All articles tagged with #open source
An open-source Android app called Nearby Glasses scans Bluetooth SIG codes to flag nearby smart glasses, indicating brands (e.g., Meta’s Ray-Ban) but not identifying individuals or precise locations. Range is about 32–50 feet outdoors and 10–32 feet indoors; the project is an early proof-of-concept reflecting growing privacy concerns around wearable eyewear.
Researchers warn that AI-driven 'vibe coding'—AI-selected, low-effort code contributions that bypass human review—could erode maintainer incentives, reduce documentation and bug reporting, and drive a decline in OSS availability and quality as maintainers close external contributions.
Linux 7.0-rc1 closes the merge window with a feature-rich kernel that’s likely to become the default for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Fedora 44, adding enablement for Intel Nova Lake and Diamond Rapids and AMD Zen 6, broader driver support (including Qualcomm Snapdragon X2), new AMD graphics support, extensive filesystem and performance improvements, memory management tweaks, exFAT read enhancements, and official Rust language support, with Linus noting the major version bump and upcoming benchmarking.
PCWorld highlights Winhance, a free open-source tool that centralizes Windows 11 debloating, privacy tweaks, update control, and customization into a single interface, making it easy to uninstall preinstalled apps and tune system settings—though turning off updates is optional and not generally advised.
A Hacker News discussion centers on Google’s blog about new app-verification changes, including a dedicated student/hobbyist account to bypass full verification for limited devices and an advanced flow allowing unverified installs with warnings. Critics argue this token gesture doesn’t truly open Android, could undermine open ecosystems like F-Droid, and may entrench Google’s control over the platform. The thread contrasts these moves with regulatory pressure (EU DMA) and the fate of independent ROMs (e.g., GrapheneOS), while some see potential security benefits in clearer safeguards. Debates touch on how essential banking and other services move toward app-based ecosystems, the feasibility of truly open Android, and whether alternate OSes or web-based approaches are viable paths forward.
PCWorld highlights Winhance, a free open-source tool that centralizes Windows 11 debloating, updates management, privacy controls (including ad-related prompts), and appearance customization into one easy interface, letting users uninstall pre-installed apps, tweak security and privacy settings, and personalize the UI—potentially making Windows setup as straightforward as Linux.
The Xteink X4 is a pocket-sized ESP32-powered e-reader priced around $50–$70 that trims features (no touchscreen, no backlight) but thrives on a passionate open-hardware community. Its CrossPoint Reader firmware lets Calibre syncing, Wi‑Fi transfers, and endless tinkering, making a cheap device surprisingly capable for hackers and readers alike.
Meta and other tech firms are tightening controls on OpenClaw, the agentic AI tool, amid security and privacy fears; some ban its use on work devices while others cautiously test it on isolated machines and push for safeguards. OpenAI will keep OpenClaw open source, highlighting the tension between rapid AI experimentation and robust security governance across the industry.
OpenClaw is a self-hosted AI assistant that runs on your devices and connects to popular apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and more. This guide walks you through installing OpenClaw, selecting an LLM provider, adding skills (via SKILL.md files and optional ClawHub), and configuring a WhatsApp channel by linking your number with a QR code. It then covers starting the OpenClaw Gateway, which acts as the control plane for channels and sessions, and using the Gateway dashboard to connect with the saved gateway token. Once set up, you can chat with OpenClaw in WhatsApp and use it as a private automation hub across tools and services, with both local and cloud LLM options and extensive integrations.
X.Org Server has retired its long-used 'master' branch and shifted development to 'main', starting from a 2024 baseline and selectively reintegrating patches deemed acceptable while dropping questionable ones for a cleaner code state.
ZDNet highlights 10 free, open-source Windows apps—LibreOffice, Flow Launcher, Duplicati, Nextcloud, Franz, YAZB, File Converter, Bitwarden, AutoHotKey, and Ollama—showcasing local-first tools for office work, fast app search, encrypted backups, private cloud, unified messaging, system widgets, file conversion, password management, automation, and local AI hosting.
The piece surveys five ready-to-run Linux server options—FreedomBox, YunoHost, TrueNAS, Rockstor, and Zentyal—demonstrating how small teams can self-host privacy-focused apps, storage, or a Windows Server replacement, with varying ease of use and feature sets.
Wine-Staging 11.2 adds patches aimed at improving the Adobe Photoshop installer and app support on Linux, continuing work started with Photoshop 2025; it includes new MSHTML/XML-related changes, updates VKD3D, and drops several outdated patches like NVCUDA due to the PE/Unix split, with several patches still not upstreamed in the main Wine release.
A new open-source, cross-platform tool called Tirith hooks into major shells to inspect pasted commands for dangerous URLs and other homoglyph tricks, blocking execution locally with sub-millisecond overhead. It defends against homograph domains, terminal injections, pipe-to-shell patterns, dotfile hijacking, insecure transports, supply-chain risks, and credential exposure, while performing analysis offline and without telemetry. It supports Windows, Linux, and macOS and can be installed via Homebrew, apt/dnf, npm, Cargo, Nix, Scoop, Chocolatey, and Docker. It does not hook cmd.exe and has limited independent testing at publication.
A ZDNET tester explores a fully local, free coding AI stack using Goose (agent framework), Ollama (LLM server), and Qwen3-coder, detailing installation, a sample WordPress plugin test, and notes that while the local setup runs on a powerful Mac with 128GB RAM and can be competitive with cloud options, early results show accuracy issues and multiple retries; it's promising but not yet ready to fully replace Claude Code or Codex.