Japan is supporting its companies to grow their business in Africa and develop trade ties across a continent where it’s mainly been seen as a key donor.

The second-biggest Asian economy’s emergence from a three-decade period of deflation has boosted its private sector’s risk appetite, Takehiko Matsuo, vice-minister for International Affairs at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in Abidjan, the commercial hub of Ivory Coast.

Japan seeks to grow Africa investments to ease reliance on China

The country aims to do more business with Africa as it emerges from years during which its private sector was particularly risk-averse.

^{Yinka Ibukun (The Japan Times)}

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Timestamps:
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01:42 Desktop & Mutter changes
07:30 New Settings
11:39 App Changes
14:33 Parting thoughts
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#Linux #ZorinOS #distribution #linuxdistro #linuxdesktop

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00:00 Introduction
01:07 Sponsor: Proton Mail
02:14 Weird, but good GNOME implementation
06:00 The "Spatial desktop"
08:17 Enhanced Tiling & layouts
10:03 Under the hood
12:26 Windows app support & other things
14:34 Does it regain the crown?
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Zorin OS 17 doesn't use the very latest, it's based on GNOME 43, not 45. The Software store is the one from GNOME 45, but other apps are the version from GNOME 42, like the image viewer or the file manager.

You still get access to desktop layouts, which let you change how your desktop looks and feels in one click. You also get a Zorin appearance app with accent colors, dark mode, support for other themes, and a few other options to change how the interface looks and feels, but that's all stuff Zorin OS 16 already had.

As per Zorin specific changes, the default Zorin menu now gives you a search box, to find anything you want, it uses the GNOME shell search backend, so you can enable or disable providers in the settings. You also gain an "all apps" category to see everything sorted alphabetically.

Also, Zorin OS seems to default to Wayland now,

It brings back the desktop cube. It can be enabled in the Zorin appearance settings, and it's triggered as a replacement for the activities view: instead of the strip of desktops, you get the desktop cube. You can make it turn with touchpad gestures, and windows are laid out with a nice parallax effect, floating over the desktop.

The alt tab window switcher can also be replaced with a more visual, 3D version of the default, and again, it looks good, but it's not more usable: you don't see all windows as well as a basic alt tab strip of thumbnails and icons, and it makes it harder to actually get to what you're looking for, because you don't have the full list of app icons visible all at once.

Zorin OS added advanced tiling. Again, it needs to be enabled in the Zorin Appearance settings, and it gives you not only quarter tiling, but also a lot of other options. When you tile a window to a screen edge, you get a little pop-up to fill the rest of the space with another open window, and it creates tile groups, meaning that bringing one of the window to the fore will also bring the other one alongside it.

You can also turn on tiling layouts. They're not the most legible or easy to create, as you can't just place your windows how you want them, and save that as a layout, you have to enter relatively cryptic series of numbers to define the percentage of the display each zone occupies.

Under the hood, Zorin OS 17 is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, so you're getting packages that are close to being 2 years old. It adds snap and flatpak, with flathub enabled.

Zorin uses the Linux kernel 6.2, which, ehhh well it's end of life, and has been since May 2023,

You're also stuck at the nvidia drivers 535, so not 545, the latest ones that fix a LOT of Wayland related issues, and the mesa drivers are 23.0, where 23.3 was released recently, with a lot of improvements for recent hardware.

Zorin OS also still keeps the cool things they add on the side: first you get Zorin connect, which is KDE connect and the GS Connect extension for GNOME shell. You also get an easy one click install of Wine, called Windows app support. It installs Wine, and PlayOnLinux, so you can try and run various windows executables, but both of these are super outdated.

Andy Yen, the CEO of Proton (Mail, Drive, VPN, Pass...) answered a lot of the questions you, the community, asked, in an interview that covers basically everything!

He discusses security, privacy, the origins of Proton, how they operate, Linux support, future projects, products and features, quantum computing, passkeys, and more!

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#vpn #privacy #proton #onlinesecurity #protonmail

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro
01:16 How did Proton start?
03:24 Why start with email?
06:03 What is Proton's business model?
08:34 Why set up in Switzerland?
11:33 What data do you have on customers?
14:39 How is encryption important?
18:20 Do you always need to use a VPN?
20:47 Why focus on building an ecosystem?
24:55 Is an Office Suite planned?
26:29 What differentiates Proton from competitors?
30:26 Is Proton a viable alternative to big tech services?
33:31 Why expand to more products instead of finishing existing ones?
37:19 Does the general public care about privacy?
38:45 What's next for Proton services?
40:08 What are the plans for native Linux clients?
46:03 Will ProtonVPN offer dedicated IPs to everyone?
47:46 What's the environmental impact of Proton?
49:27 Proton on F-Droid, without Google Play notifications?
52:03 Why are code repos all separated and hard to find?
53:12 Why are addresses ending in ".me" ?
54:57 When will all apps reach feature parity?
56:24 Will SMTP relay be supported?
57:47 Will Proton focus more on businesses in the future?
59:50 Why put all your eggs in one basket with just Proton services?
01:01:00 Will Proton support passkeys?
01:03:21 Does E2E matter is the recipient isn't using it?
01:04:49 Will Proton disable port forwarding in VPN?
01:06:41 Is encryption enough to make email private?
01:09:06 What protects users from a change in Proton's code licensing?
01:11:14 How does Proton protect its infrastructure?
01:13:14 Impacts of Quantum Computing on privacy and security?
01:14:24 What's the future of Proton Bridge?
01:16:25 When will Proton photos be a thing?
01:17:17 Plans for Proton Notes?
01:18:20 Will VPN support the Apple TV?
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#framework #laptop #linux

00:00 Intro
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01:35 Who are they?
03:45 Customization Options
05:10 Comparison with Framework
07:07 Design & Build Quality
08:53 Specifications
10:35 Performance & Battery life
11:51 Display, inputs, speakers, mic & webcam
13:41 Should you buy one?
14:58 Support the channel

NovaCustom Website: configurelaptop.eu/

NovaCustom is from the Netherlands, and they're specialized in laptops, you won't find desktop PCs in here. They put the focus on customization of your laptop to your exact specifications, they ship Linux out of the box, and they use coreboot.

They offer 3 years of warranty, and they guarantee spare parts availability for your device up to 7 years after your purchase.

They have 14 inches, 15 inches and 17 inches, the cheapest they have is 749€, and the most expensive goes up to 3900 euros but that's with all the options ticked

Of course, you can change the specs, but you can also add you own logo, you can change the boot logo, you can engrave the palm rest, you can pick between Windows and Linux, or you can ask them to create a dual boot.

You can choose yo use your own keyboard layout, in ANSI or ISO, change the look of the super key, change keyboard illumination, ask to completely remove the mic and webcam...

Framework goes further, since you can even replace the entire motherboard and keep the whole chassis, keyboard, panel, webcam and ports. They don't have as many models and sizes though, and until the 16 inch model releases, you're not getting any dedicated GPU options, and you're limited to 13 inches.

Novacustom is more about customization, repairability, and allowing users access to their own hardware, where Framework is more about keeping the exact same device, and making it modular, and allowing complete upgrades.

In terms of price range, Framework will be a little bit more expensive than NovaCustom for the same configurations, but they do have better panels, and newer CPU options, plus Ryzen options that Novacustom don't currently offer.

My review unit is the NS51 series, their mid range laptop. In terms of build quality, it feels very rigid, the hinge is super solid. The whole thing is pretty heavy, 1.7 kilos, and it's quite sturdy.

The only real issue I can see is the position of the power button, next to a USB port

All the spare parts are accessible for up to 7 years after your purchase, and they give you a complete service manual.

My review unit came with a core i7 1260P. In terms of I/O, on the right, you get gigabit ethernet, the ill placed power button, one USB 2 port, a micro SD card reader, and on the right, you have your barrel charger, an HDMI port, a USB 3.0 port, and 1 thunderbolt 4 and 1 type C 3.1 Gen 2 port. You can charge the laptop using USB C.

This laptop came with coreboot, with Dasharo firmware.

In terms of performance, the CPU gets a more than honorable 2498 in single core, and 7450 in multi core. As per battery life, this chip is relatively power efficient, it lasts for about 7 hours at mid brightness, wifi on, watching youtube videos in a loop.

Now let's look at the various things this laptop comes with. The display is 15.6 inches, 1080p, 16:9, 300 nits of brightness. It covers 98% of SRGB.

As per input, the keyboard feels pretty good to type on. They keys have good travel, they bounce back well, it doesn't feel mushy for a membrane keyboard, and it sounds pretty good. It's a good keyboard.

The touchpad is decent, it doesn't feel like glass, but it's smooth enough, large enough, and it feels precise. It did wobble a little bit and you can feel that when just using tap to click.

Now, the webcam is the usual potato quality fare, it's 720p.

The microphone is the same, it will be suitable for short video conferences, but it makes you sound distant.

And finally, the speakers, they're your average fare.