adheeth🐘 @bull500@mastodon.social

Had a SUPER productive weekend! Finally finished Half-Life 2 and can't wait for the sequel.

We also upgraded our Dell Inspiron 7000 from Windows 98 to Windows XP and it's time to install Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and Thunderbird 1.0

Looking forward to trying these new apps!

(What year is it?)

Google is the top spy among all Big Tech companies. So to protect your privacy to the maximum, you need to stop using Google services wherever possible.

The most difficult part when quitting Google is if you've got an Android phone as most apps use Google Push notifications.

But the number of open source apps refusing to let Google spy on their users is constantly growing. 😎 💪

Here are our favorite FOSS apps that do not use Google Push! 😍

https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/google-push-alternative

soft. ware.

basically hacker news went down yesterday and in this screenshot someone chimes in talking about it saying that they had a batch of SSDs manufactured by SanDisk all get bricked after exactly 40,000 hours (4.5 years) uptime because it overflowed an internal counter and corrupted the SSD's internal state.

someone from hackernews replies and says that the SSDs HN was hosted on were in fact SanDisk Optimus Lightning IIs and almost exactly 4.5 years old.

never trust a firmware

Free BIOS achieved!!! Read the latest article by FSF senior systems administrator, Ian Kelling, about the FSF tech teams latest achievement toward freedom. https://u.fsf.org/3mn #libreboot #coreboot #freeBIOS

We are teaming up with the design agency @oakstudios to update our homepage and our brand. Goodbye social media blue, hello vibrant purple!

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2022/06/mastodon-branding-updates/

I remember, years back now, coming across someone arguing with fervor that proprietary software was better than open source software because it was more secure. It was a culture shock to me, because usually I am surrounded by people for whom the benefits of open-source software are self-evident. I got the same feeling today arguing with some folks who genuinely believe that being locked into a proprietary, centralized silo is actually better than having control over your own platform...

You can break an open protocol by adding proprietary enhancements on top of it.

Google does that with calendar. Apple does that with SMS.

The goal is to punish outsiders and lock you in.

Many Web sites require proprietary JavaScript, and users often do not even realize it. Nonfree JavaScript subjugates users in the same way as any piece of proprietary software. Learn more about the issue and how to reject it. https://u.fsf.org/freejs

First impressions are everything!

We're redesigning instance landing pages, some highlights include:

✨ Modern design
⚡ Feature overview
✨ Customizable text fields
⚡ About page w/ custom html
✨ Improved Onboarding
⚡ Clearer instance rules

We want your feedback, admins please let us know what you want or would like to see!

Boosts appreciated! #pixelfed

I am reading the #Bluesky #ADX architecture outline. First impression is that it seems quite complicated. The topology looks a lot like the fediverse but everything is a Merkle tree and identity is tied to something that looks a lot like a blockchain.

"Twitter’s decentralized, open-source offshoot just released its first code" (Bluesky ADX)

https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/4/23057473/twitter-bluesky-adx-release-open-source-decentralized-social-network

You Should Compile Your Python and Here’s Why

https://glyph.twistedmatrix.com/2022/04/you-should-compile-your-python-and-heres-why.html

Firefox 100 is Now Available to Download 🥳

Mozilla Firefox 100 is available to download. The new release includes new site theme options, subtitles in picture-in-picture mode, and Linux bug fixes.
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox #Mozilla

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/05/firefox-100-available-to-download

Mastodon 3.5 supports editing of posts. I wonder how edited posts will look on other fediverse platforms?

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2022/03/mastodon-3.5/

#fediverse #Mastodon #EditPosts

I don't think I can put into words how stressful this week has been.

Adopting Matrix at the GNOME Foundation :: Thib views — On digital citizenship

https://blog.ergaster.org/post/20220425-adopting-matrix/

#gnome #matrix

If you need live examples - Turn to India. Authoritarian tech platforms and democracy are fundamentally incompatible, tech platforms will eat up democracy to survive.
---
RT @WolfieChristl
Creating public digital infrastructure is not without risks.

But 'governments' are not monolithic entities, there are different ways to organize public infrastructure, and the less we risk, the more likely we'll end up just with authoritarian tech…
https://twitter.com/WolfieChristl/status/1520405326427832322

Today’s update of the “Official” Mastodon app now includes the local timeline.

However, it is a bit hidden. If you’re using that app, press the magnifying glass icon, then scroll the tabs at the top to the right and click on Community.

Example:

I have encountered more image descriptions on Mastodon in 24 hours than I have in Twitter in a couple of years. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating.
As a blind person, this means a lot to me. If you read this and you describe your images, thank you so, so, so much on behalf of all of us. If you don't, now you know you'll be helping random Internet strangers make sense of your posts by typing in a few more words than usual.