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diff --git a/pages/about-us/news/2018/bionic-packages.md b/pages/about-us/news/2018/bionic-packages.md
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+@title = 'Maintenance release: Bionic packages and long term evolution'
+@author = 'kwadronaut'
+@posted_at = '2018-07-26'
+@more = true
+@preview_image = '/img/pages/bionic.png'
+
+
+Update from the coagulated brains in LEAP
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Mid july we released packages as a maintanance release  with support for Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic). For install instructions check out https://dl.bitmask.net/linux/
+The bundles however have not been updated, our plan is to deprecate them and migrate to [Snap-packages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snappy_\(package_manager\) ), which will take some time. As usual bug reports and feedback is very welcome.
+
+If you want to follow developments or experiment with those Snap packages, you can find an experimental one tailored for Riseup at [snapcraft](https://snapcraft.io/riseup-vpn), they've written a nice how-to as well: <https://riseup.net/betatest>
+
+We're expanding now as well and are building a Windows installer, it's working pretty smooth, but still lacks a good firewall, we're looking forward to the near future to announce this more broadly.
+
+* Code & Bugtracker: https://0xacab.org/leap
+* Mailinglist: leap-discuss@lists.riseup.net
+* Chat: ircs://irc.freenode.org/#leap if you don't have an irc client, you can use some gateway like [Matrix](https://about.riot.im/)
diff --git a/pages/about-us/news/2018/en.haml b/pages/about-us/news/2018/en.haml
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+++ b/pages/about-us/news/2018/en.haml
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+- @path_prefix = '2018'
+= child_summaries :order_by => :posted_at
diff --git a/pages/about-us/news/2018/improved-data-sync.md b/pages/about-us/news/2018/improved-data-sync.md
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+@title = 'Improved data synchronization'
+@author = 'drebs'
+@posted_at = '2018-04-27'
+@more = true
+@preview_image = '/img/pages/mozz/ascii.png'
+
+Last year, LEAP [was awarded a grant from the Mozilla Open Source Support
+program](https://leap.se/en/about-us/news/2017/mozilla-thanks) to [improve its
+encrypted email
+system](https://leap.se/en/about-us/news/2017/perf-improvements-soledad). We
+would like to share with you some of the work that has been done as a result of
+that, and also thank Mozilla for its initiative.
+
+The general idea was to implement separation of data and metadata for encrypted
+email storage and synchronization. That would allow for two fundamental
+improvements: a better user experience (because the list of email messages
+would then be able to be loaded before the actual contents of the messages),
+and a better usage of systems resources (encrypted messages were previously
+being treated as plaintext strings and thus consumed lots of unneeded memory
+and cpu).
+
+The [roadmap](https://0xacab.org/leap/soledad/wikis/2017-roadmap) included the
+creation of a platorm to assess the performance impacts of proposed changes,
+the actual implementation of the separation of data and metadata during
+synchronization, and some specific performance and scalability improvements of
+the sync server implementation.
+
+The live benchmarking platform that was created proved to be very useful to fix
+pre-existing performance issues and avoid unexpected performance bugs
+introduced during development. A CI environment was used to run performance
+test code for every commit made in the repository, and created graphs for
+resource consumption (time taken, and amount of memory and cpu used during
+execution). The quality of decisions made during development and the resulting
+code were improved by having a live performance-wise feedback about proposed
+changes.
+
+As for data and metadata separation, changes to
+[Soledad](https://leap.se/soledad) were made so that encrypted blobs can now be
+delivered by external aplications directly to the user's database. The main use
+case for this is for delivery of incoming email. LEAP's architecture is built
+so that unencrypted email messages get encrypted before being delivered to the
+user's mailbox. Metadata will soon be synchronized to the user's device, and
+the user will be able to see the information associated with the message
+(origin, date, subject, etc). But the actual content of the message will only
+be downloaded and decrypted on demand, when the user clicks to read the
+message.
+
+Other than those major developments, the MOSS grant has also alllowed us to
+experiment with multiple possibilities of performance improvements, as for
+example server parallelization, usage of different asynchronous libraries,
+Python 3 comparison, usage of proxies for load balancing, among others.
+
+We very much appreciate the support from Mozilla that has allowed for
+concentrated focus on Soledad. The work done within this contract has allowed
+for the creation of a system to handle encryption and transfer of binary data,
+leading to a much faster and scalable email solution. The critical
+implementation of a benchmarking system produced clear data to find
+bottlenecks, drive development, and allow for targeted changes to increase
+speed and scalability of data encryption and transfer chain.
+
+LEAP looks forward to applying that work to Bitmask Mail where end users will
+reap the benefits. Development of this new blobs system and its future
+integration with Bitmask Mail will be a critical step in bringing easy to
+deploy truly secure email to a mass market.
diff --git a/pages/about-us/news/2018/pizzigati-price.md b/pages/about-us/news/2018/pizzigati-price.md
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+@title = 'LEAP member received the 2018 Pizzigati Prize'
+@author = 'isydor'
+@posted_at = '2018-05-03'
+@more = false
+@preview_image = '/img/pages/tides_logo.png'
+
+We are proud that [Tides](https://www.tides.org/) awarded LEAP
+member Andre Bianchi the [2018 Pizzigati
+Prize](https://www.tides.org/accelerating-social-change/2018-pizzigati-prize-andre-bianchi/). Thank you a lot for this recognition of the work done to make it
+possible to freely communicate digitally and to support social change!