Libb

My spouse phone was bought on their store and it worked really well for years. The hardware wasn't that impressive but it was fine with her (don't ask me the exact model, I could not tell) which btw, show how much work e-os put in making their version of android run smoothly: it was really not a powerful phone and there never was any major issue for basic usage ;)

She was able to use the few apps she needed from their store, including banking apps and some 2FA/security one for work project.

Maybe my next phone will be from them too but they will have to wait for my p^resent iPhone to stop working as I refuse to buy a new one unless I have no choice anymore ;)

What are the ethics of using AI to imitate art styles?

I don't understand the question.

AI has no ethics, AI doesn't copy or steal, no more than a photocopy is stealing the pages of the books it copies. AI is not a person.

The persons writing the code of the AI to make it able to 'learn' (aka remix) from existing art and artists are the one stealing art and artists. As well as the user asking that AI to 'create' new art hoping to make some money out of it while knowing 100% that it's pure copying from other artists.

• Full EU search (not just a front-end): no idea.
• EU front-end to US search engines, I would suggest Startpage as well as Qwant, I mean.
• Independant and ad-free tracking-free innovative search engine but made in USA and also not free: Kagi. It's the one I've been using for almost two years, next to Qwant and to Startpage ;)

Thoughts?

Short term? Won't happen.

Long-term? Three things are required for any change to happen:

• Teach people, aka the users, to redefine their expectations and demands. We won't get sovereign and on-par services any time soon. Heck, we don't even have a eu-made computer/smartphone to access it. We won't get a non-US Google-like panel of services either.
• Teach people to get their fingers out of their ass and start to make do with what they (we will) have available. What's sure is that if the EU-USA relationships keep going where they're headed people won't have much choice anyway.
• Tell the all-mighty EU institutions (as well as the various national ones) to shut the fuck up with their endless pooping of regulations, rules and laws that kills any attempt at innovating.

I was reading a French newspaper a couple days ago, the dude was explaining one of the EU objective, now faced with the fact that the USA are not our best friends anymore and faced with a lack of essential natural resources (100% of our lithium and rare earth as well as other key elements are imported), was to shorten the legal delay for opening a new mine from 10 years to 27 months. 10-fucking-years to just start digging a hole in the ground because of regulations and procedures?! BTW, there are rare earths and a few other valuable items in Ukraine's soil...

It still uses Bing (Microsoft) as its backend, as far as I can tell. I know they want to partner with Ecosia to build something less... USA-dependent but I doubt that will happen overnight.

That's what I said (maybe failed to make it clear?): I play by the rules and don't De-DRM rented books ;)

There’s always a choice,

Really? Lucky for you then. There are plenty things II must do whether I like them or not. And things happening to me whether I want them to or not.

I don't De-DRM borrowed ebooks as I don't own them (I borrow the book I don't buy it, it's a renting contract between myself and the library and the publisher, I want to respect it). I do remove DRM from books I purchased because like with a printed book I expect to fully own what I purchase. At least I did so, since I quit entirely purchasing DRMed ebooks. If I need more time to read a borrowed ebook, I can add extra time to my renting of it.

My opinion is that by not respecting the contract we do no harm to the publishers but we put the very existence of ebook rental at risk, maybe even of public libraries.

You may one day, you or your children, not have a choice.

So in conclusion, on one hand I really want to have fun making little side hobby projects again but on the other hand I find myself too tired to do them. This extends well into Saturday and Sunday as I usually go out with friends and family during sat/sun, and then I get tired from socializing. What should I do?

You need to consider that

• You have a limited amount of time available each day. As well as in your entire live.
• You have a limited amount of energy each day. Getting older, you will even get always less of it.
• There are things you must do, things you like to do, and then things you want to do.

Based on that, the obvious answer to your question is that you need to make choice.

You need to decide what are your priorities, as well as decide for each day how you want to use your limited time and energy. You can't run a marathon, then paint the Sistine, then go prepare some amazing diner for your partner. That will not happen. Ever.

You may want to spend as much time during the WE with friends and family but does that mean you should spend all of it? Probably not. I love my spouse (we’ve been together for almost 30 years and counting) but, even though we both work from home, I can assure you we don’t spend all of our time together, far from it. We do many thing without the other, we also meet people the other don't meet. That's great.

What about work? Younger, I was the perfect incarnation of what being a workaholic means. It was even worse than that as I loved my job. I loved it to death and had been loving it since I was a little boy dreaming of doing that job and no other one. It was obvious to me to dedicate my entire life to it, and all of my time and I mean all of it. I had no time left to spend with friends or with my spouse, certain days I would not even see her at all because I worked like a fucking madman. And I was so fucking wrong, I only realized that the day I almost died because of that work. Work is a contract between you and an employer (yourself, if you’re your own boss). No matter how much you love your job, it's still a contract. Nothing more. It’s the contract by which you agree to devote a fixed amount of your knowledge/expertise and of your precious time (time you will never, ever get back, no matter how well you’re getting paid: Musk maybe the richest man on the planet but the day his time will come his billions won't buy him a second more of time) in exchange of a salary and maybe some other advantages. But what use is there in a salary and other advantages if you’re too tired or don’t have any time left to enjoy it?

Then, if you really want to enjoy some hobbies of yours, keep in mind you won’t be able to enjoy them after you’re gone. It's now, or never.

There are little things you can easily do to save time (and energy, which matter has much as time; if you're tired it doesn't matter how much free time you have).

• How much time do you spend in front of the TV, on the computer or on the phone? Halve that time and use the time you instantly saved to enjoy your hobbies.
• Go to bed early and wake up early too. If you can save an hour a day, that's 7 hours a week. That's a lot of time to do, well, anything else. I write every single day of the year from 4AM to 8AM. 4 hours worth of work in complete tranquility while the house, as well as the rest of the city is sleeping and almost silent around me. And that 's done when for most people their day is just painfully starting ;)
• Eat healthy fresh food. No industrial junk. You don't need to spend hours cooking, mind you and if you have no cooking experience at all, well, it's time to start ;) Read a recipe books or take some lessons. With my spouse we do errands twice a week, and we will cook stuff that we will eat in between, it's also great time spend together.This alone, healthy food, will change your live—don't take my word for it and try it for a couple month: eat fresh food or at least don't eat over-processed industrial ready to eat turd (yep, a turd because that's what it is. It doesn't matter the pretty picture on the package: you eat what's hidden behind that pretty picture, not the picture)
• Exercise every day. Don't sit all the time. No need to become Schwarzenegger or some athlete either. Just move your body every single day for maybe 30 minutes (the more, the better). Walks are great for that as you can be walking instead of driving to various places (invest in a quality pair of shoes, that's all you need) ;)
• You mentioned going out. Go out one time less each week, or each month. If you like to drink while going out... don't drink for one of your session. That will save you so much energy, you have no idea.
• Like suggested adapt to the seasons. I will do most of my sketching and watercolors mid-spring and during the summer because the light is so much better and I have much of it in any day. The rest of the year, I have other activities that does need that much light. Also, your energy will vary depending the season.

If you like your hobbies you must make time and saver energy for them, there is no magical wand that will git that to you without you making choice.

On that I could not tell much: I'm really not a dev and I use my Linux like I used to use my Mac. But I have little doubt there are a few more interesting alternatives to Fedora.

But if the GPL is a thing this should not matter that much. That's also why I worry to see a big distro like Ubuntu considering replacing GPL core tools with non GPL ones. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I see that as a long-term way to get rid of the GPL and took control of Linux to make it their product, not ours anymore.

In case anyone is interested to read in French, may I suggest those specific addresses some free some not free:

• Public domain French authors (mostly fiction): Ebooks libres et gratuits (free)
• The official French Bibiliothèque Nationale's Gallica. Teh website is, like most institutional things not the best experience one could wish for (I am being polite, here) but they offer a lot of free PDFs as well as a limited selection of Epubs (Free).
• Les classiques des sciences social, with a large selection of essays and academic papers (free)
• [La bibliothèque numérique Romande](https://ebooks-bnr.com/: Swiss fiction writers, with quite a few gems to be found in there too (free)
• 7switch.com. Not all their ebooks are DRM-free but its mentioned... or at least it was I have not purchased from them in quite a few years ($)
• Le Belial a small but excellent science-fiction/fantasy publisher. No DRM and they sell through their own store. I've been their customers for countless years ($)
• An even smaller publisher SF/Fantasy, but as good : Dystopia Editions. Obviously, DRM-free ($)

If you would rather limit the list to English, you're more than welcome to delete my comment ;)