Freespire 4.0, Mozilla Announces New Fellows, Flatpak 1.0, KDevelop 5.2.4 and Net Neutrality Update

News briefs for August 21, 2018.

Freespire 4.0 has been released. This release brings a migration of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS codebase to the 18.04 LTS codebase, which adds many usability improvements and more hardware support. Other updates include intuitive dark mode, "night light", Geary 0.12, Chromium browser 68 and much more.

Mozilla announced its 2018–2019 Fellows in openness, science and tech policy today. These fellows "will spend the next 10 to 12 months creating a more secure, inclusive, and decentralized internet". In the past, Mozilla fellows "built secure platforms for LGBTQ individuals in the Middle East; leveraged open-source data and tools to bolster biomedical research across the African continent; and raised awareness about invasive online tracking." See the Mozilla blog for more information and the list of Fellows.

Flatpak 1.0 has been released, marking the first version in a new stable series. Distributions should update as soon as possible. See the GitHub for all the fixes and new features, which include faster installation and updates, a new portal, applications can now be marked as end-of-life, and much more. See also the Flatpak documentation for more information.

KDevelop released version 5.2.4 today. This release contains a few bug fixes and "should be a very simple transition for anyone using 5.2.x currently". You can download it from here.

Reuters reports that 22 states are asking the US appeals court to reinstate Net Neutrality rules. In addition, several internet companies, media and technology advocacy groups filed a separate challenge yesterday to overturn the FCC ruling.

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.

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