danie10

Mbin is a decentralized content aggregator, voting, discussion and microblogging platform running on the fediverse network. It can communicate with many other ActivityPub services, including Kbin, Mastodon, Lemmy, Pleroma, Peertube. It is an open source alternative to other link aggregator services like Reddit. The initiative aims to promote a free and open internet.

Mbin is focused on what the community wants, pull requests can be merged by any repo owner (with merge rights in GitHub). Discussions take place on Matrix then consensus has to be reached by the community. If approved by the community, only one approval on the PR is required by one of the Mbin maintainers. It's built entirely on trust.

It seems it's claim to fame is being more open and accepting of community changes and improvements. It can install as either bare metal/VM or as a Docker container.

Although anyone can install it and self-host it, their project page also contains a link to various instances that already exist and which anyone can register on.

See https://github.com/MbinOrg/mbin

#technology #opensource #Fediverse #linkaggregator #decentralised

Not made by Meta = Tick. The price though is almost the cost of three monitors...

These may not be full time permanent replacements for monitors, but they are great for portable use, and could potentially save a ton of desk area space. You can also work in a confined area (even on a plane trip, without the neck strain of having to look down the whole time), with the illusion of space and the monitors being further away from you. Or they can also be used so that they don't disturb someone sleeping (or working) next to you, or you can use them instead of having a large screen TV.

At even 60Hz to 120Hz, that is a pretty decent refresh rate, and more than I expected it to be. They are also not as heavy or cumbersome as many VR goggles are, weighing it at around 75g. Resolution is 1080p per eye.

It seems too that the glasses can connect to Linux computers that support USB-C DP video output.

But this type of device really needs to be tested in person before buying. It's not the sort of thing you can easily show someone remotely, or via a video, to help make a choice.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/replaced-monitors-smart-glasses/ and the video at https://youtu.be/m5pTpB9x-es?si=V1K--m2ZwWQxPSLM is also worth watching

#technology #glasses #smartglasses #AR

Wondering if there is any way to change the rings to higher contrast colours, from the default white and grey? The settings seem to be in ~/.config/kwinrc file, but it has no colour options that I know of. It seems like an obvious choice to want to have.

The Mouse Click Animation has some great options, but it is only on actual clicking of the mouse keys (and yes I thought maybe I could set this to long duration, but it maxes out at 999 ms.

A pair of high-end in-ear wireless headphones called PineBuds are on the horizon. These include features most would expect in 2022, like ambient and environment noise cancellation, and a lengthy battery life. The earbuds will also be end-user flashable, opening up a world of possible uses.

“There will be a wide variety of things developers and (eventually) end-users will be able to do with the earbuds – flash custom sound signatures, determine touch controls, adjust resonance to fit the user’s ear canal resonance,” Pine64 say.

If I can change the batteries, that would be a major winner for me!

See https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/04/pine64-open-source-pinebuds-wireless-ear-buds

#technology #audio #earbuds #pine64 #pinebuds #opensource

The interesting part of this, and probably why they did not just go for adopting ActivityPub or SSB (some of these people are actually involved) is because they are trying to also address some shortcomings of these protocols. For example, if a server instance is to disappear from an ActivityPub network, then you have to change your ID (just as when your e-mail provider goes offline) to register elsewhere and this is a portability issue.

So the intention seems to be to create a new protocol and services which address existing shortcomings. For the techie crowd these may not seem like major issues, but for ordinary non-tech folks who are used to registering once as a central service, and just discovering their friends easily, eliminating these problems could mean a lot. This would also help accelerate adoption by the masses, especially if they can "migrate" existing Twitter ID's into it.

"It could be described as a hybrid federated network with p2p characteristics, but it’s more descriptive to focus on the capabilities – self-authenticating identities and data – than on network topology. Our team has previously built leading decentralized web protocols and blockchain networks, and is working on synthesizing the best of what we’ve seen into something new. For some aspects, we’ll be able to use pieces that already exist, and for others, we’ll have to come up with solutions of our own."

See their post at https://blueskyweb.xyz/blog/3-6-2022-a-self-authenticating-social-protocol

#technology #bluesky #socialnetworks #decentralisation #twitter

** Now in Android and iOS app stores **

No Face, No Name, No Number, No SIM card, No Internet! Berty is a messenger that doesn’t require any of your personal data or network connection (using Bluetooth Low Energy BLE). All conversations are encrypted with end-to-end encryption, in a fully distributed network.

It is a peer-to-peer messenger with no servers, no cloud - your data is only stored on the device where Berty is installed and used. No one would be able to access the data or shut the app down, not even the developers.

Being P2P, it means the IP address needs to be available to route messaging, but their site explains a bit about how they've tried to mask this. Whilst Briar is an excellent alternative, it is still Android only. The closest alternative is maybe Jami, but it lacks a non-Internet Bluetooth alternative if I recall correctly. Interestingly, Berty also can use Airdrop (iOS to iOS) and Android's Nearby as alternative protocols.

You can share your details and add contacts via a QR code, public key, or an invite link. It is currently available on both iOS and Android, with desktop clients to follow.

See https://berty.tech/

#technology #messenger #berty #P2P #IPFS #privacy

Andre Broekman, a Civil Engineering PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria, has developed touch-sensitive concrete — a technology that could transform home and business security in South Africa.

This could reduce the need for electric fencing, allowing South Africans to protect their properties and businesses with an invisible solution. The technology also has the potential to replace internal alarm systems by implementing it in the flooring of a building.

Broekman explained that the technology could also be used to aid the visually impaired. His prototype keyboard has tactile concrete keys engraved with symbols.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/gadgets/437998-touch-sensitive-concrete-technology-could-revolutionise-security-in-south-africa.html

#technology #security #southafrica #concrete

I only see posts dating up to Sep '21 and nothing more. I've cleared my profile, reinstalled a new profile, etc, but still Sep '21.

I also noticed neither the blog, the community nor their Twitter account shows anything past Sep '21.

Now I'm starting to think maybe it's not me.... But how does a P2P network just stop working, if so?

Visual Basic is a fully proprietary software programming platform, that means, the language, the IDE, the resulting programs, and the OS where it can run, are all proprietary. This makes programs created with VB proprietary, and can only run on Windows.

This is a list of free/libre open source software (FLOSS) alternatives to Visual Basic (part of Microsoft Visual Studio) computer programming platform. If your school is still teaching VB 6, or if you now use Ubuntu for programming classroom, we strongly suggest you to switch to either one of these alternatives. With these, one can create computer programs visually by drag and drop as well as coding just like what one can do with VB.

I'm a big fan of open source software, but along with that, also cross-platform applications as they do not lock you into one OS or a single vendor. This just keeps all your options open, maximises competition (innovation), and covers the broadest possible potential user base.

See https://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2022/01/alternatives-to-visual-basic.html

#technology #opensource #alternativeto #programming #crossplatform

That is according to recent security tests carried out by IoT Inspector in collaboration with German tech magazine Chip. The models analysed in these tests were primarily used by small businesses and homes and included Asus, D-Link, Linksys, Netgear, and Synology units.

“The firmware versions were automatically analysed by IoT Inspector and checked for more than 5,000 CVEs [Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures] and other security issues,” Lukavsky said.

Yes, you do certainly want to be sure at least that you do regularly update your router firmware, and have changed the default password for something unique and difficult to guess. Older routers, not receiving OEM updates, can possibly be flashed with OpenWRT or similar, which may provide security patches and enhanced functionality.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/security/426238-wi-fi-routers-used-by-millions-had-226-security-flaws.html

#technology #security #routers #vulnerabilities

There is a common misconception that large open source projects are well-funded. In practice, many rely on a small group of maintainers.

The PHP programming language is one of them. Despite being used by 75%+ of the web, PHP only has a few full-time contributors.

See https://dri.es/php-foundation-launched

#php #opensource

Following heavy criticism regarding anti-repair practices on the iPhone 13 lineup, Apple has just announced its Self Service Repair program. The company shared earlier that it wouldn’t be disabling Face ID after third-party screen repairs, after online outrage. The Cupertino giant is now taking an unexpected step further and making repairs easily accessible to individuals.

In a newsroom post, Apple has stated that iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 users will be able to order genuine spare parts and tools to repair their own iPhones. The move is unprecedented by Apple, but it’s most definitely a welcome one that will help dodge anti-trust lawsuits.

Clearly, without lawsuits and pressure groups, this would never have changed. Whilst I really love some of what Apple does (very long software update cycles, the best health smartwatch, etc) there is also a lot I really dislike (a crippled Shortcuts app, iCloud web apps that lack features, Photos is dismal compared to Google Photos, etc). So this is yet another incremental improvement (like widgets, 3rd party keyboards and browsers, copy-and-paste, etc that eventually arrived).

See https://www.xda-developers.com/apple-now-lets-you-repair-your-own-iphone/

#technology #righttorepair #iphone #DIY