlFlag open-source for helping to autonomously detect more programming bugs.

• Developers: Intel's automated debugging tool ControlFlag is now open source [Ed: Intel has once again outsourced a project, this time ControlFlag, to Microsoft's proprietary software]

  Now available via GitHub, ControlFlag taps machine learning to automatically identify bugs in software and firmware code, saving developers the time-consuming task of manually debugging the programs they write.

• Newly Found npm Malware Mines Cryptocurrency on Windows, Linux, macOS Devices [Ed: Microsoft is shipping malware and a Microsoft partner, Sonatype, blames the recipients]

  Sonatype’s automated malware detection system has caught multiple malicious packages on the npm registry this month. These packages disguise themselves as legitimate JavaScript libraries but were caught launching cryptominers on Windows, macOS and Linux machines.

• These hackers dodge Windows and target Linux as they look to steal phone data [Ed: ZDNet has resorted to shamelessly quoting and relaying talking points from Microsoft-connected operatives, basically painting Windows with back doors as "OK" and Linux guilty for things that have nothing to do with Linux]

Red Hat/Fedora Leftovers

• Deploy a Java application using Helm, Part 2 | Red Hat Developer

  In the previous article in this series, you learned how to deploy Java applications to Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP) using Helm on Red Hat OpenShift. Developers can use the procedures in Part 1 to easily stand up traditional Java application servers on Kubernetes with predefined Kubernetes manifestos. What if you could have the same benefits when you develop microservices using JBoss EAP and Helm charts? JBoss EAP provides the Extension Pack (XP) to implement content trimming, packaging to a bootable JAR, and a MicroProfile specification including fault tolerance, monitoring, and tracing in support of microservices in the cloud. This article explains how to make a bootable JAR using JBoss EAP XP and Helm and deploy the application to OpenShift.

• Red Hat build of Quarkus 2.2: Simplified Kubernetes-native Java

  Red Hat has released the Red Hat build of Quarkus 2.2 to continue to support enterprise developers building Kubernetes-native Java applications. The latest release has many great features and performance improvements, including tools to improve developer productivity while in Dev Mode. Let's take a look at some highlights from this release. For a complete list, check out the release notes.

• What's new in the Red Hat OpenShift 4.9 console

  Red Hat OpenShift console users will discover a rich set of new and improved console features in OpenShift 4.9. This article introduces general improvements, usability enhancements, and new console features for developers using Red Hat OpenShift Serverless, Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines, and Red Hat OpenShift GitOps.

• DevOps: 3 skills needed to support its future in the enterprise

  It’s no longer a question of if organizations need DevOps, but rather when they should adopt it, according to the DevOps Institute Upskilling 2021 report. That report finds that global enterprise adoption of DevOps at the project or multiple-project level is at 20 percent and 36 percent, respectively – and the skills needed for a successful DevOps journey span the categories of automation, human, technical, functional, and process knowledge. Whether you’re facing a skills gap in any of those key areas or you’re looking to expand your adoption of DevOps in the near future, keep the following considerations in mind:

• Productivity lessons learned: 6 CIOs share tips for you and your team

  In our new hybrid work reality, many people in IT have enjoyed the flexibility to rewrite the rules on work-life balance. But it’s been a learning curve, says Kumud Kalia, CIO, Guardant Health. “As we moved to remote working for most of our employees, it became evident that time management had become much more of a juggling act between work, childcare/schooling, and miscellaneous personal priorities without a clear separation between these various activities. We already had flexible working hours for many of our employees, but we found that Zoom fatigue was real and added to the already unrelenting demands upon our people,” says Kalia. We asked CIOs who recently won the 2021 Bay Area CIO of the Year ORBIE Awards for their best productivity tips and lessons learned on work-life balance over the last year and a half. The awards were presented by the Bay Area CIO Leadership Association, a professional community that annually recognizes CIOs for their excellence in technology leadership. From being intentional and selective, to setting the right examples from the top, learn how these award-winning CIOs are making the most of their workday - and encouraging their teams to do the same.

• Docker and Fedora 35

  In June of 2020, we published an article related to running Docker and Fedora 32. We described various workarounds that were required to run Docker, and we explained the bothersome situation at that time. But Docker has evolved, and it’s time to return to our previous tutorial. Thus, today we’ll talk about using Docker on Fedora Linux 35. With this guide, you should be able to easily recreate an existing development environment, without having to retool your entire pipeline. We’ll focus on getting the right packages, testing a few important scenarios, and helping you with tooling.

Free Software Review: Trying out LibreWolf 93 as an alternative to Firefox. It’s less annoying, but there’s still DRM?

Firefox has recently crossed the line into malware territory. I’ve been blogging a lot about how much I absolutely despise the direction they are taking the company in. To recap a little, they’ve turned into a “woke” political party on a crusade to bring Cancel Culture to everyone who has a difference of opinion, their CEO is running them into the ground and swiping all the money while she’s at it. They laid off most of the developers last year and blamed COVID, and now they hope to get a pile of dirty cash from a sleazy advertising partner with “sponsored suggestions”. A keylogger. None of this is okay. This is actually worse than Chrome in some ways because it sends your private data to three companies, one of which is Google, then Mozilla, and then another advertising company (BuySellAds). While I generally like GNOME Web and where it’s going, I’d like to keep using the parts of Firefox that actually do what I want them to, and I was even considering learning how to clean it myself. I’ve built the browser from source code before. Most of the malicious anti-features are compile-time options. But it appears that a project called LibreWolf beat me to this.

Devices and Open Hardware: Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and More

• Even the Raspberry Pi isn’t immune to the chip shortage

  The crunch on global technology continues unabated. As production on everything from graphics cards to automobiles slows to a grind due to the ongoing chip shortage, even the humble Raspberry Pi isn’t unscathed. The makers of every maker’s favorite tiny, self-contained PC announced that they’re going to have to raise prices on the latest model. It’s the first time the company has ever announced a price increase for any product.

• Take part in the UK Bebras Challenge 2021 for schools!

• Arduino enables USB mouse support on custom 6502 homebrew computer | Arduino Blog

  The MOS Technology 6502 was one of the most popular processors of the 8-bit era. It found a home in legendary computers like the Commodore 64, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro, and Apple II. Even the NES had a custom implementation of the 6502. Because the 6502 is so well documented, it is possible for today’s enthusiasts to use it in their own homebrew computers. To enhance their DIY 6502 computer, rehsd used an Arduino to add USB mouse support.

• Light Deck is a MIDI Lightroom controller | Arduino Blog

  Using Adobe Lightroom can be a tedious process, especially for those who don’t have their keyboards set up with a hundred macro shortcuts. Andrea Lunaro wanted to make this process easier by constructing a large, physical bank of buttons and potentiometers that can be used to perform a whole host of functions within Lightroom. It can output commands to copy/paste, set HSL values, do basic transformations, and navigate around the software in general, all over the MIDI protocol.