If you have a 2013- or 2014-era iPad sitting around unused because it's not getting updates from Apple anymore and has stopped running the apps you need, some developers are working on an alternative software solution for you. Developer Konrad Dybcio and a Linux enthusiast going by "quaack723" have collaborated to get Linux kernel version 5.18 booting on an old iPad Air 2, a major feat for a device that was designed to never run any operating system other than Apple's.

The project appears to use an Alpine Linux-based distribution called "postmarketOS," a relatively small but actively developed distribution made primarily for Android devices. Dybcio used a "checkm8" hashtag in his initial tweet about the project, strongly implying that they used the "Checkm8" bootrom exploit published back in 2019 to access the hardware. For now, the developers only have Linux running on some older iPad hardware using A7 and A8-based chips—this includes the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, and a few generations of iPad mini. But subsequent tweets imply that it will be possible to get Linux up and running on any device with an A7 or A8 in it, including the iPhone 5S and the original HomePod.

This isn't the only project devoted to running Linux on Apple's hardware. One project, Asahi Linux, has been dedicated to reverse-engineering support for the M1 chips in Apple's Macs and sending the patches upstream so that they can be integrated into the Linux kernel. Another, Project Sandcastle, has a build of Android up and running on an iPhone 7. Apps like iSH will give you a Linux shell running on top of iOS or iPadOS—not the same as running Linux on the hardware directly, but useful in some circumstances.

• The end of the iPod – last model available 'while supplies last' [Ed: It was always hype, branding, and perceived "class"; technically speaking, the competition was better and practically superior]

• LinkedIn settles Dept of Labor charges it underpaid women [Ed: While Bill Gates flies on planes of Jeffrey Epstein and visits Epstein in prison Microsoft continues to abuse women. Microsoft loves to publicly brag about protecting women because, just like greenwashing, it makes business (marketing) sense.]

  Microsoft's LinkedIn social network has agreed to settle allegations it systematically underpaid women in engineering, product, and marketing roles.

  The US Department of Labor (DoL) on Tuesday announced the settlement on behalf of 686 female workers in California. The government said an evaluation conducted by DoL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that between March 1, 2015, though March 1, 2017, LinkedIn failed to provide equal pay for women in its San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, offices.

• Warning: Windows update breaks authentication for some server admins

  Microsoft is warning a security update may cause authentication failures for Windows domain controllers.

  "After installing updates released May 10, 2022 on your domain controllers, you might see authentication failures on the server or client for services such as Network Policy Server (NPS), Routing and Remote access Service (RRAS), Radius, Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), and Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP)," the IT goliath said in an advisory published Wednesday.

• Jeffrey Snover claims Microsoft demoted him for inventing PowerShell [Ed: Microsoft did the same to the Minecraft pioneer]

  PowerShell inventor Jeffrey Snover has aired some grievances about how his indispensable tool once got him demoted.

  The Microsoft Technical Fellow discussed the incident in a weekend Twitter thread that started when controversial investor Peter Thiel discussed the virtues of courage.

  "Courage is a key characteristic of future leaders and previous employees," Snover joked in response to Thiel's musings. He also asserted that "many people focus on getting their boss to pat them on the head rather than address problems."

• Microsoft to ax Azure Video Analyzer in November [Ed: Microsoft also lays off Azure staff and shuts down some datacentres; it relies a lot on government bailouts (stealing from taxpayers]

  Microsoft's Azure Video Analyzer service is being put out to pasture, with its termination notice arriving less than a year after the preview was unveiled at the company's 2021 Build event.

     

• Apple ends production of its iconic iPod

                                     
  

                                         

  Apple announced Tuesday that it's discontinuing the iPod Touch — the last iPod model produced by the company — marking an end for the gadget that helped shape the music listening experience for 20 years.

                                     

                                
                               

• Apple discontinues the iPod after 20 years

                                     
  

                                         

  The iPod Touch going away marks the end of an era. As Apple notes, it introduced the first iPod “over 20 years ago.” The original FireWire-equipped model acted as just a portable music player, and Apple made models that were pretty much exclusively for listening to audio up until 2017, when it discontinued the iPod Nano and Shuffle. While the iPod Touch has been embraced by some iPod enthusiasts as the new classic music player, it also found a following for those who wanted an iPhone-like experience but didn’t actually need a phone

                                     

                                 

                                

• Microsoft May 2022 Patch Tuesday fixes 7 critical vulnerabilities, 67 others

                               

• Attribution of Russia’s Malicious Cyber Activity Against Ukraine [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  Today, in support of the European Union and other partners, the United States is sharing publicly its assessment that Russia launched cyber attacks in late February against commercial satellite communications networks to disrupt Ukrainian command and control during the invasion, and those actions had spillover impacts into other European countries. The activity disabled very small aperture terminals in Ukraine and across Europe. This includes tens of thousands of terminals outside of Ukraine that, among other things, support wind turbines and provide Internet services to private citizens.

                                     

                                 

                                
                               

• Russia seems to be co-ordinating cyber-attacks with its military campaign [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  The number of Russian cyber-operations has doubled every month since December, when 15 were reported. This only includes attacks that Microsoft was able to detect in its own networks—the true number is likely to be higher. But because the Russians are conducting disruptive attacks, they are much more likely to be found out than pure espionage, such as Chinese intelligence gathering against America, reckons Benjamin Read, director of espionage analysis at Mandiant, a cybersecurity firm.

                                     

                                 

                                
                               

• No kidding, Microsoft now charges firms to tackle Windows ransomware [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  I kid you not. No other operating system suffers ransomware attacks, though helpful security experts try to spread the burden a bit, and suck up to the big M, by claiming they have seen similar malware for Linux and the Mac.

                                         

  But no attack in which a ransom has been demanded and a company put out of operation for a while has involved anything other than Windows.

  This kind of money making is in keeping with Microsoft's culture; the one thing the company possesses in spades is chutzpah. It is absolutely brazen in its bid to make money off something which its own products allow to happen.

                                     

                                 

                                

                               

• Risky Biz News: Costa Rica declares national emergency after ransomware attack [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  The attack hit the Central American state right in the middle of its presidential transition, with former president Carlos Alvarado Quesada telling journalists on April 21 that the attack had destabilized the government in a period of transition.

                                     

                                 

                                
                               

• Costa Rica’s new president declares state of emergency after Conti ransomware attack [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  The newly-inaugurated president of Costa Rica – Rodrigo Chaves – declared a state of emergency due to a devastating ransomware attack launched by the Conti group.

                                         

  Following his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, Chaves held his first government council, where he announced a national emergency and attributed it to the attack’s effects on the Ministry of Finance, which has been hit hardest by the attack.

                                     

                                 

                               

• US State Department announces $10 million bounty after Costa Rica ransomware attack [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  The US State Department says the attack “severely impacted the country’s foreign trade by disrupting its customs and taxes platforms” and offers “up to $10 million for information leading to the identification and/or location” of the organizers behind Conti. The US government is also offering $5 million for information “leading to the arrest and/or conviction of any individual in any country conspiring to participate in or attempting to participate” in a Conti-based ransomware attack.

                                     

                                 

                                
                               

• Costa Rican president begins tenure with ransomware national emergency declaration [iophk: Windows TCO]

                                     
  

                                         

  President Rodrigo Chaves Robles, who began a four-year term as president Sunday after winning the country’s April 4 election, signed the declaration on May 8 as one of his first official acts, according to local news outlet Amelia Rueda. The executive decree reads, in part, that Costa Rica is “suffering from cybercriminals, cyberterrorists” and that the decree allows “our society to respond to these attacks as criminal acts.”

                                     

                                 

                             

• Microsoft Tells Users to Uninstall Windows 11 Update That Causes Apps to Crash [Ed: Windows eXPeriment]

• Microsoft advises users to uninstall Windows 11 update [Ed: This might be a plagiarism site, but it's funny nonetheless]

• CloudCasa by Catalogic to Feature Cyber-Resilient Kubernetes Backups at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2022

• TurboTax will pay $141 million for scamming taxpayers

  TurboTax will pay $141 million to residents in every state and Washington D.C. for misleading claims that its tax preparation services are free, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Wednesday.

  Under the agreement, a total of 4.4 million taxpayers who used TurboTax's free edition for tax years 2016 through 2018 will get a direct payment of approximately $30 for each year. These users were told that they had to pay to file, even though they were eligible to file for free using the IRS Free File program, which the Intuit withdrew from in 2021. In New York, 176,000 residents who were "tricked into paying to file their federal tax return" will receive a total of more than $5.4 million.

• MacOS Server, Adieu