DdCno1

There's a new application-layer Internet protocol like (but also very much unlike) http by the name of Gemini. It was first launched in 2019 and until yesterday, flew completely under my radar. It's primarily meant to be used for uncluttered text-only pages (although any type of file can be distributed), which are created using a deliberately simple and limited markdown language. Unsurprisingly, this results in a plethora of small niche blogs being published through it.

The basic user experience is essentially the same as browsing the web, until you notice just how much it isn't. You enter URLs (except that they start with gemini://) you read texts and you click on hyperlinks - except that every page looks exactly the same due to the markdown language. There are no pop-ups, no ads, nothing autoplays, nothing wants your consent to exploit your user data. Even images only load when the user clicks on them. It shows just how little is actually needed, how many aspects of the modern web are completely unnecessary and mere pointless distractions.

Gemini pages - and this is a small hurdle that will keep most people away from it - can not be accessed with a normal web browser and instead require a specialized client for viewing (although paradoxically, creating pages often requires a web browser, at least for now). The idea is that both the underlying tech and the browsers are much more straightforward than anything related to http and html. A Gemini client is not effectively an entire operating system of its own that can execute near arbitrary code. It displays formatted text with basic images and videos - that's it.

Here's a neat, but slightly outdated introduction that also recommends a few clients and where to find pages to read:

https://geminiquickst.art/

The entire thing feels very early, tiny, experimental and odd, almost like a parallel reality, as if the World Wide Web didn't exist and someone came up with something like it only now, using today's hard- and software. If Lemmy is a response to social media in general and reddit in particular, Gemini feels more like a response to the World Wide Web as a whole or like a time machine back to a highly idealized version of the early days of the information system (the primary difference being the lack of horrendous '90s UX design and malware everywhere), including some unfortunate aspects that I had long forgotten about, like how the common method of finding content next to feeds - manually updated indexes instead of search engines - is plagued by dead links; and these dead links, unlike on the normal Internet, cannot be attempted to be resolved using the Wayback Machine or some other cache, at least not yet.

Gemini is equally parts exciting and promising, like a new frontier, but also at times confusing and frustrating. Don't expect your Gemini client of choice to replace your web browser any time soon (or ever), but it's still worth trying out, if for the novelty alone.

I looked for Ethiopian or African news sites that confirm this story, but it seems like it's not accurate. This African green news site only mentions that ICE cars will be phased out in line with the EU by 2035 and that the government encourages the sale of electric cars through incentives and local assembly:

https://www.afrik21.africa/en/ethiopia-non-electric-vehicles-soon-to-be-banned-from-importation/

There is nothing on this on any large Ethiopian news site. The Reporter has no article on this:

https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/?s=electric+cars

Neither does The Ethiopian Monitor:

https://ethiopianmonitor.com/?s=electric+cars

This Senegalese outlet states that it's not clear when the ban comes into effect:

https://apanews.net/ethiopia-to-ban-importation-of-non-electric-cars/

Given that there are significant issues with maintaining and insuring existing electric cars in the country, it's safe to assume that the ban will not happen immediately:

https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/30035/

There is a different car import ban since October of last year aimed at returning citizens, which doesn't appear to have anything to do with the move to electric vehicles though:

https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/36044/

So in other words, this awful article containing a chat log for some reason (What on Earth was the author thinking with that?) is just an example of poor reporting.

It seems like the entire industry is in pure panic about AI, not just Google. Everyone hopes that LLMs will end years of homeopathic growth through iteration of long-existing technology, which is why it attracts tons of venture capital.

Google, which sits where IBM was decades ago, is too big, too corporate and too slow now, so they needed years to react to this fad. When they finally did, all they were able to come up with was a rushed equivalent of existing LLMs that suffers from all of the same problems.

Very interesting. Lots of news websites are operating on a very similar principle, with the user having to either accept all cookies or pay for an expensive subscription that allows them to opt out of tracking cookies. I've always thought that this couldn't possibly be legal.

Remember when he was widely being portrayed as the intelligent version of Trump we should all be afraid of?

It's already on the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/hobbes-os2-archive\_202401

This studio is not just known for an even by Japanese standards exploitative work culture, but it also reuses assets of all kinds far more liberally than other developers. Art is by far the biggest cost factor in games development and they are taking significant shortcuts wherever they can.

The fact that a large number of people in the West are denying this and portraying Hamas as freedom fighters is very worrying.

The problem in both cases is that people remember these artistic depiction as real, even if there's a disclosure.

What the article doesn't mention is that there is pressure directed towards Marques Brownlee to get him to alter or remove his review by implying that reviews like his kill companies.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/marques-brownlees-humane-ai-pin-review

They released a few statements about being upset about people sending demanding/rude messages to them. They also complained about the cost of hosting (there are no ads on the page). Originally, they wanted to only open for people who are donating, but they appear to have backtracked on that, at least for now.

It's a common issue on the Internet. The moment you're doing anything, especially for free, you are basically inviting vitriol.

Both reported numbers that were nowhere close to what Qualcomm promised. How not close? Above 50% this time but one used the term “Celeron” to describe performance.

There is no harsher way to describe the performance of a CPU. Ouch.

Correct, and it wasn't even made in the Soviet Union:

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/russia-receives-30-vintage-t-3485-tanks-from-laos

The Russian narrative is that Ukraine attacked first. They staged a few incredibly clumsy false flag attacks (this article is from the day before the invasion) that make the Gleiwitz radio station incident (which nobody believed in back then) look like the most brilliant feint in history.

Naturally, Republicans that have been bought and paid for (but I'm repeating myself) are parroting Russian talking points 1:1.

Good news hidden in the article:

Like in the case of StartAllBack, you can bypass the block by simply renaming the executable to something else. If you want to upgrade to a newer build, delete the app, update your system, and then launch it using a renamed executable.

@OP: People who are modifying Windows this deeply are not going to switch to Linux. If you're going through this much trouble, you've already tried Linux several times and left disillusioned every time. Linux does not compete with Windows as a desktop operating system and I doubt it ever will. It simply does not offer the compatibility and ease of use (including for power users) that Windows - for all its faults - has.

This appears to be the new norm among autocratic regimes (although it isn't all that new - think of Trotsky, for example, or the infamous umbrella murder).

Vietnam is doing this as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BB%8Bnh\_Xu%C3%A2n\_Thanh

https://rsf.org/en/dissident-exile-stops-blogging-because-family-vietnam-being-hounded

Eritrea, a regime that is similarly repressive as North Korea, but far less known, is also notorious for this:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2019/06/eritrea-government-officials-and-supporters-target-critics-abroad-as-repression-stretches-beyond-borders/

Saudi Arabia is among the worst in this regard:

https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression/saudi-arabia

I'm getting the impression that liberal democracies housing refugees and dissidents from autocratic regimes are unprepared to counter these threats. It is our responsibility to protect people seeking refuge and this includes proactive action against governments that seek to extend their violent rule outside of their borders.

That's not the reason. The only reason is because they are not part of the EU.

Welcome to the imperialist affront to international law that is the ten-dash-line (previously known as the nine-dash-line).

https://breakingdefense.com/2023/09/new-chinese-10-dash-map-sparks-furor-across-indo-pacific-vietnam-india-philippines-malaysia/

The CCP was obsessed with conquering the island long before the first fab was built there. They just didn't have the means to pull it off. They don't have those now either, but enough yes-men must have told Xi otherwise.

I got really indifferented, because I don't even remember the plot of the first film anymore. Also because it's the triple-whammy of awfulness, a mobile MMO by Tencent.

Let's be honest, was anyone expecting any different outcome from Embracer's hasty growth with cheap money? There was no way this would have worked out.

You just have to look in the right place. The mid budget film became high-end TV shows on streaming services, which are allowed to innovate and experiment like crazy.

Perhaps read the article first:

Eight children and an adult died

It would still be an awful comment to make if nine adults had died.

A similar thing will happen with WMR headsets in November of 2026, by the way (they'll work beyond that, but you can't download the software anymore after that date):

https://www.uploadvr.com/windows-mixed-reality-headset-support-end-date/

Since these depend on Windows itself, I don't think there will be an easy (or even possible) workaround.

Sad news, because these are cheap, high-res, fast to set up, easy to use and generally very decent headsets. Controllers are not top of the class, but good enough for almost anything. Ideal for people interested in tipping their toes into proper PCVR.

Reason #49583 for any Russian with a degree to get out of the country.

I feel second-hand embarrassment for journalists, analysts and politicians who, for many years, portrayed Putin as this shrewd master strategist - whereas in reality, he's merely another brutish, mediocre autocrat, repeating all of the same obvious mistakes similar rulers have made for millennia.

Gog.com are selling DRM-free games, so there's no copy protection, Internet activation, mandatory launcher, etc. It used to stand for "good old games", but they also have new titles these days. Same parent company as The Witcher developers. There is a launcher, but it's entirely optional - you can just pay prices that are generally comparable to Steam and download the installation files for a game, which require no Internet connection at all (apart from some edge cases, e.g. a very small number of multiplayer games).

Gog-games meanwhile is a piracy site that redistributes these DRM-free installers to people who are not inclined to pay for the privilege. What makes them preferable to other sites is that you get the trustworthy installers from gog and do not have to fiddle with potentially malicious cracks yourself. They are also uploading to fast file hosts. One thing they are particularly useful for is preservation, games that are now delisted on gog.com and elsewhere, only available there if you have purchased them in the past. The rather decent licensed Back to the Future game from Telltale for example can't be bought anywhere anymore (since the license for the movie franchise was only granted for a few years), but it's still available in its most convenient shape on gog-games.

The point is that Nicaragua would have never done anything like this on their own, because they have barely anything to do with the ME. The West on the other hand does. That's not entitlement, that's just a fact. We have a vested interest in what is going on there. Nicaragua is used as a pawn and it's incredibly transparent that this is happening. Same with South Africa.

And you shall be known as Lexmarkius.

Is there a Gemini search engine?

I've found this one:

gemini://geminispace.info/

Needs a client to access, of course. Basic, but functional. I found a general-purpose forum not too different from reddit or lemmy through it (and they decided to call it a BBS, because the Eternal September hasn't happened to Gemini yet):

gemini://bbs.geminispace.org/

Is there support for Forms/server side code

To the best of my understanding (and it's highly limited, since I only just learned about this, so take everything with a grain of salt), what Gemini does is primarily limit what the client can do. No local scripts, highly limited markdown. The server side is not limited. You can write any complex code you want that works behind the scenes - but it still has to deliver static pages (called "capsules") to the end user. This series of articles explains the basic underlying tech and uses the example of a simple server to illustrate how Gemini works:

https://medium.com/erus-encodia/creating-your-own-gemini-server-part-1-what-is-the-gemini-protocol-cf497477c4d

And yes, forms are possible, even though there appears to be a somewhat widespread misconception that they are impossible. Please excuse the sketchy-looking IP address instead of a URL, this was the best resource I was able to find on this (and yes, I checked if this page is on Gemini - this appears to be not the case):

http://216.218.220.144/tutorials/sig-tutorials/misc/gemini-forms.gmi

Screenshot if you don't want to click on the above link: https://i.imgur.com/s2mL3bM.png

Disclaimer: This is two years old and I have not tried to implement it myself. Looks entirely plausible though.

How big is it? Is there like just a few sites or a few hundred?

According to the search engine linked above, there are 2420 domains and 1,854,666 individual pages as of yesterday. This is about comparable to the World Wide Web at the same time 1994, a number that grew to 10,000 by the end of that year; I wouldn't expect the same explosive growth from Gemini - the field has already been plowed, after all. Gemini Space is small, but not a ghost town.

I'm hoping for billions in fines.

It just looks clean. Lowpoly games benefit from running at high resolutions to a surprising degree. The better the art, the more it benefits from being shown with as little obfuscation as possible. There are texture packs and shaders available for popular old games, but even without them, it's often worth it to ramp up the resolution, even far beyond 4K. I've played some old games at ridiculous resolutions like 5k or more, eliminating even a hint of jagged edges. You can then add a touch of retro flair through scanline and bloom shaders.

Given their global network of secret police stations, global hacking, espionage, intellectual property theft and other shenanigans, the debt trap scheme that is the belt and road initiative, etc. pp. they are doing far more than just being a dangerous nuisance to neighboring countries. What's worse is that any time they are being called out, they and their sycophants are pulling the sinophobia card or using the age-old defense of what's indefensible, whataboutism.

One of few good aspects about it, but only if you don't think about it too much. The question remains is if you can actually trust this, because there is no physical button disconnecting microphone and camera. It's all just in software and could be unsafe.

AfD is an actual Neo-Nazi party as well. Their positions, goals, external and internal communication and even the wording they are using are indistinguishable from the NPD. German article on this topic:

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afd-und-npd-so-aehnlich-sind-sich-die-parteien-in-sprache-ideologie-und-strategie-a-213568aa-a310-4782-946d-b9190f596f29

Reminder that DNA evidence is nowhere near as flawless of an instrument as portrayed by crime shows and the news media. Like all other forensics, it's a matter of interpretation and likelihoods, far less reliable than you might think. Here's a good overview of the many issues with it:

https://daily.jstor.org/forensic-dna-evidence-can-lead-wrongful-convictions/

Isn't it way past bedtime for you two in St. Petersburg?

Those insane snake handling churches that routinely have people bitten?

It really isn't. Nicaragua is a tiny nation that does barely any trade and is of no significant importance to the Middle East diplomatically nor militarily. This does not apply to the West.

Just tell them you're not drinking alcohol for health reasons. Nobody will really disagree with you on this.

But what about...