Thinking about buying 64 boxes of 64 assorted color crayons just so I can make 64 boxes of individual color crayons. Yes, I have too much free time and don't get enough sleep.
Does anyone have any unique identifiers (UA) for the latest @MonaApp version? I would like to look into pre-emptively blocking it from interacting with all Mastodon instances that I run. I will not allow direct siphens from any of my servers to AI leaches.
@wsdr217 And since we're already at it, which other IOS Mastodon client would you use then? I'm currently on Android but having an IOS backup is never bad. I guess I could stay at Mona 6, but would prefer something up to date.
There is something called Feditext which is either in Testflight or possibly early release. I'm not up on its situation ,but its the only other accessible iOS client that has kept current that I know of. I will certainly be looking more into it in light of these early developments from Mona. However, no policy has been enacted yet. We will wait for some sort of response from them, perhaps some clarification, and hopefully some realization of the stupidity, and provide an opportunity for a change of coarse, before any final decisions are reached. Final decisions will also be posted on the admin accounts of all affected instances. If an app-wide block should go into effect, it would only apply to inbound connections to the API that would be prevented, so Mona 7 would not be able to connect to my instances, but content visibility and interactibility would not be affected on any other instances, and users would still be able to use any client allowed by their remote instance to interact with your posts on my instance, even if the client is blocked locally.
Our port to Android 16 QPR1 which was to AOSP on November 11 is currently being tested internally. Several important regressions have been discovered and we're working on resolving those before we release it for public testing. A few minor features also still need to be ported.
I just checked #NeoServer as iOS app for checking server usage and managing docker containers. Pretty good UI and good to use with VoiceOver. Heres the appstore link: apps.apple.com/de/app/neoserve…
Lade NeoServer: SSH Client|Terminal von Space-Time Transformation Technology Co., Ltd. im App Store herunter. Sieh dir Screenshots, Bewertungen und Rezensionen,…
Ein Lebenszeichen von mir. Nach meinem Start mit Ylvi am Bike bei einem kleinen Rennen in Leipzig bin ich bereits mittags zurück gefahren, da mein Bruder einen runden Geburtstag feierte. Weil ich das Rennen schon vor der Siegerehrung verlassen habe, weiß ich noch keine Zeiten, aber das ist am Ende eh egal. Es lief gut für uns am Bike. 1/2
Update: Es gibt jetzt auch Zeiten auf der Website des Hundesportvereins.Wenn die so richtig sind, sind Ylvi und ich mit 9 Minuten die schnellste Zeit over all auf den 4,5 km gefahren. 9 Minuten (da wird manuell gestoppt, daher gibt's so glatte Zeiten). 🤩
Here is a transcript of the Access On episode segment in which Jonathan Mosen reads the letter that Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), wrote to Vispero’s new Chief Executive Officer.
Dear Ms. Bassett Spears, as you know, the National Federation of the Blind is the nation's transformative organization of blind people, with affiliates in every state as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. As the voice of the nation's blind, we have a duty to alert those who offer products and services to us when there is a groundswell of concern. This is the commitment I have also made to you in the two one-on-one conversations we have held.
Following feedback from many of our members who are raising new issues almost daily, I feel compelled to formally convey to you a series of pressing concerns regarding Vispero's direction and engagement. As the producer of JAWS, ZoomText and Fusion, Vispero impacts the daily lives and opportunities of millions of blind individuals across the United States and worldwide. With this influence comes a profound responsibility to prioritize the needs, aspirations and leadership of those you serve.
Pricing and Licensing Changes While we appreciate that Vispero must operate in a manner that ensures ongoing commercial viability, we are concerned by the limited and unclear communication around recent changes to JAWS licensing models and pricing structures. These changes have generated significant confusion, anxiety and frustration worldwide. The temporary removal of the Home Annual License option from the website, reversed only after public backlash, created unnecessary alarm. This decision led many to believe that a product they used daily was suddenly out of their financial reach. We urge Vispero to provide a clear explanation of the new pricing options and to show respect for its loyal customers by explaining clearly why these changes are necessary. Erosion of Home Annual License Functionality We are disappointed that JAWS Home Annual License holders have been excluded from the new Page Explorer feature.
Vispero highlighted this feature at our recent National Convention in July, valuing it sufficiently to produce a video demonstrating the new functionality. It was marketed at that time as an addition to FS Companion. At no time was there any mention that Vispero would create different tiers of JAWS users when it came to cutting-edge AI tools.
When the Home Annual License was introduced in 2018, the National Federation of the Blind applauded the move. We believed it worked for everyone. The unemployment rate among blind people is far too high.
The JAWS Home Annual License allows those who do not qualify for funding to use JAWS at a price they can afford. They can become familiar with the product, which in turn improves employment prospects. When an Annual Home License user finds work, Vispero benefits when an appropriate license is purchased for the blind person's workplace.
This program has been an investment in the capacity building of blind people. Depriving Annual Home License customers who have paid in good faith of new core features is a concerning new policy that changes the implicit social contract of this license. We call upon you to reconsider this decision and make Page Explorer along with future AI features available to this category of user.
Vispero Account In the United States, Jaws 2026 requires users to create and sign into a Vispero account. If it eventually becomes possible for customers to return authorizations when upgrading computers and share settings across devices, then users will benefit from this change. However, we are also hearing concerns.
Many of these may be addressed with clear, transparent, respectful communication. Some Jaws users are concerned about the amount of data being collected, such as the name of a person's employer. We seek assurance that all data Vispero is collecting is actually necessary for the operation of Jaws and that users are not being required to provide marketing data, which should be optional, in order to use their screen reader.
Additionally, there are concerns about whether a cloud outage, such as that which affected Amazon Web Services in October, may disrupt Jaws if ongoing use requires verification that users are logged in. We seek further clarity and assurance on these issues. Technical support.
We are hearing from members that Vispero is no longer accepting technical support requests via email. While we appreciate that requiring users to submit a web form may aid Vispero through the mandatory provision of information that can help the technical support process, email is a ubiquitous medium. Even those who have access to older note taker products, whose Jaws may not be working at all, can submit a written technical support request via email. (1/2)
We invite you to reconsider this decision. Blind leadership. We are concerned by the apparent decline in blind leadership at Vispero that has recently occurred.
We believe that one of the reasons Jaws has become the dominant product in the screen reader industry is that the original company that developed Jaws, Henterjoys, was founded by a blind person. There were always capable blind people who were users of the product in key positions. This allowed blind people to mentor people who are not blind, but who possessed the values and curiosity to be successful.
In recent days, we have learned of the departure of Glen Gordon. Glen is a giant in this industry who developed many of the paradigms that all graphical screen readers subsequently adopted. Marking the 30th anniversary of Jaws for Windows, we honored Glen's contribution at this year's National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans by giving him the prestigious Kenneth Jernigan Award for his outstanding contribution.
The fact that Glen felt he must resign from the company, not because he wished to retire, but because of a perceived incompatibility of values, is of serious concern and one we would expect would cause considerable reflection about the company's direction. We also note that other blind people in leadership roles have been redeployed into positions that appear to have less direct influence on the products and services blind people use. We are concerned that these changes will result in Vispero making decisions that are not informed by the knowledge and lived experience of blind people.
The National Federation of the Blind proudly supports and indeed insists that blind people help direct the products and services intended for our use. However, multiple recent developments are creating an increasing disconnect between leadership and the people the company exists to serve. We are here to help.
It is our hope that Vispero and the National Federation of the Blind can continue to be trusted partners. We remain uniquely placed to provide constructive advice based on the views of our extensive membership across the nation. We encourage you to engage with these concerns in a spiritship of partnership and urgency.
We request a comprehensive public response to the issues outlined above and a commitment to ongoing dialogue with the organized blind movement. Your leadership presents an opportunity to set a new standard of access, accountability and inclusion. We urge you to seize it.
I look forward to your prompt and substantive reply. Sincerely, Markay Riccobono, President, National Federation of the Blind. Access On Episode Link: storage.pinecast.net/podcasts/…? (2/2)
Ejerciendo mis atribuciones según el principio de dedicación al servicio público absteniéndome no solo de conductas contrarias al mismo, sino también de cualesquiera otras que comprometan la neutralidad en el ejercicio de los servicios públicos.
Y vosotros, ¿qué tal?
Que casi se me olvida lo de la consideración con los administrados.
LibrePods unlocks Apple's exclusive AirPods features on non-Apple devices. Get access to noise control modes, adaptive transparency, ear detection, hearing aid, customized transparency mode, battery status, and more - all the premium features you paid for but Apple locked to their ecosystem.
Has anyone seriously played around with modern ARM laptops? I'm wondering if I should be looking for a black Friday sale on one. My current laptop is a 14-inch Thinkpad from 2020. Its 4th-gen mobile Ryzen 7 is still outperforming entry-level laptops, but certainly isn't winning any power consumption races, and the machine is bulky. I'd love something I can carry in my 13-inch computer bag. Any serious computing is likely to happen on my mini PC, which is either at home or with me on longer trips. So the purpose of a laptop is to be ultra-portable and good enough for basic computing. My understanding is that Windows on ARM (and its supporting hardware) has gotten to that point now.
I have,, and it did not suit my needs unfortunately do to the underperforming Prism Emulator for X86 and X64 applications. Then again, this was in late 2024 if memory serves, but I ended up going with the significantly more expensive MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Evo as my main laptop due to weight, headphone port (yes I know), and fingerprint scanner.
@twynn Sounds like a nice machine. Have you done much experimenting with battery life? I really don't have a good idea of CPU power consumption on modern Intel/AMD stuff, other than hearing from several people that AMD is better. Good battery isn't an absolute must because it's pretty easy to get USB C power banks with at least 30W outputs, but it would be nice to not worry about that.
@twynn I don't know how off hand, but I believe you can do an export of your current installed packages with WinGet and then re-install them. That plus a selective AppData migration will probably speed things up a lot.
@twynn Every time I set up a new Windows machine, I tell myself that this will be the day when I start writing down the steps, maybe scripting some of it, and keeping notes of the things I end up changing throughout the lifetime of the installation.
The number of times I haven't been lying to myself is zero.
Unfollowed Audiobook Café by Accessible Media Inc. because they promoted AI narration for audiobooks. The host just interviewed an independent author that released a full cast audiobook using 11 labs. I couldn’t even make it past the introduction. The host kept making a claim that it cost money to produce audiobooks and human narrators are not cheap, so independent authors can’t afford human their Raiders, so this is the only way to go about it. I can’t express my other discussed. Frankly, if I can achieve human narrators, there is no excuse. It really isn’t that hard. The host justification was that, well, it’s not cheap to hire human audiobook narrators. I’m not going to promote the episode, you can go look for it, but every time I see blind or visually impaired people promote AI audiobooks, I just have to ask, why do you still listen to human narrated audiobooks because clearly you don’t want human narrated audiobooks any more? I legitimately do not understand. #AI #Audiobooks #Audiobook
#Spotted at a Vineyard Picnic in Aotearoa New Zealand:
A very friendly dog (red cloud kelpie), her bottom square with age, is sprawled on a picnic rug as numerous small humans compete to see Who Can Pat Her Best. Friendly Dog is in her element, a doggy smile on her face. This is the life.
An amiable barefoot man (60s?) is sitting cross-legged on a picnic blanket, solicitously serving deliciously crumbly home-made scones to friends old and new. Butter? Home made jam? He'll see you sorted. People taking a bite and grinning with happiness.
A small human (3?) in a pretty dress has decided she is the STRONGEST. Little does Big Brother (5?) know that he's about to be on the end of a SNEAK ATTACK. Small human barreling into his tummy, knocking him over. Rolling on the grass like giggling puppies. WHO WILL WIN? (It's a draw!)
A small human (4?) in a fairy dress has commandeered a sit-on wooden digger and is showing the other kids how to do it. She's firm with her opinions, expression resolute. She is the digging fairy and she will get this job done.
A small human (3?) has decided that she is in charge of walking the family dog amongst the people. Family Dog is a Good Girl, and although she's tempted by all the picnic treats on offer, she's not sampling any. They head off to roam for a bit amongst the vines.
@NVAccess I saw you favorite my post about talking about the station playlist addon all of a sudden stop causing my computer to freeze up as soon as I mentioned it on here. well, just to give you an update, it kept happening later, so I just deactivated the addon again. I really want to use this addon, but no one knows what is going on, what is happening, and it sounds like I am the only one this happens to. the only way I have rfound to fix it is to restart NVDA when I notice it start happening, and then it stops for a while, until NVDA has been running for a while, and then it starts up again.
If it happens after it while, it could be something not being cleaned up properly. That's definitely useful to know - have you been in touch with the SPL author and have they been able to offer any advice?
they and you and me were talking here on mastodon, and from what I gather not even they know what is going on. I have even been making sure to get the latest updates to it, when they come out to the stable branch thinking maybe something got fixed and they might not have known it, but nope. it still happens.
Sounds like something is leaking somewhere. At least you do have a workaround - restart NVDA when it starts getting annoying - which I appreciate is not ideal. I can't think of much else to offer in the meantime I'm afraid
Recently I have been conjecturing that NVDA might be switching to an account-based model. In the post I just booted, @NVAccess has stated that no such plans are in the offing. Thank you for clarifying, thank you for not going the account route, and I apologize for any frustration I may have caused. I did try to make it clear at all times that this was conjecture on my part and that I have no more knowledge on this than anyone else.again, thank you for clarifying, and I'm glad to be incorrect.
We appreciate there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment. We can't help with what anyone else in the industry is doing, but we're happy to try to keep people informed of what we are planning - our code is open so we couldn't "slip anything through" even if we wanted to (which we don't). We even publish a roadmap here: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-roadmap… and make pre-release alpha builds publicly available: download.nvaccess.org/snapshot…
I'm one of those getting the alphas. I just wanted you to know that I think NVDA is great and I admire what you do and the professionalism you shw in doing it.
The Release Candidate (RC) of NVDA 2025.3.2 is now available for download & testing. We encourage all users to download this RC & provide feedback. Unless any critical bugs are found, this will be identical to the final 2025.3.2 release. This is a patch release to fix a security issue.
(Please note, if you have installed the current ALPHA releases, this patch is already in the latest alphas and you should not move to 2025.3.2). #NVDA #NVDAsr
So I'm running into a strange issue with NVDA that I can't seem to reproduce with any regularity. If I go into NVDA's advanced settings and check the box there which allows me to see all the settings, and I go to the "play a sound for logged errors" option and change it before hitting okay, NVDA will suddenly enter sound split mode, despite my not having changed that setting. It happened once when I hit the "restore defaults" button as well. Does anyone have any idea what this might be? @NVAccess
That's an odd one. Would you be able to open an issue on our tracker at: github.com/nvaccess/nvda/issue… and / or if you can replicate it, could you set your log level to "debug", restart NVDA then replicate, and send us a copy of your NVDA log (found in the %temp% folder - note the percent signs).
I just spent the last half hour trying to replicate it and couldn't. I will try again tomorrow. Might file an issue in GitHub this evening though, we'll see.
Holy hell, YouTube just decided to replace the audio of some videos with an auto generated Japanese dialogue that sounds like the original creator's voice. So creepy
Uhhhh yeeeea. "Auto-Dub." Apparently that was on by default when I revived Linux For Everyone, and I was asked IMMEDIATELY to please turn it off. I've heard that not only is it creepy for people, but it has accuracy problems too. No way I'm trusting translation, inflection, and intent to something like that...
Doctors in China have used lab-grown insulin-producing cells to treat a woman with type 1 diabetes. The cells were made from her own tissue, reprogrammed into stem cells, and then grown into tiny clusters that release insulin. A year after the transplant, her blood sugar remains normal without medication. It’s the first time in history that a person with type 1 diabetes has been freed from insulin injections using cells made from their own body. cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8… #ShareGoodNewsToo
this has to be heard to be believed. This was the b-side to the original version of Jingle Bell Rock. to all those who say they hated Jingle Bell Rock, can you even say that after you've heard this? youtu.be/zzfl7FXaxaU
Bobby Helms "Captain Santa Claus (And His Reindeer Space Patrol)" official audio. Subscribe and ring the bell to never miss an update: https://lnk.to/Subscri...
I wasn't at all surprised to learn that this was released in November 1957, right after Sputnik. But I wonder if it was _recorded_ before or after Sputnik.
I wonder if copies of that single have all things must pass syndrome. for all things must pass no one listened to the third disk. for the jingle bell rock single maybe nobody listened to the b-side so it's mint, just like the third disk of all things must pass.
LATEST RELEASES: https://ffm.bio/tayloracornTaylor Acorn - Left You InsteadFollow:▶ Stream: https://open.spotify.com/track/4yw0T9seujC0m7GFlVa4Iv?si=b8667229...
TL:DR Small acts can have huge impacts if you're kind to people. Sometimes you don't know how much difference you make, but being nice is a superpower.
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Support the younglings!
I have a super creative, super intelligent, deeply caring and thoughtful autistic person in my life; one of my children.
I introduced them to a ton of different music just by being around it. I also introduced them to a way to make music, via a computer, even though I barely knew how myself, when they were 8. They ran with it and now it's their life (I have a separate origin story but thats for another time).
The point of this post is to highlight how community and small acts of support can build confidence in people, allowing them to be themselves.
I learnt of a music project in 2017, The Dark Outside, where musicians and audio artists would submit music/sounds never heard before, to be transmitted over FM radio in a 24 hour broadcast in a remote forest in Scotland. To listen in, people would have to go to the site with a radio. People did. Well known artists rubbed shoulders with complete novices, beamed out into dark Scottish forest to weirdos who made the effort to go and listen.
We submitted a tune, when the Eldest was 13, which was accepted and broadcast. A few months later the organiser, Stuart, asked if his record label could use the track on a compilation tape. Alongside amazing musicians, including some members of Mogwai, who we loved. Amazing. We said yes, of course.
I'm going to take a pause for context now. The Eldest was very much a 13 year old outsider in an all boys secondary school. Undiagnosed autistic in a harsh environment. Bullied, no easy way of putting it, heartbreaking as a parent.
Back to nicer things. It became apparent that Cosi Fanny Tutti (of Throbbing Gristle and a further illustrious career) had a copy of the tape! On their SoundCloud account proper music heads had followed (in particular Clair from Hotgem music who is a star ❤️). This made a bullied kid feel seen.
We had been going to an annual electronic music festival in London, BPM, which had a lot of very reputable artists playing in historic churches in the city. What was nice was the vibe. The artists hung around and listened to each other, not just in and out. Plaid, Luke Vibert, B12, Daedalus, Mira Calix, Lorraine James and many more.
At 14, a kid who was a bullied outsider at school just walked up to Daedalus and dived into a conversation about their set and musical theories generally. The Eldest saw themselves as a contemporary and Daedalus treated them the same way. Not patronising, genuine. He was genuinely delighted at the feedback he got too. A lovely man.
Related. I have been a lifelong fan of Black Dog/Plaid. Massively. The Eldest too, through my love of them. They played RPM twice. The first time I took the Eldest to say hello, we had a chat, nice. The next year, Stuart (from the Dark Outside as mentioned above) had sent them the Eldest's music and they got to talk about it in person 🤯. Plaid (specifically Andy) sent us the stems of their, then, unreleased single to remix and play with. Amazing and generous. Imagine, chatting with your musical heroes at 14 about your work, and them sending you their unreleased raw material to play around with!
One last thing. The Eldest submitted a track called Dawn for The Dark Outside, broadcast in 2019. They were 15 at the time. In a change of location it was transmitted from Elizabeth the Firsts hunting lodge in Epping forest, near where we live. We were able to go along and tune in, alongside others. The event was heavily supported by The Quietus, an online culture site (if you don't know about it look it up, it's the best), so much so that Luke Turner, founder and chief editor, was manning the operation overnight.
I was a long time supporter and fan of The Quietus, I actually received a copy of his autobiography for Christmas which I hadn't yet read. As the sun was setting over the forest Luke wandered over and struck up a conversation with us. We explained the Eldest's tune was being broadcast at some point, then it came on, a Vangellis sounding track as the sun dipped behind the forest. When it finished there were cheers, close by and in the distance from listener's in the forest. Luke congratulated the Eldest and said it was great.
Magic moment. True story. Went back to being nobody loser on Monday morning at school.
They had a real moment of respect and awe with a grown up, an intellectual person of note on Wednesday, but on Monday it was pure bully shit again from idiots.
If you made it this far down bless you. All true.
The point is. Lift up the younglings. Give them your time, wisdom and understanding. Small things are huge sometimes.
I do property maintenance, the other day i blocked an office toilets with a huge poo, it wouldn't go down. So I panicked and walked away. Later the facilities manager lady asked if I can unblock the toilet, "we will pay of course." I charged this company to unblock my own poo.
Jonathan
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