mastodon - Link to source
FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Ozempic to treat chronic kidney disease in those with diabetes, expanding its use
cnbc.com/2025/01/28/novo-nordi…

FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Ozempic to treat chronic kidney disease in those with diabetes, expanding its use

Expanded Ozempic approval in the U.S. could transform how doctors treat patients with chronic kidney disease, which involves a gradual loss of kidney function.
Annika Kim Constantino (CNBC)

mastodon - Link to source
150 Local PBS Stations Are Now Streaming Free & Ad-Free on Amazon Prime Video cordcuttersnews.com/150-local-…

150 Local PBS Stations Are Now Streaming Free & Ad-Free on Amazon Prime Video | Cord Cutters News

This week PBS stations went live on Amazon Prime Video, offering over 150 live local PBS stations for free.
Luke Bouma (Cord Cutters News)

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mastodon - Link to source
A U.S.federal judge has halted President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal funding, saying the sweeping order needs to be paused to give time to court briefings. Read more from @NBCNews
flip.it/x.quzW
#Trump #FederalFunding #Medicare #US #Lawsuit

D.C. federal judge temporarily blocks Trump plan to pause federal aid spending

WASHINGTON — A federal district judge on Tuesday granted an administrative stay in a case challenging the Trump administration’s planned freeze of federal aid, pausing the plan for a week and setting a hearing for further arguments Monday morning.
Daniel Barnes (NBC News)
#Trump #us #lawsuit #federalfunding #medicare @NBC News

akkoma - Link to source
An actual bloodless coup is happening at OPM right now. It bad. dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/27…

What is happening inside the Office of Personnel Management?

From an anon OPM employee on Reddit. OPM employee here, we are not the bad guysHR (self.fednews) submitted 3 hours ago by Throwaway918284 I'm a current employee at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This is a throwaway account for obvious...
Daily Kos
This entry was edited (10 months ago)

ActivityPub - Link to source

A reminder that broadband-from-space isn't about bridging the global digital divide or serving poor people. It's just another for-profit enterprise that seeks to exploit a public commons for private gain.

"#Starlink has refused to comply with the country’s BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) – 30 per cent ownership to local historically disadvantaged people."

technext24.com/2025/01/28/star…

#Space #SouthAfrica


Starlink urges South Africa to waive 30% Black Economic Empowerment policy

Starlink said the policy would stifle international investments
Joshua Fagbemi (TechNext.ng)
#space #southafrica #Starlink

mastodon - Link to source
INKLUSIVA Call (www.inklusiva-call.de) bietet auch zum Thema Hören viele Funktionen. Diese können z.B. für Menschen mit Hör-Einschränkungen nützlich sein. Deshalb sind die Balance und die Übertragung von Hintergrundgeräuschen anpassbar.
Auch die Lautstärke und die Übertragung hoher Frequenzen bei einzelnen Teilnehmenden lassen sich regulieren.
Einige der Einstellungen zum Thema Hören können auch für Menschen geeignet sein, die ein eher reizarmes Meeting benötigen. Mehr Infos im Post!
INKLUSIVA Call (als Logo). Das sind die Funktionen. Genaue Einstellungen zum Thema Hören.“ Signale und Ton aller Teilnehmenden: In INKLUSIVA Call kann ich vor einem Meeting folgendes einstellen: Möchte ich hörbare Signale im Meeting: Ja oder Nein? (z.B. Meldungen mit Ton, wenn jemand dem Meeting beigetreten ist). Möchte ich den Ton aller anderen Teilnehmenden ein- oder ausschalten? So kann ich das Audio einstellen: Lautstärke regeln, Hohe Frequenzen erhöhen oder reduzieren, Leise Töne verstärken, Balance einstellen (Ton kommt von rechts, links, rechts-mitte, links-mitte oder Mitte). Die Einstellung der Lautstärke und der hohen Frequenzen ist für alle Ton-Übertragungen gleichzeitig und auch für den Ton jedes Teilnehmenden einzeln möglich! Hintergrund-Geräusche: Zudem kann ich Hintergrundgeräusche aus dem eigenen Ton reduzieren. Und es gibt eine Rausch-Unterdrückung. Mit diesen Funktionen hören die anderen Teilnehmenden deutlicher, was man selbst sagt. Automatische Untertitel: INKLUSIVA Call bietet automatische UT. Diese sind noch nicht perfekt. Sie funktionieren am besten bei deutlicher Aussprache und wenn man dem Tool einige Sekunden Zeit für eine Korrektur lässt.

mastodon - Link to source

Is 185 users "a significant number"?

Will Mastodon.social be required to shut down its public web pages and cease federation?

Is AWS S3 required to ban pornography or implement age-assurance protocols for public HTTP requests?

Can Sotheby's auction house display images of Robert Mapplethorpe's "X" series on their web site?

These are some of the questions we asked in our letter to Ofcom regarding the #OnlineSafetyAct. blog.woof.group/announcements/…

Letter to Ofcom Regarding the Online Safety Act

This letter (lightly edited for formatting and clarity) was sent to Ofcom's Online Safety Team on 2025-01-27 to clarify open questions re...
Woof.group Announcements
#onlinesafetyact
This entry was edited (10 months ago)

DFRN - Link to source

Save to folder function broken or my Browser?

@Friendica Developers @Friendica Support

Does "Save to folder" function work for you on the current stable and dev?

Screenshot of Frio UI showing options under a post item which selection for further actions. The option "In Ordner speichern" in highlighted in yellow.

When ever I enter a folder and confirm, the browser (Firefox) freezes until I refresh it. The browser asks on refresh if I really want to leave the site since it is still processing.

After the manual refresh, the site is correctly saved.

Background: I was diving in the Code to adjust the color for the "save to folder" dialog, which is actually colorbox. Are we interested to make it a modal like the compose window?

I already fixed the color appearance, but am reluctant to create a PR on a may be faulty feature in general.

PS: I am so grateful for the dev container for friendica, it simplifies the dev process at leat for ui tremendously! ❤

@Friendica Support @Friendica Developers

mastodon - Link to source
Received my Braille Doodle, and I have to say quite worth the wait as it turns out. So many benefits for learning tactile/Braille, and would be great for the Pacific region as its just like a Magna Doodle, except its a BrailleDoodle: no power required - touchpadprofoundation.org

Learn Braille & Create Tactile Images for Art and STEM

Discover an affordable, innovative Braille learning device that also allows for science, math, and art learning. Enhance reading experiences and open new pathways to learning.
The TouchPad Pro Foundation
This entry was edited (10 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

My wife and many of her friends are sociologists. She forwarded me this text that one of her friends found. Apparently it was also written by a sociologist. I found it helpful. Maybe you will too.

"As a sociologist, I need to tell you that your being overwhelmed is the goal.
1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" - using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too disoriented to effectively resist. This isn't just politics as usual - it's a strategic exploitation of cognitive limits.
2/ Media theorist McLuhan predicted this: When humans face information overload, they become passive and disengaged. The rapid-fire executive orders create a cognitive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for citizens and media to thoroughly analyze any single policy.
3/ Agenda-setting theory explains the strategy: When multiple major policies compete for attention simultaneously, it fragments public discourse. Traditional media can't keep up with the pace, leading to superficial coverage.
The result? Weakened democratic oversight and reduced public engagement.
What now?
1/ Set boundaries: Pick 2-3 key issues you deeply care about and focus your attention there. You can't track everything - that's by design. Impact comes from sustained focus, not scattered awareness.
2/ Use aggregators & experts: Find trusted analysts who do the heavy lifting of synthesis. Look for those explaining patterns, not just events.
3/ Remember: Feeling overwhelmed is the point. When you recognize this, you regain some power. Take breaks. Process. This is a marathon.
4/ Practice going slow: Wait 48hrs before reacting to new policies. The urgent clouds the important. Initial reporting often misses context
5/ Build community: Share the cognitive load. Different people track different issues. Network intelligence beats individual overload.
Remember: They want you scattered. Your focus is resistance.”

UPDATE: it seems that this Threads post is the origin of the above sentiment: threads.net/@itsjenniferwalter…

While I don't love linking to Threads, I think it's important to give credit where credit is due.

#resist #trump


Jen | Swiss Sociologist & Mental Health Advocate (@itsjenniferwalter) on Threads

As a sociologist, I need to tell you: Your overwhelm is the goal 🧵 1/ The flood of 200+ executive orders in Trump's first days exemplifies Naomi Klein's "shock doctrine" - using chaos and crisis to push through radical changes while people are too d…
Threads
#Trump #resist
This entry was edited (10 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

I cannot be more pumped to continue working on this amazing startup with this amazing team and community! 🔥🔥🔥

The Open Social Web is the future, we’re just getting started 🚀

techcrunch.com/2025/01/28/auto…


Automattic and others back Openvibe, an app that's unifying the open social web | TechCrunch

Openvibe's clever app that integrates multiple open social networks including Bluesky, Mastodon, Nostr, and Threads, just got a boost toward its future
Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)

ActivityPub - Link to source

Hey everyone,

I’m micr0, the person behind Altbot, the open-source bot that helps generate alt-text for images, videos, and audio on the Fediverse. Right now, Altbot uses Google Gemini to generate the alt-text, but that means your data goes through Google’s servers and could be used for training their machine learning models.

To fix this and ensure total privacy, I’m looking to move Altbot to a local model that will run completely on my own hardware. This way, your data won’t be saved, shared, or used anywhere else—it’ll stay private and only temporarily be on my hardware.

It’s a big goal, but one that’s been on my mind since the very beginning. I’ve been talking about this shift for a while, and it’s time to make it happen. Plus, if I reach the goal, Altbot will be running on 48% renewable energy, which means less environmental impact and more sustainability.

To make this happen, I need to raise $1,800–$2,000 USD to buy server-grade hardware—things like GPUs for model processing, a solid motherboard, power supply, storage, and cooling. With this setup, I’ll be able to run Altbot privately, efficiently, and sustainably.

I’ve also posted a breakdown of the planned server specs and spending as a reply to this post if you’re curious about the details!

If this sounds like something you want to support, any help would be appreciated! Every little bit gets me closer to the goal. You can donate here: Ko-fi Link.

Thanks so much for supporting Altbot and helping make the Fediverse a better place!


Buy Micr0byte a Coffee. ko-fi.com/micr0byte

Become a supporter of Micr0byte today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love.
Ko-fi
This entry was edited (10 months ago)

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mastodon - Link to source
You know, the one thing that used to annoy me so much was when I played text adventure games, I could never access their manuals. Well now I can. You can too. Download both The HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy Z5 game and manual here: myabandonware.com/game/the-hit…

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Remember The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an old video game from 1984? Download it and play again on MyAbandonware.
My Abandonware

mastodon - Link to source
US Politics, trans people

Sensitive content

#trans

peertube - Link to source

How to add alt text to images on iOS
This showcases how to add alt text to any photo on your iOS device.
#Accessibility #technology #Disability #images #social media
This entry was edited (1 month ago)

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gotosocial - Link to source

Via Tom's Hardware: Facebook flags Linux topics as 'cybersecurity threats' — posts and users being blocked

Does this mean that Meta/Facebook is going to also ban mentions of:

  • #Android phones?
  • #SteamDeck / #SteamOS?
  • Most "smart" cars, TV's, appliances?
  • Most (somewhere around 90 percent) of the top Websites?
  • Talk of Meta's own internal infrastructure?

What an absolutely asinine thing to do. Linux is incredibly prevalent in the technology landscape today. Yes, #linux on the desktop is a small percentage of the overall devices on the market today. However, linux usage in #embedded, #server, and #appliance applications is to a level where censoring references to it is insanity.

The irony of all of this? Zuckerfaces recent pull back of moderation on Meta's sites.... Meaning it's now okay to bash socially vulnerable populations, spread tons of mis-information on many social and political topics... But linux?"Oh no! That's a #CyberSecurity threat!"

This reeks of political #tomfoolery. I won't be surprised if it's eventually revealed that our new overlords put pressure on #Meta to #censor linux.

tomshardware.com/software/linu…


Facebook flags Linux topics as 'cybersecurity threats' — posts and users being blocked

DistroWatch is one of the largest affected organizations.
Mark Tyson (Tom's Hardware)
#android #linux #server #cybersecurity #meta #SteamDeck #embedded #steamos #appliance #tomfoolery #censor

mastodon - Link to source

#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today with 18 updated (10 RB) and 2 added apps:

* Working Time Account: record your personal working and free time 🛡️
* Logline - MovieApp: discover, organize, and rate movies 🛡️

RB status: 419 apps (33.8%)

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

mastodon - Link to source

This is great news! Of course, prioritize your local library and bookstores. But also: get books and ebooks from Bookshop.org (which supports local bookstores) and audiobooks from Libro.fm.

Bottom line: bye Amazon 👋🏻

engadget.com/mobile/tablets/bo…


Bookshop.org is now selling ebooks

Bookshop.org, an online retailer that financially supports brick and mortar stores, began selling ebooks today, with all profits going to indie book stores.
Amy Skorheim (Engadget)
in reply to Mx. Riley

mastodon - Link to source

Jiří Eischmann

sadly it's almost all DRM. IMHO from customer's perspective it's still better to buy it from Amazon, apply deDRM and read it everywhere.

It reminds me how fortunate we are here. When Czech ebooks became a thing, everyone had already had a Kindle and Amazon was not interested in entering such a small market. They had to figure out how to make the ebooks work with Kindle and the simplest way was to distribute DRM-free files you can simply email to your reader. And ever since all Czech ebooks have been DRM-free (actually they use social DRM, adding buyer's identification into the copy).

mastodon - Link to source

Dear @thunderbird :
I want exactly zero notifications for me and for the desktop users I support using the upcoming #Thunderbird 134 when it's released.

Will there be an easy option to disable all such notifications ?

support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/n…

#Mozilla #FreeSoftware #Email

Different notification icons

Notifications in Thunderbird | Thunderbird Help

This allows Mozilla to push important, time-sensitive notifications to users. These notifications are scheduled based on version, OS and locale.
support.mozilla.org
#FreeSoftware #email #mozilla #thunderbird @Thunderbird: Free Your Inbox
This entry was edited (10 months ago)
in reply to Fabián Rodríguez 🛡💾 🇨🇴 🌴

mastodon - Link to source

Aleca

we're talking about 1 appeal every 4 months. Is "nagware" really the term you think is appropriate to use?
Anyway, we're exploring enterprise specific solutions, as well as anonymous, in-client, and encrypted donor recognition so we don't ask again to the same users.
We obviously don't want to be annoying, but I hope you can understand how difficult it is to support millions of users without some very sporadic donation appeal
in reply to Aleca

mastodon - Link to source

Fabián Rodríguez 🛡💾 🇨🇴 🌴

@alecaddd OK, once every 4 months is reasonable, now imagine all free open source software asking for this.

What you describe sounds awfully like tracking, again, unexpected in Free open source software.

I am really not against donations notifications, just not in an office context, when it's already installed and I am upgrading. Enabled by default, yes. No way to disable it, please - no.

@Aleca

mastodon - Link to source

Learning Blind Tech Episode 20 A Little Taste Of Reaper

In this episode, I give some very basic information about the audio editing software Reaper. I show where to download the software, find the plug in that is essential for using Reaper with a screen reader, talk about training courses available and finally give you a small glimpse into some basics when using Reaper.

desireerenae.com/learning-blin…


Learning Blind Tech Episode 20 A Little Taste Of Reaper

In this episode, I give some very basic information about the audio editing software Reaper. I show where to download the software, find the plug in that is essential for using Reaper with a screen…
Desiree Renae's Website

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gotosocial - Link to source

Been using @joplinapp and a handful of plugins, along with my @nextcloud server, for notetaking over the past week or so since they added accessibility improvements. It has some rough edges but, aside from TiddlyWiki which is also accessible but also more opinionated, this is the best accessible notetaking system I've found so far.

So far I've loaded all the manuals for my last year or so of major purchases into it as PDF attachments, and the PDF viewer is about what you'd expect from a browser so certainly serviceable. Next I'll document how things are wired and complex button layouts, and it'll be great having those alongside the manuals. Also using journaling and this inline todo plugin to document the things I need to do alongside their context, then have them collected from my journal entries and displayed in a consolidated task view. Nice!


GitHub - CalebJohn/joplin-inline-todo: Write TODOs *everywhere* and view them in one place.

Write TODOs *everywhere* and view them in one place. - CalebJohn/joplin-inline-todo
GitHub
@Joplin @Nextcloud 📱☁️💻

mastodon - Link to source

Before Google decided to let extremists rename bodies of water, it used common sense.

From 2008: "...if a ruler announced that henceforth the Pacific Ocean would be named after her mother, we would not add that placemark unless and until the name came into common usage."

publicpolicy.googleblog.com/20…


How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth

Posted by Andrew McLaughlin, Director of Global Public Policy Hundreds of millions of users around the world use Google Earth . Many of the...
Google Public Policy Blog

mastodon - Link to source

4 days until our 4th annual jam! Games for blind Gamers!

This is my all time favorite jam, I've met amazing people, learned a lot about accessibility, became a better programmer, and I'm super happy that I'm helping run it this year!

If you have time, consider joining! It's a month long chill jam where if all you can do is an afternoon one Saturday, you're as welcome as anyone and we'd be honored to have you!

itch.io/jam/games-for-blind-ga…

#Blind #GameDev #GameJam #gaming #indiedev #indiegame


Games for Blind Gamers 4

A game jam from 2025-02-01 to 2025-03-10 hosted by NightBlade. Welcome, Blind and Sighted Game Developers! Welcome to the fourth annual Games for Blind Gamers jam! The goal of this jam is to build awareness of bli...
itch.io
#blind #gaming #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #gamejam

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