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TCL NXTPAPER 11 Plus features a glare-free NXTPAPER 4.0 display by Brad Linder (liliputing.com)

The TCL NXTPAPER 11 Plus is a tablet with an 11.5 inch display featuring a 120 Hz refresh rate and up to 550 nits brightness. It’s also the first tablet to feature TCL’s NXTPAPER 4.0 display technology, which the company says offers a more paper-like viewing experience than ever thanks to hardware and software improvements. NXTPAPER […]

The screen on the TCL NXTPAPER tablets is intriguing to me. [See Liliputing report] Intriguing enough for me to spend $200 on an Android tablet by a Chinese TV manufacturer that “is also baking … AI features into the tablet”? No. I do not even let my 2019 TCL TV talk to the internet, much less a tablet which would depend on updates. (This more or less also summarizes my thoughts on the BOOX line of e-ink devices.) But it would be neat to have this sort of screen on a Linux-friendly device (or even LineageOS-friendly if the project ever adds some of the NXTPAPER tablets to its list of supported devices). I suppose I would consider a cheap one if I could get some of the Google/AI cruft off the homescreen and use it as an e-reader without turning on wi-fi. For now, I will stick with my Pocketbooks for my e-reader needs (my Kindle Paperwhite does make a few rare appearances.)

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On December 18, 2024, the Wall Street Journal reported that “U.S. authorities are investigating whether a Chinese company whose popular home-internet routers have been linked to cyberattacks poses a national-security risk and are considering banning the devices.” I learned a few interesting facts beyond the top-line story:

  • “The router-manufacturer TP-Link, established in China, has roughly 65% of the U.S. market for routers for homes and small businesses.” TP-Link’s home and small business marketshare for routers was only 20% in 2019. The Wall Street Journal attributes the jump to an increase in working from home beginning in 2020 and TP-Link’s low prices.
  • “The Justice Department is investigating whether the price discrepancies violate a federal law that prohibits attempts at monopolies by selling products for less than they cost to make…” (Note: For whatever it is worth, I do not think TP-Link is strikingly cheap compared to other “popular” consumer routers and access points, but I could be off.)
  • TP-Link devices are used by the Department of Defense, Drug Enforcement Agency, NASA, and other agencies.
  • “An analysis from Microsoft published in October found that a Chinese hacking entity maintains a large network of compromised network devices mostly comprising thousands of TP-Link routers.”
  • According to the Journal, people familiar with the TP-Link investigation have stated that the company does not engage with security researches complainted about security flaws in TP-Link products.
  • “TP-Link routers don’t appear to be related to China’s alleged breaches of at least eight U.S. telecom firms by a group dubbed Salt Typhoon…” Chinese hackers instead targeted out-of-date routers built by Cisco and Netgear.
  • Taiwan has banned government and educational facilities from using TP-Link routers. India issued a warning in 2024 that TP-Link routers present a security risk.

[Source: U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese-Made Router in Millions of American Homes (Wall Street Journal). Original Link. Archived Link.]

I used a TP-Link router for several years before upgrading to a MikroTik hAP ac3 router. As of the writing of the instant post, I still use a TP-Link wireless access point (it is a pure AP, no router capabilities), but I am in the process of swapping it out for a Netgear router with OpenWrt, which I will use as an Access Point instead of a router.

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Back in November 2023, I wrote a joke article about having the good foresight to review the first season of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, which had aired in the winter 2023 season, before a second season was announced that fall. While my actual review of the show did surge in views with the announcement, it was eventually overtaken by the joke article (that was not by design) so much so that by the end of 2024, the joke article was my 3rd most-visited article of the year while my serious review was 16th. The joke article just completed its best-ever week in terms of page views (albeit not good enough to overcome my review of Kaori After Story for the number-one spot this past week), and it is showing no signs of slowing down. I wondered what gives. Perhaps it was the release of a teaser image pertaining for the upcoming second season (note: no release date yet).

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I came across Gautam krishna R’s blog-post-workflow repository on GitHub last night (being January 2, 2025). In short, it is a GitHub workflow for fetching RSS feeds and adding them to a GitHub profile README.md file. I created a profile repository (I had been meaning to for a while) and added three feeds: My ATOM feeds for this site and The New Leaf Journal and my Buttondown newsletter feed. Everything worked, but symbols in headlines for this feed and New Leaf Journal were being rendered oddly. I tried switching both WordPress feeds from ATOM to RSS. Now everything works perfectly. It is possible that I could have fixed the formatting using the available configuration options, but for this purpose (for mosy purposes, really), there is no difference between the WordPress RSS and ATOM feeds. You can see my GitHub profile with the feeds here.

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I present the following quote from Josh Blackman on taking podcasts out of context:

And this is yet another reason why I severely dislike podcasts. This was a 90 minute long discussion where Vance hit on lots of points. If you pluck out a few words here and there, and ignore the broader context, a lot will be missed. I transcribe podcasts, for good reason.

Josh Blackman

I am not a podcast-person, but I agree with the broad point in Mr. Blackman’s opinion. It is easier to take one line or another from a long podcast out of context than it is in a written piece. Transcribing podcasts sounds like a good approach. [Link: Josh Blackman]

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I regularly receive unsolicited “cooperation” and “collaboration” offers at my New Leaf Journal email. I receive these despite explicitly stating on our contact page that I am not interested in these offers. Something struck me as odd about how these unsolicited emails are worded. Today, I received a follow-up email from someone claining to be an SEO Outreach Specialist seeking to cooperate with a company he represents “in the SportsBook and Casino industry.” I ignored the original email. The follow-up email, which I will also ignore, asks whether I “got” the previous email. What strikes me as odd is how both emails conclude:

Reply with ‘Unsubscribe’ so you don’t hear from us again.

For one, why would a casino “cooperation” offer be sent pursuant to a subscription. For two, why would I unsubscribe from something I never subscribed to? I wish the spammers made more of an effort to make sense.

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I assumed without checking that I could switch between two accounts in the Element desktop app on Linux. This turned out to not be the case. However, the Ubuntu Community posted a useful guide detailing several workarounds. I tested the first workaround. Assuming you are using the Element desktop client, open Element with your already-established profile. Then go into the console and run:

element-desktop --profile account2

This will open up a second instance of Element where you can sign into a second account or create a new account. If you want to use your second account, simply launch it from the console using the above command. This is a neat solution. I tip my hat to Ubuntu Community for the very clear and concise guide.

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I had been using my Google Pixel 3a XL for reading feeds and web browsing (my “phone phone” is a Google Pixel 6a with GrapheneOS). I switched from LineageOS to DivestOS on my Pixel 3a XL several months ago. Today, I learned that DivestOS is being discontinued. I had originally purchased the Pixel 3a XL when I was still daily driving a Murena Teracube 2e with the intent of using it to run Ubuntu Touch, but I failed on the install and went with LineageOS instead (that was before switching to DivestOS). I figured with DivestOS dead, I would go back to the original plan. This time I successfully installed the correct version of Android per the Ubuntu Touch instructions, went into the Ubuntu Touch installer to install Ubuntu Touch, and installed Droidian (wait what?). I never heard of Droidian until 10 minutes ago, but it installed and looks neat. We’ll see…

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My go-to weather app on my GrapheneOS-powered Google Pixel 6a phone (GrapheneOS is a free and open source security-focused fork of Android Open Source Project) is Breezy Weather. Breezy Weather is open source and available on GitHub, Google Play Store, and F-Droid. I use F-Droid Basic as my app store. There are two flavors of Breezy Weather: Standard and Libre. The difference between them is that the standard version supports non-free weather providers. In most standard vs libre app cases, I opt for libre. However, in the case of Breezy Weather, I want standard because Accuweather is the best weather provider for my area. F-Droid itself has the libre version. Does this mean that there is no hope for me but to obtain the standard APK from GitHub or to use the Google Play Store? Not so! The IzzyOnDroid F-Droid repository has the standard version of Breezy Weather. Thus, all I need to do is enable IzzyOnDroid in F-Droid Basic and then select it instead of F-Droid as my preferred source for Breezy Weather.

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Amazon is selling the Google Pixel Tabel for $280. It supports GrapheneOS and I have been tempted to buy one because my preferred feed reading set-up uses Handy Reading (a free and open source Android feed reader) and the Pixel tablet would be a reading upgrade over my Google Pixel 3a XL (running DivestOS, my main “phone” is a Pixel 6a running GrapheneOS). But $280 is still steep. I just can’t quite get there. We’re sticking with the 3a XL for reading, although I need to work on a more ergonomic reading set-up to avoid right hand cramps.

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I opened X a few days ago to check my profile. Instead of taking me to my profile (I have a special social browser profile where I stay logged in), X told me that I was suspicious and made me complete two very annoying CAPTCHAs to prove I was a person. After getting back into my account, I was told to review X’s rules (no clue as to what “rule” was violated). Then I had to log out and in again to interact with the UI. Everything was back to normal the next day. I only use X to post links to my articles (which is similar to how I use Mastodon, Bluesky, Minds, and NOSTR), so “losing” the account would not have been a serious problem like being blacklisted by Bing for the better part of a year was. But consider my story a cautionary tale for anyone who relies on third-party social media platforms (open source, proprietary, or other) as their primary or, worse yet, sole online presence. Focus on building your online home and then use third-party social media to invite others to visit.

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From i24 News:

‘My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur during the final hours of the battles, as some have claimed,’ former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said in a statement released on Telegram Monday.

Who among us has not at least once found ourselves evacuating Syria aboard a Russian military plane after having not once previously entertained the possibility of engaging in such course of action?

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I quote the following excerpt from a cleverly titled BBC report on a cybersecurity incident at Krispy Kreme:

Some customers in the US have been unable to make online orders as a result of the hack, which occurred in late November but has only just been disclosed.

Since when do people order donuts from Krispy Kreme? Here I thought that was more a “go there and buy a donut” kind of place. The more you learn. In any event, sitting at home or in the office and ordering donuts is unhealthy. You should go out and buy a donut if you want a donut. Moreover, do not install donut apps.

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Jonathan Martin for Politico reported on an internal GOP Senate leadership fight for the post of Intelligence Committee Chairman. Marco Rubio had in line for the Chairman position, but he is now the soon-to-be-confirmed nominee for Secretary of State. Next in line is Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who also secured the third-ranking position in the Senate GOP conference. Mr. Martin reports that Texas Senator Jon Cornyn, who lost a bid against Senator John Thune of South Dakota for the caucus leader post, has backers in a bid to leap-frog Mr. Cotton for the Intelligence Committee chairman post (I wrote about an interesting fact related to Mr. Thune’s ascending to the position of Senate Majority Leader). The logic, according to Mr. Martin (note that Politico is not my go-to source on these matters, but we can set that aside), the logic of the Cornyn idea is that gaining the Intelligence Committee chairmanship would make it more likely that he runs for reelection in 2026. Mr. Cotton seems to be having none of the plan, and Mr. Martin implicitly opines (I am inclined to agree from the outside) that Mr. Thune, who has the power to select chairs, will favor Mr. Cotton because Mr. Cotton supported his leadership bid while Mr. Cornyn was his opponent. But all of this manuvering leaves open an important question, especiall in light of the upcoming push to reform how the initelligence agencies conduct their affairs: Who would be the better Chairman? I will submit for the record that given the two choices, the answer is clearly the one who will most likely prevail in this power struggle, the junior Senator from Arkansas.

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Koko Analytics, the local page counting tool I use here and on The New Leaf Journal, shows referrers. The vast majority of my regular referrals are from Google, with the rest being split between DuckDuckGo, Bing, Brave Search, Yandex, and miscellaneous search engines (usually in that order, although sometimes Brave and Yandex switch positions). Unusual referrers stand out. I just noticed one from potterfun.com. I had no idea what it was, but it turned out to be a Harry Potter fan site. This struck me as peculiar. Not only have I never written about Harry Potter, I also never read it. While I did not find the where my link was posted, I suspect it is my article on a 1920s book about reading tea leaves. Why? One of the most recent Potter Fun articles is titled Study Your Future With Tea-Leaf Reading Divination. But that article does not include a single link, internal or external, so I could be wrong.