[…]If you frequently test features with Google Labs, you might remember trying this one out: Preferred Sources, as the name implies, lets you tell Google which websites you prefer to read news from. The goal, then, is to see pages from those sites in future Google searches about news stories, assuming those sites publish content Read more about You Can Now Tell Google Which Websites You Prefer in Search Results[…]

The République’s third-largest city and second-largest economic hub on Tuesday cited a desire to reduce dependence on American software, extend the lifespan of its hardware and therefore reduce its environmental impact, and strengthen the technological sovereignty of its public service. Achieving those goals will see Lyon’s government, which serves over a million people, replace Office Read more about French city of Lyon ditching Microsoft for FOSS[…]

The collective The New Digital announces the public beta of Sendox: an open source file sharing platform that puts privacy and digital sovereignty at its core. Sendox has been developed as a transparent and independent alternative to services like WeTransfer. “We believe that digital freedom and autonomy are not luxuries, but fundamental rights,” said Frank Read more about WeTransfer faces open source competition by Sendox after controversy over terms of service[…]

In a move that could quietly wreak havoc across the Windows ecosystem, Microsoft is purging outdated drivers from Windows Update. The company claims it is doing this for security and reliability, but the result might be broken hardware for users who rely on legacy devices. If you’re using older peripherals or custom-built PCs, you could Read more about Microsoft Is Deleting Old Drivers From Windows Update – does the manufacturer still exist? If not, your hardware just turned into junk.[…]

[…] Andy Schertzinger, Director of Engineering at Nextcloud, told The Register: “Google has decided to restore the permissions to our Android app so we can bring back the full file syncing functionality.” Nextcloud expects to release an update to the app shortly, and Schertzinger paid tribute to the broader community for its support. Nextcloud’s problem Read more about Google backs down after locking out Nextcloud Files app[…]

Did you know there’s an initiative to drive Open Source adoption both within the United Nations — and globally? Launched in March, it’s the work of the Digital Technology Network (under the UN’s chief executive board) which “works to advance open source technologies throughout UN agencies,” promoting “collaboration and scalable solutions to support the UN’s Read more about The UN Ditches Google for Form Submissions, Opts for Open Source ‘CryptPad’ Instead[…]

News of the offering emerged in a throwaway line in the Release Notes for version 8.0 Update 3e of the Broadcom business unit’s ESXi hypervisor. Just below the “What’s New” section of that document is the statement: “Broadcom makes available the VMware vSphere Hypervisor version 8, an entry-level hypervisor. You can download it free of Read more about VMware revives its free ESXi hypervisor[…]

[…] Distributed Spacecraft Autonomy (DSA), allows individual spacecraft to make independent decisions while collaborating with each other to achieve common goals – all without human input. NASA researchers have achieved multiple firsts in tests of such swarm technology as part of the agency’s DSA project. Managed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, Read more about NASA Demonstrates Software ‘Brains’ Shared Across Satellite Swarms[…]

[…] As a reminder, Circle to Search is an AI-powered feature Google released at the start of last year. You can access it by long-pressing your phone’s home button and then circling something with your finger. At its most basic, the feature is a way to use Google Search from anywhere on your phone, with Read more about Circle to Search now offers one-tap actions for phone numbers, emails and URLs[…]

Decentralized social network organization Mastodon said Monday that it is planning to create a new nonprofit organization in Europe and hand over ownership of entities responsible for key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components. This means one person won’t have control over the entire project. The organization is trying to differentiate itself from social networks controlled Read more about Mastodon announces transition to nonprofit structure – does what OpenAI should have done[…]

 Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open source platform for Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs), has created a new Open Source Program Office (OSPO) Expert Group (EG). Led by Toyota, the OSPO EG will promote the establishment of OSPOs within the automotive industry and encourage the sharing of information and best practices between them. Read more about Automotive Grade Linux Launches New Expert Group to Help Automakers Manage Open Source Activities. Lots of Automakers are already onboard.[…]

Windows Insiders will soon get firsthand experience of Microsoft’s AI ambitions for Paint and Notepad: the image editor is getting Generative Fill and Erase and the text editor is getting a Rewrite function. We’d been hearing since January that Microsoft Notepad would get an AI makeover – and yesterday it was confirmed Microsoft will roll Read more about Things no one wants: Microsoft rolls out bloated AI-enabled Notepad[…]

[…] Many Windows 11 24H2 users, this writer included, saw a chunk of disk space occupied by “Windows Update Cleanup” after running the Disk Cleanup tool. Efforts to reclaim the space proved fruitless. The cause, according to Microsoft, is not necessarily due to a change in how the company has implemented updates in Windows 11 Read more about Windows 11 24H2 disk space hoarding a ‘reporting error’ – don’t know which is  worse though[…]