mastodon - Link to source

In a world full of people who no longer trust each other, sometimes a small thing happens that just makes everything better.

A week or so ago I asked for German sci-fi books for my middle kid, who is struggling with his German grammar.

He's dyslexic and loves reading *my scifi books* in English, to the detriment of his German.

I asked on the internet, and I got a lot of fantastic advice, including from @lk108 who replied and said he had a whole series, and offered to send them.

So he did, and I happily paid for the postage as soon as he said he'd sent them.

The box arrived today! I had no doubt that they would, a random person who I did not know at all, said they would do something really nice, and I was sure it would be so.

Anyway thanks @lk108 for the lovely offer, and I'm sure Theo will be delighted.

Please give this post a round of boosts because a nice thing happened and we don't hear enough about that.

#GoodThings #SmallPackages

#goodthings #SmallPackages @Lothar

akkoma - Link to source

"You should be able to talk to your PC"

[1]^ This is a fundamental misunderstanding that reminds me (again) of one of my favorite failed experiments of '90s internet: the online 3D shopping center.

[2]C-levels of the time spared no expense to build a complete VRML model of a shoping center in the browser, where you could walk around, take the escalator for a better view on the virtual fountain or even rent a virtual space for your goods.

What the inventors didn't understand is that of course people don't go to the mall to use the escalator, but to buy stuff.

Online banking, shopping, etc. became popular even over phone-based services because people realized that clicking on stuff is more effective than talking (and walking).

Chatbots are the 3D escalators of todays technology.

[1] theverge.com/report/822443/mic…
[2] web.archive.org/web/2007061012…

Talking to Windows’ Copilot AI makes a computer feel incompetent

Microsoft is advertising its Windows Copilot AI as “the computer you can talk to.” How does that hold up to testing, and how does it track with CEO Satya Nadella’s ambitions?
Antonio G. Di Benedetto (The Verge)
in reply to Mike Gifford, CPWA

mastodon - Link to source

omar

Being a developer on Mac doesn't imply that you can't use open and proven solution for communication if your project is interoperable/cross-platform.

Of course, if it is just about iOS app - be it opensource - do it over iMessage or WhatsApp if you want :)

> Life is complicated

For that matter, no, sincerely.

@golemwire

@BillySmith

@Billy Smith @Ethan Black
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to Mike Gifford, CPWA

mastodon - Link to source

Nazo

@mgifford @BillySmith Just because others do a thing doesn't make it right. Geez, didn't your parents give you the "if your friends are jumping off a bridge without a parachute, would you do it?" speech?

These systems also spy on users, require users to have accounts within said proprietary systems, will enshittify very badly soon (ok, Telegram already is,) and etc.

Even if you must use something proprietary, at least something less evil like, say, Revolt, but systems have existed that were open for a long time. Most things used to use IRC for open discussion and a few still do. It's still reliable and good and pretty much Just Works™.

There is literally no reason for FOSS to be using Discord with quite a few reasons against and a billion reasons to avoid Telegram like a plague

@Mike Gifford, CPWA @Billy Smith
in reply to IrishMASMS

mastodon - Link to source

Billy Smith

@Irishmasms @nazokiyoubinbou @mgifford
As for Discord, apart from them being part of the USA-based surveillance-industrial complex, their original set-up was great, as Discord was a very light web-app, but the latest versions have become so fat, that they cause browser crashes when trying to use other websites at the same time.

Using googledocs at the same time, as Discord doesn't work, so it means that they have broken the original reasons for using them... 🤦

@Mike Gifford, CPWA @IrishMASMS @Nazo
in reply to Billy Smith

mastodon - Link to source

Mike Gifford, CPWA

@BillySmith @Irishmasms @nazokiyoubinbou
Any of you have experience with #Zulip? zulip.com/why-zulip/

Why Zulip? Efficient communication with organized team chat.

Make better decisions, faster with chat that’s organized right. Follow the discussions that matter to you, easily and efficiently, in real time or asynchronously.
Zulip
#zulip @Billy Smith @IrishMASMS @Nazo

mastodon - Link to source

#Netcraft describes itself as "digital risk protection" and "Advanced Cybercrime Defense". Having been flagged by them 4 times now, and each time with an easily recognizable false positive (they also pinged our provider, which then threatened with actions – and added our domain to their blacklist right away!), I'm quite fed up with their seemingly incompetence: first shoot, then ask. All automated, obviously no humans involved on their end.

My experience so far: gitlab.com/-/snippets/4909577

(1/2)


Netcraft false positives ($4909577) · Snippets · GitLab

GitLab.com
GitLab
#netcraft

Sylvia reshared this.

in reply to Kapirsnick

mastodon - Link to source

IzzyOnDroid ✅

@Kapirsnick afraid that would only get a load of domain holders busy. Netcraft runs on auto-pilot, I cannot remember ever having seen a human response. It's always the same mail template, only the date and the alleged malware URL differ. The initial mail even repeats 2 days after having responded to the original one (and having filed a Report Mistake via their form).

I have to admit, it might certainly drive their reputation through the basement, but at what cost…

@Kapirsnick
in reply to Mahmoud

mastodon - Link to source

Gajim

please have look at dev.gajim.org/gajim/gajim/-/is…

Please join xmpp:gajim@conference.gajim.or… for further help.


Gajim 2.3.3 shows blank (white) windows after start (#12372) · Issues · gajim / gajim · GitLab

When launching Gajim version 2.3.3 on Windows 10, the application starts, but all windows are completely white. The interface seems to respond (e.g., you can click where buttons...
GitLab
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Andre Louis

you know, one of the best ideas Chicken Nugget had was an undo, so if you accidentally pressed page up/down/home/end/something else, you could just hit undo and be put back where you came from. Could you implement something like that in Paperback? Imagine you do Alt left/right, press L for a link, jump to the wrong bookmark and you just don't remember what you were listening to. Hard to fix that, you know? How about maybe a 5 or 10 undo step that control Z would return you to? Just an idea. Maybe a stupid one.
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Quin

Oooooh, sounds for elements is a fucking terrific idea! I'll need to brainstorm this a bit, but holy fuck you might've just solved this problem in an utterly ingenious way without even meaning to. The largest technical challenge with making paperback do that is hooking the screen reader and making it so heading level 3, for example, is spoken *before* the text you just navigated to. Very, very hard, damn near impossible, dare I say. But sounds? That would still be a bit tricky and require some hackery, but playing a sound is way easier once you get the detection of moving between elements working. I'll keep you posted for sure :)

mastodon - Link to source

I started up Zoom this morning and it gave me the message

"It looks like we are unable to connect. Please check your network connection and try again."

But my network connection was fine. The problem was at Zoom's end, or more precisely, Cloudflare's. (And it seems OK now.)

I'm beginning to be annoyed by this reflexive "please check _your_ network connection" coda in these messages. What it is, is victim blaming. And possibly gaslighting too. _Their_ network connection went wrong, and their immediate response is to tell all of us users that _we_ must have done something wrong. It makes us all do lots of pointless work checking things that don't need checking, and it probably makes half of us feel inadequate when we can't find any problem.

If you're _going_ to advise users to check their own network connection, take reasonable steps first to ensure the problem really does look like being at the local end. Try pinging a few other independently run well-known sites; try some DNS lookups; if you can't do _anything_, suggest the user checks their connection, but if the rest of that stuff works and only your own server can't be reached, maybe redirect to your application's status webpage instead?

reshared this

in reply to Simon Tatham

mastodon - Link to source

miki

Ah, so you basically want to assume that partial failures are far more likely to be somebody else's fault (and therefore outside of user control) than total failures. A fair assumption in most cases I guess.

I guess a better wording would be something like "try a different internet connection", as the fault may be due to e.g. having that specific service blocked by a corporate firewall.

mastodon - Link to source

I am in need of people with experience in publishing to the Apple App Store. I need help with AppTrackingTransparency and when it is (not) needed and how to solve conflicts with apple reviewers.

My problem: Apple rejects my app because I didn't implement ATT, despite the fact that I don't track users or give data to third parties for the sake of tracking or advertising. #dev #apple #apps #privacy

#apple #privacy #apps #dev
in reply to Tom Seidel

mastodon - Link to source

aaron

@svenja even anomomised analitics require it, even if it is only to disclose that the data is anonymous. IP addresses are usually collected, which, depending on the reviewer, sometimes get classified as identifiable data. It's not about what data on its own can be used to identify an individual, so much as what data could be used collectively to identify an individual or group. It really depends if the reviewer is having a good or bad day.
@Svenja📞7852
in reply to aaron

mastodon - Link to source

Tom Seidel

@fireborn @svenja Thank you for the information. What I am wondering about: How can it be that I can't remember facing this prompt at any time in other apps?

I have another question for understanding ATT. Does apple handle everything on a system level, after the ATT prompt was answered, e.g. stripping off all privacy data?

I use capacitor for my app and there is so few information about ATT and the handling of the ATT output in capacitor environments that I can't believe it.

@aaron @Svenja📞7852

mastodon - Link to source

12 screenshots and one video. On a claimed #curl problem that even in the title says *test suite*

Beware of the strong AI smell on this one.

hackerone.com/reports/3452725


curl disclosed on HackerOne: Title: Use-After-Free in cURL Test...

**Title: Use-After-Free in cURL Test Suite via Improper Cleanup of Global Handle** ```c /*************************************************************************** * ...
HackerOne
#curl
in reply to Jiří Eischmann

mastodon - Link to source

Neal Gompa (ニール・ゴンパ)

This is probably a large scale industry mistake. In my time as a systems engineer and later a DevOps engineer, there's been a drastic push for more complex architectures. I'm not entirely sure that the drive for those architectures was genuine and I suspect a large chunk of it is resume-driven development. It's not just the services you listed, but solutions made even for enterprise self-hosting too.

mastodon - Link to source

If you saw our recent post on here about Reece, the young boy from Australia who got the ABC to put audio description on "Behind the News", then you'll love this follow up video he made especially about NVDA. It is THE feel-good piece to watch this holiday season!

nvaccess.org/post/NVDA-with-Di…

#NVDA #NVDAsr #ScreenReader #Accessibility #MakingADifference #Empowering #GoodNews #Technology #FeelGood

YouTube preview still of "NVDA with Digitech Reece" with the play button in the middle and "Watch on YouTube" in the lower left. The main image is Reece talking as he sits in front of his computer.

NV Access | NVDA with Digitech Reece

www.nvaccess.org
#Accessibility #technology #screenreader #nvdasr #nvda #goodnews #empowering #makingadifference #feelgood
This entry was edited (3 weeks ago)
in reply to James O'Dell

mastodon - Link to source

NV Access

@jamesodell Thanks James! And great question - I believe Reece is using Microsoft Catherine OneCore voice - in Windows you can add additional "languages" and the voice packs for each contain often two voices - For Engligh, there are a whole range from English US, English UK, English Australia, English Canada and more. We have a post on how to install new voices here: nvaccess.org/post/in-process-1…

NV Access | In-Process 14th January 2021

www.nvaccess.org
@James O'Dell

mastodon - Link to source

⌨️ Don't miss your chance to team up with people and scratch your Matrix itch!

We organize a hackathon on Fri 30 Jan in Brussels right before FOSDEM. Come help us save the Federation from Big Silo that wants to take over the world!

matrix.org/blog/2025/12/fosdem…


Find us at FOSDEM

Matrix, the open protocol for secure decentralised communications
Thib (matrix.org)

mastodon - Link to source

Age verification is the new trend to de-anonymize the web. 😡

🚨Starting Dec 10, #YouTube #Australia will ask for your age.

The Big Tech already started rolling out an AI-powered age estimation system. Adults are being marked as minors & are forced to submit IDs before regaining full access to decades-old accounts.

Learn how to avoid YouTube's #AI #AgeVerification: tuta.com/blog/how-to-turn-off-…

#anonymity #privacy

Screenshot of a Reddit post in the YouTube Subreddit titled: "How do I get past age verification without giving YouTube my id?" with a screenshot of a Google pop up asking how they would like to verify their age.

YouTube AI Age Verification: What it is & how to turn it off. | Tuta

Did YouTube ask you to verify your age with ID or credit card? You're not alone! YouTube AI is increasingly trying to estimate how old you are based on your habits following the global push for age verification.
Tuta
#privacy #youtube #AI #australia #anonymity #ageverification
in reply to Tuta

mastodon - Link to source

AmorphPanda

Using centralized cloud solutions is generally a bad idea. I propose distributed storage and processing solutions, with crypto compensation such as ARWeave.

Never used cloud services, never will. Made me successful. Long initial development time, but very reliable at the end.

Higher decentralized maintence requirements, which might seem not to be optimal from a economic point of view, but it creates opportunities for regional administrative jobs, avoiding outsourcing of labor.

⇧