There is now an easy-to-use managed hosting service for making your own XMPP/Jabber server. It's run by @snikket_im and is at:
XMPP is a federated instant messaging platform (it looks like Whatsapp but it's federated like Mastodon). It's also end-to-end encrypted as long as everyone in the conversation is using an XMPP app with support for the "OMEMO" standard.
The pricing depends on your region but it's similar to Mastodon server costs.
Just tried #nextcloud Memories. The Android app is really smooth and what I was looking for in a gallery style application.
The web version is good too, but having fast loading and scrolling is important when navigating a large photo collection, even when the bulk of it is online on the server.
If you're the type to self-host apps on a Raspberry Pi or NAS, you absolutely need to check out Paperless-ngx. It manages scanned documents (hint: your phone can scan documents for you) so you can save them and search them.
You can email docs to Paperless-ngx, save them to a network folder, use a native app, or just upload them to the web app. It also works well with networked scanners. There are plenty of videos and blog posts to get started.
"Forcing TikTok to merge with another data-hungry social media platform won’t solve any of that. What will make a difference is establishing base-line privacy rules that prohibit companies from exploiting our data and that give us control..." https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/opinion/tiktok-ban-house-vote.html
✨Introducing Loops, a fediverse TikTok platform.
Explore and share short videos on the fediverse using your Pixelfed or Mastodon account.
Available Soon.
Follow @loops for early access to the beta and updates.
The auto industry has almost completely abandoned the idea of selling affordable cars in the U.S. https://www.motor1.com/features/710453/cheap-cars-dead/
China is plainly planning to fill the gap, as Japan did some decades ago.
This will -- guaranteed -- lead to a furious response, but that won't include US carmakers actually competing. The response will be protectionism, because one thing history has shown us is that American companies facing foreign competition are terrified of actual competition.
Everyone said get a Brother printer so I bought a 3-in-1 scanner and printer. There seems to be something wrong with it though. I plugged it into a Linux laptop, opened a document, pressed print, selected the printer, and it printed. Then I opened simple-scan, pressed scan, and it scanned.
This isn't how printers and scanners are supposed to work. Where do install the drivers that don't work properly etc? This was no fun. I demand a refund.
After being kneecapped by a #patents troll years ago, #Mozilla Location Services, the only somewhat trusted (non-Google/Apple) "Wi-Fi positioning system" (geolocation based on triangulating collected #WiFi SSIDs), is now shutting down: https://github.com/mozilla/ichnaea/issues/2065
MLS was how #GeoClue could get a meters-accurate location without a #GPS receiver / sky line-of-sight.
It was used by many #GNOME / #KDE apps to get instantaneous neighborhood-level location (for maps, local weather…) on #Linux laptops.
🚨Ford got caught. For months, his government claimed there was nothing wrong with their Greenbelt grab. Through @OntarioNDP FOI requests we see that Ford's staff repeatedly hid in emails using code names (G*) to replace "Greenbelt" to evade FOI request. https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-greenbelt-code-words/
'Places across the U.S. are testing no-strings cash as part of the social safety net' - @NPR
We should expand UBI programs.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1233440910/cash-aid-guaranteed-basic-income-social-safety-net-poverty
I've read a lot online about how "Y2K was overblown". As an engineer who worked like crazy in 1999 to correct our systems this drives me crazy.
Today I read about games going offline, watches getting frozen and airline tickets showing the wrong date.
Because of a leap year. Which happens every FOUR years (give or take).
Yeah Y2K was a once every 1000 year issue.
Isn't 2038 going to be fun.
Just published my newest article. This one is about the billionaire-fueled effort to ban basic income experiments, the group responsible, and the names of their biggest known donors.