mastodon - Link to source

I think background music in public places -- stores, hair salons, dentist's offices, etc. -- might be generally a bad idea. It's impossible to pick music that pleases everyone, we can listen to music as much as we want in private, and background music tends to just add to the noise (on that last point I'm reminded of this song: youtube.com/watch?v=yzEncLnmUe…).

Was thinking about this as my mother and I were at Great Clips waiting to get our hair cut. I'm guessing she didn't like the music.


Adding to the Noise

Provided to YouTube by ColumbiaAdding to the Noise · SwitchfootThe Beautiful Letdown (Deluxe Version)℗ 2003 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENTReleased on: 2007-12-...
YouTube
in reply to Matt Campbell

mastodon - Link to source

Mikołaj Hołysz

It's a coordination / discrimination problem. It ultimately adds more profits than it takes away, hence why business owners won't stop doing it on their own. While the positive impact is spread through society, the negative impact is mostly concentrated in a few particularly sensitive individuals. This makes it an ideal target for regulation, and one of a few situations where I actually think regulation makes sense.

mastodon - Link to source
**Tears of joy alert!!! "On Alaska's frozen shoreline, oil rig workers made a discovery that stopped them cold—a walrus calf, alone and wailing, separated from his mother in waters over 50 miles away. Most walrus pups don't survive 24 hours without maternal contact. This one had already been crying for days.
The Alaska SeaLife Center team didn't hesitate. They designed something unprecedented: round-the-clock "cuddle therapy." Staff members now work in rotating shifts, bottle-feeding every three hours while cradling the 85-pound infant against their chests, mimicking the constant warmth he'd know from his mother. They hum. They rock. They never leave him alone. The transformation has been miraculous. Within weeks, the calf—who arrives limp and dehydrated—now nuzzles into his caregivers' arms, makes happy chirping sounds, and has gained 12 pounds. He recognizes voices. He reaches for familiar faces. Sometimes survival is just about showing up with love."
#Alaska #AlaskaSeaLifeCenter #WalrusPup #Love
Picture of three handlers at Alaska SeaLife Center cuddling with and feeding a walrus pup that was found stranded on the beach near the Slope in northern Alaska. They work in shifts of 3 hours, 24 hours a day.
#love #alaska #alaskasealifecenter #walruspup

mastodon - Link to source

"Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other many essential services that 'cost' Canadians millions per day. Think about it: Long-term care and personal support workers cost Canadian taxpayers millions a day. Should we close the old folks’ homes and put our seniors on the street? Public transit costs millions a day. Should we fire the bus drivers and make everyone walk? Public school support staff — crossing guards, lunch monitors, custodians — cost us millions a day. Do we fire them all and make those lazy teachers do everything?"

Maybe we'd finally be 'productive,' or 'ambitious,' or 'competitive' enough, then.

I’m a letter carrier. Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other essential services
thestar.com/opinion/letters-to…

archive.is/cchRs


I’m a letter carrier. Canada Post exists to serve people, not shareholders, just like other essential services

How the Liberals changed course on Canada Post, Oct. 6
Unknown (Toronto Star)

mastodon - Link to source

Bored today? Use your downtime to learn How to Synth! Dive into the wonderful world of making weird synthesizer noises with my simple, hands-on guide. Still a work in progress, but there's plenty there to get you started!

etherdiver.com/how-to-synth-a-…

#synthesizer #SoundDesign

How To Synth: A Guide to Programming Synthesizers – Ether Diver

www.etherdiver.com
#sounddesign #synthesizer
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

mastodon - Link to source

Паглядзіце дакументалку пра НРМ.

youtu.be/e49klkZZHXw?si=NE1GHO…


NRM і трагедыя культавага рок-гурта. ВОЛЬСКІ і ПАЎЛАЎ пра партызаншчыну, забароны і галоўны канфлікт

Гэта сапраўднае кіно пра культавы беларускі гурт NRM. Яны пачыналі на аскепках свабоды і Мроі, вялі партызаншчыну і запісвалі найвядомейшыя песні ў гісторыі ...
YouTube

mastodon - Link to source

for you hax0rs: Google "AI" is currently vulnerable to prompt injection by "ASCII smuggling"—this is when you convert ASCII to Unicode tag characters, rendering them invisible to the user but visible to the LLM. here's how it's done:
gist.github.com/Shadow0ps/a7dc…

here's someone using this to make Google Calendar display spoofed information about a meeting:
firetail.ai/blog/ghosts-in-the…

others say summarising functions were affected too, so I wonder if you can add tag texts to your website and poison the Google so-called "AI summary" anti-feature.

ChatGPT filters out tag character but, usefully, Google is refusing to, so unless they get a backlash this might be a fun exploit to explore: pivot-to-ai.com/2025/10/11/goo…


Ghosts in the Machine: ASCII Smuggling across Various LLMs

Researcher Viktor Markopoulos discovers ASCII Smuggling bypasses human audit via Unicode, enabling enterprise identity spoofing and data poisoning on Gemini & Grok.
Alan Fagan (FireTail)

gotosocial - Link to source

Well, well, I guess this had to happen eventually. Got my first music offer rejected by a film studio working on a documentary because "we got this covered by AI, but thank you very much for your kind offer."

The rejection itself doesn't really make me sad, this is perfectly normal and especially now the competition is huge. What makes me sad though is that this is a pretty big name in the industry, so it'll only get worse from here on. I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

This entry was edited (2 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source
The NATO phonetic alphabet that we use today had numerous permutations along the way.
This video chronicles that development.
youtu.be/UAT-eOzeY4M?si=35f3ZM…
#communications #HamRadio #AmateurRadio

The genius logic of the NATO phonetic alphabet

Let’s uncover the secrets of the NATO phonetic alphabet! 🌏 And you can get an exclusive NordVPN deal + 4 months extra here → https://nordvpn.com/robwordsvpn...
YouTube
#hamradio #amateurradio #communications
in reply to Chris Smart

mastodon - Link to source

Chris Smart

Alpha said “Bravo, Charlie” and Delta Echoed the sentiment. We danced the Foxtrot at one of those Golf Hotels (it was in India) when Juliet (who had put
on a few Kilos) gave a Lima bean to Mike. Last November, Oscar’s Papa went to Quebec to meet Romeo. He wore a Sierra and Tango coloured Uniform. Meanwhile
Victor drank Whiskey as he looked at the X-ray of the Yankee, whose arm was broken by a Zulu.

plume - Link to source

The Best Press Release Writing Principals in AI era


 Stumble upon this brilliant article that I think everyone can learn from it

For people working with media and PR, it's quite easy to spot AI generated press releases. AI output is wordy, repeating to the point of annoying. Without human revision, it's hard to read.

But even before the AI era, many press releases are full of jargons that are quite difficult to read.
The reason is simple and cleverly pointed out by this article I read on PR News Releaser: “Think Like a Reader” is the Best Press Release Strategy -- ... they’re written for the wrong audience... disconnect between what companies want to say and what readers actually want to read.

How true is that.

Even highly educated people would appreciate a press release written in simple words and clear explanations, not just generic self-praising, self-promotion sentences.

The article also provide clever strategies on how to convince your boss that writing to the reader is the right way to compose a press release. Check it out.


“Think Like a Reader” is the Best Press Release Strategy

Most press releases die when its online or land in inboxes. They sit unread, unshared, and ultimately ineffective—not because they lack newsworthy information…
News PR (PR News Releaser)
in reply to Terence Eden

mastodon - Link to source

Terence Eden

I am being slightly disingenuous here.

Some of the many advantages of LLMs over SO is that the LLM is friendly and fast.

That's why Kids Today™ prefer Discord to forums. Someone replies immediately. You don't have to wait for an answer and check back.

LLMs are rarely rude. It can be terrifying to make yourself vulnerable and admit in public you don't know something basic. Especially when humans are mean and judgemental.

mastodon - Link to source

Everyone knows the weekends are the best time to push important updates, right?

From Jeep Wrangler forum: Did anyone else have a loss of drive power after today's OTA Uconnect update?

On my drive home I abruptly had absolutely no acceleration, the gear indicator on the dash started flashing, the power mode indicator disappeared, an alert said shift into park and press the brake + start button, and the check engine light and red wrench lights came on. I was still able to steer and brake with power steering and brakes for maybe 30 seconds before those went out too. After putting it into park and pressing the brake and start button it started back up and I could drive it normally for a little bit, but it happened two more times on my 1.5 mi drive home.

Source: x.com/StephenGutowski/status/1…

More here: jlwranglerforums.com/forum/thr…

and here: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4…

a post on Friday, Oct 11 on jlwranglerforums.com B JeepCares i Jeon H 812 posts - Joined 2021 #49 + 27m ago Hi everyone, We are awaiting further information from our software engineering teams that are currently investigating this issue. | will post here when | have further information. Earlier today we had success with customers not using hybrid or electric mode. Please exercise extreme caution this evening if you have completed the update. If you have NOT completed the update and see the pop-up, please continue deferring so that the update does not go through. For a telematics box module update, you can defer infinitely, and it will expire within 30 days. Our expectation is that the dealer network will have documentation available Monday morning for any vehicles that have been towed over the weekend alerting them to next steps (which are still in process of being developed) to ensure that no one is charged for a diagnostic fee. Thank you to everyone who has provided VINs so far. Kori Jeep Cares — 03 Qs ih 8.4
< Post [ac] [8 Stephen Gutowski @ of “W° @stephenGutowski Jeep just pushed a software update that bricked all the 2024 Wrangler 4xe models, including my Willys. The future is going great. 12:56 PM - Oct 1, 2025 - 154.4K Views 15 Was Q 14k Res 2 ® Who can reply? Accounts @StephenGutowski follows or mentioned can reply [8 Stephen Gutowski & ©StephenGutowski - 21h [oJ “MW Here's what the issue looks like for those wondering =, . 3 DON'T UPDATE Your U-Connect | Jeep Wrangler 4x... ~ As of October 10th 2025 the uconnect update is | causing major issues for many 4xe owners. We lose. X 5 Qn Qs 1h 22k na [18 Stephen Gutowski & @StephenGutowski - 20h [oJ “M" When mine bricked, | did the infotainment reset. You put the car in acc mode then press the radio power and tune buttons for ten seconds until the screen restarts. Then turn it on. | had to do that several times before the Jeep would drive again. 4 j= Q 1o thi 11K na [8 Stephen Gutowski & @StephenGutowski - 15h [oJ “MW so, here's what Jeep says. It's the telematics box, which as far as | understand it does diagnostics and ota communications, that's causing the problem. This is the sort of thing | worried about buying a new car, ‘especially a Jeep 4xe. Oh well. dxeforums.com/threads/wrangl...

2024 4xe Loss of Motive Power after 10/10/25 OTA update

Did anyone else have a loss of drive power after today's OTA Uconnect update? On my drive home I abruptly had absolutely no acceleration, the gear indicator on the dash started flashing, the...
JesseT (Jeep Wrangler Forums (JL / JLU) -- Rubicon, 4xe, 392, Sahara, Sport - JLwranglerforums.com)

mastodon - Link to source

Oops, forgot to let our followers here know that we released 0.87.1 last week! This version includes a fix for a small bug that crept into 0.87.0 that prevented syncing of weightlifting workouts on Garmins.

But the bigger news is that we also managed to get reproducible builds at F-Droid in place in time for this release!

As usual, more details in our blog post: gadgetbridge.org/blog/release-…

in reply to Gadgetbridge

mastodon - Link to source

Sylvia

You mention that you're publishing both your self-signed and the F-Droid signed build on F-Droid? Do you have more details about how that works and what you had to do to set that up?

I've wanted to have Catima be RB on F-Droid without breaking existing updates for quite a while, but I didn't really manage to make any progress when trying to talk to the @fdroidorg team, so I'd love to know how you got this working :)

@F-Droid
in reply to Sylvia

mastodon - Link to source

Gadgetbridge

@SylvieLorxu Sure, no problem! In the end it wasn't difficult because our build process was already reproducible. So we only had to find the correct way to update our F-Droid metadata.

High level it works like this:
- build&sign the apk
- extract signatures with "fdroid signatures <out_filename>"
- create MR in F-Droid like this: gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-…

For our next release, we won't have autoupdates. We'll need to create an fdroid MR with a copy of the last metadata and the new signatures.


Add Gadgetbridge 0.87.1 extracted signatures (!27127) · Merge requests · F-Droid / Data · GitLab

Gadgetbridge now has signed reproducible builds published. Not adding Bangle builds for now, since the version code is 0.87.1-banglejs and I'm not yet sure how...
GitLab
@Sylvia

mastodon - Link to source

We're looking for interesting questions around @matrix , its history, its technology, statistics and fun facts for The #MatrixConf2025 Pub [quizzz]!

Do you have suggestions? Please share them with the conference team in the following form: forms.gle/6tbry4Zdzb1fYVfx5 or contact us at #events-wg:matrix.org


Questions for The Matrix Unconference Pub [quizzz]

Do you have any good [matrix] history, stat or fun questions to ask during the Unconference Pub [quizzz] ? It should be nice to play within a crowd of multiple people guessing the correct answer.
Google Docs
#events #matrixconf2025 @The Matrix.org Foundation
This entry was edited (4 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source
Its always funny to see people who say "I did this with the help of AI because noone else seems to have done it before, and I didn't know how to do it either, so I used AI for that."
Thing is, the fact that AI could do it for you basically means that it has been done before and AI trained on it.
What you actually wanted to say is: "I spent some time rebuilding someone else's work because I wasn't able to find it on Google."
I know this is overdramatized, but also not totally wrong.

Matt Campbell reshared this.

in reply to Toni Barth

gotosocial - Link to source

Erion

You are partially correct, but this is an oversimplification of how an AI model, for example a LLM works. It can, and does, use data that it got during its training phase, but that's not the entire story, otherwise it'd be called a database that regurgitates what it was trained on. On top of the trained data there's zero-shot learning, for example to figure out a dialect of a language it hasn't been trained on, based on statistical probability of weights from the trained data, as well as combine existing patterns into new patterns, thus coming up with new things, which are arguably part of creativity.

What it can't do though is, and this is very likely what you mean, it can't go outside it's pre-trained patterns. For example, if you have a model that was trained on dragons and another model that was trained on motorcycles, if you combine those two models, they can come up with a story where a dragon rides a motorcycle, even though that story has not been part of its training data. What it can't do is come up with a new programming language because that specific pattern does not exist. So the other part of creativity where you'd think outside the box is a no go. But a lot of people's boxes are different and they are very likely not as vast as what the models were trained on, and that's how an AI model can be inspiring.

This is why a lot of composers feel that AI is basically going to take over eventually, because they will have such a vast amount of patterns that a director, trailer library editor, or other content creator will be satisfied with the AI's results. The model's box will be larger than any human's.

reshared this

in reply to Erion

mastodon - Link to source

wizzwizz4

@erion @menelion Most of the generative capabilities of an LLM come from linear algebra (interpolation), and statistical grammar compression. We can bound the capabilities of a model by considering everything that can be achieved using these tools: I've never seen this approach overestimate what a model is capable of.

"Zero-shot learning" only works as far as the input can be sensibly embedded in the parameter space. Many things, such as most mathematics, can't be viewed this way.

@André Polykanine @Erion
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Erion

It never will, because modern LLMs are far more capable.

They rely on non-linear activation functions (like ReLU, GELU, etc.) after the linear transformations. If the network were purely linear, it could only learn linear relationships, regardless of its depth. The non-linearities are what allow the network to learn complex, non-linear mappings and interactions between inputs.

There's also scaling, arguably an internal world model, being context-aware (which is definitely not something linear). If anything, this would underestimate a model.

reshared this

in reply to Erion

mastodon - Link to source

wizzwizz4

@erion @menelion I'm aware that models are non-linear functions, but they operate over elements of a linear ("vector") space. Each layer can be viewed as a non-linear map between vector spaces. Think "dog is to cat as puppy is to ???": given a suitable embedding, that's a linear algebra problem. This is responsible for most of the observed "intelligence" of LLMs, and for phenomena like vgel.me/posts/seahorse/.

Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji?

Investigating the seahorse emoji doom loop using logitlens.
vgel.me
@André Polykanine @Erion
This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Erion

If you think of how the self-attention mechanism dynamically and non-linearly re-weights every input vector based on its full context, essentially setting up relationships needed for things like chain-of-thought reasoning, planning and deep contextual understanding, you can't reduce a model's intelligence to mere vector arithmetic. In the past, this was absolutely true and you could rely on it, no problem, but nowadays models go far beyond, having at least a hundred or more layers. Hence why I said that this will always underestimate a model. If you look at smaller models that came out in the last year alone, based on what you estimate, they should be far less capable than they really are.

reshared this

in reply to Erion

mastodon - Link to source

wizzwizz4

@erion A model having "a hundred or more layers" doesn't make anything I said less true. "Chain-of-thought reasoning" isn't reasoning. I absolutely can dismiss claims of "a model's intelligence", because I have not once lost this argument when concrete evidence has come into play, and people have been saying for years that I should.

Can you give me an example of something you think a "smaller model that came out in the last year" can do, that you think I would predict it can't?

@Erion
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Erion

Take a Gemma model for example, say 2b. Any linear prediction will not be able to predict how emergent capabilities will behave when faced with a complex task, simply because they don't work linearly, especially after crossing a scale threshold, rather than improving with each additional parameter.

You can see this as Gemma 2b can outperform larger models, which for you should not be possible. The model's intelligence is not a simple, additive function of its vector size, but a complex product of the billions of highly non-linear interactions created by the full architecture, making a purely linear prediction inadequate.

in reply to Erion

gotosocial - Link to source

Winter blue tardis

I shall humour you all! He's a timelord, he understands all this very well. Now, the serious part. You are giving baseless just to prove you're right, @erion at least gives actual examples. Not an AI person, but we definitely know whose side is better protected in the argument sense of things. I don't need an AI to read, after all. Unless neural engine voices count as one. :) So, here's your humour and here's us tired of people's baseless argument and points. Not a good xp, btw. And here's the fact that there's neither right or wrong in this.
@Erion
in reply to Winter blue tardis

mastodon - Link to source

wizzwizz4

meta-argument

Sensitive content

@Erion @Winter blue tardis
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Winter blue tardis

meta-argument

Sensitive content

in reply to Winter blue tardis

mastodon - Link to source

wizzwizz4

@tardis @erion It's not about open-mindedness. We can bound the behaviour of any given architecture mathematically: this sets limits on the capabilities of a particular system.

You're right that the training data does not inherently constrain the behaviour of the model, but other things do: those are what I was referring to.

By "linear", I was specifically referring to the field of mathematics called "linear algebra", not to the metaphor of "staying in a lane".

@Erion @Winter blue tardis
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Winter blue tardis

If we accept it uses linear algebra, and linear algebra includes indices, vectors, matrices, and others, alright. But you forget it tries to predict, therefore, there are concepts of probability, statistics and calculous. Then there is deep learning, and training in one very big, very specific areas. The internet says, however, those are from last year, I am pretty sure AI has developed beyond these concepts, a specially linear ones, in order to choose. That's where reasoning and chain of thought probably enter. And wrile stuff like GPT might think linear, stuff like Gemma kind of does not. Although, I have managed to confuse them all, heavily. Because of probability, and because of the fact they cannot go beyond their reasoning, they are not great at say, I go to a friend, and tell them about the conversation with two other friends. That's where it starts showing, because humans are non-linear, we are an exception, and we all, besides the fundamental logic, analyze and reason differently. Our brain probably also relies on probability from decision A vs. B, by analyzing the consequences and aftermath in both, so even we use the probability and statistics concepts, but we are free to go out of them, and take a different path because of that exception of free will.And yes, my conversation analysis also confused both gemma and gpt. I don't know why I did it, I just decided what if? And boom. However, because patterns and your say of linear algebra, AI is very, very good at those. So, it's not only linear algebra, that's not where it ends, probability, statistics, averages, medians, calculous, those are all different concepts of math it uses in too, besides functions, instruction's, etc. And then there's deep learning which I have nothing to say about, because I haven't found anything on it.
in reply to wizzwizz4

gotosocial - Link to source

Erion

Well, I think that's where we agree to disagree.

A model's intelligence can be somewhat predicted via linear algebra, I don't doubt this, but there are other factors that if you ignore, you will not get a correct prediction.

For example, Single linear layer operations cannot describe operations that take place accross multiple layers at the same time, hence the nonlinearity of a model. If you explain everything as just an operation per layer, you lose the complexity that this non-linearity gives you, you aare essentially oversimplifying it. All the things I mentioned contribute to this.

There are operations that take place in the non-linear subspace, especially for complex tasks, e.g. to compose multiple steps of an operation (reasoning).

Look at how the performance of smaller local models can completely fail at this, but the moment you hit a size treshold, its accuracy suddenly jumps.

To clarify, I don't disagree with you, model complexity just happens to be increasing and now you need multiple ways to measure a model's intelligence.

in reply to Toni Barth

mastodon - Link to source

Zach Bennoui

It's not totally wrong, but I feel like maybe it's a slight oversimplification. LLMs don't just outright copy the training data, that's why it's called generative AI. That doesn't mean they will never reproduce anything in the training set, but they are very good at synthesizing multiple concepts from that data and turning them into something that technically didn't exist before.

If you look at something like Suno, which is using an LLM architecture under the hood, you're able to upload audio and have the model try to "cover" that material. If I upload myself playing a chord progression/melody that I made up, the model is able to use it's vast amount of training data to reproduce that chord progression/melody in whatever style.

hometown - Link to source

It would be really important for everyone to read about the theory of appeasement and how it has *never* worked.

--

The catastrophes of World War II and the Holocaust have shaped the world’s understanding of appeasement. The diplomatic strategy is often seen as both a practical and a moral failure.

Today, based on archival documents, we know that appeasing Hitler was almost certainly destined to fail. Hitler and the Nazis were intent upon waging an offensive war and conquering territory. But it is important to remember that those who condemn Chamberlain often speak with the benefit of hindsight. Chamberlain, who died in 1940, could not possibly have foreseen the scale of atrocities committed by the Nazis and others during World War II.

---

We have the hindsight today. Let's not make the same mistakes.

encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content…


The British Policy of Appeasement toward Hitler and Nazi Germany | Holocaust Encyclopedia

In the 1930s, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the British government pursued a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany to avoid war. Learn more.
Holocaust Encyclopedia
in reply to Rui Batista

mastodon - Link to source

António Manuel Dias

Eu diria que quando um cidadão normal deixa de saber explicar como se contabilizam os votos de uma eleição já não há lugar para vergonha na democracia, porque a democracia já não existe. É esse o risco do voto eletrónico. É preciso encontrar uma solução para que quem não vê também possa votar, mas essa solução não pode colocar em risco a democracia.
This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Chris 🌱

mastodon - Link to source

Maksym Hazevych

I had the same thought as I'm currently in the process of choosing a vacuum. Wanted to go for a robot, but decided I'd still need to clean manually once a week, so it's probably best to start with a manual thing. Thinking about a wet-dry vacuum so I don't have to wipe the floor separately, but then again — I have two large carpets. No clue what I'm gonna do, but I sure am excited.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

During last 3 months I am using VDO ninja for all my remote interwiev and podcast recordings. here is my article about it from the blind perspective, focused on accessibility and audio.

Have You Ever Wanted to Record an Interview or Podcast Online? You’ve probably faced a few challenges:
How to transmit audio in the highest possible quality?
How to connect in a way that doesn’t burden your guest with installing software?
And how to record everything, ideally into separate tracks?

The solution to these problems is offered by the open-source tool VDO Ninja.

What Is VDO Ninja


It’s an open-source web application that uses WebRTC technology. It allows you to create a P2P connection between participants in an audio or video call and gives you control over various transmission parameters.
You can decide whether the room will include video, what and when will be recorded, and much more.

In terms of accessibility, the interface is fairly easy to get used to — and all parameters can be adjusted directly in the URL address when joining.
All you need is a web browser, either on a computer or smartphone.

Getting Started


The basic principle is similar to using MS Teams, Google Meet, and similar services.
All participants join the same room via a link.
However, VDO Ninja distinguishes between two main types of participants: Guests and the Director.
While the guest has limited control, the director can, for example, change the guest’s input audio device (the change still must be confirmed by the guest).

A Few Words About Browsers


VDO Ninja works in most browsers, but I’ve found Google Chrome to be the most reliable.
Firefox, for some reason, doesn’t display all available audio devices, and when recording multiple tracks, it refuses to download several files simultaneously.

Let’s Record a Podcast


Let’s imagine we’re going to record our podcast, for example, Blindrevue.
We can connect using a link like this:

https://vdo.ninja/?director=Blindrevue&novideo=1&proaudio=1&label=Ondro&autostart=1&videomute=1&showdirector=1&autorecord&sm=0&beep

Looking at the URL more closely, we can see that it contains some useful instructions:
  • director – Defines that we are the director of the room, giving us more control. The value after the equals sign is the room name.
  • novideo – Prevents video from being transmitted from participants. This parameter is optional but useful when recording podcasts to save bandwidth.
  • proaudio – Disables effects like noise reduction, echo cancellation, automatic gain control, compression, etc., and enables stereo transmission.
    Be aware that with this setting, you should use headphones, as echo cancellation is disabled, and otherwise, participants will hear themselves.
  • label=Ondro – Automatically assigns me the nickname “Ondro.”
  • autostart – Starts streaming immediately after joining, skipping the initial setup dialog.
  • videomute – Automatically disables the webcam.
  • showdirector – Displays our own input control panel (useful if we want to record ourselves).
  • autorecord – Automatically starts recording for each participant as they join.
  • sm=0 – Ensures that we automatically hear every new participant without manually unmuting them.
  • beep – Plays a sound and sends system notification when new participants join (requires notification permissions).

For guests, we can send a link like this:

https://vdo.ninja/?room=Blindrevue&novideo=1&proaudio=1&label&autostart=1&videomute=1&webcam

Notice the differences:
  • We replaced director with room. The value must remain the same, otherwise the guest will end up in a different room.
  • We left label empty — this makes VDO Ninja ask the guest for a nickname upon joining.
    Alternatively, you can send personalized links, e.g., label=Peter or label=Marek.
  • The webcam parameter tells VDO Ninja to immediately stream audio from the guest’s microphone; otherwise, they’d need to click “Start streaming” or “Share screen.”


How to Join


Simply open the link in a browser.
In our case, the director automatically streams audio to everyone else.
Participants also join by opening their link in a browser.
If a nickname was predefined, they’ll only be asked for permission to access their microphone and camera.
Otherwise, they’ll also be prompted to enter their name.

Usually, the browser will display a permission warning.
Press F6 to focus on it, then Tab through available options and allow access.

Controls


The page contains several useful buttons:

  • Text chat – Toggles the text chat panel, also allows sending files.
  • Mute speaker output – Mutes local playback (others can still hear you).
  • Mute microphone – Mutes your mic.
  • Mute camera – Turns off your camera (enabled by default in our example).
  • Share screen / Share website – Allows screen or site sharing.
  • Room settings menu (director only) – Shows room configuration options.
  • Settings menu – Lets you configure input/output devices.
  • Stop publishing audio and video (director only) – Stops sending audio/video but still receives others.


Adjusting Input and Output Devices


To change your audio devices:

  1. Activate Settings menu.
  2. Press C to jump to the camera list — skip this for audio-only.
  3. Open Audio sources to pick a microphone.
  4. In Audio output destination, select your playback device. Press test button to test it.
  5. Close settings when done.


Director Options


Each guest appears as a separate landmark on the page.
You can navigate between them quickly (e.g., using D with NVDA).

Useful controls include:

  • Volume slider – Adjusts how loud each participant sounds (locally only).
  • Mute – Silences a guest for everyone.
  • Hangup – Disconnects a participant.
  • Audio settings – Adjusts their audio input/output remotely.


Adjusting Guest Audio


Under Audio settings, you can:

  • Enable/disable filters (noise gate, compressor, auto-gain, etc.).
  • View and change the guest’s input device — if you change it, a Request button appears, prompting the guest to confirm the change.
  • Change the output device, useful for switching between speaker and earpiece on mobile devices.


Recording


Our URL parameters define automatic recording for all participants.
Recordings are saved in your Downloads folder, and progress can be checked with Ctrl+J.

Each participant’s recording is a separate file.
For editing, import them into separate tracks in your DAW and synchronize them manually.
VDO Ninja doesn’t support single-track recording, but you can use Reaper or APP2Clap with a virtual audio device.

To simplify synchronization:

  1. Join as director, but remove autorecord.
  2. Wait for everyone to join and check audio.
  3. When ready, press Alt+D to edit the address bar.
  4. Add &autorecord, reload the page, and confirm rejoining.
  5. Recording now starts simultaneously for everyone.
  6. Verify this in your downloads.


Manual Recording


To start recording manually:

  1. Open Room settings menu.
  2. Go to the Room settings heading.
  3. Click Local record – start all.
  4. Check PCM recording (saves WAV uncompressed).
  5. Check Audio only (records sound without video).
  6. Click Start recording.


Important Recording Notes


  • Always verify that all guest streams are recording.
  • To end recordings safely, click Hangup for each guest or let them leave.
  • You can also toggle recording for each guest under More options → Record.
  • Files are saved as WEBM containers. If your editor doesn’t support it, you can convert them using the official converter.
  • Reaper can open WEBM files but may have editing issues — I prefer importing the OPUS audio file instead.


Recommended Reading


In this article, I’ve covered only a few features and URL parameters.
For more details, check the VDO Ninja Documentation.

mastodon - Link to source
Announcing AudioCapture. A win32 application to capture audio from a process and save it to an audio file. Full disclosure: This was written with Claude Code. Why? Because I'm not an experienced c++ programmer, however I saw an idea for an app and no one else was going to write it, so I did it myself this way. The full code is available, so if you wish to contribute, feel free. github.com/masonasons/AudioCap…

GitHub - masonasons/AudioCapture: A win32 app to capture audio from specific processes to an audio file

A win32 app to capture audio from specific processes to an audio file - masonasons/AudioCapture
GitHub
This entry was edited (2 days ago)

reshared this

in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Bri😻

Revisiting this thread. For both of you on Windows 10, could you try the latest release of AudioCapture and see if process capture works for you? I've discovered a bug with windows 10 where the process loopback capture doesn't release properly, and unfortunately this means that the process can only be captured one time. If you uncapture the process, you either have to restart the process, or AudioCapture itself. github.com/masonasons/AudioCap…
This entry was edited (21 hours ago)
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Brandon

Is the executable signed? I have a command I run on the executable before I release it so defender apparently doesn’t flag it. Don’t know if it works though. Install windows SDK, just in case someone needs it, here is the command. powershell:
& 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64\signtool.exe' sign /fd SHA256 /tr timestamp.digicert.com /td SHA256 /a '.\iptvclient.exe'
If your in CMD:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.26100.0\x64\signtool.exe" sign /fd SHA256 /tr timestamp.digicert.com /td SHA256 /a ".\iptvclient.exe"
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

mastodon - Link to source

LB: SaaS is real! it means it's run at a large enough scale that someone who gives remotely a shit carries a pager and fixes it and remotely maintains it

we live in a society, the problem is abusive tech companies running non commodity services with no data portability or real regulations in general. the solution is not computer prepperism (self hosting)! we live in a society.

hyperindividualism temptations come from society not working properly

This entry was edited (3 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source

For those new Fedizens arriving from #Bluesky, here’s a little introduction to our lord and saviour, John Mastodon.

And remember to always, and I mean always, add #AltText to your images!

John Mastodon (ft. Andre Louis[@Onj])
~ Dgar

“When the darkness fell on blue
In the year of twenty-two
The chanting started to ring true
The call went out to me and you
Join Mastodon
Join Mastodon

How could they have ever known
Their words were forming sacred tones
The ancient forces in the stone
The summoning of flesh and bone
John Mastodon
John Mastodon

John Mastodon, they love their mum
They have alt-text written on
The tattoo on their arm
Of a hairy pachyderm
John Mastodon
John Mastodon

Join Mastodon x8

The chants grew loud as we watched on
The coming of the chosen one
They emerged triumphant from
The ancient portal of Gargron
John Mastodon
John Mastodon

Linking people across the earth
They lead them to the Fediverse
Their admin army show their worth
Shouting loudly in their mirth
Join Mastodon
Join Mastodon

John Mastodon, they’re the one
Who takes the corporate socials on
They give their code to everyone
For every platform you might run
John Mastodon
Join Mastodon

Join Mastodon x8

Sweating blood and guts and tears
And fighting bots and billionaires
An artist and engineer
With indie songs in his ears
John Mastodon
John Mastodon

Ditch the birds and book of faces
Leave behind the corporations.
Tooting old computer cases
Open source on all our bases
Join Mastodon
Join Mastodon

John Mastodon knows all the tricks
Of every distro of Linux
They stay engaged in politics
They fought an army of Fediverse chicks
John Mastodon
John Mastodon”

dgar.bandcamp.com/track/john-m…

#DgarMusic #DgarRadio #Indie #Music #Bandcamp #JohnMastodon


John Mastodon (ft. Andre Louis), by Dgar

track by Dgar
Dgar
#music #indie #bandcamp #bluesky #AltText #johnmastodon #dgarmusic #dgarradio @Onj 🎶

reshared this

in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Florian

@FreakyFwoof @jcsteh @KaraLG84 It's one of those weird ones where I know most people will like/subscribe if I don't say it, but then, it's become such a staple that I do wonder how much it's hurting creators that don't give out the reminder. To what degree you want people who need to be told to subscribe to you in order for them to actually do it is another matter but particularly for small creators I don't think beggers get to be choosers that much :)
See also, why are subscribing and pressing the notification bell two different actions anyway :P
@Jamie Teh @Andre Louis @Kara Goldfinch
in reply to Florian

mastodon - Link to source

Andre Louis

@jcsteh @KaraLG84 The other thing pressing 'Like' does is fine-tune your video choices youtube will feed you so you hurt both yourself and creator by not using it, unless you're happy with AI slop and not much else, as your next recommendation.
I said weeks ago on here that my algorithm on youtube is so extremely finely dialed in, that 95% of the next videos that come up are things I would choose to watch. That is because I press Like on so, so many videos. It genuinely does matter.
@Jamie Teh @Kara Goldfinch
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Florian

@FreakyFwoof @jcsteh @KaraLG84 I think that is the insidious thing though ... it kinda does for some people. Like, sure, my feed has a bunch of garbage in it, but it also generally has things I like without me needing to scroll too much and I think a lot of people just consider that the standard way of things. Basically, it's not as good as it could be, but it's good enough. And if it's good enough, no need to change anything is there?
I forget, is there a hotkey to like videos? On SPotify I've grown fast friend with shift+alt+b :)
@Jamie Teh @Andre Louis @Kara Goldfinch
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

x0

@FreakyFwoof @jcsteh @KaraLG84 Meanwhile I just use foo_youtube over here, which can't even like and most of the time isn't signed in unless age restricted, and don't even touch the recommendations feed. But I'm the odd one out. I subscribe to a few channels but primarily just have some playlists I periodically look at with channels in them to view.
@Jamie Teh @Andre Louis @Kara Goldfinch
in reply to Florian

mastodon - Link to source

Andre Louis

@jcsteh @KaraLG84 Good ratio here for example.
My NI video which is now out of date called 'What to install first' has 58K views, 607 likes.
My 'how to format your drive as APFS' has 44K views but 638 likes.
A slightly higher like-to-watch ratio, so that tells me that I must have gotten something correct with that.
It isn't just inane bullshit, you see?
Knowing that, it can help me to decide that hey, this kind of tutorial thing was worth it, should do more.
If it had that many views and only say 15 likes, I'd be more concerned.
@Jamie Teh @Kara Goldfinch
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Florian

@FreakyFwoof @jcsteh @KaraLG84 Those tutorials, that are actually well recorded and produced definitely do fill a niche I think, I far prefer a youtube video over a random MP3 in someone's dropbox where the speaker is only in the left track for the entire time, the filename is clearly the Audio Hijack Pro default filename for a source and the music is 5 times louder than the speaker :)
@Jamie Teh @Andre Louis @Kara Goldfinch
⇧