Nano 8.0 Command-Line Text Editor Released – Key Bindings Have Now Joined The 21st Century

That is not the only improvement, but it is pretty significant to be able to now use CTRL-Q to quit, CTRL-C to copy, CTRL-X to cut, CTRL-V to paste, CTRL-F to search forward, CTRL-Z to undo, etc. The old key bindings (being very old) were a bit like using Morse code in modern times (I nearly said like Vim or Emacs, but luckily, I didn’t as that would be sacrilegious). You can still opt though to revert to the old key bindings if you really wish.

I do also like it being open directly to a line number with nano filename:number.

See linuxiac.com/nano-8-0-command-…
#Blog, #linux, #nano, #opensource, #technology

Koodo Reader is an open-source ebook reader for Linux, Windows, macOS and the Web

This is a great looking ebook reader for ePub, PDF, comic book archive and a few other formats. It allows highlighting, bookmarks and notes per book, and for non-PDFs there is also a reading mode with a side-by-side view (no page flipping animation, but it has a page-slide animation).

I like that it has numerous settings to changer colours and most of the layout settings you can think of. You can also customize the source folder and synchronize among multiple devices using OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, etc.

It has touch-screen support, but one thing I don’t see is handwritten annotations (although you have typewritten notes you can add).

See github.com/koodo-reader/koodo-…
#Blog, #ereader, #KoodoReader, #opensource, #technology

How to Install KDE Plasma in Ubuntu, Debian and Mint: Because you have Choices

KDE Plasma (KDE) is a well-known desktop environment for Unix-like systems designed for users who want to have a nice desktop environment for their machines, it is one of the most used desktop interfaces out there.

Linux distros usually ship with one main desktop environment, but you can install others without reinstalling the distro. I have Manjaro KDE as my distro, but I also have Gnome desktop installed on it as an alternative desktop, and I can switch between them from the login screen. This is because the underlying Linux kernel across all the distros is the same one. The distros just add their choice of desktop, theming and apps on top.

The key thing is to be sure you install all the dependencies it expects to find, and the linked article below will show how to do that.

See tecmint.com/install-kde-plasma…
#Blog, #KDE, #linux, #opensource, #technology

GoToSocial is a new ActivityPub social network server for the Fediverse

This service is still in Alpha release but is already deployable and usable, and federates with other Fediverse servers.

However, there is no “main” instance you go to join. The intention really is that you host your own instance for yourself and a few friends and family. To this end, it is designed to be very lightweight and will happily run on a Raspberry Pi or even a $5/pm VPS.

This is taking a very different approach from say Mastodon which has one main instance everyone could join, but then it sits with the issue that everyone joins there, and it becomes a bit “centralised”. GoToSocial has been designed as lightweight for self-hosting, and also has a Docker image installation, so it makes it really easy for (and encourages) most people to host their own instance.

It seems to also be focussed very much around privacy (defaults to unlisted posts) and permission controls (for example, you have an option to post to mutual-only where both people follow each other). Also, by hosting your own service you set the rules, and you are also your own admin. You can choose to turn off likes, replies, boosts, etc as well. Being your own admin also means you can easily adjust the post length as well.

It does conform to the Mastodon API so apparently some Mastodon clients will also work fine with it.

See github.com/superseriousbusines…
#Blog, #activitypub, #GoToSocial, #opensource, #technology

Kobo’s new repairability push could heat up competition

“The competition” is probably primarily Amazon Kindle (without a colour model, nor any repairability announced yet). Certainly, consumers score with repairability, and on the face of it, you’d think suppliers lose out. But actually, I may be inclined to buy a far more expensive model if I know I can repair it and keep it going for a few years.

Though I should add after many years of owning a Kobo reader and a few Kindles, not one of them has had any issue at all, and all still work fine. But I get that some people do drop their devices, or things can die after the initial warranty period.

Kobos are now available I see for purchase on Amazon (yes really, just not to my country) as well as Walmart.

Kobos are excellent readers actually and the only thing that counts a bit against them, is they don’t have that vast availability of books that Amazon has. But the Calibre app works perfectly well with being able to buy books elsewhere and push them to your Kobo reader.

See androidpolice.com/kobos-repara…
#Blog, #ebooks, #Kobo, #reading, #technology

Android Tasker routine to warn if home WiFi is not functioning correctly

Been experiencing a bit of an issue the last month with everything seemingly on and connected, but my Chromecast device would not connect across Wi-Fi today, and sometimes my wife says her phone is not connecting, and I’d have to reboot the home router. So, I decided to write a small routine using the Tasker app to check every 10 mins whether my phone can ping the Home Assistant server over the home LAN. If so, all good, but if not pop up an alert. It only runs this while I’m actually home. If I happen to be at home, but using mobile data, then it will still give an error as the mobile data won’t reach the internal IP address.

I’m using the Auto Location 3rd party app for Tasker, which provides more reliable geofencing status, but one could also use the standard Tasker location Profile. Basically, either of these will set a variable called %HOME to 1 if I’m at home, or to 0 if I’m away from home. Below is the Profile that triggers this: If at home it runs task Set Is Home, and if not at home (Exit action) it will run Set Not Home.

The actions are just simple ones that set a variable called %HOME and set it to 1 or 0.

This action sets a variable called %HOME = 1
This action sets a variable %HOME = 0 and also just says audibly I have left home.

The other rigger under Profiles is a time one which just runs the WiFi Test task every 10 minutes.

Profile to run a task called WiFi Test every 10 mins

The Wifi Test task that runs every 10 minutes does the following:
* Creates and sets a variable called %HA_PING = 0. You can call it anything as maybe you want to ping the home router instead. We set this to 0 to check if the ping test then changes it, and to ensure it does not contain some non-zero value from a previous ping action.
* The Ping action is added and I set it to the internal IP address of my Home Assistant server. I said it can try 2 pings, and I also set a condition for IF %HOME = 1. In other words, only run this action if at home. If I did not add the condition, it would run when I’m away, and then give the ping error. One of Ping action’s fields is for Average Result Variable, and in there I just put %HA_PING. In other words, if there is an average ping result obtained, then set the variable %HA_PING to that variable (it will no longer be a 0).
* I added a Notify action but set two conditions to check before notifying: I must be at home, and the %HA_PING must equal 0. If the ping was successful, it sets %HA_PING to whatever the average result was. If it was not successful, the original %HA_PING is still 0.
* I just added an audible alert too, also based on same conditions that I must be home and the ping test did not set %HA_PING to above 0.

The WiFi Test task

To see what it is does under various scenarios, you can view the variable values in the Tasker app in the VARS tab, as shown below. Below we can see both variables after a run, and they show I am at home, and the last average ping response was 29.773ms.

The Tasker app is extremely powerful and fun to use and you can automate so many things with it.
#Blog, #android, #automation, #tasker, #technology

‘Secret’ iPhone feature lets you easily sign online documents for free, with no scanning, printing, or app installing

In the age of digital communication, needing to sign important documents online has become increasingly common, but it’s not necessarily the easiest process.

For an iPhone you can just use the standard Photos app to open it, hit Edit, click the Markup button, and add signature. Useful that you can also move it around.

I see on my Samsung Galaxy phone I can similarly use the Samsung Notes app and just a PDF with the S Pen. The selection tool will also allow me to select and move that signature around or resize it.

Both phones will allow you to sign, or complete, a document offline and no 3rd party apps needed.

See thefocus.news/lifestyle/secret…
#Blog, #ios, #signature, #technology

Palm OS and the devices that ran it: Before smartphones, we had PDAs in our pockets, and Palm did them best

I remember my PalmPilot very well. I used its Graffiti handwriting recognition to take many memos and keep my life organised.

I’m pretty sure before the PalmPilot I only had fixed ROM organisers which had the standard notes, calendar, contact, etc functionality (like the Sharp ZQ-3200 organiser with 64kB of RAM and a serial link). The PalmPilot also allowed 3rd party apps to be installed. It would also interface with some PC apps to sync data when you pressed the sync button on the cradle.

I think I moved to a Psion 5 after the Palm Pilot. Its EPOC OS was the forerunner to the Symbian OS that appeared on Nokia phones later on.

The 1990’s was an exciting time of innovative breakthroughs in all sorts of consumer computing devices.

There is a pretty good history and context and the link below and covers both the rise and the fall of Palm.

See arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/0…
#Blog, #palmpilot, #retrocomputing, #technology

Caillou dans le ciel mouillé

#textimage #poesiecontemporaine #sète #ecriresurcaillou #auteur #blog #poesie #actu #culturevivante

http://www.alainlasverne.fr/caillou-dans-le-ciel-mouille-a215709339?logout

Caillou dans le ciel mouillé

  A l'occasion, je pose un brin de poésie sur un caillou...         Caillou au pied d'une statue que les sétois connaissent bien. Manière d'hommage à la statue et au canal à ses pieds......

A Privacy Policy: We do not display advertising on the website or app but…

I can’t recall what this service was for as I don’t find any login saved for it, but I was reading the updated privacy policy they sent me in an e-mail (looks like it may have been a service a tried a long time ago). It’s very long and starts out quite well, but it was when I got to these paragraphs below that it really starts to worry me as they are basically claiming all sorts of metadata will be passed on online advertising networks, social media companies and other 3rd party services, including GPS locations and click stream information. This includes for children 13 years and older. It’s similar to what WhatsApp passes up to Meta, which made me drop WhatsApp like a hot potato, because of who that data gets passed to.

An extract: “Specifically, we permit third party online advertising networks, social media companies and other third-party services, to collect information about your use of the VERO Website over time so that they may play or display ads for our products and services on other websites or services you may use, and on other devices you may use. Typically, though not always, the information used for interest-based advertising is collected through tracking technologies, such as cookies, web beacons, embedded scripts, location-identifying technologies, and similar technology, which recognize the device you are using and collect information, including click stream information, browser type, time and date you visited the VERO Websites, AdID, and other similar information. If permitted by your device settings, they may also collect location data through GPS, Wi-Fi or other methods. We and our third-party partners use this information to make the advertisements you see online more relevant to your interests, as well as to provide advertising-related services such as reporting, attribution, analytics and market research. We may also use services provided by third parties (such as social media platforms) to serve targeted ads to you and others on such platforms.”

This extract could imply your data gets made available to data brokers even: “Please be aware that your Personal Information and communications may be transferred to and maintained on servers or databases located outside your state, province, or country. We store and process the information that we collect in the United States in accordance with this Privacy Policy though our Service Providers may store and process data outside the United States. The laws in the United States may not be as protective of your privacy as those in your location.”

Well, this re-assuring that they don’t “sell” the information: “We do not “sell” personal information as most people would typically understand that term. However, on certain portions of the VERO Website, we do allow certain third-party partners and providers to collect information about consumers directly through our services for purposes of analyzing and optimizing our services, displaying ads on third party sites, providing content and ads that are more relevant, measuring statistics and the success of ad campaigns, and detecting and reporting fraud. This practice may be interpreted to constitute a “sale” under the U.S. state privacy laws, or may constitute the “sharing” or processing of your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes.”

They at least do expand here on selling: “We have “sold” or “shared” the following categories of personal information for the purposes described in our Privacy Policy, subject to your settings and preferences and your Right to Opt-Out: Identifiers, Commercial Information, and Internet/Network Information.”

This is what is stated about 3rdparty identity services: “VERO does not receive the biometric identifier generated from the images, however, for identity verification and security purposes, VERO will receive the results of the identity verification process, including the images of your ID and the results of the liveness check, as well as text extracted from the ID scan. We may use some or all of this information and associated information to verify your account.”

And this: “We do not sell sensitive information, and we do not process or otherwise share sensitive information for the purpose of targeted advertising.” Except that this contradicts what was said earlier about targeted advertising! Because I understand “to make the advertisements you see online more relevant to your interests” to mean targeted advertising. Maybe relevant and targeted mean two different things?

We don’t always have time to read updated privacy policies, but many do contain these hidden gems, that quite frankly can put you off using such services. The sites of course are usually “free” to use, so are funded by advertisers who require these conditions to be in place.

One can see why so many then flock to the Fediverse and other decentralised platforms which are funded by volunteers. It worth considering giving some small donations to these volunteer projects when they’re keeping you free from invasive advertising and data collection policies.

From vero.co/privacy-policy
#Blog, #privacy, #technology

South African app receives 46,693 potholes reports — 7,842 have been closed

The app is not so much about potholes themselves, but more about how transparency is needed to measure success or failure to provide services to citizens. Too often, reports just disappear into a back-end system and no-one sees the full picture, nor how the resolution rate is progressing.

Seeing municipal services are actually public funded services for citizens, I really wonder why not all electrical, roads, water, etc requests are not publicly visible for citizens to judge how their service delivery is going. If this could have been done for the Municipal Money website in South Africa, why not for other municipal services too? Right now, anyone can compare one municipality with another for their financial key performance indicators.

Maybe what is needed is more transparency for citizens to see what is going on, or not, with their municipal service delivery. Then we’ll at least be dealing with objective judgements around service delivery, and be able to measure real improvement.

See mybroadband.co.za/news/motorin…
#Blog, #accountability, #government, #southafrica, #technology

Fujifilm X100 VI vs iPhone 15 Pro Max camera shootout: the most hyped against the most mainstream

LOL the “most mainstream phone camera” in my country is certainly not an iPhone, but OK, you can substitute with any other flagship brand phone.

In case you were wondering about the Fujifilm camera, it is a retro-style digital camera with a 40MP sensor and fixed-lens that shoots around the equivalent of a 35 mm lens. Why this one specifically over maybe a Canon or Nikon DSLR? Well, it was apparently made famous on TikTok at some point a year ago, and is now permanently sold out.

The camera is a lot more compact than any DSLR, but a downside then also is it not being able to take additional lenses. Like it or not, we just have to accept that in 2024 a really good camera phone mostly will outrank any camera when it comes to auto mode, compactness, size, and versatility. A DSLR will certainly outperform any smartphone when it comes to the extremes of low light, massive zoom levels, and resolution, but the extra dedicated cost, weight, bulk, and lack of quick versatility make it impractical for day-today users.

See xda-developers.com/fujifilm-x1…
#Blog, #FujifilmX100VI, #photography, #technology

StreamController is a brand-new open-source app for enabling and managing the Elgato Stream Deck on Linux

Many of us were using Stream Deck UI, which was a fork from a previous such app which was no longer being maintained. The devs decided to restart the initiative using a different coding language (Python), which would allow them to do a lot more.

So, what a surprise when I saw an announcement in the Discord chat that we should migrate to the new app called StreamController. Not only is it noticeably faster, but it also has support now for plugins, wallpapers, screensaver, as well as automatic page switching for Gnome and Hyprland (For example, you could see your favourite music albums when you open Spotify, your projects when you open VSCode, or your favorite websites in Firefox).

It is still in Beta and I installed the Flatpak version on Manjaro Linux, which is working just fine.

It has its own in-app Store for plugins and icon packs, so you are not installing these directly from Elgato. But there are already a number of useful plugins available such as Audio Control, Audio Switcher, Clocks, Counter Deck Controller, Gnome Window Calls, Media, OBS, OS, Pi-hole, HTTP requests, Speediest, Volume Mixer, and Weather.

Various of the plugins are supporting animation, so the OS one for CPU can display the live CPU percentage, or even show a graph that updates in the button display. The clock plugin will show the time as it updates. The volume level will show the volume percentage as it changes.

The OBS plugin correctly sends its button presses to the OBS app, when it is running with its standard server active. I was able to get all my main scenes working for zooming in around the screen, and to trigger the various hotkeys I have active inside OBS. There are still a few more features that likely need to be added to the OBS plugin.

There is only one icon pack right now in the store for Material Icons designed by Google (unofficial). But you can easily add Custom Assets such as your own JPG or PNG icons by just uploading them into the app. And of course, anyone else can contribute extra plugins and icon packs.

Overall, I’m really impressed with this app and can see why it needed a complete rewrite. It is already a lot of fun to use, so I’m looking forward to further enhancements over the coming months.

See core447.com/
#Blog, #linux, #opensource, #StreamDeck, #technology

Petivity Smart Litterbox Monitor System: Uses Existing Pet Litter Box

It takes about a week or so for it to learn your cats’ habits accurately. During that time, the app alerts you when an event is detected and, based on the weight recorded, you select which cat it was (or if it was a non-cat event, like you scooping). Once it learns who’s who, it compiles that day’s activities into the app, letting you know when each cat peed, pooped, or did a little dance inside the litter but didn’t actually go, complete with cute illustrated icons. You can set up multiple monitors if you have several boxes.

I like that this using exiting litter boxes, and seemingly has no subscription cost. It appears to recognise which pet it is as well (well it prompts you to tell it), and it monitors the frequency the pet uses it, for any changes.

It’s also a handy ‘weigh’ to monitor their weight as well.

Interesting gadget, but is probably a bit pricey for most of us.

See https://www.wired.com/review/petivity-smart-litterbox-monitor/
#Blog, #cats, #gadgets, #technology

The Best Podcasts for Your Smart, Bored Kid

Some excellent kid safe and also informative podcasts in the list at the linked article. I’d say though they are not just for long trips in the car, as it is actually a good habit to listen to focussed and informative topics at any time. Much of my own day, including shopping trips and when driving, are spent listening to podcasts.

Audio podcasts are great for those times when you are busy doing something, and cannot be watching a screen the whole time. You can slow down, or speed up, podcast listening too.

See https://www.wired.com/story/best-podcasts-for-kids/
#Blog, #kids, #podcasts, #technology

Why after nearly 20 years I moved away from Vodacom – Loyalty often does not Pay

I’ve been with Vodacom since just after number porting went live in South Africa, and I’ve been on a contract with them for most of that time until after I retired from work, and no longer had a work cellphone allowance. It was just cheaper to move to a pre-paid service.

When I moved to pre-paid, I just asked them to change my contract to pre-paid, and I went on from there, topping the account up every second month or so. Whenever I topped up I saw I was offered 30% extra airtime for whatever I bought – that’s nice, so if I spent R100 I’d actually get R130 or whatever it was. But over the last 3 months after moving medical aids I do now spend up to an hour or longer talking on the phone to my medical aid and I noticed the costs are nearly R100 a call.

Today I got another offer from Afrihost to switch to their new AirMobile offering (which is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator). So I checked out the call costs and noted they were 64c per minute. I phoned Vodacom to check what I was paying as I can never see in the VodaPay app what the call rates were, and I also cannot see any history of itemised calls (except for the data use on my data SIM). I was then told I’m paying R1.53 per minute for calls! So, I get an extra 30% of airtime when I top up, but I’m paying over 100% more in costs! What a rip-off. It was explained to me that there are actually three different pre-paid plans, and I was on the Power Bonus one, but there is a different one that is only 79c per minute, if I’d like them to switch me to that one. No-one told me there were three options when I was switched to pre-paid, and I always thought there was just “pre-paid”. Well…. I replied that actually don’t worry, I’m going to rather switch providers, but I asked her to escalate the issue that no-one gave me any options when I was changed to pre-paid and how come I ended up on the most expensive one – there is no loyalty from the company after you’ve been with them for 20 years.

I’m not going to (yet) say Afrihost’s AirMobile is the best out there, but for me, it is certainly way better than I was getting from Vodacom. The whole migration was completed online and live after about 3 hours, including the RICA process and the number porting. As I have a phone with eSIM capability, I just scanned the QR code that came in the e-mail, and my eSIM was set up.

Apart from the way cheaper costs, visibility of pricing, and way simpler online management (without all the adverts and bonus offer popups in the VodaPay app), the AirMobile offering also shows me detailed usage of both the data usage and itemised phone calls with the cost for each call (no itemised billing was included on pre-paid with Vodacom).

The fact that I received a free R100 of airtime and 10GB of data from AirMobile was not at all why I changed, as I look only at ongoing monthly usage costs. But it is a nice sweetener seeing I had R88 credit left at Vodacom which I lose.

The moral of the story though is, just like with short term insurance, life insurance and bank accounts, you have no investment value in those companies at all, no matter how long you’ve been with them. If you want a better deal, you need to look around and then just make a move. An exception may be if you get quite hefty loyalty bonuses, like I get from my short term insurance for no claims. But still, factor that in and decide if you want to move after your bonus is paid out, or weigh up what you will save overall over 3 or 5 years anyway.

So, let’s see how this goes with Afrihost. Afrihost has been my fibre ISP for the last few years, and I’ve been really happy with their service so far. My migration described above, though, was purely my own initiative, and all I received was the standard migration package and pricing that everyone else receives. I know it sounds a bit like an advert, but it is an important principle to look around for better offers you can get, no matter where you decide to go.
#Blog, #Afrihost, #AirMobile, #southafrica, #technology, #vodacom

#google #job #blog #news #history

♲ Digital Angel - 2024-04-10 22:22:14 GMT

Surprise: #Google has transformed itself from a #hipster #startup into a cheesy, normal #company, where you are now just as much of an #employee as anywhere else.https://social.clawhammer.net/blog/posts/2024-01-19-CultureChange/
#job #history #economy #internet #software #developer #coder #nerd #change #news #business #management #blog

Digital Angel (@digitalangel)

Hailing Frequencies Open: h3x3@xmpp.chat

Free app Actions adds nearly 150 features to Apple Shortcuts

Highlights include many tools for converting units, a bunch of system integrations for checking things like whether a particular Bluetooth device or Wi-Fi device is connected, and a bunch of features for working with images and lists. The application works for both mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad, as well as Macs. A few of the actions only work on one or the other but the vast majority work on all devices.

To get started, simply install the application and create a new shortcut. The best way to get a feel for the new abilities is to go to Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, and browse the actions by app. You’ll find everything under “Shortcuts”.

See https://lifehacker.com/tech/actions-app-adds-new-features-to-apple-shortcuts
#Blog, #ios, #shortcuts, #technology

Kobo announces its first colour e-readers

Rakuten Kobo is launching its first colour e-readers, the Kobo Libra Colour and the Kobo Clara Colour. Both use E Ink’s latest Kaleido colour screen technology, which has subtle, pastel-like hues and drops from a 300ppi grayscale resolution to 150ppi when you view content in colour.

Prices seem to be about $10 to $30 more than the black and white model, and a stylus will cost extra if you want one.

It will be interesting to see what thew reviews show from May 2024 after they’ve shipped. Kobo’s are actually excellent readers and this also shows again how they can out-innovate Amazon. Kobo’s also have long supported the ePub format, which Amazon only started to support about a year or two back. Amazon’s only big strength is their massive bookstore.

It is quite easy to buy books and use Calibre to push them to a Kobo reader.

See https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/10/24124411/kobo-libra-colour-clara-colour-e-reader-kindle-e-ink
#Blog, #ereader, #Kobo, #technology

The Fairbuds noise-canceling earbuds have an easily swappable battery

Fairphone, the makers of the ultra-repairable Fairphone 5, have launched a new pair of easy-to-repair wireless earbuds. Instead of tossing away your earbuds when the batteries eventually die, Fairphone’s new Fairbuds let you replace the batteries inside the buds themselves and their charging case.

In addition to replacing the batteries, you can repair or exchange the left or right earbud, the silicone ring, earbud tips, the charging case outer shell, and the charging case core. The new buds also come with a standard two-year warranty, but you can add one extra year if you register them online.

Certainly, these objectives should be embraced by all manufacturers. I will never forget my first (and only) Apple AirPods and their batteries failing just a month past the warranty period ended. They were super expensive, and I vowed to never again pay so much money for a disposable product.

The downside though with Fairphone products is they are not the cheapest around, so many are still going to buy cheap disposal earbuds. They are very likely not as good as the top end earbuds are either, but I’d be interested to see some reviews around the sound quality.

One would have to assume these could last at least two or three times longer than any earbuds which have non-replaceable batteries (batteries are usually the component that fails). But the cost of any batteries being replaced also needs to be factored in.

I’d hope though if there is enough support and sales, that these prices could actually get cheaper over time too.

See https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/9/24125089/fairbuds-fairphone-noise-canceling-earbuds-battery-replace-repairability
#Blog, #earbuds, #environment, #technology