Commodore has unveiled the Callback 8020, a $499 Sailfish OS flip phone that runs most Android apps but deliberately blocks social media, browsers, email, and workplace apps to discourage doomscrolling. The "not dumb dumbphone" still supports messaging, music, maps, ridesharing, hotspots, a removable battery, and plenty of Commodore nostalgia. "The phone uses T9-style texting with predictive input, includes Commodore SID ringtones, ships with a selection of Commodore and Sailfish games, and even includes Snake," reports TechSpot. From the report: Commodore says it has developed patent-pending technology that prevents browsers and social media apps from being sideloaded, while DNS-level blocking should stop them from working even if someone finds a way to install them. Users can still sideload nearly anything else if it's not available on the Commostore, but apps designed for doomscrolling remain off limits. That means useful services such as WhatsApp, SMS, Signal, Telegram, WeChat, Spotify, Uber, Lyft, maps, podcasts, QR scanning, voice notes, and hotspot support work, but the likes of Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Gmail, and browsers do not.

The Callback 8020 has a 3.25-inch 480 x 640 internal display, a MediaTek Helio G81 chip, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 48MP Sony rear camera, an autofocus front camera, dual SIM support, USB-C, a headphone jack, FM radio, and something many of us miss from flagships: a removable battery. There's no 5G as Commodore argues that 4G VoLTE and Wi-Fi better fit a device meant to discourage constant streaming and scrolling. [...] The main screen is touch-capable but disabled by default, while the outer display keeps things deliberately sparse, showing basics such as time, battery, signal, and notifications via dome LEDs.

The 8020 name is a nod to Commodore's 8010 modem from 1980. The phone comes in ProtoPET White, SX Silver, BASIC Beige, a translucent Starlight Edition, and a gold Founders Edition with a 24-karat gold-plated Commodore button. Standard models start at $499, the Starlight version is $549.99, and the Founders Edition costs $640. Preorders open June 30, with shipping targeted for winter. You can watch the launch ad on YouTube.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Binance is expected to lose permission to serve EU customers in July after Greek regulators reportedly decided to reject its MiCA license application. Reuters reports: Under new EU rules, called MiCA, crypto firms have until the end of June to obtain a licence to allow them to keep servicing clients across the bloc. Binance's application, made to Greece's market regulator, is set to be turned down, the people said. European regulators have been attempting to rein in crypto exchanges, which allow people to trade cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin around the globe.

Under MiCA, crypto companies have to apply for licenses from regulators in individual EU countries, which they can use as a "passport" to operate throughout the 27-nation bloc. At stake is oversight of the multi-trillion-dollar crypto industry, which regulators have long warned could destabilize markets and harm investors if not properly supervised. The Greek rejection would mean Binance will not be given the green light to operate in the EU, leaving the fate of Binance's customers based in the bloc uncertain.

Binance posted on X after the Reuters report was published that it intends to "support an orderly process and minimise disruption to our users", without giving further details. A spokesperson for Binance, which has 300 million customers worldwide, earlier said it has been pursuing a MiCA licenze and had worked with regulators for 18 months. Binance believes it has met the requirements to be MiCA authorized, the spokesperson said. It understood that Greece's Hellenic Capital Market Commission had completed its review of the application and it was considered compliant. "HCMC has given no formal indication of the contrary," the spokesperson told Reuters.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

iain.davidson100 has added a photo to the pool:

Het Braziliaanse Hooggerechtshof heeft Eduardo Bolsonaro dinsdag schuldig bevonden aan het aansturen op Amerikaanse inmenging in de rechtszaak tegen zijn vader.

December 1983, een signeersessie van het nieuwste Sjef van Oekel stripboek in een Alkmaarse boekhandel. Elke week keek ik naar De lachende scheerkwast, Wim T.

Horizontaal: 1. Wateropnemer 5. ‘Voormalig Ajacied Nemanja __ vertrekt na zeven seizoenen bij Sevilla ’ 9. Iris 10. Eeuwenoude stad in Duitsland 11. Binnenkomertje 12.

Plaats de cijfers 1 tot en met 9 zo in het diagram dat elk cijfer precies één keer voorkomt in elke rij, kolom, de negen vetomrande 3x3 vakken, én de vier grijze 3x3 vakken.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

SF Gazetteer, Cydney Hayes: Why do these Castro gay bars have TSA-style face scanners?

The machine Owen encountered is called a Patronscan Guard+, a biometric and personal data collection device made by Servall Data Systems, a surveillance tech company headquartered in Alberta, Canada. Mix is one of at least three bars in the Castro, including Badlands and Toad Hall on 18th Street, that wheel out the Patronscan kiosk each night to collect the personal data of every customer that comes through the door, including names, addresses, genders, and even how they behave inside the bar. [...]

Management from Mix, Badlands, and Toad Hall did not respond to requests for comment about when or why they first started using the surveillance tech in their businesses, so I stopped by Mix last Thursday night to check things out for myself.

Like most private surveillance cameras, the Patronscan kiosk at Mix hides in plain sight. In the dim light of the bar, the black machine is easy to miss. I was also not instructed to face the camera when I handed my ID to the bouncer; when I asked if I would be photographed, the bouncer told me the camera had in fact already taken my picture. They said Mix bouncers are not required to verbally tell each patron that they're being photographed by the Patronscan device. Instead, they rely on a small informational plaque posted to the kiosk below eye level to inform customers what data is being collected and how it will be used.

"It's posted signage," the bouncer shrugged on Thursday, when I suggested tipsy customers might not read the fine print on their way inside. [...]

Owen, however, sees potential for serious privacy risks. In today's political climate, she said, "it's really not great to have lists of gay people."

(Gee, ya think?)

In 2023, Illinois residents filed a class action lawsuit against Patronscan for violating an Illinois biometrics privacy law by collecting biometric data from eventgoers without first obtaining their consent, calling the technology "Orwellian."

In 2019, when the Board of Supervisors banned the use of facial recognition software by city agencies, including the police, the measure was widely supported by locals and inspired similar policies nationwide. That policy does not apply to private businesses like the Castro bars, but the reception at the time signaled widespread distrust toward surveillance tech companies. But now as the technology grows more normalized and a new generation of AI boomers flood San Francisco, the attitude toward Big Brother is shifting in the city.

The morning after we chatted in the Castro, Gonzalez told me over Instagram DM that he was unaware Mix could share patron data with neighboring businesses but did not see a problem with it. "I think it's cute that they share it amongst other bars," he wrote. "It's like a little cybersecurity community."

Oh, how cute!

As George Orwell famously wrote, "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a shrug emoji stamping on a human face -- forever."

This is so much worse than the usual techbro "disruption" of bars that features here so often; it's even worse than the company that tried to sell bars' security cameras back to them.

If you think these photos, videos and dossiers of personally-identifiable information won't be turned over to ICE at the drop of a hat by this Servall Data Systems, you have not been paying attention. ICE, I must remind you, now has a budget exceeding the entire military budgets of all but 15 countries. Bigger than Israel; almost as big as Canada and South Korea.

The Brownshirts will be in the Castro soon enough.