mastodon - Link to source

“Winning the wrong game”

tante.cc/2026/01/25/winning-th…

> If “AI” is actually more expensive that paying actual people actual wages that’s still a good investment for capital because it is about breaking up the structures, networks and organizations that help workers organize and fight for labor standards and fairer wages.


Winning the wrong game

With studies upon studies showing that actual measurable productivity gains through “AI” (which these days basically means chatbots) are really hard to come by and that “workslop” (meaning the extra work created for the rest of the organization by on…
tante (Smashing Frames)

mastodon - Link to source

I remember explaining this exact use case to Very Serious People at multiple non-profits who had received literal millions of dollars to research privacy, and these Very Serious People assured me that could never happen.

I quit these places with joy because these folks were myopic assholes who allowed their privilege to exacerbate harms.

One of these fuckers told me "but I like the ads - they help me see what sneakers I should buy."

wired.com/story/ice-asks-compa…

This entry was edited (1 day ago)

threads - Link to source
Police Repeatedly Shoot Tim Cook After Mistaking iPhone For Gun theonion.com/police-repeatedly…
Police Repeatedly Shoot Tim Cook After Mistaking iPhone For Gun

Police Repeatedly Shoot Tim Cook After Mistaking iPhone For Gun

CUPERTINO, CA—Explaining that they took immediate action against what they perceived to be a threat, local police officers repeatedly shot Apple CEO Tim Cook after mistaking an iPhone he was holding for a gun, sources confirmed Thursday.
The Onion Staff (The Onion)

mastodon - Link to source

#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/?radd=1… – despite of the ongoing Google shenanigans – today brought you 17 updated and 1 added apps:

* Sidestep: intercepts social media URLs and redirects them to privacy-friendly alternative frontends while removing tracking parameters 🛡️

RB Status: 809 apps (62.3%)

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repository – and thanks for standing with us! :awesome:


IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

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).
IzzyOnDroid App Repo
#android #free #apps #AndroidAppRain #izzyondroid

mastodon - Link to source
Good thing almost no one actually USES it… @mason partychickens.net/@mason/11595…

Mason Loring Bliss (@mason@partychickens.net)

Today I learned about UCEPROTECTL3, and it's deeply exciting. It feels like a protection racket. If you pay this place that maintains it, they'll take your IP address off of it. The trick is that I covers entire ISPs.
Mastodon
@Mason Loring Bliss
in reply to Alexis Bushnell

iceshrimp.net - Link to source

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

Okay, I don't have links to hand, but I'm a licensed ham radio opperator, and this is the kind of theory we learn. The danger from a microwave comes if it is failing to keep the actual waves inside. Microwaves are designed with an enclosure that blocks most of the energy from them. However, you might notice that when you run your microwave, your wifi and cell signal degrades. This is because your wifi/cell and a microwave use similar frequencies. But your wifi just uses a millionth or billionth of the power. So when those waves start leaking out of your microwave, they can drown out the wifi completely. The danger comes from just how much energy is leaking. You can stick a wifi antenna directly in your mouth for hours while it transmits, and nothing bad will happen to you. But if it was putting out the same power of a microwave, you would be cooked. In general, the test I use is this: place your cell phone inside the microwave, and close the door. DO NOT! TURN ON THE MICROWAVE OBVIOUSLY! Now, with the door completely closed, try to call your cell phone from another phone. If it rings while inside the microwave, I'd worry a bit. If it doesn't, I wouldn't. This works because your cell tower is transmitting at low power, and is far away from you. So if your phone can talk to the tower from inside the microwave, it means it's probably leaking more energy than you would really like.

mastodon - Link to source
Accessibility-focused Mastodon question.
I’m currently using the Enafore web client and generally like it. I’ve been seeing some chatter about FastSM, and I’m curious how it compares in real use.
Has anyone here used Enafore and then switched to FastSM? If so, how is it with a screen reader, and what feels different or better (or worse)?
I don’t have much energy for trial-and-error right now, so firsthand experiences would be especially helpful.
#Mastodon #Accessibility #ScreenReaders #BlindTech @mastoblind @main
#Accessibility #Mastodon #screenreaders #blindtech @Blind Main @Group 4 Blind & VI people

mastodon - Link to source
I encourage those wanting to tweak a language to carefully read through the giant Readme on GitHub, which explains all of these settings in careful methodical detail. At some point I'm going to have to reorganize it a bit, but lots of headings. And reading for linguistic nerds, wooh-hooh?
github.com/tgeczy/NVSpeechPlay…

GitHub - tgeczy/NVSpeechPlayer: A Klatt-based speech synthesis engine written in c++

A Klatt-based speech synthesis engine written in c++ - tgeczy/NVSpeechPlayer
GitHub

Zach Bennoui reshared this.

mastodon - Link to source
Well well, another NVSpeech Player update, finally I can say, out of the V13 days.
Again, more settings to customize for language owners!
1) liquidDynamics
Adds real movement inside liquids/glides instead of treating them as static blobs. You can dial in:
• /l/ lateral onglide (a small “tongue tip” gesture)
• American /r/ with an F3 dip (less “flat r”)
• /w/ transitions with a proper start locus (more natural “w”)
2) lengthContrast
For languages where length matters (HU/FI/JP/IT, etc.):
• short vowel ceiling + long vowel floor (so long/short stays distinct at speed)
• geminates get closure lengthening (tt/kk actually feel doubled)
• optional compensatory vowel shortening before geminates
3) positionalAllophones
Systematic “position rules” without hand-writing a million exceptions:
• stop aspiration scaling by context (word-initial stressed vs intervocalic vs final)
• /l/ darkness by position (clear [l] vs dark [ɫ])
• optional glottal reinforcement for final stops
All are pack-configurable in settings: and default off unless enabled.
eurpod.com/synths/nvSpeechPlay…
This entry was edited (1 day ago)

Zach Bennoui reshared this.

flipboard - Link to source

Met Office issues warnings for heavy rain and flooding across parts of the UK
https://metro.co.uk/2026/01/25/met-office-issues-warnings-heavy-rain-flooding-across-parts-uk-26514856/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into News (UK Edition) @news-uk-edition-FlipboardUK


Met Office issues warnings for heavy rain across parts of the UK

Yellow warnings for heavy rain and flooding are in place from Monday and Tuesday across the UK.
Rory McKeown (Metro)
@News (UK Edition)

mastodon - Link to source
Like most of my mastodonian friends, or acquaintences, call yourselves what you will, i have recently tryed Fast SM. For a mastodon - Bluesky cliant that has just come out on the market it's pretty good. i've yet to discover a jaws with Leasy Key map in the list of Key Maps, but maybe that will be added down the road perhaps. having difficulties signing in to BlueSky with it, but i think it's more BlueSky than Fast SM. will deffenately follow developments with interest. excellent work. :)

mastodon - Link to source

RE: ravenation.club/@etherdiver/11…

So far today, I'm watching my football team struggle in the playoffs, learning a new synth, and doing laundry. All feel a lot better than endlessly looking for/at bad news!

Ether Diver (@etherdiver@ravenation.club)

I say this as a reminder to myself as much as anyone, but you probably did enough doomscrolling yesterday. Try to spend less of your day inflicting massive psychic damage on yourself.
Ether Diver (Mastodon)
in reply to Zach Bennoui

mastodon - Link to source

theblindgamer50

@ZBennoui you actually can do that, with a python script that I had Gemini create that allows you to edit the binary macintalk voice files.
I've been doing all of this windows macintalk/wintalker experimentation stuff for awhile: it started with 2 python scripts, 1 that would allow you to edit the binary voice description files that are used with OSX and IOS10, and another one that allows you to convert and embed markers into wave files, the (PCMWave) files that are located in some of the macintalk voice folders.
But recently, I got claude code and was like, hey what else can I do with this old codebase? and, the macintalk speak window was created! speaking of that, I’m going to push an update soon that allows you to read from text files with an -f argument, and also wavs now write silently and save at 22,050 HZ: before I release that though I am going to try to add 2 missing original macintalk voices that were not in the original wintalker codebase, albert and bahh.
I also need to find a better way to do markers, might have the original PCMWave marker script have a thing that can save to .mkr or something, or just thro claude code a hex dump of one of the PCMWave files that has the markers in it and just add support for those, that sounds like a better option: what do you guys think I should go with?
@Zach Bennoui

mastodon - Link to source
When I learned Trump had won the election I feared violence. My biggest fear was that right-wing death squads would target liberals, and that law enforcement would turn a blind eye, or be forced to do so. It just hadn't occurred to me that it would be so-called "law-enforcement" that would be doing the killing directly, under the protection of the government. But of course that's what Trump would want. He feels powerful when he can be cruel without consequence. #8647
#8647

mastodon - Link to source

This is going to sound a bit weird, but it might be a good idea to purchase a shortwave radio if you haven't got one already. They're quite cheap and small, you can buy one and store it long term just in case.

Shortwave is the only way to receive news and information internationally without relying on the internet or satellite. It might be a useful fallback to receive news from the outside world if your country's media and internet are ever restricted or closed down.

If you've never used one, it's like a normal radio but the frequencies reach around the world. Every country used to have its own station.

#Radio #ShortwaveRadio

#radio #shortwaveradio

hometown - Link to source

At the start of my career, I translated a lot for Parks Canada. This website was so important and useful.

--

"Parks Canada shuttering Historic Places website, sparking heritage concerns

Shutdown leaves no alternative database to look up sites in Nova Scotia, expert says

The announcement has caused alarm in heritage circles across the country and in Nova Scotia in particular.

Launched in 2004, the register is a national searchable database of historic places recognized by federal, provincial, territorial and local governments. It contains about 13,500 listings.

When launched, the site described listings as "places that shape our lives, describe our history, and represent the diverse character of our country."

cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia…

This entry was edited (1 day ago)

mastodon - Link to source
I wish every Blind person could own these. They are two globes. The one on the right is a relief globe, with the land masses outlined with fabric paint to make them textured. The globe on the right is an Intelo-globe. The stylus allows you to choose a mode, geography, geology etc. then run the stylus over the globe and hear information spoken. They were game-changers for me, and I still like to explore them. Not entirely tangentially, I was startled to discover how close Greenland is to Canadian territory like Elsmere Island.
Be My AI: A corner of a room with shelves holding two globes and some boxes. On the lower black shelf, there are two world globes side by side. The left globe is larger and mounted in a black ring stand; it’s showing Africa prominently, with the Indian Ocean to the right and the South Atlantic to the left. The right globe is slightly smaller with a gold-colored stand and meridian ring; it’s showing the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Africa/Europe. On the left base of the larger globe is a stylus resting in a depression made to hold it.

mastodon - Link to source
If you're new to Signal, it might feel a little overwhelming to get the hang of, but you can get it set up and working pretty quickly. ssd.eff.org/module/how-to-use-…

How to: Use Signal

Download location: Google Play Store, Apple App Store System requirements: Android 5 or later, iOS 13 or later Version used in this guide: Android: 7.38.6 iPhone: 7.5.
ssd.eff.org
in reply to Chad McCullough

akkoma - Link to source

flo

Please check out delta.chat and spread the use about this messenger.

Developed in Germany, end-to-end-encryption by design, using email-infrastructure (therfore cannot get turned off by an authoritarian state), including applets, like polls, todo-lists, calendar, collaborative work on documents, games, ...

I use it with several people and really can recommend it :)

#DeltaChat

#deltachat
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