keverets @keverets@librem.one

Mercedes-Benz opens its own recycling facility for EV batteries

Making new EV batteries from old EV batteries is a no-brainer.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/10/mercedes-benz-opens-its-own-recycling-facility-for-ev-batteries/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

woah.

“few people know that a considerable chunk of the VPN market—including three of the six most popular VPNs—is quietly operated by an Israeli-owned company with close connections to that country’s national security state, including the elite Unit 8200 and Duvdevan Units of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

those 3 VPNs are: ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, and Private Internet Access.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/

Ongoing discussion, but it looks like Bitwarden may be starting to make moves towards no longer being open source:

https://github.com/bitwarden/clients/issues/11611

Previous issues opened against the SDK have been met with replies that suggest they have no intention of reconsidering the licensing decision:

https://github.com/bitwarden/sdk/issues/898

I really hope the fediverse can get more traction among “normies”. But one thing I have been wondering is why the community on Bluesky (which I think is also part of the fediverse?) is so much worse than Mastodon?

I’ve received more hate and harassment on Bluesky than Twitter. The people are truly awful on that app, but every time Musk does something usage balloons. I don’t understand why people jump to Bluesky when Mastodon is here and so much better imo!

BlueSky is cosplaying decentralization

https://rys.io/en/167.html

"The lady at the charity shop today told me she wishes ppl wd clear out their kids' old toys in the lead up to Xmas rather than after because she always sees parents in the days before Xmas looking for toys for their little ones who might be strapped for cash. She said there's rarely anything in before, but they get many toys after.
If you know your child is going to get lots of presents for Xmas this year, by clearing out early you could make another child's Xmas a lot more special."

my shitty chungus country blocked Discord, WireGuard (the fucking protocol), SOCKS5, and probably more today. but the government can't beat the nerds in a battle of networking.

behold, Network Crimes

how did i get it to work? well, that's simple,

WireGuard server running on my homeserver -> socat UDP->TCP+SSL proxy -> The Internet -> socat TCP+SSL->UDP proxy (using Termux) -> WireGuard client running on my phone

client side:
socat UDP-LISTEN:51337,reuseaddr,fork ssl:4.slonk.ing:4080,cert=client.pem,cafile=server.crt,verify=0
server side:
socat ssl-l:4080,reuseaddr,fork,cert=server.pem,cafile=client.crt,verify=1 UDP:127.0.0.1:51337

it works flawlessly. i don't care that it's tcp-over-tcp this is all a stupid hack


(discord was both IP and DNS blocked, and the protocols were blocked using packet inspection)

“People watch TV in the privacy of their own homes & have a reasonable expectation that no one is watching them watch,” EFF’s Jacob Hoffman-Andrews told TechNewsWorld. “Nobody wants a snooping & snitching television, but lately, that’s all you can buy.”
https://www.technewsworld.com/story/streaming-tv-industry-snooping-on-viewers-at-grand-scale-report-179410.html

There’s this sculpture downtown and it’s called Imposter Syndrome, and I love it.

Even if the queen is secretly a pawn, she still does all the queen things. 💜

@nelson It's real thing, and it works very well. Hospitals use it all the time.

The system I have built into my ductwork comes from a company called Swordfish UV; I installed it myself, the drill bit you need comes in the box and it took less than half an hour.

https://swordfishuv.com/

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/canadas-reponse/summaries-recent-evidence/ultraviolet-germicidal-irradiation-technologies-use-against-sars-cov-2.html

Anecdotally, though we have had colds and one person caught Covid in the last few years, have not had any in-house transmission of _anything_ since I installed it.

Smart take from @gruber on the removal of VPN apps from Apple Store in Russia, following on government demand. One conclusion highlighted, but read the whole thing: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/10/02/russia-app-store-vpns

iOS is a fabulous platform but I have refused, since the App Store launch in 2008, to work on any apps, because I decline to build software which a platform owner can prevent me from sharing it with the world. I have regretted that decision exactly zero times these last 18 years.

#apple #ioS #Russia

Here's the current state of the tech industry:

A week or so ago I went for a big group meal and at the end they brought the card reader machine for us to pay and it had an option for us to go through an itemised bill, check some options, and pay for just those options (plus an equivalent fraction of the service charge). It was amazing! This genuinely saved us about half an hour of talking at cross-purposes and poking numbers into our own phone calculators and hoping nobody did the sums wrong and accidentally stole someone else's tip. I genuinely would consider going back there for future group meals despite the fact that I'd finished my food before Alec's arrived and he'd finished his before Darren's came, so thoroughly do I dislike the traditional bill-splitting process.

And yet in terms of technology, it was nothing but a low-end smartphone running an app built entirely from OS-standard UI components. No AI, no invasion of privacy, no adverts, and I have to assume no VC funding or elaborate toolchain. Just a good idea implemented well, and genuinely we all went away commenting about how clever and useful it was.

And I don't remember the previous time I experienced that. We know what people want. They want you to use the massive technological advances we've already made to build useful things that work. But apparently there's no money in that 🤷

It's the time of year when people cut down and get rid of the fallen leaves and dead plants in their pollinator gardens…

Dead plants and leaf litter are vital habitat for insects, including pollinators! You don't need to "clean up" anything!! Spread the word.

Thanks to Thilo, developer of @Monal, Quicksy is now available on iOS!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quicksy/id6538727270

Jabber/XMPP with Easy Entry and Easy Discovery

Conversations for you. Quicksy for your less tech-savvy friends

Remember you don’t have to be on Quicksy yourself to give your friends an easy way to find your XMPP address. Instead you can enter your XMPP address-phone number tuple into the Quicksy Directory
https://quicksy.im/#get-listed

You can also initiate the conversation by adding +1234555…@quicksy.im

A friend of mine suggested that we stop using the sparkle ✨ emoji as the symbol for AI and replace it with a magic eight ball 🎱 as it more realistically conveys how the technology works. I've been thinking about that a lot lately. 😂

PayPal is updating their Terms of Service to automatically give merchants access to your data starting in November and they've already opted you into it. OPT OUT BEFORE THEY START:

Good to Settings > Data & Privacy > Manage shared info > Personalized/PayPal Shopping and toggle it to off.

#PayPal #Privacy #OptOut

We’re excited to announce that Tails (@tails_live) is officially part of the Tor Project family! By joining forces, we’re ensuring that activists, journalists, and everyday users have access to more secure and sustainable tools for online privacy. Read more: https://blog.torproject.org/tor-tails-join-forces #TorTails #PrivacyMatters

Never connect your TV to the internet, episode a million: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2449198-smart-tvs-take-snapshots-of-what-you-watch-multiple-times-per-second/