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🗓️ 2024‑11‑08 • #Android #Privacy #Security

Here’s a quick showdown if you’re thinking of leaving proprietary Android behind:

Murena / e‑OS (Fairphone 4):

Price: €449‑€499
CPU: Snapdragon 750G (≈ 1.9 k Geekbench multi) – decent but slower
GPU: Adreno 619 (≈ 1.1 TFLOPS)
RAM/Storage: 6 / 8 GB RAM, UFS 2.1
Security: Standard verified boot, no dedicated security chip
Updates: Depends on LineageOS – often lagging behind Google’s patches
Pros: Modular, repair‑friendly, microG gives partial Play‑Services compatibility

Graphene OS on Pixal 7: (You could use any Pixal phone from the 4 up to the pixal 10 fold and Tablet)

Price: $599 (~€560)
CPU: Google Tensor G2 (≈ 3.4 k Geekbench multi) – ~2× faster than Murena
GPU: Mali‑G710 MP7 (good for everyday gaming)
RAM/Storage: 8 GB RAM, UFS 3.1
Security: Titan M2 security co‑processor + hardware‑backed keystore, verified boot, attestation
Updates: Monthly security patches, 5 years guaranteed
Pros: Strongest hardware‑rooted security on a consumer phone, pure Android stack (no Google services when using Graphene OS)
Why switch?

Better hardware trust – Titan M2 beats standard boot‑loaders.
Faster updates – stay protected without waiting for LineageOS.
Higher performance – smoother multitasking & AI tasks.
True de‑Googling – Graphene OS runs a clean, auditable Android fork.
💭 If you value privacy and solid performance, the Pixel 7 + Graphene OS is the more compelling upgrade, even at a modest price premium.

#OpenSource #grapheneos #fairphone #degoogle #dataprivacy
@grapheneos @e_foundation 🔗 grapheneos.org / e.foundation


GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.
GrapheneOS
#android #opensource #privacy #security #fairphone #dataprivacy #grapheneos #degoogle @GrapheneOS
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GrapheneOS

@nyovaya Fairphone 4 and Fairphone 5 already have an end-of-life kernel branch. Even the Fairphone 6 is not receiving proper updates. It's still on the initial yearly release of Android 15 rather than Android 16 QPR2 and still has the November 2025 patch level. Meanwhile, the patches for February 2026 through May 2026 are already nearly fully available for OEMs to ship early and June 2026 is beginning to get filled out now that the March 2026 patches are finalized.
@Luna / Miika (need more cuddles)
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GrapheneOS

@nyovaya What do you mean by modular? Having official replacement parts available for many years? iPhones and Pixels provide those. That's not really a modular device. It's not as if you can replace the SoC or other components to upgrade it over time and avoid end-of-life. An iPhone or Pixel gets proper update support over the long term while Fairphone fails to provide that even for the first year after launch and it's downhill from there. Samsung flagships get better updates.
@Luna / Miika (need more cuddles)
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ɴᴏᴛ ꜱᴜʀᴇ

@GrapheneOS @nyovaya
My whole point was about how far off the mark the fairphone is.
Thanks to folks at Graphene OS for making a truly remarkable Operating System for a phone I can go buy new $$ or secondhand $ and get the best in the market. Or even get the Pixal Tablet running Graphene OS!
I ran Calyx OS on a new Google Nexus 5 (I think it was) for a short time years ago and it had me running back to the iPhone. I've now been on Graphene OS since the Pixal 7 came out and haven't looked back.
Yes, the idea of a phone that is easier to repair or upgrade over time would be nice too. But I wouldn't choose one if I lost or lowered my security or privacy.
@GrapheneOS @Luna / Miika (need more cuddles)

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#fosdem2026 was another awesome success for the open source community this year. I had a blast showing off what all we do at BlissLabs and what all is possible for the Android community. Got to finally put a face to so many of the people I have collaborated with over the years, and I can't wait to come back!!
Special shout out to @IzzyOnDroid , @shiftphones and @bene64 for helping show what an Open and Sustainable Ecosystem for Android could look like - From Hardware to Apps. You all rocked!!
#fosdem2026 @Bene @SHIFTPHONES @IzzyOnDroid ✅

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Honestly the biggest problem with #AI coding is that it lets me build things without having to think about what I want to build. It's happened twice now where the AI coded something perfectly, only for me to realize when I had exactly what I asked for, it wasn't what I needed or really wanted. I usually realize this during the act of building, and the act of building often helps me clarify what it is that I actually want.
#AI
in reply to 🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

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Steve

You may already know this trick, but in just in case, I sometimes ask the agent to help me create a project requirements document first. I toss in what I want in terms of UI, behavior, potential platform/language/dependency info, and can find out fairly quickly, based on the result, where I've thought the idea out well enough to start coding it.
in reply to Steve

iceshrimp.net - Link to source

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

@sclower I suspect it would work better if I wrote the project requirements document myself. Then fed it into the AI for implementation. Maybe it would shift me from thinking "What do I want coded" and towards "What are my requirements". I tend to start thinking too low level, about what libraries I want to use and what language, when I still haven't one hundred percent laid out what I want to do. The example that prompted me to post was reformatting a set of files. If I'd have thought just a bit harder about what I actually needed, I would have ended up with three regular expressions and a batch script, not a C# DotNet app.
@Steve
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Tamas G

@sclower it it's interesting, if you turn up aspiration color to 100, glottal sharpness to 0, then suddenly consonant clicks really emerge. So if anything it's taught me just how much the DSP can help soften sharp phoneme transitions. It won't "magically" fix the sharper phonemes that click against the teeth feeling, but it can blend them better in with the source. With that high of an aspiration and not-pressed glottal feeling you're essentially asking to hear consonant clicks. And while SpeechPlayer didn't use the same triangle wave, the original one was very Sawtooth, which didn't help with consonant clicks really showing up. The cosign wave we're using now helped hide them too, so I think it was the better direction to move it in.
@Steve

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That was a great #FOSDEM again, met so many old friends and new people, saw interesting talks and had good technical discussions and some new ideas for things to try out now.

Some people I didn't run across, but the next event will come soon. :)

See you next year hopefully.

I'll be in Brussels for the #buildroot developer meetup still for the next three days.

#fosdem #buildroot
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Ireland has dismantled its first commercial wind farm to make way for a step-change in scale. At Bellacorick Wind Farm, 21 early-generation turbines have been removed so Oweninny Wind Farm can expand. Each new turbine now generates more power than the entire 1992 Bellacorick site, illustrating how three decades of innovation have radically compressed land use while multiplying output. RTE rte.ie/news/regional/2026/0116…
#ShareGoodNewsToo

Last turbine on first commercial wind farm dismantled

The last wind turbine of what was Ireland's first commercial wind farm at Bellacorick in Co Mayo has been dismantled.
George Lee (RTÉ)
#sharegoodnewstoo

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NVSpeech Player with phoneme editor and NVDA Addon, Speech Dispatcher module version 2.5 is out!
The focus this time: more control over voice quality.

New in DSP Version 5:
The engine now has 12 voicing tone parameters for shaping the overall voice character, plus 5 new per-frame parameters for things like creaky voice, breathiness, jitter, shimmer, and glottal sharpness. That last one is key for getting that crisp Eloquence-like attack some users prefer.
For NVDA users, this means 10 real-time sliders in voice settings instead of 4. Dial in your preferred sound without editing config files.
The Windows phoneme editor has a new Voice Quality section with full access to all the new parameters. Useful for anyone tuning phonemes or building voice profiles.
Linux users get an updated renderer with command-line flags for every new parameter. Speech Dispatcher configs are included. Voice profiles from phonemes.yaml now work across platforms.
While no change yet for Danish support, the foundation is now here for it in the future.
github.com/tgeczy/NVSpeechPlay…
github.com/tgeczy/NVSpeechPlay…
github.com/tgeczy/NVSpeechPlay…

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Sunday.
made the daughter happy by buying another accessible card game for the collection.
It's a Mille Bornes knockoff but was very reasonably priced.
64ouncebraille.com/products/10…
an unboxed card game called 1000 yards. There are 2 stacks of playing cards visible with Braile on them and the box has print, Braille, and a QR code visible.

1000 Yards (Full Game)

[This game contains braille already on the cards and no additional setup is needed] In 1000 Yards the kids compete to be the first one to go 1000 yards.  Kids use skates, skateboards, bikes, scooters and more to make it.
64 Ounce Braille

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Pain of an unemployed person:

• You wake up late, but still feel tired
• Every day feels the same
• You apply for jobs daily, no replies
• Money feels tight all the time
• You feel guilty even while resting
• Confidence slowly goes down
• You start doubting yourself
• Skills are there, opportunity is not
• Nights are full of overthinking
• You feel stuck and helpless
• You are trying, but no one sees it

Being unemployed is not laziness.
It’s mental pressure no one understands 😔.

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A wave of manic energy in December had me put together a long deck called "HarfBuzz at 20! " , celebrating 20 years of HarfBuzz. 🎂

I designed the deck to be presented at the #WebEnginesHackfest later this year. Then reality hit that I cannot present this deck in any sane amount of time.

Inspired by all the great presentations coming out of #FOSDEM today, I decided that instead of tossing the deck out, I just put it out here to be read by the curious. I will present a highly condensed version at the hackfest in June.

Let me know what you think. 🙏

docs.google.com/presentation/d…


HarfBuzz at 20!

HarfBuzz at 20! all you ever wanted to know about HarfBuzz and then some behdad a slide deck to skim through—January 2026
Google Docs
#fosdem #webengineshackfest

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"But Wikipedia cannot survive by refusing to change. Ostrom’s Nobel prize-winning research reminds us that the communities that govern shared resources often grow conservative over time.

"For anyone who cares about the future of reliable information online, Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary is not just a celebration. It is an urgent warning about what happens when the institutions we depend on cannot adapt to the people they are meant to serve."

spectrum.ieee.org/wikipedia-at…


Wikipedia Faces a Generational Disconnect Crisis

Wikipedia's 25th anniversary sparks a debate: Can it adapt to the needs of Gen Z and beyond?
Dariusz Jemielniak (IEEE Spectrum)

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#XMPP @ #FOSDEM 2026

Thanks to all organisers, supporters and visitors for the great experience at our XMPP #Realtime Lounge and at the venue overall!

We end the day with this lovely creation from Angela (piscimisty) ❤

#jabber #chat #opensource #messaging #federation #Brussels #Belgium #europe

A self-made, hand-drawn (aquarell) folded letter with a mermaid holding the XMPP logo out of the water. Its adressed to XMPP Devs of the XSF.
Unfolding the letter shows a hand-drawn (aquarell) mermaid and the logos of multiple XMPP chat apps such as Conversations, Dino and Snikket. The text admires the work of the quote "best messaging protocol" and sends regards from Angela to Ge0rG, a long-term comunity and the disroot.org admins.
#xmpp #opensource #Jabber #federation #fosdem #chat #europe #messaging #belgium #realtime #brussels

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#XMPP @ #FOSDEM

Impressions from the XMPP talks in the #Decentralised #Communication room:

Engineering XMPP #Federation: Building #Messaging, Voice & Social Features Across #Independent Projects - Jérôme Sautret & Timothée Jaussoin
@ejabberd @movim

#chat #jabber #interoperability #opensource

Jérôme Sautret concluding at FOSDEM on the power of open standards.
Jérôme Sautret & Timothée Jaussoin presenting at FOSDEM on engineering XMPP federation.
Jérôme Sautret presenting at FOSDEM on case study: seamless voice & video ejabberd
Jérôme Sautret & Timothée Jaussoin presenting at FOSDEM on case study: seamless voice & video Movim
#xmpp #opensource #Jabber #federation #fosdem #chat #interoperability #communication #independent #decentralised #messaging @ejabberd @Movim
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XSF: XMPP Standards Foundation

#XMPP @ #FOSDEM

Impressions from the XMPP talks in the #Decentralised #Communication room:

Building a #Decentralized Social Network on XMPP - Timothée Jaussoin
@movim

#chat #jabber #interoperability #opensource #federation #opensource #Brussel #europe

#xmpp #opensource #Jabber #federation #fosdem #chat #interoperability #decentralized #communication #europe #decentralised #Brussel @Movim
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Piotr Gaczkowski

Im talking about Jogger. It was Jabber + Blogger. Each user had a blog that they could interact with through XMPP.

You could post using XMPP or you could comment using XMPP, you got XMPP notifications and so on.

I think it had all the features of a social network. And, more importantly, there is still a community of ex-Jogger users active even here.

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This week I learned, from a blind acquaintance here, that when we write in ALL CAPS in alt text, their screenreader reads it all out, *one letter at a time*.

Totally defeating the point of alt text making things accessible, right?
Needless to say, I've stopped.

Well, LOL remains LOL, of course!
#TIL #accessibility #blind #deafblind

#Accessibility #blind #til #deafblind
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Some really great reads for January. I had no idea Dennis E. Taylor's standalones were so good!
Not to mention a new Peter Cawdron and a couple of interesting fanfics.

Subscribers have had it already but here it is for the rest of you. :)
#bookstodon
buttondown.com/SeansShelf/arch…


Reading Roundup: January 2026

publish_date: 2026-02-01T06:00:00Z slug: reading-roundup-january-2026 status: scheduled subject: "Reading Roundup: January 2026" Reading Roundup: January...
Sean Randall (Sean's Shelf)
#bookstodon

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You can tell if someone is a computering supergenius if their solution to a difficult problem looks like nothing.

Lisp is six functions. Forth is 200 bytes. Unix is just tiny programs and text files. The original web is just a hacked SMTP server sending SGML files. And yet, it does *that*.

The huge, complex stuff--Windows, Java, the modern web--is all the work of mediocre thinkers with big budgets and too little time.

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I tried to build this small python tool on FreeBSD that uses the new uv thing but I couldn't figure out how to work uv

They really need to work on their UX

All I know is that it kept complaining that there wasn't any Python 3.13 but I couldn't get it to download or install one (into a virtual env I assume). Now I am aware that they probably don't have precompiled versions for FreeBSD, but it doesn't even seem to have an option to download the source and compile it by itself. So if that's the case, this tool is pretty worthless if you want to use it with a custom python version or on an unsupported platform?

Is that really how this thing works? Bizarro

It was easier to just hack it to work with my own venv and regular pip, build my own requirements.txt etc

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The mathematical relationship IS the sound. When we made a "clean" table with quadratic closure, we literally encoded sharpness ≈ 2 into it. The synth doesn't care if that curve comes from:
• pow(1-t, 2.0) computed live
• A lookup table with those same values
Same curve = same harmonics = same sound.
The sample rate scaling insight:
At higher sample rates, you need MORE harmonics to fill the spectrum. Lower sharpness = fewer harmonics = sounds "breathy" because there's less energy up high. That's why LF master scales sharpness UP with sample rate - to maintain consistent harmonic richness.
The downside to a fixed glottal table is that you would need a different glottal table for each sample rate, if you wanted to keep the smoothness alive. By making one single Glottal table, we are effectively baking in a sharpness 2.0 into all sample rates.
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I do wonder if folks liked it when the voice was smoother at 16000/22050 or 44100, or when it now has more sharpness. The sharpness is actually what Eloquence also has, when you think about it. It's voice isn't smoother. So now, with the recent SpeechPlayer, it's a bit like how the original sharpness was with it, when before we changed to the new Cosign waveform. It made 11025 sound very similar to 16000 and 22050 which is why I changed it. I didn't get any revolts, or like, "eww, where's the smoothness?" if anything one person told me that the voice sounds more "whole" at 44100. So I'm very conflicted on this, and I suspect people have their own preference. But now I am closer to understanding what gives Eloquence that classic Eloquence sharpness, they too probably also use an LF-type waveform.
many blind users who grew up on DECtalk/Eloquence found the softer voices harder to understand at speed, not easier. The softer voice can make consonants stick out more and not sound like it's part of the voice's bandwidth itself.

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UKPol/Economics

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