Meet Roomy: An Open-Source Discord Alternative for the Decentralised Web “Roomy is an open-source Discord alternative built on the AT Protocol (ATProto), the same protocol that powers Bluesky, with ActivityPub (the protocol behind Mastodon, Pixelfed, Pleroma, and others) planned for the near future. Currently in alpha, it sits somewhere between Matrix and Discord in terms of its practical position in the broader chat ecosystem.” It is built on open protocols (no lock-in) and right now you can sign into the web interface using an existing Bluesky login, to be followed soon by any ActivityPub based ID (Mastodon, Pixelfed, Pleroma, etc). Interestingly, it will be bridging many diverse and decentralised networks. From what I understand of it, posts that each person makes to this service, physically go to their own registered servers (decentralised) with Roomy providing the merged view. It seems there are quite a few features still to be implemented such as Fediverse login, moderation regarding removing of users from a room, encryption, self-hosting of Roomy, desktop/mobile apps, and more. Right now Bluesky users can use their login to test it out. See

It's FOSS

Meet Roomy: An Open-Source Discord Alternative for the Decentralized Web

Looking for a Discord alternative? Roomy is an open-source, decentralized platform built for communities that value privacy and control.

and Roomy at

Story of Roomy

the why behind creating a gardenable software

#technology #opensource #socialnetworks #decentralised

French government announces move from US based video conferencing to open source Visio Visio is based on the open source project La Suite Meet powered by LiveKit. It seems that the government will be opting to use the French hosted version, instead of hosting it in-house themselves. It is time though that countries started taking their digital sovereignty more seriously and evaluated their over reliance on foreign country cloud services. Generally moving to someone else's cloud service, means not only your data is locked in there, but there is a tendency for the users to lose their own in-house IT skills, and for funds to just move offshore. See

GitHub

GitHub - suitenumerique/meet: Open source video conferencing app powered by LiveKit. Built with Django and React.

Open source video conferencing app powered by LiveKit. Built with Django and React. - suitenumerique/meet

#technology #opensource #digitalsovereignty #France

TikTokers are heading to UpScrolled following US takeover “TikTok’s takeover in the US has prompted users to join an alternative social platform called UpScrolled. The app, which is available on Android and iOS, currently holds the 12th spot in Apple’s App Store, and it’s struggling to keep up with an influx of new traffic.” Yes, it's not the first alternative to TikTok as we've seen RedNote and also Loops (a decentralised Fediverse alternative) as well as others. UpScrolled is still a centralised hosting service hosted in Dublin, Ireland, and owned by an Australian company using private funding. So, it is a step better than US ownership and hosting like nearly all the major centralised social media platforms are. TikTok's secret sauce is its algorithm though, but the downside of that algorithm is that it can be manipulated, which like with Facebook, has the power to change minds and influence users. With UpScrolled, and Loops, you don't get this sort of manipulative algorithm. This may also result in less addictive doom-scrolling. Do we have enough social media platforms yet? Well clearly not, as many new ones are starting up and only time will tell how they survive into the future. There is currently no advertising on UpScrolled, but they are probably going to have ads in future for the platform to be sustainable. They do state though: “But they’ll be designed and managed by us. No Google Ads. No third-party tracking. No targeting based on personal data.” On privacy, they state: “UpScrolled will never share your data with third parties for marketing, profiling, or commercial gain. We only disclose user data as required by Australian law — such as in response to a valid court order or lawful request — and always in accordance with our privacy policy.” It is available on Android and iOS right now, and their future plans include desktop versions. See

The Verge

TikTokers are heading to UpScrolled following US takeover

Are you heading to UpScrolled?

or their website at

UpScrolled

UpScrolled - Scroll differently.

UpScrolled is the people's social platform. No shadowbans, no algorithmic games, no pay-to-play - just authentic connection where every voice gets ...

#technology #socialnetworks #alternativeto #TikTok

Sony returns to vinyl with two new Bluetooth wireless decks “Sony is jumping back into the vinyl game for the first time since 2019 with the introduction of two new Bluetooth-enabled turntables. The PS-LX3BT and the PS-LX5BT make the analogue experience much more accessible by baking in modern wireless audio technology. Both models also include a built-in phono equaliser that you can switch between phono and line-level output.” This feels so like a 1970s advert, except then we did not have Bluetooth. It's good to see it has analogue audio cables to connect to older receivers. But wow $500 is not a 1970s price! Makes me wonder what my genuine 1970s turntable is worth today. Vinyl of course is more than just about the sound. You own the vinyl, without monthly subscriptions, and it does not get arbitrarily deleted by someone either. See

How-To Geek

Sony returns to vinyl with two new Bluetooth wireless decks

Sony is back and hitting the nostalgia hard.

#technology #retro #music

Satellite is helping the internet to slip beyond authoritarian control “A recent Reuters report on Iran’s escalating battle with Starlink highlights why that playbook is starting to fray. Tehran has spent years perfecting censorship and surveillance, yet it now finds itself struggling to contain a satellite-based internet service designed explicitly to bypass terrestrial controls.” I suppose it is more correct to say foreign satellite services, as a service based inside one's own country can still be switched off by decree. Many telecoms licenses are granted with certain conditions attached, so quite often these telecoms providers are duty bound to shut down or otherwise censor services (including age verification, blocking undesirable sites, etc). And this most certainly includes First World countries as well. Our freedoms are mostly taken for granted, but actually they are attached to threads that can be pulled for various reasons. But it is true that satellite connectivity has been a new frontier as it becomes more commercial. It not only grants connectivity to those who were denied (including for reasons of living in remote areas) but it also is a commercial opportunity for those countries providing it, and yes, even for reasons of spying as well. But technology is evolving and with phones also now being able to connect to satellite services, the world is pretty well much being lit up. We just have to bear in mind that there may be plenty of advantages, but we've also seen from Facebook's early forays into some countries, that technology can have all sorts of unintended consequences as well. Satellite is only one of many advances though, as we are also seeing the rise in use of peer-to-peer communication, I2P networks, Tor browser traffic being obscured, etc. Satellite's big advantage is that it communicates over a very broad area, so attempts to block it are usually very localised only. I hope that more connectivity will encourage States to rather uplift their people instead of trying to oppress them. Whether we like it not, the era is changing, just like landlines, video rentals, dial-up modems, pagers, and many other technologies that found themselves superseded. This is not about the speed of downloads, but more the breaking of the shackles of control and suppression. On a lighter note, we've actually had the means for over 100 years for one home to chat or message another home 10,000 kms away. I was text messaging someone in Europe not so long ago, using a direct link that passes through no gateway, no undersea cable, at all. Amateur Radio is still around, and going quite strong in the digital era. In fact, we should know that satellites are themselves just radio repeater high sites. It is all still radio! The difference with satellites is the cost of the end user device is a lot cheaper now. See

TechCentral

The internet is slipping beyond authoritarian control

Satellite broadband promises to weaken authoritarian regimes’ ability to shut down the internet and silence dissent.

#technology #censorship #satellites

Digg Relaunches From the Grave With Some ‘AI Enhancements’ “If you find yourself nostalgic for an earlier era of the internet, you may welcome the news that after spending the last decade or so being passed between owners like a Christmas present no one wants, Digg—the site that was Reddit before Reddit—has been relaunched, with its new incarnation now in open beta. Now, original co-founder Kevin Rose is back to try again; along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, he re-acquired the site last year.“ Yes, we seem to have way too many sites and options nowadays. We've already seen the spin-off from Reddit to decentralised alternatives such as Raddle, Ramble, Beehaw, and many more. But this is a nostalgic throwback to the good old Digg days, a bit like when Reddit started out itself. One can only now hope that MySpace would have come back in a similar fashion, and usurped Facebook. But we can still hope... See

Gizmodo

Digg Relaunches From the Grave With Some 'AI Enhancements'

For all the people who've abandoned or been kicked off Reddit, your Bluesky moment has arrived.

and the Digg site at

Digg

Digg - News, before it trends

See what's next in AI before it trends. Digg watches the people who move first.

#technology #socialnetworks #digg

How American Big Tech guards the profits it extracts around the world “So far, the investigative project, known as “Big Tech’s Invisible Hand,” has mapped nearly 3,000 “influence actions” by the tech industry. This reporting has revealed, among other things, the elaborate web of intermediaries and lobbying used to influence Latin American regulators, how Google obtained leverage over the news media, and how proponents of building more data centres made a series of dubious claims about their benefits.” A very interesting read, and it is true there is huge money involved, and that Big Tech does reach right into every home and business, unlike the ways that Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, or Big Oil ever did. Big Tech often gets to influence what we read and see, and whether our posts ever get seen or not. The other Bigs relied on propaganda and PR, but all at arm's length. I saw Big Tech at work in their early days with lunches etc but once they were rebuffed by tech experts inside organisation, we saw them bypass those levels and go straight for the jugular in terms of the end decision-makers (those who are not tech savvy). So yes, it is extremely worrying, actually. Big Tech ultimately wants lock-in with their products and to be able to increase profits (maximising shareholder value). They don't want to take over, or run the world. But they have no qualms about the damage they cause whilst pursuing profits. The other problem is it is nearly impossible for newer startups to usurp them, because if they can't compete, they will buy them out. It is something to be aware of, but unlike voting (or not) for politicians, somehow billions of users would have to act in unison to ignore Big Tech and use alternatives. That is just not going to happen either. Legislation? Well, politicians are receiving lunches and being “educated” by Big Tech. It's a vicious circle. See

How American Big Tech guards the profits it extracts around the world – The Markup

A consortium of journalists is revealing how the industry influences governments in Latin America and globally.

#technology #BigTech

Threema Encrypted Messenger Service Sold to Private Equity Again “Your encrypted messages sit on infrastructure controlled by a German private equity firm whose previous acquisitions include Cloud7 premium dog beds and The Tofoo Company.” Right now there is no immediate problem or risk identified, but the situation is that a company which now owns Threema has no real knowledge or focus on how it works, and they could change the terms and conditions that protect privacy, in the future. So this is just something to note for now. The article does touch on some of Threema's previous security audit issues, and notes that no new independent audits have verified the fixes. If you are concerned, then Signal, Session, SimpleX, and a few others are good alternatives. I don't find many friends using Threema or Session, but Signal and SimpleX are pretty busy for me. See https://www.sambent.com/threema-sold-to-private-equity-again #technology #privacy #messengers

DarkMX is a decentralised comms app that utilises Tor and I2P to have an anonymous, reliable, and censorship-resistant presence on the internet * You can chat * You can share files * You can search other people's files * You can keep a contact list and send private messages to your friends * You can create your own custom .onion site, available to anyone with a Tor Browser Like many services which use Tor or I2P network, users tend to remain anonymous, and pretty well much everything goes, so this is not a child-friendly network. The focus on this particular network though is more around all sorts of file sharing, with zero moderation, so you want to be careful about what you actually download. But despite that, the app works with a built-in Tor client. If you want to use the I2P network, like I do, then you will need to install your own I2P or i2pd client app to run your I2P router node. I2P can be more private and resilient than even the Tor network. Just note that the app needs to connect to your I2P router for a good 30 minutes to discover peers and get communication going. Thereafter, it will be a lot quicker. The screenshot shows also where you can find the diagnostics for both networks. If I2P is accessible, the Tor connection is paused. The app also plays a role as a server of files to any Tor browser. So if you want to share files, music, or whatever (legally of course) then you can turn on Web Access, and separate you files into different groups if you wish to keep some separate, and then copy the link to share. Have a look at: From I2P network http://mv3qjsjk4cw3oywhsgkjqumn2cdlom6y5z7cuq6f6g4vhlhrynga.b32.i2p/DarkMX/site/index.txt From any Tor browser http://svdiwvzqmpozcicznynjxc3fcv3a4znv7c7nc6ycnrtsf677652gbzid.onion/DarkMX/site/index.txt Or try HTM for a Tor browser http://svdiwvzqmpozcicznynjxc3fcv3a4znv7c7nc6ycnrtsf677652gbzid.onion/DarkMX/site/index.html You should see a web page, but the DarkMX application needs to be running on my side otherwise nothing will be visible, as there is no 24/7 server service. It is PC to PC. But it is not just files and web pages. A Channel can also be used for just chatting or discussion topics as well. It has apps for Android, Windows, and Linux. You will note that hidden services are sometimes mentioned. This is because the Tor as well as I2P networks are not indexed by Google and other clearnet (normal HTML TCP based web services). See https://darkmx.app #technology #decentralised #privacy #Tor #I2P

Healthchecks.io emails me when my automation jobs don't run We all “should” have scheduled backups running, and sometimes other automated tasks as well. In some cases you may see an error popup, but often it is just an e-mail to say the task has run. The problem is often we don't bother to check that daily e-mail properly, or we don't miss one of the e-mails out of the five that arrive daily for different tasks. This is where open source Healthchecks.io comes in. It is an online service for monitoring regularly running tasks such as cron jobs. It uses the Dead man's switch technique: the monitored system must “check in” with Healthchecks.io at regular, configurable time intervals. When Healthchecks.io detects a missed check-in, it sends out alerts. Whilst you can self-host it with unlimited functionality, it can be a concern if your own hosting goes offline. They do have a generous 20 checks plan which you can use for free though to monitor from outside your services. It is as simple as creating a check, getting the unique link for that check, and appending a command string at the end of any cron commands, or in a bash script you may be running. I'm still in the process of tweaking mine, but I'm hoping to move away from the 5 daily mails I get after cron jobs have run, and rather now only receive a mail when there is a problem to be looked at. Healthchecks.io can now classify HTTP pings from clients as start, success, or failure signals by looking for specific keywords or phrases in the HTTP request body. They've been going for 10 years now, with over 40,200 free accounts, and just under 51 million pings per day. Luckily they have paid accounts bringing in over US$18,300 monthly to sustain the business (hosting costs real money). See

XDA

Healthchecks.io emails me when my automation jobs don't run

This monitoring tool alerts you instantly when your critical automation jobs fail silently.

or their site at

Healthchecks.io

Healthchecks.io – Cron Job Monitoring

Simple and efficient cron job monitoring. Get instant alerts when your cron jobs, background workers, scheduled tasks don

#technology #opensource #monitoring

6 things RAID does not protect you from “Among new NAS buyers, and perhaps even older users too, RAID is one of the most misunderstood aspects of network storage. In a multi-drive setup, you have RAID in place, so you are covered in case one of the drives dies. That's the promise RAID sells, and it delivers on that very specific promise as well. The problem starts when you expect it to do more than it's supposed to. It is not a safety net for everything. The sooner we realise that, the better it will be. If you wait until the last moment or until an incident occurs, it will be too late to correct course. While RAID may be good for one thing, it just cannot protect you from many of the things that actually cause data loss in the real world. Here are some examples.” An article well worth reading before diving into buying a RAID setup, especially as a RAID setup often costs lot more money than two three drives doing rsync backups. A RAID is good for real-time redundancy. If a drive fails, the other/s carry on going without issues. You can replace that failed drive, and just rebuild the RAID. But RAID drives also all work hard as they are all constantly being written to. There is something to be said for having a second drive, and just doing a daily rsync backup to that drive. That second drive only needs to spin up once a day to receive updated or new files, and delete removed files. This not only extends that drive's life, but you can restore any mistakenly deleted files too. When your primary drive fails (anything up top around 5 or 6 years) you can actually use the backup drive as the primary drive. It just takes a bit more configuration effort to point to it (but that could be about 5 minutes of effort). I've had to do this once, so I know it is fully possible. See

XDA

6 things RAID does not protect you from

Redundancy feels like safety, until the wrong thing goes wrong

#technology #backups #RAID #selfhosting

FavBox is an open source browser extension that enhances and simplifies bookmark management without cloud storage or third-party services It extends your browser's native bookmarking features. Key features: 🔄 Syncs with your browser profile 🔒 No third‑party data sharing. No ads. No tracking. 🎨 Minimalist, clean UI 🏷️ Tag support for easy organisation 🔍 Advanced search, sorting, and filtering by tags, domains, folders, and keywords 🌁 Multiple display modes 🌗 Light and dark themes 🗑️ Detects broken and duplicate bookmarks ⌨️ Hotkeys for quick search access 🗒️ Local notes support ❤️ Free and open source Something I found very useful with this extension is it quickly showed me all the duplicate bookmarks I have as well as one's with broken links, so I could clean those up. The extension is available for Chromium based browsers right now, but there is work in progress for a Firefox version too. See

GitHub

GitHub - dd3v/favbox: 🔖 FavBox is a local-first experimental browser extension that enhances and simplifies bookmark management without cloud storage or third-party services.

🔖 FavBox is a local-first experimental browser extension that enhances and simplifies bookmark management without cloud storage or third-party s...

#technology #browsers #bookmarks #opensource

SSD thumb drives could be better than cheap USB flash drives “Instead of getting a cheap but very sluggish flash drive, consider buying a USB SSD that looks like a regular thumb drive but is way faster and only slightly more expensive.” I haven't bought a cheap flash drive for quite a while, so did not really realise these SSD thumb drives were available. But they look worthwhile considering especially if the data volumes are a bit more. They are certainly a lot more compact and mobile than carrying around whole external SSD drives. See

How-To Geek

Please stop buying standard USB flash drives in 2026

Don't buy a plain old USB flash drive, buy this instead

#technology #storage

Make Jellyfin look like Spotify and Plex: 5 clients you need to install “Are you looking for a better way to enjoy content from your Jellyfin server? There are tons of clients to choose from made by passionate volunteers, and each brings a unique experience.” What I love about these types of apps, is that it leaves your Jellyfin untouched in the background. These are all different front ends, and you can switch between them without losing history of what you've watched, faved, etc. So test away. Interestingly too, some will run from inside a browser tab too, so no need to even install, although some additional codecs and methods are supported by the dedicated desktop app. Apps covered are: * Finamp * Fladder * Feishin * Void * Wholphin See

How-To Geek

Make Jellyfin look like Spotify and Plex: 5 clients you need to install

These fan-made Jellyfin clients totally redefined my home media server

#technology #jellyfin #opensource

FireWally Is A Great Firewall App for Mac, and It's Free “Most people haven't actively managed a firewall in at least a decade, assuming they ever have. But keeping track of which applications are using the internet—and how much data they're using—is still useful at times, as is blocking apps from accessing the net entirely.” Yes free on a Mac is a feature! But despite that, it could be a useful app especially when roaming. It is for Mac only though. The linked article also has a link to the page in the app store to get the app. See

Lifehacker

This Is the Best Firewall App for Mac I

FireWally is a free Mac firewall app that lets you manage data access from the menu bar.

#technology #security

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat App Sees Downloads Spike in Uganda Over Internet Shutdown Worries “Recently, the app drew attention during Nepal’s Gen Z protests, where it supported protesters in overthrowing the government. On September 4, authorities banned 26 platforms, including Facebook, X, YouTube, and Signal, to curb demonstrations against nepotism and a digital tax. Downloads jumped from 3,000 to 50,000 daily, with 48,000 in Nepal alone on September 8, equating to 38% of global installations. Users leveraged Bitchat’s mesh networking capabilities, with each node extending reach up to 30 meters in crowded areas, to organise marches that culminated in arson at the parliament building and the regime’s fall.” Bitchat is a decentralised peer-to-peer messaging application that operates over Bluetooth mesh networks. No internet required, no servers, no phone numbers. This also means ideally you want to have installed it BEFORE any outages. It is an open source and offline mesh chat application, which means each device acts as both client and server, automatically discovering peers and relaying messages across multiple hops to extend the network's reach. It is similar to what Meshtastic does with license-free radio. There is zero registration required, and therefore it is also not easy to identify anyone using it. It does now also have Geohash channels, where someone on that channel will extend it to the Internet, if available. The Internet side can use the Tor network if available. Broadcast messages are public, but if you know someone's handle on Bitchat, you can chat with full end-to-end-encryption. It has an interesting feature to emergency delete all chats, keys, etc when you triple tap on the app title. And apart from protests and censorship resistance, it is also ideal for any natural disasters where infrastructure has been knocked out. The app runs on iOS as well as Android. See

Gizmodo

Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat Sees Downloads Spike in Uganda Over Internet Shutdown Worries

Ugandans have good reason to believe there will be a blackout soon.

and get the app at

bitchat

#technology #opensource #decentralised #protests #disasters

I replaced Trello, Toggl, and TickTick with free, open-source Super Productivity Well I have not done so myself, as I still see a shortcoming around not being able to set custom repeats based on a first Wednesday of every month, or the last weekday of the month. It does though have repeats based on fixed schedules as well as completion date, which is important if you want to repeat something after you finished a task e.g. cleaning my weather station 3 months after I did it last. But apart from that it has a very nice modern look to it, and is pretty powerful in many other aspects. It has a few powerful productivity views such as Eisenhower Matrix and Kanban, procrastination buster, AI productivity prompts, etc (some are plugins). It also has a great review at the end of the day, with a lot of stats and scoring. I like the tag and project views so you can see different groupings of your tasks. It has quite a focus on timers, taking breaks, etc too. Migrating from a different todo planner is not so easy so as there is no importer from say TickTick at all. It seems there is no global standard for importing/exporting todos across apps. Someone has created a bridging app that may help with this, but for me to fully migrate my 149 unique tasks to this, could be pretty painful as mine have lots of custom repeats, sub-tasks, etc in. It is free with no paid cloud sync service. It will sync via Dropbox, Google Drive, WebDAV, or local file sync (like Synthing). But it is syncing a file, so if two clients edit offline, only the last one will win on re-connection. This is a bit like I had wit Obsidian Notes when using Syncthing. So even if you self-host it in Docker, that is just a web client that must still sync to Dropbox or wherever (unlike say Joplin Notes which is a proper centralised sync server). See

How-To Geek

I replaced Trello, Toggl, and TickTick with this one free, open-source app

You get the power of three, and that too for free.

#technology #productivity #todo

5 costs of self-hosting that nobody talks about I can attest to all of these reasons. Just today and yesterday I've been solving an issue with my docker networks grabbing 192.168.x.x addresses ranges (after the upgrade to OMV8 overwrote the daemon.json file I'd customised to prevent this). And two days before that I was having mysterious freezes on my server which “eventually” came down to a cheap Chinese 2A power supply to one of my RAID disks (well I'll know for sure after a new ATX power supply arrives tomorrow). So, yes you do save subscription costs, but you spend more time diagnosing issues, additional costs upgrading hardware, and taking your data in your own hands. I still think it is worth it, but to be honest, it may really not be a cost saver at all. If I think of what I've spent on server hardware, UPS devices, additional NAS drives, a network cabinet, a firewall and switches that support VLANs, a VPS hosted service, etc. I'm suspecting if I put that US$900 or so aside and just used it for subscription services, maybe I'd still have money left ;-) Some services, like my password manager and todo list manager, I do actually pay for cloud services, because they are absolutely critical and cannot be down. But there is also the fun factor to self-hosting, as well as having home services up when the Internet is offline. See

XDA

5 costs of self-hosting that nobody talks about

Self-hosting is awesome, but few veterans mention these potential downsides

#technology #selfhosting

Solid state batteries are now a reality — better in ALL ways than Lithium-Ion Donut Lab introduced what it claims is the world's first commercially available all-solid-state battery at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, marking a pivotal moment in the decade-long race to bring the promising technology from laboratory prototypes to real-world vehicles. The phone-sized battery cells are already powering the Verge TS Pro electric motorcycle, which enters production this quarter. * Higher density (400 Wh/kg) * Faster charging (potentially in 5 to 10 minutes) * Full charge (no longer needing to limit to 80%) * Safer (No flammable liquid electrolytes, No thermal runaway chains, No metallic dendrites that can cause internal shorts) * Good for 100,000 cycles (high-end Lithium-Ion is about 5,000 cycles). But there is more, at −30 °C and even over 100 °C , they can retain over 99% of their capacity. The usual issue has also been cost, but it is claimed now that without using rare earth minerals, material costs are actually lower than Lithium-Ion too. It still does not stop there though, as these batteries are not created in the cell shapes that Lithium-Ion were, and which required products to conform to the shape of the battery. These solid state batteries behave like clay, so custom sizes, voltages, and geometries are now possible. This also means that these are not only for vehicles but can potentially work in phones and micro-electronics. A solid-state battery uses a solid material (like a ceramic or special polymer) to conduct electricity between its positive and negative sides, instead of the liquid or gel electrolyte found in regular lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) batteries. As regards a reality check, Verge's TS Pro motorcycle is being launched now with one of these Donut solid state batteries. Range has increased from the older battery types having 350 km, to now up 600 km, with a charging time of 10 minutes. We will have to see the road tests later in 2026, but if so, then solid state batteries will truly be a game changer. Given the range and the charge cycles, that means the battery will be good for about 60 million kms. That is way more than any combustion engine is ever going to last. See

Battery - Donut Lab

and

New Atlas

370-mile+ e-bike cuts the edge with 'world 1st' battery & hollow motor

We've been covering Estonia-based electric motorcycle outfit Verge for a good while now, because it's been on the cusp of something amazing: a hubl...

#technology #batteries #EV #environment

Stop Using Your Keyboard and Start Using Handy, a Free Speech-to-Text App “In recent years AI models like Nvidia's Parakeet and OpenAI's Whisper, both open source, have made great strides in turning human voices into text. Both excel at correctly adding things like punctuation and capitalisation, and you can run them right on your computer. The problem? They're both a little complicated to set up. That's where Handy comes in. This is a dead-simple, totally free application that can set up either of these models on your computer and give you a keyboard shortcut to use it.” So whilst Handy may work well on some other desktop environments on Linux, I had quite a few issues trying to get it to work on Wayland. For a start, I had to run an environment variable before it would actually even display the window (WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 ). The suggestion to use wtype for the paste insertion did not work for me under Wayland at all as it gave this: `[ERROR] Failed to paste transcription: wtype failed: Compositor does not support the virtual keyboard protocol`. I had to use the one called dotool. When I tried to use the direct paste method, it kept chopping off the first character, but did insert it where it was supposed to be. In the end, I found the best thing that actually worked was to use no paste method, and I just press control V myself after I finished speaking. So for this to work, you also want to change the setting for Clipboard Handling from Don't Modify to Copy to Clipboard. It's really not ideal, but I must admit, I suppose if you've got quite a bit that you need to type, then it actually can be quicker to use handy and just do one or two basic edits. For other types of text entry though, it might still be better to be able to have that precise control you have when typing on a keyboard. For other types of text entry though, it might still be better to be able to have that precise control you have when typing on a keyboard. I've actually dictated this post using Handy to enter the text here. And I must say that the grammar and everything is quite precise with all the commas in the right places and so on. So yes, it can actually save you a bit of time. Even when you need to pause to think, it actually removes that, or should I say, just dictates it correctly without the pauses. So for me that's quite handy because I pause quite a bit to think sometimes, and that might not work with some voice dictation, especially if they think you've got to the end you know of your sentence. But also from this you can see it does become a bit long-winded when you're thinking aloud. So still I probably might just revert to anyway just using my keyboard for text entry. But your mileage may vary. There are versions offered for Windows, macOS, and Linux. See

WIRED

Stop Using Your Keyboard and Start Using This Simple, Free Speech-to-Text App

It’s called Handy, and it uses AI models to accurately convert your speaking voice into text—all for free.

and their GitHub project at

GitHub

GitHub - cjpais/Handy: A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline.

A free, open source, and extensible speech-to-text application that works completely offline. - cjpais/Handy

 #technology #opensource #dictation