Tag: android

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We bring August to a close with one Pook-Emu Bee for the road.

A rectangular yellow street sing which says "SLOW" above a silhouette of a running boy, under which we see the text "CHILDREN AT PLAY." Photo taken in the evening against the backdrop of a brick building and window.
I photographed this Children at Play sign on Love Lane in Brooklyn Heights on August 21, 2026.

1 | Understanding And Dealing With Kim Jong-Un’s Resilience (Mario Alexis Portella for American Thinker. August 31, 2026.)
I attribute Kim Jong-un’s resiliance to his looking at everything.

2 | Israel Continues Elimination Campaign Against October 7 Perpetrators and Gaza Terror Commanders (Vijeta Uniyal for Legal Insurrection. August 29, 2026.)
There seems to be a growing correlation between having participated in October 7 and suffering an untimely demise.

3 | Calibre 9.14 Open-Source E-Book Manager Is Out with More AI Features (Marcus Nestor for 9 To 5 Linux. August 27, 2026.)
I’m not one of the people dropping Calibre because of optional AI features (some of which are relatively inoffensive, albeit not useful to me), nor am I in the business of telling people how to run their free and open source projects. With that being granted, I hope we are also working on the non-AI features.

4 | A proposal for new Netflix content rating icons (Eric Bailey. August 25, 2026.) (HT Jim Nielsen.)
I don’t use Netflix, but I see the point about its rating icons. Coincidentally, I was reminded of my article on rating scales.

5 | “I just chose words carefully.” (Marcin Wichary at Unsung. August 30, 2026.)
I never tried typesetting in monospace, but I do use monospace for most of my drafting in my markdown editor.

6 | California lawmakers unanimously pass Linux exemption from age-verification law — software distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses are exempt (Luke James for Tom’s Hardware. August 29, 2026.)
Gavin Newsom dreamed of being President of the United States. He will settle for being accidental Stallman (with hair gel).

7 | Brooklyn city councilmembers look to silence Navy Yard’s noisy raves (Joe Hong for Gothamist. August 29, 2026.)
The correct number of raves in Brooklyn Navy Yard would be 0.

8 | Read This Before You Buy That TV Streaming Stick (Brian Krebs at Krebs on Security. July 30, 2026.)
Alternatively, consider reading “this” and the not buying “that” TV streaming stick.

9 | Bronx Mother Found Not Responsible for Killing Her Two Boys Because of ‘Postpartum Psychosis’ (Lowell Cauffiel for Breitbart. August 29, 2026.)
Someone needs to check in on the Bronx. Not me, mind you. I haven’t been to the Bronx in seven years and that was maybe for a combined 15-20 minutes. I’m good.

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I have a deadline today, so while the weekday Pook-Emu Bee streak continues, this will be another minimalist entry in my ongoing series.

1 | Israel: Law Adopted to Preserve the Memory of the October 7, 2023, Massacre and Commemorate Heroism (Ruth Levush for Global Legal Monitor. August 26, 2026.)
A sound law.

2 | Model Owl in a Towel (Wildbase Hospital [via Owls in Towels]. August 24, 2026.)
That is a [small] statuesque owl.

3 | How a Ukrainian commander sped through the ‘kill zone’ to save wounded troops (Vitalii Hinidyi and Dan Peleschuk for Reuters [via Defense News]. August 26, 2026.)
A teacher by trade, Vladyslav Polskyi taught a lesson in courage on the battlefield.

4 | Marines at Abbey Gate awarded Bronze Star medal upgrade (Patty Neberg for Task & Purpose. August 26, 2026.)
Well-deserved.

5 | Vanity Fair Drops Writer for Winking, Smiling at Camera During Lindsay Clancy Trial (Paul Bois and Ezra Dulis for Breitbart. August 26, 2026.)
Yes, her exuberantly giggling in the court room and spreading TikTok conspiracy theories (contra Clancy’s own defense) that Clancy’s husband is the hashtag-real killer may lead one to expect that she and her fellow travelers are distasteful human beings who would have reacted much differently had the victim been a single puppy rather than three children. But remember that I noted in Pook-Emu Bee 08-24-26 that Natasha Pearlman of the New York Post assured us that Clancy is just “living proof” of the worst fears of these women. Whew!

6 | The PocketBook Q is a Linux-based alternative to Android ereaders — new Boox rival has a 5.84-inch E Ink screen and will cost $235 (James Rogerson for TechRadar. August 25, 2026.)
I’m a PocketBook fan, but while it looks intriguing… I have my Xtenik X4 that I need to use, so I will probably stick with that alongside my preexisting two PocketBooks and my Kindle Paperwhite.

7 | I turned my Android phone into a retro gaming console for free (Varun Krishan for Make Use Of. August 25, 2026.)
I have thought about interesting ways to do something to this effect and I have three spare phones to work with, but it is on a long list of “tech” things to do and write about.

8 | Can you have too many hobbies? (Laura at Inky Imaginings. August 23, 2026.) [HT Well-Apportioned Desk]
I wish I could say that my comment on link 7 was referring to too many hobbies. But at the moment I am working on a flurry of immigration law matters with a pile of stuff next to me. So not quite…

9 | Brooklyn Dems change who picks party boss in closed-door vote; chair challengers head back to court (Adam Daly for amNY. August 26, 2026.)
The Brooklyn Democratic Party machine faced an existential red socialist threat after the June primaries. The last true (now unofficial) party boss, Frank Seddio, stepped in and resolved (pending legal challenges) the situation like a true party boss. I think the machine is on its last legs, but I wouldn’t bet against Mr. Seddio ensuring that it is not deposed just yet.

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I have a rough three-day work-stretch ahead of me, but the weekday Pook-Emu Bee links streak must continue (I will however compromise on feature images today).

1. Brainless TikTok trend causes $2,000 in damage to SoCal home (Daniel Farr for the New York Post. August 26, 2026.)
States and localities should consider sentence enhancement provisions for crimes committed for social media consumption.

2. EXCLUSIVE: US Investigators Have Proof That UNRWA ‘Social Worker’ Caught on Tape Dragging an Israeli Body Into an SUV on Oct 7 Was an Active Hamas Operative (Adam Kredo for The Washington Free Beacon. August 25, 2026.)
It’s always who you least expect… except for those times when it’s the most obvious suspect.

3. $3 Specialty Coffee Is Back In Brooklyn (Ainsley Martinez for Patch Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill, NY. August 25, 2026.)
I seldom buy coffee when I’m out (firmly in the DIY coffee camp) but $3 for a cup of any size is cheap around these parts. Maybe I’ll find a reason when out with a friend to give it a try.

4. I switched from Android’s default keyboard to an open source alternative to eliminate my constant typos (Oluwaniyi Raji for Android Police. August 25, 2026.)
I also use Heliboard. It’s good. I turn autocorrect off because autocorrect is a war crime. The predictive suggestions are solid but I tend to forget about them. I need to make myself remember because typing on touchscreens is not a strong area for me.

5. Roblox applies restrictions to games featuring “reward-driven media feeds” available in Roblox Kids and Select (Sophie McEvoy for Games Industry.biz. August 26, 2026.)
The fundamental problem with Roblox is that its ostensible target demographic should not be playing social online games, period.

6. NYC’s borough-based jail boondoggle is nearly $8B over budget and years behind schedule (Matthew Fischetti for the New York Post. August 24, 2026.)
It’s already casting a long shadow.

7. NYers say Citi Bike has gotten too expensive, can a new advocate-led campaign make it cheaper? (Ethan Stark-Miller for amNY. August 18, 2026.)
Hear me out. Instead of stealing my tax money to subsidize City Bike rides for my betters who will then violate traffic laws and threaten to run me over, what if we at least banned the electric City Bikes and made everything more expensive?

8. Smithsonian affiliate AANM gets federal funds, criticized 9/11 response (Robert Schmad for Fox News. August 25, 2026.)
Score another one for team taxation is theft.

9. Taliban facing constant challenge to authority in provinces bordering Central Asian states (Eurasianet. August 25, 2026.)
Economic ties aside, I’ll note that Uzbek and Tajik police don’t take kindly to men having beards, so the Taliban would probably be well-advised (granting I don’t think they’re much into taking advice) to keep their various militants from causing cross-border problems.

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Another weekday means another set of Poook-Emu Bee links.

A rainbow suitcase with wheels sitting in front of a gray kiosk on a sidewalk.
I photographed this suit case on August 14, 2026, on Court Street between DeGraw and Sackett. Only the brave wheels away a “free” suitcase in Brooklyn.

1 | Jeanie Buss battling siblings over sale of remaining Lakers shares to new ownership group: reports (Scott Thompson for Fox Business. August 17, 2026.)
The unfortunate ramifications of sidelining your siblings for your own benefit. Your siblings, now having little stake in the organization, may decide that turn-about is fair play.

2 | Private Pre-K in Brooklyn Heights: Kinder Prep Montessori’s New 4–5s Program (sponsored post on Brooklyn Bridge Parents. August 18, 2026.)
Note that “sponsored” here refers to sponsored on Brooklyn Bridge Parents. I am not sponsored by any preschools (or anyone for that matter). Here, I demonstrate my impeccable independence with a question. How is this preschool simultaneously in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Brooklyn Heights? Spoiler: It is in Brooklyn Bridge Park, not Brooklyn Heights. BBP is a neighborhood unto itself for all intents and purposes (evinced by the fact it now has preschools).

3 | Geekom admits to shipping malware-laced network drivers for AMD mini PCs — company responds with guidance, removes malicious package (Bruno Ferreira for Tom’s Hardware. August 18, 2026.)
Quoting Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony (HT): “Just wipe the drive and reinstall Windows first.” I offer a slight amendment: Wipe the drive and install Linux first. I installed Linux on my two Beelink mini PCs (note I am unaware of any stories about Beelink shipping malware, but as a general matter I would agree with bringing your own operating system to your China mini-PC).

4 | I clung to Android’s 3-button navigation for years until I learned this clever swipe trick (Jade Bryan Jardinico for Android Police. August 17, 2026.)
Being a relative late-comer to Android, I recently went the opposite direction from swiping to three-button. I had too many problems with unwanted swipes.

5 | May This Balloon Banjo Resonate With You (Kristina Panos for Hackaday. August 17, 2026.)
I see a new project for my good friend and expert luthier, Victor V. Gurbo.

6 | BIA Reads Dictionary, Finds that a ‘Departure’ on Advance Parole Is a ‘Departure (Andrew R. Arthur for Center for Immigration Studies. August 17, 2026.)
One of my first assignments at my job about 10 years ago involved the 2012 Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012). When I saw the Board’s new decision in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, 29 I&N Dec. 830 (BIA 2026), which overrules Arrabally and Yerrabelly, I thought to myself that time flies.

7 | NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin backs away from e-bike registration despite pressure (Haley Brown for the New York Post. August 14, 2026.)
I conclude by quoting myself from the May 15, 2026 Pook-Emu Bee:

I will spoil the feedback process for anyone who questions unlimited accommodations for bikes (including effective exemption from traffic laws) in New York City. Heads, bikes win. Tails, you lose.

Nicholas A. Ferrell

PS to NYP: She folded because of pressure (from the bike lobby) not despite pressure.

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Pook-Emu Bee links are so real now that we’re delivering on Sundays.

Statue of Mary casting a shadow against the stone wall of a cathedral.
I took this photograph outside the Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn Heights on August 6, 2026.

1 | Tracking Bees with a Stereo Camera (Al Williams for Hackaday. August 8, 2026.)
A fitting entry in light of today’s New Leaf Journal review of A Taste of Honey.

2 | RV Steelhead (Tugster: A Waterblog. August 8, 2026.)
Survey research of a survey vessel.

3 | Why some tech users are ditching Android for Linux phones (Maya Brooks for Northeast Times. August 6, 2026.) (HT Tux Machines.)
This reminds me that I need to write about my experiences with Ubuntu Touch… and by extension my return to LineageOS.

4 | Mamdani taps Israel-hating, anti-cop radicals for NYC school board (David Spector for the New York Post. August 8, 2026.)
The headline is accurate but it leaves out the weird overcompensating dude who wants to create race-segregated discussion groups (and pursued that agenda while working in DOE during the de Blasio administration).

5 | Most Googlebots are fake (Bobbie Chen for Digital Seams. July 26, 2026.) (HT Lazy Reading.)
I don’t doubt it but I will submit that to the best of my recollection, NLJ was never brought to heel by a bot falsely advertising itself as Googlebot. Most of the bots that hit NLJ aggressively enough to take it down had generic user agents. In one case it was Scrapy.

6 | Linux 7.2 Drops Ancient PROFIBUS Driver: Ported From SCO Unix In 1998, Unused For Years (Michael Larabel for Phoronix. June 25, 2026.)
I never heard of this driver but dropping it from the Linux kernel both disgusts and offends me. I’m switching to Windows 98.

7 | Linux gaming got so big that even GOG couldn’t ignore it anymore (Simon Batt for XDA Developers. August 7, 2026.)
I approve of the respect for Linux. With that being said, despite my having a collection of GOG games, I will probably stick with using Lutris since I use Lutris as a WINE front-end for some non-GOG games.

8 | Woke Canadian deported for slapping teens wearing MAGA clothing faces one final humiliation as she’s banished from the US (Eliot Force for Daily Mail. August 5, 2026.)
I wonder what her lawyer thought when he realized that he had so little to work with that he was going to have to go with her having engaged in unauthorized employment as being a positive equity.

9 | Have an Intel Mac or Old Windows PC? Revive It With One of These 20 Fun DIY Projects (Eric Griffin for PC Mag. August 5, 2026.)
Suggestions 1-3 and 6-7 are good. I’d throw in making a designated machine for retro games, albeit that is arguably a subset of 1 and/or 2, Starts grasping at straws toward the end, but points for creativity.

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Replied to Getting serious with /e/OS - Hurdles and obstacles by Igor Ljubuncic (Dedoimedo)
After lots of searches and reading, I finally managed to get an okay understanding of how App Lounge works. The app UI is opaque, and it does not tell you what the actual sources for your Android packages are. Or rather, it does, but not in a very clear, distinct way. You have Apps, Open Source and Web Apps. But what this effectively means: Play Store, F-Droid, and then, something else?

I used an /e/ OS-powered Teracube 2e as my daily driver phone from September 2021 to November 2022. It worked well enough for my purposes initially, as I explained in a very early review I published in November 2021, but I would eventually switch to a LineageOS-powered Google Pixel 3a XL (which, coincidentally, is my current daily driver as of publication time) due to call reception issues (which may have been the hardware rather than the software), the fact that the 3a XL is a better phone, and my not needing anything Murena offers on top of LineageOS. For example, one of /e/ OS’s standout features is that it comes with its own app store called App Lounge, which pulls from Google Play Store, F-Droid, and a Progressive Web App store (the latter led to a small game review). I largely ignored App Lounge in favor of F-Droid. I noted one thing I did not like about App Lounge all the way back in November 2021:

One issue I noted is that it is not always entirely clear what the source is for an app on first glance. This issue is sometimes relevant for apps that have distinct Google Play and F-Droid versions. For example, the popular Bitwarden password manager application has two versions. The Google Play version uses Google Firebase, which gives it notification support, whereas the F-Droid version lacks Firebase. The /e/ store includes the Google Play Store version, but not the F-Droid version. Those who are concerned about which version of an app that they may be downloading should check the app’s source in the /e/ store, which is listed with each app.

According to Igor Ljubuncic at Dedoimedo, the App Lounge’s opacity seems much the same today as it was almost five years ago.

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My “daily” Pook-Emu Bee links have been far from “daily” of late. As a result, my link backlog has grown to an ominous size. But today we get back on track. Tomorrow? That is always TBD, but baby steps to giant strides and all.

Photograph of a small tree in a fenced in area adjacent to a Brooklyn sidewalk at night. There is a flaring light next to the tree.
I took this photograph in the evening on April 13, 2026. I do not remember exactly where.

1. NYC subway riders push AG Letitia James to probe OMNY after extra charges, phantom fines (Haley Brown and Matthew Fischetti for the New York Post. August 3, 2026.)

I have yet to use one of the new OMNY cards. With that being said, I respect this news that the MTA is maintaining continuity with one of the charming features of the old Metro Cards.

2. Democrat Wisconsin Gubernatorial Candidate Francesca Hong Said She Left Restaurant Due to ‘Too Many Old White People’ (Paul Bois for Breitbart. August 3, 2026.)

Hong shared her story about the anxiety episode in a 2019 post on X. ‘I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in black river falls and told him they ran out of ice cream. Mostly just wanted to leave bc I was on the verge of a anxiety attack,’ she said.

I’m concerned, albeit not surprised, to learn that there is apparently an online audience of communists that thinks that pretending to have “anxiety” attacks in the presence of white adults is a positive character trait. I fear that the not-so-young lady is overcompensating, and not because of the people she claims give her anxiety.

3. Gaming on the 4GB Radeon RX 6500 XT and GTX 1650 Super in 2026 — upscaling makes low-end GPUs viable for esports and internet cafes (Jeffrey Kampman for Tom’s Hardware. August 3, 2026.)

I believe my video card is a GTX 1650 Super (see obscured photo of the box from 2020). While I have not given it many stress tests since I built this computer in August 2020, I am heartened to know that it can handle some AAA slop games on medium settings. Whew.

4. Proposed ‘Green-Wood Green-Way’ gets $4M in City Council funding for outreach, design (Kristyn Brendlen for Brooklyn Paper. July 28, 2026.)

I would support this idea without the bike lane. I do not support it with the bike lane.

5. Altman’s recommendation sparks debate about AI in parenting (Holly Van Leuven for Morning Brew. August 3, 2026.)

If you have a thought which places “Altman” and “parenting” in the same sentence, the answer will always be “absolutely not.”

6. Google plans to exempt sanctioned nations from Android developer verification (Ryan Whitwam for Ars Technica. July 31, 2026.)

Paradoxically, the situation in sanctioned nations will actually provide more app freedom. And these are Google-certified phones at issue here. In places like Cuba and Iran, most phones are Android devices with full Google certification because they’re imported from other places where Google officially operates.

Eureka! Here I thought that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard was being insane because it is an Islamist death cult. But I now see that it is because they want to ensure that they maintain Android app freedom. Mr. President, please convey through Pakistan that they can keep their app freedom even if they stop being their authentic selves.

7. Hochul lets bill forcing embattled ACS to turn over records languish as another child dies in Bronx hellhole (Craig McCarthy, Jordan Donegan, and Matt Troutman for the New York Post. July 31, 2026.)

Tragically, there’s nothing new under the Sun. Rinse and repeat every few months. Another child or baby is dead and nothing changes.

8. Exclusive: UN Is Actively Obstructing US Probe Into Links Between Its Gaza Relief Groups and Hamas, as Americans Warn UN To Divorce ‘Cancerous UNRWA’ (Adam Kredo for The Washington Free Beacon. July 30, 2026.)

Getting full cooperation from UN agencies regarding their involvement with and infiltration by Hamas is about as likely as my plan to correct the Iranian government’s behavior by guaranteeing that they will retain their Android app freedom.

9. LG Monitors Fill PCs With Adware, and It’s Not Just Recent Displays (Kyle Barr for Gizdomo. July 20, 2026.)

There is no easy process to keep PCs from automatically installing these connected apps, especially since they come in quietly via Microsoft Update.

Here, running EndeavourOS on my workstation, I read about these events in Windowsland like I read about the goings on in the Central African Republic.

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I have a busy day ahead of me, but not too busy for Pook-Emu Bee links. Before getting to links from around the web, I note that I just published the sixth and final part of my New Leaf Journal sixth birthday project, Be the Blogger You Want to Be (Or Read). Now watch me follow my own advice.

Photograph of the East River and Manhattan Skyline from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, with Brooklyn Bridge Park in the foreground. The sky is foggy. Off in the distance, you can vaguely see a Portuguese Flag attached to a ship docked at the South Street Seaport.
I took this photo from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade on the morning of May 27, 2026. If you squint, you can see a Portuguese Flag attached to a ship by the seaport across the river.

1. Government says 5.7 trillion yen of Japanese media was pirated last year, thinks AI could help (Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. May 26, 2026.)

I assumed by “AI could help” that the Japanese government was thinking that AI could help track down copyright infringement. Not so: “However, one of the ideas being floated by the researchers is to promote the use of AI in production to lower costs and secure profits.” Well… depending on the uptake, I suppose that could also reduce piracy.

2. Magnifica Humanitas (Peter’s Path. May 26, 2026.)

It’s on my reading list, and perhaps my future article list.

3. Zubac remembers the shock of his first NBA paycheck being cut in half (Bruno Feliks for Basketball Network. February 9, 2026.)

A star NBA center on how he learned about California tax rates.

4. Freedom 250 Announces Free FIFA World Cup Fan Zone on National Mall (Jasmyn Jordan for Breitbart. May 20, 2026.)

This isn’t what General Washington fought for.

5. Linux On Android Provides Inexpensive, Powerful Computing (Aaron Beckendorf for Hackaday. May 26, 2026.)

I should really mess around with Termux at some point.

6. Beloved NYC bakery faced stomach-churning issue before suddenly closing (Nicole Rosenthal for the New York Post. May 24, 2026.)

I’m glad I didn’t buy anything from there before it closed (it was right by my favorite spot for buying coffee beans).

7. DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search (Rebecca Bellan for TechCrunch. May 26, 2026.)

Google’s AI search push is working very well for me so far. I have not seen a dip in Google traffic to NLJ, but I have seen a big uptick in the last week and a half in DuckDuckGo traffic. While Google is my biggest referrer by a good margin, DuckDuckGo has always been second and clearly sends much more traffic relative to the size of its user-base.

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After two missed days due to having many work assignments, I return with a new edition of my Pook-Emu Bee links. Of course, there are no Pook-Emu Bee links tomorrow because of the newsletter and Sunday is hit and miss, so I encourage you to thoroughly enjoy today’s links.

1. Microsoft BitLocker-protected drives can now be opened with just some files on a USB stick — YellowKey zero-day exploit demonstrates an apparent backdoor (Bruno Ferreira for Tom’s Hardware. May 13, 2026.)

I had never heard of Bitlocker until one day in 2022 when someone I know was locked out of his Windows PC due to BitLocker. He managed to get back in but I dare say this security vulnerability could have been very useful. (HT Ambient Irony.)

2. Just stop using these (Hazn. May 13, 2026.)

I largely agree. If only everyone would just stop using those.

3. I want to comment on your blog post (Forking Mad. June 13, 2025.)

I respect the take but the spam on the one NLJ page I have with comments, the Guestbook, is already apocalyptic. But this did give me a fun idea. Stay-tuned.

4. New agents.txt file found on DreamHost (Kelson at K-Squared Ramblings. May 13, 2026.)

VPS providers should probably refrain from “retroactively” adding agents.txt or other files to live websites. At a minimum, I would suggest a warning and explanation.

5. WataMote anime studio Silver Link sees financial losses for third consecutive year, despite revenue growth (Carlos “Zoto” Zotomayor for Automation West. May 14, 2026.)

WataMote aired in 2013 and was not particularly good (I would classify it as “OK”). Thus, my first thought when I read the article was “well yes, if your best example of the studio’s work is a mediocre meme anime that aired 13 years ago.” But Silver Link handled all three seasons of Non Non Biyori, all of which were good (especially season two, which aired in 2015) and the third of which was my fourth-ranked TV anime of 2021. With that being said, Silver Link’s output is a bit bleak. Tearmoon Empire (2023) and Kokoro Connect (2012) were decent. I remember liking the first half of Tanaka-kun Is Always Listless back in 2016. Maybe I should finish that.

6. Android 17, Gemini Intelligence, and Googlebook: My first impressions (Rodrigo Ghedin at Manual do Usuário. May 13, 2026.)

I’m starting to see why Android is taking some dark turns.

7. The Dark Side of Unitree Robot Dogs (Maya Posch for Hackaday. May 12, 2026.)

When digging further into the robot, he found an easy to exploit arbitrary command execution flaw via the Wi-Fi password entry field, a year-old CVE-2025-2894 exploit, as well as highly suspicious traffic to Chinese servers whenever the robot’s software figured that it was not being watched.

I could have guessed the second part without the benefit of the completed research.

8. reMarkable’s Paper Pure is a $399 E Ink writing tablet that replaces the reMarkable 2 (Brad Linder for Liliputing. May 6, 2026.)

No backlight is an interesting design choice. Very nostalgic to me as someone who grew up using a Worm Light with my Game Boy Color.

9. Pedal parking: DOT plans 500 new bike hubs for NYC streets; online feedback encouraged (Barbara Russo-Lennon for amNY. May 4, 2026.)

I will spoil the feedback process for anyone who questions unlimited accommodations for bikes (including effective exemption from traffic laws) in New York City. Heads, bikes win. Tails, you lose.

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Quoted Installing Android on the Nintendo Switch by Max Glenister (blog.omgmog.net)
Installing Android on it turned out to be fairly well-documented. There are a few different options for the Switch - the Switchroot project maintains Android 10 and 11 builds alongside Linux images (Ubuntu, Fedora), and LineageOS now has official support going up to Android 15.

I had seen on the LineageOS website that the LineageOS project supports a couple of different Nintendo Switch models. While I have run LineageOS on phones and tablets, I will stick to Nintendo’s stock OS on the Switch. But I was curious about how LineageOS would run on a Switch, which made me read Max Glenister’s article on Installing Android on the Nintendo Switch with interest. To be sure, his article has interesting notes about installing LineageOS 22 on the Switch and how it performs. But I am sharing his article because it noted that “the Switchroot project maintains Android 10 and 11 builds alongside Linux images (Ubuntu, Fedora), and LineageOS now has official support going uip to Android 15.” I followed the link and saw that the Switchroot project also supports Lakka, which is a sort of Retro Arch-based OS. That would be an interesting option for a Switch that is being used only for games.

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The daily Pook-Emu Bee links were off yesterday thanks to Newsletter Leaf Journal 272. But with no new newsletter coming until next Saturday, the Pook-Emu Bee returns. If you enjoy the (almost) daily links and commentary, you can also follow via feed.

1. Awesome Ghibli Howl’s Moving Castle figure is also a puzzle and an organizer (Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. March 22, 2026.)

I saw Howl’s Moving Castle back in high school after class one day when a friend brought it in and we used one of the school’s TVs. That was before I had seen much anime beyond the Adult Swim selection. Good movie. Cool puzzle here.

2. Hundreds of delivery drivers hanging outside East Village mosque overwhelming locals, forcing NYC businesses to close (Steve Galvin for the New York Post. March 21, 2026.)

There is a mosque in Cobble Hill (Brooklyn) that was being used as a gathering spot/staging area for the food delivery e-bikers. Thus, I am familiar with the phenomenon. Fortunately, I have not seen bathing or grooming areas here across the river.

3. Trump’s DHS Celebrates 10th Month of Zero Releases of Illegals at Border (John Binder for Breitbart. March 20, 2026.)

The “border crisis” during the prior administration was caused by reversable deliberate policy choices. Nevertheless:

Similarly, the Trump administration marked the 13th consecutive month where there have been fewer than 9,000 illegal border crossers captured at the border. This indicates a 95 percent decline in border apprehensions compared with Biden-era levels.

13 consectutive months under 9,000 apprehensions is wholly unprecedented since the stats have been compiled and better than your optimistic border hawk would have likely predicted.

4. The Bigme B6 Color E-Ink Tablet (Max Glenister. January 26, 2023.)

The only Android e-ink device I would be inclined to consider would be from PocketBook (I have two non-Android PocketBook readers). Nevertheless, interesting review for learning more about what is out there.

5. New cherry blossom party picnic essential: This super-handy folding cardboard table (Casey Baseel for SoraNews24. March 21, 2026.)

I found myself thinking of the cardboard box table your house comes with in Animal Crossing.

6. How important was it for Hamlin to dominate at season’s first 1.5-mile oval? (Neil Paine for NASCAR.com. March 19, 2026.)

On the predictive value of performances on 1.5 mile ovals.

7. Windows 11 updates will scale back unnecessary Copilot integrations, let you reposition the taskbar, and more (Brad Linder for Liliputing. March 20, 2026.)

I have not used Windows since 10. I did not know 11 prevents you from moving the task bar. As I look at my task bar at the top of my screen, I can conclude that this would have annoyed me had I stayed on Windows instead of switching to Linux.

8. Black Forest® Gummies Go Fully Organic (Vending Connection. March 20, 2026.)

The forest-themed gummies make for good branding consistency. Have they considered National Park Typeface?

9. The dead Internet is not a theory anymore. (Adrian Krebs. March 11, 2026.)

He has a good story about an AI “agent” apparently having requested a job interview on someone’s behalf. But let it be said that the Pook-Emu Bee is a living internet publication (confidently originalist, however).

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Motorola and GrapheneOS announced a new partnership for developing phones that meet GrapheneOS’s security standards (see Motorola News and GrapheneOS Forum Post). This strikes me as good news after GrapheneOS ran into problems related to what Google publishes related to Pixels. I have a Pixel 6a with GrapheneOS which should be good for a couple more years (once I swap its battery). Regarding Motorola, it remains to be seen (A) which Motorola devices will support GrapheneOS and at what cost and (B) whether and to what extent it will be possible to install GrapheneOS on aftermarket Motorola phones. But all in all, this looks like a step in the right direction.

(Aside: Since Motorola is a Lenovo company, it would also be interesting if this GrapheneOS partnership extended to select Lenovo tablets, but I assume phones are obviously the first priority.)

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Quoted Murena Volla Tablet ships with /e/OS (de-Googled Android) by Brad Linder (Liliputing)
The Murena Volla Tablet sells for 698€ in Europe, or $798 in the US, and the tablet comes with a 2-year warranty. That’s… a lot of money for a tablet with mid-range specs. But it’s the same price Volla charges for the Volla OS and Ubuntu Touch versions of the tablet.

I have a Murena Teracube 2e phone that I had purchased in 2021 (now decently out-dated and several years removed from being my primary phone). The phone came pre-installed with Murena’s /e/ OS operating system, which derives from LineageOS (which in turn derives from Android Open Source Project). I reviewed the phone and the operating system it back in 2021, and the latter review became my most-visited article of all time after it came close to the top position on Hacker News (I only learned what happened on Hacker News several hours after the fact because I had been flying to Texas and my connecting flight had weather-related delays). Having rendered my expert opinion on Murena devices, I deem myself qualified to opine on the new Murena Volla Tablet, which is covered well by Brad Linder at Liliputing. The tablet’s main feature is that it comes pre-loaded with /e/ OS instead of Android. It has mid-level specs and its version of /e/ is based on Android 14, somewhat notable since upstream Android is on 17. It can be yours for the low price of $798.

I expertly recommend against buying this. If you need an Android-derived tablet that isn’t “Android,” I would recommend buying a Google Pixel Tablet (which I would not necessarily recommend at this stage given that it is a little long in the tooth now), installing GrapheneOS, LineageOS, or even Murena’s /e/ OS, and calling it a day. One could do that and send a donation to Murena and still come out ahead with what would probably be a more capable device. I would say the same of the $798 Ubuntu Touch flavor of this Volla tablet as someone who has been daily driving Ubuntu Touch on my phone since October. In that case, one would be much better served by finding a much cheaper touchscreen laptop on Ebay and installing a normal Linux distribution (again, one could simultaneously donate to UBPorts to support Ubuntu Touch and still come out way ahead).

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I read about the Fire Toolbox utility for “debloating” and customizing Amazon Fire Tablets. That inspired me to buy a cheap ($35-40) Fiire 11 tablet from 2021 on Woot back in April or May. I finally got around to using it. Unfortunately, because of updates, some of the Toolbox’s utilities like setting a custom launcher do not work reliably. But I managed to remove a decent amount of Amazon bloat and telemetry. My goal is to set it up as a device for reading articles from my Miniflux instance as an alternative to my phone. Here are my initial key steps:

  • Used Fire Toolbox to sideload F-Droid Basic
  • Installed Iron Fox (web browser), Markor (markdown editor), Frigolio (Wallabag client), KDE Connect, and Syncthing
  • I configured Iron Fox to my liking and imported the uBlock Origin rules I use on my phone
  • I logged into Miniflux on Iron Fox (synced my clipboard with KDE Connect to get my passwords
  • I synced my Markor directory from my phone to my Fire so I could save links from my browser for my newsletter workflow
  • Connected Frigolio to my Wallabag server by sharing clipboard with API key and login information from my computer via KDE Connect

I gave everything a test run in the morning and it worked well. Fire tablets have low-end specs, but Iron Fox felt about as snappy on the tablet as it does on my phone (Google Pixel 6a running GrapheneOS). One potential annoyance is that when I woke my tablet up (I had set it up last night), I was presented with a screen trying to get me to log into an Amazon account. I was prompted to finally set this up because I was being tempted by a $250 sale on Google Pixel Tablets (which are supported by GrapheneOS), but if the Fire works well for my limited Miniflux purpose, I think I will opt to save the $250.

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Brad Linder of Liliputing published an article titled How to use laptop or tablet as a touchpad (and keyboard) for a Windows PC. He turned an Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet into a touchpad and keyboard using a proprietary app called Unified Remote (which also required setting up Google Play Store on the Fire tablet). I was surprised he did not mention my preferred solution. KDE Connect is free, open source, and can allow Android devices to function as touchpads and keyboards (I previously covered some of my favorite open source Android apps). I seldom use it for that purpose (my main KDE Connect use-case is sending and receiving SMS messages from my computer), but it works well. Moreover, people with Fire tablets can install KDE Connect without needing to mess around with Google Play Store.

I will note in a small aside that I have only used KDE Connect on Linux PCs. While I understand that it is available for Windows, I am not certain that it works exactly the same as on Linux.