Table of Contents

From The Chief Editor's Desk

Inkscape Tutorial: Drawing A Tree

Knew It All Along: Your Gmail Is Being Spied Upon

ms_meme's Nook: Summertime In The PCLOS Forum

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Layered Mexican Party Salad

Short Topix: Is Your Router At Risk?

YouTuber, Part 6: The Epilogue

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: HERTZ

Between You, Me, and Google: Problems With Gmail's "Confidential Mode"

Tip Top Tips: Installing HP Printers That Require The Proprietary Plugin

ms_meme's Nook: Midnight In The Forum

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: California Cheeseburger Skillet

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk

If it weren't for the events 27 years ago, on August 25, 1991, we might all still be running Windows. How's that for a horrific thought? On that date, Linus Torvalds released Linux to the world. Look around. Witness how much Linux has grown since that initial release.

Linux is everywhere. Android phones and tablets can thank Linux, since they run a version of the Linux kernel. Automotive electronics are using Linux. Many TV and DVD/Blu-Ray players use Linux for their user interfaces. Ebook readers are mostly Linux based. Linux serves as the backbone for many IoT devices. Linux runs the vast majority of supercomputers around the world.

Linux is everywhere.

Without it, where would we be? There aren't a whole lot of other choices. Besides Windows, would we run Mac OS? Probably not, with Apple's closed ecosystem. We could run one of the Unix based operating systems. But Unix seems more divided than Linux. Or, would something altogether different step up to fill the void left by the absence of Linux?

I shudder at the thought.

Would Linux's replacement be something we've already seen? AmigaOS, maybe? OS/2? Or would it be something none of us could imagine because it doesn't even exist? Would it embrace open source software as we've come to know it?

Linux is special in many ways, and not just because we all (me and all you readers) use it day in and day out. Linux users are special, and are not just your average computer user. Everyone and anyone who desires to do so can view and study the source code. Users can alter that source code pretty much as they see fit. Users can contribute code to customize, improve and extend Linux.

After years of literally and totally being ignored, computer hardware manufacturers are now supporting Linux with device drivers to make that hardware work/run under Linux. I've noticed a HUGE difference since I first started using Linux regularly about a dozen years ago. Back then, there were a lot of homegrown, roll-your-own device drivers by the Linux community. Very few hardware vendors thought that the “Linux market” was big enough to warrant the time, energy and effort put into development of device drivers for our beloved operating system.

Thankfully, Linux gained a market share that, by some estimates, exceeds that of the Mac OS. All of a sudden, and thankfully, the hardware vendors saw Linux users as too large of a market to ignore. Within a one or two year period, we saw tons of hardware vendors jumping on the Linux bandwagon, offering up driver support for their products.

Boy, how things have changed. Every major wireless chipset is backed by drivers from their vendors. Go out and look at printers. Virtually every big name printer manufacturer not only offers drivers for Linux, but they prominently and proudly display that support either on the box that the printer comes in, or in the device specifications for the printer. Down the line of computer accessories and hardware, Linux support has blossomed and proliferated.

No longer does Linux languish in obscurity. Ten years ago, it was rare for me to find anyone who knew of -- or even heard of -- Linux. Today, I find a lot of people who at least know what I'm talking about, even if they are not users themselves. With virtually no advertising budget, there are quite a few factors the helped to pull Linux out of the shadows. Certainly, the increased market share led to much more of an increase by word-of-mouth. Support from hardware manufacturers certainly has helped, but with that one, it's kind of like the debate about which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did the growth of the Linux market spur the support, or did the support help spur the growth? Certainly, Microsoft putting out a flop version of Windows every other release cycle, something they have a long, long history of doing, helped drive new users to Linux. With every flop version of Windows released, the Linux community seems to see a new flood of refugees, many of whom never realized that there was an alternative.

So, Happy Birthday, Linux! You've come a long way, baby! Your future is bright for continued growth.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity and prosperity.

Inkscape Tutorial: Drawing A Tree

by Meemaw

I found this tutorial in the same place as the grass tutorial we did a couple of months ago. This is to make a tree easily, rather than trying to draw one by hand.

Open Inkscape and click on Extensions > Render > Random Tree. You'll see a dialog box like the one below. There are only two settings: Initial size and Minimum size. Set those to 100 and 4 respectively. Check the Live preview box and look at what you get. You can try again by unchecking the Live preview box and rechecking it.

I decided on this one:

Open up the Fill & Stroke dialog and change the Stroke to a color green with a width of about 40px. Set the Join to Miter so it's still jagged, like trees are.

Select your tree and click on Path > Stroke to Path. This will convert your tree into a much more simple shape, because we're going to change it.

We're going to deal with the leaves and the trunk separately so, using the Pen tool, draw a shape around the trunk.

Select both the tree and the shape you just drew and use Path > Division. You should get something that looks like the tree below. Change the trunk to a brown color of your choice.

Now, with the cut we just made, our leaves look way too straight on the bottom. To fix this, copy and paste the leaf bunch and then flip it vertically.

Now place the two leaf sections together, one on top of the other. You can then group them, or you can select both leaf objects and do a Path > Union to merge them. I also lengthened the trunk as well. It's your creation, so it's up to you.

Now, to make it more realistic, copy the entire tree top and flip it horizontally and give it a slightly darker green color. You can also rotate it and/or change the size. Send it to the bottom of your drawing to give it some depth.

Now we also want to add a shadow to the tree trunk. Copy the tree top and tree trunk. Give the tree top copy a black fill with a 50% opacity. Leave the tree trunk in position as we'll be clipping it for a proper shadow.

Move the tree trunk on top of the shadow, select them both, and click on Object > Clip > Set. What you will end with is a shadow of the tree top on the trunk.

Click on your tree top and bring it back to the front. I also moved the trunk down just a little, and shortened up the tree top so the shadow is visible.

To add some finishing touches, I grouped all the tree pieces, duplicated the tree, changed the size of the duplicate and flipped it horizontally. Then I moved it elsewhere on the page. In addition, I put in some sky and some of the grass we made a couple of months ago.

The last step is to export the drawing in the format of your choice.

I'm sure your creation is wonderful! I hope you had fun with this!

Knew It All Along: Your Gmail Is Being Spied Upon

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Background

I can remember back in 2004, when Gmail first launched publicly. Some thought it was an April Fool's joke, since the public release date was April 1, 2004. Back then, it was in beta and only available by invitation (it was, in fact, considered "beta" until 2009). I remember asking everyone I knew if they had a Gmail account, and if they did, to please send me an invitation. Users could each send out either 50 or 100 invitations (I forget the actual number) to friends and family (initially, it was three invitations, and then increased to six, before the loftier 50 or 100 invitations). It took me a few months to finally get my invitation, since some people I knew weren't freely handing out their "allotment" of invitations. In fact, some users were "selling" Gmail invitations on Ebay for as much as $150 (U.S.). The selling of Gmail invitations is what prompted Google to increase the number of invitations to the much higher number of 50 or 100, blowing out that "market."

Gmail's chief architect was Paul Buchheit, the 23rd employee of Google. He started working on Gmail in 2001 in an almost Skunkworks fashion. Gmail was kept hidden from all but a few select Google engineers. By 2004, virtually all Google employees were using Gmail for internal email communication. In addition to Gmail, Buchheit also developed the original prototype for Google AdSense, as well as suggesting Google's former company motto of "Don't be evil" back in 2000 at a meeting to discuss company values. Buchheit left Google in 2006.

How Gmail looked in 2004.

Gmail was a bit different back then. Almost no one back then worried about whether "Big Brother" Google (or anyone else) was reading their emails. One early feature (that started showing up as early as 2006) was a configurable "news feed" bar at the top of the Gmail inbox mail list window that users could customize with RSS news feeds that appealed to their interests. Sadly, that feature is one of many that have been lost through the years and many Google redesigns of Gmail.

You'll notice that the early Gmail did not include a contacts manager. The earliest reference I can find for Gmail having a contacts manager is 2006.

Don't be fooled. Google makes money from Gmail by targeting ads to its users. That's one of the reasons Buchheit helped lay the foundation for Google AdSense, so he could help monetize Gmail for its public release. Today, those ads occupy the space formerly occupied by the RSS news feed ticker (unless you use an ad blocker, like UBlock Origin or AdBlock Plus).

As of April, 2018, Gmail is offered in 72 languages around the world, and boasts 1.4 BILLION users worldwide (yours truly, included).

Where The Doubts Start

Once Gmail started targeting ads to users in earnest, the questions started. It turns out that Google was electronically scanning users emails using an algorithm to discover the interests of individual Gmail users. Google has claimed all along that a) no human eyes at Google ever see your email, and b) things like medical conditions, sexual orientation, race, creed, religion or any other potentially discriminatory data were never used. But, by scanning the email of Gmail users, the ads appearing in Google AdSense would be targeted to that specific user's interests, as indicated by the content of their emails.

Understandably, this literally freaked out a lot of users. Trust in Google plummeted (even more), since despite Google's admission that no human eyes have ever or would ever routinely read any user's emails, doubts remained in a good number of users minds. Tons of questions and red flags remained, such as: Google can keep unlimited amounts of information on a user forever, that information could be used to build profiles of individual users, emails sent by users of other email services get scanned without the sender ever having agreed to Google's privacy policy or terms of service, Google's ability to change its privacy policy unilaterally, and they can make minor changes without ever notifying the end user.

Granted, there are a whole slew of people who really couldn't give two nickels about their privacy. But then, there are a whole lot of people who are legitimately concerned about their privacy, and work hard to protect it. I have to admit that I've seen a lot more people concerned about their privacy in the Linux community than I ever saw in the Windows world. But then too, I've not spent any significant time in the Windows world for much of the past decade that I've been running Linux.

Google ceased the scanning of the emails of Gmail users in 2017. Instead, they collect their user data from individual user's use of Google's other services.

The Current Dilemma

While Google itself has stopped scanning the emails of Google users, there are a lot of third party apps that still do. This revelation was revealed in a July 2, 2018 Wall Street Journal article (subscription required). Of course, the news spread quickly, and far and wide. Hardly a news outlet spared any time at all getting word out to users. In some cases, it was reported that users intimate and private emails were being read by another human.

Several news outlets immediately posted information on how to limit the damage by monitoring which apps have access to your Google accounts, and how to rescind any access to apps that you may have previously given permission to. Even Google, in their response to the news on their blog without directly addressing the WSJ article, directed users on how to limit the damage.

Basically, travel over to your Google accounts page, and select "Apps with account access" from the menu on the left side of the screen. From there, you can change access permissions for any app listed.

While any platform that can access Gmail is at risk, the risk seems to be much higher for Android users. Pay particular attention to the specific access permissions for any and all apps you install. I use an Android phone and tablet, and I'm always scrutinizing the permissions and access that apps are asking for, both when they are installed and when they are updated. If an app asks for permissions I'm not willing to provide, that app doesn't get updated or installed. Instead, it gets deleted from my phone or tablet. There's no reason for a game (trust me ... I don't have many, and none that anyone would consider popular, like Candy Crush) to have access to my photo storage, my email, my contacts, or any other personal and private data that might be on my phone or tablet.

Google claims to vet the third party app developers rigorously and thoroughly to insure that only the data necessary to achieve the third party app's goals is accessed. As an Android user, I have to say that doesn't seem to be the case, judging by some of the dubious permissions that are requested when I install an app through the Google Play store. Given the volume of apps in the Google Play store, there doesn't seem to be any good, surefire way to police all those apps to make sure they are playing by the rules.

So why would these third party apps need access to your email? To quote the Business Insider article on this issue:

Google has long allowed software developers the ability to access users' accounts as long as users gave them permission. That ability was designed to allow developers to create apps that consumers could use to add events to their Google Calendars or to send messages from their Gmail accounts.

But marketing companies have created apps that take advantage of that access to get insights into consumers' behavior, according to the report. The apps offer things such as price-comparison services or travel-itinerary planning, but the language in their service agreements allows them to view users' email as well. In fact, it's become a "common practice" for marketing companies to scan consumers' email, The Journal reported.

It isn't clear how carefully Google is monitoring such uses. Many consumers may not be aware that they've given apps such access to their accounts.

Summary

I don't know about you, but I prefer to keep nosy apps out of my calendar and email accounts. I'd rather make my own entries and send my own emails, thank you very much. In fact, I'd rather keep as many eyes out of all of my accounts as is humanly possible. It is MY data, and no one else has any rights to it.

Remember, your private and personal information IS the currency d'jour. It is up to you to keep it secure, and to limit who has access to it. Even then, it should only be limited access, limited by only what is necessary to complete the task at hand.

ms_meme's Nook: Summertime In The PCLOS Forum

OGG                                                            MP3

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Layered Mexican Party Salad

Layered Mexican Party Salad

Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker™ Suddenly Salad® classic pasta salad mix
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15.25 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
4 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 container (12 oz) refrigerated guacamole dip
1 1/2 cups finely shredded Mexican 4-cheese blend (6 oz)
3 plum (Roma) tomatoes, chopped
1 can (2 1/4 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
3 cups nacho-flavored tortilla chips

Directions

1. Empty Pasta mix into 3-quart saucepan 2/3 full of boiling water. Gently boil uncovered 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Drain pasta; rinse with cold water. Shake to drain well. In medium bowl, stir together seasoning mix, oil, water and cumin. Stir in pasta, beans and corn.

3. In 4-quart glass salad bowl or 13x9-inch glass baking dish, layer lettuce and pasta mixture. Spread guacamole evenly over top. Sprinkle with cheese and tomatoes; top with olives.

4. Just before serving, arrange chips around edge of bowl. Serve immediately, or refrigerate.

Tips:

Purchase a bag of ready-to-eat torn romaine lettuce to save time.

Make this salad up to 24 hours before serving.

Short Topix: Is Your Router At Risk?

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Thirty-Five Organizations From Tech, Finance, Energy, and Biotech Join The Linux Foundation and Invest in Open Source Technology

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, announced the addition of 32 Silver members and 3 Associate members. Linux Foundation members help support development of the shared technology resources, while accelerating their own innovation through open source leadership and participation. Linux Foundation member contributions help provide the infrastructure and resources that enable the world's largest open collaboration communities.

"Without the support and resources of organizations such as these new members, we would not be able to help open source communities accelerate innovation on such a huge scale," said Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation. "We welcome all our new members and look forward to collaborating with them further."

In addition to joining the Foundation, many of the new members have joined Linux Foundation projects like Automotive Grade Linux, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, LF Deep Learning, EdgeX Foundry, Hyperledger, LF Networking, OpenHPC and Open Mainframe Project. For a full list of members, visit https://www.linuxfoundation.org/membership/members/.

Linux Foundation Silver members are organizations that contribute to or otherwise support open source communities and projects. The new Linux Foundation Silver members who joined in the month of May are:

Abalta Technologies is a leading provider of technology and infotainment solutions for the global connected car market.

Airbiquity is a leader in vehicle telematics, geofencing, and connected car systems, with more than 7 million connected vehicles on the road.

Beike Finance is the leading residential property financial services provider in China.

BGI Shenzhen Co., known as Beijing Genomics Institute prior to 2008, is one of the world's genome sequencing centers, headquartered in Shenzhen.

BlackRidge Technology develops, markets and supports a family of products that provide a next generation cyber security solution for protecting enterprise networks and cloud services.

Blockdaemon is a Nodes as a Service platform that empowers businesses to simply and efficiently manage blockchain applications.

CircleCI is a continuous integration and continuous delivery platform that helps teams work smarter, faster.

DiDi is the world's leading one-stop mobile transportation platform, offering a full range of app-based mobility options for over 450 million users.

eBaoTech International's mission is "make insurance easy" -- pioneering the 3G insurance tech, or Java based core insurance system, eBaoTech is moving to the 4G insurance technology which is cloud native and microservices based.

Edgewise Networks is the industry's first Zero Trust platform for hybrid cloud security -- stopping attackers' lateral movements and protecting workloads by allowing only verified applications, users, containers, and hosts to communicate.

Elastisys provides products and services in the realm of Kubernetes and automation -- enabling intelligent autopiloting for IT operations, increased performance, and availability of applications, all based on world renowned cloud research.

EPAM Systems provider of digital platform engineering and software development services.

Evernym, Inc. develops software solutions that leverage distributed ledger technology to provide every individual, organization and connected device with secure and irrevocable identity.

Experian is a consumer credit reporting agency.

Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc is a full-service information technology and IT security consulting and professional services firm.

IOWNIT is a technology-driven investment platform built for investors, entrepreneurs, and their trusted advisors to invest, trade and raise capital in private markets.

Kakaopay is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Kakao based in South Korea that allows users make mobile payments and online transactions.

Kyra Solutions Inc has emerged as one of the leading information technology service providers in the State of Florida.

Neusoft Corporation provides innovative information technology -- enabled solutions and services to meet the demands arising from social transformation, to shape new life styles for individuals and to create values for the society.

NuCypher enables seamless and secure sharing of sensitive data between organizations as well as allows enterprises to securely use cloud service providers.

Octarine delivers total visibility, easy policy management, and strong app security with seamless integration with systems such as Kubernetes, Istio, and Kafka to reduce security threats, obtain compliance, and achieve simple, secure multi/hybrid-cloud.

Omnitude is a project to revolutionise connectivity between blockchain technologies and enterprise systems.

Optherium Labs is a global research and development organization building a new standard and synergy of blockchain solutions using an open source, collaborative software development approach.

Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd is the technology incubator for Ping An Group, with strong research and development capabilities in cloud, artificial intelligence, and big data technologies -- is headquartered in Shenzhen and has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Nanjing.

Pokitdok is a healthcare API platform that makes it faster and easier for you to bring new healthcare applications and services to market.

Rocket Software helps companies around the world solve their most challenging business problems by helping them run their critical infrastructure, business processes, and data.

RTE (Reseau D Transport d'Electricite) is the French electricity transmission system operator responsible for operating, maintaining and developing the high and extra high voltage network.

Safewrd Ventures OU aims to enable and train companies to use open source and cloud technologies to release new software faster.

Shenzhen Ultrachain Technologies is a leading blockchain technology solutions provider.

Sitech Electric Automobile Industrial Co., Ltd. is a supplier of electric mobility products and services.

Sprint Corporation is a communications company offering a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications products and services that are designed to meet the needs of consumers, businesses, government subscribers and resellers.

Thinkarchitecture AG supports software architects and developers in the critical phases of their projects.

Associate members of The Linux Foundation include of government agencies and not-for-profit organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to building, sustaining, and using open source technologies. The following organizations are new Linux Foundation Associate members:

Budapest University of Technology & Economics is the most significant University of Technology in Hungary and is considered the world's oldest Institute of Technology which has university rank and structure.

MIT Connection Science is working to unlock the trapped potential of the digital networks that surround us -- from social media, to civic infrastructure systems, to enterprise databases that house and protect personal information.

The New Mexico Consortium (NMC) is a non-profit corporation that was created in 2006 by the University of New Mexico (UNM), New Mexico State University (NMSU), and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to advance statewide collaboration in science research and promote collaboration.

With the support of its members, The Linux Foundation hosts open source projects across technologies including networking, security, cloud, blockchain, and more. This collaborative development model is helping technology advance at a rapid pace in a way that benefits individuals and organizations around the world. (Source)

Google Becomes Latest Platinum Member of Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, announces Google has become a Platinum member of the foundation. Google's mission from its founding has been to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google was previously a Silver member of The Linux Foundation. Sarah Novotny, the head of open source strategy for Google Cloud Platform, will join The Linux Foundation Board of Directors as Google's representative.

"Google is one of the biggest contributors to and supporters of open source in the world, and we are thrilled that they have decided to increase their involvement in The Linux Foundation," said Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation. "We are honored that Sarah Novotny, one of the leading figures in the open source community, will join our board -- she will be a tremendous asset."

"Open source is an essential part of Google's culture, and we've long recognized the potential of open ecosystems to grow quickly, be more resilient and adaptable in the face of change, and create better software" said Sarah Novotny, head of open source strategy, Google Cloud. "The Linux Foundation is a fixture in the open source community. By working closely with the organization, we can better engage with the community-at-large and continue to build a more inclusive ecosystem where everyone can benefit."

Google has been an active and committed contributor to the open source community for many years, releasing and contributing to more than 10,000 open source projects to date. Some of The Linux Foundation open source communities Google supports include Cloud Foundry, Node.js and the Open API Initiative.

Google was also a founding member of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), having created and open sourced CNCF's popular Kubernetes container orchestration platform. Hundreds of Google employees remain heavily involved in the project today. Additionally, the company is a founding member of the Core Infrastructure Initiative, which takes a proactive approach to securing some of the more important software technologies in the world, and the TODO Group, which collaborates on practices, tools, and other ways to run successful and effective open source projects and programs. Moreover, Google has been a leader in Software Defined Networking and other open source networking projects.

Becoming a Platinum member -- the highest level of membership -- of The Linux Foundation gives Google access to the foundation's extensive knowledge and experience in open source governance, legal and technical topics. As a Platinum member, Google will also receive a seat on The Linux Foundation Board of Directors.

Sarah Novotny, who will represent Google on The Linux Foundation Board of Directors, also participates on the Node.js Foundation board. Novotny leads the open source strategy team for Google Cloud. She has long been an open source community champion in communities such as NGINX and MySQL.

More than 800 organizations are members of The Linux Foundation and the open source projects it hosts. AT&T, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm, Tencent, Samsung and VMware are also Platinum members. To learn more about Linux Foundation membership or to join the organization, visit https://www.linuxfoundation.org/membership/. (Source)

Is Your Router At Risk?

Over 500,000 SOHO and home routers are at risk from a sophisticated malware attack by Russian state-sponsored hackers. The malware, which Cisco Talos labs has dubbed "VPNFilter," can steal personal information, redirect web traffic, infect other devices, and even "brick" infected devices to render them useless, as reported on a Tom's Guide article on May 29, 2018.

Most of the affected routers are from ASUS, Netgear, Linksys, D-Link, TP-Link and MicroTik, among others. Netgear and MicroTik routers were affected/attacked especially hard. Minimally, users/owners of affected routers should reboot their routers. But, that isn't a guarantee that the malware is gone. To be sure, users/owners of affected routers should do a hard reset of their routers, back to factory settings, and then set their networks up again from scratch. A list of affected routers can be found on the follow-up article on Tom's Guide, on July 2, 2018.

So, how do you know if your router is among those unlucky enough to be infected with the VPNFilter malware? Fortunately, Symantec (the same people who make Norton Anti-Virus) has come up with a check, of sorts. While not a complete or perfect check for the VPNFilter malware, it checks for the presence of the SSLer plugin, which knocks a HTTPS website down to a less secure HTTP website. Just log into http://www.symantec.com/filtercheck/, click on the "Agree To Terms" checkbox, and click on the green button on the page. The test is quick, and the results are displayed immediately.

I was fortunate -- and relieved -- that my AMPED router was not infected.

I've said it here many times before: your personal data and private information ARE the currency of the 21st Century. It is up to you to do your due diligence to protect it, at all costs. The ramifications are huge for those who don't.

Is Your "Smart TV" Spying On You?

Most "Smart TV's" on the market today use Samba TV, technology that allows marketers to track what you're viewing, so that they may target you with ads that coincide with your interests, and so that they may make content suggestions, according to a recent New York Times article. This technology, along with competing technologies, is known collectively as ACR (automatic content recognition).

There's hardly a TV vendor that doesn't use Samba TV on their smart TVs. The list includes Sony, TCL, Sharp, Magnavox, Toshiba, Sanyo, AOC, and Philips, to name a few. But it doesn't stop there. The software can also tell what other devices are connected to your home wifi network. The collected data is then used to target "more relevant advertising" to you, based on your viewing choices.

When customers setup a new TV, they are prompted to enable Samba Interactive TV, without being informed on exactly how much data is being collected, nor the nature of the information that is being collected. As a result, more than 90% of people blindly opted into the service.

Once enabled, it can track virtually everything that appears on your TV screen, second by second. It reads pixels to identify what shows and ads you are watching, including those on pay services like HBO, and even video games. Samba TV has even offered advertisers the ability to tailor ads based on political leanings (liberal or conservative) based on the information collected about viewing habits.

The details of what people are opting into, of course, are hidden in obscurity. Unless someone takes the time to research the terms and conditions, as well as read the privacy policy, by going online before deciding to enable the feature, users basically have no idea of what they are opting into. Most users, in their zeal to get their fancy, new TV setup and running, most likely just enable the feature and move on.

Do you want to read even more scary information on Samba TV? Well, the folks behind Samba TV have made it extremely easy. Just go here. You should be able to get a fairly good sense of what kinds of information they are tracking -- and just how vulnerable you are.

If you're concerned about your privacy (and who shouldn't/wouldn't be in today's world?), you may be wondering how to turn off ACR. Fortunately, Consumer Reports has an article on how to turn off ACR on several of the "big brand" smart TVs on the market. Even if the manufacturer of your smart TV isn't on this list, it may give you some ideas on where you need to look to be able to turn this feature off. The manufacturers don't necessarily make it easy to disable this feature.

So what if you have a smart TV and can't find the menu to disable ACR? Well, Lifehacker has an article that suggests that you reset your TV settings to the factory settings. When you do that, you will have to setup your TV all over again. But this time through, pay attention to each menu, and skip over anything that might seem suspicious or shady. Others, commenting on the Lifehacker article, recommend that you just turn off your smart TV's network connection. One commenter even had an awesome suggestion to use a Raspberry Pi with Pi Hole to block all ads from your home network.

I do wonder how this situation will play out under the GDPR, since users have to jump through some extraordinary hoops just to find out exactly what they are opting into. In the U.S., the smart TV companies are "regulated" (a loose term, for sure) by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The FTC seems to be okay with the obscurity -- both in users being informed about what they are opting into, and in how difficult some manufacturers make it to turn off once enabled. Smart TV companies operate under a whole separate set of rules than broadcasters and cable TV companies, both of whom are regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Broadcasters and cable TV companies have much stricter rules about data collection from viewers/users of their services.

Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments Grew For the First Time in Six Years During the Second Quarter of 2018

Steady Business Market Demand Drives PC Sales

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 62.1 million units in the second quarter of 2018, a 1.4 percent increase from the second quarter of 2017, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This is the first quarter of year-over-year global PC shipment growth since the first quarter of 2012.

All regions experienced some growth compared with a year ago. While the results are a positive result for the PC industry, Gartner analysts said this sign of market stability is not enough to declare a PC industry recovery just yet.

"PC shipment growth in the second quarter of 2018 was driven by demand in the business market, which was offset by declining shipments in the consumer segment," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "In the consumer space, the fundamental market structure, due to changes on PC user behavior, still remains, and continues to impact market growth. Consumers are using their smartphones for even more daily tasks, such as checking social media, calendaring, banking and shopping, which is reducing the need for a consumer PC.

"In the business segment, PC momentum will weaken in two years when the replacement peak for Windows 10 passes. PC vendors should look for ways to maintain growth in the business market as the Windows 10 upgrade cycle tails off."

With the completion of Lenovo's joint venture with Fujitsu, three out of four PCs were shipped by the top five PC vendors in the second quarter of 2018. With the inclusion of Fujitsu's PC shipments due to the joint venture (a formation of Joint Venture with Fujitsu), Lenovo was in a virtual tie with HP Inc. for the top spot in the second quarter of 2018 based on global PC shipments (see Table 1). All of the top five PC vendors experienced an increase in worldwide PC shipments in the quarter.

Table 1

Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2Q18 (Thousands of Units)

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding.

*Lenovo's results include Fujitsu's units starting in 2Q18 to reflect the joint venture that closed in May 2018.

Source: Gartner (July 2018)

HP Inc. had its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year PC shipment growth. HP Inc. maintained steady growth across all regions, except the U.S. In the other regions, its shipment growth well exceeded the regional averages. Lenovo experienced its highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2015.

While Dell's competitors have shown PC shipment declines periodically in the past two years, Dell's shipments did not decline during this time because of its strong focus on growth areas, especially in the commercial segment, as well as cutting off unprofitable businesses.

In the U.S. PC market, the industry returned to growth after six consecutive quarters of shipment declines. In the second quarter of 2018, U.S. PC shipments totaled 14.5 million units, a 1.7 percent increase from the same period last year (see Table 2). HP Inc. continued to be the market leader in the U.S., but Dell closed the gap, as Dell's U.S. PC shipments increased 7.2 percent.

"In the U.S., business PC demand was particularly strong among the public sector as the second quarter is typically PC buying season among government and education buyers," Ms. Kitagawa said. "Desk-based PC growth was attributed to continued high usage of desk-based PCs in the U.S. public sectors. Mobile PCs grew in the U.S., but strong Chromebook demand in the education market adversely affected PC growth. Overall, Chromebooks grew 8 percent in the U.S., but Chromebooks are not included in the PC market statistics."

You can read the entire press release here.

GitHub Exodus Exaggerated?

When Microsoft bought GitHub, the open source community sounded a bit like Chicken Little proclaiming that the sky was falling. And, you could hardly blame anyone for sounding the alarm, after all the hatred open source projects endured at the hands of Microsoft for years and years and years. The open source community's wary eye towards Microsoft has been well earned by the software giant over the years.

So, it's no wonder that Microsoft's purchase of GitHub sounded off the alarm bells. When the sale of GitHub to Microsoft was announced, many GitHub repository owners started looking for a new "home" to host their endeavors. Most went to GitHub competitor GitLab (which has just moved to Google's cloud, so you decide which is worse).

Granted, the migration from GitHub peaked shortly after the announcement when 20,000 projects per hour were being moved, mostly to GitLab, during a two week period. But after that, things seemed to go back to normal. Currently, there are over 85,000,000 code repositories on GitHub, and only a miniscule number of repositories "jumped ship."

It would appear that most repository owners have decided to take a "wait and see" approach to Microsoft's purchase of GitHub. Plus, moving a repository to another location might confuse users.

YouTuber, Part 6: The Epilogue

by Alessandro Ebersol (Agent Smith)

This is the final chapter of the YouTube series, the epilogue.

Over the past six months, we talked about various emulators, audio and video programs that help in making videos for YouTube. Here is a recap, in the table below, the list of programs that have been addressed, along with their usefulness.

So examined all these programs that help in creating videos. However, some rules must be followed for sending videos to YouTube, and obviously, to get their monetization.

YouTube Rules

A special care should be taken with copyrighted material: Licensed music, other video clips that have copyrighted material and the like. The rule of thumb here is: Copyrighted music will always be demonetized. I will return to this subject soon.

Other details to watch out for on YouTube are nudity, profanity, and incitement to racial, sexual or religious hatred.

In the case of copyrighted songs, the tip is to mute these songs when they appear in the video. Otherwise, you lose the monetization of this video.

The so-called Fair Use is somewhat uncertain on YouTube, as there have been several instances of parodies and other uses that would fall on Fair Use, yet the videos have been removed. I'd say it's a very gray area of YouTube, and you can not be sure of anything.

However, YouTube is no longer what it was once, and excessive copyright zeal, censorship, and other new rules are hitting small content creators hard.

There is something rotten in YouTubeland ...

Well, as I mentioned above, copyright strikes are making it harder to work on YouTube. As I mentioned Fair Use, there is no clear rule, and many materials that would fall into this classification, either are removed or are demonetized. Now, YouTube shoots first and asks questions later. First your video is either demonetized or taken off line, and then the merit of the strike is judged. Plus, the Content ID technology is abused by large companies. Even with YouTube creating a "safety net" for creators, it just does not work for large companies, just small copyright trolls. But it's not just that. These same companies, who claim copyright infringement, use the same Content ID tool to silence bad reviews of their products, or when YouTubers raise negative issues about those companies.

And, things get worse. Depending on the keywords in your video, YouTube will not monetize your video either, thanks to an advertiser-friendly video policy, which cuts video monetization with controversial keywords. It's clearly done by robots, but it blocks legitimate content, while allowing a lot of bad content to slip through.

Copyright Abused ...

Copyright laws are completely obsolete and fundamentally broken. To get an idea, let's take a video game (or it could be a movie, too), like the famous game that came out on Playstation 1, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. There are dozens of songs licensed in this game, such as: The Suicide Machines' "New Girl", Goldfinger's "Superman", Speedealer's "Screamer/Nothing to Me", Dead Kennedys' “Police Truck”, Primus's "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver", among many other famous songs, and the producer, Activision, paid the artists when the game was made.

Now, if you make a video gameplay about this game, as the game is, with all its soundtrack intact, YouTube Content ID will flag all the songs, and reverse the monetization to the copyright holders of each one from them. That is, you had the labor of making the game work, captured all the footage, edited the raw material on a program of your own and even uploaded the video, and you will not get anything for it. Meanwhile, the copyright holders will take all the monetization of the video, no sweat nor anything, from all your work. And, the legit authors receive part of that amount, but it depends on the company that manages the rights. It is ridiculous to see how copyright maximalists struggle, to have their rights extended eternally, and at the same time stop cultural evolution. After all, everything that exists is a mashup of things that have already been around.

Copyright laws have to be reformed, because today, they serve more large groups, and less the artists and authors, since their income is marginal, while rights groups take the lion's share. But thanks to Disney, things will not change anytime soon (for example, we will have wait for 2023, when Mickey enters into the public domain).

But because of these YouTube policies, I do not make videos about this game (Tony Hawk's Pro skater).

Logan Paul and the demonetization of the small channels

YouTube also struck a heavy blow to small creators in February 2018 with new rules for monetization.

After a controversial video from YouTuber Logan Paul, YouTube changed monetization rules. Starting February 20, 2018, only channels that have been viewed for 4,000 hours and have 1,000 unique subscribers in the last 12 months will be able to host ads and share revenue. This is being seen as a significant improvement over the standards introduced last April, which required more followers but did not set a standard for display time. But, anyways, YouTube is penalizing the small creators of content, and favoring the big channels, which have a much more expensive and professional production, production teams and more people working on the videos. No more the solo guy making a video in his room and sending it to YouTube, which is a sad reality, when YouTube tries to suffocate those who have made it such a popular service. The order now is to privilege content said "professional" and advertiser-friendly at the expense of small channels. Sadly, this trend, which has been happening since 2012, and culminated with the clueless videos of Logan Paul, had a hard impact, and was called "adpocalypse."

The so-called Adpocalypse was so severe that it led to the famous shooting in San Bruno, California at the headquarters of YouTube.

And, YouTube has launched its paid streaming service, YouTube Red, showing more hints of the direction it is following now.

Censorship and Content Removal

Censorship and content removal also worsened recently, when YouTube began censoring videos that it considers controversial, or, to please the government of certain countries (China, Pakistan and others).

The Conclusion

As we've seen above, the picture for anyone trying to get into YouTube now is quite disheartening. YouTube is closing the door to the little guys, while trying to become a new Netflix.

Nothing against changing and expanding, but one must preserve its initial audience. YouTube today tries, with all its forces, to become a vehicle of communication as a new Fox TV, censoring and shaping its audience. But we live in other times, not in the time of alienation, but of information. It's much harder now, since the genie is out of the bottle, to try to fool everyone again. But, YouTube tries by promoting kitten videos, and alienating content and censoring content it considers controversial. Now who is above good and evil to judge others? Hate speeches are one thing, but opinions are another. And, to what measure does YouTube judge both? Robots mainly, which leads to error. And to make matters worse, YouTube is investing 25 million so that "reliable sources" of "traditional" journalism can take better advantage of its platform, at the same time fighting the so-called fake news. Whoa, traditional media is the biggest maker of fake news, then expect more censorship and removal of content.

YouTube, however, made an interesting gesture of goodwill to assist the small channels: The paid subscription, where users have the option to contribute to the channel they subscribe to. And as this "squeeze" in the small channels has been around for some time, creators turn to crowdfunding platforms such as Patreon to keep their earnings and continue with their channels.

In fact, this new YouTube policy is very depressing, as many people have come to earn their living from YouTube, taking their livelihood and their family's income from that service. I myself have become accustomed to seeing more of my news channels on YouTube, than the traditional channels(TV's, newspapers, etc…). And, all of this may be threatened now.

But, do not fear: there are other options. YouTube is not the only service of its kind out there, and there are new services like D-Tube. D-Tube's look is very similar to YouTube, without the ideological restrictions. And Twitch TV is also accumulating more and more content creators from the YouTube exodus.

So if YouTube does not care for and preserve its talented creators, it will end up like traditional media: Just another cable TV channel with a lot of uninteresting content, while its best assets (creators) will have migrated to other services.

In the future, I will write about alternatives to YouTube, which exist, and, depending on what you want to do, in artistic terms and expression, can be much better than YouTube.

Folks, everything I wrote in this series of articles, I tested in my You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC84De8g52Z0C5YzubnICzKg

So, if you are willing to see everything I wrote about in action, for real, take a look at my channel, and if you feel inclined, subscribe to it.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight: HERTZ

as told to YouCanToo

What is your name/username?
Hello everyone, My Name is HERTZ

How old are you?
I'm 50 years old.

Are you married, single?
I am single, I'm not married so far.

How about Kids, Grandkids (names and ages)?
No, I don't have any kids.

Do you have pets, what is your favorite?
No I don't have any pets for now, but I love all animals, because for me they are incredible and fantastic creatures of nature.

Are you retired, still working and if working, what do you do?
No, I'm still working for the multinational brand and most important in the world, my competences are like security and administration service internal systems.

Where do you call home? What is it like? IE: weather, scenery
I'm from Italy. Now the weather in my country is Spring, and the media temperatures are 20/21C (68/69.8F). Today, for example, it is a sunny day.

Where did you go to school and what is your education level?
I'm a self-taught. I don't have study in the college or in the university. I have only the primary school certificate.

What kind of things you like doing? hobbies, travel, fishing, camping?
My hobbies are the computers, listen to music, computer art, to draw, and many others.

`ĦξŘŤζ_. Why and when did you start using Linux?
I started using Linux back in 1995 on my old, self assembled PC.

What specific equipment do currently use with PCLinuxOS?
I have installed PCLinuxOS on all my home computers.

Do you feel that your use of Linux influences the reactions you receive from your computer peers or family? If so, how?
I can only say that Linux is most important for my job, and in my private life every day as user and local home administrator.

What would you like to see happen within PCLinuxOS that would make it a better place. What are your feelings?
For me, PCLinuxOS is just perfect.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by YouCanToo, featuring PCLinuxOS forum member. This column will allow "the rest of us" to get to know our forum family members better, and will give those featured an opportunity to share their PCLinuxOS story with the rest of the world.

If you would like to be featured in PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight, please send a private message to youcantoo, parnote or Meemaw in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.

Between You, Me, and Google: Problems With Gmail's "Confidential Mode"

by Gennie Gebhart and Cory Doctorow for EFF Reprinted via CC-SA-3.0 Creative Commons License

With Gmail's new design rolled out to more and more users, many have had a chance to try out its new "Confidential Mode." While many of its features sound promising, what "Confidential Mode" provides isn't confidentiality. At best, the new mode might create expectations that it fails to meet around security and privacy in Gmail. We fear that Confidential Mode will make it less likely for users to find and use other, more secure communication alternatives. And at worst, Confidential Mode will push users further into Google's own walled garden while giving them what we believe are misleading assurances of privacy and security.

With its new Confidential Mode, Google purports to allow you to restrict how the emails you send can be viewed and shared: the recipient of your Confidential Mode email will not be able to forward or print it. You can also set an "expiration date" at which time the email will be deleted from your recipient's inbox, and even require a text message code as an added layer of security before the email can be viewed.

Unfortunately, each of these "security" features comes with serious security problems for users.

DRM for Email

It's important to note at the outset that because Confidential Mode emails are not end-to-end encrypted, Google can see the contents of your messages and has the technical capability to store them indefinitely, regardless of any "expiration date" you set. In other words, Confidential Mode provides zero confidentiality with regard to Google.

But despite its lack of end-to-end encryption, Google promises that with Confidential Mode, you'll be able to send people unprintable, unforwardable, uncopyable emails thanks to something called "Information Rights Management" (IRM), a term coined by Microsoft more than a decade ago. (Microsoft also uses the term "Azure Information Protection.")

Here's how IRM works: companies make a locked-down version of a product that checks documents for flags like "don't allow printing" or "don't allow forwarding" and, if it finds these flags, the program disables the corresponding features. To prevent rivals from making their own interoperable products that might simply ignore these restrictions, the program encrypts the user's documents, and hides the decryption keys where users aren't supposed to be able to find them.

This is a very brittle sort of security: if you send someone an email or a document that they can open on their own computer, on their own premises, nothing prevents that person from taking a screenshot or a photo of their screen that can then be forwarded, printed, or otherwise copied.

But that's only the beginning of the problems with Gmail's new built-in IRM. Indeed, the security properties of the system depend not on the tech, but instead on a Clinton-era copyright statute. Under Section 1201 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA 1201"), making a commercial product that bypasses IRM is a potential felony, carrying a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine for a first offense. DMCA 1201 is so broad and sloppily drafted that just revealing defects in Google IRM could land you in court.

We think that "security" products shouldn't have to rely on the courts to enforce their supposed guarantees, but rather on technologies such as end-to-end encryption which provide actual mathematical assurances of confidentiality. We believe that using the term "Confidential Mode" for a feature that doesn't provide confidentiality as that term is understood in infosec is misleading.

"Expiring" Messages

Similarly, we believe that Confidential Mode's option to set an "expiration date" for sensitive emails could lead users to believe that their messages will completely disappear or self-destruct after the date they set. But the reality is more complicated. Also sometimes called "ephemeral" or "disappearing" messages, features like Confidential Mode's "expiring" messages are not a privacy panacea. From a technical perspective, there are plenty of ways to get around expiring messages: a recipient could screenshot the message or take a picture of it before it expires.

But Google's implementation has a further flaw. Contrary to what the "expiring" name might suggest, these messages actually continue to hang around long after their expiration date for instance, in your Sent folder. This Google "feature" eliminates one of the key security properties of ephemeral messaging: an assurance that in the normal course of business, an expired message will be irretrievable by either party. Because messages sent with Confidential Mode are still retrievable--by the sender and by Google--after the "expiration date," we think that calling them expired is misleading.

Exposing Phone Numbers

If you choose the "SMS passcode" option, your recipient will need a two-factor authentication-like code to read your email. Google generates and texts this code to your recipient, which means you might need to tell Google your recipient's phone number--potentially without your recipient's consent.

If Google doesn't already have that information, using the SMS passcode option effectively gives Google a new way to link two pieces of potentially identifying information: an email address and a phone number.

This "privacy" feature can be harmful to users with a need for private and secure communications, and could lead to unpleasant surprises for recipients who may not want their phone number exposed.

Not So Confidential

Ultimately, for the reasons we outlined above, in EFF's opinion calling this new Gmail mode "confidential" is misleading. There is nothing confidential about unencrypted email in general and about Gmail's new "Confidential Mode" in particular. While the new mode might make sense in narrow enterprise or company settings, it lacks the privacy guarantees and features to be considered a reliable secure communications option for most users.

Tip Top Tips: Installing HP Printers That Require The Proprietary Plugin

Editor's Note: Tip Top Tips is a semi-monthly column in The PCLinuxOS Magazine. Periodically, we will feature -- and possibly even expand upon -- one tip from the PCLinuxOS forum. The magazine will not accept independent tip submissions specifically intended for inclusion in the Tip Top Tips column. Rather, if you have a tip, share it in the PCLinuxOS forum's “Tips & Tricks” section. Your tip just may be selected for publication in The PCLinuxOS Magazine.

This month's tip comes from Agent Smith.

With the advent of HPLIP, HP's great program for installing and managing printers of that brand, the handling of these machines on Linux has become very good, even better than on windows, since on windows you always need the printer installation CD , and if it does not exist, there goes the technician search for drivers in the internet.

With HPLIP, the drivers are either integrated, or downloaded over the internet.

But, it has a peculiarity: the proprietary plugin from HP. This plugin is only installed by HPLIP. That is, you must have HPLIP installed to be able to open a terminal, invoke the hp-plugin, and install it.

However, often a new version of HPLIP has already been released (and HPLIP only installs the current version), or it is not possible to access the HP website where the plugin is downloaded and the installation does not advance.

And the tech folks go around kicking the printers and cursing the mothers of HP company owners.

If this is your case, your problems are over. You can now easily install the HP plugin without worrying about the HPLIP version or downloading it from the HP website.

Just go to this address: http://www.openprinting.org/download/printdriver/auxfiles/HP/plugins/

All versions of the HP plugin are archived on that site, making it easier to access.

After downloading, in a terminal, give permission to run and install the plugin without needing the intervention of HPLIP.

That address saved my day, since I needed to install an HP printer that needs this plugin and via HPLIP it was not working.

I hope it helps you a lot.

ms_meme's Nook: Midnight In The Forum

OGG                                                   MP3

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: California Cheeseburger Skillet

California Cheeseburger Skillet

INGREDIENTS

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cups milk
1 cup hot water
1 box Hamburger Helper™ cheeseburger macaroni
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 cup seasoned croutons
4 slices American cheese, cut in half diagonally

DIRECTIONS:

1. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.

2. Stir in milk, hot water, and uncooked pasta and sauce mix (from Hamburger Helper™ box). Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Arrange tomato slices on top; sprinkle with croutons. Place 5 of the cheese halves around edge of skillet; place remaining cheese halves in center. Cover and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand covered 5 minutes (cheese will continue to melt and sauce will thicken as it stands).

TIPS:
Serve on a bed of lettuce and top with guacamole or your favorite burger toppings for the true California cheeseburger experience.

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Scrappler

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Sudoku

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Crossword

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

WordFind

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Cryptograms

From the computer of ms_meme:
Everyday I work the daily crosswords and cryptograms in the paper. I like the cryptograms as they are wise/silly sayings of famous people.
The magazine article about secure passwords made me think of the cryptograms. We have people in the forum who are always posting famous/wise/silly sayings.
I have made a few into cryptograms, and hope our readers will enjoy them.

Download Puzzle Solutions Here!

Screenshot Showcase

Posted by luikki, July 14, 2018, running KDE

Posted by Mr. Cranky Pants- YouCanToo, July 1, 2018, running KDE

Posted by Meemaw, July 2, 2018, running Xfce

Posted by Old-present_arms, July 1, 2018, running Trinity

Posted by parnote, July 17, 2018, running Xfce

Posted by tuxlink, July 1, 2018, running KDE

Posted by OnlyHuman, July 7, 2018, running e23

Posted by sammy2fish, July 7, 2018, running KDE

Posted by tbschommer, July 8, 2018, running Xfce

Posted by OlnyHuman, July 9, 2018, running e23