Rather than posting on Tuesday, decided to post on a Sunday for TT. To celebrate GAAD this week, chatting to Quentin from NVAccess all about NVDA - mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/yut2nz…
As a demonstration of the power of OpenStreetMap and links into things like Wikidata, I present my DecomissionedAircraftMap. It pulls geodata for displayed aircraft from OpenStreetMap and generates thumbnails from linked Wikidata entries.
Feel free to link some more, the bot pulls new thumbnails once a day.
Host the style file and images for an Ultra based airplane map - GitHub - watmildon/DecomissionedAircraftMap: Host the style file and images for an Ultra based airplane map
Any #aviation and enthusiasts around here? For all the _red_ circles, we don't know (yet) what the #aircraft type is. You can easily link the correct wikidata entry (but you need an #OpenStreetMap account)
@pietervdvn ooooooooo that's super slick! I'll add a link in the repo readme! What's the best way to link to this theme? it doesn't seem to show up on the main page search.
It is a theme I quickly made with Mapcomplete.org/studio ; a bit quick and dirty. You can see it as a testing ground for layer and theme ideas, but it indeed is not included in the main page.
For an official theme, some more research needs to be done. For example: should the 'memorial' questions be included (as some aircrafts will also act as memorial)? Are there other ways aircrafts are represented in OSM, e.g. "memorial=aircraft". Should we retag some of them (500 entries), support both tags, update the wiki, ...
And I currently don't have the time to research all this ;)
This is not only a well written song with a great message, but the production is really nice. Gabrielle Aplin - So Far So Good youtube.com/watch?v=-jipxnd4h2…
I really hope that Tiflotecnia updates there synth to work with NVDA 2025 really soon so that when I get my license I just paid for I can use it with it. I just had to downgrade my laptops NVDA to 2024.4.2 so I could use the trial until I get my license.
@JamminJerry They are pretty active and I expect you shouldn't have to wait long. I believe there is a beta version of their add-on in the NVDA add-on store.
I really need to get used to the store thing, but I am one that also likes having the actually addon file in my important folder, so that I always have the latest if I have to ever redo windows like I did a few weeks ago.
@JamminJerry @masonasons You got past it now, but when you had two screen readers running at once, your options to silence NVDA at that point are: - NVDA+f2 (the bypass next key command you wanted) - NVDA+s toggle speech mode (if you haven't changed the default, toggles speech, silent, beeps, speech on demand) - NVDA+shift+s / NVDA+shift+z application sleep mode (only silences in THAT application) - NVDA+q then enter to quit NVDA
@masonasons you might have thrown one too if you went threw what I did! I had to uninstall NVDA, and it wanted me to reboot. not thinking, I rebooted, and then while it was rebooting, I reolized that NVDA was set to run before I sign in. so I had no speach signing in, and had to use narator to get signed in, then had to use JFW 2022 as I haven't updated the JFW on my laptop just so I could go into the network to run the installer for NVDA2024.4.2. then had to listen to two screen readers at the same time, because I don't know how to do the bypass command in NVDA so I could shut down jaws!
if you are interested in our certification exam as proof of your skills - or even just to see if you can pass it - the exam itself is free to sit! Head to certification.nvaccess.org/
When you pass, if you WOULD like to support us, and receive a certificate, you have the opportunity and I do look forward to sending out your certificate!
@TheZooLady @PepperTheVixen Who did you ask? I've never been reluctant to tell people how much it costs. If you didn't ask US, we can't tell you. When we announced the update in our blog, we said: "Once you pass the exam, you have the opportunity to be recognised as an NVDA Certified Expert. The cost is $100 AUD (roughly €56 or $64 USD as I write this)".
@TheZooLady @PepperTheVixen I would fail that test so hard. you know how here in the states the lowest grade you can get is an F, they would have to add letters so that I could get something like a P. lol.
@JamminJerry @TheZooLady @PepperTheVixen Don't be too hard on yourself! And you never know - the test is free to sit, so you can always have a go (it's $100 Australian to purchase once you pass if you are interested, but no pressure). And if you'd like some reference material to practise with, I'd recommend "Basic Training for NVDA"
@JamminJerry @TheZooLady @PepperTheVixen Well then I'd definitely recommend Basic Training with NVDA :) (Text $32 AUD, Audio $45 AUD, Braille $65 AUD). Very comprehensive and easy to follow :)
@JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen hmmm, I might just do that, though perhapse I should sit the test first as I have been using nvda as my primary screen reader (accept when it crashed and I had to use narator to fix it, lol,) for over 10 years. I find it quite sufficient for my needs and superior to JFW in areas like ITunes for windows.
@TheZooLady @JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen I wonder if I could get away with using a screenshot of passing the test for hiring purposes, and/or if I could take the test and get the paper when I could afford it next month.
@Tarrenvane @TheZooLady @JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen We don't set a time limit - so you could pass the test today & buy the certificate next month if needed. If you do that, please just use an ACTUAL screen shot - I saw an image recently which appeared to be an AI generated screenshot (even though that user HAD passed as they claimed). The logo was wrong, the text was gibberish. It looked awful. If you presented an AI generated screenshot to me, I would not give you the job just on that :)
@Tarrenvane @JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen are you serious? Wow!!! I mean, AI us useful, if used correctly, that, however is just rediculous! If you're gonna fake a certificate, at least make sure if looks legit!!!
@TheZooLady @Tarrenvane @JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen Given they actually had passed the exam, I suspect they weren't trying to fake the certification, but rather they forgot to take a screenshot and so tried to have AI mock up the screen. (For reference, they could have just gone back to the certification site and to the exam and it would give them the same results screen where they could view the results and of course have the option to purchase)
@TheZooLady @JamminJerry @PepperTheVixen I'm hardcore about *NOT* using AI for stuff like that. It's so much easier to just clip the screenshot and go on anyway.
@TheZooLady @PepperTheVixen I noticed on the main certification page it doesn't list the price - I'll look at updating that. But as soon as yougo to the next page it says: "If you successfully complete the exam, you will have the option of purchasing an official certification, which includes a certificate, and listing on our Certified Individuals list. The first time purchase for this certification is AU$100.00, with a 50% discount for renewals." so it does clearly say before starting.
@PepperTheVixen oh cool! cheaper than I though too... given the exchange rate. my partner is looking to get a job in assistive tech (among other things blindness training related,) so we were looking at a certification as a way to in crease hiring chances.
OK, what they don't tell you until you reach the site is that to get the certification, it's AU$100--which I wouldn't have until I actually got the job I'd use it to support getting. Unless I could get away with screenshotting my test results or something.
@Tarrenvane Where don't we tell you? Do you mean in the post at the start of this thread? We can only fit so much in one social media post :) And that DID indicate there was a cost, we weren't trying to hide anything. It's clearly on the site before you start the exam, in the blog post we announced it, and in the shop (if you get there that way). If you ARE getting there another way, please let me know so I can make sure people are fully aware before starting the exam.
In the original post, yes; I found it out after I created my account. I probably might not have tried, though, if I'd seen the cost in the original post.
@Tarrenvane We try not to make the cost unreasonable. And if it helps you get a job, we do hope you'll consider it a worthwhile investment! In any case, congratulations on passing the exam, that itself is something to be proud of - and all the best with the job hunt! I hope it is successful for you!
Happy to share that we made the poster and visual identity for (Onge)wild. 🪰💦🕊️🌿
A nature-cultural project that challenges us to look beyond what we find ‘beautiful’ or ‘useful’ when it comes to the natural environment of our cities. (Read more in the comments)
Can #AI Play Text Adventure Games? Turns out AI does perfectly well at playing text adventures. I hooked Google Gemini 2.5 into the famous #Inform text adventure Curses, it became obsessed with fiddling around with the torch, got a game over twice for trying to take the gloves from the potting room, then got fed up and quit. Entirely too relatable. But that was boring, and I really wanted a blog post out of this idea! stuff.interfree.ca/2025/05/11/textadventure.html
I'm genuinely unclear why, upon being given an end of game choice, it transitioned to making up not only its own game but its own player actions narrative too. Which I think proves how little I'd be willing to trust this tech with anything involving automation or user input.
@jscholes I assume because the gameplay transcripts continued in that way after restart. If I was writing professional code, rather than slapping together a quick script for a blog entry, I could have solved this with Stop sequences: a way to tell the API to prevent the model from generating anything more when the Stop sequence is generated. For this application I could have used newline as the Stop sequence and it probably would have worked. I mean effectively that's what I did, by only passing line 1 to the interpreter anyway. But that would have been less interesting; the AI would have just died and restarted a couple times, then quit. Another technique is to give the AI JSON, and require valid JSON as output. If you don't get correctly formed JSON, you know the AI has gone off the rails and can make it retry.
Přesně takhle to chci. Volně dostupné 3D tisknutelné díly pro nejrůznější produkty (tam, kde to jde) a když se někdo něco ulomí, vytisknu a jedu dál. philips 👍👍👍 philips.cz/c-e/fixables.html
I wonder if they utilised the same strategy for Google Translate? Because it's equally unusable now — I recall early machine-assisted translation systems from the nineties doing much better job that what Google Translate does now. At times it's hard to figure out what is the meaning of the resulting text even if you speak both languages and know what the usual pitfalls are.
@ocean>I recall early machine-assisted translation systems from the nineties doing much better job that what Google Translate does now. There is no way in a million years this is true. It was already better than those since it's inception, and Google Translate has improved leaps and bounds over the last 15 years. And there is competition in that space, so it doesn't fit the motive as well
Yes, exactly! Even in its inception it was better and same as with search it got worse recently. I used to have a tab with SimplyTranslate open, it was a great tool to access Google Translate — not anymore, with languages I somewhat understand it's barely useful, I might as well use Reverso to translate some words, and with other languages — I'm not even sure the result has anything to do with original text. Even a year ago you could pull an article through it, fix a few sentences here and there and be done with it — it was good enough. Right now I'm giving it a few well-formed sentences in English — not even complex ones where it might get lost, to translate into my native language and… the result is gibberish. It can't handle passive voice at all, it's incorrect tenses, incorrect cases all over the place — this isn't a translation even, this is some word soup! A schoolkid with a dictionary translating word-for-word would do a much better job than this! The motive? It gives you slightly better results if you use it directly, not via API as SimplyTranslate does — here the motive is obvious, but otherwise… no, same as with search. Do they have ads in Google Translate? I don't know because I have those blocked. Does it give you better results in Google Chrome? I don't know, they might be incentivising me to use it in a way they could serve me more ads or harvest more data. I didn't do a thorough research — just sharing my observation and for me, the way I used to use it, it got noticeably worse.
Update: Can a poor little trans angelgirl please get enough to afford to replace her wardrobe with feminine clothing she likes? pwease? Main: I live in an abusive and transphobic home, my family hates me because i am trans. i am disabled and unable to get a job. i will literally die without donations. Please donate to me to help me afford my basic necessities like HRT, food, clothing, phone bill, etc. Anything helps please!
Current Goals: immediate necessary expenses: $250/$250
feminine clothing: $0/$300
prescription glasses: $0/$250
hrt blood tests: $0/$200
Payment Information: cashapp: cash.app/vparagon gofundme: gofund.me/034cef1a cashapp referral (i make 5$): cash.app/app/QPL1BJF monero address: 8576pqM8cmNW92eogjqnYzEewZbmwUbY61xRcGmbVCFphchaXKyAad1Xj9oNrYWQNqZkcm2kCHEzea4Y5Wd3DMUW4DozSV2
Here are some things you can do in your code to make your program work as well as possible with assistive technologies. For components that don’t display a short string (such as an image button), s...
@modulux I can't speak to how well it works in practice but GTK 4.18 and on should now be accessible on Windows and MacOS thanks to the new AccessKit backend
@clairie @modulux indeed, but please remember that the accesskit backend is still somewhat experimental, so help in making it work better upstream is very much welcome
@Emmanuele Bassi @modulux @Claire @Danielle Foré I'm wondering are there known windows builds of some very accessible GTK apps such as fractal, shortwave, gnome podcasts, eartag, amberol or some others that we might enjoy trying out with a screen reader on windows? I'll be definatelly looking into it soon enough. I'm excited about it so it's why I am also posting here.
@pvagner @modulux @clairie I am not aware of any binary builds for Windows; I personally have a full life already, and I don't particularly plan on wasting it on the foibles of Windows.
As far as I know, the accesskit backend was tested with a custom gnome-text-editor build, but that was last year. If people want to pick this up, I'd recommend starting with a small hello world to ensure that building all dependencies actually works.
It would be so cool if there was a music place that took the best bits of #Bandcamp and #Patreon and also let you set your own fees as an artist and maybe was a #coop too.
It's a lovely day out here, so I decided to trial a charging station that is out in Johnson Creek that @kaleb told me about ~6mo ago. If this goes well, I'm going to use it as a stop off between #Milwaukee and #Madison.
@feld I was planning on hitting up the pine cone inn for a cookie the size of a dinner plate, on the way home. Now you have me itching for a donut too, though. 🤔
For my fellow belarusian friends: I am now close to the moment, where i will be done with cleaning up of the homographs dictionary. I will also have three new voices to show.
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).
@smoon @archos Já tak spíše z donucení fotím na Pentax. Jednak jsem měl už klasiku Pentax (dar/nedar), pár dobrých objektivů se dalo použít pak i na digitál, navíc bratr šel také do Pentaxu. A pak alespoň základní odolnost proti dešti, mnohokrát nechtěně vyzkoušeno.
Mothers should be one of the most honored and respected groups of people on our planet. They certainly have my deepest honor and respect, my own mom being first and foremost in that category, along…
Distant Memory, from the new upcoming album (release date tbd)!I am playing all the instruments on this track.The video clip is from the Monaco's Larvotto Be...
If you’re blind? You boot into a live image and get nothing. No speech. No braille. No login prompt feedback. Maybe Orca starts, maybe not. Maybe you know the shortcut (Alt+Super+S?) but does that even work in this session type? Is it Wayland? Is it X11? Is the screen reader bound to a key combo that doesn’t exist on your keyboard?
You open the installer?
“Next. Button. Button. Button. Button.” That’s all Orca says.
Ubuntu MATE 12.04 had a working, labeled, navigable installer. Ubuntu MATE 24.04? It’s garbage.
No headings. No structure. No sense of where you are. Just unlabeled buttons and blank space.
I'm so frustrated at the ongoing adoption of Wayland despite the lack of accessibility features and how buggy and laggy and unusable it is, even with me being able to see. I'm really hopeful that a better designed replacement can be adopted instead soon. Maybe Arcan, or maybe someone else has an option. I'll probably try to build one at some point just to experiment. @fireborn
it was the installer, when booting and not selecting any option. It wasn't the live usb os, so maybe it's still not enough, I haven't used a live usb for a long time.
yes,,,, #braille, the main problem with a braille display is that such devices are quite expensive and quite niche. Therefore there will be little to no developers for that device.
A little something I do for my mostly invisible (to me) Bluesky followers is to keep my scheduled posts below the 300 character limit, so it gets correctly bridged to them. But if you want the premium Mastodon experience, click on the link every once in a while 👇
Did you know that David Zinn's little creatures even make waffles using the things they find on the pavement? I feel like I'd enjoy one this Sunday morning 🧇
Pietervdvn
in reply to watmildon • • •Allright, I'm taking the bait...
Any #aviation and enthusiasts around here? For all the _red_ circles, we don't know (yet) what the #aircraft type is. You can easily link the correct wikidata entry (but you need an #OpenStreetMap account)
Or if you live closeby, you can actually add a picture #aviationPhotography
#AVGeek
mapcomplete.org/historic_aircr…
Maybe @Aviation_Librarian or @cvvhrn or their followers can help out?
(Edit: updatet link to official theme)
Historic aircraft
mapcomplete.orgPietervdvn
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •Historic aircraft
mapcomplete.orgwatmildon
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •Pietervdvn
in reply to watmildon • • •MapComplete Studio
mapcomplete.orgPietervdvn
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •For now, you can link as above.
For an official theme, some more research needs to be done. For example: should the 'memorial' questions be included (as some aircrafts will also act as memorial)? Are there other ways aircrafts are represented in OSM, e.g. "memorial=aircraft". Should we retag some of them (500 entries), support both tags, update the wiki, ...
And I currently don't have the time to research all this ;)
watmildon
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •watmildon
in reply to watmildon • • •Pietervdvn
in reply to watmildon • • •watmildon
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •ImpeccablePenguin
in reply to Pietervdvn • • •Pietervdvn
Unknown parent • • •@f13rf3k Oh god, why must everything be so complicated in the real world...
Perhaps add the wikidata-code of the original model AND the wikidata code of "replica" (Q1232589)? Or add a replica=yes tag on it?
TBH, does it matter that much?
Pietervdvn
in reply to watmildon • • •Historic aircraft
mapcomplete.org