mastodon - Link to source
Does anyone have an explanation as to why the home annual license for JAWS is no longer listed on Freedom Scientific's shop page. It is still being offered; see this link.
store.freedomscientific.com/pr…
However, it is not listed on their shop page. Instead, they list a JAWS home subscription, which starts at $623.00
No bashing, please. I'm asking about this in order to gather factual information and not to trash the company or the product. In fact, I'll likely block anyone who does so responding to my question.
@freedomscientific

JAWS Home Annual

This product is available in the US only. US College Students and faculty may qualify for Free Home Access: check your email address.
Freedom Scientific eStore
@Freedom Scientific / Vispero
This entry was edited (7 months ago)
in reply to David Goldfield

mastodon - Link to source

Chris C

I heard directly from FS today and they did confirm that the price of the Home Annual license is no longer on the site, but did not give a reason why. The $623 mentioned on the site is a new 3 year deal they are offering for new perpetual license. Basically speaking, It is a way of purchasing Jaws with a SMA over a 3 year period. So if you are new to Jaws, you can pay $623 for 3 years and in the end, you will own Jaws along with a SMA. I read over that page several times, and I did not get that from it at all. They definitely should explain that better on the site. The gentleman from FS said if you are interested in an Annual License, then you need to call customer service for help. Makes you wonder why it was removed from the site.

ActivityPub - Link to source

What we in the open world are messing up in trying to compete with big tech

berthub.eu/articles/posts/what-the-open-world-must-do-better

Our societies and governments now largely run on American proprietary big-tech platforms. Many of us want to decrease this dependency, or even end it altogether. Everyone in the open tech scene is full of good intentions and we all want to improve things,…


What we in the open world are messing up in trying to compete with big tech - Bert Hubert's writings

Bert Hubert's writings
in reply to James Scholes

mastodon - Link to source

James Scholes

Thanks @masonasons for the tip that yt-dlp can download from RSS feeds. Here's the command I came up with to download all available podcast items from a feed in chronological order (oldest first) to nicely numbered files with the title and date.

yt-dlp --no-abort-on-error --color "no_color" --download-archive ".download_history" --windows-filenames --embed-metadata --embed-chapters --playlist-items "::-1" --output "%(n_entries+1-playlist_index)02d %(title)s (%(upload_date>%B %d %Y)s).%(ext)s" --format bestaudio "example.com/rss"

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source

What do you get when you let (overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male) able-bodied developers build an operating system?

Well, you get an insightful display of structural #ableism.

As a developer, I feel ashamed about this state of affairs, reading the excellent blog series by @fireborn . We can do better, and we deeply need to.

dragonscave.space/@fireborn/11…

#Linux #Accessibility #a11y #FLOSS

aaron

2025-05-10 10:56:42

mastodon - Link to source

The state of Linux accessibility in 2025. This started out as a rant but became a series. Please feel free to leave feedback, comments, and subscribe via rss or email for more stuff as I release it. fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-w…

I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back: Post 1 – Built for Control, But Not for People — fireborn

fireborn.mataroa.blog
#a11y #Accessibility #linux #floss #ableism @aaron
This entry was edited (7 months ago)
in reply to Florian Berger (privat)

mastodon - Link to source

Florian Berger (privat)

I think it's very telling that from all corners of the Fediverse, #FLOSS developers come screaming "I do it for free in my spare time, I can release whatever I want, and you can change it if you don't like it!"

As if that was the point.

I you release it as a broken hobby project, fine. Just don't call it a "fully functional" or "community driven" audio editor / encryption utility / mail server / file explorer / chat client if it's completely unusable to a reasonable part of the audience who just happens to be blind, or otherwise impaired.

#Accessibility #a11y

#a11y #Accessibility #floss

mastodon - Link to source

"UN Gives the Encrypted Open-Source Office Suite CryptPad a Try"

👉 fossforce.com/2025/04/un-drops…

"The open-source project recently picked up some unexpected recognition from the United Nations, when the organization chose to use CryptPad to collect endorsements for its Open Source Principles. Here’s what you need to know about the open-source project that’s on the rise."

👋 To test Cryptpad: cryptpad.fr

cc @CryptPad


UN Gives the Encrypted Open-Source Office Suite CryptPad a Try - FOSS Force

The United Nations became the latest large organization to embrace CryptPad when it used it to replace Google Forms.
Larry Cafiero (FOSS Force)
@CryptPad
in reply to Debian

mastodon - Link to source

noahjunior10

this is going to be an amazing summer with the official Risc-V support on Debian. I plan on building a machine with Tenstorrent's Ascalon CPUs. With Jim Keller claiming its in the ballpark of Zen 5 performance, it would be a mighty jump for the architecture, heck even if they land around Zen 4 it would be impressive for the Risc-V ecosystem. Thank you debian team for the work you do

mastodon - Link to source

Similar to iOS lockdown mode, Android 16's Advanced Protection feature is misguided. It adds security features exclusive to it which require using all of the other features. This prevents people using new security features if they need to avoid 1 feature.

security.googleblog.com/2025/0…


Advanced Protection: Google’s Strongest Security for Mobile Devices

Posted by Il-Sung Lee, Group Product Manager, Android Security Protecting users who need heightened security has been a long-standing com...
Google Online Security Blog
Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source

The Evil Chocolate Cookie

@darkyen @fireborn @J3317 right? It’s basic things like this that lead me to not recommending products. Now that I’m a little bit older and know what I’m doing, I recommend against anybody buying a vintage iPhone because those wouldn’t talk to you on set up either. If you wanna buy it just to collect it, don’t use it. it won’t talk to you.
@aaron @Jan Polák @Joshua

mastodon - Link to source

Taking a break from reality to watch high-speed film launches of the Space Shuttle.

Stepping back in time to a world when NASA was sending humans into space using a lot less computing power than your new TV.

It's a very calming video, watching thousands of pounds of fuel ignited as the shuttle and it's boosters slowly rise into the sky. 45mins of rockets on fire.

Very special.

fedi.video/w/d86a66bd-84c0-4f3…

@fedivideo
@FediThing

#NASA #SpaceShuttle #ShuttleLaunch #RocketScience

Discovery leaving the launch pad
#nasa #spaceshuttle #shuttlelaunch #RocketScience @Fedi.Video on PeerTube @FediThing
This entry was edited (7 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

Mexican Navy tall ship #Cuauhtémoc collided with #BrooklynBridge a few hours ago:
edition.cnn.com/2025/05/17/us/…

Based on videos:
nbcmiami.com/news/national-int…

…it looks like the ship went under the bridge and then hit the shoreline here:
osm.org/go/Zct8EqDG?m=&relatio…

Which means it was going *up river* when it hit the bridge.

That doesn't make sense, it was supposed to be leaving #NYC.

The videos also show it was going backwards. My guess would be loss of control?

#Sailing


Relation: ‪City of New York‬ (‪175905‬)

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.
OpenStreetMap
#nyc #sailing #Cuauhtemoc #brooklynbridge

pleroma - Link to source

"Only humans can do this because we're special" and other lies we tell ourselves

With a large enough dataset and a well trained model, all we need is compute and ridiculous amount of tokens and yes, it will be able to create and maintain subtext through a novel-length story.
RT: wandering.shop/users/JulietEMc…

Juliet E McKenna (@JulietEMcKenna@wandering.shop)

Bringing this from writer Joseph Malik over from Bluesky. I think it's spot on. "Subtext separates a novel from a novel-length story. Subtext is the part that AI can't--and never will--generate. It can't read for subtext.
The Wandering Shop
in reply to feld

mastodon - Link to source

Emil Jacobs - Collectifission

Meanwhile, I want AI to do stuff I DON'T want (humans) to do. Common house chores? Yes please. Dangerous jobs, like mining deep underground? Yes please. Dumb and repetitive tasks, like factory conveyor belts? Yes please. Tasks that require incredible precision, like brain surgery? Yes please.

Let humans do the wondering, the exploring, the art. Let us tell the stories, the culture, like we have done for hundreds of thousands of years.

Fat change under capitalism.

@JulietEMcKenna

@Juliet E McKenna
in reply to Emil Jacobs - Collectifission

pleroma - Link to source

feld

@collectifission I agree, but obviously generating artistic works is cheap and easy in comparison whereas solving the other tasks requires interaction with the physical world and other humans which is risky. Physical harm to a human or property carries a lot of liability, so unless they are shielded from it there's not a lot of incentive to invest in this area.
@Emil Jacobs - Collectifission

mastodon - Link to source

Sigh. It's possible to remotely, physically locate any O2 mobile customer at any time over the internet with a trivial method using their mobile phone number, due to O2's poor implementation of 4G Calling which, by design, gives away the Cell ID.

mastdatabase.co.uk/blog/2025/0…

O2 VoLTE: locating any customer with a phone call

Privacy is dead: For multiple months, any O2 customer has had their location exposed to call initiators without their knowledge.
Daniel Williams (Mast Database)

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source
This was recorded from inside, listening through an open window. The sparrows were providing a lovely backup to this robin’s incredible solo trills. #birds #birdRecordings #birding #birdsong #houseSparrow #AmericanRobin

#birds #birding #birdrecordings #birdsong #housesparrow #americanrobin
This entry was edited (7 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source
PBS & NPR Amends Bylaws to Limit Trumps Oversight Of Public Radio & Public TV cordcuttersnews.com/pbs-npr-am…

PBS & NPR Amends Bylaws to Limit Trumps Oversight Of Public Radio & Public TV | Cord Cutters News

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the steward of federal funding for public media outlets like NPR and PBS, has revised its bylaws to strengthen protections for its board of directors.
Luke Bouma (Cord Cutters News)

mastodon - Link to source

"Privacy watchdog Noyb sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta Wednesday, threatening to pursue a potentially billion-dollar class action to block Meta's AI training, which starts soon in the European Union."

Read more here 👇
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…


Meta is making users who opted out of AI training opt out again, watchdog says

EU users have less than two weeks to opt out of Meta’s AI training.
Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
⇧