New Accessible Book and Document Reading app to try. This was posted by the developer on an email list I am on. Please pass it on... Hello everybody,

I’d like to share my new iPhone and iPad app I’ve just released: Vox Libri.

App Store link:
apps.apple.com/us/app/vox-libr…

Vox Libri is built to help people read books and documents in a flexible, personalized, and fully accessible way. It is designed to work well with VoiceOver and braille displays, and to support different reading preferences: on-screen reading, braille reading, or high-quality text-to-speech.

The interface is available in English and Spanish, and you can use any device-supported language for voices.

Key features include:
• High-quality text-to-speech for natural read-aloud.
• A braille reading mode compatible with braille displays.
• A highly customizable reading screen (font, size, colors, spacing, themes).
• Support for common formats: TXT, PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML, Markdown, and EPUB.
• Accessible navigation through chapters, headings, pages, bookmarks, and sections.
• Hands-free reading using headphone controls.
• On-device AI translation, summarization, and simplification when supported by the device.

I am working in versions for MacOS and WatchOS…

If you try Vox Libri, I would sincerely appreciate any feedback from BlindApple users—especially around accessibility, braille workflows, navigation, and overall reading comfort.

Thank you and regards
Jonathan Chacón

#New #Accessible #Book #Document #Reader #Blind

Vox libri App - App Store

Download Vox libri by Jonatan Chacon Barbero on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like Vox libri.

^{App Store}

It's the death day for MacUpdater. It was a great service, going to really miss it.

corecode.io/macupdater/

Going to have to switch to a terminal-based updater. Some combiantion of homebrew and topgrade, probably.

github.com/topgrade-rs/topgrad…

GitHub - topgrade-rs/topgrade: Upgrade all the things

Upgrade all the things. Contribute to topgrade-rs/topgrade development by creating an account on GitHub.

^GitHub

Happy New Year from HKC Radio!

A word about content today. The Digital Domain Online Radio Show will air its annual New Year's Day special tonight at 7 PM EST. It does feature some Christmas leftovers, which is why our Christmas replays are running still. For those who simply do not wish to Christmas anymore, @nick really sympathizes.

The replays will quietly end during the show and regular automation will resume.

Clarifying a couple things about Chinese New Year

1. It's not the year of the horse yet, that's flips on Chinese New Year on February 17
2. Taiwanese folks celebrate both Chinese New Year and Gregorian calendar New Year. Why only celebrate one?
3. Both new years are essentially called "new year" in Chinese but subtly different so they are still distinguishable

Them: Can you confirm you have no more than 15 personal electronic devices in your carry on?

Me: (excitedly infodumping) Well, it really depends what you consider to be a device. Many of these computers themselves contain multiple smaller computers. Consider these microSD cards (waves a small anti-static bag around), each of which has a tiny ARM processor - designed by a trans person from the BBC Micro team, if I might go off at a tangent for a moment. Or the battery controller chip on the LiPo pouch protection circuit, which significantly reduces the probability of a thermal excursion. And let's face it, nobody wants a spicy pillow in their lap at 30,000 feet-

Them: Just say yes. (Pleadingly) Just yes. That's all I'm asking. I'm begging you.

#39c3 #AuDHD

• love it love it love it (1%, 9 votes)
• makes everything in my life easier (2%, 14 votes)
• the speed its being developed is worrying (28%, 199 votes)
• needs regulating in public hands (50%, 355 votes)
• I wasnt asked if I wanted it (60%, 424 votes)
• its dumbing down the world (72%, 509 votes)
• huge energy cost is adding to climate breakdown (84%, 593 votes)

This year at #39C3, it felt that the congres was bursting at the seams. Nearly all of the assemblies I know complained about having less room and less tables then requested. The infrastructure review posted numbers e.g. about ~20% more DECT-phone calls, more internet usage then ever, ....

And, by chance, I consulted the wikipedia page about CCC:de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_Co… , which also lists the (approximate) number of visitors: 16K this year and only 14.5K last year. Time to go to #leipzig again?

jährliches Hackertreffen

^{Autoren der Wikimedia-Projekte (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

Thinking back to last year I remembered the us-east-1 outage, how it affected Signal and how some of the users freaked out that they have to rely on US hyperscalers.

Wouldn't it be useful if @signalapp (and maybe similar providers) published their infra requirements with little crosses and ticks, so alternative providers could aim for "good enough for Signal" service levels?

Related articles by @bert_hubert :

berthub.eu/articles/posts/the-…

The (European) cloud ladder: from virtual server to MS 365 - Bert Hubert's writings

We have extensive discussions about our enormous dependence on American clouds, but what exactly are we talking about? And is Europe equally dependent on all types of cloud? This article is aimed at policy makers, but it may also provide some clarity…

^{Bert Hubert's writings}

I've got one word for average internet users in 2026:

yunohost ( @yunohost )

Today, Bulgaria adopts the euro as its official currency. 💶

A new currency, a stronger bond with Europe.

Travel, work, and business will become easier and more connected.

With Schengen now fully in place, this means more freedom, more opportunities, and a shared future.

Progress is not a dream. It is a choice. And Bulgaria has chosen it.

Let's keep moving forward together. 🇪🇺🇧🇬

Just a reminder that you really should #BoycottFigma.

The fact they slurp all your designs into their slop machines by default, and you have to go opt-out if you don't like them stealing your creative work…**all in a product which literally exists to aid creators**…makes me nauseous.

There are other design apps you can use! Really, there are!

DI-Day im #c3d2

Der @c3d2 lädt zu mehr digitaler Unabhängigkeit ein und wir kommen mit vorbei.

Ihr habt Fragen zu freien Messengern wie #Matrix oder #XMPP, #Linux, dem #Fediverse oder anderen #OpenSource-Themen? Dann kommt gern am Sonntag den 4. Januar ab 14:00 Uhr in die Räume des c3d2, Riesaer Str. 32, #Dresden.

#DIDay #DIDayHelpdesk #DIDAySprechstunde

Tak snad ten ohňostroj stál za to 🤷‍♂️
#darwinawards

novinky.cz/clanek/krimi-muz-v-…

Muž v Budějovicích odpaloval zakázanou pyrotechniku. Utrhla mu obě ruce

Vážné zranění utrpěl zhruba třicetiletý muž v Českých Budějovicích, když během silvestrovské noci odpaloval zakázanou pyrotechniku. Ta mu explodovala v rukou a amputovala obě končetiny v zápěstí. Policisté případ řeší jako nedovolené ozbrojování.

^{Klára Mrázová (Novinky)}

Huy, feliz 2026.

Solo puedo afirmar que no soy persona. Me sacan un ratito de mi rutina de horarios y ya estoy echo una mierda.

Pues nada a empezar el año.

This is an excellent article about how important (and surprisingly easy) it is to build yourself a community.

A little effort goes a long way

takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/thi…

How I rebooted my social life

Some self-help for the New Year

^{James O'Malley (Odds and Ends of History)}

Huh. Right at midnight the Danish electricity tax dropped to basically zero. Instantly dropping the price of electricity by 0.12 euro per kWh.

It'll be interesting to see if this has a behavioral effect.

Na loňském #OpenAlt jsem slyšel komentář, že v Česku se spotové ceny elektřiny nevyplatí. Zanesl jsem tedy do grafu spotových cen za minulý rok také fixní ceny ze standardního ceníku ČEZu. V 84% časových úseků jsou spotové ceny levnější než nejlevnější nabídka #ČEZ. Měl-li bych odběrné místo s průběhovým měřením, rozhodně bych přešel na spotové ceny.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…