Apple unveils the $599+ iPhone 16e, with an A18 chip, a 48MP camera, Apple Intelligence, and an Apple-designed 5G cellular modem, the C1, shipping February 28 (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)
9to5mac.com/2025/02/19/apple-u…
techmeme.com/250219/p29#a25021…
Apple has officially taken the wraps off of the all-new iPhone 16e. The device features an all-new design paired with...Chance Miller (9to5Mac)
Listener Derek has raised a pressing concern about the increasing use of self-service kiosks and digital payment terminals, highlighting how their inaccessibility continues to create significant barriers for blind and visually impaired individuals.Steven Scott (Double Tap)
I want to say a big thank you to everyone who works on free and open-source accessibility projects. Your work helps many people and makes technology easier for everyone.
I can't list all the great projects here, but I want to mention a few:
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) – A free, open-source screen reader for Windows. It allows blind and low-vision users to navigate and use their computers without needing expensive commercial screen readers. NVDA supports many applications, including web browsers, office software, and media players. It also has an add-on system for extra features.
Orca Screen Reader – A free and open-source screen reader for Linux. Developed by the GNOME Project, Orca allows blind and low-vision users to interact with graphical desktop environments.
OSARA (Open Source Accessibility for the REAPER Application) – A REAPER extension that provides full accessibility for blind users. Like most DAWs, REAPER does not natively support screen readers. OSARA bridges this gap by allowing screen reader users to access almost all functions in reaper, including track management, editing, effects, and automation.
ReaHotkey – A small auto hotkey tool that makes some virtual instruments accessible inside REAPER. It does not make REAPER itself accessible but helps interact with specific plugins.
REAPER Accessibility Hoard – A collection of scripts, resources, and other misc stuff that improve accessibility/usability for blind and low-vision users working with REAPER. It includes various scripts/tutorials/resources that help navigate plugins, edit audio more efficiently, and add missing accessibility features.
Pokémon Access – A project that makes Pokémon games playable with screen readers. Initially focused on Pokémon Crystal, it now supports multiple titles, allowing blind and visually impaired players to enjoy the classic series with text-to-speech support.
Links:
NVDA
nvaccess.org/
OSARA
osara.reaperaccessibility.com/
ReaHotkey
github.com/MatejGolian/ReaHotk…
REAPER Accessibility Hoard
hoard.reaperaccessibility.com
Orca Screen Reader
help.gnome.org/users/orca/stab…
Pokémon Access
github.com/nuive/pokemon-acces…
There are many more projects out there, each playing an important role in making technology more inclusive. To all the developers, testers, and contributors—thank you for your hard work!
An AutoHotkey script for blind musicians and REAPER users - MatejGolian/ReaHotkeyGitHub
#Ubuntu 25.04 will be released today (maybe it already is), so here is my look at this new update!
The TLDR is: I thought it wouldn't have that much, but it turns out that between #GNOME 48, APT 3.0, Nvidia dynamic boost, and a new default app, there's a lot to cover!
Also, props to Xubuntu for the move to XFCE 4.20, that's going to be a big change for Xubuntu users!
youtube.com/watch?v=RQXWComGfl…
Check out TuxCare's Custom kernel Development and Maintenance services: https://tuxcare.com/custom-linux-kernel-development-and-maintenance-services/?utm_cam...YouTube
Hey Fediverse friends 👋
We're happy to help make the web a little more connected and open.
With our ActivityPub plugin you can connect your Discourse community to Mastodon and the wider Fediverse
Check out all the details in our latest blog post:
blog.discourse.org/2025/04/dis…
Two years ago, we started working on a plugin that brings Discourse and the Fediverse closer together. Discourse communities are online spaces that facilitate open collaboration and communication.Penar Musaraj (Discourse)
Local liberal Brian Mullins who is now boycotting any company that he sees as supporting a fascist regime spends all of his free time staring at a wall with no idea what else he could be doing.Trevor Graham (The Hard Times)
Mutual aid request: April fundraising
March was rough! We fell way short of our goal and only made rent bc of a miraculous tax refund (which we'd hoped to put toward lawyer fees). Setting a $7k goal this month to get my head above water again.
I don't wanna flood your feed but I also need to eat. Trying to strike that balance—which means I need your help w boosts & donations.
Thanks y'all, let's do this.
He was arrested by ICE Friday afternoonChris Sheldon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com (nj)
Does anyone that I know run an Immich server? I haven't had a chance to deploy one yet but wanted to test the app. Ping me if you'll give me an account to test with for a day
#MoreToLose #MileyCyrus #NewMusic
Hot off the presses! 🔥🎵🎶
Miley Cyrus - More to Lose (Official Video)
youtu.be/T3fA-4D71Kk?si=vKP-zi…
Official Video for “More to Lose” by Miley Cyrus Listen to & Download “More to Lose” out now: https://MileyCyrus.lnk.to/MoretoLoseSomething Beautiful - Albu...YouTube
The post about using Linux while blind (fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-w…) contains a sentence that really stood out to me as being true in so many aspects of my life.
"We’re not waiting on unknowns.
We’re waiting on maintenance."
There's so much interest in "innovation." Anything can be fixed with apps, AI, wearables. Right?
But when I've asked blind people what makes it hard for them to walk in their neighborhoods, it's broken pavements and overhanging greenery. Councils can't afford maintenance.
There was a time when O'Reilly books were the books to get when learning something in tech.
Now they piss away all that goodwill. All of it.
There's a lot of firms rushing headfirst to destroy all the goodwill they once had. Sacrifices on the alter of nothing more than a stochastic parrot.
mastodon.social/@nixCraft/1144…
Warning: Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media now wants every human programmer to be replaced by Gen AI. Tim O'Reilly/company policy on book editing and writing went from "avoid Gen AI" to "you must use Gen AI as much as possible, we will monitor you through KPIs to use it as much as possible. So avoid O'Reilly books. Support an indie author. Plenty of them out there who write and sell books. No need to support corporate overlords. Source reddit.com/r/programming/comme… #ai
These days when I set up a computer and want to create a local user account, I just invoke that screen from the command prompt. You can do this with an internet connection, but it needs to be one of the first things you do.
1. In the Windows first-run setup (after it has been installed), press shift f10 to open command prompt.
2. Type this: start ms-cxh:localonly
This should pull up the old "Who's going to use this PC?" screen. Seems to work in Windows 11 24H2. When you get done answering security questions, the computer (or at least the out-of-box experience) will restart.
I also use this cmd trick to launch a portable copy of NVDA sometimes.
A lesser-known shortcut in Windows setup is ctrl-shift-f3. This puts you into audit mode, where you're logged into the desktop of the administrator account even though you haven't completed Windows setup yet. A dialog will automatically start, giving options to restart into the out-of-box experience or restart normally. In this mode, you can install drivers and make any other changes that need to be made before the setup process completes.
Example: When giving someone a Surface tablet with an attached Bluetooth keyboard cover, you might want to go into audit mode so you can pair the keyboard, but still retain the setup process for the recipient.
You can, of course, also use this trick to completely bypass Windows setup in order to reinstall Windows on a brand new system.
Peter Vágner likes this.
reshared this
Billionaire reopens feud with Tesla chief as he unveils plan to spend $200bn on philanthropy and close foundation in 2045David Pilling (Financial Times)
An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than thatJeremy Hsu (New Scientist)
This article is both validating and infuriating.
Validating because it speaks to the lie that generative models are "the worst they'll ever be."
One popular leaderboard...indicates some “reasoning” models – including the DeepSeek-R1 model from developer DeepSeek – saw double-digit rises in hallucination rates compared with previous models from their developers.
The myth of incessant improvement needs to die.
Infuriating because it concludes that "We may have to live with error-prone AI." We really, really don't. This technology has one primary purpose: driving the data and compute hoarding of the oligarchy. It should be considered a tool of the oppressor, and as such should be resisted, confounded, and broken.
We do not have to accept this.
newscientist.com/article/24795…
An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than thatJeremy Hsu (New Scientist)
What’s the Difference Between Straight and Curly Quotation Marks?
Over the years, one became "smart" and the other one "dumb".
wordsmarts.com/straight-curly-…
Books about typography at PG
gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?q…
Straight and curly quotation marks may look largely similar. But when it comes to deciding between the two, there’s a “smart” choice and a “dumb” choice to be made.jennifer (Word Smarts)
For anybody who's been putting video on the web for a long time and cares about accessibility, Able Player has been the feature leader for accessibleJoe Dolson (Joe Dolson Web Accessibility)
I am super excited to be testing raw.pixls.us new #git #annex support! This should offer some cool ways to mirror that data around the web.
raw.pixls.us is a community driven repo of camera raw samples, used to test #darktable and #RawTherapee's raw file support.
thing is I can't retest because I already nuked the 100+GB I couldn't update after resyncing with my last rsync.
Of course there are dupes because some directory changed names.
🚨BREAKING: #Fortnite is coming to US App Store any day now!
US judge said #Apple “outright lied” to steal from app developers & increase prices for users - all to uphold its greedy #monopoly.
But the days for FEES on web transactions are finally gone.
Fortnite was submitted to the US App Store yesterday - so it now lies with Apple to publish it quickly: x.com/TutaPrivacy/status/19212…
Read the whole story: 👉 tuta.com/blog/apple-us-antitru…
Apple lied, you paid: US antitrust ruling states that Apple must stop taking a 30% cut on sales outside the App Store immediately.Tuta
Significant world leaders are on their way to Kyiv to decide the future for world security.
Biden would have been here.
Trump is not.
Pope Leo XIV lays out his vision of papacy, identifies AI as a main challenge for humanity
https://apnews.com/article/pope-leo-vision-papacy-artificial-intelligence-36d29e37a11620b594b9b7c0574cc358?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into Top Stories @top-stories-AssociatedPress
I’m currently taking a long break from making music, art, and new 
MOULE WORLD lore, but you can listen to my back-catalogue of all 136 of my multi-genre electronic releases on:
Faircamp: music.moule.world
Bandcamp: moule.bandcamp.com
I think I’ve finally tired out my inner perfectionist demanding I stick to a fortnightly release schedule, causing me lots of burnout. Now the challenge is getting back to making new stuff again! 
reshared this
AGI isn’t just buzz—it’s a systems problem.
In this #podcast, Your Undivided Attention explores what AGI actually means and how we might (or might not) be ready for it.
your-undivided-attention.simpl…
#AI #AGI #TechEthics #FutureOfAI
What does it mean to think on the scale of centuries? Great discussions with Stephen Heintz & Kim Stanley Robinson.
The Long Now Foundation offers a fascinating read on long-term logic, design, and the ethics of building for the future.
longnow.org/ideas/a-logic-for-…
#LongNow #FutureThinking #SystemDesign #Podcast
A Logic For The Future: International Relations in the Age of TurbulenceThe Long Now Foundation (Long Now)
How do government software systems break—and how can we fix them?
Mikey Dickerson (healthcare.gov rescue, USDS) talks with @patio11 about procurement, crisis engineering, and why modernization plans often make things worse before they get better.
A great listen for anyone in civic tech or public service.
complexsystemspodcast.com/epis…
Why government software, and service delivery more broadly, is so frequently borked, and how to fix it.Patrick McKenzie (Complex Systems)
I find myself increasingly asking what value do I get out of existing commercial accessibility testing tools? What do they catch? What do they not catch? I ask because I want to improve on the results, and I also want to know what exactly I need to m…Robert Dodd (www.linkedin.com)
Tiny new feature: Checkboxes in a message.
No, I'm not gonna make it a full blown task list app 😜 but it happens quite often, that my wife sends me a list of groceries when I'm walking to the supermarket. This way I'm now able to check, what I have already in my cart so I don't forget anything.
It works by sending special reactions under the hood. So anyone with reaction sending permissions in a room can check any box from any sender.
What do you think?
FediVerseExplorer likes this.
WhatsApp and other closed source apps have a full dictatorship over the whole protocol and all clients. They can experiment with new features on all users at once, and they can turn them off if they don't meet the expectations for all at once.
How exactly do you want to do this in open world? Some clients will inevitably lag behind, some clients will not implement all features. Even if you didn't allow other clients to experiment with API proposals, they would lag behind the upstream.
The only thing you can do is to give developers tools to create reasonable fallback.
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •1860 / 7000
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#mutualaidreqest
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Fun times, I've raised less than $50 this month but already spent $390 supporting two housing insecure folks. When I'm presented with the choice of helping the elderly couple who are still working retail into their 70s keep their hotel room until payday vs paying my phone bill or comfort, my phone bill and comfort tend to loose out.
I wish I didn't have to make choices like that but I'm also grateful to be able to help when I have cash on hand.
1860 / 7000
C/v/paypal: nullagent
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •URGENT MUTUAL AID UPDATE
1860 / 7000
Lots of shares—ty! No new donations 🥺 I have a handful of monthly patrons totaling $317 in ongoing gifts, and if you can swing it, this is an amazing way to help.
My partner and I both have a ton of work projects that we can support ourselves with however we desperately need childcare but we can't even cover rent.
#mutualaidrequest #helpfolkslive2025 #mutualaidsaveslives
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Not to sound like a Dem text or anything, but this is me... begging. It's one thing when it's just me but I've got a partner and kid and another kid I'm trying to reunite with. I truly need your help, I'm trying to be creative and not hit y'all over the head, I just don't know what else to do.
Super appreciate how this community has gotten me this far, hope we can keep it going.
C/V nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#mutualaidrequest #blackmastodon #helpfolkslive2025 #blacklivesmatter
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •So the bad news is the car didn't survive my plan to get an early start at the hacker space, but the good news is I did 😤
SR99 got a good one today, I just replaced the front suspension myself this fall 😭 Thankfully the crash wasn't my fault, I don't have any graphic injuries and insurance will help some but this is a setback for sure.
If you're able to pitch in I'd appreciate a little love
1860 / 7000
C/V nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#MutualAidRequest #caraccident #99problems #cars
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Was making my way through stop and go traffic, things sped up for a little bit but came right back to a full stop.
Guy behind me missed the memo, was totally distracted, and just slammed into me probably around 40 mph.
I had just enough time to realize he wasn't stopping and right as I connected the dots I had an air bag in my chest.
I felt fine during the adrenaline, but definitely feeling a touch concussed now.
Extremely thankful this car had ample crumple zones for real.
#waroncars
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •The force of the crash knocked the spare tire loose from the car in front if me, which then got lodged under me, struck the engine from the underside and punctured all sorts of stuff, RIP.
Anyway, the second I'm finally settled with the cops, tow truck and getting tf off that cursed viaduct, the guy's insurance calls, every question they had felt like entrapment or some setup to get out of paying the claim 🥴
My brain was a lil scrambled and they seemed hella ready to take advantage.
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •This is a roller-coaster, ok so the insurance company promised a rental car and the plan does cover 30days of a free rental.
BUT the reservation number they keep getting from the rental car companies isn't actually attached to a car and all of the companies are booked out for days.
Kinda seems like its not actually a reservation tho and the rental companies seem to not actually want to commit a vehicle to insurance claim reservations.
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •If the insurance run around weren't bad enough, I just found out that if the guys insurance pays out a settlement beyond basic medical costs due to owing child-support I would never see any settlement cash.
Unclear what happens to the value of the vehicle, but thankfully the car was still in a family friends name and hadn't been transfer to my partner and I yet. So hopefully I don't need to get a family lawyer for that part.
partyon.xyz/@nullagent/1140333…
#childsupport #parenting #cars #waroncars
nullagent
2025-02-20 00:13:06
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Really love how ex who makes 5x what I do can literally just take settlement money from injuries that don't involve them and they don't actually need to raise our child.
So anywho... I feel like I'm on some 3x way rock-hard place brain teaser.
Need car to work, live and play. At every step car is stolen by thieves and the state ffs.
On day one of the divorce the state took my home & car before we ever stepped foot into a court and years later they can still do that.
partyon.xyz/@nullagent/1140333…
nullagent
2025-02-20 00:13:06
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Urgent mutual aid:
Alright insurance is only paying out about half the purchase price of another equivalent 15+ year old vehicle.
Which is quite a bind right now as my partner is also just finding out that the contract they lined up probably isn't panning out.
So we were already pretty highly rent burdened and now we're trying to recover from our car being in an accident.
1860 / 7000
Venmo / cashapp / paypal: nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#MutualAidRequest #cars #caraccident
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Ok so this month was a bit of a disaster.
A family friend had given us a car, which has been a MASSIVE help for my partner and I as we raise an soon to be 9month baby.
But this month the car got totaled in the middle of a 3 car pile up. Insurance isn't covering enough to buy a new(to us) car and what they are paying out hasn't arrived yet.
So very much in need of some support this month if you're able to help out.
1860 / 7000
c/v nullagent
paypal.me/nullagent
#helpfolkslive2025
Zaplaťte uživateli Alan Meekins pomocí služby PayPal.Me
PayPal.Menullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •As a cyclist of 15 years... it pains me to admit we're kinda car dependent for a bit.
My knees aren't what they used to be and worse covid isn't over.
In a world without covid, I'd be love to take our tiny human on the bus and train, but it's pretty much impossible to get a 8 month to wear a mask and its even more challenging to keep unmasked strangers out of their adorable lil face.
1860 / 7000
Venmo / cashapp / paypal: nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#CovidIsNotOver #parenting #cars
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •Hey, it's sadly rent day and we're short by quite a bit (around $1200).
That whole "the average American can't afford an unexpected $400 emergency"... really bit us hard this month with the car crash. We're still waiting to get reimburst from car crash expenses and we've had a ton of unexpected bills this month on top of it.
Anything helps:
Rent Goal $1378 / $2300
Venmo/cashapp/paypal: $nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#MutualAidRequest #helpfolkslive2025 #BlackMastodon
Support nullagent
Ko-finullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •We're still inching along towards our rent goal, we have until the 5th to pay without late fees or threats from our landlord. Can you help us get over the finish line?
Rent Goal $1378 / $2300
Venmo/cashapp/paypal: $nullagent
nullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •The car crash -really- ate into what non-existant wiggle room we had in our budget for rent this month.
We're 50% of the way there and have one more day on our grace period, thanks again to our fedi friends for getting us this far!
Rent Goal $1378 / $2300
Venmo/cashapp/kofi - nullagent
paypal.me/nullagent
#MutualAidRequest #BlackMastodon #helpfolkslive2025
Zaplaťte uživateli Alan Meekins pomocí služby PayPal.Me
PayPal.Menullagent
in reply to nullagent • • •URGENT
Hoping to get rent in today to avoid late fees and landlord threats.
Passed due rent $1378 / $2300
Venmo/cashapp/paypal - nullagent
ko-fi.com/nullagent
#mutualaidrequest #helpfolkslive2025 #blackmutuaid
Support nullagent
Ko-fireshared this
Zach Bennoui reshared this.