I did try an early build of SpeechPlayer in Espeak, and in 2021 it already sounded the same as it does today. So what we know as "edward" and the various "klatt" voices are using the ideas from NV Speech Player, but what happened was, rather than maintaining it as another project, NVAccess decided to merge the ideas for how SpeechPlayer worked back into Espeak. This avoided them from needing to maintain another project as well, and merge back research or ideas into Espeak itself. A noble goal, but in the process they destroyed a bit of the experimentation that made NV Speech Player so unique.

I can't sleep. I'm really missing NV Speech player and it's keeping me awake, that aching feeling in my heart. When you could change all those parameters in the voice dialog related to NV Speech player. Before its ideas were merged into Espeak code you know. I just can't live without that beautiful slider interface, making the voice sound all weird.
(And thanks to Jake's site for still keeping this one archived, truly)
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

Accounts from Montreal protesters detail police violence

thelinknewspaper.ca/article/ac…

Well, that's interesting.

Fender apparently bought Presonus in 2021, which I didn't hear about until just now, and it looks like they are perhaps killing the Presonus brand, starting with their DAW, recently rebranded as Fender Studio Pro.

I am way out of the loop when it comes to this gear stuff, I guess. That's what happens when you get locked into an environment where you can't explore such things for several years. So it goes.

I don't really know what to think about that. Fender hasn't been the most kind caretaker of brands over the years, that's for sure.

My Fender... uh... Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2 digital console is stuck in storage possibly forever, and I'm honestly not sure if I would want to use it these days anyway on account of it's audio interface being firewire 400 instead of something more modern. That made a lot of sense back then, but not anymore.

There was a bug recently introduced in the latest Accessiweather nightly build which improved app startup performance. The explain weather button wasn't visible even though everything was configured. Bug now fixed on the dev branch in tonight's nightly build in around 30 minutes or so when it runs.

i'm probably going to be told tomorrow that i'm being laid off, so if anyone has a lead on a decent remote embedded software engineering or unix/linux systems job, i've got a resume to send you.

i don't like discussing the specifics of who my past clients have been in public. however, my most recent position was contracting with the kernel team of a major CDN and cloud services provider that i know many people on fedi are also current or former employees of, maintaining their internal linux distribution (an customized Ubuntu downstream) for their custom server platforms, porting forward and cleaning up patchsets to newer versions of the distribution, fixing issues in toolchains and libraries, etc.

i've also done embedded software work for a large variety of devices including medical, cellular technology, and industrial control equipment, in addition to some consumer products. i've done board bringup and BSP development with Yocto/Openembedded, Buildroot, FreeRTOS, etc, on most major SoC and microcontroller families. when doing business logic, I am most comfortable in C and Lua, but fine working with C++ codebases, and can learn to work with other languages if a project needs it.

boosts appreciated.

Hi @Bri I'm just trying out FastSM and I really like it. I was wondering if it's possible to also include mentions in the notifications buffer by chance? This is one thing I've come to rely on in Pinafore/TWBlue as it makes checking notifications super easy. You could still keep the separate mentions buffer but I just thought it could be easier to see all notifications/events in one place on the notifications buffer if mentions (replies) are there too. Thanks for putting this together, it is a really cool Mastodon client.

sfconservancy.org/sustainer/

This is the toughest time to work at a charity. When a charity posts its fundraiser, the total ask has been vetted 100 times: it's the amount that the org needs to keep going for the coming year.

Unlike your local PBS/NPR station, #SFC doesn't have a service we can interrupt to
pitch appeals for donations (& we probably wouldn't even if we did).

#SFC is short $48k with just days to go.

If you want me & my colleagues to work for #SoftwareFreedom in 2026, please give.

This entry was edited (3 days ago)

One of several drummers on the station, HKC Radio would like to wish a very Happy Birthday to Sonic Synergy's own Christina Campbell! Sadly, we can't have Warren Haynes jumping out of a cake for you, we do hope that your birthday has all the rhythm you could want and does not contain tumor milk.

Catch her and Kevin Sunday at 6 PM EST!

Hey lovelies 🩷

We think we've possibly got a few followers and mutuals who are blind and use some kinds of iOS mobile devices, right?

Enquiring because of a random encounter with another plural trans+ being on Reddit, who advised that they're legally blind and had not found any suitably accessible way to access the fediverse.

Can anybody advise whether there are any such ways, so we can give them some way or ways to join the friendlier fediverse community?

If not, they're stuck largely with Reddit and Bluesky 😅😔

The topic only came up after we advised that we'd found fedi to be much more plural friendly and accepting that most other such places... especially Reddit.

For clarity, we have zero experience of iOS and are not blind (at least presently at least), so we'd appreciate any firsthand experiences very much 🫶🏻

#AskFedi #iOS #accessibility

Ui, the #AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/?radd=1… … OK, today 10 updated and 1 added apps – where the latter is rather a returning one:

* Amethyst: a Nostr Client for Android 🛡️

(was here until 2023, moved to F-Droid, was archived there, and now is back with us)

RB status: 798 apps (62%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repository :awesome:

Oh no. Can you please think of the poor corporation and its CEO? The negativity you talk about regarding AI is hurting them badly. Now Jensen Huang is begging you to stop being so negative about AI: "[It's] extremely hurtful, frankly, and I think we've done a lot of damage," he said. This is the same thing the Microsoft CEO said a couple of weeks back. It would be a shame if you boosted and spread this negative news. Lmao.

gizmodo.com/jensen-huang-is-be…

Over the weekend, 17,000 people canceled their #WorldCup tickets

#FIFA is holding an emergency meeting

Maybe they will give Agent Orange another pretty trophy? Maybe bigger, more gold... really sparkly? Will that fix the problem? (/s)

As an American: don't come here

Don't do business with the #USA

Until we clean this shit up. Mainly: we #vote #primaries #primaries2026 and get some real left candidates

ticketnews.com/2026/01/nearly-…

#Boycott #BoycottUSA #Soccer #Football #Sports

This entry was edited (2 days ago)

It’s actually Glen Haven, a hamlet on Lake Michigan that got eaten by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and disincorporated. It was the base for dune buggy rides that tore up the dunes, which is part of why SBDNL was created. There used to be more buildings. And people. Not sure why they left that one… @livelakemichigan mastodon.social/@livelakemichi…