Skip to main content

Coding pro tip: at some point add assert.fail() or however it works in your system (add a deliberate unconditional failure) and run tests. See whether tests actually fail. Test setups tend to be complicated and error-prone and you'd be surprised what's not actually being tested.

Does anyone remember the old toys for the 80s and beyond?
Does anyone like old toys that they would like to hear again but also would like to have the chance to hear them in an entire new way?
Introducing the electronic toy lib!
The electronic toy library or TETL; is a passion project by a group of people that love the old toys and the fantastic sounds they make.
From direct recordings of toys that had a headphone and connectors on the boards, to recording via coils and even things like making direct boxes to directly record the toys and making recreations of what the toys would have sound like if different situations were to be in effect!
Also called the electronic toy archive, get ready to go down a wonderful adventure back to the past with: chips; tunes; and little speakers as you take a trip to the toy world!

youtube.com/@TheElectronicToyA…

#Nostalgia #Toys #Fun #Electronics #Electronic_Toys


The Electronic Toy Archive

We are a small community that enjoys electronic toys, most of which are not meant for our age group, (most of us are in our late teens to 20s), but we still like them for some weird reason.
YouTube
#fun #electronics #nostalgia #toys #electronic_toys

reshared this

Finally discovered where to go to turn off that damned "profile preview" popup that Mastodon introduced a while back.

If you go to Preferences > Appearance, select "Disable profile preview on hover". Problem solved.

For the love of Pete that damn popup is annoying as hell. Always getting in the way. Glad they at least had the foresight to allow people to turn it off. Just irritated that it took me this long to find it.

But now you know (if you didn't already).

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

Stop putting QR code on your posters in the city.

I don’t have my phone with me.

When I have it, I don’t want to open it.

When it is open, I don’t want to scan random stuff.

Just put the information on the posters. The date, the place, the price. Write them !

Add an URL to your website. One I could memorize, note down or even recognize later.

And no instagram/facebook. I want the information, not "follow".

You are not cool, you are simply losing a huge part of your potential audience.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

My Twitter account is currently locked and I don't look at it, but I'm hard deleting it this month. If you have a Twitter account you don't read, I also recommend full deletion before Nov. 15. Here's why.

Twitter has their TOS now in an unusual state x.com/en/tos with two copies of the TOS printed one after the other, with a notice the new TOS goes active November 15.

The major difference I see is starting Nov 15 they give themselves explicit rights to train AI models on your posts.

"We have made some updates to our Terms of Service. This version of the Terms of Service will go into effect on November 15, 2024. Until then, the current Terms of Service continue to apply."
The current, and post-Nov.15 versions of the Twitter TOS (non EU version), the section granting Twitter a copyright license. Highlighted is the new text in the Nov. 15 version only: "including, for example, for use with and training of our machine learning and artificial intelligence models, whether generative or another type".

X Terms of Service

Read X's Terms of Service to understand the rules governing your access of all Twitter services.
twitter-com

I was curious to see what the ChatGPT app was like on desktop. As I suspected, it's basically a PWA, which means those who use the website on the desktop will have the same experience.. except for the enhancements that send the generated output to screen readers.
in reply to Leo

Tamas G
Tamas G
• •
not impressed. I was expecting this to allow for voice mode on desktop, which I'm sure will get added, but of course it's using Edge web view underneath because why wouldn't it be, and as a result some things are read differently, oddly things like using the G key or H to move through the entire conversation is less reliable for me, so yeah not impressed.
in reply to Tamas G

Leo
Leo
• •
@Tamasg It seems to me like every time they release a new update of any kind, they always find creative ways to mess something up.
@Tamas G

I used ChatGPT to write a JAWS function for me today. It's going to benefit quite a number of StationPlaylist users. I've got to say, it's really nice to have someone, or something, that can help me out. It took two attempts but it did a good job.
in reply to Brian Hartgen

Matt Campbell
Matt Campbell
• •
I'm surprised ChatGPT could write the JAWS scripting language at all, considering what must be a tiny amount of training data for that programming language.
in reply to Matt Campbell

Brian Hartgen
Brian Hartgen
• •
@matt It did a really good job surprisingly. Just a point I was struggling over. Had it not been for it though, people wouldn't have got this feature. So I was quite pleased with it.
@Matt Campbell
in reply to Matt Campbell

Jeffrey D. Stark
Jeffrey D. Stark
• •
@matt it has a pretty solid documentation and is pretty straight forward as a language but ya...
@Matt Campbell

The Jelly Max has arrived and is charging at its full 66-watt speed. It kind of reminds me of an iPhone 3GS, but thicker. People seem to find it overly chunky and I don't agree at all. With its curved edges, it feels great to hold, and the 5-inch screen is going to feel a lot more suitable for daily use than the 3-inch screen of the Jelly Star. I'm still disappointed at the lack of a headphone jack, but the Unihertz headphone jacks have bad microphone leakage and given its huge battery and my belated shift to using Bluetooth more often, that might not be such a bad thing.
in reply to Tech Singer

Bill Dengler
Bill Dengler
• •
@techsinger I actually do have a phone with two USB-C ports: store.planetcom.co.uk/products…

Astro Slide 5G

Cosmo Communicator is the ultimate portable computer, mobile device that fits in your pocket. Inspired by Psion devices and from the makers of the Gemini PDA, it has an excellent keyboard, dual-SIM mobile phone and a fantastic camera.
Planet Computers
@Tech Singer

Otto waiting at the vet #dogsofmastodon
Otto looking to the camera held by his human, me, I’m wearing a face mask. Otto is a Boston terrier dog, his black and white face and the ears straight up.
#dogsofmastodon

"The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

#Poet #DarkPoetry #ChildrensLiterature #Symbolism #MaryHowitt
#TheSpiderAndTheFly #PoemsForHalloween #Poetry #Poem #Octobereen #Macabre #Literature #Art #Performance #PoetryReading #Halloween

youtube.com/watch?v=37uYq10YpK…


"The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt (read by Tom O'Bedlam)

A cautionary tale for children
YouTube
#art #poetry #performance #poet #halloween #literature #poem #symbolism #darkpoetry #childrensLiterature #maryhowitt #poemsforhalloween #octobereen #macabre #poetryreading #thespiderandthefly
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

A11y at Work: When Team Opinions Differ
melsumner.github.io/a11y-at-wo…

A11y at Work: When Team Opinions Differ

Sometimes working with a larger team means that you’ll get more varied opinions about how something should be done. Now, this is good when the final result is one that covers more gaps and includes more use cases.
Melanie Sumner (Just Melanie from the Internet)

We have found that you could be leaking traffic on macOS after system updates. To our current knowledge a reboot resolves it.

We are currently investigating this and will follow up with more information.

Read more here: mullvad.net/blog/macos-sometim…


macOS sometimes leaks traffic after system updates

We have found that you could be leaking traffic on macOS after system updates. To our current knowledge a reboot resolves it. We are currently investigating this and will follow up with more information.
Mullvad VPN

you've heard of Cython now get ready for CYthon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

welsh python was not one of my greatest ideas i now realise

a screenshot of some python code, all the keywords have been translated into welsh. the code has a loop that repeats 20 times printing "shwmae" and "helo" along with a sine and cosine calculation of a value along with the loop interation number

Looks like my next read. THe attached audiobook sample contains ... a lot of swearing.

"What would happen if you crossed the high fantasy of Wheel of Time with the irreverent comedy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

Meet Your Maker is a comedic, epic fantasy series that asks the questions: What is fiction? What is reality? And does it make a difference, when everyone and everything is trying to kill you?
Bruce created this world. Now he has to survive it.

Meet your Maker by Seth McDuffee.
seanrandall.me/recommends/1039…
#Bookstodon


Meet Your Maker: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG: 1: Amazon.co.uk: McClain, Johnathan, McDuffee, Seth: 9781039455405: Books

Buy Meet Your Maker: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG: 1 by McClain, Johnathan, McDuffee, Seth (ISBN: 9781039455405) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
seanrandall.me
#bookstodon

The G7 countries had a meeting on disability and inclusion for the first time ever.

These groups should really take the next step and add ableism to the meeting topics as it is where lack of inclusion stems from.

g7disabilityinclusion.it/en/g7… @disability #Ableism #Economy #Disability

G7 Inclusion and Disability For the first time in history, a ministerial meeting dedicated exclusively to the topics of inclusion and disability will be held. Following the protocols established for G7 ministerial summits, the preparatory days and the ministerial meeting will be held behind closed doors. However, we have decided to open the moment of welcoming the delegations to the public, to allow for greater participation and awareness of these fundamental issues The G7 ministers will ascend the stone stage of the Basilica of Assisi to greet all those present. Usually this moment of greeting is reserved, but on this occasion it will be open to the public to encourage greater sharing and participation. This is why the G7 Inclusion and Disability is a historic event, wanted by the Minister for Disability Alessandra Locatelli, and supported by the Ministers dealing with disability from all the participating countries. To launch a message of sharing, of Peace and to put at the centre of the international agendas the themes of inclusion, universal accessibility, autonomous and independent living, the enhancement of talents, labour inclusion and the right of everyone to full participation in civil, social and political life.

G7 Inclusion and Disability – G7 Disability Inclusion

www.g7disabilityinclusion.it
#Disability #economy #ableism @Disability group

Does Thunderbird's IRC implementation not support /ignore? This is pretty essential.

Me too, piano. Me too.
A piano with a sign that says: I'm old and I'm tired. Please do not play me.

I am very happy to announce that Rabbit Waves is out!

The idea for this project came after @neauoire & I were discussing the disappearance of certain traditional seasteading skills and maritime communication knowledge. We believe these skills are valuable when electronics misbehave, but they're also just generally fun to learn and to use.

All of the art is drawn by hand :>! We will add more content as we go!

rabbitwaves.ca/

a sketchbook page featuring some hand drawn art of the phonetic alphabet, as well as how to communicate with flag semaphore.
a sketchbook page showing illustrated sea birds having a conversation using the phonetic alphabet.

Rabbit Waves

rabbitwaves.ca
@Devil Lu Linvega

WordPress retaliation impacts community

Link: lwn.net/SubscriberLink/993895/…
Discussion: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4…

WordPress retaliation impacts community [LWN.net]

lwn.net

Re last: I used to integrate APIs from #Zuora at my previous job.
#zuora

#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 16 updated and 2 added apps:

* MockTraffic: a random DNS, HTTPS internet traffic noise generator 🛡️
* Fossify Launcher: a customizable homescreen app to complete your green Fossify collection 🛡️

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

This is a repository of apps to be used with your F-Droid client. Applications in this repository are official binaries built by the original application developers, taken from their resp. repositories (mostly Github, GitLab, Codeberg).
IzzyOnDroid App Repo
#android #free #apps #AndroidAppRain #izzyondroid

I think what folks don't understand, in general, is that unless you compel
corporations to act in the public/consumer interest with
existential-level fines and possible jail time, they absolutely will
just grind up babies and use them as fertilizer, and sleep well at night. This nonsense of "less regulation" and "smaller government" is a fantasy from earlier, less complex times. Even then it was probably bullshit. Corporations need to be on a damn strong leash, otherwise, you are.

Had an interesting day to say the least. Just trying to process everything, at the same time take care of myself. Listening to some kate rusby which always helps.

Another AMD crash. This time it wasn’t open a Firefox tab.

Damn! I imagine the European union to be a huge council of white Europeans in suits who want nothing more than to keep things kind of socialist.
in reply to Nick's world

Sean Randall
Sean Randall
• •
All 28 European commissioners are white. Nearly all government ministers and leaders are white. Of the European parliament's 751 MEPs, three are black, compared to the 22 there would be if the institution represented Europe's black population.
in reply to Sean Randall

Nick's world
Nick's world
• •
@cachondo Basically, a sea of white faces of men and women wearing suits and dresses, punishing companies for existing and being European level strict.
@Sean Randall

#today on the sands of Talacre beach N.E. Wales, our elderly whippet Meg came alive again in the October sunshine, the clean sea air, and the freedom of the wide open space - like she used to be before old-age lethargy set in. We rarely see this Meg now. Another trip to the seaside soon, methinks.
#whippet #NorthWales #wales #cymru #beach #seaside #doglovers
a wide open sandy beach, the sea far off, the blue sky and wispy cloud. In the foreground a white and grey whippet, jumping in sunshine, looking at the camera, open mouthed like she is laughing. Walking behind her is me, blue woolly hat, specs and grey beard, hands in pockets. Behind me a white lighthouse in the distance
#seaside #beach #Today #doglovers #Wales #cymru #whippet #northwales
in reply to Mike 🌈

Sean Randall
Sean Randall
• •
that's sweet. Our old guide dog slowed down, especially after his retirement. Cherish the day, eh?

Yes, other visitors might need to be on a lead too.

Interesting article from Loris re: tech gap in things like CMS/blogs. "The Static Paradox" kristoff.it/blog/static-site-p…

The Static Site Paradox

Loris Cro's Blog
kristoff.it

Thank you, McSweeney's, for perfectly capturing the CoinDesk endorsement of Donald Trump I wrote about last night

McSweeney's: mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-an-…

Newsletter: citationneeded.news/issue-68/

#USpol #USpolitics

Headline: "I’m an Undecided Hobbit, Torn Between a Dark Lord Who Promises an Age of Chaos and an Elf Queen Whom I Just Wish I Knew More About"
Despite all of this, the sometimes decent CoinDesk crypto media outlet has come out with a truly embarrassing endorsement-that-claims-not-to-be-an-endorsement of Donald Trump. (“If CoinDesk were in the business of endorsing political candidates and if crypto were the only issue that mattered, it's pretty clear whom we would back to become the next U.S. president.... [E]ven though we don't endorse candidates, we do endorse Trump's crypto platform, such as is [sic].”) Although they claim to be “troubled” by his racism and “increasingly authoritarian rhetoric” — which they describe as “the antithesis of a crypto movement focused on decentralizing authority and empowering individuals” — the opinion piece by CoinDesk’s editor-in-chief, published on behalf of CoinDesk as a whole, is full of “neverthelesses” and “even thoughs” and “howevers” as he recommends Trump anyway. The whole thing boils down to “sure, Trump is a shameless racist who’s been increasingly threatening to do things like round up immigrants and deploy the military against his political enemies, and his statements on crypto kind of seem like empty pandering, but on the other hand, Harris has been... vague.”

Issue 68 – Opportunity agenda

Harris shouts out crypto in her “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men”, one crypto exec leaves prison as another enters, and Stand With Crypto bets on the favorites.
Molly White (Citation Needed)
#uspol #uspolitics
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

It's always a joy when you hear your screen reader say "list of 29 items
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet,
bullet
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Patrick Perdue

Sean Randall
Sean Randall
• •
at least it can count! Take pleasure in its math abilities whilst laughing at its lack of ability to read. Mwahahaha!

liquid swords

#unix_surrealism #9front #cirno #comic

Cirno is sitting on top of a to-rent billboard that says: "YOUR AD HERE". There's a rifle and an empty beer bottle there with her. Rabbit techno-mage approaches her. Mage: "What's up, C? Having a fun time, I see." Cirno offers a cigarette to the mage. Cirno: "Always."
#comic #9front #unix_surrealism #cirno

Google’s NotebookLM Now Broadly Available with Audio Overview Customizations thurrott.com/a-i/google-gemini…

Google's NotebookLM Now Broadly Available with Audio Overview Customizations - Thurrott.com

Two weeks ago, I posted a video showing off the insanely capable Audio Overview tool in NotebookLM, Google’s experimental AI service. Today, the online giant added two interesting new features to Audio Overview that make it even more compelling.
Paul Thurrott (Thurrott.com)

FediMeta, blocklist update, 1/3

Got two blocklist updates today, and a non-update with private visibility. First, a FediNuke/tier0.csv transparency update:

I override-added an instance to FediNuke using my documented override process: caekis.love.

Was already near consensus, and the admin was already in receipts for the gleasonator.com FediNuke entry.

See the many receipts for caekis.love in my receipt archive. The severity was enough to warrant inclusion.

#FediNuke


My Fediverse blocklists

Documentation on which Fediverse blocklists I offer, how they are made, their differences, their caveats, and their intended use.
Seirdy’s Home
#fedinuke
This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)
in reply to Seirdy

Seirdy
Seirdy
• •
FediMeta, blocklist update, 2/3

I also retired my tier-1 blocklist. It’s the least-used blocklist I have, and I’m managing several; it’s not worth the effort. Every new severity level demands more instances to carefully consider.

Without willingness to spend that effort, its existence encourages me to treat it like a dumping ground for other entries that don’t qualify for other lists instead of evaluating entries’ severity properly.

I will maintain it in private to shine a light on the latter phenomenon, but I won’t share it.

Before you protest, know that I’m maintaining six other blocklists:

  • FediNuke.txt
  • My tier0 list (might re-name)
  • BirdSiteLive, bird.makeup
  • Other bridges
  • Corporate social media (Threads, Medium, Minds, etc)
  • Spammy subdomains

They will be unaffected. If anything, they’ll improve.

#blocklists

bird.makeup - Home Page

bird.makeup
#blocklists

Reading about the attack on @internetarchive I wonder two things: how to more reliably fund it, but also, how to fund at least five more independently run instances worldwide.
@internetarchive

I think we reached an important milestone today about my work on modernizing notifications in GNOME and for the FreeDesktop.

Most of the improvements I proposed for version 2 of the xdg-desktop-portal got merged today. This has been a long journey and many thanks go to everybody involved, especially to those who reviewed the my changes 🎉

If you haven’t followed the journey: github.com/flatpak/xdg-desktop…


Implement v2 notification spec by jsparber · Pull Request #1298 · flatpak/xdg-desktop-portal

After lot of consideration I started implementing parts of the proposed and discussed notification API For now this includes: Set icon additionally via file descriptor Set sound via bytes, file ...
GitHub

reshared this

You know open source is great. And you know we can't make money from what we give away for free.

But why do people develop open source projects? Who uses it? And why do we need it? What would happen if it didn't exist?

Follow me on my journey to explore how we can build sustainable technology that serves the public interest: Subscribe to Flint & Silicon to hear about the systemic challenges and opportunities of Public Interest Technology.

🔄 Boosts welcome!

ergaster.org/podcast

A video thumnail of the episode 0 (teaser) of the show Flint & Silicon. There is a pixelated mouse pointer, and its shadow is an arrow-shaped flint. The title is "Connecting Public Interest Technology Disciplines"

Flint & Silicon

The podcast that connects all the disciplines of Public Interest Technology.
ergaster.org

The system that moves water around the Earth is off balance for the first time in human history cnn.com/2024/10/16/climate/glo…

> WARNING: The convert command is deprecated in IMv7, use "magick" instead of "convert" or "magick convert"

🤟 OH NICE. Are the "import" days gone too?

But #ImageMagick wasn't the worst offender there... I should crunch some stats on packages providing many /usr/bin/{?,??,???} files...

#imagemagick

MacChat: “Exploring Parallels, ChatGPT, and CleanMyMac: Mac Adventures and Beyond” - Unmute unmute.show/macchat-exploring-…

MacChat: “Exploring Parallels, ChatGPT, and CleanMyMac: Mac Adventures and Beyond” - Unmute

In this episode of MacChat, Chris and Marty dive into exciting Mac-related adventures, sharing insights on using Parallels to run Windows 11 on a Mac Mini, optimizing storage with CleanMyMac X, and exploring the benefits of ChatGPT for translating do…
pgnpt (Unmute)
⇧