Iām not recommending that you mix #fountainpen inks. But if you want to take a chance, this might help. I just spent the better part of the day pretending that three Herbin inks are C, M, and Y, and I mixed them in different ratios to make custom colours in the future.
I don't know if y'all can access this story, but @404mediaco has a piece that I helped with. It is:
"AI Comes for a Centuries-Old Craft" and the proliferation of #AIslop beginner books. Preying on beginners who don't know what's real or not is loathsome, and underway.
With help from a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, a project to Enhance Lace Content in Wikipedia is underway. This video is an overview of that project, ...
Did a loved one receive a new computer under the tree? Our #RemoteIncidentManager can allow you to connect to their computer from wherever you are. Configure it to their liking, install software, and fix any problems that arise, all as if you were right in front of the machine! RIM's new AI Tools capability is ready to assist you with any questions you may have along the way. Free, unlimited access will run through January 2nd, 2025! getrim.app #accessibility #inclusivity
Managing the volume on an Android device is a fundamental aspect that every user should understand. Android organizes audio into several distinct channels,
We're demystifying the reasons meatballs at a restaurant somehow taste better than homemade. And with these tricks up your sleeve, yours will be just as tasty.
For the cover of my next book, I would like to illustrate software compartmentalisation with a montage of cats in boxes. I probably need at least 16 pictures of cats in boxes, ideally views from directly above. If you have such pictures that you took or otherwise own the rights to and you would be happy for me to use them, please can you post them in this thread along with how youād like to be attributed? No āAIā pictures please.
Thank you in advance!
Edit: I've added a very rough cut of what I actually want.
Edit 2: Slightly better version. I'm mostly happy with this one. Not as good a professionally designed one, but the correct number of cats.
Super random poll for everyone today, would there be any interest in an accessible, cross-platform software suite containing things like a calculator, editor, file manager, book reader, reminder app, to-do list, etc? I know that for me a huge draw of note takers and similar is the specialized and incredibly efficient and optimized software that comes with them, and hardly ever the hardware, I don't need Braille sells. I think that if I had had software like this on a Windows computer instead of HumanWare note takers in school I would've been better off, and honestly I can see myself using something like this today. The only thing I knew that was sort of like this was KeySoft for DOS, and all full copies of that are lost to time sadly.
If we're going to talk about what would make blind kids better off, would it not be better to teach them to use mainstream tools for all those tasks, so they can be more fully integrated into the mainstream world?
@matt I don't think custom solutions are necessarily bad, *as long as they interoperate with the mainstream*.
I feel like the experiment that is screen readers has failed us in many respects. A sighted 5-year-old can pick up a phone, and, with 0 understanding of technology, find their favorite cartoons on the internet, with little to no guidance from their parents, and sometimes explicitly against their wishes. Blind people are nowhere near that, and I don't think our current approach of badly trying to adapt a vision-first interface to an audio-first world is ever going to get us there. There are good arguments to be made for the current paradigm, being able to use any existing app with 0 extra work is definitely one, but I just don't think we'll ever get to sighted levels of ergonomics, speed and ease of use if we don't make something for ourselves.
The 21st-century world of software security, locked down APIs and proprietary solutions doesn't make doing it well neither easy nor chea, though.
@matt What I mean there is that e.g. there is no point in a notetaking app for school if it doesn't let you collaborate with Google-docs-using groupmates, and writing a custom Google Docs frontend is... very, very far from trivial.
@matt So I have incredibly mixed feelings on this, and my argument is that a Windows computer is a much more mainstream tool than a note taker, so the blind kids would already be ahead. I definitely take your point about using mainstream software, though, although I will also point out that there isn't even mainstream software for everything I needed to do in school. We used the GSuite a lot and I used my regular web browser for that, but there were also loads of PDF's and other file formats I would've had no way of reading without QRead, a propriotary blindness-specific tool. It's a tricky line to walk for sure, but personally I'm not against specialized tools if they let me get my work done 10 times faster.
@matt there was this thing from Brasil called Dosvox. It even had a couple games, besides many productivity apps. People that started with it struggled a lot when transitioning to screen readers and mainstream tools. Anyway many people used thaat for education andd work.
@masonasons BT speak kinda does this I suppose? I've not used one to know how it functions for the advanced user. I think Orbit Speak uses android as a platform and I know it is both loud (in terms of physical keypresses), and quite sluggish to respond. So is Braillenote, much of the time.
@Sean Randall @MewāØš„° @Quin I think BT speak does it all on CLI. It would be nice to try packaging it for popular linux distros like debian, arch linux and similar, then ensure it is not isolated and supports standard protocols i.e. IMAP / SMTP for email, caldav for calendar, carddav for contacts, even webdav for files and make it sync with nextcloud or different backend of everyones choice. Then consider XMPP or matrix for instant messaging, radio-browser for radio stations, UPnP / DLNA for discovering local music / movie / multimedia libraries and multiroom audio This would be a productivity booster since you can use this suite of apps to do it when in front a computer, but you could also integrate a different apps when using different platforms. I know my dreams are somewhat unrealistic, however what I would like to say from the start integrations and avoid vendor locks are the key points.
@pvagner @masonasons This is my real bugbear with much of the blindy equipment. It's all locked-in. My Braille display has wifi, yet I can't put files on it wirelessly. It supports online services, but only if you're a lucky american. Things like RSS really lend themselves to reading in Braille, caldav is lightweight, but there's just no thought into the conveniences.
@cachondo @pvagner @masonasons The problem with IMAP/CalDAV is that realistically, the majority of the world uses Google and you need to interoperate with them, which Google won't let you do unless you pass a proper security audit, which you won't be able to afford unless you want to make good money off of the thing.
@MikoÅaj HoÅysz @Sean Randall @MewāØš„° @Quin Then during second or third or whatever stage expand it to privacy respecting blindness specific online services. Similar what some nation specific agencies for the blind are doing e.g. in czech republic there are email lists, web servers, access to ordinari news papers and magazines, TV programme and other goodies operated like this. I'd prefer federation over google or any other brand specific support. Google, Microsoft, apple, soho, whatever other popular service lets you import from caldav / carddav, colaborating is a different story though.
if you're interested in actually overthrowing Big Android (rather than living off Googles scraps) be sure to come by the #LinuxMobile assembly this congress. There's a revolution brewing :3
LINMOB.net is a blog about LINux on MOBile devices. With the PinePhone (Pro) and Librem 5 shipping it is back to report on GNU+Linux on mobile devices.
We would like to ask you again to test yourself every day for Covid before you come to the CCH. We also encourage you to wear masks - #CovidIsNotOver and other nasty things also go around.
Masks will be available at the entrance of the venue. #38C3
Did you know, there are many completely free sample libraries out there these days, some could help you end up in writing for your next film or TV show, genuinely?
I wrote this piece of music for my podcast using purely *free* libraries and nothing else.
This piece of music is for the podcast 'StroongeCast' I co-created with my wife Kirsten. Every podcast needs a musical intro (or at least I believe so) and t...
@RaccoonForFriendica do you want to try the new "Card" layout for posts? All you have to do is downloading version 0.4.0-beta02 and try it out! Using Compose Multiplatform, customizing UI is as easy as eating a piece of cake.
This version also contains a fix for the search text field which was not scrollable horizontally when its content exceeded the available width, plus some localization updates.
We're reaching towards the 0.4.0 milestone, just another feature (audio playback) and then it'll be ready to go!
When I spent a year with the DotPad and now 6 months and going with the Monarch, besides the fact that the Monarch is the only Multi Line Tactile display still available in Australia, here are some of my advantage points for the Monarch over the DotPad.
Can be used as a stand alone device, 20 hours battery life, On/off, USBC, USBA, HDMI, 3.5MM ear phone jack, and volume up/down buttons, Users used to the Braille Note, Brailliant, and Mantis will pick up same concepts used on the Monarch (its KeySoft), Plug in a QWERTY keyboard and/or portable HDMI display, Braille input keyboard, 10 line by 32 cell tactile display,
Removable metal template to replace membrane over the pins,
Speech output, Navigation and Zoom keys, Point and click to move cursor or Zoom tactile graphics, Button to refresh tactile array at any time, Tactile horizontal and vertical scroll bars to let user know where they can scroll, Easily jump around tactile graphic with keyboard short cuts,
increase line spacing when reading Braille, Easy to identify cursor in menus, and place focussed line that contains cursor to the top of the display, Access various file formats, Various applications including web Browser (beta), email (beta), Tactile Library (APH), Maths graphing calculator, Word Processer, Braille Editor, Book Reader (victor Reader), 2025 WingIT app for iOS drawing, and Terminal screen reader support.
Ukrainians Do Not Want to Defend Incumbent Govāt, Calling Country āPrisonā - Reports sputnikglobe.com/20241226/ukraā¦ Ukrainian men are fleeing the country because they don't want to defend the corrupt government, German broadcaster n-tv reported, citing Ukrainian migrants. #news #press
Una curiosidad que he aprendido estas fiestas, por contradicciĆ³n:
No existe obligaciĆ³n legal de que las bebidas espirituosas vengan con tapĆ³n irrelenable. AsĆ se deduce, contrario sensu, del artĆculo 10 del RD 164/2014, de 14 de marzo: boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-Aā¦
When he was a puppy, Bertie dog decided his preferred occupation was to be a trip hazard. It's a job he's embraced ever since. (September 2017 / yesterday).
āDemokracia nie je divĆ”cky Å”port, že sa naÅ mĆ“Å¾eme pozeraÅ„ a nezapĆ”jaÅ„ sa. To, že sa obÄania angažujĆŗ, vyjadrujĆŗ, je prejavom slobody, obÄianskej uvedomelosti.ā
Gajimās port to GTK4 is almost finished. š„ Currently weāre testing thoroughly to make the switch as smooth as possible.
We went ahead and made lots of small improvements, e.g. writing messages while offline, better styling for image previews, improved chat filters and more.
Gajim also improved its spam fighting toolkit: The next release will allow you to moderate all messages of a spammer at once. š¤
If you like to support Gajim, please consider making a donation: liberapay.com/Gajim
ā ļø šØ Itās time to stop using Blabber.im šØā ļø
The abandoned fork of #Conversations_im has a critical security issue: attackers can bypass STARTTLS negotiation, resulting in an unencrypted connection to a fake server. This vulnerability is similar to the STARTLS attack discovered in various email clientsĀ¹
ā Fixed in Conversations 2.13.1 (Feb 2024)
š¢ Please migrate to Conversations immediately! It's free on Google Play until the end of the year and always free on #fdroid
The Tornado Chicken is a fast-paced, endless runner audio game designed specifically for blind players. Step into the feathery shoes of a daring chicken as
Historia del panetone: el pasado industrial y el motivo por el que en Italia suele ser mejor | El Comidista | GastronomĆa | EL PAĆS elpais.com/gastronomia/el-comiā¦
Desde su incierto origen medieval, el pan navideƱo ha pasado por la industrializaciĆ³n y la vuelta a lo artesanal. En EspaƱa triunfa, pero la calidad media del italiano es superior porque su denominaciĆ³n estĆ” regulada
Pleased to share that we now will automatically deliver license codes immediately for most orders of our screen reader voices. atguys.com/collections/softwarā¦
@robini71 It's all working, but it's spelling control names all over the place. I'm sure there is a tip for that on Mastodon somewhere. I've just got to find it. But thank you for supplying the product.
@robini71 I've got it. It is from David Goldfield and it says: Quick Tip: If you do plan on using NVDA with Eloquence, make sure that you go into the Voices menu (shortcut key is insert+ctrl+V) and uncheck "Use Spelling Functionality if Supported.) This prevents Eloquence from spelling out text in some dialog boxes.
@robini71 I really do not like using it because of personal preferences and there would be a tonne of things I would miss out on. But there's one thing it is doing really well which you may be interested in. I can scroll through my Facebook group entries without a problem. JAWS only allows me to see some of them at a time, and I need to see these group entries without too much of an issue.
@robini71 @brian_hartgen I also use NVDA as a secondary screen reader and I sometimes do use the NVDA Sapi voice. One thing I've noticed about it, at least on my machine, is that it does seem to load large Web pages a bit faster than JAWS. I wonder why it renders Facebook groups differently.
@DavidGoldfield @robini71 I think what it is David is that JAWS is not scrolling the screen properly. When you use quick nav keys for example, JAWS is meant to scroll the screen to reveal more content. It doesn't seem to be working quite right. The screen needs to scroll to reveal more posts.
The holidays are often a really tough time for queer, and especially #trans, folks. We fight for family and somehow it always seems to turn into us getting hurt more and more.
This holiday on #StainedGlassWoman, we're holding the Black Sheep close, and talking about the reasons families are dysfunctional.
And no, it's not your fault. It was never your fault.
Welcome to this very silly series of blog posts where I attempt to identify all the mobile phones used in Doctor Who. The 2024 Xmas special is fairly light on phones. Right at the end, we see Ruby Sunday calling her mum.
mem_somerville
in reply to mem_somerville • • •Separately, I was planning to launch this project in January, after the holidays. But BECAUSE REASONS it makes sense to launch now.
I'm recruiting #Wikipedia editors for lace pages, and got a grant for it from @wikipedia .
#lace #BobbinLace #NeedleLace #tatting #lacemaking
youtu.be/5boV146lm_k
Lace In Wikipedia Project Overview
YouTube