When Québecois journalists learn to speak just one indigenous language, then they just might have a semblance of a reason to criticize our Governor General

cbc.ca/news/politics/gov-gen-s…

#QCPoli #CdnPoli

My thoughts on the AirPods 4 with active noise cancelation after using them for a few weeks.
1. They sound a lot better than my AirPods 3. More balanced, less cheap, more treble. That goes for calls too—the difference is night and day.
2. Transparency is subtle but effective. No accommodation settings, but that's not surprising. It'd be hard to make amplified transparency on open-ear buds.
3. Noise cancelation is okay but not amazing for me. The way others talk about it, I suspect this has to do with the way they fit in my ears, which is quite loosely. It blocks out a lot of lows and mids but the highs are still there. Also, speaking while ANC is enabled feels really weird because the natural reverberation of my own voice gets canceled out a lot. I don't notice this effect nearly as much with the pros or any other ANC headset, for some reason. There's some kind of pressure in my ears and it's not to the point of being uncomfortable, but it's a strange feeling that I wouldn't call pleasant.
4. They die a little more quickly than I'd like. I have to swap back to my 3's a few times a day and wait for them to charge again.
5. I don't think the ANC version was worth the extra $50 USD but the $129 version comes with a case that doesn't make sounds. This is annoying because...
6. They replaced the button with a double-tap gesture. To pair the AirPods, you double-tap on the front and wait for an indicator light. If you have the case with sounds, you'll also hear a beep. I don't know why they did this, but because the gesture doesn't always work perfectly, we have to pay the accessibility tax to get audible feedback when pairing mode is engaged. I'd happily go back to a button.
7. I am really disappointed that even the ANC pods don't have the swipe gestures for changing volume. That doesn't feel like something that should be a pros-only feature.

Overall, I think the non-ANC AirPods are a steal at $129 US, the ANC versions are not bad for $179 as a sort of halfway point, but if you're already paying upward of $179 and don't mind ear tips, the pros are a better investment. I actually own the pros and like them, but I would have liked to see a midrange option that took on as many pros features as possible while remaining open-ear, and Apple almost got there, but didn't. In addition to the lack of volume swipes, we have no stereo audio on phone calls, which is a much smaller deal to most people but would still have been nice.

If you’re trans and you are considering working for a remote-first company, ask them where they hold their offsites.

If you are a remote-first company that does offsites, do some background research on whether your trans employees can safely travel to and exist in the country (and state/region in the case of federations like the US) that you plan on holding your next offsite in.

I just released reproducible-apk-tools v0.3.0

github.com/obfusk/reproducible…

Mostly small improvements, e.g. the AXML parser now supports offset16/compact/sparse ResTable type/entry, no major changes. I have not yet found a test case for FLAG_SPARSE, so support is untested and help is appreciated!

NB: this release changes the license from GPLv3+ to AGPLv3+.

Release v0.3.0 · obfusk/reproducible-apk-tools

• change license from GPLv3+ to AGPLv3+. • binres.py: support offset16, compact, FLAG_SPARSE (untested) etc. • binres.py: small fixes, warn "please file an issue" for untested/notimplemented code. ...

^GitHub

Welcome to the RB family, NeoStumbler 🥳

apt.izzysoft.de/packages/xyz.m…

NeoStumbler lets you collect locations of Wi-Fi networks, cell towers and Bluetooth beacons to geolocation services that are API compatible with Mozilla Location Services (as e.g. used in microG)

Thanks for your help, jaakko!

#reproducibleBuilds #IzzyOnDroid

„NeoStumbler“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

Application for collecting wireless networks to geolocation services

^{IzzyOnDroid App Repo}

Measuring the success of free software seems very difficult. However, beneath all the superficial technical complexity, governance problems, sustainability issues and legal arguments, software freedom is about one thing: user agency. Therefore, measuring the success of the movement is simple. If the movement is successful, the average child will be able to point to a UI element on a screen they’re using, say “I want that to be purple”, and then make it so.

Given that, how are we doing?

Be advised of a botnet of ActivityPub accounts registered as username yqqwe

These accounts appear to be part of a Beijing-based command-and-control structure to distribute spam and SEO links, associated with the Mastodon service found at mastodon[.]tinynews[.]org

We recommend reviewing local and remote accounts with this username.

We also recommend reviewing federation policies for the associated domain.

We strongly recommend not following any associated links or downloads.

One sad consequence of global migration is the distance - literal & metaphorical - it puts between kids and their grandparents.

Growing up in East London, I never learned to speak Igbo, and since my grandparents couldn't speak English, we never had a real conversation before they died.

It's different with my kids; their grandparents speak English. But grandmas show love through food - and so they cook amala, ewedu, asaro - when all my kids want are chicken nuggets.

In 2010, "hella" was proposed as an SI metric prefix for 10²⁷. Google Search and Wolfram Alpha both adopted it by the following year.

Curiously, no symmetric prefix for 10⁻²⁷ was suggested at the time, but the obvious one would be "hello", in keeping with the convention used for other existing prefixes. Thus, 10²⁷ hellokitties would be equivalent to 1 cat.

Fellow: I wasn't happy with the MacIntosh apples I bought last week.

Me: It's because they weren't MacIntoshes.

Fellow: They said they were Macintosh.

Me: MacIntosh don't have red flesh. You were lied to.

They weren't bad apples. At least they weren't a sweet variety. We prefer tart. They weren't exactly that, either. They weren't bad, but now I'm curious as to what they were.

When Frances Perkins was a little girl, she asked her parents why nice people could be poor. Her father told her not to worry about those things, and that poor people were poor because they were lazy and drank.

Eventually, she went to Mount Holyoke College, and majored in physics. In her final semester, she took a class in American economic history and toured the mills along the Connecticut River to see working conditions. She was horrified.

Eventually, instead of teaching until she married, she earned a masters degree in social work from Columbia University. In 1910, Perkins became Executive Secretary of the New York City Consumers League.

She campaigned for sanitary regulations for bakeries, fire protection for factories, and legislation to limit the working hours for women and children in factories to 54 hours per week. She worked mainly in New York State’s capital, Albany. Here, she made friends with politicians, and learned how to lobby.

On March 25th, 1911, Frances was having tea with friends when they heard fire engines. They ran to see what was happening, and witnessed one of the worst workplace disasters in US history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was devastating, killing 146 people, mostly young women and girls.

Frances watched as fire escapes collapsed and fireman ladders couldn’t reach the women trapped by the flames. She watched 47 workers leap to their deaths from the 8th and 9th floors.

Poignantly, just a year before these same women and girls had fought for and won the 54 hour work week and other benefits that Frances had championed.

These women weren’t just tragic victims, they were heroes of the labor force. Frances at that moment resolved to make sure their deaths meant something.

A committee to study reforms in safety in factories was formed, and Perkins became the secretary. The group took on not only fire safety, but all other health issues they could think of. Perkins, by that time a respected expert witness, helped draft the most comprehensive set of laws regarding workplace health and safety in the country. Other states started copying New York’s new laws to protect workers.

Perkins continued to work in New York for decades, until she was asked by President Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to serve as Secretary of Labor. She told him only if he agreed with her goals: 40-hour work week, minimum wage, unemployment and worker’s compensation, abolition of child labor, federal aid to the states for unemployment, Social Security, a revitalized federal employment service, and universal health insurance. He agreed. Similar to what she had worked for in New York, her successes became the New Deal, and changed the country and its workers forever.

So while you may not know her name, you certainly know her legacy.

- Via: People You May Not Know, But Probably Should #labour #labor

Доступна платформа совместной разработки Forgejo 9.0, перешедшая на лицензию GPLv3

Опубликован выпуск платформы совместной разработки Forgejo 9.0, позволяющей развернуть на своих серверах систему для совместной работы с репозиториями Git, напоминающую по решаемым задачам GitHub, Bitbucket и Gitlab. Forgejo является форком проекта Gitea, который в свою очередь ответвился от платформы Gogs. Отделение Forgejo произошло в 2022 году после попыток коммерциализации Gitea и перехода управления в руки коммерческой компании. Проект Forgejo придерживается принципов независимого управления и подконтрольности сообществу. На использование Forgejo перешёл Git-хостинг Codeberg.org. Код проекта написан на языке Go и распространяется под лицензией MIT.

opennet.ru/opennews/art.shtml?…

I do not like ProtonMail. I get that it's supposed to be more secure, but honestly? I don't particularly see email as a secure medium.

This is just a personal preference I'm expressing, but:

• Their web UIs seem to try to be glitzy and flashy but lack some of the basic rock solid functionality I look for.
• I resent the idea that it's freemium, unless I want to use standard mail protocols, in which case it's premium. (I have NO problem paying. Just charge me!)

I am vastly happier with my @fastmail experience in just about every way. I'm not trying to beat on anyone, just expressing what I see and the conclusions I have come to as a happy/unhappy customer of each service.

#email #youarenottheproduct