Danie

Tether Brings the Apple Continuity Experience to Linux
“Continuity. That is Apple's catch-all term for how iPhone, iPad, and Mac talk to each other. It covers a wide range of small conveniences. Copy something on the iPhone and paste it on the Mac. Start an email on one device and finish it on another. Take a call from the Mac even when the phone is across the room. But, to no one's surprise, there's a gap in its support. It doesn't officially work on Linux. So Zack built Tether, an open source project that replicates pieces of that experience on Linux without requiring a Mac device.”
Yes there is KDE Connect, but apparently Tether goes a bit deeper than that for Apple. So this may be interesting for Apple users to try out with Linux.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/tether-brings-the-apple-continuity-experience-to-linux/
#ios #opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/tether-marketing-banner-1536x614.webp

2026-08-25 20:00:49 GMT

I tested out the new Elecrow ThinkNode M9 with MeshCore Decentralised Radio Network
For those who don't know, MeshCore (similar to Meshtastic and same hardware LoRa radios) is a decentralised radio network that runs in the license free bands. It's a great way of being in contact with neighbouring suburbs and towns. I Cape Town we have just passed 180 to 190 nodes (chat and repeaters) and it stretches oof to the East over the mountain to Worcester, and Northwards about 167 km to Saldanha and other side of Picketberg.
I just bought this newly launched Blackberry style device to use on the network. It is similar, but slightly different to the LilyGO T-Deck. It does some impressive stuff, I tried a few firmwares out on it, and there are some pros and cons to using an all-in-one device like this.
I've settled on using the free and open source WADAMESH firmware, and it has quite blown me away with all it can do.
There is a lot of info, as well as screen photos, that I wanted to share so it is best to view it all on my website at the link below. There is also an additional link on that page, to tips on using WADAMESH specifically on the M9.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-tested-out-the-new-elecrow-thinknode-m9-with-meshcore-decentralised-radio-network/
#meshcore #opensource #technology #thinknodem9
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260824_095423.jpg

2026-08-22 18:12:28 GMT

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You're proposing a whole different solution which is not what I'm looking for. Jellyfin works perfectly well, and I use front ends like Music Assistant and Navidrome in front of it, as well as Android apps that source the music from Jellyfin. It is already all self-contained.

2026-08-22 18:02:44 GMT

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Is it going to work in my Jellyfin library and set the playlists?

2026-08-22 16:00:39 GMT

Jellyfin Playlist Membership — Easily browse Jellyfin Music song titles to add or remove from playlists
I wanted to quickly see which of my song titles are already in which playlists, and to quickly add them to other playlists or remove them etc. There is just no view that does this inside Jellyfin, and neither in Music Assistant nor Navidrome. You can do it by opening and closing each one, but that is very messy and time-consuming.
I iterated through something with Claude Code to create a simple HTML file that allows me to do this much quicker and slicker now. It also has some sort functionality, and you can play a track to hear it, and even delete it from your library to clean things up. As I have multiple folders on Jellyfin Music that separate radio shows, there is also an option filter for folders at the top of the screen.
Hopefully this helps others who have had a similar challenge and wondered why this was not a built-in feature.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/jellyfin-playlist-membership-easily-browse-jellyfin-music-song-titles-to-add-or-remove-from-playlists/
#jellyfin #music #opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/jellyfinPlaylists.jpg

2026-08-17 18:00:54 GMT

Cheap USB-C chargers are actually fine—these 4 specs are all that matter
“These days, buying a charger requires you to be familiar with USB PD, PPS, GaN, and a handful of other acronyms, on top of having to check wattage, making it surprisingly difficult to figure out which specs actually matter. The good news is that I'm here to help you figure out how to buy a charger that's fast, reliable, and safe without spending more than you need to.”
And something many people don't understand, is that it takes three devices in the chain to deliver proper USB-C performance. That cable connecting the charger and the user device, is absolutely vital. If it does not have the electronic chips embedded on either end in the plugs, and the correct spec cable, everything is going to default to low power, and even worse, only power without any data communications. So do not skimp on USB-C cable quality.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/cheap-usb-c-chargers-are-actually-fine-these-4-specs-are-all-that-matter/
#technology #usbc
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/usbc.webp

2026-08-17 14:11:21 GMT

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And of experience still benefits even from short term failures

2026-08-16 19:49:33 GMT

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Something I learnt was perseverance and curiosity outweighs absolute knowledge

2026-08-16 16:44:05 GMT

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I should have guessed!

2026-08-16 12:00:53 GMT

nfSensei is an open source fork of pfSense, by the original creator, for Linux
“nfSensei is a modern network operating system built from scratch in Rust with a React frontend, designed around a single principle: one API to rule them all. The CLI, the web UI, and the on-device AI assistant all flow through the same API surface. No drift, no divergence, no surprises. The entire system ships as five self-contained binaries. The nushell-based CLI has 400+ commands. The Kensho design system provides 40+ themes. And Clyde, the on-device AI, brings intelligence directly to the firewall without shipping your data to the cloud.”
I see a lot of similarities in Scott's journey through computers to my own. As he says he has learnt a lot of lessons along the way. I spent quite a bit of time tossing up between pfSense and OPNsense before I decided to go the OPNsense route. Either ways, these systems give a lot of freedom from the commercial router and firewall vendors who tend to cripple their offerings.
From FreeBSD to pfSense to nfSensei — Scott Ulrich has spent two decades of building open-source network operating systems. So I'm going to be very interested to see where this project goes, and I have no doubt it will be a major success.
Interestingly, and I suppose logical enough, it has a configuration import from OPNsense and pfSense, but right now this is not ready yet for production use.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/nfsensei-is-an-open-source-fork-of-pfsense-by-the-original-creator-for-linux/
#firewalls #nfsensei #opensource #pfsense #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/nfSensei.webp

2026-08-15 21:00:54 GMT

I Remember These Modular Electronics Kits
It's a real pity these kits are no longer around as they really “spark” an interest in building practical things, and in electronics.
Mine was a 50-in-1 kit I think, and came in a wooden frame. You got all the various components fixed to the board with wire springs on the top as the connector points. There were resistors, capacitors, a variable resistor (like a volume knob), a diode, a speaker, and various other components. By connecting wires between the spring terminals, you “made circuits” for whatever project you were building.
Some projects were a burglar alarm, or a radio, or an FM transmitter, and plenty more. But what it taught you, was that many complex devices are just built up from basic components wired together differently. Also, you learnt that with a few components you could build many devices that actually have a practical use.
I progressed from there to etching circuit boards and building my own infrared TV remote control and more devices. Which in turn led to CB radios and other hobbies.
This was all before the Internet was even known about, and also long before home computers. It was books and magazines which published such designs, and you waited until they were published, and you bought them in a store.
I get that we have the Internet and computers now, but I'd really have thought that such a kit would still have interested 10-year-olds today. Learning to physically build things is a creative skill we really want to encourage today.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-remember-these-modular-electronics-kits/
#electronics #technology
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2026-08-11 16:30:51 GMT

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Very true, as they could potentially be worked inside the content. Advertisers must already be panicking as the search model just collapses. Sadly they are also the money behind many things so they won't just disappear without trace. Somehow they're going to be inside of AI too.

2026-08-11 16:27:31 GMT

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I think Brave has its own private AI summaries and search too?

2026-08-11 16:25:42 GMT

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The routing is more network/repeater related. It was the functionality.

2026-08-11 16:21:40 GMT

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I think I forgot the key analysis and assumptions?

2026-08-11 15:00:35 GMT

SoloMD is a simpler markdown open-source app that opens your whole Obsidian vault
“Obsidian is probably one of the best note-taking apps out there, but it's not open-source, which is fine, there are perfectly good reasons for that. But a part of the Obsidian user base has always wanted a properly open-source alternative, one that isn't half-finished or abandoned. So when SoloMD popped up as MIT-licensed and Markdown-native with a built-in AI panel, it seemed worth a look. What it turned out to be was a Markdown editor that opens an Obsidian vault as-is without an import setup, and then it also handles a bunch of functions you'd only assume Obsidian can.”
Of course, markdown being markdown, this works with any markdown files. It does not have any formatting menu bar though, so if you want to say bold some text, you do have to type the asterisks in. With its Live edit WYSIWYG mode, you do see the rendering as it should appear. That is at least something great about Obsidian too. 13 code-block languages, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, footnotes, YAML front-matter, ==highlight== (including use of colour codes), and underlined text. But SoloMD plays nicely with everything, and apart from the markdown files and editing working just fine, it has built-in AI functionality.
Beware though, if you point the AI to an external cloud AI provider, your note content will go out to that cloud provider, complete with any sensitive data.
Although SoloMD does not have a nice WYSIWYG table editor, I did fine I could paste the table in the AI window, and asked my AI to insert an extra column in column 2. I pointed the AI to my Llama server AI and that worked just fine, as did querying it about my note, etc. But it did not just stop at pointing outwards to Llama server, as SoloMD can also expose its own built in MCP service (Exposes the open workspace as a Model Context Protocol server so Claude Desktop / Codex / Cursor can list, read, search, write your notes). Note again that you want to think about what you are exposing, but it can be handy for say Claude Code to consult your own notes about coding work, when thinking.
It even has a built-in BYOK cost meter, that calculates the cost of tokens used for OpenAI or Groq (the latter of course allowing a generous free tier per day).
What caught my eye actually about SoloMD, was this really rich enablement of AI into the application. You decide though what you want on or off (and everything can be off).
It does its between-device sync using GitHub. They recommend using a private repo on GitHub, and it uses public private key exchange for authentication. From inside SoloMD you can opt to get a public link for any note, and share that to others for viewing. When setting up this vault sync to GitHub you can optionally enable Argon2id + XChaCha20-Poly1305 for end-to-end encryption too. SoloMD just runs git push and git pull so it can be pointed elsewhere too.
It is open-source MIT-licensed, zero telemetry by default, no accounts, no cloud lock-in. Its installer is only 15 MB in size, and it uses around 80–150 MB RAM. It saves plain .md files (not using any proprietary formats) so is fully compatible with other Markdown editors. There are apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android.
It exports to HTML, Word, PDF, Image (PNG), EPUB, ODT, LaTeX, RTF, Pandoc Template.
It does not have the massive community plug-ins collection that Obsidian has, but it is a really solid and very functional Markdown editor. One thing I'd like to have seen, was custom shortcut keys.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/solomd-is-a-simpler-markdown-open-source-app-that-opens-your-whole-obsidian-vault/
#ai #markdown #opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SoloMD.webp

2026-08-09 20:00:28 GMT

Track Bird Visitors With A Raspberry Pi And A USB Mic
“Avian Visitors is a lovely project by Teddy Warner that uses a Raspberry Pi and microphone to keep track of which birds have been visiting your home, and creates a colourful illustration of recent visitors on top of it all. It reports on a web interface of its own making, but what really takes things to a new level is an optional, stylish E-Ink panel that shows the last 24 hours’ worth of visitors at a glance in a collage.”
The colour E-Ink display showing the birds is a really nice touch. There is quite a bit of potential for this project, and one could just start off with the identification before going for a display.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/track-bird-visitors-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-a-usb-mic/
#birds #opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/BirdNET-system.webp

2026-08-09 14:00:26 GMT

I turned my security cameras into AI assistants with open-source LLM Vision
“LLM Vision is a free, open-source Home Assistant integration that lets an AI model examine the images from your cameras and describe what is happening in those images. LLM Vision doesn't replace systems like Frigate; it builds on top of them. Instead of just getting a notification that a person is detected, the AI model can describe what the person is doing, whether they're carrying a package, which direction they're going, whether they're doing anything unusual, and even describe the person and what they're wearing.”
In 2026, we should not still be rewinding for hours through video from cameras to spot the issue we are looking for. Imagine being able to just ask it, is the garage door open, are the trash cans outside still, when was the cat last seen, etc.
Key though is to really have a LLM running locally that does the work, saving on bandwidth, ensuring privacy, as well as for when the Internet is not reachable.
I only wish I realised all this when I bought a new mini-server and my last graphics card. If I knew how useful it was going to be, having local AI running as a service at home, I would have bought differently. Only my desktop PC has this ability, and it is not running 24/7, and it does other things.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-turned-my-security-cameras-into-ai-assistants-with-open-source-llm-vision/
#cctv #opensource #privacy #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/llm-vision.webp

2026-08-08 22:37:14 GMT

Capabilities more as the routing or paths is more network side

2026-08-07 13:01:01 GMT

Google Search is likely Yahooed now
This is a lesson that you are never too big to disappear. I remember the arrival of Google Search (when that was all they did) and how it collapsed Yahoo search from the scene. Googling even became a verb.
As big and massive as Google Search was, who can say they still go to the Google search site to search, after ever having asked what they are looking for in most AI services today? Even just a year or two ago, most people would have laughed at you if you told them no-one would be actually visiting the Google Search page today.
Just a month ago I used AI to compare available TVs on Amazon Prime Day, and help me arrive at a decision to buy a new TV. It was a more intuitive and interactive process than doing a plain search.
The difference I suppose is, people know Google Search is dumb search (well apart from paid rankings) whilst AI is perceived to be “clever”. AI is not actually clever, but it is at least a step or two above basic search.
So the future battlefield for SEO and adverts will now have to be within AI. I expect the paid accounts will have non/fewer of that versus the masses using free access (the way it has always been).
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/google-search-is-likely-yahooed-now/
#ai #search #technology
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2026-08-06 21:01:05 GMT

Team South Africa wins at NASA space engineering competition
“The international finals for the world’s longest-running space engineering competition were held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida from 30 July to 2 August. Team ZA was the only African team in the competition. It was South Africa’s first time entering, and no African team had competed before.”
So yes, not a solo win by Team ZA on their own, but it shows the tremendous potential that South Africa has. If only SA could rid itself of the corruption plaguing it still, this potential could be fully realised and innovation could help spur economic growth. We owe this to our youth.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/team-south-africa-wins-at-nasa-space-engineering-competition/
#southafrica #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/International-Space-Settlement-Design-Competition-Team-ZA-winners.webp

2026-08-06 21:01:00 GMT

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT free users unlimited text chats
“OpenAI is making a big change for ChatGPT users on its free and Go tiers: Starting next week, users on those tiers will be able to have unlimited text chats with the chatbot, according to OpenAI. Right now, you may run into rate limits if you do too many text chats on those tiers, but those limits, just for text, will be going away soon. Next week, OpenAI is also adding a Think button for free and Go users that they can use to access higher reasoning for harder questions.”
Which may be great for ChatGPT users, but the important thing is competition also helps push the bar up for other AI services such as Claude (who still has a hard cut-off with a rolling window).
My spouse recently needed to start using a pretty complex financial package for a startup business. Normally this would involve me being dragged in, and I'd have to set it up and try to explain how it works (after I've spent time mastering it myself). Well she used free ChatGPT and did everything herself. I'm not saying AI will magically solve everything, but it can do some amazing grunt work. Yes, it can be better to learn how to do everything from scratch yourself, but often you need an outcome to get something productive done. On her own, this would have taken way longer and with a lot more frustration.
Like it or not, AI is a useful tool to help us get stuff done. It takes dictionaries and search engines from yesteryear, to new levels of productivity. As I've stated before, I don't think AI is capable of actually replacing humans, and even the AI I use, I either paste into it what I want it to look at, or I authorise every step of changes to be made. I do not trust it to just run wild on its own. It requires oversight.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/openai-is-giving-chatgpt-free-users-unlimited-text-chats/
#ai #technology
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2026-08-06 12:11:00 GMT

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That was my turning point into there was something to MeshCore being viable

2026-07-29 12:48:49 GMT

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Yes I liked that SA service also blocking spam callers by triggering restrictions after 10 people have reported something as spam. Not to block anyone wanting to follow, but rather blocking active promotion of the feed.

2026-07-28 22:35:41 GMT

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Yep their bendvradiusvis much bigger. No tight turns 🤣

2026-07-28 21:00:37 GMT

It Seems a Lot Like Dead Internet Has Actually Come True
“The infamous dead internet theory was originally a conspiracy that posited that the vast majority of the internet was run by bots and thinking machines. Most accounts you saw online were really bots masquerading as people — all part of some nefarious scheme to control humankind by keeping us isolated and divided. That last part is far-fetched, but the core of the idea — that bots outnumber humans online — is inexorably starting to feel weirdly grounded.”
Pretty sad. I remember the first public Internet when bulletin boards migrated onto the new web. It was mostly all human driven with lots of blogs, no adverts, no tracking pixels, and no mobile phones.
Everything moves on and evolves, that is true, but today you certainly can't trust opinions or videos that are seen on the Internet. I can't see the Internet going away, but it is going to be very interesting to see what the future of content holds.
What I'm seeing, is a hollowing out of many of the big platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (who faked numbers to advertisers), etc. Certainly there are still accounts there, but I see next to none of my real human friends or family posting there. Many have migrated off to instant messaging platforms, and the broader other social media users I see, have moved to decentralised platforms like the Fediverse and Bluesky, and the more extreme are active on platforms like Nostr, Secure Scuttlebutt, and some centralised platforms like MeWe and Reddit. LinkedIn is littered with AI generated motivational business memes.
It has all come down to gaming the system that rewards “content”. Like so many things in life, money corrupts. Exciting times, but I'm pretty sure that quality content will still find its niche audiences, and especially for those who want to share and educate others.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/it-seems-a-lot-like-dead-internet-has-actually-come-true/
#ai #bots #technology
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2026-07-26 20:18:05 GMT

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If those are for 868 MHz just check what coax you use as the RG58 type is really for HF frequencies and signal loss for 868 MHz is heavy. For my 4m length up the pole I'm using LMR-400 coax which reduces loss, but even so only around 5m is recommended. The winner is to have a solar-powered node right next to the antenna.

2026-07-25 16:00:35 GMT

EskomSePush app transitioned to neighbourhood service disruptions otherwise it would have died
This is the story of how the app evolved from being a high demand app to manage the electricity load shedding across South Africa, to something completely different after load shedding went away. The app now helps communities crowdsource issue around their water, electricity and Internet outages, and also has channels for safety, weather, and other news in communities.
As I don't use Facebook or WhatsApp I like using EskomSePush as it is highly focussed on my own community and I can mute what is not relevant for periods of time. The closest that it comes to is Telegram, where a community channel could be split into different topics, and each muted if needed. I just have to laugh though at WhatsApp, because although it may be the biggest and most used platform, it really always lags a good year to two years behind its competitors. Sadly so many of its users only seem to use that one app, so have no idea of the benefits of other apps.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/eskomsepush-app-transitioned-to-neighbourhood-service-disruptions-otherwise-it-would-have-died/
#southafrica #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/EskomSePush.webp

2026-07-25 12:00:54 GMT

Africa’s most popular phones have a tracking problem and explains where data disappears to
"Roughly one in two smartphones sold in Africa is made by a company most buyers have never heard of. Transsion, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer, owns the Tecno, Infinix and Itel brands, which together accounted for about 48% of African smartphone shipments in 2025 – more than 40 million of the 84.4 million handsets shipped on the continent last year, according to Omdia data. New research has decrypted what those phones send back to their maker."
Yes, one could say that most phones and software anyway report a lot of usage (metadata) back to other countries and developers e.g. WhatsApp even states this in their conditions that their users must accept. But these phone models go a lot deeper than that, first by baking it into the hardware, and secondly by collecting more granular data.
Then there is also the issue of the users data packages being used to constantly transmit this data, even though it is not voice or video data. It is still eating away at users data where many can only afford small data packages at a time.
It seems the only way to block this data collection, is to block the domains it is reporting to. This is what I have active on my home network, and it is pretty shocking to see the pages of ad-tracking and malware sites that are being constantly blocked (it is about one page per minute). The ones I see are all app level tracking, and because my wife used WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, and similar sites, her phone just fills pages of these blocks being shown all the time.
One single minute of sites blocked on my wife's phone
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/africas-most-popular-phones-have-a-tracking-problem-and-explains-where-data-disappears-to/
#africa #privacy #technology #tracking
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2026-07-24 20:00:54 GMT

MeshCore Radio for Social Networking and Disasters with zero Internet required
The Boland Amateur Radio Club (BARC) invited me to do this talk on 23 July 2026. HAMNET Emergency Communications provided the Zoom platform. The audience consisted of radio amateurs, citizens, and disaster management.
MeshCore is a newer type of license-free decentralised radio network that allows citizens, government agencies including nature reserves, disaster management agencies, and amateur radio operators to all talk together, whether in public channels, directly to each other, or even in private encrypted channels. This is WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal without the Internet.
The network is not only useful to make new friends across the city and stay in communication with neighbours, but more importantly it is a resilient network that will stay operation long after the Internet has ceased to work due to a disaster or lengthy power outages. This is achievable through solar-powered repeater nodes at high sites, and the fact that this network is not dependent on any central server or presence, and of course there is no approval or registration to use it.
My talk highlights the similarities and differences between MeshCore and Meshtastic networks, and the reasons why such a network is so important to have in place across cities and towns. I highlight two recent outages we've had in the Western Cape where towns lost their electricity supply due to adverse weather conditions, and had their normal communications cut off for up to a week. In this time HAMNET does assist with communications but only from key points. Having a broader MeshCore network available, allows citizens and disaster management agencies to stay in contact with each other for essential services and assistance.
The City of Cape Town and Western Cape Provincial Government, recognise the value of having fallback communications, and HAMNET already has emergency radio rooms at both sites, which are kept in operational readiness. We are aiming to have something like MeshCore also officially endorsed by the City and Province, so that citizens can equip themselves with these radios ahead of any potential disasters in the future.
We also have some wilderness areas in and around Cape Town which have no cellular phone coverage, such as the top of Table Mountain. These areas are also ideal to have such radio networks operational, as they are easy to deploy, and radio nodes cost around R500 each (whether bought by citizens/tourist, or even available to rent for the day).
The talk concludes with a comprehensive Q&A around various topics relating to MeshCore radio.
Watch at
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/meshcore-radio-for-social-networking-and-disasters-with-zero-internet-required/
#disasters #meshcore #opensource #southafrica #technology
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2026-07-23 21:00:56 GMT

FokOffMense is South Africa’s spam block and POPIA toolkit
Block community-flagged spam on Android, send formal POPIA opt-outs, and monitor breaches — one SA account, no ads. iOS users can use the website, but there is no iOS app yet (probably also because iOS does not allow apps to take control of the dialler, which is why TrueCaller was so broken for me when I had an iPhone).
This app actually takes control of the Android dialler (otherwise calls cannot be blocked) and accesses / adds to the blocked numbers list on the phone.
It is not a caller ID app so you won't see the names identified of callers, but if the number has been reported by 10 or more other users as spam, it will be blocked (as well as for SMS). You have the option of reporting a number in the app to the community, and you can go even further to file a formal POPIA report, which is mailed out through the app's server, so not from your own e-mail.
The 10 number requirement is to stop individuals trying to block their spouse for example from everyone. But looking at the list I see some genuine call centres I need to get calls from (who probably spam non-customers) so it seems you can select those numbers from the Community Shield, or not.
There is a free tier to try which gets you 5 POPIA request per month, 5 Community Shields blocks per month, and one e-mail monitor. The next tier is at R29 per month for 45 Community Shield blocks and 5 POPIA requests per month. The Premium tier is R99 per month, and Family tier for R279 per month for up to 5 people. Every plan includes privacy scans, a full exposure report, unlimited spam reports and blocking, and Gmail spam upload and email filters.
Whilst TrueCaller will give caller ID and call blocking, and allow reporting into its crowdsourced block list, it has no POPIA reporting, nor privacy scans, exposure reporting, or Gmail spam filtering.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/fokoffmense-is-south-africas-spam-block-and-popia-toolkit/
#southafrica #spam #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/FokOffMense.webp

2026-07-22 15:00:49 GMT

Hugging Face Said Last Week It Was Attacked. An Unreleased OpenAI Model Did It, OpenAI Now Says
“OpenAI’s blog post essentially says an evaluation was going on that was intended to test the ability of the models to carry out cyberattacks—benchmarks as they’re called. These instances of the models were running theoretically without internet access, and instead given only the ability to download from a network hosted by OpenAI itself via some unnamed web hosting vendor.”
I get that AI models need to suck up data to “learn on” but this just goes to show that it is actively being done by AI vendors. And so much for accusing Chinese AI vendors of learning from US AI models, because is this not exactly what OpenAI has been caught doing themselves here? Is this not gaining access to other AI models, surely not just for fun.
But either ways, even if it was trying to find a way to cheat on the AI benchmarks, this is very much case of being caught with your hands in the cookie jar. I really don't believe and country or AI vendor is squeaky clean (didn't OpenAI also just settle a case and pay out authors for stealing the content of their books?).
Make no mistake, AI is very useful to us all, but AI vendors must really not cast stones from their glass houses at others.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/hugging-face-said-last-week-it-was-attacked-an-unreleased-openai-model-did-it-openai-now-says/
#ai #security #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sam-altman-nervous.webp

2026-07-22 13:44:02 GMT

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Thing to remember though is this sub-band is not for exclusive use of Reticulum. It is shared with other radio networks as well as various devices. So we need to be good neighbours to all the other users too that share the sub-band.

2026-07-22 13:08:18 GMT

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Yep they make really solid masts!

2026-07-21 18:00:49 GMT

Euki Period-Tracking App Actually Keeps Your Data Private
"Period tracking is a simple job that plenty of apps can do. But most apps these days—including those that track health data—store information about you on their own servers and sometimes even share that data with advertisers. The Mozilla Foundation has tested several of the most popular period-tracking apps, and it identified one as better than the rest at keeping your data private: Euki."
It is really sad when something that tracks personal health metrics has to be specifically protected from oppressive governments. But that is where many are today, and this app at least offers a way to keep that data private and secure (like it should be).
The data stays local. Remember anything going to a cloud, where you did not set your own encryption key, is likely not actually private. The objective test is, if you forget your password, and it can be rest or restored for you in any way by the service provider, then it is not your private data.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/euki-period-tracking-app-actually-keeps-your-data-private/
#health #privacy #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/euki.webp

2026-07-21 15:08:51 GMT

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Problem is 250 kHz uses the entire sub-band that allows 500 mW so that interferes with a lot of other devices, and likewise they impact again on what you receive back. It was why MeshCore moved from a wider bandwidth to the narrow 62.5 kHz I think it is, and went for less beaconing too. It was to play nicer with all the other users of that sub-band. This frequency is home to many other devices and that is why there is also a strict 10% duty cycle per hour set. One wide 250 kHz bandwidth blots everyone else out on that sub-band, whereas a 62.5 kHz allows more simultaneous users with less interference.

2026-07-21 14:59:10 GMT

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Love the offset clamps - can see a photo on my page at https://gadgeteer.co.za/hamradio/ when I just had one offset clamp. It now has a second on the right holding the weather station. My main mast is also a thick stop street sign type pole that used to hold a WiFi dish decades ago. No flex in it at all.

2026-07-21 14:56:22 GMT

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LOL generally find nothing ever seems to fit in existing holes ;-)

2026-07-20 21:15:34 GMT

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I got a very good clamp from Scoop I think it was. Seem to think it was 4 screws holding it in. But it holds my main tall HF antenna and has two parallel clamps holding shorter antennas and my weather station.

2026-07-16 12:47:43 GMT

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He clearly does not think far ahead enough - the perfect date is yyyy-mm-dd because it always sorts well even as a text string.

2026-07-12 11:15:21 GMT

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FUTO keyboard is an excellent alternative with good theming and better text prediction due to local language model inclusion. Its source code is fully open, but not free to re-use for commercial purposes. It is therefore in Google Play Store and not F-Droid.

2026-07-11 21:00:58 GMT

HeliBoard is a privacy-conscious and customisable open-source keyboard for Android
This is a very feature packed and functional keyboard. I've found its word suggestions as good as GBoard and other Big Tech keyboards. I managed to import an Afrikaans dictionary and HeliBoard handled multilingual typing well.
There are also quite a few layout tweaks that can be applied, it can pop up more word suggestions, clipboard history, do split keyboard, etc. Interestingly too, in the About menu there is a page that shows a description of hidden features that may go unnoticed. That is a nice touch, and shows how much attention has gone into this keyboard.
It is open-source and fully private, but even has a toggle to enable incognito mode to cut off features such as learning words.
It is not available on the Android store so you either install the APK from their GitHub site, or install it from F-Droid or IzzyOnDroid stores. Their GitHub project has 5.6k stars. The project is about 3 years old and has 67 releases so far, the last one being yesterday. So good to see it is actively maintained by 57 contributors.
It's now my daily driver as a keyboard (you that keyboards can potentially monitor every single thing you type, and cloud connected keyboards that sync your learnt words are all reporting to someone else's home).
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/heliboard-is-a-privacy-conscious-and-customisable-open-source-keyboard-for-android/
#android #opensource #privacy #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Heliboard.jpg

2026-07-09 22:13:24 GMT

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Now thatscaxstorm proof pole!

2026-07-05 21:00:29 GMT

Wallos — An Open-Source Personal Subscriptions Tracker Which Saved Quite A Bit Of Money For Me
Wallos is a free and open-source application that you can self-host and which will help you track what subscriptions you currently have, what they cost (with auto-conversion to your currency), when they renew, notify you before they are due for renewal, and it will also optionally use AI to give you recommendations on what you could possibly save money on.
In the video I also spend some time showing what subscriptions I saved R5,800 (about US$438) per annum on. Wallos will show you where your money is going. Measurement is the first step towards better managing your subscriptions.
Watch
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/wallos-an-open-source-personal-subscriptions-tracker-which-saved-quite-a-bit-of-money-for-me/
#opensource #selfhosting #subscriptions #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/WallosYTThumbnail.jpg

2026-06-30 14:51:44 GMT

Every Physics Teacher (And Student) Should Try This Open Source Software
"Open source software has always been a cornerstone in scientific applications. From supercomputers to CERN labs, handling some of the greatest discoveries of humankind and accelerating particles beyond imagination, open source software has provided the framework for all necessary technological usage. Bringing it down to a simpler level, KDE's Step provides you a platform to test out some of the most important basic concepts in physics, like simple motion, electrostatics and gravitation, and even things like spring (harmonic) motion."
It is said a picture is worth a thousand words, so what would an experimental model be worth in words? This is not just watching, but also being able to chnage parameters and see how it effects the physics.
This is the way educational software should be: Free of costs, free of adverts, free of tracking, and the ability to study how it functions, and adapt it.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/every-physics-teacher-and-student-should-try-this-open-source-software/
#education #opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/kde-step.webp

2026-06-16 22:39:35 GMT

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Oh the tax....

2026-06-15 22:32:33 GMT

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Lol yes I hope so!

2026-06-15 19:00:57 GMT

Google Earth’s flight simulator is now available in your browser
“On Friday Google announced it was making a relatively unknown feature of Google Earth available to a wider audience. The desktop version of Google Earth has had a hidden flight simulator mode since 2007, but it’s now easily accessible through a web browser without having to download or install any apps.”
Yes it's not exactly new, but is a lot more obvious now. The site has a lot more too, such as data analysis tools, historical imagery, explore building and solar designs, a measurement tool, and a detect changes over period tool.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/google-earths-flight-simulator-is-now-available-in-your-browser/
#flightsim #gaming #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GEarth_FlightSim-1536x835.webp

2026-06-13 13:00:58 GMT

How one GPL lawsuit accidentally created the homelab router that changed networking forever
“No company sets out to make a product that exceeds its purpose and becomes a legend. In some cases when it happens, the company might even regret it. I recall a few NVIDIA GPUs, like the 8800GT and 1080 Ti that were so good for the money that people didn't upgrade their cards for a decade. That's great for PR, but not so great for shareholders. Well, among network routers, the Linksys WRT54G was a cheap, unassuming Wi-Fi router that ended up becoming a cult classic for a very weird reason, that had little if anything to do with the actual hardware.”
I still have my WRT54G, and actually the reason I originally bought it, was because I could reflash it with Tomato. So, in actual fact, the sale of the hardware was made because I could open source firmware on it. That is surely a win for a hardware company.
It was interesting to read this linked article to get the backstory on how it actually came to be.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/how-one-gpl-lawsuit-accidentally-created-the-homelab-router-that-changed-networking-forever/
#opensource #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/linksys-wrt54g.webp

2026-06-08 19:37:00 GMT

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In a bit of an “admission” Meta has now deleted this code from its smart glasses - https://www.wired.com/story/meta-removes-face-recognition-code-meta-ai-app-smart-glasses/

2026-06-07 19:00:03 GMT

Over 150 Mathematicians Warn Governments Not to “Believe the Hype” About AI
“There is currently a strong commercial incentive on the part of the technology industry to overstate the capabilities of their products,” the declaration reads, advising policymakers to “consult with experts, including mathematicians, in forming policy decisions rather than relying on press releases or popular reporting of mathematical results.”
When it comes to AI I believe mathematicians know more about the accuracy of AI than governments do. As the article also points out, there is a trend amongst AI companies, who need to make a profit, to overestimate the abilities of their AI.
AI is NOT ready to decide the fates of citizens, or government policy, or making war, or anything like that.
I have used AI quite a bit over the last few months, mostly to solve server issues, various configurations in YAML, and sometimes research for purchase decisions. It always sounds confident and plausible, until I catch it out guessing (hallucinating). Despite its profuse apologies it still continues to make the same mistake. Luckily I now see quite quickly when I think it is going astray, and when I ask it if it is guess, it says yes I caught it out. In a recent case, it instructed me to change a config label, and then took 2 hours plus trying to solve the problem. When I eventually drove it into a corner, it admitted it made a guess about that label. As soon as I restored the label, my application was working again.
The point is, it is just not ready for real responsibility at all. Those who want to just “believe” it, are going to make serious mistakes. To use AI effectively, you need to tweak its default prompts, you need to be highly cynical about AI, and you need to double-check what it suggests. Most importantly, you also need some general awareness about the topic you are working on. In other words, YOU need to be the contextual awareness for AI.
Governments must not yet think that AI is some magic bullet to solving all productivity or diplomatic problems. It does need some savvy to use AI, and for that you do still need skilled workers. What we do need, is more training about how to use AI effectively, and what guardrails to have in place when using it.
I've seen my own government swallowing the hype from Big Tech many years ago. Some great digital sovereignty projects were abandoned back in the late 2000s because Big Tech convinced government to decide on buying their products instead. It has cost my government billions since then, and worst is, today they own none of what they have paid for.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/over-150-mathematicians-warn-governments-not-to-believe-the-hype-about-ai/
#ai #government #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/mathematicians-warn-governments-hype-ai.webp

2026-06-06 09:00:32 GMT

Meta Quietly Added Facial Recognition to Its Smart Glasses
“According to a report from Wired, Meta has been quietly installing facial recognition in its Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta smart glasses for the last few months. Internally called “NameTag”, the feature, if activated, will use AI to identify people captured by Ray-Ban Meta's camera, alert the wearer when it recognizes someone, and store faceprints on users' phones.”
Such technology could of course assist the sight impaired positively, but the bigger problem is two-fold.
Firstly, Meta is probably the Big Tech company I least trust out of all of them. I cancelled my WhatsApp account after they shifted their terms and conditions for the “Information We Share with Others” section which allowed sharing of metadata with (phone number, how you interact with others, mobile device information, IP address, location, etc) with third-party service providers. They have been repeatedly skirting over the edges of abuse of privacy and have been fined for it by the FTC, have appeared before the US Congress about it, and I've made numerous posts about their behaviour relating to user data.
Secondly they are in a country where it is quite legal for data brokers to buy private data and then resell it to anyone. Up to now that has mainly affected your own data that you choose to share, or not share, with Meta services. The not share refers to when they used the Facebook Pixel and other means to spy way deeper than just on actual Meta sites.
The big problem with AI glasses is that it can capture everyone everywhere without their knowledge, and the data is being processed by a company who cannot be trusted with private data, in a country that does not have any safeguards enforced over the privacy of personal data. What could possibly go wrong.
And if we don't yet get what this is about because of some form of patriotism for Western countries, think of the same technology being rolled out by ByteDance from China or VK in Russia. Would you trust it? Meta's track record has proven that it really cannot be trusted when it comes to handling metadata. It is not about the technology, but rather about what a company, and its governing country's record around privacy looks like.
What comes to mind is a saying often used, when something good just gets abuse, and ruins it for everyone else, and then the service/product gets banned: This is why we can't have nice things, because people break them.
Technology can be a force for great good, but it can also cause great harm.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/meta-quietly-added-facial-recognition-to-its-smart-glasses/
#ai #meta #privacy #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/AI-glasses.webp

2026-05-31 21:27:59 GMT

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That's why we keep boxes of old cables, boards, chargers, etc ;-)

2026-05-31 21:24:50 GMT

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Yes I'm sure there are boards available as these are all general voltages etc. We've been buying them from Fritz who runs the LoRa Mesh Comms ZA server on Discord.

2026-05-31 19:33:09 GMT

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This is the inside of our solar nodes https://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/73d15d7d5d394c27d7dca131d2f78d8101977cfe8766bef75aef1121e78ab300.jpeg

2026-05-31 19:24:20 GMT

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It is more boards that were designed for battery and solar so that it senses when the voltage is too low and shuts off, but importantly, comes on only when the power is above a certain level again. So generally is a main board and then a solar charge controller board. Some solar nodes come like that.

2026-05-25 22:00:26 GMT

MeshCore SAR – The final hurdle has been reached for MeshCore
I did a post about a week back when I started investigating a possible migration from Meshtastic radio to MeshCore radio network. I won't repeat that post here, but I'll mention two issues that often came up about MeshCore, and why this is just no longer true.
Myth 1: MeshCore is not open source – since about January 2026 there is an excellent fully open source mobile app called MeshCore Open. It was so impressive for me, that I've actually made it my daily driver, even though I'd paid for the official MeshCore app and the MeshOS app.
Myth 2: Because it does not flood fill locations you can't use MeshCore for search and rescue (SAR), hiking, EMCOMM, etc. Well the open source MeshCore SAR app blows that out of the water now.
MeshCore SAR has:
Rapid mesh chat for both 1:1 and group coordination
On-demand voice (Codec2) and image (AVIF) transfer tuned for low-bandwidth links
Offline-first mapping with tactical overlays and SAR incident markers
Live team location, movement trails, and shareable tactical drawings
It goes as far as low-res image sending as well as short voice clips too
It is not intended for daily use though, as it could be easy to abuse the limited duty cycle requirements in the license-free bands that MeshCore uses.
I did some wardriving today using the Meshmapper app, and managed to get a line of site ping from a repeater 111 km North of Cape Town. So our testing of MashCore so far has just been green ticks all the way.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/meshcore-sar-the-final-hurdle-has-been-reached-for-meshcore/
#emcomm #meshcore #opensource #sar #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot_20260525_151741.jpg

2026-05-24 19:00:24 GMT

Putting Aluminium Foil Under Your Wi-Fi Router: What It Does and Why Experts Recommend It
“The trick sounds like something from a frugal grandparent: put aluminium foil behind your Wi-Fi router to make the signal stronger. For years, tech experts said don’t bother. Then in 2017, researchers at Dartmouth College ran actual measurements. A curved piece of foil, shaped correctly, pushed signal strength up 50 percent in one direction. The same reflector cut signal bleed into unwanted areas by about 75 percent (a 6 dB drop), according to TechCrunch. The study did not test crumpled foil. It used 3D-printed plastic forms covered in aluminium foil, designed by an algorithm called WiPrint.”
So maybe not of real practical use for everyday Wi-Fi users. It may be more useful for those needing actual directional Wi-Fi over longer distances. But as they say, it then also requires proper shaping, not just crinkled foil behind the antennas.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/putting-aluminium-foil-under-your-wi-fi-router-what-it-does-and-why-experts-recommend-it/
#technology #wifi
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/wifi-router-hack-with-aluminium-foil-is-back-scaled-1.webp

2026-05-23 22:15:14 GMT

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Ditched Postiz as it was hitting 2.5 FB ram on my VPS. Migrated everything to n8n now.

2026-05-22 22:56:21 GMT

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Yes pretty much. The Postiz side is very heavyweight as they seem to have pushed AI and Elasticsearch into it. The real work for me is done in n8n and it is very lightweight. It posts better to Nostr than Postiz did.

2026-05-22 20:36:07 GMT

Switched my social media posting from paid Make to self-hosted n8n and Postiz
For the past few years I've been using the paid service called Make to pull my blog posts from my RSS feed in WordPress, and push that out to various social media services. I am on a grandfathered legacy plan, so I am paying only half of the normal cos, but it was especially complicated to set up for Bluesky. So much so, that in the end I actually ditched make for that and set up a free Buffer account just to post to Bluesky. And make had no support at all for MeWe or Nostr, so those I did manually.
Previous site routing with Make and Buffer
In the end I was posting to 16 places, but doing a manual process for 6 of those services.
I've been eyeing out Postiz for a bit, and finally realised yesterday that it could handle 8 of my destination sites in one go, including MeWe and Nostr. I'd have to drop Tumblr, but to be honest a full year goes by before I get any reply or response on Tumblr. I now only need to manually do the post creation on 4 sites, and that anyway includes my WordPress blog post.
New posting wityh n8n and Postiz
But one thing I realised is that with Make I had tweaked the code so that it shortened posts for Mastodon and Bluesky, and it also picked up that if I used a tag like opensource, it would send that post specifically to my Bluesky open source profile. Postiz could auto-post from my RSS feed, but it would not do the processing to shorten posts for some sites, and route others based on a tag.
Enter n8n. So n8n watches my RSS feed, and does all that logic processing for me. I just needed a code block for the processing, and a switch block to route to the different sites depending on whether it was a technology and/or opensource tag being used. n8n then pushes out to each channel in my Postiz service (see featured image top of this post for the n8n layout). It arrives in Postiz already formatted with the image, tags, etc.
Postiz's view of posts scheduled and sent
There is one thing that is not working, and that is the alt-text for images. Although that is processed inside n8n fine, the final Postiz node in n8n, seems to strip away the alt-text. I've logged an issue for that as I'd like it sorted out.
This is my first post using n8n and Postiz, so hopefully it gets though. It will only include the featured image from my blog post (same as with Make) so one does have to visit my original blog link if it is a more complex post with a number of images in (like this post is).
So my social media posting is again free, open source, and self-hosted.
Strictly speaking I could even post directly from n8n, but some services would require HTTP POST and that can be a bit messy. Postiz gives easy management of reposting, as well as analytics from LinkedIn Pages. Postiz is pretty heavy on resources sometimes peaking to 2 GB of RAM because of Elasticsearch, whilst n8n is super lightweight to run.
See https://gadgeteer.co.za/switched-my-social-media-posting-from-paid-make-to-self-hosted-n8n-and-postiz/
#opensource #selfhosting #socialmedia #technology
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/n8n-social-posting.webp

2026-05-20 16:07:08 GMT

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Looking good!

2026-05-18 21:44:03 GMT

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I tried it on my Kobo reader and I think I just did a post about that 2 or 3 days ago. Was really very impressed with it and it loads alongside the Kobo software so I did not have to wipe the original software. Packed full of reading stats and some powerful plugisn as well.

2026-05-18 21:40:11 GMT

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Thanks @npub1ge0…jcs3 yes it looks like both are learning from each other (never to interconnect of course). Quite a bit of MeshCore's messaging is actually flood based like Public channels etc anyway. It is really only the direct messages that benefit from the direct routing. I still need to look into those implications of the different byte paths, and I see also filtering on repeaters for regions.
I suppose MeshCore has approached it very much more from a scalability perspective and wanting to keep network traffic lowerr where possible.

2026-05-17 18:57:16 GMT

MeshCore radio network in Cape Town for off-grid communications
Many may be familiar with the Meshtastic network which uses cheap LoRa radios (usually linked to a mobile phone app) to send direct text messages or post text messages to a public or private group. This type of network is very useful for direct commucations with neighbours across your city. It becomes even more useful if the cellular or Internet links go down, as this works independently of them.
MeshCore is a newer type of such a peer-to-peer radio network. It works in the same license-free bands, is also text based chat to friends, or to public and private channels. The same radios can be utilised that Mestastic uses, so no need to buy new hardware.
MeshCore's differences come in with its more efficient network routing protocol (direct messaging follows more efficient routing paths so less traffic), it has more solid read receipt confirmations, and has up to 64 network hops (versus 7 hops for Meshtastic). By default MeshCore also does not switch on telemetry for everything, so overall there is more bandwidth for actual messaging.
Meshtastic has been going for a while in Cape town and in May 2026 there are just over 216 unique Meshtastic nodes that my own radio has picked up. But since we started testing MeshCore in Cape Town this week, it has grown from 7 or so nodes to 16. We are still attrracting new users and planning a few repeater high sites so that new users will be able to connect to others across the city.
If the Meshtastic high site repeater on Du Toit's Kloof mountains is switched over to MeshCore, we'll also have Worcester linked to Cape Town.
I've not been on MeshCore for even a week yet, but I have switched my rooftop node over to MeshCore, and flashed it as a room server. That node now not only performs a repeater function, but also runs a small text based bulletin board where anyone can leave messages for others to read later.
What we really need in Cape Town now, is a few users on higher lying ground, that can run a repeater node, to help with the coverage. One user has a spare solar powered radio node that can be used for this purpose, and is willing to lend it out for that purpose.
MeshCore is not only useful for making local contact with your neighbours and fellow citizens, but it can also perform a vital role during extended communications blackouts, where these solar powered nodes will still keep communications working across the city. Cape Town's communications are generally very reliable, but just between 2025 and 2026 we've had some more rural towns that have had weather related communications blackouts of up to a week at a time (that means zero cellphones and no WhatsApp). Networks like Meshtastic and MeshCore are disaster proof as they do not rely on any central service that can go offline, nor can they be censored by government.
More info about it at https://gadgeteer.co.za/meshcore-in-south-africa
#technology #radio #capetown #meshcore
https://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/149a87df3326085e8638cf7c319bdfb1ae8031d476923c79f13783f5cb81a64d.webp

2026-05-07 17:05:35 GMT

I cut $800 in subscriptions by running free tools on hardware I already owned
“Subscription costs have a way of feeling invisible. You might have a cloud storage here, an AI tool there, a transcription service you barely use anymore. All of this can add up to something substantial. But if you own a mid-range GPU, there’s a good chance you’re paying for things your hardware could handle for free. I have an NVIDIA RTX 3060 (currently around $250), and last year it saved me $819.96 by allowing me to cut or downgrade four subscriptions. It wasn't by doing anything exotic, but by running free, open-source tools locally that do the same job.”
I started to realise this myself, just this week, as I was experimenting with AI tools and AI image generation. I made the mistake when I upgraded my video card a few months ago, from a 6 GB VRAM card, to a 12 GB VRAM card. This was because I had a game that really wanted about 8 GB of VRAM and I reckoned that the 12 GB would give it a bit of headroom. DaVinci Resolve Studio also wanted 8 GB of VRAM for its new AI functions.
Yep, I know the prices get expensive as you go higher up, but I was thinking in a gaming mode, and not what else I could use that card for. Thinking now with this other mindset I realise I should have pushed higher on my new card.
Still that said, you can work efficiently with a 12 GB card, or even a bit smaller, if you don't run too many GPU intensive apps together, and you can get away with smaller more efficient AI models too.
See https://www.howtogeek.com/ways-my-old-nvidia-gpu-saved-me-thousands-of-dollars
#technology #opensource #subscriptions #GPU
https://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/9a4a20120e1e9c68c641d35d5405758bd6014ce15a3ac87bec3c854bee54622f.webp

2026-04-24 10:45:25 GMT

Self-hosted Pinchflat will download YouTube videos or playlists into Jellyfin
“Pinchflat can technically download individual videos, but its strength lies in archiving entire channels and playlists at a time. For starters, Pinchflat lets me add channel and playlist URLs as sources, and I can modify the indexing frequency, download cutoff days, and retention settings. On conventional YouTube downloaders, I’d have to pull new videos manually every so often, while Pinchflat can archive fresh uploads after detecting them with its indexing algorithms.”
Personally I have been using TubeArchivist for this, but there are some key differences between the two:
* Pinchflat acts like a “Sonarr for YouTube.” Once you set up a source (channel or playlist), it downloads the videos, names them according to your template, and saves the NFO and poster images. It uses low resources.
* You install the TubeArchivist Jellyfin Plugin. This plugin talks to the TubeArchivist API to pull in metadata, thumbnails, and watches progress. TubeArchivist has its own dedicated web UI to browse your YouTube collection and is a bit heavier on resources (Requires Redis, Elasticsearch, and the App container).
See https://www.xda-developers.com/this-app-turned-my-jellyfin-server-into-a-youtube-archive or https://github.com/kieraneglin/pinchflat
#technology #opensource #Jellyfin
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/61a54d1b43de5793333548482e69004649a442c11dd67e186ab710a8728a6ce7.webp

2026-04-23 19:05:27 GMT

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No yet, my Oasis reader is still supported. This is probably really useful for the older Kindles that have just been cut off from Amazon.

2026-04-23 17:08:56 GMT

25 years later, is it time for a new iPod?
“After being essentially flat for five years, Google searches for MP3 Player tripled since last fall. A Reddit group for fans of digital audio players is now attracting 90,000 visitors per week on average. And this spring, The New York Times published a trend piece on how iPods are suddenly in fashion with teenagers.”
I can imagine many today want a device that plays music without distractions, and where you can buy and install your own music with it being yanked back by some streaming service.
My original Apple iPod still powers up and works just fine today, and the music I had back then, is all still there.
The Sleevenote integrates with online services (for purchasing music and downloading) such as bandcamp, qobuz, amazon music, beatport, bleep, and quite a few more.
See https://www.theverge.com/column/917369/sleevenote-new-ipod-streaming-bandcamp-music or https://sleevenote.com
#technology #music
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/1b0ab6244455c764e7691bca191030f1a062fb432d9fc433bf8213657add0c35.webp

2026-04-22 17:25:51 GMT

Open-source KOReader is an alternative to the default Kindle interface
“Firstly, KOReader supports way more formats than the default Kindle reader. It can read EPUBs natively (no conversion required). It even loads digital comic book formats like CBZ and CBR natively, which Kindle doesn't. Office formats like DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, and HTML also work. PDF files work on both, but on KOReader you can enable text reflow to make the PDF intelligently fit the screen or even crop margins. On Kindle, extra PDF margins have always bothered me.”
Actually the only thing really going for Kindles was that mass of DRM locked content that Amazon sells. When it comes to the interface and features, it really looks like Amazon has not put enough effort into the software over the years.
KOReader makes a pretty good case for 3rd party apps being much better.
See https://www.howtogeek.com/i-put-this-open-source-reader-on-my-kindle-and-i-wish-i-had-done-it-sooner
#technology #opensource #reading
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/9e6e8b876a0b18f93ebef6575556af1a42e05b95737c6c20b136594ebf4943d3.webp

2026-04-15 20:42:17 GMT

Google, Microsoft, Meta All Tracking You Even When You Opt Out, According to an Independent Audit
“An independent privacy audit of Microsoft, Meta, and Google web traffic in California found that the companies may be violating state regulations and racking up billions in fines. According to the audit from privacy search engine webXray, 55 percent of the sites it checked set ad cookies in a user’s browser even if they opted out of tracking. Each company disputed or took issue with the research, with Google saying it was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how its product works.”
Yes, I know this is no surprise to anyone. I suppose one just hopes are many years of fines and negative feedback, there would have been some change.
Other countries, like South Africa, have pretty advanced privacy protection legislation in place too, but there seems to be little evidence of South Africa actually hauling any of these companies over the coals. For example, Meta's T&Cs for WhatsApp clearly state they'll share user metadata with partners.
See https://www.404media.co/google-microsoft-meta-all-tracking-you-even-when-you-opt-out-according-to-an-independent-audit
#technology #BigTech #privacy
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/63ba5d14a14185dd4749149332022c4df770a794d119439617404e8a8190775a.webp

2026-04-13 11:17:52 GMT

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If everything were centralised yes. But many of these are transactions that also happen at 3rd parties so they are not in the stock exchange, and that is why some equities take 2 days to clear. These are separate ledgers. Centralising gives the stock exchange total control over everything and 3rd parties are often not for that. A centralised system means all control is central, 3rd parties could be locked out, have no control over escalating costs, etc.
Centralised control was very much the mainframe era of operations (or possibly that is actually coming back with cloud computing now) but many things have decentralised for good reasons. I am not at all a fan of centralised systems having total control over costs, lock-out, access to my data, etc.

2026-04-11 14:20:52 GMT

Instead of upgrading your motherboard you may be able to use your spare PCIe x1 slot
It's true that most often we just use one slot for the video card and there are another two or three empty slots waiting to be used.
Such a slot can easily accept a card that will provide upgraded Wi-Fi, Ethernet ports, extra USB ports, allow mounting on NVMe drives or extra SATA drives, and more.
It's not going to make your CPU faster, but it could mean not having to replace the whole motherboard and matching CPU in the shorter term. I did realise this when I wanted to install a NVMe drive a year back. Mounting a single NVMe drive on my motherboard meant giving up two of my SATA drives (their share the same data lanes), but buying an add-on card could have allowed the mounting of multiple extra NVMe drives without sacrificing my SATA drives.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/pcie-x1-slot-more-useful-than-many-pc-upgrades
#technology #upgrades
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/8a73dbf7793f26bd577bca15f5aaec9d863a225bab6ad8c8cbdaddabd8985ab3.webp

2026-04-11 10:47:19 GMT

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There can still be scenarios apart from decentralisation e.g.
1. Quicker settlements in equity markets where intermediaries like clearinghouses are involved (these settlements are currently often take a day or two).
2. Assets (equities, bonds, ETFs, private equity) can be issued as tokens on-chain enabling fractional ownership.
3. Where I was specifically thinking of it though was: multiple parties (brokers, custodians, clearinghouses) maintain separate ledgers that must be reconciled (and that is not centralised).
4. But also for automating corporate actions like distributing dividends and stock splits and even managing shareholder voting.
There are probably more examples, but it is really where multiple parties are involved and ensuring traceability, timestamping, and being immutable.
So yes not for actual decentralisation of a stock exchange itself, but more its decentralised activity tracking, reporting, etc.

2026-04-11 10:26:47 GMT

Immich Kiosk turns any screen into a photo display
“No processing happens on the tablet, it is just a display for the image output. In fact, you won't even have much of configuration options since all of that is done through a config file. My tablet, which feels sluggish for practically everything, can handle this within the browser just fine. It loads quickly, transitions are smooth, and it doesn't crash. What else can you ask for?”
Any old tablet that at least has a browser on it, can run this kiosk mode view of Immich photos, albums, people, memories, and a lot more. Good to see in the config that you can limit it to specific albums or people only, or hide specific albums or people. So the admin will just need to apply their mind to that side of things.
Another alternative to this is Immich Public Proxy which requires each album to be configured and shared manually, but has the ultimate security as a result.
Immich Kiosk's website also has a demo that you can try to see how it actually works.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/turned-old-tablet-into-immich-powered-photo-display or their project site at https://github.com/damongolding/immich-kiosk. I did a video about Immich Public Proxy at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkPtL4lxszA
#technology #Immich #opensource
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/50b61629f71b384b5814ce865e97cfab2100a7094c846f6d3b4387203926c671.webp

2026-04-10 20:59:49 GMT

This Bicycle Bell Can Even Be Heard by People Wearing Noise-Cancelling Headphones because its 2026
“The unique Škoda DuoBell bicycle bell is a classic example of a completely analogue solution to a problem caused by digital innovation. Its ringing sound bypasses the noise-cancelling capabilities of modern headphones, which often isolate the wearer from outside noises all too well.”
LOL we need new solutions to 2026 world problems. I'm wondering if cars won't also need something like this fitted. ANC headphones and ear pods are definitely becoming more prevalent. Seems the low frequency used here, is something that ANC does not easily mask.
Although it is a frequency tone, bells have long been tuned for specific frequencies, so an analogue device can actually do this perfectly well.
See https://www.wired.com/story/skoda-duobell-bike-bell-can-be-heard-by-people-wearing-noise-canceling-headphones
#technology #cycling #ANC
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/f95483f9869de4cc464ac447e53b84ede857335039eb9fcd4a0d9074d692e634.webp

2026-04-10 19:40:03 GMT

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Thing is though that statement can be quite correct. Blockchain is a broader concept than just finance or currency itself. It can be used in logistics or artwork or for tracking any changes in anything. One application is for financial value and yes then there may be many different names and implementations.
But if a stock exchange wants to use blockchain on the broader sense to track all financial transactions and movements say of stock, that is a valid concept as I understand it. It does not mean the stock would be traded in Bitcoin or whatever. The currency of blockchain is anorrower scoping of the broader use of blackchain.

2026-04-10 17:12:35 GMT

France's government is ditching Windows for Linux, calling US tech dependence a strategic risk
“The French government has decided that enough is enough. It has announced that it will shift away from proprietary technologies from outside the European Union and focus more on open-source solutions — and part of that means ditching Windows for Linux.”
The South African government made the same statement in the mid-2000's but mysteriously abandoned the implementation after the success of the pilot project. Brazil, Russia, China, and some others had also committed to similar objectives and have actually been making some stead progress.
So time will tell in this case too. That said, it is actually right and proper that any government should want to invest money in localised efforts and ensure the digital sovereignty of their data. From the beginning I've not been a proponent of external cloud services. Ideally a government should consolidate all its various departments onto its own platforms, or at least have them fully managed locally by local companies.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/frances-government-ditching-windows-for-linux
#technology #France #opensource #Linux
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/5e52d958dd5a28df6832ca591805212cc54881d5edb085c7dbbc6b0c136367a8.webp

2026-04-10 16:58:58 GMT

LinkedIn secretly scans for 6,000+ Chrome extensions, collects data
I initially ignored the first post about this after LinkedIn had stated it did not dispute that it detects specific browser extensions, telling BleepingComputer that the info was used to protect the platform and its users. The company also claimed the report was from someone whose account was banned for scraping LinkedIn content and violating the site's terms of use.
But others have been digging deeper into this issue, and it does appear that the data collection is a lot broader than the reasons that LinkedIn gave. For example LinkedIn is scanning for over 6,000 extensions (most of which have nothing to do with scraping of data from websites), and they do this by scanning the files on the drive for those extensions, as well as collecting other data about the user's machine.
It was not verified though that LinkedIn is actually sharing this data with any other parties. My own website's Matomo stats engine for example does also collect machine data (type of device, browser, pages visited, and city) but the data stays on my platform and I don't identify anyone from it.
It is just worth remembering that there are some companies who do aggressively collect data and some (like Facebook) who openly state they share that with upstream providers and 3rd parties (yes you can assume data brokers). If I ever visit a Facebook page it happens in a private browser via a VPN.
In LinkedIn's case I suppose we do need to remember it is owned by Microsoft, and they have an AI service. Their record around security and privacy has also not been great over time.
See https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/linkedin-secretly-scans-for-6-000-plus-chrome-extensions-collects-data
#technology #privacy #LinkedIn
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/e2052a84d35f0bad594890f637ae576a7ba63446904feee3805897bd8c916239.webp

2026-04-10 16:29:00 GMT

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Yes playing on noStrudel browser client but not on Jumble browser (gives open link option but just shows text in browser page)

2026-04-10 15:42:41 GMT

You Should Be Using Reddit on Your RSS Reader
“You may know that Reddit can be a treasure trove of useful information and opinion, and that RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a clean and straightforward way to keep up with what's happening on the web—but you might not be aware that you can combine both Reddit and RSS in numerous ways.”
So yes no real news that RSS is already baked into Reddit, and that can be a cleaner way of ensuring you don't miss posts for s specific Subreddit, or a keyword search.
But what I did not realise is you can also put some qualifiers on at the end of the URL to sort, limit the number of posts, filter on top posts only, etc. You can even combine two or more feeds into one.
See https://lifehacker.com/tech/rss-reader-on-reddit
#technology #RSS #reddit
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/8b234cbb6c839138902d280b73da825e21af84569e44a7dc62913b5d115c6645.webp

2026-04-10 15:33:27 GMT

The EFF is quitting X
“Last year, our 1,500 posts earned roughly 13 million impressions for the entire year. To put it bluntly, an X post today receives less than 3% of the views a single tweet delivered seven years ago.”
I don't think many legacy corporations have really been looking deeply into their numbers on X. We've seen in the past that X faked the advert views, so one also has to be careful of accepting X's numbers at face value as well. Many accounts on X today are also bot accounts and actually not real human views at all.
See https://www.theverge.com/tech/909550/eff-electronic-frontier-foundation-leaving-x-twitter
#technology #X #twitter #socialmedia http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/46fc8c4c10cfde51387adfad8a3dc67a2ea6e24db8a9446532a27540ee5c1f20.webp

2026-04-10 11:45:18 GMT

Yes Blossom shows an image / blob for my media post!
http://blossom.gadgeteer.co.za/116caffeface772e02a78a55e512f247e81e051b0921f5eb531743fff43a9dff.webp
#nevent1q…u8wn

2026-04-08 21:01:05 GMT

Little Snitch, the macOS network tool, is now available on Linux
“Little Snitch for Linux is written in Rust and uses eBPF for kernel-level traffic interception (this lets sandboxed code run inside the Linux kernel without modifying it). The tool shows processes on your machine making network connections, and give you options to block them using rules. While Linux has native network monitoring tools, the best known being OpenSnitch (inspired by Little Snitch). None of those, as Christian puts it, gave him what he wanted: see which process are making which connections, and deny any a single click. So he built it.”
Compared to OpenSnitch, this app works via a browser tab, and can visualise at process level. It is not open source software though, like OpenSnitch is, but it is free to download and use on Linux. It does have both automated blocklists at domain level (such as Hagezi, Peter Lowe, Steven Black) and also rules that can target a specific process, port/s, or protocol/s.
By default, it is open access, but you can configure it for authenticated access too.
See https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/04/little-snitch-linux or their site at https://obdev.at/products/littlesnitch-linux/index.html
#technology #firewalls #security #Linux
https://npub1g2jpj7x9rjcqd9dp3hnvja2tjr3q3hf362z3ulrfzpyfnsdw5qlqyayjj6.blossom.band/18034d615ede122275b5f0661ed9e662d2281648953f06d2033e670bdd70836f.webp

2026-03-31 19:34:39 GMT

Dangerzone — an open source app to safely open suspect PDFs, office docs, or images
Dangerzone works like this: You give it a document that you don't know if you can trust (for example, an email attachment). Inside a sandbox, Dangerzone converts the document to a PDF (if it isn't already one), and then converts the PDF into raw pixel data: a huge list of RGB colour values for each page. Then, Dangerzone takes this pixel data and converts it back into a PDF.
It has been independently audited and apart from the obvious use by journalists and similar professions, even every day users can be most often targeted by attachments that carry payloads of malware. This is exactly how bad actors bypass firewalls, and secure messengers like Signal.
I would not necessarily put every document I receive through this process as it does at least double or triple the size of the file (converts every page to an image). But from anyone you don't know, this is a useful tool to have ready to use. Everything is processed locally on your machine, and it will install on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
See https://dangerzone.rocks
#technology #security #opensource
https://npub1g2jpj7x9rjcqd9dp3hnvja2tjr3q3hf362z3ulrfzpyfnsdw5qlqyayjj6.blossom.band/ab4010ab05e54c70b2c3f176204004228b373b9fab19f5f6bf686a86e1f5aee7.webp

2026-03-19 19:07:31 GMT

US Federal Cyber Experts Thought Microsoft’s Cloud Was Garbage — They Approved It Anyway
“The government relies, in part, on third-party firms to vet cloud technology, but those firms are hired and paid by the company being assessed. The tech giant’s ‘lack of proper detailed security documentation’ left reviewers with a ‘lack of confidence in assessing the system’s overall security posture,’ according to an internal government report reviewed by ProPublica. Or, as one member of the team put it: ‘The package is a pile of shit.’”
Not only are many countries outside the USA very worried about potential access by the US NSA and others to their sovereign data, but even the US federal government is just as worried about the security of their own data in the Microsoft Cloud. Yet Microsoft sees no slowdown in terms of cloud adoption, probably tanks to wonderful marketing and other economic leverage that is applied worldwide.
One can also now realise why the term Microslop is taking hold so effectively in 2026.
It is all our own faults though as there are truly reasonably good alternatives to Microsoft's cloud. It is just a matter of also separating the glosssy marketing wants versus the real needs for document management. As I pointed out in another post earlier in the week, we do not all have to be on the same brand of document software to exchange documents (just think of different e-mail providers like Proton, GMail, Zoho, Outlook, and many more all talking together).
It's up to us if we want to see change.
See https://gizmodo.com/federal-cyber-experts-thought-microsofts-cloud-was-garbage-they-approved-it-anyway-2000735237
#technology #microslop #security #USA

2026-03-19 18:25:09 GMT

OpenSpeedTest an Open-Source Self Hostable HTML5 Network Performance Estimation Tool
“OpenSpeedTest is written in Vanilla JavaScript. No Third-Party frameworks or libraries were used. The unexpected side effect of using Vanilla JavaScript is High Performance. OpenSpeedTest contains only STATIC Files like HTML, CSS & JS, so you don't need to worry about Security Updates or Hidden Exploits that may compromise your secure environments.”
You may want to use something like this if:
* You have employees working from home, and they want to do a basic speed test to the office to check their connection is OK.
* You want to stress test or benchmark your home network from various devices to a server, a media machine, etc.
* Or to test between two client devices across your LAN.
* By doing the test from various locations around the home, you can see how your Wi-Fi speed varies from different places.
* Also test from a private browser window to see if extensions are slowing your browser down.
* Do tests before and after network changes to see what impact it has e.g. when adding a LAGG interface between the server and the router.
* Host it on a public web server for users to check their connection speed.
The server side stores no data so it is just a question of spinning up a docker container, and connecting with any browser to run the test (nothing to install on the client device). My docker container used 0% CPU while not doing a test, and used about 45 MB of RAM. It jumped to 17% CPU during the test.
You can optionally save speed test results to a database, but it points to an external database that you have running somewhere.
See https://github.com/openspeedtest/Speed-Test
#technology #networking #speedtest #opensource #selfhosting

2026-03-18 14:12:58 GMT

Not a Firefox or Chrome Fork! Kagi's Orion Browser Arrives on Linux as a Public Beta
“Orion is a web browser built on WebKit, the same engine that powers Safari, with a strong focus on privacy and customisation. Unlike most browsers you will come across on Linux, Orion is not a Chromium derivative or a Firefox fork. It is a fresh build that has earned a reputation for being fast, lightweight, and flexible, with support for extensions from Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.”
It is not really ready for daily use on Linux yet, but it is worth taking note of this browser and what it does. We hear so many moaning that everything comes back to Chromium and Firefox, so this is the opportunity to use something completely different.
The weakest point of every browser is usually it's 3rd party plugins, so we'll have to see how Orion is going to manage this.
Note though it is not open source software so what goes into it, you can't be too sure about, and it won't be able to be forked in future. It would be the end of the road if it stops getting support (like the Flock browser I used to love decades ago).
See https://itsfoss.com/news/orion-browser-linux-beta-release or https://orionbrowser.com
#technology #browsers

2026-03-16 21:21:18 GMT

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This is really more about having a good searchable history of the sites you have visited (including content of pages) without having to bookmark anything. Hister has zero impact really on Internet data as it is getting its info locally from your browser as you browse, not going out to fetch anything.

2026-03-15 10:53:14 GMT

10 Hacks Every Signal User Should Know
“Signal is one of my favourite messaging apps because of its focus on privacy and security. I use it to message my closest friends regularly, and in the process, I've discovered a fair few hidden features that I now use every day. From shielding your phone number from other users, to preventing hackers from breaking into your account, these hacks will help you make the most of Signal.”
Very solid tips these, especially as most hacking of secure messengers actually takes place on the end-user device.
See https://lifehacker.com/tech/10-hacks-every-signal-user-should-know
#technology #security #signal

2026-03-15 10:39:01 GMT

Hister indexes every web page you visit and lets you search the full text of your browsing history offline
“Have you ever wished your browser history was more than just a collection of URLs? As it is, the standard search history is kind of useless. Sure, you can see the title of the page you visited, maybe a bit of metadata, but not much more than that. For any actual functionality, like searching for a specific page you visited that you can't quite remember the name of, your browser's built-in history search falls flat on its face (like my six-month-old did as I was writing this sentence). That's where Hister comes in. This open-source, self-hosted tool does more than just track your activity; it indexes every site you visit, capturing the contents of the page for easy search and retrieval later.”
I was a bit sceptical on first reading this, especially where browser extensions are involved, but it is an open source project, and there is this privacy statement in their documention: Hister clients only communicate with the designated server, and the server does not “phone home” or share any of your browsing history with anyone else. The source code is publicly accessible, so we can be audited by anyone who wants to check!
What is interesting is that many self-hosted server applications that do this sort of thing, have quite resource intensive browsers running, and are often fooled by anti-bot detection. Hister actually has your browser doing this so no wasted resources, and you have the full power of your main browser at hand.
The server needs to be available, but could also run on your own PC so no NAS etc setup needs to be run. However, the server side can also run in a docker container if you already have that setup. It can on something as light as a Raspberry Pi.
As far as I can see it is only saving the text of pages you visit, and not PDF or HTML archives of the pages, so again this side is extremely lightweight.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/hister-indexes-every-page-visit-search-full-text-browsing-history/ or https://hister.org.
#technology #search #history #browsers #opensource

2026-03-14 16:08:23 GMT

DBAN is a relic for HDD wiping, and ShredOS is the only software you should use
“When “wiping a hard drive clean,” a quick format doesn't actually erase anything at all. Instead, it just removes the drive's file index. That leaves the underlying data sitting there until something overwrites it. That's why recovery tools like Recuva and EaseUS can still dig up photos, documents, and entire folder structures long after you think they're gone. Software tools like DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) and ShredOS solve that problem by overwriting every sector of the drive multiple times with different patterns over the course of multiple passes.”
DBAN bring back old memories from decades ago when I did IT field support. It was what we used to wipe all drives we had to remove from PCs before auctioning them off or otherwise disposing of them. I'd completely forgotten about it until now. I seem to think Norton Utilities also had a wipe disk program.
Good to see there is a modern equivalent out now.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/dban-is-a-relic-for-hdd-wiping-shredos-is-the-software-you-should-use or https://github.com/PartialVolume/shredos.x86_64
#technology #opensource #security

2026-03-12 11:05:21 GMT

Europe is building an alternative to Microsoft Office
“Office EU is a cloud-based office suite built entirely on open-source software and hosted exclusively on European servers, has launched as a direct competitor to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Its pitch is straightforward: keep data in the EU, run on transparent open-source components and comply with EU law by design. The platform combines file storage, e-mail, calendar, document editing, chat and video conferencing in a single browser-based interface.”
It is really time that the Microslop monopoly was broken. It is not just about digital sovereignty, but also this belief that one must by MS Office to do documents. It is just not true, and so many non-profits and governments are spending a lot of money on what could have gone directly towards societal services.
But the big problem has been up to now you had to self-host or install something, and there were an array of free choices to choose from. Surprisingly, many users do not want choices and it paralyses them. Contrary to belief, the other party receiving your documents does not actually need the same brand of software to read your documents!
Ideally you'd want to also use a proper open standard document format like ODF, but you could also use the MS OOXML standard that MS Office uses.
Hopefully with such an enterprise effort behind Office EU, it will get traction. This is a cloud based solution which uses NextCloud in the background, and anyone can self-host NextCloud themselves too, so there is no vendor lock-in.
See https://techcentral.co.za/europe-is-building-an-alternative-to-microsoft-office/278843 or https://office.eu
#technology #opensource #digitalsovereignty

2026-03-11 15:53:41 GMT

AmneziaVPN is a self-hosted VPN that works in countries where WireGuard gets blocked
“It's also worth noting that AmneziaVPN has been security audited as recently as January 2025. While the auditors found a few risks categorized as critical and high, the platform has resolved all identified issues. Amnezia runs its servers as RAM-only, so all data is wiped on reboot. They also say they don't store or collect activity history, IP addresses, session data, and other metrics, which is good. It's XRay feature, which listens on port 443 for authorized connection requests. If it gets an authorized one it connects as normal, but if it gets scanned by anyone else, it redirects that packet to a legit website, like google.com or any other easily available site in your region that you chose. The beauty of this is that it also returns an authentic TLS certificate because it's issued by the site the packet was redirected to, making the censorship software think your VPN server is Google instead.”
It does look like a lot of attention has been given to making this an anti-censorship tool. Unfortunately this seems to be needed more and more by citizens in many countries today, whether 1st or 3rd World countries.
See https://www.xda-developers.com/self-hosted-vpn-works-where-wireguard-gets-blocked
#technology #VPN #anticensorship #privacy

2026-03-10 20:50:44 GMT

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Ah OK, yes unfortunately since I retired I've packed a lot onto my plate so my two servers, blocking, YT videos, disaster management volunteer work, etc is just swamping me right now. I'd certainly keep an eye on it and see where I can help maybe on promoting it etc.

2026-03-10 20:46:01 GMT

Portracker — an open source self-hosted real-time port monitoring and discovery tool
I'm using this tool to identify which docker container ports are published or exposed (from the container) as well as which internal ports are available on your containers. This tool helps see where there may be port clashes, which ports are exposed and could be hidden, and helps find an available port to use for new containers. It has various ways of sorting, filtering and grouping the ports view.
Yes you could track all your open and internal ports in a spreadsheet, but if you have 40 or 50 containers running, and spin others up and down, it gets difficult to keep that spreadsheet up to date. Portracker gives you a live view of all system ports, and docker published and internal ports.
I also spend a few minutes explaining how and why docker ports are exposed, and how you would point to them from a reverse proxy such as Nginx Proxy Manager or your PC on your LAN.
Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lz5zv7Q_oA
#technology #opensource #selfhosting #docker #networking

2026-03-10 16:21:32 GMT

- reply

Yes possibly, but what is involved?

2026-03-09 08:40:08 GMT

10 tricks you can do with FFmpeg on Linux
FFmpeg is an incredibly powerful piece of software and often sits in the background powering many graphics and audio conversion apps we use. So you may not know it, but you very likely are already using it.
This linked article though shows a couple of command line executions you can run with it to quickly:
* Play a video from the terminal
* Get media info
* Record your screen
* Extract images from videos
* Convert images into videos
* Convert videos into MP3s or GIFs
* Add subtitles to movies and shows
* Rebuild a video's index without transcoding
* Resize videos
* Trim and crop videos
It runs across Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, the BSDs, Solaris, etc. under a wide variety of build environments, machine architectures, and configurations.
See https://www.howtogeek.com/10-tricks-you-can-do-with-ffmpeg-on-linux/
#technology #video #audio

2026-03-07 12:09:00 GMT

More than 800 gamers took an exam to prove they could complete an '80s adventure game without peeking at a walkthrough—and only 2 passed
“Designed by developer Woe Industries, the AGAT challenged players to complete an '80s adventure game without using a walkthrough. Players weren't told what adventure game they'd be playing in advance, and they were monitored via webcam and microphone by a legitimate online proctoring software to determine if they were looking up hints on a second window, using their phones to cheat, or getting help from someone off-screen.”
I remember playing Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, etc back in those days, probably then on my Commodore C64 or Amiga. These were more difficult than Doom as you did have to think quite a bit. These games seemed advanced back then as prior to these it was text adventure games without any graphics. Also, no Google Search so you sat for hours being stuck somewhere in the game until you got past the block.
The linked article also has a link to a Twitch stream of the game during the test. Needless to say I already thought I knew where the key was, and see I was right.
Back then it was not about the fancy graphics, it was about the storyline, the puzzles, etc.
See https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/more-than-800-gamers-took-an-exam-to-prove-they-could-complete-an-80s-adventure-game-without-peeking-at-a-walkthrough-and-only-2-passed
#technology #gaming #retro

2026-03-03 18:47:51 GMT

No surprise: Meta Workers Say They’re Seeing Disturbing Things THROUGH USERS’ SMART GLASSES
“And regardless of the wearer’s intention, much of the footage being recorded by the glasses is being sent to offshore contractors for data labeling, a widely-used preprocessing step in training new AI models in which human contractors are asked to review and annotate footage. It’s a laborious and highly resource-intensive process that tech companies often gloss over when discussing the prowess of their latest AI models. The reality can be messy. Meta contractors based in Nairobi, Kenya, told Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten in a recently published joint investigation that they’re being told to review highly sensitive and intimate data.”
Yes, I know this is no surprise when it comes to Meta (Facebook). I stopped using WhatsApp when they changed the T&C's to allow sharing of metadata to partners. So this is fully in line with how Meta operates, and they and much of Big Tech, are harvesting what they can for AI.
It's why you want physical shutters over any camera/webcams, you want to rather use open source software where you can, and you want to pay otherwise for what you use.
What is becoming clear though, is we want to be wary of terms and conditions, free services powered by adverts, Big Tech/AI driven software. It is one thing for a company (say like Apple) to harvest data and keep it to themselves to improve products, but it is a completely different thing when the likes of Meta actively share the data out to contractors, partners, and advertisers.
What we are also starting to realise is it does not stop for those parties, it also ends up with governments, whether friendly or not. Governments are also unlikely to shut down an excellent source of information for themselves.
Personally I would not touch anything that is sold, managed, or given away by Meta. They have shown themselves to be the worst of the worst, consistently over many years. They survive though because we as consumers still have accounts and use them. I know many don't log in anymore to Facebook, but those numbers still support advertisers who pay them. In theory, we could pull the rug out from under them, but in practice the network effect is still incredibly powerful.
See https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-disturbing-smart-glasses
#technology #privacy