This holiday season I'd like to make someone I think is very important a bit of joy, however I need your help with it.

National bank of slovakia is issuing so called commemorative and collector euro 2 coins to celebrate historic memories, anniversaries and other special events. A friend of mine is collecting these coins with her dad whenever it's possible.

I have found out this is not specific to our country as european central bank has standardised this process and all the countries that have accepted euro can issue such commemorative coins.

Now the part I'd need some help with.

Can you please check with the national bank where you live if you can acquire some of the commemorative euro 2 coins, make me an offer and send these to me through ordinary post / mail service please?

Thanks for your understanding and possible help you can provide. #fediHelp #fediPower #boostsWelcome

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Something is changing my default output device to 24 bit 96 khz. It is annoing, because it doesnt change the imput device, so Reaper can not open it in wasapi. Today it probably broke my vdo ninja recording, which was half a speed. It seems that this happens after lenovo or windows update. Lets see if I can create some script which will monitor it and let me know when this happens again

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in reply to garo

@garo Please can you help me to download the appropriate build?

I've navigated to this url microsoft.com/en-us/software-d…
Selected Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices)
Pressed the Download now button.
The iso image I've downloaded does not start narrator when pressing ctrl+windows+enter after fully booting.
The file name of the image is Win11_25H2_EnglishInternational_x64.iso
The direct url to the image I managed to download this way is software.download.prss.microso…

Thanks for the help

CC @Jonathan

in reply to Peter Vágner

@jonathan859 The links you sent are cut off. Also, I cannot really help you unfortunately. All I know is that after build 7019 Narator should work - at least by resetting from the settings.
Alternatively, just use a 24h2 iso from the Internet Archive. It's really easy to find and you safely can use it (I did so too). Also the upgrading process to 25h2 is fairly easy.

Yesterday an open-source developer Christian has released life changing update to the privacy respecting #android app called #MakeACopy. The app now features so called #accessibility mode that is enabling #screenReader users to take pictures of the paper documents independently.
Accessibility guide is available on github.
The latest prerelease version provides clear Accessibility guidance phrases with screen readers such as Talkback, Corvus, Jieshuo and others that can handle announcement accessibility event.

I am verry happy about this. We are now getting privacy respecting open-source based screen reader accessible solution that performs very well and is easy to use.

The prerelease version can be downloaded at
github.com/egdels/makeacopy/re…

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I have just found a nice document scanning app for android that can do automatic edge detection, cropping, multipage scanning, OCR, PDF export and more.
It's called #makeacopy and it's using #tesseract engine to perform the OCR directly on the device with no internet connectivity requirement at all.
The app has almost full #a11y support for screen reader users in the sense that all the controls are clearly labelled and it's easy to navigate.
I can't resist and I have asked the developer if it would be doable to add a screen reader compatible notifications making the automatic edge detection somehow accessible as well.
Now I'd appreciate comments from low vision screen reader users, mobility trainers, people assisting other blind people or others who might be able to tell if my idea is viable and how much you like it?
Here is link to the github issue I have started: github.com/egdels/makeacopy/is…

Thanks for looking into it.

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Zoom released New firmware for H1E. I am sending this again because i broke the first post.

  • You can set imput gain during recording but i don't know exact buttons
  • You can record and export to mp3
  • You can record with AI noise isolator. It analyzes the noise during first 3 seconds to get noise profile. you can enable it with shortcut, the third button in the top row (button which marks during recording) or in rec settings. Not bad but it filters just high frequencies.
    Do you guys testet this? @Andre Louis @Borris @Tomecki
    zoomcorp.com/en/jp/handheld-re…

On my side Microsoft 365 generates NDR when I send the message to non existing email address using outlook online but does not generate NDR when sending a message to same non existing email address from thunderbird or other app sending emails through microsoft 365 SMTP server.
This sounds strange to me and I can't find a way to make it generate NDR aka bounce messages for messages submitted through SMTP.

Recently, I discovered Mynoise.net by @Stéphane (Dr. P). Sometimes, when I cant sleep or need background noise for boring work, I use various background soundscapes. Here is my article about Mynoise from the blind users experience. Long post follows:

Getting Started


  • We won’t install or configure anything.
  • Simply open the page mynoise.netmynoise.net in your web browser.
  • Activate, for example, the link windSeaRainNoiseGenerator (wind, sea, and rain noise generator).
  • Since browsers block autoplay by default, enable focus mode and press the letter p twice. The first press pauses playback, and the second resumes it. At this point, you should already hear the sound of the sea and wind noise.

Here you can also try other soundscapes, such as Rain on a Tent or Fireworks. I recommend opening the Full List. The soundscapes are organized under headings.

Playback Control


At this point, the possibilities of Mynoise are just beginning. Each player can be customized. Although the ambiance differs, the controls are always the same. Let’s take another look at the previously mentioned Wind, Sea, and Rain Noise.

Presets


Under the heading Presets, you’ll find buttons with various predefined settings. Activating them changes the sound’s characteristics. For instance, you can choose Breaking Waves or Irish Summer.

Under User Stories, you’ll find user comments. By activating a comment, the sound’s parameters adjust to the same configuration used by that commenter.

How to Create Your Own Background


Let’s say you want to manually adjust the balance between wind, waves, rain, and so on. Each player consists of ten sliders whose volume you can control. Here’s how:

  • Enable focus mode in your screenreader.
  • Press Enter to deselect all sliders.
  • Choose one of the sliders using numbers 0–9.
  • Adjust the volume with the + or keys.
  • Press Enter twice to deselect all sliders.
  • Choose another slider (0–9).
  • Adjust the volume again with + or .
  • If you’re satisfied but find the overall sound too loud, you can lower the volume with J and raise it with K.
  • You can also generate a random setting by pressing the ? (question mark)key.


I Created a Beautiful Ambience—How Can I Return to It?


The author thought of that, too. Press B to find the Save as URL button. After pressing it, a URL containing your custom parameters will appear in an edit field. You can copy this link to your clipboard and save it as a bookmark. That’s how it works in Firefox. Chrome, on the other hand, will automatically reload the page with the new URL. You can share this URL as usual—for this article, I created This Noise as an example.

Can I Combine “Rain on a Tent” and a “Crackling Fireplace”?


Yes, and there are two ways to do it. If you’ve been experimenting with the site for a while, you might have opened one soundscape in one browser tab and another in a second tab. However, this setup is difficult to save or share. Fortunately, you can create a single page that combines multiple generators—up to ten soundscapes in one! This way, you can really make something like a Campfire in the Rain. Here’s how:

  • Open your first soundscape, e.g. Rain on a Tent.
  • Reset the sliders to zero and adjust them as you wish, as described earlier.
  • Press C to save your current setting.
    – In another tab, open the main Mynoise page and find your second soundscape.
    – Open a new generator, for example Fireplace.
    – Adjust everything again as you like.
    – Press C again to save it.
    – Use Shift+C to save all settings together.
    – The page will ask for a name.
    – Enter a name and confirm.
    – You can now save the page as a bookmark or copy and share the URL.


Mobile App


Unfortunately, Mobile app is not accessible for blind users yet. You can still use Mynoise in your smartphone’s web browser. The easiest way is to share the custom links you prepared on your computer. That way, you’ll always have your favorite sounds at hand—for example, to help you sleep.

The author also offers online radios featuring some of the sounds. You can find them in the RadioBrowser database by searching for Mynoise. Additionally, there’s a podcast called Pomodoro Sessions, so you can enjoy your favorite soundscapes right in your podcast app.

Conclusion


The author is open to discussing accessibility. Thanks to this, button labels have already been added to the player pages. To celebrate finishing this article—and your reading it all the way through—you can listen to Fireworks.

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WhatsApp changes its terms to bar general-purpose chatbots from its platform. Meta said that the new chatbot use cases placed a lot of burden on its system with increased message volume and required a different kind of support, which the company wasn’t ready for. Really? I think that Meta just wants to force users to use Meta AI. techcrunch.com/2025/10/18/what…

I’m currently working on an interesting project. Last year, I met a former homeless man named Peter. He lost all his money to gambling. On the streets, he sold a street magazine, and later he started writing his own book. Today, most of his income comes from selling that book.
He wanted to create an audiobook. Since the budget was small, we did it like this: I gave him a Zoom H1N recorder. He locked himself in a relatively quiet room and gradually recorded the entire book. He sent me the raw material, which I ran through @Auphonic to remove background noise and room echo and to balance the loudness levels.
Now I just need to remove the mistakes and create the music background. It won’t be full studio quality — but honestly, I’ve heard “studio” recordings that sounded much worse than what we’re working on now.

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Another nice talk at @OpenAlt starts at 12:00 in some 40 minutes.
Improve the world map with @MapComplete .
Watch it at this link if you like.
vhsky.cz/w/9Hdaqab9CvbPwhk1VnD…
Or see the schedule here: talks.openalt.cz/openalt-2025/…

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