Chrome Browser Launching Mitigation for Spectre Attacks, The Linux Foundation Announces LF Energy Coalition, Kube 0.7.0 Now Available, New Android Apps for Nativ Vita Hi-Res Music Server and More

on July 13, 2018

News briefs for July 13, 2018.

Google's Chrome browser is launching site isolation, "the most ambitious mitigation for Spectre attacks", Ars Technica reports. Site isolation "segregates code and data from each Internet domain into their own 'renderer processes', which are individual browser tasks that aren't allowed to interact with each other". This has been optional in Chrome for months, but starting with version 67, it will be enabled by default for 99% of users.

The Linux Foundation yesterday launched LF Energy, a new open-source coalition. According to the press release, LF Energy was formed "with support from RTE, Europe's biggest transmission power systems provider, and other organizations, to speed technological innovation and transform the energy mix across the world." Visit https://www.lfenergy.org for more information.

Version 0.7.0 of Kube, the "modern communication and collaboration client", is now available. Improvements include "a conversation view that allows you to read through conversations in chronological order"; "a conversation list that bundles all messages of a conversation (thread) together"; "automatic attachment of own public key"; "the account setup can be fully scripted through the sinksh commandline interface"; and more. See kube.kde.org for more info.

Nativ announced new iOS and Android apps for its Nativ Vita Hi-Res Music Server. The new apps, available from the Google Play Store, "give customers convenient control and playback functionality from their iOS or Android Smartphone or Tablet".

KDE released the third stability update for KDE Applications 18.04 yesterday. The release contains translation updates and bug fixes only, including improvements to Kontact, Ark, Cantor, Dolphin, Gwenview, KMag, among others. The full list of changes is available here.

NVIDIA announced its Jetson Xavier Developer Kit for the octa-core AI/robotics-focused Xavier module. According to Linux Gizmos, "the kit, which goes on sale for $1,300 in August, offers the first access to Xavier aside from the earlier Drive PX Pegasus autonomous car computer board, which incorporates up to 4x Xavier modules. The kit includes Xavier's Linux-based stack and Isaac SDK."

Mozilla announced the winners of 2018H1 Mozilla Research grants. Eight proposals were selected, "ranging from tools to fight online harassment to systems for generating speech. All these projects support Mozilla's mission to make the Internet safer, more empowering, and more accessible." See the Research Grants page for more info on the grants and how to apply.

Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology, The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she’s not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads.